“I’m more human than I am, Vulcan.  Biologically and mentally.”  Theodora Walker-Halsey smiled at the Olympic’s Chief Science Officer as she sat across from her in the science lab, “You seem…shocked.”

Sadie Fowler felt a slight smile tug at her lips.  Walker-Halsey was more than just the wife of their new Chief Medical Officer – she’d taken over the civilian science operations on the Olympic.  Her resume was extensive.  Fowler felt like she didn’t measure up to the woman.  “It’s just…weird to see someone with those…ears…smile and laugh, ma’am.”

Theodora smiled wider, “Weird is a good word for it.  I could tell you stories of growing up and learning to navigate life, love, and…well, everything else.” She turned to the console and display screens, “But…we have a mystery to unfold, don’t we?”

They did.  The ongoing Fourth Fleet operations with the unusual Borg activity had pulled the science and medical ship into action. The Olympic was on its way into the Beta Quadrant to investigate an old station that had, until recently, had significant Borg activity.  The sector had been scoured and cleared.  The Walker-Halsey tapped at the console, “The signals they detected up to the vanishing are interesting, dare I say…fascinating.”  She pointed at the large display above them, “There was a surge in both collective communication and this other mysterious grouping of signals,” she separated the unusual signal, “…it looks unlike anything we’ve seen from the Borg.”

Fowler leaned forward and scanned the signatures, “Those…look like probe sensor reports or something…not Federation…or any of the big players.”  She frowned, “That’s not anybody I’m familiar with.”  Sadie was annoyed.  She’d taken more time on her off hours and downtimes to dig into materials and studies around many science topics.  Her posting to the Olympic meant she had to know more about more.

Theodora agreed, “I’ve run it through everything on my side of the house…and nothing’s coming up.  I had a few of our veterans speculate, and they couldn’t sort it out.  We’ve got ourselves a proper mystery.”

“Station KGI698781.”  Fowler stood in the transporter room, her tricorder out and scanning.  The Hazard Team had landed ahead, cleared the immediate area, and kept eyes, ears, and phaser rifles out as they slowly continued down the corridors ahead of the away team.  “Originally, a science outpost doubled as a sensor outpost to keep track of the outer reaches.  Retired and then overrun by Borg…and now abandoned by them.” She moved forward as the team leader, Lieutenant Commander Milton Ford, stepped through the corridor, his phaser rifle up, armed, and ready.

Ford mused, “Lots of mysteries in that briefing, Chief Fowler.  The Borg were here…but someone else was.”  He gestured to the assimilated portions of the station with disgust, “Of all the rogues gallery. I hate the Borg the most.”

The Hazard Team waved them forward as they entered the center operations area of the small station.  Some stations had dead Borg equipment arrayed across them, while others were conspicuously clean, free of anything that would suggest the Borg had even been here.  Fowler couldn’t resist asking, “Why?”

Milton walked around the center, phaser rifle holstered on his back and tricorder scanning.  “They’re hard to beat.”  He tapped at one console and continued, “Almost damned near impossible.  It’s as close as we’ve come to losing the Federation and our galaxy.  Every time we’ve faced them…we have to sacrifice so much of our own until we get lucky…or someone’s smart enough to find a way to beat ‘em.”  He motioned over an ensign to download the data from the console.  “The universe is filled with darkness just waiting to come after us…we’ve explored so much with still more waiting.  There’s bigger and badder out there somewhere…I hope we never find them, and they never find us.”

Fowler understood where the chief counselor was coming from. He had seen more than she had.  She had a healthy fear of what lay beyond the edges of what they knew.  She felt like she needed to adjust that level of fear as her mind began to unpack his words.  “You don’t think we’re ready?”

Ford chuckled, “Chief, we weren’t ready for the Romulans.  We weren’t ready for the Klingons.  Humanity’s future has been put to the test year after year.”  He stopped and turned to her, “It’s what we do after the unthinkable arrives on our doorsteps…that’s how we keep surviving generation after generation. Ready or not, we seem always to find a way to push back against the darkness.”

