The Enemy (Part 6 of 8)

Posted on 18 Sep 2013 @ 8:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant Ammar Fahad & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign S'Ranna T'Srrr'Kharh & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lieutenant JG Jacrux & Ensign Ariadne Fleming & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Tarishiana Barel & Alexander Iella & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Petty Officer 1st Class Victarion Jaqen & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont

2,986 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Main Bridge, Various
Timeline: MD 03 - 0159 hrs

Previously, on The Enemy (Part 5)...

Normally Keval would have been able to lift the drone off of him. He was after all Andorian and much stronger than the average human, but this was not a normal situation. And the dead drone, he twisted the shard of metal inside him to make sure, provided good cover. He used what strength he had to keep from being crushed and hoped that someone would come along and rescue him and the others trapped in Sick Bay.

At least that was his plan, but as the familiar image of the transporter beam began to roll over the Borg, he immediately released his grip. Wherever the Borg was being taken he did not want to go there, at least not his present condition.

More drones entered the room, overwhelming any possible defense.

Her voice was hoarse and harsh as Allyndra croaked through the communicator =^=Me...*cough*......Medical Lab..*cough*......DNA scissors.......=^=

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 4 - Science Lab

A loud pounding on the door signalled the arrival of four Borg drones. Their enhanced strength put dents in the door, and they began to pry the entrance open with their hands while cutting through the center of the metal obstacle. Their red optical beams shimmered into the science lab as they looked around and identified their targets, and it would only be a couple of moments before they breached the door.

Tarishiana jumped as the pounding on the door started. Her heart pounded in her chest. When she was an officer this would have just been part of the job, but she had someone else to think about. She reached for her belt to only recall it empty handed. "Damn..." She said out loud and she began to look around the lab. There was nothing more she could do there if now that the Borg were on the Galileo.

Her eyes moved quickly between the door, that was only being held together by sheer will power at this point, and a Jefferies tube hatch. It wouldn't be easy to open, but the panic in the Betazoid was almost overwhelming as she plotted her escape.

Seven of Seven and Six of Seven finally managed to tear the door down. Immediately scans began with the red scanners looking for others. Seven of Severn's beam caught a female humanoid. The voices that were a constant part of the collective identified it as Species 5614. They were not the most prized of collection efforts but there was always a task even for this species.

Seven of Seven moved in.

Tarishiana panicked. She was only half way through removing the access panel and even if she had managed to get it open, being eight months pregnant would have slowed her down. Looking around her the only things she could find was a Bunsen burner and that didn't burn hot enough. Imzadi

Seven of Seven locked on target. A further scan indicated that the female Species 5614 was with youngling. Voices in its head indicated this was a highly desired specimen. Seven and Six of Seven mode in. Six of Seven easily with an artificial limb pulled the pathetic attempt of weapon.

Severn of Seven grabbed the woman and the assimilation tubules extended piercing the neck. Six of Seven then grabbed the newly being assimilated Species 5614 which would now be part of the collective and a shimmer formed transporting it away.

Bang, clamp, bang, clamp Ariadne heard the sound of heavy, metallic footsteps behind her. She feared to turn around. All around her was suddenly piercingly clear, in its trivial minutia. She could hear the small *blip* of a broken console; she noticed her pencil was lying in splinters on the floor; the dirt on her hands arrested her with a startling immediacy. Nat's console was smashed by some intrusive bit of wall. Now, why is that? she mused insipidly. The steps became all the nearer. On the threshold of the eternal, she disregarded all her care. Crossing herself, murmuring a prayer, she bounded over the debris, wriggling her way up the tattered Jeffries tube.

Alex was worried. More than worried really, he was terrified. The worst fear of 2 of his separate hosts was here on his new home, and he wasn't going to lose another home to the Borg. With some rather large knives tucked into his belt, and a Phaser rifle, Alex roamed the 4th Deck.

The screams and smashing noises were what had attracted Alex to the science lab. Rifle at the ready, Alex slowly made his way around the corner to see the door to the lab smashed open. Slowly, Alex approached, he could still hear the heavy thudding footsteps of a Drone in the room. Peeking into the room, he saw a lone Drone and a pair of legs disappearing into a wall. Stepping out and into the door Frame, Alex brought the rifle up, "Hey! Big Green and Ugly over here!" He cried. As the drone turned to face him, he let off a shot, catching it in the chest and thankfully not a shield. The Drone went down with a crash as Alex stepped into the room more to see if anyone needed help.


Deck 7 - Main Engineering

The Borg were diligent to a fault, and they left no vital area of Galileo ignored. Main engineering was the ship's second command center and the most vital area of the starship, which made it a primary target. A swirl of eight green transporter beams produced eight drones in the main warp core area, and they briefly looked around before moving to various consoles where they began to inject the LCARS displays with their tubules and assimilate the Nova Class' systems.

