Starfleet has detected Borg signatures on the boarder of Federation space the Fang has been sent to investigate...

The Return of the Borg

Written By

The Crew of the Fang 

Commander Real Sherlock, Cmdr. Dava Fett, Cmdr. Paul Drew, Cmdr. Vegata, Cmdr. KezTrek, Dr. Anna Shipley, Lt. Trylophis, Lt. Jerry Springer, Lt. Mark Troi, Counselor Beckie Triano

The Fang gracefully slid into space after a short stop at Starbase 47 to transfer the Officers, crewmen and injured they had picked up during their previous mission. Commander Sherlock wandered the halls of her ship. The news of the upcoming mission had her deeply worried. She stood still in front of the quarters of Counsellor Quarker, contemplating whether or not he could be of any help to her. Finally she allowed the door to chime...
Quarker was sitting in his quarters... He heard the door chime.
"Come in". Commander Sherlock walked in. "G'dday Commander, is there something wrong? I sense something is troubling your mind. Please sit down." The Commander took a seat, as well as Quarker...

At the time Commander Real Sherlock was paying the ship's Counsellor a visit some of the bridge-crew were having a little meeting to.
"So what do you guys think is up this time?" Springer asked. Dava Fett shrugged and shook his head. "Not a clue, I just hope we make it to earth this time,"
Navigation Officer Keztrek replied. "I'll second that, there's a certain Ensign not a million miles from here that promised this crew a couple of barrels of bloodwine which are at this very moment in storage on Earth a while back. I'm sure he'd like to make good on his promise." Dava Fett winked at Keztrek as he made this remark. "Come on you guys, give me a break here. It's not my fault we didn't go to Earth the last time. First opportunity I get I'll have a few barrels transported to the Fang. Good enough for you?" Ensign Springer asked. "Sure is Springer." Keztrek turned her head a bit and looked towards Commander Vegeta who was sitting in the command chair. "I wonder if he knows what all of this is about," she said. Just when lieutenant Commander Dava Fett was about to reply Vegeta broke up their little party. "Haven't you people got anything to do, cause if you haven't I'm sure I can come up with something interesting." Suddenly all three remembered that they did have duties to perform and turned back to their work with the issue of their mission still unresolved.

Commander Sherlock sat down opposite of the counsellor. "You are right, counsellor. Something is troubling me. I've just received some specifics on our new mission... I am not confident we will get out of it unscathed... I may even end up risking some of the lives onboard this ship. Consciously..." She leaned back, staring at the field of stars passing by. "A choice I'd rather not make."

Vegeta sitting in the BIG CHAIR turned to the Tactical Station and said "MR Springer I want a full test ran on weapons and shields I have a feeling we are going
to get our selves in a LITTLE bind." Mr Springer replies "Yes Commander". Dava looked up from what he was doing and just smiled and went back to work.
Vegeta thought what does H.Q. want with us and what did they want me for?

On the Bridge of the Fang Vegeta was sitting in the BIG CHAIR with one headphone on his left ear listening to late 20th century metal and going over the duty roster for the next week. Jerry Springer was running his tests on the weapon systems. Dava was doing what ever he does. ragincajun was busy maintaining the ships systems.Trylophis was running scans.Mr. Quarker and Sherlock were talking in his office. mean while the Navigation officer turn to face Vegeta.  KezTrek" Commander were less then 3 light years away for Earth. Vegeta" when we get to the solar system drop down to Full impulse power and stay on course for earth. Vegeta to Sherlock."  Sherlock" Go ahead"
Vegeta" were less then 3 light years away from earth. Just to let you know."
Sherlock" thank you Vegeta"

"I'll be on my way to the bridge now," she remarked, rising from her chair. "Counsellor, will you accompany me down to the planet?" she directed her next
question. "We have a meeting with Admiral Paris."

"Its great to get back home. Great. I bet even greater for you lot when I get some of that bloodwine from storage on this ship right? You want all 150 barrels at once
or just a few?" Springer said. "As a half Vulcan I can easily digest large quanties of alcohol however you have to remember some of the human crew members may not be able to keep up, we wouldn't want to embarass anyone," Keztrek replied. Dava Fett looked over to Vegeta expecting him to be annoyed with the discussion of having a drinking contest but was very surprised when the Commander said, "I'm half Klingon I can out drink you under the table any day." After this followed some more discussion about the advantages some crew-members had over others with regards to resistance to the effect of alcohol due to their race.
Commander Sherlock stepped onto the bridge, quickly scanning her crew. She sat down in her captain's chair and looked at the viewscreen. "ETA to Earth?"
"We,ve just come into visual range Sir, Im putting it on screen." Lt Cdr Dava Fett replied. "Home sweet home, hey Sir" Springer remarked. Commander Vegeta shot Springer a glance and the Lt, junior grade turned back to his duties realizing that for most of the crew Earth wasn't home and that some of them hadn't seenwhat they did call that in a long time......
" If it would make you all feel better, why not come to my house in Melbourne Australia to have the drinking contest? Thats if we have time or are allowed." Springer said in an attempt to clear the air. "An Excellent idea, Mr Springer. That would allow me sufficient time to return to maximum efficiency before returning to my post," Keztrek replied.
"So I guess it is set. Captain, are we allowed to have a drinking comp at my house in Melbourne or not?" He asked Real-Sherlock.
"We'll see, Mr. Springer. Mr. Quarker, please meet me and Mr. Fett in the transporter room. Mr. Vegeta, you're in command." Was her reply.
Commander Vegeta sat down in "The Big Chair" just as Sherlock and Fett entered the turbo-lift.

Quarker was standing in the transporter room, talking to the transporter chief... "Victor, have you locked the transporters?" Victor replied "Yes, sir, it's all set up to go."  Quarker was waiting for Sherlock and Fett so that they could beam down... He was quite worried. He had asked Victor the same question over and over. Quarker worried about their mission. He had some strong thoughts about what they we're going to do. And he didn't like it ONE BIT... Fett and Sherlock walked in. Sherlock asked if everything was ready to go... Quarker scratched his head...
While they where on their way to the transporter-room Dava Fett tried to find out a little more about what it was they were going to do but the only thing Commander Real Sherlock said were things like, "patience Mr Fett all will be revealed shortly". When they met up with Mr Quarker Fett got the distinct
impression that he had already found out what was going on.
With a soft shimmering Starfleet Headquarters materialized around them, the familiar silvery surroundings gleaming in the light of the sun. Sherlock looked
around her. "Well, let's find Admiral Paris. He was supposed to be around here somewhere."
A security guard approached the small away team, stating that Admiral Paris was waiting for them in his office. "Well, ensign, please lead the way," the Captain told him. They proceeded towards the office, Fett and Quarker sharing a look. Admiral Paris was sitting behind a large desk as they came in. On the screen behind him was the image of a lone planet in the Pendara system, a system close to Vulcan. A small blue beep was flashing on the planet and a small display with data could be seen in a lower corner of the screen. The admiral looked up and pointed behind him. "Do you see this, Captain Sherlock?" "Yes, sir, I do. A homing signal of some sort coming from the only planet in the Pendara system." Fett leaned forward and whispered: "The signature looks somehow... familiar."
Sherlock nodded, frowning. Quarker could feel her unease. "We've checked the data since I last had contact with you, Captain. It's definitely a Borg-signal."
"What?!" Fett started. "That's impossible! The Borg were destroyed by the USS Voyager!"
" That's some bombshell you just dropped on us here,Sir!" Fett stated. "I know Commander, I'm not all that happy about it myself," Admiral Paris replied. "But the fact remains, THE BORG ARE BACK!!!. At this very moment people are very hard at work trying to figure out how they managed to get so close without us picking anything up any sooner. We can only guess about where they've been over the last few years and what sort of new technology they have been able to assimilate. The scenarios proposed to me so far all spell disaster for The United Federation of Planets but those are all based on the limited information we have at this time."
Although the Admiral was doing his best to keep from showing the great worry he felt all three of the Fang's officers picked it up without difficulty. Ofcourse Mr Quarker had picked up on it the moment they had entered the Admiral's office.

Back On the USS Fang, Commander Vegeta was sitting in the Captain's chair  thinking to himself  about what the the hell the away team could be doing down on Earth. "I can't imagine they brought me and Sherlock back here just to give us our promotions to Captain. There must be something big happening, why else would the Enterprise and the Defiant be coming here too?"
Vegeta's communicator chirped. He patted it gently. "Well, captain," Sherlock's voice rung ,"party of three to beam up. We've got ourselves one hell of a job."
Vegeta leaned slightly forward. "Like what, sir?" There was a silence on the other end. "I'll tell you all about once we're back on the ship. And tell Mr. Springer that we'll have to forsake his bloodwine for the time being."
Right After Captain Sherlock beamed up and was on the bridge Star Fleet H.Q. hailed the Fang.  Dava Fett announced."Captain Vegeta, Admiral Paris is asking for you."
" On screen," the Commander replied and the face of Admiral Paris appeared before them. "Captain Vegeta if you will please look to your starboard side of the Fang you will see the reason we wanted you here.  Trylophis "Sir there is a ship decloaking......it's a Defiant class.  Paris "There is your Ship Captain Vegeta it's a Defiant class 2 It is as power full as the Fang with the Firepower of a Sov class. The TigerShark has been outfitted with Tech. That Voyager brought back. Your 1st order is to go with the Fang on it's mission to find out what the Borg are up to. Have fun Vegeta Paris out." Vegeta turns to the crew and says "this has all been fun and I will not forget all of you. I will leave for MY ship ASAP." "Congratulations Sir, you sure deserve it." Was all the new FO of the Fang, Cmdr Dava Fett could say.
"Goodbye, Vegeta. It was good having you onboard. And I'm sure we can use the assistance of the Tiger Shark," Sherlock added.

CHAPTER II

Lieutenant Trylophis enters the Captain's Ready Room, holding a bunch of papers under his arm. Real papers... must be something official. "Captain, can I have a word with you?" "Sure. What can I do for you, lieutenant?" The Bolian looks a bit nervous. "Well, I... erm... how long would it take to travel to Vulcan before continuing our mission?" The Captain doesn't even arch an eyebrow. "Vulcan? I'm sure you have a very good reason for asking me that, right?" "I have, Captain...but you better read for yourself. Here. "Authorization to requisition certain Scientific artifacts, Class III (reproductions, historical), currently in possession of Starfleet Science Department, Vulcan office. Requires signatures of Federation Science Ministry official, artefact supervizor, Starfleet officer of rank at least that of Commodore, Officer requesting requisition, and Commanding Officer of the vessel artefacts are stored aboard." Next, the signatures of three scientists, and then a "Vice-Admiral Ivan Karpenko".
Captain Sherlock looks up. "Karpenko? Who's that?" Trylophis smiles. "Science department official, sir. never been aboard a starship... rank is completely honorary. However, he IS a vice-admiral... in theory, that is. I've already signed, I only need yours now." "Very well, lieutenant... i'll sign, as soon as you tell me why we'd want to have "certain Scientific artifacts, Class III" aboard, i'll sign." "To fight the Borg, Captain." Now the captain DOES look surprised. "Fighting the Borg using scientific reproductions? Explain?" The Bolian grins. "Easy... those artifacts are thirty projectile weapons, assorted... all different types. Ammunition can be replicated. After all, Captain Picard's reports indicate that although the Borg have defenses against phaser weapons, a WW II tommygun made short work of them. As we cannot turn the entire ship into a holodeck, we just take the guns aboard. Eight machine guns and twenty-one small firearms, mostly revolvers. Oh, and something from my personal collection, but i'll show that later.... Will you sign?" The captain leaned back, a small smile on her lips. "This sounds like a wonderful idea. I'll sign... On one condition..." Trylophis frowned. "And that is, sir." "Get me a Mauzer. You can look up the particular type in the ship's computers." They shared a smile. "Consider it taken care of, sir." Sherlock nodded, took the papers and signed them. "That's one Mauser for the captain and one AK 47 for Mr. Fett so far. I don't have many of each type so be quick if you want a SPECIFIC way to blow away limbs."

When the announcement was made that Captain Real Sherlock had approved Trylophis' request for the use of old projectile weapons and that all Senior Officers were to chose one Mr Quarker reacted in a rather unexpected fashion.

"I'm a councellor, I don't kill!! I know, I know, it's the Borg, but I do not wish to carry a weapon whatsoever!! I hate weapons!! Captain, do I really need to take one?" the Captain responded with a "short" yes... "oh well" Quarker mumbled... "Give me a tazer then... I won't kill anyone with that, only shock them." Quarker felt really smart at that point... At that point...Commander Dava Fett gasped with astonishment."Sorry to be the one to burst your bubble Mr Quarker but a Tazer??? What where you thinking, a tazer is an energy weapon just like our phasers and will not have an effect on the Borg. You are a senior Officer on a war ship and you will carry a weapon. Whether you use it or not is however entirely up to you." The Fang's new FO informed him.
The Captain turned in her chair. "Mr. Fett, stand down. If our Counsellor wants a tazer, he can get a tazer. But Mr. Quarker... If harm comes of it... It's your own responsibility." Quarker nodded and walked off the bridge, mumbling "I'll show 'em" or something of that nature.
"Aye, aye Captain. It was your call to make anyway." First Officer Fett replied. "I guess the prospect of going up against the Borg has gotten all of us a bit rattled, maybe our Science Officer can work together with Engineering to find some way to give that tazer some stopping power against a Borg without actually killing it." He suggested. "Good idea Mr Fett" Captain Sherlock replied and turned to face Trylophis,the Fang's Bolian Science Officer,who had been following the discussion with interest. He said, "We can give it a shot but I'm not sure that we can make it effective and still keep it non-lethal. I'll get on to it straight away Sir" She nodded. "Excellent. Perhaps making sure the Borg won't go near a discharge would be enough."

Slowly the Fang glid into a synchronous orbit around Vulcan. Sherlock leaned back. "Mr. Trylophis, you have an hour to get us our weapons."
"Very well captain. But eh... can I take someone with me? Mr. Fett would be great. I need some help carrying the... erm... artefacts."
"I am sure we can spare him for an hour," Captain Sherlock replied. "Thanks, first time I visit Vulcan and I get a whole hour to check it out!" Cmdr Fett remarked with a boyish grin on his face. There were a few chuckles at this remark but they were quickly silenced as the Captain got straight back to the matter at hand
without any kind of reaction of her own. "Mr Trylophis, I take it that all necessary precautions have been taken for safe storage of the artefacts you are going to
be bringing on board?" She asked. "Don't worry Captain that's all been taken care of," the Science Officer replied.

"Transporter room 1, Dava Fett stated as he and Trylophis entered the turbo lift. Where is it we are going exactly anyway, and is there anything worth seeing on
the way there? He asked giving the Science Officer a sly wink.

