Out of the Ashes 4 - To Boldy Go...

To Boldly Go…

Note to all Star Trek fans: I apologise for anything I’ve got wrong about the Borg etc, don’t take it personally :D

Note to anyone who's not familair with my Out of the Ashes series - this is the 4th in a series of stories based (pretty loosely) on the artificial life simulation computer game 'Creatures'.
I will attempt to put the rest of this up here at some point, but for now if you want to know what's preluded this, go here:

Outer Albia http://home.t-online.de/~gr.filz/c3
or http://go.to/outeralbia
where the whole OOTA backlog is kindly hosted by emmel :D

Blurb over with :-

Chapter 1

         Callum stared at the roof and sighed. He’d been on the Discovery for two weeks now, ever since he and Sillika had left Albia, and he was already bored sideways. After the initial quizzing from the captain and several other officers, they’d been left pretty much alone. There were limits to where they were allowed to go in the ship of course, but that was to be expected. He stood up and sighed again. He might as well go to the Mix. The Mix was a bar/restaurant/club on the next deck up. He’d been there a couple of times. He grinned to himself; there hadn’t been a great deal of bars on Albia when he’d lived there. The Shee Council hadn’t allowed it; study had been deemed more important. Obviously, his species had learned to enjoy themselves a bit more after leaving the planet. He shuddered slightly as he remembered why.
         It seemed odd to everyone, including Callum himself, that he and Sillika had actually been born several thousand years ago, back when the Shee lived on Albia. They’d been students at the Albian Research Institute, the foremost education and scientific study building in the world. Callum had no idea how he’d gotten in there; he was useless with any sort of technology and had a tendency to treat test animals like pets. That had been a bit of a problem in dissection classes. When the Grendels had begun their rebellion, and the Shee Council had deemed the planet unsafe and had decided to abandon and ruin it, he’d found out that the Norns were being abandoned. He’d run off to try to help them, Sillika and a small Norn named Nirri in tow. They’d hidden six eggs and some gene samples, and Nirri had stayed behind to look after them. He grinned to himself, that hadn’t exactly been the end of it, but it had been the first time they’d encountered the first of the three Amulets. He shivered, the Amulets of Life, Death and Guardianship were terrifyingly powerful, and had been responsible for many of the major, often catastrophic events in Albia’s history. They’d also saved Callum, Sillika and Nirri’s lives on more occasions than he’d like to think about, but had gotten them into worse situations almost as often. He’d given up trying to explain it to any of the crew, everyone but Commander Jay Feral probably thought he was quite mad by now. He grinned again, the crew found quite a lot about them odd.
         He took one step towards the door, then glared at his trousers. Trousers, there was something he wasn’t used to. The shirt was less of a problem, but the trousers rubbed him in all the wrong places. For the vast majority of his life he’d worn the then typical Shee robe. It had been floor-length, with a high collar that brushed his ears. He’d get used to the trousers, but it would take a while. He had briefly thought about going back to a robe, but considering they weren’t made anymore, apart from dressing gowns, and the fact that his old robe now had more holes than a sieve due to one reason or another, he’d given up on the idea. He caught his own gaze in the mirror. He brushed a floppy lock of golden hair over the silvery scar on his forehead. He had a nice collection of scars, whereas Sillika had managed to get away with about two tiny ones on her arm. His fingers traced the slightly upraised area of skin on his chest through his shirt. The perfectly circular scar was the biggest he’d acquired. He shivered slightly as an image of Lraac flashed up in his head. Well, that was over now. He headed for the lifts.
         
         Callum glanced round the Mix as the door slid open. It was a strange shape, with a large, square main part and five smaller oval shaped rooms leading off it. These contained the bar, a serving counter for food, a small dance floor, vid lounge and the way to the toilets. The square room was the main seating area, filled with a collection of tables and plush chairs. Various lighting rigs were set into the roof, which one was being used depended on what the main event in the Mix was that day. The place was filled with off-duty crew, and Callum glanced round to see if he could find anyone he knew.
         "Hey Callum! Over here!" Sillika waved as he spotted her. He waved back and headed over towards the corner table she was seated. Sillika grinned at him as he pulled up a chair.
         "Hi."
         "Hi," Callum grinned back, then glanced round.
         "No sign of Jay tonight?" He teased. Sillika blushed slightly.
         "Don’t know what you mean."
         "Come on Sillika, you’ve been glued to him for the past week."
         Sillika brushed her silvery white hair out of her face and glared playfully at him.
         "Not you as well! I had this from Nirri…" She trailed off. There was silence for a few seconds. Then Callum flashed her a mischievous grin.
         "Okay, I won’t say anything else. But from that reaction…"
         "Har har."
         "Hey!" Jay’s voice rang out loudly. Callum turned, noting that Sillika moved a little faster than he did. He grinned and waved as Jay made his way over to them. The uniformed Shee grabbed the remaining chair and dropped into it. Callum watched the Commander for a second. Jay’d been the one who’d finally gotten them off Albia. One of the Discovery’s shuttles had landed there on a recon mission, and Jay had obviously been slightly surprised to find them there. Jay himself was quite tall for a Shee, with typical pale bluish skin and dark gold hair. He had brown eyes and always seemed to wear the typical NewAlbia Space Corps uniform of blue trousers, black shirt with emblem on breast pocket and rank pins down the arm.
         Sillika smiled at Jay, shooting a warning glance at Callum as she did so.
         "Hey. Any news from on high?" She asked. Jay sighed and shook his head.
         "Not really. They’re still processing your files. D’you want anything to drink?"
         Sillika smiled.
         "Llixer for me."
         For a second Callum fought an urge to wave a hand across their locked gazes. With almost detectable reluctance, Jay drew his eyes away.
         "You want anything Callum?"
         "I’m fine."
         Jay stood up, and with a final grin at Sillika, headed off towards the small, curved bar in the corner. Callum watched him go. Sillika might be getting on well with Jay, but he was pretty sure that his own friendship with the guy was a little strained. They got on okay, but there always seemed to be... Well, a level of sizing up going on. Callum couldn’t quite work out why Jay might perceive him as any kind of threat. He shrugged to himself; it’d straighten itself out. Sillika waved a hand infront of his face.
         "Anyone home?"
         "Yeah, just thinking."
         "Just checking."
         Callum looked at her, hand automatically jerking up to his chest.
         "The Link’s gone, you don’t need to worry."
         "You still do."
         Callum turned away from her stare. She was right though, he did still think about it. It often kept him awake. Lraac... He shuddered. Lraac, half Grendel, half Shee, all trouble. She’d been the reason the Shee had left Albia; she’d organised the wild Grendels into a fighting force that easily equalled the Shee’s own. They’d lost several towns and outposts to the Grendels. It was then that the Council had decided that they would have to leave Albia and wreck the planet in the process. They’d gotten ready to leave in massive bio-organic ships equipped with stasis technology for the long journey. Then the Council had unveiled their masterstroke. They’d planted a special bomb, one that would poison the world with radiation and fire a vast amount of reflective particles into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and plunging the planet into deadly winter for three years. That, they thought, should wipe out the Grendel threat. Lraac must have found out about the plan, and before they’d gone she’d... Ensured she’d be back. After the bomb had wrecked the planet’s surface, Lraac and the Grendels should have been dead. She’d found a way to avoid that fate. She’d used the Life Amulet to somehow ‘link’ herself to Callum - when he was alive; the link would bring Lraac back in any way it could. A shiver ran down Callum’s spine at the thought. Apparently it would have worked the opposite way, but thankfully he’d never had to chance it. He’d gotten pretty damn close though. Lraac’s other ‘use’ for him surfaced in his mind and he shuddered again. She’d wanted a mate...
         "Hello in there?"
         Sillika’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts and he blinked. That was over now, they were on the Discovery, the most highly advanced ship in the NewAlbian Space Corps fleet. Jay Feral and his team had found Albia, and offered to take them with them, back to NewAlbia. It had been difficult to leave the planet that they’d fought so hard for, but quite frankly it wasn’t theirs anymore. It belonged to the Norns, Ettins and Grendels. Not the Shee. He shook himself and grinned at Sillika.
         "I’m okay, just thinking."
         "I guess we’ve got a lot of that to do," she said quietly. They sat there in silence for a minute, then Sillika perked up.
         "Hey, Jay’s shown me some pictures of NewAlbia. It looks a great place."
         "Yeah," Callum realised he should put a bit of enthusiasm into his voice, "Great. Can’t wait to get there."
         "Callum?"
         "Yes?"
         "You’re a really bad liar."
         "I know."
         
         Jay Feral frowned as he placed the tray of drinks on the table.
         "You two alright?" He asked. Sillika blinked, then grinned up at him.
         "What? Yeah, we’re okay."
         "Just a bit of nostalgia creeping in," Callum laughed. Jay felt some tension ebb out of the air and sat down. Sillika sipped her drink.
         "Remind me again where we’re headed?"
         Jay grinned.
         "Back to NewAlbia. We’ll make one stop off at Cellas Station, then straight home. You’ll like it, I guarantee."
         There was a high beeping from the small black callband strapped round Jay’s wrist. He sighed and put his drink down. He hated being on call, but he was a Commander, he didn’t have much choice about it. He flipped the thin cover and pressed his thumb onto the small scanner pad.
         "Feral," he said quickly.
         "The Captain wishes to speak to you Commander," the slightly tinny voice trilled. He sighed again.
         "On my way."
         "Problems?" Sillika asked. Jay shrugged.
         "No idea. See you in a bit."
         He got up and made his way to the lifts. The calls only ever seemed to turn up when he was in the middle of something. He grinned slightly; at least he wasn’t in the bath this time. That had been annoying, and he doubted that the Captain had been too impressed when he’d turned up with a towel on his head to make a point. He pressed for the lift and stepped in as the door hissed open. He thumbed the scanner.
         "Bridge."
         The doors slid closed and Jay’s stomach lurched slightly as it began to rise. After a few moments, the doors opened again. Jay glanced round at the Bridge, and at the noticeable absence of the Captain. He frowned, and tapped a nearby ensign on the shoulder.
         "Hey, Crystal, where’s the Captain?"
         The Shee turned to him, and flashed him a sympathetic smile.
         "In her ready-room. Warning Jay, she’s a little pissed today."
         "Thanks."
         Jay crossed the crescent shaped Bridge, heading towards the rather plain doors that lead to the Captain’s quarters and office. Various Bridge crew gave him nervous smiles. He frowned as he palmed the door; there was normally a lot more noise on the Bridge. Everyone seemed to be treading carefully today.
         "She must be seriously annoyed," he muttered to himself as he stepped through the door.
         "What was that Jay?" The Captain asked sharply. Jay’s head snapped up, and he remembered himself in time to salute. He normally wouldn’t have bothered, but when Captain Llella Sasch was in a bad mood, it helped to be as polite as possible. He fixed his gaze on a point a few inches behind her right ear.
         "Nothing ma’am."
         Sasch sighed stood up. To Jay’s surprise she didn’t seem to have been doing anything else before he’d come in. This wouldn’t seem odd, unless you knew her. Sasch would always be working, if you wanted to talk to her you’d have to try to get a word in between pauses in typing. Now though, her whole attention was fixed on Jay. It was unnerving. The Captain was shorter than Jay; hair tied up in a totally immovable style that it was speculated rocks would bounce off. Even though she only came up to Jay’s chin, she had a tall personality. She wasn’t much older than he was, but was the most highly decorated officer on the ship, with more commendations for bravery and dedication to duty than most people earned in a lifetime. This was probably her last mission as a Captain; she’d been put in for promotion before they’d left. She also had the most restrained temper Jay’d ever seen. This wasn’t a good thing; all it meant was that she didn’t snap very often, but when she did it was a good idea to be on a different planet. Her copper gaze bored into him.
         "I expect you know what this is about."
         Jay shook his head.
         "No."
         "Dammit Commander! This is what I’m talking about!" She snatched a data pad from the desk and shoved it towards him. He glanced at it.
         "My report?"
         "Exactly. On this supposed ‘Albia’. Care to explain yourself?" She glared at him. Jay scrolled down through what he’d written, trying to find the problem. He couldn’t find one.
         "I, er, I don’t understand..."
         Sasch slammed her fist into the desk.
         "I didn’t request you on this mission because of your ability not to understand my orders!" She snatched back the pad and held it up to Jay’s face.
         "Norns, Grendels, Ettins. Even the flying hand is mildly believable. But this garbage about magical Amulets? You seriously expect me to believe that?"
         Jay hesitated. He wouldn’t have believed it, but...
         "Callum and Sillika swear it’s..."
         "Ah yes, the living relics. They’re the same age as you are Commander, if they were several thousand years old, don’t you think that it would show?"
         "The medical tests..."
         Sasch waved a hand.
         "True, they did give some odd results, but that could have been caused by any of a hundred things."
         "All together, ma’am?" Jay added sharply, then regretted it as the Captain’s expression hardened.
         "Your report is ridiculous! How am I supposed to show the Admiral this when we get back, hmm? Do you want to be the laughing stock of the Corps?"
         Jay glowered silently. He agreed that the story about the Amulets sounded ridiculous, but when you understood the facts... He’d seen the Hand, talked to it even. He’d seen the Amulet it wore and could see that there was something odd about it. He’d seen Callum’s scar, seen the Ettins who seemed to have formed an entire religion around the Amulets. He’d heard the tone of voice everyone had used when speaking about the pendants. He believed them.
         The Captain glared at him.
         "Well?"
         "Cal..."
         "For gods sake Jay! These new Shee have lied to you! I don’t know what reason they have for spinning such a ridiculous story, or why you choose to believe them, but I intend to find out!" She stalked back to her desk and sat down heavily. She tapped at the screen for a few minutes, then looked up. Her expression softened for a second.
         "Listen Jay, you’re a damn fine Commander and a loyal officer, but I can’t have wild stories like this spreading around the crew. Until I find out why those Shee are here… You’re suspended from duty."
         "What?" Jay stared at Sasch, outraged. He’d been suspended? For doing his damn duty? The Captain met his stare.
         "You heard me. It’s nothing personal. Oh, and report to the infirmary on your way back, you’re to have a full scan and chemical screen."
         Jay held her gaze.
         "Permission to speak ‘freely’?" He didn’t wait for a response.
         "I do believe them. There’s no reason why Callum or Sillika should lie. And I also believe that if you weren’t so keen to get a promotion at the end of this mission you’d be a bit less preoccupied with what the Admiral is going to think about one report that, if you would actually take some time to look at the evidence behind it, gives all the explanation that you need to know about two Shee who’ve been through hell and back trying to save a planet that the rest of our people left for dead! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a drink to finish."
         Jay spun on his heel and strode out, almost feeling the Captain’s shocked stare on the back of his neck. He stormed past the open-mouth Bridge crew, palmed the lift and glared at the wall until the door closed. Only then did he groan and stare at the roof. Why had he done that?
         "Because you didn’t think before opening your big mouth," he muttered. He sighed as the lift doors slid open. He’d get it in the neck for this.
         "Jay? You alright?" Sillika’s voice made him jump. He looked up and grinned as she made her way down the corridor towards him. She frowned.
         "You’ve gone red, what happened?"
         Jay gave her a weak smile.
         "I’ve been suspended."
         "What? Why?"
         "For my report on Albia. Captain thinks I made it up, or that you were lying."
         "We weren’t lying," Callum joined them, shuddering slightly, "We weren’t lying."
         "I know, I know. It’s just convincing her otherwise."
         There was another beeping from Jay’s callband. He sighed and brought it up to eye-level.
         "Probably another…" He stopped and blinked. Sillika tried to look over his shoulder.
         "What?"
         "Sasch wants me, or rather us, to go back to the Bridge."
         "You mean the Captain wants to see us?" She asked incredulously. Jay nodded.
         "This can’t be a good thing."
         "I’m inclined to agree with you."
Chapter 2

         Callum stared as they entered the Bridge. He’d never even seen the place before. The room was a crescent shape; each wall hugged tightly by a mass of panels and screens, all bordered by slightly organic looking ridges. Chairs slid backwards and forwards across the floor, their headsetted occupants tapping panels and talking quickly into the mouthpieces that hugged their faces. The air was filled with beeps and the sound of working machinery, coupled with the chatter of the Bridge crew themselves. The conversation gradually subsided as the crew noticed them. Callum was increasingly aware that they were the centres of attention. A nearby Shee with the pins of an ensign pointed towards a door on the other side of the Bridge. Jay nodded to her.
         "Thanks. C’mon you two, let’s go see how bad this is gonna be."
         He strode towards the door. Callum exchanged a glance with Sillika, and they hurried after him. The door hissed open and they stepped through. The Captain’s gaze bored into them the second they entered. Callum watched Jay’s expression go wooden. This couldn’t be good.
         
         Jay swallowed as Sasch’s gaze hit him. His own words of a few minutes ago echoed in his ears. He was seriously for it now. Sasch sighed.
         "Right. You’re all here because I want to get this supposed ‘Albia’ sorted out. The crew is getting edgy, and your stories aren’t helping. I need to make an official announcement soon, and I want the truth this time." Her gaze shifted from Jay to Callum, and she raised an eyebrow.
         "Well?" She said icily. Callum returned the stare.
         "You’ve already got the truth."
         Sasch snorted.
         "You don’t still expect me to believe that. I don’t know how you got this far out from NewAlbia…"
         "And the fact we’ve never been there has no relevance to you?" Callum retorted, his glare almost as strong as Sasch’s.
         "I’ve studied the evacuation of Albia, and your stories are factually inaccurate," Sasch snapped. Callum glared at her.
         "You’re damn facts are inaccurate! You’ve studied the evacuation? I was part of it!"
         Sasch rose to her feet, anger flooding across her features.
         "You dare to talk to me like that…"
         "Of course I dare!" Callum yelled back, his face reddening, "I’ve faced a hell of a lot worse things than you Captain, I’m still here and I’m not going to be called a liar simply because you’re too narrow minded to believe me. Do you know why the Shee left Albia?"
         For a moment Sasch rocked slightly on her heels, as if trying to regain mental balance.
         "A disaster…" She started, before Callum cut her off again.
         "Wrong! They left because they were going to destroy it! The Council decided to poison the world because they couldn’t accept that one of their beloved experiments had gone so awry that it had created something capable of destroying them! Now you can’t accept that our past is real because you can’t understand it. I don’t understand it! It doesn’t make me a liar. And it certainly doesn’t make it any less true."
         There was silence for a second. Jay realised his mouth was hanging open. Even he wouldn’t dare to talk to Sasch like that. Callum’s face gradually began to return to its normal colour, and he sighed, suddenly looking exhausted.
         "Sorry, but I’m not prepared to have our past denied."
         Sasch’s lips were thin white lines.
         "That’s an excuse?"
         "No. But too many have died to be called a lie." He matched Sasch’s glare.
         "If you want to call security now, you’re welcome. I probably deserve it, but some things have to be said."
         Jay looked at Sasch. The Captain turned and walked back to her desk. She sat down and swivelled her chair round so that she was facing the window behind the desk. Jay craned his neck slightly, trying to see the expression on her face. There was utter silence for a few minutes. Jay exchanged a glance with Sillika. She looked slightly shocked. Then Sasch turned back to the room.
         "You may go. Commander, a word?"
         As Sillika followed Callum out, she flashed Jay a nervous smile.
         "Good luck," she mouthed. The door slid shut.
         "Well?" Sasch tapped her fingernails on the desk. Jay tried a salute. Sasch sighed.
         "As you were Jay, I’ve had enough of protocol for today."
         "Yes ma’am."
         Sasch stood up and looked at him. Then she smiled.
         "Alright Commander, you’ve convinced me."
         Jay blinked in surprise.
         "Pardon?"
         "I believe you. And them. No one speaks with that much fire if they’ve made it up."
         Jay felt his shoulders sag slightly in relief, and an ache in his back made him realise he’d been standing too straight, for too long. Sasch sat back down and began typing.
         "You’re back on duty. Dismissed."
         Jay grinned.
         "Thank you ma’am."
         "Oh, and Jay?" Sasch called after him as he turned to leave. He looked back at her, and she winked.
         "Don’t spread it around that I gave in please. There is such as thing as an image."
         Jay laughed.
         "Sure."
         
         Sillika’s eyes flicked between the door to the Captain’s room and Callum’s face. She’d only ever seen him that angry once, before they’d left Albia the first time, when they’d found out that the Norns were being abandoned. She gave him a quick smile.
         "Hello in there? Anyone home?"
         "Huh?" Callum shook himself, and grinned at her, "Yeah, just thinking."
         "I’m sure it’ll be fine," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. Callum shook his head.
         "It’s not that, it’s just…" The hiss of the door opening cut him off. Jay grinned at them. Sillika returned the smile.
         "Hey, no bits missing, all limbs attached, I take it that it went well?"
         Jay nodded.
         "Yup. C’mon, I’ll fill you in later. Did we ever finish those drinks?"
         
         Callum leaned back in his chair as he watched the dancers spinning across the floor in the Mix. He seemed to be the only one without a dancing partner, but he didn’t mind. It was a few days since his heated exchange with the Captain, and it was just beginning to sink in that he’d actually gotten away with it speaking like that to someone even Jay was slightly afraid of. An image of Lraac flashed up in his mind and he shuddered. Nothing was as bad as she was; at least Sasch could only metaphorically rip his head off.
         "When you hit reality, let me know."
         Callum blinked away his thoughts and grinned at Sillika as she dropped down next to him.
         "Hi."
         "Hi."
         "Are you gonna dance?"
         Callum laughed.
         "You’re kidding me! Dancing is one of the only things I’m worse at than using technology."
         "Aw, I’ll get you a rock."
         "Got one."
         "Sarcasm Callum."
         "You don’t say?"
         Sillika punched him playfully in the arm.
         "Watch it," she warned, and laughed. Her eyes flicked left and Callum turned to see Jay heading towards them. Sillika shot him a warning glance, then smiled at Jay. Before she could say anything, the music suddenly stopped. Callum glanced up.
         "What on…?"
         "Attention all personnel," a computerised voice announced into void of silence left by the music, "This is a code red situation. Combat stations."
         Callum turned to Jay who was staring at his callband. He looked up.
         "Callum, Sillika, with me. Don’t ask why, because I don’t know," he added and strode towards the door. Callum glanced at Sillika, who shrugged, then they hurried after him.
         The corridors were filled with crew, and it hit Callum how quiet it was. The normal chatter had subsided, and Callum was aware of a sense of determination in the air. They crammed into a lift, already very full, and Callum’s stomach lurched as they headed towards the Bridge.
         
