The Artifact

Posted on Fri Apr 8th, 2022 @ 12:01pm by Fleet Admiral Mike K`Wor Bremer & Commander Leksander Draven & Commander Jonathan Roebuck IV & Lieutenant K`Wor & Ensign Luke Conway & Master Chief Petty Officer Mark Branson & First Ramata`tar & Admiral Deela T'Lar & Lieutenant Commander Croesus & Lieutenant Commander Ariana Monroe-Wayne & Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Coleman & Lieutenant Timothy O’Riley & Lieutenant JG Miaxi Etaalu & Lieutenant Kah'lyn Chiara-Rivers

2,329 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 112 - A Trip to Remember
Location: Various
Timeline: MD2, 1415hrs

ON:

The Pegasus-C and Endeavour-A both dropped out of warp, along with an escorting Type-C Warbird. Looming large ahead of them was the Borg Cube known as The Artifact.

"Draven, Roebuck, K'Wor...tell me what you see." Mike said as he slowly stood.

"Minimal power levels, for a Borg Cube anyway." Draven started. "Several hull breaches, some rather large, but forcefields are in place and are stable."

"There's over a thousand automated disruptor arrays positioned around The Artifact." K'Wor added.

"There are designated flight paths to docking bays and landing pads within the Cube." Roebuck stated. "There's also several Snakehead fighters and Type-C Warbirds docked within."

"There's over a thousand life signs on board. Many are Borg but they are in a powered down state, almost like stasis. I'm also picking up several dozen Romulan life signs and other Alpha and Beta Quadrant species...even a couple from the Delta Quadrant." Draven added.

"We're being hailed." Roebuck announced.

Mike nodded and a Romulan along with a former Borg appeared on screen. A Romulan officer stood to the side with a discussed look on her face. The Ex-Borg had a more pleasant look on his face. However when he saw Bremer his expression turned to shock for a moment but he quickly flashed a smile again. "Welcome to The Artifact, my name is Hugh. We'll send you transporter coordinates for your team to beam over when ready."

Mike glared at the Romulan for a moment before replying to Hugh. "Thank you. We'll beam over in ten minutes."

"No weapons." The Romulan stated. "I'd also suggest you keep your ships defensive systems powered down, or it might trigger the automated defensive systems I'm sure you've already scanned."

"We're all friends here, now." Mike replied before the channel closed.

"Send the coordinates to the Endeavor, as well as the warning." Mike said.

He looked around for a moment then he tapped his commbadge, "Away Team to Transporter Room Four." Mike then looked at everyone on the Bridge that was assigned to go aboard The Artifact. "Bridge transporter in five minutes, make sure Beta Shift is here before you sign out, I don't want to leave any station unoccupied."

Mike then turned to T'Lar. "You coming, or mining the store here?"

Deela didn't have to give it a second thought. Her interest was peaked, "As much as I hate the Borg, I am definitely coming." She stood up from her chair.

At Ops LCDR Croesus scanned exterior readings for himself as he had no plans of being assimilated by any damn Borg.

Kah’lyn looked at Croesus, she could tell he wasn’t happy with being so close to a Borg ship. She was actually quite enthusiastic, and still surprised she was chosen about be along given that she was six months pregnant. “I can’t wait to see the inside of the cube, I guess I can see why I was chosen to come along. There are Romulans over there that are as much outcasts as me.”

" You are the center of my world never forget this." Croesus whispered.

Ariana offered a Kah’lyn a smile as she passed by, she had a busy time ahead of her assessing the ex-Borg that were aboard the cube.


---USS Endeavor-A, Bridge---

Coleman had ordered the ship out of warp behind the Pegasus. He let Mike take the lead on this, since he was the most senior officer, but Coleman was itching to go over to the Artifact.

Being part El-Aurian, Coleman was around when his mother's homeworld was destroyed by the Borg. He was curious about them, but had a deep seated hatred for them as well. This was why this trip was incredibly important to him. He wanted to get to know people that were former Borg drones and see them as the people that they were.

