Combat Drill

Posted on Mon Mar 28, 2016 @ 8:06pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

6,823 words; about a 34 minute read

Mission: The Fall
Location: USS Victory

OOC: THESE EVENTS TAKE PLACE AFTER THE KLINGON POST

Bridge

After parting ways with the Klingon ships, the Captain had been unable to get her mind off certain problems they now faced. Kovar was right about one thing.. the destruction of the Gateway left every Alpha Quadrant ship which had made the transit to the Delta Quadrant in a very bad position. Resources were now a priority. Ships damaged in battle might not be able to make full repairs without assistance from other races within the Delta Quadrant, and at the moment the list of Delta Quadrant civilizations friendly to the Federation was somewhat..

Limited.

No new information had been sent out from Helios Colony, and the Captain wasn't quite certain how to feel about that. Mostly likely it simply meant that the personnel there were busy trying to deal with what was left, identify what was left, tend the injured.. and bury the dead.

There was also the unfinished business with the Borg to contend with. Kennit knew more than anyone just how dangerous the Borg were.. There was no doubt at all in her mind that the Borg would return. She was also of the firm opinion, that the Federation ships and personnel now trapped in the Delta Quadrant would not be ready for them.

It was as close to the real deal as her crew could be faced with..and not face the real thing.

The majority of the ships crew would be involved in the drill, with a number exempt in order to maintain critical posts such as navigation, sensors, engineering..

The drill would be initiated without warning, though the crew had been informed that a drill was planned, when it would be initiated would remain an unknown until such time as the alarms were sounded.

If a member of Victory's crew was 'killed' or 'assimilated' by the holographic Borg, that officer would be automatically beamed away to the crew's lounge to await the end of the drill.

It was close to duty section shift, with current personnel on watch focused on preparations for shift change and others preparing to go on shift.

Now.. technically.. before a contingent of Borg drones could board a starship, there needed to be the arrival of a Borg ship first. But.. in this case..

Decision made, the Captain walked over to the operations console and with a touch of her finger activated the drill program. Throughout the ship, the holographic emitters came online. Borg drones 'materialized' in a haze of green transporter energy, triggering the Victory's automated intruder alert system and immediately began to move with swift, controlled and determined focus on accomplishing their assigned task. Immediately, the red alert klaxon began to sound...

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

The Captain's voice came over the ship's comm system then, "This is Drill! Repeat.. this is a drill! Red Alert! Internal sensors are detecting 15... 27.. 42.. make that.. 42 Borg drones aboard ship on Decks 3 through 5, 7, 10 through 12 and 14!"

Matt was just getting ready to hand over to the next shift when the Drill started. "Here goes nothing..." He muttered to himself. Tapping his combadge, he said "Security teams respond to alert, weapons set to a rotating modulation, watch each others back, 42 hostiles confirmed, but there may be more that slipped through the sensors!" Matt walked from his office into the Armory and walked over to the nearest weapons locker and typing in his personal access code, giving him access to the large array of weapons. He took a phaser rifle and a spare phaser, as well as loading a pack with further weapons to distribute if need be. He then walked back into his office, grabbing his own personal weapon, an old earth Scimitar; perfect for if, or rather when the Borg adapted. He then locked the armory back up and headed to join the fight on Deck 3.

****************************

In Sickbay, Nicole's head snapped up at the sound of Captain's voice. She grabbed her bag and moved out of her office quickly. "Sidearms everyone, and get ready to try out the plan! All patients to the Primary Module in preparation for separation. As she headed for Sickbay's doors she tapped her combadge. "Computer," she said, "begin safety program Anderson-B-Two-Green."

The computer beeped, and by the time she left Sickbay it was deserted, an emergency escape hatch left swinging open.

****************************
ARMORY DECK 7

Hearing the announcement Yarin got up, grabbing his tovreet off the wall on his way out, and made his way to the armory; he would need the extra firepower to battle the Borg. Arriving at the Armory on Deck 7, Yarin entered his code and grabbed a few phaser rifles, and a couple of modulating phasers.

