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Sailor Trek: The Next Generation
Chapter 3 - Enter... the Borg
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Those in Ten Forward watched the initial wordplay between Picard
and Rubeus in silence. Finally Guinan shook her head, "Something's very
wrong here."
"I'll say there's something wrong!" exclaimed Raye. "This creep
should be dead!"
"Maybe, but that's not what I'm talking about. He's not behaving
like a typical Borg. Almost as if he's an individual."
"That's unusual?" Mina inquired.
"There *are* no Borg individuals. Only the collective," Guinan
insisted. "They're mindless drones, whose only purpose is absorbing
other races and cultures." She paused, "At least that used to be true.
I didn't think any being short of a Q could handle the Borg alone, but
if he's capable of taking over a Borg ship..." Her voice trailed off.
"In that case you should all transform and get to the bridge!" Luna
said urgently. "They're going to need your help against Rubeus!"
"Right, Luna!" Serena said emphatically. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER!"
"MERCURY STAR POWER!"
"MARS STAR POWER!"
"JUPITER STAR POWER!"
"VENUS STAR POWER!"
Guinan watched with a sense of awe as the girls and Darien all went
through their transformations. With a cry of "Let's go!" from Sailor
Moon, they and the cats raced out of Ten Forward.
Guinan smiled ironically as the doors closed behind them. It was
good to know that the universe could still the occasional curve her way,
even after more than five hundred years. "Good luck." She looked out
the large windows mounted in the starship's leading edge, where the
altered form of the Borg ship was now plainly visible and her expression
sobered. "You're going to need it."
Rubeus was evidently amused by Picard's pronouncement. "I really
don't care if my ship is violating your precious territory, Captain. The
Borg have never bothered to respect political boundaries, and I have no
use for them either."
"I? My?" Troi whispered to herself. Leaning over to Picard,
"Captain, he's not only behaving as an individual, he feels like one too.
Much more than yo-- Locutus did."
Picard nodded, ignoring the counselor's slight misstep. This was
in accord with what he had noticed from Rubeus, based on his firsthand
knowledge of the Borg. "What is your purpose in Federation space?"
"Simple question, meriting a simple answer. I have taken over this
ship, and I intend to use it to build up a large force capable of
destroying my enemies. Then I will return to my homeworld and exact my
revenge on those who have wronged me. Using my new... 'friends', you
and your crew will be the first to be assimilated into my army." He
paused, then smiled evilly. "Time to join *my* collective... Locutus."
"Like hell it is," rasped Picard. At that moment, the deck lurched
beneath their feet.
"The Borg have locked onto us with their tractor beam," reported
Worf. "Shields are being drained. Ninety percent... now eighty..."
"Modulating shield nutation," Geordi said from the engineering
station.
"Close channel, Mr. Worf, and return fire with all weapons,"
Picard ordered.
The Klingon didn't reply, but moved rapidly to comply. Rubeus'
image disappeared from the screen, replaced with a view of his ship.
Several phaser beams and photon torpedoes could be seen impacting on it.
"No damage. Shields now at sixty percent... fifty..."
"Fire at will."
LaForge shook his head, "Shield modulation isn't having any effect.
They'll only last a few more seconds."
"Data, get that beam off of us!" Riker ordered. The android's
hands moved rapidly over his controls, quickly altering the phaser
frequency with each burst fired at the tractor beam emitter. They could
see the color of the beam alter, shifting around from yellow to red,
blue, green, among others. Seconds later, a bright flash announced his
success.
"Borg tractor beam terminated."
Unfortunately, his success came a few seconds too late. "Shields
have failed," Worf announced just as several Borg materialized on the
bridge. The security chief reacted first, readying his phaser and firing
at a Borg in one smooth motion. It collapsed immediately amid a shower
of sparks, it's implants still twitching. The others fired almost
immediately afterwards, and the first wave of the Borg were quickly
dispatched. But as soon as the last fell, the second wave arrived.
Worf and Data fired simultaneously. The beams hit, but did little more
than spark a bit. Worf readjusted his phaser and fired twice more with
similar results, before saying the obvious: "They've adapted to the
random phasers!"
Speculation on how that feat had been accomplished had to wait as
the Borg drones moved on each crewmember and the scene quickly
degenerated into hand to hand combat. Using his rather impressive
strength, Data was able to dispatch two rather quickly. He was moving
to assist his crewmates when he found himself surrounded by a rather
powerful forcefield.
