The World of Computer Software

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The World of Computer Software / The World of Computer Software.iso / 3gentx20.zip / EPISODE3.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1992-12-30 | 35KB | 645 lines

STAR TREK: THE THIRD GENERATION on Shadowlands BBS Created and Edited by Rebecca J. Anderson Ver. 2.0 (93/01/01) EPISODE #3: "The Omega Hour" (Part I) -------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTERS: WRITTEN BY: Acting Captain Jacqueline Picard...........Rebecca J. Anderson Commander (Dr.) James N'Dok................Tim Ingram Lt. Commander Barnabas Cole................Warren Postma Lt. Commander Nikctalos D'pyrann...........Geza A. R. Reilly Lt. Commander Mac Scott....................Dan McMillan Counsellor T'Pryn..........................Rebecca J. Anderson Centurion Salek............................Adam Gilchrist Lt. Maverint Slike.........................Steve Mahler Lt. (JG) Konnu.............................Russ Foubert Moriarty...................................Rebecca J. Anderson -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Lt. (JG) Konnu As soon as Jack stepped onto the bridge, people started reporting to her. For once, she noticed, she wasn't reporting something to someone. This Captain business would take some getting used to. "Captain, we were just scanned by the Borg. " Barnabas said. "They seem to have taken an interest in us. They've changed to an intercept course, moving at Warp 9.3." "Captain Picard," it was Nikctalos's turn to speak, "I think they have found me. I fear I have endangered the ship. I should remove myself from duty." With that the Borg got up and began to move towards the turbolift. "Mister D'pyrann," Picard said as she sat down in the Chair, "Do I have to shoot you for desertion?" The Borg gave her a puzzled sensor twitch. "Sit down, Nikctalos," Picard allowed a small grin to show. "If we're going to get out of this in one piece we'll need your help." The Borg sat down at his station and resumed his duties. "Mister Salek, go to Red Alert. Raise Shields, but do not arm weapons. I don't want to tick them off... just yet anyway." "Red Alert initiated. Shields raised, weapons remain unarmed." reported Salek. "Very good." Jack pressed a button on her console. "Mr. Scott?" "Aye Captain?" came the reply from Engineering. "Is this ship ready for combat?" "As good as we'll get Captain... So long as Moriarty doesn't fool around with what he shouldn't." "I think we can trust him. After all, the Borg like to assimilate computers as well as people. Picard out." "Captain Picard, I am detecting a Klingon K'vort class Battle Cruiser pursuing the Borg ship at warp 6.5. The ship appears damaged." "Hmmm, so they ticked off the Klingons. Mr. Slike, maintain heading, warp 5." Nobody else spoke. The confusion and tension on the bridge had died down a little. `Hmmm, I might need another headache injection after this is over.' Jack thought to herself. "Captain! " Salek reported, "We are receiving a tight beam communication from the Klingon ship." "On screen..." The image of the Klingon ship's bridge appeared. "I am Krador, Captain of the _Pach'Iw_," stated the Klingon seated in the command chair. The bridge showed signs of battle damage as several duty stations were smouldering. Behind Krador stood a Klingon in a Starfleet uniform at the weapons control station. "We encountered the Borg passing through Klingon and Federation space. We engaged the enemy and sustained some damage as the attempted to cut our ship apart." The screen began to de-res and fade the voice began overcome with static. "Thanks to my acting weapons officer, we discovered two things: First, the Borg have never encountered a cloaking ship before- use it to your advantage! Next- The Borg only raise shields when they can visually, or using sensors detect a threat.... You're breaking up.... Remember what I have said _Enterprise_..." From: Capt. Jacqueline Picard Jack's jaw tightened as the image of Krador sputtered into oblivion, and her fine-boned hands clenched at her sides as she fought to control the emotions rising within her. So it was true. The Borg. After all these years... "How dare they," she grated. Lieutenant Slike looked up at her sharply. "Sir?" She shook her head. Barnabas moved beside her; she could feel his hand heavy on her shoulder. In a low voice he said, "The last thing we need, Captain, is for this to turn into a personal vendetta." "Trust me, Number One," she murmured. "I know." "I'm not sure you do, Jack. I know how you must feel, but-" She turned to face him, stared straight into his glittering silver eyes with her own steel-blue ones. "I don't think you do, Mr. Cole. It wasn't your father they raped." "Rape is