1. Episode 1: Pilot

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek, Star Trek Online or any of the content within. This is a work of Fan Fiction and is intended for nothing more than entertainment value.

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EPISODE 1: Reflections (Pilot)

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The interior of the partially assimilated Saber Class USS Viceroy violently shook with another impact, this one bad enough to send showers of sparks from a newly ruptured EPS relay in one of the nearby walls, several Borg Drones even being flung from their alcoves dead.

Another violent hit sent a flaming support beam down from the ceiling entangled in now fusing wiring and bio-neural circuitry that popped and snapped before losing power, the few lights aside from the sickly green glow of the alcoves and Borg terminals now flashed off.

"Lieutenant Twenty-One! The Commander is dead! That makes you the highest-ranking officer left on the Away Team! What the hell are we going to do!" yelled Ensign Bron, an easily alarmed and slightly heavy-set Bolian.

Bron sat beside the body of Commander Keating, who had just been crushed by the falling support beam. Bron was the team's only Medic and a fairly good one at that. Ahead of him stood Lieutenant Fourteen of Twenty-One, a tall and lanky young woman with dark hair and cold blue eyes, the right of which dimly illuminated by the series of small green lights in her Borg implant leftover from her lifetime of being a Drone.

"I was an observer on this operation, Ensign. I believe that burden of command in this situation falls on either yourself or Ensign Farrell" Fourteen replied in her low, cold voice.

"Ma'am, with respect we're stuck on a partially assimilated vessel and have lost all contact with ours all while being stuck in a fight between the Borg and Undine. For what we know our ship may be destroyed and burning out there, and begging the Lieutenant's pardon but you've had much more experience with the Borg than any one of us has. You are the most qualified to lead!" Farrell barked out in his thick Irish accent while once again checking the corridor's intersection for any Drones headed their way.

Fourteen considered this and after another jarring impact from a plasma beam fired by the Undine she made her decision and spoke over the roar of a now spreading fire, just barely getting over its volume with her calm tone.

"Understood. I am assuming command of this Away Team, any objections will be noted and in the event of a general court marshal or disciplinary action against us as a result of this decision I will take the blame personally"

She paused, listening for objections, and hearing none she continued.

"Very well. Our first objective will obviously be getting off this vessel, it is severely compromised and losing power, not to mention the entire crew has been assimilated putting us at a severe tactical disadvantage. We should make our way to the bridge and try and establish contact with the Nightingale for a beam-out before we make the foolish mistake of trying an escape pod"

With that Fourteen tied her long black hair back in a ponytail, it had been in one before but it had long since come undone by the visceral lurching and pitching the ship had been doing in it's death throws. Meanwhile Bron packed up his medical gear in it's case and Crewman Drex, a female Trill Engineer in her late twenties and Crewman Beasley, a young human man that now represented one of only two of the surviving six-man security detail that had beamed down both readied their equipment to move from the relative safety which had been the shielded area Fourteen had created.

When the fighting had started, Fourteen had used the newly installed Borg-tech to erect a Borg containment field around their small section of Deck 3 from both hull breaches and any Borg or Undine that wanted to get at them.

"Farrell you and Beasley get behind me, I'm taking point on this one. Make sure you two have those Compression Rifles set to a rotating modulation… scratch that let's try out the I-Mod chip prototypes. We'll try and get past any of the Drones between here and the bridge but I seriously doubt that they'll let us pass unabated by. Drex, Bron you two keep behind us and keep low"

"Yes Ma'am" both tactical officers called back, shouldering their rifles standing side by side at the containment field.

"Understood" replied Drex, looking a bit concerned by everything.

Fourteen tapped away at the cylindrical console beside the containment field, pausing a gloved finger over the last button

"When the field drops I want us all double-timing it to Jeffries Tube Five at the end of this corridor, stay in a box formation and if you have a strong desire to get out of this individuality intact than I'd suggest that you don't let the Borg within arm's reach of you".

With that she tapped the last button and a low-toned series of beeps sounded from the console, on the third one of the containment field's sides dropped and Fourteen drew her dual Anti-Proton pistols from her chest holsters, holding them low as she strode along ahead of her team, eyes darting side to side surveying the Drones still in alcoves and ones that were despite the decaying condition of the ship still assimilating it right down to the wall panels.

As the team reached the Jeffries Tube access hatch Fourteen, still after all this time able to hear the Borg's subspace communications when in close proximity, spun leveling one of pistols and squeezing off a lone shot that made a terrific crackling noise as it connected with the head of a Drone that had strode up behind Bron, it had even begun to lift it's arm to assimilate him. As Bron jumped in fright Fourteen coolly spoke

"I remind you, eyes and ears. If any of you get injected with nanoprobes I will be forced to eliminate you, and I expect any of you to do the same for me. I'll happily die before going back"

None of the team replied, though Bron subtly nodded approvingly at Fourteen who promptly returned it, never losing her look of absolute determination she had since the onset of fighting when the mission had gone horribly wrong.

They had beamed in to search for any non-assimilated crew of the Viceroy, the small ship had disappeared on a simple charting mission then started sending out Borg signals that were detected by a small listening post in the nearby B'tran star cluster. The USS Nightingale, a research vessel set aside strictly for studying the Borg, and more specifically how the Borg re-purposed captured technology and adapted it for their own use was sent in to find any survivors and to study the changes to the ship before scuttling it.

Fourteen had been assigned to this crew just after her debrief on Earth after her liberation from the collective. Her official role until today was as an observer, as an expert on the collective from her nineteen years in it she was a walking encyclopedia on the Borg. She was among those selected for this away mission and while this was not exactly out of the ordinary her first instinct told her something was off, having deliberately ignored her gut since it started giving her subtle hunches just a few months back considering them irrelevant she had disregarded her own warning about the mission. This day would forever change how she looked at her own instinct.

After keying in the combination to release the magnetic locks on the Jeffries Tube hatch and lifting the handle to swing it open Fourteen had to brace against the wall as the ship shuddered again, this one feeling quite different than the other weapon strikes against the hull. She paused a moment, trying to remember something oddly familiar from her time in the collective.

"Curious" she said in a quiet tone.

Beasley picked up on this and pulled his Tricorder from his belt, flicking it open as he did. After a few moments scanning He began to explain.

"Ma'am, it's an Undine vessel, it's attached itself to the Viceroy's hull!"

As if this was some kind of cue there came a great noise from deep inside the wall beside Fourteen, having heard this noise enough in the last hour to know all too well what it meant, she jumped away.

"EPS Overload! Scatter!" Fourteen shouted, still trying to get clear of the impending blast.

That blast came just as she had finished issuing that last order, the force of it smashed her against the far wall and the world went dark. After about a minute of nothing Fourteen became aware of something shaking her by the arms. She opened her eyes to see Bron looking down at her, concerned look on his face.

"I am undamaged" she said, trying to believe the statement herself

"That may be so, Ma'am… but we're separated from the others. A whole chunk of the deck above us just came down between us".

Fourteen visibly scowled at this, sitting up and looking at the incredible damage in front of her where the others had just stood, she ran the odds in her head of their survival and just as she decided them dead her combadge made an upbeat little chip

"Lieutenant, talk to us!"

It was Farrell, aside from sounding a bit disturbed by what had just happened he sounded fine. The miscalculation both surprised and pleased Fourteen, who despite her usual enjoyed being wrong this time. She tapped her badge

"Farrell, Bron and I are undamaged but separated by a solid piece of bulkhead from Deck Two. While I may still be able to reach the bridge through this gap I believe your group will likely be unable to bypass this collapse. I want you to redirect to Shuttle Bay One on Deck Four. Try and use a shuttle's comms or transporters if you can find the Nightingale. Report in with progress regularly"

There was a long pause, no doubt Farrell thinking this all over before his eventual response

"Yes Ma'am… listen for what it's worth, good luck. Goes without saying we could all use some right now. Farrell out"

Fourteen stood, collecting her two pistols before returning them to her holsters, with all the damage that had just cropped up no Drone in this section would even give her a second look and aside from that the subspace comms from the nearby Borg had turned into a wanton chaos of splintered command lines that told Fourteen a Processing Node had just taken a nasty hit. Surveying the damage to the ceiling and deck above Fourteen hatched a plan

"Bron, you think you are capable of climbing this debris with me? If not I will find an alternative path for us"

"Yes, Ma'am. Besides I'm all for getting out of here".

