Operation Assimilation: Only Logical
Vulcan
Only Logical
Stardate 42976.5
“We continue on course back toward Federation space after nearly three years of deep space exploration in the Beta Quadrant. All systems are functioning adequately. The crew are functioning equally well, although it will be agreeable to see our families on Vulcan again when we return home in approximately 15 months.”
As the science vessel V’Lhan slid gracefully through deep space Commander T’Prenn finished her daily log entry and turned to her chief science officer “report, Subcommander Sovin.” Sovin checked his sensors “There is nothing of note of sensors at this time. Only the same background subspace radiation that appears to permeate this entire region. Its intensity remains constant.” His left eyebrow rose suddenly “curious. I am reading a repeating signal in orbit of a planetoid 4.37 lightyears from our position.” T’Prenn’s own eyebrows rose “can you identify the signal?” Sovin looked up, his surprise almost visible “it appears to be a Starfleet transponder signal”. As the other officers turned at this revelation Sovin continued “it contains a registry…NCC-3757”. T’Len the tactical officer worked his own console “checking. The registry number matches the USS Tombaugh. The Tombaugh was reported missing 3 years ago.” T’Prenn turned in her chair to face the viewscreen “The logical course of action would be to investigate. Conn: set a course.”
20 hours later. As the V’Lhan entered orbit of the planetoid the broken battle scarred hulk of a constellation class starship came into view. T’Prenn recognized the four nacelled ship as one of Starfleet’s older designs, dating back to the previous century. Illogical, she though that Starfleet would expend the resources to keep such an old and outdated vessel class in service. “I am beginning detailed scans” Sovin reported. T’Prenn nodded “report.” Sovin scrutinized his console screens “I am detecting no lifesigns aboard. Life support and auxiliary power are operational, the main computer is partially operational.” “Can we establish an uplink to download their logs” T’Prenn asked. Sovin shook his head “Not at present. Their communication system is offline.” T’Prenn made her decision “the logical choice then is to go aboard the ship attempt to retrieve to logs directly”. She nodded at her officers “Sovin, T’Len.” Sovin followed T’Len toward the door “Yes, commander.”
Sovin, T’Len, and a young engineer named Lanik materialized on the dark bridge of the Tombaugh. Pulling out a tricorder Sovin began scanning the consoles “most of these consoles are damaged.” Lanik opened his toolkit and prepared to plug an opti-cable into a port at the engineers station “the secondary port on this console should be sufficient. I will need to reroute the datastream through the auxiliary relays.” “Proceed” Sovin ordered, now at Lanik’s side. “Connection established” reported Lanik after a minute “beginning the upload”. As the upload started a series of log images appeared on the consoles main screen. The bridge crew of the Tombaugh at their stations, the red alert klaxons sounding, an officer reporting the approach of an unidentified vessel, the captain attempting to hail the vessel “This is captain Steven Blackwood of the Federation ship Tombaugh. Please identify yourself.” The bridge shaking as the ship was attacked. A flurry of activity as one officer frantically reported “we’re being boarded!” A pair of transporter beams by the aft consoles dissolved into humanoid forms with cybernetic implants attached to their bodies. A phaser beam struck on e of the humanoids but bounced harmlessly off the beings energy shields. The beings grabbed the crew one at a time and injected their necks with metallic tubes. Sovin raised an eyebrow “fascinating.” He tapped his communicator “Commander…”
On the bridge on the V’Lhan Subcommander Selak looked up from the operations station “Commander. I am reading a vessel on an intercept course.” T’Prenn turned to the younger man “what type of vessel?” “It does not match anything in our records” Selak reported “however it does match the reports filed by the USS Enterprise after their encounter with the Borg ship near system J-25 2 months ago.” “ETA 4 minutes” T’Rinn, the young officer at conn reported. Internally T’Prenn grimaced. She had read the reports forwarded to them by Starfleet and the Vulcan Science Council. These ‘Borg’ were a serious threat. And if they were this close to Federation space, and had been for who knows how long, that makes the threat all the more pressing. Hearing a noise from the communication system she opened a channel to the away team. “Commander…we have accessed the logs” Sovin began but T’Prenn preempted him, already anticipating what he was going to say, knowing that Sovin had read the same reports she had “the Borg. I am aware. There is a Borg ship on an intercept course for us now. Prepare to tr-” Suddenly the ship was rocked by a barrage of weapons fire. “Report!” T’Prenn said, raising her voice to be heard above the alarms. “The Borg have opened fire on both vessels” Selak reported. T’Prenn gripped the arms of her command chair and stared at the main viewscreen “return fire”. Selak worked his console “firing…our weapons are having no discernable impact”. As the ship shook violently from another energy weapon