StarDestroyer.Net BBS

"Chapter 1: Dark Omens"

Admiral Janeway sat dehind her desk, contemplating her data pad. Starfleet was still analysing the new technology brought back by Voyager, but there were many high ranking officials who were not happy at all with her decision to accept and employ the technology. The temporal directive was not there simply to be ignored on a whim, and she had knowingly violated it on more than one occassion.

A lengthy investigation had nearly gotten her a court martial, but public opinion had forced even those to admit a promotion would present a better image of Starfleet. So while the technology could easily be employed upon modern Federation starships, Federation politics was holding back the fleet from any potential upgrade.

Janeway intentionally moved from that train of thought, uncomfortable with the issues still going on about it. How she wished she was back in command again, where her decisions were rarely questioned! Despite being "promoted" to admiralty, the higher ups made sure she did little.

In fact, her most important act of late had been informing the Enterprise of the Romulan reform that had "apparently" taken place, which had lead to the incident with Shizon and his advanced prototype vessel.

My temporal violation being ignored sure would have come in handy there, though Janeway reproachfully. Her train of thought was interrupted by her door chime.

"Come in." Janeway said.

The doors slid open and Seven of Nine stepped through.

"Seven!" exclaimed Janeway, "Come in, come in! It's been too long!" as Janeway quickly got up and moved around her desk. "Has Starfleet finished debriefing you yet?"

The joke was old, but in reference to Starfleet's continued interest at picking at anything and everything Seven knew of the Borg. One time ago, a smart ass ensign had intentionally interpreted the comment in a different light, but Seven's resulting action had been to convince the ensign he was about to be assimilated. Frankly, Borg tubules being stuck in your neck would have convinced anybody.

"We have little time for pleasantries, Admiral." Seven quickly replied. "You must see this." Seven handed Janeway a data pad.

"What is it?" Janeway inquired quickly. When Seven acted worried, there was definitely something to worry about.

"These are Federation sensor sweeps from across Federation space." Seven said.

Janeway glanced through the information on the pad. "I see alot of sensor information, but what am I looking for?"

"Note the level of neutrino levels in all those sectors." Seven clarified.

Janeway once again reviewed the pad. "There are several dozen areas throughout Federation space with high concentrations of neutrino particles...Seven...does this mean what I think it does?" Now Janeway was worried.

"If you mean do these match neutrino emmsions from Borg transwarp conduits" Seven replied, "then yes."

"But we took out their transwarp hub four months ago!" Janeway protested.

Seven continued, "That's correct, but as you know the Borg were in possession of six of these hubs altogether. Further analysis on my part has indicated these are conduits being redirected by other hubs into Federation space."

Janeway paled. "This doesn't bode well, does it?"

"No." Seven replied, "Not at all. In fact, the Borg have never had the hubs redirect their conduits at this magnitude, since the process is quite energy intensive and time consuming. The last time the Borg made an effort in this direction was against Species 116."

"Wasn't that the race Arturis came from?" Janeway asked.

Arturis had made a close, but failed attempt to get the Borg to assimilate Voyager's crew by faking his ship as one sent from Starfleet. The Quantum Slipstream drive had promised them a way home, but was intented to journey them directed into the heart of Borg territory. Arturis made it clear he hated Voyager, and Janeway in particular, for allying with the Borg against Species 8472. The eventual retreat of Species 8472 had opened his race up to a large scale attack by the Borg.

Seven nodded. "Correct. The conduits were moved vastly shorter distances than the examples I have just given you, but the tactic is the same."

Janeway didn't want to believe this. This simply could not be happening. "Seven, Arturis's race was attacked by hundreds of cubes!"

Seven again nodded, and this time with what might have even be percieved as tinged with hopelessness. "Yes, Admiral. I have every reason the believe the Borg are going to assault the Federation with a large scale armada of Borg vessels. In all likelyhood, cubes."