Half way up the latticework of wires and buckled metal Bron and Fourteen were again jarred by an impact, both held tight and when the familiar feeling subsided Fourteen though it to be another Undine ship connecting to the Viceroy. Taking one hand off its hold on the debris she ratcheted her Tricorder open, it didn't activate and after shaking it then tapping it off the debris pile she closed it, returning it to her belt.

"Federation technology is so… frail. I believe that may have been another vessel hard docking with the Viceroy. We should be prepared to face Species Eight-Four-Seven-Two, it is obvious there is something on this ship they want"

"Species Eight-Four… what?" Bron asked sounding quite confused

"Sorry, Undine. Old habits die-hard, I believe that is the expression correct? My Tricorder is non-functional. Scan the corridor ahead for us, Ensign".

Bron produced his Tricorder; in his case it was a Medical Tricorder, incapable of scanning like the standard issue one. Nevertheless he tried his best to get a reading and soon spoke up

"Ma'am I'm getting something. I don't recognize these life-signs at all. With this Medical Tricorder it's the best I can do for you right now".

Fourteen looked down at him from where she was still clinging to the debris and leaned his way a bit

"Pass it to me, let me get a look"

Fourteen studied the readings and after a brief few moments the vast knowledge she still had from the collective provided her the troubling answer she was after.

"Species Nine-Three…. Right you don't know Borg designations, my apologies, Ensign. Hirogen, looks like two of them. What could they possibly want with this ship? We'll deal with it as it comes, let's get going".

Finally on Deck Two, Fourteen drew a lone Anti-Proton pistol and flicked on the small light she had attached to it, a field modification she had the forethought to attach months earlier after boarding a derelict Sphere. The discovery of those Hirogen life signs troubled her, knowing enough about them from the collective to understand just how deadly their hunters were.

Approaching an intersection in the corridor Fourteen checked right, her dim light illuminating the hallway ahead.

"All clear right…" She started, soon being cut off

One of the large tri-pedal Undine had come from the left, swatting her from it's path before turned towards Brun, he frantically reached for his small handheld Phaser. He fumbled with it making panicked noises and as the Undine drew back its right arm, adorned with some form of bladed gauntlet, to strike an unexpected series of Tetryon blasts connected with the creature, causing it to wretch in pain before running down the corridor to the left.

Fourteen had landed face down and soon pushed herself up, gasping for air past the pain and after having been winded fairly badly by the blow. Beside her the narrow beam of light produced by the tac-light on her Anti-Proton beam illuminated a cone shaped bit of the carpeting of the floor. She watched a large set of feet enter that cone from it's base and stop a moment beside her, she stared at the scraped up blue paint on them, noted the calm rhythmic breathing of the wearer of that armor before those feet moved on down the corridor. Still recovering from being winded she watched another set of feet approach, these stopped beside her too… only this time they turned to face her.

Before she was aware of exactly what was going on she felt herself being lifted by a strong hand on the front of her uniform, that strong hand soon pinning her against the wall before a gruff voice broke the awkward silence

"You are a frail thing, however I would be willing to bet you would still offer a better hunt than most of what I am given by the Alpha. The Romulans really do give us very little to do…"

Fourteen felt something cold, wet and sticky on her forehead being pressed into place with what felt like a thumb

"I am the predator, and you are my prey. Once we finish the hunt for that foul creature, I shall return for you. Your cybernetic implant will make a nice trophy for the females"

With that she was let loose and slid down the wall, staying absolutely still until the sound of movement became too distant to hear. Finally retrieving her pistol Fourteen then turned to where Brun had been

"Brun sound off if you're still with me" she said quietly

"Here ma'am… I'm sorry I just choked, He would have killed you and I would have been hiding…" he trailed off, sounding close to an anxiety attack

Fourteen had already had more than her share of Brun's anxiety to know once he got started that it would not soon stop. After fixing her uniform jacket she dropped a hand on his shoulder

"Ensign, you are a doctor. You took an oath to do no harm and to most physicians I have come across that is something sacred to them. Come on, let's keep going"

Brun nodded at this, not saying anything in return. Out of curiosity Fourteen moved to an offline console built into the nearby wall. She shone the flashlight beam onto it, the light reflected back into her face and soon a mirror image of her ghost-white face appeared in the glass. Aside from a minor cut under her left eye that was bleeding slightly she was unharmed, but what she was really interested in was what she had felt on her forehead. It turned out to be some kind of pasty blue ink, recalling more about the Hirogen her right eyebrow rose

"He claimed me… blue, that's a Beta I think" she said to herself

"Oh my" Brun added, voice shaking.

Just about to get back en route to the bridge a horrible and guttural yell of pain sounded from where the Hirogens had gone. Moments later the familiar noise of the weapon they had fired at the Undine moments ago echoed down the corridor, followed by another yell, though the weapons fire continued for a full minute before the next exclamation.

"The Predator must never be killed by the Prey!"

Fourteen turned to Brun after a moment's consideration

"Ensign continue down this corridor and use Jeffries Tube Two to reach the bridge and try to hail the Nightingale"

"Ma'am you can't seriously be considering helping an alien that just claimed you like livestock!" Brun snapped back.

Fourteen stared at him then answered dropping her tone lower to calm him down

"Brun, it is our duty as Starfleet officers to render aid to anyone that needs it. And it sure sounds like he needs it right now. It may seem foolish now, but this may be the first step to better relations with the Hirogen and by proxy the Romulans who employ them. Now I gave you an order"

Brun moved down the corridor, stopping about two seconds later to throw his medical gear to Fourteen

"You'll probably need that. Good luck, Fourteen. It may seem fatalistic of me, but I've always seen you as one of my few friends" he said in a frightened tone

"Likewise. And Ensign, there are more than likely no Borg between here and the bridge. They seemed to have been using the Engineering Section as their control area. Just the same, be careful".

After slinging the medical kit over her shoulder Fourteen preceded down the dark corridor, pistol held out in front of her tightly with two hands, sweeping her light side to side and even checking the ceiling. The Undine bothered her, even scared her… which not many things managed to do. The Borg and them went way back, almost forty-five years now, and not one memory file in the Collective's memory was anything pleasant. Besides that, given their zeal for killing Borg, Fourteen was well away that had it not been for the fortuitous arrival of the Hirogen that she would have absolutely been killed on site thanks to her visible implant over her eye and on her left hand.

The first sign of the Hirogen was an armor segment on the floor, Fourteen kicked it gently and found that piece of armor had what looked to be what was left of one of the Hirogen's arms. She continued forward and found more and more of the body until eventually coming upon a cast-aside rifle that was easily half her height in it's length. Fourteen holstered her pistol and picked up the rifle, instantly noting it's weight despite her augmented strength. For her it was usable with just a slight bit of challenge, but for a normal human it would have probably been far to heavy.

After playing around with the buttons on the weapon's display screen, Fourteen quickly grasped that this weapon had on-board sensors and after activating them walked with the weapon pressed firmly into her shoulder as it lead her to the surviving Hirogen. She leveled the weapon at its head and from where it sat slumped against the bulkhead, weapon draped across its lap it looked back at her with pain filled eyes

"I am Lieutenant Fourteen of Twenty-One of the Federation Starship Nightingale. I would prefer to not have the use this, but if you give me a reason to I absolutely will" as always, her voice was calm and had a somewhat cool tone to it.

"After I claim you as prey and promise to hunt you, you decide to offer me assistance? You are either out of your mind or the most arrogant creature I have ever come across" the Hirogen answered, sounding to obviously be in as much pain as it looked he was.

Fourteen was quiet a moment weighing the options. She knew the danger of the situation as well as the opportunity to be had here. She lowered the rifle she held to her hip, still leaving it aimed at the Hirogen

"I have a proposal for you. I will get you back on your feet with my medical supplies here, in return you will help evacuate what is left of my away team and then beam them to my ship if it has survived the exchange. After that if you still want to hunt me I will remain willingly. My duty is to my team and if it means sparing them, so be it"

The hunter studied her a moment, his initial unimpressed attitude seeming a little harder to detect now

"We will need to finish this hunt, this prey is most… persistent"

His tone gave Fourteen enough a hint to make an educated guess

"Correct me if I am wrong. Your Alpha started a hunt against the Undine and at some point it became apparent that it was no longer the prey, somewhere along the line the roles switched"

Fourteen was careful with her wording here, trying to avoid angering the Hunter.

"You are correct, we chased him initially and after a week's time he came after us with reinforcements from his own people, we destroyed most of them however in the end we had to flee from the hunt. It gave chase until earlier today when it changed course for this system"

Now understanding Fourteen nodded, thinking the current situation over and soon put everything together nicely.