hit Selek reported “our shields are down to 27 percent. Their weapons appear to be specifically modulated to drain our shields. I may be able to compensate-” “Commander” Sovin reported over the comm channel “We’re being boarded. Our weapons are ineffective. There are two many of-” suddenly the channel was abruptly cut off. Before T'Prenn could react the ship shook violently and Selak reported “Shields have failed. We’re being boarded.” As several columns of shimmering light materialized into Borg drones around the bridge Selak drew a hand phaser and fired, only to see the beam deflect off the drone’s energy shields. He attempted to change settings of the weapon but was grabbed and restrained by one of the drones. Seeing another drone plug it’s cybernetic arm into the flight control console T’Prenn rushed forward and grabbed the drone’s neck and squeezed, only to find to her dismay that the neck pinch was ineffective. The drone reached out with its free hand and pushed T’Prenn back, sending her to the deck. Before she could get her bearings she was rudely hauled to her feet and injected with nanoprobes by one of the other drones. “No” she thought as unconsciousness took her “I will not..lose..my ship...like this. I will not-”
Two hours later. Commander T’Prenn lay on a cold sterile table onboard the borg ship. Her uniform had been removed and a number of cybernetic implants now covered most of her body. She focused her mind, putting all of her mental discipline into trying to block out the growing voice of the collective which was becoming louder in her mind. Just prior to departing on this mission T’Prenn had spent 2 months in the monastery on the plain of Gol under the tutelage of a Vulcan master. The master taught her to purge all unnecessary emotions and exercise absolute control over the rest, allowing her to attain Kolinahr. She hoped that her training and strengthened mental discipline would enable her to put up a defense against the voice of the Borg hive mind encroaching on her thoughts “I am T’Prenn of Vulcan. Daughter of T’Rel and Solena.” As the collective voice became louder and more inescapable she recalled a basic meditation mantra “Structure. Logic. Function. Control. A structure cannot stand without a foundation. Logic is the beginning of function. Function is the essence of control. I am in control. I am in control. I… am… in…” “I am...” “I-” “We. We are Borg.”
Like the rest of the newly assimilated drones 2 of 9 secondary processor of unimatrix 614 stepped into a regeneration alcove and awaited orders from the collective. The ship from which they were assimilated, designated Vulcan science ship V’Lhan was being carved into sections by cutting beams and brought aboard the borg ship for study and assimilation. Species 3259’s biological and technological distinctiveness would be added to the collectives. The ship and its crew and one day even their entire home planet would adapt to serve the will of the Borg. To the collective, it was only logical.
“We continue on course back toward Federation space after nearly three years of deep space exploration in the Beta Quadrant. All systems are functioning adequately. The crew are functioning equally well, although it will be agreeable to see our families on Vulcan again when we return home in approximately 15 months.”
As the science vessel V’Lhan slid gracefully through deep space Commander T’Prenn finished her daily log entry and turned to her chief science officer “report, Subcommander Sovin.” Sovin checked his sensors “There is nothing of note of sensors at this time. Only the same background subspace radiation that appears to permeate this entire region. Its intensity remains constant.” His left eyebrow rose suddenly “curious. I am reading a repeating signal in orbit of a planetoid 4.37 lightyears from our position.” T’Prenn’s own eyebrows rose “can you identify the signal?” Sovin looked up, his surprise almost visible “it appears to be a Starfleet transponder signal”. As the other officers turned at this revelation Sovin continued “it contains a registry…NCC-3757”. T’Len the tactical officer worked his own console “checking. The registry number matches the USS Tombaugh. The Tombaugh was reported missing 3 years ago.” T’Prenn turned in her chair to face the viewscreen “The logical course of action would be to investigate. Conn: set a course.”
20 hours later. As the V’Lhan entered orbit of the planetoid the broken battle scarred hulk of a constellation class starship came into view. T’Prenn recognized the four nacelled ship as one of Starfleet’s older designs, dating back to the previous century. Illogical, she though that Starfleet would expend the resources to keep such an old and outdated vessel class in service. “I am beginning detailed scans” Sovin reported. T’Prenn nodded “report.” Sovin scrutinized his console screens “I am detecting no lifesigns aboard. Life support and auxiliary power are operational, the main computer is partially operational.” “Can we establish an uplink to download their logs” T’Prenn asked. Sovin shook his head “Not at present. Their communication system is offline.” T’Prenn made her decision “the logical choice then is to go aboard the ship attempt to retrieve to logs directly”. She nodded at her officers “Sovin, T’Len.” Sovin followed T’Len toward the door “Yes, commander.”
