The Final Frontier 8/Final Frontier 8 (Disk 3 of 4).adf/LCARS/TextFile/BBS/I_Locutus_Part_3.pp/I_Locutus_Part_3

Text File | 1994-08-07 | 14.5 KB | 339 lines

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

Part Three here and  on  time.   Again,  if  there  are any comments,
criticisms, suggestions, etc, you're welcome to mail me.

Enjoy,

Ryan.

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

                             PART THREE


"Message received and  understood,  Captain."  Admiral  Ranklin said,
gravely.  "And for what it is worth,  Jean-Luc, I am deeply sorry for
the loss of Commanders Riker and  Data.   The Federation has lost two
fine officers."

Picard nodded, his carefully composed face masking all feelings. "How
long before the USS Garrett can confront the Borg ship?"

"We've notified  Captain  Shelby  of  the...  recent  events  at Beta
Ariquae V, and she is on  her  way.   We  estimate she will arrive at
Earth in four  days.   A  bit  late,  but  better  late  than never."
Ranklin forced a smile. "We're preparing to evacuate."

"Four days." Picard repeated, slowly. "The Borg ship will be there in
less than one."

"I know." Ranklin nodded. "But we'll give them a good fight."

"We'll be there in two days, Admiral.   You'll just have to hold them
off until then."

Ranklin sighed deeply.  "We're pulling  all  our forces back in. Away
from the Neutral Zone,  away  from  patrol  routes.   If we're going,
we're going to go with a  fight.   But you're the closest starship to
Earth.  You'll be the  first  to  arrive  and  see  what havoc's been
wreaked.  We just hope we're still around to see you, Enterprise."

The link was cut.  Picard sat for a moment, staring at the stars that
had replaced the Admiral's drawn face.

"Engineering to Bridge."  Geordi's  voice  cut  through his thoughts,
bringing him back to the harsh  reality  around him. "We can give you
Warp Eight as soon as you're ready, Captain."

"Understood, Mr La Forge." Picard  replied.   "How soon until shields
are fully operational?"

"They're up to eighty  percent,  captain,"  Geordi's voice responded,
"and that's better than I anticipated.  Right at the moment, it looks
like full efficiency is closer to wishful thinking than anything else
I can imagine."

Well, it was better than he could have hoped for, Picard thought with
a sigh.  "Thank you, Geordi.  It's all I could have asked."

He turned to the empty chair  to  his  right, then spoke: "Mr Worf, I
would like a word with you in my Ready Room."

                           * * * * * * * *

Will Riker's quarters were unusually  quiet.   In  the past it had an
air of warmth and cheer about  it;  but  now  it  was bathed in a dim
glow, as Geordi La Forge was shutting down all non-essential sections
of the ship to divert the majority  of the power into the shields and
the warp engines.

Deanna Troi glanced around the spacious  room, and thought of its old
owner.  The only comforting thought  was  that  he was dead, but what
comfort  was  that?   She  hoped  that  it  had  been  quick.   After
witnessing Jean-Luc Picard's conversion into  a Borg, seeing the pain
he felt after he  was  brought  back  from  that nightmare, she hoped
Riker would be spared that.  And Picard....?

He was being more distant, more elusive, as they moved towards Earth.
The encounter with the Borg at Beta Ariquae V had no doubt shaken him
up far worse than  she  thought  possible,  but  then  again, when it
awakened  such  harsh  memories  that   had   been  forced  into  the
unconscious, what else could be  expected?   The  reminder of what he
had been, what they made him become, was something that had obviously
haunted him since his escape from the Borg, a crushing of his spirit,
of his very being - all  this  was  being dredged to the surface once
again, as he travelled on this  course towards Earth once again, this
time knowing his William  Riker  and  Data  were  undergoing the same
conversion - and destruction of  their  spirit.  The only comfort was
in the notion of their death, for  if becoming a Borg and losing your
very essence was not death, what was?

She would have to help him confront  those fears, those pains. A part
of him was no doubt hiding, and the first step was to bring that part
out into the open; the problem was how.

                           * * * * * * * *

Earth  defensive  capabilities?   Irrelevant;  they  knew  them.  The
knowledge gained from  those  assimilated;  the information retrieved
from the Enterprise memory  banks;  data  acquired from their refined
sensors  -  all  fed   into   the   Borg  consciousness.  They  knew.
Assimilation was only a matter of time.

The high-grade phaser cannons,  the  electrical  discharge, and anti-
matter ejector were all powerless against the newly developed shields
of the Borg.  Through  the  darkness  of  space, the cube-shaped ship
sped towards  its  destination,  an  unstoppable  force  about  to be
unleashed on a defenseless planet.

