Star Trek: Starbase 777 - assimilation-chambers

Eventually, the walkway ended up in a tall room with multiple levels, full of chambers with all sorts of pods along the walls. There was currently nobody there, and most of the pods seemed nonfunctional or at least severely suffering from disuse. While the scan hadn't been able to identify what the room was for, at a glance it became incredibly clear: these were used to finish assimilating new drones.

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Essen kept on moving forward alongside Seiyya at the front of the group. If her body could feel chills right now, it would -- as she kept her phaser drawn, she looked around to check for any unwanted company. This didn't look good... At all... She bit her lip as her eyes darted around the place.

Entering into the Borg Assimilation Chambers, Paco immediately went to check on the alcoves and pods to see if there were anybody inside... or if there were any... if they were still alive...

Okay, incredible. How to exit this room as fast as possible, please, Mr. Map. "Lieutenant Umali, do not touch those," she said in a firm whisper-shout. (edited)

"I'm not... just scanning..." *Paco answered back. Mostly because he knew not to touch foreign objects that look like they shouldn't be touched, but also because he was terrified at the prospect of a borg arm bursting out and pulling him in... like in the movies! *"....Is this where the Borg would... finish assimilating people?"

".. in a manner of speaking, yes," Five answered, loosening her white-knuckled grip on whatever the map was displayed on. "Where drones are given their implants. A... surgical station of sorts, " she answered, fingers of her metallic hand curling tight against her palm. "Please, don't get too close." (edited)

"...wait! Maggie still had her uniform on when the drone got her right?" Paco asked as he, first took a couple steps away from the pods as Five instructed, and then went along tapping his tricorder. "Maybe we can find her commbadge somewhere... or something."

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Despite the fact that the chambers had no one else in there, Essen assumed that anything could be possible in half a second. She didn't get as close as Paco, not nearly, but she silently looked around to see if the pods were at least connected to power -- if they weren't connected to power, they weren't a risk to the team... Right? She wasn't sure. After that thought, Essen looked back to Five -- she also preferred finding the exit.

"That's... not a good idea. It'll just attract her to our location," she answered, shaking her head. "Once someone is assimilated, it doesn't matter what they were wearing. Her combadge is likely gone in favor of exo-plating."

"If her stuff's here, we would at least know how far she's gone in terms of assimilation." Paco said with a shrug "Not as sobering of a thought than I thought now that I said it out loud..."

Essen nodded to Five in full agreement. "As long as we're still in here at all, we're all at risk," Essen added in a whisper. "I'm looking and I'm not sure if these are still connected to power. Even though they don't look functional, better safe than sorry. If they are connected to power, they're all potential assimilation traps."

Seiyya was on Five’s side here. She wanted an exit, and she wanted to find it very quickly. No sense in staying around somewhere that could have who-knows-what in it. “No sense in risking lives in here. We can’t let them get another one of us.” She said somewhat quietly.

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She had been keeping her mind focused on their surroundings, both to detect potential dangers and so she could ignore the rather distressing conversations the others were having. In this room more so than before she had to force herself not to let her thoughts and with them herself spiral. "I'd like to move on quickly. Staying in one place seems... wrong."

"Alrighty then." Well, Paco never really disagreed with what Fives and the others were saying, just a little thought. No matter. Paco continued to scan, though more cautiously this time, either for a door, turbolift shaft, or some access hatch. Anything that would lead them out of here if there wasn't much else needed here.

"Trying to, Ensign." Map, cooperate, please. How to Leave Room... "I don't want to be here for a second longer than I need to be."

Essen moved closer to Paco, instinctively, and held up her phaser to guard him as he scanned. "If you're gonna scan, you might as well have a cover," Essen replied. She was still technically in the front.

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Speak her name and she appears, as a bolt of green energy slammed towards Paco from the shadows, aiming for his leg. # “We are the Borg. Existence, as you know it, is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile.” As a figure appeared out of the shadow, Two of All stepped forward with heavy steps that echoed into the hot air, the only identifier that she was once the woman known as Maggie Roode was a single trail from sliver hair going down from her otherwise bald head, her face devoid of joy or emotion, just a single minded drive to defend the cube. She was no longer anything but Borg. (edited)

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In a split second, Essen faced towards the energy and fired her phaser towards where it was trying to shoot for Paco's leg. She fired deliberately and carefully this time. "PACO, TAKE COVER!" Essen called out, and fired again, keeping her stance relaxed as she fired as to get better aim. (edited)

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Paco screamed as MaggiBorg started speaking, quickly reaching over to his phaser before he tried ducked away and started shooting. His phaser was set to its heaviest stun setting. (edited)

Saeihr reacted faster than she could formulate proper thoughts, shooting at Two of All. It was good that it was actually a borg drone and not one of the people that had stayed behind coming after them.

Essen made a run for it to try and get closer to Maggie and fired while doing so, before she ducked away, stepping out to fire only when she had sufficient cover again.

Vesta watched what was happening, for a split second she did the recognize the drone as Maggie, and really it wasn’t Maggie anymore. It was a Borg drone. She removed her phaser and began to shoot at the drone.

She looked towards Vesta as her next target and began to shamble towards her, avoiding a few shots, but given that she was running straight at the Ops officer that one hit her straight up. She retorted by firing a shot towards Vesta’s gun hand. # “We are the Borg. Existence, as you know it, is over. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile.”

As if called to action by the sound of chaos, though likely the rising heartbeats and the intimate knowledge of what its fellow drone was doing, the original drone dropped down from somewhere above them, swinging dangerously on its spidery appendages in a way that was simultaneously ungraceful and incredibly smooth. Tubules came out of its arms as it approached, a small energy shield already covering its torso and head. Unlike Maggie, it stayed silent as it went for Ato, Vesta, and Five, those who weren't quite in the centre anymore.

