IKC FHew 7C6110
Resistance is Futile – Making Headway
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Post Details
Aft
Ro' felt the push as the ship shifted to warp. He paused in his welding and lifted his visor. Currently he was right next to the Starboard Housing of the core and could hear the hum of the EPS. He had not given an order to go to Warp. He pulled his communicator from his belt.
"Ro' to Bridge. Status?" he barked.
No response. He might be to close to the radiation housing which could block comm signals. He rose, crossed to the wall panel and pushed the Comms button. "Ro' to Bridge?"
Still nothing. Comms had been operating after the fight with the Nihlus. Tell may have routed power from them for another system. Something didn't feel right though. He had been in charge of this ship for decades and could feel the normal running of it: and it was out of kilter.
He threw his welding torch back into the kit, pulled off the protective mask and headed for the ladder.
Infirmary
Germite managed to wrench his hand free of the Drone's grasp. The passionless face continued to watch he and Marie as the modified Targ shuddered in the background. What ever the Borg were using it for, it was taking a toll on the beast. They both felt the gentle shift as the ship moved to warp. The Drone spoke, again as if her voice had been dubbed in from another.
"We are under way. We will arrive at our destination in 12 minutes. You should prepare."
Prepare? Marie thought. Prepare for what?
“Where are we going?” The drone did not respond. She turned to Germite. “Any ideas?”
He shook his head. It was a hopeless situation. "It seems that I lack the ability to stop or even slow this drone. We definitely can't overpower it." He searched the counter looking for something that he could use to neutralise the drone.
“The drone isn’t hostile; not yet anyway. I suggest we wait and see what awaits us.”
"Resistance IS futile," the Drone intoned on cue.
Germite continued his search. He pointed to the Targ. "If we can't kill the drone, maybe we can kill the Targ." He picked up a hypo and programmed it to inject a high concentration of saline into the Targ.
"Death is irrelevant," the Drone intoned again.
“Not to me, it isn’t” Marie muttered.
Germite stepped around the drone and injected the Targ with the saline solution. He stepped around again and crossed the room back to Marie.
It was at this point that Jared wandered past, reading a Data Access device with a curious frown on his face. He took in the Drone, the modified Targ attached to the wall, and the two humans as if he had simply walked into the mess hall in the middle of a meal.
Marie noticed Jared standing in the doorway. He had a distant look on his face as if his thoughts were miles away. As yet, he had not been noticed; she held up a hand to forestall him coming in.
Jared blinked at her. Then he glanced carefully into the infirmary and noticed the visitor. And the... changes...
"Oh... yes... of course..."
He seemed to be somehow comparing the presence of the drone to the information on his datapad. Marie couldn't help but wonder if he'd somehow missed what was happening.
Bridge
On the bridge HIchop had managed to drag Thor'nan away from the two Drones standing at tactics. He gave him a quick check and confirmed he was breathing and lightly sedated. There was no sign of Borg conversion that he would normally have expected to see.
Tell was checking monitors. The weapons, defence and drive systems were all reading as off-line. However they were moving at Warp and no other systems had been touched. Communications was still not responding, but that was being blocked at the relay somehow, and there was some glitch with the sensors that she couldn't quite pin down.
The Beq at the useless helm looked at the two ranking officers nervously, "Why board our ship and take control, but not assimilate us? And why take the ship as a whole instead of carve it up?"
Hichop looked at the two drones. His last encounter did not end well for him he however it had left him
Confused. Why had the Borg not assimilated or at least killed him?
The Borg obviously had a plan but what was it? Hichop called out, "Borg closest to me. State designation and purpose".
The Borg continued to monitor the readouts on the tactical display, ignoring the question. The other was scanning the bridge but making no attempt to interface with anything. HIchop was determined to get a reply. He had not been killed In his last encounter. Perhaps the worst that could happen was another sleep.
He swiftly moved towards the Tactics drone with enough force that, had he hit it, would have jolt the Borg off task. But just before collision he had a different idea. HIchop pulled himself back and composed himself. Reaching forward he tapped the Borg on the shoulder and repeated. "Borg, state designation and purpose".
