A/N: Heyyyy, it's me, not dead. Sorry for the long wait. Turns out my dad did have a heart attack, so we've been dealing with stuff and I've been so brain-dead I couldn't do anything but work and vegetate. Apologies if it's not the best chapter,

but I felt bad leaving it hanging so long, so here we go.

"I feel like there's a Doctor Who quote that applies to this situation," Elle said, as the Enterprise got into position.

"I'm sure there is," Picard said dryly.

"There's a lot of them though," Elle said. "That was the longest-running tv show ever." She tapped her chin.

"Matching velocity," La Forge said. "Warp fields are merging."

Elle snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah. The Agatha Christie episode." She watched the two warp fields of the Borg and the Enterprise merge into one bubble. "Great. Now we're chasing it."

"We should be able to maintain this until we reach the rest of the fleet," La Forge said. "It worked." He made a face. "Unfortunately, they can transport over as easily as we can."

"A catch-22," Picard said.

"But," Elle said helpfully, "we have the power of God and anime on our side."

Riker snorted so hard he coughed.

Picard tapped his comm. "Commander Shelby, you may commence beam-outs."

"Aye, sir."

He tapped his comm again. "Data, how is your exploration of the Borg neural link proceeding?"

"We have discovered the method of communication the Borg are using. The Borg group consciousness is divided into subcommands necessary to carry out all functions. Defense, communication, navigation. They are all controlled by a root command implanted into each unit."

"Data, is it possible to plant a command into the Borg collective consciousness?" Picard asked.

"It is conceivable, sir, but it would require altering the pathway from the root command. It will take some time to access it."

"Work fast," Picard said.

"Aye, sir."

Picard looked at Elle. She gave him a thumbs-up. "We're on the right track," she said.

La Forge frowned. "I'm reading a power surge in the transporter room. Shelby, what's going on?"

"I don't know," Shelby said, her voice sounding worried over comms. "The last bomb made it intact, I don't know what that was."

"Do you think the Borg beamed over here?" Elle asked.

"I would have noticed," Worf said gravely. "They did not."

Elle looked down at her PADD and typed in, "Alexa, what was that?"

"It wasn't me," Alexa replied.

This was not in the episode. Elle chewed on her lip worriedly. "Ok, we can worry about that later."

Lt. Donahue cleared his throat. "I'd like to move you to a secure area," he said.

Everyone gave him the side-eye. "Like, a kidnapping situation or like, hide in a cupboard?" Elle asked.

"Like, somewhere the Borg are not interested in assimilating," Donahue replied.

"I'm not leaving," Elle replied.

"They want to assimilate you," Donahue said.

"They can't," Elle said simply. "And they know that."

"They can still kidnap you and force you to tell the truth," Donahue said.

Elle blinked. "I don't think the Borg are imaginative enough for torture."

Worf cleared his throat. "We can outfit you with a personal shield. If you set the frequency to cycle through randomly it should provide protection against beam-outs."

"Provide one for the captain as well," Riker said.

Picard opened his mouth to protest, received a withering glare from his first officer, and closed his mouth. Riker didn't have Spock's Eyebrows of Doom but he could hold his own.

Elle politely did not snigger.

-/\-

Two hours. Elle kept falling into the cliche of 'letting go of a breath she forgot she was holding'. There was a reason the phrase became common. It was tense up in here. The Borg kept beaming over at periodic intervals, taking chunks out of the Enterprise library computer, and leaving. Alexa was deleting useful information as they beamed away, so they weren't getting anything interesting. So far Worf and his security team had managed to keep them from making off with any crewmembers. Lt. Donahue was not happy that Elle's machine-gun idea was better than rotating phaser frequencies.

"I could win a fight against a Jedi," Elle decided. "Slugthrowers. Can't deflect that with a lightsaber."

"Great Bird, you're a savage."

"Yup. Ooh, hey, I should take up archery."

Shelby, meanwhile, was spearheading the effort to beam over as many bombs as possible. On the outside, they didn't read as bombs. To Borg eyes, completely harmless. Interesting bits of rubbish. But as soon as they entered normal space... there was a part of Elle that wished there was actually sound in space, just to appreciate the (hopefully) massive whoosh.

"Elle to Isolation Lab 1."

Elle shoved the last bite of sandwich in her mouth and jumped off the bench. "Ommaway," she mumbled.

"Charming," Lt. Donahue said.

"Hey, you're the one who decided to appoint himself my bodyguard," Elle said. She walked into the turbo lift. "Iso Lab 1."

"I didn't decide it, my superiors decided it," Donahue replied. "I don't think you realize how important your information is."

"Are there other Section 31 people on the ship?" Elle asked.

"I think you know the answer to that question," Donahue said flatly.

"I do, actually, there was a whole novel," Elle said. "I think he dies protecting the captain? I don't remember, because I left the book at a doctor's office."

