Discovery and Plot

Naomi Wildman woke from her sleep, stretched out her arms and legs and got out of bed – heading for the sonic shower. It was, she thought, quiet enough with only the background noise of the warp core and the gentle humming of the life support systems audible.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"The time is 08:34 hours" the computer replied promptly.

"Azan to Naomi"

"Naomi here" the girl sighed as she stepped into the sonic shower.

"I thought you would like to know that Icheb is returning in the shuttle" the voice of one of her friend's drifted through the comm system.

"Let him know I'll meet him on the bridge. Naomi, out" and the girl started her shower. It was now six months after the attack on the ship, the Intrepid class starship USS Voyager, and Naomi and her friends were the only survivors of the attack which had killed off every single member of the crew – turning their bodies to dust. If the group hadn't got to the bridge in time, they would have been destroyed themselves. Repairs had taken many weeks to complete and, after some discussion, the decision had been made to continue on the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant and return the ship back to the Federation. They kept in contact with Starfleet Command using the MIDAS Array induced wormhole and Starfleet helped them as much as they could. Cruising at Warp 6, the friends kept a constant look for wormholes or subspace corridors that could help them cut the journey time down. Icheb, coming back in one of the shuttles, had been scouting ahead and mapping systems on a two day mission. Once he was onboard, the former drone would use the computer to enter the new navigational data into the memory banks before plotting a slightly better course for fuel economy.

#

"Good Morning, Naomi. I assume you had a pleasant sleep?" Azan asked as Naomi exited the turbolift and stepped onto the Bridge.

"I slept" Naomi replied.

"I understand" Azan nodded sagely. "The ship is maintaining course 080 mark 21 – speed Warp 6. There are no vessels within a three light year radius of Voyager, but sensors continue to search. There is a quasar at bearing 154 mark 17 and the science station is gathering data as we speak. With your permission, I would like to go down to Engineering and assist Rebi and Mezoti with the calibration tests" and Naomi shrugged.

"You don't have to ask my permission, Azan"

"I know this, Naomi, but I wish to do so anyway" the boy said. "You can take the Bridge now"

"I will comply" Naomi smiled and headed over to the Science station to glance at the data coming through. After a casual examination, Naomi wondered over to Tactical and ran a series of diagnostics on the forward phaser banks – they had been acting up for the last fortnight. Satisfied that all was well, Naomi settled into the chair formerly occupied by Captain Kathryn Janeway and waited for something to happen to break the tedious period of duty. It came just fifteen minutes later when Icheb arrived on the bridge with a PADD in his hand.

"Good Morning, Naomi. It is nice to see you again" the former drone said. He was the oldest aboard – both of the former drones and overall, but they had agreed that Naomi was to be 'in charge' during the trip to the Alpha Quadrant.

"Same" Naomi said. "Is that the new navigational data?" she asked.

"Yes. I have entered it into the memory banks and transferred the adjusted course to the Helm"

"We had better wait until our daily chat with Admiral Paris" Naomi said. "We had better let Starfleet Command know so they can adjust the MIDAS Array coordinates. I missed you" she added.

"As did I you, Naomi" Icheb said. "I have grown attached to our collective, and the absence caused me some pain"

"You were homesick" Naomi giggled.

"That was the medical assessment" Icheb agreed with a slight smile. Naomi thought that Icheb had a rather nice smile, though she did not get to see it all that much.

"Engineering to Bridge"

"Bridge here" Naomi said.

"One of the deuterium fuel valves has shut off" her best friend, Mezoti spoke over the comm. "It does not cause us any problems at this time, but I would like to replace when we lay over tomorrow for the daily contact with Starfleet"

"That sounds fair" replied Naomi. "Are you going to be alright finishing the rest of the repairs and upgrades on your own? I can always come down and help"

"It would not be advisable to leave the Bridge unmanned"

"I can always give it to Icheb" Naomi said.

"We can complete the work ourselves" Mezoti replied. "Once I have finished here, I will go to the Mess Hall and begin work on our evening meal"

"Is it your turn tonight?" Naomi frowned, adjusting a sensor scan as she spoke.

"Indeed. It is an activity that I find most… pleasant"

"I'll see you then, Mezoti. Bridge, out" Naomi closed the comm.

"Naomi, I am getting a reading on sensors directly behind us" Icheb said.

"It's an echo" said Naomi. "It was following us last night. The twins and Mezoti are going to fix it later on"

"I advise putting shields up" Icheb said.

"It is nothing more than a glitch" Naomi shook her head.

"Perhaps, but it could also be a vessel gathering information on us. I believe that the human expression is 'Better to be safe then sorry'. If we do not raise the shields, we may become disabled and unable to return fire"

"Sounds a good deal" agreed Naomi. The computer, however, decided to act on its own and raised shields and powered weapons before Icheb could do anything at the Tactical console.

"Sensors reveal a massive build up of power in the contact" Icheb said, looking at the readouts.