The Borg Collective was regenerating. The war with Species 8472 had depleted thousands of vessels, hundreds of worlds and millions of Borg. Steps towards rebuilding their infrastructure had been taken shortly after the retreat of Species 8472. Previously ignored civilizations were conquered for their resources, low priority civilizations, including Species 116, had fallen under large scale assaults. New Tactical cubes, with incredibly dense armor, were constructed in preparation for any further Species 8472 incursion.

The process had been going quite well, until disaster struck. Voyager, a Federation vessel the Borg Queen had intervened on behalf of several times, destroyed the Borg Unicomplex and one of their Transwarp Hubs. The unpredictable feat was accomplished by a temporal incursion from another timeline, one that gave Voyager the tools to accomplish the goal. Trillions of Borg had perished, the Transwarp Hub's shields collapsed and disintegrated under Voyager's transphasic torpedoes. The damage was of a magnitude the Borg Collective had never known, even against Species 8472. With a single stroke, a single Federation vessel have inflicted significantly more damage then almost the entire Species 8472 war. The Federation was immediately designated the highest priority target. Species 5618 could no longer be allowed to persist as a threat. The regeneration continued, and the Collective prepared for it's assault.


Once Seven and Janeway informed Starfleet command, action was taken immediately. Federation ships were called immediately back to Earth. The current fleet consisted of almost one hundred ships so far, and the number continued to climb steadily. A meeting was called, involving the Federation President and some of the highest ranking officers in Starfleet that were available immediately.

Seated around the conference table were twenty two individuals, most of them representing the highest level of authority of the Federation.

Sitting at the head of the table, the President began. "Ladies, gentlemen. You've all seen the report submitted by Seven of Nine and Admiral Janeway."

Nods all around the table. Janeway shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The fact that Seven's name have been mentioned before her was not lost on her. The President had been one of the most vocal parties about her temporal directive violations.

"The evidence is irrefuteable, and explanation for said evidence cannot be doubted," continued the President, nodding at Seven. "Our best defenses barely slowed down a single Borg cube. We are now faced with a potential armada of them entering Federation space in the very near future. Communications have been sent to the Klingons, Romulans and every other power we can reasonably expect assistance from. We've even opened communications with the Dominion, but help from them at this time is not anticipated. The Klingons have responded generously. They are contributing almost five hundred warships to Earth's defense, which we have every reason to believe will be their primary target. We need every possible resource at our disposal to counter this threat, if it is at all possible."

At this point an Admiral Terry, a brilliant tactician recognized throughout the Federation, spoke up. "We've contacted Captain Picard, and he is heading towards Earth at best possible speed. During the last Borg assault on Earth, he found a weak point on the Borg cube that allowed our fleet to concentrate the fire and destroy the cube. Can we repeat this success, and more importantly, more than once?" She directed the question at Seven.

Seven hesistated. "No." she answered. "The weak point which Captain Picard exploited was the result of the Borg cube's protracted engagement with Starfleet vessels. The cube regenerated battle damage over a twenty two hour battle period. While extremely efficient and redundant, Borg regeneration technology coupled with continiuos assaults cannot maintain perfect repairs. Essentially, the fleet took advantage of a weak point created by the cube's own repair efforts."

The Admiral Terry frowned. "How much time do we have to prepare?"

"Based upon my experience within the Collective, the most optimistic projections suggest the Borg will begin their assault within the next eighty six hours." Seven replied.

"Just how many ships can we reasonable expect the Borg to deploy?" Admiral Tomson asked.

"Overall fleet strength of the Borg Collective was heavily depleted during the Species 8472 war. However, they would still be able to maintain borders and defenses while deploying as many as several hundred cubes into Federation territory."

The President spoke up. "We need solutions, and we need them now. Other suggestions?"

