"Our engines just died," shouted Ensign Barrows over the din.

The Runabout Apollo was going to land on the planetoid Sigma VII. Survey reports had suggested an easy ride through the atmosphere, as well as extraordinarily high level of pergium, a rare element used in the construction of orbital space stations. The element was used to keep the life support systems functioning. Sensors had shown an easy ride, but as the light craft entered the atmosphere, a storm arose, complete with ion lightening and hurricane force winds.

The Apollo’s engines had been trying, unsuccessfully, to combat the storm.

Lieutenant Commander Theo Constone was in command. His crew consisted of three people, including himself, Lieutenant Chip Ryan, and Ensign Olivia Barrows. The three of them served together on the USS Cheyenne, a galaxy class starship. Lieutenant Ryan was still grieving over the loss of his fiancé, Ensign Bina Amadis, who was lost while serving on the USS Voyager. The Voyager was lost with all hands while pursuing a Maquis ship through the Badlands.

Ensign Barrows was trying to stabilize the Apollo with the emergency anti-grav thrusters, but the emergency thrusters only succeeded in leveling the Apollo. Lieutenant Ryan sat at the comm. station, he was trying to get a message to the Cheyenne, but the storm’s fury dissolved the transmission before it could get out of the atmosphere. Lieutenant Commander Constone sat at the tactical station because he was the security officer as well as the commander. His thin face wore a stern expression, and it was covered with black stains from the smoke and sparks.

Sparks flew from the comm. station, knocking Ryan to the ground. Constone rose from his station and began to make his way to the downed Lieutenant, but the Apollo shook violently and Constone lost his grip on the control panel that was supporting him. He rolled past Ryan and into the back of the shuttle. Constone rose to his knees and began to crawl to Ryan. Though he went slowly, he finally made it to the injured Lieutenant.

Ryan was laying face down on the debris-strewn floor. Constone rolled him over and felt for a pulse. To his relieve, there was a faint pulse, he also noticed that there were plasma burns of his face and hands.

CRASH! The Apollo touched the ground and sheared off the top of a rocky outcrop. They didn’t stop after hitting the rocky protrusion, they skidded and slid for almost 30 meters, then they crashed into a large mesa.

When the Apollo had first hit the ground, a hole was ripped into the hull. Constone was tossed out like a rag doll when they hit another rocky growth. He had lost consciousness upon landing.

When the Apollo first touched down, Ensign Barrows’s seat had been torn loose and was tossed about the ship. Barrows’s limp body was beaten around the Runabout like a toy ball.

Constone regained consciousness and opened his eyes. The three suns of Sigma VII stabbed his unprotected eyes and they began to water. He rolled to face down and then blinked his eyes to get rid of the salty fluid pouring out of them. He pushed himself up off the ground and looked around. There were rocky protrusions and mesas jutting out of the red brown ground. There were dozens of smaller rocks on the ground; there was no soil on the surface, just assorted rocks. Constone reached down and picked up a piece of pergium. Now it was useless.

He gazed around for the Apollo, then he saw it. It had, apparently, hit one of the protrusions of rock, which had spun it in a 180-degree turn to smash into the side of a mesa. One of the nacelles had been torn off and lay 25 meters away. The front of the craft had a huge, gapping hole, which must’ve been where Constone had been tossed out. There were burn marks on the hull; it also sported dozens of cracks and fractures. Constone wondered how they made it to the surface. Constone began to limp toward the battered Apollo when Ensign Barrow emerged.

She poked her head out the hole and gazed around. Her uniform was ripped and torn in several places, she had burn marks all over her, as well.

"Lieutenant Ryan has been injured very badly," she shouted to Constone, "he's been pinned under a fallen support beam. In his condition, he won't live long unless we get the beam off him."

CHSHOOO! A green spherical blast shot out from a distance.

Constone watched as her molecules lost cohesion and her pretty face dissolved into oblivion. Constone whipped out his arch-handled phaser and looked in the direction of the blast. Three Borg were walking slowly toward him with their Borg prosthetics extended. At the end of each was a wicked looking phaser weapon.

Borg. The most feared race in the entire Federation. Their technology had over taken and gotten the better of them.

Theo Constone’s father had been at Wolf 359 when the Borg attacked. It was a slaughter, 11,000 lives lost, as well as 40 starships. Constone’s dad had been first officer onboard the USS Roosevelt when he died. The Roosevelt had been hit by and unknown Borg weapon discharge and vaporized. Vaporized! Nothing to bury, nothing to mourn. The Borg had taken it all away from him in an instant. Constone’s calm, rational mind clouded over with hatred. There was only a single thought on his mind. Revenge!