O'Riley was sitting at the operations station and he looked up from his station. "Incoming message from the artifact. They're giving us the coordinates for beam in and tell us the window will open in ten minutes," he said, reading off the information that came in.

Coleman got up from the center seat and felt a feeling lurch in his own stomach. It was the nerves that had been building up since they set off for the Borg Reclamation Project. Standing in the middle of the bridge, he collected himself and got his thoughts together before speaking.

"Alright, anyone wishing to come over to the Artifact, we've got ten minutes to beam over. Anyone who wishes to stay behind will help to man the ship and I want someone at every station for the duration of this mission. I don't want the Romulans trying to give us a once over while we're over there. Is that clear?"

Tim nodded as he rose from his seat and his replacement sat down to relieve him, "I'm joining you sir, like you I am interested in seeing the project firsthand and think that I could be of some help with this mission."

With a curt nod, Coleman said, "Alright, lets go. As they said in their message, no weaponry of any sort. They've probably got a few very tuned scanners over there, so no weapons means no weapons. Transporter Rooms One and Two, ten minutes."

"Aye sir." Miaxi said, leaving her station. She swung by her quarters and grabbed the bag with her change of uniform - unsure how long they would be on the Artifact, and headed for the transport room. She wsa a little uncomfortable...okay, a lot uncomfortable with not having a weapon available to her, but she had other skills she could rely on.

Arriving in Transporter Room One, she waited.


Ten minutes later, aboard The Artifact

Away Teams from both the Pegasus and Endeavour beamed aboard the Cube. There were several Romulans nearby, obviously security forces. They were armed too.

Hugh was also there along with another former Borg. "Welcome aboard The Artifact, I'm Hugh, the Executive Director of the Borg Reclamation Project."

"You're Borg." Roebuck commented.

"I'm a former Borg, or xB for short." Hugh replied. "Several people working for the Reclamation Project are XBs. I promise, you're safe here. Some of the projects here include working with other xBs to have as many implants removed as possible and to go on to lead fulfilling lives. We also work with Borg technology to better understand it, and to possibly apply it to Romulan and Federation uses. I myself am a Federation Citizen, and it's my hope that now we can have Federation scientists and specialists join us here in a cooperative."

Deela looked at her surroundings. She would have to be convinced it was safe, "That will depend on what we see here."

Ariana looked around she was surprised by just how large an area they were in. It was also creepy to an extent, though she would have to put that thought behind her.

Kah’lyn stood looking around the whole place was an engineers dream, not that she was aiming to tinker with anything. She was simply fascinated by it all.

Coleman was also looking around the Borg vessel. He'd never been on one this size before, or much at all. His entire species was nearly destroyed by the Borg and he couldn't help feeling a bit irritable. However, the scientific side of his mind kept coming back to him and making him think of everything that could be learned.

"Big place that you got here, sir," Coleman said, in a bit of both awe and horror. He kept his facial expressions and emotions in check as much as possible though, as he was representing the Federation and Starfleet.

"Most of what we do is within the Gray Zone. The gray zone is a designated section of the The Artifact that houses former the xBs and is divided into research areas. The zone is accessed through a checkpoint." Hugh explained.

The other xB with Hugh started handing out badges.

"These are Gradient Badges, keep them on you at all times you're aboard The Artifact."

The, the Romulan Female, a Tal Shiar Major spoke up. "There are rules governing the conduct of research personnel in the Gray Zone. Stay to your assigned research area, assume that any fixture or instrument could be malignant, removal of any Borg tech from this zone will result in prosecution, maintain a safe distance from former Borg members, and always wear the gradient badge."

"Good to know." Deela examined the badge before putting it on. She would hold of on any questions she might have until she had a chance to observe the workings of this place.

Miaxi also examined her badge. Seeing the Romulans there had put her on high alert, especially since they were armed. She clipped it to her uniform. "I'm Miaxi Etaalu, the security officer with the group." she told Hugh. "Any problems, please bring them to me."