"It came here to reinforce more of it's own kind against the Borg, after all their zealous destruction of Borg ships seems to mean more to them than life itself lately. And I am going to guess that your Alpha hadn't had enough of this prey of his, was taking it personally and decided that by docking with this ship it had made a tactical error"

The Hirogen narrowed it's eyes at Fourteen, making her tighten her grip on her rifle, though she didn't hint any of her apprehension on her face. For a brief moment before the alien responded to her she was torn between thinking she had finally established a working relationship with it or provoking it.

"You may seem like such a fragile little thing, but you are worthy prey. I accept your terms"

The Hirogen pushed its rifle from its lap and Fourteen approached and only once directly beside him did she set her weapon down in exchange for her medical kit. As she worked the Hirogen continued fidgeting about uncomfortably, obviously wanting to get back into the fight. This complicated Fourteen's work and after about five minutes she managed to repair the Hunter's internal bleeding and as she worked on fixing its broken arm she paused a moment.

"I didn't get your name before"

"Beta Repth. It is quite strange having a conversation with my prey".

Fourteen continued her work on the broken arm, wondering if she wasn't just sealing her own fate; though, this Hirogen did seem to be coming around to the idea of her helping him. Two minutes later and she was done, standing from the Hunter's side as she again slung her medical kit before digging into her right pant's pocket producing a small set of micro-circuitry tools. After selecting the right one for the job and removing the glove covering it, Fourteen set to work on the implants in her left hand.

"What is it you are doing?" The Hirogen asked, leaning in to get a better look.

"Your weapons are insufficient to kill the Undine, well eventually it of course would however after a quick modification I could upgrade our weapons to bring it down in one or two shots".

As the Hunter continued to watch intently Fourteen lifted her rifle from the floor, resting it's butt on the ground and standing it vertical while she lined up her left hand with the weapon's on-board computer and soon deployed her assimilation tubules into it. Within seconds the weapon's screen had gone from a light teal to a sickly greenish yellow and the rest of the rifle had sprouted a few hoses and fiber-optics lines. This made the Hirogen recoil slightly as he watched. Fourteen soon motioned for his weapon and as he held it out she again deployed her assimilation tubules.

"Don't worry, I can't actually assimilate life-forms any longer unless I reactivated my nanoprobe's original programming, in which case I'd lose myself in the process. Little modifications like these are perfectly safe. If you are wondering what I have done it's quite simple, the rifles now fire modified nanoprobes that are delivered with the weapon's normal discharge that are coded on how to attack and destroy the Undine's tissue, a technique the Borg used in the Delta Quadrant to…" Fourteen was cut short by the Hunter, giving him a slight look of annoyance as he spoke.

"We need to attack him before he tries to escape. You will go right and I will go left"

"Naturally" she said, sarcasm weighing heavy on her voice as she did as told.

For what seemed like five whole minutes Fourteen moved forward, sweeping slowly before finally finding the Undine inside a room whose door had been blown in. She had gotten the drop on it and as she knelt to take the shot, steadying her breath and raising the Tetryon Rifle to her shoulder bad luck reared its ugly head in the form of one of her own orders. Her combadge beeped before the loud and heavily accented voice belonging to Farrell came blasting over it.

"Lieutenant! We made it to the Shuttle Bay but can't raise the Nightingale, what's worse is now we got Hirogens…."

Fourteen ripped the badge off and threw it down the corridor, but it was far too late. The undine having heard it turned and charged at her at an incredible speed from the depths of the Mess Hall it had invaded, as it drew within ten feet Fourteen fired, catching it in the mid section. It flinched a second and she landed another shot on it, this time on its middle leg, she lined up for a third try but never had the chance. It charged again, this time closing the distance and with Fourteen already having her back against the wall she rolled to the left, dropping her rifle and producing both of her Anti-Proton pistols as she rose. Realizing she need only wait a few moments while the nanoprobes tore apart the Undine's organs she would use her sidearms to stall it, and stall it she did as she tapped the triggers in rapid succession, backing up slowly as she did.

As it looked like the Undine was about to try advancing again Fourteen heard a shot from behind her that found its mark in the middle of the Tripod's face. It stood stunned a second then slumped forward stone dead, looking behind her Fourteen saw Beta Repth now slowly lowering his rifle and looking quite pleased with himself. The air had taken on an unpleasant odor of burning flesh from all the anti-proton bursts that had seared the Undine and as Fourteen held back gagging she retrieved her combadge before turning her attention back to Repth

"Do you intend on keeping your end of the bargain?"

"Absolutely. One could say I owe you my life… a most uncomfortable situation" the Hirogen answered, sounding quite frustrated.

Fourteen thought as fast as she could about how to get something useful out of this situation for not only herself but also the entirety of the Federation. It really didn't take long to arrive at what she did.

"If you would like to repay me then come back to my ship with me, talk to the Starfleet Intelligence officers we have on-board. I am certain they can grant you amnesty if you divulged what you knew about the Romulans to them. Also, if I someday find myself in a command position I promise you that if you talk to them I will see to it personally that you are repaid for it"

The Hirogen nodded approvingly at her and began walking down the corridor towards where they had boarded, pausing just once to look back at Fourteen.

"Wipe that mark off your head, female. It is improper for a Hunter to carry such a thing. Notify your crew to standby for beam out".

Not lost on how large a compliment this was Fourteen was prompt in wetting two of her fingers with spit and wiping the paint from her head. Once done with that she fitted her badge back on and tapped it, trying to come up with how to explain this one.

"Away Team, this is Fourteen. Standby for beam-out to a somewhat unexpected destination, I have a Hirogen Hunter that agreed to help us in exchange for helping him. He is to be trusted so no one do anything foolish"

Fourteen and Repth walked back to the small Hunter's Escort attached to the Viceroy's hull and once inside Repth was prompt in beaming the Away Team aboard. Everyone had made it out unharmed much to Fourteen's relief and the only thing that brought more relief was a few minutes later finding the Nightingale running silent, and really only superficially damaged.

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"Regeneration Cycle Interrupted" came the computer's monotone drawl.

Fourteen stepped forward from her Alcove, opening her eyes to see Commander Hudop, a middle aged Vulcan she had been friends with since just after her liberation standing before her.

"Rear Admiral, forgive me for waking you, however you regenerated well past your usual nine hours, enough so that you are now an hour late for your bridge shift" he said in his usual emotionless tone.

"I appreciate the concern, Hudop. Just another unwanted side effect of wrestling with my humanity as it keeps trying to reassert itself. Another dream about the past, my last mission on the USS Nightingale and how I met Repth this time" Fourteen explained, stepping down from the elevated platform that her alcove sat upon.

Hudop watched as she picked up her B-01 style uniform jacket from her small polished steel coffee table and pulled it on over her black undershirt leaving it unzipped, soon switching her badge from that undershirt to its rightful place on the jacket.

"You remain a mystery to me, Fourteen. There are times when one could truly imply make a better Vulcan than myself".

Fourteen grinned at this very slightly as she tied her hair back then pulled on her gloves.

"We've been over this more times than I can count my friend. I see emotions as both pointless and usually irrelevant wastes of both time and energy, I know you have agreed to that in the past" she said, now fitting her chest holsters, still holding her customized Anti-Proton pistols, on over her jacket.

"You are at your core human, and it is not normal nor healthy for a human to ignore their emotions. As much as you would like you cling to that aspect of your Borg side eventually you won't have a choice but to acknowledge your human side, that may be what these dreams are trying to tell you." Hudop said in an almost preachy tone that Fourteen had come to be all to familiar with over the past four years

Fourteen walked to one of her two small rectangular windows and looked out into the swirling green nebulous gasses and electro-static discharges flashing like lightning inside that pea soup and stared out a moment, listening to the faint yet present voices of the collective echoing in her head and the faint and intermittent noise of the harmless little shock-waves caused by the static as they bounced harmlessly off the shields and hull.

"Another charming day in the B'tran Cluster" she said sarcastically before continuing

"I do acknowledge them, actually. I have over the past few years trained myself to be able to use them to my advantage in combat against the Borg as well as numerous other occasions against species I faced as a Drone. However I have learned through great hardship and incidents like that unfortunate one with the Gorn Ambassador that I am much better off suppressing them, thankfully the Borg left me the little gift which was mental discipline"

Hudop nodded approvingly at this, then changed position so he was holding his hands behind his back in a very thoughtful looking stance.

