writen by: Todd Kelley <toddk@Cadence.COM>, or <TMedia1000@aol.com>
PRELUDE: PREVIOUSLY ON STAR TREK HELIX
It began Stardate: 44001.4
Without warning, they invaded the Alpha Quadrant and spread across the
known galaxy with an unstoppable hunger for power. The Federation was the
first to fall. With their technology and skill assimilated, the enemy went on the
conquer the Breen next. The Romulan & the Klingon Empires united as a front
to stop the marauding invaders. But they were quickly overwhelmed in size and
numbers. The Cardassians never had a chance. Even with detailed information
and newly designed weaponry, their stand at Cardassia Prime was nothing more
than a refueling station for assimilation…
Scattered across the galaxy, refugees from most of these conquered worlds
pulled together to form The Maquis; the resistance force to oppose The New Borg
Order.
Now, in the aftermath of their major strike against the enemy, only one
ship remains. In a last ditch effort to free the planet of Bajor: one of the few
planets left inhabitable for life, the Borg have reaffirmed their programmed battle
cry…
———————————-
CHAPTER ONE: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
Stardate: 47988.3
Space above Bajor was littered with what was left of the Maquis
Resistance. Borg Drones; small pyramid-shaped attack crafts tumbled end over
end, releasing disruptor shots from each of their four points; each shot finding a
target somewhere upon the last resistance warship. The Helix weaved and
bobbed its way around debris and laid plasma-charges which seemed to be their
most effective defense.
“In coming!” Tash yelled as the Romulan-trained Vulcan braced himself.
Plasma torpedoes erupted as they struck the ship’s rear shields. It banked hard
left causing the three surviving crew members to fall from their stations. Captain
Alex Garrett crawled his way to the communications station. Without a second
thought, he pushed aside the body in the chair and tried and reestablish their link
with any surviving Maquis warships.
Mia, Tash’s older sister frantically tried to relay information to her
captain. “We got three Drones decloaking ahead of us! Damnit!! I can’t get any
response from the automated defenses or the nano-tech repair systems.
“ETA to the Borg-Prime?!” Alex asked.
“Four minutes…if we last that long!” she called out from the weapons
station.
Alex tried to patch a distress call out to anyone listening, but his cries for
help fell upon dead ears.
The Helix flew in directly for the large cubed ship which loomed in the
background. Sensing the incoming threat, the Borg ship unleashed it’s own
defenses in the form of a melee of plasma torpedoes.
“Damnit! We’re not gonna make it!” Alex struggled to the Captain’s
chair and laid in a rough course. “Tash, get us close in on the small ships! They
won’t be too quick to fire with us too close!!
Their small cruiser banked a hard left and then streaked directly at it’s
pursuers. The Borg-Drones maneuvered outward and responded with a barrage of
torpedoes. Two struck the Helix, and blew off small pieces of hull.
Mia’s station exploded, throwing her backward. She quickly rose to her
feet and stumbled to the science station; not even noticing the large bloody gash
on her forehead . “The warp core is still stable! But we got three plasma
conduits blown!”
“We’ll have to manually reroute power to the main deflectors from
engineering. Can you get down there?” Alex stumbled to her position.
“Negative! I’m reading hull breaches ship wide, and containment-field
power was diverted to the shields! There’s no one else alive except us!” She
furiously ran her fingers over the console. “I think I can get some the tactical
patterns the auto-phaser systems reinitialized. But I’m not promising anything!”
“Do what you can!”
The pursuing Drone ships continued to bombard the Helix with phaser
power, slicing off the small ships hull piece by piece. It dipped and dodged,
trying to use debris for cover as two more ships decloaked and joined to pursuit.
Flickering lights and damaged equipment covered the floors while the
remaining three bridge crew-members did what they could to keep their ship
together.
“Alex. We can get a thirty percent power boost to the shields if we
shutdown all life support, save the bridge.” Tash reported.
“Do it!”
Tash suddenly pulled the ship with a hard right angle. Two drown ships
decloaked in front of them. And it became apparent that the Borg were corralling
them into a trap.
By the end, twelve pyramid ships surrounded the Helix in a spherical
formation, and the giant cube ship slowly approached toward them. But unlike
previous attacks, the pyramids didn’t pound the small ship into submission. They
seem to pause in mid-space, as if waiting for the Helix to make the next move.
Alex, Tash, and Mia stared at the flickering viewscreen. The picture was
fuzzy, but they could see the enormous Borg foreshadowed in the distance.
“What the hell’s going on?” Tash said. “Why aren’t they attacking?”
Tash rerouted power to the sensors and attempted to scan the enemy.
“Their weapons are powered and locked on us, but their waiting for something.”
his console beeped. “Wait a minute. Their attempting a full sensor scan of the
ship. But something’s wrong.”
“What?” Alex walked behind Tash.
“I don’t know. Their sensors are being disrupted by our shielding
technology. But that doesn’t make any sense…”
“Alex” Mia turned to him. “There’s an incoming message from the
mother cube.” After a few moments of silence, he nods to her. Through the haze
of static and smoke, a face slowly materialized on the screen. It was the first of
his race to be assimilated. The former humanoid captain who first encountered
the Borg at sector J-25.
