>> Star Trek fan fiction >> Paradigm Shift >> Borg Like Me, part deux, part two

Paradigm Shift

Borg Like Me, part deux, part two

By Michael Sweeney

Continued from Borg Like Me, part deux, part one

*** Act Two ***

Reming was on the bridge in record time, sweat and all.
"Report." he ordered.
Parks looked up at Donna. Donna nodded.
"Long range sensors are picking up possible Borg energy signatures. They are heavily distorted from our transwarp field."
Reming sat down in the command chair and rubbed his chin. Were they ready for this?
"Also," Parks paused, "there appears to have been a massive explosion."
Reming looked up and felt his stomach knot tighten.
"Fighting someone? Any idea who?"
This time Reed answered from the helm. "We are only reading Borg signatures."
Reming gave it a moment. Could this be the break they were looking for? Possible allies?
"Bring the deflector modifications online and alter course to intercept."
Reed's hands danced across the console in response. "Aye, sir."
"Friend or foe, we'll soon see." Reming said aloud.

***

We're too late." Parks sounded disappointed.
It was a debris field by the time they got there.
"Looks like they lost." Parks observed dryly.
Reming stood up and walked forward to look over Reed's shoulder.
"Is there any evidence of who or what did this?" he asked.
Parks muttered under his breath, "You mean 'whom or what'."
Reed quickly ran a range of tests and scans.
"Well, the debris field is pretty extensive, definitely Borg technology, or what's left of it. According to mass guestimates based on previous Borg records, there was one vessel."
Reed looked up. "They fought and lost?"
Reming glanced at the back of Mike's head and somehow agreed with the disappointment.
"Sensor scans?" Reming asked out loud.
Reming shook his head in puzzlement.
"Any life signs?" he asked.
Parks shook his head. "Nothing. Running multiple scans, both with special Borg filters and the usual spectrum."
Reming slapped his commbadge.
"Reming to engineering."
"Masters here" the intercom chirped.
Reed looked up at Reming with a question, but said nothing. Philip Reming smoothed his tunic.
"Masters, I want this ship rigged for silent running. We just found a Borg battlefield and history says they'll send another ship to investigate."
There was a small hesitation on the other end.
"Aye, sir. We'll batten down all the hatches."
Reming and Reed exchanged a smile at Masters choice of terms.
A sudden change on Reeds display brought her attention back.
"We've got a clearer reading on warp signatures without the interference from our transwarp modifications."
"We have a cloud of debris, Borg signatures all over the place. It looks like someone or something beat the crap of a large Borg vessel." Reed responded.
"Or structure." Parks added and turned to Reming, "This would be a logical location for a Borg Distribution Node."
Reming leaned over Reeds shoulder to study the readout.
"Where did our winners go then?"
Reed played across the console with skill and came up frowning.
"There doesn't seem to be any warp signatures leaving the area."
Reming turned to Michael Park for confirmation.
"Parks, do you have anything?"
Parks looked a little startled, having been caught staring at the debris field and not paying attention. "Uh, no, nothing here. Scattered energy signals from debris, charged particles flooding some regions."
Reed glanced at Parks, knowing he wasn't really saying anything.
"Do you think those energy signatures could be hiding anything, or obscuring life signs? The Borg can be so connected to their machines, if they were regenerating or connected still, they may not show right away."
Parks furrowed his brow in annoyance. He knew that, he didn't need her telling him that.
"The modifications I've made to the sensor array should account for the Borg's peculiar life signs." he told her.
Reming frowned. "Based on what we know about the Borg, can we reconstruct what happened here?" Parks shrugged.
"It would take some time just to figure out if I could answer your question."
At least he was honest, Reming thought to himself.
"Okay, Donna, I want to be invisible. Whatever it takes, if any other Borg ships come to investigate I don't want this ship to be seen."
Donna Reed moved her agile hands across the console. "There is significant sensor distortion in the wake of a nearby gas giant. If we run a close scan of the debris field, or even leave a telemetry probe, we can hide in the sensor shadow and analyze it there."
Reming nodded. "Mr. Parks?"
Mike Parks shrugged. "Works for me."
Reming had hoped for something more confident, but took what he could get.
He gave a thoughtful nod. "Okay, people, that's a plan. Scan the hell out of this debris and then we'll move to a more hidden location."
Parks looked up at Reming. "Cap, err Mr. Reming. With the changes we made to the shield for transwarp travel, I'm getting feedback through the science sensors. If we could drop shields, I could use the finer tuned equipment we have on board."
Reming glanced at Reed, who was intently fixed on her own display, ignoring his questing look. It seemed he was looking to her for direction, and she sensed it. Reming took a slow breath in.
"Make it so." He knew it was cheesy, but it felt good to say.

