Chapter Ten: The Nightmare returns
Blaze never thought his heart would pound in fear again, he never thought he would sweat in cold water again, and most of all he never thought he’d be staring down his Anti-Proton rifle at the Borg again. But here he was, crouching in a defensive line, behind a one way shield, with six ponies behind him and his away team on both sides of him; doing exactly that. His glare met the robotic, cold, and stoic eyes of a Tactical Borg Drone. God only knows who it was before the Borg got a hold of them.
He could hear the fear in the breaths of every one of his teammates, fear they were trying to distill. All the while Polaris worked extremely hard at trying to get the door open. The Borg looked back at them. Fifty eyes that were once individuals now merged into one unifying HIVE. Another line had been drawn.
Gritting his teeth, Blaze gave the order, “Open Fire!”
In one second, the semi-dark cave lit up with the fire of ten red Anti-Proton beams firing at the Borg. Some struck their marks, nocking drones down. Others missed or only damaged. The anti-proton rifles, pistols, and machine gun chimed away with a deep drone that bellowed in the cave. The Borg responded with high pitched, green Plasma blasts of their own, slamming into the shields making a concussive zapping noise and blinding light. Like lights on a Christmas tree, the tunnel shined and glowed in a spectacular array of red flashes and green.
The noise was deafening. The Anti-Proton rifles went off with a deep and yet high pitched screech. The Borg’s plasma fire rattled away with deep chirps similar to Lions roaring. And when the plasma bolts hit the shields, they clanged with a sound similar to metal hitting metal. All this going on in the echo inducing, enclosed tunnel. To the ears of the Away Team, it was noise they had learned to drown out. But to the ponies, it was painful. Fluttershy and Rarity covered their ears and screamed as loud as they could. Rainbow shielded her eyes while Applejack held herself over Fluttershy to protect. Pinkie Pie was doing the same for Twilight. All the while, the Ponies screamed at the fierce battle that was going on around them.
“Hold the Line!” Gorear shouted.
“Polaris, get that damn door open!” John shouted.
“I’m trying!” Polaris screeched.
“Three,” Blaze shouted.
“Yes Sir.” Three of Five answered, lowering her rifle and rushing to help Polaris.
Just then, one of the shields buckled allowing a Plasma blast to race through. It just missed Blaze’s face but got Seren in the leg. She winced in pain, but her armor and personal shield blunted most of the attack. Blaze didn’t look back. He was blasting away at a Medical Drone that had come up to repair some of the damaged drones. It, along with a tactical drone, was calling in the Zombie looking Defense Drones. If they filled up the passageway, the Away Team was done for.
Gorear saw what Blaze was doing, and moved his line of sight towards the same drone. The two of them began to plug away at the Medical drone, hoping beyond hope to gain that lucky shot before the Borg adapted. Few already had to the constant Anti-Proton fire. For all the damage Anti-Proton did to the Borg’s exoskeleton, the Borg could still adapt to it albeit slower than normal phasers or plasma. Transphasic weaponry was a better match for the Borg, however Starfleet kept ships armed with Transphasic technology close to home. That meant the rest of the fleet had to get by with Anti-Proton technology.
At that moment, Blaze didn’t care what weapon he had, so long as it worked. The Medical drone absorbed the first several volleys from Gorear and Blaze’s fire. But then when Blaze fired a charged Anti-Proton pulse right at the Medical Drone’s head, the Borg broke and collapsed.
“Medic down!” Gorear shouted.
Blaze didn’t flinch; he turned his view finder onto the Tactical Drone. But after taking one shot at the Tactical drone, the Borg adapted. Cursing his bad fortune, Blaze ducked behind the shield while he recalibrated his rifles frequency. All around him the Away team, made up of M.A.C.Os and Hazard Team as well as some of Blaze’s bridge crew, kept the Borg at bay while the ponies were still safe. Yet when Blaze caught a look at them, he could see the six ponies cowering in fear. Their bodies were shaking uncontrollably. He felt sorry for them, but that passed fast. Borg was still present, and he needed to remove them.
Once he recalibrated his rifle, Blaze returned the fight. But to his horror, as he cut down the Tactical drone, he could see more Drones marching towards them. The Away team was cutting drones down with their fire, but more were coming. Soon enough they would be overwhelmed.
“Polaris, please tell me you got that door working yet?” Blaze shouted.
“Almost Admiral, give me a few more minutes.” Polaris responded.
“We don’t have a few minutes!” Blaze responded as he began firing again.
Polaris got back to work as Blaze and the rest of the Away team held the line. Finally the hatch slid open.
“ITS OPEN GO!” Polaris shouted.
The Ponies didn’t need to be told twice and they scampered out as fast as their hooves could carry. The Hazard team members went next along with Three of Five and Seren. Then Gorear began to lead the M.AC.Os out of the tunnel. Blaze was last, or so he thought. For when he turned around, abandoning the failing defense shields, he spotted Polaris still at the panel. He was trying to keep the door open long enough.