“I AM LOCUTUS OF BORG.” The figure wore a mesh of gray and black
technology. The only human parts revealed were on third of his face. “YOUR
ATTEMPTS AT ESCAPE ARE FUTILE, HUMAN.” the thing said forcing an
automated grin on what was left of it’s face.
Alex kept his calm. “That seems to be the case, Jean-Luc.”
There were ten seconds of uncomfortable silence and then…
“RESISTANCE IS FUTILE….” the thing broke the ice.
Alex grinned. “I know, I know. We figured that out a while back.” he
started to pace, as if projecting an aura of confidence to comfort his crew. “Tell
me something…uh… Locutus, is it?”
“CORRECT.”
“Why are we still hear? Why haven’t your little pyramid ‘do-hickeys’
blown us away?”
“THE CONSCIOUSNESS HAS TARGETED YOU AND YOUR CREW
FOR ASSIMILATION. WE HAVE SCANNED YOUR SHIP AND FOUND IT
UNFIT TO WITHSTAND OUR ATTACK. YOU WILL DROP YOUR
SHIELDS AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED.”
Alex was caught off guard. The Borg had already scanned them, so they
should have been able to penetrate the shields and disable the ship. Or they could
have just destroyed the ship altogether. There was more this than they were
letting on. Could it be that through all the humanoid asimilation, The Borg had
learned how to lie?
He decided do a little fishing. “I’m sorry Locutus, but in your scans you
should known that your attack disabled some primary ship operations. We don’t
have access to the the shield controls or any other technology at the moment.
Their was another long pause. “THAT IS CORRECT…”
Alex glanced over toward Mia. He saw her hands slowly moving over her
console. She glanced up toward him and winked.
Alex continued to fish… “Uh…If we don’t fix the systems locks, this ship
will…self destruct in seven minutes. With the three of us working …we should be
able to power down in…in five minutes. According your initial evaluation, isn’t
that a correct assumption, Locutus?”
Their was another long pause. “THAT IS CORRECT, ALEX GARRETT.
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES…..”
The screen change to a forward view and Tash and Mia turned to Alex,
who was still pacing.
“O.K. people, we gotta figure out what the hell’s goin’ on here. One:
they’re having trouble penetrating our shields, Two: for some reason, they’ve
target only us for assimilation. And three: the freakin’ Borg are trying to lie their
way onto the ship. The missing piece of the puzzle is right in front of our faces,
and we got five minutes to find it.”
“Let me check something.” Tash said running his fingers along his
console.
“What’s up?” Mia asked.
“Just give me a minute….”
Mia jumped from her seat and dashed for the engineering console. Alex
followed behind her. Her fingers raced across the console until the data she
requested sprang to life. She smiled.
“What do you got?” Alex asked.
Mia brought the data on the main viewscreen. “You were right. For some
reason, they’re scans didn’t show that we still have a few tricks up our sleeve. We
got major damage across the board. But….” she pointed to the screen. “This
subsystem still has a couple things intact. Yes!! The Trans-Fold system is still
online, and what appears to be some type of …disruption field generator.”
“What does it do?”
“I don’t know, It’s some of the tech we acquired from the Borg-Core near
Vulcan. Captain La Forge didn’t have any time to run field testing. But it is some
type of weapon.”
Mia’s words awakened something in Tash’s memory. He frantically
analyzed his theory.
“Can you get them operational in time?” Alex asked Mia.
“They already are…as of thirty seconds ago.” she brought up the comm
system. “The problem would be….”
Suddenly the comm system began to light up.
Tash turned to Alex. “It’s Locutus hailing us. He must think something’s
up.”
“Just a second. Continue Mia.”
“The only problem is the Fold System takes up a lot of energy. If we use
the disruption field as the diversion, it’ll take about 90 seconds to channel what
power we have left to the Fold Systems for the jump; that’s barring any damage
from enemy fire when we take the shields offline.”
“What if we don’t drop the shields?”
Mia shook her head in frustration. “Anywhere between five to seven
minutes.”
“Dammit!!” Alex yelled as he began to pace again. He glanced at Tash’s
direction and saw the Vulcan tense and staring at Locutus’ hailing signal. “Patch
me through.”
In an instant, Locutus was back on the viewscreen.
“HAVE YOU RESTORED SYSTEMS, ALEX GARRETT?” the Borg
asked.
“Almost. Two minutes until assimilation…” Alex smiled at the man-thing.
Locutus forced the artificial grin again and the screen went black.
“I got it!” Tash yelled. The other two looked at him.
“Fill us in.” Alex said.
Tash took a moment to gather his thoughts, and then… “Our shields…the
protected systems…the primary core. It’s all derived from Borg technology we
acquired from the assault on the Core at Vulcan.”
“Yeah.” Mia responded. “And that should make it easy for them the
override and assimilate the ship with no problem.”
“Wrong!!!!” Tash yelled with enthusiasm. He put his findings onto the
main viewscreen. “We’ve always assumed since the Borg ships are made up of
individuals forming one unison collective, that all Borg Cubes were linked the
same way!”
