The captain arrived on the Bridge and sat down in his command chair, as Ivanovna reported that the Bristol was being hailed by the approaching ship.
"On screen," the captain ordered. The image of a man in his mid thirties with dark hair and a dark moustache and beard appeared on the screen.
"Greetings. I'm Captain William T. Riker of the U.S.S. Enterprise," the man on the screen said.
"I am Captain Mark Freeman of the U.S.S. Bristol. I'm sorry to hear about Picard," Freeman responded.
Riker got a pained look on his face as he exchanged glances with a man with very pale skin sitting next to where he was standing, at the conn station. "As are we. We received a copy of the report you sent to Starfleet. Very disturbing."
Freeman nodded. "I tend to agree."
"Our sensors indicate your ship has heavy damage; do you require assistance?" Riker asked.
"We're okay. My chief engineer is recalibrating the computer to allow our one remaining warp engine to run by itself; we have survivors of the battle on board, and we're going to try to get them to Starbase 39," the captain replied.
Riker breathed a sigh of relief. "So there were survivors. That's great; we thought everyone was killed."
"Nearly so; we picked up less than ninety," Freeman reported.
Riker shook his head. "We're heading for Earth; we're going to try and stop the Borg one way or another. Wish us luck."
"Good luck Captain," Freeman replied, nodding grimly.
"Riker out." The viewscreen replaced the image of Riker with the surrounding stars.
"Enterprise leaving sensor range at high warp speed," Ivanovna reported. Freeman nodded.
Thirty minutes later, the intercom beeped. "Jevor to Bridge. I think we've got it, Captain. Warp power may now be available."
"Acknowledged Jevor," Freeman said over the intercom. He then turned to his navigations officer, "Gates, nudge us into warp one."
The ship shook briefly, but the ride smoothed out and the ship leapt into warp one, on its way to Starbase 39. The captain ordered an increase to warp two, which caused several nasty vibrations throughout the ship and overloaded a power coupling.
"Sorry Captain; I guess we're relegated to warp one for the duration," Jevor said over the intercom from engineering, disappointment clear in his voice.
"That's quite alright; it's thanks to your efforts we have warp power at all. Bridge out," Freeman responded.
"Time to Starbase 39 at warp one, Ensign?" Commander Yilaan asked.
Ensign Gates swivelled about in her chair to face Yilaan and the captain. "Six days, nine hours, Commander," she said.
Captain Freeman turned to his first officer. "Organize a skeleton crew of volunteers to man key stations; send everyone else to bed Commander. We're an exhausted ship, and we've earned our rest. I'll take first watch on the Bridge; you get some rest also."
She nodded, "Thank you sir."
An uneventful day and a half passed, with the only news being that the transporters were working again. Commander Yilaan and Captain Freeman were sitting together in Deck 9, Starboard, one of the crew lounges. They had set up a small table in the corner and were both staring out into space. Each had a beverage they were sipping slowly; the captain his normal fare of apple juice, and the commander a cup of coffee.
"So, after I gave the Starbase a complete list of what is ailing the Bristol, they came up with a repair time estimate," the captain was saying.
Yilaan turned to him with a pained look on her face, "Let me guess; a year."
"Nope, actually only four months."
A look of exaggerated surprise appeared on Yilaan's face, and she smiled. "Wow! Will wonders never cease."
Suddenly, a crewman came rushing in to Deck 9, Starboard. He said something excitedly to a group of his shipmates, and a cheer went up. Freeman and Yilaan turned and saw several crewmen hugging each other and laughing and shouting. The intercom beeped at that point, "Bridge to Captain."
"Captain here."
"Sir, you won't believe this, but we just received word that the Enterprise destroyed the Borg ship!" Ivanovna reported, an unusual, but quite understandable, note of excitement in her voice.
"How is that possible?" Yilaan asked.
"Apparently, according to the full transmission, the Enterprise got Picard back from the Borg ship. They used the Borg's connections to Picard against them by accessing his implants to force the Borg ship to shut down. When the Borg realized their malfunction at the hands of the Enterprise crew, they blew themselves up."
The crew continued to celebrate as the captain acknowledged Ivanovna's report. Yilaan was smiling broadly and she briefly circulated amongst the assembled shipmates. The captain, however, sat back down and stared out the window.
Yilaan found her way back to the captain about ten minutes later. She was still smiling, but that soon faded as she noticed the captain's somber mood. "What's wrong sir?"
"I'm remembering the dead, Cecilia," he said quietly. "I'm also contemplating the fact that this time, the Federation had an ace in the hole with the weakness the Enterprise was able to exploit in the Borg. How will we fight off another ship if it comes? How will we fight off a whole fleet of Borg ships?" The captain stood up, a weak smile forced on his face, as Yilaan put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'll be in my quarters. I need to have a conversation with Admiral Lowery."
The captain's quarters were dark; the only light came from the small viewscreen that the captain was using to communicate with Starfleet. "So Admiral, those are my concerns," the captain was saying, as he reiterated what he had just said to Commander Yilaan.
The silver-haired Vulcan on the screen nodded. "We all share those concerns Mark. However, our present danger exists with the Cardassians. We are still having skirmishes with them; they may use this moment to strike at us hard, with the loss of our battle group and all. The Romulans are also a threat, and they too might choose now to act."
The captain frowned as the admiral continued. "You see, the Borg are just one more threat to add to the list. Sure they're more powerful, but the Enterprise proved they can be destroyed just as the others can. My point is this: don't concern yourself too much about it. Be prepared, but don't be paranoid. That's our job," he finished. If the Vulcan could've expressed emotion, a certain mirth would have been the reaction to his own little jest. However, he merely looked at the captain and waited for his response.
Captain Freeman nodded, "You're right Admiral. We have four months of down time coming at Starbase 39; I think I'll work on relaxing somewhat. Thank you for your time; Freeman out."
The captain swiveled in his chair and looked out the window again. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he thought of something other than the Borg, other than the deaths of so many Starfleet personnel. He tapped his comm-badge, "Captain to Dr. Giovanni."
"Giovanni here Captain," came back her reply.
"I note that the racquetball court is free tomorrow morning at 0900. Would you care to join me?"
Go back to the list of Trek stories, or go back to the previous chapter.