Assimilation

Posted on Wed Dec 18th, 2013 @ 12:26am by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant JG Ethan Kessel

Mission: Remnant Part 2
Location: Borg Cube
Timeline: After failed attempt to destroy Borg cube

Benjamin watched helplessly through his own eyes, with no control over his body as three Borg drones stood over him, bringing new pieces of cybernetic components to attach to his body. He could feel the nanoprobes near his skin altering the section of his body where the components were attached; fusing the pieces of machinery to his body and interfacing them with the nanites streaming through his blood.

He knew enough about the Borg to understand at what stage of assimilation he was at. In the very early stages of assimilation, the mind remains mostly intact, but separated from control of the body whilst Borg drones begin the full assimilation process. They would be fitting him with the minimum requirement of cybernetic components to turn him into a generic drone until they made the determination of what kind of drone to turn him in to.

His remaining self-awareness he had always theorised to be an intentional state on behalf of the Borg, rather than anything coincidental. Aside from the physical state of the body, the Borg appeared to use the intelligence and learned skills of those they assimilated to make the determination of what kind of drone to turn them in to; Starfleet tactical officers, even those well past their prime or with an injury that would have otherwise prevented their continued service in that capacity were often turned into tactical drones when assimilated, and engineering officers were often turned into maintenance drones. Maintaining an individual's consciousness whilst a link was made with the hive mind - even if it was just the hive of a single cube - enabled the Borg to assess the skills of the individual to turn them into the right kind of drone. Benjamin morbidly wondered what kind of drone they would turn him in to.

"The nano-probes will complete their work shortly. Soon, you will be assimilated. But your functionality will be delayed in reaching its full potential... For the moment." Scorpius said.

It took a great deal of mental will, powered by his intense curiosity for Ben to be able to move his gaze enough to focus on the individual who had spoken to him, and he was shocked when he looked upon the face of his chief engineer.

By now his own assimilation was fully complete. All resources had been pulled in the effort of completing this new form of Drone. Scorpius was a full head taller than the other Drones. From the waist down, every shred of humanity had been obliterated, leaving armour plated cybernetic legs, clawed feet, moving with faint hiss. An entire eye had been replaced with a complex sensor array, and upon his arms, a variety of tools, weapons and other systems lay. Flashing diodes containing the entire schematics, systems, and controls of the Borg vessel.

"I am Scorpius. I am the Borg. Designation: One of All."

Benjamin tried to speak, to ask the many questions swimming in his mind. What was Scorpius? Why are these Borg different to the others the Federation had encountered? Had Admiral Janeway's pathogen failed to neutralise the collective? Try as he might, he could only form the questions in his mind; the Borg had removed control of his body from him to the extent where he could no longer move his mouth to form the words.

"Janeway's Pathogen almost destroyed the Borg. Her genocidal hatred almost obliterated the entire Borg Race. The Unicomplex - the Borg Homeworld - is gone. For all of humanities weakness, you adapted well. You did whatever you could in order to survive. That is something very Borg.

"But this vessel survived. Crippled, but alive. Only one drone in a billion was naturally resistant to the infection. Only one in a trillion immune. But those survivors manufactured a cure... The Borg are rebuilding. Janeway's efforts are irrelevant. Your resistance, has been proven futile."

Byrne realised that his assimilation must have reached the stage where his mind was accessible to the Collective of this vessel; Scorpius must have plucked the questions from his mind just as easily as if the captain had spoken them aloud. As he made this realisation, he began to hear the whispers of the Collective as if listening from across a large room; the sounds echoing around his skull just on the edge of his awareness. He tried to focus he thoughts to forming one more question; What are you doing here?

"The Borg have been separated. We are not in harmony. Factions are emerging within the Borg. Separatists, desiring individuality. Another result of Humanities corruption of the Borg. Without harmony, the Borg are becoming weak. They have become flawed, because of these.

"The technology taken from Project Hyperion will allow the Borg to rebuild the collective. Seperatists will be re-assimilated. Scorpius of Borg's Function is to-"

You can't create a new Queen... Benjamin's realisation must have been strong enough to filter through his link with Scorpius, as the Borg stopped mid-sentence. Byrne knew that the Borg made use of a special variety of their assimilating nano-probe in order to turn a regular Borg into a Queen in order to being order to the chaos of so many minds linked with no direction. In past instances of a Queen being destroyed, the Collective had simply created a new one. The pathogen must have corrupted the protocols in the royal nanoprobes... stopping you from creating a new Queen.

"Irrelevant. Borg Drones are damaged by the introduction of secondary nanoprobes. Multiple probe subspecies results in membrane psychosis. New subjects are required to achieve harmony."

"Previous collective Controllers lasted between four hours and seven days. The estimated survival period of this latest incarnation is 14 days. After which, the cortex of Commander deteriorates, necessitating the introduction of a new Controller. This cycle will repeat until satisfactory stability of the Borg Nano-probes has been achieved. This will likely occur following at least four hundred and sixty generations. Present incarnation of Scorpius Project is seventy three. Your function will be Command Drone, Seventy four. Designation One of all," Scorpius informed Bryne.

Kessel's days were numbered. And when they were gone, Bryne would become the Commander of the Borg vessel.