"As I have said many times in the past, I see you as a kindred spirit. Though, I have witnessed several instances of double standards from you" he said; now taking on an almost curious tone.

"Helping Beta Repth, I know. I may not express emotion but it is never the less there. That day three years ago I had a gut feeling and I went with it and that same gut feeling saved my Away Team later that day. Don't think I'm without conflict on the subject. I just know how I have become comfortable in living and I would prefer against changing that. Now I'd say we've wasted enough time for one day, the Doolittle isn't going to captain herself. Care to join me on the bridge?" Fourteen replied, heading for the door while finally zipping up her uniform jacket.

"As always" Hudop replied falling in behind her.

Once on the bridge Hudop took his position in the First officer's chair and Fourteen got on with her daily ritual of walking station to station, today pausing beside Repth and exchanging what had become their usual greeting of just a nod. He had not only been granted amnesty a few years back but had also after Fourteen pulled many strings become the first and only Hirogen in Starfleet. Just like Fourteen he had specialized in Engineering and excelled in about every area. With her meteoric rise to Rear Admiral, Fourteen had the power to recruit who she wanted and made good on her word to pay Repth back, making him her Operations Officer.

Once comfortable with the status of her customized Griffin escort, Fourteen walked to her captain's chair and after a final few moments studying space outside in her main-viewer she allowed herself to drop gently and silently into her chair.

"Computer, begin Day Shift" Fourteen said, a slight hint of enthusiasm behind her voice.

* * *

End of Episode One.


	2. Episode 2: Unexpected Company

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek, Star Trek Online or any of the content within. This is a work of Fan Fiction and is intended for nothing more than entertainment value.

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EPISODE 2: Unexpected Company

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It had been hours of quiet and hours of searching at low warp for signs of anything remarkable. Even Fourteen with her extremely high patience found herself resting her chin on her left hand, slightly reclined in her captain's chair. Beside her the ever-stalwart Hudop tapped away at his First Officer's console, reviewing scans and back logs to keep occupied.

Just as things reached the point of being unbearable there came a flurry of keystrokes from the science station behind Fourteen, this managed to get her attention and just before she opened her mouth to ask her Chief Science Officer and best friend Udlai, a young Joined Trill woman preempted her

"Admiral! I've got a Borg signature one-point-five light-years from our position!" Udlai hated and feared the Borg like many other people, and it was well reflected in her tone.

"Shields to full arm all weapons and secure all stations! Con, change course to intercept! Last but not least all hands, battle stations!" Fourteen shouted, jumping immediately to her feet, fixing her uniform jacket as well as resituating her chest holsters. She had made it standard operating procedure that everyone remain armed when on duty, herself included.

Everyone had been bored, but no one wanted the Borg. Sure they were part of the freshly resurrected Anti-Borg task force, but no one of a sound mind actually enjoyed fighting them; which likely explained Fourteen failing a few promptly ignored psych evaluations.

"Ma'am how close are we getting before I drop to impulse?" Soibe asked from the Con. Soibe was another Trill of about the same age as Udlai. Soibe wasn't joined with a Symbiot and really never had expressed any interest in the program for it. Fourteen liked her; she was quiet most of the time and really only spoke up when she needed to.

"Take us out at the edge of the system, better safe than sorry" Fourteen paused, looking back at her tactical station and the middle-aged Andorian woman there.

"Takerra, let's load and prime a few Tri-Cobalt devices. If we're unlucky enough to have found something like a Tactical Cube we'll need it; get the Multi-phasic launchers loaded too. Really don't need to tell you your job after all the time out here, but I hate breaking with tradition" She finished, now crossing her arms in anticipation.

"Sad, but all too true Admiral" Takerra replied as she tapped away at her station.

As the ship slowed from warp Fourteen instinctually looked to Udlai knowing full well that she had already without having to be ordered to started a long-range scan.

"It's a derelict Sphere, however it is in remarkable condition. Looks like some kind of multiple power failure made it so the Drones couldn't regenerate, they're still on there just all powered down" Udlai explained, looking to Fourteen with a pleased look.

This was a find and a half, a Borg ship with a pacified crew in near perfect condition. This was also the kind of find that changes the course of a whole war.

"Takerra send Udlai's findings along to Starfleet along with a request for…" Fourteen was cut off by her Tactical Officer quite abruptly here.

"Ma'am! Two Mogai escorts and a D'Deridex are de-cloaking directly on our bow! They have shields up and weapons locked! The D'Deridex is hailing!" Takerra yelled, sounding uncharacteristically spooked by this.

"What the hell are Romulans doing in the B'tran cluster, long way from home… On screen" Fourteen replied before facing forward and standing at attention.

"I am Rear Admiral Fourteen of Twenty-one of the…" Fourteen's standard greeting was cut short by the older looking Romulan captain's harsh and accusatory voice.

"You are trespassing in territory claimed by the Romulan Star Empire, any attempt to move deeper into this system or any attempt to further scan this area will be considered an act of war and immediately acted upon with all due force" During this he visibly studied Fourteen's Borg implant on her left brow, she noticed this too.

It was no secret Romulans took an almost religious attraction to Borg tech, which probably also explained their presence in this system. That Sphere was about four times the prize to the Romulans as it was to the Federation, knowing these were the twilight years of their empire they had become absolutely bent on doing whatever they needed to do to try and grasp at the last straws of control, even if it meant resorting to using technology that could well be their own end.

"Well, Captain… if that is how it is going to be. I will leave the system in a few moments, due to the chaotic nature of space here I require a few minutes to plot my next course, surely you are aware of these navigational hazards yourself". Fourteen replied after a few seconds thinking time, meanwhile a plan-b already coming together in her head.

"You have ten minutes to leave, all communications you make will be monitored, so I recommend against trying to call for reinforcements. It would be… regrettable" The old Romulan man replied before cutting comms.

Fourteen turned to her bridge crew and grinned ever so slightly.

"Udlai, Soibe, Jeerin, Beta, I want you all in Shuttle Bay One in five minutes. Jeerin, your people are experts at guerrilla tactics, and having the knowledge of some assimilated Maquis soldiers I happen to know you all have some nice tricks for hiding smaller vessels. I need some of those tricks, Ensign" Fourteen's voice hinted at a level of pride, in actuality this was pride in hatching a plan so quickly.

"Hudop you have the ship, when you go to warp out I want you to come about and open the shuttle-bay doors. We'll drift out then wait for our Romulan hosts to lose interest before making our way to that Sphere. We have to scuttle it and we really are no match for those ships if they have some cloaked backup waiting nearby. Being Romulans they'll have backup. Thing is with them watching the comms this is a one way trip if we run into trouble. Watch the sensors for that Sphere going up then run in for us on the opposing end of the system" Fourteen finished, now looking to her Vulcan friend, who looked back with a very faint look of concern.

"Ma'am I feel the need to object to you being the commanding officer of the Away Team, your rank and operational knowledge represents a grave security risk. Then again the Sphere does as well and knowing your predilection for destroying anything to do with the Borg I feel I may be wasting my time" Hudop said.

"Well, if nothing else we're getting to know each other pretty good. Take care of the Doolittle for me, she is pretty new and I am willing to bet Starfleet wouldn't be all to pleased if you dinged the plating" Fourteen replied with a slight smile. This actually seemed to make Hudop's left eye visibly twitch.

In just over seven minutes Fourteen finally reached the Class-2 Shuttle and ran up the ramp, stopping momentarily to key it closed and set her backpack and Compression Rifle on the floor beside the other's gear. On her way to the Co-Pilot's station she noted Repth was in his Hunter's armor and for a brief instant thought back to her Borg Exoskeleton and in that instant missed it's protective quality as well as it's strength augmentation.

"The Romulans make good prey" Repth said, sensing Fourteen's momentary pause.

"That may be true, Lieutenant, but our objective is scuttling this sphere. I want weapons set to stun and if we do encounter the Romulans and have to neutralize them we'll beam them to the Doolittle before we blow the Sphere" Fourteen answered, looking at everyone as she said it.

Fourteen sat beside Soibe at the Co-Pilot's station and after going through the Pre-flight for her station at blistering speeds she turned her chair around and looked to Jeerin.

"Ensign, have you performed adequate modifications to the shuttle to allow for us to pass undetected to the Sphere?". She asked, almost fearful of the response. There hadn't been a whole lot of time for the young Bajoran to fulfill his task.