Captain Sherlock looks up as Trylophis and Fett enter the bridge again. Mr. Fett looks rather disappointed. "Anything wrong?", the captain asks. Trylophis
chuckles. "Not really, captain... but we haven't seen anything of the planet. We beamed right into the Science Academy and didn't leave the building. Anyway,
I've stored all the weapons in the Main Science Lab... except for my personal firearm." "And that is...?" The Bolian's grin broadens. "A seventeenth-century blunderbuss, heavy caliber, able to fire a variety of ammunition. I'm using rusty nails."
"Ouch," the Captain replied with a grin on her face. "We're you able to get me the weapon I requested too?" She inquired. "Affirmative Sir, they were able to supply me with both of the weapons you and Commander Fett requested along with a nice selection for the others to choose from." Trylophis Replied. "What about the ammunition for these weapons?" Real Sherlock wanted to know next. "That was a bit more difficult than I first thought it would be." The Science Officer replied. "How so?" She asked. "Well at first I thought we would be able to just replicate what we needed so we tried and the result looked just like the real article except that they weren't live rounds. I worked with Engineering on this and we were able to get around the security protocols that were causing the problems. For security reasons I've limited the people able to access the Live Ammo replication File to you, Mr Fett and Myself." "Well done Lieutenant. Now we need to get ourselves aquainted with these weapons. Maybe you could rustle up some sort of holo program for this purpose?" The Captain suggested. "Probably a good idea Sir, couldn't hurt us to get a few practice shots in before we need to use them for the real thing. Once the crew has had a chance to pick a weapon and Mr Trylophis has coma up with a suitable training program I'll work out a rota so that everybody gets some guntime." Cmdr Fett said.
It had been 27 hours since the USS fang had left Vulcan behind and set a course for the Pendara System and everybody had had a chance at trying out the weapons they would be wielding against the Borg. The USS Fang's First Officer and Science Officer, Cmdr Fett and Lt Trylophis, had found that they particularly enjoyed handling the ancient weapons. As Cmdr Fett stands outside of the Holodeck waiting for Trylophis and it gets well passed the time the two men had set for the extra practice session they had scheduled for themselves he starts to get worried. " Fett to Trylophis," he says after tapping his combadge.......... there was no reply. "Computer, what is the location of Lieutenant Trylophis?" He asks. "Lieutenant Trylophis is currently in his quarters," the feminine voice of the ship's computer replies. Realizing that the Science Officer would not have just slept through the appointment they had made Commander Fett gets the nasty feeling that something is wrong. once again he taps his combadge, "Fett to sickbay. Medical alert, send a team to lieutenant Trylophis' quarters on the double"
sickbay: We're on our way sir. "Acknowledged Doctor, I'll meet you there." Commander Fett replied
Upon entering the Lt.'s quarters, the Dr. immediately dropped down beside the limp body. Opening her tricorder and medical equipment she began a scan. Commander Fett enters the room. "Sir, he is still alive but seems to be in some sort of coma. I can't determine anything else until I get him to sickbay. I'd like to see you in sickbay also before you leave the ship. There's no telling what this could be."
"Oh Boy!" Dava Fett said. "Is that necessary Doc?" He asked. "Yes it is Commander and it IS also an order. You and Trylophis are the only two people that have recently left the ship and now he has gone down with something. We need to determine what we're dealing with and keep in mind the possibility that he and mayge you too picked up something on your little excursion to Vulcan. For all we know this could be contagious." Dr. Shipley explained. "If you put it like that Doc, I guess sickbay it is," the Fang's First Officer replied. Fett tapped his combadge," Fett to Real-Sherlock." "Sherlock here, go ahead Commander." "We've got a situation on our hands, could you meet me and the Doctor in sickbay?" He asked. "I'm on my way," she replied, wondering what could have happened
"All finished with the test Commander" the doctor said as the Captain enters sickbay. The captain looks curiously at the doctor "I'd like an update Lieutenant." "Captain, I've determined what's wrong with Trylophis. He has what the vulcan call plak tau. Loosely translated it means "blood fever". His blood has overheated which has caused the disease fighting cells to become inactive making him extremely sensitive to any type of harmful bacteria or germs. It is treatable, but it's dangerous to wake him so early in the healing process. He will have to stay here in sickbay until completely cured. I don't understand why the biofilters didn't detect it but fortunately Commander Fett wasn't affected by the virus. I suggest we send a team to the transporter room and fix whatever is wrong with the biofilters before something else happens. And, Commander, as a safety precaution I would like you to report to me if you have any signs of dizziness or if you become lightheaded. That's an order"
A very relieved looking Dava Fett replied, "Sure thing Doc, I'm just happy the Lt is going to be okay

CHAPTER III

Dava Fett sat behind the desk in the Captain's ready room trying to get a grip on and make sense of whathad happened in the last 24 hours. Ever since leaving earth the Uss Fang had been without an Operations Officer but coping very well. Then a communication from Star Fleet HQ arrived and they were informed that they were to hold their position, still three days from the Pendara System, until their new crew members arrived. The fact that Star Fleet had not only sent them a new COO but also a Strategic operations Officer had raised quite a few eyebrows amongst the crew and some people had begun wondering whether Star Fleet was holding something back from them. All of this Dava Fett could make sense of but the thing he couldn't explain was how he came to be sitting in the Captain's ready room. Which was now HIS ready room. He had only just gotten used to people calling him commander and all of a sudden it had changed to Captain.
When the shuttle carrying their new crewmates, COO T'Ling and SOO Crew, arrived, Captain Sherlock had been given coded eyes only orders. As a result of those orders Captain Sherlock departed on that shuttle and Fett was now in charge of the USS Fang. His first posting since graduating from the Academy not all that long ago and now his first command. He suddenly realized that the crew, his crew he corrected himself, was probably just as confused as he was and that it was his responsebility to try to make it all make sense to them as best he could.

As he entered the brigde he could feel a dozen eyes staring at him questioningly. He took a deep breath, walked over to "The Big Chair" and sat down, unconciously relishing the feeling of it. 
Chief navigation Officer Keztrek was the first to break the silence. "So Captain hows it feel to be in the big chair?"
Captain Fett was somewhat surprised by this question, "looks like the crew is adapting to this new situation faster than I am," he thought feeling proud to serve as Captain over such an exellent crew. "Feels just fine Ms Keztrek, just fine." He replied, allowing a small smile to appear on his lips. Keztrek's unexpected inquiry had somehow managed to clear out the tension Dava Fett had sensed in the air when he enterred the bridge and he could see that his bridge crew were starting to feel relaxed at their posts again.
"Any more questions before we get underway again?" He asked.
"Not from me Captain, just tell me I'll get to do some fancy flying sometime in the near future and I'll be happy" CNO Keztrek replied.
Drew was glad when the Captain walked on to the bridge it took some of the attention of from him. Ever since he had arrived on the Fang and Captain Sherlock had departed  on a top-secret mission eyebrows had been rising. He knew rumours where swirling all over the ship about why Starfleet had sent a Strategic Operations Officer to the Fang a position normally held on Starbases he wondered how many of them where right. It had came as a surprise to him as well just a few days ago he had been a Lt.Commander serving as Chief Operations Officer on the South Carolina when a shuttle had arrived with orders from Admiral Paris himself to return to Earth. There he was informed that he was being promoted to Commander and being reassigned to the Fang as Strategic Operations Officer he was then given a PADD with eyes only information for Captain Sherlock and sent out on a high warp shuttle with other new crewmembers assigned to the Fang. As far as he knew only himself and Captain Fett knew why he had been assigned to the Fang but he had a feeling that there was still more Starfleet had not told him he wondered when he would find out and if he would like what he found.
"Who's going to sit in the other not as big chair next to you Captain?"  Lieutenant Springer wanted to know. "I think that's a question that will remain unanswered for the time being. "Lets all concentrate on our mission for now and worry about finding a new FO later." Dava Fett replied.
"Okay people, we have a job to do. Lieutenant Keztrek, lay in a course for the Pendara system." He felt a rush of adrenalin in his system as he handed out his first order as Captain of the Fang. "Aye, aye Sir!" Keztrek answered. "Warp six if you will when you're ready," Fett added. Next he turned to one of the Fang's new crew members. "Commander Drew seeing as how we are currently without a Science Officer I would like you to keep an eye on things in that department for the time being." "You can count on me Sir!" Drew replied as the Fang picked up speed and shot of at warp six.
"As you are aware this mission is stricktly reckon, once we get in sensor range of the Borg Vessel we are to gather as much information as possible without being detected. Unfortunately we at this time do not know what type of Vessel we are going to encounter so we can only guess about what capabilities they posses. We have the specifications of the shield mods the Hansens used with which they were able to track the Borg unnoticed and engineering is working hard to implement them but once again Star Fleet gives no guarantees that it will work in this case so if anyone has any other suggestions, I'll be in my ready room. Lieutenant Commander T'ling, you have the bridge." "Yes Sir," the Vulcan Officer replied
"Enter," Dava Fett says as the the doorchime of his ready room announces a visitor. "Mr Springer what can I do for you?" He asks when the Fang's Sec/Tac Officer has approached . "Well Sir, correct me if I am wrong but didn't the Hansens get assimilated? And if they did, wouldn't their technology be assimilated too so the borg would have the technology and know how to change their settings so they can see our ship, am i correct? I think we have to change the Hansens shield mods so we can enhance it. Thats all I have to say." "That is a valid point Mr Springer but the Star Fleet Science Department have added a few mods of their own which should make it harder for the Borg to see us. But like I said, no guarantees." Captain Fett replied from behind his desk. "Let's hope they got it right Sir or this could be a very short mission!" The Sec/Tac Officer said. "Indeed Mr Springer so if you come up with another way for us to gather intell be sure to let me know." "Will do Sir." Springer turned and left exited the Captains ready room.
Some time later. Lt Commander KezTrek pressed the buzzer on the Captain's ready room door and waited to be asked to enter. "Come in" the Captain called from behind his desk. "Captain, may I have a word" KezTrek asked. "Ofcourse Commander please sit down" the Captain said. "Well Captain I've been thinking and as we already know the Borg assimilated the Hansons technology when they assimilated the Hansons. I studied their work at the Academy and I thought that perhaps we might consider reversing there principles. Using the inverse effects we might be able to remain undetected by he Borgs sensors for slightly longer. Now I'm not an engineer so it might not work but I think it could if we do it right". Standing Keztrek waited to be dismissed.
"Exellent suggestion Lieutenant Commander. I believe the modifications made by S.F.C. follow those specifications. If you weren't the Pilot you are I would try to persuade you to become our new Science Officer, Although I suspect you would not be very interested in the job." Fett remarked. "Quite happy where I am Sir," KezTrek replied with a hint of pride in her voice. Dava Fett was surprised by that, as even Half Vulcans don't usually show emotion of any kind.
"I'll pass along your suggestion to engineering, let them work on it." Captain Fett dismissed KezTrek and after relaying her suggestion to the engineering department he rose from his chair and walked with to the Bridge. He walked over to the big chair currently occupied by Lt Cmdr T'Ling and announced "The Captain has the Bridge. After taking his seat he tapped his combadge and said "All Sections, status report."   Drew reported from science: science station ready Captain I have an idea on how we could boast our senser range using a track I learnt on the South Carolina if we re-rout power from minor systems such as the holodecks and replercaters I can boast the sensers by another 10% I know it ist much but we should dectact the Borg eariler. Strategic Operations is also ready I have transfered Strateigc Ops controls to the science station. "Make it so," Fett simply replied.
"Tactical ready sir" Lt Springer called out after Drew had reported. "can i say something, what real advatage will we have if we make our sensors better? I suggest we use that power for more important ares like the shields or weapons, even the engines in case we get into a battle with the borg." "I understand where you're coming from, from a tactical point of view but let's all keep in mind that we are on a reckon mission and should at all costs try to avoid any armed contact with the Borg Vessel." Captain Fett replied. "I understand Sir" Lieutenant Springer said with a trace of disappointment in his voice. Captain Fett stood up and walked over to the Fang's tactical station and said, "Our weapons are powerfull enough as they are but if you want to you can work together with engineering to see if you can somehow boost our shields." "Yes Sir!" Springer replied sounding like his confident self again which was exactly what Fett was hoping to accomplish. The Captain gave himself a mental tap on the shoulder as he returned to his chair to await the other sections status reports.
"Doctor to Captain. Not much going on here sir, but we are prepared for the unexpected. Let me know if there's anything I can do Sir." "Thank you Doctor, how's our patient doing?" Captain Fett asked wondering if there was any change in LT Trylophis' condition "Sir," Lt. Commander T'Ling reported from the Ops station, "I'm picking up a Borg trail signature on the very edge of our sensor range. They've been close by, and it's recent."
Captain Dava Fett nodded in response. "Very well." He turned to navigation. "Please set a course for the last known coordinates of that Borg cube. Let's slow down a bit, to lessen the risk of detection. Make it Warp 2."
"Slowing to warp two as ordered Sir," KezTrek responded. "Okay people heads up, my orders are that we are to observe a strict communications black-out starting at the time of first contact of any kind, which we are not allowed to break unless we find ourselves in a whole lot of trouble." Fett announced. He turned towards Commander Drew and asked, "Now that we've picked up a trace of them and we know what to look for is there any way you can further optimise our sensors?" Drew looked up from science: "I am trying now sir now that we know what to look for I can modifive the sensors to dectact the borg trail I would estimate that they where here in the last 24 hours so we should detact them soon". He looked back down at his station with a look of anoyance. Turning back round to look at his Captain he continued his report "I am sorry sir but thats the best I can do for now I will keep trying to find us more information" Fett gave him a small smile "Dont worry about it Commander I am sure we will find them soon".
"Captain before we gett any closer to the Borg Vessel I'd like permission to take a shuttle and leave. As I enformed you sometime ago I have to attend a Conference on Earth and will have to leave in the next two days anyway to make it on time. The extra leave will give me time to prepare as well as ensuring the ships safety is not compromised should the Borg detect my shuttle leaving as we get closer." Lt Commander KezTrek said from the Helm. 
"Permission granted" Captain Fett answered with some hesitation as he really didn't want to lose his pilot. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about it As that particular decision had allready been made before he got to sit in the big chair.
KezTrek stood up allowing her replacement to take the helm "Thank-You Captain, I really hate to leave at such a critical stage in he mission but it is unavoidable, I should only be gone 8 day's but I'll try to get back sooner if I can. Good Luck with the Mission sir."
"Thank you Lieutenant Commander, have a safe journey. If all goes well  we'll catch up with you back on earth." He replied thinking that the way things were going so far they could use all the luck they could get. First Trylophis and now this, he couldn't fathom how he could have forgotten about KezTrek having to leave. Although the ensign that had replaced her at the helm was a very compitent young officer he would have felt better if he was going into this with her at the controls. One of the things he had learnt whilst in the Bajoran resistance fighting against the Cardies was that you make the best use of you have and don't worry about you could have used!  Fett stood up to try to walk of some of the tension that had been building in his body and walked the bridge. He was hoping that people weren't thinking that he was acting a bit strange but then again he was the Captain and if he wanted to take a stroll on his own bridge who was going to tell him that he couldn't???  He was just thinking about whether he should pay the ship's Counsellor, Mr Quarker, a visit when his combadge chirped. "Captain Fett here," he said after tapping it."This is the shuttlecraft Gaia requesting permission to depart." "Permission granted, go with the Prophets Lieutenant Commander. Fett out," he replied having forgotten all thoughts of visiting the Ships Counsellor.