The Borg looked around slowly, surprised by the contact. Surprisingly it responded, "We are 17 of 32. We are monitoring upgrade of this vessel and minimising crew interference."
Tell stood with her hands on her hips, her fingers drumming away incessantly while her mind relentlessly jumped from one fixation to another. It was like a jigsaw puzzle and although she had most of the pieces, some of the edges were still missing. She sighed in frustration and picked up her adapted PADD to see if she could somehow bring the comms back up.
After a few hits it bleeped into action but it told her nothing more than the damn relays
The second drone looked to Tell and spoke. When it did the voice brought cold shudder to everyone in the room. It was the voice of a little girl; a voice they remembered well.
"Oh, Tell. You're not allowed to interfere with the upgrades. Where is the Big Teddy Bear? Is he still in charge or has HIchop killed him and taken over? That would be a pitty. We wanted him still in command."
Tell stepped back almost dropping the PADD she was holding. It was a voice she never expected to hear again. A nervous smirk appeared at the corner of her mouth, if this was a joke it was in very poor taste and badly timed. Pulling herself together she addressed the drone.
"Hope" she whispered and then said the first thing that came into her mind. "Did you pop in to bring my teddy bear back? You could have kept it you know."
"No," the drone spoke with the little girl's voice. "The toy was destroyed by the explosives May'bel placed inside it, when you destroyed the body of the one you called Hope. But she is not lost. She was one with us, and all that she was remains with us. We have added her distinctiveness to our own. We still have her memories and all that she was in the collective. Her death is irrelevant."
With Hope gone all that was left was this thing standing in front of her. If she had a choice the drone would be spaced and Tell would think nothing of it other than liking it to squashing an ant under the heel of her boot.
She tried to keep the sound of her voice level and emotionless.
"So come on then tell me. Why are you here?"
"Making your dreams come true," the Drone showed no emotion, though Tell could almost believe there was amusement in the voice. "We are repairing your ship, and upgrading your systems. Then we will give you a chance to kill Borg. You will find out all you need to know in seven more minutes."
"So not six minutes and fifty nine seconds then?." replied Tell with her arms folded across her in mock defiance. "Or seven minutes and one second? Just seven minutes." What the hell was going to happen in seven minutes?
"Six minutes, and 43 seconds," the Drone supplied.
A barely plausible snarl escaped from the corner of Tells mouth. She turned away from the irritating and annoying drone muttering curses as she did so.
Infirmary
Germite picked up a Targ prod. He dialled up the power to the maximum setting. "Let's see what this will do." He stepped back around the drone and up to the Targ. He poked the Targ with it and pressed the activate button.
The Targ squealed as the electricity was carried by the combination of saline and nanobots in its blood. There was a smell of cooked meat and the Targ slumped to the floor. The drone didn't even turn around, it simply vanished in green glow.
Now that, Marie thought, was spectacular!
“Pity we can’t do that to the drone,” she said to Germite.
She looked across to where Jared was standing just outside the doorway.
Jared looked thoughtful.
"Umm... I'm not sure it would have been necessary. As weird as it might seem... I don't think this is actually an attack."
"At least, if it is, they've executed it in a rather ineffective manor. Given they've just given me detailed files on exactly what they're doing."
He held up the pad.
Bridge
Suddenly the Tactical panel came to life. The block on sensors provided by the Borg Targ, which allowed the Borg to approach undetected, dropped and suddenly a Borg scout ship was flying next to them. The Long range sensors also picked up what seemed to be a fleet of Borg ships and the FHew was heading straight for them!
Tell could only look on and stare at the sensors unwilling to believe what she was seeing. "What the hell is going on here? Why are we rushing towards them and not running in the opposite direction?" she asked no one in particular.
The Beq waved towards the unresponsive Con, "No Helm Control."
"The Drones in Engineering are making sure that you do not try taking your engine off line, either. We want to make sure you make it in one pie..."