"Yes, Ma'am. She's emitting a cornucopia of particles that will mask us up to about one-quarter impulse so long as we don't do something foolish like get within one-hundred meters of one of those ships. Which reminds me, don't try and scan for them using Tachyons, they'll be on us faster than my little brother on Jumja Sticks. I'd recommend looking for particle displacement instead" Jeerin answered with a heavy amount of confidence behind his voice.

Fourteen nodded approvingly before turning her seat forward again, watching Soibe finish her Pre-Flight. Less than a minute later the comms cracked on.

"Doolittle to Shuttle, We're decompressing the Shuttle Bay Doors now, you should drift clear as we accelerate away, if not a quick burst from the maneuvering thrusters should do the job" Hudop's said, voice already back at it's monotone.

"Understood, Doolittle. We'll see you all later" Soibe answered, despite the mission at hand she still sounded upbeat.

Class-two shuttles were cramped vessels; Fourteen remembered a term frequently used in reference to the close-quarters from her short time at Starfleet Academy "class-2 claustrophobia". It sure lived up to this, even more so with a two-and-a-quarter-meter tall Hirogen taking up space with the others and even Fourteen felt uncomfortable.

Just as planned a few moments later the small craft floated from the Shuttle Bay and after a few tense minutes of sitting and watching the Romulan ships cloaked and moved off. Soibe quietly keyed in a course and went to a quarter impulse and after programming the computer with a scanning algorithm Fourteen moved to the back of the shuttle with the others.

The trip at this speed would take roughly three hours and in the meantime there was next to nothing to do. After a fair amount of silence Soibe finally turned her chair around to face the others.

"I hate to be the heavy here, but Ma'am, what exactly is our plan?" she asked after a short hesitation.

"It's a Sphere, and one built exactly like mine. That said I know its layout perfectly already. We're entering through the Assimilation Bay on it's lower axis, should be able to just drift in and it beats risking our transporters being detected. My codes should still work and I intend on altering some of my implants to allow for a partial interface with its systems, will make our lives much easier. From there we progress to a primary plasma coupling on that same deck and plant Spatial Charges on all four redundant systems before returning to the shuttle" Fourteen explained, already flipping open a Tricorder to start the modifications she had mentioned.

"Fourteen, are you sure it's safe for you to go poking around at your Borg implants? I know you've done it before, but never for the Cortical Interface ones" Udlai asked, sounding concerned for her friend.

Fourteen looked up at her a moment from her work and after a brief bit of thought finally answered this.

"It's not like I can't hear the Borg anytime I get close, so talking to their computers is hardly a stretch. Tell me, is it socially awkward to answer these voices in my head?". This was an attempt at humor as well as the needed explanation. Fourteen had mastered sarcasm and even re-mastered the somewhat slang way of talking her crewmates had, but humor remained hard.

"Only if you do it out-loud, Ma'am" Udlai answered with a small grin.

"Randy's going to be glad he didn't come along for this one…" Jeerin commented almost under his breath, yet loud enough for everyone to know it was something meant to be heard.

Fourteen's chief engineer was a human that preferred to be called by his nickname of Randy. He was a rather gruff and abrasive man in his early thirties that just about all around hated Fourteen. She knew this but had a hard time understanding it. This dislike was spawned from not only Fourteen's past with the Borg but the fact that Randy's whole family had been taken by the Collective on the Vega Colony when the attack occurred a year prior. Udlai had tried to explain this to her on many occasions but Fourteen fell just short of understanding how she could be linked with the Borg still in the Collective in Randy's eyes. She allowed his under the breath comments and even a few times looked the other way about him questioning her orders, allowing Hudop to reprimand him. This was a small concession she made in the interest of keeping the otherwise brilliant Engineer willing to at least partially listen to her, of course Fourteen wasn't oblivious to the fact that she had requested his transfer from a previously comfortable position to just about the living embodiment of hell they all lived day to day now in B'tran, this contributed heavily to her leniency.

The moment of truth arrived as the shuttle moved into position on the Sphere's lower axis a short time later, sure enough the modifications Fourteen made to her implants allowed her to command the Assimilation Bay to open and as the tiny Class 2 drifted in Soibe made a muffled noise of awe.

"To think, for the vast majority this is the last thing they see as an individual and here we are just flying into it willingly" the Trill commented quietly.

"We're still in danger, despite the current inactivity of the Drones. If the Sphere adapts around or fixes its power problems none of us are going to want to be around. Just stay alert for Romulans and for any Borg that power back up" Fourteen responded as she pulled her gear back on along with the others.

"Here, everyone take one of these hypo's. I've loaded them with a fast acting anesthetic, if we encounter Romulans and you can get up close hit them with that and they'll be out in a couple seconds flat; just don't get yourself with one. Nothing I can do to help if you do" Udlai said, now handing out the Hypospray Injectors to the entire team.

"Little overkill bringing three weapons, don't you think Admiral?" Jeerin asked as he looked toward Fourteen, watching her pick up her Compression Rifle.

"Hardly. The Rifle has a Stun setting, whereas the Anti-Proton Pistols lack that subtlety. After all it is a little hard to set what basically equates to Anti-Matter to anything but lethal, don't you think?" She responded, forcing a small smirk.

Moments later they touched down and the back ramp slowly dropped. Repth muscled his way into getting off the craft first, powering up the scanner on his Tetryon rifle before looking back and quietly announcing the results.

"Romulan life-signs, I am uncertain of how many. They occupy this deck and I would be willing to wager they are aware of the same structural fault as you, Admiral".

"Hand-signs only, remember set to stun and if you can get in close enough to use Udlai's Hypo's then by all means do so, as soon as we shoot they'll know we're here" Fourteen answered, looking at everyone as she said this in a very hushed tone. Everyone nodded.

Taking point from Repth, Fourteen lead the way into the Assimilation Bays, the power failure had apparently happened just after they had brought a small Romulan vessel on board. This was evidenced with partially Assimilated Romulan bodies laying on the surgical style tables as well as a few that had died from losing power at a critical moment of their Assimilation.

Fourteen had a flash of dizziness followed by terror, she closed her eyes tight to try and escape it but was instantly greeted with images of a world illuminated sickly green past her swimmy lime-tinted vision. She was walking the corridors again, mindless and lost in a sea of trillions of voices and screams of the freshly captured members of a freighter's crew that had just been beamed aboard. Slowly the screams stopped and new voices joined with hers. She rounded a corner and a young Bolian male in civilian clothing that had been running at considerable speed bumped into her hard enough to make her stagger.

"Assimilate this Life-form" a chorus of voices called.

Fourteen grabbed the man by the shoulder with her right hand, raising her left and deploying her Assimilation Tubules into the Bolian's neck. He staggered back grabbing the injection site and slid down the nearest bulkhead as his skin went from it's normal blue to ashen gray. She stood him up a few seconds later

"You will follow us" Fourteen said in a raspy and emotionally dead tone.

"We will follow you" the Bolian replied in the same tone as he walked along side her.

Fourteen felt something shaking her, she tried to fight it with everything she had… in that moment the flashback had been so real that Fourteen had accepted it as reality, completely forgetting the Starfleet Officer and individual she now was.

"Wake up, Admiral! Come on, don't check out on us now!" Udlai's voice broke through.

"My apologies, Commander. I believe one could call that a ghost from my past, and a very unpleasant one at that" Fourteen answered, finally back with reality and finding her friend with a firm grip on her left arm.

"I made an important, if not disturbing, discovery. I scanned all of those Romulans as well as the local Data Nodes… Ma'am they allowed themselves to be Assimilated to transmit a computer virus. It's what caused all this. I'm willing to bet this same virus was trying to attack you just now" Udlai explained, still using a very concerned tone.

"I believe I have adapted, but just in case I will now close down a few of the interface protocols I reactivated for this mission. This is indeed troubling, but not exactly surprising" Fourteen paused and pointed at a nearby wall.

"Spatial Charge number one goes there, just below that console" She finished, still trying to shake the lingering images that the flashback had left her with.

Jeerin and Soibe were quick about fitting the disk-shaped charge to the wall, meanwhile Repth seemed on edge. Fourteen knew him well enough to know this was his way of expressing fear, that fear soon became well founded as two Romulans on patrol rounded the nearest intersection's corner with absolutely no warning.

Out of a knee-jerk reaction Repth fired and struck of the two several times as his Tetryon Rifle cycled between its three barrels. Fourteen reacted milliseconds later with a three-shot burst of her own from her Compression Rifle that leveled the second one.

