CHAPTER
FOUR:
Boldly Go
Captain's Log, Stardate 56916.3
We have done what I'd hoped to avoid. An alien ship has approached us with their shields raised and weapons charged. I really do not want to fight with another species this close to the wormhole. At any moment the Borg could reappear and if Lexus is distracted we may not be as lucky as the last time.
"Hail them," JR said as he balled his hands into fists.
"You have no right to be in our space," came a voice.
"On screen," JR said. The image that confronted him wasn't a completely pretty one. From the looks of the Captain of the alien vessel it was clear that they'd seen their fair share of Borg assimilations. He had Borg implants on his face. One was just above his right eye, not unlike Seven's. The other took up the space where his left ear should have been. Other than that the man was humanoid.
"State your purpose in Arminian Space," he said.
"I am Captain James R. Kirk of the Federation Starship Lexus," said JR. "I assure you we mean you no harm. We are simply attempting to hide from the Borg while we do repairs."
"You are not here to interfere with the formation of the new moon?" the man asked.
"I promise you we had no idea that a moon was being formed in this system," JR said, silently cursing the sensors for not picking up on such a colossal event. "With whom am I speaking?"
"I am Har Gareth, Captain of the Arminian Vessel Yorak," he replied. "You speak of the formation of the new moon as if it were a spacial event."
"Forgive me if I'm mistaken," JR said quickly.
"If you do not know what it means to form a new moon then you can not be here to stop it," he said and JR relaxed as they lowered their shields.
"No, I assure you were are merely regrouping while we sort out damage caused by the Borg," said JR.
"Your ship is advanced," said Har Gareth. "We have not seen a ship such as yours."
"We come from the planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy," JR replied.
"You must be very powerful to have traveled beyond your galaxy," said Har Gareth, bowing his head. "Forgive me for attempting to scare you away from our space."
"There has been no harm, Har Gareth," JR said quickly.
"May we invite you to the surface so that you may gather supplies for your repairs?" Har Gareth asked.
"Captain, a Borg Cube is approaching," said Seven.
"Har Gareth, I'm afraid the Borg have found us," JR said quickly. "Please allow us to fight."
"We will not stand in the way of one so powerful as to leave his galaxy," replied Har Gareth. "We will assist if we can. Yorak Out."
"Deploy armor and ready the transphasic torpedoes," JR said as the Cube became visible on the view screen.
JR nearly squeaked as he watched the ship on his screen suddenly become covered with armor as black as the vastness of space. The Borg paid them no attention as they swept into the system. Then three more Cubes came into view. JR cursed aloud, causing Juliet to look at him sharply. Oh how he wished he were safe and sound on Voyager's holodeck. How much more of this reality could he take?
"We are the Borg . . ."
"Cut that," JR said, getting to his feet.
"Torpedoes ready, Captain," said Seven.
"Target the lead Cube's weapon systems and fire," he said. Seconds later he saw the massive transphasic torpedo soar across the space between his ship and the lead Cube. Seconds after that a massive explosion occurred on the Cube. "Cripple them," he said.
"Aye, Captain," said Seven and a volley of more torpedoes soared. In seconds the lead Cube was nothing but debris.
* * *
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," said The Doctor as his program was triggered.
"Doctor, the Borg have attacked again," said Icheb as he came further into sickbay. "I wanted to discuss a weapon with you."
"I'm a doctor, not a combat specialist," replied The Doctor.
"But the weapon I'm referring to is a biological one, Doctor," Icheb said. He absentmindedly scratched his neck as he spoke.
"You're talking about the pathogen in your blood, aren't you?" asked The Doctor.
"Yes," replied Icheb. "There has to be a way to extract it from my blood and use it against the Borg."
"Interesting," said The Doctor as he walked over to his instrument table. "I'll need a sample of your blood so I can run tests."
* * *
"Fire!" cried JR as the ship rocked with the impact of Borg phasers.
"Shields down to forty percent," said Chang as another explosion within the second Cube went off.
"Captain, they're retreating," said Seven, looking up at the view screen.
"They won't be gone for long," he said. "Report."
"We've sustained no hull damage," said Telsia. "No casualties have been reported, but there are reports of minor injuries on decks three and four."
"The Yorak is hailing us," said Seven.
"On screen," replied JR.
"Captain, you fought bravely," said Har Gareth. "What kind of weapon is it that destroys Borg?"
"What type of armor is it that blinds Borg to your position?" JR countered with a smile.
"Perhaps we can come to some sort of trade agreement," said Har Gareth.
"Perhaps we can," said JR.
"May we come aboard?" Har Gareth asked.
"Seven, send transport coordinates to the Yorak," he said with a smile. It seemed he'd made at least one friend in Andromeda.
Captain's Log, Supplemental:
We have been guests on the planet Arminia in the Arminian system for just over six weeks now as Lexus is fitted with new armor generators graciously provided by the Arminians in exchange for one of our transphasic torpedoes. What I'd first mistaken for Borg implants on the Arminians has turned out to be their own devices. It seems they are a cybernetic species similar to the Borg though they do not assimilate to gain numbers. We've found their technology to be very interesting.
Icheb has stayed aboard the ship with The Doctor while they work on a weapon that will destroy the Borg. What worries me is that if it is cybernetic life forms that the pathogen in Icheb's blood kills then we have to find a way to protect the Arminians from its effects.
"We utilize the power of machines to better ourselves," Har Gareth was telling Seven and JR over a steaming bowl of stew. "We are nothing like the Borg. We do not abduct anyone or change them against their will."
"I did not mean to imply . . ."
"You didn't imply anything," Har Gareth said, cutting Seven off. "I was merely explaining our culture."