         Jay stepped out of the lift and hurried over to his station in the middle of the Bridge, directly opposite a large, oval-shaped viewscreen. The Captain nodded to him, then to Callum and Sillika. Jay blinked, then stared at the screen. It was fuzzed with static.
         "What’s happening?"
         Crystal looked up at him.
         "We picked up a distress signal, a very weak one. It was coming from a nearby Albian-class planet. When we got close enough to verify, this happened."
         Jay scanned the panel infront of him.
         "Some sort of jammer?"
         "Apparently, but it’s not like anything we’ve ever seen before," Sasch butted in. She turned to Callum.
         "Do you have any idea what this could be? You’ve been in this sector a lot longer than us."
         Callum shrugged.
         "Sorry, no idea. We only left the surface of Albia once, and we were in stasis for most of that journey."
         Sasch blinked.
         "Stasis? But..." She was cut off as one of the ensigns nearby gave a cry of alarm. Jay’s eyes flicked towards the screen. His jaw dropped. The static had cleared now, being replaced by a massive grey cube. It had to be over a hundred times larger than the Discovery, with a strangely raw appearance, like it had been stripped of it’s outside coverings. It looked like a mass of dark grey scaffolding, as if the designer had taken function over form to the extremes and had removed absolutely everything except the essential systems. Beside him, Callum swallowed hard. Sasch turned to Crystal.
         "Scans?"
         The ensign shook her head.
         "Can’t get any, something’s jamming our scanners."
         "Put up the shields," Callum said slowly. Sasch turned towards him.
         "We don’t yet know if it’s hostile..."
         "Just put up the damn shields!"
         
         Callum held Sasch’s gaze, wondering inwardly why he found the new ship such a threat. There was something about it, something that... Well, reminded him of Lraac. Maybe he’d spent too much time around the Amulets, maybe he’d developed a sort of sixth sense for these things, maybe it was just old-fashioned bone-level instinct, but whatever it was something inside him knew that cube was Trouble. Sasch’s eyes narrowed.
         "If you think..." She began when suddenly a shaft of green light lanced out from the cube, hitting the ship with such force that the floor rocked violently. Callum lost his footing and clutched at a chair for support. There was a small explosion of sparks from one panel.
         "Hull breach, deck twelve, losing atmosphere!" Someone yelled.
         "Get it sealed, and put up the shields!" Sasch yelled. Jay swivelled towards the navigators.
         "Get us the hell out of here!"
         "Can’t sir, we’re using all out power just to stay put!"
         The ship rocked again, less violently this time, but still noticeable. Callum glanced at Sillika and saw the fear in her eyes.
         "Open communications, try and talk to them!" Jay yelled. Suddenly the room was filled with what could only be described as a multitude of voices, all speaking at once. It grated and scraped across the ears, and Callum was sure it made his eyeballs itch.
         "We Are The Borg. You Will Be Assimilated. Your Biological And Technological Distinctiveness Will Be Added To Our Own. Resistance Is Futile."
         "Get us out of here!" Jay yelled again, over the horrible voices, "Re-route all available power! Turn off life support if you have to, we’ll be okay for a while."
         An idea hit Callum, and he grabbed Jay’s arm.
         "You got any projectiles on this thing?"
         "Missiles, yeah. Why?"
         "Can’t we send one of them up this beam? Does it work like that?"
         Jay stared at him, then a grin spread across his face.
         "Arm one series of missiles!" He shouted to someone. Sasch raised an eyebrow.
         "Good plan, let’s see if it works. Fire!"
         Callum’s gaze switched to the viewscreen, and watched the faintly glowing specks shoot towards the dark shape of the cube. There was a depressingly small looking explosion, and the ship shuddered again.
         "Done it! We’re lose."
         "Then get moving. Hyperwarp nine, let’s get as far away from that thing as we can!"
         The view stretched and twisted then returned to normal as the engines started. Callum watched Jay’s grim face, lips pressed tight as he stared at the screen. Suddenly, the cube seemed to stretch out away from them, and for an instant it flickered green. Then it was gone. Jay blinked.
         "Where is it?"
         "Dunno sir, it’s moving too fast to track. Away from us."
         Sasch sighed.
         "Are you sure?"
         "Yes Captain."
         There was silence for a few seconds.
         "Turn round, head for that distress signal," Sasch said at last, "They might have some idea of what is going on."
         She turned to Jay.
         "You’re to take a team down there Jay. Take... Take Callum and Sillika with you. They’re probably more than qualified, according to your report."
         Jay nodded.
         "Okay. C’mon you two, let’s get kited up."
Chapter 3

         "Belt up guys, we’re outta here."
         Callum carefully secured the thick straps around his chest. With a click they locked in place, and he looked up. The planet loomed in the shuttle’s viewscreen as they hurtled towards the surface. It didn’t look particularly ominous, being basically a large ball of dirty cream coloured rock. He glanced over at Sillika, who was staring up at the viewscreen.
         "Hi."
         "Hi," she grinned at him. Callum smiled back and winked.
         "Well, we’re back in the action again."
         "It’s only a landing team Callum, we’re hardly doing guerrilla warfare."
         "Been there, done that."
         "Got the scars. Stop looking so worried," she turned back to the viewscreen and, Callum noted, a clear view of the back of Jay’s head. He suppressed a grin.
         "Hang tight boys and girls, we’re goin’ down," a male Shee whose name Callum hadn’t learnt yet called back. There was a slight jolt and Callum glanced up at the screen again. They were here. He felt a slight shot of surprise, then remembered how a landing shuttle had plummeted out of the Albia sky before, the things simply dove towards the surface.
         "Fast, isn’t it?" He muttered to Sillika.
         "Hmm?"
         Callum rolled his eyes as Sillika tore her gaze away from Jay, and flushed slightly.
         "What?"
         "Nothing."
         
         Jay strode down the landing steps and looked round, his hand resting on the handle of his gun. He had a bad feeling about this mission, although he couldn’t put his finger on why. There was a slight click of footsteps as the others made their way down to the surface. He turned to Mikeal, who was gently tapping away at a small portable scanner.
         "Anything?"
         Mikeal shook his head.
         "Clear... Wait a sec," he tapped a few more buttons, "Gottit. There’s a fairly large group of lifesigns north of here... That’s odd."
         "What?"
         "The distress signal’s coming from the other direction."
         Jay shrugged.
         "Probably a better site for sending it. I’ll look into it. Vixa, Callum, Sillika, with me. The rest of you check out those life signs. Be careful, we don’t know exactly what that cube was. Keep your weapons out."
         The group split, Jay’s half heading in the direction of the signal, the others in the direction of the mysterious life signs.
         They walked in silence, except for when Callum managed to drop his gun. Vixa walked ahead, running her scanner over everything in range.
         "Not much to look at this place, is it?" Callum muttered. Jay had to agree he was right, the planet was one of the most... Spartan worlds he’d ever come across. The landscape basically consisted of varying sized outcrops of off-white rock. Their feet kicked up small whirlwinds of fine grey sand as they walked, but it was the silence that got to Jay. There wasn’t an animal call anywhere. The only sound came from the wind as it cut through even his Space Corps uniform, whistling in his ears and through the skeletal branches of what looked like long dead trees. To call it desolate was generous.
         Callum sneezed.
         "This dust gets everywhere."
         "Hey! I’ve found something!" Vixa exclaimed, swinging her scanner in the direction of a large outcrop of spiky rocks about halfway up a nearby cliff.
         "What?"
         "Life sign."
         "Any ideas what?"
         "No," she frowned as the scanner beeped, "Something’s screwing with the transmission."
         Jay drew his gun and, motioning for the others to follow him, started up the hill. A flash of reflected light caught his eye and he waved for the other to stop.
         "I don’t like this," he muttered, "Callum, Sillika, stay here. Vixa with me."
         Sillika looked about to protest, but she obviously caught the expression on Jay’s face, so just nodded. Vixa readied her weapon, and followed Jay. He glanced at the rocks, every muscle tensed, trying to spot the glint again. Nothing. There was a beep next to him as Vixa started scanning the rocks again.
         "Damn this interference, I can’t get anything now," she hissed, shaking the scanner. Jay started towards the outcrop again. There was something there, he knew it. They reached the first jutting finger of rock without seeing anything. Jay edged round, glancing into the small clear space in the middle of the rocks. Nothing. He frowned; he’d seen something... Vixa ran her scanner around, swearing under her breath.
         "This thing is useless! C’mon Jay, there’s nothing here." She turned and began to stride back to where Callum and Sillika were waiting. After a final glance round, Jay started after her. He could have sworn...
         "Get down!" Sillika’s cry cut into him, the slight undertone of panic in her voice sending him instinctively diving to the floor. Something sizzled past his head, a bolt of brilliant green energy hitting Vixa full in the chest. She didn’t even scream, just jerked horribly and folded up. Jay swung his gun round to fire at anything he could see, but he was too late. A burst of laser fire shot out from behind him, hitting something hidden in the rocks with a small explosion. Jay pulled himself up and span round, to see Callum standing; gun still pointed at the outcrop. He grinned slightly.
         "What d’ya know? I found a piece of technology I can work."
         Jay ignored him and ran over to Vixa’s prone form. Sillika was already there, checking for a pulse. She looked up at Jay; her sombre expression telling him everything he needed to know.
         "She’s gone."
         Jay knelt down next to Vixa, feeling anger and grief hit him at once. He’d not know the young female very well, but that didn’t dull the pain of losing a friend. He swallowed hard.
         "Did you get it?"
         "I think so," Callum nodded, squinting up at the rocks. Jay tapped his callband.
         "This is Feral. We’ve encountered hostile resistance. One casualty... Damn!" He jerked the band away as a crackle of static pierced his ear. Sillika gently closed Vixa’s eyes.
         "Uh, guys? I think you need to see this." Callum’s voice penetrated Jay’s thoughts and he looked up. He was standing by the rocks, waving at them. Jay glanced at Sillika.
         "C’mon, lets see what the hell’s been shooting at us."
         He glanced at Vixa’s body, shivered, and strode up to where Callum was standing. The other Shee stood aside, and gestured to the dark figure sprawled on the ground. The thing seemed dead, it certainly wasn’t moving anyway. Jay stared at it, a feeling of mild disgust running through him. It looked almost like a Shee, but was mostly covered in a variety of bits of metal. One eye was a gleaming; metallic red surrounded by other bits of grey metal. Its hands were almost totally coated in metal, and one had what looked like some sort of gun built in. It’s skin was a pale grey colour, and it gave Jay the creeps. He shivered.
         "At least we got it."
         "What d’you think it is?"
         Jay shrugged.
         "Hideous? Seriously, I have no idea."
         "Could it be a Borg?" Callum asked quietly, leaning closer to the thing.
         "Careful," Sillika warned, "We don’t know if it’s really dead."
         "I’m just looking," Callum grinned slightly, "You know what I’m like with technology."
         "Yes, you’re practically allergic to it."
         "Exactly." Callum gingerly prodded one of the thing’s hands. Suddenly a pair of thin wires shot out from its wrist, stabbing deep into Callum’s hand.
         "Damn!" He pulled his arm away, and jerked the things out. He dropped the wires, and rubbed the twin puncture marks.
         "These things are dangerous even when dead," Jay muttered, pushing the others away from the thing. For some reason he didn’t trust it to stay dead.
         As they emerged from the outcrop, Jay looked around at the barren landscape. Suddenly every rock, every jutting piece of stone could be hiding another of those tin-plated bastards. He glanced at Sillika.
         "We’re going back to the shuttle, see if we can use any of the equipment there."
         "What about the others?"
         "If we can’t reach their callbands, we’ll have to go after them."
         "In the shuttle?"
         "No," Jay allowed himself a slight smile; "There’s a much better way."
Chapter 4

         Sillika cursed under her breath as she totally failed to get any of the scanners to work. She’d be the first to admit she didn’t know everything about even half the technology in the shuttle, but she doubted even an engineer would be able to get anything out of the ear-piercing burst of static from the communicators or the madly beeping scanners. It was useless.
         She tried to avoid turning round, trying not to let her gaze linger on the covered shape laid across two seats. They’d brought Vixa back; she at least deserved a decent burial. Sillika shuddered, she thought they’d left all the death behind them. It seemed she’d been wrong, the cyborg-like creatures were almost as terrifying as Lraac had been. She was used to the idea of biomechanical research, especially in labs, but for some reason those... Things worried her more than she cared to admit.
         "Any luck yet?" Callum stuck his head round the door. Sillika sighed.
         "I can’t get anything."
         "We’d be better off with tin cans on string, no?"
         Sillika laughed.
         "Well, at least you’d be able to work them."
         "Ooh, I dunno. Bit too advanced for me I think."
         "Har har."
         Callum grinned, then snapped his fingers.
         "Oh yeah, Jay’s got our transport out of the hold."
         "Huh?" Sillika was about to ask what he meant, but he’d already darted back out. She shook her head and followed him.
         As she stepped outside, her gaze alighted on a sleek black shape hovering about a foot off the ground. Jay was sitting astride it, and grinned at her.
         "Hover bike, standard issue. Pretty good, eh?"
         "Very nice."
         Jay’s grin dropped from his face as he glanced behind her into the shuttle.
         "Anything on the scanners?"
         "Nothing. Can’t get any communication either, that interference has gotten worse."
         "That’s all we need," Jay said grimly, hopping off the bike. He walked over to the shuttle, stared inside for a second then palmed the door scan panel. It hissed shut, the landing ramp rotating back into the door, seamlessly vanishing into the hull. Jay tapped a few keys under the panel and stepped back as the air around the ship shivered for a second.
         "Okay, we’re secure. Let’s move out." He hopped back onto the bike and motioned for then to get on behind him, tossing them each a pair of wrap-around goggles as he did so. Sillika slipped hers on and mounted the bike, Callum climbing on the back and wedging himself on behind her. The machine seemed big enough to carry three people, any more and they would probably have to be tied to the back. Jay pressed something and suddenly the bike roared into life, rising further off the ground and shooting forwards. Sillika gasped at the sheer speed of it, and saw why the goggles were needed so badly. The wind whipped her hair into her face, forcing air into her mouth as they shot along the ground. Her skin smarted slightly as the dust was blown into her face at incredible speed. Behind her, Callum whooped slightly.
         "This tech I like!"
         Sillika grinned and turned back towards Jay. They both saw it at the same time. A column of thick black smoke was rising into the air, and over the roar of the engine Sillika was sure she could hear gunshots. Jay hunched over the controls, and somehow the bike gained even more speed, surging forwards again. Sillika strained to see where they were heading, and saw a huge cliff-face looming up infront of them. The grey rock was dotted with dark shapes, and as they drew closer Sillika could see that they were caves. However, her attention was caught by the smouldering wreckage at the base of the cliff. Jay slammed his foot onto a pedal and the bike roared at a halt. Sillika stared with horror at the scene that greeted them. The rocks were blackened with deep laser scars, the ravaged shapes of the two other hover bikes lying in a smoking heap at the foot of the cliff. The whole place looked to be the aftermath of a huge firefight.
         Jay leapt down off the bike and ran towards the mess. Sillika’s gaze locked with Callum’s and almost simultaneously they ran after him. Jay straightened up from examining a wreck as they reached him. His face was creased with anger and worry, but he also looked puzzled.
         "No bodies," he said simply.
         "That’s a good thing, right?"
         "Maybe. Maybe not," he muttered, staring at the devastation. Sillika glanced up at the caves.
         "You think they went in there?"
         Jay shrugged, then set his jaw, determination flooding his features.
         "Let’s find out. Guns ready, I don’t want to be surprised again."
         Sillika nodded, and noticed that even Callum refrained from his usual mock salute at an order. Jay lead the way, glaring accusingly at everything that might possible be hiding an attacker. Sillika shivered as they entered the caves. It wasn’t just the cold; she was filled with a sense of dread about the whole thing. The image of the cyborg kept flashing up in her mind as they made their way into the maze of tunnels, and in the gloom of the cave it was all too easy to imagine one suddenly appearing from behind something. The cliff must be honeycombed with caves and tunnels.
         "I don’t like this," Callum whispered. Sillika nodded.
         "I know. Something’s not quite right here." She glanced round for Jay, and felt her heart miss a beat. He’d gone.
         "Jay?" She stopped moving so suddenly Callum walked into her, "Where are you?"
         There was no answer, and Sillika felt a shot of panic hit her. She looked for the tunnel they’d just come through, and realised with increasing alarm that she couldn’t remember which one it was. She realised the she’d automatically moved to stand back to back with Callum.
         "I keep expecting a Grendel to leap out on us," Callum muttered. Sillika shivered.
         "I never thought I’d say it, but I can imagine worse things than Grendels right now."
         The sound of footsteps from a tunnel to their left caused them both to jump and train their guns on the entrance. Sillika almost sagged in relief as Jay emerged, but felt worry flood her again as she saw his expression. His face was ashen.
         "They did come in here," he said flatly, "I just found Mikeal."
         "He’s…" Sillika trailed off. She didn’t need to finish the sentence, the look in Jay’s eyes told her enough. Too much. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
         "It’s not your fault."
         "Yes it is. I’m the Commander; I’m in charge of this mission. What’s left of it anyway," he said bitterly. Sillika was about to speak again, when suddenly Callum yelled a warning. The three of them hit the ground together, as bolts of laser blasted the rocks apart above them. In the resulting cloud of dust, Jay yelled at her.
         "Try and find a way up to the top! I’ve got to get to the bike, or we’ll be totally stuck!"
         "What if there isn’t a way?"
         "Blast one!" And he darted away, firing blindly. Sillika grabbed Callum and they both fled up a nearby tunnel. Behind them, Sillika could hear the sound of gunfire then, worse, slightly clanking footfalls in pursuit. They didn’t speak, just ran, both trying hard not to think about what could happen if they came to a dead-end. Laser sizzled through the air, blasting pieces of rock out of the walls around them, filling the air with the smell of ozone and clouds of choking dust. Sillika’s heart pounded away in her chest, and she felt half-certain that whatever was following them would be able to track them by the near-deafening sound. Suddenly, they were outside, coughing up dust, but alive. She span round, in time to see two metal-clad figures appear in the tunnel mouth. They raised their gun to fire, but Callum was just faster, cannoning into Sillika and sending her crashing to the ground. He fired, blasting the rock above the tunnel opening. The rock, already weakened by the previous gunfire, collapsed, burying the creatures under several tonnes of solid stone.
         It was several seconds before Sillika trusted herself to breathe again. Trying to slow her madly beating heart, she stood up, taking a step back to avoid treading on Callum. Her foot hit nothing but empty air. Glancing down in horror, she realised they’d emerged onto a small platform protruding out from the cliff-face. Very far up. Her vision swam at the sheer drop beneath her, and she desperately tried to reassert her balance. She’d been right on the edge, and was now balanced very precariously on one foot. Unfortunately, most of her weight wanted to be on the other foot.
         "Oh sh…" Sillika screamed as she finally lost her footing and tumbled off the edge of the outcrop. Suddenly she stopped falling. She looked down at the dizzying drop under her feet and gulped.
         "Nice view down there?" Callum’s voice floated down to her ears. She looked up, and realised that Callum had caught one of her flailing arms. He was clinging to her wrist, half-off the cliff himself.
         "Callum," Sillika said, forcing her voice to remain calm, "Just out of interest, could you see it in your way to pull me back up again?"
         Callum grunted, then lifted Sillika up seemingly without much effort. She sat down gratefully as her feet touched solid rock. She sighed in relief, then her brain caught up with her. She looked up.
         "Since when did you get so strong?"
         Callum swayed slightly, beads of sweat forming along his too-pale brow.
         "I… Ohh," he stumbled, catching hold of a nearby boulder to steady himself. Sillika felt a shot of panic hit her.
         "Callum?" She stood up quickly and touched his shoulder. It felt strangely hard under her fingers. Suddenly Callum jerked slightly, face creased up in pain. He raised a hand to his forehead, and Sillika let out a gasp of horror. Small lumps seemed to be racing down under his skin, joining up under his flesh. Suddenly they seemed to burst through his skin and a mesh of metal surged out of his hand. The same thing was happening on his other arm, and from the lumps in his shirt, on the rest of him too. Shaking, he held a hand up to his face, his expression one
of horror as strips of metal seemed to surface from his skin. He spun round, and Sillika began to back away. He lurched forwards, more metal appearing from no-where, now racing over half his face. His gaze hit Sillika’s, and she saw the complete terror in his eyes. His hand shot out suddenly, gripping Sillika’s wrist like a vice.
         "Help…me…" He hissed, his voice sounding strange, as if there were many voices speaking at once. One eye seemed to darken, reddening and becoming shiny. Sillika gasped as Callum’s grip doubled.
         "Let go Callum, please!"
         Callum’s gleaming red eye stared impassively at her for a second, then he released her arm. She clutched it, trying to massage some life back into her hand. There was the sound of a motor and Sillika spun round as the hover-bike rose up by the edge of the outcrop. She felt relief hit her as she saw Jay hunched over the controls. He beckoned frantically at her.
         "Come on!" He yelled, Sillika looked back at Callum, then to Jay.
         "We can’t just leave him!"
         "Who?"
         "Callum!" Sillika gestured to towards him. Jay’s mouth dropped open so far he could have swallowed a brick. Sillika ran over to him, and he reached down and pulled her onto the back of the bike. She saw him reach for the controls.
         "What are you doing?" She screamed. Jay flicked a switch and the bike began to rise. Sillika stared at him aghast.
         "You’re not going to leave him there?!" She steadied herself to jump. Jay reached back and grabbed her arm.
         "Whatever that is now, it’s not Callum! We have to leave him!"
         Sillika looked back, and gasped as Callum suddenly straightened up, all emotion vanishing from his face. Dimly, over the roar of the engine, she heard his strange, multiple voice.
         "We Are Borg."
Chapter 5

