Star Trek: Athena
Prophecy
by Chris Robato
(crobato@kuentos.guam.net)

Return to Part 1

Inside an asteroid belt, two Shadow class intruder ships lay hidden in phased cloak mode.

Major Riana still smarted from her recent demotion from previous rank. Evidently the rest of the Tal Shi'ar had discovered that the second Prometheus class vessel managed to escaped destruction, even though she swore the self destruction mechanism went off on the Athena. She could not understand what happened. She deemed herself ortunate that she kept command of the Shadow class IRW D'PakThau. They were still satisfied with her performance in battle, nonetheless. Priority in capturing or destroying he Prometheus class vessel, however, had slackened among the upper hierarchy of the Tal Shi'ar, realizing that even if the Athena is destroyed, the Section will still build another like her. The conclusion was that it would be better to spend vital resources in designing and building a new ship that can counter Section intruder vessels. They should have concluded that before they sent her off into that vain mission.

"We're being hailed. It's from Colonel Raek aboard the D'Durandal," said her Operations officer.

The window in her screen. "It's always pleasant to see your lovely face, Riana," Raek said. "I hope you are ready for this."

"We have installed the scanner design you have obtained from the Federation. According to what you have told me, Colonel, I hope for the sake of the Star Empire, it is not true." Riana said. "Has the device been tested?"

"Yes we have tested," Raek said grimly. 'Unfortunately, it works and everything said is true. That's only as far as you need to know, Commander."

"While I have shot at my people before, it was never at this scale."

"If a Romulan has been assimilated, he is no longer Romulan despite his appearance. Remember that, Riana." Raek said.

"It is understood, Colonel."

"We have a Warbird coming to our position," said the Science officer. "It is the IRW D'Suleen."

"Begin scans," Raek ordered. Riana watched Raek from her screens, turning cool but tense in his gestures. Turning to her Science officer, Riana barked. "You heard him, begin scans using the new device at once."

After a few tense seconds, the Operations officer responded. "We have a positive reading, Commander.

"The whole ship is assimilated, and yet it remains disguised as a normal ship." Raek said. "It will not be allowed to live."

Riana sighed. She had hoped it would not be this way. "Let's phase out of the asteroids. Approach the target, lock all weapons at the D'Suleen. Prepare to decloak and fire at my signal."

Her Tactical officer stared at her. "What is wrong, Tactical?" Riana asked. "They may still appear like Romulans to you, but inside, they are Borg. Keep that in mind. Your hesitation can cause the fate of the Star Empire."

"I apologize, Commander. I will not hesitate next time," he answered. "I am just not used to shooting at something that looks like our own people."

"We are being hailed from the D'Suleen," said the Operations officer.

"Romulan Shadow class vessels. This is Commander Semenek of the Imperial Romulan Warbird, D'Suleen, serving the Tal Preax, honor guard of the Praetor. Our tachyon scans have revealed your cloaked presence to us. Identify yourselves. If youre ships are Shadow class, they you must be Tal Shi'ar." The Warbird raised its shields and powered up its weapons.

If the ship is Tal Preax, then indeed how deep has the infiltration had penetrated inside the Star Empire? Riana thought. She looked at the window where Raek was, hoping she would get a clue what will be his next decision. Raek sat there, stern and sullen.

Then his response. "All ships decloak, raise shields, remain lock on the target, weapons armed. I will hail the Warbird."

The two Shadow class vessels emerged out of the asteroids, and took their visible form. They appeared like two green winged predators amidst a sea of floating rocks.

"Commander Semenek," he said. "We have reason and evidence to believe your ship has been infiltrated. We request that you stand down and be boarded for further examination and scanning."

"Infiltrated by whom," Serenek asked.

"Only by the Borg." Raek answered.

Serenek turned his back from the screen. When he turned to face the screen once again, his eyes glowed with red light.

"Species 3259," he said. "Your technological distinction will be added to the Collective. Prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

Riana stared at the transformation in horror. "All ships, fire at will!" Raek ordered.

"What are you all waiting for?" Riana shouted. "Commence fire!"

Phasers and disrupters from the D'Durandal and the D'PakThau torched the D'Suleen's shields. Then came a volley of plasma torpedoes. The shields thinned out, but it held. For a normal Warbird, the shields should have buckled even from the firepower of a single Shadow.

Then the Warbird transformed in front of their eyes. The smooth skin with windows became permeated with Borg implants and armor. The effect was a monstrous hybrid, the shell of a Warbird covered with gruesome patches of Borg technology.

"The Psychonic blaster has no effect against the D'Suleen!" said the Tactical officer. Riana should have known it would not work. Had the Borg adapted even to Tal Shi'ar's secret weapons?

A green beam shot out from the assimilated Warbird, nearly burning out half the shield capacity of the D'Durandal. "Borg Energy beam!" said her Tactical officer, indicating that the assimilated Warbird had acquired capability beyond its original design. "It has an energy output double of a normal Warbird's phasers."

"Retreat! Retreat!" Raek shouted. Riana could see from her screens, fire and sparks coming out from the bridge of D'Durandal. The assimilated Warbird continued to fire its energy beams. The hunter had become the hunted at this point, and the hunted tried to run away.

The D'Durandal had engaged full impulse, but the D'Suleen was right behind. Before it reached the position where they had hit the rest of the fleet, the D'Suleen captured the smaller Shadow frozen in a holding beam.

"Change frequency modulation!" Riana ordered. "Tactical, keep changing the modulation for disrupters and phasers every time you fire!" The Romulans were not as adept as dealing with the Borg like the Federation, but she had read a few things the Federation found it willing to share with the Romulans. The D'PakThau unleashed its main armament of disrupters and phasers, blowing a weakness into the shields. Then a volley of plasma and photon torpedoes opened up the wound.

The holding beam broke off, and the D'Durandal sped away. Nearby a hidden fleet of smaller Romulan ships, Talon scouts, Shrike destroyers, Griffin and Raptor cruisers materialized from their cloaked positions. The giant Warbird turned towards the Shadow, and Riana for the first time in her life, faced the hideousness of a Borg ship in front of her eyes. For a warrior without fear, for the first time, she feared for her soul.

"One eighty degrees! Turn around! Full impulse!" She cried out. But energy beams lanced out from the assimilated Warbird, and the D'PakThau shook.

An energy beam fired and hte D'PakThau shook. "Shields down to fifty percent!" shouted the First officer. Sparks flew from controls in the bridge. "The Warbird is pursuing us."

Another energy blasted. "We have lost all rear shields."

We got to cover the rear, Riana thought. "Turn around one hundred eighty degrees and let them face our forward shields. Arm all weapons, maximum yield."

Like a cornered animal, the D"PakThau turned for a final hopeless battle. But it will go down fighting. The assimilated Warbird loomed over them.

Suddenly smaller Romulan Talon scouts flashed across, releasing photon torpodoes as they made their pass. Several torpedoes slammed at the rear shields of the Warbird. , and then phasers and disrupters from the Shrikes broke through.

The Warbird wheeled around to face the attackers assaulting its rear. But as it turned, it presented the exposed rear to the D'PakThau. As a rushing Griffin fired its torpedoes towards the Warbird's front, Riana saw her opportunity.

"Fire everything we have! Random modulation!" She shouted. Torpedo after torpedo flew into the opening in the rear shields. There was a brilliant flash of light as the torpedoes ignited the micro- singularity powering the Warbird's core. Pieces of Warbird tumbled out randomly in all directions of space, as a blinding shockwave spread out like a ring in all directions.

Riana breathed a sign of relief. That was a lot harder than what they had anticipated. Word coming from her Operations officer was that the D'Durandal suffered considerable damage against its engines, weapons and shield generators. With one Shadow ship going offline, that's going to stretch Tal Shi'ar operations hunting out the infiltrators.

* * *

They were the freed, the de-assimilated as they were called. Former drones, they werefreed from the clutches of the Borg and the hideous, inhuman implants that corrupt the flesh. But the scars of their experiences remained. Nanoprobes have modified the DNA of their brain celles to become receptors of the subspace psionic energies the Borg Collective emitted and linked themselves. In an older time and age, these energies would have been called psychic. Traumatized from their experienced, brains forever altered, they will remain receptors of the trillion voices the Collective call to themselves.

Aboard the USS Enterprise G, the de-assimilated serve as volunteer guides to search and hunt for the Infiltrators, like the hunting dogs sniffing out the prey for their hunter masters.

The trail of ghostly voices has led them to a ship, a massive starship.

"Captain, we have identified her as the USS America, a Galaxy class starship."

"Maintain cloak," Captain Wells said. "Steady on course, keep approaching her. Steady girl. Begin scans for Type B nanoprobes at the appropriate range."

"We have the ship maintained at Warp 6," said the ensign on the helm.

"Steady, steady," Wells said.

"Scans activated," Suraak said. After a few seconds, he came back with a response, and a grim look to the Captain. "We have a positive."

"How many are assimilated?" Wells asked.

"It is impossible to determine. We can only assume that it is total." Suraak said.

Wells exhaled. This was never always easy, to shoot another Federation starship. Or at least something that still looks like a Federation warship but wasn't inside any more.

"Crew, this is what we came here for. To hunt down the bastards before they have a chance. Yes we have given the secret services the information they need to start acting, but it isn't enough. If we can take down as many as possible, we can make an effective change, or at least slow down the cancer so it can be cured."

"Decloaking! Shields raised, phasers arming, torpedoes arming," Magh'var reported. "We are now being hailed from the ship."

The screen came online with the picture of a bearded Captain from the USS America.

"Is this some kind of a joke? Your registry number indicates Enterprise and I know the captain of the true Enterprise and its ship. Our scans indicate that your ship has a true Federation power signature, and the design appears Federation, but it is of no class that I have seen or in the databanks. You are requested to identify yourself. Your powering of weapons and raising of shields indicate a hostile intent. Power down, or we will engage you. You are confronting a Galaxy class starship that is among the most powerful in the Federation. I repeat, stand down, and identify yourself." The Captain said with a stern voice.

Captain Wells moved her hand towards her neck and made a cutting motion across it. The screen was immediately cut off.

"The Galaxy class has raised its shields and powering up its weapons." Magh'var reported. "You may fire at will," Wells ordered.

"Delighted, Captain," Magh'var replied. A stream of torpedoes lashed out, and quickly reduced the America's shields to nothing. The America lashed back with phasers and torpedoes, chewing away at the Enterprise G's shields.

"Shields down to Seventy five percent. Activating emergency shield regeneration now." Magh'Var said.

"Captain, look!" Macek shouted. The Galaxy class starship began to change. Like sprouting plants filmed in time lapse video, Borg implants began to grow and sprout all over the clean curved form and lines of the Galaxy class ship, like metallic green glowing fungus. The whole process took only a few seconds.

"She's rapidly regenerating her shields!" Magh'Var said.

"A conventional Galaxy class starship cannot repair this fast," Suraak observed. "We are seeing the effects of Borg modification."

"Use the Breen shield disrupters and quickly follow that up with modulating phasers." Wells ordered. "Target its shield generators and warp engines."