Constone leveled his weapon at the nearest Borg. He pressed the firing stud. A beam of deadly orange-red energy lanced out of the weapon and hit its target. Sparks flew from the Borg’s chest as it fell to the ground, but the others kept coming. Constone fired again, but the beam just splattered on the Borg’s shields.

Constone turned and made a mad dash toward the Apollo. He barely made it through the hole before the Borg fired. He would have gone through the door but it was wedged up against the mesa.

The inside was a wreck, fallen support beams were all over the deck, E. P. S. conduits were burned out, and assorted debris lay on the floor. Ryan was pinned under a beam.

Ryan motioned for Constone to come and help him; he was about to lose consciousness. Constone picked up one of the broken seats and pushed it into the hole, then he used his phaser to melt it into the hull. Then he grabbed the emergency medkit off the fractured wall and went to Ryan. Constone tried to lift the beam, but it was too heavy. Then the Lieutenant Commander had an idea. He pulled out his phaser, adjusted the setting and fired it at the beam. He cut it into three pieces. He then holstered the phaser and moved the sliced girder pieces.

Constone opened the medkit and pulled out the medical tricorder. Then he ran it over Ryan’s body. His leg was broken in several places, now it was impossible to get out of the Apollo and run away. He felt a brief surge of panic, but he suppressed it, he was the commander, he was in charge, it was his responsibility to get his crew to safety. Constone used a regenerator to heal the broken bones, but they would be weak for a few days.

Let’s get outside and build a shelter," said Ryan.

I’m afraid that’s impossible. Ensign Barrows is dead. Borg vaporized her."

All the color drained from Ryan’s face. Ryan had had first hand experience with the Borg. He had been the helm officer on the USS Conely during the second Borg incursion of 2373. The Conely was a galaxy-class vessel, but the Borg made short work of it. Only 42 people got off in time, 42 out of 1,012.

Ryan panicked and tried to run for the now plugged hole. Constone grabbed him and held him down.

"They’ll kill us! They’ll kill us!"

"No, they won’t kill us, it is more likely they will assimilate us."

"I would still rather die," said Ryan.

Constone glanced at his communicator, the casing was cracked, that meant that a homing beacon was on and would reach the Cheyenne. Assuming the Borg weren’t jamming it.

‘If we’re lucky, the Cheyenne will pick up the beacon and come and rescue us."

Ryan’s head drooped then rose with a smile.

‘I think I know a way out," he said.

"How?"

‘We use our phasers to cut out a small cavern in the mesa, then we just pull a piece of hull over it and phaser it in place. We’ll need a breathing hole, too."

"Excellent, lets get to work."

Soon they had a small cavern 5 feet across and 4 feet tall.

BAM! BAM! The Borg were pounding on the hull.

Ryan and Constone huddled into the little cave. Constone used his phaser to seal entrance by causing a rockslide.

Ryan and Constone had been in the cave for about an hour when they heard sounds of rocks falling on the outside of the rockslide barrier. The Borg had broken through the hull and were digging at the rocks. Constone increased his phaser setting by one degree and began cutting a hole in the mesa to get out.

The first wisps of sunlight were beginning to peep through when a Borg prosthetic arm broke through the rocks. Constone raised his phaser setting again and vaporized the remaining rock.

"Ryan, give me your phaser."

Ryan handed his commander his weapon. Constone put Ryan’s phaser into the holster at his side, and then set his own on an overload. He set it down and put a couple rocks over top of it. Ryan and Constone got up and ran out their newly formed escape route. With Constone helping Ryan, they covered about 100 meters before the phaser reached its limit. The mesa exploded in a spectacular display. Plumes of fire leapt into the air, then the rocks fell. Boulders the size of cars fell from the sky. Constone and Ryan kept running while trying their best to dodge the boulders.

After the rocks came dust. Dust fell and coated Constone and Ryan with a red brown layer of powder. When the explosion was completely over and Constone and Ryan were 200 meters away, they turned to look at the mesa. There was almost nothing left, just boulders scattered all over with an occasional piece of twisted metal.

"I don’t understand why it made such a huge explosion," said Ryan, panting.

"The phaser overload ruptured the anti-matter storage pods, the anti-matter did all that, not the phaser."

For a while they sat in silence until Constone said,

"I think we should find some shelter."

"There is no shelter on this worthless lump of rock! It’s all stone!"