There was a thump as the door at the rear of the bridge was kicked open. Ro' stepped through with a disruptor in each hand. He fired simultaneously and both Borg drones staggered and fell dead, though one did continue to twitch for some time.
He turned to HIchop, "Get Thor'nan to medical."
Then to Tell, "Get down to engineering and get me my engines back."
Lastly to the remaining Beq, "Get everyone up here to the bridge. We have five minutes before we reach that fleet. I want everyone here, NOW!"
Engineering
Tell knew this ship like the back of her hand. Slight in build but very flexible the engineer was able to crawl through the tightest of crawlspaces with ease. She'd stripped off her uniform and was was wearing a work vest that held a few tools and tight leggings. She needed nothing to hinder or obstruct her.
The panel she need to get to was halfway down the narrow passage above and to the left of engineering. From here she might be able to rig up some kind of shock wave that could in theory short circuit the drones for a little while, (there was a slight possibility it might knock everyone else out too) But it might give her just enough time to get the engine room back under control. It was a risk and some part of her didn't hold out much hope but she had to try.
She took the front of the panel off and breathed a sigh of relief as it looked normal and showed no sign of Borg intervention...yet. However appearances could be deceptive and so she had to be on her guard.
Methodically and at a steady speed she disconnected and rerouted cables. Just a few more seconds. she told herself That's all I need A stubborn connection refused to budge and was costing her valuable time. She bit her bottom lip as she fought with it but it had been damaged sometime and some part of it had welded itself together.
Suddenly without any warning she was thrown against the sides of the crawlspace and a searing pain shot through her hand. For a moment she literally saw stars. Tell fought off the effects and turned back to the panel quickly but found she could get nowhere near it now. A force field had sprung up preventing her from doing any thing more. A small voice in the back of her head told her she might not be so lucky next time. Tell ignored the voice and moved on thinking of another way but they knew what she was trying to do now.
Bridge
Tell was the last to return to the bridge. Many of the crew had been surprised to find the Borg had invaded the ship without their knowledge. Ro' looked at Tell as she arrived?
"Well?"
"Well what?" she snapped back at him taking a seat. "If you are asking about the engines forget it. I tried everything I know in the book and a few others. I was blocked every time." Tell held up her right hand to show the warning she had received. A burn cut its way across her palm telling her that if she tried to interfere again, she wouldn't be so lucky.
"ToH!" Ro' gritted his teeth. "We are locked on a course to join a Borg fleet. We have no weapons, shields, cloak, or helm control, and only a few minutes of reserve power left. Options?"
Tell grumbled under her breath, "Triple A batteries"
Ro' continued, "The Borg took us completely by surprise. IF they had wanted to we would all be dead now. So why aren't we. Of all the times for Hawk to be comatose, this may be the worst. Does anyone have any GOOD news?"
Jared raised his hand.
"I think I do, Captain. We're not dead because the Borg aren't actually attacking."
Ro' looked at Jared confused, "And the Vulcan's are into Dance Parties? Explain yourself."
He held up a data-pad.
"For reasons best known to themselves, they've given me detailed information on exactly what they're doing to our systems and, the best I can summerise it, that they seem to be... fixing them. Or upgrading them."
He passed Ro the data-pad.
Ro' glowered at the PADD but as he continued to read his glower became a look of surprise and amazement.
"As best I can tell from my scans of the affected systems, they're following those upgrade schematics to the letter, and not doing anything more."
"We appear to be the victims of a Borg drive-by makeover."
"I can't 100% confirm that they're not deceiving my scans and they're actually doing something quite different, but frankly... it doesn't seem like the Borg to misdirect like that. They're known for bluntness, and they're not actually much good at lying."
The coms came alive and 'Iw'a'na' voice came over, "HoD, we are approaching weapons range of the fleet."
Ro' threw the PADD back to Jared, "We still don't have access to any of these systems, drive, weapons, shields, not even cloak. At least we have internal Comms and sensors back. Let's see if we are about to get some answers. All hands to battle stations!"
