PREVIEW

"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." –the Borg, Star Trek

Ratchet decided that Optimus had officially lost his processor.

He stared at the subdued bot on the medical berth in front of him, almost glaring. The mech did not respond, courtesy of the cocktail of drugs coursing through his energon lines that kept him in a medical coma.

And, if Ratchet had his way, the mech would stay that way.

Several holographic displays hovered around the berth, giving the medic detailed scans of the mech's body and feeding him necessary information to begin the surgery. Surgeries, he corrected. There was no way that one surgery would be able to reverse what had been done to him. And even then, there were many things that could not be fixed. Ratchet could barely figure out what the mech's original frame type was underneath all of the implants.

He growled a curse, sighing heavily through his vents, and began prepping for removal of the Borg technology from the mech's body. This was going to take awhile.

On the other end of the ship, Optimus Prime was currently being subjected to a tirade of reasons why allowing a Borg, even one that used to be Cybertronian, on the ship was a bad reason. He would have thought Red Alert would have lost steam by this point, but the mech still seemed to be going strong.

"Aww, Red, Ah think yer takin' this a bit far." A silver bot next to Optimus said, cutting off the Security Director. "Ah mean, if all of us can't stop one Borg, then Ah'd say we're a pretty pathetic excuse for an army." A black mech next to him laughed.

"But that one Borg can assimilate all of us and turn all of us into Borg, Jazz." Red Alert countered, glaring at the two mechs. "Their assimilation technology is unmatched and it adapts on a level that we still don't understand. If a single part of it gets into Teletraan-One-"

"Red Alert," Optimus said, holding up a hand to stop him. "I am aware of the security risk this mech presents to us. But this is my decision and it is final." The tone in his rich, deep voice warned the Security Director to not push this. "Ratchet is beginning surgery to remove Borg implants from him. You are all dismissed until he calls us."

Reluctantly, the senior members of the Ark left the council room, except for the black mech and Jazz.

"The crew ain't gonna like this, Prime." Jazz warned Optimus. His smiling face had now turned into a frown, though most of it was hidden by the visor on the upper part of his face.

"I know," Optimus sighed, scrubbing a hand over his faceplates. Exhaustion was beginning to weigh down on him; it had been a long orn, with the Borg attack and all. "But it's the right thing to do. What he used to be was taken from him, and now we have a chance to give it back."

"I'm all for helping one of our own Prime, 'specially cause of the war, but…can we save someone like him?" The black mech asked.

"I want to believe we can, Ironhide." Optimus responded. "I want to believe that we can. Jazz, Ironhide, I want you to try and figure out who he used to be. Before he was One of Five."

Jazz nodded. "Will do, Boss Bot." And with that, the last two bots left the conference room.

AN: Okay, so this was inspired by a Transformers/Star Trek story I read about where the Borg were a sort of urban myth/boogie man in Cybertronian culture and it fascinated me. (but I don't remember what it was...) So, the story idea popped into my brain that Prowl...could have once been Borg, like Seven of Nine. And next thing you know, this thing comes out without me realizing it. So, ta-da!

The title of the story comes from an episode of Star Trek.

This IS a crossover, but other than the Borg, there will be no other involvement of Star Trek characters in this story. And...I have no idea when I will actually continue the story. I'm working on 'Kingdom Come' right now, so that will take precedence, unless the plot bunnies attack.

The quotes at the top of the story are inspired by Vaeru and her stories, and Jazz's accent is inspired by Hearts of Eternity's stories. Transformers and Star Trek do not belong to me, but the concept of my story does. And, like in my Kingdom Come story, I will still review the stories of those who review this story. Tell me specifically which one you want me to read and I'll do it.

Hope you're having a great day,

~MM