Lieutenant Devron and Ensign Tholakath had raced out of the lab leaving Crewman Appleby to keep an eye of the snivelling Borg Drone, if having apparently regained his human emotions could be still classed as a Drone.  The two officers were sprinting towards engineering having heard a scream over the comms and realising their colleagues were in immediate danger.

“How?” Yelled the Cardassian; in reference to the fact his captain had realised the more human looking of the two occupants of room 322 was the real danger.  This was the second time he’d failed to spot something which could have cost lives; the first being the Changeling incident.  Then again it had cost one life in the end, that of the grandfather to the man he was now trailing down the corridors of the USS Adriatic.

Jason skidded to a halt needed to get a door open before they could continue.  “That Borg basically yelled it at me.” He replied breathlessly. “Three armed men burst into a room and that Petty Officer never flinched or blinked once.”

The door opened and the two recommenced their run. “It’s always in the eyes.  Look at the eyes!” The Cardassian repeated the word the Drone had shouted. “Damn!”  He’d just assumed it was in reference to the loss of connection with the collective, from being part of one big whole to suddenly finding yourself alone in the universe.

Rounding a corner the two of them found themselves at the secondary entrance to Engineering.  As the doors opened and they looked across the room, the first thing that grabbed their attention was Crewman N’Quith sat on the floor nursing a clearly broken right arm.  Just beyond him lay the partially Borg enhanced body of a man in red coveralls.  A metal lever or spike of some kind, protruding from the side of his neck having clearly been plunged into it with some force.  The figure was shaking involuntary as if unwilling to just give up and die.  But whatever human or Borg elements now constituted as a brain were unable to send any coordinated movements to the rest of its body.

Distracted by the grisly scene before him, it had taken a moment for Jason to realise Crewman Tyson was cradling the inert body of the Betazoid, Torf.  He raced over to them, as Tholakath went to deal with N’Quith.

“That thing stabbed him.” Came the hoarse reply to the Lieutenants unasked question.

Devron tapped his badge. “Emergency Beam out. Ensign Torf has been infected by Borg nano probes.  Hold him in the pattern buffer and attempt to separate them!”

**********

Crewman Lightwood at the controls of the transporter system on board the USS Jaxartes acknowledged his commanding officers request. Beaming the engineer from the Adriatic, he held the Betazoid in the buffer whilst he attempted to remove the Borg elements before completing the transporter sequence.

Doctor Andrianakis rushed into the transporter room a minute or two later; medical equipment in hand, having also been contacted by the captain. She could see the look of stress on the young crewman’s face as his fingers danced across the control panel and he let out the odd curse or two when things weren’t apparently working.  He looked up at her. “I can’t separate the Borg elements. It’s like the transporter can’t recognise them!”

“What about the new protocol’s and modifications made after Frontier Day?” She asked him.

“Different damn Borg. Different damn method of assimilation!”

“Is there anything you can do?”

“Something highly dangerous and totally unethical!” Lightwood tapped out a new set of instructions and the transporter beam vanished.  Phoebe looked at him in shock; but the young man was too busy to notice as his fingers continued to darting around the controls. “Got you!” He yelled triumphantly.

The transporter re-commenced and the body of Albert Torf appeared; covered in a layer of ice crystals.  The doctor ran forward, knelt by the Betazoid and began CPR. “Transfer us to sickbay, now!” She called out.  And within moments the young crewman was back on his own.  He dropped his head in his hands and let out an audible sigh of relief.

What crewman Lightwood had done was a highly dangerous gamble, which even now he couldn’t be sure, was worth the risk taken.  Unable to extract the Borg nano probes from the engineer’s body and knowing they would take control of him fairly quickly he had beamed the Betazoid to a point just outside the hull.  Sub-zero temperatures in the vacuum of space had rapidly froze the man’s body, leaving the only sources of heat coming from the nano’s themselves, which he could then pinpoint and extract.  Lightwood only hoped he’d been quick enough and the doctor could save Albert’s life.

**********

Just over an hour later, Lieutenant Devron had been to check on his engineer.  Doctor Andrianakis had placed  the Betazoid into an induced coma whilst she set about repairing and damage done to his body during the few seconds he’d been in the vacuum of space.  The doctor had found no trace of Borg anywhere and was able to reassure the captain that Turf would recover, but it would take several days of treatment and careful monitoring.

Jason was now however in the brig sat opposite the Borg Drone who had warned him; whilst Tholakath stood guard phaser set on maximum.  Just in case the Borg was able to break though the force field around the cell. Not that the Borg was showing any hint of wanting to escape; in fact so far he’d been fully cooperative.

“Why did you warn me?” He asked simple.

“I have thoughts, memories, and ideas.” The Borg replied. “I may have been like you once.”

“Human, Starfleet?” Jason pressed for clarification. “Do you recall anything from before?”

“I just don’t know. It’s like recalling parts of someone else’s life, or a dream.” The Borg looked himself over. “Whatever I was before, I am a freak and the stuff of nightmares now.”

The conversation carried on for a good half hour, and in that time Jason discovered that the Borg Cube had been heavily damaged losing its link with the collective.  Most of the Drones had been destroyed or left without power. Several of those Drones remaining had; like the one opposite him starting recalling things about their past.  All those others had possible been destroyed.  As for the two former crewmembers of the Adriatic that had been left to deal with anyone that came across the ship, the Drone only knew their adaption had been in connection with information gathered from part of an ongoing experiments being conducted elsewhere.  Experiments to make Borg who could blend in and go unnoticed.

Devron still didn’t have enough answers yet.  Where was this Cube hiding now?  Had it managed to make any repairs?  Had it captured those two transporters?  Where might it head next?  Could he warn anyone in time even if he knew the answer?  The situation was a mess, but at least he had something to report back with. Even though none of it seemed to be good news.