From her quarters, Samantha jumped out of her bunk and grabbed a phaser and raced off to the Armory. "Summers to Armory! On my way!"

A few moments later she found herself by the Armory on Deck 7 and going in. Quickly heading to a locker, she used her personal code to open one and retrieved a phaser rifle and another phaser. "Ok, lock & load." Samantha hit her Com badge. "This is Summers..I am at the Armory...where can I go to best help?" " Wait"..She said into her Com Badge.. "Lieutenant Yarin is here, I'll work with him..Summers out!" Samantha went to Lt. Yarin's side. " You ready to hit back?

Before the Science Officer could respond, multiple blasts of weapons fire heralded the arrival of 4 Borg drones. Heavily armored, bodies so heavily enhanced with technological implants it was impossible to tell what species the four may have once been.. or even if the drones had once been male or female! And these drones did not move like the 'standard' Borg described in training courses. These moved with lightning speed, closing on their quarry with deadly intent..

Samantha looked quickly at Yarin and back at the Borg. "Hit 'em in the head and keep moving!" She shouted to Yarin as she summersaulted on the ground, coming up to blast one Borg square in the head.

The drones were not fazed, phaser energy from the Starfleet weapons deflected with a greenish colored haze by the Drone's defensive shields. Instead of slowing them down, the drones returned fire while closing in..

Yarin quickly dodged before the energy blast could hit him. He tucked and rolled as he was again fired upon. He grabbed his phasers and phase rifles and managed to fired several shots into the Borg drone's heads before they could adapt. The phaser fire had not eliminated their targets though they had disoriented them. Taking advantage of the opportunity Yarin unsheathed his Tovreet and ran between two of them quickly stabbing them in the brain, turning a satisfied purple as he watched them fall.

Samantha shouted at Yarin; "Good shot!!!" She rolled between two Borg and used the butt of her phaser rifle on one of the Borg's head and then fired point blank into its face, and pivoted and scrunched down to hit another Borg in its chest.

Two down, but four more materialized before them to take the place of the fallen while at the same time, an additional four drones materialized behind them. The two Starfleet officer's were trapped! Fight though they did, first Yarin "fell", followed a moment later by Summers.

The two of them materialized in the crew lounge.. joining other disgruntled crew mates for whom the drill was now over. Summers looked at Yarin and then at the others. "Well," She said to Yarin, "Looks like we've at the least have good company."

Yarin turned to the assembled crew. "Have we learned anything new about the Borg from this drill?"

Summers drummed her fingers on a nearby table, and looked at Yarin and replied quietly so no others could hear. "Yea, we're toast."


****************************

Deck 3

On Deck 3, near the EPS Support, four Drones were rapidly making their way towards the Saucer Engineering room. Their goal was simple, disable the Federation vessel's power systems and make it harder for the ship's crew to counter the Borg attack. Ens. Faraday and Lt. Hoagland exited the 'lift and headed towards the Saucer Engineering trying to cut the Borg off and prevent the enemy from reaching the vital power systems inside.

They failed.

Ens. Faraday was first to open fire, the shots from the phaser he'd obtained from a weapons locker having no effect on the enemy, the Borg's personal defensive shields deflected each shot as the Drone's approached. Closing on the enemy, Faraday swung desperately at the towering Drone closest to him hoping to .. hell who knows what Faraday was hoping.. he was killed by one of the Borg, a former Klingon from the look of the massive Drone simply removed the obstruction to it's designated goal with a sharp motion of one arm slamming the Starfleet officer across the side of his head 'crushing' his skull. Faraday was beamed to the crew lounge, where.. upon realizing what the sudden internal transport meant for him.. dropped to a chair with a muffled "Ah shit.."

Lt. Hoagland fared little better, materializing a moment later.. though back on Deck 3, a holographic representation of the Lieutenant staggered, face marred by the tell-tale dark trail of nanites spreading through his veins.. assimilated. In a few more minutes, the holographic Hoagland would join the Borg in combat against the ship's defending crew.