One of the Borg pushed Willis away from the console he was working at. Infuriated, the Senior Chief kicked at the drone's knee, in an attempt to buckle the knee and make the drone fall. It was a futile attempt. The drone snapped his head at his assailant.

Willis face went pale when their eyes met. "Oh shit. Bad move." The Borg threw a right arm into the abdomen of Willis, sending him sailing across the room.

Quinn looked at the Borg drone that was accessing the console on the upper level nearest him. The Chief of the Boat yelled out while charging his target. "We got company, heads up!!"

Markum managed to get to the Drone in a matter of a few seconds as it's tubules were beginning to extend into the LCARS system itself. With his Cybernetic arm, the Master Chief grabbed the drones arm and twisted the wrist back until he heard a snap and squeak of metal bending. The Borg used its other arm and grabbed a hold of Markum's artificial limb and lifted it from the now useless drone's hand. Quinn then grinned at the drone.

"Resistance is fut..." Quinn grabbed a hold of the drone by a tube from its neck into its skull and squeezed the lame hand with his cybernetic appendage and pulled, spun and pushed the Borg over the railing and with his cybernetic arm still in the vice-like grip of the Borg's grip, sent it falling down to the bottom level deck plate.

The Borg landed head first in front of a stunned and very sore Willis, with a resounding CLANG!!! Willis looked at the now dead drone with Markum's arm still being gripped then he looked up to Quinn. "What the hell, man?!"

Quinn shot a look back. "Shut up and arm yourself!"

Ammar had grabbed a type two phaser as soon as he learned that they had been tractored. The yellow-orange of phaser blasts burnt into two of the drones. On the third shot, all the beam impacted was a green energy barrier.

"They've adapted." He wasn't sure if he had shouted or whispered. The terror that was threatening to control him made him completely unaware of which it was.

=^=Peers to Engineering. Relay is active,=^= Lilou reported through the console, her voice filtering over the body of a fallen drone. =^=Sequence altered to reflect current power draw. This should allow us to boost our energy out through the hull, back into the impulse, and power up those shields. Or it'll kill us all. One or the other. Activate at will, sir.=^=

The drones, though hardly focused on the crew, continued to advance. They found their way to essential stations, no longer susceptible to phaser fire.

Ammar knew he wouldn't be able to do any damage to a drone with his bare hands. Suddenly inspiration struck. He rushed into his office and returned with a plasma cutter in hand. He held the fuel canister by one strap over his shoulder.

He advanced to the nearest drone, igniting the torch on his way over. He rammed the flaming end of the tool directly into the back of the head of the drone. It crumpled.

=^=Hello?=^= Lilou's voice queried. =^=Is anyone-=^= The command console her voice was filtering through crackled and began streaming the code for the entire ship's mainframe, the Assistant Chief's voice breaking off mid-sentence.

Quinn hit the console to answer Peers. "Lilou! It's Markum! I got your last message. Can you overload the main array with a positive charge and detach it with the tether still in place? If it hits them, it may be enough of a charge to scramble their circuits.

She couldn't hear all of his last message. Overload the main array? Why? Maybe it needed some kind of manual reset? But if so, why couldn't they do it themselves? She could have asked, but with the comm on the fritz as it was, the best plan was just to do what Quinn told her to. She'd never had any reason to doubt him. Twisting in the narrow tract, cold in this tiny space mere inches from the hull on the inside, she drew her PADD close to her face and sent the codes to overload the main array in Main Engineering and hoped she'd accurately understood the garbled order.

Quinn looked over the railing. "Ammar, Behind you! Willis, get to the MSD and activate the command sequence Peers set up. I can't from here. Hurry up!"

Ammar spun around, wielding his torch in a terrified, white-knuckle grip. He swiped across the extended assimilation tubules, cutting them off, followed by the drone's hand.

Willis pulled his aching body up and grabbed a hold of the lost prosthetic arm. "Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going already! Sheesh." Willis looked at the mechanical appendage and then to the Pool Table. A drone was standing at it, injecting his cancerous nanoprobes into the fragile LCARS system.

Willis gripped the arm tightly and charge the Borg swinging the cybernetic implant with all his might into the back of the drones skull. The Borg fell to the ground after its face spider-webbed the MSD screen. Willis dropped the hand attachment onto the Borg's lifeless corpse. "Let me give you a hand...asshole."

Quinn stomach fell as he witnessed his arm being used as a weapon, and how it was now useless. "Dammit, Willis!"

Willis looked back. "What? You said arm yourself..it was all I had." Willis turned back around and activated the sequence.

