A circumstance most unusual...

Posted on Wed Aug 31st, 2011 @ 9:54pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Tomorrow's Arizona
Location: Various
Timeline: One week after 'Uneasy Alliance'

The USS Arizona had gone though a remarkable transformation in the week that had elapsed between their initial meeting with the Borg world that had once been the Archadian seat of power. The ship, as far as the timeline they had come from was concerned, was now a fortress. The shields of the craft now mirrored closely those of the Borg vessels that were scattered through the space around the ship; adaptive, regenerative, and far more advanced than anything the Federation could have hoped to have come across. Their hull, another marvel of Borg engineering, had been completely reworked. The alloys had been rendered far more resilient to concussive damage, allowing them to take nearly four times the amount of punishment before the armor plating breached. Inside the Arizona, the power grid, including the Warp Core, had undergone a complete overhaul. The ship was now capable of traveling far longer at maximum warp than anyone thought possible. Everything that had been done to the ship gave them an edge for what they were being told they faced in the 27th Century.

Commodore Nathan Cowell remained unconvinced at the sincerity of the Borg in their desire to lend a helping hand. Having spent just over six centuries alive, it was plain as day that the Borg were up to something... though it was painfully obvious they weren't after the crew for their 'distinctiveness'. Having to look at One every day didn't help matters, indeed it only made things worse that he had to see her face...

The old man sat in his Ready Room, the drone that had been his shadow and silent companion everywhere except his bedroom and the toilet standing silently and almost inert near the door to the room. While he would never get used to having the drone there, he'd become accustomed to having to stay awake in his office, mostly out of paranoia that the drone would strike if he didn't. Such constant vigilance was starting to wear thin with the Commodore, and it was approaching the time to rectify the situation...

"Is everything finished?" the Commodore asked impatiently. Inflection and sarcasm were lost on the drone, though the question did trigger slight twitches in the Borg's head for a few seconds before she faced Nathan properly.

"All upgrades have been completed, all drones have returned to their alcoves in the Unimatrix," One reported.

"Then why are you still here?" Nathan asked.

"We will transport you to the surface when you are ready," the drone said in a monotone voice.

"Why?"

"Your presence is required. The Unimatrix wishes to speak with you," One responded.

Nathan sighed; he'd been waiting for the moment when the Queen would cash in on the favors bestowed upon the crew. The only thing he really regretted at this junction was not knowing what he'd signed up for. The old man pushed the chair he was sitting in away from the desk and stood. Tugging at his uniform a bit, he tapped the surface of the desk a moment as if making up his mind whether he really was going to go through with it or not before finally moving away from the furniture. Once he was standing in front of the drone, he crossed his arms over his chest indignantly and frowned.

"Let's get this over with..." Nathan said. One reached out and gripped his shoulder before the green haze of the Borg transporter energy stream took them both away. Seconds later, the old man stood in the chamber that he had met the Queen in the first time, minus the grand tour. One didn't need to be told, for once, to unhand him. She relinquished her hold on Nathan and departed without a word. Nathan might have been hurt had it not been for the fact that he was sadistically glad to be rid of the shadow finally.

"So," the voice of the Queen suddenly called out from behind Nathan. The old man spun around to find himself nearly on top of the woman, a position he was loathe to be in considering he wasn't overly attracted to rubber and wires...

"So what?" Nathan retorted in an annoyed manner.

"Are the modifications we have provided you with satisfactory?" the Queen asked with a slight smirk.

"Ignoring for the moment that I'm still not sure what your angle is, lady... Your drone did a good job," the old man admitted grudgingly.

The Queen approached Nathan and reached out, giving the old man's wrinkled cheek a soft caress, "It is refreshing to have someone to talk to... I almost wish I could go with you..."

Nathan lurched away from her touch, anger boiling over in his eyes as he did so. The fact that he wasn't a very 'touchy feely' type of person in the first place was further amplified by the fact that it was a Borg doing the touching. The Queen just smiled seductively as she watched Nathan back away from her, amused by his rather emotional displays.

"Look here," the Commodore protested, "I didn't come down here to get molested. Kindly keep your paws off me."

"Pity... I'm sure you would have enjoyed it eventually..." the Queen said with a slight pout, "However, I suppose if you insist on keeping this business, I won't argue with you. The reason I've invited you here is to collect payment for services rendered. You have the ability to use the Iconian device, correct?"

"Yes, we do..." Nathan said wearily.

"I would like you to activate the device and take three of our Spheres with you. We need to reestablish contact with the drones on the other side, something we can not do without your help. If the Collective... if anyone... wishes to survive in this campaign of genocide brought about by 8472, we need to be able to get our fragmented forces together. Would you be willing to continue our little alliance beyond the confines of this small solar system?" the Queen explained.

Nathan mulled it over for a great many minutes, weighing the potential gains with the risks involved in an alliance with the Borg spanning more than simple convenience. There were plenty of concerns on either side of the coin... but the prospect of having to go it alone in a timeline that they had no real idea regarding the dangers that awaited them outside of the haven that was the Solaris Nebula...

"I'm not going to go out of my way to find fresh drones for you, so if that's part of the deal, then we probably won't be able to make that work..." the Commodore remarked.

"You wound us with your unkind opinion of our motives. It has been a great while since we have assimilated anyone into our collective. As I believe you've witnessed first hand, we clone our drones now. If it had been out goal to find victims to assimilate, you would have been rather easy prey..." the Queen said with no attempt to hide her mirth at the notion.

"Right..." Nathan said as he continued to mull it over. The Queen seemed not at all bothered by his reluctance to make a quick decision, rather to the contrary she showed remarkable patience with him as he rolled every angle over in his head until he finally connected all the dots and came to the conclusion that there was a certain logic to a mutual aid alliance, even if it was the most outlandishly bizarre alliance he'd ever contemplated being possible.

"Fine... we'll partner up for the time being then..." Nathan said, "Can't hurt to have a friend in the neighborhood if we need something."

"Indeed," the Queen said with a coy smile, "Then I believe you should return to your ship and make preparations to depart. I would have the lead Sphere rendezvous with your vessel and await your signal to depart."

"How will the drones on the other side of the gate recognize us for allies? If you've been cut off from them, I don't think they'll get the memo right away that were aren't on the shot to kill list," Nathan asked in his pragmatic manner.

The Queen looked confused for a moment before it dawned on her what he was asking. If she wasn't going with them, as she alluded to, she wasn't going to be in direct control of the drones on the other side, which meant they would be operating purely in survival mode. She sent several silent commands to various parts of the Unimatrix before a device materialized not far from where they were both standing. It was a rather unassuming piece of technology, and for a moment Nathan wasn't entirely sure what the heck it could possibly be.

"That transponder node will act as your... Collective designation. Any Borg vessel will pick that signal up and acknowledge your ship as being apart of the Collective. It will also allow you to issue directives to vessels in your area, it will make coordinating defenses much more efficient," the Queen informed the Commodore.

Nathan didn't waste time; he scooped the thing up and turned back to the Queen, "Ready when you are."

"Good luck out there," the Borg Queen said with a hint of sincerity that gave Nathan just enough pause not to notice the slight twitch of her head that came just before Nathan's perspective changed from the Unimatrix chamber to that of the bridge, which made more than a few people's heads turn. Rather than explain, the Commodore launched into barking orders.

"Someone hook this thing into our communications systems," Nathan said, waving the device the Queen had given him about purposefully, "Then get this ship ready to depart. We'll be heading for the Gateway with a few Spheres as our escorts and we'll find out once and for all what's happened to the Federation in the last three hundred years..."

And with those words, the bridge became a den of activity...