Before anyone responded, the doors to the conference room opened up, and a senior officer marched into the room. The individual, a Commander, addressed the President hastily. "Sir, we've just received a communication from Starbase 134. They reported detecting Transwarp activity near their position. We've lost contact." The Commander had barely finished speaking when the several combadges beeped throughout the room. President's communication console came to life. "Mr. President, you wished to be informed as soon as we received word of Borg incursions within Federation Space."

The President stood up. "So it begins." He couldn't have sounded more grim.

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Your the same with me. We both are in the process of writing our first attempt at making hopefully good fics.

Oh, and dude, one word of advice: PARAGRAPHS!!!

Just looking at your work and trying to read is painful to the eyes.

And don't quote it... it really hurts the eyes....

EDIT: Just for a second there... I thought the submit button was green!

Crazedwraith wrote:A decent start. Write more! now! or suffer the consequences!!!!

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Well i'm not a fan of the Borg, but if you're going to use them, i think you're dooing a decent job.

Now added to first post.

Rogue 9 wrote:

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Well i'm not a fan of the Borg, but if you're going to use them, i think you're dooing a decent job.

Oh man, Robert is sooooo going to assimilate you for that...

Robert Walper wrote:

Rogue 9 wrote:

18-Till-I-Die wrote:Well i'm not a fan of the Borg, but if you're going to use them, i think you're dooing a decent job.

Oh man, Robert is sooooo going to assimilate you for that...

Criticism is irrelevent.

Rogue 9 wrote:

Robert Walper wrote:

Rogue 9 wrote: Oh man, Robert is sooooo going to assimilate you for that...

Criticism is irrelevent.

Isn't demand for fast writing irrelevant as well, then?

Robert Walper wrote:

Rogue 9 wrote:

Robert Walper wrote: Criticism is irrelevent.

Isn't demand for fast writing irrelevant as well, then?

Shhh! It's appealing to my ego.

Rogue 9 wrote:

Robert Walper wrote: Shhh! It's appealing to my ego.

Drones have egos, Mr. 3 of 5?

Shroom Man 777 wrote:All this hype and tension is building up. We all expect a fantastic space battle. Don't disappoint us now, Rob.

Oh, and make the chapters longer, they seem a little short.

But good work! GO GO DRONEZ!!!

Shroom Man 777 wrote:All this hype and tension is building up. We all expect a fantastic space battle. Don't disappoint us now, Rob.

Oh, and make the chapters longer, they seem a little short.

But good work! GO GO DRONEZ!!!

"Chapter 2: The Storm"

Lieutenant Fidder focused intensly at his cards, pondering his hand. Just one more nine and he would have four of a kind! Twenty two hours of holodeck time were at stake, including six of his own. The other players were waiting, some impatiently. They had to be on duty within half an hour. Fidder removed the king of spades, and tossed it into the discarded pile. Reaching for the new card deck, he grabbed the top one. Let this be a nine! he though desperately. The red alert klaxon blared deafeningly across the room.

"ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL! RED ALERT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT, RED ALERT! ALL HANDS REPORT TO BATTLE STATIONS! PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!"

Fidder jumped, dropping his card in the process. Sweat broke out on his brow, as it always did in battle simulations. Except this wasn't a battle simulation. His stomach tightened painfully. The other players had already thrown down their cards and were rushing out the door to report to their respective stations. Fidder also jumped up, plotting the shortest route to his post. Impulse demanded he look at the card he had been about to add to his hand. It was a nine. "Figures!" he yelled. He ran out the door. He began to really sweat as he ran to his station. Prepare to be boarded? he thought. We haven't even been hit yet, who the hell is attacking us?


Starbase 134's command center was a buzz of activity. Personnel still arriving ran to their consoles and took readings. Reports jumped across the center to the Commander in charge. Starbase 134's sensors had been monitoring the conduit portal for just this event, and the communications officer had already sent the warning to Starfleet before being jammed.

"Tranwarp conduit is active sir!" reported the sensors operator.

"Borg cubes incoming!" added the tactical officer.