Before the assimilated Galaxy class could regenerate its shields fully, the disrupters cut them down again. Before the target can adapt to the disrupters, phasers lashed out and blew away the shield generators of the assimilated ship. The USS America replied with a massive green energy beam that sent a massive storm of lightning cracking across the invisible curved surface of the bubble like shields.

"Shields are down to sixty percent!" Macek reported. Even the Borg a hundred years ago had such potent weapons that they could pose a threat to a Federation ship designed a hundred years later. "Shields regenerating!" Macek said. "We can't give them another chance or our energy reserves may end up depleted."

"Finish it off!" Wells ordered without batting an eye. Three torpedoes lashed out. The explosion broke the Galaxy class starship in a few large pieces. The warp nacelles with pylons attached flew off in opposite directions, and the saucer section tumbled. "Finish it off!" Wells repeated loudly, and the phasers obliterated what was left of the saucer section.

There was some shaking in her voice. Every time she was forced to destroy something that looked like a Federation vessel, it removed something out of her that can never be placed back. It was as if to save the universe, she has to lose her soul. For the crew, this was going to be another bug hunt, in a universe where once again, they were alone both as the hunter and the hunted. Even for the Klingon Magh'var, the thrill of battle has been lost long ago. There was no sense of honor or glory here. Only a repetitive motion of destruction.

* * *

Admiral Hurst had called his captains, commanders and staff once again. Most of them gathered, except those in patrol. Athena, whose ship was outside of the yard, managed to join in the briefing. Hurst did not object to her presence.

"We just got word that the USS America had been attacked and destroyed. This is a major Galaxy class starship with a crew of nearly a thousand people. Starfleet is not going to take this lightly." Hurst grimly said. "A Federation vessel has been reported leaving the area. It's hard to verify if it was the Enterprise G going into a hunt on its own

"It seems to fall into a pattern. Several ships among the Cardassians, Romulans and Klingons have been destroyed for no purpose."

"I would think that the Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians have already begun their cleansing operations. Why haven't we begun ours?" Boussard asked.

"That's kind of difficult to do," Garret said, "to go into a witch hunt among our fellow officers and ships."

"Yet it is something we must do," Boussard said. "What is wrong with Starfleet anyway? The Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians are willing to put sacrifices. What about us? I thought the Section would have the backbone to do what is necessary, but even they are starting to show this weakness in the gut."

"Take it easy, Jacques," Hurst said. "It's a far more delicate matter to us. Doctor Helen Shiner, how is the implementation of the new scanner devices going?"

"We have already implemented the device in almost all the ships. Our own test scans revealed the ship yard, our bases nearby and the ships assigned to this sector have not been infiltrated yet." Shiner said.

Both Captain Hussein and Captain Amritraj were technically, the first officers of a new Starfleet rank Squadron Commanders but maintain their official "Captain" designations. The new rank was essentially assigned to handle a wing of four escort ships, consisting of Defiants, Novas or Sabres, and was similar to ranks used with the Klingons for commanding squadrons of Bird of Preys. However, the new ranks remain subordinate to an Admiral or the Captain of a vessel with of a higher class level or superior tactical capabilities.

Hussein reported. "Our ships have begun patrols with the scanner devices. Our Novas and Sabres have been scanning every transport or tug coming into our area."

"The scanner design has also been implemented into a probe. Our Defiant squadrons have been laying probes with the scanners on strategic points throughout the sector." Amritraj said.

"So it appears so far that we are clean. Our patrols must remain vigilant." Hurst said.

Shiner interrupted. "Our main problem is that these devices have not been fully tested yet, for the simple reason we have not encountered a live infiltrator. We need a real field test."

"And you might get it, Doctor." Hurst said. "If the USS America had been an infiltrated ship, this would be as good as a chance to test both our devices and our assumption of the America."

"And if you have to go, we have to go soon with the fastest ships while the wreckage is still fresh and other Federation ships come to snoop around," Garret said.

"Exactly, you have been reading my mind, Garret," Hurst said. "Are you up to it, Athena?"

"Yup, Admiral, anytime. Looking forward to stretch the legs a bit," she replied.

"I will be on the Athena, with three of the fastest ships and the best scanning ability, the Boise, the Vanguard and the Kiev." Hurst said. "Doctor Shiner. You will come with me on the Athena."

"No problem, I like to be on the Athena once again," Shiner said.

"The Hiryu, the Lionheart, the Genghiz, and the Normandy must begin patrols in an ever widening radius from this base. But if you discover an assimilated ship, do not engage unless you have evident tactical superiority, or are able to rejoin with reinforcements. Is that clear? No heroics. The Lionheart and the Normandy will go together. The Hiryu and the Genghiz will make the other team. Maintain open encrypted to all our Section vessels. Hussein and Amritraj, maintain local patrols and defense of bases in the area, but be alert for any communiques."

"Nice to be working with you," Captain Isis Johnston said to Boussard, who responded with a handshake.

* * *

The four ships have gathered, with the USS Athena in the center, and the three Aegis class ships, port, starboard, and above. Conference windows were opened all the time on the bridge screen of the Athena, each for the Boise, Vanguard and Kiev.

"Okay ensign, plot a course to where the USS America was to have been destroyed," Garret ordered.

"We got a course, Captain," the ensign replied. She happened to look very much like Athena.

"Captain, I want maximum sustained speed for the Athena and all ships," Hurst said.

"Right away, Admiral." Garret affirmed. He turned to the ensign on the helm. "Did you hear that,ensign? Engage." "Aye, Captain." Athena replied.

There was the whirring of warp engines, and suddenly the stars flashed by, turning into streaks of light.

As soon as the Athena engaged warp, the Boise, the Vanguard and the Kiev engaged.

"What happened to the ensign here before?" Ka'nal asked.

"He had to be assigned to the Genghiz. We're short of personnel around the area." Garret said. "I thought I would officially make Athena here an ensign. And get her dressed up in a proper Starfleet uniform than something with less taste and too short a skirt."

"Actually you just made this ship's main computer an ensign," Ka'nal said. "Or you just made this very ship an ensign. This is unprecedented on Starfleet."

"I think Athena deserves to be given an official Starfleet rank and responsibilities, right so, Admiral?" Garret said.

"You do whatever you want on your ship, Captain, so long as you make Athena a productive member of Starfleet." Hurst replied.

Athena stuck her tongue out at Ka'nal. "If it stops her from annoying me, Captain, I would be willing to welcome any position you give her," Ka'nal said.

* * *

"We are approaching the spot where the USS America was last seen, or should I say, destroyed." Athena said. "Anyone want to see the wreckage?"

"Of course, put on screen, Athena." Hurst said.

There appeared to be fragments everywhere, floating dead in space. There were portions of hull and broken nacelles that suggested the remains of a Galaxy class starship.

"Oh my god...." Garret said. "What can do this?"

"Like a real powerful starship?" Athena said.

"I'm not ruling out the Enterprise G. It may have both the motive and the power to do this." Hurst said. "Can we get scans? Doctor?"

Doctor Shiner stood next to T'pak, who was helping her precise calibrating and adjusting of the scanners. "We're ready now. Scanning." Shiner said.

"Oh my god..." Shiner said. "It is really working. We are getting positive results from the scans. There is this new nanoprobe design all over the wreckage. We're going to transport some of these nanoprobes into a containment chamber for further study."

"Do that, Doctor." Hurst said.

Conference windows came up on screen, with the faces of Shelly, Hoesch and Maeda from their respective ships. "We're getting results here too." Maeda confirmed. They had previously fitted all three Aegis ships with the scanner.

"The USS America is a Borg ship." Shelley said.

"How did it get assimilated? We know this is still the original USS America." Hoesch said. "My scans verified this as well. It was as if the entire ship, and all its crew were assimilated without them knowing."

"If they are assimilated, then there must be a precise place and time that this would happen." Shiner said. She turned to Hurst. "Admiral, what about logs and records of where the USS America had been going? If we can retrace her journeys backward, there must be some point she must have been assimilated."

"I already had this in mind." Hurst said. "Athena, do your job."

"Yes, Admiral," She affirmed. "This is like in those old 20th century B movies, where you have all these alien abductions and body snatching. But that's all in those mid country towns. Which is kind of stupid. If aliens are going to start body snatching, it's best they start with the heads of government first. That way you get control of the country in no time. Think of a way to bring all these heads of the government and military first, you know, all the top honchos and brass, into a single place. You know, like a big party. Then you assimilate them in one spot, and send them off."

Suddenly Hurst turned white and very quiet. "Athena, what did you say again? Did you say a party?"

"Yes, a party." Athena said. " Theoretically speaking of course. This may all be nonsense. But it's like the one B movie I've seen. They bring all these head of the government and military into one party, all conveniently in one place, and then wham, kidnap them and put them into mind control. Easy as that."

"Is there anything wrong? Admiral? You suddenly don't look so good." Garret asked. "I hope you're not sick, Admiral."

"No, no...Captain," Hurst said. "Hurry up with the logs, Athena?"

"I'm doing as best as I can, Admiral. It does not help if you have to do a subspace link to a base computer, Admiral. Here it is. It's a long list, I'm displaying on screen."

Hurst stood up, and with a shaking finger, pointed to a name: Siranau. "Oh my lord..." Hurst exclaimed.

"Isn't that the newest member of the Federation?" Garret asked. "Whose celebration you attended?"

"Yes. There are many dignitaries there, with big flagships, like the USS America. It would have been perfect," Hurst said. "The top heads of the Federation and Starfleet with their best ships, right in one spot."

"Are you seriously considering what Athena said?" Garret asked.

"Yes..." Hurst replied, his eyes staring straight into Garret's. "There is no pain in trying out anyway. We can scan the planet to be sure. In the meantime, I want a list of everyone and every ship who went to those celebrations, and subsequently soon after. "

"Right away, Sir!" Athena replied.

Hurst continued. "If they were quietly assimilating there, I would consider myself lucky not to have stayed long enough because of Wu's emergency call, the call being which was precisely because the sudden appearance of the Enteprise G at the Gate. I invited Wu to the banquet, and fortunately he was too shy to come down and preferred to do fiddly little things to his ship. And to think I was unhappy for him not to have joined me. That may have saved him."

"This still sounds a bit far fetched, but it makes sense in a way. What do you think Doctor?" Hurst asked.

"If I were plotting a point of infiltration, there is nothing better than a place where the targets can be made to all gather, without suspicion and under an atmosphere of enjoyment," Shiner said. " I say there is nothing to lose making scans of the planet. We have to begin somehow."

"Okay, then, Athena, plot a course to Siranau." Garret commanded.

"Aye, Captain," she replied.

His restlessness thinly veiled, Boussard paced around the bridge. This scanning patrol was far too routine in his taste. There may be thousands of ships out there from Star Fleet to the mercantile and neutral ships that pass along inside Federation space. He was not the only increasingly being bothered with the visions. There were many in his crew that were saved from assimilation.

The new voices had become louder, like the whispers of patients in a mental hospital, like a distant swarm of locusts. He could feel himself drawn in, like a moth to a light. The infiltrators have gone into a stage of alertness, like for the first time, they felt fear, fear of being discovered, fear of being destroyed. Does the Borg know fear? No. What he was feeling was the natural instinct of self preservation that even the Borg kept programmed in their drones. It was after all, an instinct that was useful, and can be overridden if needed to. Self-regulating mechanisms such as emotions was one of the superior traits of biological intelligence over artificial intelligence, and he knew enough of the Borg's justified disdain toward pure artificial intelligence. He could feel the danger they sense, the alertness to respond. Silent hunters had struck them and ships had been lost. Who were these hunters from the dark?

