Chapter Eight: Stardate 47516.9 (8 July, 2370)

Smoke filled the air, and gleaming, green-yellow lights form the plasma fires filled the corridors as she ran. The temperature was excruciating as the heat continued to rise. She felt as if she was being cooked alive, and in some small way, she was. It was hard to breathe and even harder to move, but she kept running forward, towards engineering. She had to escape, she just too; because if she didn't, then she would die. She would do anything, face anything, and go through anything that stood in the way of her life. Suddenly the ship shook violently and she flew into the air, careening with the bulkhead above, except she didn't fall back down. No, instead she remained there on the ceiling, and then it occurred to her, the gravity was off. A bubbled stream of green blood flowed from a deep gash on her scalp. Feeling dizzy, she shook her head, wiped the blood from her face and momentarily watched it as it bubbled in mid-air and floated away. Propping her feet on the side bulkhead, she pushed with all her strength and launched herself down the corridor.

Either due to great skill on her part, or out of pure luck, most likely the latter, she was able to successfully evade all of the plasma fires that now flowed and ebbed through the corridor like rushing water through a funnel. The heat was unbearable now as she cried out in pain, and just at that moment there was a powerful gust of wind that came out of nowhere. Blowing her and the plasma fire further down the corridor, crashing into every bulkhead and piece of debris there was. Her body was howling in pain, but there was nothing she could do. Abruptly she slammed into a duranium stanchion that was once a part of the overhead bulkhead, face first. Part of it had been sheared away during the attack, and now half of it was hanging down from above. She held onto it with all her might, and then she saw the terrifying, gaping maw of the nightmarish demon that came to devour her. It was a hull breach, not more than 12 meters away, about 10 meters wide, directly in front of her. Her lungs were out of breath, and her muscles were failing her faster than she could comprehend.

Her grip was loosening, but she still held on for her life. But her struggle to preserve her life proved useless. The overhead stanchion gave way and went flying out of the open hull breach like a cannonball, along with her. Her body tumbled and whirled uncontrollably as the air was completely stripped from her lungs, and her body froze. The last thing she saw before the end came for her, was of her ship; under tow by a green tractor beam being pulled in by a giant cubed shaped starship, and then darkness…

Sela woke screaming, perspiration came pouring down her brow in rivulets, and her clothes were soaked with sweat. But she was not wearing her tattered Romulan uniform, but instead she had on a set of light blue medical garments… Human medical garments from the looks of it.

"It's okay, you're safe. There's nothing to be afraid of, you're safe now." Said the calming voice from Dr. Ogawa.

"Where am I?" Sela asked in a hushed voiced. She did not know how long she had been unconscious, but her throat was dry and it hurt to speak.

"You're on the starship Enterprise. We rescued some of your crew from the Borg 6 days ago. You sound parched, would you like some water?" Ogawa asked

Sela nodded her head in response.

"Okay just wait here; I'll get some water for you." Ogawa replied and stepped away.

Her body ached as she slowly rose to a sitting position on the bio-bed. Her head was still spinning from her nightmare, and her hands were shaking. She slowly turned her gaze to the sickbay she currently occupied. It was definitely of a Federation design, and not only that, but it also looked as if it had well maintained. Everything appeared clean, and almost new; which would not be possible under the current circumstances. The Borg infested every sector of space throughout the entire Alpha Quadrant. As she continued to look around she saw that she was not alone in the sickbay. There was another Romulan laying down, either sleeping or unconscious, two bio-beds away from her own.

His name was Bochra, and had the rank of Centurion. Bochra was always the most spiteful and least stable of the Ry'Loth crew. Although, that could be well understood by anyone after seeing your entire planet and almost your entire people either killed or assimilated by the Borg; and they all did. She didn't blame him for being as unstable as he was, hell; she was surprised that not more of them were like him. Bochra had always blamed the Federation for the Borg. If the Federation had never made contact with the Borg, then the Romulan people would still be alive and well. In some sense, he was correct. The Borg became interested in the Alpha Quadrant mainly because of their contact with Starfleet, but even she couldn't blame the Federation for what happened.

The Borg would've come for them all sooner or later. In fact, it was discovered by Romulan Intelligence only after the Earth had fallen, that the Borg had actually encountered the Romulan Empire before the Federation at Neutral Zone when entire outposts were 'scooped up' out of existence from the surface of the planets. It was the first time in over 50 years that the Federation and the Empire had made contact with one another. The Empire, in light of the outposts' disappearances, felt that they had been quiet from interstellar affairs long enough; and so, it was decided that it was time they made their presence felt once more. If circumstances had been different, Romulus would've fallen first long before the Federation, had they paid attention more to them, instead of the Humans.

Moments later, Dr. Ogawa came around the corner with a glass of water in her hand. "Here you go." She said sweetly.

Sela took the glass from her hands, a little more enthusiastically that she had wanted, and slowly drank the refreshing, cool liquid that quenched her excruciating thirst.

"Do you feel better now?" Ogawa asked politely

"Yes, I do. Thank you." Sela replied, and greatly drank the cool, refreshing water. "How many?"

"How many?... You mean from your ship?" Ogawa asked, as Sela nodded in response. "67 in all… 48 Romulans and 19 Klingons…"

A large lump suddenly formed in Sela's throat. "How could that be?" She thought to herself. "There were over 400 of us…" She said quietly as her eyes began to water. All of her friends, her comrades, the one she loved… They were all gone. She screamed in agony and threw the glass across the room, and shattered as it crashed into the far wall.

Ogawa expected as much and calmly walked over to the wall and began cleaning up the mess.

"Aren't you going to tell me that everything is going to get better? Isn't that what you humans always say?" said Sela

"I know better than that. I'm not going to say things will get better, because the odds are, thing can, and probably will, get worse, and more people will die. The Borg have completely wiped out both of our civilizations and continue to hunt us down. With each passing day, there are less of us. The only thing we can do if we want to survive is run and hide, and if we try to fight back we're either killed or assimilated. I would say that only the lucky ones like us have survived for this long, but sometimes I wonder if the truly lucky ones are the ones who have passed on. So, to answer your question directly… No, I'm not going to tell you that things will get better." Said Ogawa

"Well, at least you're honest." Sela said as she wiped a single tear that ran down her cheek.

Ogawa had finished, safely cleaning up the shattered shards of the glass and placed them into the replicator. A single tap of the button on the wall display and they vanished in a shining, shimmering light. She tapped another button and after a few moments a voice answered.

"Yes?" said the voice

"She's awake." Ogawa stated.

"Captain, we are now entering orbit of Boraal II." Said Data as the image of an Earth-sized brown planet appeared on the view screen.

"Good, take us into orbit above the planet's north magnetic pole and disengage the cloaking device." Said Riker. It had been discussed the day before that while they were at Boraal II, that they should take the cloaking device off-line and perform a thorough examination for stress and anything else that might cause it fail at a later date. The phase-cloak had been operating at full capacity ever since they left the Devolin system, and they didn't want to push the cloak too far. After all, it was the only one they had. So precautions were being taken, and by parking the Enterprise above the planet's northern pole, the magnetic field will mask the Enterprise from any passive scans, should the Borg enter the Boraal system for any reason.

"Aye, sir." Said Paris. With Wesley and Reg working on the anti-Borg nanite project in the science lab as their main priority, Tom Paris had been assigned to effectively take over Wesley's station at Navigation.

There were other changes to the bridge as well. General Kor, and Admiral Tomalak took seats on either side of Captain Riker; seeing as how they were both senior officers on their respective worlds, it was seen as respectful to their titles and rank. Shelby volunteered to take one of the Science and Engineering stations and gave up her command seat to General Kor, and Admiral Tomalak took the seat that once belonged to Deanna Troi. However, as she was still Second-in-Command, should something happen to Captain Riker, she would be the one to take command of the Enterprise. It was hard for Riker to see someone else sitting in his beloved's place, but he pushed down his emotions and allowed Tomalak the chair… His Imzadi was still in sick bay… Unconscious…

"Riker to Main Engineering." He stated over the comm.