CHAPTER IV

Just as Lt.Commanders Keztrek departed the Fang Drew called out from science "Captain I have the Borg on sensors they are 10.4 light years away bearing three two five mark three zero one" Fett walked over to science "Well done can you tell me anything else about them" Drew pushed some buttons at his station "Its just one ship but an unknown class recommend moving in a bit closer" Fett walked back to his chair as he sat down he rested his hands on the edge of the chairs arm rests "Ensign" he ordered the young Officer at the helm "lay in a course for those coordinates Warp 2 Engage". The Fang jumped into Warp.. "What is the heading of the Borg vessel Commander Drew?" Fett asked. "It's heading straight away from us at warp 1 Sir" Drew replied. Fett could see that the Commander was thinking about the information he had just passed on and waited a while to see if he was going to add something along the same lines he himself was thinking. Which was, "why would they be moving so slow?" Sure enough the Commander didn't dissapointed him.
"Captain Sir," he said somewhat hesitantly. "Yes Commander?" Fett replied. "Why would they be going that slow," he paused for a second," could it be that they are experiencing difficulties with their drive section?" He finished.
"Good Question and if they are there's a good chance they might be suffering from other malfunctions too. Helm! Once we get within two-hundred thousand kilometers of the Borg vessel I want you to slow down and match it's speed and course," the Captain ordered. The ensign repeated the order and finished with an "acknoledged Sir."

Although as far as the crew was aware the Fang was under strict orders to monitor and gather data only the Captains eyes only section of their orders which their former Captain had passed along to him before leaving did give him the option to engage the Borg if he got the right opportunity. Captain Fett stood up turned to Commander Drew and said, "Commander Drew you have the Bridge. I'll be in my quarters, contact me once we've taken up position trailing the Borg Vessel". He walked over to the turbo lift and entered it. As the turbo lift began to move a feeling of nausea came over him and he almost collapsed to the ground. He sat down before he could fall and tapped his com badge, "Fett to sickbay." "Dr Shipley here, what is it Captain?" She asked, "You sound strange," she added. "Not feeling very good, I.." he lost consciousness before he could finish the sentence.
When Captain Fett had left the bridge Commander Drew sat down in the command chair the Captain had not looked well at all and this troubled the Commander with the senior staff already short handed the last thing they needed was a sick Captain when they where up against the Borg. I am proberly worrying about nothing Drew thought to himself the Captain will be fine...
"Doctor to bridge" "Go ahead doctor" Commander Drew said. "Commander, we have a medical emergency. We are bringing the Captain to sickbay, he is unconscious. I need you here asap sir." "Acknowledged Doctor" he said nervously. Drew ran into sickbay to find Captain Fett lying on a bio bed a few feet away formt Lt.Trylophis with medical staff surrounding him, he saw Dr Shipley at the end of the bed running a tricorder over the Captain. He walked up to her and said nervously " Whats wrong with him Doctor?" he dreaded what her answer would be.
The Doctor looked up as a very nervous Commander Drew rushed into sickbay "Commander, I'm afraid the captain has the same thing Lt. Trylophis came down with when they left the ship. The Captain's case is worse most likely because he ignored warning signs. As a safety precaution he will have to be quarantined until the treatment is complete and he is out of the coma. The rest of the crew is not in danger of the virus as far as I know. As for you commander, you have a big job ahead of you. And a piece of advise sir, don't push yourself too hard." As the Doctor spoke Drew suddenly realised that he was now in command of the ship he looked at the Doctor as she finshed her report and a small grin spread across his face "Is that an order Doctor?" "Yes Commander it is" Shipley replied Drew's grined disappered as he looked at the Captain again "I'd better get to the bridge and let the crew know what is happening keep me informed Doctor" he walked to the door he turned round before he left "Thanks for the advice Doc"

Drew walked on to the bridge and sat down in the command chair he pushed a button "Commander Drew to all hands I have bad news Captain Fett is in a coma suffering the same illness as Lt.Trylophis Dr Shipley believes that none of us are in danger and that both Captain Fett and Lt.Trylophis will be fine so none of you are to worry" he paused to gather his words "Until Captain Fett is fit for duty I will be in command we will continue on our mission like Starfleet Officers... Lets make Captain Fett proud"

In sickbay, the doctor gives Lt. Trylophis the final treatment and wakes him from the coma."Doctor to Commander Drew: I'm bringing Trylophis out of the coma sir" "Acknowledged Doctor" he said relieved "Welcome back Lt. do you want the short or the long explanation of why you've been a rather persistent patient of mine?" Trylophis sits up on the bio bed "The short version if you don't mind" the doctor laughs and says "You came down with the Vulcan virus plak tau. You had to stay in a coma until the blood cells in your brain could 'regenerate'. You need at least a day of rest before you return to duty. Any problems with that?"

"Commander Drew" the young Ensign at the helm called out "Yes Ensign" Drew replied "We are approching the Borg ship" Drew stood up from the commander chair "Slow to impluse keep us a safe distance away from the Borg" he turned round to face the Ops station "Lt.Commander T'Ling can you begain to collect information on the Borg ship is there drive system damaged like myself and Captain Fett thought?" "Aye sir" the Vulcan replied "Lt.Springer be ready to bring shields and weapons online at my command incase things turn nasty" "Sir" Springer responded Drew sit back down into the command chair he hit his comm badge "Drew to Quarker and Dr Shipley Counsellor can you please report to the bridge and Doctor be ready to take in casualties" "ready in sickbay sir" The Doctor responded. "Thank you Doctor" "Sir, so far the Borg have not shown any indication that they have detected us. Scanners are operating at full capacity." Lt Commander T'ling reported. "T'Ling how close do you think we could get to the Borg without being detected?"  Drew asked.
"Captain, may I remind you that we still have thirty antic firearms aboard??? I took them from the Vulcan Science Academy, History Department before my coma... I suggest giving one to all core personel." Trylophis said. "Very well Lieutenant issue one to all senior staff and security personel" Commander Drew replied "I want to make sure we are ready"
Lieutenant Commander T'Ling looked up from her station. "Sir, I don't think we can go much closer than this without being detected." Suddenly, a beeping from her console alerted her. "The Borg Cube is changing course." Commander Drew looked at the Vulcan woman. "Where are they headed?"
"It looks as if they are headed towards the Federation/Cardassian border."
The Commander nodded and turned towards the helm officer "Ensign Johnson please match destination and speed, and notify me once we are within 5 light years of the border." Drew looked round to Lt.Springer "Lieutenant it looks like the Borg are going to turn hostile go to yellow alert and bring the shields online and be ready for anything" "Aye sir" Springer replied. Drew sat back in the command chair all they could do for now was wait. "Johnson, what is our eta on the Borg?"

Entering communications range of the Fang Lt Commander KezTrek opened a channel to the Fang and was surprised to find Commander Drew in the Captains chair "Commander Drew I just got back from the piloting seminar on Earth. I'll be with the Fang in about an hour." KezTrek said "Can I ask where the Captain is Sir?" "Welcome back Lt.Commander I hope your trip was a good one" Drew replied "We could use our best pilot right now as for the Captain thats a long story that I will tell you when you come onboard you are cleared for docking in shuttle bay 1 in an hour see you then" "Thank-you Sir. I'll come up to the bridge as soon as I Dock" KezTrek said cutting Communications. KezTrek approched the Fang's shuttle bay and docked safely leaving her bags in her quarters she made her way to the Bridge. Where she announced "Commander Drew Sir I'm ready for duty." And asked, " could you please fill me in on what's been happening while I've been away, and maybe tell me whats happened to the Captain?" "OK from the beginning" Drew repleid "The Captain has the same illness as Trylophis Dr.Shipley expects him to be fine and he should be back for duty soon." He pointed to the helm "As you can see we are currently following the Borg to the Cardassian border keep us on course and same speed and make yourself comfortable you're going to have to do some fancy flying later." "Aye Sir," KezTrek replied.

As the doctor entered sickbay, she noticed the Captain on the biobed was moving slightly. Immediately she got out a tricorder and scanned him. "This is amazing" she said to no one in particular. Right then the Captain opened his eyes. "Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir, you've made quite remarkable recovery." the Dr. exclaimed. "Recovery?" the Captain said. "Yes sir, you came down with Plak Tau like Trylophis. He has already returned to duty. But sir, you came out of the coma on your own. You still might be sensitive to the virus though. You will need at least 2 days of rest before you can even think of returning as Captain.
Doctor to bridge: "Go ahead doc" Drew said "Commander, the Captian has surprisingly made a complete recovery as far as I can see. But I don't think he should return to duty yet. I'd say you've got 2 more days as CO of the Fang, the Captain won't stay down for long, so enjoy it while you can sir." "That's very good news Doc keep me informed" "Yes sir, Doctor out" Turning to Captain Fett the Doctor gave him a sedative and sent him to his quarters. " I want you to check in with me if you feel ANY symptoms. I'll see you tomorrow Captain." "Yes Doctor" Reluctantly, the Captain sighed and walked out of sickbay toward his quarters. Drew felt a weight lift of from his mind he was glad the Captain would be taking back his rightful place. He had to attempt to himself though that he would miss the centre chair. Oh well he thought I still got 2 days.
As the Captain entered his quarters he found that the lights were just a bit to bright for his liking, probably some sort of after effect of that damn Vulcan Virus he guessed correctly. "Computer, reduce light intensity by 30 %" he said, to which the computer instantly complied. "Much better," he mumbled. He walked over to the replicator and ordered a Raktajino,double strength, which he took over to his desk where he sat down.Expecting the sedative Doctor Shipley had given him to kick in at any time he just wanted to catch up on events during the time he was committed to sickbay.Pleased with the way things had been handled during his brief absence he turned in for some sleep 15 minutes later. Last thing he thought before nodding off was,"Guess I won't have to look very far to find me a good First Oficer."

When Dava fett woke up he first rubbed his eyes and then gazed over to his chronometer, he was shocked to find that he'd slept for almost ten hours straight. He got up and put on his uniform after which he walked over to the replicator and ordered his usual morning drink. He took his Raktajino over to his desk and sat down. It had taken him quite some time and effort to get the replicator to produce a Raktajino that was to his liking and he had to admit that it wasn't all that bad. He leaned back in his chair and his mind drifted back to the time he'd spent in the Bajoran Resistance, somehow no matter how scarce supplies where someone always managed to brew a good pot of Rakta. He smiled, although they were tough times in a strange way they were also good. He'd never thought he'd find the same sense of truly belonging somewhere again when the war had ended but had found just that on the Fang.

No point in dwelling on the past when there's work to be done in the present he thought and sitting up straight again he turned his attention to the computerscreen on his desk. Just as he was about to call up the information on the ship's status his combadge chirped, it was the ship's Doctor. "Good morning Captain, I trust you had a restfull night?" She asked. "Indeed I did Doc and I have a funny feeling that sedative you gave me was somewhat stronger than the regular stuff," he replied. "Guilty as charged Captain, I had a hunch that you might want to ignore my advice and get back to work as  soon as possible so I just wanted to make sure you at least had a good few hours of sleep behind you before you did." "Guess you're really getting to know me, huh Doc? Fett said with a little bit of a chuckle escaping him. "If you orded me two take two days rest I will but I'd be a lot happier if you could cut it down to one," he continued. "Why don't you come see me then? I'll give you a complete physical and if everything is to my satisfaction you can get back into the thick of things tomorrow. How does that sound?" Dr Shipley asked. "Sounds good to me Doc, I'm on my way. Fett out."

Upon completing the Captain's physical, the Doctor smiled. "Well Captain, you've defied all odds. You can take command tomorrow. Though I'm not too sure how Commander Drew will like that" she laughed "until then, I want you to relax. One thing I've noticed is you put a lot of stress on yourself. So take it easy." The Captain stood up "Doc, I hate the idea of just sitting around, but I guess if it's the Doctor's orders I'll have to." He started to walk out of sickbay shaking his head and talking under his breath "Doctors!" Dr. shipley looked up. "What was that Captain?" "Oh nothing Doc, thanks" with a nervous look, he walked out. "Commander Drew" KezTrek called out from the helm "The Borg have come to a stop 6 light years away" Drew walked down to the lower end of the bridge "Bring us in Lt.Commander 3 light years distance" "Aye Sir" KezTrek responded "Tryhopis start scanning the Borg ship try to get us much information as you can from this distance" he turned to Springer "Jerry keep an eye on them make sure they dont surprise us" "Aye Sir" rang through the bridge. "Yes Sir. I have shields up and running, shall we go to red alert and bring weapons online too?" Springer asked. "Lets hold off on that for a while untill we really need to. For all we know They," Drew said pointing towards the Borg ship on the viewscreen, "might be scanning us just like we are them and any change in our alert status could lead them to conclude that we are about to take the offensive which would force them to take action too." "Okay, Sir yellow alert it stays," Lieutenant Springer replied.

After a day in which Captain Fett had to do his very best not to go back to work he was more than pleased when the time came to turn in for the night. So it was that a very refreshed feeling Captain walked onto the Fang's bridge early the next morning. Commander Drew immediately stood at attention and announce, "Captain on the bridge." To which the whole bridge staff rose and stood the same. "As you were people, as you were," Fett said. "Exept for you Commander Drew, if it's all the same to you I will take back my chair now," he added. "Aye Sir!" Drew replied with a little smile reaching the corners of his lips. "Good to have you back Sir,"  Lieutenant KezTrek said from behind her navigation console. "Thank you Lt, it's good to be back. I am pleased you were able to rejoin us so quickly again too. Captain Fett thought for a second that the Lieutenant blushed just a little as she turned back to face her console and allthough she was half human it still surprised him.
Okay people let's get to work! I think I am pretty much up to date with the latest events so all I need is a staus report from all sections. Report.
Drew walked off from the centre of the bridge and for the first time since he had been on the Fang took the Strategic Operations Station he had been covering the science station and after that the CO station since his arrival. He did a quick review of his station "Strategic Ops ready Sir" he turned round to face the Captain "Welcome back Captain glad to see the proper owner sitting in the big chair" "Helm is functioning at 98.7% efficentiency and I'm standing ready for evasive maneuvres if required, Sir." KezTrek said from the Helm. "I'm always ready sir" Springer said from tactical.
"Good to hear it Mr Springer, Captain Fett replied as he stood up. He walked over to where Lieutenant Trylophis was sitting behind the Science Station. "How about you Lieutenant, we've been scanning them at close range for a while now and I was hoping you could maybe share some of your findings with us. Any theories on why they were moving so slowly?" Fett asked.
"Captain" Springer reported "The Borg have detected us" T'Ling called out from Ops "Captain they are scanning us" Fett stood up from his chair "Try and block the scans".Captain Fett rubbed his chin and said, "I can't believe it took them this long to notice us. Either those shield modifications worked better than I expected them to do or the people on that ship just haven't a clue what they are doing." "I see what you mean Sir," Commander Drew replied. "It's almost as if they don't know how to properly work with the technology on the ship which could explain why they weren't able to get the ship up to more than warp 2." "Sir, I have managed to block their scanning beam." Lietenant Springer reported. "That was quick?" Captain Fett said with a dose of surprise in his voice." "For some reason they aren't shifting the frequency of their scanning beam to adapt to the change I made in our shield frequency like you'd expect the borg to do" "This might be Borg technology we are up against but I have a feeling we are not dealing with the Borg here, any one got any ideas on how we can find out who we are dealing with???" Fett asked his bridge staff. Lieutenant Commander T'Ling raised an eyebrow. "Sir, perhaps we should just hail them?"
Captain Dava Fett looked behind to the Ops console. "Mister, I think that's the most...logical thing I've heard all day."  The Vulcan woman cocked her head to one side. "Thank you sir."

