Operation Assimilation: Uninvited Guests

Cardassian

Uninvited Guests

2372

Arbak research station

The dark gray mushroom-shaped space station sat at the edge of the anomaly that the Federation called the “black cluster”. The graviton wave fronts from a series of extremely old and in many cases collapsing stars provided the perfect location to develop the Unions new graviton based weaponry. Seated at a table on the observation deck Ganara Dejal looked up from her datapadd and glanced out the window at the anomaly. “Why?” she wondered. Why had she been shipped out to this base, so far from Cardassian space? She had no particular interest in the project or weapons research in general for that matter before she was assigned here. Her specialty was quantum physics, which was probably what had piqued the Central Commands interest in her when the project began. From across the room she caught the glance of Alen Gocet their “observer” from the Obsidian Order. Officially he was the Order’s liaison on the station, although often enough his interference on behalf of the order had proven to be a pain in their backsides. That had come to a head two months ago when Gul Telan, the stations commander told Gocet in no uncertain terms that if he continued meddling with the project he would be shown the nearest airlock. For now at least Gocet was content to sit back and observe the station and its research, reporting back to his superiors on Cardassia and only getting actively involved when absolutely necessary. “What?” Dejal asked. Gocet shook his head “nothing. Just keeping an eye on the ebb and flow of things.” Dejal called his bluff “you were staring.” “Out the window perhaps” Gocet answered unmoved. Downing a bite of tuspah egg the grey-haired man shook his head “If you really thought I was staring at you Dejal you’re sadly mistaken. I’m afraid you’re not my type.” Dejal absolutely hated Gocet, but due to the nature of the project they were stuck with him. She remembered the wise words of Gul Telan “The Obsidian Order make dangerous acquaintances. You can either avoid them and not associate with them at all, or if that’s not possible, keep them at arm’s length. Either way, you’d be well advised not to let your guard down”. She was trying think of a good retort to shut this insufferable interloper down when the communication system interrupted her “Akellin to Dejal. We've finished recharging the array.” Dejal tapped the button on her wrist communicator “good. Let me know as soon as the wave front intensity reaches peak levels.” Checking his console Akellin responded “The next peak should be in about 10 minutes.” Dejal smiled “great. In that case I'm on my way.” Finishing her cup of Rokhasa juice she stood, deposited the cup in the nearest replicator, and left the room without even giving Gocet a glance. As the doors closed Gocet grinned-that annoyingly sinister grin that made others onboard the station nervous. Making a note on his personal data padd he stood and started out of the room.