"La Forge here, sir" Geordi answered

"Geordi, we've entered orbit of Boraal II. You can perform your tests on the cloaking device now, but be aware, if our sensors pick up any Borg ships entering the system we'll have to engage the cloaking device as fast as possible." Said Riker

"Understand, sir. I'll get Miles on it right away." Geordi stated and shut off the comm.

"Sir, sensors indicate that there is atmosphere on Boraal II." Said Data as tapped some buttons on his console.

"What do you mean there's no atmosphere? Boraal II is classes as an M-class planet with a preindustrial society." Said Riker

"Yes, sir. But our sensors show no atmosphere to be held. There are residual signs of intense, plasmatic reactions and turbulent radiation storms that crossed much of the planet's surface. I estimate that atmospheric dissipation occurred approximately 34 days ago." Data stated

"Damn, are you sure about that? Is there a chance that some of the natives could've survived." Riker asked

"Atmospheric dissipation is a rare and essentially unpredictable event, when it occurs it proceeds rapidly. Nothing would've survived on the planet below." Data said

"That's a shame, and I was looking forward to a good hunt." Said Kor

"So, what do we do now, sir?" asked Paris

"Well, our supplies aren't exactly suffering for now. We came here to stock up on fresh animal livestock and fish, in case we ever needed them. But our food supplies are still good and will last us for quite some time, should the replicators go off-line again… I know Keiko will be disappointed; she was looking forward to getting her aquaponics bay started… So? Who's going to tell her that's not going to happen?" Riker subtlety asked

The bridge was suddenly filled with silence.

"Tom?" said Riker

"With all due respect, sir. I believe that this is one order that I would have to, again, respectfully, disobey. Mrs. O'Brien has been working on that aquaponics bay of hers for the last six days. I don't want to be the one to tell her that it's been for nothing. She'd probably rip one of those tanks out of the wall and throw it at my head." Said Paris

"Worf?" You seem to be establishing a good relationship with her. She's still babysitting Alexander, correct?" Riker asked

"Yes, sir, and I hope to keep the relationship with the O'Brien's on good terms. Informing her of her misfortune could damage it." Worf stated confidently, although on the inside he felt almost the same way that Tom felt.

"General Kor, Admiral Tomalak?" said Riker

"No offense Captain, but it is always a bad idea to be the deliverer of bad news that would crush a female's hopes and dream, unless that person happens to be suicidal. Trust me, I say this from experience, so I would have to decline." Said Kor

"Don't look at me Captain, I hardly know the woman." Said Tomalak. His memorial facial paint, though still vibrant in their intricate 'tribal-like' pattern designs, were just beginning to show its diminishing fade. "Besides, I agree with Kor. It's a bad idea."

"Data?" Riker turned and asked

Data responded simply by looking at the faces of the other men on the bridge, and shook his head. Even he knew how much the aquaponics bay meant to Keiko.

"Why not Chief O'Brien? He's her husband." Said Paris

"If he told her, we may never see him alive again." Said Worf

"Oh for crying out loud! I'll go and tell her!" Shelby shouted in frustration. "Besides, she might take it easier if it came from a woman."

"That's a very good idea, I agree with the Commander." Said Tomalak

"As, do I." said Kor

"Men." Shelby grumbled as she entered the turbo lift, and the doors closed behind her.

"Well, with one disaster adverted, what do we do now, sir?" Paris asked

"For now, remain in orbit and keeps the sensors scanning for any potential Borg activity. At the first indication of the Borg, re-engage the phase-cloak." Said Riker

"Aye, sir." Tom responded.

"Well that was a close call, wouldn't you say?" Said Paris

"A close call?" Data questioned "To whom were you calling?"

"It's an expression Data. It means that something very unpleasant or dangerous could've just happened. But luckily for us, it didn't." Paris Explained.

"I see." Said Data, realizing what he meant. "A cliffhanger, close shave, a narrow escape, a heart stopper, near miss, photo finish, a tight squeeze, a cl—"

"Yes, Data. It's all of that. I'm glad you got it." Paris interrupted, afraid that he wouldn't stop.

Data simply nodded and replied in typical fashion, "Indeed."

"Captain, there's a message for you from sick bay." Worf stated as he looked down at one of his computer panels.

"Route it to my Ready Room." Riker said

"Aye, sir." Worf replied

The Captain's Ready Room had been repaired and renovated much to Riker's liking during their stay in the Devolin system. The lights worked and no longer flickered; the walls and bulkheads were repaired; the once shattered aquarium that was on the wall, next to the window, behind him was replaced by normal wall paneling. The painting of the Enterprise that once hung on the wall above sofa, torn, burned and tattered, was replaced as well. Now, a fresh new painting of both the Enterprise and of the Pegasus, stuck within the asteroid, hung its place. He had asked Data to paint it for him after they rescued the Romulan and Klingon crew from the Borg. It showed a scene of a battle scarred and crippled Enterprise encountering the Pegasus, inside asteroid Gamma-601, and the hope that the chance-meeting represented.

He sat in his down behind the desk and tapped a button on his console computer. "Yes."

"She's awake." Said the voice of Dr. Ogawa

Keiko O'Brien was in her newly minted aquaponics bay along with Patterson, Adele, 9 years old. The twins Josh and Brad who were both 7 years old, and the youngest of the children Natalie who was only 5. But today they also had a few newcomers with them, a few of the Romulan children that were rescued from the Ry'Loth. Two young girls, Se'fora and Tarina. Both of which were the twin's age , and D'Tan. He was much older, 17 years if she remembered correctly. Five years older than Patterson. The little Romulan girls seemed shy and anxious at first, but they seemed to open up after a couple of hours. All the kids seemed to like the idea seeing live fish swimming around the tanks that were set up in the aquaponics bay.

"So you see kids, the fish in tanks provide the nutrients for the crops. The pumps circulate the water from the tanks into the vegetable beds. The vegetable then absorb all of the nutrients from the water and recycles the clean water back into the tanks through the tubes at the bottom of the beds. The tubes direct the clean water back into the tanks for the fish. So you see it a complete cycle that's good for the fish and the plants." Keiko explained to the children

"Miss O'Brien?" said Natalie

"Yes?" she answered

"There's no dirt in the pots, just rocks. How do the plants grow with no dirt?" she asked

"Well, you see there doesn't need to be." D'Tan chimed in. "The water flows through all of the rocks and provides a constant stream of food and water for the plants to grow. So there doesn't need to be any dirt because the water is always moving."

"But how is there food for the plants if there's no dirt?" She asked

"Well, you know when you have to go to the… Uh…" D'Tan looked at Keiko, "What's the word you humans use when you have to relieve yourselves?" he asked her

"We have several actually, but a common one is the 'toilet'." She answered

"Thank you." He said looked back at the little girl. "You know when you have to go to the toilet. It's kind of like that. The fish go to the toilet in the water in the fish tanks. Then the water is pumped into the plant beds where the vegetables grow, and all of the waste that the fish produce in the tanks is used as food by the plants like fertilizer so they can grow. After they use up all of the food, the water becomes clean and goes back into the tanks below." D'tan tried

"Ewww! So the plants eats fish poop?" Natalie looked disgusted

"Well, yes basically." D'Tan couldn't help but snicker at the little girl's reaction

"That's gross." She said

"Patterson, why don't you show the girls around the rest of the bay and show them how everything works." Keiko said

"No problem Mrs. O'Brien" Patterson smiled and continued to usher the rest of the children throughout the aquaponics bay.