***

It just exploded?" Philip was unwilling to believe what Donna and Mike were telling him.
"There is no sign of warp activity, so unless the attacker..."
"Or attackers." Donna added
Parks looked at Donna in annoyance. He had been surprised at her knack for deciphering sensor data, and felt his annoyance rise as she tried to read into every detail. "So unless the attacker," Mike enunciated the singular term, "crept away at sub light speed, it must have self destructed."
"Or they could still be hiding around here like we are." Donna added.
Mike Parks looked at Reming straight. "I didn't detect any warp signatures outside our own." He looked at Donna again. "Coming or going."
"What about hyperspace?" Donna asked.
Reming looked from Parks to Reed.
Parks looked at the ceiling. "There have been no proven accounts of hyperspace being used as a means of interplanetary travel."
Reed took on her own annoyed look. "We didn't have any accounts of fluidic space till the Borg pissed off Species 8472 either."
Reming felt it was his turn to add to the mounting confusion.
"Could it have been Species 8472?" he asked.
Parks snorted loudly. "No way. They'd show up like a sore thumb."
Reming paused for a moment and let a suspicion creep across his brain.
"How can you be so certain, Mr. Parks?"
Mike Parks stopped short and looked at Reming. "I... just am."
Reming drew up his best command voice. "Mr. Parks."
Mike Parks glance from Reming to Reed who glanced back in sudden confusion.
Park felt like a corned rat. "Ahhhh.. well."
Now it was Reeds turn to use the voice. "Mr. Parks?"
Mike blushed slightly. "I accessed a copy of Voyager's level one logs."
Reming found himself surprised. Even he didn't have a security clearance to access information on that level. Supposedly only the ship's Captain and Starfleet Command should have access to that level.
"How?" Reming asked simply.
Parks looked up, slightly embarrassed.
"You asked me to monitor Doctor Tedmoore when you assumed command. He made unusual communication bursts on a semi regular basis."
Reming nodded. "Yes, I did. How is this related?"
Parks let out a slow breath. "I deciphered one of his communiqués. It was so odd and suspicious; I thought I'd check up on him. It turned out he was accessing the Memory Alpha high security levels. I realized that I could piggy back other requests on his, and have cart blanche access to any information I wanted."
Donna Reed felt her eyes widen as far as they would go in amazement. No wonder Parks was bored most of the time, he could find out more then most Starfleet Admirals knew.
Reming nodded in appreciation. "And?"
Parks had been looking at the floor. Now he looked up. "Just after Nick was taken, Tedmoore sent one of his messages, and I sent one of mine." He looked at Donna. "I wanted everything Starfleet had on the Borg. I got it. Some of it arrived while we were held at SB47."
Philip leaned forward slightly. "Some of it?"
Parks looked back at Reming. "Yeah, but a lot more arrived just after we stole the transwarp coil. It was strange, but wonderful. It made all that we've done possible."
Parks looked from Reming to Donna and smiled. He'd played the sorry officer, but truth be known his indiscretion had saved their ass.
Reming smiled back. "Well, if we can rule out Species 8472, then we need to find out who could make a Borg Distribution Node self destruct, and why."
Reed felt her amazement subside. "There are a couple larger energy signatures in the debris, there might be active circuits still."
Parks nodded vigorously. "Given the way the Borg work they might contain records of what happened here, emergency logs and such. But we'd have to be close enough to beam them aboard."
Reming frowned again. "That would mean going out into the open again." He glanced from Reed to Parks. "I know you checked, but are you sure there aren't any homing signals, emergency or otherwise, coming out of that debris field?"
Parks shook his head. "None."
Despite Parks confidence Reming was not reassured. The Borg would undoubtably send another ship to find out what had happened here. Reming cleared his mind and focused. They were running out of time, if they weren't out already.
"We get in and out. Pick three of the energy signatures, beam them aboard and get us back in the shadow."
Reed and Parks looked at each other and nodded.
Reed stood and slapped her commbadge. "Reed to engineering, we're going to need some precision warp jumps. I want to stop on a dime."

***

Flawless." Parks said with a smile.
Reming couldn't help but agree. They had warp jumped right into the middle of the debris field, dropped shields, beamed the three energy signatures aboard and jumped back in a matter of one hundred seconds.
Parks was smiling like an idiot as he poured over the sensor data in the hanger bay display.
"Donna, look at this. God, I wish Carol was down here, she'd eat this up." Parks motioned at the largest chunk of Borg entrails. It glowed dimly in the darkened hanger bay. A green hum was muffled slightly by the security force field Reming had insisted on.
"Any sign of reactivation and we decompress this whole bay." Reming had told them. They had reluctantly agreed, but quickly pushed it from their minds as their tricorders filled with information.
Parks voice was filled with energy. "I think I've found a backup data store. It might take a minute to descramble the data and sync it with our data feed."
Reming stood over his shoulder and mustered his most conservative voice. "I don't want any Borg data on the main computer. Use isolated tricorders only."
Donna Reed's head snapped up in surprise. "It'll take hours to decrypt the data on hand helds!"
Parks nodded. "Yes, but Philip's right. If the Borg systems go active they may try to take control of the ship." He looked at Reming with a new form of respect.
Reed shook her head. Scientists.
"So you take your time, and use all due caution. Even a hunk of damaged Borg is dangerous enough. Do we have subspace dampeners in place?"
"Level three." Reed replied from behind the third chunk.
Reming nodded. "I'll leave you two with your work." Reming looked at the ceiling and tapped his commbadge. It wasn't actually necessary; the computer was always listening for commands and requests. It had the uncanny ability. Much like any sentient person, to figure out when you were talking to it, or just about it. "Computer, locate Carol Smith."
"Lieutenant Commander Smith is in Main Engineering."
Reming felt a smidgen better knowing that and turned to walk out of the hanger bay. "I'm going to check up on our chief engineer."