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"Don't forget to modulate your phasers in order to deal with their shielding!" Senang said, aiming first for Maggie but whipping around at the sound of the other drone's arrival instead.

Essen, from behind her cover, as she noticed Maggie heading towards Vesta. She reconfigured her phaser after two shots, then ran alongside Maggie from behind the pods to gain on her as much as she could -- firing when she could, careful not to hit anyone else. That's when One of All appeared -- and Essen sprinted for the drone. Guard the doctors! Essen leapt in front of the doctors, firing at One of All. She alternated firing at Maggie and One of All where she could.

Damn it, damn it! Five fumbled with her phaser, managing to get it how she wanted it before she fired off at Maggie. "Are you alright, Lieutenant!?" she shouted to Paco, burning a mark in the wall beside her as she tried to hit her target.

Shit, both drones were after her now. She dropped her phaser as Maggie shot at it. Shit, she was unarmed. She tried to scramble away from the targets, slugging her backpack off her back as she did so.

Two got another shot in the back, this time from Five. As she was, her shield began to modulate, which meant that the officers would have to compensate. Two of All followed behind Vesta, reaching to try and grab her shoulder. Which, if successful, she would try to use her enchanted strength to try and toss the officer against a wall.

"Oh no you don't," Essen noticed what Maggie was trying to do. She fired at Maggie to distract her, so that Vesta could make a getaway to hide.

Saeihr took another shot, before modulating her rifle and continuing to shoot. She did not dare to take her eyes off of Two of All, despite hearing something happen behind her that Essen ran towards. This was not the time to over think, she just had to keep shooting and hope stunning would eventually do something. She really did NOT want to consider the alternative.

"AGH! MY LEG!" Paco exclaimed as he fell to the ground after his attempt to duck away, not realizing he had been hit until he landed. *"Down but not out!" *Paco answered Five as he quickly tried to change his phaser's frequencies and set it to kill, taking aim at One of All before firing. (edited)

Seiyya lifted her phaser, setting it to kill without even having to look away from One of All. She fired at One of All, two shots before remodulating her phaser and shooting again.

The attempt was unfortunately successful and Vesta’s body slammed against the wall of the cube. “Ugh!” She groaned verbally, and she was very rarely verbal. But she wasn’t assimilated though, which somewhere in the back of her mind she found odd. Adrenaline was pumping and she didn’t quite know if she was injured. Still on the ground she took off her and grabbed the plasma cutter and held it, ready to use the tool to defend herself.

Ah, fuck his stupid baka life. Saren went after Paco to try and both shield him, and assist him.

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Taking advantage of Maggie's aggression, the drone stuck one of its long appendages out to grab at Seiyya as it was shot at, the appendage taking the hits and getting damaged, but pushing forward to hit her anyway, aiming to unbalance. It reared up on two of its other appendages, moving forward rapidly and thereby letting only Paco's shot hit its legs, which dangled uselessly anyway. It raised one hand, shooting at Essen in retaliation, and with its other arm grabbed at Five, clearly going in for the- well, not the kill. But the tubules reared up in readiness, as if sentient themselves and wanting to disperse their nanoprobes.

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Two of All saw that Seiyya was getting attacked by One, so she decided to bully her a little bit more after throwing the nerd. She marched towards the security officer and fired three bolts towards her chest and legs, before turning on a dime to fire twice towards Five’s left and right, trying to stop them from avoiding getting got.

Her focus had been entirely on providing cover fire for Paco and Vesta, and so the appendage took hold easily— an action answered with a scream of horror that echoed off the metallic walls, as Five squirmed enough to try to fire at the drone anywhere she could reach. Not again. Not again, please, she can't —

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Essen kept on firing as she definitely had the drone's attention now. When she noticed it was going for Five, she fired for the arm that was heading for Five. "HEY!" She called out to One of All. (edited)

She walked towards Essen as she focused on One of All, and tried to slam her gun attachment arm into the face of Essen.

Okay so shooting at the main one didn't work, but how about his accomplice. Still with phaser set to kill, and after remodulating his phaser and taking a shot towards Two of All. He was hesitant to shoot at Maggie, but given the present circumstances, its either the Borg dies or more people of the away team get assimilated. In the best case scenario, Paco could miss. He fired...

Alright.. stun wasn't doing anything. This was fine... it wasn't, but she could not afford to think about this. Switching to kill Saeihr modulated her weapon again, before she kept shooting at Two of All.

Seiyya jumped back, trying to dodge One of All’s creepy-ass appendage things- seriously, those things were going to LIVE in her nightmares-, before firing once at One and once at Two- but Two’s shot still hit her in the chest, causing her to fall- she made an attempt to get behind cover and continue firing, though, even though that shot hurt like a bitch. “I’m hit! Down but not out of this fight yet!”

"OW--!" Essen yelped, and fired back at Maggie, she aimed for the arm that tried to attack her. But she couldn't stay like that for long. Gritting her teeth, Essen fired back towards One of All. The pain from the hit was rushing to her head. But she didn't stop she couldn't stop. After a second she fired at the arm reaching for Seiyya, a few times, before she turned back to One of All. "HEY!" she called to One of All again.

Essen’s shot hit her and Paco’s missed. Two turned on a dime and walked towards Paco and Saren, opening fire with her blaster arm, focusing on Paco in particular as she unleashed a few shots towards the pair.

"wa-" Paco noticed something as he looked around "Who the hell is shooting at the other one???" Paco asked out loud as he took aim at One of All and started the cycle of remodulating and firing at that one.

Vesta stood up, bruised but feeling alright, she leaned against the wall for support. “Over here!” She signed, which was translated to an audible call. She brandished her plasma cutter, on it strongest setting. It didn’t have the range of a phaser, but if one of the drone got close, it could probably do some damage.

Senang took the time to shoot at Maggie, on one of the lighter kill settings. How come they were so overrun by only two drones?