"Captain" Lt Com KezTrek called up from the helm "If you would allow me to take a shuttle in closer then I might be able to get a scan inside the Cube there are several entrances in to the cube that a shuttle could enter in though. I could use a reflective shield pulse to hide the shuttle from there sensors long enough to safely complete my scans and return to the ship. Thought might I also say that if they did detect the shuttle and are hypothosis is correct and the life-forms in control of the ship are unfamilliar with the ships technology then I should be able to safely out manouvre them without any difficulties." KezTrek knew the mission could be dangerous and that the Captain may think it to dangerous but she also knew she was a good pilot and could easily out manouvre the cube if it became necessary she only hoped the Captain knew that too. Captain Fett stood thinking for a moment and then spoke," We'll try hailing them first, if we don't get a response Lt KezTrek can do what she suggested." "Mr Springer open a channel to the Borg vessel," he ordered. "Channel open," the Lieutenant replied. "This for who ever is in command of the Borg vessel, please identify yourself and state your intentions." There was a burst of static but then the signal was cut off again. "Guess there's some one home but he doesn't want to talk," Springer commented. "Certainly looks that way, I guess it's pretty safe to assume that who ever is in control is not Borg." Fett said. He turned to face Lieutenant KezTrek. "I guess it's up to you now Lt to try and find out who's running the show out there. Try not to take any unnecessary risks." KezTrek thought about Fetts last words and replied. "Taking unnecessary risk would be illogical Sir."

Finishing her Pre-flight check Lt Com KezTrek commed the Bridge "I'm ready to leave now Captain any final orders Sir" she asked "No Lt just be careful and get as much information as you can" Captain Fett said "Yes Sir". Flying into open space KezTrek activated the reflective shield pulse as soon as she was clear of the Fang. keeping at low warp so her presence was even less likely to be detected, she flew up to one of the access ports on the cubes hull, just large enough for her to get inside. positioning the shuttle just inside the ships secondary hull, deciding the most logical and safest course of action would be to take the scans and return to the Fang to allow Lt Com T'Ling to study her readings she set about ther task. Completing the scans KezTrek backed the shuttle out of the cube and headed for the Fang. As KezTrek was making her way back to the Fang the Borg Ship detected her and fired on the shuttle "Shield down to 97%" the computer informed her.
"Computer re-route auxciliary power to the shields and power weapons systems". Taking a shot at the cube with her phasers KezTrek began evasive manouvres and although she took several shots to her shields non were direct hits.
Docking safely back abord the Fang just minutes later KezTrek commed the bridge "KezTrek to Captain Fett" "Lt are you injured" Fett asked concerned for his navigation officer "Only a few minor lascerations Captain if you don't mind I'll go to Sickbay and have them taken care of before I return to the Bridge in the mean time if you could send Lt Com T'Ling to check the shuttles logs Captain I believe they hold the answers to who is in control of the borg ship" KezTrek said.
Fett turned to face T'Ling who stood up and went on her way to the docking bay to retrieve the information store in the shuttles computer. "You did good Lieutenant, not that I was expecting anything else from you, now go and have Doc Shipley attend to your injuries." He told KezTrek who simply replied "acknowledged."
Although a few shots were fired from the cube at the Shuttle who ever was in charge over there seemed to have lost all interest. Captain Fett turned as he heard the turbo lift's door open and saw Lieutenant Commander T'Ling enter holding a small data padd. Without saying anything she walked straight to her work station and proceded with downloading the shuttles sensor logs to the Fang's main computer. Fett walked over to join her. After giving the Lieutenant Commander some time to review the data and was about to ask her what she'd discovered the turbo lift doors opened once again. Fett turned to see KezTrek taking her place at the helm replacing Ensign johnson who had briefly stood in for her.
Anybody else but a Vulcan would have inquired as to the results of their work but KezTrek immediately occupied herself with her duties, figuring that if there was anything she needed to know she would be told in due time.

"So what can you tell me?" Fett asked T'Ling. "Well Sir it looks like our suspicions about the Cube not being fully operational were correct. Only a few of the main systems are operational, well below maximum efficiency which is why their firing at the shuttle had so little effect. My conclusion is that their targetting scanner is non functional and that they were targetting manually which accounts for the fact that they were slow in getting their first shot fired."
"How come we didn't pick any of this up with our main sensors?" The Captain asked sounding surprised. "For two reasons Captain, the fact that most systems are either not working or are badly working there isn't a lot for our sensors to pick up. Also it seems that the areas around engineering and other operational systems appear to be shielded seperately within the ship itself. I conclude that they are trying to get their engines working to a satisfactory level and the warp trace we initially picked up from them was the result of them testing the engines." She replied.
Although this made sense of some sort to the Captain there was one thing about that explanation that kept nagging at his mind. "If that is indeed the fact then how did they turn up here in the first place, they wouldn't be stupid enough to take a test drive into federation space were they would be sure to be discovered." He said.
He shook his head, what was really bugging him was that he still didn't know who they were dealing with. Lieutenant Commander spotted the Captain's reaction and responded by saying. "Actually we can assume that they certainly could be irrational enough to do exactly that. You see Sir, that ship is under the control of a group of Ferengi's.This revelation turned quite a few heads on the bridge. Being half Vulcan very little shocked KezTrek but she was quite shocked when T'Ling announced that Ferengi were in control (if it can be called that) of the cube. "Captain Fett Sir the Ferengi are well known for being driven by profit if they have the cube we have to assume they mean to sell it and I doubt I need to tell you that if that cube should fall into the hands of the Federation's enemies it could cause a full scale war" KezTrek said from the helm offering her first words since returning to the bridge.
"That would not be good indeed! On the other hand they might want to hang onto it themselves. Imagine what kind of wealth they would be able to gather with that sort of technology at their disposal, my guess is that it would greatly exceed the amount they would be able to get from any buyer they might find. That's assuming they eventually get everything working again." Fett saw a few heads nod at his analysis. "So what's our next move Captain?" Security Officer Springer wanted to know. "It looks they're not going anywhere for the moment, although it's safe to assume that they are working triple time to try and get their engines back on line, so our priority is to establish communications with them." Fett told him. "And if they continue to ignore our hails?" Springer wanted to know next. "Then it's time for some of us to go pay them a personal visit," the Captain said. Springer grinned at hearing about the possibility of going on an away mission to the Borg Cube.
One thing still troubled Commander Drew "Captain how could the Ferengi have gotten hold off a Borg Cube the collective is not one for just leaving its ships behind" Fett turned to Drew "Who's to the say the collective even knows Commander the Borg have not been heard of for 10 years and the last time of contact they where believed to have been dealt a fatal blow". Fett turned to Springer "Lieutenant try and open an channel to the Borg ship" "Yes Sir"  He replied.
"Captain" KezTrek said from the helm "The Borg ship appears to be increasing speed, however the change is not significant we can easily keep up." Captain Fett looked down at KezTrek for his chair increas speed to match bring us as close as you can" "Yes Sir" the Vulcan Navigation officer replied returning her attention to her station.
"Sir, you might want to come and have a look at this." Trylophis called out from behind his science station. Captain Fett walked over to him and asked, "what have you got for me Lieutenant?" "With the readings KezTrek made as a starting point I was able to penetrate the Shielded sections of the Cube with our sensors." The Bolian informed him. "They might have their engines up again but they won't be going anywhere fast, have a look at these numbers Captain." Fett saw that the amount of enery their sensors read emanating from the engineering section of the Borg vessel was hardly enough to get the Fang up to more then warp 3 or 4. "I'd say they're going to have a hard time getting that thing up to even the speed they reached before." Trylophis informed him. "Good work Lieutenant, can you put togethere a report on the status of their weapons ans shield systems. Also it would help if you could find out how many Ferengi's there are on that thing." The Captain said. "I'll get on it straight away Sir, "Trylophis replied. Fett turned to Springer. "Any luck hailing them Lieutenant?" There wasn't any so Fett told him to keep trying on all frequenties. KezTrek sat at the helm of he Fang listening to what was going on behind her several questions running though her mind, What would the Ferengi do with the Cube?, How would it affect the balance of power in the Alpha quadrant?, but most importantly How had they gotten the Cube in the First Place?. Sitting at her station KezTrek thought about it and remembered something she had once heard at the Academy but first she would have to look at the reading she had taken from the Cube earlier. "Lt Commander T'Ling would you mind if I had a look over the readings I took earlier" she asked the Operations officer "I will transfer them to your station now Lt Commander". Captain Fett though he trusted his officers was perplexed by KezTrek's request. "Lt Com KezTrek is there something wrong" he asked stepping down beside his helm officer "No Sir but I believe I may have formed a hypothesis on how the Ferengi came to be in possession of the Borg Cube if you would allow me time to research it sir I will inform you as soon as I have proof as to weather or not my Hypothesis is correct" KezTrek said "of course Lt Com get back to me as soon as you have anything" Fett said before returning to his chair. KezTrek seeing he was gone set to work on testing her hypothesis.

It had taken an hour but KezTrek believed she may have found the cause for the Ferengi's control of the Borg Vessel "Captain Fett Sir" the Helm officer called up from her station. "Yes Lt, what have you got for me" Fett asked standing and moving down to the helm. "Well Sir I don't know if you recall this but the Star Ship Voyager once rescued 4 Borg Children 1 of whom stayed on the ship until it's return to the Alpha Quadrant" nodding his understanding Fett waited for his helm officer to continue "well sir the cube the children were on was damaged and all the adult Borg killed because of a virus it was later discovered one of the Children carried, it was Itcheb the eldest of them who carried it and later it was discovered that his parents had purposely allowed him to be assimilated to spread this virus among the Borg. Now when Itcheb was returned to his family they again attempted to have him assimilated but the Voyager Crew rescued him. During my scans I must also have scanned the body of a dead Borg and according to my reading the Drone was killed by the same virus that killed the drones on Itcheb's ship. I believe that his people must have sent a replacement for him and again attempted to destroy the Borg, it is logical to assume that the virus did indeed kill the drones on this ship and that the Ferengi simply found it floating in space and with no Borg alive on board took over the ship." finishing her explanation KezTrek waited for the captains response. "Well done Lt.Commander" Fett told Keztrek "That would explain a lot" "Thank you sir" Keztrek replied "Captain" Drew called out "Yes Commander?" Fett answered "Sir if the Ferengi have control of a Borg cube they could be a major threat to the federation we cannot let them keep that ship" "I know Commander I have not intention of letting the Ferengi keep that ship as Strategicic Ops Officer do you have any ideas of how we could capture the ship?" "I have been thinking about that Captain if we separate the Fang using the MAM then we could attack the Borg ship with three targets it would make it even harder for the Ferengi to be able to damage us, when we have lowed there shields we could beam away teams to the control centre and engineering to take control of the ship" Drew awaited Fetts reply. Which he didn't have to wait to long for."Well they aren't posing any threat to us at the moment so we'll leave the Multi Vector Assault Mode for when we are faced with any real threat we can't handle as we are. I would rather try to take control of that Cube from them then destroy it outright anyway. As for their shields they arent going to hold us back from getting on the ship, Lieutenant KezTrek had no trouble at all penetrating them so it should be fairly simple to have an away team board the Cube by shuttle." "I see your point Sir," Drew replied. "All we need to know now is how many Ferengi's our away tean can expect to encounter once they are in," Fett said turning to face the Fang's science officer. "Sir, sensor readings are fluctuating, but from what I can make out, there are seven Ferengi aboard. Wait, there's another life sign, but different." Lieutenant Trylophis looked up from his console. "I think it's Borg."
T'Ling looked over at the perplexed captain's face. "All life signs are weak, captain. It would be the most logical explanation for the Ferengi's silence; they are most likely injuring, including the single remaining Borg life sign."
"Agreed." Springer advised, "I recommed an away team of myself and two other junior security officers, the ship's counsellor for diplomacy, Lt. Trylophis as science officer, and someone to lead the party. Shields are down. We'll be able to beam through." Fett nodded. "I'll lead the party myself. Drew, you have the bridge. Someone inform Shipley to get sickbay ready; we may have to beam those Ferengi aboard."

"Ahem," Fett turned to see Dr Shipley standing just outside the turbo lift. He hadn't heard her arrive and as the Doc wasn't one to frequently visit the bridge he figured something was up. "Hello Doc, what can we do for you?" The Captain asked. "Nothing much Sir but keeping in mind your recent illness I'd like to suggest you remain on the Fang and have Commander Drew lead the away team. That's all." Dava Fett could tell from the tone in her voice that she would make it an order is he didn't comply so he said. "You are probably right Doc." He certainly didn't feel like she was right but it wouldn't look good for him to have an argument with the Doc in front of the entire bridge staff and besides Drew should be able to handle this away mission with no problems what so-ever.
Having gotten what she wanted from the Captain Doctor Shipley exited the bridge as silently as she'd entered it after wich Fett said. "Mr Drew please join me in my ready room."

Fett sat down behind his desk and Drew took a seat opposite from him. "As you will be aware Commander the lead of an away theam is usually taken by a Commandig or First Oficcer," "I know that Sir, but.." Drew interrupted him but didn't get very far. "Let me finish Mr Drew. "It was suggeste to me that I should keep a close eye on you. Some one seems to think you have the potential to go a long way in Star Fleet and from what I've seen since you joined us I must say that I agree which is why I am hereby promoting you to First Officer of the USS Fang." Fett stood up walked round his desk and offered Drew his hand. For a second or two the Commander appeared dumbstruck and looked at the Captain's hand as if he didn't know what to do with it. Once he'd composed himself again he actually managed to shake Fett's hand and say,"thank you Sir. I won't disappoint you." Captain Fett's comm comes to live. "Captain, Trylophis here" "What is it, lieutenant?" "Well, sir... I think you'd better come and look for yourself, but... erm... we'll be getting company."