a strong word, Captain," said T'Pryn calmly from the door of the turbolift. Jack turned to see her walking, unhurried, down the ramp toward the Counsellor's chair. The Vulcan woman seated herself and gazed up at Jack from beneath elegant, slanted brows. "Is that how you feel about it?" "That," said Jack, "was how he felt about it. What would you call that kind of violation? Your body and mind possessed by an overwhelming evil, unable to resist, stripped of all human dignity, becoming a puppet, a pawn--do you have any idea how that would feel?" Her voice lowered, so that only Barnabas and T'Pryn could hear. "He told us once--my mother and I. I cried. She cried. Then he cried. Jean-Luc Picard, weeping like a beaten child. Do you understand me?" "Captain," said Nikctalos's metallic voice from above. "Do you wish me to resign my--" "No!" Jack whirled on him. "I said it once, Mr. D'Pyrann, and I meant it. I need you here. Don't mistake me. You are not part of the Borg consciousness. You rebelled against them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I will never forget that, and neither will you. Stay as you are, Lieutenant!" "The ability to discern friend from foe so precisely suggests an almost Vulcan degree of logic," said T'Pryn. "I believe you will be an adequate Captain, Jacqueline Picard." "Thank you," said Jack grimly. "Mr. D'Pyrann, take the Ops console. I want full sensor readings on the Borg ship. Keep me informed of any fluctuations in their electromagnetic field. Mr. Slike, drop to impulse power. Mr. Salek, prepare to engage cloaking device on my signal, half-power only." She sat down in the Captain's chair, her hands gripping the padded arms, shoulders pressing back hard. "Half-power only?" asked Barnabas as he sat down beside her. Jack permitted herself a small smile. "I want to lead them out into open space as far as possible--we're too close to the Starbase for my liking. So we're going to tease them, Mr. Cole." "Receiving subspace communication from the Borg vessel," said Salek sharply. "On screen, Mr. Salek." Jack pushed herself up out of the chair and strode toward the main viewer as the image of a vast empty space surrounded by gleaming steel constructs appeared. A voice spoke, a voice like a hundred thousand dead men inexplicably telling tales: "Federation ship _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-F. Captain Gabriele Lestat." "Your information's out of date," said Jack crisply. "I am Captain Jacqueline Picard. What do you want?" "We have come to reclaim what is ours," said the Borg. "Captain," said Barnabas urgently. She held up a hand for silence. "And what would that be?" she said. "The unit number 889 349 246 345 001 is of Borg. You have severed it from us. We require it." Nikctalos stiffened. "No," he said in a flat voice. "Peace, Mr. D'Pyrann," said Jack. Turning back to the viewer she said, "That unit is no longer in service to the Borg consciousness. It is independent. It has chosen to be free." "Independence is irrelevant. Choice is irrelevant. Freedom is irrelevant. The unit will be returned." "Captain!" barked Salek, as a Borg materialized behind him. He vaulted the Technical console with surprising skill, drew his phaser, and fired. The Borg crumpled and disappeared. "For a continually developing civilization," said Jack dryly to the Borg on-screen, "you don't learn very quickly, do you? A valiant effort, I must say. But let me tell you this right now; if you want Nikctalos D'Pyrann, you're going to have to find him first." She watched out of the corner of her eye as Salek hurried back to his Tactical console. "Now," she said quietly, and with one flick of Salek's hand the conversation was terminated, and the _Enterprise_ became a ghost. "Mr. D'Pyrann. How well will their sensors detect us?" Nikctalos's hands were flying over the Ops console. "I am programming a staccato high-frequency pattern which will hinder their sensor readings. They will be able to maintain pursuit, but 88.501% of their systems will be directed toward locating us." "Good. Let's not make it any easier for them. Helmsman, execute Bowman-4 sequence." She moved back to the chair and sat down. "I hope everybody ate a light lunch," she said, "because we're going on a roller coaster ride." "Captain, if we are moving under impulse power they will be able to detect us. May I suggest we go to maximum cloaking?" said Salek. Jack shook her head. "We can't maintain a full cloak for longer than 10.5 minutes with our current field technology. Half- cloak will have to do." She tapped her communicator. "Mr. Scott, how long can you maintain current power levels to the cloaking device?" "With shields at maximum, I'd give you twenty minutes," came the reply. "I'm trying to re-route power