Chris Halloway arrived outside Saucer Engineering just as LT Hoagland was assimilated. He had just gotten off his shift in Main Engineering and was starting to decompress in his quarters when the Red Alert sounded. He had returned his bat'leth to the sling he now wore continuously across his back. Now , back outside Saucer Engineering, Chris did the most merciful thing he could and cleanly removed LT Hoagland's head, knowing of course that it was a hologram. I just hope that I can do that for real when the time comes, he thought.

Chris then watched as the two drones entered Saucer Engineering. He rushed to follow, but they had the door sealed before he could enter. Tapping his comm badge, he said, "Halloway to bridge, two drones just entered Saucer Engineering. The primary entrance has been sealed. Request backup for attempting entry by alternate means."

"Bridge to Halloway." came a response a moment later. "We have lost control of internal sensors and can no longer validate situational status inside Saucer Engineering. Control systems are locked out but it's not going to hold.. the Borg are making headway against the security protocols. Estimated time until the computer is breached. 8 minutes."

================================

Nicole rounded the corridor quickly, heading for Life Support. She gripped her bag as a drone materialized on the deck. She squared off, a growl in the back of her throat. She hadn't enjoyed a good fight in a while and was almost looking forward to it.

As the drone stood up, she pulled a phaser out of her bag and gripped it tightly. The drone ignored her however and turned away, walking down the corridor.

Nicole followed him quickly, but held back as he stopped and faced a computer access panel. She raised her phaser as he raised his arm, and as the assimilation tubules sprang out and fed into the computer, she fired.

The beam hit his forcefield, energy cascading across his body as it became absorbed and dispersed. She watched it crawl and lowered her phaser. The drone continued to access the computer, ignoring her. Nicole adjusted her aim and fired again.

The beam hit the panel, shorting it out, the power surge shooting back along the Borg's components. The drone shook then convulsed, then blew backwards and hit the deck with a thud, still as a statue. Nicole swapped her phaser for a tricorder. She knelt near the drone and growled again, scanning it quickly.

She reached into her bag again and grabbed a hypo, programming it quickly and pressing it to the drone's neck before it could repair. Immediately the skin turned necrotic and began pulling away from the cybernetic components. She put the hypo away and scanned again, wishing, perversely, that this wasn't a hologram, and that she could examine the real effects on a real drone. Still, simulations had value, and she'd do her best to take her readings with a grain of salt.

She left the dying drone and continued to Life Support, stepping into the chilled air and accessing the controls, ready to give the Borg any twists she could.

Inside Life Support, it was immediately evident that Borg had gained access to the Victory's computer. Though the ship's computer security protocols were holding them at bay, it was also apparent that the Borg were steadily working through the computer systems and would eventually gain access to the computer core if the attack was not forced back.

Already, an additional 26 drones were now indicated on internal sensors.. former crew now assimilated (aka sitting on their kiesters in the crew lounge waiting for the drill to end while holographic representations of them now wreaked havoc). Sensors in fact indicated that six Borg were moving towards the Bridge.

================================

"Great," muttered Chris in response to his lack of support. He took off toward the nearest Jefferies tube access. Spotting two other yellow shirts he hadn't met yet he shouted, "You two! Unless you're doing something specific, follow me!" The two crew members shrugged and joined him in the tube.

As Chris neared the access to Saucer Engineering he called over his shoulder, "Remember, the Borg typically will ignore you until you become a threat. I expect to become a threat very soon. Back me up." He received confirmation that he was heard, but he wasn't sure how good his backup would be.

Chris exited the Jefferies tube beneath the auxiliary control console. Making a quick look around and seeing the Borg at the primary console, he ordered his escorts to take position behind him to watch his back. He tried locking out the primary control console, but it was too late. He realized he didn't have much time left, so he caused the computer to use maximum processing power to calculate pi by the Monte Carlo method in the hopes of slowing the Borg down.

"Halloway to bridge," I won't be able to keep them out of the system. I recommend going to Multi-Vector Assault Mode to keep them out of the other sections."

Not really listening to the answer, Chris saw the Borg turning toward him. Unsheathing his bat'leth, he took a defensive stance and said, "Ready or not, here they come."

