“Amazing!” Yavitz exclaimed, as she was lead into the holodeck. For the reception, Janeway programmed the holodeck for a view of Niagara Falls, back on Earth. The sky was spectacular blue, with the occasional white cloud drifting by in the wind. All of the various buildings and viewing areas that cluttered the actual falls back on Earth were removed, so that the visitors as well as the crew could enjoy the scene in its natural state.

A long table was set in front of the holodeck arch atop a platform, floating in the air, completely surrounded by the falling water. It took the group a moment to get over the vertigo of hovering several hundred feet over the bottom of the falls, but the wait was worthwhile. The usual loud rumble of the crashing water was muted for the ease of conversation, it was set at a level that simulated the sound of the falls from a great distance. Even the Khamish Colonel and Lieutenant, who came in order to open negotiations with the Bint’Ari for their war effort, were impressed with the view, as well as the technology it took to produce such a scene.

“What is this place?” Yavitz wondered aloud, as she entered.

“It is Niagara Falls, on our home planet, Earth,” Janeway explained.

“Incredible! But how is it that this can be on your ship? And what has happened to the door we entered by?” Yavitz was amazed and confused at the same time.

“This is the holodeck,” Janeway continued. “Here we can recreate any environment, using holographic technology.”

“Simply amazing,” the Colonel said. “The kinds of training exercises we could do with technology like this!”

People gathered around the table, which was covered in various foodstuffs provided, of course, by Neelix. He attempted an approximation of the nectar that the Captain had tasted on Kham, but the results were mixed. The Khamish found the flavor quite dull compared to what they had on their world, while everyone else, who had never tasted the delicacy before, found it to be quite delicious.

“Captain,” Ira began, not wanting to waste any more time. “We owe your crewmates a debt of gratitude. If they had not been on our world when the Borg come, there is a very good chance that we would be a conquered people now. But what of the future? We can’t possibly repel another Borg attack as we are now. We need to focus on rebuilding.”

“I understand your concern,” replied Janeway. “That is why I have invited the Colonel to this reception. I was hoping that your two worlds might be able to work together so that you can cooperate in your efforts against the Borg.”

“What can we possibly offer them?” Oro asked. “They have technology decades beyond anything we are capable of. And from what I have been told of their encounters with the Borg, they certainly don’t need our small, sub-light ships for anything.”

“True that there is no way you can help us in fighting the Borg vessels,” the Commander replied. “But your men, as hard as it for me to believe, can effectively fight the Borg soldiers on the surface of the planet, whereas we have little experience in actual ground battles. We could learn, but our species is ill-suited for direct combat. Your people are already trained and have the weaponry for the task. If we are to defeat the Borg, we need to attack not only their ships, but the planets they occupy as well. And quite frankly, we don’t have the personnel to do it alone.”

“Why not just destroy the planets themselves?” Oro asked. I am certain that you could do tremendous damage to a planet’s surface, or at least contaminate the atmosphere to a lethal point from space. The Borg could all be eliminated from orbit.”

“That sounds good, in theory,” Janeway replied. “But if you are going to fight an extended campaign against the Borg, you are going to have to expand yourselves. You need resources, and colonies so the Borg can’t destroy your entire population in a single attack. Worlds that the Borg have already assimilated are perfect for that purpose. They tend to be inhabitable planets anyway, so your people could live there. They have a great deal of equipment that you could use to build ships and weapons. And if you plant colonies on conquered Borg worlds, you might be able to preserve some of the culture that the Borg destroyed when it assimilated the people that lived on that planet in the first place.”

“I am not sure,” Ira said. “Our world has been torn apart. We can’t afford to send our people away to die fighting the Borg on worlds we have never seen before!”

“We can help you rebuild,” the Colonel offered. “Admittedly, it will be difficult, as our workers tend to see all drones as incapable of intelligent thought. But I am certain that some could be found that could put aside their preconceptions in order to help you rebuild. I have examined the reports of the damage to your world, and with our help, your world could be rebuilt within one of your seasons.”

“A season? You must be mistaken. Our best estimates, so far, have put the time for rebuilding at ten. How is it that you could do it in only one?”

“Our people are very different,” the Commander explained. “Your people have lives to lead, and the rebuilding of your planet would take second place to the raising of a family, or making a living. Our workers live to work. My people do not raise families, the nurses handle the upbringing of our young. I, myself have fifteen children, and have not met a single one of them. The workers among my people thrive upon this sort of challenge. In addition, we have technology that could speed up the rebuilding process considerably.