"Our little secret's out now! Tag them where they drop for beam-out and stay tight!" Fourteen yelled, now charging ahead to the second strategic location that needed a Spatial Charge.

The others struggled to keep up, in a way this was a good thing considering that several turns down the numerous corridors later both Repth and Fourteen had to dive for cover from about six Romulans that opened fire on sight.

Pressed firmly into cover beside an Alcove, Fourteen looked back at Jeerin and Soibe as they caught up and signaled them to flank right down an abutting corridor. As they both crouch-ran to do this Fourteen created a distraction by launching from cover to a nearby-deactivated Tactical Drone and took hold of it. Using it as something of a meat-shield she fired wildly at the Romulans, striking one in the arm and as the others popped from their respective cover to return fire at her. The Romulans hit only the bulky Drone in the few shots they got off before getting completely caught off guard from the right as Soibe and Jeerin opened fire in controlled bursts from their Compression Rifles from right beside the Romulan's previously secure position.

They had managed to get three out of the five before having to take cover from the other two, this was Fourteen and Repth's cue to rush forward while the others blindly fired suppressing fire.

Fourteen got close to her target, because he was crouched his Disruptor Rifle was at perfect kicking height, and kick it Fourteen did. The weapon clattered against the far wall and soon the Romulan burst to his feet to attack, throwing a punch. Fourteen grabbed his wrist and pulled him in close so they were looking eye-to-eye.

"Resistance is futile" she growled out before pressing her hypo against his neck, holding it there until he went limp into her arms.

Though Fourteen now hated the Borg and absolutely everything they stood for, though she was no longer in the Collective and never a member of this Sphere's crew, she took this virus based attack extremely personally. Despite the urge to leave the Romulan she had just taken down with permanent damage she restrained herself, instead adhering a small transporter tag to the man's uniform as she guided his now limp body to the floor.

Looking to her left, Fourteen watched the end of Repth's follow-through. He had his Romulan by the neck with his feet dangling about two feet off the ground and as the kicking stopped he fit a tag on this man's uniform as Fourteen had.

"Unfortunately for him I… lost… my Hypospray. Oh, look. I found it. Do not worry, Admiral. He will be fine in due time" Repth explained.

"Don't lose it again" Fourteen answered, noticing the small black scorch mark on Repth's armor, hinting that he had taken a hit from a Disruptor. Both of them, it would seem, had displayed a great deal of restraint.

Fourteen gave the one-hand-open-palm circular wave sign for regroup and as her Away Team gathered close she looked at each of them visually accessing each.

"The next room if this Sphere follows standard design protocol will be somewhat larger and more open with little or no cover for us to utilize. It's a primary processing node and our second and third targets are in that room. We need a way to deal with the Romulans in that room, ideas?" Fourteen asked in a hushed voice.

"If we can somehow get the Hypos to aerosol the anesthetic, we could hypothetically neutralize all or most of them in one sitting. But I have little to no idea how we could achieve this" Udlai explained after a moments thought.

Fourteen held out her hand in an unspoken order and after collecting all of the team's Hypos she moved to a nearby cylindrical computer console, standing like a pillar in the middle of the room she occupied. She tapped away at the circular Borg symbols on it before removing the cartridges from the Hypos, loading them into sockets that had just been exposed by a panel that retracted on the console, waiting for them.

"I can't guarantee this will take them all down, but at the least they will all be coughing or otherwise incapacitated a few seconds. When I key this in we'll rush the room and do what we can as fast as we can before planting the last two charges" Fourteen explained as she entered the last few command lines.

The others watched intently as Fourteen entered the last keystroke, then followed her to the threshold of the large room just ahead. They lined up behind her at the entranceway, pressing against the wall and as the noise of whooshing air turned to coughs and limp thuds of bodies hitting the floor Fourteen gave but one hand signal before rounding the corner with the others close behind. The room had been as she had believed it would be, tall and wide rimmed with Regeneration and Interface Alcoves. At its center was a floor to ceiling cylindrical series of computer consoles, hoses and conduits making up a Primary Data Processing Node.

A Romulan took a shot at them, firing from the hip and one handed, being still doubled over and coughing caused this shot to go high and wide. Fourteen pulled her rifle's trigger and felt the slight kick as the weapon discharged, she then watched the stunned Romulan drop harmlessly forward to the ground. Beside her Udlai fired a few shots at another man that seemed to be only partially conscious and while she did this Repth took down two others with a rapid-fire burst from his Tetryon rifle.

"Admiral!" Soibe yelled, pointing towards the only way out on the opposing side of the room.

Fourteen shifted her attention in time to see two Romulans escaping that way, one was obviously the Captain she had addressed before while still onboard the Doolittle. She took two or three shots their way, only succeeding in scoring the walls and a few alcoves, sending showers of sparks as she did.

"Forget him for now! Soibe, plant the charge on the left-side conduit and Jeerin you get the right! Repth, take position at the far door, anything moves you take it out" Fourteen shouted as he returned her Compression Rifle to her back on it's sling, walking slowly to the Node in the center of the room.

The others moved to carry out Fourteen's orders as she set about using the Node to establish a jamming signal to prevent the Romulan Captain from calling for a beam-out or assistance, she also took the time to erect several containment fields over the neighboring corridors, essentially trapping the two escaped men like rats. As she went to try and run a scan to find exactly where they were she was interrupted.

"Uh… Admiral. I could use some help here!" Jeerin's panic-stricken voice called from the right side of the room.

Fourteen moved to be able to see him and found him held tight by a Romulan woman that was simultaneously holding a Disruptor Pistol to his head.

"Admiral is it? I want all your weapons on the ground or I kill your man where he stands" the Romulan said in a forceful voice.

"Clearly you realize if you kill my Ensign I'll be forced to return the gesture. Set yours down, we've been merely stunning your crewmates" Fourteen responded, showing both of her palms in a show of her non-confrontational willingness to talk it out.

Jeerin didn't exactly share this sentiment, he threw a hard elbow into the woman's abdomen and tried to shake free. She fired striking his arm and he fell yelling in pain as Fourteen almost too fast to see drew an Anti-Proton pistol and fired two shots, one hitting the Romulan's weapon and the other hitting her upper right arm. The woman fell to the all behind and slid down it, silently grabbing the wound and Udlai ran to Jeerin, opening her medical kit as she did.

"Picked the wrong Bajoran to mess with!" Jeerin yelled as Udlai started work on his badly burnt right arm.

"Udlai, treat the Romulan when you're done with the Ensign, she should have survived that hit. It is regrettable that the only weapon I was capable of drawing in time to prevent Jeerin's death was such a powerful one" Fourteen ordered.

As Udlai was about to reply to this, Fourteen's Combadge chirped to life.

"I know who you are, Admiral. From another vessel like this one we have records from the Borg themselves about you, about who your family was before you were all taken. And now you'll never know, because only I have these records and I'll never share them with the likes of Starfleet. However, if you were to willingly come back with us to Rator Prime, perhaps we could come to an arrangement" the Romulan captain said.

Fourteen was reminded by this that the Node she had just been working at also contained several data-storage devices and after she returned to the Node and pulled them free of their slots and handed them silently to Soibe she headed to the door at the far end of the room. Her crew quietly watched her, each of them wondering exactly what their Commanding Officer was about to do.

"Time is up, Admiral. Now the only way you'll get this data is over my dead body" The Romulan said over her Comms again.

"Fourteen, your Prey is attempting to lure you. He is a trapped animal right now, and as you know that is when a Prey is at it's most desperate and dangerous. I believe he intends to capture you" Repth said in a lowered tone from where he stood beside her at the door leading to the corridors ahead.

"He represents a grave threat and I can't just let him go, Lieutenant. He likely has knowledge of most of what the Romulans are doing out here and Starfleet Intelligence would almost certainly order me to bring him in if they were here right now" Fourteen answered, staring the Hirogen in the eye as she did. Ever so faint in her voice hid anger.

"Allow me to come with you on your Hunt, Admiral" Repth asked sounding concerned.

"No. Stay here and tag the remaining Romulans and arm the charges, if everything goes to plan we'll be out of here in minutes. No matter what you hear do not follow me" Fourteen replied.

None of her team protested these orders, but every last one of them wanted to. Fourteen checked corner by corner, even occasionally checking the ceiling as she walked through the once again cramped corridors of the sphere, her Compression Rifle pressed firmly to her shoulder and set to Maximum Stun.