================================

Nicole had been working to isolate one of the sections of the ship from the rest of the grid where she'd seen a Borg trying to access the ship, but as she started to reach for the controls, she saw additional lifesigns showing. "What the devil?" she said, running a quick bioscan. "Vulcanoid...oh for Providence sake..."

She tapped her combadge quickly. "Anderson to Halloway, grab hold of something quick and get ready to strike once you get your footing back!" She grabbed a knob on the console and twisted it hard, causing the gravity stator within that section to suddenly be thrown by a fifty-five degree angle. Anything that wasn't bolted down as about to feel the ground sway and tip onto the wall. She didn't think it would disorient the Borg for long, but would wrench it away from the console it was accessing. She counted to three then tilted the other way fifty five degrees. With luck, the drone would crack its skull. She counted to three again and put the room back to normal gravity and planned her next attack.

With the short warning and no idea what was going to happen, Chris was only barely able to get a couple fingers on the edge of a panel before his senses told him that he was standing on a slope. Before he could establish footing, he was thrown the other direction. In the process, he landed against a panel and inadvertently entered some command while bruising his lower left ribs. His companions weren't so lucky as they both managed to hit their head on something and were subsequently beamed out, the holograms taking their place. The Borg, however, simply stopped in location and waited for the gravity transients to cease, their magnetic "boots" holding them firmly to the deck.

Chris' frustration surged. Almost roaring, he attacked the Borg with the bat'leth. He cleanly severed the organic parts of their arms before cutting through their necks, allowing their severed heads to hang by the tubes as the drones fell. "Damn it, Nicole!" he yelled. "That didn't stop them, and you killed my help! We're going to have a serious talk about this when it's over."

"Guv-tvi-rivak," she swore under her breath. "Sorry, I didn't expect you in there when I started the program." She sighed in frustration and reset her boards. "It worked last time." She checked the sensors for lifesigns quickly.

Chris rolled his eyes. What am I going to do with her? he thought. Checking his surroundings again, he tapped his comm badge again. "Halloway to bridge. Saucer Engineering is secure. I still recommend separating to keep the Borg apart."

From the Bridge, came the urgent reply "MVAM system is locked out.. unable to initialize the separation sequence from here.."

Deck 4

Maggie and a medtech were scrambling through the innards of the ship, attempting to reach the secondary Sickbay and set it up in case there were 'wounded' on the lower levels. They'd heard someone else crawling through the tubes and decided to split up. Unfortunately for Maggie, as she came to an intersection, a gloved hand appeared and grabbed her by the throat. She screamed and managed to wrench herself free, but the move cost her her balance and she began to fall down the shaft below.

As a holographic version of Maggie hit the deck, the real one was lying on the deck of the crew lounge, still letting out a scream.

"Hey!" Faraday shouted, grabbing her shoulders. "Hey, you're fine!"

Maggie, feeling someone grab her again, lashed out with a fist, connecting with Faraday's jaw and snapping him backwards. She sat up and looked around, then realized where she was and immediately realized what she'd done. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" she said, crawling over to her 'attacker.'

"Happens all the time," Faraday said, rubbing his jaw. "Just don't tell anyone I got flattened by a nurse after the Borg killed me."

Deck 5

Tom had been in the Transporter Room for only a couple minutes when the Intruder Alert sounded and the Captain made the announcement over the comm. He'd seen much in his life that would force anyone's complexion into a frightening pallor, but Tom had never been so affected. At least, not until today. Never before had he been more than a couple light years from a Borg vessel, and now they could be anywhere nearby.

"Initiate emergency protocols," he ordered the Petty Officer behind the console as he did his best to maintain his composure and authority.

She gave him a shocked stare in return. Clearly she wasn't ready for this either.

"Purple button right here," Tom said, reaching over and pressing the stud right next to her slender, well-manicured fingers. Instantly, he could hear a click by the doors as well as a forcefield be erected on the transporter platform behind him.

"Wha... What...?" the Petty Officer said as Tom gently grabbed her by the arm and led her to the nearby Jefferies Tube entrance.

