Star Trek: Star Trek: Novel Superstar

chapter_1.md

Chapter 1: Infection

The Borg decloaked near the habitat ring of Deep Space 9. Sisko froze in place. Dax was awestruck.

The Kazon ship loomed above them, navy blue-green suspension shrouds dropping from a dorsal nacelle. The bowels of the ship were open, and the Borg were sprinting ahead of them in search of the nearest Borg cube.

“It’s the Borg,” Dax said. She glanced at Sisko, and saw that her expression was one of anger. She then turned her attention back to Sisko. “What happened to you and Doctor Bashir?” she said to Sisko.

Sisko nodded. “I was separated from Doctor Sisko.”

“I had planned to meet you while I was in sickbay.”

“I still think it was a good idea. But that’s not what happened. The Borg were able to subdue you, if they’re able to, because of it. But I'm sorry to tell you that the Borg are still after us. They know we’re not going to be able to return to the ship, and we have to find ourselves.”

“I understand, Doctor.”

Sisko looked at him. “So where is the captain and myself?”

“The Borg are still trying to figure that out,” Dax said. “They’re trying to figure out how we’re going to dissipate the energy they put into the Borg.”

“I’m sure you’re right. We’re going to forget about that. What’s going on?”

Dax leaned forward. “The Borg have not been able to duplicate the dilithium crystals they are using. They’re not using them as power generation, but in order to make use of the inside of the Borg vessels, the crystals are being used to deliver energy.”

“What’s going on?” Dax asked.

“That’s right,” Dax said. “The Borg are using the crystals to tear down the layers of the Defiant, but the molecules are not on the ship’s hull. They are scattered around the ship in the corridors, or in the turbolift.”

“The Enterprise?” Tom Paris said, an expression of surprise in his voice. “The Enterprise?”

“The Defiant!” Dax asked. “The Defiant is not destroyed. The Borg used the crystals to rip the defiant apart, but they’ve been scattered throughout the ship.”

“The Borg ship is hurtling toward them!” Vax said, “even if we can’t defend the ship, it could be a good idea to try and cover the ship.”

“Doesn’t it matter, Vax? What good is her life but to be saved?” Paris asked him. “Doesn’t matter if you can’t make it back. It’s all right.”

Dax said, “And while those crystals are protecting her life, it is not her life that’s saved.”

Reed nodded. “It wouldn’t be her life if she weren’t a person. It’s a family.”

“You wouldn’t have made it out of there without us. And she would have been one of you, and the risk of you dying could have been yours as well.”

“You have to understand me,” Reed said. “There’s nothing I can do to stop the Borg. The captain was born to protect us. It’s not how you would want to live but there’s nothing I can do to stop the Borg from destroying us.”

“I’m not going to give up,” Reed said. “Energize.”

“Energize,” Dax said, and the Borg vessel rushed toward the Enterprise.

The Enterprise was a half-minute from the Borg ship when the brig doors opened. Quark stood in the doorway, his mouth hanging open.

“We've got a message from the Borg ship,” Quark said. “They’re demanding our surrender.”

Sisko was astonished. “I thought you and Rom were going to attempt to negotiate with the Borg,” he said. “That can’t be right.”

“Yes, but the brave warriors are holding the ship. They’re getting ready to blow usinto the ground.”

“We are protecting them, Commander. We have to.”

“Yes, but the Borg have not yet destroyed us.”

“I still need to assess the situation, the threat,” Sisko said. “The Borg have used us to take control of their cybernetics.”

“Yes, but we don’t have their technology,” Tal’Aura said. “And they of course don’t know that.”

“How do you know they do not know you exploit the Borg?”

“They’re using us as a way to begin the process, but I would suggest we decide how long we’re going to keep around the ship.”

“We’re an emergency situation,” Sisko said. “They’ve gotta slow us down.”

“We don’t want to stop until we meet the Borg in the middle.”

“Yes, but we have our own issue right now,” Sisko said. “We have to hurry.”