         Jay slammed his hand into the controls, and suddenly the engine cut out. Sillika almost swallowed her tongue as the bike plummeted towards the ground. A second before impact, Jay kicked the engine back into life. The bike jolted wildly for a second then dived forwards, the acceleration almost sending Sillika flying off the back. Jay floored the pedal and the bike shot off across the rocky ground. Wind whipped Sillika’s hair into her face, dust sandblasting her exposed skin. Eyes streaming and stinging, she buried her face in Jay’s back. She had no idea where her goggles were, but she could now see all to well why they were supposed to wear them.
         Something sizzled past Sillika’s ear and Jay swore loudly.
         "They’re firing at us!"
         He jerked the controls, sending the bike into a terrifying spin. Sillika clung on for dear life as Jay sent the bike swerving and twisting all over the place in a bid to avoid the burst of laser fire aimed in their direction. Skeletal tree branches clutched at her hair as the bike skimmed a pile of boulders, cutting into a small canyon near the base of the cliff. For a second the firing ceased, but not for long. As the bike shot out of the top of the ravine, it jerked violently, spinning out of control down the slope at the other side.
         "That hit the engine!" Jay yelled, above the choking roar as he struggled to keep them moving. More laser sizzled through the air as the bike skidded and jerked, rolling almost upside down as Jay wrestled with the dying controls. Sillika glanced up, and managed to see a huge, looming outcrop of rock straight infront of them before her eyes were practically blown shut.
         "Watch out!" She screamed in Jay’s ear. He jerked at the handgrip, but the bike’s path didn’t change.
         "Jump!" Jay yelled as he dropped the controls. Wrapping his arm around Sillika’s waist he flung them off the bike. Sillika tried unsuccessfully to stifle a scream as they hit the ground, skidding and rolling wildly through the dust. Rocks tore at her as she dug her heels into the ground, trying anything to halt their momentum. Her shoulder slammed into a large boulder, sending a blast of pain through her arm, spinning her into the stone with Jay landing on top of her. She pressed herself into the dust; Jay holding her down as an explosion rocked the ground underneath them. Pieces of rock and metal shrapnel scythed through the air, slicing above Sillika’s head with a sharp hiss. Small bursts of pain from various parts of her indicated a few hits, but she didn’t have time to dwell on them. Jay grabbed her hand and pulled her upright.
         "Move!"
         "What exactly did you think I was going to do?" She snapped back as they began to run. Before they’d even gone a few metres, the laser sizzled behind them, blasting small pieces out of the rock. Sillika tried to ignore the ever-increasing fire as they ducked and weaved through a mass of Shee-high boulders. Something bright flashed past her face so close the light burned after-images into her vision.
         "Look!" Jay gestured wildly towards another huge outcrop to their right. Sillika nodded, it might give them some cover. They swerved towards it, as a barrage of laser blasted the place they’d been standing a second before.
         Sillika glanced round and gasped as three dark figures loomed out of the dust clouds. Jay pulled her towards the rock, shoving her behind him with one hand, drawing his gun with the other. He fired at the closest figure, but to Sillika’s horror the weapon had no effect. A previously invisible shield flashed around the Borg’s body, absorbing the blast. As the figure raised its gun, Sillika yanked Jay backwards. Her foot caught on something, sending her crashing backwards to the ground, Jay landing on her again. He rolled off and back onto his feet in one smooth movement, whipping round, his jaw set in grim determination. It dropped. Sillika followed his gaze, staring up into... A rather heavy-duty blast door? Jay ran his fingers over the surface.
         "Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t this a cliff-face a second ago?"
         Sillika nodded.
         "Yup. The question now is, where are we?"
         Sillika looked round at their new surroundings. They seemed to be in a corridor of sorts. It was amazingly…ordinary. The walls were a typical grey-blue, with a white strip light running down the centre of the ceiling. Jay frowned.
         "This is like a starship..."
         "Maybe it is one. We could always go find out," Sillika started down the corridor. Jay followed her. As they made their way down the corridors, Sillika gradually became more and more confused. How on Albia could they be on a starship? If anything they should be in a cave. Jay tried palming a nearby door panel, but got no response.
         "Please make your way to the central Bridge."
         The computerised voice made them both jump. Sillika glanced at Jay.
         "How’d we know where that is?"
         "Dunno. See if we can find a door that opens?"
         After a few wrong turns, they came to a large set of cream-coloured doors. Jay went to palm the door, but it hissed open before he could reach. Sillika stepped inside. It was a Bridge... Of sorts. The room was roughly oval, each wall covered in screens and keypads, a large viewscreen dominating the far wall. The centre of the room was a little different; a waist-high handrail dotted with panels ran round a circular depression in the floor. A small, flat-topped cone sat in the centre, surrounded by a mass of panels and slightly odd-looking equipment. Just off to one side of the raised area was a ring of computer terminals. And there was someone sitting at them. Sillika craned her neck, and could just make out a Shee hunched between three different keypads, typing on two of them at once, fingers dancing from pad to pad so fast they were almost a blur.
         "Whoa," Jay muttered as they made their way over.
         The Shee straightened up, and Sillika could now see that it was female. Short, coppery hair framed a young face with pale turquoise skin and golden eyes. She was clad in a plain grey shirt and black trousers, both of which had obviously seen a lot of wear, and a pair of sturdy brown boots. She flashed them a quick smile as they got closer and Sillika blinked. The Shee had the most fleeting grin Sillika had every seen, one moment it was there, the next it had vanished. The strange Shee’s gaze hit Jay, and seemed to be scanning him.
         "New Albian Space Corps? Rank of Commander by your pins," she said quickly, raising an eyebrow in Jay’s direction. He blinked.
         "Yeah. Jay Feral. This is Sillika," he gestured to her. The female nodded.
         "Keryl Lokan, Science officer, rank of lieutenant, not that it really matters here. Bear with me for a sec," she spun back to one of her panels, typing furiously. There was a muffled clunk from somewhere down the corridor and Keryl relaxed.
         "Okay, we’re secure. Sorry about the abrupt intro’s, I’ve only had this damn machine to speak to for two months, my communication skill are probably down the drain."
         Sillika smiled.
         "Hey, we’ve had worse," then what Keryl had said hit her, "Two months? You’ve been here for two months?"
         "I’ve been here for over a year, there’s just been no-one else alive for two months."
         Jay’s eyes bulged.
         "Pardon?"
         Keryl swivelled round in her chair, facing them again.
         "Simple. My ship crashed here a year or so ago, most of the crew survived. The communications were shot to hell, so we tried a different way of getting a signal through. All we attracted were those damn Borg, one thing lead to another, and now I’m the only one left. Clear now?"
         Sillika realised her mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it.
         "You mean... You’re stuck here?"
         "Yep," Keryl went back to her panel. Sillika felt a sense of dread hit her.
         "Are we stuck here too?" She asked quietly.
         "I’ll give you a clue, you’re in the same place as me, we’re surrounded by Borg and there are three cubes orbiting this planet. I’d take that as a yes."
Chapter 6

         Sillika stared blankly at the screen infront of her. It had some sort of rapidly changing display, but she wasn’t even trying to read it. She wasn’t... No, she was trying desperately not to think. She knew what she’d see if she did, the image burned into her mind. She shuddered again as the picture rose into her mind’s eye. Callum, face terrifyingly blank as he stared straight ahead as he uttered those 3 cold words.
         "We Are Borg."
         Not even ‘I am.’ ‘We are.’ Like... Like in that terrible instant he’d gone, vanished, destroyed by the metal rising out of his skin...
         "No!" She slammed her fist into the panel, causing the screen to flash madly for a few seconds. Like he’d been destroyed... Which was pretty much what had happened. Keryl had explained it just after they’d arrived, told them as much as she’d known. Sillika’s mind drifted back to that meeting, heard her own voice asking what had happened to him...
         -–-–-–-–
         "This?" Keryl tapped a key and a small screen rose out of the table. It showed a slowly rotating image of a Shee and as Sillika watched, the Shee’s skin paled, thin pieces of metal rising up through the flesh. After a few seconds it stopped. Sillika gulped as she stared at the impassive face, one eye slightly red. Keryl pressed another key and the Shee’s clothes changed to black armour-plate, a variety of extra pieces flying in from the edge of the screen and fixing themselves onto the figure. A curving eyepiece slid over the red eye, what looked like some sort of gun slotting onto an arm. Finally, the changes stopped. The image now was of something very similar to the ones that had attacked them. Keryl sat back.
         "Assimilation. The first stage is what the probes can do by themselves, the rest needs to be added afterwards." Her golden gaze locked with Sillika’s.
         "There’s nothing we can do."
         -–-–-–-–
         The hiss of a door jerked Sillika back to reality. She looked up as Jay entered.
         "Hey," he smiled slightly. Sillika tried to return the grin, but failed as her lips refused to move.
         "Hey," she muttered, turning back to her screen, trying to concentrate on the words. She was supposed to be learning about the Celon’s shielding system, but she wasn’t taking it in. Jay rested his hands on her shoulders, fingers moving in small circles across her knotted muscles.
         "What’re you thinking?"
         "Nothing much."
         "Y’know," his hands dropped back down and he flopped into the seat next to her, "It’s amazing what content a ‘nothing’ thought can have."
         Sillika stared at the floor.
         "I’m sorry. About Vixa, and the others."
         Jay rubbed his forehead.
         "It’s not your fault. It’s mine, I should have been more careful," his fists clenched, "And now..." He trailed off, head down. Sillika wrapped an arm round his shoulders.
         "Hey, it isn’t your fault. You weren’t to know about the Borg, how could you?"
         "Yeah, well..."
         There was silence for a few moments. Sillika kicked the floor absently.
         "Jay?"
         "What?"
         "Do... D’you think he’s okay?"
         When he didn’t respond, Sillika felt her heart sink. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but even an optimistic lie would have been better than nothing.
         "Jay?"
         Jay shook his head slowly.
         "I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. From what Keryl said, if he is still alive..." The sentence hung in the air. Sillika swallowed.
         "I know. I don’t want to, but... I know."
         
         Jay sighed as the door hissed shut behind him. No matter what Sillika said, he did blame himself for what had happened. He was the Commander, he’d been in charge, and he’d failed. Dismally.
         "Hey, Jay? Give me a hand?"
         Jay nearly jumped at Keryl’s voice. She was slightly further down the corridor, lugging a very large piece of equipment. She wiped her forehead, flicking sweat-damp hair out of her eyes.
         "What about it?"
         Jay nodded.
         "Sure, where are we going?"
         "Bridge," Keryl adjusted her grip, letting Jay take some of the weight, "This’ll be more useful plugged up there."
         That seemed to be all, conversation wise. As they manoeuvred the load, Jay mused that Keryl hadn’t been very talkative so far. She’d explained about the Borg, but very little else. He glanced towards her as they reached the Bridge.
         "You okay?"
         "Why, do I look that bad?" Keryl palmed the door, gesturing him to keep moving. Jay helped heave the thing through the door, then decided to try again.
         "I mean, are we a problem here? You haven’t exactly been welcoming."
         Keryl glared at him, then suddenly her expression softened.
         "Probably true, and I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit...clinical. It’s just... Never mind," she shook herself.
         "Hey, I do understand. About your group I mean."
         "Whatever," Keryl shoved the machine into an alcove in the wall, fingers dancing around the back as she plugged it into various sockets. Jay felt his temper rise slightly.
         "What’s the matter with you? I’d have thought you’d be a bit better pleased to have a little company."
         "Pleased?" Keryl swivelled round, her gaze burning, "I’ve had to expose this position, which has never been the most secure, just in order to save you two from those tin-plated monstrosities. And as for being a bit distant, yes, I damn well am. Basically I’ve had too many friends die to risk making any more. Those Borg have killed every friend I've had, my brother and destroyed any chance I had of getting home. Every hour of every damn day I spend tracking the bastards, trying to stay one step ahead. That’s what the matter is with me!"
         Jay realised his jaw was hanging open. Keryl turned back to the machine and began tapping keys. After a second she stopped and rested her head on the side.
         "I’m sorry. Really. It’s just... I’ve never had the best temper, and it’s been stretched to breaking point too many times. You want a drink, while I attempt to apologise?"
         Jay nodded, trying not to stare. Keryl seemed to flip from one subject, and mood, to another faster than anyone he’d ever met. He tried a grin.
         "Sure. What’cha got?"
         "Basically liquid caffeine with sugar. It’s not what you’d call healthy, but since life expectancy is currently a little uncertain, I haven’t been too bothered. That was supposed to be a joke, but I guess my sense of humour needs work too," Keryl smiled slightly. Jay returned the grin.
         "Doesn’t sound too bad to me. Lead the way."
         A few minutes later they were seated at a hastily cleared table in one corner of the Bridge. The drink was slightly bitter, but it was hot and soon began to fight off the advancing wave of exhaustion. Jay nodded to Keryl.
         "This isn’t so bad."
         "Urgh, I think I’ll have to disagree with you on that," Keryl grinned, then made a face as she took another sip of the black liquid, "I much prefer fruit juice, but you can’t beat this stuff for helping you stay awake for thirty odd hours fixing glitches."
         "Probably very odd hours if this set of equipment is concerned," Jay cast a glance around at the unfamiliar screens. Keryl laughed quietly.
         "Yeah. You try hanging upside down in an access tube for two hours, then finding out that dodgy reading was a problem with the display screen!"
         Jay grinned.
         "Well, I have been known to respond to unexpected call-outs wearing just a towel. And I’ve done at least one emergency red alert with my trousers on backward and no shirt. Naturally, none of the female crew got much done that drill," he winked. Keryl laughed.
         "You wish."
         "Something like that," Jay took another slug of the drink and could practically feel his eyelids peeling back. Any more of this stuff and he’d be bouncing off the ceiling. Keryl looked down, staring into her mug.
         "Thanks Jay."
         "For what?"
         "This. I can barely remember the last time I actually had a conversation. Or laughed, if I’m honest."
         "Oh, people laugh at me all the time."
         "You know what I mean, towel boy."
         "Now you wish."
         "As if," Keryl frowned at him for a second, "Just out of interest Jay, how old are you? You’re pretty young for a Commander."
         "25. I got a lot of hectic missions when I first joined, got promoted quickly. What’re you on about age for anyway, you can’t be older than me."
         "True, but a lady never reveals her age," Keryl grinned, "What were you out here for?"
         Jay told her. When he’d finished, Keryl whistled softly.
         "Deep space exploration, eh? Sounds like you had quite a trip."
         "You should ask Sillika some time, her story’s odder than mine," Jay took another sip of the drink, then raised an eyebrow.
         "Your turn. What was your mission about?" He asked. Keryl hesitated for a moment before replying.
         "We were... On a research mission."
         Jay glanced at the screens and instruments again. He didn’t recognise much of it.
         "This ship looks a bit advanced for a simple data-gathering mission."
         Keryl sat back and squirmed uncomfortably.
         "This... Wasn’t an ordinary data-gathering mission. The Celon’s crew was the pick of the best. None of us had below 250 IQ points; all of us were more qualified than people three times our age. We were picked straight from the top collages on NewAlbia; the top achievers in every year selected, shuffled, analysed and selected again. There were 50 of us."
         "50? To crew a starship?" Jay just caught his jaw before it dropped. Keryl nodded.
         "Yup. A smaller starship, but the Celon’s the most advanced in the fleet."
         Jay frowned.
         "No way. The Discovery’s the best."
         Keryl smiled.
         "As far as you know Commander. I worked on the Discovery. The Celon was your ship’s sister craft."
         "It didn’t have one."
         "It did, believe me."
         Jay’s frown deepened.
         "But, this place doesn’t look anything like the Discovery."
         Keryl nodded.
         "I said was. It was... Upgraded. This ship’s got a hyperwarp rating of 15..."
         "15? That’s not possible!"
         Keryl shrugged.
         "Not normally, but we have the first prototype drive capable of that speed. That’s where the problems started..."
         "Why? What happened?"
         Keryl swirled her drink round the mug, looking slightly embarrassed.
         "It blew up. It worked for six months, then just blew. We didn’t get any warning, and we ended up smashing down here."
         "Then you accidentally called up the Borg."
         Keryl shuffled again.
         "Not exactly..." She trailed off, then sighed.
         "Our mission was to identify and study a new species of bio-mechanical beings reported from this sector. We were looking for as much information as we could, especially weaknesses. Command was worried about the weapon reports from the damn things; we were looking for a way round. We’d gotten quite a database on them, loads of info that could be useful against them. Most of us were doing our own tests on their technology too, just out of curiosity."
         Jay stared at her.
         "You mean you deliberately attracted those things here?" He asked incredulously. Keryl shook her head quickly.
         "No! After we crashed, the communications and engines were beyond even our repair skills. There were plenty of parts though, and we could adapt a few spares to try and build a working array, somehow get a message through. We built one, but we couldn’t get enough range on the thing. Bryon had been working on Borg communication, and thought he’d be able to adapt their tech to work with ours. He was right. It worked, but not how we’d hoped. He accidentally sent out a distress signal, a Borg distress signal. Next thing we knew, those blasted cubes had appeared and we were forced to move constantly just to keep ahead of those metal-plated bastards. They were too fast," Keryl’s voice took on a pained edge, "Slowly, each of our groups began to fall. We lost contact with the last one three months ago. There were only four left in my group, me, Bryon, Cessia and Zaine. We decided to head back here."
         "Why didn’t you stay here in the first place? Infact, from what you’ve told us, why is the ship still here?"
         Keryl smiled slightly.
         "The Celon has a special cloaking system. It projects a type of hologram, along with a scanner disrupter, that can disguise it as anything we want. We’d decided to leave the ship when it first crashed so we could look round the planet. When the Borg attacked, we just had time to turn on the system before we had to run for it. My group was the only one to ever get back." She stopped, a variety of emotions flickering across her face. Jay rested a hand on her slightly shaking shoulder.
         "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have..."
         "No, you need to know." Keryl pushed his hand away and stared at the floor.
         "A few weeks after we’d gotten back, there was a fault in one of the generators. The access was blocked; we could only get at it from the outside. As you can guess, we got attacked. I... I was the only one who got away. The others were... They were killed." Keryl wiped her eyes, then her face set back into it’s usual determined expression.
         "I’m going to find some way to take those bastards down."
         Jay reached over and grasped her hand.
         "We. Me, you, Sillika. Whatever else happens now, we’re in this together."
Chapter 7

         Darkness. Featureless, empty, darkness. Sillika tried to wave a hand infront of her face, make sure her eyes were still open, but she couldn’t move. Panic jolted through her and she tried to struggle against the invisible grip. Dimly, she was aware that she was asleep, but the thought hadn’t grasped her full attention yet. Slowly, she managed to inch an arm into moving, and suddenly the paralysis seemed to vanish. Her relief was short-lived as she stared round, trying to blink away the darkness. It was almost like a black mist, and the disconcerting feeling began to spread over her that it wasn’t empty. Faint hints of shape vanished as she looked closer at them, only to re-appear at the edges of her vision.
         "Who’s there?" She demanded, trying to make her voice sound confident, but it just came out as a squeak.
         "Sillika..."
         She whirled round at the voice, but the space behind her was empty.
         "Sillika..." The sound twanged at her nerves at some deep level, sending shivers rippling through her. The sound came again, and again, a quiet, but urgent whisper that sent a chill down her spine each time. Panic, and more than a little fear darted through her as the hairs on her neck stood up and she swivelled faster and faster, trying to catch a glimpse of whateve... Whoever was talking.
         "Sillika... Why did you leave? Sillika..." The voice was almost lilting now, a chilling singsong tone. Sillika spun round again, eyes searching the mist.
         "Who’s there? Come on, who is it?" The question was meant to sound assertive, in control, but her underlying fear was clear in her voice.
         "Sillika..."
         She jumped as something brushed gently over her neck, pulling lightly at her hair. Her hand flew up and back, encountering nothing but air.
         "You left me... Don’t leave again..."
         That was it. Sillika ran. Her legs felt heavy, like lead, but she forced speed out of her muscles. A quiet laugh echoed in her ears as she struggled to move, get away from the sound. Suddenly it was as if she were running through treacle. Her legs slowed, every movement a mammoth effort.
         "Sillika..." It was right next to her now, the soft, almost purring sound close to her ear. She swung round, and the mist parted, a pale light flooding in from somewhere. Her gaze centred on the familiar figure, facing away from her. Relief hit her again.
         "Callum, am I glad it’s you! Are you trying to scare me senseless or what?"
         There was no response. For some reason, the silence was more unnerving than anything she’d heard yet.
         "Callum? Callum this isn’t funny!"
         Still no response. Sillika managed to take a step towards him and reached out. As her fingers brushed his shoulder, Callum turned to face her and Sillika screamed. Gleaming, blood red eyes stared back at her, green scaled skin reflecting the light in sinister ways. Lraac smiled horribly as suddenly metal seemed to flow out of her skin, winding into the visible implants as her skin rippled. Her hand shot out, clamping around Sillika’s neck, lifting her off the ground.
         "Did You Miss Me?" She hissed as Sillika clawed at the iron grip. Pure terror flooded through her as she fought to breathe. Lraac raised her other hand, the twin wires shooting out and waving in the air, almost searching. Lraac’s face twisted in a grin, and suddenly the features shifted. Sillika found herself staring into Callum’s eyes, his face distorted in a cruel smile. She tried to yell, to say something, but the grip around her neck doubled. Callum laughed, the sound alternating between his normal laugh and Lraac’s evil sound. His eyes gleamed as he raised the wires high above him, twisting his wrist until they were pointing towards her. His grin widened, exposing rows of fangs.
         "Resistance Is Futile," he hissed, the wires darting down towards Sillika. She screamed as the sharp points bit deep into her flesh, a burning pain flooding through her body, all the time Lraac’s laugh rising above everything as Callum’s face vanished in the rising red mists of agony...
         "No!" Sillika sat bolt upright, her eyes snapping open, breathing coming in terrified gasps. It took her a few moments for her brain to register where she was. She clamped a hand to her chest, feeling her heart hammer away as she tried to settle her breathing.
         "Just a dream," she muttered, "Just a dream..."
         When her heartbeat had returned to something approaching normal, or at least wasn’t going to be audible to everyone within a four-mile radius, Sillika flopped back onto the bed. The images of the dream slowly faded, but she was pretty sure they wouldn’t disappear.
         "Lights," she muttered. On cue, the room was lit with a soft glow. Sillika smiled slightly, voice-operated lighting was pretty useful. Her gaze scanned the small, rather basic room she’d been given. It was pretty bare, but Sillika had come across a few boxes in the wardrobe, filled with… Well, personal things. Keryl hadn’t said whom the room’s previous occupant had been, but she had made it clear that they wouldn’t be back. Sillika had left the boxes where they were, it was strange enough sleeping in someone else’s room, without the hints about who they wer... Had been. She tried not to think about it.
         With a sigh, she rolled over and relaxed, letting her eyelids slide closed again. Maybe she’d leave the lights on for a while longer...
         
