We proposed our mission to retrieve samples of Borg nanites to Admiral Janeway and she was very receptive. I'm pretty sure that she still doesn't like me, but she knows a good idea when she hears it.
Our mission Directives are:
Retrieve 10 litres of Borg nanites
Retrieve the Iconian Gateway
Don't get assimilated
After that, we left Earth spacedock. And then...
The next thing we knew, we woke up, alone, cold and naked in a small metal building. We became aware of the curious green glow from all around us, and we knew that we had encountered the Borg.
We took stock of our surroundings and condition. None of us recognised the architecture. I guess the milky way is a big place. We all had the same surgical scar behind our necks. The Doctor used a piece of broken glass to gouge open the scar and he removed a tiny transceiver designed to beam up the host at a pre-arranged signal.
An assimilated terminal was flashing some kind of warning. Lieutenant Hoshino was able to determine that the terminal was indicating four separate anomalies in the local area.
We fashioned some rudimentary clothing and carefully left the building to explore.
We appeared to be in some kind of city on an unknown plant. From the technology abandoned around us, the inhabitants must have been humanoid in nature, but there was no sign of their presence. Everywhere we looked, we saw only evidence of a planet completely assimilated by the Borg.
We found what we believed to be the location of the first anomaly. It was another large, but unremarkable building. We moved with stealth through the corridors until we heard the sound of a nearby battle.
We opened a set of large cargo doors and discovered several Borg drones locked in conflict with several liberated Borg. We moved immediately to assist the Liberated Borg, with Tren in particular fighting like a man possessed. Now I think of it, was he not present at Wolf 359? Our weapons were all improvised shards of glass and pieces of metal. As we fought, one of our new allies called out to us to "reactivate the Stealth field". Hoshina quickly deciphered a nearby console and reactivated the field.
The battle was soon over and the leader of the Liberated Borg introduced himself as the famous Hugh, once liberated by Captain PIcard. I had a private discussion with Hugh and we agreed to collaborate. Hugh explained that they had been tracking unusual Borg activity and they had used the Borg Transwarp Conduits to arrive here. Hugh explained that there was a security field set up around the spaceport at the centre of the city. He hypothesised that deactivating four of the key plasma relays around the city should bring down the field.
The relays were located here and at the locations of the other three anomalies. This can't be a coincidence. Hugh and his team chose to remain in place whilst we deactivated the other three relays.
The next anomaly was located inside a tiny building. We discussed different tactical plans (some including a burlap sack), and in the end decided that sending in Ana as an avian was the safest approach.
Ana entered the building, just as its sole Borg occupant stepped out of its alcove.
"Stop, Changeling," said the Borg.
We abandoned our tactical plan and decided to take a more diplomatic route with this talkative Borg. The Borg explained that he was part of Unimatrix One, the successor to Seven Of Nine's consensual hallucination Unimatrix Zero. The Borg explained that an unknown force was invading Unimatrix One. In return for our help repelling the invaders, he promised that he would assist us in our task.
I am not minded to take him up on this offer. I believe that we may be better trying to surreptitiously use his terminal to deactivate the next relay. I don't like the look of those alcoves...
And the adventure continues...