NOTE: A few parts of this story pertain to parts of the Star Traks: BorgSpace story "Cube #347's Excellent Adventure Parts I - III." Star Traks: Banshee "Collective" By Brad Dusen They're everywhere! All around him! Their faces pale and slimy. The air was thick with heat and humidity. They had him in their grasp. Their cold, metal arms wrapped around him. They wouldn't let go! They seemed to beckon 'come back!', 'come back!' He couldn't resist it anymore. He saw himself stand there, metal erupting from his flesh. His face, pale and slimy, his head bald of all hair. 'Resistance is futile.' Vince awoke with a jolt. He was resting his head against the tactical railing, slumping forward in his chair. He glanced around the bridge. Axik and Jad were conversing over some matter and the others simply stared at the viewer. Vince must have seemed shaken, since Charlotte glanced over to him and asked, "Are you okay, Vin?" Pausing, Vince said, "Yeah, I'm fine." He lied. This was just one of many nightmares he'd been having for over two years now. Coping with his assimilation. He was lucky not to have faced the Borg in the meantime. The nightmares persisted, though. 'Are they back?' Vince asked himself. He had a similar dream a few months ago and it was learned that the Borg were making an attempt at Cardassia. The Dominion ran a large battle cruiser on a kamikaze and that was the end of that matter, but this was different. 'Six of Ten.' The number rang in his mind. Six of Ten. His Borg designation. Vince shot up. "I need to lay down." He ran into the turbolift. Charlotte looked somewhat confused. "Wasn't he just sleeping?" "Six of Ten." Vince repeated aloud in the turbolift. "I am Lieutenant Commander Vincent DiSanto. Six of Ten is gone." He told himself, then screamed, "Why won't I die!?" It took Vince a moment to realize that the lift had come to a halt and the doors were wide open. Commander Smith, who was making his morning security rounds, flashed an odd look at Vince. "Uh, Vin, are you okay?" Vince looked around nervously. "We're fine. I- I mean I'm fine. I'm fine." He quickly bolted down the hallway and to his quarters. Dan glanced over to a passing ensign. "What was all that about?" "We're almost done mapping this node." Dr. Lang said as she and Dr. Issac sat in the primary science lab. On the table sat a Borg neural interface device that had come off of Captain Vorezze's neck, quite painfully at that, towards the end of last year. In their spare time, Dr.s Lang and Issac were busy mapping the circuitry and pulling out neck hairs that had come along on the detachment. "What's that?" Brian asked as he examined a cluster of circuits on the micro-viewer they were using to view the implant. "I'm not sure." Liz turned to her hamster, who was obediently sitting on the nearbly table. "Zeke, fetch the size four circuit adjuster on the table over there." The hamster quickly ran off and came back a minute later with the tool locked tightly in his jaws. "Good boy." Liz removed the tool from Zeke's mouth, patted the rodent on the head and gave him a sunflower seen to gnash on. "It looks like a power cell." Brian said as Liz removed the circuit plating. "Yeah." Liz nodded. "It almost seems to be a backup of some kind." She poked at it. With a sudden flash, the device activated and the implant began flailing around on the worktable like a metallic, spidery, fish on dry land. "I'd say we got a slight reaction." Liz glanced down. Vince collapsed on the couch in his quarters, staring out the windows. The portside warp engine was visible from this section of the saucer and Vince could see the bottom lip of the secondary shuttlebay's landing pad. 'Hmm...' Vince thought to himself as he looked through a window on the top side of the Banshee's stardrive section. 'Two people shouldn't be doing that sort of thing in an astrometrics lab.' Vince leaned over and picked a PADD up off his glass coffee table that had the newest copy of 'Federation Today' online-magazine displayed on it. He nearly screamed when he read the headline. "Long Range Sensors Suggest Feared Borg Invasion." Vince was about to press his communicator when he felt something coming over him. It was a feeling he knew a long time ago. Whatever lonliness he had vanished as the cry of a thousand voices filled his head. 