The Final Frontier 8/Final Frontier 8 (Disk 3 of 4).adf/LCARS/TextFile/BBS/I_Locutus_Part_1.pp/I_Locutus_Part_1

Text File | 1994-08-07 | 13.8 KB | 342 lines

TF01
3,I Locutus - Part 1
4,by Ryan Nicol

Before this starts, may I just  say  that this is difficult to write,
when considering the possibility of there being a Borg cliffhanger at
the end of the current  season.   With  my  not knowing how they will
continue the Borg saga, this story may  not fit in with the Star Trek
universe in a  couple  of  months  when  that  episode  is aired.  So
basically, I'm writing for the enjoyment -  whether it fits in or not
with the ST universe now  or  ever  is  not  an  issue  for me at the
moment.

Enjoy;  comments,  criticisms,  suggestions   and  anything  else  is
welcome,

Ryan.


                             I, LOCUTUS
                            ------------
                            by Ryan Nicol
                           ---------------


        "Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough
          you would admit to yourself that there was in you
        just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible
       frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being
            a meaning in it which you could comprehend."

                 (Joseph Conrad; Heart of Darkness)


                              PART ONE


"Captain's log: Stardate 7352.61 -  The  Enterprise is racing towards
Beta Ariquae V in an attempt to  avert a catastrophe. Two days ago, a
cube-shaped space ship was  detected  entering  Federation space, its
heading - on a direct  course  for  this  colony.  Once we arrive, we
estimate there will be two hours to vacate the colony before the Borg
obliterate it from the face of the planet."

The chime from his Ready Room  door  snapped  him out of his reverie,
and back to the cold, harsh reality he knew he would have to face.

"Come."

The doors on the other side  of  his  desk  slid open, and Will Riker
entered, pausing for a moment  before  moving towards him. Behind his
first officer, the doors  closed,  shutting  them  off  from the main
bridge.

"What can I do for  you,  Number  One?"   Picard asked, adjusting his
personal monitor so Riker could not see  what he had been studying on
its screen.

His first officer moved forward  without  saying a word, watching his
captain intently.  After a few seconds, he spoke.

"You've seemed unusually pensive in  the  last few days, Captain.  If
it is not out of line, may I ask why?"  Riker knew he didn't have to;
the answer was all too  clear.   It  was  merely  a  matter of how to
approach his captain, a man  not  accustomed  to sharing his feelings
with others.

Picard was silent for a moment, then turned his personal monitor off.
He looked up at Riker and  gave  a  nod.   "It's Hugh.  I just wonder
what has happened to him, if they've changed because of him.  I guess
this is the test."

This most certainly was the  test;  the  Federation, indeed the known
galaxy, had  not  heard  from  the  Borg  since  the  Enterprise  had
encountered the remains of a  crashed  Borg  ship on a planetoid, and
recovered one survivor - Hugh.

Riker nodded.  He understood what the  captain had gone through, what
he was still going through.  Of  course,  he could never really know.
But he had some feeling of what it must have been like; a rape of the
mind, transformed into a cold-blooded  killer.  He wondered if Picard
really felt he was somehow responsible for what happened at Wolf 359;
if it was something that haunted him still....

"Getting those colonists  out  shouldn't  take  long."  Riker finally
said.  "We should have plenty  of  time  to evacuate the planet, then
watch the Borg at work, learn about their methods..."

"....And confront them." Picard finished for him.

"Hold them off until Shelby arrives."  Riker corrected. "We only have
to engage  them  if  they  threaten  any  other  planets  with larger
populations than we can evacuate."

Shelby.  Picard thought back to the overbearing, pushy commander, who
eventually played a large part in their success against the Borg ship
around Earth.  Now she was in command  of a Star Fleet proto-type - a
starship that was  built  with  enough  power  to  maintain a lengthy
combat against a Borg  vessel.   Nothing  amazing,  but  the best the
Federation could  make,  what  with  her  Fleet  still  suffering the
effects   from   their   previous   entanglement   with   the   Borg.
Unfortunately that ship, the USS Garrett,  was  too far away to be of
any immediate assistance to them.  But  he had been assured that they
were on their way,  and  knowing  the  ever-eager  Shelby, he did not
doubt that.

"Captain Picard to the  bridge."  Data's  voice  filtered through the
intercom system.

"On my way." Picard said  into  the  air,  then  got up and looked at
Riker, "So it begins."