"You're literally giving me an ulcer," Donahue said. "The size of that security breach..."

"Dude, there was a whole arc about 31 during the..." Elle trailed off. "Never mind."

"Ulcer," he repeated with a wince.

"Tums," she said, without sympathy.

In Isolation Lab 1, Data and Dr. Crusher were looking, stressed. "How's it coming?" Elle asked.

"We're in," Dr. Crusher said, "but we can't get to anything important. Not in time."

"Okay. In the episode, you put all the Borg to sleep in their regeneration cycle. Can we do that again?"

"We could," Data said. "Once we reach Wolf 359, that may give us the upper hand."

"Okay, great. Why'd you call me down here?"

Dr. Crusher winced. "She wants to talk to you."

"She?" Elle looked over at the Borg standing in the isolation chamber. "She's disconnected from the Borg?"

"No," Dr. Crusher said. "But the isolation field has made it possible to separate her out from the collective."

Elle walked over, carefully out of range of the Borg drone's mechanical arm. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Eleanor Wilcott of Earth," the Borg drone stated, meeting her gaze with intent. "You will be assimilated."

"No," Elle said. "I won't be."

"Resistance is futile."

"It is not," Elle said. "Resistance is what makes us human."

"Humanity will be assimilated," the Borg stated.

"You are wrong."

"We are Borg."

"And the Borg are wrong." Elle watched the drone's non-reaction to this. "Why do the Borg want humanity anyway? What's in it for you?"

"Your technological distinctiveness will be added to our own," the Borg said.

"No," Elle said lightly. "That's not it. Humanity's tech is okay but you've got us beat in spades. What do you actually want?"

"Do they even have a purpose?" Lt. Donahue asked.

"They bypassed dozens, hundreds of civilizations and peoples and came straight for us," Elle said. "And I know it wasn't just because of-" She choked on the words 'time travel' and continued, "-previous encounters. What do you want with us?"

"Humanity is a prime example of adaptability," the Borg drone finally said. "We will assimilate that distinctiveness into our collective."

Elle, inexplicably, felt pity. "No you won't," she said. "You can't."

"Explain."

"Human adaptability doesn't work in a hive mind," Elle said. "It's because we are alone in our brains that we are so adaptable. We work outside the box, you don't even acknowledge there is an outside of the box. It'll never work, no matter how many humans you assimilate. They will lose whatever advantage the Borg were seeking."

The Borg was silent for a long moment. "You know this to be true?"

"I do, yes," Elle said.

The Borg nodded sharply. "And the God particle?"

Whoa. That was a change of direction. Elle focused on her poker face. "What God particle? I've studied the Higgs boson but hardcore physics is not my strong suit. Too many dimensions. I can't get past seven." This was a lie, as Wesley had forced her to work up to eleven-dimensional math so they could plot potential wormholes together. Did the Borg know that? Could they read poker faces?

"The Federation has access to Omega particles."

"We don't have any anymore," Elle said, deciding to lay her cards out on the table.

Lt. Donahue almost stroked out behind her at this blatant violation of confidentiality. "MISS WILCOTT," he thundered.

"Chill dude," she said. "They've already got into our computers, they already know about it." She gave the Borg a Look. "And we're not going to mess with God particles, thank you very much, so that's another reason not to mess with us."

"You are a threat to the Borg. You will be assimilated."

Elle frowned. "Is that a specific you to me or a plural you?"

The Borg did not deign to reply.

"We're a threat to you," Elle said. "That's what it is, isn't it?"

Borg don't glare. Right?

"Of course it is." Elle sighed. "Man, I thought we had a cool reason. But no. You just wanna eat us because you're scared of us."

"Borg do not feel fear."

"No, but you feel something, don't you?"

No, okay, yeah, Borg can definitely glare.

Elle edged away from the drone and went to stand behind Lt. Donahue. "I think our conversation is over," she said. "Let's get out of here."

"Gladly." He ushered her towards the door.

-/\-

"We're coming up on Wolf 359," Riker said. "We're slowing."

The Borg obviously viewed the assembled fleet as a tempting target. Probably looking for a captain of a starship who didn't have the virus.

The Enterprise popped out of space behind the Borg cube like a surprise dust mite. "Data, now," Picard ordered, almost before the light distortion had faded.

Data tapped the screen and sent out the "Regeneration" subroutine at the same time as Shelby's boatload of bombs went off.

There was no sound in space. That's okay. Elle's imagination provided the appropriate "ka-boom!" and "whoosh" as several chunks of the Borg cube literally flew off.

"Nice," Elle whispered under her breath.

"We have three minutes before their regeneration cycle gets overridden by damage reports," Data reported, fingers flying over his console at top android speeds.

The Fleet took full advantage. It was kind of like watching Lilliputians attack Gulliver, but they were trying their hardest.