She frowned, unsure if she wanted to ask her question. The others had moved away to examine the systems while she stood alone with Ford.  She went for it, “What happens if we can’t find a way?”

His eyes sparkled at her question, “That’ll be the day.”

“The first half of level one is secure, Chief.”  Ensign Hawk from the Hazard Team was in the ear of Athena Catari, the chief security and tactical officer.  She was standing in the main operations center of the small former Federation station.  The station had six levels, including engineering.  Catari held a PADD in her hand as the map of the facility stared back at her.  As small as the station was, there was still ground to cover.  There were plenty of dark corners to hide a secret or two.  Or Borg.  She confirmed his report and advised him to begin the second half of the search.

She walked over to where the Chief Science Officer was working on a console, “Lieutenant?”

Sadie Fowler glanced up, “It’s not communicating with The Collective anymore…although I’m not sure it was connected in the first place.”  She held up the systems analyzer she was working on, “According to the station’s systems, there was a connection to them early on, but then suddenly…it just…stopped.”  She worked the old console further, pointing to the older display, “But the Borg drone presence remained…for quite some time.  Until recently, when it seemed as if everybody onboard just…vanished.”

Athena frowned, finding her confusion and annoyance rising, “That’s…impossible.  Borg drones don’t just fade away in an instant.  These old sensors are crap.”  The security chief dealt with straightforward situations.  The study of Science and the intricacies of it all annoyed her.  It had frustrated her as a cadet, and it irked her now. 

Fowler chuckled, “I’ve learned that nothing is impossible, Ensign Catari.  It is a gaping hole in the middle of trying to understand what happened here.”  They continued to work until the tense voice of Ensign Hawk broke through to Catari.  Her eyes went wide, and she motioned for Fowler to follow her.

Hawk was waiting for them, “The other half of level one is where the labs are located, according to the station’s layout.  We did an intensive scan through the door…we’re getting faint readings of Borg Drones.”  He handed over a PADD with the data, “This door and the containment is a refit job – the original station plans didn’t have anything as strong or dense as what we’re reading here.  The readings don’t tell us if they’re active or offline.”

Catari concluded, “And we won’t know until we’ve opened the damned door.  Great.  Just…great.”  She stared at the large door, “If we leave it, someone will have to come over here and figure it out.”

Sadie pointed out, “We were given the mission, Ensign.  We have to at least attempt to complete it.  They cleared the sector for us and are keeping a watch.  Whatever is in there…we can always transport away or find a secure part of the station to hold up in…this isn’t the Delta Quadrant.”

Athena smiled, “You’re finding that lieutenant voice pretty quickly.”  Fowler gave her a long stare, and she quieted her smile, moving to the door controls, “Security teams, do not fire unless I order you to – weapons raised and charged.”  She waited until the team was in position.  “Here goes…something.”  She input the codes and stepped away, raising her phaser rifle as the door clicked, and then a resounding thump released as the door’s security seal retreated. Slowly, the door groaned open, revealing a stark image.

Ten slumped Borg Drones were strapped to various stations, unmoving.  Catari motioned her team forward as Fowler wrapped herself into the semicircle of bodies, her tricorder out and scanning.  Her eyes scanned the incoming data, and she gasped in shock, “This isn’t a Borg operation…this is a Borg experimentation by someone or something.”  She kept her distance from the drones; danger still lurked in the darkness of their optical readers, even as disconnected as they appeared.  She came to the back end of the area and a wall of consoles, screens, and systems.  Catari’s team cleared the room and half followed her to where the chief science officer stood.  Fowler shook her head as she tapped at the consoles, “This wasn’t some fly-by-night operation with substandard equipment…these are pretty recent and updated systems.  They’re no LCARS, but they’re functional.”  Another tap, “They left a lot of data here…looking at these logs, they left in a hurry.”  She looked up and stared at the drone remains, “They originally had fifty Borg Drones on station, according to this.  There’s no record of them being shipped off…so we’re missing forty drones…somewhere on this station.”