'We are the Borg. Resistance is Futile.' "No!" Vince gasped, clutching his head. "Resistance is NOT futile!" He paused as his will collapsed. "You will be assimilated" His arm came to life as old, unremoved implants activated and assimilation tubiles popped out. "This is fun!" Liz smiled as the neural implant proceeded to flip and flop over the table. "It reminds me of the way Commander Smith danced at last year's New Year's Eve party." The doors parted as Vince came charging in, his skin pale. "Commander?" Dr. Issac got up. "Are you feeling all right?" "Resistance is futile." Vince snapped. He swiped the neural implant and attached it to the back of his neck where it proceeded to latch onto the pre-existing, inactive implants. He turned and stormed out. Brian and Liz sat there, stunned. "Well that was odd." "He just took the implant, said 'resistance is futile' and stormed out." Dr. Lang said as Captain Vorezze paced the bridge. "Shuttlebay One to bridge." A voice said over the comm. "Vorezze here." The captain responded. "We are getting an unauthorized runabout launch. Commander DiSanto is trying to steal the Brahmaputra." "Well seal the doors!" Vorezze shouted. "Sir, he's arming quantum torpedoes." Vorezze paused, glancing over to Commander Burns. "Which one is Shuttlebay One?" "The one that's only a few decks down from the bridge, sir." Charlotte said. "Open the launch doors, damn it!" The image of the Brahmaputra going to warp played on the viewscreen. "Captain, judging by his trajectory," Axik warned, "he'll be heading right for the believed location of a Borg cube." The Captain looked to the viewer. "I'm going after him." "Sir?" Charlotte asked. "Vorezze to Shuttlebay One, prepare an assault fighter for launch." He said as he ran into the turbolift. "First Officer's Log, stardate 53094.5: Commander DiSanto has made off with the runabout Brahmaputra and, after I had to insist that he go, Captain Vorezze is in close pursuit in the assault fighter Satyr. The Banshee herself, unable to maintain the extremely high warp velocity of an runabout and assault fighter, is trailing behind the two. Thankfully, since an assault fighter is speedier than a runabout, the Captain should have no problem catching up." "Captain's Log, stardate 53094.5: Having literally run from the Banshee's bridge to get to away from Commander Burns, who for some odd reason has incredibly bad B.O. today, I am running a leisurely pace to catch up to Commander DiSanto, who has, for no odd reason, apparently gone nuts. I'm surprised at this, not that he went nuts, but that he hasn't already gone nuts. Either way, I expect this mission to be short." "Home." Vince thought, staring at the coordinates on the viewer. "To the Collective." His longings had increased. Just a week ago, he had stared with envy at the slinky cyborg named Seven of Nine. She'd been with the Borg for 18 years and adapted quite well to sudden individuality. Vince had been with the Borg for 18 hours and he so longed to return. To just be one. Be one with the universe. "Warning, Borg cubeship off the starboard bow." The computer announced. Vince cracked a smile, his lips now a shade of dark green. The Borg technology had slowly been reasserting itself, most likely due to the activation of the implant in the science lab. The call came over the viewer as the diembodied voice sounded its chant. "We are the Borg. You were lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. From this time forward you will service the Collective. Resistance is futile." The chant, with that voice. It was a voice that could strike fear into the heart of the bravest Klingon warrior. Vince found it soothing. "Home." He muttered, then pressed the transmit button. "This is the Federation runabout Brahmaputra." Vince said. "I am ready to be assimilated." The Satyr hummed along smoothly a light year or so beyond the Brahmaputra. After a few moments at high warp, it came into view. "Banshee, this is Satyr." Vorezze suttered into the comm, pitching the fighter to port. "Did you say this is Satan?" Charlotte asked. "SATYR! I said SATYR!" Vorezze panicked. "I've found the Brahmaputra..." "Good!" Charlotte said happily. "In a Borg tractor beam." Vorezze finished. "Damn! You just had to let me make an ass of myself." "You do a well enough job of that already." Jad adjusted the fighter's controls, bringing it out of its U- Turn as it headed back to the ship. THE DELTA QUADRANT BORG CUBE NUMBER THREE-FOUR-SEVEN Captain emerged from his alcove and looked at the image currently being displayed by the Collective. A Federation warship. {Identify.