"Shields up! All power to phaser arrays and torpedo launchers!" hollered the Commander. The station's red alert siren demanded attention and drowned out normal voice volume. "Tactical analysis! What are up against? View screen on!" he continued.

Starbase 134 was one of the largest outer bases of the Federation, almost five kilometers in height alone. Spacedocks of this size were rare throughout the Federation, and Commander Justin was pround to command this one. During the Dominion war, her proximity to the Dominion war zone had required the phaser arrays and torpedo launchers to be increased in number and readiness. Now she was a match for even large scale Dominion fleets. Long enough at least for fleet support to arrive, though Commander Justin had boasted on more than one occasion fleet support would only be needed to clean up the enemy wreckage surrounding his station.

"Sir..." the tactical officer said in a subdued tone, though it still carried over the bridge noise.

Commander Justin walked quickly over to the tactical station, leaning over the chair placing his hand on the edge of the console. "What's our situation, Lieutenant?" he inquired.

The tactical officer looked up him, and Commander Justin was shocked to see pure horror on his face. He'd never known his tactical officer to flinch at anything.

"Hundreds sir..." he said in shock. "Hundreds of cubes are appearing out there..."

Commander Justin straightened up slowly. He didn't want to look, but he had. Turning, he faced the viewscreen.

Like insects from a disturbed hive, Borg cubes poured out of the Transwarp conduit. The conduit glowed a menacing green, as cube after cube appeared and moved out. Even now, he saw at least, what, a dozen? heading directly for the station. The communications audio system was activated.

"WE ARE THE BORG. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

He snapped around, noting the Borg's introduction didn't waste much time.

"Divert ALL power to shields and weapons! Spare nothing!" he ordered. He punched his station wide com unit. "Attention all personnel! Red Alert! We are under attack! Repeat, Red Alert! All hands report to battle stations! Prepare to be boarded!" He punched the com unit off again. "Are our weapons set to remodulating frequencies against Borg shielding?" asked Justin.

"Yes sir! All weapons at ready!" responded the tactical officer.

Thankfully, noticed Commander Justin, his tactical officer had gotten over his shock and was all business now manning weapon systems. The viewscreen showed the first salvo of incoming Borg energy weapons. At least two cubes had entered weapons range. The station rocked from the impact, and the fire power it took to accomplish this feat was not lost on the command crew.

"Shields holding at ninety one percent!" reported the tactical officer.

"Return all fire! All weapons!" Justin ordered.

Twenty three phaser banks and ten torpedo launchers returned fire. The nearest Borg cube took the entire assualt head on. Large craters appeared where weapon and tractor emiiters had been a second before. The cube was damaged, but continued moving towards the station. The cube began to rotate, facing another undamaged side at the station. It's weapons spoke back, along with a half dozen other cubes that had now entered range.

This time the impact was incredible. The combined fire power of eight cubes rocked the station enough to send personnel flying everywhere. Sparks flew from consoles, and Commander Justin heard a rumble throughout the station that sounded like a large explosion below decks.

"Shields down!" hollered the tactical officer, one of the few people able to maintain his position during the last exhcange.. "Weapons systems losing power! Returning fire!"

Commander Justin staggered to his feet. Blood ran into his left eye from a cut he sustained from his painful fall. He was starting to numb all over, and experiening a sense of disbelief at having virtually lost the battle already. Another round of sparks erupted from a nearby console, lighting the dead body of one of his command crew. Joana had been her name, he recalled with sudden clarity. She'd just had a birthday the day before.

"Can we get more power to the shields?" Justin asked. The Red alert klaxon had since dimmed in volume as power began to fluxuate throughout the station. He noted on the viewscreen the Borg cube's shields lighting up from another assault by the Station's weapon systems. They appeared to do little or no damage.

"Negative, sir. We had all available power dumped into the shields already." replied tactical officer Johnson.