Athena accepted a pad from one of her team and pulled up the schematics, “There’s still five to six decks below us with some space…you think they refit the entire station?”

With each tap and click of the units, Fowler went from console to console, a feeling of dread growing with her fingers, “If who did this is who I think it is…that’s a very likely situation.”  She found what she was looking for, “This station was taken over by an element of the Orion Syndicate at some point in the last six months.  Reports had the Bord here a year ago.  Whatever they were doing wasn’t for the betterment of the universe.”

Catari felt the same dread crawling up her nerves, “They’re not known for running from anything aside from their own…destruction.”  She looked around the room, “Somewhere on this station is something that scared the Orion Syndicate enough to get the hell out of here…and never return.

“Deck two.”  Ensign Hawk and the Hazard Team stood outside the turbolift, “We’ve located two small labs with ten offline Borg Drones each.  We’re down to twenty missing.”  He handed a PADD to Fowler, “The labs are smaller versions of what is up top.”

She read through the data, horrified and impressed simultaneously, “They’ve never played by the rules of any convention…and they took that to extremes here.  You think they were working on transferring consciousnesses from an unassimilated into a Borg Drone?” 

Hawk nodded to Harrison, their science officer.  “We’d need to further take the mechanism apart, and I doubt it works…but the rudimentary systems are there…and it suggests they had a few test runs before they ran off.”

Fowler stepped back, and the Hazard team returned to the elevator as Hawk tapped the console, “Deck 3, housewares.”  He chuckled at his joke and then turned at the silence, “Did you not all check out the series I suggested at movie night last month?”  Blank looks was his reply.  “You are missing out.  Old Earth British Comedy was a goldmine of weird and wacky.”  The door slid open, and Hawk’s posture returned as the Hazard Team followed him.  It took less time than deck two.  He handed over the PADD, “Ten more, all inactive.  They dug into these…not much left to autopsy.”  They were off to deck four with another tap of the turbolift console.

The doors opened, and the same procedure was repeated with Hawk returning, his face filled with a frown this time.  Fowler asked, “You look like you found another mystery.”

He handed her the PADD, “Nine.  There’s nothing odd about these.  They’re just waiting for a switch to be flipped.  No physical damage, no mechanical issues.”

Sadie’s eyebrows furrowed, “So what’s left on deck five, then?  Where’s our last Borg Drone?”

Catari wasn’t sure, “I think we need to be careful with this one.  This could be what sent them scrambling.”

Hawk agreed, “Let’s get to deck five and get this sorted out.”

The doors closed, and the lift inched down to the last deck.  The door swooshed open, revealing an open deck with what appeared to be a significant cage in the middle, a lone bright light casting down on a figure sitting in a chair.  The face turned towards them and regarded them momentarily before returning to the ground.

Hawk and his team cleared the rest of the room and led the others forward.  As Fowler got closer, it started to make sense.  It was a Borg Drone…sitting and contemplating something.  Catari gasped, “What the…hell?”

Lieutenant Hawk kept his distance from the cage, “USS Olympic, Federation Starship.  Who are you?”

The drone turned to them as his mouth opened in shock, “You’re…real?”  It was a scragged voice, one that hadn’t spoken much.  He stood and examined them as well as he could from a distance, “You’re real.  You’re Federation.  You’ve come to save us?”

Fowler stepped forward, still keeping her distance, “Us?” she asked.

He looked from face to face before the realization sunk in, “They’re all dead.”

Sadie asked, “What…are you?”

The drone sighed, “I’m…well, I was Drone 19 of 50…but they just called me Niner.”  He gestured to his equipment, “I was their final experiment…they disconnected us from the collective when they invaded…they told us lies about saving us and finding ways to bring us back to our original selves.  We were so hungry for…something…anything to replace the screaming silence in our brains…we took the deal.”  He held his hands to his head, “It still hurts every so often.”  He sat roughly back on the chair, “They helped me find my old self…at least my speech patterns…and they loaded in a personality…a pretty docile one if I’m honest.” He looked at the Federation team, “Are you here to rescue me?  You never said.”