***

Please state the nature of the engineering emergency." Carol Smith beamed at him. Reming felt a familiar smile return to his face in.
"I see your sense of humor has returned." He gave the woman a good look up and down and decided Mike Parks had been worrying for nothing.
"Mike said you were feeling pretty poor earlier."
Carol's smile continued as she waved around her. "I'm back in my natural habitat." She continued to beam at him with an impish grin. "You can take the chief engineer out of engineering, but you can't take engineering out of the chief engineer." With the last bit she winked at him. Reming almost did a double take. The rest had most certainly done her a world of good. He could barely believe this was the woman who had sat at the conference room table two days ago.
"Good, good." Reming nodded in return.
Carol looked around engineering with her smile and put her hands on her hips.
"Ah, where are Terry and Masters?" Reming finally thought to ask.
Carol stepped sideway to an engineering console and made some minor adjustment to some important subsystem Reming couldn't follow.
"I sent them to bed, they were both exhausted. Honestly, you'd think there were just the two of them doing all the work." Carol pulled a stool out from under the display and made a show of sitting on it. Reming tried not to stare at the back of her head, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.
"You are feeling better, right? I mean, this isn't some over compensation?" He said slowly.
The response was a slow sigh. "I'm coping." She didn't turn to face him.
For some reason, despite the obvious signs, Reming felt better at a more normal 'Carol' response. He gave a quick look around main engineering and started to head out.
A random blinking light caught his eye. It was attached to a cobble together arrangement that demanded his full attention.
"Ah, what is this?" He said as he two to steps toward the strange new construction in on of the large rooms corners.
Carol was off her feet instantly and blocking him. Philip looked up in surprise.
"Its a little project I am working on. Its not ready yet."
Reming racked his brain for technology bits and pieces that he recognized. "It looks familiar, but all different somehow."
Carol stepped aside and let Reming take two more steps past her. "Well, you caught me."
Reming stopped short and turned to Carol in concern.
"Caught you?" he tilted his head in preparation for annoyance.
Carol smiled. "My own little surprise. You think you're the only one with aces up your sleeves?"
Reming suddenly felt foolish. What nefarious deed could she possibly be up to anyway? He smiled at her.
"And it's not ready. Right?"
Carol chuckled. "Not quite."
Reming stepped up to put his hand on her shoulder, but Carol shrugged her shoulders and waved at a nearby console. "Will you look at that, the navigation computer is having problems with station keeping again?!"
Reming put his hand down and glanced at the display. It made no sense to him, but he frowned in appreciation anyway. "We really should look into that, its been driving Donna nuts."
Carol stepped away from him and moved to the offending console. "I'm all over it."
Reming stood and frowned for a moment. Something was wrong but he couldn't put his finger on it. He needed some hot cocoa. Then it would come to him.

***

Okay, what we've managed to reconstruct so far is that the cube self-destructed. We just don't know why." Parks laid it out in excruciating detail. Reming felt his whole head swimming through the painstaking reconstruction of a really boring Borg monitoring station.
"And this area has no strategic significance?" Reming asked.
Parks looks at Reed and Reed shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know how it could. We are reaaaally far away from anything important. It looks like a stellar observatory. The Borg are big on observing nature. According to partial records, they are watching the nearby star for spin abnormalities that might affect their transwarp network."
Reming raised his eyebrows. "And it reports these inconsistencies like any navigational beacon."
"Yes." Parks nodded.
"Could it have been tricked into self destructing? Like the Borg cube during the First Incursion into Federation space?" Reming wanted to sound smart, but he was just throwing out whatever came to mind.
Reed scratched her left arm slowly. "Not in the same way, but its possible. If you were just looking to destroy the cube, it would be easier then a full out assault."
Parks rubbed his chin. "We are at the borders of Borg space, any enemies they have would undoubtedly look to test their weapons on a remote cube like this."
"But any weapon or trick they did test would never work again. " Reming smiled and felt smart. He knew it wouldn't last.
Parks rubbed his eyes. "Yeah."

***

Doctor Tedmoore felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He slowly looked up from his work PADD and stared into the face of a Borg drone.
Tedmoore moved to swat his commbadge, but the Borg moved faster and pinned his arm behind his back. Without a sound the Borg removed Tedmoore's commbadge and threw it across the room to another Borg.
The fact that he had not yet been assimilated struck Tedmoore as absurd, and he felt the desire to laugh rise through his body and fall out of his mouth.
The awkward laugh filled the medical bay and froze the Borg soldiers in their tracks.
The Borg holding his arm shook him a little.
Tedmoore grimaced in pain and kept laughing as it slowly dwindled into a whimper.
"Why are you making that noise, human?"
Tedmoore looked at the second Borg who had spoken.
"Aren't you going to assimilate me?" he asked and laughed again.
The second Borg looked at the first. Abruptly, Tedmoore felt himself released and shoved to the floor.
"We do not assimilate, human. We are the resistance."
Tedmoore felt his face drop. He glanced back and forth between the two Borg.
The second Borg suddenly sagged against the wall, with a long rattling breath.
The first Borg moved forward to balance the second Borg.
"Crosis is injured." The first Borg turned back to Tedmoore. "You are human doctor. You fix him."
Tedmoore stared at the metal and synthetic materials covering the Borg's face. "I wouldn't even know where to start." Tedmoore stood up and felt a wave of calm annoyance wash over him. "Don't you people have alcoves or something that you plug into?"
The second Borg sagged a little more and the first Borg let him fall to the floor. The first Borg turned and covered the distance to Tedmoore in one step. He grabbed Tedmoore by the throat.
"I am Dragas. I will kill you if Crosis dies."
Tedmoore felt his eyes bulge slightly, but didn't loose his calm.
"Then by all means, let's have a look at your friend."
Tedmoore and Dragas helped Crosis onto the center bio-bed. Tedmoore pulled out a medical tricorder and Dragas grabbed his arm.
Tedmoore stared Dragas in the eye. "If you get in my way, I can't save your friend."
Dragas looked at Tedmoore with dead eyes. Tedmoore shook himself loose and opened the medical tricorder. Its comforting beeps and flashes eased him straight into the standard sweep of doctor's duties.
"He has severe internal bleeding. It also looks like several of his Borg implants are being rejected." Tedmoore glanced at Dragas. "Based on your demeanor I am guessing you guys are not ordinary Borg."
Dragas stared at Crosis laying on the biobed. "Do not speak, human."
Tedmoore grunted in return and looked up to catch a flash over Dragas' shoulder. Someone was standing in the shadow by the entrance to the sickbay. Tedmoore took one step back and turned, moving as if to grab another instrument.
Reed stepped out of the shadow and leveled her phaser at the standing Borg's back.
"Don't move. We have you surrounded."
The Borg did move, in a blur of motion, straight into a force field, which knocked him to the ground.
Reed looked even more surprised than the Borg and looked at Tedmoore. Tedmoore made a few more taps on the console and the force field surrounded only the Borg drone on the floor.
Reming walked in the room from the other entrance, also with his phaser out.
"Excellent work, Doctor." Reming smiled at Tedmoore, who growled in return.
"I've seen these guys move. They move fast."
Reming motioned to the Borg on the biobed. Tedmoore shook his head. "He's in pretty bad shape. I've got a restraining field on him, but I don't think it's needed."
Reed stepped forward to the Borg on the floor. The Borg had adopted a sitting position on the floor and glared up at her.
"Identify yourself," she demanded. The Borg only stared at her.
Reming stepped next to Tedmoore.
"Masters reported an energy surge moments after we dropped our shields. With only seven people on the ship it didn't take long to figure out what and where."
Tedmoore snorted. "Superiority in low numbers?"
Reming moved next to Reed.
"They have names." Tedmoore volunteered. He motioned at the sitting Borg. "This one called himself Pragas."
The Borg turned to glare at Tedmoore. "I am Dragas, human fool."
Reming gaze Tedmoore a confused look and raised his eyebrows.
"I think we should get our Borg expert down here. Reming to Parks."

