Star Trek: Earth Strike
Episode 11: Home on the Range
Paris turned in his seat at helm to look at Janeway , �What do you mean?� he asked.
�I mean that it�s quiet... too quiet.� The Captain answered, her voice deadly serious.
�You don�t think it could be...� At this moment, with immaculate timing, the turbolift doors opened and Commander Chakote emerged onto the bridge. �... Injuns!� Paris completed, jerking back in his chair and clutching an imaginary arrow protruding from his chest.
A chuckle ran around the bridge avoiding only Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and the First Officer. Chakote was not, however, able to keep quite a straight face as he fixed Paris with a glare. �Keep your eyes on the trail ahead, paleface,� he said, �or I will have your scalp.�
In truth it had been quiet aboard Voyager, these past couple of weeks, a situation that most on board found quite acceptable, as each day�s uninterrupted flight brought them much closer to their distant goal. Boredom, however, was a pernicious enemy as it tended to lead to innattentiveness and complacency. Paris and Nelix, in one of the many leisure activities arranged by the crew to entertain each other had been hosting a series of �cinema� nights in the ship�s holo decks. they had been showing �movies� from the twentieth century, a period which fascinated the young pilot. Although the rest of the crew seemed impervious to the charms of the �schlock horror/sci-fi� genre - Paris� own favourite - the historical western films had seized the crew's imagination.
Chakote, descended as he was from native American stock, had come in for much teasing since the fad had taken hold. Rather than take offence he had allowed the ribbing to go on, seeing the positive effects the good natured humour was having on morale - and knowing that it would pass as soon as the next novelty took over.
The First Officer nodded to the captain, who smiled back at him and strode over to where the Ramirez brothers, both former maquis, were overhauling a relay console. Taking two standard comm badges from his pocket Chakote held them out to Carlos, the elder of the two. Both of the brothers had replicated and wore their own badges, in the shape of silver six pointed stars. �Those are not regulation,� Chakote said, �you can wear them on your own time, but when on duty.�
�Badges?� Carlos said with a sneer, �we don�t need no steenking badges!� Chakote took a deep breath, his patience beginning to wear thin.
�Uh... ok,� Juan, the younger - and more perceptive of the brothers said, taking the badges from the First Officer and handing one to Carlos, �whatever you say chief; no need for the warpaint.� Chakote cast a baleful eye on the grumbling Carlos as he switched the badges pinned to his chest. He had just decided that maybe it was time he made sure that banter didn�t give way to insubordination when Harry Kim spoke up, breaking his train of thought.
�Something�s happening ahead, Captain,� Ensign Kim said urgently, �some kind of spatial... ah... it looks as though a transwarp conduit is opening up!�
�All stop, shields up!� Janeway ordered. �On screen, yellow alert.�
�It looks like... it�s the Borg, Captain.� Kim said. If he had been looking at the screen rather than the sensor panel he would have realised that his confirmation was superfluous as a Borg cube had emerged from the transwarp conduit. In moments it was upon them and filled the entire viewscreen.
�Reduce magnification,� Janeway ordered, �give me a wider view.�
�We are at minimum magnification.� Kim said.
�This is the largest Borg vessel we have yet encountered,� explained Tuvok, �it�s dimensions are exactly twice those of the other cubes.�
�It looks like it�s been in a fight.� Chakote observed. Indeed, great gouges and craters marred the cube�s surface, filled with writhing cables and conduits as the ship sought to regenerate the damage. An entire corner seemed to have been removed and was now a mere latticework of struts and pipelines.
A blue beam shot out from the cube's surface, bathing the Voyager. �They�ve locked onto us with a tractor beam.� Tuvok said.
�Open a channel,� Captain Janeway ordered.
�Channel open.� Kim confirmed.
�Borg vessel,� the captain began, �this is Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyager.�
The pilot looked up at the huge mass of Borg technology, filling the screen. �I think it�s time to circle the wagons.� Said Ensign Tom Paris.