Fowler nodded quietly, “We’re here to help you, Niner.  The people who ran this place…they took off pretty quickly…any idea why?”

He attempted a smile, which came out as a menacing smirk, so he stopped.  “I started killing them.  I could only reach out short distances…like this deck…but then I found as I worked…I could reach out further and further.”

Catari realized what her tricorder was reading, “He’s a Betazoid…and whatever they did to him…they gave him the power to do that…with his mind.”  She shook her head, “That’s…not good.”

Sadie scowled at her and returned to Niner, “How many?”

He sighed, “I managed to get forty-nine before they got beyond my reach.”  He blinked, “Does that change what you’re going to do?”

The chief science officer said, “No, Niner…we’re still going to do everything we can to help and save you.  Can I talk to my crew for a moment?”

He nodded and returned to his staring contest with the floor.  Fowler shifted the team back into the hallway, “We need Dread and Halsey down here…he’s limited by distance – orbit seems to be where it ends.”  Catari gave her a look, and Sadie shot it back at her, “As long as we play by the rules and treat him well – we’ll earn his trust.”  She ordered the rest of the group to go up and gather crew and equipment.  She stepped carefully back into the room and closer to the cage, “Niner?” He looked up, and she smiled, “We’re going to help you.  I’m going to need your help, too.  Can I talk to you about some rules that might help us work together?”  He nodded cautiously, and she began her explanation.

“I did not have a killer Betazoid Drone on my Bingo card.”  Chief Medical Officer Leopold Halsey mused as he sat in the conference room.  “Whoever they have in their science division is either incredibly talented or mad.”

Executive Officer Helena Dread had been reading the reports from the away team.  “They’re probably dead.  He killed forty-nine of them before they managed to get away.  Whoever was at the front of the experimentation was close to our new friend.”  She tapped at the PADD, “The question we have to answer now is…what do we do with him?”

Halsey wasn’t sure, “According to our science and medical teams – he’s alive in one sense…but in others…he’s not.  The Syndicate operators restored his language centers…but also input a…personality to replicate a docile patient.”  He was starting to lead toward the operators as incredibly mad.

Dread replied, “So somewhere in that mess of Borg and Syndicate programming is the real person who existed before assimilation.”

Leopold emphasized, “Somewhere, indeed.  The problem is…you never know if they’re still in there.  There are plenty of examples of Borg drones developing their personality after being removed from the Collective and living a life.  This…isn’t something that’s been done before.  Whatever personality they put in there wasn’t completely docile…there were some sociopathic elements they forgot to clean out.”

Helena sat back in her chair.  She wondered, “What if it wasn’t a mistake?  What if that personality was intended…they just didn’t realize how quickly the Borg Drone would accept and then use the personality.”

Halsey stared at her, “That…that is terrifying.  The Syndicate was trying to build sociopathic Borg Drones to do their bidding and command…but they forgot how smart the Borg can be…and it ended up blowing up in their face.”  He observed dryly, “Couldn’t have happened to a better group of idiots.”

Dread circled back, her eyes showing her concern, “We still haven’t answered the question.  What do we do with him?”

The chief medical officer sighed, “I think we give him the option to find his true self…and release him from the Borg and Syndicate life.”

“And if he refuses?”

Halsey wasn’t sure he liked the answer they’d have to give.  Someone who wasn’t bound to the Laws of Telepathy was unsettling.  Something that had killed to get what he wanted was another layer.  If they couldn’t get the drone to understand how much of a danger he was…they couldn’t let him leave the station. 

“You believe you can find…me?”  Niner blinked as the Starfleet officers opened the heavy cage door and began to bring the equipment into the room.  The plan had been explained to him in detail.  Surprisingly, he had said yes.  He told them he felt he wasn’t real…and the truth was needed to decide.