“A natural assumption…”
“But what if we’re wrong?” Tash played with the console. “When we
attacked and destroyed the Cube at Vulcan and acquired the technology, all Borg
ship which derived from that specific Core either shut down or self-destructed. I
believe each cube is like an independent colony! They don’t automatically share
information like individuals in a collective.”
“It makes sense. Score one for my little brother” Mia replied and Tash
grinned.
“My god.” Alex said with a smile. “That’s why they didn’t kill us. They
don’t want us, they want the freakin’ ship!”
“The Cube at Vulcan developed this technology, but didn’t get a chance to
upload it to the other collectives! Now they plan to get it from us.”
Alex knew they had to capitalize on Tash’s theory. “Mia, get the Fold
system ready as soon as possible, for when we make a run for it!”
Mia agreed as she ran back to her station.
Alex took a deep breath. “Tash, on screen.”
“HAVE YOU RESTORED SYSTEMS, ALEX GARRETT?” Locutus
blankly asked again.
“Yes. Yes we have. We are ready to drop shields and give command of
the ship to the Borg.” Alex slowly walked to his seat. “Locutus?”
“YES, ALEX GARRETT?”
“What can we expect from becoming part of the Borg. Is it different from
our present existence?” he glanced over at Mia, hoping to give her enough setup
time.
“EXPECTATION IS IRRELEVANT. DIFFERENCE IS IRRELEVANT.
YOU WILL BECOME ONE WITH THE BORG…”
“And another thing; this assimilation crap… Is it painful?”
The thing smiled again, but this time with a little more enthusiasm. “PAIN
IS IRRELEVANT. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.”
“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought you’d say.” Alex replied. His two Vulcan
officers looked back at him nervously. “We’ll drop shields in fives seconds. Stand
by…”
The screen went blank. All three warriors sat in their assigned areas
awaiting their final chance at escape.
“Get ready….” Alex said.
Tash ran his fingers over the console. “Our shields are down….. Their
shields have dropped!”
“On my mark…” Alex replied.
Suddenly, the faint appearance of four transporter signals started to appear
on the bridge.
“NOW!!!” Alex yelled.
The bridge’s lighting dimmed and a thundering rolled across the bridge.
“Mia!” Alex yelled. “What the hell is happening?”
“The disruption-field generator juicin’ up. Hold on!!!”
The four transporter signals suddenly began to shake violently and rip apart.
Outside: from the Helix’s deflector mechanism on the underbelly of the
ship, a spherical shockwave pushed outward toward the small Borg-Drones. The
Borg cube tried to raised it’s shields but the shockwave engulfed all of them in a
matter of seconds. The low edge of the Cube erupted in a blaze of firestorms
which spilled over to nearby smaller ships. The Borg-Drones were overtaken by
an explosion; their shields couldn’t withstand.
“That’s our cue!” Alex ordered.
The Helix pushed its way through all the commotion and raced a
maximum impulse. The Cube, damaged and all, picked up speed for pursute.
Alex watched in awe at the destruction they left behind as his ship slipped
into warp. He hoped to at least disorient the enemy long enough to get out of
weapons range. But this was extraordinary.
“God, what was that?” he whispered.
Tash replied. “According to the sensors. It some sort of shockwave
generated by the shield generators. Apparently the wave grew exponentially. It
had some type of phase harmonics which allowed it to synchronize with the
shields frequency. The cube suffered 28% damage on it’s lower left edge”
“The others?”
“The Drones were heavily damaged. None are fit for pursute.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about that thing! We should’ve used that in the
first damn place! What about the Fold System, Mia?”
She scurried across the bridge to the engineering station and then the
tactical station. “Give me 75 seconds! The anti-matter and plasma needs a stable
transition for the fold process…”
The Borg cube gained enough distance to shadow the Helix from the
nearby sun. The small ship banked hard to the right and pushed away from it’s
pursuer.
“They’re having trouble getting a weapons lock, but I don’t know how long
I can keep this up!”
Alex stumbled to the command chair. “Come on, Mia!”
“Thirty seconds…” she replied…
Locutus’ face popped up on the screen. “ALEX GARRETT! YOUR
ACTIONS ARE IRRELEVANT; YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THE BORG!
ESCAPED IS IRRELEVANT; THERE IS NOWHERE TO HIDE!”
“Well, we’re sure as hell not gonna make it easy for you” Alex responded.
As the others turned and looked at him,
Mia shook her head and smiled. “Way to go, Alex. That showed him.”
“That’s why I’m the Captain.”
“ESCAPE IS IRRELEVANT! RESISTANCE IS FU–” suddenly the
screen changed to a forward view.
Tash turned around. “I hope no one minds…”
“Fifteen seconds!” Mia shouted. “I’m configuring the warp nicelles to
initialize the fold temporal sync.”
From the Borg cube’s under-belly, a trio of shimmering, spinning orbs
rushed toward the Helix.
Tash was the first to see them. “Alex, we got three type-5 multi-quad
torpedoes locked on us! Impact in twelve seconds! I’m adjusting course to
dodge…”
“No!!” Mia yelled. “We’ll loose the trajectory for the fold-system! If we
change course, it’ll take another minute to realign our course.”
“How long until we fold?” Alex asked.