At the tactical station, Worf drew a traditional Klingon melee
weapon, a mekh'leth, from beneath his sash and took a powerful swipe at
the nearest of the drones. It collapsed and he moved on to attack
another. It grasped his arm and he found himself locked in a struggle
with it. Each of the others found themselves in similar struggles.
What the Borg lacked in agility they more than made for in strength and
persistence.
Data was attempting to disrupt the forcefield with his phaser when
he saw two talon-like devices emerge from the back of a Borg's hand and
inject themselves into Ensign Harris, who had been stationed at Science
One. She gasped, then collapsed and the Borg moved on to find another
target. He could see other Borg attempt similar moves on the others,
but they managed to avoid them for the moment.
"Hold it right there!" All eyes moved to the now open doors of the
turbolift in the front of the bridge. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask stood
there, with the other Scouts flanking them.
Rubeus had been watching the battle through the eyes of the drones.
His eyes snapped open and his expression shifted from gloating to
bewilderment. "It can't be!"
"I am the champion of love and justice Sailor Moon! I may not know
how we got here, but I've gotten to like this place. Even if that one
guy back there has a really ugly forehead!" Despite his struggle Worf
glared momentarily at her, while Luna groaned softly. "Anyway, if you
half-mechanical creeps work for Rubeus, you must be the bad guys! In
the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"
Rubeus groaned. "It's her, alright. I'd recognize those
insufferable speeches anywhere!" He paused, pondering this development.
Maybe it wasn't all bad. In fact... Yes, Sailor Moon's appearance here
could be a fortuitous event after all. He might not need to spend time
developing a base of power.
He sent a mental signal to the drones on the Enterprise. "There's
been a slight change of plans, my friends."
The Borg grappling with Ro and Troi released them and began moving
on the Scouts. For their part, they where rushing to assist the
Enterprise crew.
"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" The golden energy band wrapped itself
around the Borg grappling with Geordi, which immediately let go of him
and tried to break free. She gave the chain a good yank, throwing the
Borg into the one on Worf. It staggered, also releasing it's hold on
the Klingon.
Worf snarled and was about to slash them with his weapon, but
Jupiter was faster. "JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" The electrical blast
slammed into both Borg, and they stopped moving after emitting a shower
of sparks. Worf nodded approvingly.
"Nice shot."
Mars moved forward to meet the two approaching Borg. She easily
evaded their initial attacks, then lashed out with her own power,
"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" The bands of fire encircled the Borg,
the bright light of the attack hiding them from sight. When it faded,
there was little left of the Borg except ashes and melted cybernetic
parts.
"MERCURY ICE STORM BLAST!" A wave of cold energy froze the Borg
in its tracks. Beverly gave it a good solid kick she recently learned
from Worf's self defense course, and it fell over, shattering upon
impact. She said a quick "Thank you" to the blue haired Scout before
rushing over to the injured ensign.
Sailor Moon took aim at the one holding Picard, leveling her
scepter at it. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!" The energy beam lanced out,
and exploded the chest of the Borg that had been throttling the captain.
Tuxedo Mask followed with a volley of roses that hit the few remaining
Borg. "Well, that was easy!"
"That's what I wanted you to think, Sailor Moon!" came an all to
familiar voice from behind her. "My real target is you!" He gestured,
sending one of his trademark dark globes into the center of the bridge,
stunning all present with the exception of Data.
And Rubeus, of course.
Darien looked up shakily and saw Rubeus lifting Sailor Moon's still
form off the deck. With a wordless cry, he leapt at him, trying
desperately to drive him away from her. Unfortunately, his efforts were
in vain, for Rubeus vanished from the bridge, taking Sailor Moon with him.
Around the bridge, the Borg corpses disintegrated, leaving behind only
slight char markings on the carpet.
"SERENA!!"
Worf was one of the first of the crew to recover. He glanced up at
the screen and saw that the Borg ship was receding in the distance. The
force field around Data faded at that moment. "The Borg ship is
disengaging, moving off." Worf quickly checked the tactical board.
"Speed: warp nine point three... Accelerating to warp nine point six."
"They've got Sailor Moon!" cried Tuxedo Mask. The anguish in his
voice was clearly evident to all of them. "We have to go after them!"
Data sat back down at his station and rapidly entered in a series
of commands. "Laying in pursuit course, and engaging." The ship
accelerated past the speed of light and sped off in pursuit of the Borg
ship.