"So D'Tan, tell me about yourself. You seem to know quite a lot about what I'm trying to do here." Said Keiko

"Sure… There's not much to tell actually, my parents were scientists back on Romulus. They ran the agricultural department at the Romulan Science Academy." D'Tan answered

"That sounds interesting." Said Keiko

"They loved agriculture… They felt that modern technology, especially the use of replicators, made the Romulan people more ignorant of nature and the environment around them. If all you had to do was tap a button in order to get your food, then how would you ever respect the soil beneath your feet? Or the insect that pollinate the crops?... I can remember playing in the dirt in the backyard of our home and having a great time. Most of my friends always wanted to play The Empire vs The Federation with their toy disruptor pistols, or games at the local public holosuite arcades and so on. But, I always liked getting dirty and playing with the worms I found in the dirt." D'Tan said.

"Well, there won't be much dirt in the bay left once these tanks are filled, but I would definitely appreciate your help." She said

The doors slip open with a quiet hiss and Shelby walked in. "Hello Keiko."

"Good morning Elizabeth. Have we arrived at Boraal II yet?" Keiko asked

"That's what I'm here to talk about." She said "Can we talk alone?"

"Of course we can." Keiko answered. "D'Tan, why don't you go and join the others, okay?"

"Okay." He answered and walked off to join the other kids near the tanks.

"So, what is it? Is something wrong?" Keiko asked Shelby

"Well, there's good news and then there's bad news." She said

"Oh great…" Keiko sighed. "Well, what's the good news?"

"Well, we've reached orbit of Boraal II right on schedule." Shelby answered

"That's good. Then what's the bad news? Is it the Borg?" Keiko asked anxiously

"No, it's not the Borg. Our sensors haven't picked up any Borg activity in this entire sector." Said Shelby

"Then what is it?" Keiko asked again

"Well… It doesn't look like your aquaponics bays is going to be up and running any time soon." Shelby said

"What!? Why not? It's not like I'm trying to set up an aquarium because I think that fish are pretty. This aquaponics bay is crucial to our survival. If something happens, like getting attacked by the Borg again, and the replicators go down and the emergency food rations get destroyed, what are going to do about food? This aquaponics bay can mean the difference between life and death. Doesn't anyone know that?" Keiko heatedly stated

"We all know how important the aquaponics bay is Keiko, and we all know how hard you've been working on it to make it happen." Shelby said in an attempt to calm Keiko down

"Then what is it!? It's not like the planet exploded or anything, you just said we were in orbit." Keiko stated, trying to hold in her anger.

"Yes, that's true. But, there's no atmosphere…" Shelby stated simply

"…What?..." Keiko replied in shock. "What do you mean there's no atmosphere? Boraal II is a class 'M' planet. There should be a thriving preindustrial society living down there."

"Not anymore, our sensors indicated that there was a major catastrophic event that occurred on the planet's surface about a month ago. The planet's entire atmosphere dissipated into space, killing everything on the surface. There's nothing left, no plants, no animals, no people, nothing." Shelby explained briefly

"…Oh…" said Keiko, and thought for a long, silent, moment. "Well… Damn it..."

Riker sat there for several minutes after receiving the news from Ogawa that the blond female Romulan, named Sela, was awake. He had wanted to speak with Tomalak about her earlier; however, it seemed inappropriate at the time. Especially when she was still unconscious and unable to speak for herself. But now that she was awake, it appeared to be time to discuss the situation with him. Just as he was about to request for Tomalak's presence in his ready room, the door chimed.

"Come in." he said and the door slid to reveal Guinan, standing on the other side. "Guinan, well this is a surprise."

"Am I intruding?" she asked

"No, not at all. Please come in, is something wrong?" he asked her. It was rare that Guinan would leave Ten-Forward to come to the bridge of all places. So when she did, he never really knew how to feel about it. Sometimes he would be anxious, other times he would just be confused, and there were times when he would just not know what to think at all. This would be one of those times.

"I heard that the Romulan woman, named Sela, has regained consciousness." She said as she took a seat on the sofa

"How did you hear about that? Were you in sick bay just now?" Riker asked her

She simply smiled. "You're not the only one that asked Alyssa to let them know about Sela's condition when she woke up."

Riker seemed confused by this. "Why would you want to know about her condition?"

"Hmm…" Guinan said to herself. "What do you know about her so far?"

"Ogawa ran some tests on her, and she's confirmed that the woman is in fact half Romulan and half Human." He said simply

"I see…" she responded. "Tell me, there are records still in the computer's memory about whose that Human DNA once belonged too wasn't there?"

"Yes…" he said, and breathed in for a moment before continuing. "A former crew member and friend of ours… Tasha Yar."

"Many people of the Enterprise were shocked when they recognized her face after we recused her along with her crew, didn't they?" she asked him

"Yes they did. Guinan, where exactly are you going with this?" he responded

She sat silent for a moment, collecting her thought. "How much do you know about the last ship called the Enterprise?"

"The Enterprise-C?" he asked confused, only to receive a simple nod in response. "Well, if I remember correctly it was the fourth Starfleet designed ship to be named the Enterprise. An Ambassador class, the largest designed Starfleet ship at the time. It was launched into service from Earth Station McKinley back in 2332, I believe. It was also last commanded under Captain Rachel Garret in 2344, when it was lost at the Battle of Narendra III, defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack on Stardate 21096.4."

"And the survivors?" she asked him

"Survivors? There were stories of prisoners being taken back to Romulus, but these were only rumors." Riker explained

Guinan glanced down for a moment, as if searching for the right words before lifting her head again, and looked at Riker with conviction. "No." she stated firmly. "There were survivors, and Tasha Yar was one of them."

"What? Guinan, that was 26 years ago. Tasha would've been a child back then." Said Riker

"I know that, but I also know that she was aboard that ship, and she was not a child." Guinan stated.

"How's that possible?" he asked her

Guinan took in a deep breath. "I believe that Jean-Luc, sent her there." She told him

"Captain Picard?..." Riker said, dumbfounded, and once again Guinan simply nodded. "But, how could that be?"

"I don't know for sure. I just know that he did." Guinan responded

"It's also quite possible that she may have been a Romulan experiment, a clone perhaps, or she may have been surgically altered. She could've been meant to be sent into Federation space as a spy before the Borg invaded. But when that happened, it became too late. So she was stuck that way, and with the Borg attacks, it would've been a non-priority with turning her back, to whoever, she was before." Riker was trying to explain, more to himself rather than Guinan

"No, that's not what happened." Guinan stated

"Tasha died… A year before you came on the Enterprise. You never met her." Riker stated, trying to understand was happening.

"I know that." She said firmly

"Guinan…" Riker started saying. "I really don't understand what's going on here. If you have some sort of vague intuition or something, then -"

"You can't just dismiss this." She interrupted him. "If I'm right, and I usually am about these things, then Picard is responsible for sending Tasha back in time. We both know that time travel is possible. There have been recorded incidents where it has occurred in the Federation's history, and almost every time that it has occurred, a different timeline was given birth because of it."

"Those were special circumstances, time travel as we know it has always been accidental. There has never been an instance where traveling through time has ever been intentional." Riker explained

"Well… Not officially anyways." Guinan said

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked

"It's not important. What is important however, is that young Romulan woman that just woke up in sick bay. Like it or not, she is Tasha Yar's daughter. You have to accept that." She told Riker

"I still can't believe that Guinan." Said Riker

"You don't have to believe it; you just have to accept it. Because it doesn't matter if you believe in it or not, it doesn't change the facts of who she is." She explained

"And who would that be?" he asked her

"She is not only a Romulan, but she also happens to be a Human… She is daughter of Tasha Yar, and right now at this very moment, she is a recovering patient in sick bay, a survivor, and a refugee from what was once a proud and powerful people… Just like the rest of us." Guinan said

The blue pulsating light of the warp core thrummed slowly. Main Engineering was uncommonly full, due to the fact that the final tests on the phase-cloak being ran, and the transwarp coil was currently undergoing the last of the installation process. Everyone was there today, Geordi, O'Brien, Wesley, Reg, Harry, Sonya and Jay-Gordon, the little engineer in training. The transwarp drive assembly was set up directly in front of the main warp core. At first, it was to be set up on the second tier, however, it became immediately clear that the transwarp drive assembly was simply too large to fit. In fact, it was so large that it took up most of the entryway that separated engineering and the warp core itself. Everyone had to almost squeeze by in order to move back and forth from the warp core, the transwarp drive, and the main engineering stations.