"Then we’ll phaser a hole in a cliff side."

"What about the distress beacon from the communicators?"

"It’s still transmitting, but I think we should turn it off. The Borg may use it to find us."

‘I agree." Constone reached up and pulled off his communicator. He was about to rip the casing off, but then his hands moved down. He set the device down on a rock and then he dug a little hole. He put the communicator in the hole and covered it with rocks.

"This way it will still transmit, but without showing the Borg our location."

Ryan nodded. Constone pulled his tricorder out of its holster and opened it. The terrain was very rocky, mostly flat for several miles. There was one mesa in the distance, but, from the past experience, the Borg would look in the cliffs and mesas first.

"I think our best bet would be to phaser a hole in the ground for a shelter. The temperatures on the planetoid pretty much stay the same all year round so we won’t have to have any sort of heating or cooling equipment."

"That’ll leave our phaser dangerously low."

"I don’t think that’ll be a problem if the Borg can’t find us."

Chapter Two

The USS Cheyenne cruised through space at warp five. The Apollo was due back within four more hours.

"Captain," exclaimed the young communications officer, "I’m picking up a distress signal."

Captain Toby Bates swiveled in his command chair.

"Location?"

"The same planetoid that the Apollo went to."

"Contact the Apollo. Tell them to scan for someone in distress."

"Aye, sir."

A few minutes later the comm. officer was getting frustrated, he was young and inexperienced, and thus he got frustrated and was angered easily.

"Sir, the Apollo is not responding."

"Helm set a course for that planetoid, warp eight."

The Helmsmen nodded and tapped his console.

The Cheyenne dropped out of warp near Sigma VII and began running scans.

"Captain, I'm picking up another ship."

"On screen."

A small black blip appeared on the screen, it was too far away to be seen clearly.

"Magnification factor four, Lieutenant."

A cube-shaped vessel appeared on the screen. A mass of pipes and metal cobbled together as if its makers had taken no pride while making it. A Borg ship!

"Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Status of Borg vessel?"

"They're just sitting there, they don't appear to notice us. I think we might be able to defeat this ship in a fire fight."

"Explain."

"This is not the huge Borg ship that destroyed those 40 star ships at Wolf 359, this is a smaller vessel, only about the size of an Intrepid class starship."

"Ensign, all Borg ships use the same weaponry, we may lose in a fight."

"Captain," said the Lieutenant on duty at the tactical station, "I think we should inflict as much damage as possible."

"I disagree."

"Captain the distress beacon just faded away, as if it had been jammed."

"Analyze the recording that the computers made of it, find out what race or government sent it. Stand down from red alert. Maintain yellow alert."

"Aye sir."

The Lieutenant at the Comm station got up and left the bridge. An Ensign on the other side of the bridge walked down and around the bridge horseshoe to take his place.

"Captain, I'm picking up some scattered debris on the surface. Its hard to get an exact reading on what kind of metal, but it appears to have been ripped apart in an anti-matter explosion."

"Can you tell if that debris was the Apollo?"

"As I said sir, it’s hard to get an exact reading."

"Keep trying, Ensign. Ensign Furlong, send a message to Star Fleet command. Tell them our coordinates and our current situation."

"Aye sir," replied Furlong from the Comm station.

"I'll be in my ready room, keep me informed."

Captain Bates left the darkened bridge and went to his ready room, which was just behind the bridge.

Constone and Ryan had used a phaser to create a make shift cave that they could use to defend themselves. It was large enough for the both of them. Ryan had taken rocks from the cliff and deployed them into a wall around the entrance to the cave. However, because they made a large cavern, the phaser was almost drained.

"Ryan," said Constone, "I am going to go out and explore these cliff and canyons here."

"Okay, sir."

Constone left the cave and went into the nearby canyon; he and Ryan had scouted it earlier. There were three ways out, one near the cave, one at the opposite end of the canyon; the other was in the canyon wall. The third exit route was too small to be an effective shelter.

Just then some thing glinted in the distance.

"Wish I had a ship to leave this rock" muttered Constone as he began walking toward it.

When he reached it, he sat down and looked at it. It was half covered it powder, he began to uncover it. It was a diamond, from the looks of it. He looked up; most of the canyons right side had diamonds half buried it. Constone collected several of them and brought them back to the cave. He had an idea. Next, he went to the site where the Apollo had crashed and began to search for a piece of wreckage that would suit his purposes. After that he went into the canyon again and began searching for the three minerals that he would need to make his weapon. He found the three minerals, sulfur, potassium nitrate, and coal. He brought the materials to the cave and began to assemble his idea.