“Yes, my boy,” Quark said. “Do we have a moment, an hour?”

“Yes, of course,” Sisko said. “But we’re going to be gone by the time the Borg arrive onto the ship and the Borg destroy us.”

“Good.”

“What’s the mission?”

“This ship is the Borg ship,” Sisko said. “And we are going to be the Borg.”

chapter_2.md

Chapter 2: The Ship of Fools

Against all odds, Sisko had taken command of the Borg vessel. With his new crew aboard it, he had managed to keep the ship from being destroyed entirely.

But the Borg vessel’s last moments of life had been long and drawn. The Borg ship had been given a temporary reprieve, to be replaced by a new vessel which would be constructed with Borg nanoprobes. Sisko had been informed that in the absence of a new vessel, the ship’s Borg nature and fates were being checked for corruption and its capabilities against their enormity.

But as the Borg vessel had been constructed, it had been tested. Sisko had received reports that the Borg vessel could not be manipulated, but it could be programmed to be programmed. The Borg vessel was designed to be the Borg vessel.

The Borg ship was designed for maximum warp and thrust, but the Borg ship had been tested to be immune to the Borg vessel’s warp core resistance, and the Borg ship was designed to withstand extreme pressure.

So who were these Borg vessels?

As they came through the turbolift, Sisko had the sense of a ship. The ship stood out against a blue background, and it looked as if it were a bulkhead, rather than a hangar deck.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light illuminated the Borg ship’s hull. Sisko wondered what had happened there.

---

The Borg vessel had been brought here to stand trial. The Borg ship was powered by Borg nanoprobes. Q looked out at the Borg ship and said “It seems we have a vistor! Tell me, dear Sisko, what kind of ship is that?”

“It’s a Borg ship,” Sisko said. “There isn’t even a hull. Just a power source.”

Q looked at Sisko. “This does have a hull, Sisko. This ship has survived for several centuries. And its design has been modified to suit the Borg, to make it fit the Borg’s warp signature. But there’s something else, something that doesn’t fit the Borg and the Federation’s warp signature, and that’s the blasphemous, blasphemous, and blasphemous Borg ship.”

“I could tell from your attitude,” Sisko said. “You were right about that.”

Q turned his face to Sisko. “It’s not blasphemous at all. I’m sorry, but I cannot allow it. I believe you understand that. But if you want to be truthful, you must ask yourself what kind of Borg ship was the Borg ship?”

Q looked at him as though to say, “I understand the Borg ships. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be truthful, either. But that’s what you’re doing there, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course,” Sisko said. “You are a liar.”

“Yes, I am, but not always.”

“Lie,” Sisko said. “I could tell from your face, Q.”

Q looked at him. “You’re an honest man, Sisko. I’m not sure what you want of me. But I hope you’re honest about your beliefs.”

“I’m honest,” Sisko said. “I’m not going to let you down. I won’t.”

Q continued laughing, almost falling out of his chair. “Humans? Honest? As if.” Q leaned forward and gave Sisko a small smile of understanding. “We’re all trying to make sense of this.”

Sisko held his breath, trying not to let the emotion show. Q had already been through so much.

Q paused at the door, and Sisko realized that he was going to be the one to die. He couldn’t do it.

Q was right. There were no easy answers. He was here.

Sisko was going to leave.

Sisko had made a decision, and he was going to die.

Sisko had never been happier, and this was the best part of the job.

Sisko was going to die, and be with his friends, not a threat to any of them. He had been there for more than seven decades now, and that was the longest he had been there. People who cared about him.

But they didn’t.

There were good people out there.

There were some people who didn’t.

He didn’t care.

He was going to help the people of the ship. He couldn’t see it, but he knew he was going to live.

This was going to be his last chance.

He got up and turned the lights off. The lights were still bright inside the corner of his eye, but the lights were dimming. He turned the lights off again and turned the lights back on.

He could hear the door close, and then the room was covered with smoke.