Sovin, T’Len, and a young engineer named Lanik materialized on the dark bridge of the Tombaugh. Pulling out a tricorder Sovin began scanning the consoles “most of these consoles are damaged.” Lanik opened his toolkit and prepared to plug an opti-cable into a port at the engineers station “the secondary port on this console should be sufficient. I will need to reroute the datastream through the auxiliary relays.” “Proceed” Sovin ordered, now at Lanik’s side. “Connection established” reported Lanik after a minute “beginning the upload”. As the upload started a series of log images appeared on the consoles main screen. The bridge crew of the Tombaugh at their stations, the red alert klaxons sounding, an officer reporting the approach of an unidentified vessel, the captain attempting to hail the vessel “This is captain Steven Blackwood of the Federation ship Tombaugh. Please identify yourself.” The bridge shaking as the ship was attacked. A flurry of activity as one officer frantically reported “we’re being boarded!” A pair of transporter beams by the aft consoles dissolved into humanoid forms with cybernetic implants attached to their bodies. A phaser beam struck on e of the humanoids but bounced harmlessly off the beings energy shields. The beings grabbed the crew one at a time and injected their necks with metallic tubes. Sovin raised an eyebrow “fascinating.” He tapped his communicator “Commander…”
On the bridge on the V’Lhan Subcommander Selak looked up from the operations station “Commander. I am reading a vessel on an intercept course.” T’Prenn turned to the younger man “what type of vessel?” “It does not match anything in our records” Selak reported “however it does match the reports filed by the USS Enterprise after their encounter with the Borg ship near system J-25 2 months ago.” “ETA 4 minutes” T’Rinn, the young officer at conn reported. Internally T’Prenn grimaced. She had read the reports forwarded to them by Starfleet and the Vulcan Science Council. These ‘Borg’ were a serious threat. And if they were this close to Federation space, and had been for who knows how long, that makes the threat all the more pressing. Hearing a noise from the communication system she opened a channel to the away team. “Commander…we have accessed the logs” Sovin began but T’Prenn preempted him, already anticipating what he was going to say, knowing that Sovin had read the same reports she had “the Borg. I am aware. There is a Borg ship on an intercept course for us now. Prepare to tr-” Suddenly the ship was rocked by a barrage of weapons fire. “Report!” T’Prenn said, raising her voice to be heard above the alarms. “The Borg have opened fire on both vessels” Selak reported. T’Prenn gripped the arms of her command chair and stared at the main viewscreen “return fire”. Selak worked his console “firing…our weapons are having no discernable impact”. As the ship shook violently from another energy weapon hit Selek reported “our shields are down to 27 percent. Their weapons appear to be specifically modulated to drain our shields. I may be able to compensate-” “Commander” Sovin reported over the comm channel “We’re being boarded. Our weapons are ineffective. There are two many of-” suddenly the channel was abruptly cut off. Before T'Prenn could react the ship shook violently and Selak reported “Shields have failed. We’re being boarded.” As several columns of shimmering light materialized into Borg drones around the bridge Selak drew a hand phaser and fired, only to see the beam deflect off the drone’s energy shields. He attempted to change settings of the weapon but was grabbed and restrained by one of the drones. Seeing another drone plug it’s cybernetic arm into the flight control console T’Prenn rushed forward and grabbed the drone’s neck and squeezed, only to find to her dismay that the neck pinch was ineffective. The drone reached out with its free hand and pushed T’Prenn back, sending her to the deck. Before she could get her bearings she was rudely hauled to her feet and injected with nanoprobes by one of the other drones. “No” she thought as unconsciousness took her “I will not..lose..my ship...like this. I will not-”
Two hours later. Commander T’Prenn lay on a cold sterile table onboard the borg ship. Her uniform had been removed and a number of cybernetic implants now covered most of her body. She focused her mind, putting all of her mental discipline into trying to block out the growing voice of the collective which was becoming louder in her mind. Just prior to departing on this mission T’Prenn had spent 2 months in the monastery on the plain of Gol under the tutelage of a Vulcan master. The master taught her to purge all unnecessary emotions and exercise absolute control over the rest, allowing her to attain Kolinahr. She hoped that her training and strengthened mental discipline would enable her to put up a defense against the voice of the Borg hive mind encroaching on her thoughts “I am T’Prenn of Vulcan. Daughter of T’Rel and Solena.” As the collective voice became louder and more inescapable she recalled a basic meditation mantra “Structure. Logic. Function. Control. A structure cannot stand without a foundation. Logic is the beginning of function. Function is the essence of control. I am in control. I am in control. I… am… in…” “I am...” “I-” “We. We are Borg.”
Like the rest of the newly assimilated drones 2 of 9 secondary processor of unimatrix 614 stepped into a regeneration alcove and awaited orders from the collective. The ship from which they were assimilated, designated Vulcan science ship V’Lhan was being carved into sections by cutting beams and brought aboard the borg ship for study and assimilation. Species 3259’s biological and technological distinctiveness would be added to the collectives. The ship and its crew and one day even their entire home planet would adapt to serve the will of the Borg. To the collective, it was only logical.
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