Picard staggered up to his feet. "Get us to within transporter
range, Mr. Data," he said as he painfully sat down in his command chair.
"Then match velocities." Without a word, Data entered the commands into
his console. "Any casualties, Doctor?"
"Just Ensign Harris here," she replied while scanning her with a
tricorder. "Crusher to transporter room three. Medical emergency. Two
to beam directly to sickbay."
"Energizing," O'Brien's voice answered and they disappeared in a
blue haze.
Riker swung his gaze around the bridge, checking the crew. With
the exception of the luckless ensign, there were no casualties and the
ship appeared to be in relatively good condition. "All in all, I think
we got off lucky, Captain."
"Fortunately for us, they were here to help," Picard replied,
indicating the Scouts. "Thank you." They nodded wordlessly in
acknowledgement, each of them too worried about Sailor Moon to say
anything. All of them simply watched the image of the Borg ship on the
screen, with the exception of Mercury. She was furiously working on her
computer.
"I don't get it," said Riker. "They had us on the ropes then, all
of the sudden, they just grab Sailor Moon and run."
"She has the Silver Crystal," Venus answered him, as if that would
explain everything.
Evidently it didn't. "Silver Crystal?"
"The Silver Crystal is an artifact from the Moon Kingdom of immense
power, Commander," Data replied. "In their previous encounter with
Captain Kirk, Sailor Moon used it to destroy a alien spacecraft that was
about to destroy the Enterprise. It had proven relatively immune to
phaser and photon torpedoes to that point. The Enterprise logs indicate
that the forces of Queen Beryl went to great lengths to obtain the
Crystal from Sailor Moon. It would seem that Rubeus also places a high
value on it's acquisition."
"He does," Mars said.
Darien was about to explode with worry. "We have to get her off
that ship!"
"I agree," said Picard. "Mr. Data, can you get a sensor lock her
location?"
The android consulted the sensor readouts, then shook his head,
frowning, "The Borg are generating substantial sensor interference. I
cannot get a fix on her position."
"Can you locate her, Sailor Mercury?" asked Venus.
She heaved a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "No. I've been
trying to, but somehow they're scrambling my scans as well."
"When you were on board the original Enterprise, you were able to
increase your scanner range and power by interfacing with the main
computer," Data suggested. "Perhaps if we tried that--"
"I'm afraid not. My own scans were proving too limited, so that's
what I was doing." She blushed slightly in mild embarrassment at the
looks she got from Picard and Riker. "I'm sorry. I should have asked,
but there didn't seem to be any time."
"No harm done," said the captain. "But in the future, at least
tell us what you're doing." She nodded in assent.
"I can find her myself once we're there," said Tuxedo Mask.
"If that's true, we could send over an away team," Riker suggested.
"Negative, Commander," said Data. "The Borg EM field is still
adapted to prevent transporter function."
"We could try the Sailor Teleport," Luna suggested.
This got her several puzzled looks from the Enterprise crew. "The
what?" said Riker.
"No," Mercury answered her. "I'm not sure how, but they're also
generating an energy pattern that will prevent us from teleporting on
board."
"So there's nothing we can do," Darien said bitterly. Frustrated,
he slammed his fist against the bridge wall.
Picard frowned as he considered the situation. Though he didn't
show it, inwardly he was just as frustrated by the situation as Tuxedo
Mask. Rubeus and his Borg had effectively cut off all means of them
boarding the ship and attempting a rescue. The only other option;
namely, using a shuttle to penetrate their EM field as was done at Wolf
359; was out of the question while they were traveling at these speeds.
It seemed that they would have to wait until the Borg ship arrived at
it's intended destination before they could attempt anything. Speaking
of which... "Mr. Worf, what is the course of the Borg ship?"
The security chief consulted the tactical readout. "Zero two five,
mark six."
Riker frowned, puzzled. He may not have Data's computing power, but
if he remembered his astrogation correctly, that wasn't a course for
Earth... or for that matter, any other of the major Federation homeworlds.
"Ensign Ro, what systems lie along that course?"
The Bajoran ensign consulted the star maps of the area and
extrapolated the course of the Borg ship through it. "No star systems
lie along the course of the Borg vessel, Commander."
"Then where the hell are they going?"
"I don't know," she answered. "However, it will take us through
the Romulan Neutral Zone in about two and a half hours."
"Two hours, twenty five minutes, three seconds," Data said,
supplementing her report.