"We can't stay here," Tom ordered, looking around the room for the weapons locker. It wouldn't carry more than a simple Type-II phaser, but at least one of them would be armed, and hopefully they'd get more than one shot at a drone.

And, naturally, on his first week on his new assignment, someone had permitted the locker to be moved. "Dammit," he muttered. He had no way of defending them once they got out, and it would be a race to make it to Deck Six without encountering a drone.

But not before he was forced to cover his ears and stagger away from the shrieking petty officer. He had no chance to chastise her as his voice was soon overridden by another fist pounding on the door. The Borg would be in soon.

Communicore
================
AJ jumped into action as the alert sounded. He had practically memorized the protocols to be implemented in the event of a security breach. "All right, people. Lock down your stations and stand by to implement Blackout Protocol! If you don't have a weapon, get one!" Running over to his office, he entered his passcode on the weapons locker and started handing out phasers to each member of his team. His Leading Chief Petty Officer, Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician Jackson Walker walked over to him, cocking the rifle that AJ handed to him.

"What's the plan, sir?" Walker asked, taking over the weapons detail.

AJ's serious expression didn't waiver. "You're gonna stay here with a team and watch that door. If anything comes through that, you kill it." Picking up his own rifle, AJ inserted a power pack into it, hearing it click loudly. Slinging it, he walked out of his office and into the communicore. He could see every member of his department eliminating any trace of data that their consoles held. One man was even cutting an ODN connection with an axe. To his left, there was a wall console that controlled most of the main functions. Quickly tapping into it, AJ tapped in a few numbers and watched as each of the consoles in the core simultaneously shut down. Looking over to another sealed compartment separated by a glass door, a flash of electric blue and a puff of smoke told AJ that the main intelligence computer core had been destroyed. Smiling at his handiwork, he pointed to four members of his team.

"Jenkins, Dubbo, Blake, and Jensen! You're with me!" AJ commanded. Taking point, they assumed a diamond formation and headed into the corridor. It was a scene of pandemonium as they moved out- the entire corridor was clogged with smoke and was filled with the sound of screams great and small as the wounded cried out for everyone from their mothers to their gods. Trying to concentrate, AJ's team moved forward. Encountering some resistance, his team fired upon the intruders, their rounds impacting on their targets. Checking his corners, AJ could hear Jenkins let out a shout of excitement. Not bothering to chastise the kid, they kept moving. As the continued checking through the deck door by door, it became eerily quiet...

Then all hell broke loose. Flashes of green light as the Borg fired what long range weapons they had, stunning most members of his team before they had time to blink. As the Borg bore down on them, AJ and Jenkins fired their weapons at the drones as they swarmed in. One dropped to the deck, twitching. More and more started to fall before him as they backed themselves against a bulkhead. AJ continued to fire until four more drones rounded the corner. Depressing the trigger until the phaser couldn't fire anymore, AJ watched in horror as the drones were unaffected. He flipped his rifle around to use it as a blunt melee weapon. Lunging forward, AJ smashed the butt of the rifle into the face of the drone, causing it's head to snap back. Satisfied, AJ continued swinging wildly at the drones. Suddenly one caught him with a metallic fist to the face. Tasting his own blood and seeing stars in his vision, AJ tried to get back up. The drone attempted to swing again but dropped to one knee without warning as it's neck began to spark and black nanites began to flow out. Scrambling to his feet, AJ watched as Jenkins wrapped his scrawny arms around the neck of the drone and brutally stabbed a knife into the area where the carotid artery was on a human. As the drone fell, Jenkins jumped down, wiping the splattered nanites from his glasses. Flashing him a wry smile, AJ jumped as another drone quietly snuck up behind Jenkins and stabbed its assimilation tubules into his neck. Trying to jump forward, AJ found himself being dragged backwards by another group that had come up behind him. There was a flash of light and AJ could hear Jenkins screams as the nanites began to take hold and his skin began to turn grey from the point of injection. His cries grew softer as the pain began to fade and his humanity was being wiped away. There was another flash as AJ was taken away from the action and deposited him into a room filled with others who had been 'assimilated'. There were groans of disapproval as new crew appeared in droves. A cascading sense of embarrassment filled AJ to his core as he realized that the game was over and he was in no shape to actually defend against an actual attack.