"Commander Constone! Come here quick and bring the phaser! The Borg are here!"

Constone turned the phaser setting down to its lowest setting and rushed to the cave's opening.

There were two Borg walking toward them with their deadly prosthetics extended. Constone kneeled and pointed the phaser emitter at the top of the tubular piece of metal and fired. The metal heated up and the contents within exploded. The expanding gases caused the diamonds inside to shoot out toward the Borg. The diamonds scattered and hit both of the Borg. Sparks flew from both of them and they fell to the ground. Constone had made gunpowder.

"Captain Bates to the bridge." The message blared out of Captain Bates's communicator. He rose from his chair and walked out onto the bridge.

"Report."

"Starfleet has responded to our message. They've sent the starships Enterprise and Defiant. The Enterprise will be here in 7 hours, the Defiant in 9 hours."

"Excellent. Any idea where the Apollo is?"

"The wreckage we found earlier was from the Apollo, but, from what we can tell, the Apollo hit the ground and slid, but it did not explode. That happened later. The antimatter explosion was triggered by a phaser overload. However, every thing I have told you is just theory."

"Its better than what we had before, at least now we have something to operate on."

"Captain," said the officer at the science station, "I've located two life signs on the planet's surface."

"Just two?"

"Yes, sir."

"There were three on the Apollo. Any signs of metal, there was a thin metal shelter in the Apollo."

"Nothing like an emergency shelter, but there are several traces of duratainium, most likely form the Apollo's hull. Wait a minute, this is odd. There are some unusual magnetic resonance traces."

"Borg leave traces like that when they walk."

"Captain," exclaimed Security Chief Cassias Carter, "I'm picking up a vessel coming in at high warp!"

"What type of ship?"

"Its Borg, sir," he said in a defiant voice.

"Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Get me Starfleet command on the priority one channel."

"Aye sir. I've got a subspace link with Admiral Nechayev."

"On screen."

"Yes sir."
There she is."

"Captain," said the steely admiral, "you are aware that misuse of the priority one channel is a Federation offense."

"Admiral, we've just picked up a Borg vessel heading toward Sigma VII. I request reinforcements."

"Understood, Captain, the starships Adelphi, Bellerephon, Berlin, Cairo, Chekhov, Crockett, Endeavor, Excalibur, Gandhi, Hera, Horatio, Merrimack, and the Monitor. I'm sorry I can only give you fifteen starships, but the rest have to be here to defend the Federation. Good luck, Captain. Nechayev out."

The Admiral's face winked off the screen. Captain Bates slumped in his chair and rubbed his temples. The thirteen starship she named plus the Enterprise and the Defiant equals fifteen. Fifteen ships against the Borg ship, and him with out his first officer, they were doomed. His only hope was that Captain Picard could pull another miracle out of his head and save us all.

Constone walked out the door they had made in the wall; he needed to get something. He walked up to the dead Borg and pulled off couple of circuits. The Borg body immediately vaporized. Constone took the circuits back into the cave; he pulled out his tricorder and placed one of the Borg circuits on it. Borg circuits contain information that has not been uploaded to the Collective, when one interfaces with them; they have access to all that data. Constone was interfacing with the circuit. The small display monitor in the tricorder was blank as it downloaded data from the circuit into its own memory banks. Without warning, a small plume of fire spurted out of the circuit and it popped off and fell to the ground.

'I guess we won't be learning anything more from that circuit," said Ryan.

"We still have two more, I removed three, remember?"

"I remember." Constone opened the file with the Borg data in it and began to read.

"Ryan," he said with a note of urgency, "we have to get out of here now and warn Starfleet, the Borg are planning a major invasion! They have one small scout ship in orbit and one large ship on its way!"

"Commander, we must get off this rock, set the tricorder to emit a homing signal."

"I know, Lieutenant, I'm doing it right now. Wait, what sound does a homing signal make?"

"Just beep, beep."

"Exactly, with this tricorder, we could alter that to transmit a message to the Cheyenne saying what is going on!"

"That's almost impossible, unless you are able to alter some of the internal circuits."

"If I'm not mistaken, you had advanced computer classes at the Academy, and they also taught you about the inner working of a tricorder."

"Only two semesters."

"Your still better at it than me," he handed Ryan the tricorder, "here, get to work."

"Yes sir."