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Post Details
| Title | Making Headway | |
| Mission | Resistance is Futile | |
| Author(s) | HoD Ro' Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Sogh Germite Ephilom & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Marie St. Helene | |
| Posted | Fri Oct 05, 2012 @ 2:15am | |
| Location | IKC FHew | |
| Timeline | After going to Warp |
Aft
Ro' felt the push as the ship shifted to warp. He paused in his welding and lifted his visor. Currently he was right next to the Starboard Housing of the core and could hear the hum of the EPS. He had not given an order to go to Warp. He pulled his communicator from his belt.
"Ro' to Bridge. Status?" he barked.
No response. He might be to close to the radiation housing which could block comm signals. He rose, crossed to the wall panel and pushed the Comms button. "Ro' to Bridge?"
Still nothing. Comms had been operating after the fight with the Nihlus. Tell may have routed power from them for another system. Something didn't feel right though. He had been in charge of this ship for decades and could feel the normal running of it: and it was out of kilter.
He threw his welding torch back into the kit, pulled off the protective mask and headed for the ladder.
Infirmary
Germite managed to wrench his hand free of the Drone's grasp. The passionless face continued to watch he and Marie as the modified Targ shuddered in the background. What ever the Borg were using it for, it was taking a toll on the beast. They both felt the gentle shift as the ship moved to warp. The Drone spoke, again as if her voice had been dubbed in from another.
"We are under way. We will arrive at our destination in 12 minutes. You should prepare."
Prepare? Marie thought. Prepare for what?
“Where are we going?” The drone did not respond. She turned to Germite. “Any ideas?”
He shook his head. It was a hopeless situation. "It seems that I lack the ability to stop or even slow this drone. We definitely can't overpower it." He searched the counter looking for something that he could use to neutralise the drone.
“The drone isn’t hostile; not yet anyway. I suggest we wait and see what awaits us.”
"Resistance IS futile," the Drone intoned on cue.
Germite continued his search. He pointed to the Targ. "If we can't kill the drone, maybe we can kill the Targ." He picked up a hypo and programmed it to inject a high concentration of saline into the Targ.
"Death is irrelevant," the Drone intoned again.
“Not to me, it isn’t” Marie muttered.
Germite stepped around the drone and injected the Targ with the saline solution. He stepped around again and crossed the room back to Marie.
It was at this point that Jared wandered past, reading a Data Access device with a curious frown on his face. He took in the Drone, the modified Targ attached to the wall, and the two humans as if he had simply walked into the mess hall in the middle of a meal.
Marie noticed Jared standing in the doorway. He had a distant look on his face as if his thoughts were miles away. As yet, he had not been noticed; she held up a hand to forestall him coming in.
Jared blinked at her. Then he glanced carefully into the infirmary and noticed the visitor. And the... changes...
"Oh... yes... of course..."
He seemed to be somehow comparing the presence of the drone to the information on his datapad. Marie couldn't help but wonder if he'd somehow missed what was happening.
Bridge
On the bridge HIchop had managed to drag Thor'nan away from the two Drones standing at tactics. He gave him a quick check and confirmed he was breathing and lightly sedated. There was no sign of Borg conversion that he would normally have expected to see.
Tell was checking monitors. The weapons, defence and drive systems were all reading as off-line. However they were moving at Warp and no other systems had been touched. Communications was still not responding, but that was being blocked at the relay somehow, and there was some glitch with the sensors that she couldn't quite pin down.
The Beq at the useless helm looked at the two ranking officers nervously, "Why board our ship and take control, but not assimilate us? And why take the ship as a whole instead of carve it up?"
Hichop looked at the two drones. His last encounter did not end well for him he however it had left him
Confused. Why had the Borg not assimilated or at least killed him?
The Borg obviously had a plan but what was it? Hichop called out, "Borg closest to me. State designation and purpose".
The Borg continued to monitor the readouts on the tactical display, ignoring the question. The other was scanning the bridge but making no attempt to interface with anything. HIchop was determined to get a reply. He had not been killed In his last encounter. Perhaps the worst that could happen was another sleep.