He could hear them. Alerted by danger, the infiltrators were regrouping and consolidating their forces. They were called to gather and protect. But what? Where? Who made them anyway? Somewhere in the quadrant, there must be a Vinculum and supporting plexis nodes that provided their linking infrastructure. They must have a base.

If he could follow these voices...

"Hail the Genghiz," he ordered his Conn officer. "She's on screen," the officer responded.

"Captain Johnston," he said. "I am going off to break off our regular patrol pattern and begin a new one. Are you with me?"

"Didn't Admiral Hurst give that pattern to us?" Johnston said. "Isn't that bending his orders a bit?"

"The orders provided wasn't set on stone. It's only a guideline for a regular patrol." He replied.

"And what about the Normandy and the Lionheart? They're sticking to their regular patrol pattern." Johnston asked.

"I bet they won't mind," Boussard replied.

"I'm not really for the idea, but tt looks like I got to be around to keep you in check," Johnston jokingly replied. "Let's go."

Boussard turned to the ensign in the helm. "Bring a star map up." The map went up the screen. He pointed to a section in the map. "Now plot a course to these coordinates."

"Coordinates set, sir." The ensign replied.

"Change course. Increase speed to Warp 9."

"Aye sir!"

The Akira class starship banked, and immediately the smaller Steamrunner banked on the same angle and followed the same course change.

"Well, you seem to be in a hurry, Jacques?" Johnston said on screen from her bridge on the Genghiz. Johnston previously captained a Defiant escort, and this was her first time on a bigger ship like a Steamrunner. The Genghiz itself was new, with a new crew, barely out of her running trials. Greenhorn ship, a greenhorn crew, and a greenhorn captain, at least for a Steamrunner. Boussard wondered if she would be an asset or a liability should hostile fire occur.

Some time passed, but it was time Boussard never counted. He remained tense. The voices remained in his head. He wants to fight this, kill this, to stop the nightmare voices that lurk like demons in his subconscious. He wants to fight this not just for humanity and the Federation, but for his sanity. It was the same feeling that many of his crew had felt. The strain on his sanity had already caused him to lose some sleep and some of his weight. If this continued, he would be unfit for both command, Star Fleet service and inevitably a normal life.

"It appears our course is taking us close to the Siranau system," the ensign on the helm said.

"Didn't the system just recently become a member of the Federation?" Boussard asked.

"Yes," his First officer said.

This was way beyond his expectations. If the Borg would build a base for infiltration, he would have expected in some hardly visited area, the equivalent of a winter land for the Federation. It may be in some border or frontier. But not somewhere close to a Federation member planet.

"Two Federation vessels approaching on an intercept course." The ensign said.

"Can you identify them?" Boussard asked.

"The USS Guadacanal, sir. She's a Cheyenne class. The other is the USS Saipan. She's a Freedom class starship sir."

What an odd pair, Boussard thought. A four warp nacelle Cheyenne ship and a single nacelle Freedom class ship.

"We're being hailed sir. It's Captain Abraham of the Guadacanal."

"Scan the two ships," Boussard ordered his Operations officer. "Bring him on screen." Boussard ordered to this helm ensign. "This is Captain Jacques Boussard of the USS Hiryu. We are on a routine patrol mission. Is there anything wrong?"

"This is Captain Joseph Abraham of the USS Guadacanal. Greetings. We regret to inform you that this area of space has been quarantined. No Star Fleet vessel is allowed to enter the area without any authorization."

"Is there anything wrong?" Boussard repeated.

"Currently issues are confidential, and on a need to know basis. You, in particular, don't need to know. We request that you turn back at once. I repeat. This sector of space has just been declared quarantine and off limits to standard Star Fleet ships and personnel."

"Very well then, we shall turn back. Boussard out." The screen returned to the starry background.

"Neither the Guadacanal nor the Saipan are listed among Section databases. Unless there is another Star Fleet faction we are now aware of..." His first officer said.

"We have a positive reading on the Borg nanoprobe scans, sir. Both ships are assimilated." His Operations officer said.

"Two complete starships?" Boussard asked in complete surprise. If this was true, the extent of infiltration could be deeper than he thought.

Suddenly he could feel an excitement in the voices, fear, tension, and the need for battle and of further assimilation.

"Get an encrypted message out to the Genghiz! Raise the shields. Go into red alert, arm phasers, load torpedoes on maximum yield. Evasive maneuvers now!"

A green holding beam suddenly shot out of the Guadacanal. Even though a Cheyenne class is smaller than an Akira, the Guadacanal was able to hold the Hiryu on its tracks. No Federation ship or technology could do this on this scale. It only has to be

Borg.

Patches of Borg technology and implants began to grow and spread all over the Guadacanal's surface. That very moment, the same horrifying metamorphosis was happening to the USS Saipan.

"We got Borg drones on the ship!" His First officer shouted. Aha! But the Hiryu, courtesy of the Borg Containment program being developed on the Tacticus shipyards, has a Borg containment team on board. So does the Genghiz.

"Quantum torpedoes on random modulation and maximum yield. Fire!" Boussard ordered. A volley of torpedoes shrieked out from the hull of the Hiryu. Given the short range, all of them smashed against the shields of the Guadacanal. Most of the torpedoes were blocked, but some must have gotten through. The Guadacanal emitted fire and the holding beam faded. The Hiryu broke free.

"Impossible! That thing just took enough firepower up close to destroy even a Sovereign." Boussard said. But then, as he saw, the Cheyenne class ship appeared heavily modified with Borg implants.

"Borg infiltration team had been contained and placed in a stasis chamber." His First officer reported.

"The Saipan has locked on to the Genghiz with a holding beam!" His Tactical officer reported.

On the screen, Boussard watched the Genghiz vainly struggle against the holding beam with volleys of phasers and torpedoes thrown at the Freedom class Saipan.

"Lock phasers on the Saipan. Concentrate on the holding beam generators!" Boussard ordered. The Genghiz had already weakened the Saipan's shields, and the Hiryu's phasers got through and disabled the holding beam. Like a fish escaping its predator, the Genghiz quickly broke free.

"We got three Federation ship signatures coming to our position," his Operations officer said. "We got a Korelev class starship and two New Orleans class starships, identities unknown."

"There is no way of knowing if they're on our side or the others, and we're not going to take the chance." Boussard said. The one thing he hated doing was to retreat from a fight, but he was not going to be stupid either. "Evasive maneuvers! Plot a course for withdrawal and get the hell out of here, maximum warp!"

The Hiryu and the Genghiz streaked out as fast as their warp engines could go. "Conn, send out an encrypted message readable to only Section ships, informing them of our 'situation'."

"Not sure if there is any other Section ship nearby." The Conn officer said.

"Just do it!" Boussard insisted.

"Bad news, Captain, five ships rapidly gaining on us!" The Operations officer said. "We're confirming nanoprobe presence on the Korelev and New Orleans class ships. Those ships are far from the latest, and yet they have more than kept up with us. What are they running on?"

"Borg hot rod special." Boussard snapped back. "They got good mechanics, all right? Keep your attention on your consoles."

The Akira class ship reached warp 9.99 on over boost, and the Steamrunner not too far behind. But the newly commissioned Genghiz was far from a fully tested ship and with an inexperienced crew, she started lagging behind. Boussard started to feel that his decision to bring the Genghiz along was beginning to be a mistake. Green beams lashed out from the pursuing ships, torching the rear shields of the Genghiz. The Genghiz returned fire from her rear phasers, but it was futile act against the reinforced shields the Borg had placed on the pursuing ships.

His mind was telling him to sacrifice the Genghiz to its fate, keep running, keep the Hiryu alive so it can warn the rest of the section.

No way. The lives of the Genghiz will not be upon his conscience, not again. No Borg will do assimilating today, not when Jacques Boussard was around and alive. "Turn around, and engage enemy ships!" he ordered. "Usual random modulation routine." The decision was not met with any resistance, and instead with enthusiasm. The crew of the Hiryu was lousy at retreating anyway.

The Akira swung around, torpedoes flying, phasers lashing, just as the Steamrunner fired all its weapons against the lead assimilated ship. The Cheyenne class Guadacanal broke up from the combined fire, unable to adapt to the combined firepower in time. But the other four ships fired at the Hiryu, leaving only a thin eggshell left of her shields. A renewed attack would have destroyed her easily.

Boussard could almost feel that this was it. Was this how Custer felt when all those Sioux indians surrounded him? He could use the Cavalry just about now.

"Captain, we got four ships coming down at Warp 9.9, and two other ships close behind." The Operations officer said.

Boussard felt certain that his fate was decided this time.

"Signature identified on one of the ships. It appears to be a Prometheus class." His Operations officer said.

Can it only be?

"The other ships appear to be Aegis class. We also have an Ambassador class coming in with a Niagara class." Is there a God in Heaven? The question was just answered.

Streaking against the darkness, the USS Athena unleashed a full volley of torpedoes, and phasers lanced towards their targets. The three Aegis class ships were right behind, unleashing their own stream of torpedoes and angry phasers. Their target was the second Borg lead ship, the assimilated Freedom class. Two torpedoes missed, but the rest slammed into the invisible shields, causing it to glow brightly green with each impact. The Borg modified shields held off half of the torpedoes, much more than what an original Freedom class could hold, but not even the Borg could perform miracles of adaptation as the other half smashed through. The assimilated ship went up a huge ball of light and fire, parts of the Saipan's saucer section hurtled in all directions, each trailing smoke that quickly dissipated in the vacuum.

Taken aback with the momentary tactical inferiority, the three other ships, two New Orleans and the Korolev class, quickly turned around and made a retreat. The database cannot identify the three ships, and no determination can be made if the ships were assimilated or if the Borg were making brand new replicas.

"We got a message from the USS Athena," the Conn officer notified.

"Bring it on screen," Boussard said.

The face of Admiral Hurst appeared on screen. "I see, captain, you found the hornet's nest ahead of us. You know you could have waited for us."

"I needed to follow a hunch." Boussard apologized. "It is my responsibility that I left the standard patrol pattern."

"And you nearly got yourself and another ship killed for that reason. I will have to talk to you later on that." Hurst said. "Apparently we're going to have more trouble."

"Scans!" Boussard shouted. His hunches had gone overtime with their warnings.

"Captain, the Borg has returned with a large fleet. Apparently they don't intend to let us leave the party without saying a big goodbye." His Tactical officer said.

"Let's beat it kids!" Hurst shouted through the conference window. Just when the cavalry came in for a big save, the enemy called in their bigger cavalry. Even on equal numbers, they would be facing a major tactical disadvantage. The eight ships sped out on the highest warp numbers they could manage.

* * *

Aboard the USS Athena, Hurst had sent out encrypted messages for other Section task forces, calling for a quarantine and blockade of the entire sector. They will have to think of a major excuse to cover up the operation. His escort squadrons of Defiants, Sabres and Novas were on their way to a rendezvous point to assist and reinforce the containment operation.