"Look sir... my scanners indicate that three other vessels are heading this way. Not transwarp, but still... my guess is they're Borg vessels." "By the Prophets... more Cubes?", the captain says. "No. Much smaller than that... not even big enough for a Sphere I guess. No, probably Borg Scout Vessels. No direct threat to our ship, of course... but it will most likely contain a large complement of Drones. Those things use only five drones as a crew, but they've been known to transport thirty extra ones. That makes about a hundred drones, enough to be a real problem. The Borg want their cube back, sir." "Very well lieutenant. When will they be here?" "ETA... fifteen minutes, sir. If we're lucky, that is." Captain Fett turned to the other officers present. "Put all sections on alert. Prepare security teams to patrol the ship as soon as I activate Red Alert." The moment the order had been given Fett saw every one turn their attention fully to their tasks and felt a sense of pride rush through him. He turned his attention back to Trylophis and said, "I suggest you return to the science department and assist us from there for the time being." "Yes Sir, I'm already on my way" the science officer replied stood up and walked towards the turbo lift.
Fett tapped his combadge and announced "All hands battle stations, those of you who have been issued fire arms make sure you have them with you at all times from now on and be sure to carry enough ammo too cause we could be getting company real soon. Fett out"
"Guess our priority has changed Mr Drew, looks like we'll have to deal with these three scout ships before going ahead with boarding the Cube," Fett said. "I guess so Sir," Drew replied sounding dissappointed and exited at the same time. Dissappointed at having to put of his first lead of an away team as First officer of the Fang but exited about the fact that finally something was going to happen." By now Fett was carrying a fully functional replica of an ancient earth weapon called an AK47 and the scout ships were reaching the contact point.
The tension on the Fangs bridge was increasing by the minute "Captain" Springer called out "The Scot ships will be here any minute" Drew sat down into his chair and activated his arm console he could see Springer was right the borg where getting close "There are here Captain" Springer announced soundly a deep voice sounded through out the bridge "WE ARE THE BORG YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED" Fett sat down in his chair "Not today" he said to himself. "Red Alert!, Mr Springer Target the scout ships with quantum torpedoes and fire all phasers at will once they are in weapons range." "Yes Sir, Springer replied. "Here's you chance to show us some of that fancy flying you were so eager to do Lieutenant Commander KezTrek, the helm is all your's all I ask is you give Mr Springer a few good shots at them away from the Cube cause I still intend to take that thing in one piece." The Captain ordered. "Yes Sir" KezTrek said begining a patteren of various evasive manuvers aimed at giving Springer the best shots possible. Consentrating on her station she saw a Borg ship move in under them deciding to try a manuver she had only ever tried in a shuttle KezTrek turned the ship in a loop - the - loop throwing everyone a little of balence but allowing Springer to fire at the ship and destroy it. Unfortunitly the shot came to late as the Fangs shield had already been taken out and seconds after the ship was destroyed in a huge fire ball the computer sounded and intruder alert. "Inruder Alert, Intruder Alert" the computer called before Jerry Springer turned it of "Captain" Springer called "we have 15 Borg drones detected in Engineering". At that moment all eyes fell on Captain Fett as the crew awaited his orders.....
Fett jumped up from his chair. "Get a security detail out there on the double Lieutenant!" He ordered "They are already there Captain, I had them take up positions near all vital ship systems. I'm just getting a report that Engineering has been secured and has suffered only minor damage, we have two men down and have killed 8 of the Borg so far. We have Trylophid to thank for that Sir, it was the fire arms that did the trick!" The Security Officer reported. "Lets all thank our Science Officer yet for now I am more concerned with the fact that there are still seven borg drones lose on my ship. Where are they Mr Springer?" Dava Fett asked."They're being pursued through the ship Sir, they are down to 4 now," he paused for a second and said,"make that three." "That's more like it," the Captain said grasping the AK 47 firmly  For a while all was silent as security patrolls swept through the ship but then, "Captain, security reports that we've contained the drones, but..." Springer trailed off.
"What, what is it?" Fett looked at his security officer.
"Two of the three drones were found in Counsellor Quarker's quarters. They were in mid-process of assimilating him when they were incapacitated then deactivated. The two were directly linked with Quarker when they were shot. The energy discharge carried over to him. He was killed immediately."
Captain Fett knew he'd just lost one of his senior staff, but he still had a situation to deal with. He straightened his resolve. "What happened to the last drone?"


"I am just trying to determine that Sir," Springer said but Trylophis beat him to it. "Captain? Lieutenant Trylophis here". The voice of the scientist isn't very clear, probably because of a problem with the comm system. "What is it, lieutenant?" "The last Borg is heading my way. Science Lab Two." "Very well, i'll send a security team to take it out." "Negative sir. Whatever you do, DON'T USE PHASERS NEAR THE LABS! Besides, I want to test my... erm... artifact on it. I'll contact you as soon as i've got rid of the drone."

A minute later, a loud bang sounds trhough the ship. "Bridge to lieutenant Trylophis. What was that explosion? Our internal scanners don't report anything!" "Explosion? No sir. That was an antique blunderbuss, filled with rusty nails. The drone has been eliminated, sir. However, I do believe that we'll be having some trouble clearing up the mess... there's Borg Drone all over the corridor now."
"Well done Mr Trylophis, "Fett replied wondering how Springers men could have let the drone get that far. Suddenly something occured to him"What did happen with those other two scout ships anyway?" Fett demanded, annoyed at himself for leeting his attention slip and forgetting them for a moment. T'Ling turned to face him and said.
"They both suffered minor damage Sir and fled." "Just like that huh....doesn't make sense." The Captain replied. "Not just like that actually Sir," T'Ling countered, " they managed to transport 60 drones over to the Cube before they left." "I see, thank you Lieutenant Commander." Fett turned to his first officer, "Mr Drew I still want that Cube, do you think there is still achance of us taking control of it? If so put together a boarding party and get on to it if not than I guess we have no other choice but to destroy it. We have to move swiftly on this cause those drones should have little trouble with taking control of that ship back and possibly getting things actually working again!" "I might take a little bit longer Captain but we may be able to gain control of the Cube we would of course need a larger boarding party" Drew reported "Very well Commander take who ever and what ever you need" Fett ordered Drew stood up "Aye sir" he turned to Mr.Springer "Your with me Lieutenant i want a team of your best people make sure all our armed with phaser rifies and some of Mr. Trylophis 'artifacts' he typed his comm badge "Drew to Trylophis" "Trylophis here he answered "Lieutant report to transporter room 1" "Sir" he replied Drew thought for a moment "Lt.Commander T'Ling you too if thats all right with you Captain?" "That's fine by me Commander. Take the Doctor with you too,just in case." Fett told Drew. "Good point Sir. How many drones are we up against here?" The First Officer asked. Lt Cmdr T'Ling answered him, "60 drones Sir, but scans show that they are spreading out over sections of the Cube in squads of 5."
Drew turned back to the Captain and asked, "So what's our first priority?" "I'd make that their Bridge and Engineering, make sure Lieutenant Springer takes along enough security personel so that you can take both sections at the same time. Once your in control try to establish visual communications." Fett suggested. Drew taped his comm badge again "Dr Shipley report to the Transport room in ten mintues" "Aye sir can I ask where we are going?" "The Borg Cube Doc so be ready". Drew acitved the comm link on his chair to all decks "OK all Away Team members report to Transport Room 1 in ten mintues" "Commander Drew Sir" KezTrek said "I realise i'm not the first choice for a mission like this but I would like to acompany the away team, I am trained in wepons combat Sir and I am also skilled in numerous hand - to - hand combat techniques due to my time living on Qro'nos" Drew looked at the Half Vulcan Nav Officer trying to decide if he should grant her request to join the away team......
Captain Fett overheard this exchange and beat Drew to answering KezTrek's question. "Request denied Lieutenant Commander" he informed her. "Yes Sir," she said not sounding very happy but accepting the Captains decision without further questioning."Wouldn't do to have all of my command staff on the same potentially life threatening away mission, Besides I want you here in case those two scout ships decide to show up with some of their friends." The Captain explained.
Drew walked into the Transporter room to find his Away Team ready and waiting he noticed the high number of security Officers "Glad to see you brought a lot of people with you Jerry" Springer stood proud "These are my best sir" Drew walked to the centre of the room "OK people i dont have to tell you how dangerous this mission is we cant not let the Borg keep that ship i know all of you will do your best" he looked at Lt.Springer and Lt.Trylophis "We will split into two teams Lt.Springer you will command the second team Lt.Trylophis will be joining you your job is to take engineering take 15 Security people with you" he turned to T'Ling and Dr.Shipley "You two will be joining my team we are going to take the bridge" after he had finished his briefing he looked to all of them "Any questions?" he asked. "no questions from me, Commander. I'm ready as i can be." said springer, as he waited for the rest to see if there are any questions. Everyone nodded in agreement with Lt.Springer "Very well then lets go" Drew said as he stepped onto the transporter pad he turned to face the Transport Chief "Energise" he ordered Drew saw the transporter room dissolve around and reappear as

As a long dark corridor with flicking green lights he could see dead Borg drones across the floor. He draw his Phaser and Tricorder "OK Mr.Springer this is where we split ways keep under communication silence until you complete your objective or unless you need help" "Understood sir you can count on me" Springer led his team down to the bottom of the corridor "OK people" Drew spoke to the reminder of his team "I am detecting Borg life signs through out the ship we have to make it to the bridge at the top of this thing" he turned to T'Ling "I believe you know the way Lt.Commander from your scan results"

ensign triano was walking down the coridor and ws thinking about what had just passed, mr quaker had been killed in an assimilation attempt. she was only an assistant to the counselor but now she was uncertain as to what was going to happen next, she stoped, looked at the silver piece of military artiface that was called a nine millimeter simi automatic,it was small but she carried 2 clips, all that training in the holodeck on how to use this little weapon, looked so simple, looks can be discieving, she thought about how she never liked killing, but she would die trying to save her life at any cost but if she had to save any one elses ,,,,,,,, what will i do.... u will react,,, get used to it , they wont judghe me ,,,, will they . no. she ran to the office and reported to the captain."ensign triano to the captain"
"yes ensign, report" said captain dava, "i am here in the office i have talked with a few of the crew and they seem to have calmed down a bit but every one is still a bit anxous and worried ,, that is to be expected though' ever her self, captain sat back in his chair exhaled a bit and said" ensign report to my ready room"
aye sir, on my way trinao out"
"Enter," Fett said as Ensign Triano asked for permission to join the Captain in his ready room. Realising that the young officer was troubled by the fact that Quarker,who's assistant she'd been had died and that she was now to take over from him,he felt something less formal was probably called for so he invited her to take a place in the lounge area of his ready room instead of sitting down seperated by a desk. When they were both as comfortable as they could get under the circumstances Fett spoke.
"I realise Ensign that all of this must have come as a great shock to you as it has to all of us." Triano nodded but didn't speak. "Unfortunately these things happen and it is left to us who are left behind to pick up the pieces and try to make sure that the job continues to get done. Which in your case means that you are now the Fang's Counsellor." He said. She looked him straight in the eyes and replied,"I am just not certain that I am ready for that responsibility Sir." "Well Mr Triano I am confident that you will make an exellent Councellor and for what it's worth Mr Quarker spoke very highly of you and I am sure that where ever he is now he shares my confidence." Fett told her. Triano semed to be truly affected by his words,"Thank you for those kind words Sir, all I can offer you is the best I can do." Captain Fett allowed himself to smile and replied," I wouldn't dare asking for more Ensign. I am sure you will do just fine. If that is all Ensign I have a situation to deal with and I am sure you have matters to attend to too." He said. They stood up and the Captain walked her to the door, when it closed behind her he returned to his desk. ensign triano walks on to the bridge and looks around watching each of the crew that was left remaining on the bridge. each one of them tuned into thier duties, waiting and watching for signs that anything that will happen. beckie then turns and looks at the captain, remembering the words that mr fett had said to her, she was now the counselor of the Fang. he duties are much more now. and thinks~i must go and look at mr quakers office, which is now mine. what am i going to do?~. she walks to the turbolift and leaves the bridge and tells the computer what deck to go to while she collects her thoughts. **swoosh swoosh** the doors open and triano exits the turbo lift and notices a few crewman on the deck, she nods at them and notic the ancient weapons they are carring. guns they are called. weapons of distruction that were used for almost every know war on almost every world, ~weapons that kill i might add~ thought beckie. but yet we need them.....
while walking into "her office" she noticed the room was dark. "lights" she said and then every thing came on and then some of the old time music mr quaker used to listen to started playing. ~hummm~ thought beckie "computer end music", "ooohhh green chair", she went over to the desk and tapped on the computer and looked ar the list of appointment for the past few days and started to call people to reshedule them...

With most of he Senior staff on the away team Captain Fett was in his ready room , he had been talking with Mr Triano who had just left again. and Lt Commander KezTrek had the Bridge. Standing at his post Mark Troi studied his console looking over the scans they had off the Borg ship and looked for a possible tactical advantage should it become nessasary. Looking up from his station he looked at the collection of Ensigns around him they out ranked him technically and yet he could give them orders it was still quite strange to him. Decideing he could leave his thoughts till later he returned to searching for a tactical advantage, he just hoped they wouldn't need it. With the new SOO standing at his post behind her and Captain Fett in his ready room KezTrek sat watching the sensors that were scanning the Cube trying to keep an eye on all the Fangs people when she noticed something on one of the other monitors. One of the Borg spheres had aparently decided to return for the cube. "Captain Fett to the Bridge, Computer go to red alert" KezTrek said returning to her station. "What is it" Fett asked taking his seat "Aparently one of the spheres has returned in another attempt to retake the Borg Cube Sir" KezTrek said "Our shield are working at full capacity and our wepons are ready Sir". Fett looked at the console beside him confirming what KezTrek had said. "Ok bring us about we can not let the drones on that sphere get control of the Cube" Fett said watching as his crew filled out his orders. And he liked what he was seeing. He looked over towards where Mark Troi as standing, the Fang's new Strategic Operations Officer, he wasn't straight from the Academy he was still in it but had dared to request an assignment on the Fang. Fett hadn't hesitated for a second and had accepted immediately when he was informed about Troi's request. the Acting Ensign had arrived in a shuttle moments after the away team had beamed over to the Borg Cube and reported for duty straight away.There he was, performing his duties like he was a veteran, Fett had told him to get settled in and report for the next duty shift but when KezTrek had called him to the bridge Acting Ensign Troi was already at his post. "That was bit too easy," Captain Fett thought as the shpere that had returned was blown to smithereens with a spread of quantum torpedoes without it having had the chance to get a single shot away. "We'll let's hope that's the last of them, good job people."He said. Acting Ensing Troi turned to face him and said ,"Thanks Sir, I might have an explanation why they seemed more interested in just avoiding us that engaging us."Please tell us Mr Troi" "Well Sir it looks like they were trying to download something from the Borg Cube's main computer banks, sensor logs show that they managed to get some information downloaded beore we destoyed them." "I see, don't understand why they sen't back only one sphere this time if the data is of such cruxial importance." "KezTrek turned at the helm to fca him and stated, "we should be able to determine that once we are in control of the Cube and have direct acces to it's computerbanks." "Indeed Mr Keztrek," Fett replied. He sat back in his chair and wondered how the away team was doing.

"Lt Trylophis" Springer said as he turned to face to Trylophis "How many borg are ahead of us?" "Oh about 15-20. Not quite sure" Trylophis replied. "hmmm. Let me get this straight, if there is about 60 on board, and if they have assimlated the frengi by now, that would make 67. So if we have 15 per group, at two groups, we only have 30. Hmmm unfair odds right?" "Yes sir, i belive you are right. Just can i ask, where are you going with this?" "Hmmm Trylophis, we need more men. Get in contact with the fang straight away." Trylophis sent a messege to the fang as quiet as he could. "Sir! The fang has gone to red alert! There is a sphere coming to try to retake the ship. Whats your course of action?" Trylophis shouted. "Well um errr run. Run real fast. I suggest we get a move on and try to get this cube under our control. Does commander Drew know about the sphere?" Mr springer said. "I don't know sir" Trylophis replied "i will get onto that." "yes, mean while lets get this ship and stop the sphere getting here. One more thing, don't call me sir, just jerry will do ok?" Springer said. "Ok sir, i mean Jerry" trylophis replied.

The men headed along the corrider aboard the cube. "oh my god! i forgot something! can we still beam back to the ship trylophis?" Springer said "Highly unrecommendable. Why? whats up?"
"Do you know if we can get that thing the hansons used to disgues ourselves from the borg?"
"oh crap! i knew there was something! i will get onto that!" Trylophis replied.