Do you hear the call, Five of Eight? One of All knows who you are. You can be whole again. A grab, for Five's phaser hand, undeterred by Essen's shot, let alone Five's own miserable attempts. It didn't listen to Essen's yelling, or Vesta's callout, whether it heard them or not completely up in the air. The liberated Borg was the easiest target, heartbeat high and fluttery, uncoordinated and frazzled. "You will be assimilated." As soon as the tubules made contact, the drone retracted, allowing shots to hit it as it reared back, using its three unharmed spiderlike appendages to climb up a wall beside them, up to an alcove which led to a walkway. It used its arm to shoot at Vesta, who it had gone for before, now having the advantage of looking down on the group as it shot, but having the disadvantage of being easier for all to see to be shot at.

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The taste of metal was heavy on her tongue, either from the nanoprobes being forcefully injected (reactivated? both?) or from her biting so hard she drew blood, Five didn't know. Another anguished cry left her as she tried to writhe, to squirm out of the grip, clattering unceremoniously to the ground like a puppet whose strings has been severed. She remained on her hands and knees, choking on her own heaving breaths and sobs, the lights on her implants flashing rapidly while she struggled to get her bearings, to process the world outside of that siren's song starting to fog up her mind. 'You're coming home,' it promised, a war drum pounding in her ears in place of her racing heart, 'come home, Five,' but all she could focus on was the agony tearing singlehandedly through her body— she felt sick. Her body wobbled with the nausea permeating her consciousness.

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As Paco once again took aim to One of All and prepared to fire at the appendages holding Five, but just before he pulled the trigger, he was once again shot by Two of All. He let out a loud scream of pain as the green energy shot hit his back. Paco slumped down, the pain too much to bear to stay conscious. The last thing he did before getting knocked out was tap his commbadge to call Vara'l "...h-help..." Paco's out (edited)

Given the state of Paco, Two decided it would be better to go after someone else. Call it a semblance of mercy from the walking corpse of Maggie Roode. Of course, Vesta calling out where she was made her a prime target. Two marched towards the sound and unleashed another few shots towards the operations officer. (edited)

Agh! Five--! No!!! Essen gasped upon seeing Five get nanoprobed -- but she couldn't stop firing. She felt sick that she had to keep going. As Essen noticed both One and Maggie continuing their barrage, she needed to be there. As she leapt over the doctors again, but kept guarding them, Essen fired at One and Maggie, alternating shots. Heh... Maybe this was the time to be a little shit. If she could be the biggest nuisance, pest, and pain in the ass for the Borg, now was the time, and she wouldn't let them forget it. (edited)

Vesta lifted her backpack in hopes to shield her from the shots. Once Maggie was close enough she activated the plasma cutter and aimed for literally any part of Maggie. She didn’t know what damage it would do, if any. It was a harrowing feeling to know that it would be both the best and worst case scenario if it was effective.

Shooting something was meant to do something, not that she did so particularly often, but even borg weren't meant to be invulnerable, right? Unsure but not knowing what else she could do, Saeihr turned her weapon slightly higher and modulated it again for good measure, before shooting again.

T'She felt helpless, remembering the words that Five told them -- 'if she ever got assimilated, run, run away as fast as you can'. But... she couldn't just let Five be assimilated... not without trying to do something. So they readied a hypo to try and sedate their friend.

tw// vague mention of emetophobia Five staggered to her feet, wiping her mouth after spilling her rations in the corner of the room. Her eyes drifted slowly, lazily towards T'She, like she was barely conscious. She took a step back. "Don't," she said, soft, desperate, voice still trembling, "don't touch me— keep y- your hands off, I can't —" (edited)

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Senang grabbed Paco off the floor, easily singularly strong enough to carry the human against his side, though it did mean he had to swap his rifle out for his phaser pistol. "Wide berth around Lieutenant Five of Eight," he called out, taking a step back as he renewed his firing at Maggie.

The drone against the wall, on the other hand, dangled and swayed dangerously as it took hits and redistributed them, shooting at Essen, at T'She, at Saeihr, at Senang. One of its lower arms came loose after a hit, making the swaying worse, before it reattached itself to the wall with force.

Maggie walked towards Vesta and was hit with the plasma cutter, it stabbing into and cutting into her Borg bits, she still carried on even as the sparks flew around her. She went to grab Vesta by the neck, and try to slam her against the wall if she was able to grab her.

Essen kept her eyes darting around between One and Maggie, and alternated fire. She made an attempt to fire at Maggie's arms again, hopefully to give enough time for Vesta to escape to another location again. Once she did that, Essen switched back to One of All, and fired at it, not letting up on it. It became clear that Essen was not going to give up without a fight. The pain from Maggie's earlier hit to her head kept rushing to her head, but she toughed it out. She thought it so -- she was going to be a pest to these Borg. She honestly really liked that idea as her fire continued, all the while, she didn't lose her cool, and made deliberate shots.

Seiyya shot at Maggie’s arms twice before remodulating, from her place behind what cover there was here. After that, she followed Essen’s lead and fired at One of All, at the strongest setting her phaser could physically go to- max kill.

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T'She was just about to lunge at Five of Eight with a hypo of sedatives, but... well... getting shot put a stop to that. They did not feel the shot making connection to their shoulder -- the first thing they did notice was the fact that they dropped the Hypo. Then came the pain. Quietly, they clutched at the site of the shot with their other hand, before they reported back to the others. "I've been shot." Their tone was... strangely even.

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Another staggering step taken backwards, surprise evident in a minute shift of Five's expression— before they drifted off towards Two, and she ducked towards one of the functioning pods, opening it up to seal herself safely inside. Her supplies were left abandoned on the ground behind her.

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The Lieutenant tried to move out of the way, the the backpack she was using as the shield incumbered her. Before she knew it she was pinned against the wall. No. She thought. This couldn’t be happening. She still had the plasma cutter firmly in her grasp, and she still had her arms free. A sense of self preservation washed over her and she pressed the cutter right towards where Maggie’s heart would be, and activated it.