The Section had experience in dealing with internal matters of member or faction dissension. This was one of the unfortunate tasks the Section was created and designed to handle for, an internal policeman or enforcer. Despite the utopian image painted to the public, unknown to them, the sheer size of the Federation had opened holes in the fabric that allowed for factions and dissension movements among member worlds. Unpopular relocation policies brought against colonists and non space faring races had been one reason for the dissension. Others come from the disproportionate power and membership of Sol system humans in the Federation council and Star Fleet. Not the least had been unecological locations of research bases, where mad experiments that involved meddling with subspace and the space time continuum had brought severe effects to the rest of the star system.

There were times the Section had been successful, such as containing the worm alien that took over the minds and bodies of a considerable number of high ranking Star Fleet officers, creating a secret faction among them. Originally discovered in an incident involving Picard of the Enterprise, Section uncovered more evidence of the worm alien infestation, and dealt with it in the most stern way. And there were times the Section had been unsuccessful, where a minor insurrection fanned and eventually caught the mainstream Star Fleet into a major war against itself and its conscience. That became the infamous Maquis rebellion. After decades, the Section had suffered considerable neglect and with it, weakness. After the Dominion War and the uncertainties it brought to the Federation and surviving empires, the Section had secretly regained much of its power, especially among the young captains and officers brought to replace the old generation of principled veterans that were mostly killed during the War.

When the Section confronts a 'situation', Section task forces apply stern measures. The entire area would be quarantined off even from normal Star Fleet vessels. If the situation cannot be defused diplomatically, then force will be applied, erasing the problem and cleaning the 'situation'. The press will never hear of it, and history will never record it. The public will go on their happy ignorant ways. Only the precious, secret archives of the Section knew the truth.

Section laboratories have always worked on things unpalatable to the Federation council and the do good wishers of the Federation hierarchy. The most notable were pathogen or nanoprobe warfare, such as the infection used against the Dominion founders. Yet it so happens these same laboratories were also working with pathogen or nanoprobe weapons against the Borg. Is it deemed morally acceptable to use pathogens against the Borg but not the Founders? Some of the Federation do gooders maintain a double standard like this, but the Section only applied the same standard for all enemies. Section also covered pathogenic or infiltration attacks against the Federation from foreign powers. Recently, the Section's responsibility increased to cover temporal incursions. The secretive nature of the Section lent well to the containment of potential time line changes from such incursions. The incursion of the Enteprise G and the Borg infiltration were all textbook Section priority cases, but the extent of the case will for the first time, stretch Section resources to the limit.

Previously on his orders, Athena had obtained the list of Federation diplomats and starships that visited the Siranau system. Someone placed the list on a high level security access that normally wasn't accorded to mere engagements of diplomacy and public affairs. Why the secrecy? The fact that such a list had to be closely guarded was already troubling. The list had been sent to the Section, where agents will scan and investigate all members and ships within the list. If found, the agents would execute any number of alternatives. The first will be to capture the infiltrator to learn more about the biology and technology used in these infiltrators. The subject will be de-assimilated, but if the subject cannot be recovered, they will be terminated or transferred to Section laboratories for further research. If the infiltrator resisted during the capture attempt, agents terminate the subject. The Section will find means to cover up the assassination of the subject.

Hurst watched a dozen Borg assimilated vessels heading their way to intercept his fleet. Had the infestation been that deep? A whole planet, infested? How?

"Captain?" Athena asked. "I don't think we can outrun the Borg fleet. I don't even think I can even outrun the Borg myself, and I'm the fastest vessel around here."

They found the hornet's nest and the hornets were all stirred up. "We got to hold on a bit longer till we can meet the rendezvous point. The escort squadrons will be waiting for us there." Hurst said.

Conference windows went up in the Athena's bridge screen.

"We're not going to make it," Shelley said, in a pessimistic way.

"Yes, we can, if we can hang on," Maeda said.

"No we won't. Someone has to delay them. Admiral, my shields have regenerated. Let me go and engage them," Boussard said.

"No heroics, Boussard!" Hurst ordered. "Maintain course! Our reinforcements will be here."

"My scans show old ships like Miranda, Excelsior and Merced classes. These are antiquated ship classes, Admiral," T'pak observed. "And yet, they're traveling faster than Athena's maximum warp speed."

"They only look like old Federation ships to fool you," Shiner said. "Inside the shell, it's all Borg. I have a feeling the Borg may also be deliberately constructing clones of Federation vessels. It would make sense to for them to clone ships in addition to the ones they assimilated if they want to infiltrate Federation space."

"The conspiracy thickens," Garret said.

"We got energy readings," T'pak said. "I believe the escort squadrons are approaching, sir."

"Good, reinforcements. It will give us a fighting chance," Hurst said.

"But we have another reading...." T'pak said. "I believe it can only be the Enterprise G, but I have no familiarity with this vessel."

"Bring it on screen," Garret said.

The ship was a gracious hybrid of Sovereign and Miranda class concepts, a ship identifiably as Federation in its design lineage, and yet nothing like anything that existed in the Federation before.

"Yup, that's the Enterprise G." Shiner said.

"And it's heading one versus twelve there!" Ka'nal said. "That lady in that ship got a lot of guts."

"She probably has one hundred years of Federation technological advancement to back her up." T'pak said. "But that is still one ship against a dozen."

"She's not going to fight alone," Boussard spoke from the conference window. "The Hiryu does not run from a fight and nor does not it leave other ships alone to carry the battle."

"The Hiryu and the Genghiz have broken off the formation," Drudge said.

"Permission to engage sir!" Athena said.

"Not you too." Hurst said. "That Boussard is a loose cannon. If he wasn't one good warrior captain, he would have lost his commission. Don't be like that, okay Athena?"

"But?" Athena asked. "Can't leave them fighting alone."

"Sir?" Garret asked. "She's right. We need to engage. We can win this, but not if the Borg pick us off one by one."

"Alright then, I am not going to win this running," Hurst said. "Formation break off and engage at will. Captain Wu. Captain De Witt. Everyone, use your attack shuttles!"

Already the Enterprise G was caught in a chaotic exchange of phaser fire and energy beams. The Hiryu and the Genghiz ran full speed to join her, torpedoes shrieking, phasing lashing. Eight Venture class attack shuttles came off from the Hiryu's rear, with four Type 12 shuttles from the Genghiz joining them. As they turned around, the rest of the ships, with the exception of the shuttle less Athena, began disgorging Venture class, Type 9 and Type 12 shuttles off their rears, creating additional attack wings that can either draw off more of the Borg fire, or attack weakened sections of their shields turned away from the main ships. From a distance, four wings of Defiants, Sabres and Novas were bearing in.

"We got word that more Section ships are arriving in the area shortly," T'pak said. "Unfortunately, the Borg had been aroused and they are being joined with more of their ships. Not only are the Borg ships Federation, but also Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian ships."

"All copies or assimilated, I presume." Hurst said. "It does not matter what they look like; underneath they're all Borg. We can safely assume at this point that Siranau may be their central base of infiltration operations."

"Now the plot thickens. My scans are showing Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian fleets approaching Siranau." T'pak said. "We're being hailed from lead Negh'Var battleship."

The image came online. "Admiral!" Ka'Vagh greeted with a loud, hoarse voice. "Have we crashed your party?"

"Not at all, I thought your help will come in handy." Hurst said.

"We have traced a Borg infiltrator ship to this sector. Then we find that you're involved in a battle without inviting us in. Ahem, I apologize for entering Federation space without your permission with an armed expeditionary force." Ka'Vagh said. "But as you see, it was for the good of everyone. I am sure I am, ahem, speaking in behalf of my colleagues in the Obsidian Order and Tal Shi'ar as well."

"Under normal circumstances, coming into Federation territory with an armed fleet without permission can be a near act of war and certainly a violation of treaties." Hurst said.

"Then we request a formal permission to enter battle," Raek said from a D'Deridex class Warbird. "The fate of the Romulan Empire depends as much as on this battle as the Federation and Klingon Empires. As much as I dislike sharing my battles with the Klingons, I am willing to overlook that disadvantage for the good of the Star Empire."

"My feeling exactly, when I brought you in," Ka'Vagh retorted.

"Count us in," Merak said, aboard a Hutet class battleship. "But of course, we will attend to our normal business as soon as the Borg interloopers are eliminated."

"This is shaping to be a glorious battle." Drudge said. "My scans are showing formations of Bird of Preys, Talon scouts and Hideki assault fighters behind their main line."

"Granted this is Federation territory, but we can appreciate any help we can get for the moment. Permission granted. Make yourselves happy. Hurst out." Hurst said. A knifing gesture on his neck told the Conn officer to cut off the screens.

"I don't mind them dying for our cause after all. This will lessen our casualties and shift some of the burden to our guests here."

The separated portions of Athena concentrated on a Borg ship disguised as a Merced class. Even adjusting to the phaser and torpedo frequencies, it was not enough to counter the overwhelming power of Athena's modular vector ships. The Merced class disintegrated in a nova like eruption of white and pinkish hues, its chaotic mesh of Borg components hurtling outward. The main hull section banked widely to avoid the debris, while the two hull vector sections made clockwise and counter clockwise rolls. Quickly, the Athena rejoined her modules.

"Yes!" Athena shouted, raising a V sign up in the air.

"I'm going to throw up," Hurst confessed to Garret. "Bad motion sickness. I am not used to the rapid swaying and movement of this ship."

"She can fly the ship like it was a part of her, and she flies this ship like a mad stunt pilot," Ka'nal explained.

"Hey watch it!" Athena cried out.

"We're used to the fighter like maneuvers this ship tends to perform. That's why we recently placed handlebars and barf bags in the bridge." Garret said. He took out a white bag. "Here's one for you."

"Thank you," Hurst said, as he hurled into the bag and threw the bag into a disposal canister. He still appeared a bit ill but needed to concentrate on the task ahead.

Outside, a chaotic battle waged. The assimilated or cloned ships were not as strong as the regular Borg vessels, but there were sufficient numbers of them to mount a strong defense of the planet. The lack of proper registry numbers and names with many of the ships suggested that the Borg were making virtual copies of Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian classes, and possibly using them to insert infiltrators. Nonetheless, with Borg technology, something that looked as outdated as a Miranda, nearly has the firepower of a Galaxy and much faster at it too.

But the good guys have a few tricks up their bag too. Large numbers of shuttles and fighters Romulan shuttles, Klingon NuQ'Duj scouts, Hideki fighters, Type 9 and 11 shuttles, Venture class scouts, Peregrine class fighters, relentlessly swarmed against the Borg ships. While many of them died, they gravely distracted away the fire of the Borg ships from the main ships, forcing an atmosphere of mass confusion. They continuously hunted down and targeted the weak sides of the enemy shields. The constant buzzing and the confusing swarm of targets had a strong negative effect on the efficiency of the Borg fire control systems to track their targets and their ability to coherently organize a proper formation. A ploy well developed during the Dominion War, the harassing, distracting effect of small craft covered with the massed firepower of larger starships proved to be a deadly two pronged tactic the Borg had difficulty in adjusting against.

"Admiral, if I may something," Shiner said. "We need to get close to the planet. I sense something there, something big. I believe the planet is not what it should be."

