One-Way Trip

Posted on Mon Jan 13th, 2014 @ 1:48pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Horatio Hawke & Lieutenant Ciaran McIntyre & Lieutenant JG Ethan Kessel

Mission: Remnant Part 2
Location: Borg Cube

"They're not doing anything." One of the volunteers noted as the transporter beam dissipated, leaving the away team alone on the Borg Cube. "They're just... standing there!"

"Keep your voice down, Crewman." Lieutenant Thiffault hissed as they crept past the Borg drones who stood glaring with cold, empty eyes into vibrant green consoles. "Per'aps they don't expect us to board them again."

The Crewman nodded and they continued their slow progress toward the inner sanctum of the Cube. Their tricorders were leading them to converge on this location and there was a massive bio reading on the scanner.

Thiffault came to a sudden stop and motioned for the four-person team to get down. They cowered behind a corner as a phalanx of Borg tactical drones marched past their position. "All right, let's go. Keep your heads down."

[Meanwhile, Elsewhere on board the Cube]

Scorpius of Borg allowed the data to flow through him. Connected as he was to the Cube's central processing Unit, the Borg Controller could feel every nut and bolt, screw and rivet in the ship. Diagnostics and scan results where only ever a thought away. Such infinite control over the cube was a mastery of Borg Technology. The Access port to the control system was a network of nerve-controlled wiring, the interface of which took the appearance of some form of grotesque chair, or throne.

The Controller opened his eyes.

"They have come..." He muttered. Then he send a thought throughout the Ship wide Hive-Mind. Throughout the ship, the drones and workers hesitated in their tasks, and began to retreat, clearing a path to the control room.

Praetorians. To your posts...

His will commanded.

And they activated. A full foot taller than conventional drones, they towered above every Borg apart from the Controller. Fully armoured with enhanced exoskeletons, and armed with wrist-mounted disruptors, phasers, and other weapons, and each sporting melee weapons, courtesy of assimilated Klingons. But when a green shine to them, of a Borg alloy. A certain affront to any Klingon.

Controllers did not last long, and to ensure a proper replacement was available by the Controller's death, it was essential that the defacto ruler of the Borg Collective was protected, however short his reign.

The Praetorians' weapons armed. Scorpius gave a small smile.

[Starfleet Away Team]

"Are they standing down?" Crewman Tanner whispered as the Borg drones seemed to either stand aside or return to their regeneration alcoves. "I think they're standing down."

"Easy," Thiffault placed his palm flat, trying to quell the excitement in the group, "Borg don't 'ave shift changes so be careful. Follow me."

They continued through the halls as the Borg parted like the Red Sea before them. Every step brought them closer to the realisation that fighting through hordes of Borg Drones would have been preferable to whatever awaited them at the end of the corridor.

Chief Durant was covering their rear, her heart thumping loudly in her chest and adrenaline pumping to every cell in her body. The deeper they went among the Borg, the more she felt suffocated and cut off. Why did I volunteer? she asked herself, adjusting her grip on her phaser rifle and second guessing every shadow she saw.

"Okay, hold up. I think this is eet." Thiffault said as they approached a sealed door which towered several metres above them. He realised that he had never seen a Borg door before. It seemed at odds with their aesthetic; sleek, almost shiny in the dim light of the vessel. "What do you have?"

Tricorder at the ready, Crewman Tanner surged forward and placed the tricorder against the panel by the side of the door. I've got a number of human lifesigns, Sir."

"Can you narrow it down to ze Captain and Kessel?" Thiffault whispered.

"I should be able to narrow the parameters based on their medical records. Aerin, hand me that Medical Tricorder, will you?"

The Med Tech passed forward his tricorder, suddenly feeling naked without it. He had never had cause to use a hand phaser and without his tricorder felt wildly out of his depth.

"Okay, I've got them." Tanner said in hushed tones.

"You know the drill," Thiffault said to the small team, "Alphas, you take your tactical shots. When you see the drones turn on you, you fire. Keep them off us long enough for the Betas to hit the Captain and Kessel with a heavy stun."