For the first time since the drones had appeared Saeihr turned her head, not to look from one borg to the other but rather to check on the people around her. What she saw made her stagger back a step, only for One of All's shot to pass through the space her head had been in just a moment earlier. She flinched violently, but held onto her weapon.

Senang watched as Five of Eight disappeared into an assimilation chamber, unable to do anything for her. There simply wasn't the time, the space to do so. "Commander T'She, stand up," they urged, unable to carry two people. They took stock of how many of them there still were, still standing and fighting. "Turn your focus on Roode, we need to retreat," they decided, not wanting to wait for actual death to befall them before they made that choice. Someone else being assimilated was enough. They themself would continue to fire on the first drone, to facilitate their retreat.

Upon getting fired upon, getting his quite a few times, the drone started moving quite staggeredly, a few of its own shots connecting, some others hitting, but in taking stock of the situation (or perhaps hearing what was being said and responding to it) it decided to retreat too, disappearing into darkness, a last shot aimed at Saeihr its own sort of goodbye, though clearly and crucially not a farewell.

Two of All could feel the plasma cutter start tearing through her internal systems, sparks flying enough to burn Vesta, she pulled the smaller woman back with her arm and tried to slam Vesta’s head into the metal of the cube, before falling down and hitting the floor as her systems sparked, her eyes open grimly as she laid there.

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Vesta braced herself for an impact that never occurred. Suddenly she was on the ground, small burns dotting her face and upper body , unprotected by a uniform. She sat crumpled at the ground watching the drone, no, watching Maggie spark and lay there. She stared at the plasma cutter and let it clatter to the floor. She hadn’t expected it to do that much damage. Nothing they had done so far had even touched the drones. She couldn’t fight the urge to scream. “Medic!” She yelled out, the word almost unintelligible from her shock and the fact the Vesta couldn’t hear what she was saying and almost never actually spoke.

Essen fired the last few shots at Maggie as Senang ordered, and as she watched Vesta use the plasma cutter-- NOOOOOOOO!!! Essen's eyes widened and her body froze in complete shock as her system didn't know how to process the information it just received... Maggie -- from how it looked... She wasn't sure... But it looked like Maggie was dead... A shaky, choked breath out, as Essen blinked and her eyes filled with tears. It looked like now she'd never get the chance to apologize to Maggie. Maybe Essen was right all along... Maggie wouldn't have ended up possibly dead, if it wasn't for her. It looked like Maggie was dead because of her. "Aye, sir," Essen replied to Senang, swallowing the emotion as much as she could, like a bottle pressurized to the point where it could explode. (edited)

T'She snapped up and looked over to where the call was coming from. They needed to do something, they couldn't just stand there, wallowing in pain. They had a job to do, that was, until they saw why the call for a medic was made. Did they trust the quarantine shuttle? Or would bringing Maggie back cause more danger that they couldn't risk. "Should we bring Lt. Roode back for quarantine?" They called, voice much more stable than they felt.

Why did she do that? Of course a plasma cutter straight to the heart would cause severe damage. She was horrified with herself. “Is she dead?” She went back to sign language, her hands shook as they formed the words. “Maybe put her into one of the assimilation chambers?” Her hands were still shaking, and the burns she received from the act were beginning to hurt terribly. Could the assimilation chambers even repair the damage? If it could even be repaired at all.

"We know where the Regeneration Alcoves are... perhaps we should put her in one of them. It... is the best way to save her. We need to act fast." T'She finally made up their mind, using their authority as a medical officer to make a decision -- even if they weren't the one truly in charge of this mission. "I can lead the way there, if needed. Should I carry Lt. Roode?" They spoke with urgency this time.

"I can help," Essen replied to T'She. "I can help you carry her. Or I can carry her myself."

"Some help would be appreciated. I... my shoulder was hit. That arm isn't doing too well." They reported before they looked at Essen. "Be careful with her."

Essen nodded to T'She as she swallowed back more tears. "I will be careful," Essen replied. "I owe it to her." As she approached the fallen Maggie, and looked to T'She. "Ready when you are."

T'She nodded and after a moment, signaled to Essen that they were ready to pick up Maggie.

She was still somewhat in shock. She couldn’t believe what she had done, even if everything turned out out ok, and Vesta was far from sure that it would, there would surely be consequences for her actions. Social consequences surely. She had nearly killed a trusted friend of many of her teams mates. She couldn’t bare to think about what would happen if they couldn’t save her. What type of punishment would await her back on the station. “The rest of us should keep going.” She signed, the words unexpected to even herself. “If we don’t then…” Then what? Her act would be in vain? They would continue to be stuck on the cube? She didn’t quite know, other than that she had the inescapable urge to find the vinculum.

As she helped T'She pick up Maggie, the strength that Essen would need to use to lift someone like that seemed to come naturally -- she wasn't focusing on the lift strength, her focus was on Maggie. She mouthed the words 'I'm so sorry' to Maggie. Before she looked to Vesta. "Vesta," Essen said. "I think you and I need a chance to talk when we get back to base camp." As she looked to T'She. "If we're ready to retreat, I've got this side of her."

Vesta locked eyes with Essen for a moment, but her face betrayed only regret and horror at her own actions. She looked away quickly and towards any more senior officer who was left about her suggestion. Let her keep going. They could save everybody if they could find the vinculum. She couldn’t have nearly killed Maggie for nothing.

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"I have this side of her," They responded as they lifted, favoring their non-shot side as they did so. They were doing a pretty good job too, if they said so themselves. "Now we just have to get to the regeneration alcoves." They spoke, more for their own benefit than anything else.