from the secondary life support systems to buy us a little more time, but I can tell you right now you can get twice as much mileage with the shields down." "Mr. D'Pyrann, will they be likely to fire?" asked Jack. Nikctalos hesitated. "I cannot give you an accurate answer without accessing the Borglink, and if I access the Borglink they will locate me. They may possess me. They are trying to possess me now." "Then give us a guess, Mr. D'Pyrann!" said Barnabas. T'Pryn got up from her chair and moved to Nikctalos. He flinched as her palms touched his temples. "Be still," she said. "I will not harm you." She closed her eyes. Nikctalos's hands hovered over the console a moment, then resumed programming at double speed. "They will not fire," he said. "The risk of destroying the unit they came to seek would be too great. You may lower your shields." "Mr. Salek," said Barnabas with a nod, and the Romulan officer powered down the shields. "What are you doing, Counsellor?" asked Jack, watching the slender Vulcan woman standing behind the Borg. "I am using my limited telepathic skills to shield him from the Borg assault," she said in a distant voice. "They are powerful. They batter at his mind." Barnabas glanced at Jack. She nodded, and he touched his badge. "Dr. N'Dok, report to the bridge." "On my way," said James. "What is your intent?" asked T'Pryn and Nikctalos at the same time, in almost the same voice. Jack found it more than a little unnerving. "James may be able to ease the stress a little," she said. "He's been studying the neural couplings that make up the Borglink to your mind. We're aware that if we were to sever them you would cease to exist, but we may be able, with your help, to disrupt some of the non-essential functions of the link and weaken their assault. Are you agreed?" "It can be done," said Nikctalos. "Yes. I am agreed." "It must be done soon," said T'Pryn. "They are relying on their link with him to continue pursuit of this vessel. That is how they found us." "I should not be here," said Nikctalos. "I endanger the ship." "It's too late for that now, Mr. D'Pyrann," said Jack. "Just hang on. Everything's going to be all right." And for a moment, she almost believed it... From: Lt. (JG) Konnu Meanwhile on the bridge of the _Pach'Iw_... "Brother," Lt. Konnu reported from the tactical station, "We are closing with the Borg vessel." "Good." Captain Krador's chair swivels around to face his younger brother. Their father Kurn had always told them that it was their place to serve the Empire, that they had no business being on or even near a Federation Starship. But that time when they were 13 and 10, when their uncle had come to visit, had changed not only their minds but the stubborn will of their father Kurn. Worf had shown them all that honour could be obtained under any banner that you could follow, all that mattered was that you, the warrior were true and loyal to your fellow warriors. Krador saw the man which was their uncle in the man that stood at the tactical station. He secretly wanted to tell Konnu that he approved of his decision to join Starfleet, but that would have to wait for now. Kurn waited too long and took his approval for his youngest son to the grave with him. "What is the _Enterprise_ doing?" Krador asks. "Hmmm... It appears that they are leading the Borg away from the vicinity of their starbase. The Borg are either unaware of our presence, or, they are choosing to ignore us. We will be within firing range in-- wait..." "What is it Konnu?" "The Borg ship is no longer maintaining its electromagnetic field!" Konnu grins, "We could beam over and implement our other... option." "Yes, take twelve warriors and as many detonite bombs as you can, and hurry, the Borg will find the _Enterprise_ soon." "Permission to take a local transporter pattern enhancer." "What for?" Krador was beginning to grow impatient. "We can set it up around our explosives, it will ensure that the Borg do not try to remove our bombs." "Very good. Now go!" With that Konnu turned and left for the transporter room. The transporter beam dissipated with a faint humming noise, leaving its `cargo' standing in a corridor in the Borg ship. The 12 warriors automatically drew their disruptors, and anxiously picked up their satchels full of explosives. Konnu activated his tricorder and began scanning the ship. He would scan as much of the ship as possible, in order to increase the Federation's and the Empire's knowledge of these... beings. Konnu walked a few steps forward and stood in front of a motionless Borg soldier who was standing in some form of link up booth to the Borg uni-mind. "Interesting." Konnu said to no one in particular. "They do not defend their ship!" said one warrior, G'arech. "They are