Elle gaped. One of the starships had actually gone to get the Remmler array and was aiming it at the undamaged portions of the Borg cube, methodically sweeping back and forth.

"The phase modulations are having some effect," Worf said.

"Enough to actually stop this cube?" Riker asked.

Worf grimaced. That was answer enough.

The regeneration command was overridden in two minutes, forty-seven seconds actually. "Don't like that, don't like that," Elle whispered to herself, watching the Borg chomp through the fleet like a maniacal Pac-man.

Nobody spared her a glance. Orders, counter-orders, strategies, and status reports flew thick and fast across the bridge, each officer in pro-combat mode.

Elle repressed a shiver. This was too much like being back in the Federation-Klingon war. She checked the shields. Holding, so far. The Borg were much more interested in the other ships. She looked back up to the main viewscreen just in time to see a whole chunk of the cube detach from the whole. Her jaw dropped. Another chunk of the cube fell off. Elle wheezed.

"Who's doing that?" Riker snapped. "Data what's happening?"

"I don't know, sir," Data replied, astonishment clear in his voice. "There is no clear-"

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the Borg cube," Worf rumbled. His eyebrows went up. "It is a text message only."

"What does it say?" Picard asked impatiently.

"We want a more active part in this Federation." Worf poked at his console. "That's all it says."

Elle swung her gaze back to the cube. Another chunk fell off.

"Could it be the virus?" Picard asked. "Would it work this fast?"

"Not this catastrophically," Lt. Shelby said, "not so quickly."

"Well, what-"

Elle gasped. "The nanites."

"What?"

Elle pointed at the viewscreen. "The nanites. Wesley's nanites. They're the only ones who'd send a text like that. They must've snuck onboard the Borg cube with Shelby's contingent and taken over the systems." She glanced up at the ceiling. "Alexa, is that possible?"

"Based on initial conditions and previous interactions with the Enterprise main computer core, it is the only solution," Alexa replied in her 'good little library computer' voice.

"Can we text them back?" Elle asked, interested.

"No," Shelby said. "They want to do this, let them do it."

"Agreed," Picard said cautiously. "Advise all ships to fall back."

The ravaged fleet fell back to a safe distance and watched the Borg cube undergo mechanical leprosy as more chunks of the cube detached and drifted away into space.

"We're gonna have a heck of a cleanup," Elle said.

Picard grimaced. "Let's set up a perimeter around this system, make sure we don't miss any parts of it," he said.

Shelby's eyes were lighting with the prospect of all the new technology. "This is going to be great-"

"Hold your horses," Riker warned, "there's still a huge chunk of cube there, we need to-"

As he spoke, the main core of the Borg cube vaporized in front of their eyes. Elle winced as the resulting shockwave took out another starship.

"I believe the nanites managed to overload the Borg propulsion system," Data said, breaking the shocked silence.

"We did it," Elle said, but as she stared at the debris field of ships and cube chunks, it didn't feel much like a victory.

"Well," Picard said, releasing a measured sigh. "Mr. Worf, damage reports?"

The post-battle flurry of activity was almost as hectic as being shot at. The Enterprise had lost a huge chunk of engineering in the battle, and everything was being held together by emergency forcefields and duct tape. La Forge promptly stole Elle to climb through Jefferies Tubes and do visual inspections of important junctions.

Lt. Donahue insisted on accompanying her.

"I both admire and worry over your levels of paranoia," Elle said, as they climbed up another deck.

"Thank you," Donahue grunted, pulling himself up over the ledge.

Elle consulted her PADD. "Okay, this junction looks good, let me just check the-"

The sound of a transporter froze them both in their tracks. Two Borg drones materialized in front of them, in their junction.

"Get back!" Lt. Donahue bellowed, bringing his phaser to bear.

Elle hit the far wall before he finished speaking and watched in horror as the first Borg went down. The second Borg did not. "Modulation!" Elle screeched.

Lt. Donahue tried twice more, but the Borg drone kept advancing. With the drone almost on top of them, he threw his phaser at the Borg's face and pulled out a pistol. He shot the Borg twice in the chest and once in the mechanical shoulder. The drone went down.

Elle gaped at the bodies. They didn't disappear in a transporter. Rats fleeing a sinking ship? She looked up at Donahue. "You have a gun," she said blankly.

"I said it was savage and dumb, not that it wasn't useful," Donahue said. He stuck the pistol back in his belt and tapped his comm badge. "Donahue to Security."

After that little incident, La Forge put Elle to babysit a console on the bridge, well in view of other security officers and clear exits.

-/\-

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," Elle said, plopping herself down at the bar in Ten-Forward. "A small horse."

Guinan gave her a tolerant smile. "One small horse coming up."