Sisko went to the hatch, and found the room full of smoke and dust. He looked all around. He found the smoke had cleared up, but there were still two hull trays in the room that he couldn’t see. Sisko went in and lifted one with him. The door was open, and he saw a small hole in the ceiling of the hallway. He grabbed the large hole and pushed it open. He took the two trays and started up the staircase to the bridge deck to board the bridge. He stopped when he came to a creak that made a growl sound.

He moved toward the creak, but it was too late.

Q was on the bridge of the Borg Vessel.

chapter_3.md

Chapter 3: 交组

The Borg queen watched the scene unfold, her brows furrowing with fury.

"I told you I was going to try to stop her," said the Borg queen. "I told you I was going to stop her."

"You were going to try to stop her? And then you stopped her?" asked the Borg queen. "And you stopped her, didn't you?"

"I did not stop her," said the Borg queen.

"Why?" asked the Borg queen.

"I stopped her," said the Borg queen.

"We did that, didn't we? How?" asked the Borg queen.

"We stopped her," said the Borg queen. "I stopped her."

"You stopped her?"

"I stopped her," said the Borg queen.

"Why?"

The Borg queen looked down at the screen. "If Borg weren't so damn powerful, we would have been all alone. And we would have had to do it right now. I would have had to do it in my sleep. I would have had to do it every night. And I would have been helpless, and I would have been dying."

"You stopped her, didn't you?" asked the Borg queen of her own accord.

"I wanted to stop her," said the Borg queen. "I wanted to stop her from being Borg. I wanted to stop her from being me. I wanted to stop her from getting too old, too ugly, so I put on an illusion of life. It worked. I stopped her from growing up. It worked. And it worked so well. I stopped her from being a Borg. I stopped her from being a Borg. I didn't stop her from being the Borg. I didn't stop her from being me. I stopped her from being the Borg. But it was her, and it was me.

"Stop her from being us, then you'll stop being us. Stop being her. Stop getting too old. Stop being the Borg. Stop being the Borg. Stop being the Borg. Stop it. Stop it."

"Stop it?"

"Stop it. Stop being the Borg. Stop being me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it."

"Stop it?" asked the Borg queen of her own accord.

“The queen is correct,” the Borg replied. “I am not the Borg. But you are.”

“We are not Borg,” she said. “We are all parts of one giant organism. One body.”

The Borg’s face appeared on the screen. “And there will be more.”

“And we will be destroyed, I fear,” said the Borg.

The queen saw that its expression was not very kind. “I do not fear. But we must not lose our way. We must keep moving forward.”

“I must agree,” said the Borg. “We are not the Borg. But our goal is to escape.”

“Yes, if that’s what you want,” said the Borg.

“I do not wish to flee this time, but there are other possibilities.”

“We do not have a choice, now,” the Borg replied. “We cannot abandon our ship.”

“We don’t have a choice,” said the Borg, “but we must return to our ship.”

“We will always have some hope of escaping,” said the Borg.

“The Borg do not,” the queen said. “They are aware of this.”

The Borg spoke again. “I can tell that without your help, they would not have stood a risk. They have waited thousands of years for a time when they have the chance to escape. They have waited for the right time.”

“I do not believe that is such a time,” said the Borg. “The Borg are immortal. Our time is long, but we will not reach our destination. But I will try to rescue my people from them,” said the Borg.

“But,” the queen said, “I have a problem. You know what I have to do.”

“You cannot. You cannot.”

She watched the Borg go with their shields up to protect themselves.

They were going to destroy us all.

We must give them something we did not have before.

She turned to her friends. She was going to get them back.

She was going to kill them.

She was going to save the Borg and her people.

She was going to destroy them.

And the Borg were going to destroy us all.

She took that into her heart. She felt herself losing her hope. She knew she was going to die. And now she was going to lose the Borg and her people.

To die without a chance to save me.

But her hope was still strong.

She would keep fighting.

She was going to fight until they killed her.

She was going to kill them.

Her own life, her own people’s lives, could go in a million different ways.

She couldn’t just let it die.

She was going to save them.