The two marched out of the Ready Room and onto the main bridge of the
Enterprise.  On  the  viewscreen,  the  image  of  a  tranquil planet
floated into view.

All that was going to change,  Riker  thought  as he sat down next to
his captain.

"Number One, I don't  believe  there  is  much time for pleasantries.
You and  Commander  Data  had  better  beam  down  and  organise  the
evacuation from below; I'll begin to speak to whoever is in charge in
the mean time."

Riker nodded and got  up,  as  did  Data  from  his station.  The two
entered the turbo-lift together.   Picard  watched  as the doors slid
them out of his view, then motioned for Worf to hail the planet.

When the face  of  the  leader  appeared  on  the  screen, Picard was
momentarily stunned.

"Enterprise, I was under the impression  that you agreed we would not
be troubled again." The image of Goshevon spoke.

Why the hell wasn't I told this was the planet they had been given to
colonize, Picard thought, as he stared at the face of the leader Data
had publicly embarrassed  in  order  to  let  his  people leave their
colony when the Sheliak had demanded  the world they were on belonged
to their race.

"You and your android chased us off  our world once, Picard, when the
"mighty" Sheliak stole our world from us.   This time, I hope this is
nothing more than a courtesy call."  Goshevon continued.

"Mr Goshevon, I do not have  the  time  to discuss the situation with
you." Picard said, as  diplomatically  as  possible.  "But believe me
when I say an evacuation is  necessary.   Commander Data and my first
officer..."

"You want us to pack up shop again, Picard!  Have the Sheliak claimed
this quadrant as well?"

"No." Picard said, quietly. "But the Borg have."

                           * * * * * * * *

Riker and Data appeared in  what  seemed  like the town's centre, the
buildings  that   surrounded   them   suiting   the   warm,  tropical
environment.  Though different in design,  Data noticed that the city
was laid out in  a  similar  fashion  to  the  one  on the planet the
Sheliak took from them.

"Data!"  A woman's voice called out  from behind them, and before the
android could do anything, the owner of  that voice ran up and hugged
him as he turned in her direction.

"Ard'rian!" Data said in surprise, not  quite  sure how to return the
affectionate gesture.  As he disentangled  himself from the woman, he
turned to Riker, who was standing  next  to  him with a rather amused
expression on his face.  "Ard'rian, this is Commander Riker."

Ard'rian Mackenzie turned to shake  hands  with Riker, but still held
onto Data's  arm,  a  fact  that  didn't  make  Data  feel  any  more
comfortable than when he was when hugged.

"Data, what are you doing here?"

"That involves  a  rather  lengthy  discussion  on  a  wide  range of
subjects and, unfortunately, time is  of  the essence." Data informed
her. "If you could show me to your leader, I will be able to fill you
in as well."

"Does this involve evacuation?" Ard'rian's  face showed deep concern.
"Because if it is,  there  is  no  way  in  hell  you're going to get
Goshevon to back down again."

"Unfortunately, there is no choice  in  the  matter." Riker spoke up.
"There is no way this colony  is  going  to be left standing, whether
you leave or not."

Data looked at his friend, who looked slightly taken aback at Riker's
directness.  "Ard'rian, we must speak to Goshevon now."

                           * * * * * * * *

"Captain, the Borg seem to have  other  ideas regarding their time of
arrival." Worf spoke from behind his station.

"In what way?" Picard asked, looking up at his Chief of Security.

"Current sensor readings indicate that  they  are only two hours away
at Warp nine."

There was no way the Enterprise  was  going to evacuate the more than
thousand colonists on the planet  in  that limited time, Picard knew.
True they had the space  on  board  - all non-essential personnel had
been left  on  Star  base  Six,  where  the  Enterprise  had  got the
emergency call - but in order to  beam  all of those people on board,
they'd need three  hours  at  least.   And  that  was with everything
running perfectly....

"Mr Worf, inform Commander Riker that  we will be separating from the
saucer  section.   You  will  remain   in  command  and  oversee  the
evacuation from  here."  Picard  snapped,  then  turned  to  the  two
officers at the stations before him.  "Ro and Soris, you're with me."
After the brief flurry of orders, Picard moved towards the turbo-lift
that would carry him to the Battle Bridge.

                           * * * * * * * *

The large cube slid through space at an unimaginable speed. They were
in no hurry; time was irrelevant.   But  their goal was soon at hand.
The Borg-whole knew it was only a matter of hours away.