"Define it" Naomi said as the Turbolift admitted Azan and Rebi. "Azan, Operations. Rebi, Aux Tactical – help Icheb to plot possible incoming.

"Incoming torpedoes" Icheb said suddenly. "Aft phasers are offline. Aft torpedoes are offline"

"Gods…" Naomi said. "Computer, drop out of warp. Helm hard to starboard. Drop by 300 metres" the girl called out the orders as she hurried to the Helm station and sat at the chair.

"Engineering to Bridge"

"Bridge" Naomi tapped her combadge.

"Aft weapons are offline due to power conduit failure. Estimate three minutes to bring it back into service"

"Do your best, Mezoti"

"I will comply. Mezoti, out"

"Icheb, I'm bringing us about. Target the vessel's weapons and shields. Lets see if we can get them to talk after that"

"Understood" Icheb and Rebi worked together to target the enemy vessel's weapons and shields without doing too much damage. Naomi turned Voyager around as she was hit by a barrage of phaser and torpedo fire.

"Shields are down to 78%" Azan said.

"So quickly?" Naomi frowned. "Scan them again"

"Aye"

"Returning fire" Icheb launched Voyager's impressive armament but the other vessel simply shrugged them off and fired another assault – causing the ship to shudder violently.

"Starboard shields are down to 54%" Azan said. "Total shield efficiency is down to 68%. Scans complete. I am reading a number of indicators that would suggest that the weapons and shields on the attacking vessel has been highly modified from its original design"

"Any idea who?" asked Icheb.

"Early indications would tend to suggest equipment of a Borg nature"

"Engineering to Bridge"

"Naomi"

"Naomi, the weapons of the attacking vessel are becoming more and more able to penetrate our shielding. I suggest either destroying it or mak-"

"Transwarp corridor dead ahead!" Rebi said in horror.

"Oh crap…" Naomi watched as the Borg Cube emerged from the subspace gap. "Mezoti, divert all power to shields and engines. Go past maximum if you have to! Icheb, I'm plotting a course to get us away from here. Take forward weapons offline and divert power to shields. That should shore us up"

"I will comply"

"Azan, find me a deep, dark nebula to hide in"

"A dark nebula is inadvisable to enter in a ship of this type" Azan said.

"You know what I mean" and Naomi mashed the warp controls as she took Voyager to high warp. The Cube came after them and fired its weapons – trying to batter the shields down so it could transport drones aboard and assimilate Voyager.

"I am detecting a nebula at bearing 123 mark 34" Azan said. "The composition of the nebula will hide us from the Borg's sensors for a short period of time"

"They may fire magnetic charges" Icheb said. "They did this when the Enterprise-D hid from a Cube inside the Paulson Nebula. Should that occur, I do not rate our chances of survival high"

"We could always build a cloaking device" Rebi said.

"That would be a violation of the treaty of Algernon" Azan said.

"The Federation signed that – not me" Naomi said, pushing the ship as fast as it could go.

"Your point is well taken" Icheb might have smiled. "I suggest that we power down to minimum levels once we have entered the nebula" he said. "It will reduce our chances of being spotted. Also, I would suggest ejecting the contents of Cargo Bay 1. We collected a lot of scrap metal which is magnetic in nature. If we placed that together, any charges sent into the nebula would be attracted there instead of towards Voyager"

"Good idea. Standby to beam it overboard when we're in position" Naomi tapped the intercom. "Bridge to Doctor"

"Doctor here" the holographic doctor was online.

"Doctor, we're going to need you up on the Bridge" Naomi said. "We're going to do a bit of DIY and we need you up here to mind the store"

"Understood"

"Bridge, out. Bridge to Engineering, report"

"Mezoti"

"Mez, when we enter the nebula, I want you to divert all the power you can to the shields and structural integrity fields. We're going to be as quiet as possible" Naomi said to her friend.

"Like old Earth submarines running silent" came the reply.

"Something like that. Also, I want you to pull up the design specifications for a Romulan cloaking device. We're going to make one to use in our escape"

"Always wanted to try that" and Mezoti closed the channel herself.

"Ten seconds to cloud boundary" Azan said.

"Taking us to impulse…" Naomi brought Voyager to sublight speeds. The Borg Cube was going too quickly and plunged into the nebula. Naomi selected a different entry vector and headed the ship inside. All at once, the lights snapped off to dark, but Icheb provided light from an emergency beacon.

#

It took several hours to complete, but work was finished on building a working cloaking device. Naomi entered the fact she and the others had broken Federation laws into the ship's log and added that, in her opinion, such action was needed to protect the safety of the ship and crew. After some thought and planning, Rebi had presented Naomi with the option of disabling the Cube and killing the drones aboard – leaving them with the ability to get some new technology and, he thought, a transwarp drive unit.

"Our only issue is being spotted" said the Doctor.

"Didn't we just build a cloaking device?" asked Mezoti dryly.