Drew was beginning to wish he was on Risa he hated the Borg they gave him the creeps. His team had so far managed to stay unnoticed by the Borg suddenly Drew's comm badge beeped "Springer to Drew" "Go ahead Lieutenant" "Sir the Fang is under attack from a Borg Spare they have raised there shields until they are lowed we cannot beam back to the ship" "Thats not good news Lieutenant I am sure Captain Fett can handle the Borg but it makes are job a little bit harder" "It sure does Sir" Springer replied "Commander" Dr. Shipley called out with alarm, Drew looked up to see 4 Borg Drones handing towards them "Jerry I am going to have to get back to you" Drew ended the conversation "OK people the Borg should not attack us unless we do something to be seen as a threat so everyone stay claim and carry on as normal" The Borg Drones walked past the Away Team taking no notice of them when suddenly a scream came from the back of the group Drew turned round to see a Ensign firing there Phaser at the Borg Drones the Drones turned back round to the Away Team and headed toward them again "Ensign" Drew baked "What the hell are you doing?" "I.. I am sorry sir" the Ensign replied just as the Borg Drone assimilated her. Drew lifted his Phaser and fired at the Drone killing it "Spread out" Drew ordered his team "Dont let the Borg anywhere near you" Phaser shots rang out across the corridor as the Away Team fought of the attackers. Trylophis tapped his combadge and said, "This is lieutenant Trylophis to all federation personnel aboard this Cube. I'm under attack by several Borg drones. Whatever you do, do NOT approach me until I say it's safe. I wouldn't want to blast you guys into oblivion with this... erm... artifact. Trylophis out." Drew hit his comm badge "Watch your back Lieutentant no one will approach unitl its safe. Let me know as soon as that happens are the rest of the Mr.Springers away team with you?" "Yes sir. They're out of sight right now, but they're close. And don't worry about my back. There's nothing there- not anymore." Trylophis informed him.

Mark Troi had spent sometime pouring over the sensor readouts in an attempt to find a Tactical advantage over the Borg and finally found something that might be usefull, "Captain Fett Sir" he called from his station, "Yes Mr Troi" Fett asked looking over at his Stratigic operations officer. Hoping Fett couldn't read the Nerves tone in his voice "The Borg on the Cube seem to be spread out in a specific order to do a specific job which isn't that unusual for the Borg. However the Drones near the core of he vessel seem to be operating at only 20% efficency and have no shielding, the reason for this appers to be a radition leak but it's no type of radiation i've seen before. If we could find out what it is and modifie our phasers to admit a pluse of the radiation then the Drones should be more easily destroyed Sir" Troi finished his explaination. "Thank-you Mr Troi" Fett replied and knowing that Troi was nervous and needed to know he was doing well in his new post said "Why don't you Contact the Away team and see if they can get more information on the Radiation for you" Troi nodded and hit his badge and after telling Commander Drew what to look for returned to his own sensor reading to see what he could get on his own from them, unfortuntly he was no scientist and didn't think he'd have much luck. Captain Fett looked over to Ensign Troi and could see that the young man was struggling with something so he stood up and walked over to him. When Troi saw him approach he immediately stood rigedly at attention."They academy sure did a good job with this one," Fett thought a he saw it. He took a plave next to his Strategic operations officer and said, "at ease ensign. I like to run a tight ship here but not that tight." "Aye Sir," Troi replied. "You seem to be struggling with something Ensign, anything I can help you with?" The Captain asked. "Well Sir, it's thid radiation. I am trying to find out more about it so I can give the away team an edge over the Borg Drones. Science wasn't my favorite subject at the academt though Sir." The Ensign said as if apologising for not being able to to a better job. "Well Mr Troi, fortunately Mr Trylophis is on that Cube and science happens to be HIS favorite subject. You did good on identifying the source of that radiation and the effects it appears to have on the Borg. It's in the hands of Lieutenant Trylophis now to find how to make best use of that discovery." "I understand Sir but,.." Fett interrupted him and said," But, Mr Troi, if you want to keep looking to see if you can find something usefull feel free to do so. I understand that you are eager to prove yourself, just don't put to much pressure on yourself." "Okay, I see what you mean Sir." Troi said. Captain Fett returned to his chair and sat down, waiting for news from his away team. "Thank you for the information Ensign I will have Mr. Trylophis find out more about the radiation Drew out" Drew replied to the Ensign Troi he tapped his comm badge again "Drew to Trylophis Ensign Troi reports that there is a radiation leak near the core of the cube which is rendering the Borg shielding useless I want you to take a small team and try and gather as much information on the radiation as you can Mr.Troi believes that we can modify our phasers to emit the radiation" "Aye Sir" Trylophis replied.
Drew continue to lead his away team to the Borg control centre they had already encouter 3 different groups of Borg drones and had lost 4 people all over of them where on edge suddenly Lt.Commander T'Ling called out "Commander the control centre is straight ahead" Drew hit his comm badge "Drew to Fang" "Go ahead Commander" Fett replied "Sir we are about to enter the control centre we have detected 20 Borg drones inside" "Be careful Commander you have most of my senior staff over there I don't want to lose them has Mr.Trylophis had any luck with the radiation?" Fett warned "He believes that he can modify the phasers to emit the radiation but needs more time to work out the details" "Very well Commander Fang out" Drew hit his comm badge again "Mr.Trylophis how long do you need to discover the correct phaser modulation?" "Trylophis to Fang. Captain, I've modified some of the phasers to emit the radiation, but I can't guarantee success. After all, we don't know how many radiation those Drones can have..." "Very well lieutenant. Anything else?" "Well... yes sir. This radiation... I can duplicate it, to a certain level... but i'm afraid I cannot fully analyze it. In other words, I don't know what we're using here." "In that case check with Doctor Shipley first, let her determine if the radiation poses any sort of threat to the away team. If it does I suggest you stay well away from the infected areas of the cube and do not use the phasers to emmit that radiation" Captain Fett replied. "Will do Sir, Trylophis out." After hearing the exchange between Captain Fett and Trylophis KezTrek turned to the Captain and said "Captain if the Radiation is dangerous to the away team prehapes we could transport over enviromental suits for the team it would mean we could use the modified phasers to attack the Borg without any harm to our people. Even if only some of our people could use the phasers it would still give us a huge advantage"
"Good suggestion Mr KezTrek, if our good doctor determines that it is needed we will do just that." Fett said. standing outside the borg control center, the doctor stopped "Commander, the radiation doesn't pose any harm to us as far as I can see as long as we aren't exposed to it for a long period of time but sir, i'm detecting a lifeform inside the control center" the commander looked puzzled "Lieutenant, there are 20 borg in there" "No sir, I'm not detecting the borg. It's linked to the borg systems but sir, it's an individual" An Individual? Drew's mind went into overdrive with questions forming how could there be a individual in there with 20 Borg? Why would an individual be with 20 Borg? for a a split second Drew wished he was not in command in here and longed to be back on the Fang he shuck the thought of he was not on the Fang, he was on a Borg Cube, he was in command here and he had to make a decision on what to do. Drew noticed that the rest of the Away Team where watching him waiting to see what his orders would be he could tell that Shipley could see what he was thinking although not a telepath the Doctor had a sort of sixth sense for understanding what her patients where thinking - any good Doctor did. "Doctor can you be more specific on what you mean by 'individual'?" Drew asked her with concern Shipley shuck her head and gave him a grim look "Sorry Commander I dont really understand myself all I can tell you is that there is an Individual of sorts inside that control centre" after the Doctor completed her report Drew turned to the whole Away Team " I guess there is only one way to find out2 he turned to Commander T'Ling "Commander you and a small group will enter through the side entrance" he pointed to another corrider on the side that also led to the Control Centre "The rest of us will entre through the main entrance he pulled up his Phaser rifle "We dont know how long it will take them to adapt so make every shot count" he paused again to look at them to make sure each one of them understood what he was asking them to do "Lets do it" he said with determination.

With everything on the Fang all quiet again, no sign of any new ships speeding towards them and the away team trying to take control of the Borg Cube Captain Fett stood up and walked towards his ready room. "Commander KezTrek," he said just before entering, "you have the Bridge." He sat at his desk and opened a chanel with Ensign Triano on his computer. "Yes Captain?" The Counsellor said. "How are you settling in Ensign?" Fett asked. "I am settling in just fine Sir, I have resceduled any meetings Mr Quarker had for the coming two days and are now getting things set up for business as usual," she replied with an akward smile. "I have a feeling though that you didn't just call me to ask me that Sir." She added. "Indeed I didn't," he said. Adding "you'll get along just fine as Ship's Counsellor" in his mind. "AS you are probably all to aware a lot of changes have taken place on the Fang in recent times and I was wondering if this was having any adverse effects on the crew ensign triano sits back in her chair and looks at the captain, "captain every one on the ship is nervous and anxous and quite scared as well, but each one is working hard st thier duties. i have noticed that a few people are working harder than most but they are some what new **my self included. thought bec** but everyone knows thier duties and are capable of doing them. no one on the ship is at a breaking point yet , like i said just nervous, anxous and scared but there is enought people on board that are confident in thier jobs that they are coping with it. on a nother note captain there once this mission is over i would like to make a suggestion that everyone, including the captain sir, take a few days rest or leave ,,,,, then get back to business, by the way i would like to get the bio's of the bridge personell, my access clearence will not allow me to access them, so if you could sir i would like every one to drop by my office and diliver thier bio's in person so i could get a chance to chat with them." the captain looks at her a big crooked kind of childish grin on her face, hummm thinks the captain..... she is the counselor now and she does need to know the status of each of the crew,,,, " ok mr triano i will see what needs to be done ahout the clearence, mean while i want you to keep me informed of any thing that you think i need to know,"
ensign triano sits up right in her chair almost jerkily now and looks around ,,,,," ok thank you sir i appriciate it ,," "fett out" beckie gets up and looks around *hummm that is funny i thought some one was here" The Captain sat working in his ready room for an hour or so after he'd spoken with the Counsellor and was getting a bit restless. He closed the file he'd been working on stood up and strode onto the Bridge. He approached Commander KezTrek ,said, "I have the Bridge." And asked," Still no news from the away team?" Keztrek rose from the chair and said, "No Sir, there has been no further communication."Thank you Commander," he replied as he took his seat. Fett had to fight the temptation to contact the away team himself, but not knowing what kind of situation they were in at the moment he realised that any interruption from him could put them in danger. He sat back and continued to wait for any news. The now Ensign Troi stood on the Bridge and watched his Captain. He hadn't been on the ship long so he really couldn't say what kind of man Fett was but he seemed fair minded and he also seemed to care a great deal about the people who sereved under him. Troi had kept active sensors on the Away team at all times but it was difficult to keep the sensor lock because of everything that was happening on the Cube and it would apper that Captain Fett was begining to worry about the away teams lack of contact a worry that had been playing around in Troi's mind for sometime but that he had dismissed, not wanting his new Captain to think him unable to keep a cool head and think he might have made a mistake bringing him aboard. Just then he noticed something on his sensors, "Captain i'm reading phaser fire inside the Cube it's coming from our phasers the Away Team has directly ingaged the Borg" Troi called from his Station "Whats happening over there Ensign" Fett asked rising from his chair. Trois hand flew over the console he was losing the sensor lock "Captain somethins interfering with my sensors, i'm trying to get though the interference but....I've lost it Captain the Away Team's dissappered from Sensors and what ever it is is blocking our Communications as well..." Troi said, still working on the console even though he knew it was likely pointless. "What ever the away team are doing over there Captain they'll have to do it with out our help at least until I can find away to cut thought this interference". "Dam it" Fett muttered not loud enough for Troi to hear but ust loud enough for KezTrek at the helm. "Get sensors and communications back up now Ensign, we don't have time for this our away team is in danger over there" The Away Team ran down the corridor all of them now carrying phaser rifies Drew stopped at the entrance and tapped his comm badge "Drew to T'Ling ready" "Ready" T'Ling replied "Go" Drew ordered. Both teams ran into the control centre firing there phasers as they went Borg drones turned round in surprise before falling to the ground Drew heard his own people screaming as the Borg assimilated them but Drew's men out numberd the drones "Commander" T'Ling called out "They have adapted"
Drew did a quick count there where 6 Borg left and 20 Starfleet Officers "Hand to hand" Drew ordered as he hit an Borg drone over the head with his phaser "Dont let them touch you" he cried out as the Borg Drone fall to the ground with an bang he looked round to see T'Ling with her fingers on a Borg Drones neck watch as the drone clasped to the floor "All Borg killed Commander" T'Ling reported Drew ran over to nearest console saw with relief that the Ferengi had changed the display to Federation standard he began to shut off the weapons and shields he tapped his badge "Drew to Springer we have control of the bridge i have shut down the shields around engineering shut off there warp core" he tapped his badge again "Drew to Fang" there was no response he tried again "Commander Drew to USS Fang" something must be wrong "Commander!" Shipley cried out "The individual" Drew turned round and froze Contributing to the panic a single borg stood motionless between Commander Drew and the doctor, facing the Commander only a few feet away. The doctor spoke quietly "Commander, don't make any sudden movements. He is fighting his own thoughts against the borg collective. Although he is no threat for now, we have to get communications back with the Fang and this borg to sickbay or his systems will overload and he will die." Commander Drew's fear began to fade "We're doing what we can doctor" he said as he turned around again "Just watch my back and hold on." Drew began to regain control of his senses the Borg drone was not a pretty sight its body had started to reject its Borg implants causing his skin to be a mixture of white and pale pink he could see that the Drone had once been human this had not scared him it was the Drones eyes he could see the conflict in them individuality fighting the collective he wouldn't want to guess who would win. Drew turned his attention back onto the Borg console an idea formed in his head if he could find the Borg comm controls he could hail the Fang. "Dr Shipley how long does he have?" Drew asked "Not long sir we need to get him to sickbay now!" "Where is that dam button" Drew thought to himself suddenly he spotted it he hit the control and opened an channel to the Fang.

