What is Necessary

Posted on Mon Oct 28th, 2013 @ 11:18am by Lieutenant JG Ethan Kessel & Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Ciaran McIntyre & Lieutenant JG Zam Stott [Byrne]

Mission: Remnant Part 1
Location: Borg Cube

As the away team materialized inside the Borg cube, each officer swung their rifles around to check that the area was clear; the bright illumination from the barrel-mounted flashlights causing a stark contrast to the low-level green illumination favoured by the Borg. The away team consisted of the captain, lieutenants McIntyre and Kessel, three security officers, and Doctor Serafim; the chief researcher from Station Hyperion.

"Remember," Byrne said, addressing the group as a whole. "The Borg should ignore us until they consider us a threat. Only fire when necessary; we don't know how long it will be until they adapt. We'll find the objective, carry out our mission, and beam out. Let's go."

"The Engine would need massive amounts of power to run, I am willing to bet we'll find the propulsion system close to the original power source. Can we get a lock on Its energy signature from here?" Ethan asked.

McIntyre tried to make sense of his tricorder readings as the biosigns of what seemed like a million Borg cluttered his display. "I'll try filtering out the Borg signatures. I think we're probably all aware that they're everywhere by now."

"That's cleared it up a bit." McIntyre whispered. "I'm picking up a strong power signal coming from a point a couple of levels below us."

"The data nodes should be near the core, so we can hit them at the same time," Benjamin said, as he moved around towards the direction McIntyre had indicated, intending on leading the group. "Let's go."

"The borg have no imagination. If this was a romulan ship we'd be running around for hours looking for the correct passage ways." Ethan said.

"Wonderful at mass genocide - atrocious at interior design." He said dryly.

"One thing to be thankful for- the Borg's lack of cunning." Ensign Brooks said timidly from behind the main group, her phaser rifle dipped to the floor.

The group of officers moved through the cube quickly, passing only a small number of drones as they went. As expected, they were completely ignored with their phasers aimed at the deck. Thankfully, the cube seemed to be in enough of a state of disrepair that the Borg hadn't set up any EM field to disperse transporter signals, and so the shuttle's transporter systems were able to get the team in relatively close to the power reading.

"You'd think being armed at all would be enough to have them crawling all over us." The Ensign piped up again, sounding decidedly more nervous.

As the team turned at a fourth junction, they found the green iridescence of the cube's own lighting overcome by the bright orange glow of the open core.

"Wow. That's impressive. I have to hand it to you Doctor - you and your boys certainly know your stuff... This is amazing..." Ethan said, awestruck.

Hanging like a sun held within a forcefield, the core was an impressive sight, and was surrounded by a number of consoles - some of which matched the design of the research station in their casing, but which now displayed the Collective's operating software.

The chamber housing the core was huge, with suspended walkways leading towards the cube and its surrounding consoles, and only four entrances. Ben leant out to take a look down. "There' a tunnel down there. It looks as though the Borg brought the systems for the core directly through the ship from the Chariot."

"We can't just go randomly pressing buttons. They have ripped this engine out of its original system with about the same precision as a sledge hammer. If that containment field is ruptured, without first disabling the core - or at least reducing it, or we'll be causing a Supernova big enough to rip the nearest star-system in two. Its also pumping out enough radiation to kill us in seconds. So, umm, would you do me a favour and keep those phasers away from the controls?" Ethan asked, cautiously. Perhaps he was being overcautious, but the system was suspended in an equilibrium he was loath to disrupt without understanding its implications.

McIntyre turned away from the consoles and began a complicated series of hand signals that seemed less than necessary, given that they seemed to be alone in the chamber. His security team followed his eyes and moved to their respective positions, holding a pattern around the core.

"Doctor, can you give me a hand here? We've found your missing Core, but we need to make sure every trace of this masterpiece is purged from the Borg's memory. We'll know we have done it - they'll start shooting us."

"We should try to download as much of it as we can," Serafim said, already taking out a tricorder and moved towards one of the consoles and opening it. "With the attack on the station, this is the only place where all our research is. If the Borg were able to recover the files from either the Chariot or the station, our work might not be lost!"

"Doctor!" the captain snapped, looking over as he helped the security team keep watch. "Our objective is to stop the Borg from possessing this technology. If that means it takes you longer to rebuild it, then so be it. Locate the data nodes which contain your research and indicate them so that we can set charges."

"It's in these three," the doctor answered, pointing to the oddly-shaped data modules attached to consoles around the chamber - two near the core, and one near one of the exits.

"Okay, Frost." McIntyre passed the instruction onto the demolitions expert on the security team. "You heard the man. Get those charges set, let's get out of here and I'll buy you a bottle of that Ruliian Saard that you're so fond of."

Even as the doctor spoke, he set his tricorder on the nearest one and set it to download. "Or we could try to take the core with us. The Borg's tunnel they brought it through from the ship is still open. If we can clear the end of it, we can eject the entire apparatus into space and take it with us." He moved to another console and started tapping commands into the Borg interface. After only a few taps in, an alarm started to sound.