“In exchange, you will help us fight the Borg. We will attack Borg outposts and invade Borg worlds, which our two peoples will colonize together. We will help your people build ships that can travel faster than light. We will teach you to build the ships to fight the Borg, and how to fly them.

“The Captain has told me a lot about her people, about their Federation. How many different cultures have come together for the common good of all of them. Perhaps that is an answer for us. We are both threatened by the Borg, and undoubtedly we will meet other races in a similar situation. We can join together, as those in the Captain’s Federation, and work together for our own common good.”

“This is not something we can decide now,” Yavitz explained. “There would have to be a vote among our people. We would have to work out various treaty stipulations, and endless claims that each of our people will undoubtedly have. There will be a lot of things to work out before we could make such an alliance. Our own government is bound to be in chaos soon. Most of Bint’Ari’s governmental structure was completely disrupted during the invasion. It will take some time to see to it that our own planetary affairs are in order before we worry about an interplanetary alliance.”

“You are right,” the Colonel replied. “But unfortunately, that will have to wait. According to our intelligence, there is a Borg world nearby that is bolstering its offensive capacity, and could be used as a staging point for the assimilation of both of our worlds. Right now, my world is virtually defenseless. We could repel one cube with the amount of fighters we left behind, but no more. Your world could not even stand up to that much. We must go together, and attack the Borg before they can mount their offensive. Together we can deal a serious blow to the Borg, enough that our worlds will be safe long enough to rebuild, and become strong so that the Borg won’t be so much of a threat in the future.”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice, my beloved,” Ira said. “The Colonel is right. The Borg will be back, and with the help of the Khamish, we can make our world safe.”

“Ira, the Guard is in shambles,” Yavitz protested. “Yipu is dead, and most of the Guard is scattered among the various resistance groups. We are going to rebuild the entire military from scratch. Who will organize it? You and I will both be busy rebuilding other area of government, and organizing the rebuilding of the major cities.”

“You are right, as always,” Ira replied. “So, we will need a new Minister of the Guard. Oro? Are you prepared to continue to serve your people?”

“Me? But I’m bound! I can’t be in the military!” Oro protested.

“Normally, you would be correct,” Ira said. “But, it would seem that you have been in the military now for the last several weeks anyway. And, at present, I can’t see keeping to old customs that will hold back our people. And you of all our people have the most experience with these aliens. I think that you would be the ideal person to work with the Khamish and Voyager.”

“Where are Tuvok and B’Elanna?” Oro asked. “I thought that they would be here.”

“The Doctor insisted that they not be allowed to leave sickbay for a while. It seems that B’Elanna is in fairly bad shape. She has two cracked ribs, along with the dehydration and malnutrition that they both share. It seems they didn’t take very good care of themselves while they were on the planet.”

“Food was rare,” Oro grimly replied. “There were several days when no one ate.”

“They also require different nutrients than your bodies do,” the Captain replied. “What is healthy to you is lacking in their species. But there was no way to avoid it, I am happy they are still alive.”

“Not to sound impatient, but time is short,” the Colonel interrupted. “You undoubtedly have a lot of work to do in order to put together an army for the attack. The sooner we start, the better. I need to get back to my ship and contact our Queen, and inform her of our status, as well as having a diplomat dispatched to your world. We may not have a lot of time left. An attack cube has already been detected in orbit of the Kalat star, and it is bound to be dispatched sometime in the near future to at least one of our worlds. I would like to have the fleet on its way before that happens.”

“You are right. We should return to the surface,” Yavitz replied. “Could we be directed to your transporter room, Captain?”

“I will escort you there myself,” Janeway replied, as she gave the ‘exit’ command to the computer. The Khamish and Bint’Ari leaders followed behind her, each still a bit nervous about transporting again.

——————————————————————————–

“Mr. Tuvok, you may go now,” The Doctor said. Tuvok rose to his feet, and walked out of sickbay. He heard Torres complaining to another of the Doctors before the doors close that she was ready to go as well, but he would not allow it.

“Your body has been through a severe trauma. You don’t need to be off doing whatever it is that you think is so important! If you do not stop your complaining, I will sedate you.”

As the door to sickbay opened, Tuvok found Seven of Nine, who was about to enter sickbay. She stepped back, and allowed the Vulcan to exit. He turned down the hall with a greeting, and she followed.

“Mr. Tuvok,” she greeted, handing him a PADD. “I have analyzed the data you retrieved from the Borg database. It is fully decoded and the information is downloaded onto that PADD.”