"If we can get them off our backs first," Garret said, as the Athena shook, when a Cheyenne class Borg copy torched the Athena's rear shields with a green energy beam.

"Hang on!" Athena warned, and the crew quickly gripped the nearest handle bar, as the entire bridge swayed. The Athena banked on its side, just as the Cheyenne class whizzed a couple of torpedoes right under its belly. The Athena slammed torpedoes and phasers at the Cheyenne class ship as it flashed by, lighting up the Cheyenne ship's shields into a visible green bubble.

"Damn you, Athena!" Hurst shouted, almost falling off his chair from the roller coaster ride. "I am really getting too old for this!"

"Heh heh, sorry, Admiral. I just have good reflexes," Athena said.

"I have this feeling she enjoys making our hair white," Hurst said.

"I got the Enterprise G heading towards the main planet, the Genghiz and the Hiryu is right by her." T'pak said. "I think they may be sensing the same thing you are sensing, Doctor Shiner."

"Then let's get down there," Hurst ordered. Hurst shouted more orders through the comlink. "Shelley, Maeda, Hoesch, cover us."

"Roger," Hoesch affirmed from the bridge of the Boise.

"Whoppee!" Athena cried out, as the Athena banked towards the fiercely defended planet.

Hurst wondered where did the orbital defense platforms popped up all of sudden. They were not there before when he last visited. The platforms fired at the Enterprise G, lighting her shields in to a red glowing bubble. But the Enterprise G drew fire against its powerful regenerative shields. Right behind, both banked, the Hiryu and the Genghiz shot out phasers and torpedoes, obliterating a defense platform. The Enterprise G herself blew a second platform off from its orbit.

Dark skinned, a woman's face came online on the Athena's view screen. "Nice to see you Admiral." Wells said. "Nice to have you around and seeing things my way."

"For a while there, you almost had the entire Starfleet have a massive manhunt on you, Captain. after you destroyed the USS America." Hurst said.

"And you found the nanoprobes, just as I predicted, and now you're here." Wells said. "I warn you. Even if we destroy the Borg here, it will not be over. The real price to pay, after all this, is your eternal vigilance."

Windows flashed with the face of Captain Ann Shelley from the Kiev. "Admiral, our sensors are picking up something underneath the planet."

"Mine too," Maeda said.

"And I am confirming that as well," Hoesch said. All three Aegis ships have sensor systems in advance of the rest of the fleet. "It's very subtle, but there is something beneath the surface."

"That's because, the planet is not really what it seems to be." Wells said. "Help me target all these points in the planet. I am feeding the coordinates to all your computers right now. Watch out for defensive turrets all over the surface."

"We're getting data," Drudge reported. "It's all underneath the planet's surface, just a few miles underneath the rock. That means we have to bring the Athena down the atmosphere, to maximize penetration."

"Right as you are." Wells said. "Enterprise out."

On the screen, the Enterprise G banked as it began its attack run towards the surface. The Hiryu and the Genghiz both banked as well, screaming down the surface.

"We can do it better if we go into multi vector mode again," Athena said.

"I am going to be sick again, but do it!" Hurst ordered.

"Yessir! Begin separation!" Athena shouted. The main hull section came off from the lower engineering section, and then the engineering section split into two halves.

"Right behind you," Shelley said, as the Kiev, Vanguard and Boise turned and rush down to the surface.

From the screen, they saw ground turrets blasted away at the Enterprise G shields. But the Hiryu unleashed one of those large deadly volleys of torpedoes that made the Akira class a daunting opponent. The screaming balls blasted at the ground, and a massive explosion marked the place where a defensive turret used to lie. Another volley of torpedoes from the Genghiz, followed with a barrage of phasers, knocked out another defensive turret.

The Enterprise G had locked on its target , and fired a healthy spread of torpedoes. The volley crashed beneath the surface in a massive eruption that could blow a huge crater.

As the three vector ships of the Athena skimmed over the surface at hypersonic speeds, the ground beneath her began to unravel. Molecules, atoms and subatomic particles that made up the planet's surface dissolved in a massive tidal wave that chased the ship, revealing in the emptiness underneath, that it was all an illusion.

"What the? The planet isn't real at all," Hurst said.

Wells appeared on the viewscreen. "No it's not. The whole thing is one giant hologram.."

"How did you know?" Hurst asked.

"Experience, my dear Admiral. One hundred years of future experience." Well said. "Now that node I just took out, covered only a patch of the planet. The whole planet is a patchwork of holograms. The coordinates I gave you are all what I suspect to be massive emitters. Knock each of them out, and you take out a patch. Knock enough out, and you will get the ultimate picture."

"Right-O," Athena said. "Locking in to a target. Ugh!" The main hull section shuddered from turret fire. The two hull sections flashed ahead, locking in on the turret. Pulse phaser fire streaked out with torpedo spreads, and the turret blew in a massive explosion.

"Locking in.... Fire!" Athena said. Torpedoes streaked out, followed with a barrage of burning red phasers. Debris and metal flew into the air with another gigantic explosion, and the landscape began to dissolve into dark space. "Whoo!" Athena shouted in exuberance, oblivious to her fellow Starfleet officers.

Nearby, the Aegis ships in an orderly formation of three, blasted away at targets in their direct path. Despite her being so new, the Kiev was able to handle itself well, and with a volley of torpedoes that ship took out another holographic node.

The nose of the main hull section of the Athena pointed straight up as it launched to the sky and her three sections rejoined once again. Then it looped one hundred eighty degrees downward, heading to one of the holes.

Athena plunged beneath the holographic planet like a diver does to pool of water. All around her were the green glowing matrixes, entangled to each other, like vines in a rainforest jungle. The Athena began to rampage around this jungle like a lumberjack with a chain saw. She fired at anything that appeared like a node in the long tendril stalks. Above there were flashes in the surface, as the starships above it destroyed their respective targets.

The coordinates pointed to a nearby target, and the Athena's fire control systems locked on to it. A massive holo emitter node, as big as entire starships, hanged to a huge tendril. Phasers lashed out, and pulse phasers streamed as more torpedoes ejected from their tubes. The resulting explosion broke the tendril in half, and the surface above began to dissolve, like a plague eating skin away at fast forward. As the tendril crumbled, the Athena shot upward and broke through the new hole it created.

The Athena rolled and then banked. Athena herself turned around to look at Hurst undergo more motion sickness, but he strongly held on to his dignity as much as he had his old warrior spirit. The swaying and the discomfort of the crew was far from her mind though. It was more important to get the mission done, and it was only expected that the Athena must fight like she was intended do. If other starships fight like eagles stalking their prey, she fights like a falcon, hitting fast, then running again, then hitting fast once more.

Phasers torched her shields once more, but the two torpedoes whizzed through, confused with the ECM she emitted. Right behind her was a Borg copy of a New Orleans class ship, its gentle rounded form ruined with all sorts of Borg implants and installable armor. Her aft torpedo tubes fired four torpedoes in rapid succession, each one of them pushing the Borg ship's shields further thinner and backward until some real damage was caused. The New Orleans ship gained on her, and firing her rear defensive phasers were to no avail.

The torpedoes smacked the New Orleans ship from behind, and it trailed with a thin stream of white fire, turning away from her pursuit of the Athena. Right behind her, was the Kiev, the Vanguard and the Boise, firing volley after volley.

As more nodes were destroyed, the entire planet began to crumble. Huge patches were disappearing, like paper being burnt to a cinder. As the surface was consumed what was left was a immense skeletal like sphere, parts of it glowing with a green luminescent light. Then the skeletal framework itself collapsed, and as the fragments and debris flew out into space, the inner structures began to reveal themselves. There was a Nexus as expected, and an Assembly Matrix that was responsible for all the cloned ships. But there was something else, something even more immense. It rose out from the wreckage, like a monster angry and hungry, threatening to destroy all those it cast its sight upon.

Aboard the bridge of the Athena, everyone stood up to stare at the screen.

The titan was a huge immense cube, made from eight Tactical Cubes interlocked into one.

"What the hell is that?" Garret asked. "That must be the Mother of all Cubes. "

"Borg Fushion technology." Shiner said. "Actually I have never seen it performed, but I performed an analysis of the Borg Cube and Diamond systems and theorized that it was possible for them to interlock their ships, combine their firepower and energy sources into one single super giant ship."

"Why have you not told us before, Doctor?" Hurst asked.

"It's only a theory, Admiral. I got no conclusive proof that the Borg is capable of doing such a thing right here," Shiner pointed to the Fusion cube with her hand.

"Well, that's your proof now, eh, Doctor?" Garret said. "How the hell are we going to beat that?"

"We can try hacking into the systems again," Athena said.

"You got gel packs damaged the last time you did that, and we're low on spares now." Garret said. "Frankly I don't think you can scare that thing with another armada of ships this time. Are you listening to me?"

Athena seemed to be on a trance. "She's trying to hack the Borg systems again," Ka'nal said, observing the bioneural activity in the ship. I am taking control of the helm, in case she can't manage her attention into piloting the ship."

"She should have listened to me first before shooting at things like that," Garret said.

Athena suddenly regained attention. "Ugh!" she cried out. "The thing has far more layers of security redundancy this time. A Cube has much more redundancy than a Diamond, and interlocking the Cubes increases the redundancy element a few fold. If you try to shut down one, the other wakes it up. The power reserves are far greater, and so are the computing reserves. They are sharing resources, and there are no centralized systems you can hit upon as a weakness."

"If this thing get to Sector 001...why have this thing not gone to Earth system directly?" Garret asked.

"The Borg may be overestimating our capability." Shiner said. "Recent losses against Federation ships have greatly damaged their confidence to take us on a direct assault basis. So they're trying to subvert us indirectly."

"Are you saying that they're somewhat scared of us as well," Hurst said.

"Yes, as a matter of speaking. It was strange to discover that when I was partially linked to the Collective," Shiner said. "But it's true. They fear us in a way."

"That thing however, doesn't seem to fear us, right now." Garret said. "And we may have underestimated their capability as well."

The massive Fusion Cube fired out a massive beam, snuffing out an unidentified Federation starship into a ball of smoke and fire.

"Oh god!" Hurst said. "What the hell is that? Conn, order all ships to get out of range from the Fushion Cube! Athena, you too!"

"I'm not going to argue with that!" Athena said.

"Boussard is still engaging the Fushion Cube and so is the Enterprise G," Ka'nal said. "The Genghiz is breaking off with battle damage."

"Plucky, aren't they?" Athena said.

"Klingon and Romulan fleets heading towards the Fushion Cube." Drudge said. "They're opening fire at the cube. I'm bringing on the screen."

But the screen was interrupted with the face of General Ka'Vagh. "I've have never seen a day worth dying for, Admiral. It is indeed a good day to die, to face the Devil himself and to spit upon him."

Raek suddenly came in on a screen of his own. "Do you think I'm going to let you Klingons take the glory all for yourself?"

"Haha! Colonel, you just maybe the first Romulan I will see in Sto-Vo-kor!" Ka'Vagh replied.

"General Ka'Vagh, Colonel Raek, wait!" Hurst cried out before the screen cut off. The screen showed the massed Klingon fleet, joined with Raek's Romulan Warbird fleet as they concentrated fire upon the super Cube. The shields in the entire Cube lighted, creating a glowing red and green bubble as the concentrated phaser fire dissipated across the entire surface of the shields.