         Jay handed Keryl the final plug and yawned loudly. She grinned as she fixed it in place.
         "Coffee wearing off?"
         "Yeah. Urgh, when you come down off that stuff, you really land with a bump."
         "Tell me about it," Keryl pressed a few keys and the screen they’d just been fixing lit up. She smiled.
         "Bingo. Thanks for your help moving this stuff up here Jay; I thought it’d be easier if all the stuff we’re likely to need is in the Bridge. I’d never have shifted it all by myself."
         "You’re welcome," Jay yawned again and blinked owlishly, "Sillika’s already gone to bed hasn’t she? Think I’ll join her."
         "Have fun."
         "That’s not what I meant."
         "I know what you meant. Use room A19, just out of here and to the left. Sleep well."
         Jay rubbed his forehead, trying to keep his eyelids open enough to look at her.
         "Aren’t you tired?"
         "Yeah, but I’ll finish up here first."
         "Okay. See you later," Jay gave a mock salute and head towards the Bridge doors. He found room A19, palmed the door, stumbled in, fell headfirst onto the bed and was asleep the instant his head hit the pillow.
         
         Keryl sighed as the door hissed shut. She’d made a promise to herself, when she’d first detected Jay and Sillika on the scanners, that she wouldn’t get close to them, would try her hardest to stay at a distance. She’d failed, but... She allowed herself a small grin; it felt so much better to have someone to talk to. She’d not realised how lonely she was before.
         She glanced round the Bridge, scanning the display screens. She always checked everything was at optimum levels before turning in... Her gaze locked on one screen and she swore quietly. The readouts for the communications array were wrong. She sighed again and swung herself into a chair, fingers dancing across the keypad. The screen came up, and she ran a quick diagnostic on the comm system. Damn, damn and damn again! There was a fault, not a big one, but it was definitely there. Keryl leaned back and stared up at the roof, suppressing a yawn. She’d seen these faults before; they generally either cleared themselves or took the whole system down. And she really didn’t need that. She yawned again, feeling her eyelids start to ache. Well, there wasn’t really anything she’d be able to do now, not without passing out anyway. She’d just have to leave it for a while, grab a few hours sleep, and see what happens. Yawning for a third time, she tapped the screen off and headed for her own room.
         
         Sillika woke slowly, and gradually became aware of a soft knocking sound. She yawned and blinked away sleep.
         "Sillika? Are you awake?" Jay’s muffled voice floated through to her. Sillika smiled and pulled herself upright, brushing her hair behind her ears.
         "Yeah. Come in Jay." She swung her legs over the side of the bed. The door hissed open and Jay stuck his head in. He grinned.
         "Hey. Did I wake you up?"
         "Probably," Sillika returned the grin, "What time is it?"
         "Dunno. Sleep well?"
         "Er… Yeah," Sillika shivered slightly as the images of the dream rose up in her mind. Jay frowned and entered the room.
         "What’s wrong?"
         "Nothing... Just a dream, that’s all."
         Jay made his way over to her and sat down next to her. His brown gaze locked with hers.
         "You sure you’re alright?"
         Sillika held his gaze. She didn’t want to look away.
         "Y... No. I... I just keep thinking about..." Sillika trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut. She felt the tears well up and fought to control them. She couldn’t... She couldn’t...
         "Hey," Jay whispered, and Sillika nearly jumped as he wrapped his arms round her. She went to turn away then, to her own slight surprise, turned back and buried her head in his shoulder. Jay held her, rocking slightly.
         "I just want him back," Sillika whispered, tears flowing down her face. Jay stroked her hair softly.
         "It’ll be okay. All of it. We’ll get through this; we’ll get him back. I promise."
         Sillika felt a smile creep onto her wobbling lips. It was a stupid thing to say; he couldn’t possibly predict what would happen to them. But she didn’t care. It was what she wanted to hear, what she’d wanted from the start. In a few hours, tomorrow, next week, she’d probably think of it as just platitudes. But right now, this moment, she believed. Jay just held her. Held her until the tears stopped. Held her, and everything was okay again. The Borg, the ship, Lraac... vanished. For this moment nothing else existed. Just them, wrapped in eachother’s arms.
         
Chapter 8

         Jay let the door slide silently shut behind him. He didn’t know how long he’d been in there, and frankly he didn’t care. Just... Well just knowing he could help Sillika was enough, even if it was just as shoulder to cry on. She...
         Surprise jerked him out of his thoughts. He’d reached the centre Bridge, but it was definitely not as he’d left it. The door was open, and the room beyond was giving a good impression of having been ransacked. Panels had been pulled out of the walls, trailing cables behind them as they lay, discarded on the floor. Screen flashed information so fast it was blurry, and every flat surfaced was covered in bits of machine or tools.
         For a second Jay froze, then he began to run forwards, panic creeping in his mind. No, it couldn’t be... He blinked as his gaze hit the far wall, feeling the panic ebb slightly. One of the less organic-looking panels had been pulled out and was now leaning against the comm rail. In the space it left behind, half-buried in a tangled mass of wires, energy cells and connections, was Keryl. Jay stared at the ripped out controls.
         "Er... Keryl?"
         "Mmmf!" Keryl spat out a sonic wrench, "We’ve got a problem."
         Jay felt his heart sink.
         "How big a problem?"
         Keryl’s gaze locked with his own.
         "Big. The comm’s blown out. I’ve been trying to get at it from here, but..."
         She trailed off. Jay saw the look in her eyes. He knew what that meant.
         "Outside?"
         "Right," Keryl began disentangling herself from the wires, "Thankfully the jammers are still functioning, so we don’t need to worry about anything teleporting in..." Her voice cut out and she blinked rapidly.
         "But," Jay said quietly. The rest of the sentence wasn’t needed. Keryl nodded.
         "But. I’m sorry to do this to you both, but we’re all gonna have to go out there. The internal access tubes are blocked, so out is the only way. We can’t do without communication, and I want to stop this problem now, in case it’s one that spreads. Get Sillika; meet me back here as soon as you can. Okay?"
         Jay nodded.
         "Okay. Keryl..."
         "No," she held up a hand, cutting him off, "Don’t Jay. Nothing’s going to make this easier."
         Jay understood. The expression on his friend’s face spoke more than words.
         
         Sillika watched in fascination as Keryl unplugged the last lead from the strange oval shape resting on one of the consoles. There were three of them, and she’d guessed they were weapons. What sort she couldn’t tell, but Keryl had been fiddling with each one in turn since they’d come in, so Sillika’s curiosity was more than piqued. The weapons were an odd design, flattened oval shapes about the length of her forearm. Thin, almost carved lines snaked across the surface, outlining what she assumed to be panels because there were far too many to be simply decoration. Keryl picked up one of the ovals, placing her hand into a slight depression on the underside. She nodded.
         "Modified EMP rifle. It takes out anything electrical, plus I’ve twiddled the settings. It’ll overload and blast any Borg implants it hits. It’s the only weapon we’ve got at the moment."
         She pressed one of the circular patterns. Sillika gasped as the gun seemed to unfold. The patterns split away at the lines, rising up and twisting, the lower half slotting around Keryl’s arm with a soft hiss. The front ‘cone’ rotated and split; the sections curling back like a peeled orange and exposing a star-shaped barrel. The top pieces melded together seamlessly, a small screen rising out of the gun, tiny slits opening in the main body of the weapon. Keryl twisted her arm slightly, and the star-shape began to glow.
         "Pretty simple to use when it’s activated, just point and press. We can’t use them too much though, or they’ll adapt," Keryl’s face visibly twisted at the thought. Sillika’s gaze didn’t leave the gun, her mind whirling. ‘Overload and blast... Any Borg... Overload...’ It was the ‘any’ part that hit her. Any Borg. But especially one... An image of Callum’s face, metal flowing from his skin, rose up in her mind and she shuddered. Jay squeezed her shoulder.
         "Don’t worry."
         "Easy to say," Sillika muttered, adding in the privacy of her own head ‘harder to live’. Keryl clicked something inside the gun and it abruptly folded back, freeing her hand. She gestured to the other two weapons.
         "Strap ‘em on. We haven’t got a lot of time to waste."
         Sillika took the gun, feeling sick. What if she had to shoot Callum? She didn’t know if she could do it. Jay must have noticed her expression, because his hand dropped onto her shoulder. Sillika gave a weak smile.
         "Thanks."
         "Anytime," he smiled. Keryl nodded to them.
         "Right. You’d better activate those things now, get the feel for them. I hope we don’t need them, but..." She shivered, "You never know. Follow me, we’ll use one of the smaller hatches, it’ll be faster." She strode off through the doors. Jay gave Sillika’s shoulder another squeeze, and gently pulled her forwards.
         "C’mon."
         "Sure," she swallowed hard and followed him out of the door, absently fiddling with her gun.
         They walked in silence, only punctuated by a slight gasp of surprise as Jay’s gun activated unexpectedly and trapped his hands together. They finally reached the hatch, Jay muttering under his breath and rubbing his reddening fingers. Keryl set her jaw grimly and palmed the scanner. Wind whipped against Sillika’s face as the door hissed open, the dry air scouring her nostrils as she inhaled. If possible, the planet seemed to have become even more uninhabitable.
         "The access hatch is round the right thruster, which is currently being that rocky outcrop," Keryl pointed along the simulated cliff that hid the ship, towards what appeared to be a half-collapsed ledge, "Keep alert, and keep moving - As soon as we step out of this door we can be seen. I’m hoping that their scanners won’t have adapted to the jammer yet, plus this rockball generates it’s own interference. Only shoot if you have to. Let’s go."
         She stepped forwards, and the air around her seemed to ripple for a second as she passed through the forcefield. Sillika followed, briefly wondering why they hadn’t noticed passing through a field before. Probably something to do with trying desperately not to die.
         Pebbles crunched under their feet as they crept along the side of the cliff. Between paranoid glances at any suspicious rocks, Sillika found a little time to be amazed at how life-like the projection was. It even felt like rock. No wonder the ship hadn’t been found. She shivered, but would the Discovery be able to find it? She had no desire to be stuck on this planet, but if Jay’s ship couldn’t get here...
         "Here," Keryl’s voice broke into her thoughts and Sillika glanced up. The other Shee was standing opposite a large boulder, regarding it critically.
         "This should be it," she held out what looked like a small remote control and pressed a button. The rock wavered for a second, then seemed to melt away, exposing a small access hatch. Keryl pressed something else and the hatch slid open, making a strangely organic popping sound. The other Shee stuck her head inside, then looked back at Sillika and Jay.
         "If the problem’s where I think it is, I’m going to need a bit of help. Sillika, I assume you haven’t had any professional weapons training?"
         "Not really..."
         "Right. Chuck Jay your gun – You can shoot with both hands, right? Good – Sillika, follow me," Keryl ducked back into the hatch and began to scramble inside. Sillika swallowed and clipped her gun onto Jay’s free arm. He nodded, then grinned slightly.
         "Don’t look so worried, I’ll be fine."
         "Sillika? Keryl’s voice floated out of the apparent hole in the rock, "Today would be useful."
         Sillika tore her eyes away from Jay’s face and turned to the hatch. She scrambled inside, marvelling at how easily Keryl had gotten through. It was tight enough squeeze for Sillika, and the other Shee was a bit stockier than she was. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, before finally focusing. The place seemed like a spiders-lair of wires, connectors, power cells and other strange things that Sillika couldn’t identify. Keryl was halfway up one wall, hanging from a narrow ladder fixed to the side. She gestured to what appeared to a very deep pit to Sillika’s right, filled with pinkish; glowing balls strung out along a web of black cables.
         "I need to get to that, but we don’t have any engineering harnesses left."
         "Er... So what do you want me to do?"
         "Climb up here and hold my ankles."
         Sillika started to scramble up the ladder. It was easier than it looked, and she was soon next to Keryl, who nodded.
         "Bit further, then wedge your feet round the interspac... The sticky-out rectangle, careful, right, grip it with your knees and grab my feet," she started to climb backwards up the ladder so Sillika was able to clamp her hands as tight as she could around the other Shee’s boots. Keryl let go slowly, walking her hands down a large piece of piping until she was hanging loose. Sillika’s arm muscles tensed as she took Keryl’s full weight, the ladder beginning to dig into her thighs.
         "Okay, a bit to the left... Stop. Perfect."
         Sillika concentrated on keeping her grip tight as Keryl muttered to herself and fiddled with things. She’d never thought you’d need such gymnastic ability to fix engines. Callum would know, she grinned slightly, he’d complained enough when they had to fix the engines to get them back to Albia... The grin dropped from Sillika’s face and she unsuccessfully tried to stifle a quiet sob. Callum...
         "Sillika? You okay? I don’t weigh that much," Keryl’s voice echoed up to her. Sillika swallowed hard, blinking away the hotness in her eyes.
         "Yeah... Just... Thinking..." She trailed off, voice cutting out. There was silence for a second.
         "Okay, that’s about done. Pull me up," Keryl’s voice was slightly softer than usual. Sillika complied, thankful for the release of pressure on her shoulders. Keryl scrambled back up the ladder, until she was facing Sillika, hanging quite precariously off the top rung.
         "I know what you’re going through," she held her gaze, "My... My brother was on this mission."
         Sillika stared at her.
         "Really?"
         "It’s not something I’d lie about. After we got back he... He was the first to die." The other Shee was suddenly quiet. Sillika nodded slowly, forcing her lips not to quiver.
         "Thanks."
         Keryl was silent for a second. When she finally did speak, her voice was filled with barely suppressed pain.
         "I’m sorry about your friend. But you can’t let emotions cloud your judgement. It’s clinical, I know, but if the time comes..." She trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging. With a huge amount of effort, Sillika nodded.
         "I know."
         Keryl squeezed her arm, then began climbing back down.
         "Come on, let’s get out of here. Jay’ll be wondering what’s happened to us," she dropped lightly to the floor and headed for the hatch. Sillika followed her, trying not to reply that last conversation in her mind. ‘If the time comes...’ The way Keryl had spoken, it sounded much more like ‘When the time comes’.
Chapter 9

         Sillika glanced at Keryl.
         "So, we’re done?"
         "For now," the other Shee snapped her gun back onto her arm, and motioned to Jay to give Sillika’s back, "But the state this ship’s in..." She cut off suddenly, expression hardening. Sillika felt a shot of worry.
         "What?"
         Keryl was silent for a moment, then shook her head.
         "Nothing. I just thought... You know that weird prickling feel you get when something bad is about to happen? That."
         Sillika shivered, and looked round. Nothing seemed to have changed, but she couldn’t dismiss the memories of how many times Callum’s ‘feelings’ had been right. Callum... She felt her eyes getting hot again, and blinked it away. Now was not the time.
         She turned to Jay, and met his gaze. He flashed her a smile and handed her gun back.
         "Come on, we’re not dead yet."
         Sillika held up a hand.
         "Every time in my life I’ve heard someone say that, things have always become a hell of a lot more complicated."
         Jay shook his head.
         "Look we’re – "
         Then the world seemed to explode. Hissing bolts of laser speared out from every direction, and Sillika felt pain flare at the side of her face as the energy took off most of her left ear. Pain barely registering, she lifted her gun up and fired blindly twice, trying to see anything through the dust cloud the impacting bolts had flung up. Something gripped her arm and she was yanked backwards as Jay pulled her, his jaw set in the familiar grim determination.
         "Where are they?" He yelled, as Keryl appeared out of the dust, blood oozing from a blackened slash across her cheek, eyes gleaming with fury.
         "All around us! I don’t know how they got here without me spotting it!"
         Jay nodded, seeming not to notice as another blast sizzled past his ear.
         "Talk later, as for now... Run like hell?"
         "Agreed," Keryl gestured to Sillika, "Stay between us. GO!"
         They started running, firing blindly at the dark shapes that loomed out of the dust. Most of which were rocks, but Sillika thought she saw a bright flash where one of Keryl’s blasts hit. Fear pulsed through her, the sort of hunted terror she had hoped she’d never feel again. Her feet pounded the floor, Jay’s hand almost unbearably tight on her arm, dust sending tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, Keryl skidded to a halt, then turned back, her face ashen.
         "We can’t get back to the ship!"
         "What?" Jay yelled, the tension in his voice clearly audible, "What the hell do you mean?"
         "I need a few minutes to de-activate the field and open the door! They’ll see us!"
         Jay ducked as another round of blasts narrowly missed his head, then nodded.
         "Split up. Keryl, head for the ship, me and Sillika will try and divert them."
         "Are you mad? Those things have scanners! They..."
         "Your jammer took out our scanners! I’m hoping these guy’ll have the same problem."
         Keryl opened her mouth as if to argue, and Sillika could almost feel Jay’s temper snap.
         "GET BACK TO THE SHIP LEUTENANT! THAT IS AN ORDER!"
         "Y..."
         "NOW!"
         Keryl darted away and Jay began to pull Sillika in the other direction. She shook her arm free.
         "I can run unaided you know."
         "Sorry," he was still breathing heavily, "Come on, I’ve got an idea. And keep ducking."
         Sillika was about to speak when a figure suddenly seemed to materialise out of the dust. With a yell of surprise she pulled the trigger. A blue-white blast erupted from her gun and slammed into the dark shape. What she could best describe as a corona of electrical short-circuiting flared up around the Borg and it crumpled to the ground. She felt a shot of terrible satisfaction, which she quickly buried as she darted after Jay. Thinking like a Grendel wasn’t going to get her anywhere.
         They kept running, Sillika’s lungs beginning to burn as she tried desperately to get enough oxygen to her complaining muscles. Six months of peaceful inactivity on the Discovery had taken its toll on her fitness. If... When the got back, she was definitely joining a gym... She was jerked back to reality as Jay flung his arm onto her chest, bringing her to an abrupt stop. About to yell at him, Sillika looked down and the shout died in her throat. They were on the edge of yet another cliff.
         "What is with this planet? It’s all vertical!"
         Jay began edging quickly round the edge, beckoning her after him.
         "I spotted this just before we reached the ship. If we can get them to the edge, we might be able to..."
         "Duck!" Sillika dragged him down, as another round of laser narrowly avoided his face. She turned, and swung her gun up as three more Borg finally lurched out of the dust cloud. She raised her gun, but too late, the lead Borg’s arm was already up, light suddenly flaring at the barrel of the gun as... Jay wrapped his arms around her chest, and threw them both backwards. Sillika stifled a yell as they started to fall, shock numbing her for a second. They’d just jumped off a cliff! Fear was just starting to penetrate her mind again when they came to a sudden, jerking halt. Jay’s arm dug into her stomach, and Sillika clamped her mouth shut, trying to avoid crying out or throwing up. She inched her eyes open and immediately wished she hadn’t. Below her was about a hundred-metre drop, straight down. Risking a half-gasped breath, she turned her head upwards very slowly. She had to force herself not to jump. Jay had one arm clamped round her waist, the other straight up in the air above his head, face twisted in concentration. Sillika’s gaze strayed further up, before alighting on the reason they hadn’t fallen any further. Jay’s callband, the thick, inch-wide band that was always strapped round his wrist, seemed to contain more than just a basic communicator. A thin wire was sticking out of it; a small grapple embedded into the cliff above them. It looked almost too small to hold it’s own weight, but somehow, impossibly, it was supporting both of them. Jay glanced down at her, and flashed a slight grin.
         "Standard issue, emergency grapple. It’s not really built for both of us, but should hold."
         Sillika stared at him, resisting the urge to kick him.
         "Anything else you’ve forgotten to tell me about?" She yelled, anger and shock overriding her fear, "Next time you throw me off a cliff, could you at least give some warning?"
         "Er..."
         Something painfully bright sizzled past them, and Sillika automatically brought her gun up, firing blindly at the top of the cliff.
         "We’re literally hanging by a thread!" She yelled, "Don’t you bastards ever give up?" The gun jerked repeatedly under her fingers as she fired again and again, hands shaking madly. She just wanted them to DIE. Suddenly, two brilliant flashes jerked her back to reality, her wide eyes finally focusing clearly on one of the Borg. As it plunged down past them, tiny flashes of electricity still running across its jerking form. Sillika fired one last time before the leaden ache in her arms forced her to bring the gun back down, the pale oval hanging at her limp wrist.
         For almost a minute, there was silence. The lack of sound was very strange after the chaos, and it probably took that long for them to unfreeze.
         "Well," Jay said at last, his voice still shaking slightly, "It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it worked."
         "Yes, it did," Sillika replied dully. Her mind seemed... Numb was the only way she could describe it. Not calm, not relieved, not even shocked. Just numb. Jay frowned at her for a second.
         "You okay?"
         Sillika didn’t answer, mainly because she wasn’t sure. She couldn’t quite identify this feeling, it was almost... Disappointment? No, that wasn’t it. It was more a sense of... Hollow victory, a false relief. That was certainly closer. And she knew why. She swallowed hard. Even after everything Keryl had said, everything Sillika herself had seen... She’d been half-hoping to see Callum again. Even if he was... Even if... She couldn’t finish the thought, so didn’t try. She glanced up at Jay, and gave him a weak smile.
         "No, but I will be. Let’s get back to the ship."
         "Yes ma’am," Jay grinned, but Sillika could hear the note of concern in his voice. It was comforting somehow. Although, she thought, her stomach lurching as she looked down again, she’d feel a lot more comforted when she had solid floor under her feet. Dangling from cliffs was becoming a little too common an occurrence for her liking. Jay tapped something on his wrist and the wire jerked unpleasantly. Clearly seeing the look on Sillika’s face, he grinned at her.
         "It’s just winding in."
         Sillika nodded, deciding her voice wasn’t up to a vocal answer right now. They slowly began to rise, Jay’s callband whirring quietly. Sillika ignored the rock scraping at her shoulders; it was still better than just hanging there. There was a light click, and their momentum stopped. Sillika glanced up, frowning.
         "What’s wrong?"
"That’s as far as it winds in without cutting the grapple," Jay’s voice had an undertone of worry again, "But..." He trailed off. The end of the sentence wasn’t needed; Sillika could see the problem all too clearly. They weren’t close enough to the edge of the cliff to climb back up.
         "You can reach, can’t you?" She asked, hopefully. Jay hesitated, then set his jaw.
         "I’ll damn well try. Er, this is going to sound a bit... well..." He trailed off again, his ears reddening. Sillika blinked.
         "What?"
         "You’ll, er, need to hold my waist pretty hard," the blush was spreading down his face now, and Sillika couldn’t contain a slight grin, "I’m going to need both arms..."
         Sillika waved a gun-free hand.
         "No problem. I don’t mind."
         "Er... Good," Jay coughed, then set his expression back to determination. Sillika suppressed a slight grin as she carefully wrapped her arms around his waist, until she had a good enough grip for Jay to move the arm holding her up. In this position, Sillika couldn’t see what was happening, just a close-up view of Jay’s stomach – not that she classed that as necessarily a disadvantage – but she could hear him grunting slightly as he stretched upwards. A thought hit her, sending a shiver of ice down her spine. What if they couldn’t get down from here? Would they just have to wait until the Borg... The thought cut off as they started moving again. A few seconds later, Sillika was able to look up. She blinked as she scrambled to her feet, thankful of the solid stone under them.
         "Keryl?"
The other Shee grinned, one hand resting almost nonchalantly on her hip, face streaked with dust and sweat as she let go of Jay’s arm.
         "Oh come on, you didn’t think I’d leave you hanging there?"
         "I though you were headed back to the ship..." Jay started, but Keryl cut him off.
         "I was, then realised none of the Borg were following me. I kinda guessed you’d be in trouble."
         "Good thing you did," Sillika joined in, thankful of the slight release in tension. Keryl smiled again, and flicked a loose strand of copper hair behind her ear.
         "Indeed. Oh, and Jay?"
         "Yes?"
         "Don’t even think of trying to pull rank on me again."
         Jay laughed.
         "Deal. Now, shall we get back before any more of these things turn up?"
         Keryl nodded, shooting a final, satisfied look across the area.
         "We’ll be okay for a bit, you took out those two pretty well. It’ll be a while before their buddies can find us again."
         As they headed back to the ship, Sillika tried to rid herself of a strange, nagging doubt in the back of her mind. Two Borg?
         