Quinn tapped his badge. =^=Quinn to Bridge! The relay sequence has been altered to reflect the current power draw. We should have Shields and Warp power. It won't last long, but we may have enough for at least a micro jump, say, two or three lightyears? Or..we will explode from the over draw and we destroy everything within a million kilometers! Either way, we have a chance at least!=^=


Deck 6 Near Cargo Bay One

It was chaos as orderlies, medical personnel, walking wounded, stretchers and gurneys all poured out of the cargo bay and down the corridor. The ship shook again and sounds from the structure went from the moan of stressed metal that subsided periodically to an eerie nerve grating wail.

"Hurry, hurry!" Allyndra stood by the big door to the cargo bay urging everyone out. She knew that at any time if her own limited engineering skills were any judge that everything would give way and with damaged shields and emitters she doubted even the emergency containment field would hold for long if at all.

All of the sudden there was screaming. It was not the scream of pain but of panic. The sounds of beings in fear for their lives and the press of the crowd now threatened to push backward into the cargo bay.

A motion, a swirling movement that resolved itself into dark hulking shapes caught her eye in the Cargo Bay. Three large menacing Borg drones had materialized there and now Allyndra knew what the screaming was about. The crowd that had threatened to push her back into the Bay now pushed back as others saw the menacing creatures analyze for a moment and then start a relentless tread toward her and the group. They ignored the others in the Bay, the ones she had deemed too injured to move and it was obvious they had made their own determination to the same.

"Close the door," she screamed to the orderly and then launched herself back into the Cargo Bay. She snapped her wings open and with a couple of bounds managed to get into the air. The drones stopped following her with their heads until with a dull thud the Cargo Bay door came crashing down. Two of the drones moved that way while the third tried to concentrate on her.

She darted trying to figure what to do when the loudest moan yet filled her ears. Instinct perhaps but she flew to the ceiling and grabbed a beam just as with a gigantic pop the Bay depressurized. A screaming rush of air went by her and threatened to tear her away from her beam. She barely noted that the drones and the remaining too injured where pulled away.

The breath was torn from her lungs and body and gasping, Allyndra lost her hold was dragged away. Her body reacted thinking it was falling and she opened her wings only to feel searing pain as the wind shredded the delicate things. Blackness was closing in and her lungs hurt and then she slammed into something. The blackness was complete.

Something came into focus, her communicator, and with it pain in her back and lungs. Allyndra took a breath and instantly regretted it. A spasm of racking hacks and coughs were induced.

Her voice was hoarse and harsh as Allyndra croaked through the communicator
=^=Me...*cough*......Medical Lab..*cough*......DNA scissors.......=^=

She lay on the floor face down with hisses and pops all around her. Turning her head she just caught sight of the flickering shield that was holding in the rest of the atmosphere in the Bay. Debris littered everything everywhere and out beyond the shields. Bodies floated away from the ship and she could just make out the dark shapes of the drones with them.

Again she pressed the communicator. =^=Allyndra......*cough*....need help...=^=

=^= I'm on my way! =^= Alexion Wylde's breath made it clear he was already on the move. =^= Hold on, stay still, stay awake. =^=

She was fairly sure she blanked out more than once for it seemed a vision clung to the edges but a voice brought her around.

A blessed voice hand answered her call. The air was thin in the Cargo Bay still and the decompression had not helped with her airways and lungs. It hurt to breath, but she forced each one in and out through the raw tissue. She could still feel her wings, though they were torn they had not been torn off. It would be a very excruciating death if that had happened and she was glad for it.

=^=Thank you.=^=

It took some minutes for Alexion to get through the ship. He's managed to slip by a borg drone; he didn't have time to engage and fight, he needed to get to Allyndra, she'd sounded in bad shape. He was breathless by the time he made it through the door, clocking the forcefield holding in the atmosphere. He started adding it all up before moving to crouch by the fallen woman, touching her shoulder so she'd know he was there. "Okay, Allyndra, let's get you stabalised," he said clearly, so she'd know she was being taking care of. He ran the tricorder over her, looking over the readings with a frown. It was a close run thing. He opened up the medkit to get some pain relief into her before anything else, followed quickly by a hypo to stimulate blood production. "I want to put you under so I can get you stable before moving you, okay?" he said with a firm voice. It would do her no favours being awake through it now that she was being watched over.

Allydnra's eyes fluttered open. The extra rush of air into the somewhat depleted Cargo Bay helped that. Her back hurt, but her lungs hurt more.
She nodded but croaked out, "The other patients outside the Bay are they alright? I tried to make sure enough hypos..."

"Everyone is on the move, the ship isn't secure," he replied with a level voice, frowning as he assessed the damage. "You need to concentrate on yourself now, yes?" he readied the hypo to knock her out. "We need you well to put the rest of the ship right," he flashed a small smile.

Allyndra wanted to protest but the drugs coursing through did not allow her to say anything more.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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