Essen nodded to T'She, careful with Maggie in her arms. She turned again to Vesta. "You're gonna be okay," Essen said to Vesta. If it was something that she needed to hear in times like this, then Vesta hopefully would benefit.

"We're not continuing, Lieutenant," Senang said, calm, but still obviously more burdened than before, holding Paco up against his own body. He crouched then, before letting Paco's weight cause his limp body to fold over his shoulder, allowing Senang to pick him up more easily again. "We're still nearly two kilometers out, and with our numbers thinned, it will be easier to pick us off one by one. Some of our strongest people are taken out, and we don't know how long it will take that drone to recover. We need to turn back." It was a failure of a mission, but at least they'd learned some things. At least Senang had. If only they hadn't lost Five... No, but it was better not to think like this. He knew the possibility existed from the moment they decided to go find the most fortified part of the vessel. They had needed to try, anyway.

Ato had definitely been there the whole time, in the middle of the pack. He'd ducked out of the way when a shot rang out, dodged a few hits and slashes from Maggie and the original drone and somehow come out unscathed thus far. He quickly caught up with the members of the team, grabbing Vesta by the shoulders and pushing her toward Senang, Essen and T'She as he bolted past. "Come on, Lieutenant, we have to go!" Upon meeting up with the rest of the group, he reached out to give T'She an emergency hypo to help subdue the pain, at least for a moment. "I'll check you out when we can regroup, Commander." He said to T'She, offering his long, strong arms to take T'She's place holding Maggie.

"Thank... thank you," T'She said with a weak smile before they stepped away from Maggie, allowing Ato to take the load. They knew they would be fine -- eventually -- but their eyes... well, behind the slightly fogged glasses that they wore betrayed how frayed they truly felt. "To the alcoves then? After that... we regroup at the Hangar Bay."

She made sure she had a good grasp on her side of Maggie while T'She switched out for Ato. "To the alcoves," Essen said, her voice noticeably choked up as she tried to swallow the shock and the pain again.

“You’re welcome, Commander.” Ato took a quick breath, his eyes meeting T’She’s and a nod as if to say “you’re going to be alright,” holding his breath all the while. Finally, he exhaled in a big sigh as he took on Maggie’s whole limp bodyweight. His adrenaline was high. He could hear the blood rushing through his ears. “Stay present, stay present. One step at a time.” “Yes, the alcoves.” Essen looked like she was going to lose it. They had to keep it together. “Lieutenant Essen, take a deep breath. I can carry Maggie. You’re a tactical officer. We could use your protection right now.” He offered her an encouraging, if a bit intense, smile. “We can get through this… together.”

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Oh yeah... that's right. In for 5... hold for 7... out for 8. In for 5... hold for 7... out for 8. As she did so, she looked up to Ato with a nod. "Aye, sir," Essen replied shakily. "I'll keep you safe. Yes, together. Together." She let off the weight of Maggie's body to Ato. (edited)

Aoife moved at the head of the group, rifle raised and ready to fire without hesitation she entered the assimilation chamber.

Phaser rifle clasped in his grip, Vara'l accompanied the group toward the Assimilation chamber and into it. As Vara'l entered he smoothly played his rifle light about the room and up toward the roof as he moved in support of Aoife. "Someone without a rifle, start scanning for non-Starfleet lifesigns." The CTO ordered as he moved.

Karavix kept her eyes forward, pulling out her tricorder to start scanning. Hell yeah.

Vara'l blinked a bit as he looked around the chamber and moved with Aoife and the rest of the away team. While he continued to sweep the chamber and ceiling with sweeps of his phaser rifle's light, Vara'l was discovered that being back in a chamber like this wasn't something that engendered good feelings in him. Not that emotion wasn't already something that roiled within him but. This was not a place he enjoyed no sir. "Keep on alert, this is where the last team engaged the Borg." He stated then for the benefit of those who happened to have not been here for that.

Vesta was present, as geared up as anybody else. Her kept a hand on her phaser and the plasma cutter stayed buried in her backpack awaiting a for a time where it’s proper use would be warranted.

Timi also stood near the front of the group with his rifle in hand, having heard the details from Senang telepathically. He was going to resign himself to only using sign language, the PADD impractical to say the least when it came to missions like these, but at least he didn't need to be able to communicate verbally to shoot something.

Senang on the other hand was near the back of the group, keeping an eye out over everyone as he had been doing all mission.

Serin entered behind all the fighty folks. He had one job, and shooting things wasn't it!

Eicran's job also wasn't shooting things but he was prepared if it came to that. Situated to the middle of the group, the feeling of the phaser rifle held in both hands was almost like being in the presence of an old friend. The fact that he felt that way made him more uneasy than walking through the halls of a Borg cube did. His gaze constantly flitted back and forth, eyes alert and on the watch for any sign of the drones - or for signs that any of the officers became unwell. He wasn't against carrying them back to the hangar bay for any reason, be it a physical or mental problem.

Tarsek kept close to the back, though a bit more to the middle than Senang, rifle ready, paying close attention to any possible corridors where they could be intercepted from behind, listening to any metal sounds approaching. Though his job was also not shooting things, it sometimes led to the need to know how to shoot things. He had been trained and knew better than to not be prepared for situations like this.

"Anything from scans yet?" The Romulan inquired as he continued to move with Aoife and sweep about him and above him with his phaser rifle's light. Maintained his position and forced his voice to maintain a calm tone despite everything as he focused on task, on role.

A task! Finally! FINALLY! His algorithms ran rampant like a compact pack of wild dogs, his artificial muscles coiled up and ready for action. The pseudo-Trill couldn't help the small smile appearing back on his face - and perhaps seeing joy in a dangerous venture was, normally, very very Off and Weird to some, to him it was his whole life. The Intel ensign stuck close to Timi, the rifle gently swinging in his glowed grasp to the rhythm of his practiced gait.