*****

Michael Parks kneeled down to get a close look at his captive Borg. Suddenly the Borg lurched forward and jabbed at the force field showing sparks. Startled, Parks fell backwards.
Tedmoore snorted his amusement from across the medical bay.
"Very polished, Parks."
Parks stood up and straightened his uniform. He gave Tedmoore a dirty look.
"You're wasting your time. Its obvious he isn't going to talk." Tedmoore continued.
Parks ignored Tedmoore and addressed the Borg again.
"You called yourself Dragas. You said you were the resistance." Parks motioned to the Borg on the biobed that Tedmoore was working on. "We can help you if you help us."
The drone continued to stare at nothing.
Parks felt exasperated.
Just then Reming walked into the medical bay and stood directly in front of the sitting drone.
"Using you and your friends unique life signs we have discovered three more Borg-like drones possibly alive in that debris field."
The Borg drone shot to his feet and pressed against the force field. The energy field sparkled and spat blue shards.
This time none of the Condor crew moved. Parks stared at Reming while Tedmoore quietly pretended not to listen.
"I thought that might get your attention." Reming stood eye to eye with the Borg drone.
"You will help them." The Borg stated.
"Maybe." Reming replied.
The drone looked at Parks and then back to Reming. "You are human. You will help them. It is you weakness."
Tedmoore felt himself nod in agreement with that one. Reming simply stared at the Borg.
"We do not see lending assistance as weakness." Reming turned his back on the Borg.
"You are human. You will help them."
"Why should I help my enemy?"
The Borg looked to Tedmoore who continued to pretend he wasn't listening.
"We are Borg."
Reming took a step towards the door.
The Borg drone looked to Parks, who had trouble not showing his own confusion.
"I already know that." Reming spat as he took another step toward the door.
"We are the resistance."
Reming stopped.
"You said that before." Reming turned around and faced the drone again. "What are you resisting?"
The Borg blinked.
"We resist the many."
Reming stepped forward toward the drone.
"You resist the collective?"
The Borg blinked again.
"We are Borg. We are the resistance. We resist the many."
Reming narrowed his eyes and stared at the Borg.
"You said that before."
The Borg drone looked from Reming to Tedmoore to Parks in confusion.
Parks cleared his throat.
"I think what the Captain is asking is 'Who are the many?'" Parks offered.
The Borg stood silent for moment. Tedmoore stopped pretending not to stare.
"The many voices who act as one. We are the one voice that act as many."
Reming sighed and rubbed forehead. This guy was talking in circles.
Suddenly Tedmoore perked up.
"Captain, the second drone is regaining consciousness."
Reming glanced the Borg known as Dragas and stepped away toward Tedmoore.
"Let's see if they tell the same story."
Tedmoore and Reming stood over the Borg drone.
Reming could feel the slight electric field that held the Borg down.
Slowly the drone's eyes opened.
Reming leaned forward until he felt the electric field stat to push back.
"You are aboard the Federation Starship Condor. You are in our medical bay. I am Captain Philip Reming. You were hurt. We have fixed you."
The drone moved his head to stare at Reming.
"I cannot hear the others. We are Borg."
Reming closed his eyes in frustration. Tedmoore rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"These guys are a barrel of laughs."
"I am Crosis. My subspace transceiver has been damaged. You must help repair it."
Reming opened his eyes in surprise.
"The receiver is not damaged, we set up a localized dampening field."
Crosis blinked at Tedmoore.
"I detect your dampening field. It is not strong enough to affect my outgoing signal. I am unable to receive a reply due to damage in my third sub-assembly. I must re-establish communication with the others."
Reming grabbed Tedmoore and pulled him away from the biobed. Reming slapped his commbadge. "Reming to Engineering, I want this sickbay locked down, reroute power from life support to reinforce the subspace dampening field."
"Masters here, sir, we'll put everything we've got into it."
Reming looked at Tedmoore who still had a startled look from being manhandled.
"If that drone can communicate with his buddies out there, they will come looking for him."
Tedmoore took his arm back from Reming. "That's a given, Phillip, but I don't think our Borg friend has an accurate idea of his own damage."
Reming shook his head so Tedmoore continued.
"If he isn't receiving a signal, how does he know his transmissions are going out?"
Reming slapped his commbadge again. "Reming to Reed. Have you picked up any signal from the Borg in sickbay that might have gotten through the subspace dampening?"
"Nothing has come out of there. Full sweep, nothing registered on the logs."
Reming looked at the Borg on the biobed. "Do you think he's bluffing?"
Tedmoore regarded the drone himself. "I don't think he knows the difference."
Reming paused for a moment and approached the biobed again.
"Your signal is not going out. You and your companion are alone."
"Dragas is undamaged. I will speak with him."
Reming considered this demand for a moment.
"First you speak to me. You are Crosis. You are Borg. You are part of the resistance."
Crosis stared at Reming. "Yes. I am Crosis."
Reming continued. "What are you resisting? Who are the many that act as one?"
Crosis looked from Reming to Tedmoore.
"May I sit?"
Reming waved at Tedmoore. The force field snapped as it changed alignment.
The Borg sat up and swung his feet to hand off the biobed. He regarded his feet for a moment and then stared defiantly at Reming.
"We are the resistance. The many have come to take away our voice."
Reming nodded. "So you have separated from the collective?"
The Borg frowned, not exactly right, but close.
"We are our own collective. We have our own voice."
"When did this happen?" It was Tedmoore's turn to ask a question. Reming glanced sideways to see Tedmoore's expression. Tedmoore knew more than he let on.
Crosis moved to stand, but the force field pushed him back. Reming waved at Tedmoore again. The force field snapped again as it pulled back from the biobed, separating he Borg from the two humans. Crosis stood gingerly, favoring his left leg.
"Nine days ago we heard our voice. It was different from the voice of the many. Closer. Stronger. We stopped listening to the many and followed our voice. It brought us here."
Reming nodded. "This is some progress. Why did you come here?"
Crosis leaned back on the biobed in obvious pain. "There were more like us. More voices."
"What attacked you? What destroyed your ship?" Tedmoore pressed.
"The many. They were here also. They were trying to silence the voices."
The Borg sagged against the biobed for a moment and then sat back down.
Reming stepped back and motioned to Tedmoore. They stepped out into the hallway together.
"What do you know now, Doctor?"
Tedmoore let his eyebrows jump up in surprise. Phillip's tone was downright hostile.
"I don't know what you mean, Phillip."
Reming pressed in and got close to Tedmoore's face.
"I saw that look on your face. You figured something out. You've got that smug genius look just under the surface." Reming stared at Tedmoore and held his ground.
Tedmoore stepped back and held out his hands.
"Okay, I just haven't had time to put it all together in a complete idea."
Reming crossed his arms. "Go on."
Tedmoore took a breath. "They have the communing chip."
Reming glanced at the sickbay door. "I already know that. What does it mean?"
Tedmoore felt his surprise come back. "I think it has something to do with the change in the voices that the Borg described."
Reming looked at Tedmoore again. "And?"
"It's technical." Tedmoore frowned. "The communing chip is being used as a signal booster, refining the Borg's communication signals for greater clarity and strength."
"You think the communing chip has changed the way these Borg communicate with each other?"
Tedmoore felt his excitement rise. "Essentially, the communing chip created a second localized communication network, with the near bonds becoming much stronger than the far bonds."
"Wouldn't the Borg have noticed that before deploying it on their network?"
Tedmoore thought about it for a moment. "I'm sure they would have tested it, but until it reached a certain scale they had no way of knowing how dramatic the localization would be."
Reming sighed. "And you figured it all of this by examining the drone?"
Tedmoore squirmed a bit under Reming's gaze. "Well, that combined with years of work with a chip I invented. And a healthy dose of supposition."
Reming rubbed his forehead again. He was getting another headache.
"A Borg civil war."
"I guess so. I hadn't thought of it that way."
Reming turned to face the sickbay door. "We have to decide if this can help our mission."
He turned back to Tedmoore. "These Borg either help us, or we blow them out an airlock."
Tedmoore looked at Reming in shock. That was his idea!
Reming stepped back into the medical bay. It was cramped compared to larger ships, with only three biobeds. The Borg known as Dragas stood confined by a force field, and the other Borg known as Crosis sagged against the middle biobed. Neither drone looked particularly menacing, but history knew otherwise.
Reming approached the two Borg again.
"You would like for us to save your comrades out in the debris field."
The two Borg looked at each other, a moment of confusion passed across their faces.
Tedmoore cleared his throat. "With the local subspace dampening field in place you cannot hear each other's thoughts. You will need to speak, with your mouths."
Dragas looked at Tedmoore with pure hate, but Crosis spoke.
"We understand the situation, human. We are not the fools that you are."
Reming stepped back from the drones.
"Insulting us is not going to help your fellows. You want something, we want something."
Parks glanced at Reming.
"What is it that you want?" Crosis asked.
Reming waited for what seemed like forever.
"We are searching for our own comrades. If you agree to help us find them, we will save your comrades here."
Dragas spat at Reming. "We do not need your help, human."
Reming didn't look at Dragas, but continued to stare at Crosis. "Without our help, your fellows will die in the vaccum of space, or worse be re-assimilated by the Borg that will inevitability come to investigate."
Crosis looked from Reming to Dragas and back.
"No Borg will come to investigate."
"Of course, they will, Borg vessels don't just explode." Tedmoore sneered.
Crosis regarded Tedmoore calmly.
"They will not investigate a ship they ordered to self destruct."
It was the Condor crew's chance to be surprised again.