Onboard the Cheyenne, Captain Bates was getting nervous. The Borg vessel was getting closer and closer. The Enterprise had just arrived and Bates had just briefed him on the situation. The Defiant would arrive in one hour and 30 minutes; the other ships would arrive slowly after that. He turned to the Operations officer, and experienced Lieutenant, he needed his first officer back or this Lieutenant would be next in line, after Bates.

"Operations, send down a search team of 30 qualified personnel to the surface, tell them to locate and rescue Constone, Ryan, and Barrows. Equip them with emergency field gear."

"Aye sir."

"Captain Bates! There's an incoming signal from the planet's surface. Its on a low band frequency," exclaimed the crewman at the Comm. Station.

"Cancel the search team. Put it on screen."

"Its an audio only message, sir. I'm putting it on speakers."

"Captain Bates, this is Lieutenant Commander Constone. Come in Cheyenne. Do you read?"

"Commander, this is Captain Bates. You're on a low frequency, what happened?"

"Use this signal to lock on to us, beam us up."

"Beam them up."

"Captain, this is the transporter chief, Lieutenant Ryan is in need of medical attention." The message came over the communicator that was pinned on the Captain’s chest.

"Transport them both to sickbay, I want them both fixed up and certified for active duty."

"Aye sir, transporter chief out."

"Lieutenant Commander Vladimir, when will the Borg ship get here?"

"At their present speed, 23 hours, two minutes."

"How many starships will be here by that time?"

"Five sir."

Bates began to rub his temples again; they didn't stand a chance. Just then the turbolift doors at the back of the bridge opened and Lieutenant Commander Constone walked in.

"Welcome back, Commander. You mind telling me what happened down there."

"We crashed, Ensign Barrows was killed when she emerged from the runabout. Ryan and I hid in a cave we had phasered out, the Borg broke in, and I overloaded my phaser and blew up the Apollo. Captain, may I speak to you in private?"

"Of course." Bates motioned to his ready room door and they went in.

They emerged a few minutes later, Bates was grim.

"All right people, we have a bleak situation here, I expect you all to perform admirably. Though we may not make it out alive, I sure Starfleet will remember our bravery and our accomplishments. Even if we die here today, I know that we did our best and we all know we can't do better. Get me the Enterprise."

"Aye sir."

"Put it through to my ready room. Commander, come with me."

Constone nodded and followed Bates into his ready room.

Bates touched the control panel on his desktop terminal and the bald, wizened face of Captain Picard appeared on it.

"You wish to talk to me, Captain Bates?"

"Yes Captain, my first officer, Lieutenant Commander Constone, has devised a plan to stop this Borg ship before it can destroy us."

Picard's gazed turned toward Constone.

"Let’s hear it," he said anxiously.

"With the help of your chief engineer, I can design a computer virus that will disable them, the virus will then delete itself and the Borg ship will go into a self-destruct mechanism."

"When do you wish to beam to the Enterprise?"

"Go to the Enterprise? I was planning on doing it here."

"The computers here are more advanced than those onboard the Cheyenne, we can get it done faster here."

"All right, I'll be ready in 15 minutes."

"Acknowledged, Picard out." The image winked off the screen and Bates yawned.

"Captain, maybe you should get some rest before the Borg arrive. A tired Captain will cause us to lose." Despite himself, a yawn escaped Constone's lips, as well.

"Maybe we both could use some rest, I'll leave Lieutenant Commander Vladimir in command while we get rest to combat the Borg ship."

"Sir, I have to get that program ready to implant onto the Borg ship."

"How much time do you require?"

"Couple hours, maybe. I say 3 hours."

"I'm ordering you to get some rest, 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. The Borg won't be here for 22 hours."

"Yes sir." Constone left the ready room by the door opposite to the bridge.

Constone went to his quarters and went to sleep. Bates went as well, but a few minutes later.

TWO HOURS LATER

Lieutenant Commander Vladimir was bored, the Borg scout ship had done nothing, and the Borg vessel had not arrived. Vladimir lived for action, he had to have something going on, that why he joined Starfleet. The Captain and his first officer were resting in their quarters; Vladimir was in command. A fourth star ship was going to arrive in a few minutes, Vladimir decided to do something about the scout ship, before the starship arrived and made the armada five vessels.

"Tactical, lock our phasers on the scout craft, keep the frequency changing don't give them time to adapt."

"Sir?"

"You heard the order."