From what they've learned by studying the Briori transwarp schematics, it was possible to achieve transwarp velocities by using the transwarp coil alone and integrating it with the ship's warp drive systems. The warp coils within the warp nacelles could act as a substitute transwarp chamber assembly. However, because the warp coils were never specifically designed for transwarp travel, the transwarp coils would burn out within 20,000 to 25,000 light years. By constructing the transwarp chamber, the transwarp coil's life span would be increased significantly, and with proper maintenance it could theoretically, according to Briori science, last indefinitely.

Everyone was busy with the final preparations of the transwarp drive installation for their very first transwarp flight, with the exception of two.

"Okay Jay, now what do the readings indicate?" asked Sonya

Jay-Gordon looked at the read outs on the computer monitors, and thought for a moment. "It means that the phase-cloak is working at peak operating standards?" He asked, more than answered

"Well, I don't know. Does it?" she asked him again. This allowed him to think it over again, and to be more confident of his answers.

"Yes, it does." Sonya stated. "You see, the resonance patterns of the phase-cloaking field show no signs of stress or degradation over the course of its use since we left the Devolin system."

"But that was like a week ago. Can it really work for that long?" He asked her

"Well, you just saw the final readouts for yourself. Doesn't that answer your question?" she said

"Yeah, I guess. I guess it just seems weird that the Enterprise has a cloaking device now." Jay responded

"True. Federation ships never had them before. But now we do, and we need to be thankful for that. It can mean the difference between life and death for us." She told him

"So, how were the final tests on the phase-cloak?" asked Geordi as he approached the two.

Sonya then glanced over and waived a hand at Jay to answer. "The tests show no signs of stress or deg... deg..."

"Degradation." She chimed in

"Thank you." He said to her quickly. "Degradation in the in the resonance patterns of the cloaking field. The phase-cloak is working at peak operating standards" Jay finished answering

Sonya smiled and gave a little clap for her 'student,' as she had come to see him. "Nice job Jay. You sounded very professional."

"Very good work Jay." Said Geordi. "Why don't you go over there and catch up on what Harry's doing with the transwarp chamber, okay."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Jay said as he ran over to Harry's side, who was currently analyzing some tricorder reading of the chamber assembly on the main engineering console in the center of the main engineering bay, along with Wesley and Reg.

"So, how's he doing?" Geordi asked her

"Well, considering his age, he's actually doing a very good job of keeping up. He just needs to be a little more confident in himself, but other than that, I think he'll make a great engineer someday." She answered honestly

"That's good to hear. He seems to be absorbing the knowledge very well." Geordi stated

"He is, and he really seems to be interested in warp-field dynamics and it's relation to string-field physics." She told him

"Really? It's a little advanced for his age, but after we arrive in Sector-214 we might be able to-" The unmistakable sounds of phaser fire, people fighting, and the screams of a frightened Jay-Gordon could be heard from around the corner.

Geordi immediately ran around the corner to see what was happening and was stunned to see a bleeding, disheveled, and psychotic looking Romulan… More than that, he also recognized him, "Bochra?"

"It's all your fault!" He screamed, and fired the phaser.

Earlier in sick bay, a Romulan Centurion by the name of Bochra was regaining consciousness. However, when he opened his eyes, it was not to a place that he recognized. There were no flickering lights, no smoke or the smell of charred bulkheads. There was no smell of sweat or blood anywhere. On the contrary, it was bright and the air smelled cleaned. The walls seemed to be in good repair, better than good actually. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that they were brand new. But these walls, the wall monitors, the computer consoles… They were not of Romulan design… They were Federation…

"Starfleet…" he cursed under his breath and attempted to move. His body was sore, but he was determined. "How long have I been here?" He questioned himself. He looked down to see that he wasn't in his Romulan uniform anymore, but some sort of Federation medical clothing. A set of light blue colored trousers and a long-sleeved shirt. "Disgusting." He grumbled

"Hello." Said a female's voice.

As he looked over to where it came from, he spotted a female, human doctor make her way from her office, towards him. Rage filled his body as she approached closer to him. The smile on her face only served to anger him even more.

"My name is Alyssa Ogawa, I'm the ship's doctor." She told him.

"You human…" he hissed.

"Excuse me?" she said. His venomous response had genuinely shocked her.

"This is all your fault…" Bochra hissed at her again, and lunged at her.

Clamping his hands around her throat, he squeezed tightly as he lifted her petite, human body off the ground. She thrashed her legs and clawed at his hands in order to breathe, but it didn't do any good. His eyes were wide and filled with madness, and he reveled in the knowledge that soon her life would end by his hands. Suddenly, he was struck hard from behind and he toppled over the bio-bed, as Ogawa fell to the floor. Her head hit on the corner of the bio-bed's frame lacerating a deep gash across her temple, and a small pool of dark, crimson, blood began to form slowly as she laid unconscious on the sick bay floor.

"Bochra, what the hell are you doing?!" shouted Sela

Bochra slowly lifted himself off the floor and stared menacingly at her. As their eyes met, Sela saw nothing that resembled any form of rationale or sanity behind them. The only thing she could see behind his eyes was that of a caged, wild beast, completely devoid of rational thought. Just anger, hate, fear and the need to kill everything in its path.

"You…" he growled at her, just like an animal. "You filthy, half-breed!"

Before she could even react to his comment, Bochra leapt over the bio-bed, tackled her to the ground, and straddled himself on top of her. She turtled up, covering her head with her arms as Bochra began raining down punches from above. Quickly elbowing him in his sternum, she grabbed his closet arm by the elbow and sharply, pulled it to the ground while bucking her hips upwards, and knocking him off. Now it was her turn to rain down punches from above, but with every fist or elbow that landed, it only seemed to enrage him even more. He didn't even try to defend himself. He just laid there, allowing every blow to make contact, as if he was feeding off of them. Absorbing the kinetic contact of her fists, and using that energy to fuel his rage.

With lightning speed, he grabbed her by the scruff of her collar and pulled her down, towards him with only a few centimeters separating their faces. Bochra's face was covered in cuts and bruises from Sela's assault, and with wide, bloodshot eyes, he began to scream. Spittle and green blood showered her face, and it was at this moment that the true state of Bochra's current mental condition became clear… He had gone completely insane… With the physical strength that only this kind of madness can provide, he threw her off of himself like a child's stuffed doll. She went flying into the nearby bulkhead and hit hard.

"You dirty, disgusting mongrel! You dare put your hands on a pure-blooded Romulan!?" Bochra shouted. He ran at her at top speed and kicked forward with the heel of his foot, having every intention on caving in her skull with the first strike.

With barely any time to react, she was able to duck his kick and roll away to safety a few meters away. When she looked up, she saw that his kick had actually left a 'foot' sized dent in the bulkhead. She picked herself up off the ground and braced herself as Bochra shot at her again. Sidestepping quickly from his attack, she took the advantage as he crashed into the wall. She cocked her leg back and kicked him in his ribs as hard as she could, just as he started to turn in her direction. Knocking the air out of his lungs, he doubled over and received a knee strike to his face causing him to fly backwards and collide into bio-bed. That didn't stop him however, as he immediately dropped back into his fighting position and squared up against his adversary.

"Bochra, this is insane! Stop this right now!" she shouted

But, unfortunately, she was shouting at deaf ears as Bochra grabbed the mattress off the bio-bed and flung it at her. The mattress whirled overhead as she ducked below, only to be met by a closed fist as Bochra landed a solid uppercut to her jaw. The impact from his punch sent her flying back into the same wall, and was welcomed by a series of punches that pummeled her body and face. She managed to block and dodge a few of his strikes and landed three quick uppercuts of her own to his ribs and landed a solid head-butt to his face that stunned him and sent him stumbling backwards. She immediately ran forward and kicked him in the chest as hard as she could and sent him tumbling over the same bio-bed. Landing hard on his back, Bochra gasped for air, and as he did so, he spotted something peeking out of the human doctor's medical robes that he had not noticed before… The handle of a phaser…

"Alright, Bochra! Enough of this, or I swear I'm going to break every bone in your body!" Sela warned him.

