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Like tears of shattered glass
my broken mirror depicts my torn spirit as I try to free myself from the internal bindings of something more It stings like a never ending aftermath of biting love and torrents of nothing spinning into something where I can't describe the ache of one yet three is harmonious in the beginning when it all ends. Metba Research Facility - Orbiting Mala'Te IV "Move it!" the Marine yelled as she shouldered her rifle and the last of her team made it through the shutting doorway. The schematics that Starfleet Security had provided showed that the way to the orb chamber was through the next two doorways and then down two decks. They'd met with minimal resistance....... until now. The phaser fire started like a light show at Earth's Independence Day and Major Ultor dropped into a crouched position behind a partition in the corridor. The phaser fire screamed back and forth like angry birds of prey claiming territory. Ultor rolled from her position to talk with her FO. "What's it look like!" she yelled referring to the situation. The massive Klingon woman was known for her tactical strategy, that's why they'd recalled her off of Outpost 721 for this mission. "Looks like we got seven of them...well make that six," Lt. Major John Thorton said. He had an ear that was unmatchable. He could discern different number of weapons by the minute pitch variance in the weapons fire. "What's their defense look like?" "Standard Guard mechanism from as near as I can tell," Thorton said squinting down the dim corridor. "I could be wrong, but I'm not," he said with a smile quoting his favorite quote. One that got him to his rank. "Not very secure is it?" Ultor asked. "One Company of soldiers?" "As near as I can tell. They didn't expect anyone to make it this far in... hell they didn't expect anyone to know where the hell this thing was," Thorton snorted back as he let loose a volley from his phaser rifle. Ultor raised up and using the infrared sights on her rifle targeted and let off a few rounds. There were four Cardassians still offering resistance. But they were not match for the superior numbers and armament of the Starfleet Marines. Within the next ten minutes they all lay dead on the deck and the door they had defended with their lives was being forced open and their tired charred bodies being stepped over. * * * Elsewhere/Elsetime * * * The STARCHILD-Class Vessel pulled tightly through the asteroid field heading for her destination. The showdown was to be in the Negdren sector. The Borg had masked their transwarp conduit by coming through the Armgaine nebula. DS 101 was the first to go. They didn't stand a chance. Even with the help of the USS HORIZON and USS CURIE they only were able to evacuate a fourth of the population. Most of the Starfleet officers had perished at the tragic battle. Ever since then the Borg had been moving closer and closer to the Portal. The Borg had made a well coordinated effort to attack the Federation. Assaulting with not just one ship but five cubes at once. The first struck Vulcan and was barely destroyed by the combined efforts of the Second and Ninth Fleets. The Federation lost Andor to the Borg and before destroying the Cube as well as Betazed and Bolarus. The Borg were now invading the Cocoon. And then it was presumed earth. The First fleet and the Tenth Fleet were waiting in sector zero zero one. The Thirteenth fleet or also known as the Cocoon Fleet, lead by Fleet Admiral Cassandra Threin was making a stand at OP 721. The Defense platforms surrounding the station and fact that the station was a military outpost made it as good a choice as any to make a stand before the vessel reached Juun. After Juun it would be onto OMEGA and that would be the end of Starfleet's newest frontier. USS MADAGASCAR - Bridge "We have the Borg cube on visual," Lt. Orberson said from Ops as he looked back at his CO. She sat with her elegant black skin shining in the dim lights. "Red alert," called Commander Malaar, as he watched the view screen intently. "On Screen." The cube loomed over them like a massive omnipotent creature threatening to swallow them. On screen they could already see the USS SAGAN, USS ARTEMIS and USS LOKI engaging the cube. The burning out hulks of the USS HERMES and USS GALILEO drifted in the distance. Like a graveyard death was obvious in the carcasses of the other Starfleet Vessels that they could not make out.... "How long before Admiral Threin and the USS FENRIS reach the Outpost?" Captain Sasha Kali asked as she looked at the tactical read out. "Seven minutes." "How long before the cube reaches OP 721?" "Ten minutes." "Well kiddies what are we waiting for? Lets give Captain Savage and company a hand eh? Take us in attack speed. Full weapons fire," she ordered grimly. * * * * * * USS HORIZON - Bridge Commander Jason Munro sat stoically in the center seat of the HORIZON as it sped towards Outpost 721 or what was being referred to as the ?lamo'. The HORIZON had been doing a pod module switch at DS 101 when the Borg emerged from the Nebula and plucked Captain Tergin from them. The hadn't been able to do much before DS 101 was gone except help evacuate the personnel or what they could along with the USS CURIE before the place fell to Borg