Ensign Troi was still working hard at his console trying to open a channel with the Away Team when a light starting blinking on his panel "Captain the Borg ship is hailing us" Fett stood up from his chair "On screen Ensign" he ordered the familiar face of Commander Drew filled the viewscreen a rush of relief swept through Fett "Its good to see you Commander report" he greeted his First Officer "Sir we have control of the control centre Lt.Springers team is still trying to take engineering but it should be easier for them now" "Good job number one" "Sir we also have Borg Drone who is regaining his individuality Dr.Shipley wants to beam him to sickbay at once" "Very well the Doctor and the Drone can return to the Fang Commander i want you to stay onboard until Mr.Springers team is finished while your there download the database and transmit it to the Fang" "Aye Sir Drew out" 
"Captain" Ensign Troi called out "You are receiving an transmission from Admiral Paris priority one. Fett walked towards his Ready Room "Patch it through to my Ready Room" a few minutes later Fett walked back on to the bridge "Ensign inform Commander Drew that he is to return to the Fang immanently and that he will find orders in my Ready Room." Troi looked puzzled "Sir? Why cant you tell him his orders" Fett avoided his question he turned to Commander KezTrek "Commander until Commander Drew returns you have the bridge" this time KezTrek spoke up "Captain is everything alright?" Fett looked around the bridge as if he was storing the memory "I have to go away" was all he said as he entered the Turbo lift. KezTrek took the Command Chair "Ensign Troi can you open an channel to Commander Drew" "Aye sir the interference has disappeared" "Fang to Drew" KezTrek spoke louder to activate the comm system "Drew here Commander go ahead" "Commander you have to return to the Fang immanently I will tell you more when you return to the Fang". A buzzing sound filled the bridge as Drew's image faded off from the viewscreen and appeared on the Fang bridge "KezTrek report!" "The Captain has left he said there is orders in his Ready Room for you"

Drew walked into the Ready Room surprised to see Admiral Paris face on the screen "Commander Drew you are to carry on the Fang's present mission Section Admiral Gene has requested that you take the Cube to Starbase 47 there Section 47 will analyse it" Admiral with all due respect where is Captain Fett "That is none of your concern Commander all you need to know is that you will be in command until Captain Fett returns" "Sir when while that be?" Drew asked with concern for his Captain "I am sorry Commander I really dont know" Paris said with all honesty "Let me know when you have full control of the Borg Cube Paris out". Drew sit down by the desk to recover from his shock "I better get back on to the Bridge" he thought to himself Drew walked back onto the bridge KezTrek left the Command Chair and retook the helm Drew took the Command Chair. "Open an channel to the Away Team" Drew ordered "Channel open" Troi reported "Commander T'Ling you are in command of the Away Team Starfleet wants you to capture the Cube see what you can do to help Lt.Springers team take engineering" "Yes Commander" T'Ling replied "Very good Fang out". Drew sit back in to the Command Chair now all he could do was wait. KezTrek sat at her station after Drew had finished talking to the away team quite perplexed by resent events. It was highly unusual for that the Captain should be called away during such a important mission. It was however none of her business why Fett had been called away and she was sure that if nessasary Commander Drew would give her details although she suspected he was likely as clueless about this situatuion as she was she just hoped the Captain would return soon and unharmed. Deciding these thoughts could wait for a later time she returned her consentration to her console when Ensign Troi spoke up from behind. "Commander the away team is hailing", "On Screen Ensign" said Drew. "Commander we have Control of the Cube there are still some Borg around but mostly they have been killed or confined. Lt Springer and several officers are beaming back to the Fang now for medical treatment. We lost 11 men but our other casulties are mostly superfical" T'Ling reported. "Thank you Commander, i will transport over some more officers to help you secure the Cube please attempt to gain control of the Cubes Navigation Systeam, i don't like the idea of having to tow that thing all the way back to StarBase" Drew ordered. "Yes Sir, away team out". Jerry's away team were not porgressing as well as Commander Drew's team. They had lost 7 men already, and there were still about 10 drones to be killed. The borg had adapted, so Springer needed a new way to dispose of team, and still get to engerinering. "retreat and re group!" was the order Springer gave. "trylophis, get some of Drew's men down here if they can spare any, otherwise we will be out numered!" Springer gave the order. "Aye Sir" Trylophis replied. Trylophis was a bit suprised to hear T'ling's voice over the comm. "Commander, we need a few more people down here. Can you spare any?" Trylophis asked. "Yes i can, how many do you need?" Came T'ling's reply. "Oh, how many Springer?" "We need at least 10 for hand to hand combat" Springer said. "Ok, we need 10 more." Trylophis said. "i will see what i can do" T'ling replied.

Within a couple of seconds, 10 more men were beamed over to the Cube from the Fang. "Ok men, we have to have hand to hand combat. Get in groups of two and take them out! Come on we can do this! Lets go!" and with that order, the away team started attacking the borg drones. It was a hard fought battle, lasting a couple of minutes, but overall it was a rewarding one! they had finally finished off the drones in wonderful style. Unfortaully, a further 6 men got killed and some injuries. Among the injures was Mr Springer, we a cut arm from a borg drone. "Trylophis, u take command of this away team. Tell them we have engerinnering, and i am beaming back to the ship ok?" "Aye sir! will do that!" and with that Mr Springer was beamed to sick bay. Dr. Shipley : **the doctor taps her comm badge** %%chirp%% "Shipley to ensign triano, report to sick bay" the doctor has never really talked to the counsellor and was looking forward to meeting the ensign,but right now that would have to weight.

Ensign Triano:"+yes doctor right away,+"
** the ensign was in a session with a young bajoran woman who worked in engineering. "i am sorry we will have to continue this next time, i will add it to my schedule." the young bajoran woman looked at her and smiled "thank you counsellor, what little time we had was enough to vent some feelings."the counsellor sensed that the bajoran was still bothered but didnt let on, she was a tough cookie this woman she will hold up, thought beckie, "if you have any more of these feelings go to the hologym and exercise it off, or do some thing creative, take up a hobby paint or sculptit doesnt need to be like Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, just something that expresses your feelings. doing something to vent your anger and frusteration helps then just holding it in." and then beckie walked out the door with the young woman bidding her well. beckie walked to the turbolift and taped the pad %%chirp%% nest the doors opened up %%swoosh%% she walked in and told the computer to take her to the medical deck. while she she waited she was wondering what the doctor needed, her and the doctor only talked briefly a few times, so she figured theis was not a social visit. the turbolift soon arrived at the deck and beckie got off the lift, she walked to sick bay. knocke on the dr's. door and the dr. told her to enter.
dr.Shipley" hello counsellor, have a seat please. ** beckie smiled and thanked the dr. and then sat down.** counsellor i assume that you have been told the status of the ship and that there is aborg ship being taking to section 47.' *the counsellor nodded* " there was also an indiviual that was transported over here, *the dr. continued to verse the counsellor about the situation and the fact that the borg indiviual would not respond to the dr. at all.* " Ensign i want you to try to see what you can do! he is in detention right now." beckie:**she just looked to the dr. with wide eyes. "thinking" what? a borg, here on the ship? she's got to be nuts? calm down beckie, breathe" *beckie took a deep breath,* 'thinking" she either doesnt know or she really needs my help. :ensign triano: " Yes ma'am i will do what i can." Dr. Shipley; "dismissed Ensign" beckie got up and left sick-bay and went to the turbo lift to goo to the brig, where the borg was held. all the while trying to act calm. my first assignment and i hope i have the courage to face my fears. *she enters the brig, stands ther for a few mins , more like 10 minutes.*
Ensign triano:"Hello my name is Beckie. how are you?" *feeling stupid she looked at the borg and he looked so..... lost.* borg: "WE......I FUNCTION" "Commander KezTrek you have the bridge" Drew informed KezTrek "I will be in Sickbay if you need me" "Aye sir" KezTrek replied as she took the command chair. Drew entered Sickbay to find a very concerned Dr.Shipley sitting at her desk reading something of from a computer screen. Drew walked over to her "Doctor how is the patient" "Commander" Shipley said with surprised "Sorry sir i did not hear you enter I have been reading the Voyager EMH reports from when Seven of Nine was first freed from the collective trying to find any way to help the Drone". "Any luck" "The Drone is very confused at the moment until it has clam down there is little I can do to help I have asked Ensign Triano to talk with the Drone to explain to him what is going on". "Thank you Doctor I think I will go pay the Drone a visit myself see how the counsellor is doing".

Drew walked into the brig to see Counsellor Triano talking to the Drone he could hear the Drone shouting "WE ARE ALONE TOO QUITE WE ARE ALONE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US" "We helped you" Triano was trying to explain "Your implants where killing you" "YOU SHOULD HAVE LET US DIE". "We don't kill the sick" Drew told the Drone "Commander" Triano snapped to attention "At ease Ensign how are things going" "Not well sir I cant get through to him" "WHO ARE YOU" the Drone spoke to Drew with aggression "I am Commander Paul Drew the First Of... the present commander of this ship" Drew noticed the harshness with which the Drone spoke to him compared to how he spoke with the Counsellor "YOU WILL LEAVE US" the Drone spoke to Drew "Counsellor can I have a word with you" Drew requested to Triano "Of course sir" "Counsellor I believe you have made a sort of connection with the Drone I want you to make it your top priority to help the Drone, try and find out as much information as you can" "Aye Sir" the Ensign replied with a touch of doubt "Dont worry Counsellor both Captain Fett and Lt.Quarker spoke highly of you I am sure you can do it" Drew left the Ensign with those words to consider. The doctor entered the detention room just as Commander Drew was leaving."Hey Doc. did you find anything helpful from the reports?" the Doctor frowned, "Not really sir, i'm going to try some of the procedures they used on seven of nine but this drone is, to say in the least, stubborn, sir." The Commander nodded "Ensign Triano is doing her best, and I have confidence in her. All I ask is that you do your best as well Doctor, that's all anyone can ask." the Doctor sighed "I suppose you're right Commander." she said as she continued in to see Ensign Triano talking to the drone. The borg was repeating the same lines over and over to the counsellor. Making it extremely difficult to communicate. Then Dr. Shipley walked up to the force field and stared straight at the borg drone who immediately fell silent. "Counsellor, have you gotten any further with him?" The ensign looked nervous "Not much Doctor, He is talking a bit though." The doctor turned and gave a reassuring smile to the ensign. "I want you to try something counsellor. I want your top priority to be making this drone recognize his individuality and his separation from the borg. I want him to realize he is an I, not a we or us. After that is accomplished, it should be much easier for us to communicate with him. Is that understood ensign?" "Yes doctor, I'll do my best" The doctor smiled and began to walk out. "One more thing counsellor" the ensign gave another nervous look "yes doctor?" "I want you to compromise and create a name for him." the ensign let out a sigh of relief. "It will be my pleasure sir" the doors opened "Good counselor, i'll expect a full report by tomorrow morning" the doctor smiled again as she walked out

The turboleft doors open to the bridge Drew stepped out to find it as busy as ever. As KezTrek seen Drew enter the bridge she left the command chair and returned to the helm. Drew sat down in the chair he did a quick look round the bridge it was still mostly Ensigns at there posts with most of the command staff involved with the Away Team. "Report?" he asked KezTrek "The Away Team reports that they have full control of the Borg Cube and are ready to head back to Starbase" Drew nodded at KezTrek "Thank you Commander" "Mr.Troi open an channel to the Away Team" T'Lings face appeared on the screen "Commander?" she asked "T'Ling have you downloaded the cubes database yet" "Yes Sir should I transmit the readings to the Fang" Drew shock his head "I think we can do better then that have Lt.Trylophis return to the Fang with the readings I want to know what was so important over there that the Borg tried to retake the cube twice". The Vulcan nodded her head in agreement "I presume you wish for me to stay onboard the Cube until we reach Starbase?" "I do if you dont mind think of it has your first command" "Aye Sir anything else" Drew thought for a second "That's all Commander Fang out" Drew walked down to KezTrek "Commander I want you to bring us into a position to be able to defend the Cube at a moments notice in case the Borg try to take it again". Drew turned to Troi "I know you have been doing rather a lot lately Ensign but I want you to keep an eye out for any Borg Cubes".

Just then Trylophis walked on to the bridge carrying a tricorder "Welcome back Lieutenant" Drew greeted him "Thank you Sir" the science officer returned to his station and began to download the results the results into the computer Drew pressed a button on his console "Drew to Triano Counsellor have you made any progress with the Drone?" "Yes and no sir" Trianos voice sounded worn out "At the moment the Drone is still repeating himself but I am making some progress" "Keep me informed ensign Drew out" KezTrek brought the ship into postion beside the Cube ready to defend it against any ship that should come near them. Sitting at her console she did something she rarly did, and thought over everything that had happened lately. They had found a Cube control be Ferengi and managed to take it over after several small but damaging battle with the Borg. They had lost several good officers and the Captain had been called away, unusual in it self being that the ship was in the middle of such a dangerous mission. And now they had a Borg Drone on board that had been disconected from the hive mind, this was not good. As she sat thinking Ensign Triano commed the bridge "Commander I think you better come down here, the drone just told me something I think you should know" she said over the link. "Alright Ensign i'll be right down" cutting the comm link he stood, "You have the bridge Commander he said and left the Bridge as I took the Captains chair. "Lt Troi, keep your eyes on the sensors I do not want any surprise attacks by the Borg" I told the newly premoted SOO.
"Yes Ma'am" Troi replied Curtly, before returning his attention to his console and his attempts to extend sensor range. So far he had extended it but 23% but he wantd to try for 25, like KezTrek he didn't fancy a surprise attack by the Borg. Eventully Managing to extend sensor to 25% above normal Troi programmed the sensors to alert him the second anything bigger than space dust was detected and set about doing his other dutys while occasionally casting his eyes towrds his sensor panel.

As the doctor entered sickbay again, she had so much on her mind, she barely notices Mr. Springer sitting on a biobed. There had been many lost on the away mission but few injuries.
"Mr. Springer, i'm very sorry to keep you waiting." The doctor began to work on his injury. "No problem doctor, it just really hurts is all." he winced as the doctor moved his arm.
"Lt. this is kinda deep. I can do most of the repair, but you will have to keep it rested and try not to strain it. Is that understood?" Jerry sighed "Acknowledged doctor" Dr. Shipley asked the medic beside her to finish up as she rubbed her eyes and went back into her office to look over some more reports. The Doctor was going over her reports when Commander Drews voice came through the comm "Drew to Shipley" "Go ahead Commander" Shipley replied a bit puzzled "Doctor how are the away team injuries?" "Nothing to serious just some cuts" the Doctor said tiredly "Doctor when was the last time you took some rest?" "I dont know sir what with the being on the Away Team, the Borg Drone and the injuries i guess not for a while" "In that case Doctor take the rest of your shift off we dont need our Chief Medical Officer falling ill" "Aye sir" she agreed reluctantly

ensign triano looked at the the doors as the doctor left. a name? i am supposed to name him, this is, he is not a cat. she turned her attention back to the drone. all he did was repeat every thing that he said. thinking 'we're not getting anywhere' he kept repeating that he was alone , in vulcan Sa'Awek translates to alone.,
borg: why are you here?"
ensign triano looks you from her padd and looks at the drone,"i am here to help you, and well i was thinking about your name. " the borg looks at the ensign and says "WE ARE BORG", "you are an individual, you are one," says beckie. "YES, WE ARE ALONE. YOU DID THIS TO US." says the borg grabbing his head as if trying to hold it together from the emptyness of the collective. "we are trying to help you , you were dying," ensign triano just looked at him waling around the cell so lost and confused. she stared to think about what the borg had done to several thousands of races, she didnt want to help this drone but something made her want to. he could not help
what he was, he ws forced to be what he was.
triano:"is it alright if i call you Sa'Awek, it is Vulcan for......." she didnt get to finish her sentance no more that the borg said "ALONE" she looked at him again, "yes it is", what is it with this drone what made it so i dont know, at times he was so dronish and at times he was almost human.
the drone began to talk about being alone again and this time it was not as a drone it was as if he was remembering"THIS DRONE THAT YOU HAVE NAMED SA'SWEK, IS NOT AN ASSIMOLATED DRONE, IT WAS DEVELOPED IN A MATURATION CHAMBER. THE COLLECTIVE..."
Aand he just kept talking and beckie just stood there, she could not believe what he was saying, he was saying that the collective has found away to reproduce."THERE WERE ORIGINALLLY 5 DRONES, BUT THERE WERE COMPLICATIONS, THESE DRONES, WE, WERE
DEFECTIVE. SO THEY WERE TO BE DISTROYED, ALL WERE DISTROYED, EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE."
"you were prototypes?, how is that possible you have to be assimolated how did you get your body? what is gods name is your defect?" she just stared at the drone thinking that they mush of developed how to lie too,, but that cant be true because she didnt sence any deception from Sa'Awek." THEY FELT THINGS..........." Drew walked into the Brig to find Ensign Triano still talking to the Borg but she had a look of horror on her face he walked over to her "Counsellor?" he asked with concern. Triano seemed to come out of some sort of trance "Commander I have bad news according to Sa'Awek he was not assimilated but reproduced" "Ensign" Drew interrupted her "Who is Sa'Awek and what to you mean reproduced?" "Sorry Sir Sa'Awek is the name i gave the Drone, he believes that he was some sort of prototype drone that was produced not assimilated" "Counsellor are you saying that the Borg can reproduce as many drones as they want?" Drew asked with alarm "I believe so Commander". Not for the first time Drew wished the Captain where here this mission had just become even more important. The doctor walked into the room after an unsuccessful attempt at sleep just in time to hear the words 'borg can reproduce' she stood frozen in the doorway for a moment before silently making her way across the room.
Commander Drew stood with his back to her "Commander" he turned, startled "Doctor, have you learned of this new discovery yet" he said. She could sence a bit of uneasiness about him "I..uh just heard, I think. Counsellor, how did you gain this information?" the ensign looked a bit startled "he told me doctor." "Told you? That's amazing!" the doctor said as she walked up to the cell to observe the drone. Immediately, he became completely still and silent. Anna looked puzzled as she turned to the others. "Have you noticed how he reacts differently to every person? Commander, try talking to him."
Drew walked up to the cell "Sa'awek, we are your friends, will you please speak with... 'I HAVE NO FRIEND' he yelled. The tiredness went out of the doctor's eyes as excitement filled its place "Did you hear him counselor? He said 'I'! This is incredible improvement. I want to bring Sa'awek in for more testing, but I'd like some input on our next course of action." she looked pleadingly toward the commander and ensign. Drew nodded in agreement "I believe more tests are a good idea Doctor we need to learn as much as possible about this new enhancement of the Borg if they can reproduce then we could be dealing with an all new Borg" he turned round to look at the Drone "I am going to have the Away Team look for any signs of this project on the cube also hopefully Mr.Trylophis will find out some information about this is the Borg database" "I think that would be a good idea Commander" Shipely agreed Drew looked at the Counsellor "Counsellor you have spent the most time with Sa'awek how do you think he will respond to tests?" he waited for the Ensigns response as she looked worryingly at himself and the Doctor. the ensign loked at the dr. and commander drew. well sir i cannot be completely sure, i myself think that mr. troi should take a peak at Sa'Awek, personally my self i think the...Sa'Awek would not harm anyone, but i cannot read him clear enough to make certain, there is*then the counsellor looked at the drone again. and staired into his eyes.*something different about Sa'Awek, he is not like a regular drone.