Doctor Leopold Halsey watched as the medical and science teams continued setting up the systems and equipment, “I’ve been a part of a few of these in my time.  It largely depends on how much damage was done and what was segmented.”  He pulled a chair beside Niner, “I can’t promise we’ll be able to hold onto…the real you…for very long.”

The drone thought for a moment.  He considered his options.  He knew his abilities made most of the Starfleet officers around him nervous.  He also knew that the Borg or the Syndicate would love to get their hands on him.  “Doctor…if myself…asks you to do something…please take him at his word.  The consent of myself…is important.”

Halsey momentarily held the drone’s stare, “I’m not sure I can do that, Niner.  If your…inner self…asks for us to harm you…I don’t know if I can authorize that.”

Niner returned the stare, “Doctor Halsey…I am not the original.  I’m a copy…a creation of monsters.  I’m a guest in this body…I don’t wish to occupy a space that is someone else’s.  It’s theft.  I don’t wish to steal from someone else so that I could live.”

Leopold remained silent.  Niner was giving permission for the other voice to dictate whether his life continued.  He stood, “Let’s see what your other self says before we make that decision, Niner.”

It took another thirty minutes to connect, test, and activate the various pieces of equipment with Niner at the center.  Halsey stood before the drone, who looked forward with anticipation.  Niner asked him one last time, “Listen to him, Doctor…don’t ignore what he has to say.”

Halsey gave a nod and began shunting off the connections and copied personality.  Niner shook lightly against the restraints as the process worked through the various implants until the shaking stopped.  A gasp escaped the lips of Niner, “Gods…I’m alive.”  The voice was deeper than Niner’s, and the eyes of the man were wide, excited, and worried.  “They took me from my home…and did this to me.  Who are you?”  Halsey explained, and the man swallowed hard, “Can you help me break free from this?  My name is Baron Monast…our colony was swallowed up by the Borg…what year is it?”

Halsey replied, “2401.”  He monitored Monast’s drone body as the medical team tended to the wounds as the Borg automated systems no longer repaired the body.  Niner’s presence had been keeping the body alive and repaired.

“This hurts like the hells.”  Monast took a moment to evaluate his pain, and a panicked look filled his face, “I’m going to die.”

Leopold approached the man, “We can try to save you…but I can’t promise it.”  He shared the details of Niner and the story so far. Baron’s eyes grew larger with each revelation.

“You’re saying this…’Niner’ has kept my body alive?”  A nod from Halsey.  “If he stays…and I go…he’ll continue to live.” He stared at the silence from his rescuers, “Tell me the odds.  You’re a man of science from a science ship.”

“The odds are far greater with Niner that this body will survive.  There’s a chance we could save you…”

Monast interrupted him, “The life that will survive is the one you need to save.”  He stared hard at Halsey, “Do not attempt to persuade me, Doctor Halsey.  I will not yield.  Life is life…and it deserves to continue its journey.”

Halsey sighed, “You have made your position clear.”  He stepped back, “This is going to hurt, Baron.”

A quiet smile crossed the drone’s lips, “Pain is a part of life, Doctor.  It is necessary.”

The reversal process was not quiet.  Baron Monast screamed.  He shouted.  He cried.  His body convulsed, shook, and shuddered.  His last words were a whispered, “Thank you.”  The eyes remained closed for a moment before they fluttered open; the sleepy look of Niner had returned as he realized, “He decided to let me live.”  Halsey shared what had happened.  “Then I am thankful.”  He glanced around at the equipment, “What happens next?”

“We have to remove as much of the Borg equipment as possible…it also means…”

Niner winced, “Removing the Syndicate enhancements.  This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

Halsey replied, “Yes.  You will have an emptiness within you.  We have people that can help you work through it.  You are not the first to have walked this path.”

The Borg drone spent a few minutes staring at the ground, his mind working to imagine what would happen to him.  Ultimately, he decided, “Do what must be done, Doctor.” 