“Eight seconds! It’s gonna be close!”
“Sir, with the shields offline, if one of those type-5’s explode anywhere
within 200 kilometers, the ships gonna be ripped apart!”
“We have nothing else to lose, Kid!”
The Helix’s main thruster ,which burn white luminescent plasma, turns a
rich gold as the fold system initialized. The Borg-pedoes aligned with the ships
course; constantly gaining speed.
Tash and Alex watched the aft view of the torpedoes gaining on their tails.
Mia intently watched the powerbars on her display slowly reach optimum levels,
as if by sheer will she’ll push the system faster. The lights on the bridge dimmed
and Helix began to tremble.
“Five seconds until jump! Fold system’s initialized! Grab something and
hold on!” Mia shouted.
“Too late!” Tash cried. “Torpedo detonation activated!!!!”
Inside of a half second, the Helix folder system emitted a temporal field
directly in front of them. A small hole in space was suppose to open and
transport them across 163 light years instantly. But as the small rip in the
time-space continuum opened and the ship began to enter, the three Borg-pedoes
detonated 50 kilometers behind them and engulfed the Helix as it passed through
the rift.
On instinct, Tash dove for the floor. When the torpedoes’ detonation
shockwave met the ship, his station exploded ripping his chair apart. Mia wasn’t
as lucky. The front viewscreen tore open, and large fragments knocked her from
the comm-station and into the air. And as Alex saw her toppled end over end at
him and slam hard into his chest, he was lucky she went limp; allowing him to
absorb most of the impact. But his head sprung backward and slammed hard on a
piece of railing. And as he blacked out, perhaps for the last time, the last thing
that ran through his conscious mind was the image of the borg-afide Jean-Luc
Picard reaffirming what every resistance fighter figured out before those last fatal
seconds: …RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
———————————-
CHAPTER TWO: FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE
Stardate: 44001.4
The systems around Wolf 359 was littered with what was left of The
Federation Fleet. An all out assault on the Borg before they reached earth was
suppose to be enough to disable the threat. Using a make-shift plan, 40 starships
in teams were suppose to ambush the large cube from different directions,
hopefully too confuse them. Unfortunately, reinforcements didn’t arrived on
time, and instead they were picked off like shooting ducks for target practice.
Only two ships were close enough to continue the fight…
The Federation flagship, U.S.S. Enterprise was the first to encounter the
Borg at sect J-25, and they were the first to engage them outside of Sector 001.
After being disabled and mounting repairs they proceeded on to intercept the
enemy at the Earth system.
The other, the U.S.S. Craven was on routine maneuvers near the Neutral
Zone when they received word. When they reached Wolf 359, all that was left
were the shattered remains of what use to be Starfleet. On contacting the
Enterprise, they were instructed to round up survivors in the area until further
noticed. And even through Admiral Cynthia Porter outranked, the Enterprise’s
interim captain, Commander Will Riker, she agreed with his suggestion and
initiated reliefs efforts at Wolf 359…
———————————-
“Attempting to commandeer as Federation Transport, assaulting Starfleet
officers, aiding in the escape to several known criminals…” Admiral Cynthia
Porter read off of her message pad. “Kyle, Kyle, Kyle… What the hell am I going
to do with you?”
“The same thing you always do with terrorists on your leash, Admiral. Let
me go.” Sitting across from her, in a holding cell and on the opposite side of a
defense barrier, a warrior calmly sat in the shadows. By just looking at Kyle
K’nar, you’d place him in his mid-fifties and in good shape. What you wouldn’t
know is that he’s lived several lifetimes; all of them as a soldier against one dying
cause or another. It’s one of the perks of being a joined species.
“Not this time.” Porter stood up. “Before, The Federation was content with
your raids on Cardassian ships. But now you’ve graduated to Starfleet robbery,
and that really pisses me off.” She walked close to the barrier. “Between you and
me? I don’t give a damn what you do to them. For all I care, you and your
Bajoran ‘friends’ could blow up Cardassia Prime. It makes no difference to me.
“But you’re stepping on my toes now. I can’t allow that!”
“We needed those supplies.” He pleaded.
“You could’ve just asked.” she replied
“And you would’ve given them to us?”
“No..” she smiled. “But at least you wouldn’t be in a holding cell, would
you?”
As the Admiral began to walk out of the room, Kyle had to play his last
card. “Maybe under interrogation, I might slip about your little operation.” He
smiled when she stopped in half way through the doorway. “You know how
Starfleet security gets when they want answers. Maybe all those things you’re
keeping from everyone will accidentally come out. You hear me, Admiral?”
She stood silent in that spot for roughly ten seconds. It was one thing to
use any means to get yourself out of a predicament. But to even suggest betraying
The Program was something which drived her violently insane.
Without turning around, she replied. “I don’t thinks that’s a problem, Kyle.
Because I don’t think you’d survive the the trip to Earth. You hear me, soldier?”
Without waiting for a reply she exited the room, leaving Kyle to ponder her
threat….
One she very much intented to keep…
On her way to Engineering, Admiral Porter suddenly heard the sound of
loud voices in extreme turmoil. Her first thought was that word of the Borg’s
conquest of Earth had just come in. Her heart rose into her throat and she stopped
to lean on the corridor wall. Her thirty plus years in Startfleet, and her quick rise
up the latter seems to have been all for nothing.