He swiftly moved towards the Tactics drone with enough force that, had he hit it, would have jolt the Borg off task. But just before collision he had a different idea. HIchop pulled himself back and composed himself. Reaching forward he tapped the Borg on the shoulder and repeated. "Borg, state designation and purpose".
The Borg looked around slowly, surprised by the contact. Surprisingly it responded, "We are 17 of 32. We are monitoring upgrade of this vessel and minimising crew interference."
Tell stood with her hands on her hips, her fingers drumming away incessantly while her mind relentlessly jumped from one fixation to another. It was like a jigsaw puzzle and although she had most of the pieces, some of the edges were still missing. She sighed in frustration and picked up her adapted PADD to see if she could somehow bring the comms back up.
After a few hits it bleeped into action but it told her nothing more than the damn relays
The second drone looked to Tell and spoke. When it did the voice brought cold shudder to everyone in the room. It was the voice of a little girl; a voice they remembered well.
"Oh, Tell. You're not allowed to interfere with the upgrades. Where is the Big Teddy Bear? Is he still in charge or has HIchop killed him and taken over? That would be a pitty. We wanted him still in command."
Tell stepped back almost dropping the PADD she was holding. It was a voice she never expected to hear again. A nervous smirk appeared at the corner of her mouth, if this was a joke it was in very poor taste and badly timed. Pulling herself together she addressed the drone.
"Hope" she whispered and then said the first thing that came into her mind. "Did you pop in to bring my teddy bear back? You could have kept it you know."
"No," the drone spoke with the little girl's voice. "The toy was destroyed by the explosives May'bel placed inside it, when you destroyed the body of the one you called Hope. But she is not lost. She was one with us, and all that she was remains with us. We have added her distinctiveness to our own. We still have her memories and all that she was in the collective. Her death is irrelevant."
With Hope gone all that was left was this thing standing in front of her. If she had a choice the drone would be spaced and Tell would think nothing of it other than liking it to squashing an ant under the heel of her boot.
She tried to keep the sound of her voice level and emotionless.
"So come on then tell me. Why are you here?"
"Making your dreams come true," the Drone showed no emotion, though Tell could almost believe there was amusement in the voice. "We are repairing your ship, and upgrading your systems. Then we will give you a chance to kill Borg. You will find out all you need to know in seven more minutes."
"So not six minutes and fifty nine seconds then?." replied Tell with her arms folded across her in mock defiance. "Or seven minutes and one second? Just seven minutes." What the hell was going to happen in seven minutes?
"Six minutes, and 43 seconds," the Drone supplied.
A barely plausible snarl escaped from the corner of Tells mouth. She turned away from the irritating and annoying drone muttering curses as she did so.
Infirmary
Germite picked up a Targ prod. He dialled up the power to the maximum setting. "Let's see what this will do." He stepped back around the drone and up to the Targ. He poked the Targ with it and pressed the activate button.
The Targ squealed as the electricity was carried by the combination of saline and nanobots in its blood. There was a smell of cooked meat and the Targ slumped to the floor. The drone didn't even turn around, it simply vanished in green glow.
Now that, Marie thought, was spectacular!
“Pity we can’t do that to the drone,” she said to Germite.
She looked across to where Jared was standing just outside the doorway.
Jared looked thoughtful.
"Umm... I'm not sure it would have been necessary. As weird as it might seem... I don't think this is actually an attack."
"At least, if it is, they've executed it in a rather ineffective manor. Given they've just given me detailed files on exactly what they're doing."
He held up the pad.
Bridge
Suddenly the Tactical panel came to life. The block on sensors provided by the Borg Targ, which allowed the Borg to approach undetected, dropped and suddenly a Borg scout ship was flying next to them. The Long range sensors also picked up what seemed to be a fleet of Borg ships and the FHew was heading straight for them!
Tell could only look on and stare at the sensors unwilling to believe what she was seeing. "What the hell is going on here? Why are we rushing towards them and not running in the opposite direction?" she asked no one in particular.
The Beq waved towards the unresponsive Con, "No Helm Control."
"The Drones in Engineering are making sure that you do not try taking your engine off line, either. We want to make sure you make it in one pie..."