Chapter 10

         "Well, you can't say this week has been boring," Jay's voice was filled with forced cheerfulness as the walked, each absorbed in their thoughts. Sillika glanced up at him, seeing as if for the first time the lines on his young face, sensing the worry under his words. She hesitated, then reached out and laid a hand on his arm.
         "We'll be okay." She wasn't sure if she believed it herself, but... Jay glanced down at her, a tight smile on his face.
         "I know."
         "I hate to interrupt this tender moment, but we're nearly there," Keryl cut in, her expression hardening into it's usual determination, "Keep your eyes peeled while I blow the hatch."
         Sillika glanced up in surprise; her gaze fastening on the cliff that hid the ship. That had been faster than she'd thought. Then again, she didn't really want to rely on her distance judgement at the moment. Keryl glanced round, then darted forwards, sliding her gun off her arm as she reached for the hidden panel.
         "Give me a minute, and we'll be…"
         What exactly Sillika never found out, as a brilliant blast of energy flared out of nowhere, aimed perfectly at Keryl's head. It was a mark of how finely honed the other Shee's reactions were that she managed to throw herself sideways just in time, and instead of decapitating her the blast simply took out a piece of her shoulder. Swearing loudly, Keryl stumbled, but managed to catch herself just in time and start running.
         "Scatter!" She yelled, not that they needed telling. Jay pushed Sillika towards the cliff.
         "Go! Find a crevasse or something!" he shoved her forwards, then span round and started running, half-stooped, in the direction of the blast. Sillika hesitated for a second, torn between the desire to run and the increasing annoyance at being treated like a naive cadet. She'd survived three of Albia's biggest wars, she wasn't totally useless or anything... The gun of laser-fire reached her ears, and her legs decided that since the brain was still trying to decide, they'd have to take responsibility for staying alive. She sprinted towards the cliff, expecting at any moment to feel the hot bite of energy at her back... Thankfully, the pain failed to materialise, and she threw herself into what seemed like a shallow cave.
         It was only when she failed to hit a back wall that she glanced up. She wasn't in a cave; it was more like a narrow passageway. She couldn't be sure if this was actual cliff, or just another bit of camouflaged ship, but it was certainly offering better cover than outside. Carefully, keeping her gun raised just in case, she crept forwards. It was a passage, quite a short one, leading to some sort of small canyon, filled with rocks. It could still be a bit of ship, but as she had no idea what the Celon actually looked like, she couldn't be sure.
         As she moved further into the canyon, the tiny voice in the back of her mind started clamouring for attention, and it suddenly dawned on her that this was a bad idea. Sure, this little area was pretty well hidden, but it also had only one exit.
         "The words 'rat' and 'trap' come to mind," she muttered to herself and turned back towards the tunnel.
         Unfortunately, someone else seemed to have had the same idea.
         Sillika had heard the phrase 'jump in shock' but had never actually considered it too likely. Now though, she was sure she leapt about a foot off the ground as her eyes locked on the figure infront of her. Her increasingly terrified gaze swept across the black armour-plate, deathly-pale skin sheathed with metal wires and the horrible, gleaming red eye staring out of a thick strip of metal across the thing's forehead. She knew she needed to lift her weapon, to shoot, but suddenly her arms felt like lead, the weight of the rife increasing tenfold as she stared into that gleaming eye. Suddenly, she felt as if a jolt of electricity had hit her. It was all she could do not to cry out as she stared, not into the eyepiece but into the other pale, cold eye. The dim light in the canyon seemed to intensify for a moment, concentrating around the Borg's face, accentuating every feature in harsh clarity. Her heart skipped a beat, shock and horror flooding through her as the realisation hit.
         "Callum?" She whispered, forcing the word through her suddenly dry lips. The Borg didn't move, didn't show any sign of recognition, but the image seemed to blur infront of Sillika's eyes, and for a second she saw Callum as she had in her dream, cold, cruel, his pale features twisted in and evil parody of a grin as the metal flowed out of his flesh… With a faint cry she took a step backwards, forcing her hand to tighten around her gun and trying to ignore her own rising fear.
         "Get away from me!" She tried to yell, tried to sound commanding, but the words barely made it past her lips, all her strength melting away under that cold, emotionless stare. The Borg, Callum, regarded her for a second, then raised an arm. Not the gun arm, the other one, and Sillika stared in horror as the twin wires darted out of his wrist, for a moment giving the impression of a snake's forked tongue, testing the air before a strike. Their gazes locked again, and again Sillika felt the draining fear as she stared into the hard eyes of the man she had trusted beyond herself. Callum's arm twitched.
         "You Will Be Assimilated," his voice was cold, the normal tones vanished underneath what she could only describe as an overlay of a thousand voices, quiet like a whisper but echoing with such power she could almost feel the sound. If possible, the sound of the words was worse than their meaning. Callum took a step forwards, the wires darting free of his wrist again, stabbing almost hungrily at the air. Sillika backed away, feeling her hands shaking as she forced the gun up.
         "Get back. Get back Callum. Please," she whispered, voice cracking as she searched for anything in his face, any hint of her friend's mind buried beneath the metal. There was nothing. Her finger tightened on the trigger, her eyes starting to burn as she blinked away tears. There was nothing there. Callum was gone. The Borg took another step closer to her, and Sillika realised that she’d backed herself into the rock.
         "Prepare To Be Assimilated."
         Sillika closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked in her hands, the sound echoing dully in her ears and she forced herself to look. As the blast hit, a previously invisible shield flashed around the Borg's body, absorbing the shot.
         "We Shall Adapt. Resistance Is Futile."
         The metallic gaze pinned Sillika to the spot, cutting away at her defences as the tears rose. Her hands shook madly, arms bowing under the almost impossible weight of the weapon as her grip failed. The rifle hit the floor, bouncing away across the rocky ground with a series of dull thuds. Sillika paid it no attention; it wasn't like it was any use now. 'We will adapt'. Adapt to their weapons, adapt to their tactics... How on Albia were they supposed to win against these things? They were just too... The thought cut off, reality flooding back as the Borg took another step forwards, now within arms reach of her, raising his arm for a third time. Sillika's gaze was fixed on his wrist. She knew she had to run, to dodge, do something, but the fear was peaking in her mind, her limbs a hundred times heavier than they should be.
         The Borg looked down at her, then suddenly his shields flashed as another shot hit him. He round, just as Jay swung the gun like a club. Against the Borg shielding, the actual firing didn’t do anything, but anything moving that as fast as that gun barrel was sure to knock anyone a hefty whack. Still, the impact had two effects. Jay was sent flying backwards, and Callum was actually knocked sideways. As he re-bounded off a rock, a third EMP blast hit him full on, and he’d obviously not been exposed to this sort before as it went right through his shielding. Tiny flashes of lightening rippled across his body and he toppled to the ground.
         Shock had replaced fear as top emotion in Sillika's mind, but relief was starting to make a comeback. She looked up, focusing her amazed gaze on Keryl, standing with her gun arm held infront of her, other hand resting almost lazily at her hip.
         "Guess you two owe me another one, eh?" She laughed. Jay grinned and pulled himself upright, rubbing his shoulder.
         "Nice one Keryl. You okay?" He turned to Sillika. To her surprise she found herself blushing. It was probably the last few minutes' emotional jet-lag. Probably.
         "Yeah, I’m fine," she said, her eyes wandering over to the crumpled heap on the floor. Jay followed her gaze, a strange expression flashing across his face. Then he looked at Keryl.
         "Tell me, oh genius, is it possible to disconnect a drone from the collective-mind thing you mentioned?"
         Keryl shrugged.
         "Theoretically, I guess. But no one's ever tried it."
         "Now’ll be a first then," Jay prodded the recumbent form with his foot, then began to pull him upright. Sillika stared at him in surprise for a second, then felt a shot of hope. Collective mind? Yes, she remembered Keryl mentioning that before, something about all Borg being linked together, maybe... Maybe they could bring Callum back. She hurried over to Jay and carefully took the other half of Callum’s weight, trying to avoid touching any particularly strange bits of metal as she did so. Keryl stared incredulously at them.
         "You are kidding, right? That thing just tried to kill you!"
         "This thing has, or at least had, a name," Jay snapped, and Sillika was surprised at the sharpness in his voice, "We’ve lost enough friends already, I don’t intend to sacrifice another."
         Keryl’s gaze hit Jay’s and locked. Sillika got the distinct feeling anything moving through the gap would be instantly fried. Keryl turned away first, raising her hands in defeat.
         "Okay! But I'm not promising any miracles."
         Jay gave her a slight smile.
         "I'm not asking for a miracle, but if anyone can do it…"
         Keryl waved a hand, glaring at him, but the anger had gone from the expression.
         "Flattery will get you nowhere."
         "Want to bet?" Jay winked, and Keryl's lips twitched for a second.
         "Oh, shut up."
Chapter 11

         Sillika paced along the corridor for the hundredth time, staring at the floor with unseeing eyes. As soon as they’d come back Keryl had moved Callum into the medi-bay and locked the door. In the time since, Sillika’s stress level had reached almost unheard-of levels. It wasn’t that she was worried, she was, of course, but... The look on Keryl’s face when she’d looked at Callum’s assimilated form was still sending chills through her. She did trust the other Shee, but... She recognised the expression. It was hard to forget something like that, a look of all-encompassed loathing.
         Jay was watching her with an expression of increasing concern in his eyes.
         "Calm down, infact sit down. You wearing a hole in the floor isn’t going to help."
         "I know!" Sillika snapped, but sat down anyway. Her legs probably wouldn’t have supported her much longer anyway. She rested her head back against the wall and stared up at the roof.
         "I know," she repeated softly, "But... Agh!" She pounded her knee in frustration. At least the dull pain gave her something else to concentrate on, try and take her mind off... An involuntary shudder ran through her as an image of Callum’s impassive face rose in her mind. It cut her to realise it, but there was nothing she could do. Right now, it was up to Keryl.
         There was another, heavily silence.
         "He'll be okay, y'know," Jay said quietly, "Keryl's the best chance we have."
         "Yeah..." Sillika glanced up at him, and blinked at the emotion flickering across Jay's face, "What's wrong?"
         "I..." Jay stopped, then shuffled his feet awkwardly, "Well, you and Callum, you’re… I mean, now he's back and everything I thought..."
         To his obvious surprise, Sillika burst out laughing.
         "You cannot be serious!" She giggled madly. Jay frowned.
         "But you seem so close..." He trailed off again at Sillika’s expression.
         "Jay, I’ve known him since I was able to crawl. He’s practically my brother!" Her smile died as quickly as it had appeared, and Sillika felt her eyes stinging.
         "And now..."
         Jay hesitated, then moved over to her and crouched down beside her.
         "Hey, I told you, it'll be fine. Believe me," he slid an arm around her shoulders and squeezed tightly. Sillika felt a wobbly smile slide onto her lips and allowed herself to lean into him, resting her head on his chest. Maybe he was right.
         
         Jay wasn't sure how long they stayed squatting on the cold floor of the corridor, but whatever spell had been weaved was broken by a sharp hiss as the medi-bay door slid open. Keryl leaned against the doorframe, blinking tiredly. Sillika jumped to her feet.
         "Did it work? Is... Is he okay?"
         Keryl shook her head, and Jay felt a jolt of shock.
         "Yes and no. He's alive, if that's what you mean, and I shut down the link, but... You'd better see for yourself."
         That sounded ominous. Jay stood up, noticed the expression on Sillika's face and decided not to speak. Silently, they followed Keryl into the medi-bay.
         From Keryl's tone, Jay had expected the scene to be a lot worse than it was. The usual treatment benches had been shoved to the side of the room, except for one, which had been propped up on its end against a panel. Callum was strapped upright to the table, thick restraints curled around his upper arms and chest, supporting him. His eyes were closed, but Jay's experienced eye noted the slight rise and fall of his chest. He was still fully-Borged, clearly Keryl hadn't actually removed anything.
         Sillika let out a small gasp and took a step forwards.
         "Callum?"
         No response. Keryl sighed and rubbed her forehead.
         "Like I said, he's alive. I don't know what sort of damage that EMP did, but all the scans indicated his brain was unaffected. It's just - " She moved over to a nearby panel and tapped a few keys. An oval screen on the wall behind Callum's immobile form lit up, and started scrolling brain scans.
         "This lights are on, but there's no one at home. The closest I can describe it as is a coma, but... Well, it's like his mind just shut down when the blast hit. Like going into shock, but I can't identify what caused it. For now I'm classing him as dormant."
         "Er, Keryl?" Jay had been looking at the rest of the room while she had been talking. The altered position of the tables was not the only change.
         "Why have you hooked up those?" He gestured towards the roof, where three EMP rifles had been attached and aimed at the table, wires leading out from them to the panel behind Callum. Keryl shrugged.
         "Frankly, I don't trust him. If those restraints are broken, the guns should ensure our safety."
         "What?" Sillika span round, glaring at Keryl and looking scandalised, "You set up a trap?"
         "No, I set up a security system," Keryl shot back, looking equally angry, "Whatever he was before, that thing is still a Borg. I think I've disconnected him, but that may mean nothing and there is no damn way I'm going put this ship at more risk for your idealism! Understand?"
         Sillika's eyes narrowed angrily for a second, then started to glisten. She nodded, and swallowed hard, her gaze returning to Callum's still figure.
         "Yes. I..."
         "Look, I'm sorry, I'm not the universe's most tactful person," Keryl said more kindly, "But he's still a risk. Unless I can find some way to prove he's not dangerous, the guns stay. That's how it has to be."
         Jay opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off as a high-pitched beeping cut into his ears. Keryl literally jumped.
         "Main comm alert? But that would mean - " She stopped, then span round and sprinted towards the door.
         "Jay, with me. Sillika stay here, watch him. Anything happens, give us a yell!"
         Jay caught Sillika's shocked expression.
         "On the plus side, you don't have to do any more running," he hesitated, then darted forwards and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Feeling his cheeks reddening, and noting the identical blush blossoming on her cheeks, Jay flashed her a grin and darted after Keryl. It took a while before he managed to catch up with her, unable to get the smile off his lips. When he drew level, Keryl nodded at him.
         "It's the main comm," she said quickly, as if reading his thoughts, "We can't reach it from in there, but it's only set for Starship signals. Looks like your lot have managed to punch through the disturbance."
         Jay felt a shot of relief.
         "Great! We'll be off here in no time."
         Keryl didn't respond, in fact her frown actually deepened slightly.
         "Yeah..." They rounded the corner, and Keryl skidded to a halt, palming the Bridge door before she'd even lost momentum. It hissed back and she hurried inside, heading for what Jay recognised as a MIC unit - Main Interstellar Communications. It consisted of a wide panel of varied buttons and dials, and a large display screen set into the wall. Keryl flung herself into the sliding chair infront of the display and her fingers began their usual dance routine over the buttons. Jay position himself behind her, trying to make sense of, well, anything. At normal speed he wouldn't have had a problem, but Keryl seemed to work about three times as fast as normal Shee.
         "I’m getting a message, only sound and it’s not clear but it is there! Damn this interference, it's just barely getting through..."
         Jay leaned over her shoulder as the message started. He gasped in horror as Sasch’s voice came through, partly obscured by static.
         "...Borg...Three cubes this time...Weapons ineffective...Abandon Discovery...Set to ram and auto-destruct. Crew...Shuttles...Many taken...Ten of us left...Just got away...Don’t know if you’ll even receive this...Sorry...Goodbye..."
         The message ended with another burst of static. Jay just stared at the panel in shock. The Discovery was gone. They’d left them... He slammed his fist into the desk. It was the only thing Sasch could have done, her first priority was her crew, the majority of the crew. She didn’t even know they were still alive... He growled under his breath. They were really stuck here. He sat back.
         "That’s it then. It’s over."
         Keryl seemed to hesitate, then stood up.
         "Not quite. C’mon, I’ve got something to show you."
         Dully, Jay followed her, Sasch's message playing over and over in his mind. Ten left? Ten, out of the whole crew? It was past unbelievable, past unreal and through to the other side of horrible, cold reality. They'd been no match for the Borg here - only he, Callum and Sillika had survived the landing party, and that was more by luck than anything else. Keryl's team had probably been the most advanced - technologically and in terms of intelligence - that the NewAlbian Space Corps had, but they'd been no contest either. Now they were here, living on borrowed time, hiding behind a shield that Jay knew wouldn't last forever against those things. He was starting to see why Keryl had so much venom for the Borg.
         And now this. The Discovery gone, the crew dead or fleeing - Jay found his didn't want to think about the third option. An image of Callum's assimilated form flashed up in his mind and he shuddered. He tried not to think about the crew, his crew, the people who had shared his life for over a year... Gone.
         "What sort of hyperwarp rating have Discovery shuttles got?" Keryl asked, after they had been walking for about a minute.
         "Ten," Jay muttered. Keryl blinked.
         "Your shuttles were faster than the main ship?"
"We tended to use them as scouts. Can we talk about something else?"
         "What topic would you prefer?" Keryl asked, icily, "The weather? It's always dust storms. The match? We don’t get sports signals out here. Or maybe you'd like to talk about something more relevant, like - " She stopped, then shook her head.
         "Sorry. I've had about four hours sleep in the last week and my cardiovascular system is mostly coffee right now."
         Jay wasn't quite sure how to react to this. Keryl seemed to be in one of her mood-tripping sequences again. Before he had time to think of a reply, Keryl stopped abruptly.
         "Here," she palmed a nearby door. Jay just had time to realise they were in a part of the ship he hadn't visited yet, before the door slid back, and his jaw dropped. The room beyond was a shuttle-bay - typical cavernous design - but that was not what was attracting his attention. Taking up three shuttle platforms was... Well, it had to be a craft, but it looked more like some sculpted bird of prey. At least three times the size of a normal shuttle and all smooth, curving edges. An elongated main section tapered into a beak-like cockpit, while flaring out at the back into a spiked rose of engines. Two large, thick sections curved back along the ship, separate from the main body but so close at points that it would barely be possible to slide between them, giving the impression of sharp wings half-closed in a dive. The hull gleamed in a fathomless black except for scarlet flames painted around the engines, and on the wings where a spiders-web of silvery lines clung to the flawless surface. Jay couldn't see what they were supposed to be for, but he found that he didn't care. He was gaping at the ship like an idiot.
         Keryl had a grin on her face.
         "Like it?"
         "I think I'm in love." Jay continued to stare at the beautiful craft. There was no way in this universe that was standard issue! Keryl rolled her eyes.
         "Males! Jay, if you can put your eyes back in for a second, I'll introduce you. This is the Retran."
         "Retran? What does that mean?"
         "It’s sort of short for retribution. I was feeling bitter at the time."
         "Uh-huh," Jay shook himself and reluctantly switched his gaze away from the ship and back to Keryl, "Does it go?"
The other Shee stared at him for a second, then she burst out laughing.
         "Does it go? You're one of the most experienced Commanders in the NewAlbian Space Corps, and the best you can come up with is 'Does it go?' Come on Jay!"
         Jay felt his cheeks redden.
         "I meant, does it function?" He muttered, in a vain attempt to regain his dignity.
         "Same thing, just sounds less toddler," Keryl finally managed to get her facial muscles under control, "Of course it works! Hyperwarp twelve, three pairs of linked Hellfire-cannons, plus ion blasters and four independent missile systems. Medi-bay, plus other living facilities included. It's a bit more organic than most craft, but that shouldn't detract from the performance. Please stop drooling."
         Jay stared at her, then his brow furrowed.
         "Hold on, if this is a fully-functioning craft - why didn't you mention this earlier? Infact, why are you still here at all when you could just have escaped in this already?"
         "Ah," Keryl glanced at the floor uncomfortably, "That's a good point."
         She took a deep breath.
         "I haven't been totally honest with you Jay - "
         "I picked up that much."
         " - and I'm sorry. The Retran... Well, it's been under construction ever since we left NewAlbia. Remember I said our crew was made up of the best? It was also the youngest on record. We were bored, and Zaine came up with this idea of making our own craft. Everyone worked on it, which is probably why it was taking so long to complete. By the time we crashed here, the shell was finished, and some basic systems were in, but that was all. When we realised the main ship was done for, we started to rip out the systems we still needed and install them directly. We took apart what remaining shuttles we had - they were all too badly damaged in the crash to be any use alone - and pulled a lot out of the rest of the ship. That's why this place looks such a mess, incidentally. When we had to abandon the Celon, we had to leave the Retran too."
         "So how...?"
         "Don't interrupt," Keryl snapped irritably, then her expression softened again, "Sorry. When my group got back, we decided the Retran was our best hope, so we started work on it again. After... After everyone else..." She visibly struggled with the next word, "Died, I carried on alone. It's nearly done - I've just got a few more engine checks to do, and I need to move some more of the medi-units into it, but aside from that, it should 'go' very well."
         Jay was silent for a moment, absorbing this new information.
         "So... Why didn't you mention this before?" He asked slowly. Keryl sighed.
         "Because, as I did say before, there are three cubes orbiting this rockball. Sure, the Retran would get us off-planet, straight into the welcoming metallic embrace of the Borg. There wasn't any point."
         "Wasn't? I note the past tense."
         Keryl tapped her nose and grinned slightly.
         "Give me a bit more time. Then I may have an answer. As for now," she sighed again, "I suggest we should split our time between getting this finished, and keeping a watch on your tin-plated friend. Who I think we should be getting back to, Sillika needs filling in. You'd better do that."
         "Me?" Jay felt a shot of surprise, "Why?"
         Keryl grinned slightly, then yawned.
         "I assumed you two would have a lot to talk about. And I need sleep if I'm going to get it finished."
         "Get what fin- " Jay started, but Keryl just yawned again and started back down the corridor.
Chapter 12 (not sent)