“Excellent,” Tuvok replied. “Was there any information that would prove useful to the Khamish, that we could give to them before we depart?”

“Yes,” Seven replied, as the two entered a turbolift. “There is a Borg fleet massing around Planet 0495, which orbits the star the Khamish call Kalat. The Khamish do not have sufficient force to overcome this fleet. The eventual objective of these cubes is to hunt down Voyager, and then proceed to the Alpha Quadrant and begin the assimilation of the Federation. I believe that it would be best if Voyager accompanied their fleet.”

“Bridge,” Tuvok ordered the turbolift. “I was on my way to see the Captain. We should discuss this with her before we make any further conclusions concerning what would be best for Voyager.”

“Agreed,” Seven replied.

Tuvok tucked the PADD containing the analysis of the Borg data he had downloaded from their computer under his arm, and the two made their way to see the Captain.

“Come in,” Janeway replied to the chime. She smiled when she saw Tuvok and Seven enter the ready room, and offered them a seat. Seven, as usual, remained standing. Tuvok accepted the offer.

“It is good to see you on your feet, Tuvok,” Janeway smiled. “What can I do for you?”

“I have been analyzing some of the data I retrieved from the Borg network, and I believe that it would be in our best interests to accompany the Khamish in their attack on the first Borg world in this cluster,” Seven replied.

“We can’t get involved in a Borg war out here,” Janeway said. “The Borg are a dire threat to the Federation, yes, but we are in no position to stop an invasion. We would do better to gather as much information about the Borg as possible, and return safely to the Federation with it. They could use it to develop an effective defense strategy.”

“Normally, I would agree with you,” Tuvok replied. “But the information Seven has found in the Borg download convinces me of the contrary. It would seem that there is a world, designated by the Borg as 0495, that is in orbit around the star the Khamish call Kalat. It is the assigned rendezvous point of six full attack cubes, the first of which was destroyed above Bint’Ari a short time ago. The others are to first intercept and destroy Voyager, then move on to the Federation itself.”

“But why?” Janeway asked. “Why would they mobilize such a force to eliminate us? Surely the Borg could ignore us, a single ship, and move on to the Federation if they so chose.”

“It would seem that the Borg consider Voyager to be the deciding factor in both the failed assimilation of Kham and Bint’Ari. They believe that elimination of Voyager will allow for easy assimilation of both of those worlds.”

“The Collective is also disturbed by the inconsistencies in the data they have on Federation technology,” Seven added. “The appearance of the Enterprise at system J-25 and Voyager’s presence this far from Federation space has the Borg confused. The information they have on this ship is accurate, they know of its speed limitations, but they do not understand how you could have gotten here while operation within those limitations.”

“It is not like we have been operating outside those limits,” Janeway argued. “The Caretaker brought us here, and Q brought the Enterprise to J-25.”

“True, but the Borg are unaware of these facts. They believe that you are too unpredictable to be ignored. It would seem that they believe that the Federation could transport another vessel close enough to their home-system, and cause serious damage to the collective. They mean to prevent that occurrence. My presence here is also a factor. They do not know what information you have obtained from me that might be damaging to the collective. The Borg mean to eliminate or re-assimilate me in order to prevent any potentially damaging information to make it back to the Federation.”

“So they are going to get rid of us, then move on to overwhelm the Federation with five cubes? We had hard enough time dealing with one at Wolf-359. Five would be unstoppable.”

“Agreed. If we continue on with the Khamish fleet, however, we could eliminate the Borg armada, and prevent such an invasion.”

“But if Voyager were involved in the destruction of the Armada, wouldn’t the collective view Voyager as a greater threat, and put more resources towards our destruction?”

“Possibly, but I believe that the Borg will find that they have also underestimated the Khamish,” Seven replied. “If the Borg lose a world that they have successfully assimilated, I believe that they will assign this cluster a higher priority than Voyager, and we will be able to safely go on our way.”

“Meanwhile, the Khamish and Bint’Ari are condemned to constant war.”

“Both worlds would have faced that eventuality,” Tuvok reasoned. “Our presence here, now, is increasing their chances of surviving future invasions.”

“Were you able to discover any weaknesses that we could take advantage of in the data you obtained?” Janeway asked.

“The Borg consider their ships to be indestructible – the pinnacle of available technology. They do not analyze the design structure of the ships for improvement. A ship that is lost in battle is considered defective as a whole, and forgotten about. As a result, data about ships design is probably hard to come by. My preliminary scans of the data found no references to design or production of cubes at all.”