Commander Justin activated his station wide com unit again, unbelieving he had to give the order already. "Abandon station! All personnel, repeat, abandon station!" he didn't bother switching the com unit off again. Another massive jolt rocked him off his feet, slamming him to the deck again, even more painful than the last time. He staggered up, heading towards Johnson, who hadn't been able to hang on that last time. He grabbed someone who had fell just beside him. He picked him off the floor and slapped them on the back.

"Get outta here!" he ordered. The ensign ran out. Justin grabbed Johnson under the arms and flung him over his shoulder. He was out cold. Painfully, and weighed down by Johnson, Justin stumbled out the door and headed towards section 7D, the nearest escape pod location.


Lieutenant Fidder reached the escape pod at the same time as Commander Justin.

"Help me with him!" ordered the Commander. Fidder quickly ran over, noticing the long gash across the Commander's forehead. Fidder grabbed the person whom Commander Justin had been carrying, who he now recognized as Johnson, the station's tactical officer. He quickly dragged him into the pod, and turned around to help the Commander. But the Commander was no where to be seen.

"Commander! Where are you?" Fidder yelled. There was no response. Fidder ran back into the pod and slammed the emergency close. The door had barely closed when the pod jolted as it powered itself away from the station. Looking out the pod's window, Fidder witnessed at least ten cubes surrounding the station. They were massive, even a single cube possessing almost as much volume as the entire station. He noticed Borg tractor beams grabbing multiple escape pods and dragging them into towards the massive doors opening on their surface.

"Damn you!" Fidder screamed. He knew the fate of those within the pods. He grabbed a phaser as the crawled over to the opposite pod window. He wasn't going the let those Borg bastards take him alive! His stoach rolled as he saw a Borg cube approaching his pod, and in all likelyhood the other pods that had launched with him. A green tractor beam grabbed the pod, jolting it as it was brought to a instanteous halt. He set the phaser to kill and was preparing to aim it at himself when he suddenly felt the familar tingle of a transport beam taking hold. "No!" he screamed as he disappeared in a green glow.

He reappeared within the dark confines of a Borg cube. There were others with him, many others, all in Starfleet uniforms. They stood dumbly in line, heading towards to what in all likeyhood was an assimilation chamber. Fight! he thought, but his limbs didn't respond. He realized the phaser was also missing from his hand, removed during transport. Why can't I fight! he screamed in his own mind. Why doesn't anyone else fight! But no one moved.

Every time the line moved up, a drone would walk along and push him and the others one step closer to the chamber. Fidder suddenly realized either the air was contaminated or he had been somehow drugged during transport. He fought desperately, but he also remained dumbly still, only responding when pushed another step closer to the chamber. I don't accpet this! he thought. I can fight it! He struggled with himself mentally, putting every once of will power into moving, doing something! And suddenly he could! He moved! The effect was either waering off or he had broken it's control somehow. He suddenly pushed out against nearby drone that was about to push him one step closer to the chamber again. He did so clumsily, but he did it.

He staggered away, intending to fight, or just hidet. The drone he had pushed turned around and grabbed him. It pulled him back and stabbed his neck with it's assimilation tubules. Fidder froze as the nanoprobes were injcted into his blood stream. Dark metal strips appeared under his skin as the nanoprobes did their work. And Fidder could struggle no more.

Agent R wrote:Ok, this is cool. Since I've read too many fics where the Borg get their collective asses kicked, it's a nice change of pace to see them dish out some of what they've taken for a while.

But, I don't get how the Borg managed to get all those people to behave before their impending assimilation. They couldn't have had their higher brain functions knocked out. After all, Fidder was still thinking up until the point when the drone injected him.

"Chapter 3: Resistance"

The Inteprid class starship Vendetta coasted along the neutral zone. Since the end of the Dominion war, patrols along the Romulan neutral zone had dwindled somewhat, but were still active. The Romulans were unpredictable, and while an attack from them at this point seemed quite unlikely, Starfleet had no intentions of being caught off guard. Captain Stolek, one of the few Vulcan captians in Starfleet, pondered the report handed to him by his science officer.