They scanned the small object  that  now approached them.  They found
there to  be  one  kindred  to  their  own  kind  on  board. Indirect
assimilation had begun.  It was a matter of time, and they were in no
hurry.

They hailed the tiny vessel to speak to their brethren.

                           * * * * * * * *

Picard noted his hands were sweating, as he stared at the viewscreen,
where the large cube-shaped structure  hung  in space before them, as
silent as death.

He was surprised that it  had  stopped  when it picked the star-drive
section of the Enterprise up on its  sensors; he had assumed it would
have continued on, ignoring them, unless provoked.

Unless they want  something  with  me,  he  thought, then immediately
squashed that idea.  Had Hugh had an effect on them, perhaps?

"Sir, we're being  hailed."  The  woman  behind  him  spoke, sounding
slightly uncertain.

"What does the message say?" Picard  asked,  not taking his eyes away
from the view screen.

"It's just repeating the same word, over and over.  Locutus."

A chill shot up Picard's back at  the  mention of that name; it froze
his heart until he had to  fight  for breath.  Slowly, he realised he
was gripping the armrest of his chair, and forced his hands to relax.

"Open a channel, Lieutenant." He ordered,  then  stood up and moved a
step towards Ensigns Ro and  Soris  who  sat at their stations before
him.

"Channel open, sir."

"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship...."

"Captain Picard of the Enterprise."  The  Borg voices rang in unison,
interrupting him. "We speak to Locutus of Borg."

Picard was silent for a  moment.  When  he  spoke,  his voice was icy
cold, and for a moment the anger  at  the rape he had undergone shone
within him, threatening to burst. "That being no longer exists."

"Existence is irrelevant.  Locutus is alive.   We speak to Locutus of
Borg." The Borg voice continued.

"Do not approach Beta Ariquae V.  This is your final warning." Picard
spoke, sternly.  Turning to  the  Lieutenant  behind him, he gestured
for the channel to be  closed,  then  reseated himself in his command
chair, wondering at his latest dialogue with the Borg.

"The Borg ship is  moving  forward,  captain,  picking  up speed on a
heading towards Beta Ariquae V." Ro Laren reported from her station.

"How long before they reach the planet?"

"Roughly two and a quarter hours, sir." Ensign Ro replied.

Not good enough, Picard thought.  "Prepare  to  open fire on the Borg
ship, but maintain our distance from them."

The Enterprise moved forward to follow the shrinking Borg ship, which
had picked up its speed to Warp  Four.  Soon the cube-shaped ship had
resumed its immense size on the view-screen.

"Fire." Picard ordered, surprised  at  how  much satisfaction it gave
him to say that one word.

Two beams of pure  energy  lanced  out  from  the star-drive section,
hitting the Borg ship dead-on.   From  their position relative to the
Borg ship, no damage was evident.

"The Borg have put up  a  shield,  captain.   I doubt our phasers can
penetrate it."

"Move in front of them and  dump  an anti-matter spread." He ordered.
The Borg ship zoomed closer as the Enterprise took over it.  "Release
anti-matter... now!"

Soris obliged, and  the  Enterprise  increased  speed  to  escape the
coming explosion.

"Minor damage to Borg  shields,  captain.   Otherwise,  no change. No
change in their speed either, sir."  Ro Laren reported.

Picard was just about  to  give  an  order  for  a  barrage of photon
torpedoes, when the  star-drive  section  rocked  wildly.  He grabbed
onto the armrest to keep from  tumbling  from the command chair.  Out
of the corner of his eye,  he  saw  on  the view screen the brilliant
beam of energy that had  lanced  from  the  Borg ship to envelope the
Enterprise.

"Shields down by 40 percent!" He  heard the Lieutenant behind him cry
out.  "Massive damage to the warp engines!"

Impossible, he thought, but  said:  "Give  us  some distance from the
Borg."  He turned to the  lieutenant  behind  him. "What the hell was
that?"

"Some powerful beam of  energy,  sir.   With  the  kind of power I've
never seen before."

"Warp drive down by 70 percent!" Ro Laren cried out.  "I can only get
us Warp Three."

What the hell was that thing they had used? Picard wondered. Whatever
it was, he had failed in  his  attempt  to  buy Riker time.  The Borg
would arrive at Beta  Ariquae  V  in  just  over  two  hours, and the
colonists and the saucer-section would all be sitting ducks.


                           END OF PART ONE