"Aye sir, firing phasers." The deadly red-orange beams lanced out and caressed it, but they didn't cause a massive amount of damage. The scout craft fired its own weapons at the Cheyenne; the entire ship shook and rattled. The Enterprise suddenly fired quantum torpedoes, they connected with the target, the scout ship. The small craft exploded in a brilliant display.

"Commander Vladimir, the Enterprise in hailing us."

"On screen." The image of the bald Picard once again appeared on the screen.

"Captain Bates!"

?I am in command here, Picard. You may talk to me."

"You're the idiot who was responsible for that act of stupidity?"

"It was not a stupid act. Now we only have to deal with the Borg ship."

"I am relieving you of duty," he gaze shifted down to a young Lieutenant named Markus, "you shall have command of the Cheyenne until the Captain arrives on the bridge." Just then Captain Bates and Commander Constone walked onto the bridge. The ship jolting around had awakened them.

"What's gong on here," growled an angry Bates.

Vladimir opened his mouth to speak, but it was Picard who spoke.

"Your Lieutenant fired upon the Borg scout ship, causing damage to your vessel. We destroyed the scout craft before it could inflict serious damage."

"This true, Mr. Vladimir?"

"No sir, I thought it would be best if the scout ship was destroyed before the big one arrived."

"Mr. Vladimir, I'm reluctant to relieve you because you are the best shot and have the fastest response time of any tactical officer. If this happens again, you will be relieved of duty and escorted to the brig. Do I make myself clear?" The Captain's voice sounded like gravel.

"Quite clear, Captain." Vladimir was angry at the Captain for yelling at him, he was determined to get revenge.

Bates tapped his communicator,

"Bates to Commander Yvan."

"Yvan here sir."

"We have five spare shuttles and several spare antimatter tanks, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Could you rig one of those tanks to explode on an impact if it was mounted in a shuttle cockpit?"

"Of course."

"Could you also set the shuttles impulse engines to overload with a 30 second delay?"

"Yes captain. Am I correct in assuming that these will be used as bombs?"

"That's correct, Commander. Get going on those shuttles, use as many people as you need."

"Aye sir. Yvan out."

"Captain," said Constone, "I'm going to go back to my quarters and finish my 8 hours uninterrupted sleep."

"Go ahead, just make sure you're up in time to work with Mr. La forge on that virus program."

Chapter 4

Commander La forge and Commander Constone were having little success with the virus. They just couldn't get it to move fast enough to disable the Borg ship before it killed all of them. They decided that the virus would be used if the Borg ship broke through the star ships Merrimack, Enterprise, Defiant, Crockett, Endeavor, Monitor, and Cheyenne, the rest would arrive a lot later.

"Mr. La forge, your knowledge of engineering amazes me, but I still think the virus is fast enough."

"I think you're right, Commander. I'll take it from here."

Constone nodded and turned toward the engineering doors.

After Constone returned to the Cheyenne, Bates ordered him to the main shuttle bay.

"Ah, Commander. Commander Yvan and I have something to show you."

Yvan pointed at two shuttles and smiled. Constone knew what they meant; these were the shuttles that had antimatter tanks stored inside.

"Captain Bates to the bridge! The Borg have entered the system! Repeat the Borg have entered the system!" The voice blared over the speakers so loudly that Constone's ears rattled.

Bates and Constone rushed toward the turbolift door and headed to the bridge.

"Mr. Vladimir, fire phasers. Keep the frequency changing, don't give them time to adapt!" Bates slapped his communicator,

"Bates to Yvan! ?

"Yvan here."

"Prepare shuttle one for launch. You've got 5 minutes!"

"Aye sir."

Another Borg discharge smashed into the Cheyenne's hull leaving a blackened streak. In response, the Cheyenne fired torpedoes. The Starfleet ships were losing; the only one left were the Monitor, the Defiant, the Enterprise, and the Cheyenne. The Borg began to fire rapidly at all the star ships.

"Captain the Monitor just took a major hit, I think she's pulling away. The Enterprise and Defiant are coming on strong, Endeavor and Merrimack have lost power."

"Launch shuttle one!"

The Borg must have detected the antimatter in the shuttle because they tried to destroy it, but the shuttle was rigged for a suicide mission. All its power was in its engines. The Borg's discharge flew by harmlessly.

The Borg fired at the Cheyenne instead, this time they meant business. The shields collapsed immediately, the outer fringes of the hull exploded. By some unknown miracle, the Cheyenne did not explode. The Cheyenne's power died and Constone looked up at the view screen and was just in time to see the shuttle hit the Borg ship. There was a brilliant flash of light, then the whine of a phaser set above setting 5. Then Constone collapsed and fell to the deck.