"Alright… Alright… You win half-breed." Bochra stated

"Don't call me that!" She yelled at him, angry at the thought that he still believed that she was actually inferior, or any less of a person, than he was simply because of the way she was born.

"Just let me catch my breath." He said while placing a hand on his chest.

As he slowly made his way to stand on his feet he suddenly dove for the doctor's phaser. Sela noticed too late what he was going for and didn't have the time to react as he raised the phaser from underneath the doctor's robes, and fired. She felt a sharp pain sting her chest and a sudden wave of darkness fell upon her… Bochra couldn't help but to grin manically as he saw her body fall to the floor and lay motionless.

"Serves you right for putting your hands on me, you mongrel." He said while basking in his own victory. "Well, it looks like you humans are good for something after all." He directed at the unconscious human doctor as he stood to take in his surroundings. "These humans must pay; all of these filthy Starfleet must pay. It's their fault. The Borg came because of them. It's all their fault!" He said to himself. "But where? Where would I go to make them pay the most… Aha! Engineering of course. Without their warp drive they can't do anything. They can't run, they can't hide, and they can't fight. The Borg will find them and assimilate them all… It's what they deserve after all. They brought them here, it's only fitting that they be punished for it…"

After making his final decision, he looked down at the two female bodies, spat on them and calmly walked out of the sickbay.

"Captain, sensors have detected phaser fire onboard the ship." Said Worf as the indicator lights blinked on his console

"Phaser fire? Where?" asked Riker

"From sickbay." Worf replied

Instantly Riker's mind began to race, "Oh no, Deanna!" he thought to himself.

Tomalak's mind also began to race about the people in sickbay, but not about the ship's counselor, instead he grew worried about two other people… Sela and Bochra.

"Riker to Ogawa." Riker stated as he tapped his comm-badge. But when no response he tried again, "Riker to Doctor Ogawa, please respond." After a few seconds of silence he turned his attention back to Worf. "Worf, I want you to take a security team and find out what's happening."

"Yes, sir." Worf replied. "Worf to security, meet me in sickbay." He stated, then tapped off the communication button on his computer console, and began to make his way to the turbolift.

"I'll come as well." Said Tomalak. "A few of my people are still in sickbay; I need to be sure that they're not injured."

"I might as well join the both of you; it's always good to have a third pair of eyes. Besides, this sounds like it might be fun." Said Kor as the three of them entered the turbolift for the sickbay.

Bochra managed to find a turbolift quite easily, it also helped that there were no people roaming around the corridors. Once inside the turbolift he gave the command to head towards main engineering; the turbolift processed the command and began to move. All the while Bochra could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins and he gripped the phaser firmly in his hand.

"Finally, vengeance will be mine… It's all their fault." He growled to himself

The turbolift finally reached its destination and the doors slid open with a quiet 'hiss.' Cautiously stepping through, he instantly heard the voices of chattering humans, and it made his blood boil. Luckily, they were all just around the corner from where he exited and none of them noticed his presence.

He counted three humans, two adults and a child from his position around the corner. They were all gathered around a central engineering table-computer console. He couldn't make out what they were talking about, but he didn't care. They were all just as guilty. Holding the phaser tight in his hand, he cautiously made his way to the edge of the corner and fired at the back of one of the humans, a young adult male. The human male fell over onto the engineering console and then sank to the floor. The human boy cried out in fear and dove to the deck while Bochra quickly pointed and fired at the older human male, who had pulled out his own phaser, but wasn't fast enough. That human trash fell backwards and crashed with a loud thud as he hit the ground. Just as he aimed for the young boy, another human appeared from nowhere and grabbed him by the wrist and wrenched it, knocking the phaser out of his hand. The human back-fisted Bochra in the face hard, and kneed him in the sternum which caused him to double over.

Bochra was already tired and injured from his fight with Sela, however, this was only a human; and humans were physically much inferior when compared with Romulans. He grabbed the human around the waist and lifted him into the air above his shoulders, and then slammed him down into the floor as hard as he could. Watching the human gasp for air gave Bochra great pleasure as he spotted the phaser that was knocked out of his hand, by the bulkhead. Quickly he snatched the phaser back into his hand and fired at the gasping human in the chest as he tried to rise from the floor. At that moment, yet another human male, with dark skin and wearing a metallic device or visor over his eyes, appeared from around the far corner near the main warp core. He had a shocked look on his face and spoke something. But Bochra didn't hear what the human had said, nor did he care... All he could see was vermin…

The vile roaches of the galaxy; they infested every nook-and-cranny of it, and it made him sick to his stomach. He couldn't stand the sight of them and everywhere he went, there they were… Filthy, disgusting, parasites. "It's all your fault!" he shouted, and fired the phaser.

Worf, Kor, and Tomalak met up with security officers Lincoln Simonds and George Colucci. The only two surviving members of Worf's original security team, along with the newest member, Pok. A young adult, Klingon male. Simonds was assigned to the Enterprise on Stardate 42755. Just a few days before Q threw the Enterprise 7,000 light years into uncharted space, near the unexplored system of J-25, where they first encountered the Borg. Colucci came aboard 5 months later on Stardate 43175, less than 2 weeks before another member of his security team Lt. Mara Aster was killed on an away mission. Leaving behind her only son, Jeremy, as an orphan. Both Simonds and Colucci have been on his security team ever since, and both have survived and proven their courage.

Pok was from the House of SepIch; son of Torghn, from planet Taganika. Taganika was one of the first of the Klingon colonies to fall to the Borg. Both of his parents, and his aunt and uncle perished during the assault. Pok was the only member of his family to survive. Not long after his escape from that world, he was assigned to General Kor's task force on board the Klothos. He had also taken Alexander under his wing and had begun training him in the ways of a warrior. Worf had seen great promise in the young Klingon and recruited him to be a member of the ship's security, and Pok eagerly accepted.

He gave the signal to Colucci who punched in the security override code on the wall console interface. The security contingencies were put into place after the Borg invasion of the Sol system. The doors would slide open, but at the same time erect a mono-directional or one-way, continuously randomized, resonance frequency force field in the doorway. That way, should the assailant, more likely Borg, fire a weapon or attempt to pass through it; it would strike the force field and be stopped by it. However, the security team would be able to fire back, through the force field and take any necessary action they needed without worry.

The doors slid open and the force field shimmered into creation within the doorway, however, there were no weapons fire from inside the sickbay, and it was eerily silent. Everyone had their phasers and disruptors at-the-ready, and were clearly prepared to engage the enemy. Worf cautiously approached the force and peered through. There were no signs of movement from inside, and as he looked deeper, he spotted a pair of feet on the ground. Signaling the rest of the team, which now included Kor and Tomalak, they entered the sickbay in a tactical formation. They found Doctor Ogawa, and Sela lying on floor. Both were unconscious, and both were injured. Ogawa was lying face down and a small pool of blood had formed around her head, whereas Sela was lying on her back with multiple injuries to her face and body. She was heavily bruised with many cuts and scratches, and green blood was trickling from her mouth and nose, but she appeared to be in better condition than the doctor.

Tomalak rushed over to her and began to gently shake her awake. "Sela, can you hear me? What happened here?" he asked her as Worf checked on the doctor, and the rest of the team spread out through the sickbay looking for the one responsible.

Sela's eyes slowly opened and she winced in pain. "That son of a Reman whore." She hissed as Tomalak slowly helped her up in a sitting position.

"What happened here Sela?" he asked her again.

"It was Bochra." She answered.

"Bochra!?" Tomalak said and then looked over to the empty bio-bed where Bochra had been lying upon for the last week. "Oh, no…"

"He's gone insane. He attacked the doctor." She said, and then suddenly as if realizing her own words her eyes immediately darted towards her, and saw Worf kneeling over her with a tricorder in his hand, taking her bio-readings. "How is she?" she asked with genuine concern.