nanites. Munro had never seen anything like it. The Borg assimilated DS 101, turning the once semi-organic station into a Borg node. "ETA?" he asked. Lt.Cmdr. Brakos checked his console. "Seventeen minutes," he said grimly. "Do you think there will be anything left of the Outpost when we get there?" he asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "I sure as hell hope so," Hideki Satuma said from the flight control station. "Besides, when are we going to get the Captain back?" he asked with a hopeful grin. "Don't get your hopes up," Dr. Layne said from where she sat at the side of Acting CO Munro. "There is only so much we can do with reversal therapy. Besides if OMEGA isn't around we won't have the Medical facilities to do it." Lt. Eno'-?earg sat on the other side of the CO's chair. The Counselor that was a walking mood ring sighed. "It's worth a try," he said. He had a special place for the CO in his heart. The CO had taken a no-body counselor that had no self confidence and made him into one of the most respected counselors in the fleet. He flushed a bright orange in frustration. "Has anyone notified Ambassador Matala?" he asked. There was a deadening silence that filled the bridge. It wasn't bad enough that Tergin had been assimilated and being used against his own people, but that the same thing had happened to Meparchka two years ago. Now the only surviving Meparchkans were the ones that weren't on the homeworld at the time. Which was about 57. * * * * * * USS ELIZABETH BLACKWELL The viewscreen was littered with explosions, like discarded garbage they flew endlessly. "Sir, they are locking weapons on us," Lt. Shar yelled as she watched in horror as the scene unfolded in front of her on her console, like a mini drama of horror. "Lt. Ral, how much more time before everyone is beamed aboard?" Captain Kieran Joram asked trying to remain as calm as his Vulcan First Officer. "Ten seconds," yelled the Bolian CEO. "We keep the shields down," said Kieran calmly. They were beaming over survivors from the USS MADAGASCAR. They were almost maxed out on life support but it was worth every bit of effort. "The USS MINOTAUR is covering us," Shar said with relief. "Ensign Orso move us into position theta right under her hull," Lt.Cmdr. Saltak ordered, Kieran saw what he was doing, using the debris from the MADAGASCAR as cover. He grinned at the Vulcan's ingenious. You would never have known that he was also one of the best trauma surgeons in the quadrant. The NIGHTINGALE-Class vessel wasn't as new as the newer medical frigates, but could still hold her own with a capacity to hold 1500 patients. They were now at 1230. "We're done!" Shar yelled. "Sir, we're receiving a distress call from the USS ATHENE," Lt. Hanara notified the captain. It pained her to see a distress call from her former Comrades especially her former Captain. "What's our capacity?" "We can take three-hundred more," Lt (jg) Gaar said. "Captain, we have to leave them, we can't sustain much more, we need to get these people to OMEGA as soon as possible," Saltak stated. Kieran liked the fact that the Vulcan was his first officer, he never got emotionally into the situation. "Leave them," Kieran said finally, feeling very cold, but he knew that it would mean death for the 1200 they had aboard if they didn't leave now. "Helm lay in a course for the Triage Center 3," he said turning his eyes from the viewscreen as the TRYFAN class ship formerly known as ATHENE suddenly went up in a ball of fire. * * * * * * USS SAISHAN "Captain we are nearing the Alamo," Lt.Cmdr. Shiana Hanari said from Ops of the massive DiFALCO class vessel. It was the first of its kind and held more then 2000 people with a crew of over a thousand, it was named after a Family that had given so much to Starfleet including the former Admiral of the Cocoon Fleet. The SAISHAN herself was named after a Fleet Admiral who'd given his life to protect the Cocoon during an attack by the Klingons. "Looks like the bulk of the Cocoon Fleet is here, or was," said Comstock icily as he looked at the tactical display. "Commodore Garn to all personnel Red Al----" Her communique was cut off by the eerie yet familiar sound of the mechanically quiet voice of the El-Aurian. ++We are the Borg, resistence is futile lower your shields and prepare to escort us to the Gaia sector. You will be assimilated, we will add your technological and biological distinctiveness to our own.++ The sound of his own voice as Borg sent shivers up and down Tergin's spine. Asa's eyes narrowed. "Engage Myriad-Shielding. Tactical full weapons fire, attack pattern Sierra-Burn!" she ordered as she took the center seat of the massive command center for the SAISHAN. For a large ship the vessel was extremely agile with excellent inertial dampeners. It spun around the Borg cube with ease. One of the reason's Starfleet had ordered the SAISHAN to the Cocoon was that Captain Tergin had not seen the specs for it, so he did not know its weaknesses. All of a sudden the El-Aurian kid-captain that was standing on the bridge hunched over in pain. * * * Mindscape * * * A metallic hand clawed, the hand like nails on a chalkboard grating into his mind. *+Help+* a voice- vaguely familiar- yet strangely- distant called in a monotone plea. It was excruciating in a relieving kind of way. *HOW?