Paramount owns Star Trek. Alan Decker owns Star Traks. I own Star Traks: Banshee. Star Traks: Banshee "Resistance is Futile, Part II" By Brad Dusen "Captain's log, stardate 51103.2: We have installed our backup warp core and have generated enough anti-matter to get us to the Terran System while the few Starfleet vessels there try to hold off the Borg. Isn't it odd how the Federation capital never has enough ships when you need them?" Captain Vorezze stared out at the stars streaking by through his ready room window. It was a habit he'd developed in his endless quest to be just as good as Picard. He saw Commander Burn's reflection in the glass in the glass and screamed. "How the hell did you get in here?" He asked. "The door." Charlotte said. "I figured I'd come in here and comfort you in a time of stress." "You're only causing it!" Jad collapsed into his desk chair. "Well all the good first officer's try to comfort their captains!" "How does that apply to you, then?" Vorezze asked. Charlotte growled and stormed out of the ready room. "Do you really think this stuff will work?" The Banshee's head scientist, Dr. Liz Lang said as she looked at the chief medical officer, Dr. Brian Issac. "Yes." Brian said defensively. "But do you think you can get close enough to a Borg to administer it?" Liz asked. "Yes." "And will it have instant results?" "Yes." "Will you stop saying yes?" "Yes." Liz groaned and walked over to the tray of hyposprays, picking one up that was loaded with the anti-assimilation serum. "Now how is it that you found this and no one else did?" "I'm just that good!!!" Brian snapped, swiping the hypo from Liz's hand. "Give me that!" "Red alert! All hands to battle stations!" Captain's Vorezze's voice echoed over the comm. "Uhh, we're already at red alert and battle stations." Commander Burn's voice followed. "I know that! I just feel cool when I say that!" The intercom call ended. "We are the Borg. Resistance is futile." The Collective chanted over the viewer. "I think we've established that one, already." Captain Vorezze said. "Now will you leave or do you want to get the s*** beaten out of you again?" "Beating the s*** out of us is irrelevant. You will be assimilated." "My ass!" Jad screamed. "That, too, will be assimilated." The Collective chorused. Captain Vorezze sat back down and turned to his tactical officer, Lt. Cmdr. Vincent DiSanto. "Vince, is there anything we can do to beat them." "Ram into them?" Vince asked. Captain Vorezze shook his head. "Something tells me that may not be good for US! I'd like to be the one standing at the end." "What about hooking up Carn to the Collective?" Conn officer Ben Rachow turned and looked at the captain. Captain Vorezze looked at Carn. He asked himself in his positronic brain could combat the Collective. "Nah!" "You will be assimilated." The Collective decided to bring attention to themselves, not wanting to be ignored. "Vince, FIRE!" Jad stood up. "Fire what?" Commander DiSanto asked. "Torpedoes or phasers?" "Uh, both!" The Banshee stormed forward, unleashing everything it had. "Captain, the cube and ourselves have just past Luna." Commander Rachow called from helm. "Keep firing." Jad glared at the mechanical monstrosity that was the Borg cube. Fire erupted from the hull, but the wounds that were inflicted were mended momentarily. "Captain, the cubeship has stopped." Vince said. "Commander Burns, take a few people on board the cube to look around." "Swell." Charlotte said. After adjusting her nosering, she got up and walked into the turbolift with Vince and Ben. Vince, Charlotte and Ben slowly walked through the dark halls of the Borg ship. Vince looked around at the colorless machinery. "These people need an interior decorator. Maybe a few plants over there for that nice cozy look." Vince smiled. Charlotte looked at him with her eyes wide open. "Are you sure Ben isn't right about you?" She asked. "Hey!" Vince sneered as they split up. After a few minutes, Vince arrived at a vast empty room, most likely where the Banshee was earier. "Another one." A woman's voice said from behind. "One of the resistant ones." Out of the shadows, a curvy Borg woman with a big head swaggered out of the shadows. "Ahh!" Vince raised his phaser. "That will get you nowhere." She said. "Our knowledge of Starfleet weapons is vast. I am immune to them." "I?" Vince was confused, since most Borg said we. "I am the Borg Queen, the one mind that controls many." The woman shouted. "So that's why the Borg seem more disgruntled at a certain time of the month." Vince snickered. "You are a weak creature." The Queen paced around Vince. "A creature susceptible to