Coleman took the badge and placed it right below his own Starfleet communicator. He wanted to make sure that he could get to both in quite a hurry.

Hugh looked at Monroe. "You're the Counselor?"

Ariana nodded offering a polite smile. “I am.”

"I'd like for you to take a look at our Disordered Ward. It's outside of the Gray Zone, where disordered xBs, all Romulans, are kept under armed guard. We don't have anyone aboard with any psychiatric experience. Any suggestions on how they can be helped would be welcome." Hugh replied.

Ariana offered a polite nod. “I’ll do my best for them, that I promise you”

Mike looked around, "Alright, we'll break up into teams. Engineering and Operations along with Security to go over the different areas within the Gray Zone, as well as the landing bay area and anywhere else Federation citizens may go."

"I will have a xB assigned to each team to answer any questions." Hugh added.

"A Romulan escort with be assigned to each team too, to help." The Major added.

"Great, babysitters." Draven added with a smile.

"This is a cooperative, and if Federation civilians are going to be here, we need to learn to cooperate, now." Hugh said.

Deela was still not convinced how safe it really was there. She couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling she had. She stood there, looking at Mike, waiting to see if he was coming. It looked to her that he wasn't going to join them so she decided to join Coleman on a team.

Kah’lyn wasn’t sure where she could be of most use so she hung around with Bremer, she was certain he’d tell her if he wanted her to be somewhere else.

Coleman walked over to Hugh and asked, "Sir, if I might bother you for a moment. If it's possible, I'd like to see some of the medical files on some of your xBs. While my specialty is Scientific, I've studied a bit of engineering and other specialties throughout my time in this galaxy. I'd love to be able to see if there's anything I can do to help make the procedures of removing their Borg components go smoother, if I can, as well as helping me...with my own misgivings of the Borg."

Hugh looked back at Coleman and said, "We have learned quite a bit during the last few months about the medical procedures of the xBs. But, not as much as we want, at least not yet. So, if you follow my....Romulan friend, he can help pull up those records for your review. Any other questions, feel free to ask."




Once everyone broke up into teams, Mike remained behind looked around at the land bay area.

After a moment, Hugh walked over to Bremer, "Excuse me Admiral, is there a section of The Artifact you'd like a closer look at?"

Mike was lost in thought. His memories drifted back to 2380 and his next to last encounter with the Borg. Much like had happened to Jean-Luc Picard in 2367, Mike had been captured and assimilated by the Borg. Instead of just helping them destroy a Federation/Klingon Fleet, Mike had helped them to them fight off the Pegasus-B and Yorktown before helping the Borg destroy the defenses of Zeria III and assimilate hundreds of thousands of Zerians before the Pegasus, Yorktown, and others showed up to stop them and recover Mike in a daring rescue. Following several surgeries, Mike had retired from Starfleet and was plagued by nightmares of the events, until he was recalled for the incident with Governor Malor. 'I was lucky, doctors were able to almost fully de-assimilate me, except for a few spinal supports and nanoprobs in my own blood stream' he thought. Mike paused, the sweat stopped and his hands relaxed. 'I helped the Borg nearly assimilate the entire population of the Zerian Homeworld and destroy twenty-five Federation Starships.' He let out a deep breath.

Mike also knew that the knowledge had been forcibly taken from him by the Borg was later used by them to launch their attack of the Federation a year later, a work that had cost billions of lives. Deep down, Mike blamed himself for those events and loss of life but with the Borg ‘gone’ he’d suppressed those memories and emotions. Seeing the Borg again in 2391, seeing his father's old friend General Korok (now a liberated Borg), had brought everything back, but that was before the recent war when Mike was successful in suppressing those memories again. But now, aboard the Borg Cube, they were flooding back.

Mike brushed the memories aside and looked over at Hugh. "Yes, I apologize."

Hugh flashed a smile, "I understand, it's difficult being back."

Mike gave Hugh a puzzled look and raised an eye brow.

"Yes, I know who you are." Hugh finally said. "Why don't you come with me, I know something that might be able to help you."


tbc....

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