* Tergin's mindseye - only one - lonely yet excited- voice screamed back. *+TERGIN?+* *Brother?* Tergin heard his bother's voice with the gravelly metallic of the collective. His brother had been assimilated while his family tried to flee. He had not thought of him in years. *+HELP US+* *How?!* Suddenly a cold hand jerked him from this reality. * * * Realscape * * * "Captain? Are you alright?" Comstock asked his hand on the Captain's forehead. Tergin pulled his eyes open to see the dim bridge, sparks like snow falling from the ceiling and the deckplates rocking violently. "I'm fine..." Tergin said trying to stand and falling back down again. "It doesn't look that way to me," Comstock said, "Lets get you off the bridge..." "No... I think I can help more here..." Comstock paused a moment. "Alright, Here, have a seat," he said as he offered Tergin the First Officer's chair. The ship shuddered as the SAISHAN was hit again with a blast from the Borg vessel. "They haven't been able to adapt?" Tergin asked amazed that the SAISHAN was still in one piece. "It's a new shielding system designed especially for this purpose it's beyond shield mutation, it's a myriad-phase shielding system. It doesn't use the same frequency once while the Myriad system is activated." "Impressive," Tergin said simply as he watched the viewscreen. "Sir, the USS HORIZON is coming in along with the rest of BEAVER Squadron," Tactical reported. Tergin watched as the familiar form of the TRYFAN class vessel came into view. He wondered what his own crew was doing back in his own universe. "The USS FENRIS is coming under fire!" "Move us to take cover her withdraw, notify Admiral Threin we're ready to offer covering fire for any vessel that needs to withdraw," Asa said calmly as she looked at the three-dimensional tactical read out that displayed on the side of the bridge. "The Admiral is ordering us along with the HORIZON and ZEUS to give covering fire for the withdraw of VADOSIA and NAHUA." "Confirm," Comstock said. Tergin didn't remember his Comstock being so formal. "Sir, the USS NIGHTINGALE is coming in, we're being ordered to give covering fire," Ops reported. "Very well, move us into position Lt. Ready quantum torpedoes for fire at the Cube on my mark." * * * Mindscape * * * +*PLEASE HELP*+ the voices screeched like the sound of metal being dragged across a concrete floor. Howling metallic vultures squawking in unending torment as they barraged his mind with cries of help. *HOW????!!!* Tergin screamed feeling the bile in his stomach raise to his throat. +* Hold US... Please... Help us....*+ the voices clawed. Hoping for some sort of something to hold onto before they were reclaimed by the collective. The images of his parents his siblings flashed through his mind, all enwrapped in the bitter cold of metallic love. * * * Realscape * * * "Captain?" Comstock asked as he touched the El-Aurian's hand. He'd never served with this man, nor his counterpart from Constock's Borg-War-Torn universe, but he felt an affinity for the man that looked like a boy. "Are you alright?" Tergin's eyes were bloodshot. "Yes I'm fine," he lied and the Doctor could see right through it. "What is it?" Comstock asked. "I can hear them?" "Who?" "The Borg, more specifically, my counterpart over there," he turned an eye to the viewscreen where the USS HORIZON was taking heavy fire. Faintly he could hear the buzz of the bridge in the background. Garn giving orders to her crew and they carrying them out perfectly. The casualty reports the fleet status reports all a blur of background noise. "Is he speaking to you through the collective?" Comstock asked steading himself as the ship shuddered under Borg fire. He pulled out a tricorder and scanned the Captain. He was First Officer, but he was and always would be a Doctor first. "No... I think it is on his own. El-Aurian's have a natural link with one another. I think that the multiples of me share that same link from continuum to continuum. I don't however know how to help myself," Tergin managed gritting through the pain. "Let me give you something for the pain," he said, tapping his com-badge. "Doctor Thamen, please come to the bridge," he said as the ship rocked again, bringing his attention back to the task at hand. "Bring us about to bearing zero zero two and launch quantum torpedoes," Garn was ordering as she watched the ships of the Third Fleet go up in flames one by one slowly succumbing to the power of the Borg Cube. "Sir, we are beginning to exhaust the Myriad-Shield," Kuvak said from tactical. "Keep it together as long as we can," Comstock order the half breed. Dr. Thamen came on the bridge and quickly administered the hypo that Comstock had ordered. He seemed bit annoyed to be pulled from her extensive casualties that she was treating, but she also knew that this man may hold the key to defeating this Borg cube. Tergin smiled weakly at him. He'd lost his internal voices since arriving here, but then, out of the recesses of his mind one pushed its way forward to the front, one that he needed the most now. One that would make all the difference. And one he had to listen to. "Commander," he asked finally getting Comstock's attention. "Is there any way I can get over to the Borg Vessel?"
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