"Energy build up in the Cube," T'pak warned.

"Tell everyone to get out, Admiral!" Shiner warned. "It's going to fire a big one soon."

"Everyone, General Ka'Vagh, Colonel Raek, get the hell out of there!" Hurst shouted. But the warnings fell to deaf ears.

Like a giant swath, the Fusion Cube projected a sustained massive green beam, and like a giant sword, cut itself across the Romulan and Klingon formations. What ever it touched, it vaporized instantly. Hurst watched the formations lit up with dozens of explosions. The beam touched Ka'Vagh's Negh'Var, vaporizing it in an instant in a brilliant ball of light. Like a flashlight beam, the Cube turned the green beam against Raek's massive Warbird, cutting it like a hot knife across butter. The Warbird's singularity power source exploded, sending a massive shockwave ring scattering from its epicenter. The beam extended to the Cardassian and Federation formations heavily engaged with the Borg assimilated and copied fleets, spreading its path of death among them without discrimination.

Nobody stood a chance.

"Those stupid fools, but they all died gallantly," Merak said aboard his Hutet class battleship. "Admiral, what do we do now? We do not have anything that can match that Cube!"

Hurst looked for Shiner for answers, but even she has no answer of her own.

Survivors among the Klingon, Romulan formations began to fall back, using their speed to the Cube's fire. The super Cube's beam stopped, only to recharge, waiting for its opportunity to strike again.

* * *

Three Borg ships, disguised as a Nebula, an Excelsior and an Ambassador class pursued an Intrepid class ship. Each of these ships betrayed their true nature with the Borg implants and armor, and their amazing speed even against an Intrepid, supposedly faster and more agile in paper. The Intrepid vainly tried to escape its pursuers, but the Borg ships bore in, their green beams blasting through the shields and finally taking its toll with direct hits.

The Enterprise G dived in for the kill, locking in on the three targets simultaneously. There was only this much time the three Borg ships must be taken out before they destroy the hapless Intrepid. Three transphasic torpedoes lashed out screaming towards the Borg ships, and there were three massive explosions. The Intrepid was free to run, and only debris left from the former Borg ships were behind her.

Wells watched the massacre. For her, it brought back the bad memories she had left behind the Gate. Armadas of the Great Alliance forged from all the great powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants met against formations of giant Fusion cubes, and smaller ships like Spheres and Diamonds covered them. The fleets of the Great Alliance fought bravely, but massive beams from the Fusion Cubes cut the Allied formations like a welding phaser against soft flesh. Even the transphasic torpedoes were of no use against the combined shields of the Fusion Cubes. Like the scythe of Death, the deadly beams brutally cut the Allied ships with an ease where both armor and shields meant nothing. With the Infiltrators, the Borg had broken the Great Alliance with a knife on the back, and with the Fusion Cubes, they broke what was still left standing.

Not again, not ever again.

Voyager's employment of transphasic torpedoes against the Borg compromised the weapon to the Borg, even though Voyager managed to escape and return home. But the Borg adapted to the weapon, as they do with any means used against them, and the whole incident allowed the Borg to erect defenses against the weapon two decades earlier than what it should had, rendering transphasic weapons ineffective two decades before its time.

The Enterprise G had locked on to the titanic Fusion Cube, eight Tactical Cubes interlocked into one giant monster nearly as big as a moon. "I want all tubes loaded up, transphasics, maximum yield," Wells ordered.

"Torpedoes locked," Magh'var reported.

"Fire!" Wells ordered. A volley of eight transphasic torpedoes screamed towards the titanic Fusion Cube.

"We are in a collision course with the Cube!" Macek reported.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Wells ordered. The nose of the Enterprise G aimed upwards, clearing the wall of the interlocked Cube. The Cube wall rushed under the Enterprise G, and suddenly the Enterprise G cleared the wall, four transphasic torpedoes rushing out from the rear of the ship.

Magh'var's face turned grim. "Our torpedoes have no effect on it!"

"We could not expect that the Borg would adapt to Transphasic weapons as early as this time," Suraak said.

"Then we have no other choice," Wells said. "Voyager had indeed compromised the weapon and the Borg had adapted way ahead of schedule. There is nothing in the Alpha Quadrant now that could stop that thing."

Just then the Enterprise G shuddered, as beams lashed out from the Fusion cube. "That was only a near miss, and it reduced our shields to sixty percent," Macek said.

"Get out from here, retreat!" Wells ordered. The Enterprise G rolled and turned away from the giant Cube, but the Cube fired and fired.

The Enterprise G shook violently, sparks flew out from the panels, and crewmen lay injured from the floor. Nora Wells lifted herself from the floor, and there was blood in Macek's forehead. Yet he steadfastly remained at his post. "We've lost shields and we have suffered hull damage," Macek said. "That shot would have killed any 24th century ship in one shot, and if it weren't for the advancement in our shields, we would have been destroyed. That Cube will fire again."

"We got no other choice, Captain," Macek reminded her. Nora remembered what the history journals said. In a last futile gesture of resistance, the Allies brought back the secret suicide ships, the Klingon Jach'Eng and the Romulan Phoenix class. Each ship carried a weapon of mass destruction. The Klingon ship had the Shockwave, which created a massive expanding wave of destruction against anything on its path. The Romulan ship had the Rift Creator, which creates a tear in the space-time continuum that like the Shockwave, also destroyed everything on its path. Romulan and Klingon scientists combined their efforts to utilize both into a single weapon, the Rift Wave. But there was one catch in the weapon. Like its predecessors, the resulting wave, tearing at the continuum, will claim the ship and the crew who ignited it.

She was ready to pay for the price all along. So was her crew. This was a one way trip with no return. Neither did they plan to overstay in this time and age, risking more temporal contamination than they had already calculated for. The weapon was reserved for the Alpha of Borg. It was not enough to destroy a single Queen or Unimatrix 001 or a Central Nexus. The Borg will always rebuild them, recreate them. Their system of near infinite redundancy made them virtually impossible to destroy.

Species 125 gave birth to the Queen, not to Species One. It was the Borg that created the Queen, not vice versa. If the Borg created the Queen, who would lead the Borg to create the Queen? Law of Causality would have meant that ultimately a supreme primal intelligence lived among the Borg that is even higher than the Queen herself. An Intelligence that lived for thousands of years, long before Species 125 was only assimilated centuries ago, an Intelligence who was responsible for the creation of the Queens and their continuous succession. They had identified what seemed to be this primacy central mind existing in the Collective, the one known as Alpha of Borg. A member of Species One, the first species that created the Borg. It was the first to call itself Borg, and that central consciousness that still resides in the Collective. If it was indeed, truly, the central creative spirit that lie inside the Collective, then the Collective can only be and ultimately be destroyed if he, she or it was destroyed.

But it appeared that this central intelligence will be spared for the moment due to a more imminent threat. A Fusion Cube threatened the Federation, and nothing could stop it going all the way to Sector 001. Not anything of this present technology at least. Even if Alpha of Borg was not destroyed, the infiltration effort would still be crippled, and she would have already given the Federation of the future a fighting chance. That was as much as they can hope for. Now, if they can just survive this moment...

"We know what we have to do," the Romulan Suraak said. "I am prepared."

"This is no longer my world," the Klingon Magh'Var said. "My Klingon Empire had been destroyed in the past. Only few of us Klingons are left with their free will, on this ship. My friends and family had long gone to Sto-Vo-Kor. In the night I pray for them. In my dreams they call me. They have saved me a place in the Black Fleet of Sto-Vo-Kor. They have waited for me long enough. And I have waited for the time long enough as well."

"If you change the time line now, the Klingon Empire may exist in the future, and the things that happened may not have happened." Macek said.

"We are here," Magh'Var said. "That is only proof that indeed, things happened as we remembered it. Even if we change the time line in this universe, the souls that had passed on will always be, waiting for me in Sto-Vo-Kor. If the new time line is made to exist, then perhaps in the future, I will be living happily with my family and friends, who would have not died at all. The speculation does not matter. I know in my heart, they are waiting, and I am ready to go to meet them."

"My family had died in the wars, and we Cardassians believe in an afterlife on our own. I would be eager myself to see them once more," Macek said. "I miss my children. They are all my most precious possession, all what I have left, and I have lost them. I have no other purpose in life but to destroy the Borg who took them away from me."

"And as you Earth humans say, I like to go out with a big bang." Macek added.

They needed a little humor in the final moments. Wells felt a clarity in her being she never felt before. She had made good of her life, and whether or not they would not remember her by, she would still know she had done right.

"Open channels to all the crew," she said. This was the time they have been waiting for. To strike a final blow to the Borg. Saving the Galaxy with sweet revenge.

"It has been my greatest honor to serve with you all," Wells said. "And a greater honor to share the same ultimate fate with all of you. You are the greatest crew in Starfleet. Let us make the name Enterprise proud."

Wells turned to the screen. "Plot a ramming course to the Fusion cube. Magh'Var, Suraak, prepare the Rift Wave device. Macek, begin self destruct procedures. Get me on Admiral Hurst online."

The face of Admiral Hurst appeared on the viewscreen. "Admiral, please advise your ships to retreat away from the Fusion Cube. We're going to blow it up big."

"How do you expect to do that? You must have some super weapon we don't have yet." Hurst said.

"Just trust me. Tell your ships to stay back, or get blown with it." Wells warned. "And always remember, the name 'Enterprise'. Good luck and godspeed, Admiral."

"All right," Hurst said. "Wait a minute... what do you mean by that?..." Wells cut off the view screen with a gesture of her hand.

The brave ships engaging the Fusion cube was like flies trying to engage a rhino. It seemed to be more an act of demonstrating bravery and futility all at the same time, rather than one that made tactical sense. The order was given, and even die hard ships like the Hiryu were forced to withdraw.

"It's clear now for us to go in," Macek said. "Ship has turned around, and we have locked on to the Fusion Cube. Let's get on with it before that thing tries to get away. I've been waiting for this all my life."

They all sat down on their chairs. This was how they planned to go. A single crew from diverse races often with a history of war against each other. Yet in this final act of unity, they will liberate. One crew for one galaxy.

Wells uttered the final word of her life. "Engage."

***

"Keep hailing them!" Hurst ordered.

"But Admiral, they're not responding." Athena replied. "All ships are withdrawing away from the Fusion Cube as fast as they can, including the Hiryu."

"The Fusion Cube is repowering all her weapons," T'pak said. "She may just finish us all."

Hurst stared at the screen. Suddenly like a thin sliver of light, the Enterprise G engaged warp. Her flight path was like a falling star in a clear night, a silvery thread set against the darkness, a tiny missile aimed at the monster like Cube. He should have known it would come to this, that Captain Nora Wells had this planned long before.

The Fusion Cube erupted with a massive white and pink hued nova that could have illuminated lights years of dark space. A massive expanding shockwave emanated from the center, engulfing the remaining Borg bases, the Nexus, the Assembly Matrix and the surrounding defense platforms, like a hurricane tearing against straw huts.

"We have a massive tear against the space-time continuum," T'pak warned. "And its expanding like a shockwave. I suggest..."