         Sillika woke suddenly and, for the brief moment of amnesia before her brain started again, didn’t feel at all depressed. Then the world flooded back and she gave a groan. Yesterday – if days even counted here anymore – Jay had told her about the Retran, about the possibility, however small, that they might actually get off this dammed planet. To her own surprise, the news hadn’t had the impact it should have. She felt numb, dazed, strangely distanced from the situation around her. And she knew why. She’d thought the idea of Callum being dead was horrible, but somehow, knowing he was alive but... Frozen, unthinking, what Keryl had so tactfully called ‘dormant’, was even more unbearable. To be able to stand barely a foot away from him, to know he couldn’t hear her, couldn’t see her, it was... Wrong. That was the best way she could describe it. Wrong. Utterly, totally, intrinsically wrong. Her eyes burned, and she blinked away tears. An image of Callum’s grinning face swam up in her mind and she set her jaw, feeling some of her old determination run into her again. She couldn’t afford to sink into depression right now.
         Thrusting her legs out the side of the bed, she half-stood, half-pulled herself upright. Focus, focus, she gritted her teeth and pushed down the feelings of helplessness. Back on Albia, she’d never thought like this. Just because she wasn’t surrounded by Amulets anymore was not a good reason to go soft. It took her a few moments to locate some clothes – Keryl had provided clean uniforms – and dress. She made an attempt to brush her hair by running her splayed fingers through the silvery locks, managing to get the major tangles out.
         The door slid back as she approached, and she stepped out.
         It was a mark of her nervousness-honed reflexes that she didn’t trip headlong over the leg lying across the threshold. She turned round in surprise, and her gaze hit Jay, slumped in a chair next to her door. He was asleep, his head resting back against the wall. A smile crept onto Sillika’s lips. He must have been there all night. She stepped carefully over his legs, then bent down and kissed him gently on the forehead.
         She was about to move away when Jay suddenly reached out and caught her hand. One eye slid open, and a tired grin spread across his face.
         "Hey."
         "Hey," Sillika grinned down at him as he squeezed her hand, "Sleep well?"
         "Not exactly," Jay grimaced slightly as he sat upright, rolling his head back and forth with an unpleasant cracking sound, "You?"
         "Fine. Of course, I wasn’t concertina-ed on a chair."
         "Yeah, well," Jay shrugged, "I wanted to make sure you were okay."
         Sillika held his gaze.
         "Thanks."
         "Anytime. And I mean that."
         "I know."
         The moment was broken as Jay yawned loudly again.
         "Damn."
         Sillika laughed and gently pulled him upright.
         "Come on, do yourself a favour an get some real sleep."
Jay looked about to protest, then he sighed and threw her a mock salute.
         "Aye, ma’am," he grinned, and yawned. Sillika pushed him towards the now empty room and he dutifully went. Their fingers stayed entwined until the last moment, and Jay managed to wink at her as the door slid shut.
         Sillika stayed, staring at the door for a second, then turned and continued down the corridor, a slight smile curling her lips. Maybe it wasn’t all bad...
         By the time she reached the blank door of the medi-bay, the good mood had vanished. She didn’t really want to be in here – Callum’s motionless form was still strapped to the upright table – but Keryl had taken to working in here. She palmed the door and stepped through, immediately averting her gaze from the silent figure in the centre of the room.
         "Sleep much?" Keryl’s voice was crisp – clearly she was concentrating hard again. Sillika carefully made her way over to the half-hidden console where – going by the piles of empty coffee mugs – Keryl had been for quite a while. The other Shee’s face was slightly flushed, and her lips were twisted in a tired smile. Her fingers rattled across the keypad, then with a very decisive final clack, she stopped.
         "Success!"
         Sillika blinked at the triumph in her friend’s voice. It had been a long time since any of them had made a sound like that. She leaned over Keryl’s shoulder, her gaze scanning the display for a vague hint of something recognisable.
         "Success how?"
         "This," Keryl gestured to the screen, still grinning, "May be our ticket out of here."
         Sillika redoubled her efforts to understand the screen.
         "What’s that?"
         "Simplest definition would be a computer virus, specifically designed to adapt faster than those bastards can. I edited some of the code from the probes and managed to get this out of it. It hijacks the probes themselves and produces none-code versions of itself that will affect the physical. It’ll disable any Borg systems, overloading circuitry and causing the implants to basically self-destruct. If I’ve done it right it should keep adapting, so it’s always one step ahead."
         "Poetic justice?"
         "Deserved irony is the phrase I prefer," the shadows lengthened around Keryl’s eyes for a moment, then she blinked and it was gone.
         "Will it kill all of them?" Sillika asked surprised at the harshness of her voice. Thinking like a Grendel again... Keryl shrugged.
         "Hopefully. At the very least it should disable a hefty chuck, then we might be able to get off this damn rock."
         Sillika stared at the screen for a second, feeling a rather disconcerting shot of cold satisfaction.
         "Good. They deserve it."
         "Hey!" Keryl cuffed her lightly on the shoulder, "Leave the cold stuff to me, eh? I’m better at it."
         Sillika smiled slightly.
         "Okay."
         "Good," Keryl tapped a button and the screen blacked out. She sat back for a second, letting her eyes slide closed.
         "What I wouldn’t give for some quality time with my eyelids," she sighed and her eyes snapped open again, "But I guess that’s a luxury I can’t afford right now."
         "You’ve got time to sleep," Sillika insisted. Keryl smiled ruefully.
         "Sillika, I have to rip out half the systems from the medi-bay, a chunk of the MIC and see if I can’t find some way to transmit this thing before I can even think about getting some decent shut-eye. Plus your friend here." She stood up, stretched and made her way over to a console near Callum’s frozen figure. Sillika swallowed hard and tried to concentrate on the screen as Keryl’s fingers began their machine-gun rattle across the keys.
         "I’m trying something new, see if we can’t stimulate some mental functions above the brain-stem," she muttered, almost to herself, "A few CCs should do it, every few hours... Okay," she looked up at Sillika and must have noticed the expression on her face.
         "I’ll get him back for you. I am a fully qualified medic, grade four."
         "Er…" Sillika stared helplessly at her. She wasn’t yet totally familiar with NewAlbian ranks. Keryl waved a hand.
         "A chunk of everything, plus I’m not unfamiliar with bio-mechanics. I’ll get him back. I promise."
         For a moment their gazes locked and Sillika felt a jolt of reassurance. Keryl was their best hope.
         
         Jay shifted position on the swivelling chair and stifled a new yawn. As soon as he’d woken up, Keryl had appeared out of no-where and assigned him a watch. He felt a dart of jealousy at Sillika – she got to help with re-fitting the Retran – but he understood why Keryl had assigned them thus. Sillika probably wasn’t up to spending an extended time around Callum. She was really missing him, now more than ever. To be so close, yet unable to even speak to him... Jay knew he could never fully understand, but he was going to give it a damn good try. He was missing Callum himself; his dry humour had always lightened the mood before. And they could really do with a little humour right now.
         He shifted position again and glanced up, his gaze locking on the impassive grey face. He hadn’t realised it before, but back on the Celon – he felt a dart of pain at the name – he’d almost been seeing Callum as a rival. Now, of course, he knew that had been stupid. Callum and Sillika were closer than many actual siblings he’d met, certainly closer than Jay with his own three brothers, but Jay had nothing to worry about. Sillika’s love for Callum was that for a brother, a friend. As to what she felt for Jay himself... He felt a grin slide onto his lips as an image of Sillika’s smiling face rose in his mind. They could certainly work on it.
         A loud beeping cut into his thoughts, and Jay shook himself back from the semi-sleep he’d been drifting into. He aimed a half-hearted glare at the panel. Check him ever hour. Those had been Keryl’s orders, and it was probably more than his life was worth to go against what she said. That much caffeine couldn’t be good for Keryl’s already sharp temper. He stood up, stretched and tried to ignore the way his spine clicked. These chairs were really not designed for comfort. He made his way over to the screens hooked up to Callum’s motionless form and cast a gaze across the unchanging monitors. The silence was deafening, and that wasn’t just a cliché.
         Knowing it was pointless, but needing to break the suffocating quiet, Jay decided to speak, even if it was only really to himself.
         "I don’t know if you can hear me in there. Hell, I don’t even know if you’re alive or not," Jay sat down on the panel and watched the still figure. He sighed.
         "Sillika’s really missing you, even I am a bit. I’m sorry, it’s my fault you’re in this mess in the first place. Come back to us, eh?" He watched Callum’s impassive face for a few more seconds, then shook his head and turned back towards his chair, preparing for another hour to trying to stay awake. Suddenly one of the machines began beeping frantically. Jay’s head jerked up and his gaze hit the neural monitor display, which had suddenly come alive. He dived over to a nearby panel and whacked the intercom.
         "Ladies? Get in here now!"
         In a few seconds Keryl and Sillika tumbled through the door. Keryl dashed over to a console and tapped frantically. She gave a small whoop of triumph.
         "We have lift off! Well, not literally, but you get the general idea."
         "W...what the...?"
         Jay spun round at the sound of Callum’s terrified voice. He was standing still, one shaking hand held up infront of his face, staring at it with an expression of absolute horror. Slowly, his wide-eyed gaze travelled along his arm and almost instantly his hand flew up to his neck. He jerked it back again when he encountered the thick metallic tubes and strips around it. He stared round, and finally his eyes met Sillika’s.
         "Sillika? What’s happened to me?" His fingers traced along the edge of metal that covered half his face, finally stopping when he encountered the edge of his eyepiece, hand shaking. Sillika hurried over to him and grasped his hand. Callum looked down at her.
         "Wh... What am I?"
         Sillika smiled at him.
         "You’re you, Callum, thank god. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
         "I’m finding it a bit hard to smile with half of my face covered in tin plate."
         Jay made his way over.
         "Glad you’re back, you scared us all back then."
         Callum turned to look at him, his wide eyes filled with disbelieving shock.
         "You’re scared? I’m half microwave and you are scared? If no one minds, I’d like to know what the hell is going on and if I come with an instruction manual."
Chapter 13 (12 not sent)

         Sillika steeled herself before she stepped through the door to the medi-unit. After they’d filled in the gaps for Callum he’d sat very still for a while, then asked for some time alone. They’d left him by himself for several hours now and Sillika was getting worried, so she’d decided to check up on him. The door hissed back, and at first she couldn’t see him. A shot of worry hit her, before she spotted him sitting, staring at a screen. He turned round as the door closed, and gave her a half-smile. It was definitely a half-smile as one side of his face didn’t move.
         "Roll up, roll up! See the freak show, come one come all," he said bitterly as he waved a hand in the air. Sillika went over and sat next to him. She smiled.
         "It’s not that bad Callum, at least you got your personality back."
         "No, it is that bad. I have various pieces of metal stuck in my body, look like something out of a Sci-fi movie and apparently I’ve had every thought I’ve ever had examined by thousands of other things. I don’t know if I can still sleep or eat or if all I need is my batteries changing every forty-eight hours and I keep expecting that scratching an itch will cause a CD tray to pop out of my nose or something. It is that bad."
         Sillika shuffled uncomfortably. She’d never seen Callum like this before, in everything they’d been through he’d always been the optimist, always ready with a grin or a joke. Now... She flashed him another weak smile.
         "It could be worse..."
         "Sillika, please. Enough with the clichés okay?" He laughed bitterly again, "Ironic isn’t it? I’m useless with any technology and I end up fused with half a tonne of it."
         Sillika stared at the floor, unable to meet Callum’s gaze. After a minute or so of silence, he sighed.
         "Look, I’m sorry, I just... I’ve done it again, haven’t I? First Lraac, now this... I’m just a damned liability!" His fists clenched in frustration. Sillika looked up at him and frowned. What was he...? Her eyes widened as realisation hit her.
         "You’re not serious? None of this is your fault, and nothing was! We got through Lraac, we’ll get through this."
         Callum smiled sadly.
         "I wish I could believe you."
         More silence.
         "Sillika?"
         "Yes?"
         "Could you go please? I still have some things to think through."
         Sillika felt her heart sink, but stood up anyway.
         "Okay. But if you need anything..."
         "Like what? Oiling? I won’t need anything."
         Sillika was about to reply, when she saw the look on Callum’s face. Pain, and more than a little fear was etched on his features. She’d seen that look before, back on Albia when he’d told her about the link to Lraac. It cut her to realise it, but there wasn’t anything she could do here.
         
         Callum waited until he heard the door hiss shut behind him, then sighed heavily. He couldn’t take this in, or rather; he didn’t want to take this in. He knew exactly what had happened, and it repulsed him. His body didn’t even feel like his anymore, more like some vile, alien thing trapping his mind.
         He groaned and rubbed his exposed forehead. He had thought that he'd been through the worst experiences of his life. Apparently he'd been wrong. Frankly, and it shocked him to realise this, he'd much sooner be back on Albia, fighting an army of Grendels that he would be here, fighting with his own mind. His fingers clenched and he fought the urge to slam the fist into a wall. Punching holes in bulkheads was not likely to help with any of this.
         He finally managed to meet his own gaze in the black screen. It had taken him this long to work through the confused set of memories swirling around his mind. The old cliché echoed in his head, ‘Ignorance is bliss’. He was agreeing fervently with that at the moment. The images rose across his eyes, Sillika’s terrified face, staring at him open-mouthed as his mind clouded out and the pain, the pain as the probes began their work... He shuddered and blinked away the mental slideshow. That fear was familiar now; cold bits of Collective memory still skittering around the dark parts of his brain recognised it. It was the reaction to the Borg. The reaction to him...
         He was jerked out of his thoughts as the door slid open again. He glanced up, expecting to see Sillika again, but it wasn’t. Keryl strode in, totally ignoring him, and headed over to a set of panels, a toolbox clutched in her hand. Callum watched her for a moment, trying to remember what Sillika had told him about the new Shee. A genius? He had to admit, just to look at her he’d never have guessed. She looked, well, normal. Although he was hardly in any position to go on about normal appearances. Keryl seemed to realise he was watching her and turned. Her eyes burned, and with a jolt Callum remembered Sillika’s quiet warning of just how much the other Shee detested the Borg.
         "Something interesting?" Keryl asked coldly, every syllable crisp and filled with barely concealed venom.
         The sensible thing to do would be to turn away.
         The sensitive thing to do would be not to rise to the comment.
         Callum found he was in no mood to be either. He wasn’t going to take this shit, it wasn’t as if he’d volunteered to get assimilated. His eyes narrowed.
         "What is your problem?" He snapped. Keryl’s glare increased, her golden eyes practically sparking with fury.
         "My problem? I’ll tell you what my problem is! When I arrived here I was an innocent girl with an interest in science and a gift for machinery. Then they came, and over the last year I’ve seen every friend I’ve ever had destroyed or assimilated by the Borg. I’ve had to kill some of the people I worked with, the people who became my family. The Borg have taken everything from me, and you expect me to speak normally to you?"
         "Yes actually. I’m not a Borg."
         Keryl snorted.
         "Implants, metal, built-in gun, eyepiece, you look like a Borg to me."
         Callum glared at her.
         "For the last time, I am not a Borg! I might have aspects of one at moment, but that wasn’t exactly by choice! It’s not the sort of thing you get career leaflets about! ‘Wanted: Young, healthy person to be assimilated into a Collective of murderous psychos. Must be about to speak in stereo and not be allergic to metal. Any previous experience with alien technology would be appreciated. Apply to the nearest Borg cube to your home area’."
         To his mild surprise, Keryl actually smiled a little. Some of the hostility had vanished from her stance
         "Alright, I’m sorry. You realise it must be a bit strange for someone who’s spent a chunk of their life trying to kill Borg to be speaking to one."
         "I’m not a Borg."
         "You are, there’s not a lot you can do about it."
         Callum glared at her, then his shoulders slumped. If they were even classed as shoulders anymore.
         "You’re right. I hate to admit it, I don’t want to admit it, but you’re right. I... " He turned away, unable to finish the sentence, and headed for the door.
         
         Keryl watched Callum’s metallic back vanish out of the door and sighed. Try as she might she couldn’t keep up hatred for him for long.
         "They killed your brother, assimilated your friends. He’s one of them," she muttered, trying desperately to convince herself. No matter what she did, she just couldn’t fit Callum into the same category as the rest of those murderous cyborgs. For one thing he had a sense of humour, and... There was something in his eyes, a look of someone who had seen much more than their years should allow. Then again, if what Sillika and Jay had told her, things like age were more than a little confused.
         Keryl couldn’t say she believed every word of the magic Amulet story, it seemed too far-fetched, but… The way they spoke, Sillika in particularly, gave the whole tale more than a ring of truth. Keryl still wasn’t sure what to believe, and had decided not to make any final decisions on the issue.
         Of course, the idea of a fully assimilated Borg wandering round her ship should have been much easier to deal with. After her crew had split up, Keryl had learned very quickly that assimilation wiped away any trace of the person who used to inhabit the body. But now... Despite what she’d said, Callum didn’t seem to be a Borg. Physically, yes, although she had noticed that he’d not had any vital bits replaced yet, but mentally... He was apparently back to himself. Vaguely, she wondered what he used to look like, sans metal. She’d managed to disconnect him from the Collective mind, and she should be able to remove the implants...
         "What are you thinking?" She muttered to herself, shaking her head. She had absolutely no reason to trust anyone who’d been assimilated. Regardless of what anyone said, she was still going to set the computer to monitor Callum’s every move. One tin-clad toe out of line and...
         A soft beeping attracted her attention and she groaned. It was the automatic alarm, reminding her she hadn’t done a sensor check in, ooh, four hours? Sighing, she swivelled round, pushing her chair across the room, sliding infront of the relevant panel and reached out automatically to the keypad. Her fingers danced across the keys as the small screen infront of her switched to various different cameras.
         First exit, clear.
         Second, clear.
         Third, clear.
         Fo... What on...?
         She leapt up as sirens began blaring out, red lights flashing a proximity warning.
         "Main control room people!" She yelled into the comm, one hand grasping for her gun, the other tapping away on the keypad, downloading and erasing various files in the pattern she’d practices a hundred times. A data chip appeared from the slot on the side, dropping neatly into her outstretched palm. Three more chips followed as Keryl activated defence systems and sealed doors.
         "What’s going on?"
         Callum’s voice made her jump and she spun round.
         "Your ex friends have decided to pay us a visit," she spotted Jay and Sillika emerging from the doorway and fished around in her pocket, "Here, these chips’ve got all a copy of various files we’ll need, plus a duplicate of the virus." She dealt them out, hesitating slightly when she came to Callum. He shrugged.
         "If you don’t want to give me one, it’s fine. I’ll have no idea what to do with it anyway."
         "Just pocketing it’ll do," Keryl handed him the chip, a slight smile creeping onto her lips before she could stop it.
         "Keryl – " Jay started, but she had already turned round, her gaze locking on the screen. The proximity warning had switched to Active Defence Risk – namely because something was firing repeatedly into the hull with enough force to send the shuddering vibration rippling through the floor beneath them.
Chapter 14

