"Captain, we're an hour away from the rendezvous point," Lt. Reiv said.
The captain tapped his comm-badge, "All Bridge officers, report to the Bridge. All Security officers, take up assigned positions." He then touched a button on the right arm of his chair. "Computer, initiate yellow alert."
The computer complied and the lights yellowed slightly. A couple minutes later, Yilaan, Gates, Ivanovna, and Jevor, along with four Security people, walked on to the Bridge from three separate turbolifts. They took up positions at their stations, relieving whomever was already there, while the Security people took up a defensive posture about the Bridge.
Shortly thereafter, Lt. Ivanovna broke the silence. "Sir, there's a message from the fleet at Wolf359," she said.
"On screen, Lt.," the captain responded.
A caucasian human woman, clearly a captain by the rank insignia she wore, appeared on the screen. Freeman noted she appeared to be only in her late thirties. The wealth of red hair she had tied back in a pony tail only served to increase her appearance of youth. Captain Freeman recognized her from past dealings even before she introduced herself. 'One of the youngest captains in the fleet,' he mentally recalled. 'And one of the smartest.'
"Greetings Captain Freeman, I'm Captain Laura Mitchell of the U.S.S. Tolstoy. Admiral Hanson asked me to keep you apprised of the Borg situation," she said with an odd note of cheeriness in her voice.
Freeman smiled back at her. "Captain," he acknowledged professionally, nodding slightly. "I'm glad you're part of this; I've heard many good things about your prior service. I'm sure your tactical skills will be much appreciated in the coming battle."
She gave him a smile, mixed with a speculative look. "Mmm. I hope so."
Freeman got up and walked towards the viewscreen. "Status of the Borg?" he asked.
Captain Mitchell got up from her command chair and walked around to the tactical station, where a raven haired young human man was on duty aboard the Tolstoy. "We have the Borg on long-range sensors, travelling at warp 9.9. They should be here in thirty minutes," she said grimly.
"Dammit! They'll get there before we will," Freeman said, half to himself and half to Captain Mitchell. He looked around at Jevor, "How much more can you give me? I need warp 9.9 or better."
"I'll give you everything I can coax out of the engines Captain," Jevor said, smiling in determination.
Captain Mitchell was filing out a form someone had handed her. She stopped for a moment and glanced at her viewscreen. "Captain, I'm going to leave this channel open so that you can see and hear first hand what goes on. Initiating scrambler code Mitchell Five. I'm sending you the descrambler now. With Picard a Borg now, we can't use standard Federation codes."
"Good thinking Captain. Receiving the codes. Encoded two-way communication established," he said, pausing for a few moments between each sentence as tasks were performed by his crew to make the encoded communication possible.
"We're now running at warp 9.8 Captain," Reiv informed the captain.
"That's all I can get out of them sir," Jevor said when the captain turned to ask if there was a possibility of even greater speed.
"How does that adjust our ETA Ensign Gates?" Freeman asked.
"We'll arrive in forty three minutes sir," Gates answered.
Freeman glanced at the viewscreen. "Looks like you'll be starting without us Captain," he told Captain Mitchell.
She nodded in acknowledgement and went back to what she was doing.
About twenty five minutes went by, and Mitchell addressed the Bristol. "Captain, we're getting a transmission from the Borg ship. I'm patching you in," she said.
The viewscreen changed to one of a poorly lit corridor, presumably on the Borg ship. A Borg moved from behind two others to address the Federation fleet.
"I am Locutus, of Borg. Resistance is futile. You will disarm your weapons and escort us to sector zero-zero-one. If you attempt to intervene, we will destroy you," the Borg on the screen said. The transmission then was cut, and Captain Mitchell reappeared.
"Charming fellow," she said sarcastically to the Bristol. She then got things moving on her own ship. "Red alert! Shields to maximum; continue to vary shield harmonics as we move in. Once within weapons range, continual fire, all weapons. Randomly vary phaser frequencies as the battle progresses," she said quickly to various members of her Bridge crew.
"Good luck Captain," Freeman inserted.
She glanced back at the viewscreen. "Thanks Captain. I'm going to switch you audio only, so we can see what we're fighting here."
"Acknowledged," Freeman replied.
A few seconds later, sounds of battle began to filter in through the audio communications link with the Tolstoy. Mitchell was barking numerous commands in the background. There was an explosion, which caught everyone's attention on the Bridge. Someone on the Tolstoy yelled that the shields had buckled and the the Borg cutting beam was slicing into the hull.
Captain Freeman stood up at this point, from his brief position in his command chair, and straightened his uniform. The transmission was becoming overwhelmed by static.
"Tolstoy, come in. This is the Bristol," the captain said.
"Tolstoy," came back the harried response of Captain Mitchell.
"Status," Freeman inquired.
"We've taken heavy damage and are attempting to fall back. The Borg have barely been touched. I...." she began to report, when suddenly communication was broken.
"Captain, come in," Freeman said. "Captain Mitchell, we've lost your signal, please respond," he said after a few more silent moments. He turned to face Ivanovna, "Reestablish communication Lt."
"I'm trying sir," she replied, running her hands quickly over the controls. She looked up after a few moments. "Sorry sir. The problem's at the Tolstoy's end. There's nothing I can do."
"Captain, I'm picking up the Borg, our fleet, and the energy emanations of the battle, on long-range sensors," Lt. Reiv reported.
"Status of the fleet?" Yilaan asked.
"My readings aren't that specific yet. I'll know more as we get closer," Reiv replied.
"Time, Ensign," the captain inquired quietly.
"Eleven minutes sir," she replied.
The captain sat back down in his command chair and folded his arms, waiting impatiently for their arrival.
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