Constone awoke in a crowded sickbay. All the biobeds were full with the patients that had the worst injuries, others with minor injuries laid on the floor.

"How are we feeling today," asked a balding doctor.

Constone tried to say fine, but it came out as Mmmmph.

"You suffered internal spinal injuries, Commander. You should be able to speak soon. We repaired most of the damage to your spine, but you've suffered brain damage, we're taking you to Starbase 196."

Constone tied to talk, but a multitude of sounds came out before it came out right.

"Where's Captain B-Bates?"

"Captain Bates did not survive the explosion. He was killed while attempting to save to other crew members."

"No, I heard a phaser before I passed out."

"You probably just imagined it."

"Maybe, can you give me a damage report?"

"No, but Lieutenant Vladimir can. Mr. Vladimir, come here, Mr. Constone wishes to speak with you."

Vladimir strode over to Constone's bed, stepping over several people on the way.

"Yes, Commander," he said.

Constone stared for a second, Vladimir's uniform was torn at the shoulder and he had bloodstains on his chest. His face was covered with black smoke stains, his uniform was even worse.

"Damage report."

"Yes sir. Decks 8 and up have been severely damaged and are uninhabitable. We had to eject the warp core to avoid a breach. The impulse engines were destroyed when the Borg fired at us the second time. If it hadn't been for the Enterprise, we'd be dead right now. We are currently operating on emergency reserve batteries. ?

"Casualty report."

"So far, at least 233 people have been confirmed dead in the wreckage, including Captain Bates and Commander Yvan."

"Where are the other star ships? Estimated time till repairs can be affected."

"The other star ships went to pursue the Borg ship as it fled. As for the repairs, I doubt we can get this ship moving with out Yvan in less than 3 weeks."

"When I was on the bridge, I heard phaser fire, check into that."

"Aye sir."

"Doctor, I've never seen you before. ?

"I'm the EMH program. I was activated when your doctor was overwhelmed by the injured people."

"How long will it be until I can walk?"

"Here, on the Cheyenne? Weeks, our main supplies were drained before you were even injured."

"Doctor, I'm the best engineer on this ship, after Yvan, and he's dead. You have to devote all your resources on me, if we're to have any hope of getting this hulk moving."

"I'll help you onto an ancient device that we replicated before the power ran too low. It’s called a wheel chair."

"The power ran too low for the replicators?"

"Yes," said the EMH as he helped Constone into the wheelchair.

"Lieutenant Vladimir, you've had some experience with engineering?" Constone needed help to get to engineering in the wheel chair; Vladimir was the best choice present.

"Yes, Commander, I've had quite a bit of experience."

"Accompany me to engineering."

Vladimir pushed Constone down the corridors to a turbolift.

"Do you know how to reroute power to this turbolift? You can't use the Jeffries tubes."

"Of course I do, I'm first officer. We'll have to hurry, though, the EMH said the power was too low to replicate, that means life support will go in about 25 minutes. After that we have about one hour before we all start to drop like flies."

Constone opened an access panel and began to connect wires. Suddenly the door slid open. Vladimir wheeled Constone inside. Then something touched his leg. He looked down, there was an injured ensign lying on the deck of the lift.

Constone pulled out the medical tricorder that he brought along for victims.

She was dead; a plume of plasma had apparently caught her in the face. Constone's tricorder beeped, there was unusual energy signature in the plasma.

"Lieutenant, this women was not killed by plasma, she was shot in the face by a phaser."

"I'm sorry Commander." Vladimir lifted the chair and dumped Constone on the floor. Constone turned upward just in time to see a fist come crashing down. His awareness ceased as pain throbbed through his head.

Vladimir stood up and began to tap the control panel. The doors slid open to reveal a battered deck. Dead people lined the walls and there were pools of blood in the middle. Vladimir pulled Constone down this corridor to a man sized opening in the wall. The forward torpedo launcher. Vladimir opened the port manually by taking two round plates with handles on them. He stuck the magnetic plate part to the port and pulled. The port slide open. Vladimir hoisted Constone off the ground and lifted him into the tube. He closed it by tapping the control panel.

"So long Commander." Vladimir tapped in the manual launch code; there was a loud sucking sound as Constone was sucked out of the tube and into space.

Vladimir felt a tugging at his pants. He looked down; there was an injured crewman on the floor.