} Captain sent the message over the Borg network. A response promptly arrived. {Sovereign-Class Federation starship, registry NCC- Nine Five Six One dash C. U.S.S. Banshee.} {Status of ship?} He asked the Collective. {Target. Will be destroyed. Crew will be assimilated.} The Collective answered back. {Resistance is futile.} The Collective must really like that phrase. It took only a brief moment to coverse amongst the hierarchy leaders of the sub collective before planting a root command into the Greater Consciousness. {Do not destroy or assimilate. Use only defensive means.} The Collective accepted the request. Captain paused, having a thought to himself that would not be heard by any other drone. "Now we're even, Vorezze." Having promptly returned to the ship, Vorezze assembled the command crew in the observation lounge. "We need options." He said. "Vince is in the hands of the Borg, so they know every nuance of our defensive systems." The captain paced the length of the room in between the table and the steps. "I've already remodulated our shield frequency and set our phasers to a new setting. Thankfully, since these are Omicron weapons, they Borg will not have adapted to them." Dave said. "Yet." Charlotte added. "Try to cheer up." Ben said. "Is it just me or with Vince gone do I feel a lot safer when I bend over to pick things up?" If a cricket had been chirping, it would have been extremely audible. "I say we just storm the cube and get Vince back." Dan said, leaning back in his chair. "That won't work. This is the largest type of cube out there. It's the same as the type that attacked Earth three years ago. They are incredibly large and usually carry a body for the Queen to transfer her program into." Liz said. "You mean that horny chick with the big head?" Ben asked. "Yes, Commander." Liz gritted her teeth. "Hey, I'll show you a big head." Ben motioned down towards his lap. "Judging by what I've seen during your annual physicals, I'm guessing that you're talking about your cranium." Dr. Issac muttered. "PEOPLE!" Jad pounded his hand down on the table. "This bickering isn't going to get Vince back." "But it sure is fun!" Charlotte grinned. Lieutenant Rayhan, from the bridge, interrupted the conversation. "Rayhan to bridge, we're getting a message from the Borg." "We're on our way." The command crew quickly got up and walked onto the bridge. The viewer displayed the image of a darkened Borg hallway. Vince stepped forward, his face covered with implants and his hair gone. His voice was deep and slightly machine-like when he spoke. "I am Miedo of Borg. The Collective has chosen me to be the speaker for humanity during the assimilation of the Federation." He said slowly. "My God, Vince." Axik gasped. "What have they done to you?" Another figure walked forward. The Queen. She smiled at the crew. "The Borg know all that this drone once knew." She said. "Couldn't have gained much from that." Ben muttered. "We know your strengths and your weaknesses. And we know that your one weakness is your desire to retrieve this man." She glanced over to Vince. "Take a good look, Humans." "BETAZOID!" Jad screamed. The Queen corrected herself, "Take a good look, assorted Humanoids." "That's better" "This will be the last thing you'll ever see." With that, the image vanished and was replaced by the image of the Borg cube powering weapons. With one direct hit to the starboard engine nacelle, power went down and the crew was plunged into darkness. All he could see were the red indicator lights as he walked down the corridor. The Queen was at his side. "Commander DiSanto?" A startled voice called from behind. Vince spun around to see an ensign whome he'd met earlier on the bridge. "You will be assimilated!" Vince shouted, shooting his assimilation tubiles into the ensign's neck. One more drone was added to the hive. The ensign's skin paled and implants began to pop out. He followed Vince and the Queen as they made their way to Engineering. "I can hear them." Jad said eerily. "Their presence, their voices." "What do we do now?" Charlotte asked. "We have to seal off the main computer and Engineering." "I am on it." Carn darted to the computer terminal. "I have shut down the main computer and it will not be able to start up again without the authorization code of either you or Commander Burns." "I've detected transporter activity on deck 