Entering the roughly circular central lab Dejal turned to Akellin “how much longer until peak wave front intensity?” The young lab assistant checked a nearby console “five minutes.” “Thank you Akellin” she responded turning to her own console. Checking over a few figures and status indicators she pressed a button on the console to activate the communication system “Dejal to Ops. Graviton wave front intensity is approaching a peak. We're getting ready for another test of the array.” “Understood” Gul Telan responded “It's your array.” The array. The product of nearly a year's work. What had started as a small civilian project had been quickly co-opted by central command for the obvious purpose of militarizing the technology once it came to fruition. The basic concept, graviton based weaponry, was now in what Dejal considered the intermediate stage. Today’s test was one of several involving encapsulating graviton beams in different types of more exotic particle beams. Hearing the doors slide open Dejal turned to see Gocet enter the lab. She didn't know how but he always managed to have full access to the lab, no matter how hard she tried to scramble the access codes to the door. The project was already behind schedule according to their central command overseers, she definitely didn’t have time for Obsidian Order tomfoolery. She wanted to tell him off and send him out of the lab but thought better of it. He nodded catching her glance “just here to observe.” She shook her head “fine. Just stay out of the way.” From the communication system Telan announced "We're ready when you are." Dejal nodded “Stand by.” She turned back to the lab assistants “Akellin begin graviton array prefire sequence. Derot prepare the nadion emitters. Ishar monitor the wave front feedback.” Checking her readouts and the chronometer she began to count down “1 minute. Akellin power up the emitter.” Akellin worked his console “emitter fully charged.” Dejal nodded “good. Target test coordinates set 1-1. Standby to fire... in 5...4...3...2...1. Fire.” As the stations array came to life and the golden colored graviton beam lanced into the distance Dejal turned to Derot “Active the nadion emitter.” A second energy beam, this one larger suddenly encompassed the first. As the two beams coalesced into one the graviton wave front on the receiving end flashed into view, the beam refracting off the wave front in a multitude of directions. “Beam intensity is at maximum” Akellin announced. From her own console Ishar the youngest technician reported “getting feedback readings. 2.8...3.5...4.2...5. Checking energy output levels…already well into the terajoule range.” Dejal nodded “impressive. Ok that's enough for now. Begin power down sequence.” As Akellin began working his board an alarm sounded at the central console followed by the stations alert klaxons. Dejal quickly opened the channel to ops "Ops report. What's going on?" Suddenly the entire station was rocked by a series of explosions. Weapons fire. As smoke billowed from several consoles around the lab Dejal yelled over the commotion "Ops! Report! Ops!!" Realizing that the communications system was out she frantically worked the main console, using her authorization codes to tie into the stations main sensors. She froze as the image of a massive cube shaped ship filled the screen "Oh my god!" Joining her at the console Akellin prompted "what is it?" She started to answer when several columns of sparkling green light materialized into Borg drones around the lab. As the technicians and assistants ran for cover Dejal quickly keyed in a code on the main console, a code known only to a few select people on the station including herself. Suddenly an alert sounded and the computer announced “Security program activated.” A forcefield flickered into existence in front of the labs sole doorway while the replicator on the adjacent wall sprang to life producing a cylindrical item with a series of ports on its exterior. Receiving a pulse of energy from the replicator the device began firing at the Borg drones, taking out two before the Borg adapted their forcefields to deflect the energy blasts. Having grabbed a phaser Ishar attempted to fire at one of the remaining drones, but was grabbed and injected with nanoprobes before she could press the trigger. Working a data padd from her hiding place underneath the central console Dejal accessed the security program and quickly adjusted the energy frequency of the replicated autoweapon. As a blast from the weapon dropped another drone she breathed a momentary sigh of relief. The moment was all to brief however as another drone raised his prosthetic forearm and fired an energy blast from a weapon hidden within the appendage, incinerating the replicator and the wall behind it. Hearing screams she turned to see Akellin struggling in the grip of two drones “Akellin!” Foolish. Now she had given away her position. Darting out from under her cover she made her way across the lab navigating the maze of debris and bodies, some Borg, some Cardassian, some dead, some assimilated. She barely noticed Gocet trying to get to his feet, Borg implants sprouting from his face and neck. Ignoring him she made her way toward the gap in the wall where the replicator and door had once stood. Pushing large pieces of debris out of her way she attempted to climb though the opening and escape into the corridor. She was not quick enough. From the other side of the opening a Borg drone blocked her escape. Before she had time to react another seized her from behind, pulled her close, and injected her with nanoprobes. Moments later the drone and Dejal disappeared in the sparkle of the transporter beam. Having made it to Ishars now half assimilated body Gocet watched as Dejal and the drone dematerialized. As another implant erupted from his forehead he grabbed Ishars’ discarded phaser. “The Borg may take the station” he thought. “They may take Dejal and the others. They may take the project and all its research.” But they would not take him. They would not get the wealth of classified Obsidian Order knowledge he possessed. With the last of his strength before his will failed him completely he held the phaser under his neck and fired.

Two hours later. As the drone formerly known as Ganara Dejal stepped out of the assimilation chamber the collective voice issued instructions “two of nine secondary processor of unimatrix 414. Report to grid 2-4 subjunction 9-1. Begin analysis of data assimilated from species 3005.” Coincidentally two of nine secondary processor of unimatrix 414 was also originally from species 3005. But that was irrelevant now. All that mattered was analyzing the data assimilated from the science station. The station itself was gone, destroyed moments after this drones capture by an overload of the fusion reactor. No matter. The data had already been assimilated from the stations computers, as well as the researchers themselves. Graviton based particle weaponry. Like so many other innovations this one would add to the collectives’ technological distinctiveness. Yet it was but one small stepping stone on the Borg’s ultimate quest for perfection.