"Great." The first officer's expression clearly indicated that he
thought otherwise.
"Maintain pursuit," Picard ordered. "In the meantime, Mr. LaForge,
see if you can find a way around the Borg EM field. Work with Chief
O'Brien. Data, I want you to analyze the Borg course. See if you can
find out where they're going."
"Yes, sir," the two officers answered.
Picard stood up and addressed the Scouts. "While we wait, you can
tell me everything you know about this Rubeus. Number One, you have the
bridge." With that, he and the Scouts entered his ready room. Luna and
Artemis exchanged a look, and she followed the Scouts in while the white
cat hopped onto the bridge railing. Darien also remained on the bridge,
his gaze fixed on the screen.
"We'll get you back, Serena. I swear it."
Sailor Moon woke with a start. Her hands and feet were shackled to
a table of some sort. Looking around wildly, she asked the obvious
question: "Where am I?"
Rubeus came from around a corner. "Greetings, Sailor Moon.
Welcome to my ship."
"Rubeus!" Memories of recent events came flooding back to her.
Appearing on the Enterprise, meeting the others in Ten Forward, the
battle on the bridge, a dim memory of Rubeus grabbing her, and finally
the sickening lurch of teleporting. "What am I doing here?"
"I should think the answer to that should be obvious. You know
that I've been after the Silver Crystal. And now I have it, and you,
in my possession."
"It won't do you any good. We defeated the Wiseman. Crystal Tokyo
is safe."
Rubeus regarded her dubiously. Could this girl have defeated the
Wiseman *and* the forces of the Black Moon? Well, even if it was true,
it didn't matter. He would still have his revenge on those that
remained. "That remains to be seen."
She tried a different approach. "Hey, how come you're still alive?
Your ship blew up!"
"Almost, but not quite. What you thought what my ship exploding,
was really an energy discharge from the time warp machinery engaging in
an uncontrolled manner. It should have destroyed the ship, but somehow
I was transported to this universe. My ship was heavily damaged however."
He made a sweeping gesture to the ship and the Borg around him. "This
ship found me, and approached with the intent of assimilating it... of
making me serve them." He bent over her, looking her in the eye. "Now
they serve me. As will your crystal."
"I'll never let you have the crystal."
"As my Borg servants are known to say: resistance is futile, Sailor
Moon. I will control the Silver Crystal. And you."
Picard motioned to the two chairs and the small sofa in the ready
room. "Please, have a seat." Silently, the Scouts did as he requested,
Mercury and Mars taking the chairs. Luna, on the other hand, jumped up
onto the desk. The captain walked over to the replicator. "Would you
like anything?"
"No, thank you," Mercury replied, the others indicating likewise.
Picard nodded. "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." There was a slight hum as
the requested beverage came into being. Picard took the cup as soon as
it finished materializing and sat down at his desk, though he did a
double take on seeing Luna once more perched there.
Mars was glaring at him, obviously impatient. "I thought you
wanted to talk about Rubeus, not have a tea social."
"Please be patient, Raye," Luna said. "I'm sure the captain
realizes the seriousness of the situation."
"You're quite right," he responded evenly. "I realize that you're
anxious to help rescue your friend. And let me assure you that I and my
crew will do everything in our power to do that. But first, I need to
know what I'm dealing with. I know the Borg, having had some..." He
paused momentarily, memories of the last encounter with the Borg running
through his mind. "...dealings with them in the past. However, I have
absolutely no idea what to expect from this Rubeus... other than the
fact that if he can take over a Borg ship he must be very powerful
indeed."
"So you want us to fill in the gaps, and together we'll figure out
a way to kick his butt, right?" Jupiter asked.
Picard smiled. "I wouldn't quite phrase it so colorfully, but
yes... that is essentially the idea."
Data turned to Commander Riker. "Commander, I believe I have
determined the destination of the Borg ship." He touched a few controls
on the ops panel, and the image of the Borg ship was replaced by a star
chart. The course of the Borg ship was overlaid on it, with Data's
estimate of their destination highlighted, a point in space not too far
from the Romulan Neutral Zone.
"Data, are you sure?" After a look from the android, the first
officer added, "Never mind."
Artemis peered at the screen from his vantage point atop the
tactical station. "What's so special about that area?"
"It is the location of the quantum flux connecting our respective
universes," the android responded.
"You mean the way the first Enterprise got to our world?" The cat
though this over for a moment. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh is right," Riker replied. "Captain Picard, to the bridge."