fools!" "These are the ones who destroyed 40 Federation ships, with only one of their ships. We may be the fools." Konnu replied. A sudden beep from his tricorder drew his attention. "These conduits, that run along the ceiling," Konnu said to the warriors, "carry power supplies throughout the ship. I think they meet in some sort of mainline junction, 50 millicams from here. Follow me!" With that Konnu shouldered the transporter field enhancer and led the Warriors down the hall. Meanwhile, several decks above the Klingon boarding party, Borg number 543,394,452,982,023 stood in front of a large abyss in the center of the ship. Across the width and length of this abyss stretched two tactical displays. The largest display was a representation of the space directly ahead of the Borg ship. There was a slight distortion in space several centons in front of the ship, but before the distortion could be analyzed and found to be the _Enterprise_, NCC-1701-F, the faint shimmering had disappeared. The other display screen showed several theoretical suppositions in computation. These suppositions contained ideas about what the _Enterprise_ was doing. Borg number 543,394,452,982,023 concentrated on this screen. The Borg's best guess right now was that the _Enterprise_ might be using a device which alters the path of light around their ship, thus rendering them undetectable. Unknown: how long this effect might last. Unknown: power required for this irrelevant tactic. Known: The _Enterprise_ has maintained the effect for 13.34567245656 cyclons. Known: Method of propulsion - Primitive fusion powered impulse drives. Known: Such drives leave residual ion trails. Action: Scan for such ion trails. It would not be long now. Suddenly, a smaller screen superimposed itself on the other two. It displayed power conduit 2, level 276. Thirteen Klingon beings were affixing unknown devices to the conduit. Probable purpose: demolitions. Power conduit's destination: Sub-light drive and shields. Priority: Raise electromagnetic field, capture intruders, dispose of alien devices. "Hurry! They must have noticed us by now!" Konnu shouts to the warriors, as he sets up the third and final transporter pattern enhancer. A warrior approaches him, holding a Klingon communicator. "It is the _Pach'Iw_!" the warrior grunts as he hands the communicator to Konnu. "This is Konnu. Go ahead _Pach'Iw_." "Konnu! They have raised their electromagnetic field!" Krador shouted over the static filled communicator. "Then we are trapped!" "No! Stand inside the pattern enhancer's perimeter! We can beam you back, but we can only take six at a time!" "Very well. The explosives are in place. Beam me back last. Konnu out." Konnu hands the communicator back to the warrior and together they rejoin the other warriors. "Look! Borg soldiers!" a warrior cries out. The Borg were calmly walking towards the loaded conduit and the boarding party from four separate directions. The warriors began firing and succeeded in cutting down the first wave of Borg. Suddenly the area was filled with the familiar light of transporter beams. Six warriors were gone. "Use your concussion grenades!" A warrior shouted over the disruptor fire as the second wave of Borg began arriving. "NO! You fools! We can't use grenades so close to the bombs!" Konnu shouted out. "Our disruptors are not effective any more!" warrior G'arech blared, "Long live the empire!" With that G'arech drew his combat blade and charged the nearest Borg soldier. The other warriors followed suit, and dropping their disruptors flew into the Borg assault with their blades flashing. The transporter beam found Konnu, and tried unsuccessfully to bring him back to the _Pach'Iw_. For a moment, he fleetingly saw the transporter room, but it soon faded away leaving Konnu back on the Borg ship. He quickly realised that the Borg's shields and E.M. jamming were preventing the ship from locking onto him or any of the other warriors. He also realised that the _Pach'Iw_ would take the remaining landing party for dead and that it would soon attack. He picked up the remote detonator and set it for one minute. Konnu threw the detonator to the floor and smashed it with his heel. He aimed his disruptor at the floor of the deck and fired, ripping a hole in it. He looked again at his comrades fighting the Borg. All he saw was a mass of Borg swarming the Klingons. He could hear their screams as they were captured. He jumped through the hole in the deck, escape was the only thing on his mind. Konnu grunted with pain as he landed on the deck below. A sharp piece of metal had slashed the back of his shoulder. The back of his yellow-black uniform was already soaked with purple-red blood. He tried to ignore the pain and began to run through the corridors