commander frew looked at the dr. and asked for her input on this,"What do you think doctor?", "well commander mr.troi is from betazed. i too agree that if mr. troi is up to it maybe he should give it a try.

commander drew then said" alright, i will ask mr.troi, but the descission is his to make " and with that he left the cell and the dr. started talking to ensign triano more about the drone, "how long has he been saying words int the first-person ensign." well actually dr. that was the first time without correcting himself. he has said i before, but then he would corredt him self." the doctor staired at the drone....... "Lt Troi, could you join me in the ready room please" Drew asked entering the Bridge and heading for the Captains ready room, "yes Sir" Troi eplied pulling into step behind the Commander. "Mr Troi Please have a seat" Drew said motioning to the chair across fom him " Now as i'm sure you are aware the away team retrived a drone from the cube, but this drone is not... shall we say a standred Drone we believe he may had been reproduced not assimlated like most Drones. Now as you might imagin if this is true then we could have a very big problem on our hands. The Counselor has suggested that you talk to the drone, prehaps with your telepathic abilitys you may be able to read the Drone better than Triano. Please understand I will not order you to do this the choice is your's to make, you have no need to feel obligated to do this". Drew looked at Troi and saw the Trepidation on his face and feared Troi would say no. Troi sat thinking about this for some minutes. This mission was Trois first incounter with the Borg infact it was the first incounter any Federation ship had had with them in over a decade. "Sir" he finally said "I don't know that i'll be able to be of any help, i have never attempted to read a Borg before, and all that Borg technology could get in the way but i'll give it a try". "Thank you Lt if you would report to the holding cells, I suggest you speak to the Counselor before you talk to the Drone", Drew said presently surprised that Troi had agreed. "Aye Sir" Troi said and left when Drew dismissed him.

*Holding Cells*

"Counselor the Captain asked me to speak to the Drone but suggested I talk with you first what can you tell me about him?" ensign triano was looking at her PADD when a young man walked into the the brig. the young man had wide eyes and looked abit unsure as what he was doing....

Triano: hello may i help you.*she said as looked at the lieutentant, wondering if this was Mr.Troi.*.

Troi:Yes ma'am umm commander drew wanted me to see if i could help you with the borg. i really dont know what i can do to help.

Triano: youmust lt.Troi. well sir i need to talk to you about some of the details first. first of all, we are not dealing with a regular borg,*red klaxons went off meaning that the ship was about to engage in battle* sh** said the ensign. she looked at the borg, who was standing up looking at the ceiling as if listening,"they are comming for me i can feel there thoughts". the brig tossed and then everyone was on the floor.then Troi got up and grabbed ensign triano and put her in the corner and looked at the console of the brig controls and taped his badge+troi to bridge+ "+were kind os busy mr troi="he looked at the young woman i need to get to the bridge. "they are going to get me" he looked so scared...he sat back down and waited and then the ensign continued to stare at the borg, and with that the Lt. left. KezTrek sat in command on the Bridge, Drew was in the Ready Room and Lt Troi had just left the Bridge a few moments before when the officer at Security alerted her to a Borg Spere heading there Direction. "Red alert, Contact Commander T'Ling on the Cube and warn her about the spere, Commander Drew to the Bridge" KezTrek said moving to her postion at helm. "Report" Drew ordered coming on to the Bridge "A BOrg spere just appered on sensors, interspt in 4 mins" replied KezTrek from he Helm. "Has the Cube got shields" Drew asked "Partial shields Sir but not enough to pretoect them if the Borg decide to attack them Directly" the officer at security replied.
"Borg are now within wepons range" KezTrek said from the helm. "Initating evasive manuvers, but it's a little difficult while trying to protect the Cube, Commander I suggest we seperate the ship" KezTrek said concentrating intensly on her console while she spoke. "I agree, prepare for multi-vector assult mode, all hands brace for seperation sequence". After speration KezTrek placed one section of the Fang infront of the cube while the other sections tryed to keep the Borgs attention. Several Consoles blew up around th Bridge when they recived a direct hit but after several minutes of intence battle the Speres shield were taken down and it withdrew from the battle. "Damage Report" Drew called out regaining his seat from which he'd been tossed during the battle leaving him with a cut above his right eye. Shields at 14%, minor damage to the hull, 4 fatalitys, and a few other minor injurys". KezTrek called as reports flooded in from all sections. "Alright, get someone working on the sheilds the Borg must really want that cube I don't think we've seen the last of them. Rejoin the sections of the Ship and get us back on corse for StarBase" Drew ordered "Commander Sir" KezTrek said "I don't mean to step out of line but prehaps you should go to sickbay and have the Doctor fix your injurys, As you are presently in command it would not be wise if you were incapasitated at a latter time due the fact you did not have your injurys delt with promtly" Drew smiled at this "Very well Commander I will go see the Doctor now, you have the Bridge" he said getting up and heading to the turbolift. KezTrek took the Command chair and set about following the Commanders orders. As Drew stepped out of the turbolift he also bumped into Dr.Shipley who was herself heading to Sickbay in a hurry "Sorry Commander" as she looked at him she noticed his cut "Let me guess the command chair kicked you out" she said with a grin "Something like that Doctor shell we" he pointed to the Sickbay door. As he walked into Sickbay he made a note of the causalities, he could see in the far corner of Sickbay the four dead Ensigns who had yet been moved to the morg guilt filled through him he some how felt responsible for there deaths. "If you could just sit on the bed Commander we will have you fit for duty into time" Drew hopped onto the bed and watch the injured enter Sickbay.

"Well Doc I sure hope you got some sleep because it looks to me like you are going to be very busy for the next few hours" he said to the Doc as she passed a skin regenerator over his cut she gave him a small smile "I got enough now how about you Commander? when was the last time you had some sleep?" Drew looked at her "To tell you the truth I cant remember" he could see where this was going "How about this as soon as we get back to Starbase I will take a few days leave and have some rest". "Just make sure you do" Shipely replied "You are free to return to duty now Commander" "Thank You" he said as he left Sickbay. ensign triano was sitting in the corner and was having second thoughts about the hole situation. that was when the lights flickered and everything went off. next she new the borg, Sa Awek was standing over her. looking at her sitting in in the corner of the brig, he didnt move, he just stared at he. then he went to the console and was keying something,,,, +triano to security, the borg is out of the cell+ "Security team on the way" Was the reply from Lt Springer. "What do u want us to do with him? Disable him or destory him?" Was Springer's question to Ensign Triano. ensign triano was sitting on the floor and when she herd mr.troi's question, she couldnt beloeve what he was saying" i want him capured lieutentant, we dont kill unless we have to." about 5 min latera security team arrived and capured the drone and put him back in the brig.
while the ensign was standing there she told the lieutentant what her thoughts were on the borg, told him that his name was Sa'Awek, and that she neede his help, finding out what the borg knows, "lieutentant, this borg is different, you see, he was created in a borg maturation chanber not assimulated like the rest, but something went wrong, and i want to find out that something, he says that he feels things, i want to know what he feels, what his life has been like has, everything....
the lieutentant looks at the counsellor looks at the ensign, ans thinks she is crazy "Look Ensign, i'm sorry about before about killing him, its just that my family had a rough time. Not that i wanner talk about it. But have you considered a betazoid reading his mind or a vulcan mindmeld?" Springer asked the young Ensign as he waited to see what she said. ensign triano looked to mr. springer, "i will be glad to talk to anytime mr. springer, but right now. we need to find out what is going on with the drone, Sa'Swek. I have asked mr. troi to look at him but mr troi is busy on the bridge at the moment. please mr. springer. i too have lost family or a loved one to the borg, i despise them, *ensing triano forgetting that Sa'Awek was messing with the console* but we might be able to help him...
mr. springer looks at the borg and says" why isnt he attacking us?" that was when the borg turned around and said.... " i am tryi;ng to help" mr. springer ran over to the console and looked at,,, some how Sa'Awek created a forcefield that will now protect the ship. " i didn't say i lost my family to the borg." Springer said to the Ensign as he overlooked Sa'Awek working the conrols. "It was a more serious matter. Hey, Sa'Awek, can you teach me how to do that? Thats amazing! Also, can you inhance the weapons we have got?" Springer asked.
The Ensign was a bit surprised at the nature of Mr Springer's talking matter.
"Weapons? Ok will help you with that." Sa'Awek replied
"Thats my man. Say, u fancy a game of raquet ball after this?" Springer asked.
"Sir? Are you all right?" asked Ensign Triano.
"I'm fine. Now about that Raqueat ball is it a deal?" Springer still enquired.
"Mr Springer, what are you doing?" Miss Triano asked.
"Making convasation. He seems more relaxed if i say. Any way, let him enhance anything he wants. Then we can play raqueat ball." Springer replied.
"Is that all your thinking about? Raqueat ball sir?" Triano asked
"Why? Whats wrong with it?" Springer said as The Ensign looked Surprised ad stunned at him. ensign triano was a bit surprised but held a huge grin, it seems that mr. springer and the borg Sa'Awek are not hostile to each other. beckie could not believe her eyes. as mr. springer and Sa'Awek were talking beckie called cammander drew+ensign triano to commander drew+ "+ go a head ensign,+" +sir there seems to be a new developement, when you get a chance i would like you to come to the brig. ummmm the borg, Sa'Awek and Mr. Springer, seem to be talking, well they are talking, but not hostile like.+ the commander noticed that the ensign seemed to be a bit confused as to what is going on and he told the ensign"+ I will be there in a few minutes ensign, drew out.+"

"Incoming message from Starfleet for Lieutenant Trylophis". Commander Drew looked puzzled. "From Starfleet? Oh very well... Bridge to Trylophis, come here at once, will you?"

As Trylophis entered the bridge, the face of a Vulcan appeared on the viewscreen. "Ah... lieutenant. I don't have to introduce myself, do I?" The Bolian reacted remarkably hostile. "Not to me, thank you... however, I think commander Drew would like to know who demanded to speak to me using the Main Viewscreen." Drew nodded slightly. "It's sir to you, lieutenant. I am Doctor T'Lek, Rector of the Starfleet Science Academy. I believe that you have borrowed several scientific artifacts for study. Is that correct?" "Of course it is. How couldn't it be? You have the papers right before you"... sir!" Trylophis replied." "Quite, yes. And those papers tell me they should have been returned wo weeks ago." "That's..." Trylophis started, but Drew intervened. "Doctor, as you may or may not know, we were busy fighting the Borg. Lieutenant Trylophis was not able to return those... eh... artifacts." The Vulcan arched an eyebrow. "Yes, the Academy is aware of that, commander. Therefore, we will not file charges against him, providing they will be returned in, say, another two weeks. I'm sure they will be returned on time, and more importantly, undamaged, or the lieutenant, and the CO who co-signed his request, will have to face charges in a court-martial. As the CO who signed no longer serves, it'll be just the lieutenant. Thank you for your time." The transmission ended. For a moment no-one said a word. Finally Trylophis whispered "How very, very sick to make demands like this. He's just jealous for me being better in science class." "Jealous? Hardly likely for a Vulcan," someone said. "He's just as Vulcan as I am human. However, his threat was clear... and the problem is that some of these firearms so conveniently used against the Borg are in fact damaged beyond repair. Any advice would be welcome." Drew thought for a moment turning to Trylophis "How many of the weapons are damaged beyond repair?" Trylophis thought for a second "I am unsure sir some of them maybe be able to be repaired but it would take longer then two weeks" "Dont worry Lieutenant I have no inattention of letting you be court martial for helping the Fang there has to be some loop hole in the contract we can use we will be at Starbase in about 5 days I suggest we have a meeting with the Judge Advocate General officer once there and see if they can help us. "I doubt that sir. With normal weapons we could just have called it a military emergency, but with these that's not possible. We could blame the Borg I guess, but I don't think that half-Vulcan will believe that."

Drew lined back in his chair and thought about the events over the past few days - the Captain being called away, finding a Borg Drone that clamed not to have been assimilated but reproduced, and Lt.Trylophis facing the possibility of a court material not to mention the battle with the Borg speaking of which he had not had a repair report yet he faced the Ensign at Ops "Ensign how are the repairs going?" the Ensign turned to face Drew "Shields are at 77% and rasing" Drew nodded at the news "How about Warp Drive?" the ensign looked at his console "We can reach Warp 8.5 Sir" "How about the Cube?". The Ensign seemed nervous at Drews questions not used to dealing with Senior Officers "The Away Team reports that the cube can reach Warp 8" Drew turned to KezTrek "Very good Commander KezTrek increase speed to Warp 8 inform the cube to do the same" KezTrek made some changes to her console "Warp 8 aye sir at present speed it will take us 2 days to reach Starbase". "Very good Commander" KezTrek sat at her console having just informed the Cube to increase speed to Warp 8. It would take them two days to reach StarBase she just hoped they didn't get any more surprises along the way. This had been a tough mission on everyone - the had lost alot of good people and had discovered what could possible be a huge problen for th fleet in the future. 'Oh well lets just get back to StarBase and let them deal with it', She thought. Not a very 'StarFleet' thought but after this mission she couldn't wait to get some R&R. Wonder what the Commander ment by that last comment - oh well I suppose i'll find out in a couple of days.