“There are several points on a Borg cube that are more susceptible to heavy damage than others,” Seven added. “I will enter those points into the ship’s computer, to be recalled later during targeting.”

“What about the collective network itself? Could you modify Voyager’s computers to interface with it? Perhaps we could plant some sort of command into the consciousness, like Commander Data did during the Borg attack on Earth.”

“That would not be advisable,” Seven replied. “Once Voyager’s computers are linked with the Collective, your ship would instantly be under the control of the Borg.”

“So Voyager would be assimilated from the inside out,” Janeway concluded. “But Data managed it, and for all intents and purposes, he is a computer.”

“A computer that has awareness of it self,” Tuvok corrected. “Commander Data is not simply a machine waiting to accept commands, like our ship’s computer is. Data could protect himself from the onslaught of a Borg consciousness for an indefinite amount of time. As far as Voyager is concerned, the Borg would simply have to realize that it was linked to it, and they would instantly have control.”

“In addition, the Borg radically restructured its internal security after that incident,” Seven added, “Such sabotage could not happen again.”

“That makes sense,” Janeway concluded. “So we are faced with a fight. We need to do some modifications on our weapons and shields, set them to automatically rotate frequencies so that the Borg will have a hard time adapting.”

“Agreed. Lieutenant Torres is scheduled to be released from sickbay in less than three hours. I believe that she might be able to suggest a few more possible improvements to Voyager’s systems that might work to our advantage.”

Janeway smiled. “Certainly. If anything, Maquis were used to fighting ships that were far superior to their own. We should start on the modifications to the shields immediately, and get that automation program up as soon as we can. The Colonel is eager to get underway, but I think I’ll be able to talk her into delaying her departure long enough to make the modifications. After all, having Voyager along certainly won’t reduce their chances of success.” Tuvok nodded in agreement.

“Tuvok, I want you to have Ensign Nikolayevich beam over to the Khamish Command Mother, and have her see about adapting their shields to a similar frequency modulation program. I know they have a fairly basic shield design that might not be sophisticated enough to handle such a program, but it is worth a try. If a cube does attack one of the Motherships, I would like to have it as safe as possible. Not only is there a lot of soldiers on each of those ships, the other Motherships couldn’t carry any more fighters. There would be a lot of those fighters stranded if a Mothership were destroyed, and the Bint’Ari failed to take the planet.”

Tuvok rose to his feet. “Agreed. I will do so immediately. Also, I will be holding two security drills before we depart, in case the Borg should beam on board Voyager.”

“Good idea, Tuvok. Have B’Elanna give me an estimate of when we’ll be ready to go as soon as she has one.” Tuvok nodded and left the room.

“Seven, how do you think you will handle another direct confrontation with the Borg?” Janeway asked.

“I am uncertain what you mean, Captain.”

“I still don’t know exactly what happened to you on that shuttle when you and Harry encountered that Borg scout, but this situation is very similar. In fact, I would classify it as much more dangerous to you. How will such a large part of the Collective so close to you affect you?”

“My initial detection of the Borg made me feel, hopeful. Returning to the Borg was something I thought I always wanted. But at the moment I could have made such a return a reality, I became afraid. It seems I have grown to value this individuality you imposed upon me. So I lashed out in anger. I am not entirely sure why I became so angry, but it resulted in the destruction of the Scout.

“I do not believe I have any further desire to return to the Collective. I don’t think my proximity to the Collective will alter that belief.”

Janeway smiled. “Please assist B’Elanna with the modifications.”

Seven of Nine nodded, and left the ready room.

——————————————————————————–

Tom walked into sickbay and had no trouble finding B’Elanna, being the only patient there at the time. After assuring two of the Doctors that his visit was purely personal and that he wouldn’t cause any trouble, he was allowed to see the bedridden Klingon, alone.

B’Elanna’s face lit up as soon as she saw him. She sat up and greeted his embrace with one of her own.

“Miss me?” she asked, half jokingly.

“Not really,” Tom replied, after a moment of thought. B’Elanna replied by shoving him away, playfully.

“Well I certainly didn’t miss you at all,” she teased.

“OK, I admit it. I was worried sick about you. I was almost certain that you had been either killed or assimilated, and I haven’t been able to sleep almost the entire time. And I am relieved to have you back.”

“That’s better,” B’Elanna replied. She reached up, pulled his head gently forward, and kissed him.