16." Dan said, analyzing his sensor display. "And I'm also detecting two people doing something in a stellar cartography lab that they really shouldn't be doing." "Let's get to Engineering." Jad said, walking towards the turbolift. "Can I go to stellar cartography?" Ben asked hopefully. "No!" "Get away!" Dave shouted, swinging a phaser rifle madly in an attempt to drive off an ever approaching hoard of drones. They had already adapted to the frequency. "Wait!" A voice called. The drones stepped aside as the Queen stepped forward. "Hello, Commander. You remember me, don't you?" Dave gasped. "Carla?" He remembered the woman as someone on his engineering team who was assimilated during an accident involving the Borg just over a year earlier. "Strange, isn't it, David?" The Queen asked. "Seeing me like this. Seeing what I've become." Dave looked the Queen over. "How could you have become this?" The Queen paused. "My parents didn't nurture me enough as a child." She looked at Dave. "But now, I can add you to the hive. Ironic, I was once under your command, now you will be under my command." "Hey melon head!" Captain Vorezze shouted as he stormed engineering. The Queen spun around. "You!?" She glanced at Charlotte, who was standing nearby. "Eck, you!" "Why don't you pick on someone your own size. I hear the Romulans are wide open." As the captain said this, a security team came carging. "Resistance is futile!" Vince shouted. "Don't shoot him!" Jad shouted. "Velorn..." "Wha..?" Vince screamed as the Vulcan came up from behind him. Velorn grabbed Vince's face and began a Vulcan mind meld. "My mind to your mind." Velorn chanted. "Or lack thereof." "No!" The Queen shouted. "Get out of our heads! Get out of ME!" Jad snickered. "There's something Charlotte's never said." "Resistance..." Vince stuttered under the Vulcan's control. "Is..." "NOT futile!" Velorn called out. The Queen quickly began sending a message back to her cube. The Banshee rocked as cutting beams began slicing into the hull. Velorn concentrated, finding Vince in the sea of thoughts from the Collective. The Vulcan plunged through Vince's mind, searching for one shred of Humanity that was left of him. He found it. The Queen knew something was wrong. "No!" She screamed. "Bridge to Vorezze." Lieutenant Rayhan said over the comm. "The Borg cube has shut down and seems to be on an autodestruct." "No!" The Queen bellowed. "Resistance IS futile!" Dan walked up behind the Queen. "Oh shut up!" He clobbered her over the head with his phaser rifle. "I hate you people!" The Queen muttered as she dropped to the floor, transfering her life back to the Borg Homeworld. Vince dropped to his knees as a the Banshee pitched hard to port as the cube exploded in a blaze of fire. "Commander, are you okay?" Velorn looked down at Vince. Vince stuttered. "I... I think so." "Captain's log, stardate 53094.9: The Borg have been defeated, again, with the help of Captain Velorn using Commander DiSanto. Seeing as though we REALLY don't want to go through this ordeal again, we have decided that Vince needs to seek counseling, though to be fair it doesn't have to be with Counselor Stokes." "My name was Six of Ten." Vince said softly, sitting in the Captain's ready room. "There was something about the Borg. The idea that since I had no free will, I could not make a mistake." "You still managed to make plenty of those." Jad muttered. "Don't feel bad, Vince. It took Captain Picard years to get over his assimilation." "He was used as a weapon against his own people at Wolf 359. What was so traumatic about my experience?" "Good point." Jad added. "Just remember that you do have friends here. The Collective might be seen as home, but it can't be what you have on this ship." "Thank you, Captain." Vince said. He got up and left. After a few moments, the door chimed again. "Enter." Vorezze said. Axik walked in. "What is it, imzadi?" Jad smiled at Axik. "I just thought you'd like to see the most results of my most recent physical from Dr. Issac." She handed a PADD to Vorezze. Jad read over the information, then froze. "But this says that you're..." He looked up. "Is that a good thing?" Axik asked, her eyes tearing. "Yes." Jad stood up and hugged her. "Just one question: is it a boy or a girl?" NEXT: Things on the Banshee are starting to heat up, literally. The crew must scramble to get the ship up and running before it falls into a star's corona in "Heatwave."