It was a cheeseburger, fries, and a matcha smoothie. Elle inhaled the fries in a burst of hangriness, and then took her time savoring the burger. "Thanks, Guinan."

"Thank you," Guinan said. "You did good today."

Elle managed a grin that faded in two seconds. She sipped at her smoothie. "We lost almost half the fleet," she said. "That's eighteen starships. That's thousands of people, thousands of-"

"Don't do that to yourself," Guinan said, putting her hand over Elle's. "Yes, we lost a lot of people. But how many people have you saved? That cube was headed straight for Earth."

"I know, I just-" Elle huffed a sigh, suddenly exhausted. "I wish I could've done more."

"Get some rest, and tomorrow you can do more," Guinan said.

"Yeah. Sounds good. I..." Elle watched the USS Saratoga drift by, and something in her memory snapped. "Sisko," she said urgently. "His wife, Jake!"

"Who?"

Elle grabbed her PADD, looked up the casualty reports for the Saratoga. They had been hit pretty badly, but they hadn't had to evacuate the ship, not quite. Elle stopped scrolling and stared, her heart sinking to her feet. "She died," she said numbly. "Sisko's wife still died."

"Who's Sisko?" Guinan asked.

Elle turned off her PADD and sipped her smoothie glumly. "Commander of a space station in a few years, this wormhole thing, prophet-presumptive space-Jesus in the making."

Guinan choked on a snigger. "I'm sorry?"

"Maybe it was a fixed point," Elle said.

"Maybe."

Elle finished up her smoothie. "I'm gonna try and sleep," she said.

"Rest well," Guinan said.

Elle left Ten-Forward and took the circuitous route to her quarters, trailing Lt. Donahue like a barnacle. She found Jetta and Nicole in the hallway.

"Elle!" They grabbed her in a twin hug. "Are you all right?"

She hugged them both back desperately. "I'm good, I'm okay. You guys? Your family?"

"We're okay," Jetta said. "Dad got a concussion but mom's looking after him."

"Good, good, I'm glad you guys are okay." Elle gave them a wan smile. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"We're going to go volunteer for repair work," Nicole said. "Sleep tight. Find us for lunch tomorrow if you can."

They shared another hug and split ways. Elle got to her quarters and made it to the shower before she broke down in tears. She had herself a good cry, leaving her exhausted and wrung out. She showered, during which the lights flickered twice, and threw herself in bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

-/\-

Elle woke up to find Simba the Third under her chin and six notifications on her PADD. She braided her hair and checked her messages.

Picard: "Comm when you're awake, please, I'd like to check in with you."

Riker: "Comm me back when you wake up, Lt. Shelby's frothing at the mouth to workshop some ideas with you."

Elle snorted.

Alexa was the other three messages.

"The nanites in your bloodstream would like to remind you to lick the metal. You can also lick a wall if you want."

"I've lost a chunk of processing power if you could get Geordi on that ASAP."

"The Borg in Iso Lab 1 has regained her personality. I'm going to show her old tv shows until someone can get down here."

Elle checked the timestamp of that last one. Four hours ago. An AI teaching a former Borg drone how to people. Was that the beginning of a social experiment?

The comm went off in the middle of her omelet. "Elle Wilcott, report to the captain's ready room," the comm announced, five minutes later.

Elle shoved a last bit of egg and cheese in her mouth and headed out. She went directly to the captain's ready room. Riker was there. "Morning," she said.

"Morning," Picard said. He looked like he hadn't slept at all. "How did you sleep?"

"I only dreamed about being kidnapped by Borg twice, so, not bad," Elle said.

Riker nodded. "Do you feel up to cataloging and dissecting Borg technology?" he asked.

Elle clasped her hands behind her back. "Honestly, sir, I don't have much usable information about the technological side of things. It wasn't really covered in the shows unless it was a direct plot device."

"That's what I figured," Riker said. "I'll point Shelby in another direction then. She can find her own minions."

Elle snorted. "She giving you problems, commander?"

"I don't think that woman slept more than an hour," Riker grumbled. "Makes me tired just looking at her."

Picard rolled his eyes at his first officer's dramatics. "On that note," he said. "Number One, you're dismissed."

"Sir." Riker patted Elle's arm on the way out.

Picard came around from his desk and put his hands on Elle's shoulders, looking into her face. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I can work," Elle said.

He raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't what I asked."

She slumped forward. "I'm just really glad you didn't end up assimilated, captain."

He drew her into a hug. "Me too," he said, and stepped back after a quick moment, at the limit of his emotional tolerance. "Elle, I'd like you to join the maintenance and repair teams. We're shuttling back and forth between all the ships, sharing resources. We need all hands."

Elle grinned. "I'd like that."

"Good." He nodded firmly. "Lt. Donahue will be accompanying you."

"Yes, sir." She gave him another hug and went to find her assigned team.

A/N 2: Will update as usual on Thursday.