================

Cassandra had taken off her shoes and was treating in her socks as quietly as possible. Before she'd been called back to service, she'd taught a brief course at the academy on non-standard guerrilla operations. What if your ship was taken over and you had no phasers and little control over primary systems? How would you take your ship back?

Of course, that didn't include the Borg.

She heard the whirring of servos and came around a bend, seeing two drones examining the door of what she believed was the transporter room. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a tricorder, scanning quickly, then hitting a pre-programmed command.

The Borg immediately stopped scanning the door, and scanned down the corridor, their sensors registering a group of lifeforms approaching. Cassandra fired her phaser at the bulkhead to get their attention, then hurried down the corridor, taking the group of lifesigns with her.

The drones recognized the efficiency of superior numbers assimilated and followed her, walking steadily down the corridor. Cassandra let them get a look at her as she stood in a doorway, and looked inside. "Everyone, take positions!" she shouted into the room. She raised her phaser and fired twice, the beam hitting the Borg's shields and being instantly absorbed. She immediately ducked between the doors as the drones arrived, the arm of one cutting between the doors before they could close.

The drones forced the doors back open and stepped inside to find a holodeck filled with members of the ship's crew all backed against the walls in fear.

The drones walked further in and looked around, trying to see who were the "real" persons. As one attempted to run past, a drone grabbed her and placed its wrist to her neck, injecting her. She screamed and vanished from sight, five more appearing around them. The room suddenly pitched and spun, the drones momentarily loosing balance. When it steadied, they were facing a different wall, and the crew members were again pressed against the wall, but now they were all jockeying for position, mixing their order randomly.

The Borg scanned one, her holographic head distorting as the beam moved over it. Immediately the deck pitched again and the room spun as more crew appeared.

Cassandra was standing against the door and quickly made her way out, sealing the doors quickly, and setting the program overrides, locking the drones in. If the computer sensed them scanning, or powering their weapons, it would reset and redistribute them so they couldn't find the door.

She ran back quickly to the transporter room and pounded on the door. "Olly, olly, oxen, free!" she shouted through the doors.

"What the..." Tom muttered, trying to force open the Jeffries Tube Hatch. Hearing a muffled, non-Borg voice behind the door, Tom rushed over to the console and disabled the lock on the door. The sensors kicked back online, detecting the person on the other side and opened the door.

"Counselor?" he asked, surprised that she was the source of the pounding.

Cass swept in and tossed Thomas and his associate a phaser each. "Good to see you, Chief," she said. "Two drones are in the holodeck. It won't hold them forever, but it'll buy us some time to put some distance between us and them."

Tom caught the phaser and relocked the door. He looked back at the Petty Officer who was still in the room with them, and still shivering with fright. "We probably need to get to a security checkpoint. Two phasers aren't going to do anyone any good."

"If we can get a deck up, we'll be above the fray," Cassandra said. She walked over to the PO and smiled down at her. "Jennifer, isn't it?"

The Petty Officer nodded and kept throwing nervous glances towards the door.

"Are you frightened?" Cassandra said, gently.

Jennifer nodded.

"Good," Cassandra said. "That means you're alive. Hang on to that and keep staying alive as long as you can." She turned back to Thomas. "Now, let's get moving."

"Right," Tom said, holstering the phaser and returning to the tube access. A firm pull allowed him to remove the cover and place it to the side. "I'll go first. Jennifer, you follow. Lieutenant, guard the rear."

Cass nodded and crawled in after him, wishing there was a better place to be than a confined tunnel.