However, before he could respond there was a high pitched scream that came from the entrance of sickbay. . "What happened!?"

It was Marissa, Doctor Ogawa's nurse in training. Simonds went to the doorway and deactivated the force field, pulled her in the sickbay, and then quickly reactivated it. But this time the one-way field was now operating in the opposite direction; facing the interior of the sickbay instead of the corridor. Just in case the person responsible for this crime decided to return.

"Marissa, what are you doing here?" asked Worf

"I was reporting for my shift." Said the teenage girl

"The doctor has been seriously injured, can you heal her?" He asked as Colucci and Pok gently placed the doctor on the bio-bed.

"I-I think…" Marissa started to say, but was interrupted from a message from the bridge stating that phaser fire had been detected in Main Engineering.

"It's Bochra; he shot me with doctor's phaser. It has to be him." Said Sela

"We're on our way." Worf stated and nodded to her in acknowledgement

"I'll stay here with the girl and try to assist her if I can." Sela said while grimacing under her own pain.

"You have to rest, you're injured." Said Tomalak

"I'll be alright. Go stop Bochra." She responded

"Simonds, Colucci, remain here and guard the sickbay in case the assailant doubles back on us and returns" said Worf

"Aye, sir." They both responded, and posted themselves by the sickbay entrance as Work, Kor, Pok, and a reluctant Tomalak exited the sickbay.

"What's your name?" Sela asked the nervous teenager

"Marissa." She answered

"Hello Marissa, I'm Sela. We need to help the doctor." Sela stated

"I know, but… I've never done something like this by myself before. She's always been here to help me." Said Marissa

"You can do this; just remember what she taught you. I'll help you if you need it." Sela told her, trying to boost the girl's confidence.

"You have medical training?" she asked

"Very little actually, but we can't stand around talking all day. We need to help her now, or she's going to get worse." Sela said, pointing out the obvious

"Yeah… Right, okay." Marissa said. "Right, so I need a tricorder."

"The Klingon was using one on the doctor earlier. He put it over there." Sela pointed to the medical counter behind her.

Marissa went over to grab the tricorder and looked at the readings on its display screen. "From the readings it looks like doctor Ogawa has a fractured skull on her left temple, a severe concussion, and ruptured blood vessels. Her arteries aren't damaged though. That's good; at least she's not going to bleed out. But we still need to heal her other blood vessels and fractured skull, and stabilize her neurotransmitter levels and motor neurons."

"Okay, so how do we do that?" Sela asked her

"Umm…" Marissa said to herself as she tried to remember the correct procedure that Doctor Ogawa had trained her in. "We're going to need a dermal regenerator, a neural stimulator, and 20 CC's of acetylcholine."

"Okay, where do we get all of that?" Sela asked

"I'll get the acetylcholine and the hypo-spray; you can get the other two things from the medical cabinet over there." Marissa said as she pointed to the cabinet on the bulkhead behind her, and made her way in the opposite direction to collect the hypo-spray.

Sela, holding onto her aching ribs, limped over to the cabinet to retrieve the dermal regenerator and the neural stimulator. It didn't take her long to locate them, and after doing so, she limped her way back to the unconscious doctor's bio-bed only to see the teenage girl already administering the medication to her patient.

"Are these it?" she asked

"Yes, perfect." Said Marissa.

She took the medical devices from Sela's hands and began use them on doctor Ogawa. First, she gently applied the neural stimulator on Ogawa's central forehead and tapped the tiny controls on the device. The miniscule LED lights began to shine and blink as it did what it was designed to do, which was to repair the fractured skull and to help lower the brain trauma. Then she activated the dermal regenerator and applied it to Ogawa's temple, a shimmering ray of pink light illuminated the side of the doctor's face as the skin, and the blood vessels underneath were healed. With the assistance of the acetylcholine pumping through Ogawa's bloodstream, the only thing left for them to do was wait and allow the treatment to work.

"Okay, I think that's it. Now we have to wait until she regains consciousness; it shouldn't take that long." Said Marissa

"Good, we can't afford to lose the only real doctor we have." Sela said and winced

"You're hurt, lay on the bio-bed and I'll treat you." Said Marissa

Normally, Sela wouldn't have been taking orders from a teenage girl, half her age. But what choice did she have? She was hurt, she was on their ship, and if it wasn't for them she would most likely be a frozen corpse floating in the vacuum of space. So she obliged the girl, walked over to her bio-bed and laid down.

A few moments later Marissa came over to her bedside with a hypospray, the dermal regenerator, and a tricorder in her hands. She began scanning Sela from head-to-toe with the tricorder, analyzing the readings it displayed on its screen.

"You have a minor concussion; some ruptured blood vessels but nothing serious, some micro-fractures and bruising on your ribs, micro-fractures on your right foot, and some swelling and bruising throughout various parts on your body." Marissa stated

"No offense Marissa, but I could've told you that without the tricorder." Said Sela

"Yeah, you probably could've. You must be in a lot of pain." She said

"Well… Now that my adrenaline has gone down, yeah, you could say that." Sela responded. "That damned Bochra… Only someone who's absolutely insane would try to do something like this with the situation we're in." She winced.

"I'm going to give you about 5 CC's of triptacederine. It'll help with the pain, okay." Marissa stated as she prepped the hypospray.

"Alright..." Sela answered as Marissa lightly pressed the cold, metallic nose of the hypospray to her neck. She heard the distinctive hiss of the medical device as it delivered the triptacederine directly into her bloodstream, and the pain began to fade almost instantly.

Geordi dove for cover as the phaser fire shot pass him, just barely missing him by a few centimeters, shattering the glass behind him.

"You know him!?" said Sonya while she also ducked close to the bulkhead

"Unfortunately, yeah I do. We were stranded on Galorndon Core on stardate 43349 for a short time near the Neutral Zone, not long before the Borg invasion… He was a pain in the ass back then too." Geordi said as he and Sonya both pulled out their phasers from their holsters.

"Filthy humans! Show yourselves and I'll it quickly!" shouted the insane Romulan

Geordi stuck his hand out just past the corner of the bulkhead wall and fired blindly in a quick, wide sweeping motion. Had he stuck his head out instead, in order to see where his target was, he would've been shot in the face. Bochra had been aiming at the exact spot that Geordi dove behind and was ready to fire at a moment's notice. However, he was not expecting a wide, arching beam of orange phaser fire. The sweep of the beam caused Bochra to dive to the floor near the central engineering console and cover himself as sparks erupted as the phaser fire scorched the wall behind him. He just nearly had his head sliced off from his shoulders, and he was not happy about it. Suddenly, he looked over to his right and saw the human child cowering in fear just on the other side of the central engineering console. Frozen in his own terror, he didn't even notice that the Romulan was less than a meter away, and made no attempt to move. Bochra quickly darted over one of the human bodies and grabbed the human boy by the neck.

Jay-Gordon tried to scream, but he couldn't. The grip the Romulan had on his throat was too tight, he could barely breathe. No matter how much he struggled to free himself from his grasp, it didn't make any difference. Abruptly, the Romulan freed his neck, only to wrap his powerful arm around Jay-Gordon's own, smaller and weaker, arms and chest and again he couldn't breathe as the air was squeezed out of his lungs.

"Humans! I have the boy!" Bochra shouted.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Okay, just stop! Alright! Don't hurt him!" shouted Geordi

"Show yourselves humans, or I'll shoot the boy!" Bochra shouted back, pressing the barrel of the phaser to Jay-Gordon's temple.

"Alright damn it! We're coming out, just don't shoot us!" shouted Geordi, and both he and Sonya slowly made their way out into the open from around the corner of the main engineering workstations area with their hands up.

Bochra slowly rose from floor from behind the central console, with Jay-Gordon in his grasp, he lifted the child off the deck, his feet dangling and kicking wildly, until they were practically at eye level. He pressed the phaser harder into his temple and growled into the boy's ear, and the boy stopped struggling immediately.