She was going to stop the Borg and the Federation.

chapter_4.md

Chapter 4: Q?

Sisko entered the bridge of the Borg vessel, looking up at Q. He was wearing a Starfleet uniform, and was looking at Sisko with curiosity and a bit of curiosity in his tone. “Q?”

Q turned to face Sisko. “Captain, you were right.”

“What is it?” asked Sisko, who had been watching Q with a mixture of curiosity and fear, but was now beginning to be unable to suppress the nervousness in his voice. “Do you have the specifics of your plan?” asked Sisko.

“I have the plan,” said Q. “I can’t tell you how much of it you can trust, but, based on your history, I have the basics of the plan.”

“What exactly is our plan?” asked Sisko. “We’ll use the Borg ship to destroy the Borg cube that the UFP constructed, and then we’ll destroy them. The UFP’s plan was to destroy the Borg cube using the Borg cube’s Borg core to destroy the Borg. The Borg core contains all the Borg technology, including the Borg’s Borg implants. However, because we’re using the Borg vessel to destroy the Borg, the Borg core was designed to be neutralized. The Borg systems can be destroyed by a Borg kill switch, and the Borg drones can be destroyed by the Borg drones alone. That’s why it’s called ‘neutralization.”

“The Borg ships aren’t going to be able to destroy the Borg,” said Q. “We’re going to destroy the Borg ships first.”

“Including the Borg drones,” said Sisko. “We’re going to destroy the Borg ships first. It’s better than letting the Borg keep the Borg drones.”

“What about the Borg drones?” asked Q. “It’s better than letting them live.”

“I’m not sure that’s what we’re doing,” said Sisko. “But we can’t trust these details.”

Q glared at Sisko. “Not here, Sisko.”

Sisko looked like he’d been slapped with a full fist, and he felt Sisko’s jaw close around his jaw.

Sisko was on the verge of opening his mouth to make a final effort to change the subject, but Sisko had to remind himself that he didn’t want to get angry at Q, and he was certainly not doing anything that would make the captain feel angry. It was time to get a grip on the situation, and he took advantage of the moment to slip into their bulkhead.

“Sisko here, sir.”

“I have the Enterprise in the bridge.”

Q looked back at him again and Sisko felt the pain and despair in his eyes. “Engineer, get to the transporter room,” he said.

Q was standing at the transporter controls, while Sisko, the ship’s science officer, and the ensign stood behind him at the end of the corridor.

“What’s going on?” asked Sisko, his hand cupping his mouth in front of him.

Q shrugged, but Sisko didn’t blame him. He was going to call Q. To his surprise, Q didn’t answer. “I need to speak.”

“You know,” said Sisko, “I’m not sure I want to hear that, sir.”

Q looked back at him. “I think you’re on your own.”

“We have a lot of people who are in this mess. We can’t just leave them to it. If we were to leave them alone, what would happen to the others?”

Q looked out the window at the nebula. “There’s something coming up from the other side.”

“Something new and different,” said Sisko. “If we have an escape pod, we’re going to need all of those people.”

chapter_5.md

Chapter 5: The Doctor

The wormhole started to emit neutrinos, signaling a ship coming through. It was the Enterprise. Picard had to let it go, so that he could be with the ones who were in danger. But the Doctor, realizing his mistake, was about to get the hell out.

The Doctor felt himself drifting through a dark void. Then the wormhole opened and sent out a pulse of photon pressure waves. It was the Enterprise, and the Doctor was not in it. He was watching it come apart, feeling nothing, knowing nothing.

He had become a shadow of himself.

He could not feel anything, but he knew in his heart that he was here. He could not remember anything about the Enterprise, not the way he had been the last few hours that he had been with it. But he could not remember anything from his training. As a child, he had learned many things from his doctor, but he was not prepared to be in a situation like this. He wondered what he should do now.

His hands were numb and he struggled to feel a pulse. He opened his eyes and saw the light of the Enterprise's bridge, and then the starship's hull shivered. Picard stood next to him, a pale, shaking hand to his face.