as fast as he could. Only 30 seconds remained before the explosives went off. They would detonate even sooner if the Borg tampered with them. Konnu ran faster. He had only one hope for survival. As soon as the bombs exploded, if enough damage had been done, the Borg's E.M. field might go down, if it did, the _Enterprise_ could beam him aboard. He tapped the Starfleet communicator on his chest. "_Enterprise_! Come in!" "_Enterprise_ here. Identify yourself!" a female voice demanded. Konnu was about to reply, rather harshly, but a nearby explosion sent him tumbling to the floor. Borg Soldiers were behind him, firing bolts of energy at the fleeing Klingon. Konnu picked himself up, and retrieved his tricorder which had fallen. He fired his disruptor at the floor in front of the advancing Borg soldiers. he had hit some sort of gas conduit. The Borg were enveloped by a blue vapour. Only twenty seconds remained. "_Enterprise_?! Request emergency transport!" Konnu shouted. There was a reply, but it was drowned out by more near misses from the borg soldiers. Konnu was tiring at this point, but he kept running. Suddenly a voice boomed throughout the Borg ship: "Escape is irrelevant. Your actions are irrelevant. Disarm your explosives and prepare to be assimilated." "I would die first!" Konnu gasped in reply. The Borg must be bluffing... those explosives could not be removed, could not be beamed off the ship... the tricorder indicated that power going through that main junction could not be re-routed anywhere in less than half an hour... 5 seconds. The pursuing Borg were still firing. 4 seconds. Konnu stumbled and almost fell. 3 seconds. A Borg beam hit Konnu in the leg. He fell to the ground. His leg was numb... some sort of stun beam... 2 seconds. The Borg soldiers stood over him. Konnu aimed his disruptor at his own head, but one of the soldiers knocked it out of his hands. 1 second. "Death is irrelevant." The Borg voice said. The soldiers bent over to take Konnu. Detonation. A massive explosion rocked the ship... the lights faded in the ship... the Borg soldiers were knocked down to the floor. Konnu could hear the sound of the ships atmosphere escaping into space. He struggled to a post that looked fixed and held on as tight as he could. The Klingon looked behind him and saw that 200 meters away existed the vastness of space. Suddenly the Borg were blown into space. Konnu could feel an enormous pressure inside his lungs. He also felt something holding onto his bad leg. He looked and saw a Borg soldier holding onto his leg, trying to avoid being blown out of the ship. `I have had enough of you!' Konnu thought to himself, as he kicked the Borg in the face. Blood splashed all over the Borg's agonized face, his grip lessened and he flew towards space. Konnu couldn't believe what he saw... a Borg had displayed emotion! Konnu's thoughts were brought back to his present predicament as he felt his own grip loosen... Consciousness was also a problem as it began to leave the Klingon..... `_Enterprise_...' he thought just before he blacked out. From: Capt. Jacqueline Picard "I am picking up unusual life readings on the Borg ship," said Nikctalos suddenly. "They appear to be Klingon." "The _Pach'Iw_," said Barnabas. Jack nodded. "What are they doing, Lieutenant?" "They are spreading out. They carry detonite devices." "Time-bombs?" asked Jack. Barnabas looked grim. "Maybe, but they'll have to die defending them. The Borg are fast. The most a Klingon away team could hope to do would be to make a stand with randomized phasers and hold the Borg off until just before the bombs explode. Unless they've got a transporter chief with split-second reflexes, they're doomed." "Never underestimate the durability of Klingons," said Jack. "I learned that on an exchange program once." Her hand slid automatically to the long scar on her neck. Barnabas looked at her curiously, but said nothing. "Captain," said Nikctalos in a dead voice, "the bombs are detonating--aaaah!" He convulsed and fell out of his chair, twitching. Jack whirled and saw James standing in the turbolift door. "Doctor!" she snapped. "Get this man down to sickbay! Do whatever it takes to keep him alive!" "I will go with him," said T'Pryn. She and James hefted Nikctalos to his feet and half-carried, half-dragged him back to the turbolift. Barnabas glanced at Jack and slid behind the Ops console, his gleaming fingers flying over the touchpad. "Half the Klingons are gone," he said. "Vaporized or transported, I don't know. The Borg ship has suffered extensive damage to the core area, but it's still functional. It's regenerating--" "Captain!" said Salek urgently. "What is it?" "Receiving Starfleet communicator signal from on board the Borg ship." "Open