Despite being in the place where the last time they'd had an altercation with two drones, there weren't currently any lifesigns being detected, yet. The only thing the tricorder noted was that there was supposed to be a way to go up a level here, as they needed to take one of the walkways above them to have the most direct route to the vinculum.

The intelligence Ensign had been off putting to Vesta from the moment she had laid eyes on him, but it was so much worse up close. He had to be an android, Vesta thought to herself, but she had rarely seen an android who looked Trill, and his features gave him an uncanny valley look to him. But hey, at least Vesta wasn’t thinking about the Borg when she was looking at him. “Is there a way up, or should I get out my climbing gear?” Vesta asked. It was the most she had communicated in hours. (edited)

"Let's try and find a ladder or something before we try and free climb." Aoife said as she looked around the room, rifle raised with it's flashlight turned on.

"No life signs so far," Karavix reported, continuing to survey just in case. She was ready to warn at a moment's notice.

It certainly was.. strange.. in here. His eyes flicked across all the tech at an almost superhuman pace, taking it all in and storing it in his memory. It was the first time he’d seen Borg tech up close, and he would be lying if he said it wasn’t interesting. It was all so brutally efficient, in a way his own body and mind never could be. So.. unlike a living thing, even though Borg were not artificial like him. And he certainly had free memory space. Before coming, he had back up onto external hard drives and then wiped every single schematic and memory of working on other androids (besides Silver, who was on the Eventide and would need him if she got injured-the drive containing his memories of her schematics was stashed on Eventide instead) he had. That way, if the Borg got him, they would only have his schematics and body to use. And honestly, his body kind of sucked anyway, so there was that. All in all, his memory was clearer than it had been in years, which also kept him at peak functioning for this. Tavek also raised his rifle with its flashlight, searching for a ladder. After all, he was alright at climbing, but that didn’t mean everyone else was.

1

"Agreed." Vara'l responded as he joined Aoife as he swept the room with his own light, joined to her effort. "That's good." The Romulan mused then as PO K'mpoor indicated no life signs so far. "Anyone spotted the way up yet?" He inquired after a few moments had elapsed with officers looking arond.

"Yes, a ladder might be nice for those of us short of limb." And stature. And fitness. And motivation to climb in this heat.

3

It was at that moment, a hand reached out from the shadows to grab at one of the members of the away team, targeting the ops officer Vesta, as a familiar face appeared from the shadows, Two of All had learnt from its encounter before, striking without warning as she grabbed at the officer who had nearly killed her, trying to drag them back into the shadows of the cube with her.

5

Life sign spotted! The tricorder went off as Two of All appeared, warning everyone.

Oh, shit— "There!" *Karavix pointed to where Two appeared from the shadows.

Seiyya, who had been near Vesta, spun around towards them and Two of All. She raised her phaser and fired, twice at Two of All’s arms, before remodulating and firing again.

"Yikes! That's not a ladder." He skittered backwards, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

Vara'l turned then at the sound of a scuffle as it started to break out. "Contact!" Vara'l fired at Two of all's arms as well then as he manouvred to get a better firing angle. After every two shots, Vara'l remodulated before he continued to fire.

Tavek jumped a bit before raising his rifle, both to shoot and so its flashlight illuminated Two of All, it couldn’t disappear into the shadows so easily.

Vesta made a weird squeak sound, she was not very good at verbalizing after all. She took her hand of her her holstered phaser and started clawing and grasping at the hands pulling her backwards. At the same time phaser fire surrounded her and Vesta feared that she would be hit instead of the drone.

Also, in looking around, there was indeed a ladder, quite vertical and likely rather uncomfortable to climb, but it would lead to a ledge that would allow them to continue. Might want to take care of your borgy friend first, though.

"Aha! That IS a ladder!" He pointed enthusiastically.

Aoife got herself into some cover before opening fire on Two of All, making sure to re-modulate her phaser every second shot.

Hostage time! Two of All brought their arm that once held a disruptor on the end to Vesta’s neck. Only this time it was a spinning buzzsaw that made a terrifying sound as it edged very close to her neck, but Two was using the mute officer as cover very clearly.

7

He had not seen Two of All yet. The sight of their former colleague was disturbing to say the least. Moving to a better position, he stopped right before his first shot, noticing the action of the drone. They needed to make her give up on Vesta. Shooting right now was not wise. He looked around for any wires or pipes that, if targeted, could provide distraction enough for the lieutenant to attempt an escape.

Vesta continued to claw and squirm until she saw the buzzsaw and she stopped moving immediately and went very very still. One wrong move from anybody, and she would have a buzzsaw to the neck.

Seeing the drone take a hostage - which, Kairos was trained in handling! Said training only worked when the taker was not a techno-zombie, though - he began to move in closer, arching around the two to avoid the shots from his teammates.

Vara'l re-targeted with care in response to the new development. While his shots slowed and his mind raced and roared and roiled with emotion, the heat of combat and the risk to a officer under his command banished any shake from his hands as training gripped him tight. When the blade arrived where it did, Vara'l stopped firing but continued to keep his rifle raised as he moved toward Aoife. Once close he murmured. "Stun grenade, can you get one over Roodes head and behind her?" As he watched for a opening to take a shot.

The Borg did not notice Kairos as it inched its blade ever closer towards Vestas neck, it simply stood there, content to have a nice hostage. She did however begin to back up into the corridor, meaning whatever they were going to do, they would have to do fast.

Aoife whispered without moving her rifle away. "Probably but it'll probably stun the people in here too." She readied one of her stun grenades waiting for Vara'l to give her the order to chuck it.

The medic kept the sights of his rifle trained on the drone that was slowly backing off, but given that everyone else had already been firing at it and now the drone had produced an entire buzzsaw, he didn't partake in the phaser-fest. Drones used saws to amputate and replace limbs with cybernetic equivalents, not to take hostages. Assimilation tubules were the first to puncture the skin around the neck, not the blade of a saw. Why was this drone - one of the former officers, he had gathered - acting in such a way?