emotions." "Uhhh..." Vince stuttered as the Queen backed him against a wall. "A creature susceptible to pleasure." The Queen moved her hands over Vince's chest. "I, uh, don't think this is right." Vince stuttered. "Oh." The Queen moved off a little. "I knew you were gay." "I'M NOT GAY!" Vince bellowed so that half the Collective heard it. "Prove it." The Queen said as she embraced Vince. "They've held their positions for now." Admiral Jared Newman said as he spoke to Jad through the desktop viewer in the Banshee's ready room. "For now, but I don't know how the team I sent over is faring." Jad sighed. "I wish I knew. Not that I would be devastated if the Collective assimilated Charlotte." "The Collective would hit a new low." Boynton sighed. "Keep them occupied." "One question: why don't you evacuate the Federation Council from Earth, that way if the Borg do win, it isn't that much of a loss." Boynton shook his head. "That just isn't the Starfleet way." "Gotcha." Jad nodded. "Banshee out." "Okay, I believe you now." The Queen said to Vince. "I didn't think a Borg could be that good." Vince gasped. "Vince!" Charlotte screamed as she rounded the corner. "What have you done?" "The entire Collective." The Queen smiled. Charlotte shuddered. "So you must be the Queen." "Yes." The Borg Queen said ominously. "I am the Borg." "Swell." Charlotte said. "Now why don't you leave Earth alone? Do you have to assimilate it?" "Yes." The Queen said. "Why?" Charlotte asked. "Why not?" The Queen asked in retaliation. "Good point." Charlotte grumbled. She raised her phaser and shot the Queen. A green energy armor flashed around the Queen, deflecting the phaser bolt. "Not a good idea." The Queen said, then raised her hand, sending half a dozen Borg drones after Vince and Charlotte. "Ahhhh!" Ben screamed off in the distance. "Oh yeah, forgot about him." Charlotte said as she and Vince ran off to see what happened to Ben. "This might work." Dr. Issac looked at the Banshee's chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander David Riley. "You think putting the anti-assimilation serum in a photon torpedo would help to destroy the Borg ship?" Dave asked skeptically. "It might." Brian said as he poured the fluid into the torpedo. "I would hope that it would stop the damage we inflict on the ship from healing." "Load the torpedo and let's find out." Dave said as he picked up the torpedo and slid it into the launch tubes. "Issac to bridge." Brian slapped his com-badge. "Vorezze here." Jad said over the comm. "We're ready to test the torpedo." "Targeting the main cutting beam and firing." Jad said. The photon torpedo streaked from the Banshee in a gold flash and rammed into the cube, sending sparks raining out into space. "It worked!" Brian cheered. "Good job." Jad said from the bridge. "Now make more!" Charlotte was near the edge of an empty shaft when the cube violently rocked. She fell over the edge as Vince grabbed her arm. "Hang on, Commander!" He shouted. The thought of watching her plummet to the bottom of the shaft suddenly crossed his mind. "Resistance is futile!" A drone said as he approached from behind. "Uh oh." Vince said. "Die you mechanical freaks!" Ben shouted from around the corner as he tackled the drone. "Yes!" Vince shouted, throwing his hands into the air. It was then that he realized that he'd just dropped Charlotte. "Oops." "AHHHHHH!!!" She screamed as she fell to the bottom of the massive expanse. "Uhh, DiSanto to Banshee." Vince tapped his com-badge. "What is it, Commander?" Vorezze asked. "Could you beam Charlotte back before she falls to a bloody death?" Jad sighed. "I suppose." Vince looked over the edge and saw Charlotte vanish in a flash. Then he heard Ben shouting out behind him. He turned to see the Queen standing there. She raised a weapon and then, blackness. "What are they doing?" Jad asked, watching the cube floating out in space. It had stopped moving and firing, but it wasn't asleep. "Probably chasing after Ben and Vince." Security chief Lt. Cmdr. Dan Smith said. Axik turned from the Ops console. "Shouldn't you be over there? You are the security chief, after all." "Eh, I just don't feel like it." Dan said, sitting in the chair normally reserved for the counselor. "Issac to bridge, we're ready to launch a few more torpedoes. These are quantum warheads." Dr. Issac said over the comm. "Fire!" Jad ordered. The Banshee fired, but everyone noticed a distinctive screaming sound coming from the torpedo bay. It was David. "Oh, that had to hurt!" Brian said. "Issac to bridge, we have a slight problem." "What?" Jad asked. "A torpedo just sprayed Commander Riley with plasma exhaust." "Ouch!" "Ahhhh!!" Charlotte finally shut up when she realized she was standing in the transporter room. "You all right?" Transporter chief Cellis, a Bolian woman, asked. Charlotte was slightly dazed from the fall. "Fine." She said as she fell to the floor. "Ten percent damage to the cube, captain." Axik reported, having taken over as tactical as well as ops. "Hail them." Jad ordered. The vast interior of the cube appeared on the viewer. "We have a weapon that can destroy you. Pull away from Earth or we will beat the snot out of you." "You're weapons will be adapted too. We will assimilate Earth. We do not have snot. Resistance is futile." "No, it's not!" Jad bellowed. "Yes it is!