frequency." "_Enterprise_! Come in!" panted a deep, guttural voice. "_Enterprise_ here," said Jack. "Identify yourself." "Identify--" An explosive sound, and the signal was cut off. Jack tapped her badge. "Transporter Room Two, lock onto the com-badge on the Borg ship and prepare to transport." "Aye, sir." "Who could it possibly be?" demanded Barnabas. "We don't have any people over there--" "I don't know," said Jack. "But if we can get a fix--" "_Enterprise_!" growled the voice. "Request emergency transport!" "Ensign!" snapped Jack. "What are you waiting for? Beam that man up!" "Trying, sir--the signal's weak--I'm losing him! We're getting interference from the cloaking device!" "The last bomb has detonated," said Barnabas. "The Borg's electromagnetic shields are back down." "Drop cloak, Mr. Salek!" commanded Jack. "Ensign? Did you get a fix on that man?" "Got him! Beaming straight to sickbay." "Good," said Jack. "Enemy vessel appears incapacitated," said Maverint Slike from the helm. Jack turned back toward the main viewer. The Borg ship, once so sleek and formidable, was now charred and pitted with the force of the explosions that had rent it from within. Yet she could see it regenerating even as she watched. "Detonite bombs," said Barnabas wonderingly. "Why didn't your father's crew think of that?" "They probably would have if they hadn't been afraid of killing my father," said Jack. "They'd have lost a good many crewmen on the Borg ship, too. It takes a Klingon to think of a plan like that, and have the guts to carry it out." She turned to Salek. "Raise shields and launch a full spread of photon torpedoes at the Borg ship on my command." Salek nodded. "Torpedoes armed and ready." "Fire!" said Jack. The Borg ship, fifty times larger than the _Enterprise_, gave not a quiver as the torpedoes detonated against its metal hull. "Klingon ship de-cloaking to starboard," said Maverint. "Firing phasers at the Borg." The phasers tore long strips off the face of the Borg ship, but there was no response. "Why don't they go?" asked Barnabas. "They've got to know by now that we're not going to give Nikctalos to them." "They can't go," said Jack softly. "They don't have what they want. Defeat is irrelevant to the Borg. They acknowledge only victory, or death." "Then how do we persuade them to leave?" asked Salek. "I don't know," said Barnabas. "But the longer we sit here in stalemate, the more time they've got to recover. I estimate twenty-five minutes before they've regenerated enough to strike back. What do you suggest, Captain?" "Prayer," said Jack grimly. From: Counsellor T'Pryn T'Pryn, her hands cupped around Nikctalos' metal-encased head, watched silently as Dr. N'Dok, his boyish face grave, ran his medical tricorder over the Borg. "Physically he's in perfect condition--for what he is," said James. "But this Borglink is shutting down his neural networks." "He's having to shut them down himself," said T'Pryn quietly. "In order to keep them out, he must retreat further into himself. But he cannot keep from feeling the shared pain of the Borg as they suffer and die. That, too, is causing his distress." "We've got to find some way to cut him off from the Borg, or disrupt the signal, or--" "They communicate via subspace frequencies, correct?" "As nearly as we can figure, yes. I could put him in an iso- chamber, shut them out completely. But that would kill him unless his cybernetic components were removed. I've got no right to do that without his consent." "It is not logical--" began T'Pryn, but stopped as a familiar shimmering of light caught her eye. "They have beamed someone down," she said. At that same moment Jack's voice echoed in the room: "Picard to N'Dok. We've got a wounded Starfleet officer for you. We picked him off the Borg ship." "Got him," said James. "Kate! We've got a Klingon in trouble here!" "Aye, sir," said Katherine Tanthis, her pretty face lined with concern. She quickly left the computer screen she'd been consulting and hurried over to tend the Klingon's numerous wounds. "Now," James said, turning his attention back to Nikctalos. "Lieutenant, can you hear me?" "Af...fir...ma...tive," said the Borg faintly. "We need to get you separated from the Borglink. Not entirely, just enough to get you functioning again. Counsellor T'Pryn is going to help me, but I'll need your help too in rerouting some of the neural pathways. You've got to tell me what's safe and what's not." "Under...stood." James glanced up at T'Pryn. She nodded gravely. James took a neural probe and, with one eye on the scanner, carefully began to unlock the secrets of Nikctalos's tortured mind. T'Pryn closed her eyes and went deeper. She was not a telepath in the sense that a full-fledged Betazoid would be, but like all Vulcans she had the ability to meld her mind with that of another on any one of several levels, to lend her mental strength to those who needed it. She did that for Nikctalos now. She did not pry into his thoughts, but she wrapped her mental discipline around his consciousness, sheltering him from the onslaught of the Borglink. She could feel the Borg battering at her shields, cold and relentless. But they could not command her, and she did not fear them. She gave Nikctalos the things he would understand: _What is the square root of 5089? If n=4 and y=6.5, what is the value of z in the equation 6z X 42^y = 8n?