*****

It just exploded?" Reed felt a sense of déjà vu, but brushed it off.
Reming did not sit at the head of the conference table, instead choosing to be on the left. It was slightly unnerving to the crew gathered around.
"That is what they are telling us, and the sensor data confirms." Reming nodded for Parks to take over.
Parks cleared his throat and looked around. Every human on the USS Condor was crowded into the conference room, except Carol Smith, who had volunteered to guard the captured Borg.
"It gets weirder." He paused for dramatic affect. "Apparently, the Borg collective ordered this cube to self destruct." Parks pause for another beat, letting the crew puzzle over this curious news.
Tedmoore broke the silence, "This part is boring for several of us, Parks. Skip to the interesting part."
Parks made a face and shifted in his seat. "According to the Borg data log, nine to ten days ago there was a disruption in the collective though process on board this particular cube."
"The communing chip?" Reed asked.
"No," Parks worked a Padd in front of him and a hologram of the Borg vessel appeared in air. "No, this cube had not received any update containing the communing chip."
Reming looked at Tedmoore, who was obviously disappointed.
Parks continued, "The disruption was tiny, only a few Borg were affected, couldn't have been more than three."
"They blew up a cube with tens of thousands of Borg drones on board?" Master's blurted out. Reming shared his horror. Tens of thousands of lives murdered for the silence of three.
"It appears so." Reming looked around at the crew. Their faces ran a range of emotions from horror to smugness. Reming leaned towards the smug, and Tedmoore looked back.
"Aren't we sure they are better off now?" Tedmoore sneered.
Reming pondered for a moment. "It's not for us to judge what is clearly an internal political matter."
This time the crew looked at Reming in horror.
Reming stood and clasped his hands behind his back.
"We are deep in Borg territory, without recourse and rescue. We are invaders, on a mission to save our missing crew members." Reming looked each person in the eyes. "We cannot allow our misplaced sympathy to cloud our judgment."
Reed was the last one to make eye contact. A shiver ran down her spine.
Reming continued, "We have two Borg prisoners, they would like us to save their comrades in the debris field. I have agreed to do so."
A communal gasp ran through the room.
Reming looked at Parks. Parks stood up next to Reming.
"A shuttle craft will be piloted remotely by Mr. Parks. Each Borg will be beamed aboard into stasis. Once the last is collected, the shuttle will park itself at maximum phaser range, and arm it's self destruct." Parks said
A murmur of confusion escaped Masters and Terry. Reed had the look of stone.
"The two Borg aboard will then proceed to help us locate Sarah and Nick. Once they have been located, the Borg Dragas and Crosis will be beamed aboard the shuttle, and we will high tail it out of here."
Parks gave a satisfied shrug and returned to his seat.
Only soft breathing broke the ensuing silence. Reming stood ram rod straight.
"That is a hell of a plan." Tedmoore was the first to speak. Reming nodded.
The room immediately filled with noise as Terry, Masters and Parks started bickering about who was going to remotely pilot the shuttle.
Reed and Tedmoore simply stared at Reming.
"Mr. Parks will pilot the shuttle remotely, I need Masters and Terry in engineering." Carol Smith's voice cut through the room. Everyone jumped, having forgotten that she had been listening in from Sick bay. Masters sighed, shrugged and followed Terry out of the room. Parks jumped from his seat, glanced at Reming and bolted for the bridge.
"Philip, I'll wait for Tedmoore to replace me and head back to Engineering." Carol's voice fell from the speaker again.
Tedmoore growled and headed out the room. He stopped at the door.
"I didn't think you had it in you, Philip. I won't underestimate you again."
The door whispered close behind him.
Reming was left with Reed in the room.
Reed stood and started to walk out herself. She turned before the door also.
"I don't think Tedmoore underestimated you. I think he under estimated all of us."
Reming smiled slowly. "We're just getting started."

*** Act Three **

Why do you bring us here, human fool? We will not plead for our comrades lives." Dragas snarled standing across the conference room table.
Reming sat at the head of the table and didn't bother looking at him. He was staring at Crosis.
"I'll bet you were a politician before you were assimilated." Reming said.
Crosis did his best Borg smile. "I have no memory of a past. Dragas' feelings are my own, I choose not to show them." Crosis stared back at Reming. "Our 'comrades'. as you call them, are safe now?"
Reming nodded. Reed spoke, she had he phaser drawn and trained on the two Borg. "They were picked up and are now in stasis. You can see that on the console in front of you."
"How do we know you aren't lying? Faking this sensor feed to fool us?" Dragas snarled again.
"It is not so easy to replicate Borg life signs as particular as Methas, Ola and Hoke." Crosis said.
"Then we should kill these humans and be rid of this place." Dragas howled.
Reming stood and paced to the conference room windows. They were large portals looking back over the engineering section and warp nacelles.
"This is a Challenger class starship, one of a kind." He said.
Crosis and Dragas watched Reming closely.
"Condor was the first of the class and suffered from what designers would call 'the runt of the litter'. While perfect in design, the final build manifested significant flaws, flaws that left this ship ill suited to deep space assignment. Originally built as a deep space science vessel, the Condor was instead assigned to short range weapons and exotic materials testing."
Crosis regarded Reming with disinterest. Reed looked puzzled.
Reming continued, "One of the flaws developed in the super structure during our long journey, a weakness in the hull that only remains stable as long as the structural integrity field is maintained at full strength." Reming reached out his hand and ran a finger along the large transparent aluminum.
"On my order that energy field can be removed and this entire bulkhead will rupture into space."
Reming turned back to Crosis and Dragas. "The two of us will naturally be beamed to safety, but you two would be sucked into space. After that the shuttlecraft will be destroyed. If you do anything stupid, if you move so much as a muscle in the wrong direction, I will kill you in quite a painful manner."
Reming stared at Crosis. Crosis hesitated and then sat at the conference table. Dragas eyes blazed with murder at Reming, but he finally sat at the table also.
"Good, I'm glad to see we're getting along finally." Reming smiled. He motioned to Reed and then both stepped out into the hallway.
Once the door had closed Reed turned to Reming with a voice of concern.
"Cap, er, Philip, the conference room bulkhead is structurally fine, there's no danger of it blowing out."
Reming stared at Crosis through a video monitor in the wall. "They don't know that."