         "Dammit!" Keryl quickly brought up the display for the holo-shield as another explosion rippled through the ship. What was...? Her eyes focused on the readout and she began swearing under her breath. The shield had done what it had been threatening for a week. It was down. That explained a lot.
         "The shield’s gone, we’re sitting ducks here! Guns are under the far desk, strap ‘em on and let’s get moving."
         "Moving?" Sillika sounded puzzled. Keryl tore her gaze from the screen enough to gesture downwards.
         "The Retran’s space-worthy now."
         "But we didn’t install all the systems!"
         "It’ll do! We’ve got life support, comms and medi-equipment - anything else is an extra. I moved enough spare parts into the hold for me to get the luxuries finished when we’re off planet. Most importantly the thing has weapons!"
         Almost in unison the group nodded, as another round of battering shook the ship. Keryl slammed one, very final command into the console, then span on her heel and started running.
         "Move it! I’ve set the computer core to blow, so it would be a good idea to be out of here when it does."
         "Power surge?" Jay asked grimly as he dropped into place alongside her. Keryl nodded.
         "Yeah, and then some. We altered the wiring when we got back to the ship – if the main core blows, so does the self-destruct system. Those bastards are not getting this ship."
"Just as long as they don’t get the Retran, I’ll be happy."
         Silence fell over the group as they ran, broken only by the metallic thud of Callum’s feet on the cold floors. Keryl glanced at him, for a moment suspicious about why the shield had chosen this moment to blow. The thought vanished from her mind as she saw his expression. The mobile part of this features were creased in a kind of angry fear, concern flickering in his eyes as his gaze scanned across the group.
         He was worried for them.
         Keryl had never seen that expression on the face of a Borg before. The sudden empathy surprised her and she switched her attention back to running, occasionally giving a sharp direction when they reached a junction. It wasn’t needed, Jay and Sillika had clearly put some effort into learning the way to the Retran’s hold.
         It was a mark of how much punishment the Celon had been designed to take that they’d managed to run through almost half a mile of corridors before any of the hull gave way. And it was a mark of the universe’s ironic sense of events that the bulkhead giving way was the one they were running past at the time.
         Keryl’s world exploded in a nightmare cloud of expanding shrapnel and half-vaporised metal, the scream of rending hull plates drowning out her own yell of abrupt fear. She hit the ground hard, gun skittering away across the floor as her chin slammed into the cold metal.
         Great, she thought muzzily to herself, me getting concussed is the last thing we need. She shook off the shock – blurred thinking would just get her killed faster – and raised her head, trying to ignore the hot throbbing from various part of her body. Damn shrapnel. Her gaze locked on the dark figure looming through the hole in the wall, outlined against the grey sky in hard clarity. The Borg’s eyes gleamed.
         "You W – "
         That was as far as it got, before a barrage of laser fire slammed into it, punching dark holes deep into the metallic chest and flinging it backwards. Keryl’s head jerked up in shock and she focused on Callum standing over her, his gun arm outstretched and his face twisted in barely-concealed hatred.
         "Shouldn’t have given me one of these!" He roared and sent a second round of laser through the hole. Whether it hit or not was irrelevant as the ship shuddered violently again. Keryl scrambled to her feet and started running again, hunched over like an inverted ‘L’.
         "That was another breach! We have to get out of here now!"
         "I hear that," Callum fired one last time and started after her, his expression switched to one of grim determination. Keryl felt a dart of gratitude and glanced up at him.
         "Hey, Callum."
         The other Shee looked down at her, slightly surprised, and Keryl realised this was the first time she had actually used his name. She gave him a small smile.
         "Thanks."
         Callum grinned and threw a mock salute.
         "Welcome. I might as well make use of some of this," he gestured towards his body. Keryl returned the grin, properly this time, but it dropped from her face as another shudder ran through the deck.
         "Keep making use of it."
         "You two okay?" Jay’s voice echoed down the corridor.
         "We’re fine, keep going!"
         "We hit lift-shaft! Now what?"
         Keryl swore as she skidded to a halt alongside Jay. They were standing infront of the turbolift that marked the fastest way down to the Retran hanger, but the suspicion that had been kicking the back of her mind for a while was now screaming ‘I told you so’. The whole ship was slowly being cracked open by Borg weapons, and one of those earth-shaking blasts had warped the lift shaft. The doors were twisted, jammed open, and nothing but hole was visible behind the contorted metal.
         "Don’t suppose anyone has a handy pocket ladder on them?" Callum remarked, poking his head down over the drop, "Ooh, deep."
         Jay cast a glance around the group, and raised his wrist. Keryl’s eyes locked on his callband, the same thought forming in her mind that was displayed on his face.
         "What sort of tensile strength has that model got?"
         "About enough for two," Jay sighed, "I can only carry one at a time, I’ll have to make three trips. And no offence Callum, but I dunno how much you weigh with all that plating on you."
         Callum was still staring out over the shaft, a calculating expression on his face.
         "How many floors have we got to go down?"
         "Ten," Keryl answered immediately, her mind throwing up an internal plan of the ship, "And there is no way we’ll be able to get down there in time unless we use the lift."
         Callum shrugged.
         "Okay. Jay, you take Sillika and Keryl. Don’t bother with me."
         "We’re not leaving you here!" Sillika protested, pain flashing across her eyes again, "Not…"
         "I didn’t say that, did I?" Callum grinned, "I’m going to do something incredibly stupid." With that he turned and stepped into the shaft. Keryl felt her heart skip a beat, Jay’s and Sillika’s yells cutting though her.
         "I do know what I’m doing."
         They stared at the hole in disbelief as Callum’s voice floated up. Keryl edged forwards, mind whirring. Even the Borg didn’t have thrusters... Did they? She looked down, and felt her eyes widen. Callum was spread-eagled upright in the shaft, his hands and feet pressed tightly into the walls. He looked up at her and grinned, the red eye glinting in the darkness.
         "Stupid, but effective."
         "You are insane," Keryl gasped; a strange dart of horrified amazement rushing through her. Callum nodded sagely
         "I’ve heard that."
         "How good a hold have you got?" She felt an idea rise in her mind as her gaze scanned Callum’s position.
         "Er... Pretty good."
         "Could you take me too?" Keryl ripped the gun off her arm and crouched down by the edge of the shaft. For a second Callum looked surprised, then he grinned.
         "Yeah, probably. Now who’s insane?"
         "There’s a fine line between genius and madness, I can cross it if I wish," Keryl muttered as she steadied herself to jump. This was a very stupid plan, but then again they didn’t have a lot of choice. She silently marvelled at her own apparent lack of good judgement – she was about to entrust her safety over a thirty-floor shaft to a guy who she should trust about as far she could spit him. On the plus side, he had just saved her life. That kind of thing did tend to increase your trust in a person. With a sharp intake of breath, she pushed herself off from the edge. There was a second of distinct lack of floor, then her flailing arms caught round Callum’s neck and she jerked to a halt. Trying to ignore the pain of sudden effort from her shoulders, she twisted and wrapped her legs around his waist. Callum made a quite ‘tsk’ noise.
         "And we’ve only just met."
         "Oh shut up," Keryl risked a glance down and gulped. She really, really hoped Callum knew what he was doing.
         "Get going," Jay called down, "Those bangs are getting closer."
         "Right. Hold on," Callum said grimly, then relaxed his stance. Gravity took interest in them again and Keryl felt her stomach give an unpleasant lurch as they began to fall far too fast. Callum gave a slight grunt and suddenly Keryl had to force herself not to clamp her hands over her ears. A high-pitched, metallic screech cut into her ears as Callum pressed his fingers to the walls, showers of white-hot sparks tumbling from his hands. Their decent slowed as the friction did its work but the noise was almost unbearable. Keryl automatically buried her face in Callum’s shoulders, trying to block of out the scream of stressed metal and sparked-induced strobe lighting. The whole ride couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity until Callum’s limbs went rigid and they screeched to a halt.
         "Bing. Ten floors down."
         He sounded far too calm. Keryl’s stomach seemed to be doing acrobatics, but she managed to ignore it and raised her head. Her gaze focused on the life doors infront of them, white letters declaring ‘Shuttle-Bay 4’. Underneath it, she recognised Bryon’s spidery scrawl ‘Home of the Retran, you must be this high to ride’ and felt a slight grin twitch her lips.
         "This it?" Callum asked. Keryl nodded.
         "Yeah, can you reach the door control?"
         "I’ll try," Callum’s face set in concentration and he carefully moved one arm towards the panel. Keryl tried very hard not to look down. He must have been supporting both of them entirely with his legs. Despite her fear, Keryl could feel a part of her brain taking notes. She’d known the Borg were strong, but... She cut the thought. Getting out of here took priority over scientific curiosity right now. A wonderfully familiar hiss pulled her out of her thoughts as the doors slid smoothly open.
         "Climb across me," Callum muttered, angling his limbs to better provide a route. Keryl had a quick internal battle before her arms agreed to release their grip and she quickly scrambled out of the shaft. Relief flooded through her as her feet hit solid metal floor. There was a slight grunt from behind her, then a thud. She swivelled round in time to see Callum pull himself over the edge of the shaft. He grinned at her, then stuck his head back out through to doors.
         "You two okay up there?"
         "A bit deaf," Sillika’s voice echoed down the shaft, "Your method was loud."
         "Picky," Callum stood back as the approaching series of thuds indicated the others were getting closer. A few moments later Jay absailed through the open door, Sillika clinging around his neck. Neither seemed exactly unhappy about the arrangement, and it took slightly longer than necessary for them to let go. Jay glanced round as his callband wound back in.
         "Well this bit looks clear – " He said with perfect timing, as at that moment another explosion rocked the floor underneath them.
         "Er... Keryl?" Callum sounded worried; "You do know the Borg can teleport, don’t you?"
         Keryl nodded, then waved a hand at his concerned expression.
         "Yeah, but not too well round here. You know that interference this planet produces? It blocks any form of teleportation. At least we don’t have to worry about them dropping on top of us."
         Another violent shudder ran through the ship, and something in Keryl’s mind pointed out that blast had been far too close for comfort. A new sound reached her ears, and she felt her heart skip a beat. The rhythmic, metallic thud of assimilated feet. The fact she could hear them...
         "Go!" She muttered and they started running again. The hanger was pretty close, but if the Borg had broken through into this deck... The ‘if’ part of that thought abruptly became less of a hypothesis as they rounded a corner and reached the last corridor junction before the hanger door itself. Keryl stopped dead, a shout of alarm rising up her throat as he gaze locked on the group of dark figures at the far end of the opposite corridor. Callum reacted first; sending a barrage of laser into the troupe of Borg even before Keryl had time to yell.
         "Get going!" He yelled, "I’ll hold them!"
         Keryl’s gaze swept the area, her mind racing. She was not going to just... There! She grabbed Callum’s arm and began to drag him after her.
         "Everyone go left!"
         Jay and Sillika had already darted down the intended corridor.
         "Let me – " Callum started, but Keryl’s temper flared.
         "I didn’t spend two days disconnecting you from that damned Collective just to let you play the hero!" She yanked him after her and swung round, slamming her hand into a small panel. With a soft hiss, a thick blast door slammed down infront of them just as the flashes of laser from the new Borg started. Keryl let her fingers dance across the keys in practised routine, dull thuds shivering through the floor beneath them.
         "Okay, I’ve sealed every door on this floor," she finally let herself take a breath, "They’ll not get down here too quickly..."
         The door actually shuddered as something slammed into it, and then a corner began to glow.
         "...unless they cut their way through." she finished, and started running again, Callum alongside her. As they dodged round another corner, Keryl stopped at another panel. Perfect. She flipped the cover back and tapped a few keys. With a snap-hiss a force field sprang up just behind them, shimmering silvery-blue in the dim corridor light. She pointed to the controls.
         "Callum, blast that if you please."
         Callum obliged and fired into the panel. There was a small explosion and it went dead. Keryl grabbed his arm and dragged him after her again as they raced down the corridor. Her mental ship-plan rose across her eyes, they should be there by now...
Chapter 15

         Bulkhead flashed past at an alarming rate as they ran. Keryl could feel her legs starting to complain loudly and made a mental note to exercise more when they got out of here. She was dragged out of her thoughts as her brain suddenly screamed at her. They were here. She skidded to a halt, just in time to avoid a collision with Jay as he stuck his head round the open hanger door, grinning.
         "It’s okay, they haven’t got here yet."
         "Not for want of trying, c’mon," Keryl shoved past him and began running down the stairs and gantries that lead to the ship. She had to admit, the Retran was an impressive craft.
         "Well guys," she muttered, an image of the Celon’s crew flashing across her eyes, "We did it. It’s finished."
         "Pardon?"
         She jumped as Callum caught up with her. He looked concerned, and for once Keryl didn’t notice the metal surrounding his features. She swallowed hard.
         "I wish they could see this," she said quietly. One of Callum’s hands dropped onto her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
         "I’m sure they can," he said softly, and Keryl managed a wobbly smile.
         "Thanks."
         They reached the crescent of instrument panels surrounding the ship and Keryl darted to one side, zeroing in on the machine she wanted.
         "I need to open the docking clamps," she yelled over her shoulder, "Jay, you know how to fly, get the engines started. We’re gonna need to get out of here sharpish."
         "’K," Jay hurtled past her and into the Retran, still grinning.
         "I’ve sealed the doors!" Sillika skidded to a halt next to them, "Anything else?"
         "Get on board and grab a seat," Keryl glanced up at the other Shee, "You any good at shield systems?"
         "I read that stuff you gave me..."
         "Remember it?"
         "I think so."
         "Good enough, now go!" Keryl transferred her gaze back to the controls. Dammit, these clamps took way too long to open. Her fingers drummed an impatient rhythm on the screen as the clamps inched apart. Come on!
          A new shudder ran through the floor, and it took Keryl a few seconds to realise it wasn’t an explosion. Her head jerked up and she felt her face split into a grin as she focused on the Retran’s flaring engines.
         "That is a very nice ship," Callum whistled.
         "You should have seen Jay earlier, he was practically drooling," Keryl was about to smile when suddenly Callum lunged towards her, bearing her to the ground. A yell of protest died on her lips as suddenly the panel she’d been working on erupted in a cloud of sparks and melted metal.
         "Dammit!" Callum yelled and leapt to his feet, gun arm trained on the dark figures swarming through the wrecked door, "Get to the ship!"
         "No!" Keryl scrambled back up the panel, flicking charred hair out of her eyes, "Clamp five is still attached! We try a take off with that and it’ll rip the ship apart!"
         "Can you open it?" Callum asked quickly as he fired off a new round of laser. Keryl didn’t answer, her fingers skittering across the devastated panel. Her stomach gave a lurch.
         "No, this panel’s bust! I’ll have to disable it manually."
         "Meaning?"
         "Meaning I need to be over there," she gestured to where one of the massive docking clamps was still fixed tightly to the underside of the Retran. Callum nodded, still firing.
         "Okay, I’ll – Damn!"
         Keryl glanced up in time to see a green shield flash up around the last Borg he had tried to blast.
         "They’re adapting! Set your gun to cycle frequencies!"
         Callum stared at her as if she’d just suggested he dance naked on the docking ring.
         "Pardon?"
         "Your gun! Y’know, that thing surgically grafted onto your forearm? Set it to adapt!"
         "How?"
         Keryl stared at him in disbelief.
         "You should be able to manually! You’re a – "
         "I have trouble working a toaster!" He yelled, panic rising in his eyes. For a second, Keryl debated the irony of someone quite so technologically inept being assimilated into the Borg, then she dismissed the thought and brought up her mental schematics of Borg weaponry. She darted over to him and began to fiddle with the gun, trying to ignore the advancing attackers. She nodded.
         "Okay, that should do it."
         "Right," Callum nodded grimly and swung round, sending a new wave of laser into the nearest Borg. It punched through the shields and hurled the figure backwards.
         "Great, now start moving," he gestured towards the clamp and Keryl started to run, hunched as far as possible to present a smaller target. Callum was sprinting along behind her, the alternating sound of footsteps and laser fire like some bizarre soundtrack. It seemed like an eternity before she managed to skid behind the towering clamp and start scrabbling at the panel.
         "Er... Is being this close to the engines safe?"
         "No, but you have a better idea?" Keryl shot back crisply as she started pulling wires out of the access panel.
         
         Callum ducked back behind the smooth metal of the clamp as another round of Borg laser skimmed past his head. He bit his lip as he glanced down at Keryl, who was frantically re-wiring the clamp. If she couldn’t get that thing loose... He tried to press down the rising memories of what had happened to him, the half-burred slideshow of pain that was all he could remember after his mind had blanked out on the clifftop. It was not a pleasant set of images, and for a second a cold shiver ran through him.
         "Done!" Keryl’s yell made him jump, dragging him back out of his thoughts as she slammed the panel closed again. The clamp gave a hiss then began to rotate. Keryl grabbed his arm.
         "Come on! If we stand here that thing will crush us!"
         Callum nodded, then took a deep breath and hurled himself out from behind the rotating clamp. He was firing before he’d even had time to think about it, Keryl behind him as they ran towards the Retran’s door. It worried him, but he was actually starting to get used to firing the weapon purely by nerve impulse. Again, the cold realisation of what he was now rose in his mind and he had to resist the urge to shudder. He might as well get used to being rechargeable.
         He was hurled back to reality as pain suddenly exploded in his arm. The shock made him stumble, and when he glanced down his eyes fixed on the bloody hole where a chunk of flesh and wiring that had been literally evaporated from his forearm. Pain danced up his arm, but that wasn’t the worst thing. Some – probably artificial – part of his mind was screaming at him that the blast had totally disabled his gun arm.
         "Dammit!" He tried to flex the fingers, and winced as the movement set of new bursts of fire in the limb. No, that had definitely hit something serious.
         "Er... Callum? A little help?" Keryl muttered, a dart of fear entering her voice. Callum looked up, then swore loudly. The assorted Borg seemed to have stopped firing, but were now moving very quickly towards them. Why...? A sliver of ice eased into his mind as the realisation hit and his gaze flicked to the Shee behind him. They’d certainly seen Keryl working, and someone with her abilities would be a prime target. His eyes narrowed.
         "Run for the ship."
         "What?" Keryl stared up at him, her features a mask of surprise.
         "Go, I’ll hold them back."
Keryl snorted, but Callum caught her worried glance towards the advancing figures.
         "Playing the hero? Don’t bother, I – "
         "They want you!" Callum snapped, "Remember, the whole genius IQ deal? No way."
         "You’ll be killed!"
"Right now that doesn’t worry me much!" Callum shot back before he could stop the words, "You think I want to spend the rest of my life like this? I’m a goddam – "
         "You’re a bloody idiot if you’re thinking like that!" Keryl’s yell was loud enough even to make the Borg pause. Her golden stare gleamed up at him, overlaid with a kind of angry concern.
         "I’m a grade four medic, give me six hours and I can get that plating off you easily! But not if you get yourself killed playing the self-sacrifice card! I know you’re not a Borg now, okay? I don’t need more proof! Now stop goggling at me and start running!"
         Callum just stared at her. Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but feel a sudden surge of shocked hope.
         "I... I’m not stuck like this?"
         "Not if you move!"
         Callum was about to reply when a new barrage of laser skimmed past his head, ricocheting off the Retran’s hull at worrying angles. Keryl ducked, then grabbed his hand.
         "Come on! Look, I promise as soon as we get out of here I won’t even sleep until you’re purely organic again, okay?" Her golden eyes locked with his own dark stare, "But just do me a favour and don’t die."
         Finally, Callum nodded, and Keryl’s face split into a grin.
         "Good. Now all we have to worry about is – " She cut off as the first row of Borg exploded. Callum span round, and felt his jaw drop as he focused on the huge, rotating weapons arrays of the Retran lighting up. Keryl let out a small whoop of triumph.
         "Jay got the guns working! Now’s our chance," she tightened her fingers around his hand – probably in case he tried to change his mind – and literally dragged him after her up the gangway. They hit the floor hard, ducking the next round of Borg laser and the door hissed closed behind them.
         For a second, Callum didn’t even move, the last few minutes playing over and over across his eyes. He’d never really planned to make it this far. With the lift, the fighting, everything, he’d been taking so many risks, exposing himself to so many chances of injury or worse... The thought cut off and he shivered as he realised what he’d almost unconsciously been trying to do. He’d wanted to be rid of this hideous thing he was now, purge his mind of the half-blurred memories of metallic pain any way he could. He’d wanted to die.
         Now he didn’t.
         "You took your time!" Hands dropped onto Callum’s shoulders, pulling him upright, then his eyes focused on Sillika’s smiling face. She looked scared alright, and there was a large bruise blossoming on one cheek, but she was okay. He managed to smile back at her.
         "It’s called being fashionably late."
         "Yeah, whatever," she laughed, then winced, "Hey, you’re hurt."
         "Not seriously, I – "
         "Bridge, now," Keryl ordered as she clambered to her feet, "This isn’t a single-man craft, Jay’s gonna need some backup. I’ll take what I can, Sillika you deal with the shields, and – "
         "I stand around looking decorative?" Callum finished. Keryl rolled her eyes.
         "If you like. C’mon."
Chapter 16