Blaze didn’t argue, he probably would’ve done the same thing. The moment he reached the top, the Vice Admiral spun around to help Polaris. But in an instant, the rookie left the panel, turned towards the ramp, and watched in horror as it slid shut over him.
“POLARIS,” Sargent Benedict shouted as the hatch closed.
Blaze grabbed him and pulled him back, “No! It’s too late Sargent.”
The Sargent struggled for a moment before relenting. A silence overtook the entire team for a moment as what happened settled in. The six ponies looked on in a mix of grief and horror as they absorbed all that just happened. Just then a rustling in the forest made everyone jump.
“We need to get back to the village,” Blaze ordered, “And someone get in touch with the ship!”
Just as he said that, the entire night sky was filled with a flash of a green light.
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“One Borg cube destroyed,” Elal shouted as the Borg cube detonated.
The Evans shook violently as the shockwave hit them. The ship had taken some damage from the battle with the Borg cubes that had entered the Planet’s orbit. But the Evans was purpose built to engage Tactical Cubes and win. So low grade Cubes weren’t much of a challenge. That is, if the Evans fought them single handily.
This case was different. Two Borg cubes had jumped the capital ship. After a long battle, the ship dispatched one of the cubes. Now it was time to move on the other ship.
“Focus the fire on the second cube, prepare the Tricobalt torpedoes!” Sul’Vin ordered evenly.
“Weapons loaded!” Thatak shouted.
“Fire,” Sul’Vin ordered.
Two loud pulses rang through the bridge as the torpedoes were fired. The slow moving Tricobalt torpedoes then turned towards the Borg cube, which was flanking the Evans to port. After flying for a moment, they hit one of the cube’s sides. The detonation ripped two massive holes in the Borg ship side.
“We’ve broken a hole,” Quells said.
“Tran, prepare the burst missile.” Sul’Vin ordered.
[Aye sir,] Tran answered. A second later he gave the Thumbs up.
Sul’Vin nodded, “Fire.”
Out of the stern of the ship, a brilliant orange torpedo was fired. It soon sped towards the Borg ship with haste. Just before it impacted the Borg ship, the torpedo separated into twenty smaller devices that then flew into one of the two holes. As they impacted, creating small explosions that further tore apart the Borg ship; the Evans fired its anti-proton beams into the second hole.
Soon enough, they cut off a good slice of the Borg ship before the vessel got a chance to fire back. The Borg’s plasma weapon impacted the ships shields with a vengeance. But the mighty Evans absorbed the attack like a champion. With a chip on its shoulder, the ship fired back at the Borg ship with a volley of Tricobalt Torpedoes and Hargh’peng torpedoes. Those cut massive chunks of the Borg ship off that were swiftly melted by the Anti-Proton lasers. Soon enough, the lumbering Borg ship began to weaken, and the Evans swung around for a killing blow.
Focusing its fire on the exposed starboard side of the ship, the Evans tore into the core of the Borg ship. In an instant, the second ship ended in the similar matter as its sister ship. Triumphantly, Elal flew the victorious ship right through the explosion. But that was only because Sul’Vin had to confirm a clean kill, logically.
With the battle over, Sul’Vin took a moment to gather his wits. “Damage report Viz.” he said.
“Some paint damage but nothing more. We have several injuries in the lower decks but nothing too serious. All in all we got through that fine.” She answered.
“Engineering to bridge!” Jurhal broke through.
“Go ahead,” Sul’Vin answered.
“The next time you want to go round and round with two Borg cubes you better give me some heads up! I was in the middle of a training drill!” Jurhal shouted.
“Duly noted Moral, thank you for your advice. How is Engineering?” Sul’Vin asked.
“Fine why do you ask?” Jurhal answered evenly.
“Thank you.” Sul’Vin answered unimpressed before shutting off the com-link, “Lotar try to get in touch with the Vice Admiral.”
“Yes sir,” the Reman answered.
Soon enough, a familiar voice chimed through the communicator.
“Johnson to Evans! Sul’Vin, answer your god damn phone!” Blaze shouted.
“Evans reporting Admiral,” Sul’Vin answered.
“We’ve determined the source of those signals, it’s the Borg.” Blaze answered.
Sul’Vin froze, “There’s Borg down on the planet? That would explain the two cubes we just faced.”
“WHAT! YOU JUST FACE TWO CUBES! WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THEY COME FROM!?” Blaze shouted.
“They came from behind the moon, warping in from a separate location.” Sul’Vin answered.
Blaze was silent for a moment, “They must’ve responded to us, we discovered a nest of Borg underneath the Everfree forest. They’re responsible for the missing ponies too.”
“And where are you now?” Sul’Vin answered.
“Racing back to Ponyville, scramble the M.A.C.Os and get them down here now!” Blaze answered. He was silent for a moment before relaying his next order, “And inform Polaris’s girlfriend Shumi that he will not be returning.”