Main Engineering

Miguel had decided to take the time to do some routine maintenance instead of going to his quarters after his shift had ended. He was not expecting the Captain to use that time to have launched the drill she had him help design. However since she did he might as well do his best. He had programmed the drones with every bit of information the Federation database had on them. It wasn't going to be easy for anyone, including himself. But he did have some ideas that he wanted to try. The first thing he did was activate the warp core shield. He didn't want any stray weapons fire damaging it. The next step was to lockdown the computer with a fractal encryption code which he stored on an isolinear chip and tucked it away. The people in engineering were already taking up defensive positions around engineering. It was an old fashioned ambush, hopefully it would work he thought to himself as one of the officers brought him a phaser rifle. He quickly checked it and saw that the rifle had been set on a rotating modulation. He'd have maybe 4 shots before it would become useless, which is why they had to take the drones down quickly with as few shots as possible. He was still working on away to increase the adaption ability of the chips within the rifle so that they could get some more shots but so far no luck. At least not without making the rifles bigger.

Bridge

Unbeknownst to the engineer, the Captain had tweaked the program so that the drones operated on the same program directives which were embedded into her own remaining Borg cerebral implants. These drones would function as if controlled by her, indeed in a sense.. they were.

Monitoring the drill from the Bridge, for the moment the Captain was content to watch the data streaming past on her PADD which was connected to the Victory's holographic systems. She had just added a new element, newly 'assimilated' drones, still recognizable as members of ship's crew.. Those personnel still active in the drill would after all, need to be prepared to face former friends and crew mates.. if worse came to worse.

Alec sat at in the XO's chair and monitored the success or lack of by the Victory's crew. He gave a quick glance over at Rhea as she like him monitored the drill. "Glad I'm not down there." He quipped, " Though the Counselor is being very creative in dealing with the Borg drones." He said looking up from the monitor. "Being XO does have some perks. What have you got planned next for them?"

Not looking away from the data scrolling past on the monitor, the Captain said "The program adapts to their responses, the same as a true Borg attack would. As soon as the drill was initialized, it became autonomous and will continue to run until the parameters for shut down have been met, or until I enter the command to cease operation."

"That's a nice touch. Sneaky as well." Alec commented as he watched the progress of the various members of Victory's crew. "How long do you plan on letting the program run?"

"Until it reaches its conclusion.." was her simple enough response.

Alec turned to face her, "That's an incredibly vague answer Rhea. Until it reaches it's conclusion. Which is what? The Borg takeover the ship or the crew finds a way to defeat them?"

"Isn't that will happen in the event we really do find ourselves facing a Borg attack?" she answered with a question of her own.

"You know, I hate it when you take my question and turn it back into a question of your own. That said good point. That is exactly what will happen,"

2/15/16: Tags Rhea?

Main Engineering

Miguel watched from behind his office nook. He had a clear line of sight to the main doors to engineering which had been sealed. He wasn't expecting to hear a loud bang and then the imprint of a fist to appear in the door. The imprint began to grow as more hits to the door took place. Then just as quickly as it started... they stopped. Then he saw the doors being pried open and three drones attempted to walk into engineering at once. When their foot hit the deck plate they were caught in a transporter beam and beamed into space.

That was one of Miguel's little tricks, one that he knew wouldn't work again as the next drones that came in avoided the deck plate in some way or other. A few of the engineers fired from their hidden locations. Miguel took his slim tricorder / padd out and activated his next trick. This one used the holoemitters in the engine room and had them materialize weapons based on the ancient civilizations of Earth, in this case spears that went flying and impaled several drones.

==================================

Penny had been walking quickly down the corridor towards Main Engineering when the alert went off for the drill. She'd hoped to get a checkup from Miguel before she went completely off shift. She hadn't had a proper checkup with an Engineer since she'd left her old ship, and as great as Nicole was, she wanted someone more used to dealing with machines.

But as the Captain's voice came over the system, she immediately flattened herself against the outer curve of the bulkhead, giving herself a view down both sides of the corridor, then moved to the inner curve quickly to have less line of sight for the drones. She'd spent some time going over tactical scenarios and reading previous attempts to right the Borg, and was somewhat confident she could take them on. Still, it made her nervous. The last thing she wanted was to be disassembled by them.

She crept silently down the corridor until she was close enough to Engineering and saw a large contingent of drones battering their way through the door. Three got in and she heard the hum of the transporter and grinned. *Good move, Miguel* she thought. Four more attempted to walk in through the door, but were immediately shoved back into the corridor, with what looked like the harpoons of a ballista impaling them.

