Resistance Is Futile - Pt 50

One hour stretched into two, and then three. Deanna stood a vigilant guard at her station, never once leaving or letting her eyes waver. Although the Borg were a Collective body, there was still a myriad of emotions from the various Cubes that assaulted her senses. She knew that she didn't have to have her mental shields lowered, but she didn't want to miss a single nuance of the events happening around her.

Each time Admiral Hamilton's vital signs spiked at all, her hand would hover over the controls ready to beam her superior officer over at the first sign of trouble. But each time, the readings would stabilize. Until they must have started assimilating her. Then the heart rate and breathing remained high for several long minutes, occasionally spiking higher, until they all of a sudden dropped and evened out into what Deanna knew to be normal readings for a Borg.

Deanna could not stop herself from tensing. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't her own emotion, but that of the Borg. She glanced at the other screen the Admiral had pointed out and was surprised to see it alive with readings. The Borg were in turmoil. She wondered what the Admiral was doing to cause such a thing. She took a deep breath to steady herself and reached out Empathically ---- but she was too far away to sense anything more than turmoil and fear and anger.

A Borg Cube suddenly exploded, causing Deanna to jump. It was close enough to rock the shuttle gently. She looked at the readings on both screens, and saw that the Admiral's life signs had slipped lower and that Borg Cube after Borg cube were beginning to explode. She of course could see no pattern to it, though she was sure that there must be.

Virginia's life signs were still above the level she had indicated, but Deanna wasted no time in beaming her back. The half-borged woman had barely finished materializing on the platform when that Borg Cube exploded as well. Deanna turned in time to catch the falling woman, barely able to hold onto her. Borg attachments were heavy.

"I am Borg...I am Borg..." issued out of the Admiral's stiff mouth over and over again in a bland monotone. Her one eye had a dead look in it, beyond that of a Drone. Her body was limp and unmoving except for a twitch that coincided with the word Borg as she spoke.

"We have to get out of here Admiral," Deanna said, more for her own comfort. The emotions issuing from her though were nothing close to being dead...the intensity being so strong that Deann threw her mental shields up in defense. She struggled to get Virginia away from the transporter pad, but decided to leave her there. She flew to the pilots chair as the shuttle rocked from the continuous explosions. For a moment, her eyes were riveted to the exploding Cubes. "My God," she muttered by reflex.

Shields were holding strong and steady, no doubt something else the Admiral and Reg had "tweaked". Deanna wasn't the best pilot, but she was more than adequate. It was easy for her to turn the ship around and kick it into Warp.

Opening communications, she contacted the Enterprise. "Enterprise, this is shuttle Andromeda. Mission accomplished..."