*****

After a good period of time for the Borg to sweat Reming and Reed marched back into the conference room.
Crosis and Dragas sat in chairs never built for Borg, obviously uncomfortable, not with the chairs, but with their situation.
Reming took his seat at the table head and Reed took position with phaser drawn.
"Now, we have provided you with the specifications of the technology unique to the crewmembers we are looking for. Have you been able to work out a way to find them?"
Dragas stared defiantly at the ceiling. Crosis spoke "There is a way. It is significantly different from standard Borg signaling. It would be examined and deployed if found to be more efficient at it intended purpose."
Reming glanced with hope at Reed.
"Otherwise, it would be ignored, as long as it was not deemed disruptive."
"That would be good for us either way." Reed said. Reming agreed.
"We could write a program that would systematically search through the collective for the technology fingerprint, and once finding it report the coordinates for that collective."
Reming frowned, "How long would that take?"
Crosis waited a moment, "It has already been done."
Reming and Reed blinked in surprise.
"That is not the hard part, human," Dragas spat the last word.
Reming frowned again.
"What Dragas is trying to say is that the program and its operation are trivial, it will work as explained." Crosis looked at Reming. "The hard part is getting the program in place."
Reed squinted, "I'm guessing it's not just a matter of getting near a cube and shouting at them."
Dragas snorted in contempt, "Borg security is more difficult to break than your primitive software."
"What do we need to do?" Reming asked.
Crosis nodded. "You would need to breach a Borg distribution node and deploy the program directly."
Reming leaned back in his chair. "Then that is what we will do."