"She's retreating into the corridor, that should lessen things, when you've a opportunity, put it in the corridor." Vara'l stated then before he added. "Try to avoid missing, Commander, or you will most certainly stun us." He stated then before he quickly explained. "The Lieutenant's deaf, she'll not get the audio-stun." (edited)

Vesta stayed deathly still, reading everything they were staying. She wanted to contribute and warn them that if the drone was stunned, that the blade might not stop, or that she or the drone would shift and the blade would go spinning into her neck. But she didn’t sign anything. She didn’t move at all.

Vesta was deaf? Hey, so was he. Were they about to make a really loud noise? Maybe he should take out his hearing aid. No, never mind, don't have time. He signed to Vesta, hoping they both knew the standard dialect: "When the grenade is thrown, jump away." (edited)

Vara'l paused as he considered the other officers in the room then looked to Aoife. "Hold off on that, when the ensign makes his move put it in the corridor as far as you can get it, lets see if we can't give the Ensign and the Lieutenant all the chances possible to make this work." The Romulan stated then as he considered the situation and hoped the Lieutenant was lipreading what he'd stated.

She was really backing up now, if somebody didn’t stop her she’d be able to dash away with a newly minted Borg drone ready to attack.

The GRENADE? She wasn’t sure she trusted this plan, especially seeing that how was she supposed to know where cue to try to get away when she wouldn’t be able to know when it went off until it effected the drone that had the saw next to her neck. She couldn’t really argue though, and the drone was moving away with her. She looked at the medical officer, eyes pleaded that he would try to help her if the blade made contact.

"STUN grenade!" He signed frantically. "Flash and bang! You won't hear the bang!"

There was warbling that sounded an awful lot like a chuckle - genuinely, what the hell is wrong with this guy - as he lunged for the pair into the corridor: "Throw that, I don't care!" said echo-y announcement was an awfully cheery as Kairos just. Crunched his sharp teeth right into the base of the drone's saw-hand. Meanwhile using both of his hands to leverage himself against her, and pry the offensive limb away from the poor Lieutenant's neck with all of his strength.

Still not able to really react, gave a, “ok sure whatever there’s a buzzsaw next to my neck this is not a great situation for anybody” type look and prepared for it to happen. (edited)

Aoife stuck her head up to yeet the grenade just past Two of All. Before she threw it she yelled to the group. "EYES DOWN!" She bellowd as she threw it with her left hand in a very well practiced motion, placing the grande just behind Two of all.

Right as Aoife raised her arm to throw the grenade, a tall, dark, slender figure appeared a few yards behind Two of All. All that could be seen of them in the darkness was their silhouette, and one glowing red eye. Miliseconds after they appeared, a beam of phaser fire shot from the red dot in the dark, aimed directly at Aoife!

5

Having spotted this around the time the drone appeared, Vara'l didn't think and as Aoife moved to chuck the grenade Vara'l just turned to interpose his armour back plate between her and the shot.

Kairos was able to pry the limb away from the neck of the poor Lieutenant, but now was the single minded focus of Two. Using her enhanced strength she attempted to throw the android towards a wall. “We are Borg, you will be Borg.” She said, before getting stunned by the grenade, arm swinging wildly towards Kairos regardless of the effect of the throw. (edited)

The red dot disappeared.

Thanks to her tactical training Aoife instinctively ducked right after throwing the grenade as a shot whizzed just over her head.

Tavek was on alert now, taking another shot at Two of All to hopefully get it away from Kairos before he raised his rifle, looking for wherever that shot at Aoife had come from.

The flashbang went off behind Two of All, bright light and a burst of sound in the room a few feet behind her. The grenade jolted her, and she let go of Vesta, arms swinging wildy and knocked off kilter from the blast! Unfortunately, the silhouette of the other drone disappeared as quickly as it appeared. The team could not be sure if it was affected, but perhaps it was best to assume that drone was not disabled. Its shot missed both Aoife and Vara'l, but only narrowly. They should be so lucky... (edited)

Vesta managed to escape the grasp of the drone and half ran, half stumbled over to the safety of the rest of the group. She pressed her hands against her neck instinctively as she did so.

Vara'l moved as Vesta scrambled away, not giving any indication of feeling related to what he did. He'd not hesitated. A choice had been made by a mauled mind, succession secured and with the choice made, that mauled mind moved onto the next task. Moved as his body moved, phaser rifle raised as he covered Vesta's retreat. Fired upon Two of All once Vesta was clear of the line of fire, re-modulated after each time he'd discharged two shots. Once Vesta was close enough, Vara'l moved to interpose himself between the drones line of advance and the ops officer and continued to fire.

With Vesta having made eye-contact with him before he felt compelled to help. As soon as she was close enough he sprang forward, grabbing her by whichever arm was outstretched most. Quickly he pulled the officer to safety into the middle of the group, out of the way of phaser-fire and the drones. "Don't worry," he said, voice firm. He spun Vesta to face him and checked around the collar of the armouor for any signs that the drone had manage to injure her, firstly by looking and secondly by probing with gloved hands. He had evidently forgotten that she was deaf given that he was speaking to her out-loud. "We've got you."

He gave Vesta a thumbs up, universal sign language for 'good job!', before searching the darkness for that strange red spot...

No red spot. No silhouette.

Despite the slight wooziness he could feel, there was a giddy sort of glint in the android's eyes as he glimpsed Vesta's release - the drone now focused on someone it's size and weight category instead of bullying the squishy flesh-thing. Upon feeling that first swing, he refused to unclench his hold and instead let his body go limp, essentially hanging off of Maggie's arm, perhaps hoping that her sawblade would get stuck in the wall. Seeing her begin to erratically flail, though, prompted him to try and retreat - by dropping on the floor and rolling a good few steps away. "What do you want me to do with her, sir?" he shouted back to the senior officers, still ducked down because he sure as hell didn't want to get shot for his troubles on top of what had already happened. It was quite possible that he didn't notice the second (fourth?) drone before it disappeared. "Want me to try and lure her closer?"