“Admiral!” a voice called from the down the hall. Admral Porter glanced
up and saw Leuitenant Commander Katherine Brooks, her second in command,
rushing to her side. “Did you hear the news?”
“No…”
“The Enterprise engaged the Borg at Earth. Don’t ask me how they did it,
but I have a confirm report from Commander Riker that the Borg cube was
destroyed. We won!!” Kathy was estatic.
The Admiral smiled for a second. “Son of a bitch. They did it…”
“Are you coming? Everyone with time is going to the lounge to celebrate.”
“No. I’m not and neither are you.” The Admiral’s voice was stern. “We still
have a minor mystery to solve.”
Kathy nodded. “Right…our visitors. I have Lt. Mathews working on it. We
should have something by now.”
Together, they started to engineering.
———————————-
Lt. Mathews went over his recent finds while the Admiral Porter and
Kathy stood by.
“What’s the word on our guests?” Kathy asked him.
He was quickly formulating the best way to break the news to them. He
led them to the main computer console which was an island piece of equipment
in the middle of the room; the large warpcore luming in the backdrop. A series of
holographic files popped up in front of them
“I ran a check on all of them like you asked. The two Vulcans came up a
blank. But the human…” he isolated a file. “His name is Alex Garrett, and
according to Starfleet records, he served as an Ensign aboard the U.S.S.
Melborne.”
“He’s a Starfleet Officer?” the Admiral asked.
“That’s what the records say. But I think…” Mathews paused again.
“Ma’am, this whole situation is wrong. What we know and what my findings read
are totally off the mark.”
“Explain?” she ordered him.
“Well obviously, Ensign Garrett shouldn’t be hear since the Melborne was
destroyed. Secondly, the data records say he’s twenty one years old. But the
examination the doctor performed states that’s he’s closer to a man in his thirties.”
“Then one of you is wrong.”
“No Admiral, that’s the point!” he shouted at her, more in excitement than
in defiance. “I’ve traced Ensign Garrett’s starfleet records; birthdate, education…
everything. He is suppose to be a twenty one year old man. I also check the
doctor’s findings and ran diagnostics on all the equipment. The man in sickbay
right now is Ensign Garrett, and he is in his late twenties / early thirties.”
Admiral Porter turned to Kathy, who’s expression showed her just as much
puzzlement. “Do you have a hypothesis?”
“I have…a hunch.” Mathews brought up Garrett’s medical logs. “The first
thing that caught my eye, was the tens of internal and external injuries we found
all over his body. This man has been under heavy fire for a number of years.
There are lacerations which suggest cauterized disruptor and phaser wounds.
Some of the wounds are so old, they suggest Garrett has seen constant combat for
the past five-six years.”
“Is this going anywhere, Leuitenant?” Kathy asked sternly. The Admiral
had to smile, she loved when her ‘Number One’ exerted some of her newfound
authority. She was gonna mold this one into her own image.
“Yes ma’am.” Mathews brought up more data. “On Garrett’s initial
medical scan, we found certain anomallys in his genetic structure. During the
biospectral analysis, we found Tripamine residue in his cerebral cortex.
According to the Doctor, it’s found mostly from temporal shifts. We found the
same in th two Vulcans and the other 38 corpses onboard, This makes me think
that he was involve in some type of time~space disruption.”
Kathy interrupted. “That would explain his excellerated aging. Maybe
something happened to him when the Borg attacked the Melborne?”
“High-level photon emissions in the right settings could cause temporal
rifts.”
The Admiral interseded. “But that still doesn’t explain the Vulcans. The
scars on his body suggest he’s lived those missing years. And we still have the
ship.”
“Yes…” Mathews said enthusiastically. “..the ship.” He ran his finger along
the console, and the holographic images changed. The image of the small craft
they have in tractor apeared. “I ran this craft through the computer and came up
with nothing. But I accidentally came up with….this.” another image popped up
alongside the previous. “Admiral, I give you the U.S.S. Defiant.”
She stared at the image. “That doesn’t resemble any Starfleet vessel I’ve
ever heard of?”
“You shouldn’t, Ma’am. I doesn’t exist. I retrieved this record from the
data files we got from the survivors of the U.S.S. Saratoga. Apparently, it’s an
experimental attack cruiser designed to fight the Borg. Unfortunately, they never
got a chance to finish it.”
Kathy stepped forward. “I still don’t see the resemblence?”
Mathew played with the console again. “This is the final design of the
Defiant. But it went through several earlier revisions. It first started out as the
Dante-Class, then the Moreau-Class, and then this -” The image which appeared
was the craft they had in tow; although more sleek and finely tuned. “This is the
Havok-Class U.S.S. Helix. According to the files, it never made it off the drawing
board.”
“But, we have it..or something resembling it in tow.” The Admiral
pondered her next question. “What have your internal scans come up with on the
ship.”
Mathews looked at both of them. “During the outer-hull scan, we picked
up traces of Romulan, Klingon, and Federation technology – along with a metal
composition unknown to us.” He figided with the console. “But when we tried the
internal scan, we received nothing but feedback.”