Vladimir grinned and stomped his foot down on the crewman's skull. It flattened with out any real effort on Vladimir's part. The crunching sound of the skull pleased him. Vladimir went to a dead crewman and stomped on his skull, too, then another skull, and another, and another.

The starship Horatio dropped out of warp to see the newly created graveyard of a couple starships. Captain Gryta sat in the command chair, she had been ready to engage the Borg, but there was no Borg ship, just wreckage.

"Captain Gryta, that starship right there," he pointed to a battered galaxy class starship, "just launched something. It’s a human, but its dead."

"Lock onto it. Drop shields and beam it directly to sickbay."

"Aye, Captain."

Captain Gryta stood from here chair and left the bridge.

Lieutenant Vladimir stepped into Sickbay on the Cheyenne. The EMH looked up at him when he walked in. His feet were covered with blood, and worse, in his hands he held a human head and a phaser. Vladimir pressed the firing stud and swept the beam across the room at setting 10. People were fried and sliced in half as the deadly beam swept across the room.

Vladimir dropped the head and crushed it with his foot.

Captain Gryta walked into sickbay onboard the Horatio to see many different kinds of life support equipment around a single biobed.

"Doctor Corby, report."

A white haired old man looked up from his work at the biobed.

"We've managed to stabilize his condition, but we believe he was assaulted prior to being shot out the photon torpedo launcher."

"Explain."

"He had been punched in the face not to long ago. His legs have also been broken, that means someone had to drag him to the launch tube. His spine has sustained severe damage, but I can fix it. Apparently the facilities on board his ship have been drained."

"Proceed. When he regains consciousness, contact me, I wish to speak to him." Then Gryta left the sickbay and went to the bridge again.

Vladimir rushed through the corridors of the Cheyenne, shooting the bulkheads and injured people. His mind was completely gone. He saw an observation port, he raised his weapon to destroy it, but he stopped. There was an Excelsior class star ship out there. Vladimir's face turned a deep crimson as he searched for the coffin-sized bundle that would be Commander Constone. He didn't find it, but that didn't mean anything. Vladimir rushed to the lift and tapped the control panel. Nothing happened, the power was too low for the turbolift. Vladimir would have to use the Jeffries tubes.

Constone awoke in sickbay onboard the Horatio. He opened his eyes only to see a collage of swirling colors. He griped the side of the bed for fear of falling. As his surroundings slowly came into focus, he noticed the biobed's diagnostic half circle that curved over the top of the bed. What was he doing in a biobed? This sickbay was empty; the Cheyenne's was packed with people.

"Glad to see you awake, Commander."

"Who are you? Where am I?"

?I am Doctor Corby and you are on board the starship Horatio. What happened out there?"

"The Borg attacked. They annihilated almost all the ships that were here. When they got to my ship, they fried the outer fringes of the primary hull. That caused the saucer's impulse engines to fry. The Borg fired at the warp nacelles and one of them fell off. There is a bigger problem than the damage to the ship. We have a killer onboard the Cheyenne. It was he that shot me out the photon launcher."

"Who?"

"Lieutenant Vladimir."

Corby tapped the communicator pin on his chest,

"Captain, Commander Constone is awake. He says they've got a killer on the Cheyenne."

"I'll be right down."

Vladimir reached the forward launcher. He tapped the flickering control console and rerouted all available power to the torpedo launcher. Vladimir manually loaded one photon, locked it into place and tapped the firing command. The torpedo blasted out of the launcher in a shower of sparks, but it did not make it all the way out, its path was blocked by a piece of debris. Suddenly the whole area exploded, the explosion destroyed the entire deck. Then explosion continued, taking out deck 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40. Engineering was on deck 38.

The antimatter storage pods were ruptured and antimatter leaked out. Then, with a spectacular bang, that no one could hear the Cheyenne exploded, scattering wreckage through out the newly created debris field.

Epilogue

The Horatio dropped off Constone at the nearest star base where he underwent therapy for his experience. He later went on to command the USS Excalibur, a Sovereign class starship. Every one on the Cheyenne died, at Constone's order; a special memorial was built on Betazed to honor those who were killed by the Borg. The names of the dead are printed on the sides; this is possible because the monument is 75 feet wide and 120 feet tall.

Alternate Reflection Preview

The newly promoted Captain Constone is assigned to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone. An Ion storm during transport causes Captain Constone and his first officer to transport to the Mirror Universe. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance is launching an attack on the captured space station Terok Nor. The mirror Constone begs Constone for help, but Constone declines. The Klingons board the station and Constone is forced to fight to save the lives of every one on Terok Nor.

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