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" Jad tried something different. "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No, hey!" The Collective shouted. Jad laughed. "Now who looks dumb?" "Judging by your appearance, you." The Collective said. "Oooooh." Half the bridge crew muttered. "Oh yeah? Well you're mother was a tin can!" Jad shouted. "Our parents were other drones, and no tin was used in their implants." "Just shut up!" Jad said. "Ahh!" Ben shouted as he saw the Queen lunge at Vince. "Run! Run, queer!" "Shut up!" Vince shouted as the Queen shot her assimilation tubes at Vince. "Uh oh." Ben quickly backed off. Vince's skin began look pale and his veins turned black. "This can't be good." "Uhhh, resistance is futile." Vince said. "You will be assimilated." "Yeah, I'd bet you'd like to assimilate me!" Ben said. "Shut up!" Vince roared. "Rachow to Banshee!" Ben pleaded, slamming his palm down on his com-badge. "Rachow to Banshee, please come in!" Static. "They can't hear you." A woman's voice taunted. Ben looked up as a torso slowly fell from the ceiling and floated there for a moment, then dropped into a waiting body. "You!" Ben shouted. "You're the one responsible for all this! You assimilated Vince! That I can fogive! But you would rather get laid by Vince than me!?" "The Collective is not that dumb." The Queen walked forward. "But now that Vince is just another drone..." "No!" Ben was shocked. Why was he turning down such an opportunity? Maybe he knew that if he had his way with the Queen, that would technically mean that he had his way with Vince. "Resistance is futile." The Queen said softly. She embraced Ben. Ben suddenly vanished in the flash of a Starfleet transporter. "Damn!" The Queen growled. "Ben is back on board." Axik said happily. "Good." Jad leaned back. "What about Vince?" "Uhh, captain?" Ben asked weakly as he walked onto the bridge. "I have some bad news." "I already know you're back." Jad replied. "No, Vince was assimilated." Ben sat down at his station. "Eh." Jad shrugged. "Commander, any word from Starfleet Command?" "The seventh fleet has been delayed even more after they got a distress call from a Pakled freighter. Apparantly one of them got their beard caught in the warp core." Charlotte reported. "That sounds about right." Jad groaned. "How much longer can we keep this up?" "Not much longer, the cube has resumed course for Earth. It's in orbit." Ben reported. "Transporters detected." "Uh oh." Jad and Charlotte said in unison. "Captain's log, supplemental: Thanks to events beyond my control, mainly the incompetence of the crew, the Borg have reached Earth and are trying to assimilate it. Thankfully, they have only sent down a few drones, but if the assimilation of the Enterprise-E has taught us anything, it's that such a number can quickly multilpy." The sun was warm and bright in the city of San Fransisco. Captain Vorezze and Commander Burns were walking out of Starfleet Headquarters. "Strange." Jad shook his head. "Didn't Admiral Boynton's face look a little like a red balloon when we told him the news?" "Yeah. I thought it was going to pop." The two became conscious of two voice saying, in unison, "Resistance is futile!" Jad turned to see two Borg, a man and a woman, walking by. He grabbed his phaser. "Die!" He screamed as he shot each Borg at least thirty times until there was nothing left but bloody pulp. "Uhh, captain?" Charlotte asked nervously. "Those weren't Borg, they were a married couple on their way to a costume party." Jad froze. "Oh crap!" "Banshee to Longfellow, come around for another pass." Carn said, who was currently in command of the Banshee. "I'd bet Vince'd like to take another pass at my longfellow." Ben muttered. "Is that really necessary? I mean poor Vince isn't even here!" Axik walked onto the bridge. "Report." "No status change in the cube." Carn said. There was a beep. "Incoming transmission. It's the Longfellow. They say