There was a thump as the door at the rear of the bridge was kicked open. Ro' stepped through with a disruptor in each hand. He fired simultaneously and both Borg drones staggered and fell dead, though one did continue to twitch for some time.
He turned to HIchop, "Get Thor'nan to medical."
Then to Tell, "Get down to engineering and get me my engines back."
Lastly to the remaining Beq, "Get everyone up here to the bridge. We have five minutes before we reach that fleet. I want everyone here, NOW!"
Engineering
Tell knew this ship like the back of her hand. Slight in build but very flexible the engineer was able to crawl through the tightest of crawlspaces with ease. She'd stripped off her uniform and was was wearing a work vest that held a few tools and tight leggings. She needed nothing to hinder or obstruct her.
The panel she need to get to was halfway down the narrow passage above and to the left of engineering. From here she might be able to rig up some kind of shock wave that could in theory short circuit the drones for a little while, (there was a slight possibility it might knock everyone else out too) But it might give her just enough time to get the engine room back under control. It was a risk and some part of her didn't hold out much hope but she had to try.
She took the front of the panel off and breathed a sigh of relief as it looked normal and showed no sign of Borg intervention...yet. However appearances could be deceptive and so she had to be on her guard.
Methodically and at a steady speed she disconnected and rerouted cables. Just a few more seconds. she told herself That's all I need A stubborn connection refused to budge and was costing her valuable time. She bit her bottom lip as she fought with it but it had been damaged sometime and some part of it had welded itself together.
Suddenly without any warning she was thrown against the sides of the crawlspace and a searing pain shot through her hand. For a moment she literally saw stars. Tell fought off the effects and turned back to the panel quickly but found she could get nowhere near it now. A force field had sprung up preventing her from doing any thing more. A small voice in the back of her head told her she might not be so lucky next time. Tell ignored the voice and moved on thinking of another way but they knew what she was trying to do now.
Bridge
Tell was the last to return to the bridge. Many of the crew had been surprised to find the Borg had invaded the ship without their knowledge. Ro' looked at Tell as she arrived?
"Well?"
"Well what?" she snapped back at him taking a seat. "If you are asking about the engines forget it. I tried everything I know in the book and a few others. I was blocked every time." Tell held up her right hand to show the warning she had received. A burn cut its way across her palm telling her that if she tried to interfere again, she wouldn't be so lucky.
"ToH!" Ro' gritted his teeth. "We are locked on a course to join a Borg fleet. We have no weapons, shields, cloak, or helm control, and only a few minutes of reserve power left. Options?"
Tell grumbled under her breath, "Triple A batteries"
Ro' continued, "The Borg took us completely by surprise. IF they had wanted to we would all be dead now. So why aren't we. Of all the times for Hawk to be comatose, this may be the worst. Does anyone have any GOOD news?"
Jared raised his hand.
"I think I do, Captain. We're not dead because the Borg aren't actually attacking."
Ro' looked at Jared confused, "And the Vulcan's are into Dance Parties? Explain yourself."
He held up a data-pad.
"For reasons best known to themselves, they've given me detailed information on exactly what they're doing to our systems and, the best I can summerise it, that they seem to be... fixing them. Or upgrading them."
He passed Ro the data-pad.
Ro' glowered at the PADD but as he continued to read his glower became a look of surprise and amazement.
"As best I can tell from my scans of the affected systems, they're following those upgrade schematics to the letter, and not doing anything more."
"We appear to be the victims of a Borg drive-by makeover."
"I can't 100% confirm that they're not deceiving my scans and they're actually doing something quite different, but frankly... it doesn't seem like the Borg to misdirect like that. They're known for bluntness, and they're not actually much good at lying."
The coms came alive and 'Iw'a'na' voice came over, "HoD, we are approaching weapons range of the fleet."
Ro' threw the PADD back to Jared, "We still don't have access to any of these systems, drive, weapons, shields, not even cloak. At least we have internal Comms and sensors back. Let's see if we are about to get some answers. All hands to battle stations!"