"Drop your phasers and kick them over here. Now!" Bochra demanded

"Okay, we'll do that. Just stay calm alright, no one wants to get hurt here." Geordi stated as he scanned engineering to see Wesley, Reg, and Harry lying on the floor. Slowly he and Sonya lowered their phasers, dropped them at their feet, and kicked them away. "We did what you told us, now let the boy go Bochra. He's no threat to anyone."

Being called by his name took him by surprise. "How do you know my name human?"

"You don't remember me, huh? We met each other once; it was a long time ago before the Borg came… On Galorndon Core…" Said Geordi

"Galorndon Core?" Bochra said out loud, but more to himself than anyone else. It took a minute for him to remember, but the memories of those long, by-gone, days started to slowly filter themselves back to the forefront of his mind.

"…Wait… Galorndon Core… Stardate 43349 correct?" he asked

"Yeah, it was." Geordi responded

"I remember you now. You're the cripple. The human who was born blind." Bochra stated

"Cripple? If I recall correctly, I was the one who was carrying you on my back because you couldn't walk." Geordi reminded him in a not-so-subtle way.

"Quiet! What gives you the right to even speak to me in the first place!? It's because of your people that the Borg invaded the Alpha Quadrant!" Bochra bellowed with venom in his voice

"What!?" Both Geordi and Sonya were taken back by that statement. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's you! You're the ones that brought them here. If it wasn't for you damned humans and your pathetic Federation, the Borg never would've come here. It's because of you! It's all your fault!" he screamed and was about to press the trigger when all of a sudden three Klingons and a Romulan came around the corner of the corridor with weapons drawn.

"Bochra, this is enough madness! Put the child down!" yelled Tomalak

"My deepest regrets Admiral, but I cannot obey. These humans merit no sympathy, no forgiveness for what they've done. We deserve justice!" Bochra shouted

"Justice? Is this what you call justice Bochra? Hiding behind a child like a shield? You have no honor." Said Kor

"I always knew you were unstable, but I never knew you were this insane. You would attack those who saved our lives and take one of their children as hostage? What else do you plan to do Bochra?" said Pok

Bochra smiled maniacally with that last question from the young Klingon and swiftly redirected the phaser from the boy's head, to the warp core and everyone froze immediately. "What do I plan to do you ask?"

"Bochra wait!" said Tomalak. "Let's talk about this. Look, I'm placing my disruptor on the ground." Tomalak did as he said and placed his disruptor by his feet and slowly stepped forward with his hands raised in front on him.

"Not another step Admiral, I swear on the souls of my dead parents that if you take even one step closer I will fire this phaser at the warp core and destroy it!" Bochra stated with conviction, and everyone knew that he meant every word.

Tomalak stopped in his tracks, "Very well Bochra, you're in charge. But you have to see that this is wrong, don't you? Do you really think that your parents would want you to sacrifice yourself like this? Do you believe that they would want you to harm an innocent child? What about the others on this ship? Bochra, don't you see that we are the only Romulans left in the entire galaxy? If you fire that phaser at the wrap core, not only will you destroy this ship, but you will also be responsible for the extinction of the Romulan race. We are the last of our kind Bochra, and it is up to us to ensure that what's left of our people and our culture, survives. We have to make sure that the Romulan way of life endures, and that a future generation of Romulans comes into this world and thrive… But if you destroy this ship Bochra, then you'll be the one responsible for destroying that future, and you'll be the one that'll put the final nail in the coffin of our race… Bochra, please put that phaser down and think about this." Tomalak implored him, and slowly took another step closer.

Bochra's mind began to race, and his vision became unfocused on the environment around him. Had he been wrong? Is he the one to finally kill off what's left of his people? Had he failed them? Is he failing them right now? Has he betrayed their legacy for a future? All of these thoughts ran through his head as the faces of his parents, friends, and colleagues flashed through his mind over and over again. Then, the faces of Borg drones replaced them. The faces of his parents, friends and colleagues turning into the Borg one-by-one, over and over again. Their screams of pain and fear filled his ears. The smell of copper filled his nose as he could feel their blood soaking through the fabric of his tattered uniform. His people were gone… There was nothing left… How can you rebuild a civilization with nothing but rubble at your feet? How can you repopulate a people, when there are no people? How can a culture survive, when that culture no longer exists? How can there be a future generation, when there is no future?

Bochra snapped out of his reverie to see that Tomalak was much closer than he was only a few moments ago, in fact he was too close. Then everything became clear to him. "You side with them, don't you?"

Tomalak had attempted to get close enough to grab the phaser out of his hand, while he was still questioning himself. But it was too late, and he wasn't close enough. Suddenly, Bochra had the look of a madman in his eyes once again. His eyes grew wide and the pupils in his eyes shrank to pinpricks.

Bochra quickly swung the phaser from the warp core, and pointed it directly at Tomalak's face. "Traitor!"

But before Tomalak could even react to his imminent demise, and just as unexpectedly, Bochra was suddenly ignited in a bright orange flash of light and vaporized into thin air as Jay-Gordon fell to the floor with tears streaming down his cheeks. A bleeding Miles O'Brien then quietly, and calmly stepped out from behind the transwarp chamber assembly with his phaser in his hand.

Miles had been taking readings of the warp core on the second tier when Bochra started his rampage in in engineering. After he heard the first phaser fire, he quickly made his way around and closer to the warp core and kneeled in order to see what was happening, just as Reg get shot in the chest with the second phaser fire. Then he saw Harry lunge at the Romulan and took that moment to jump over the railing on the second tier and scaled down the back of the warp core itself. Keeping a low profile, and with his phaser retrieved from his holster, he made his way over to the half-wall where Geordi and Sonya were. However, before he could do anything the glass overhead shattered into a thousand pieces. The flying shards of hot glass, shredded the top of his head and one side of his face. It took almost everything he had not to scream in pain at that moment. Because if he had, then he would've given away his position and he couldn't allow that to happen. He carefully wiped away the blood and removed the pieces of glass embedded in his head and face. It was about at this time that Geordi and Sonya had kicked away their phasers and surrendered to Bochra in order to save Jay-Gordon.

It was also at this time that Sonya spotted Miles concealing himself behind the half-wall in a pile of shattered glass. Sonya signaled to Miles that she knew he was there by making her way to the open space between the transwarp chamber assembly, and the bulkhead to the main entryway of the warp core as Geordi and Bochra spoke to each other. By putting her body in the way, she was able to provide cover for Miles and he took the opportunity to duck behind the transwarp assembly. No one noticed as he did so, and then Worf, Pok, Kor and Tomalak showed up. He tried aiming for Bochra, but with using Jay-Gordon as a living shield, he just couldn't risk shooting without hitting the boy. But then it seemed as if Tomalak started to reach the crazed Romulan, only to have that Romulan sink deeper into madness and turn the phaser on his former commanding officer. However, that one simple movement of pointing the phaser at Tomalak's face gave Miles the opening that he needed to eliminate the crazy and dangerous threat for good. He fired his phaser and struck Bochra right between the shoulder blades and in a split second, the insane Romulan was enveloped in a bright flash of orange energy, and vaporized.

After his body was turned atoms, Miles stepped out from behind the transwarp assembly and looked around at the stunned faces of everyone in engineering, and said simply "Sorry it took so long, I couldn't get a clean shot."

Tomalak stood in front of the huge windows in Ten Forward, staring out into space with the dead world of Boraal II beneath them. 48… That was the number of Romulan survivors that the Enterprise rescued when the Ry'Loth was destroyed… 19 Klingons and 48 Romulans… But now, that number was reduced by one… Now there were only 47 of them left… 47 Romulans in the entire galaxy out of what was once billions, spread across hundreds of light years on hundreds of different colonies. But now there were only 47 of them left.