The Borg had calculated well; the spokesman was on its way. All would
be prepared for it.  The new  form  of  assimilation was at work, and
soon it would be ready.  The  Borg  vessel passed by the lonely giant
planet, Uranus, and sped on towards its goal.

                           * * * * * * * *

The arms, legs, and most of  the  torso had been discarded. They were
inferior, and hence irrelevant.  But  the  head, and the multitude of
circuits and electronic chips that  it possessed, and the information
contained within them were of  importance,  and  it was 1075's job to
assimilate that  information  into  the  Borg  whole.   It  had  been
assimilated recently, but already it had total control over its large
robotic appendages, electronic scanner,  and other modifications that
it had underwent when it had gone  by the name of Ard'rian Mackenzie.
That name meant nothing  now.  That  being  no  longer existed.  That
being was now Borg.

It stared down at the android  head,  carefully sliced open by one of
the Borg's advanced machinery so  that  none of the delicate circuits
were damaged or destroyed.  The operation  was precise, and done with
the coldness associated with a machine in a factory.

But there was no such coldness as  1075 stared downward at the object
in its hand.  There was something  familiar about the head; a strange
feeling that was associated with it,  something totally alien to this
creature that now stared at it.  The metal plate that melded with its
biological head had resulted in the long hair that the previous owner
of this body once had being  removed.   Hair was unnecessary.  In the
dim light of the Borg vessel,  it  continued to stare downward at the
head, its own white scalp standing out in the gloom.

And then it did something totally alien to its character. 1075 turned
to the accessing terminal where it had been stationed, and downloaded
all the files in the  android  head  under  one directory in the Borg
whole.  Once the process was completed, 1075 hesitated another moment
as it stared at the blank face  of the android again, then moved down
the narrow, metal gang-way to  dump  the  head  with  the rest of the
android's body parts.

                           * * * * * * * *

"Captain Picard, report to the  bridge."  Worf's voice boomed through
the intercom system.

In the darkness of his  quarters,  Picard  did  not move. Instead, he
continued to sit on the edge of his bed, oblivious to everything.

What were they fighting for?  Why  even  try to fight? Resistance was
useless.  Resistance.... irrelevant,  he  thought  and  stood up.  He
left his quarters in its darkness and moved out towards the bridge.

Troi had ordered a complete mental and physical medical check-up, and
he had acceded to her request  reluctantly.  As he entered the turbo-
lift he reminded himself to stop by sickbay to check on the results.

"Report, Mr Worf." He said into  his  badge as the turbo-lift started
upwards.

"We have arrived at the edge  of  the solar system, Captain." His new
First Officer's voice said.  "And a message has just come in from the
Quadrant Delta-Agneu."

"What does the message say?"

There was a pause before  Worf  responded.  "Two more Borg ships have
been spotted entering Federation space,  sir.   Both  are on a direct
course for Earth."

                           * * * * * * * *

"I repeat, Captain: The  Enterprise  has  been  co-opted by the Borg.
You are to use all available  force  to neutralise both the Borg ship
and the Federation star ship."

Shelby hesitated for a moment, unsure  of  how to question an Admiral
who had barely escaped from Earth  with  his  life.  "In what way has
the Enterprise been commandeered by the Borg?"

Admiral  Ranklin  looked  at  her,  his   eyes  glazed  over  by  the
destruction he had  seen.   "This  may  be  hard  to believe, Captain
Shelby, but Locutus is alive."

"What?  Locutus was destroyed  when  we  retrieved Captain Picard.  I
don't see how..."

"He is alive, Captain." Ranklin  interrupted  her, wearily. "In fact,
he never died.  This is something  we  suspected, but never were able
to confirm, and  the  reason  why  Commander  Riker  was  not offered
another captaincy since Picard's abduction. But that's not important.
What is is that you must stop them both.  We've lost Earth, and thank
God we managed to get out of  there  before things got messy, but you
know about the two other  Borg  ships.   If  we're going to turn this
around into a victory for our side, the Enterprise must be destroyed.
We're counting on you, Captain.  Good luck."

The screen dimmed, and Ranklin's  face  was  replaced by the stars of
the galaxy.  How many of their planets are going to meet Earth's fate
before this is all over? Shelby  wondered.  And what did Ranklin mean
by Locutus being alive?   If  this  was  true,  how  did he know?  He
managed to  get  out  of  the  area  alright,  claiming  he  was non-
expendable, that he was needed to organize the counter-strike against
the Borg. Meanwhile, many civilians on Earth were being butchered, or
even worse, being assimilated.