"The Doctor is correct" Icheb said. "The cloaking device only stops us from being seen by sensors. However, the Borg will easily be able to see the displacement of the gasses as we are in transit. That would give them enough time…"

"To blow us all to hell" Naomi said. "What about if we were to escape out of the nebula? If we left from the other side, the Borg wouldn't see us and we would be far away before they realise what has happened"

"That assumes that the Borg have not deployed more ships" Azan said. "This ship has defeated the Borg many times. They will expend many resources if it allows them to either destroy Voyager or capture her"

"Of course…" said Mezoti carefully, "There is no reason at all why we can not attack the Borg"

"I was under the assumption that this entire exercise was escaping the Borg" the Doctor said.

"What I mean is that we might be able to board the Cube and disable it ourselves" Mezoti said. "As we all know, the Cubes don't carry any shielding – instead relying on a thick hull. It is possible that we can transport aboard, gather tactical information, sabotage the vessel and return to Voyager"

"And risk any of us getting assimilated by the Borg?" Naomi shook her head. "I forbid it"

"There will be no danger of the Borg detecting us" Mezoti said. "Borg communications between individual drones and the larger collective resemble transporter traces"

"I remember that from classes with Commander Tuvok" said Naomi, snapping her fingers as the thought came to the forefront. "When Captain Picard was rescued by his crew, he managed to tell them to put the Borg to sleep. In the report from afterwards, Commander Data mentioned that the Borg communications resemble transporter beam signatures"

"If we reconfigure one of the pads to emit the same frequencies as these, we will be able to get aboard without detection" Icheb said. "The trouble is that, with the nebula affecting sensors, we would have to be within weapons range of the Cube in order to get definite lock" he added.

"What about a shuttle?" asked Rebi. "It is smaller and we will be able to get closer to the edge of the nebula without being picked up by the Borg"

"Icheb?" Naomi looked at the oldest of those children rescued from the Borg.

"The plan is sound" he admitted, "But the shuttle may not be able to beam us back. Under normal circumstances, this would not be an issue, but the radiation from the nebula would block any return transport. There is, however, another option"

"Which is?" asked the Doctor asked.

"We set the computer in the shuttle on a timer. After a certain period of time has passed, it emerges from the nebula and attacks the Cube. Once this has happened, Voyager emerges, beams us all back and we get away. We will, naturally, head off in a completely different direction as to the one we want to be in. Once we have travelled far enough, we resume our original heading with the cloaking device engaged" Icheb looked at Naomi. "Then we can tell Starfleet Command what has happened and send the information back to them"

#

The operation, such as it was, went according to plan and Voyager escaped with only minor damage. Worn out from the day she had had, Naomi had gone back to her quarters for a much deserved rest whilst the former Borg children, not needing as much rest, went over the information they had gathered.

"Icheb…" Mezoti called some time into the goings over, "You might want to take a look at this" and she tapped a few buttons to bring the contents of her portable console up on the viewing screen.

"This is not good" he replied, looking at the information as it scrolled along. "Seven Tactical Cubes, five standard Cubes, two Spheres and twelve scout ships…" he looked back at his friend. "They are planning an invasion. The only good thing is that the Borg are waiting until the Tactical Cubes are all completed before launching the attack"

"Assuming that they were built in the same place as the last time one was built" Azan examined the data as well, "They will be located in Unimatrix Zero One" and Icheb would have groaned if it was in his nature to do so.

"How far to that location from our current position?" he asked.

"You serious?" Mezoti was a little wide eyed.

"Very" said Icheb. "We are the only Starfleet vessel within range and with the capabilities to destroy them"

"How?" asked Azan. "The Borg will adapt to our phaser and torpedo fire rapidly"

"We have to try" Rebi said, "All other options are futile"

"Not necessarily" said the Doctor as he came into the Astrometrics lab with a tray of food and drinks. "I advise you, as your attending physician, to have some of this before doing any more work"

"Very well, Doctor" said Icheb. "Your advice will be carried out. You spoke of another option"

"I only caught the tail end of your conversation, but there is something that you should know about" the Doctor hesitated before pressing on. "By rights, I shouldn't be discussing this with you but the only command authority on the ship is currently sleeping. I am not a tactical officer, but it is clear that the Borg will adapt to any fire directed at them. However, there is no need to fire phasers or torpedoes at them for any length of time"

"I do not understand" said Mezoti, pouring some orange juice from a jug.

"Voyager's original mission was to find and eliminate Marquis resistance bases. To this end, she was equipped with Tri-Colbolt devices. Two of these were used to destroy the Caretaker's Array in order to prevent it falling into the hands of the Kazon. There are three more secured in the secure weapons storage room on Deck 8"

"Just three?" Icheb was formulating a plan to Starfleet Command – after first telling Naomi about it.

"Two of them are in ready use status whilst the third needs completing" the Doctor said.

"How do you know?" asked Azan.

"I am a hologram of many talents" the Doctor chuckled. "Perhaps I can be of assistance in creating your report…" and the five of them set to work whilst Voyager sped through the blackness of space.