These rifles had been the mainstay of the Federation for about forty years now and had undergone many modifications and slight performance tweaks since they were first put into service and the newest models featured semi-automatic, three-shot burst and full automatic fire. They also featured enhanced optics in the form of both a scope and a pop-sight atop that, both actually built with technology reverse-engineered from Repth's Tetryon rifle. Fourteen had a little bit of credit in the design used now as well, reviving a piece of technology pioneered by the Elite Force. The Elite Force had been a specialized team of officers that Admiral Janeway had instituted while in the Delta Quadrant aboard the now legendary USS Voyager. This chip, called the Infinity Modulator automatically shifted energy frequencies to prevent the Borg from adapting to the weapon's energy bursts. All these facts leant Fourteen an absolute confidence as she crept almost silently along.

Fourteen sidestepped to the right as a solid and thick green colored Disruptor beam fired passed where her head would have been and crackled into a nearby alcove, decoupling the Drone in it causing it to crash lifeless to the floor. She dropped to kneeling and fired three shots into the man who blew backwards from the weight of impact.

"Come now, Admiral. Aren't you the least bit curious as to who you are? What your name really is? Curious as to whom the people who gave birth to you are or what their fate was? Ever wonder if you have any living relatives? I could have told you these things" The Romulan Captain taunted over Fourteens comms, this time his tone bordering on arrogant, even pleased that she had followed him.

Fourteen reassured herself that Udlai would have researched her DNA and looked for any relatives, but never the less these taunts as well as the possibility that this Captain may actually have found some information aggravated her. Combined with the knowledge that this man likely also made the virus that forced her to relive one of the darkest chapters of her life made her blood boil.

Fourteen turned a corner in a three-way intersection in the maze of corridors and saw her target running the opposing direction. With a subtle twitch of her head she summoned a containment field that the old man ran headlong into, as he turned to run back towards her she called forth another using her link to the Sphere.

"Please! I'm sorry! I don't really know anything about you, young woman!" he pleaded as she drew close, walking in a rigid and obviously aggressive stance.

Once at the field, Fourteen dropped it and grabbed the Captain's Disruptor pistol from him, casting it aside before forcefully pinning him to the nearest wall, pressing an Anti-Proton pistol against his chest with her free hand.

"You can't kill an unarmed man! That's against Federation protocol!" the Romulan yelled.

"Their protocol, not mine and I don't see anyone else nearby to challenge my version of events. That said, if you cooperate than you will live to see the conclusion of this, if you even remotely try to resist me I will pull this trigger, I should warn you at this range this weapon will likely vaporize you" Fourteen answered, voice totally devoid of emotion and ice-cold.

"I really don't know anything about your past!" He yelled, obviously close to panic.

"That's a secondary concern for another time and place. I need to know how many vessels you have out there in cloak and I need to know right now if you have operational knowledge of the mission I unknowingly uncovered involving the virus in this vessel's Computer Core and Drones" Fourteen asked, dismissing his pleading for the moment

"About a dozen Bird of Prey, five Mogai class escorts and a pair of D'Deridex including my personal ship. I'm in charge of this detachment and we're just one of roughly ten working on technology seizing mission such as this, I know a great deal about that virus and have a device on my person carrying a sample of it! I'll Cooperate Admiral! Please!" came the Captain's response.

Fourteen released her grip on him before tagging him with a transporter tag that she rapidly keyed a few buttons on. She then stepped back and lowered her pistol, it made a faint powering down noise as she did.

"Glad to hear it. Now as I tried to say hours ago I am Admiral Fourteen of Twenty-One of the U-S-S Doolittle. I am placing you under arrest pending your transfer to Starfleet Intelligence." Fourteen said, now curbing her harsh tone back to its usual soft sound.

"Captain T'rel of the Tal' Shiar. Admiral I hope you have a good exit plan, because if not my people will kill me to prevent my knowledge from leaking out" the Romulan replied.

Fourteen made a motion with her empty hand for him to walk ahead of her, back the way they came. As they did she paused to stick a transporter tag to the man she had stunned minutes earlier. As she returned to the rest of her Away Team in the Processing Node's room they all turned her way.

"He's with us and will be treated as a guest when we return to the ship, well a guest that's on house arrest. Repth, search him for me… gently, Lieutenant." Fourteen ordered before returning to the Node.

After setting up a Borg carrier wave in a somewhat more obscure if not obsolete band to avoid Romulan detection, Fourteen opened a hailing frequency to the Doolittle.

"This is Acting Captain Hudop commanding the U-S-S Doolittle, to whom am I speaking?" her first officer asked in an almost puzzled tone.

"This is the away team, we're ready for pickup and have about a dozen Romulans tagged for transport, but the system is crawling with their ships. It will take an act of precision and some luck but I have a plan that may work. I want you to drop from warp directly above the Sphere's north pole, from there beam the Away Team directly to the bridge, the tagged Romulans to Cargo Bay Two, save the one tagged with the frequency I am transmitting to you now. I want him in my Ready Room with a Security Detail standing by. Just make sure our weapons are armed and get those shields up the second you have us, Commander". Fourteen ordered as fast as she could speak.

"Understood Ma'am. We will be warping into the system in approximately five minutes from now, standby" Hudop replied, his voice hinting at what Fourteen thought for a moment to be relief.

Fourteen walked from the Node to Jeerin where he was sitting with his back rested against an Alcove.

"Ensign, not bad for your first away mission. I'd suggest the next time you give me a little more time before taking matters into your own hands" she said while studying the charred in hole in the young Bajoran's uniform, as well as the freshly regenerated skin under it.

"With respect, Ma'am, people like this remind me too much of the stories passed down to me by my Grandparents and Great-Grandparents about the Cardassian occupation of my home planet. Think they can just impose their will without any kind of consequence. I'd rather die than face that" Jeerin explained, anger reverberating in his words.

"Believe me, Jeerin, I understand all too well that sentiment. Just the same I would hate to lose a promising young officer such as yourself. Consider it a personal request that you think a little more before acting like that again" Fourteen answered him, trying to sound a slight bit authoritative.

Udlai noticed T'rel looking over the Romulan woman that was sat upright besides Jeerin and after finishing packing up her gear she walked over to him.

"She'll be fine, I've stabilized her enough that she'll make a complete recovery once she gets to a Sickbay" Udlai explained in a friendly tone.

"Other factions including my own often look upon your Federation as weak, even sometimes lacking the strength to do what it might take to save your Federation. From what I have seen here today I can gladly say I have a new appreciation for your more humane methods. I know most of these Officers personally and I am very grateful for your treatment of them" T'rel replied, even nodding approvingly as he did.

As Fourteen was about to comment on this she felt herself dematerializing as the team was beamed out by the Doolittle.

Now standing at the back of her heavily-modified Maelstrom Class's bridge, Fourteen was prompt in moving to her proper place in it's Captain's chair, reaching it just as Hudop stood from it and moved back to his First Officer's position.

Fourteen quickly tapped at the computer panel beside her chair and opened a hailing frequency on all channels known to be used by the Romulans.

"Attention Romulan Fleet, this is Admiral Fourteen of Twenty-One of the United Star Ship Doolittle. I have a number of your crew onboard my vessel and am willing to return them to you. It should also be noted that I have personally seen to rigging Spatial Charges to multiple power conduits inside the Sphere I am currently in position above. Any attempt to attack my vessel will result in my detonating those charges now, taking the Sphere, my ship and a good number of you with us. If you are willing to go about this peacefully and have your crew returned to you, please decloak now" Fourteen said, putting every bit of determination she felt into her voice as she did.

About thirty seconds passed of absolutely nothing before a D'Deridex and a pair of Mogai decloaked.

"They're hailing, Admiral" Repth said, now back at his station as well.

"On-screen" Fourteen answered.

The viewer snapped from showing the ships ahead to showing a younger Romulan man

"We accept your terms, Admiral. Please beam our crew aboard promptly and then leave this system. Tell me, was Captain T'rel among those you abducted?" he asked, the same accusatory tone used by T'rel earlier was now being employed by his First Officer.

"He's dead. He refused to stand down and fired a shot at one of my team members. I apologize, but he left me no choice" Fourteen quickly snapped back. Another part of her plan fell into place; she had modified T'rel's transporter tag to also mask his life signs before she had planted it on him.

The first officer studied her a moment, trying to figure out if he could take her word or not. Fourteen knew very well that Romulan Paranoia would take over and he would never just accept this, but at the least she had bought time.