Shelby turned to the ensign before  her.   "What is our ETA at Earth,
Ensign?"

"Twelve hours, sir." He responded.

Shelby turned back to the stars, and mused.

                           * * * * * * * *

"Two minutes from Earth  orbit,  sir."   Ensign  Ro reported from her
station.

"Thank you, Ensign.  We'll hold our position here." Picard said, then
turned to Worf at the  security  console.  "What do the sensors read,
Lieutenant?"

Worf was silent for a moment.  When he spoke, his voice was both deep
and somber: "Sensors indicate a  multitude of individual Borg members
on the planet, sir.  They seem to be in the process of assimilation."

Picard turned back and  faced  the  screen.   There,  before him, the
large cube-shaped ship  hung  in  orbit  around  his  home-world.  He
imagined the thousands of  Borg  crawling  across its surface, taking
what they wanted and destroying the rest....

"Captain, I need to speak to you; this is urgent."

Picard turned to see Beverly  Crusher,  having  just emerged from the
aft turbo-lift, walking down the side of the bridge towards him.

"It can wait till later, Doctor.  Until we...."

"I need to speak to you now."  The look on Crusher's face told him it
was important, but....

An alarm beeped on Worf's board,  and  the  Klingon looked up to say:
"We're being scanned, sir."

"Are the Borg making any sign of moving or intercepting us?"

"No, sir." Worf  answered.  "There's  no  indication  of.... Incoming
message, Captain, from the Borg!"

Picard hesitated, and glanced to  his  left,  at Deanna Troi. She met
his gaze.  Not for the  first  time,  Picard  was  happy the ship was
designed for a  Counsellor,  and  not  any  Counsellor,  to be seated
beside him.

"Put the message on the screen."

For a few seconds  the  image  of  the  Borg  ship circling the Earth
remained on the view screen, and  then  it  was gone, replaced by the
face of a man he knew well,  a  man  he  had hoped was dead.  Next to
him, he heard Troi take a deep breath.

"My God!"

"Will...."  Picard stood up and  moved  forward,  not taking his eyes
from the screen, where  the  half-human,  half-machine creature stood
before him, the familiarity of  its  face distorted by the mechanical
implants that scared it.  A  large  patch  of  metal encased the left
half of its face, and in place of  the  left eye, there was a ball of
fiery-redness that seemed to burn into the screen.

"Locutus of Borg, your arrival  has  been  anticipated by the Whole."
The voice was almost metallic,  and  cold.   "We welcome you and your
prize to your  new  home  world,  and  the  moment  when  it  will be
assimilated into our culture.  Assimilation  is  under way, in you as
it is in others.  Prepare to  receive  members  of the Whole, as your
ship will also require a  breakdown  into  its  component parts as we
assimilate it and those on board it who are untouched."

"Captain!"

"Later, Doctor!" Picard barked as he  motioned  for Worf to close the
channel. "Mr Worf, is it possible to beam an Away Team to their ship,
get him back?"

Worf shook his head.  "Even  if  we  lowered  our  own shields, their
defenses have improved drastically  since  we  last encountered them.
There is no way we can find a hole in their shields."

"Jean-Luc...!" Crusher yelled.

"All right, Doctor." Picard bristled. "I'll  give you a minute, in my
Ready Room."

Crusher followed him as  he  stalked  into  the  privacy  of the room
adjacent to the bridge.

"Let's have it, Doctor.  I don't have time for..."

Crusher looked at him sternly, yet  hating  to  tell him what she had
found out.  Finally, she said:  "Captain, Locutus is alive."

Picard stared at her for a  moment,  then  turned to face the window.
Finally, he looked back  at  her,  a  mixture  of  apprehension and a
dawning horror on his face.  "How is that possible?"

"I don't know what to call it; a bug, maybe.  But whatever it was, it
was small enough to pass  through  all  of my medical scans unnoticed
until now."  Crusher's voice had  softened,  but there was still that
hint of urgency. "Whatever it is, I  assume  it was planted in you at
the time of your abduction, in the event of you being re-taken by us.
At any rate, this  "bug"  is  wiping  out  each  of  your brain cells
systematically, and supplementing them  with  new  ones  - those that
match Locutus'.  It's like a  computer  virus,  but on the biological
level."

Picard grabbed a hold on the  arm  of  his chair, and lowered himself
into the seat behind his  desk.   He  sat  silently for a moment, the
apprehension turning to a look of absolute dread.

"I'm  going  to  become  him   again.   I'm  becoming  Locutus."   He
whispered.


                           END PART THREE