_ Anything to keep him from thinking about the Borg. "I've found what looks like a subspace frequency receiver in the left hemisphere," murmured James. "I'm injecting 0.0005 milligrams of betaparazine--now. Nikctalos?" "I am... well," came the reply. "Proceed." James was sweating. T'Pryn without a second thought took up the hem of her long blue skirt and drew it across his brow. He gave her a startled, grateful look and continued his probing. "I am on board the _Enterprise_," came the Klingon's voice from the other side of the room. "My thanks, Doctor." T'Pryn lifted her head a moment to see the Klingon, now fully conscious, swinging his legs around to sit on the edge of the table. Dr. Tanthis was still running a dermasealer over his more serious wounds, but he seemed strong and alert, unconcerned by his narrow brush with death. "I am Lieutenant Konnu," he said. "I was scheduled to rendezvous with the _Enterprise_ at Starbase 643. It would seem I have arrived a little earlier than planned." "Ah, well," said James without lifting his head, "What's a couple of days? Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. What's your specialty?" "I am experienced in tactical and security duties." James's eyebrows shot skyward. T'Pryn contemplated this display with grave incomprehension until the Chief Medical Officer leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Salek is gonna love this." Sarcasm was not a Vulcan trait, but T'Pryn was familiar with the concept. From: Moriarty Moriarty soaked up all the incoming data on the Borg ship, turned it over and over in his mind, cross-checked it against the ship's conventional weaponry, theoretically improvised new weaponry, plotted evasive manoeuvres, everything his computer- enhanced genius could come up with. But in the end he came up frustrated. It wasn't the ideas that were the problem: he had thousands. But all of them seemed to require items that for one reason or another just weren't available--or at least couldn't be available in time to be any use at all. Until he remembered the invaluable little creatures Dr. N'Dok had corralled in a disused corner of the medical computer's memory. Dormant now, but it would take so very little to wake them up, and when they woke they would breed like wildfire... He directed his thoughts to the bridge, and was there in a millisecond. That attractive Picard woman was sitting in the Captain's chair, looking bleak. He was secretly delighted; the more discouraged she was right now, the more grateful she would be for his assistance. "Captain," he said politely. "May I consult with you and Mr. Cole in your Ready Room? I have a suggestion." "Nanites," said Barnabas incredulously. "And they agreed to cooperate--but do you think they'll spread fast enough to make a difference?" "They will, indeed," replied Moriarty. "Stimulated with a low-intensity photon beam, they will replicate themselves twice a second. At that rate they will have penetrated into the entirety of the Borg's primary systems within 15.81 minutes." "How do you intend to introduce the Nanites to the Borg ship?" asked Jack. "We couldn't possibly launch a bomb or even a probe to take them over there," Barnabas mused. "The detonation would destroy them. We'd need an away team to release the Nanites directly into the Borg's computer system." "Indeed," said Moriarty. "And the Borg will soon have restored enough power to regenerate their electromagnetic shield, so you must act as soon as possible." Barnabas looked at Jack. "Make it so, Number One," she said. Barnabas gave a short nod and left the Ready Room. Before the door closed his voice could be heard saying, "Salek, Mordon, Amburil, you're with me." "I hope you're right on this one, Moriarty," said Jack to the face on her computer screen. "Trust me," said Moriarty, and disappeared with a flourish that was pure satisfaction. The Nanites, invaluable little microscopic robots that they were, wouldn't actually destroy the Borg's ship, but they would paralyse it quite effectively. They would even infect the biocircuitry of the Borg themselves. If only Commander Cole and the others could get over there in time...