A few moments of awkward silence followed while the Romulan crew was beamed back to the Flagship sitting ahead of them and once that was complete the silence broke.

"The Empire thanks you for returning its Soldiers. Now I believe you have spent more than enough time in this system. Please depart at once" the Romulan said, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.

"Get clear of the Sphere, I am going to blow it once we're clear, regardless of if you have or haven't yet. I'm glad this could be handled in a civil manner. Admiral Twenty-One out" Fourteen concluded, closing hailing frequencies as she did.

"Take us about to course two-five-one by one-four-zero. Engage at Warp Five, Soibe" Fourteen added, her finger hovering over the button on her computer panel to transmit the detonation code.

Fourteen watched as the Viewer showed the other ships rotate from view before the star field ahead blurred as her vessel achieved warp. She counted to five in her head and tapped the button. About thirty seconds later she felt the deck plates shudder from the shockwave.

"Ma'am you realize there is no way they are just going to let us get away with what you just pulled, right?" Takerra asked in a very serious voice.

"I am well aware of that, Lieutenant Commander. I may be wrong, but I believe those two Mogai that decloaked would be the ships that would give chase, an equal match if we can get them where we want them as well as a nice test of this ship's offensive capabilities, wouldn't you agree?" Fourteen responded, interlacing her fingers as she rested her elbows on her chair's armrests.

"I agree, but in order to hit them we first have to detect them. Our best way of doing that involves our main deflector, which is of course to the Fore, if we tried to maneuver behind them…" Takerra began but was quickly interrupted by her Commanding Officer.

"I have made it a point to read up on many tactics, not just starship but old naval tactics used on Earth, seeing as how I captain one of the most advanced attack-craft in our fleet. Commander, have you ever heard of submarine combat from Earth's history?" Fourteen had interrupted with.

"A little, Ma'am. What do you have in mind?" Takerra responded sounding interested.

"It's a tactic that the Russian Navy used during what Earth History calls the Cold War known to the American side as the 'Crazy Ivan' in which they would randomly change direction at speed to try and detect any American Submarine which might have been hiding from their primitive sensors in their own wake. We're doing our own little Crazy Ivan on my mark. Helm, Hard Stop and dive on my go while Ops sends out a large Tachyon pulse. They're probably matching our speed and will blow past and try their own emergency stop, after we dive out of their way it will put them in perfect position to bring our cannons to bear. Aim to disable, Takerra".

"This is just insane enough to work. What happens if they aren't behind us?" Takerra answered.

Fourteen never answered her tactical officer, she had instead decided to follow her own advice and listen to her gut as she promised she would. Once each station reported ready Fourteen stood from her chair and took a few steps forward, looking out the view screen at the B'tran cluster beyond.

"All hands, Crazy Ivan" she said, crossing her arms and waiting as the deck plates again shuddered, this time from rapid deceleration.

A wave of blue-ish white light then radiated from the Deflector and as it did two ghostly and faint outlines lit up for just a couple milliseconds, Fourteen saw them and the computer did too.

"Got you! Firing cannons!" Takerra announced voice now filled with excitement and enthusiasm.

The floor shook again, this time much more viscerally and also accompanied this time by the loud bangs of recoil as the ship's rather unique armament of two sets of Dual Heavy Anti-Proton and lone set of Dual Heavy Tetryon Cannons opened fire sending thick bolts of crimson read and azure blue bolts of energy down-range. This was the first time the ship had used them in anger, in fact the only other time they had ever fired was at a test range nine months earlier and the spectacle there was drastically less moving the one now unfolding.

The first Mogai was struck at the base of its left wing at least five times and tumbled forward. Takerra refined her aim and took that wing clean off before switching targets to the second cloaked ship, now lit up like a proverbial Christmas Tree for the Targeting Sensors. The Doolittle fired again and again Fourteen was actually somewhat surprised by the recoil of it's main guns, realizing in that moment the huge amount of power she wielded with command of this ship. These shots were much better aimed, blowing a chunk of the second Mogai's right wing off as it was attempting to come-about for an attack run. This caused it to roll erratically over, giving Takerra a chance to lay into its underbelly with another volley. It was over in a matter of just fifteen seconds and without even one casualty on Fourteen's side. "Not bad" she told herself mentally.

"Status on the two ships, do they have life-support?" Fourteen asked, turning to face Takerra.

"Yes, Ma'am. But they are going absolutely nowhere anytime soon. That was a damn good move, Admiral" the Andorian replied with a good amount of pride in her voice.

"And some fine shooting, Lieutenant Commander. Repth, please open a channel to the Romulan Battle Group we just left behind in the system" Fourteen ordered, now walking closer to her View Screen.

The Romulan First Officer appeared on screen and stared at her a moment, as if almost surprised.

"I am about to send you a set of coordinates, you'll find your two Escorts down and disabled with crews intact. Should you choose to do a rescue effort that should come as useful. Let this stand as a powerful lesson for you, when the Federation extends a diplomatic solution don't accept it and then try and stab us in the back. Good day, Captain" with that Fourteen turned to Repth and made a cutthroat motion to kill the transmission before the Romulan had a chance to reply.

"Soibe, redirect to Battle Group Omega. It will take us a few weeks, but we have to drop off our VIP to the Intelligence boys there" Fourteen added before heading towards her Ready Room, calling back "Hudop, you have the Bridge".

Fourteen entered her Ready Room and quickly took a seat behind her desk and reclined slightly in her chair before turning to T'rel where he sat on her couch, two Security officers standing behind him.

"Can I get you anything, Captain? Perhaps a Jumbo Mollusk or an Osol Twist?" She asked, a bit of real concern behind her tone.

"Not at the moment, but thank you. I am a bit confused, Admiral. you put yourself at great risk to protect me. Am I really worth that much to the Federation?" he replied.

"Yes and no. Your information will go a long way to helping us stop your countrymen from making a very big mistake in attempting to utilize a technology they don't understand. We do it to protect you from yourselves, even if you can't see our perspective. And as far as perspective goes, Captain, I was a Borg most of my life, I can't remember ever being human. You don't want to go down this road, a road that could end with your own Assimilation. The other reason I am willing to protect you is because you willingly offered me information that kept my ship and crew safe. For that you have my gratitude" Fourteen explained.

"I saw how you treated my own people, the lengths at which you went to spare every single one of them. I merely returned the favor. I may seem abrupt, but what happens now?" T'rel asked.

"Now I send you to one of our spare rooms, I must confine you there with Security posted at all times, however you will have full Replicator privileges, please make yourself at home and if you need anything please feel free to have me contacted" Fourteen answered, standing to see the man off as Security escorted him off.

As the doors slid closed again she returned to her seat, looking towards the Replicator behind her desk.

"Vulcan Spice Tea, hot and Vulcan Plomek Soup, spicy and hot" Fourteen said after a little debate and as the Replicator materialized her dinner she let her hair down and unzipped her uniform jacket, relaxing for the first time in hours before she would have to start her report.

* * *

"Captain's Log, Sup

* * *

plemental.

In light of the day's events, detailed in my report to Starfleet Headquarters, desk of Admiral Janeway as well as the copy of that report attached to this log file I find myself again perplexed by the Romulans and their willingness to meddle with Borg technology, in this case even allowing their own to be Assimilated to further their goals.

The Captain I arrested seems to on the one hand care about his people, yet will order them to infect themselves with a computer virus and allow themselves to become the mindless slaves of my former captors. I have encountered few contradictions as absolutely confusing as this…. Perhaps he views all this as contribution to some kind of misled greater good?

Regardless, I am never the less grateful to continue participating in missions like this, I may not have been directly responsible for any of the things I did as a Drone but I feel the need to redeem myself of what seem like unredeemable crimes. I believe preventing others from making mistakes like those of the Romulan may be the best way for me to do so.

I will begin analyzing the data storage devices I took from the Sphere tomorrow; they should be filled with useful data from its movements to most of the other Borg vessels in the immediate area. They should also add to our own maps, which in this vast and uncharted system will be extremely valuable.

Finally I will be putting in soon for a short leave time for my crew. We have been out here charting and following the Borg for about six months. Unlike most normal tours of duty, this one is particularly stressing on my people, the prospect of being attacked by the Borg at any time wears heavily on the spirit, mine included. Aside from that, Udlai asked me a time ago for a week of leave next month to attend some kind of convention for Science and Medical officers. I would very much like to accommodate my good friend.

End of personal log."

* * *

End of Episode.


End file.