After a few seconds, Tom sat down on the medical bed beside her, and grabbed her hand.

“I thought I would keep you company, in your last hour of exile,” Tom smiled. “I just got off duty, and I’m not due back on the bridge for another nine hours.”

“Oh, no your not,” B’Elanna replied. “Your going to your quarters and getting some sleep. I’m not going to fight the Borg with a pilot falling asleep at the helm.”

Tom stood up, mockingly offended. “Over a week apart, and you don’t even want to spend an hour with me?”

B’Elanna smiled. “I know six Doctors that would love to throw you out of here, mister.”

“Fine,” Tom relented. He leaned down and kissed B’Elanna goodbye. “I suppose I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Sweet dreams,” B’Elanna replied. “Come and see me before you come on duty. I am sure I’ll need a break by then.”

“It’s a date,” Tom replied.

——————————————————————————–

As Natasha re-materialized, it suddenly occurred to her how much had changed in the last several days. Not too long ago she was dreading her job, being the handyman for the lesser departments onboard the ship. In the last few days, though, she had spent more time on away missions than she had in the rest of her career. When Lieutenant Torres had returned to duty, she had expected everything to return to the way it was. Yet here she was, beaming over to the Khamish Mothership, in order to modify their shields. She smiled at the thought of never having to fix another fried incubator or broken replicator.

She was greeted in the engine room of the Command Mother by the Major in charge of engineering. She, as well as the rest of the engineering officers, were a four-armed variety of Khamish. Natasha though it made sense, as she could remember hundreds of times she wished she had another set of arms.

“The Colonel says that you have a way to make our shields better,” the Engineer said. “The main console is this way.”

Natasha followed the Engineer towards the far side of the circular room, and marveled at how similar it was to the engine room on Voyager. Everything in the room was black, with the exception of the console screens. They glowed a bright blue, with the various keypad next to each screen were either red or white. The lighting in the room was a dull florescent, and Natasha could see the strips of red along the walls that undoubtedly flashed during an alert. In the center was a tall, cylindrical pillar that housed a nuclear reaction chamber, rather than a matter/antimatter reaction chamber like Voyager.

The console the Engineer directed Natasha to was identical to the rest in the room. In front of it sat a medium sized stool. The screen was inclined down so that one could sit while working. On the screen was a diagram of the ship, and lights flashed where each of the ship’s shield generators were located. Across the bottom read the shield frequency, 224.8 mH.

“How do you modify the shield frequency?” Nikolayevich asked.

The Engineer reached over and moved the screen through a series of menus, and stopped at one that read ‘Shield Frequency Control.’

“What good will changing the frequency of our shields do?” the Engineer asked.

“A Borg cube uses a different strategy than the Scouts this ship fought earlier. It will attempt to lock on a tractor beam, then it will use a cutter to strip away pieces of the hull in addition to conventional attacks. If you keep your shields at the same frequency, the Borg will adapt to them, and they will be useless. Setting your computer to rotate the shields frequency randomly will give the ship the extra time it needs to divert the cube’s attack.”

The Engineer rubbed an antennae, then turned and barked some orders to a nearby officer. She then turned her attention back to Natasha.

“What you are suggesting is going to take a lot of work. We did not design the shields to switch frequencies, we never thought that the need would arise. But I think we might be able to do it. We will have to run another link to the Shield Control mechanism to the main computer, and then write the program that will allow the shields to rotate frequencies automatically.” The Engineer leaned over and punched a few figures into the computer. “It will take several seconds for the shields to change frequencies, but it is better than nothing.”

“How long do you think it will take to do the work?” Natasha asked.

“Probably another ten of your hours, but the Colonel will want to do this on all five Mothers. Each of the Chief Engineers will have to come over here so that they can be instructed on what to do. That will take another hour, at least. You are welcome to stay, if you like.”

“No, I’m afraid I need to be getting back to my ship. We still have some work to do to ready ourselves for the attack.”

“I was pleased when I heard that Voyager would be accompanying us. Now I know we will be victorious!” The Engineer was beaming.

“Don’t be so certain,” Natasha replied. “We are bound to be in for one hell of a fight.”

“If your going to have an Armageddon,” The Engineer replied, “You might as well make it interesting.”

Natasha couldn’t argue, but she would rather live to tell stories about it.

“If you need any assistance, contact Voyager. Someone will answer any questions you might have.

Star Trek, Voyager, and related properties are © Paramount Studio, and the author makes no claim towards them.

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