"We've been made," the captain said, starting to make his way back from the farthest node where he had set a shaped charge. "Doctor, we don't have time for this. Set the core to overload - now."

"No!" the doctor call back. "We have to save this! This is years of work!"

"Don't be a fool!"

"Lieutenant Kessel, can you set the core to overload without the Doctor's help?"

"I think so, but I have no way to set any sort of delay for it! As soon as I do it, it will go into meltdown, so we are going to have get out of here as quick as we can!" Ethan said.

"Do it - quickly."

Ethan moved across the console at seemingly lightning speed. His fingers a blur as various diodes, switches, buttons and configuration were moved, adjusted and readjusted, attempting to trigger a dangerous overload. The trouble was, there were so many safeguards and fail-safes that it was impossible to do so. Eventually, the green pulses began to flash an angry red.
Before he could continue however, the unmistakable, hollow thud of Cybernetic feet on metal plates filled the air.
The dank humidity of the room began to press in on the away team as the piercing whine of the green targeting points began to loom out of the darkness.

"Here they come. Make your shots count- don't fire unless you absolutely have to." McIntyre's statement was punctuated by the knowledge that they would need to fire and do it soon.

Ethan continued as fast as good as phasers shot over his head, flooding the room with flashes of orange lights.

"Let's move it people!" the captain shouted, as he fired off another shot at the next Borg to come into the chamber.

"Go!" Ethen said, making a decision. The flashing orange lights turned a blood crimson. For a Borg ship, it was disturbing.

"The Core is set to melt down - the charges are set, mission accomplished, now lets..." he began to say, but even as he spoke, the alarm that had alerted them earlier suddenly changed pitch, become an extremely high siren. The Red lights began to flash.

Ethan scanned the screen and punched it.

"Damn it! The Ships detected the overload and its applying counter measures! Its trying to prevent the overload! But if it doesn't work, then this room is going into containment! We have to move fast before the fluctuating fields of that core stops us beaming out! Get moving! go!"

As the others began making their way along one of the walkways towards an exit, Doctor Serafim stayed where he was. "You can't destroy it," he said, drawing the attention of the others back to him. His eyes were locked firmly on the back of Ethan's head. His expression changed, as though he had just made a decision. "I won't let you!" With that, he raised his phaser.

Stott was the closest to the doctor, and ran to grab hold of the man's arm and lower the weapon. The two struggled, but the Doctor's adrenalin had fueled his strength, and he bested the security officer. The Bolian was thrown over the edge of the walkway and fell down to the unseen bottom of the tunnel.

His arm now free, Serafim raised his phaser again and fired it.
Ethan turned at the last moment.

Then the Phaser struck Kessel in the Chest.

"So of a..." Ethan began, he stumbled backwards. He tried to pull his phaser free from where it had hung uselessly from his belt as he had tried to reset the overload. His fingers couldn't grip the handle. He crashed to the ground, where he lay, writhing.

"Easy, Doctor!" McIntyre shouted as he discharged his phaser and the heaving thud of the Doctor's body collapsing to the floor rang in his ears.

Ethan tried to pull himself to his feat, but a stunning pain in his chest prevented him from doing anything then, a Drone above him reach down, and with, with cybernetically enhanced strength lifted him from the floor, holding hi a goof foot above the ground, holding him by the throat. Ethan tried to struggle, then with a soft hiss, two silver tubes ejected from the Borg's wrist, into his heck.

Ethan choked, then went still.

Firing with his phaser rifle at the Borg which had just had its assimilation tubes in the neck of his officer, Byrne ran to the engineer, stopping at a crouch in front of him. The Borg fell to the ground with a metalic thud, dropping Ethan again.

"Lieutenant!" he called, acting on instinct.

Ethan's eyes widened.

"Captain!" He tried to shout a warning - but he could only manage a strangled cough. Then he fell to ground, either dead or unconscious. He didn't move.

Bryne tried to move him, to drag him back to the exit.

He didn't even notice the Borg coming up on his right until it was too late, and he felt the sharp sting of its own set of assimilation tubes enter his neck. On reflex, he dropped his phaser and turned to try and pull them out, but the nanoprobes worked fast, and shut off his brain's control of his own limbs, and he slumped to the floor.

"Captain!" McIntyre called out, trying his best to move towards Byrne but found his path blocked by drones.

While he still had control of his eyes and mouth, he looked over at Ciaran, and called out; "Go!"

McIntyre raised his rifle as his security team did their best to peg back the advances of the drones. He took the Captain in his sights and felt his hand begin to tremble as his finger hovered over the trigger.

Just as he went to fire- a humane act, he thought- a drone passed in his sights and blocked his view forcing him to send a useless phaser bolt into the drone's leg.

McIntyre rose to his feet, backing slowly away from the advancing drones as the security team continued their fruitless attempts to slow them. He spoke quietly to himself. "Good luck, Captain Byrne."