"Continue observing these neutrino emissions carefully." he said to the science officer. "They could indicate a wormhole within Romulan space."

"Yes sir." came the quick response. Stolek nodded, satisfied.

The communication officer spoke. "Sir, incoming transmission from Starfleet. Priority One." Stolek raised an eyebrow. A communication from Starfleet was not anticipated at this time, particularily a priority one, reserved for only the most urgent situations.

"I'll take it in the conference room." Stolek replied. While Stolek had his own private room off of the bridge, he preferred the much grander view of space from the conference lounge. He got up and proceeded to the lounge. The doors closed behind him and he sat down, activating the communications panel. "Priority one message received." the computer stated. "Awaiting security clearance."

"Captain, Stolek. Authorization Theta Eight Four Seven Two." he replied.

The computer beeped indicating the authorization and voice print was confirmed, and the panel displayed ready. Stolek touched the panel and the message began.

"Captain Stolek. This is Admiral Quinn. You are to proceed directly to Earth at maximum warp and be at full combat readiness. We've received intelligence that the Borg Collective is preparing to once again invade the Federation and we require every vessel available to protect Starfleet headquarters. Despite your proximity to the neutral zone, we estimate you can be here within the next seventy two hours. During transit, we suggest you avoid any and all sources of neutrino readings. These are Borg transwarp conduits within Federation space. Best of luck. Starfleet out."

Stolek deactivated the panel, and the message was automatically again encoded and filed within the Vendetta's computer system. Starfleet headquarters was at least an hour away at subspace, therefore time was not to be wasted. He got up quickly and returned to the bridge.

"Helm, full about. Set course for Sector 001. Maximum warp." ordered Stolek.

"Aye, sir!" replied the lieutenant crispy. "Full about, maximum warp, aye!"

Stolek immediately proceeded to the science station.

"Lieutenant," he began, "compile all data on the neutrino readings within the Romulan neutral zone. Encode and send to Starfleet, priority one."

"Yes sir." she replied. She quickly began working her console.

"Tactical, reconfigure weapon systems to randomly remodulating frequencies and bands, favoring the higher EM bands." order Stolek.

"Aye sir." was the response. Several bridge personnel glanced up at the specific order. Some even showed extreme unease. Stolek chose to ignore it at this time. He'd address it later. Stolek glanced at the viewscreen as the ship altered course. He frowned, considering the situation with as much worry as a Vulcan could be expected.


"A VESSEL HAS BEEN DETECTED.UNIMATRIX 873 GRID 079. ALTER COURSE TO INTERCEPT." Inactive Borg drones disconnected from their alcoves, and began moving about the cube. Systems on standby were brought online.


"Sir, we have a vessel closing on us, bearing 4246 mark 427. Speed warp nine point nine eight." reported the tactical officer. Barely two minutes had passed since the Vendetta had set course for Earth.

"On screen." replied Stolek. A Borg cube appeared directly center of the bridge viewer. Several gasps were audible throiughout the bridge.

"Confirmed, sir." continuned the tactical officer. "A Borg cube, closing fast. Estimated time of intercept, three minutes."


"VESSEL IDENTIFED. FEDERATION STARFLEET, INTREPID CLASS. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY FOUR LIFEFORMS. PREPARE FOR ASSIMILATION."


"Evasive manuvers." ordered Stolek. "Maintain distance. Tactical, arm all torpedo bays and phaser banks."

"Aye sir!" answered the helmsmen and tactical officer, almost as one.

The Vendetta swerved to try and avoid the cube's trajectory, but the small vessel, while more manuverable, was losing ground too quickly. The cube closed to within weapons range. It fired a single torpedo, which impacted the Vendetta's shields.

"Our warp field has collapsed!" reported the tactical officer.

"Dropping out of warp!" added the helmsmen.

"Borg cube following suit." continued the tactical officer. "It's weapon systems are powering up."