"...that we better get out of here," Athena continued. Without waiting for additional orders, the USS Athena warped. Already many ships have warped ahead of her, and the rest of them warped immediately soon after her.

The wave expanded, and then dissipated. The rift trapped what was left of the Borg fragments. The rift would eventually repair itself, and the continuum would become normal, but only after decades. In the meantime, a spacial anomaly can be used as an excuse for the cause of the rift. It was also a convenient excuse to explain the loss of an entire planet and a member of the Federation, and another to maintain a quarantine around the area. As the USS Athena sped away, behind her the whole galactic horizon lit like the morning sun at the break of dawn.

(Epilogue)

Despite the destruction of the infiltrator hub, the hunt goes on. Shiner and Boussard would still hear the tiny voices. But to scan them from an entire quadrant has worst chances than finding a needle in a haystack.

Shiner herself examined captured infiltrators that were brought to an advanced technology lab orbiting near the Tacticus shipyard. It appeared that the infiltrator drone itself had a flaw. By preserving completely the original human or alien body it had taken over, the infiltrator itself lacked the ability to assimilate other victims. They lack the ability to create tubules on their hands used to assimilate others. The nanoprobes worked completely only within and against the brain of the victim, making him or her hear the voices and become part of the collective without changing his or her physiology. Using external devices, they assimilated with the old fashioned way kidnaping their targets and then physically injecting the nanoprobes into their systems. The process means that the infiltration wasn't a rapid infection like process, but a more deliberate clandestine one which the infiltrators have to carefully select their targets and not just randomly assimilating everyone they see.

De-assimilation was a difficult process. Captured infiltrators were treated with a counter nanoprobe programmed to hunt down, recognize and disable the Borg nanoprobes. It seemed to be a fairly simple solution, but that was only the easy part. What was difficult to fix was the trauma inflicted on the victim. Even to this day, dealing with mental illness was still a black science. No one could treat the disease of the mind and the soul. Cut off from the addicting power of the Collective, the victims display a wide range of trauma. Some were able to fight back the addiction, but it still took a toll on their daily lives. Some turned completely catatonic, while others were placed in a mental hospital for observation and treatment. The withdrawal effects were similar to those trying to recover from drug or alcohol addictions, but in other ways, a little more severe, reaching to areas like schizophrenia.

What to do with the Federation politicians that were assimilated? If the public were to find out the truth, there will be considerable political upheaval. Questions will be raised, and the scapegoat for the incompetency specter will be Starfleet. There will be great distrust towards political institutions, at the very suggestion that the Borg have assimilated their leaders of state. Whatever the situation, it must not be revealed to the public through a vast conspiracy of deception, the entire affair was buried, completely unheard of. Nobody really knew what happened at Siranau, except that there was a great accident that destroyed the planet. The entire area was sealed off. All the participants were reminded of their oath to secrecy. For those who died gallantly in battle, their bravery will be acknowledged formally but another story will be cooked up to explain their deaths. Like wise, the Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians will undertake parallel steps to cover up the entire affair.

"What about the politicians who were assimilated?" Hurst asked his Section contact, a man named Smith. The Section operated in cells each task force actually has no direct knowledge of the other, although in different groups, they may participate in the same battle. Neither do Section task force leaders talk to another leader directly. They were also made unaware of the true identities of the top leaders. This was to prevent secrets from being compromised when captured, interrogated or telepathically scanned. Each only talk to a 'representative' who wore a Starfleet uniform, but do not officially exist in any database and has no rank.

"We try to brainwash the de-assimilated leaders and remove any memory that they have been assimilated," Smith said. "But there are those that cannot be 'fixed' in any way. We put them on a special asylum, and then we put a stooge in their place, one who had been surgically altered to look exactly like them, talk and act like them. This actually gives the Section greater access and control within the hierarchy of the Federation politics."

That was rather deviant, Hurst thought. To have seen and used an opportunity, to replace one infiltrator with another of their own. He understood the cause of joining the Section, but sometimes he had his doubts if what will happen if the Section itself became too powerful. Maybe he shouldn't worry about that. The severe losses in the last battle may have dwindled Section fleet strength considerably, but that was offset with heavy losses in the Tal Shi'ar, Black Fleet and Obsidian Order. However all these organizations serve as guards against internal and external threats within their political bodies, and any weakening on these organizations will mean a weakening their respective empires and nations to deal threats both inside and outside.

***

The shipyard was busy, with so many ships requiring vital repairs. For ships that suffered hull damage, Starfleet was no longer issuing the standard replacement part, but rather, an identical panel using ablative armor. It would fit exactly like the old part, and then dyed over to maintain the same color as the rest of the ship. Ideally, the old ships should have been totally overhauled so it will all be completely covered with such, but that would take took much time. It would take years to phase in ablative armor into the older ships. However, all new ships and hulls were being built with ablative armor as standard. The Athena had hers standard, so did the Aegis ships and all new production blocks of the Defiant, Sabre, Norway, Akira, Intrepid, Nova, and Steamrunner.

The Hiryu itself had already gone one refit to upgrade her computer and medical systems, and now the ship was on the shipyard to replace a lot of her damaged panels with ablative equivalents. The ship sustained considerable punishment on the last battle, and had been a frequent customer to the yard to fix whatever damage her rough and tough encounters tend to take. Boussard was there, keeping a careful eye on the armor refit. The ablative panel had a deeper greyish and shinier color than the standard panel, and so far the ship appeared with an awkward checkered pattern. But that is before the molecular rearrangement procedure was imposed to realign all the molecules to create the same color.

Athena and Garret were called to Hurst's office. Garret wondered what Athena had done this time, while Athena was strongly protesting her innocence, to the degree that she may have accidentally revealed mischief that both Garret and Hurst would never have known.

But that was not what they were called for. "I thought this would be handy for Athena in future missions," Hurst said. He placed a small triangular metallic thing on the desk that somehow looked like a weird communicator.

"It's a portable holoemitter. When Voyager returned a few years ago, she brought a store load of technological treasures to us. Some are too delicate to be used openly and may even be in violation of the Temporal Directive. However, Section forces have limited use of these technologies to be able to serve their purpose, so long we maintain our secrecy on such matters." Hurst said. "One such treasure is this device, which virtually allows a hologram to venture freely. The original device is still with the EMH that formerly worked aboard the Voyager and is now with the Daystrom Institute where he is furthering his research. So is the original device. We made a copy of the device just for Athena. I think it may prove invaluable."

"This is great!" Athena cried out. She pinned the device to herself, momentarily disappeared then reappeared again. "It works too!" She had just disengaged the emitters from her ship, then switched over to the holo emitters. "Now I don't have to use my deflectors to extend my range."

"One thing, don't lose that thing, you hear me?" Hurst warned. "Yes, yes, Admiral," Athena said.

"But doesn't Athena's hologram work a bit differently? She's not like an entire hologram that can be downloaded into this small device." Garret inquired.

"I actually only needed to download a part of myself into this device." Athena said. "It's just like when I am in multi vector mode. I am in three places at once, and yet I can all control all parts like a single consciousness, unless of course, complex tactics are required and subspace interference is high. "

"Yes," Garret said. "We've been having some problems with the MVAM. Athena could perform all basic attack maneuvers, but she can only maintain one locality of consciousness. This means MVAM works if she's attacking a single target, but not against if she is faced with multiple targets, or if the separated hulls are required to act more like separate ships with different missions. Live control would have been more appropriate on such occasions."

"I see the point." Hurst said.

"But we're improving her multiple autonomous capabilities. Dr. Shiner is helping us with some reprogramming." Garret said. "One method is for her to be able to shift her focus of consciousness so fast that she appears to be in many places at once, which is all too possible due to her processing speed."

"Quite interesting, Garret, I'm happy to see that we have found somebody that can not only work with Athena but also improve on her." Hurst said. "We got some other matters here but I don't know if it will concern you. Admiral Paris appears eager to get his son Tom's design of a high speed attack shuttle evaluated and perhaps brought into regular Starfleet service."

"I heard of something like that. Is that what they call the Delta Flyer?" Garret asked.

"Yes." Hurst answered. "We're making a few of our own for testing. Due to the Athena's MVAM design, we can't accommodate a proper shuttle bay for her... sorry Athena..."

"That's okay," she said.

"...but the other ships could explore using a new shuttle design," Hurst continued.

"But sir, aren't the Venture class scouts, the Type 11 and 12 shuttles doing just fine for our use?" Garret asked. "I'm not saying that the Delta Flyer isn't a bad design or anything."

"They actually take up more space than our Type 9 or even 11 shuttles, so it's a problem on smaller ships. It's functional purpose is close to what we can do with the Venture class scouts," Hurst said. "One of the better potential for a craft of that size and capability is to sneak in marine teams where larger ships will be detected, something we already do quite well with the Ventures. At least this is better than the pressure I have been through to accommodate a fighter program."

"A fighter program?" Garret asked.

"Oh yes. Using the Peregrine and a new type called Valkyrie for evaluation," Hurst said.

"I always wondered why we never use more fighters in our operations," Garret said.

"The problem of fighters is that we've never seem to come up with a fighter design that can significantly outperform a heavy long range shuttle or scout like the Venture, the Type 11 or even the Delta Flyer," Hurst said. "They end up costing the same, do not provide superior armament or smaller size, and sacrifice a lot of versatility. Starfleet's doctrine with regards to fighters is still the same if it can't out do a shuttle, we ain't making it. But some admirals are still insistent on the concept. I'm getting a headache on this one."

"Hmm. If you already have one of those Flyers out in the yard, can I take it to a spin?" Athena asked. "If I already have the emitter, I can move around and fly one of those things. Pretty please?"

"You have been flying like a nutcase," Hurst said. "The last time I was in your ship may pretty be the last time period. I always thought we have enough anti gravity to compensate for any maneuvers."

"Not her wild maneuvers," Garret said. "Just remember she controls the ship like it's her own body."

"Well if you promise to return back the Flyer in proper condition and give me an honest report and assessment, yes, Athena you can take one of the Flyers out." Hurst said.

"Yes, yes!" Athena said.

"I just hope I won't regret it," Hurst said. This is another good test of Athena's sense of responsibility and ability to run a ship on her own. "And when you come back, I got something for you."

"Sure, I look forward to anything new," Athena replied.

As she and Garret left, Hurst flicked on the monitor. The Miranda class tug tractored yet another technological gift from Voyager's historic return, a revolutionary new ship hull. Will Athena try it?

* * *

Hurst stood with Shiner as she looked from the mess hall to the stars beyond.

"I heard Athena just got something called a mobile emitter," Shiner said. "Expanding her boundaries will be crucial to her learning processes. I am glad Section would consider her important enough to bend this small infraction of the Temporal Directive."

"Section gets first priority on all so called forbidden technologies, such as those coming from the future or other alien species," Hurst said. "It is our job to test the impact of these technologies before they are shared with the rest of the Federation."

"That's very understood, Admiral," Shiner affirmed. "I'm sure Athena would be most delighted."

"We intend to make Athena test more technologies, if you don't mind, Doctor," Hurst said.

"Are you really asking me, Admiral?" Shiner said. "I have a vested interest to know Athena's fate, but her fate isn't in my hands anymore. I'm sure she'll be happy to test the newest things. She always complained about wanting to extend her boundaries."