Vara'l continued to fire upon the drone as he called out. "Can you get that sawblade into a wall or aye, lure her closer?" The Romulan asked as he slowed his rate of fire, careful considering the trill ensign happened to be in the line of fire. "We need to neutralise that arm as a threat first off."

Two had been learning since her first encounter, and seeing as she was outnumbered and couldn’t bum rush them, she backed off into the corridor and disengaged (for now!).

As Two of All backed off, Four appeared, still far, far back in the chamber, and provided cover fire. They shot out four times, once at Aoife, once at Vara'l, once at Kairos, and once at Eicran, before disappearing back into the darkness!

Aoife continued to fire as Two of all retreated to ensure they backed off far enough. Another shot from Four pinged just next to her as she fired causing her to duck back into cover.

1

Vara'l followed the drone with phaser rifle fire aimed at their back and legs, modulated after each two shots. He continued to fire before, as four appeared, he hurled himself into cover as well. * *As he landed Vara'l rolled up to a crouch and returned fire in the direction the shot came from. He then ceased fire. "Anyone hit?" The Romulan inquired then as emotion roiled and boiled away from the walls of duty, of structure and purpose he'd erected within his mind. "Hows the Lieutenant?"

Eicran was hit! Only barely, though. Just a flesh wound on the side of his arm. He'd been the last target, as Four of All was backing away, and he'd been a moving target at that. The shot barely grazed him, incinerating the fabric on that part of his arm and burning his skin, but not penetrating deeply.

1

Instinctively he had ducked and shoved Vesta down with him, but it appeared he hadn't been quick enough. Evidently he was out of practice. "Lieutenant Kuzeed is fine," he said when Vara'l asked, although it was said through gritted teeth. He turned his arm to investigate the wound. It wasn't anything that he couldn't patch up: physician heal thyself and all. He said a silent thank you to Starfleet armour for once again saving him. ...That didn't mean that it didn't sting like a bitch, though. "The drone didn't manage to get her. Why are they acting like this? Shooting, using saws for hostages - this isn't their usual behaviour."

1

Woof, rough. His urge to bolt after the retreating drone was quickly subdued by a shot aimed right at him, which Kairos had to drop flat on the ground to avoid. "Damn," his nose scrunched up, displeasure over the retreat evident on his face. But he would be a fool not to use that moment of quiet, so the android lifted himself up from the strategic pancake pose, and made his way back to the group, all the while shaking the dust off of his shoulders.

"Understood, how are you, Commander?" The Romulan initially responded before, at their question grey eyes flicked toward them and focused on them. "The primary drone doesn't appear to be a standard drone, its behaviour has also not been usual." He informed the other. "We'd not yet been able to find enough data to get a clear answer to why before you arrived." Grey eyes then flicked around the room then fixed upon the ladder. "Are scans looking clear?" He asked then before he added. "If they are, we should take a moment to check for injuries if any have been sustained and I'd argue then its time to begin moving." The Romulan mused then as his eyes visually checked over each officer he could see.

“I’m good. I’m alright.” Vesta signed, it being turn into verbal words for everyone. She turned to Eicran, still somewhere tucked behind him. “I don’t know. They’ve been acting like this the whole time, even the original done seems choosy with who it assimilates.”

"I'm good!" Aoife yelled, ears still ringing from the grenade. "Got pretty close but it wiffed the shot. We should keep moving so we don't get cornered." Aoife then said, as her speaking made the ringing momentarily worse. "I've got no idea why they're acting so strange but we don't have time to figure out why, we need to get to the Vinculum and blow it to bits." She poised before turning to begin the climb the ladder in the room.

Two and Four of All had fallen back, but who knew how much time the group had before they recovered and came back with a vengeance. Aoife's plan was sound.

Timi followed after Aoife, intending to provide cover fire once up the ledge so that everyone would be able to make it up the ladder without getting ambushed.

"Commander O'Rielly and one other rifle armed person should head up first while we cover." The Romulan stated then as he moved to cover Aoife's movement. "The commander's plan is sound." He then proceeded to say. "Commander O'Rielly, once you're up cover the next person coming up if there's room to facilitate it." He then gestured to the ladder then before he noted that Timi had pre-empted the order and signed a one handed SSL. "Thank you, Commander." As he looked to the others and Verbally added. "Lets get moving." And his eyes alighted on Commander Kehal again briefly and then started to sweep the room as he, waited for their response to what he'd queried and covered Aoife from at the bottom and off to one side of the ladder .

Guess who it was! T'She! Who was there the whole time, thank you very much, being about as helpful as they could be off screen. They were ready to continue moving, however, the sooner they did that, the sooner they could hopefully be out of there.

Tavek, very happy with the idea of blowing up the vinculum for reasons absolutely, positively unrelated to his previous experiences doing explosives work elsewhere, waited for Timi and Aoife to climb up so he could follow and use his own rifle to also help cover the others coming up.

After a quick headcount, Kairos followed the group suit. Up up up the ladder!

He had given a simple 'okay' sign back to Vara'l. No point in using words to try to describe 'owie but still fine' when a simple sign would do. He slung his rifle over his shoulder, secured his medical kit on his back, and shook his arm off. Time to tackle the ladder - onwards and upwards.

Vara'l covered people at the base of the ladder as people headed up, ready to join his fire to those who covered the movement of the team from the ledge if a drone attacked. Once Eicran signed to him, grey eyes flicked to the arm and then to the Commander. The gesture noted but the sign just nodded at. The Commander was a medical officer after all, if they weren't okay he expected the man would have told him as such. Once it arrived at his turn to head up, Vara'l started up the ladder and onwards.