"Divert all available power to shields. Include auxiliary and emergency power." order Stolek. "Target tractor and weapon emitters...fire at will."

The Vendetta's phasers and torpedo spat out destruction, impacting the cube. Several tractor and weapon emitters were disabled or damaged, but the Federation ship was simply no match. The Borg cube slammed a tractor beam onto the Vendetta's shields. They flickered briefly and then disappeared. The Vendetta's phasers and torpedoes sought out the cube's hull again, but without effect. The Borg had adapted to the Federation ship's random modulation and frequency patterns and further hits were simply absorbed by the cube's shields. The Vendetta's weapons ceased firing, and the Borg tractor beam pulled the ship towards it's own hull as a large hatch opened up. The Vendetta disappeared into the massive cube.


"Mr. President. Incoming transmission form the Enterprise." The President nodded, and the large viewscreen shifted from the display of Federation space to the Enterprise E's bridge. Starfleet OPs was a buz of activity, but the viewscreen was high enough that even the many people walking around did not get in way of the image.

"Greetings, Captain Picard. I wish the circumstances weren't so grim." began the President.

"As do I, sir." replied Picard quickly. The President noticed the steel resolve behind the captain's eyes. Here was a captain who knew the true threat of the Borg. This would be the second time he stood at Earth's doorstep against them. However, Starfleet wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

The President continued. "You are authorized to take command of the entire Federation fleet now in Earth orbit. Klingon forces should be arriving shortly, they'll assist in any way they can."

Picard nodded. "We'll defend Earth to the last starship, sir. You have my word on that."

"I expected nothing less, Captain." replied the President. "Good luck to you, and god speed."

"And to you sir. Picard out."

The viewscreen once again shifted back to charts laying out Federation space. Several dozen icons represented suspected or known Borg incursions into Federation space. The President turned around, facing the staff and members gathered around the center table. Amongst the individuals was Seven of Nine, Admiral Janeway and several other Admirals of higher rank. He gestured to the table, and one of the Admirals tapped a panel in front of him. A holographic display jumped into focus above the table. The hologram displayed the same icons on the main viewscreen, but now in three dimensions.

"Seven of Nine, you stated that the Borg would be capable of deploying several hundred cubes into Federation space while maintaining their own borders and defensive capabilities in the Delta Quadrant?" asked the Admiral.

Seven nodded. "That's correct."

The Admiral continued "As you can see, we have at least forty two positive Borg incursions within Federation space, most of them on the fringes of Federation space. We've received confirmed reports from thirty five of these locations that several hundred cubes have been emerging from every one of these Transwarp conduits. Your estimate of the scale of the Borg invasion is off by a significant margin. We calculated Borg forces numbering close to three thousand vessels at least."

At this point Seven looked confused. "All cube class?" she inquired.

"Yes." replied the admiral.

Seven eyed the display. "Then your data is in error. Even taking into account excessively optimistic regeneration capabilities after the Species 8472 war, the Borg fleet would would be at a strength no higher then four and a half thousand cubes at this point."

The Admiral was about to interject when he was interrupted by an intruding ensign. The ensign handed him a pad and waited patiently. The Admiral began reading the report.

At this point Admiral Janeway spoke up. "Mr. President, I think it is high past time we've begun utilizing the technology brought back by Voyager, temporal directive be damned! With the help of the Klingon fleet, we should be able to hold off even..."

The Admiral interrupted abruptly "There will be no help from the Klingons, Admiral Janeway." Everyone turned towards him.

"The Klingon fleet is retreating back into Klingon space. Dozens of conduits have appeared within their own borders, with the same numbers of cubes now entering their territory. Hundreds of them." He looked at Seven, not without some suspicion.. "Their sensor information is confirmed."

consequences wrote:Umm, there had better be something the Borg did to the computers and/or warp core of the Vendetta, otherwise there would be no reason for it no to self-destruct, taking the cube with it.