A few seconds later, the door opened and Picard emerged from his
ready room, followed by the Scouts and Luna. Seeing Artemis perched
atop tactical just behind the command chair brought him up short. Worf
obviously didn't find anything amusing about it, though. Every few
seconds he glared at the white feline. "Report."
"Data's figured out where they're going." He gestured towards the
plot on the screen.
"The quantum flux," Picard said softly. The implications hit him
right away. "Of course..."
"Oh, no..." The same thought occurred to Sailor Mercury.
"What? What is it?" asked Jupiter.
"The Borg have the ability to assimilate entire worlds. Now, I
doubt that even the Borg could assimilate Crystal Tokyo, but if they
have the power of the Silver Crystal behind them..." The captain's
voice trailed off.
It was beginning to dawn on Sailor Venus. "You don't mean...?"
"Yes. Rubeus is going to use the Borg to assimilate your Earth.
Either before the creation of Crystal Tokyo or by traveling back to his
own time." Picard stared at the screen. "Somehow we've got to find a
way to prevent that from happening."
"How do we stop them?" asked Artemis. "As it stands tight now, we
can't even get on their ship."
"But there might be a way to prevent them from entering your
universe." Picard looked to his operations officer. "Data, is there a
way to seal a quantum flux?"
Data looked thoughtful for a moment. "Theoretically. If we
detonate a photon torpedo inside the flux, it should collapse it. But
it would require modifying the torpedo to emit a warp field of the
proper frequency to enter the flux, and to generate the proper temporal
variance field to collapse it."
"How long would that take?"
"Approximately one hour."
Riker looked doubtful. "That's cutting it a bit close, Data.
We're just about an hour away from the flux."
"I am aware of that, sir."
"Make it so. With dispatch, Mr. Data." Data rose from his
station and headed for the turbolift.
"Captain, even we can seal the flux, how will we get to it before
the Borg do?" Riker asked. "We know from past experience that we can't
outrun one of their ships."
Picard shrugged. "We'll just have to be creative. Make an
opportunity to deploy the torpedo."
"You don't sound too hopeful," Mars observed.
"We're all too familiar with the Borg," Troi told her. "They can
be... formidable adversaries."
"Yeah, he told us about them," Jupiter said. "They sound nasty."
Venus smiled ironically. "Well, at least the situation can't get
any worse."
"Captain," said Ro, "we've just entered the Romulan Neutral Zone."
"You were saying?" quipped Artemis. "OW!" Venus glared at him
while he rubbed his now sore nose.
"What's the 'Romulan Neutral Zone' anyway?" asked Jupiter.
Mercury answered her, "It's a buffer zone set up between the
Federation and the Romulan Empire. Incursions into this area can be
considered an act of war by the intruding party." After an inquiring
look from Riker, she held up her computer. "I just accessed the
appropriate files in your computer."
"Mr. Worf, are there any signs of Romulan vessels?"
Worf check the sensors. "I'm picking up several subspace
anomalies, which could be cloaked Romulan vessels," he reported. "They
are on an parallel course with the Borg ship, but are not approaching."
"Just keeping an eye on things," Jupiter observed.
Worf nodded, as that was his assessment as well. His attention
was drawn to another alert sounding on his board. "Captain, we're
receiving an incoming message from Starfleet Command. Priority One."
Riker and Picard looked at each other. "Now what?" Riker asked.
Picard shrugged. There was only one way to find out. "What's the
message, Mr. Worf?"
"It is a sector wide red alert," he answered. "Long range sensors
from Deep Space Seven have detected *two* Borg ships entering Federation
space, on course for this region. They are apparently on an intercept
course with Rubeus' ship."
Picard had a sudden sinking feeling. "Ensign Ro, can you confirm
that?"
Ro took a moment to plot out the courses of the ships in question
before answering. "Yes, sir. They will intercept this ship in
approximately one hour at the coordinates listed for the quantum flux."
"This just gets better and better," said Riker.
"Well, you know what they say: It never rains, it just comes down
cats and dogs." Luna glared at her, whereas Artemis merely sighed and
shook his head.
Next Time: The race is on to prevent Rubeus from using the power of the
Borg to assimilate the Scout's Earth, while at the same time get Sailor
Moon off his ship. Meanwhile, an old 'friend' of Picard and company
finally shows up. Be here next time for "Q's and Answers".
Plus: Sailor Jupiter vs Q!
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