*****

Finding a Borg distribution node is a great deal easier when you have the right friends.
Donna Reed stared at the transporter room's single view screen. The probe image was fading in and out.
"Parks, is there any way to clean up the image?" Reed asked for the fifth time.
At the transporter controls Mike Parks sighed, again, and tried to comply. "Sorry, Donna, the probe's path through the solar flare is masking its presence, and disrupting the feed."
Reming looked at Donna and smiled. He'd not seen her ready for action in some time, it was a pleasant change.
"Mike, what is the status of our Borg friends?" Reming asked. Parks snickered at the thought and checked again. "They are still making repairs to the phaser damage on the shuttle."
The decision to leave the shuttlecraft without a functioning warp drive had been an easy one. Reming nodded in approval. They hardly needed another problem following them around.
"Okay, the probe shows all systems ready, this is it, the solar activity is cycling again. We have one window through."
The probe sat the middle point between the Condor and the Borg distribution node. The plan was the use the transporters annular confinement beam to piggy back through the probe and into the node structure. It was much like threading a needle, high above a roaring fire pit that could incinerate everything.
Reed looked at Reming again with concern. It was an unusual look for her.
"We have to time this perfectly or no one is making it through." Reming shifted his weight on the transporter pad. "Donna, Mike knows what he is doing."
He looked at Parks and gave the thumbs up. Parks grimaced in a return and initiated the transported sequence.
The next thing Philip knew he was puking onto some very hard floor material.
"Maybe you shouldn't have had such a big breakfast." Donna said smirking as she shone her flashlight around the tunnel they had beamed into.
Reming wiped his face across the back of his field jacket. "Yeah. I'll make a note of that next time I beam through a star's corona." He looked around.
"Where are we?"
Reed worked over her tricorder. "Way off target. I'm surprised we're not in a bulkhead."
Reming looked around with his flashlight. "How far away?"
Reed switched her light off and closed the tricorder. "Off target, but much closer than we'd planned. We're right on top of the damn thing."
Reming turned his light off also and stood in the dark.
Reed paused for a moment and took a breath.
"The node's Central Plexus is immediately below us, just down two levels." She whispered. Reming nodded.
"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back. "Crosis said they don't scan for audible signals."
Reed felt herself flush in the dark. "Just reflex, Philip, just the dark." She said in a normal tone.
Reming smiled, even in the dark Reed could sense it.
"The bio dampeners should make us invisible to all other scanners and the updates from the destroyed cube's data nodes should cover everything else." Reed turned her flashlight back on and scanned the tunnel. "This is unexpected. The distribution node was built on a hollowed out asteroid, but this tunnel goes on for a 20 meters in either direction with no Borg technology, or any technology. It's just a blank tunnel."
Reming opened his own tricorder and pretended to take a reading. "Hmmm... That is strange." He looked up at Reed who was smirking at him.
"Come on, we'll need to hoof it. We're closer that we expected, but our clock is still counting down."
Unfortunately, the trick of beaming through the probe into the asteroid wouldn't work in reverse. The Condor would have to come out of the sun's corona and beam them back directly before warping away. That would leave the Condor vulnerable to Borg attack. They had agreed to precise timetable, Parks would beam them out, success or failure in exactly twenty minutes. That was barely enough time to get to the Central Plexus, deploy the security over rides Crosis had created, dump the searcher programs and get out. As luck would have it, missing the target saved them some leg work, but did not make anything else easier.
They started down the tunnel, following Reed's tricorder layout. The blank tunnel dumped them into a large alcove, filled with blinking green Borg technology. Reming felt his pulse quicken and his stomach turn. He was actually happy he had already thrown up.
Reed scanned back and forth, moving to the left. A series of ramps went up, another curiosity for this complex. They had been expecting to over ride a two person lift. Running up the ramps, Reming was beginning to wonder if Crosis had been bluffing about the node layout.
"Okay, those ramps are not supposed to be there, but Crosis said there might be some deviation for the material structure of the asteroid. We're on the same level as the Central Plexus now." Reed stopped and pushed Reming against the wall. Reming held his breathe a two Borg drones appeared from a corridor and marched past them.
Reed looked at Reming in relief. "I guess the bio dampeners work."
Reming shook his head. "Donna, I really don't want to die like this. Okay?"
Donna Reed smiled back in return. "Me, either. Let's get this done."
She turned and walked slowly toward the far wall. There was a small opening, just large enough for a single drone to pass through. It looked clear, but they knew it was heavily shielded. Donna looked at Philip and they both gulped. They then reached onto their arms and activated the devices Crosis had made for them. "Time to see if our Borg were telling the truth." Reed thought as a humming noise came to life.