“Feedback?”
“Yes Admiral. We even tried to beam an away team over. The transporter
logs showed a successful beam-over, but the away team never left the pads. It
seems the ship is emitting some type of deflector shield which repels any physical
penetration.”
“Wait a minute…” Kathy said. “I thought you said the ship only had
enough power to limited life support?”
“Yes..it did.”
“It did?” the Admiral repeated.
“It seems the ship has managed to increase it’s power output from 7% to
68% on the past eighteen hours. It has some type of self-contained regenerative
repair systems…” he shut the console down. “…similar to the Borg, ma’am.”
The Admiral’s face look grim. Only minutes before, she had been given
the good news the Borg’s destruction. Now she was about to find out the the
nightmare may have just begun.
She stepped closer the the engineer in order to whisper. “What are you
trying to tell me, Leuitenant?”
He met her gaze. “I think the ship we have in tow, at one time was
assimilated by the Borg…”
———————————-
When the door swung open in sickbay, Alex didn’t even flinch. He kept
his head between his legs and his hands covering his head. He had tried to walk
away before., but the containment field had other ideas. Admiral Porter slowly
walked in; staring at what was suppose to be an Ensign with an adequate record
and a bright future.
When Alex acknowledged her presence in the room, he bursted out in a
huge belly laugh and wiped his face with a shaky hand.
“What’s so funny, Ensign?” Cynthia asked sternly.
Alex laughed a little louder. “You… You and this whole…freakin’ setup!”
his laughter dwindled to a slight chuckle. “I don’t know why you’re still keeping
up the act! You got the ship… you got us…” he leaned forward so his face was
almost touched the containment barrier. “Why don’t you get rid of all this virtual
bullshit and get it over with?”
The Admiral waited until he was through. “I don’t know what you think
this is, Ensign. But you need to realize you’re in serious trouble.”
Alex acted as if he didn’t here her words. “This is a nice choice though.”
he said.
“Pardon?”
“The time period, I mean. Good times for me. Man, this Federation local
is exquisit! I know you guys had holographic technology, but I never figured it to
be so life like. It even smells like I remember.”
The Admirals patients was growing thin. “I don’t know what you’re talking
about, Ensign. But I’ll answer all your questions as soon as you answer mine.”
“Deal!” Alex replied with enthusiasm. He quickly stretched out on the
medical table like at a psychiatrists office and closed his eyes. “Fire away…”
“How did you make it off of the Melbourne before it was destroyed. Their
was only one surviving shuttle and you weren’t on the manifest.”
“A-ha! You just slipped up, Locutus” he yelled outward, as if referring to
some unknown observer.
“Explain…”
“Your records are incorrect. The Melbourne wasn’t destroyed. It was
disable and we drifted for a good two weeks until we were discovered by the
Saratoga. Then, we used it for parts to repair the Saratoga. You need to update
your records.
“Look. I don’t know what you’re talking about, Garrett. Both of those ships
were destoyed in the first attack.” The Admiral fearcly slammed her fist on the
barrier. The loud sound startled Alex. “Whether this…delusional world you’re
trying to sell is a lie or from some type of head injuried to suffer, I don’t care. We
arrived hear at Wolf 359, we found you and two Vulcans aboard a Borg-a-fide
Federation ship that isn’t suppose to exist!” she saw that Alex’s grin had
disappeared and he stare confusingly at her. “Listen, the cube was destroyed a
couple hours ago in sector 001. The Borg threat is over…”
Alex slowly sat up. “This isn’t amusing anymore! Are the Borg so
chicken-shit that they have to play games with their captors?”
“Ensign Garrett, you’re not making sense.”
“Will you stop it!!! I know there is no Earth! There is no Starfleet! It’s all
gone! So cut the bullshit and lets get this over….” Alex paused for a second.
“Wait. Why am I not dead?” he jumped off the table. “The torpedoes detonated
before we got away. This can’t be happening…”
“But it is Ensign..” Cynthia stared into his eyes. She then knew that this
wasn’t some elaborate scheme he was playing. He truly believed what he was
saying; whatever it was… “Right now, we need to piece together what has
happened. This is not a Borg trick.”
Alex didn’t hear her. His mind was racing through the infinite possibilities
was what could’ve happened. “The Fold system activitated. We…entered the rift,
but…torpedoes detonated and….and…that was it….”
“We have your ship in tow.” the Admiral jumped in.
Alex quickly looked at her. For the first time, he truly took a good look at
his surroundings. The link and minor burns on the Admiral’s uniform, the slight
discoloration of the workstations from excessive use, the nausiating feeling he
used to get from breathing in a Starship environment. “Oh God. This isn’t a trick,
is it…Ma’am?”
“No Ensign.”
“But…all this…it never happened. Earth was assimilated, along with the
Enterprise at Sector 001. And that was back when…”
“You’re mistaken.”
Alex’s eye grew glassy. He leaned back on the table to catch his balance.
“Admiral…ma.am?”
“Yes, Ensign?”
“What….stardate is this?”