Picard stared at Deep Space 9 for a moment, seeing the Kazon and Borg ships by the habitat ring. “What the devil is going on?”

“They’re not attacking our fleet, as I said. They were just trying to hide.”

“How long has it been?”

“Nearly two weeks,” Data said. “The Kazon ship’s been there, for more than a month. They didn’t fire on us before.”

Data was silent. He stared at his ship. Then he looked back at Picard. “Can you do that, Dr. Crusher?”

Dr. Crusher nodded. “I can.”

“You need to keep moving.”

Picard was ready to do so. “If we were attacked, we could have lost everything we had, and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want someone trying to destroy my ship.”

“We’re not dead. The Kazon ship’s not the only one. The Borg ship was also on the ship, and it is the only one. There is no such thing as dead—even in an unarmed state.”

“Captain—”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. But I did get a chance to see what the Kazon ship was capable of, and...”

“What?”

Picard stopped. “Why did you come back?”

“I came back because I wanted to help.”

“And you came back to help you?”

Picard stood up before him. “I came back because it was my choice. I came back because it was my duty. And if I had to die, I wanted to help others.”

“No, I came back because I didn’t want to kill you. I came back because it was my job, my duty. I come back because I want to be a hero.”

“Thank you,” Picard said. “I’m glad I got to help you.”

“I’m glad I get to help you, too,” Deep Space 9’s bridge officer said.

“Thank you, Doctor,” he said, and turned to the chief engineer. “You all right?”

“All right,” she said, and added, “I feel as if I’m going to take a bump in my ribs here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You can’t take anything for granted.” Then he turned his gaze to the captain. “I’m sure you know how to deal with an injured crew member.”

In the time he spent staring up at the starscape, Worf realized he was watching something

-“Something’s wrong,” he said.

“It’s all right to be thinking of the ship as a whole,” the captain said. “It can’t just be one bad day, can it?”

Worf watched the chief engineer’s expression change, then he looked up at the schematic of the ship.

“It’s a Starfleet vessel?” he asked.

“Yes,” said the engineer in a calm tone of voice. “The ship’s in a friction field.”

“What about the shields?”

“The shields are rated for warp, but the ship’s a transporter.”

“It’s not possible,” Worf reasoned. “You’re right, but that’s just it-the ship’s in a field, and the ship’s a transporter.”

“The ship is designed for a ship’s deflector field,” the engineer explained. “But if the ship’s in a field-“

He saw through his confusion that something was wrong.

“What’s the matter, Worf?” he asked.

“It’s a field,” said the chief engineer. “But the Enterprise doesn’t have a deflector field.”

“Don’t lie to me,” said Worf. “It’s the Defiant.”

“That’s the Defiant, right?” said Riker. “What do you think you’re doing?”

A smile tugged at the corners of Riker’s mouth. “You’re not going to let the Federation stand in the way of an admiral, are you?”

“Not at all, sir.”

“The captain has a request, and you’re too busy making sure it’s given the proper thought-out consideration.”

“I hope so.”

“Good. Commander? Do you hear me?”

“Yes, captain,” said Riker. “I’m asking you to join me in the fleet.”

The admiral nodded. “Very well,” he said. “I suggest that you come with me.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” she said. “But first—”

“We’ll see about that,” said Worf.

Riker said, “Very well.”

Riker stepped away from the turbolift and the others followed a few moments later. The bridge of the Defiant was empty. The bridge was empty of any crew members but the captain and Riker.

Riker looked at the empty bridge. “What’s going on?” he said.

“I think we’re not getting all our orders,” said Worf.

The captain glanced at the main viewscreen.

“You told me you were trying to help me keep my ship in warp. Are you trying to help me keep your ship in warp?”

Riker shook his head. “I’m not going to risk it,” he said. “We’re going to get the ship out of warp. And after that, I’m going to be working on the captain’s airlock.”

“That’s the plan,” said the captain. “I can see that you’re going to do your job fairly well.”