It seemed like no matter what he did to keep his people alive; none of it did any good. They just kept dying… He was beside himself with grief and was holding back tears when someone touched his on the shoulder. He turned to see a dark skinned woman in a long red tunic and wearing an oval shaped headpiece of some kind looking at him with soft and caring eyes.

"Hello, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Guinan." She said

"Tomalak." He responded.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Tomalak." Guinan smiled

"Likewise Miss Guinan. Was there something that you needed from me?" he asked

"Just Guinan please, there's no need to be formal around here. Ten Forward is a place where people come to relax, enjoy each other's company, and talk if they need someone to talk to. Which, many times, happens to be me. But I don't mind. I quiet like it." She stated

"Ahh, so you're the barkeep I take it." Said Tomalak

"That would be me, and this is for you." Guinan stated and reveal a small glass of a dark blue liquid from behind her back.

"Is that… Is that what I think it is?" Tomalak asked with wide eyes

"Try it, and you tell me." She smiled

Tomalak gingerly took the glass from Guinan's hand as if he were grasping a precious jewel to be treasured. Raising the glass to his nose, he took a deep whiff and savored the aroma. "2278?" he asked

"Almost, it's a 2277, to be exact. Good nose though." Said Guinan

Tomalak closed his eyes, moved the glass to his lips and tilted it back until he felt the smooth, cool liquid rush down his throat with slight burning sensation. Burn the burning feeling was horrid or caustic in any way. It was a type of burn that made you want more. Relishing the flavor of something that he hadn't had in many years, he opened his eyes with smile on his face.

"Wonderful vintage… My good lady, where in the world did you get Romulan Ale? I haven't seen so much as a drop of this marvelous liquor in quite a long time." He asked her

She simply shrugged her shoulders with an innocent look on her face and grinned, "I have my ways."

"Dear madam, you must enlighten me to your secrets." Tomalak responded cheerfully prodding at her

"Well… The truth is I stocked up on a few bottles when I first arrived on board. They came in handy over the years. I still have one unopened bottle behind the bar if you want it." She told him

"You're willing to give me your last bottle of ale?" he said, obviously surprised

"You seem like you might need it more than I do. Besides, I think you'll appreciate more than I would. I know that it won't make up for the loss of your crewman, but I think it should make the loss a little bit easier to manage." said Guinan

"Thank you." He said with genuine gratitude.

"It'll be at the bar when you're ready to leave." She said, and walked away to leave him with his thoughts.

He turned back to gaze out the window at the stars took another sip of the delicious beverage. After a few minutes of contemplation for himself as well as his people, the doors to Ten Forward opened with a distinctive hiss, and Riker walked in.

"Good evening Captain." Said Tomalak

"Hello Admiral." Riker said and then spotted the glass in Tomalak's hands as he approached closer. "Is that Romulan ale?" he asked

"Indeed it is my good Captain." He responded

"Did you have that on you when we beamed you to the Enterprise?" Riker asked him

"Not at all, your barkeep Guinan handed me this ale a few minutes ago." Tomalak smiled

"Really?" Said Riker and looked over at Guinan who happened to be wiping down the bar top and merely shrugged with a slight grin on her face when she saw Riker glance at her.

"How are your people recovering?" he asked Riker

"Very well actually. We were lucky that the doctor's phaser was only set on stun and not kill. Otherwise everything could've been a lot worse." Riker stated.

"I must apologize for Bochra's actions Captain… I knew he was unstable… Well, who among us is not unstable to some varying degree or another these days?" He said sadly. "But I never knew that he was that far off the cliff, as you might say. I didn't know that he would've done anything like that and intentionally put anyone in danger, and attempt to kill people."

"There's no need to apologize. No one could've predicted what happened." Riker said, attempting to console him

"But I should have… I was his commanding officer, it was my responsibility." Tomalak stated

"He was unconscious for almost a week after we brought him on board. There was no way you could've know what would transpire when he woke up." He said

"Still… I am responsible for his actions, and the consequences for those actions must ultimately fall upon me… It's one of the burdens we bare as commanding officers…" he said solemnly

"Yeah… I know." Riker agreed with him

"Was there anything you needed from me Captain?" he asked Riker

Riker shook his head, "No, I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

"As good as one can be in a situation like ours, I suppose… One less member of my people in the galaxy… One less member of my race to carry on for any chance of a possible future…" He said sadly and took another sip of his ale.

"If you need anything Tomalak, don't hesitate to ask. We'll do what we can, with what we have." Riker told him.

"Thank you, I appreciate the gesture."

It had been a few hours since Bochra's rampage throughout the ship, and everyone was ready to get underway. Geordi, Sonya, Miles, Reg, Harry and Wesley had returned to duty not too long ago. But Jay-Gordon was still too traumatized to go back, and no one blamed him. Even with everything that he had gone through, along with everyone else on board, over the last four years with the Borg, he was still a child. So he went back to his quarters where he stayed with his friends, Patterson and Marissa, where he felt safe. Sela and Doctor Ogawa were still under Marissa's care in sickbay, but should be able leave under their own continence by morning, and a repair crew was sent to main engineering.

On the bridge, everyone was preparing for the final test results from engineering before their maiden flight with the new transwarp drive. "Geordi, how's it going down there?" Riker asked over the comm.

"Everything is going well, sir. The repair crew is nearly complete, we've gone over the transwarp chamber assembly three times just to make sure we didn't miss anything, and all of the simulation test results have all come back positive... I think we're ready." Geordi responded

"Good, then let's take it by the numbers and make our first jump to transwarp." Riker stated

"Aye, sir." Said Geordi

"Data, set course for sector 315, at heading 125-mark-141." Said Riker

"Aye, sir." Said Data

"Tom, keep the phase-cloak disengaged during the flight, however, once we've arrived at our destination and exit the transwarp conduit, engage the cloaking device. Just in case there happens to be a Borg vessel nearby. Also, I want all the sensor logs to be routed to engineering so they can monitor the readouts and make any adjustments to the transwarp drive as needed." He told Paris

"Aye, sir." Said Paris

"Okay, Geordi, we're all set up here. Tell us when you're good to go." Said Riker

"Stand by." Geordi responded. "Okay people, let's do this." He said to his team.

Sonya and Harry manned the engineering console stations, Reg and Wesley manned the central console and Miles was at the transwarp chamber assembly.

"Ready to activate the transwarp assembly." Said Miles

"Do it." Said Geordi

Miles tapped the commands on the transwarp chamber assembly and almost immediately, it came to life. The central coil assembly was illuminated with a soft glowing light, and it thrummed in unison with the main warp core. Tapping the tricorder to take the readouts from the transwarp assembly, Miles smiled. "Everything looks good, tricorder readouts show everything in tolerance levels."

"Readouts looks good here." Said Sonya

"Same here." Stated Harry

Geordi couldn't help himself at the rounds of good news so far. "Wes, Reg, what about you guys?"

"Everything looks to be operating at peak efficiency." Said Reg

"We're good Geordi, readouts are all positive." Wesley confirmed

"Engineering to bridge, we're all good down here, sir. Everything is reading positive and at optimal levels. You should engage the transwarp drive at any time." Geordi said cheerfully

To say that everyone on the bridge was happy about the good news was an understatement. Despite the earlier events of the day, this would more than make up for it.

"Alright people, here we go. Data, engage transwarp drive." Riker commanded

"Aye, sir." Data replied

Swimming the ocean of empty space, the Enterprise gracefully banked in the direction of its intended destination, and in a brilliant flash of emerald colored light, the ship and its crew entered the transwarp conduit. Leaving the deceased world of Boraal II behind.

Author's Note: It's been a while since I last posted a chapter. But here is the latest installment and I hope everyone enjoys it. As you can see, this chapter is actually about twice as long as my previous ones. I was actually thinking about splitting this chapter into two parts and posting part one a couple months ago, and then post the second half once I was finished with it. But in the end I decided to keep it together as one whole chapter and post it once all up at once, without splitting it in two. I just didn't feel right about cutting it in half. So leave a comment and tell me what you think about it.