"She's going to have plenty of opportunity," Hurst said. "I think we will all be happy."

She seemed very thoughtful and quiet, and Hurst could imagine what was going on in her mind. It wasn't just Athena. Ever since they took over the Gate, she had been deeply concerned about the Borg.

"Are you concerned they will be back?" Hurst asked.

"You mean the Borg?" Shiner said. "Yes. Every time we thought we killed them, they kept coming back, finding new means to beat us. They are relentless. They continually adapt. They will find new means always. If not now, when and what?"

"You can say that again," Hurst said. "For instance, they have been able to counter every new torpedo technology we have introduced. There was quantum and tri-cobalt. They learned to beat them. We are currently experimenting with new technologies such as transphasic, but Voyager's use of transphasic torpedoes during her return may have compromised that for the Borg."

"But they tried their own tricks too like infiltrators and interlocking Fusion Cubes. We've beaten that," Shiner said.

"We didn't. The Enterprise G did. If it weren't for the ship, our goose is cooked one hundred years down the line." Hurst said. "We can't rely in any more temporal violations like the Enterprise G to save us. One of these days there will still be a final showdown between the Borg and the rest of humanity. That's one prophecy I guarantee."

(End of Episode 3)

Advanced Shipyard During the Dominion War, Dominion attacks against large well known shipyards such as Utopia Planitia gravely disrupted the Federation's ability to replenish severe ship attrition on the front. Starfleet conceived of an emergency production plan to put new shipyards in unknown and little visited areas of the Federation away from Dominion reach. These new hastily built yards could create a number of smaller ships. Then Starfleet enacted an emergency ship program that emphasized mass production of certain modern models.

The emergency models included the Defiant class, the Sabre class, Steamrunner class, Norway class and later the Akira class. These shipyards are so large they are capable of assembly line production of several hulls simultaneously, instead of one dock, one ship approach. However production of larger starships such as the Sovereign and the Galaxy classes remain disrupted until Federation deployed Advanced Shipyards on remote places. These yards are so big they could que four Sovereign class hulls simultaneously in production. In time they themselves become major star bases. Even after the war, location of Advanced Shipyards are kept confidential in the event of a new war to come. Tacticus is one such shipyard.

Ambassador C class Refit---Larger ships proved to be irreplaceable, and yet vulnerable, forcing them to be withdrawn from the front line use and reserved for major battles. Other ships were modified for troop transport, refugee evacuation and blockade running. These ships would not be deployed without considerable escort. One such example is this Ambassador refit.

Niagara B class Refit The Niagara was an unusual design to have three warp nacelles. However, it didn't proved to be cost effective, and subsequent designs were made with only two nacelles instead.

Steamrunner class variants The basic Steamrunner had two phaser strips on the ventral with six Type X phasers, plus one Type X on the top dorsal. But some of the latest Steamrunners substitute the ventral weapons with four Type 2 pulse phasers cannons as the weapon type became available.

Defiant class variants Some Defiants were modified with larger nose deflectors and scanners for scouting and reconnaissance purpose.

Intrepid class variants After the second Intrepid class prototype disappeared, the entire Intrepid explorer program went into disarray. Nobody could determine the exact reasons why the USS Voyager disappeared, but some blamed mechanical failure, specifically, the overly complicated and expensive to make adjustable warp pylons and nacelles. The Starflet put the whole program on hold, and Starfleet initiated a redesign of the Intrepid.

The Dominion War caused a major delay of the Intrepid program. Without need for explorers, the program was put aside in favor of the emergency ship building program that put a lot of Defiants, Steamrunners and Akiras into service. However, several hulls were already in the process of being built, and in the rush to put as much starships into the battlefield, these were quickly matched to given mix of conventional engineering hulls with fixed pylons and nacelles. One hull had the fixed dropped warp nacelles similar to conceptual designs of the Intrepid class.

One Intrepid variant called the Yeager class saw service during the Dominion War in limited numbers. The USS Yeager herself was lost, and the next ship to use the name was a Sabre class escort. Another variant had an AWAC pod for long range scans.

After the war, in an incident that involved the USS Prometheus prototype, the USS Voyager regained contact with the Federation from the Delta Quadrant, proving once and for all, she wasn't lost due to mechanical failure. However, the controversial adjustable warp nacelle design had long been abandoned then, even though, ironically, in the end, it was cleared and innocent of any blame placed on it for Voyager's disappearance.

After the war also saw the Federation resume back to its exploration and patrol duties, albeit with a much more cautionary stance. There was still paranoia over the Borg, and renewed tension with Romulans. There was need for a dual role long range explorer and military ship. The Steamrunner and Norway were more like dedicated warship classes, extremely rugged, but lacking the space needed for the stores, comforts, and the science equipment for that role. The Intrepid program saw new life and confidence, and the reports brought back by the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant also ignited new interest for the class as well as further exploration.

Just as well tired of war and uncertainty, the Federation citizens needed a new distraction, something to remind it of the golden era of exploration before the Borg came and the war with the Dominion. Even as Starfleet maintained a policy of vigilence, Federation politicans cashed in on the exploration craze and every new report Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant.

Starfleet commissioned yet new Intrepid class variants. The Intrepid A class was definitive variant with the dropped warp nacelles deployed in the Dominion War in limited numbers. Succeeding it was the Intrepid B class which has fixed swept back dropped warp nacelles. These nacelles are larger and belonged to the latest family of warp engines nacelles, such as those used on the Sovereign and Nova classes. The nacelles were raised above the main saucer hull, with the pylons short and angled upward which is regarded as the optimum speed position if the Intrepid is using adjustable nacelles. This appears to be headed as the most common Intrepid class type ship. The Intrepid C variant was an experimental prototype with four nacelles.

Another variation is the Aegis class. This substituted an entirely new lower hull similar in design to the Sovereign or Prometheus class. A new deflector design was installed with upward swept back warp nacelles like a Sovereign class. The new hull allows more stores of shuttle craft. The large oversized nacelles were actually from the upper half of the designs used on the experimental Prometheus class. The nacelles were strategically designed to exploit the ramjet compression wave created as the main saucer hull moves forward. Actually the new hull design was intended to raise commonality of components with the Prometheus class, and in fact, the new deflector design is a variant of the one used in the Prometheus except for its red orange color.

Aegis class is a ship intended for long range deep space missions. Although not as well armed as a Prometheus, it is considered sufficient for the ship's main mission of deep space reconnaissance where increased long range scanning equipment is preferred.

Nova class variants The Nova class was originally a design, along with the Sabre and the Defiant class, offered to compete for Starfleet's Escort specification. While the Defiant was chosen, there was some concern on its reliance for pulse phasers, which were in limited supply and had limited forward firing arcs. So Starfleet commissioned the Sabre class as a more conventional alternative using the well proven wide arc Type X phaser strips commonly in use.

However, not to waste the resources of the design bureau who already spent so much effort on the new design, Starfleet decided to commission the Nova class as a planet surveyor, under its original class name, Pathfinder. The class was well armed for a mere surveyor, even though its speed was limited to Warp 8, despite the potentially powerful and oversized warp engines. It also had a fairly short range.

The Dominion War threw cold water on the Nova class as resources were diverted to the emergency ship programs. After the war, and excited from the news from the USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, there was a resurgence in exploration interest, as a diversion from the bad economic news at home, the sense of tension and uncertainty and the plain tiredness people had on the war.

With peacetime requirements so different, Starfleet needed a more versatile multi role design than the Sabre and the Defiant. It saw the potential of the ignored Nova class and introduced new variants.

The first is the Nova A refit class. This takes the standard Nova class, removes the surveyor equipment in exchange for better weaponry, better impulse trusters, and finally up rated engines that gave it over Warp 9.6 capability. This was the first Nova class to live up to its performance and military potential. The first examples of these class were set up as police patrol cruisers. Some had the original open mouth hull, but later examples had closed the mouth. The Pathfinder name, however, never stuck, and the new refits were just simply known as Novas.

The second is the Spearhead class. This was first feature a modified closed mouth saucer hull that appears like a spearhead, giving this variant its popular name. Also with up rated engines, the main purpose of this class is originally military reconnaissance and scouting, but lately it's has been recruited for exploration. It does not appear to be better armed than the Nova A, but compensates with greater scan range. Some Spearheads have an elongated saucer hull that gave it a sharper longer look.

To fit Starfleet's new motto of exploration within a budget, work has progressed on a third Nova class variant, the B refit. The new ship has the up rated engines but also features longer range cruise and surveillance capability. It employed much of the experience derived from the Spearhead. However there is some controversy on the term "long range small explorer" as larger ships are traditionally preferred for long term away missions. At this point, to prevent confusion, Starfleet decided to drop the unofficial Spearhead name and decided to standardize on the name "Nova" for this class even with the closed hull variants.

Prometheus Class vs. Prometheus A Class---

The USS Prometheus herself was an experimental prototype. Trials continued and a new sister ship, the USS Athena was commissioned. Aside from experimental confidential technology, there are significant differences in their armament however:

Prometheus, fully docked mode

12 phaser arrays 2 torpedo tubes

Out of the 12 phaser arrays, it is estimated, based on the size of the arrays, that the Prometheus has four Type XII phasers, four Type X phasers, four Type VIII rapid fire defensive phasers.

A lower phaser number only means weaker punch, but it may have a higher firing rate. Rear phasers are preferably weaker to achieve a higher firing rate, more useful for defensive purposes.

The two torpedo tubes are quantum and maybe tricobalt torpedo capable.

Prometheus, MVAM

18 phaser arrays 5 torpedo tubes

First Hull:

4 x Type XII phasers 2 quantum torpedo tubes, forward dorsal 2 x Type VIII rapid fire defensive rear phasers

Secondary Hull :

4 x Type X phaser arrays 1 quantum torpedo tubes, rear ventral

Tertiary Hull :

6 x Type X phaser arrays 2 quantum torpedo tube, front dorsal 2 x Type VIII rapid fire defensive phasers, rear ventral

Prometheus A Class

The main difference between the A refit and the original Prometheus class is that the A version sacrifices some phaser flexibility on docked mode and overall phaser power on the MVAM for greater torpedo punch overall. However, rapid fire pulse phasers greatly add to the punch of the A refit, giving the ship superior collective firepower on the alpha strike.

USS Athena, Docked Mode 14 phaser arrays, 8 torpedo tubes

8 Type X or XII (upgrade) phaser arrays 2 Type X or VIII defensive rapid fire rear phaser array 4 Type I or II (upgrade) pulse phasers forward ventral 6 forward firing quantum-tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes 2 rear firing quantum-tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes

USS Athena, MVAM 14 phasers arrays, 8 torpedo tubes

First Hull

4 Type X phaser arrays, forward dorsal 4 Type X phaser arrays, forward ventral 2 quantum-tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes, forward dorsal

Secondary Hull

2 pulse phaser arrays 2 quantum tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes, forward ventral 2 quantum tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes, rear dorsal

Tertiary Hull

2 pulse phaser arrays 2 quantum tricobalt rapid fire torpedo tubes, ventral front

During docked mode, the third hull provides for ports to allow the second hull's weapons to shoot through. This creates detail differences between the USS Athena and the Prometheus when viewed from under.