"Husband," said Har Gareth's wife as she came to the table. She looked like a human female with Borg implants. Her hair was raven black and her eyes were as dark as night. Her creamy skin was broken by the implants in her forehead and neck. "I've come to tell you that Captain Kirk's ship is ready."
"And the other?" he asked.
"Both, Husband," she said, bowing her head.
"That is good news," he said, smiling at JR. "We shall drink."
And drink they did. By the time JR and his crew returned to the ship his head was throbbing from the sour liquid the Arminian's called Ale. He was regretting the five cases of the liquid that Har Gareth had insisted they take with them. There were two in Cargo Bay 3. The other three were in Captain Sparks's possession. He smiled as he thought about how much of the stuff she'd consumed at the celebration.
"Set a course for the wormhole," he said, smiling still. "Full impulse."
"Aye, Captain," said Chad.
"Deploy Arminian armor," he said to Telsia.
"Armor deployed, Sir," she replied.
"Sickbay to Captain Kirk," came the voice of The Doctor.
"Go ahead, Doctor," JR replied.
"Captain, I think you should come to Sickbay," said The Doctor. "Icheb and I have something to show you."
"On my way," he replied, glancing at Munro. "You have the bridge, Number One."
* * *
"Captain, we think we may have unlocked the ultimate weapon against the Borg," said The Doctor when JR came into sickbay. Icheb was beaming at him.
"You've extracted the pathogen?" he asked as he came to stand beside Icheb.
"We have," said the smiling doctor. "All we need now is a way to deploy it."
"Kirk to Murphy," JR said, tapping his com badge.
"Murphy here, go ahead, Captain," came the reply.
"You're needed in Sickbay," he said quickly.
"On my way," she replied.
"The only thing we have that will penetrate their shields are the hyperphasers and transphasic torpedoes," he said to the men. "If Telsia can find a way to fit a torpedo with this pathogen and have it detonate at the right time we could take out every drone on the Cube."
"That's just what I was telling The Doctor," said Icheb with a wide smile.
When Telsia arrived JR and Icheb explained what they needed. Telsia said that it was completely possible to do what they were suggesting and that she would get right on it. About that time the ship rocked from weapon fire, throwing them to the floor. They quickly got to their feet just as Commander Munro's voice was heard.
"Red alert, full cloak. Captain Kirk to the bridge!" he called.
JR and Telsia quickly left sickbay and headed for the turbo lift. Neither of them said a word. It was apparent that they were through the wormhole and that the Borg had already found them. JR wanted to know how they'd been found with the new armor. It had kept the Arminians next to invisible.
"Report!" he cried as he arrived on the bridge.
"Captain, the Borg are everywhere," said Munro as JR looked at the screen. It wasn't his ship that was being fired upon. There were three large ships trading weapon fire with six Cubes. What held his attention was the strange formation in space before him.
"Seven?" he inquired.
"Captain, it is a transwarp hub," she replied. "It seems hastily constructed, so I believe it is new. It is possibly the only hub in Andromeda."
"What does it do, exactly?" he asked, not caring if the others thought he should already know.
"It allows the Borg to travel anywhere at speeds faster than warp nine," she replied. "It is made up of thousands of conduits that should, in theory, reach all over the galaxy."
"And back to our galaxy?" he asked.
"Possibly," she replied. "As a drone I learned nothing of Andromeda, so it is logical to believe that the Queen constructed a hub to bring the Borg here. If so the conduit should be in that hub."
"Well we can't sit here in the middle of this weapon fire," he said slowly. "Is there a way to know which of the conduits we need?"
"No," she said. "The only way to know is to be connected to the hive mind."
"If you were to guess?" he asked.
"Borg do not guess," she replied.
He thought about it for a few moments. Anywhere was better than where they currently were. They couldn't stay there. Their shields would only take so much before they buckled and then the armor would be next. Har Gareth had told him that the armor wouldn't stay invisible under heavy fire for long. Even the cloaking device would falter with enough direct hits. They were sitting ducks.
"Telsia, how soon can you have a torpedo with the pathogen ready?" he asked, turning to face his chief of security.
"Give me one hour," she replied.
"We don't have an hour," he said.
"I'll get right on it," she said. "Chang, please come with me."
"Commander Munro, would you join me in my ready room?" he asked, walking across the bridge.
"Lieutenant Dodds, you have the bridge," said Munro as he followed JR to the ready room.
"Number One, I think I should inform you of what I'm planning," he said once they were inside his ready room.
"You're going to enter the hub," Munro said.
"Yes," he replied. "I don't think we have any choice."
"We could go back through the wormhole," countered Munro.
"Back to Arminia?" JR asked. "Alex, that hub could take us home."
"Or it could take us right back where we started," argued Munro.
"Didn't we have this discussion about the wormhole?" JR asked, shaking his head. "My mind is made up, Alex. I only wanted to tell you."
"I'll follow your orders, Captain," Munro said.
They talked for nearly two hours before Telsia interrupted them to tell them that she had the weapon ready. They returned to the bridge where JR told the bridge crew what he was planning. Everyone agreed that it might be a way home and that was all he needed to hear.
"Disengage cloaking device," he said. "We're going to cause quite a stir. All hands brace for impact!"
The cloaking device deactivated and they attracted the attention of the Queen's Yacht. That was actually better than he'd expected. He gave Telsia the signal and they fired a transphasic torpedo at the Yacht followed directly by the altered torpedo. He waited until it detonated before he gave his order.
"Seven of Nine, plot a course for the nearest conduit, full impulse," he said.
"Aye, Captain," she replied.
THE LEXUS CHRONICLES