they have a plan." "Finally!" "Go!" Jad shouted as half a dozen Starfleet security officers ran from a nearing Borg drone. "They've taken over the third building in Headquarters!" Admiral Newman said as they ran. "We estimate their numbers at around a hundred fifty." Two drones rounded the corner. "Resistance is futile!" They chanted mindlessly. "Captain." Charlotte said. "I think I have a plan! What if we flooded those buildings with plasma coolant?" "Not bad." Jad smiled. "How the hell did you come up with that idea?" Charlotte paused. "I don't know." She said. "I'm frightened." "Me too, Charlotte." Jad said comfortingly. "Me too." Dan, Carn, Brian and Axik stood in the transporter room. "We have ten minutes before the Longfellow carries out it's end of the plan." She said. "So we have to get Vince off that cube before then!" "Couldn't we just leave him on there?" Carn groaned. "No." Axik said. "Energize." The four materialized inside the cube. Dan and Carn drew phasers while Axik drew her tricorder. "Vince's com- badge. 11 meters this way." "What do you mean we don't have any plasma coolant?" Jad shouted. "Why would Starfleet Headquarters need plasma coolant?" Newman asked. "We're not a starship, after all." "We need to find something else that'll destroy the Borg that they can't adapt to." Charlotte sighed. An idea dawned on Jad. A very... twisted idea. "Commander, come with me to the holographic recording studio." "Banshee to Commander Tagel, you have seven minutes remaining." Ben said from the Banshee. "Six minutes fifty-nine seconds. Six minutes fifty-eight seconds..." "Computer, deactive com-badge!" Axik screamed. "Look!" Dan shouted. Vince came hurtling at them. "Resistance is futile!" He lunged at Dan. "Now, Doctor!" Axik shouted. Dan held Vince back as Brian injected the de-assimilator into Vince. The tactical officer fell limp, then looked up. "Get me back home, these metal cod-pieces REALLY hurt." "Axik to Banshee. Energize!" In a flash of light, the five were gone. "You want me to do what!?" Charlotte screamed. "It's the only way to beat them, Commander!" Jad attempted to justify something that he, himself, did not want to do. "We have to expose the collective to the horrors of your naked body!" "First off, I doubt that would work. Second, my body isn't that bad!" Charlotte protested. There was a sudden crash as a Borg broke through the door. It saw Charlotte standing in the raw. "Resistance... is NOT futile..." He collapsed and began to spark. "Told ya." Jad smirked. "The rest of the Longfellow's crew is on board." Vince reported as he sat down at his station. Most of his armor had been removed, his skin had returned to normal colors, but the implants were still there. "Contact the Longfellow's captain." Axik said. "Make sure that he wants to do this." "He says yes." Vince reported. "Let's hope this works." Axik sat down. "Engage!" The Longfellow came about and charged it's warp engines, preparing for a collision course. "Put that image on every monitor on Earth!" Jad said, pointing to the nude Charlotte image. "Every monitor?" The technician asked. "It's not like half the planet hasn't already seen it." "Good point. Placing image now." All over Earth, drone after drone began to fall, over- loaded by the imagery they were subjected to. "Sir, the Borg cube just shut down and is on an auto- destruct." Vince reported. The Longfellow warped at the already doomed cube. "Uh oh." The cube, and the Longfellow, exploded. Axik shrugged. "It was an old ship, anyway." "Captain's log, stardate 51112.7: The Borg have been defeated, again. Though we cannot know whether or not the Borg will be smart enough to take on the Federation again, we do know that they will most likely keep a safe distance from the Banshee, or more to the point: Charlotte." Captain Vorezze sat on the Banshee's bridge. Vince was back to normal, if he ever was to begin with, and the crew seemed, for once, happy. "Helm, set a course for our next mission." Jad said. "Course laid in." Ben reported. Jad wanted this moment to be just as good as when Picard said these same words. "Let's see what's out there." "Uh, sir?" Charlotte said. "We're just going to Jupiter to pick up supplies before coming back here. We won't be in unexplored space for at least a month." Jad put his head in his hands. His headache suddenly returned. "Just engage." "Space... it's pretty damn big. These are the voyages of the starship Banshee. It's continuing mission: to ignore strange, new worlds. To piss off new life and new civilizations. And to do a half-assed job at cowardly going where god-knows-what has been before." The voyages begin...