———————————-
An hour had passed since Mia and Tash had been teken from sickbay to a
holding cell. When the security officers came to their cell and said they were to
be escorted to the Admiral’s quarters, they left the confined area with great
enthusiasm. They studied the detail of the starship’s structure. Mia had studied
Starfleet specifications during the construction of the Helix, and she came to the
conclusion that there was too much detail for this to be an illusion.
When they reached their destination and the door swung open, the two
siblings found Alex and the Admiral sitting and talking.
“Tash…Mia. Please have a seat. Your Captain and I have some things to
explain to you.” Adm. Porter said. But the two Vulcans stood their ground.
Without even acknowledging her presence, they focused their attention on Alex.
“Sir, if everything aright?” Mia asked.
“You could say that.” Alex responded with a half smile and scratching the
back of his head. He gestured toward the sofa across from him and they sat
down.
“How is all this possible?” Tash asked. “There are no more Federation
ships left.”
“Not where we’re from.”
The Admiral got up and walked to replicator. “Two hot cocoas.” She said,
and in an instant two cup materialized. She handed them to the Vulcans. “Alex
told me you two had a fondness for chocolate. They swiftly took it. It had been a
year and a half since ‘pleasurable’ supplies had run out in the Maquis Resistance.
“So what you’re saying is we’ve slipped into some type of ….alternate
universe?” Mia asked.
“No. Same universe, but…” Alex paused and looked at the Admiral for a
second. “…Just a different point. It seems we’ve traveled back in time.”
Their Vulcan expressions went from puzzled to shock. Time travel was
an option the brother and sister discussed in the holding cell, but it was a longshot
at best.
“But even if that’s true, this is still wrong.” Tash intruded. “The
history logs stated that there weren’t any Starships left after the Borg’s initial
attack.”
The Admiral continued. “We have a theory. I’ve had my people working
on a what could’ve happened.” She activated a viewscreen and Alex’s Starfleet
Record popped up. “At this point in your and my timeline, Alex Garrett served as
an Ensign aboard the U.S.S. Melborne. According to Alex’s memory, when the
Borg’s attack started, the Melborne engaged in the first strike. They were hit hard
and lost their right warp nicelle. They had to eject the warp core and ended up
floating dead in space for the next weak or so. That was until a badly damaged
U.S.S. Saratoga found them. They used parts from the Melbourne to repair the
Saratoga and escaped to the badlands.”
Alex took over. “A couple hours ago, the Admiral sent a recon team to
find the Melbourne. The only thing they found was debris and large fragments.
The Melbourne was totally destroyed…along with the Saratoga!”
“I still don’t understand?” Mia said.
“The Alex Garrett in this timeline died with the Hathaway! Somehow, our
accident changed the timeline.” He walked to the window, a grin on his face.
“The Borg never made it to Earth. Starfleet managed to destroy it.”
“That’s impossible…” Tash whispered to his sister.
“The torpedoes!” Mia shouted. “We activated the Fold system at the same
time the torpedoes detonated. The navigational must’ve been damage somehow!
The explosion amplified the rift ten fold. Instead jumping us across space, also
sent us across space and time!”
“We must’ve appeared in this time before the initial attack. Maybe we
altered the Borg’s trajectory, or something just as significant which cause history
to change from the way we remember it.”
The two Vulcans sat back and exhaled. For so long they lived in constant
oppression. Pitifully watching the Borg consume entire planets and slowly eating
away at life as they know it. Even through they fought to free themselves from
the nightmare, no one ever saw any chance for victory. They fought for who
would survive the longest. Now they had rewritten history; the immediate threat
was over, but Mia knew they Borg were out there – waiting for he right time to
strike.
“So, what do we do now?” Tash asked.
The Admiral turned off the view screen and walked to Alex. “I offered
Mr. Garrett his Starfleet commission back, but he declined. And since his
counterpart in this timeline is dead, he can resume his life. You two on the other
hand are another story. If you two would like to be taken to your home, I can get
that arranged by…”
“That won’t be necessary.” Mia said. “We made a vow to stand at Alex’s
side for as long as we’re breathing. That hasn’t change.” She looked at him and he
nodded back.
“Good. I was hoping you’d say that.” Adm. Porter sapped her combadge.
“Porter to Brooks.” She called out.
“Go ahead, Admiral.” A voice called back.
“Secure the Helix for travel, and then plot a course for the designated
coordinates outside of Bajoran space.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Then, Meet me in the conference room exclusively. I’m ready to proceed
with what we discussed.”
“Understood.” The voice replied.
She returned her attention to her guests. “If you’d just follow me, there’s
something I’d like to discuss with you three…”
———————————-
CHAPTER THREE: WHEN IN ROME…
“Federation OPS Program…” The Admiral started her briefing. Alex and
the others sat around the table in the Craven’s conference room. Along with
Admiral Cynthia Porter, sat Lieutenant Commander Katherine Brooks at her side:
one of only seven other people in Starfleet are aware of this secret agenda. “It’s
the cover name for covert activities not sanctioned by Starfleet. Six years ago, a
host of Federation high-ranking officials decided that the binds of various treaties
and agreements were hampering relief efforts to certain ‘questionable’ allies. To
remedy this, they decided to contract outside individuals to follow through with
these operations. Known smugglers, prisoners, double agents – anyone who could
be coerced into line.”