As the last two walked into the doorway, Penny rushed up and grabbed one, taking it by the neck and twisting as hard as she could, snapping it's spine and letting it drop, twitching on the floor. The second drone turned to face her and raised it's weapon arm. Penny grabbed it and held it at bay, then reached up and yanked two of the cortical tubes out of its head. It sparked and began to thrash. Penny grabbed its head and snapped its neck, dropping it on the ground.

"All clear!" she shouted into the doorway. "For a moment at least!"

Their sense of triumph was very short-lived, a series of urgent alarms began to whoop through Main Engineering...three of the spears had fired into the ship's primary shield control console and now, the Victory's shields were down.

Borg swarmed the Federation ship, with no shield remaining to hold them back.. in 10 seconds.. the drill was over.

The Victory had fallen.

==================================

The holographic system froze, and then the 'bodies' on the decks, and the Drones vanished as the holographic system shut down.

After a moment, the Captain's voice came over the ship-wide comm system. "Eighteen minutes from the initial intruder alert to complete assimilitation. We will need to do better."

"Eighteen minutes? We need to do a whole hell of a lot better." Alec commented in a classic understatement.

"Against an actual attack.." the Captain answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "It would likely take less.."

Alec scowled. his forehead crinkling in frustration. "Well NOW. That is a comforting thought. Knowing we'd be assimilated quicker." He shook his head, "I see a long night of going over reports and studying tactics to find something that works better."

That made her laugh, a harsh short sound. "The only thing that will work better is to not run afoul of a Borg ship.."

"With with that being said my evening is suddenly clear. What a stroke of luck, good fortune or providence." He bantered, "Because I can think of much better ways to spend my evening."

Main Engineering

Miguel however had taken a different approach. "Alright people I want everyone to review the drill and get back to me on improvements. Ramierz figure out new placements for the ballistas, we can't have the spears impacting important consoles. On another note you should be proud of what we have done. But we know we can do better, so let's do better." he told them and then walked over to where Penny was. "Nice moves by the way." he said with a smile.

"Thanks!" Penny said brightly, grinning at him. "Pretty cool yourself! I haven't seen a ballista in...well a while." She giggled and looked around. "Sorry about the consoles though. Bummer, brah." She shrugged. "I was coming in for a checkup, but it can wait, you've got a review report to write."

"Have you been... feeling unusual?" he asked her not really worried about the report just yet.

"Not really," she said, lowering her voice a bit as crewmen started passing them. "My diagnostics are showing I'm operating at 87% and rising." She gave a girlish shrug and smiled. "Thomas and I talked, and we got it all resolved. I'm...nervous? Excited? Confused? All of the above? But those things I can quantify. But I promise, if anything else unusual happens, I will let you know. Right now, I'm just glad to be in one piece and not in parts around the lab." She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Go get your reports done, I'll stop by tomorrow or something." She gave a friendly wave and skipped out of Engineering to head to the bridge and report in.

==================================

Cassandra stopped in the jefferies tube and sat back, glad she hadn't had to use a phaser. "Eighteen minutes to die," she said, wryly. "A new record." She looked at Jennifer and Thomas. "I think it's safe to get back to the corridor."

Thomas had paused hearing the Captain's announcement. Aside from trying to get to a place of safety, they'd encountered Borg roaming the Jefferies Tubes themselves, beginning to assimilate every inch of the Victory. Had he more time to formulate a plan, perhaps they would have chance of hindering or otherwise haltering those efforts. "Seems kind of futile," he muttered loudly. "Just once, you'd think we'd win, not join the Collective."

"In the grand scheme of things, we've one more than we've lost," Cassandra said, sitting back against the side of the Jefferies Tube and catching her breath from crawling so fast. She smiled gently, thinking Nicole would often voice the same thoughts about her simulations. "And don't forget, simulations like this are designed to be failures for us. If we don't continue to raise the bar, we won't keep trying to outdo ourselves. It's not about win or lose, it's how much butt you kick along the way."

 

RSS Feed