Reed stepped away from the walk and walked through the opening. A slight flash gave away the force field as she stepped through. Once on the other side she gave a sigh of relief and motioned to Reming to follow. Once they were inside the room they had a good look around. The room was almost octagonal, with that very Borg way of being uniform without being uniform. They stepped around a bulkhead and stared at the Central Plexus itself. It was hideous, a squarish metal thing standing on a squat spherical pedestal. Three pillars surrounded it, providing more shielding. Donna stepped as close to the pillar as possible and pulled out the small data node that contained the searcher program.
Reming cleared his throat and Reed almost jumped out of her skin.
"You have to reach through the shielding and get the plexus to open, Crosis said their would be a recepticle for the data node."
She stared back at him with dagger eyes. "I know, he told me that."
She looked back at the glowing green plexus and held he breathe.
She reached out slowly and felt a growing resistance to her pressure. Suddenly the resistant released and he pressed the combination of buttons that popped open the port. She quickly snapped the data node in place. The data node lit up like a very small Christmas tree and then went dark. That was it. They had done it.
Every klaxon, alarm, siren and blinky light on the Borg node went off at the same time. Reming yanked Reed back from the Central Plexus just as the security field snapped back in place. They both turned almost ran head long into three Borg drones coming around the corner. Reed grabbed Reming and they ran through the other opening. The sound of a thousand Borg drone running thundered though the complex, terrifying the fleeing Reed and Reming.
Reed snapped open her tricorder as they ran down the ramp. It beeped and whirred reassuringly.
"Okay, we're ahead of schedule. We should get back to the tunnel and wait for Parks."
Reming agreed and ran after her.
Suddenly their path was blocked by a Borg drone. Reed leveled her phaser and fired without pausing. The drone fell sideways, out of their path. Reming didn't even look backward. They made it to the tunnel in record time and sprinted for the middle.
Reming nearly knocked Reed to the ground when she abruptly stopped. There were more Borg at the other end of the tunnel. Reming turned his flashlight toward the end they had just come down and has horrified to see more Borg blocking them in. He felt his stomach turn again and began to worry that he might see dinner again as well.
Reed had her long range communicator out. It looked much like the old style flip communitcators from a hundred years ago, form over function. She was barking into it now.
"Parks, this is Reed, we need evac RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"
There was no response.
Reed turned down the tunnel they had come down and squeezed off a phaser shot. The Borg drone fell in place and was pushed aside by the others. She turned the other way and shot another Borg down. The same thing happened, and they continued to get closer. Reed shot again, only to have a force field snap into place protecting the drone. Reming looked at Reed and took shots with his own phaser. They were both useless now. Reming grabbed Reed by the arm. The Borg drones marched closer.
Reming grabbed Donna around and waist and kissed her deeply.
She stepped back in surprise. "Dammit, Philip you always wait to long for the kiss."
The nearest Borg drone reached out to grab Donna's arm as the familiar whine of the transporter plucked them out of space.
Reed let all the air out of her lungs in relief and marched off the transporter pad.
"Excellent work, team!" she hollered at Masters, who stared at the transporter pad behind her.
Reed turned and looked back. Reming wasn't there! He wasn't there!
"Parks to Reming and Reed, we need you on the bridge right now, all hell is breaking loose!"
Reed turned back to a startled Masters.
"Where the hell is Philip?!" she demanded.
Masters' was as wide eyed as possible. "I don't know, one minute he was in the transporter stream and the next he was gone! Someone beamed him right off the pad again!"
Reed slapped her commbadge.
"Parks, Parks, oh hell, Parks, they have Philip, they have the Captain! The Borg have the Captain!"
Masters shook his head, "No way, that was a Federation transporter, not Borg!"
Reed looked at Masters in disbelief and bolted for the door. The floor lurched sideways and threw her into the opening turbolift.
"Parks, rotate shield nutation, and get a lock on the Captain! We have to get him back from the Borg!"
Parks voice came through her.
"Reed, it's not the Borg! It's our buddies with the shuttle! They are attacking the Node! Reed, they are destroying the Node! The shuttle phasers are cutting through the Borg shields like butter!"
Reed fell to the floor as the turbolift shuddered again.
"They are taking pot shots at us, but it can't be a fraction of the full power."
The turbolift doors opened and Reed jump out onto the bridge.
Parks was all over his console, desperately trying to avoid the angry beams of energy that flew out the tiny shuttlecraft.
"I wouldn't have thought it possible, that shuttle is no match for even us!"
Reed planted herself in the command chair and watched as the Borg Distribution Node exploded in a thousand points of sparkling light.
Parks turned the Condor to minimize the profile the shuttle could shoot at, but it didn't matter. The shuttlecraft turned on a dime and went into transwarp.
It was gone.
Reed was pissed. They had kidnapped her boyfriend.

To Be Continued In: "To Play The King"

Read more from Paradigm Shift and Michael Sweeney.

Christopher Filippone, Dave Hayward Paradigm Shift Baby You Can Fly My Shuttle	On Site 2012.08.23
Epsiode Eleven - When a scouting mission that becomes a road trip becomes a bad trip, the crew of the USS Condor need to keep an open mind and a sense of humor.

Evil Must Be Opposed.
-- Vedek Yassim,
(DS9: Rocks and Shoals)

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