“He said things are as bad as they look from the outside.” Dil lent back in the pilots seat of the shuttle, rubbing his temples as he briefed the small screen displaying Captain Tanek. 

“Greatest hits?” 

“Major failures in structural integrity, they believe about 72% of the internal volume is now unpressurized. Including their equivalent of the engine bay, which is why they’ve been unable to repair the crack in their transwarp coil.

Tanek nodded, “The Borg aren’t known for keeping EVA suits around.” The Denobulan gazed from the panel with an uncharacteristic, furrowed brow. “The coil, an accident?”

“Brynn said they were attempting to use a subspace corridor from Turei space in the hopes of conserving energy. The Turei weren’t not fans of that particular plan and attacked them en route.” Pressing a button on the console Dil shared some more accurate scans, portions of the spinning sphere highlighted in red. “They managed to get away but have essentially been on minimal power since. Their Engineer Kayax seems to believe that its a non-starter anyway. There is a 50/50 chance that in turning it back on it’ll explode.” The pair shared a look. “Aggressively.”

“In fairness to the Turei, the whole of the Fourth Fleet has turned out because of some mysterious Borg signals.” Tanek squinted on screen, clearly struggling to read the sensor scans. “Anything else? Combat assessment?”

“Weapons systems are offline, defensive shielding is minimal.” Dil pressed a few more keys. “Maine and I agree that currently the threat level is on the lower end.”

“That could quickly change. If things aren’t as they appear we won’t last long alone.” Tanek noted sagely, his eyes drifting away from the screen and to the windows at the far edge of his office. Dil knew that from the Captain’s ready room, he would have a perfect view of the Sphere, silhouetted against the orange hued stars of the nursery. “Where is all the power going?” Tanek mused, his attention still on the sphere outside the window. 

“Brynn says most of the power is being directed to the farm and the comms beacon. The one they used to get Starfleet’s attention.” Dil dismissed the sensor scans as he stretched his arms above his head. From his position he could see the hulking Hirogen assigned to escort him through the window, hovering at the portal to the Sphere at large, his face fixed in a permanent scowl. 

“Farm?” Taneks’ attention returned to the small screen on his desk. 

“They’ve converted a section of the inner hull to an airponic farm, it provides a fair chunk of the organic supplies and is supplemented by some ‘borrowed’ replicator technology.” Dil remembered the tension across the meeting table when it been had pointed out the ship had a great deal of materials that weren’t native to the Borg. “Oyvo is with them now trying to balance the power requirements, Zaya has taken Theta and is making a more thorough damage assessment.”

“And Maine?” Tanek had been reluctant to allow the maverick Lieutenant on the mission but with Bib, the squads usual commander stuck in Engineering covering for Sima he didn’t had much choice. Dil had been told to keep him on a tight leash. 

“Maine is following up on a lead.” Dil smiled, a boyish grin spreading across his face. “Any update on Rana?”

“No. According to Doctor Malax she remains comatose.” Tanek paused, it wasn’t necessary to elaborate on the fact their discussion had extended to the officer’s expressed wishes regarding life saving treatments. “He is at a loss, though Ensign Ghors in the science team has offered his assistance.” The young Napean officer had heard of his superiors collapse on the bridge and appeared at the sickbay door offering his empathic abilities, as the only crewmembers on board with these telepathic abilities they had a small support network. 

Dil stared out the window to the wide landing bay where the shuttle had touched down, less than 100 metres away the broken bay doors fizzed with energy as the emergency forcefield danced across the dark hull. “Perhaps we should ask the Unimatrix?” he mused absentmindedly, beyond the broken door he could see Daedalus floating in the distance. “They’re sure to have a plethora of medical data we could use.”

“It’s not the only thing they have that we could use Khos.” Tanek rarely used the commander’s given name, it signalled a more personal moment of the conversation. “They could have give us a direct view into the collective, access to their technology, even a glimpse into the Hive Mind.” They both knew the importance of this opportunity, if they could win Unimatrix Zero to their side, they could protect the Federation from the Borg. “We must convince them to join us, or at least bring them into the fold. It’s the only way we’ll ever understand the Borg.

“They assimilate, the conquer, they eradicate. What is there to understand?” Dil felt the pang of sorrow seize his heart, only a few days ago he had another notification of a friend lost to Frontier Day. 

“Everything Khos. We need to understand everything.”