He looked around at terrified faces nodding enthusiastically. It didn't sit well with him. "Betas, as soon as you have them, attach the pattern enhancers to them and activate them to send them back to the ze Endeavour. Then both teams converge on me and provide cover while I lay the charges. Understood?"

The teams echoed their understanding of the plan. The plan was all well and good but something told Thiffault that things weren't going to be that simple.

Durant checked her rifle for about the tenth time in the last two minutes. She was ready. Whatever they were about to encounter, she would give as good as she got and if she died today, she would be taking as many Borg with her as she could.

The advanced Borg warriors where already armed. They whirred as Kessel linked with them, abandoning the last vestiges of independent sentience, surrounding themselves to the Borg Controller. Now they were one Unit. Fingers forming a fist.
Kessel reached up and pulled his own weapon from its holding rack. They would be hear soon, Scorpius new it. He has access to the one known as Kessel's memories, and soon enough would have the Captains as well. He knew that the human weakness would cause them to waste time and energy attemptingna futile attempt at rescue. It was irrelevant.

Thiffault gave the order with a simple nod and the tricorder was set to burst the lock. The shrill chirp was followed by the grinding of the door as it slid slowly to the side. "Go!"

The away team threw themselves through the door as Thiffault dropped to his knees, beginning to activate the charges. The primary team launched forward, sending bolts of vicious red light crashing into the chests of the Borg drones that approached them.

They stumbled, but did not fall. Scorpius barked a command and the Borg raised weapons and shot lances of emerald energy towards them.

"The Captain!" Tanner shouted, throwing the transport pattern enhancer forward to the point man effortlessly. The captain was a stationary target, prone as he was on an assimilation bed. Though he was incapable of moving his own body, his eyes were still capable of showing his thanks for the rescue before he was de-materialised for transport.

The team immediately turned on their heels and dashed their way across the chamber toward Kessel. The drones were closing in on them and beginning to create an impenetrable net but Tanner could see a way through- they could move faster than the plodding Borg.

Not fast enough. They were quickly pinned in position and Tiret was thrown to the ground by one of the Praetorians. They seemed to have little interest in assimilation. "Keep moving!" Tanner shouted as the Praetorians closed around them.

They seemed to hold more Klingon traits. It was obvious to the away team that they should have been scythed down by the preposterous armament that each cyborg carried but they seemed more intent on getting close enough to kill the away team with their hands.

That played to their advantage.

Tanner body-checked one of the drones in front of them and they pushed forward to Kessel's throne. The hideous homunculus which now held Kessel seemed to be whirring into life. "Scorpius" seemed to try to speak.

"Save it for the Docs." Tanner grunted as he slapped the pattern enhancer onto the exoskeleton.

Kessel evaporated into molecules as the Borg drones seemed to lose their focus. Their threat indicators seemed to ramp up without a solitary controller and they turned on Thiffault setting the charges in the corner.

Tanner's team mangled their way through. "How are you getting on?"

"They're ready to blow." Thiffault replied quietly. "Without Scorpius to distract them, they can just deactivate them though. They'll need to be done manually. Prepare to beam back."

"Sir, you can't..."

"Well you're sure as hell not doing it, Crewman." Thiffault exclaimed, slapping his comm badge. "Mac."

"You've done it, Oli!" McIntyre's response was clear as day. "You've got them. Blow the thing and let's get you out of there!"

"I'm sending the team back. We lost Tiret- tell her kid that I'm sorry. I've got to blow the charges manually. The detonator. It's... they can stop it."

A long silence ensued, punctuated by the Borg who seemed to be coming around to a sole purpose once again. "Understood. You're a maniac, Thiffault. That's what I've always liked about you."

The away team disappeared in front of him as Thiffault found himself alone, being encroached on by legions of Borg. McIntyre's last words to him echoed in his ears. "Good luck, Olivier."

"Where I'm going, I won't need luck. Thiffault out."

The Borg reached him just as his finger fell on the trigger command. He felt nothing as the tendrils of the Borg entered his neck, he felt nothing as the white hot explosion obliterated him, the Borg, the chamber, and the Cube. He felt nothing.