“That doesn’t sound like the Federation I remember.” Alex interrupted.
“Desperate times call for desperate measure, Mr. Garrett. In a time when
we have the Cardassians coming at us from one end, and the Romulans from the
other, we could use as much help as possible. And the results have been
profitable.” She activated the viewscreen and short list of assignments appeared.
“Alex, remember three years ago, when the Cardassians invaded Gelmanis
Prime?”
He paused. “Vaguely. As I recall, we were able to get inside the defense
perimeter and smuggle weapons into the slave pens to instigate a revolt.”
The Admiral smiled. “Well, the ‘we’ turned out to be a Ferengi spy
network and four Bajoran Militia squads we enlisted in exchange for weapons
and supplies.”
Mia looked and her brother and smiled. “I didn’t know the humans had
such balls.”
“Really big one, Vulcan..” Lieutenant Brooks replied. “And we’re willing
to do whatever it takes to keep the peace in this quadrant. Even if that means
pushing a few people around.”
The Admiral returned to her seat. “You ship. How did you get it?” she had
been wait for a chance to ask.
“Ingenuity…” Alex smiled. “After the Borg’s initial attack, we had to us
what we had to fight back. We found the schematics aboard the Saratoga and
decided to build it. When we reached the Mars Shipyards, we repaired what we
could and quietly built the Helix…”
“But the Borg technology…”
“One of our last victories came at the Borg Installation above Vulcan. We
lost a lot of people but we destroyed their nerve center for that system. We took
and studied what technology we found and integrated it into the ships. The best
being, a hybrid of nanite and Borg repair systems…”
“Incredible…” the Admiral whispered. “We tried to get our people aboard,
but it wouldn’t allow us.”
“DNA Specific security system. Any visitor has to be escorted by one of
us. It’s not something we wanted, but it came along with the rest of the package.”
The Admiral nodded with acceptance. She realized that gaining access to
the technology would have to a task for a later date. Right now, more prevalent
things were at hand.
“If you three agree to this, I’ll supply you and your allies with equipment,
supplies, …anything you need. And keep in mind that you’ll be doing a service to
protect our homes from the horror you’ve come from. Besides..” she smiled.
“Everybody needs a job.” Her smile was nothing to laugh about. It was more
of a carefully orchestrated grimace. A frightening grimace…
Alex pondered his few options. “We’ve been freedom fighters for too long.
It’s going to good to fight for a bright future for once..” he accepted. The
Admiral’s grimace became wider.
The door slid open and three security guards entered with a prisoner
binded in wrist and ankle shackles. Alex noticed he was an older person, but the
look in his eyes screamed warrior. He was a force to recon with.
“Undo the restraints.” The Admiral ordered. As they uncuffed him, the
prisoners stood his ground; maybe waiting for the right time to make his move.
The Admiral was intent on not letting that happen. “Alex, this is Kyle
K’nar. He’s one of the leaders of the Bajoran Militia, and a prison as of late.” She
turned to Kyle. “Have a seat, soldier. I have a proposition which should satisify
us all.”
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say, Admiral.” Kyle replied; his
stare circling the room.
“Oh I think you’ll love this, soldier. It’s an offer you can’t refuse. Our
debriefing is tomorrow, so why don’t you four gets some rest…”
———————————-
Kathy Brooks led Alex’s team and Kyle into the hall and toward the guest
quarters. Kyle walked beside the Alex and they both momentarily glanced at each
other.
Kyle stopped Kathy Brooks in the hall. She gestered to security gaurds to
escort Alex and his crew to the guest quarters.
“Alright Brooks…” Kyle started. “You and the old lady have me where you
want me. I want ot know here and now, what you plan on doing with me?”
Kathy smiled at the seasoned warrior. “Quite frankly, were going to help
do what you and your friends couldn’t do for Bajor. We’re going to finish what
you started with the help of your new…teamates….”
———————————-
An hour after everyone left, Admiral Porter sat in the darkness of the
conference room and studied her latest Fed-OPS mission objective. Only six
hours before, she saw Alex’s second coming as a new Borg threat. But now she
sees it as the final link in a chain which spans the entire quadrant. She now
posessed the final player in her Grand scheme.
She stared at the view screen- the image a beautiful green planet
enprisoned by the enemy. Years of conflict with the Cardassians had cost the
Federation dearly. But now it was time to strike back. It was time to show
everyone how powerful the Federation really is was-
…how powerful she really was.
She had to send a subtle message to the enemy that the days of Terran
passiveness were ending quickly. What better way then to send her most powerful
weapons of war to aid in the downfall of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor.
She laughed outloud as she studied all her pawns in place. All that was
needed was the pull the right strings. And with the help of her timelost soldiers,
she will single-handedly bring about the end of the Occupation, and place Bajor
and all it’s wonders where it belong…
…in the hands of the United Federation of Planets.
And as she watched her reflection in the viewscreen devilishly giggling at
these thoughts, she came to realize that the ideals and morals; literally the identity
of a beatiful woman named Cynthia Porter no longer existed…
… and only a Starfleet Admiral remains in her hollow shell.
— THE BEGINNING —