         Callum hurried after Keryl as she jogged towards the Bridge, trying to ignore the red-hot throbbing in his arm. Considering how bad the wound looked – deep, bleeding and partially cauterised – he was surprised the pain wasn’t excruciating. The whole Assimilation situation probably had something to do with that. Worryingly, it was almost comforting to see his own blood. It at least proved he had some... He cut the thought, mentally scolding himself for thinking like that. Ambush by depression was definitely something he didn’t need right now.
         "Guys? A little more speed please!" Jay’s voice floated down to them and they broke into a run. Keryl didn’t even slow down when they reached the Bridge, and simply skidded straight into the chair next to him. Callum let his gaze slide across the room for a moment, impressed. The room was like a cross between a normal Bridge and an enlarged cockpit – a medium-sized, triangular space with rows of individual controls panels flanking each wall. The triangle blunted out at the front, a large curved viewscreen set into the flat surface above what looked to be the main pilot’s station. Every panel was rounded and very organic looking, set out in a mix of black, purple and oddly bright green. Somehow the combination didn’t clash.
         The main station was a crescent shape clinging to the wall; the chairs set into two indentations that made it appear as if something very large had taken a bite out of the panel. Jay was leaning over one of these panels; his hands clamped around what looked like two overly complicated joysticks, his gaze fixed on a small display screen below the main one. Keryl had dropped into the seat next to him.
         Callum decided the best idea would be not to touch anything unless instructed. All this looked just a tad too breakable to him.
         "Let’s get the hell out of here," Keryl muttered, sliding a pilot headset over her ears. Callum quickly dodged into one of the nearby seats and gripped the panel hard as the ship began to shake underneath him. He heard Sillika give a small gasp as the viewscreen flashed into life, although it did seem to be just acting as another window at the moment. Jay let go of one of his joysticks long enough to flip a row of switches infront of him, while Keryl’s fingers danced at impossible speed across her controls. The ship shivered again, then for a moment the view outside the window rippled a kind of blue-green.
         "Shields up, jammer in place," Keryl intoned, "Sillika, take over shield maintenance - third panel on the left – okay, Jay, let’s see how well you fly."
         Callum couldn’t help but stare out of the windows, his gaze locking on the dark figures surrounding the ship. Occasional flashes from the shield indicated the Borg weren’t about to give in, and suddenly his stomach gave a lurch.
         "Keryl, there’s – "
         What, he didn’t get to say, as the Retran chose that moment to leap forwards. A shockwave blasted out from the ship, scattering the assembled Borg like leaves, then the hawk-like craft shot forwards. Callum felt a dart of panic as he realised that the main hanger doors were still closed... With a grunt, Jay pressed something, and a massive beam of energy erupted from the Retran’s weapons arrays. The hanger doors buckled under the assault, then exploded outwards in a cloud of evaporating shrapnel. Jay let out a small whoop of triumph.
         "These are weapons!"
         "Don’t get cocky!" Keryl snapped, "When your opponent’s a rusting blast door it’s easy, so keep your mind on flying!"
         The Retran erupted out of the hanger, a dark shadow against the planet’s dusty grey surface, then Jay angled their movement and the ship arced up towards the thin cloud layer. Callum barely had time to focus on the dull whiteness before it dissolved away and the sky opened up. Star-speckled blackness stretched away before them as the last wisps of atmosphere faded... Suddenly, Callum’s gaze locked on a horribly familiar shape and he felt his heart skip a beat, the paralysis of sudden terror freezing him on place. A massive cube of dark metal, hanging in space like a fiend’s dice set, the cold memories of what lay hidden beneath the oddly-exposed surface brining fresh waves of fear rising through Callum’s mind.
         "Dammit!" Keryl yelled, her features twitching in a kind of angry fear, "This is going to be bad!"
         "Understatement of the year!" Sillika gulped back as a swarm of what looked for all the world like metallic black insects swarmed out of the Cube, headed straight for them. Callum just had time to brace himself against his chair before the ship shuddered as the first lasers hit.
         "They’re not punching through!" Sillika yelled, her hands sliding across her controls as she spoke, "The shields are okay!"
         "Take them Jay," Keryl’s voice was quiet, but the absolute hatred under her words was enough to make Callum shiver. Jay wrestled with his controls again, and the Retran shook as the weapons began firing. Six of the dark craft erupted in the brief, sudden flames of space-battle, pieces of rapidly cooling debris flashing past like some macabre confetti. Keryl hissed quietly.
         "How d’you like that?" She muttered, then shook herself. Jay flashed a tight grin.
         "Can I shoot or what?"
         Whatever Keryl’s reply, it was obscured as something slammed into the ship with all the subtlety of a supernova. Callum was hurled backwards, hitting the floor hard enough for it to hurt even through the armour. Sillika yelled in shock as at least half the screens in the room exploded, showering everyone with sparks and bits of glass. Callum pulled himself upright, noting that he wasn’t the only one who had been thrown to the ground. Keryl was sprawled upside down on the floor, her hair smoking slightly where an explosion must have caught her. For a second Callum felt a dart of panic, but then her eyes snapped open and she scrambled back onto her feet. Jay’s nose was dripping blood where he’d been thrown headfirst into his controls, but he seemed to be ignoring it, and was instead focusing hard on the flashing viewscreen infront of him.
         "That was the Cube! That’s some serious laser they’re hitting us with!"
         "What gave it away?" Keryl snapped sarcastically, then was thrown backwards again as another blast hit the ship. Callum managed to dodge forwards and catch her this time, but she struggled out of his grip immediately. A new shudder ran through the deck, and Jay gave a cry of shock.
         "Dammit! Plasma leakage in all four vents!"
         Callum stared at him, not quite sure how to respond to that.
         "What the hell does that mean?"
         "It means we’re in deep shit!" Jay yelled back, panic rising across his features. Keryl scrambled back into her seat, swearing loudly.
         "Calm down! The Retran’s got six vents, we’re still okay!"
         Jay nodded grimly and returned his attention to the viewscreen. He bit his lip.
         "How the hell are we supposed to fight that thing? We don’t have the firepower!"
         "Did I say shoot it?" Keryl demanded, and began rooting through her pocket. A second later she produced one of the small chips she’d passed out when they left the Celon, what, an hour ago? It seemed like a lifetime away. She gave a short nod.
         "This’ll still work, until it gets into Borg systems its just code. All we have to do is transmit it over there, and survive long enough for it to work."
         "How?" Jay stared at her, his expression twitching between amazement and disbelief, "You think they’ll blindly accept a random transmission from us?"
         Keryl froze, then her shoulders slumped. To his horror, Callum saw tears rising in her eyes as her posture suddenly flipped to one of defeat. She sat down heavily, staring blankly forwards.
         "I... I don’t… How could I have been so stupid?" Now the anger was returning, but this time focused inward, "How the hell did I miss that? This is useless if the bastards don’t accept the code! DAMN!" She slammed a fist into the panel; the pain flaring in her eyes quickly crushed by the despair. Callum saw Jay’s eyes dull again, could almost feel Sillika’s shoulders droop as Keryl’s words hit home. Their last option, just gone –
         He stopped as something in the back of his mind started screaming for attention. No way would the Borg accept a transmission from an attacking ship… But they would accept a distress signal from a rogue drone. His gaze flicked down, focusing on the thick metal plates and tubes encircling his limbs, seeing with something other than his eyes the circuitry hugging his nerves. His fingers flexed, the strength of cold steel in his grip. Some tiny part of him knew everything that had been added, every artificial pathway in his body suddenly printed across his vision.
         "Use me," he said quietly, but suddenly every gaze in the room was fixed on him. Keryl blinked.
         "What?"
         "Feed the damn thing through me! I’ve got built-in transmitters on a frequency they can’t ignore, I can send this thing across!"
         Keryl shook her head, her lips pressed into a tight line.
         "I can’t let you do that. For one thing we don’t know if this’ll work, and if you advertise you’re here they might get to you again. And you’re still Borg; this’ll affect you too. It could kill you."
         "I know!" Callum snapped, then let his expression soften, "Look, we don't have a choice. This isn’t me trying to play the hero. If we don't do this, we're all dead, or assimilated and believe me it is not a pleasant experience."
         Keryl stared at him again, different emotions flickering across her golden eyes.
         "But…"
         Callum sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.
         "Come on, this is the only chance we’ve got. Unless you can work through billions of different frequencies in about a minute, which I expect is beyond even your abilities."
         Suddenly, Keryl glared at him.
         "Just don’t die on me, okay?"
         "I promised, didn’t I?" Callum allowed himself a slight grin, "And I did mean it."
         "Good," Keryl sighed, then bit her lip, "Plug yourself in here and I’ll download it for you. Get those channels open, I don’t want this stuff in you for longer than it has to be."
         Callum made his way over to the panel, took a deep breath, and extended his conduit tubes into the computer system. As Keryl pressed the final key, he re-activated his emergency distress signal. Instantly the sounds of the ship vanished, to be replaced by the sound of millions of voices speaking as one. It was an enticing sound, drawing him towards it, towards the sensations of having so many minds as one, so many thoughts, so... He felt himself drifting into the sound...then was brought back to reality as Keryl punched him in the arm hard enough to be felt through his armour. He looked down at her and she grinned.
         "You went a bit too still. You’re with us now, the Borg aren’t having you back," She laughed, but Callum could sense the strained note under her voice.
         "How about this virus then?"
         "In a sec, it’s taking a bit long to download. Ah, gottit. Hold onto your hats, or circuits respectively."
         Callum saw Keryl’s finger touch a key, and suddenly the virus flooded into him. He felt it searing through his implants, breaking codes and smashing pathways, then a hot burning sensation flowing with his blood as it worked. A shot of panic hit him, what if it didn’t get to the transmitter? He’d... That thought cut off as the virus reached his transmitter and began surging into the mass of voices.
         Suddenly the whole ship rocked violently.
         "Damn, they’ve got a tractor beam on us!" Jay yelled, "I’ll try and break free, but I doubt we’ll get very far!"
         Callum closed his eyes, feeling the virus surging through him and out. To his horror, it didn’t seem to be having an impact on any of the voices. It was having an effect on him though. He could feel some of his implants beginning to succumb to its effects, and his blood felt like it was on fire. For a brief second, the burning seemed to concentrate in his chest, then that pain was overwhelmed by the rest. Keryl certainly didn’t do viruses by halves...
         The ship rocked again and a series of small explosions indicated some of the screens had overloaded.
         "They’re shooting again!" Sillika exclaimed, "The shields are down, I’ll try and compensate. Jay, d’you need full power to the engines?"
         "Yes!"
         "Life support?"
         "Take half the power! We’ve got plenty of oxygen for the moment!"
         Callum was dimly aware of what was happening around him. His mind was filled with the sound of the Collective, his body filling with the virus as his senses blanked out.
         Another hit shook the ship, almost knocking Callum off balance.
         "Shields down to 40%! Is that thing working or not?"
         "Callum? Are we doing anything?" Keryl’s voice reached his ears, over the mesmerising sound of the voices. He fought to stay back from it, but the virus still wasn… There! Something was missing from the symphony of voices, something that was there before. Again, and again, here and there voices were stopping, cut into silence.
         "It’s working!" He called out, but didn’t catch the response as the ship shuddered again.
         "Direct hit! The shields have gone completely! One more like that and we’re dead!"
         Callum hardly heard Sillika’s warning. The virus was really taking hold now, and the voices were vanishing faster and faster. The ship lurched violently, and there was a crash as something fell down.
         "I thought we couldn’t take anymore hits?"
         "That wasn’t a hit! The beam’s closed down, we’re free!"
         "How’re we doing with that virus Callum?"
         Callum swayed, his ears filled with a buzzing as his body lost the fight against the virus. He felt his knees buckle and he crashed to the floor, something quite spectacular in someone coated in metal. Faintly, he heard Keryl’s voice shouting something, something about closing the channel... He managed to shut his transmitter down, then... Something else flooded into him, a cool, cleansing sensation as something wiped the virus form his system. His eyes flickered open and he stared up into Keryl’s face. Her eyes were glistening slightly, but she was smiling
         "I guess you do keep your promises."
         Callum grinned back, even though his facial muscles didn’t seem to want to respond.
         "Damn right. I think I’ll pass out now."
         He did.
Chapter 17

         Sillika stared at the viewscreen, not entirely sure if she could believe what she was seeing. The Cube seemed to be in serious trouble. Her gaze tracked the tiny eruptions of brilliant flame as they flared out of the dark metal; a strange sort of horrified delight flooding through her.
         It was over.
         They’d won.
         They’d actually won!
         "Yes!" Jay hollered madly at the screen, a huge grin plastered across his bloody features, "We did it! Keryl, you’re a genius!"
         "I know."
         Sillika blinked down at her friend. The other Shee suddenly sounded very, very tired. There wasn’t even any triumph on her face, just a deep, deep look of relief. Sillika knew she could probably never fully understand what the other Shee had been through, but she knew a little. She clambered out from behind her panel and made her way over to Keryl. She was still crouched next to Callum’s unconscious form, staring at him with an odd expression on her face. Sillika knelt down next to her and slid an arm around her shoulders.
         "Hey, c’mon, we won."
         "We survived," Keryl said sharply, "I don’t know if I can count this as a win. That Cube must have had thousands, millions of Borg on it. They died. How is that a win?"
         Sillika sat back, then decided on the only available course of action. She shrugged.
         "I don’t know. I’ve never had much luck figuring out the more complicated issues of the universe. We did what had to be done Keryl. It’s rarely pleasant, believe me."
         There was silence for a second, then Keryl looked up at her. Her eyes glistened.
         "It’s true, isn’t it?"
"What?"
"All that stuff you told me. About the Amulets. It’s true."
         Sillika nodded.
         "Yes. All of it."
         More silence. When Keryl did speak, her voice was very measured.
         "He’s always been like this?"
         Sillika didn’t have to ask who she was talking about. She looked down at Callum, feeling a swell of pride.
         "Yes. I’ve lost count of the times he’s risked his life to help people."
         A smile twitched Keryl’s lips for a second.
         "I’m glad he decided to keep it after all."
Sillika blinked in surprise.
         "Pardon?"
         "Never mind. Hey Jay," Keryl glanced round, "Get us the hell out of here, will you? I’m thoroughly sick of this planet."
         Jay gave a mock salute.
         "Aye. Odd, and I thought I was the higher-ranking one. Kidding," he waved his hands as Keryl glared at him. She turned back to Callum, and brushed charred hair out of her eyes.
         "Okay, I think I have my half of the deal to fulfil. C’mon Sillika, give me a hand to get him to the medi-bay, then find me a very, very large cup of coffee."
         Sillika nodded, then glanced around the wrecked Bridge.
         "Er…"
Keryl waved a hand as she dragged one of Callum’s arms over her shoulder.
         "Nothing vital blew out, I can deal with it later. Priorities first."
         Sillika pulled Callum’s other arm over her shoulders and took the rest of his weight.
         
         Keryl stared down at Callum’s unconscious form infront of her, and wondered where to start. She’d had him moved into an operating bulb – a large, glass-fronted alcove at the end of the medi-bay that was sealed and sterilised for serious operations. She’d gone through two full sterilisation cycles herself - to make sure all remnants of blood and exploded Bridge units had been removed – and was now ready to begin. Large display screens on the walls showed everything she knew about Borg physiology, and Callum himself was plugged into a network of monitoring machines.
         She looked down at the pale face infront of her, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. The memories rose again, of the look in his eyes when they were trying to get to the Retran. The despair there was something she understood only too well. The fact he’d preferred death to living as a Borg, well, that was understandable, but then... When he wanted to live, he’d still put his life on the line for them.
         Incredible.
         Keryl smiled slightly and began removing the detachable armour plating. It was time she kept her half of the bargain.
         
         Sillika sank gratefully into a soft chair in the Retran’s lounge and let out a long sigh. She felt herself relaxing, really relaxing, for the first time in longer than she cared to think about. It was finally over. They’d made it. The Borg were gone, Keryl was engrossed in de-assimilating Callum... Her thoughts cut off as her ears detected the sound of footsteps. She eased an eye open. Surely Keryl hadn’t finished already?
         "Hey." Jay stuck his head round the door and smiled. There was a thin plaster across his nose, but aside from that he looked fine. He always did. Sillika returned the grin, feeling the last of the fear leave her.
         "Hey yourself."
         "Indeed," Jay made his way over and dropped down next to her. Sillika held his gaze, staring deep into his brown eyes. She found she didn’t want to turn away. He smiled again.
         "I put the ship on autopilot, so - " He cut off as Sillika leaned forwards and kissed him. For a moment he seemed surprised, then Sillika felt his lips twitch into a new grin. By the time they finally drew back, any confusion, any uncertainty had vanished. Jay held her gaze as he slid his arms around her, pulling her into a soft embrace. Sillika rested her head on his shoulder, filled with the feel of his body so close to hers.
         "Thank you," she said quietly. Jay blinked down at her.
         "For what?"
         "Everything."
         "Well, that narrows it down," he grinned. Sillika looked up at him again, letting the deep brown of his eyes fill her world.
         "You promised, back on the Celon. When I needed it more than anything else. You promised we’d be okay," she moved towards him again, draping her arms around his neck, "You were right."
         Jay grinned as he leaned down towards her, his lips brushing her cheek lightly.
         "What can I say? I guess Keryl isn’t the only genius onboard."
         "Don’t get cocky," Sillika smiled as their lips met again.
         "Indeed."
         
         As consciousness flooded back into Callum’s mind, the fist thing he became aware of was the ache. Every inch of his body felt bruised, and he was pretty sure his limbs were on strike. Admittedly, this wasn’t the worst experience he’d had waking up. Not by a long shot.
         By now, he was awake enough to groan and move a hand up to rub his throbbing temples. It took a few more seconds for the realisation to hit. His fingers encountered nothing but skin.
         His eyes snapped open.
         The vision was back to normal.
         No extra displays, no targeting information.
         Just a clear view of a white ceiling.
         He tried to sit up, then decided against it as his limbs protested emphatically at the sudden movement. Before he could try anything else, a face swam into view above him. Keryl smiled down at him. It was a real smile, an expression he hadn’t seen much on her face.
         "Don’t try to move too much."
         "Now you tell me?" He muttered and grinned slightly, ignoring the bursts of new ache the movement set off. He couldn’t stop the grin though, as his brain finally caught up with events.
         He was himself again.
         Keryl vanished from his field of view for a moment, then Callum felt an arm wrap around his shoulders as she helped ease him into a sitting position. He let his gaze slide across his body, now devoid of any metallic parts, and felt his grin widen even further. Keryl appeared at his side again, and wordlessly handed him a mirror. Callum met his own gaze and felt the realisation hit. He was actually happy. After the events of the last, what? Week? It seemed like a lifetime.
         "Well? Are you impressed by my handiwork?"
         Callum ran a finger over his face, pausing for a second around his right eye, feeling the smooth skin with a sense of satisfaction. Then he blinked, and flicked a lock of gold hair off his forehead.
         "Hey…"
         "Oh, yeah," Keryl shrugged, "The process fixed up most of your scar collection. I can put them back if you really want..."
         "I’ll pass," Callum grinned, then an idea struck him and his hand darted down to his chest. Through the thin material of the T-shirt he was clad in, he could just feel skin. Disbelieving, he yanked the neck of the shirt down and stared at his clear chest. The link scar was gone.
         "You okay?" Keryl asked, the edge of worry clear in her voice. Just for a second, a cold shiver ran down Callum’s spine. Then it was gone and he shook himself.
         "Yeah, yeah fine. I just... I didn’t think that one could be removed, that’s all."
         "It was just skin damage, easy enough to repair," Keryl shrugged and began to shut down various monitors that had been surrounding him. For a moment, Callum could almost feel something flitting around the back of his mind, some forgotten thought that just wouldn’t become clear. He dismissed it and turned back to Keryl. The ache in his limbs had lessened enough for him to reach out and catch her arm. Their gazes locked.
         "Thanks," Callum said quietly, "For everything."
         Keryl regarded him, then her lips twitched again.
         "Likewise."
         Callum grinned, and the moment broke. He released her arm, then glanced down at himself again.
         "You got it all out then?"
         "Yup," Keryl smiled again, "I had to filter your blood four times just to get rid of those damn probes."
         Callum pulled a face.
         "Lovely."
         Before he could say anything else, the door hissed open. He glanced up and felt a new grin creep onto his face as he focused on Jay and Sillika standing in the doorway, hand-in-hand.
         "You took your time," he laughed. It was about time those two got together. Sillika rolled her eyes.
         "Told you that’d be the first thing he said," she poked Jay’s ribs and he grinned at her.
         "Fine, you win."
         "Damn right," Sillika let go of Jay and ran over to Callum. She ran a critical eye over his metal-free form, then hugged him.
         "You’re back!"
         "Never a doubt," Callum caught Keryl’s glance and shrugged, "Well, not much. So," he disentangled himself from his friend’s arms, "What did I miss?"
         "A lot of clean-up duty," Jay jerked a thumb towards the door, "But aside from that, not a lot. We’re back on course for NewAlbia, and I’m relieved to say there hasn’t been even a blip on the scanners for two days."
         Callum raised an eyebrow.
         "I lost two days?"
         "So did they," Keryl grinned in such a mischievous manner that both Jay and Sillika flushed scarlet, "This is possibly the most separate they’ve been since we left."
         "Yes, well," Jay coughed and made a concerted effort to change the subject, "We finished the Bridge repairs, and I’ve set the MIC to automatically alert us when we get within range of the next Corps outpost."
         Callum swung his legs over the side of the bed, glad that most of the ache was subsiding now.
         "How long until we hit civilisation?"
         "At this rate..." Keryl paused for a second, "Two months, three days and four hours. But I’ve got a few ideas that might speed up the engines, and I think I’ll be able to get more range on the MIC in a few days."
         "Is this ship actually finished?"
         "Yes, but everything can be upgraded," Keryl grinned and dropped a hand onto his shoulder, "And I’m making it my task for the next few weeks to get you somewhat more technologically literate."
         "You’ll regret that. I can short-circuit a stapler."
         "Whatever," Keryl shook her head slightly, "Besides, I want to hear the rest of your Amulet story."
         Callum looked up at her again, and their eyes locked. The realisation hit him like a bolt of electricity. Keryl had brought him back from the Collective, she’d reversed the assimilation, and she’d saved his life. Probably in more ways than one. He owed her a full story. He grinned.
         "Sure. This could take a while."
         Their gazes held, and Keryl’s lips twitched.
         "I’ve got time."

Epilogue
         
         The Borg are certainly one of the Universe’s more successful races.
         Probably because the Collective contains such a wide range of experiences.
         Every thought, every memory, every feeling of those who are taken is incorporated into the massive, interconnected mind that is the Borg.
         Individuals are irrelevant.
         Every part of the person is absorbed.
         Assimilation wipes away all trace of personality.
         However...
         There might be more within one individual than even that person is aware of.
         Even the Borg can sometimes get more than they bargained for.
         
         Keryl’s virus had certainly been one of the most potent adversaries Borg Cube 334 had ever had to face. Over two thirds of it’s occupants were dead, and even the survivors were seriously damaged.
         If there’s one thing the Borg are good at, it’s adapting to deal with new situations.
         Taking advantage of existing resources.
         They’re not the only ones.
         Deep within the Cube, some of the Borg were still moving. The fastest to adapt had survived and were already starting to re-build their surroundings. Working to the patterns in their shared consciousness, the endless corridors echoed with the sounds of repairs.
         Anyone observing would have noticed that even in this uniform labyrinth of cold metal, some areas of shadow seemed darker than others. Even the Borg seemed oddly edgy but the area scans revealed nothing, so they just continued to work towards their next goal.

         Collective minds find it surprisingly difficult to think.

         Had the situation been different, at least one of the remaining Borg may have wondered why their next target had changed so suddenly.

         Or even how they knew about a small, rather obscure world in an unexceptional system.

         For a second, a new sound seemed to echo down the endless corridors of the Cube, barely on the edge of hearing. A cold, harsh, slightly feminine laugh and one word.

         Albia.



Feel free to comment, even if it made little sense :D