“Patient is stable.”  Doctor Jordan Reid reported the status as she stood in the operating theatre in her surgery uniform. The nurse checked the seals on the gloves and her helmet, giving her a thumbs up.  Doctors Sergio Clemente, Leopold Halsey, and Helena Dread were similarly outfitted.  An array of nurses, orderlies, and medical crewmen had filed into the room and stood next to their commanding officer.  The patient, Niner, had been sedated, secured, and prepped.

Dread stepped forward, her voice linked into the communicators in the helmets of all the operating theatre staff and the bridge, where Captain Peter Crawford sat, waiting.  “We’re going to begin the procedure now.  As discussed, we’re going to take this slowly and steadily.  Communicate with each team as you go, repeating orders and requests as needed.”  She looked around the room, “Start the clock.”  The red numbers in the corner of the room flickered on, and they began their precious and sacred work.

“You seem worried, Ensign Soojin.”  Chief Counselor Milton Ford leaned on the doorway into her office, a cup of chilled tea in his hands.

Samantha Soojin pursed her lips.  “It’s the Borg, Commander Ford.”  She’d stayed clear of the shuttle bay when the drone had been escorted aboard for the procedure, and she’d avoided being near sickbay once he’d been transferred there.  She remembered the units of study they had done on the mechanical monsters in the academy.  It had given her nightmares.  It threatened to do the same again.

“It’s Doc Ford, as I’ve been reminding you.”  He sipped at his drink, “He’s not a Borg…he’s more machine now than man – nothing special.”

Sam narrowed her eyes at him, “What do you mean…nothing special?”

Milton pushed off the doorway and slipped into the chair across from her, “If he was still in the clutches of the Borg Collective, this would be a lot harder.  For one, there’d be a lot more screamin’, shoutin’, and shootin’.  The machine part of him…there’s a good chance we can separate the man and the mechanical.”

She wondered, “Do you think he can be saved?”

Ford chuckled, “I’ll tell ya something, Ensign. Some of the best medical doctors in the business are in that operating room.  Saving him isn’t going to be an issue.  Letting him go if they can’t save him will be the challenge.

Are you thinking of the Mackenzie? Tir’s voice was soft in his mind, which was unusual.

“What do you want, Tir?”

What says I want something? Her voice sounded hurt, and he was struck by the unusual manner of her words once more.

“You’re…acting odd.”  He sat back on the couch, “I was thinking about the Mackenzie.  The Delta Quadrant wasn’t kind to us the last time we were there.”

She revisited the memories, stirring emotions in his. I remember.  Lots of pain.  I’ve been thinking…we need to get a girlfriend.

“The hell?”  He sat up, his face flashing hot at the embarrassment of the sudden swerve in conversation.

Or a boyfriend – I’m not particular.

He shook his head, “But I am.  What’s brought this on?”  She was silent, but he could feel her in his stomach.  The feeling she was experiencing was… loneliness?

It’s…not easy being green.  He could feel her mirth at the inside joke from old Earth history.  Something about a frog and a pig being married.  She turned serious, You and I share a lot, Calog.  You haven’t had a relationship in a long time…and I don’t know if you read your symbiont owner’s manual…but we need to feel things, too.

“I think you’re overstating it a bit, Tir.”  He could sense that she was attempting to equivocate.  “Or maybe a little more than a bit.”

Fine.  I’ll admit to the charges as long as you admit that you need to find someone to do…some things with.

Calog’s face reddened again, and he fell flat on the couch, “I’m not admitting anything…this is just about the weirdest conversation I’ve had with you.”  She flashed a few memories through his mind, and he amended, “Fine.  It’s in the top ten.”  He felt her warmth as Tir smiled.  “I’ll work on it. I suppose you’ve already got a list ready for me?”

This is my shocked face, Calog.  And yes.  I do.

“You’re a regular matchmaker, Tir.”

As long as you let me sing ‘Matchmaker’ while we do this.

He sighed, exasperated, “Fine.”

“Twelve hours.”  Dread leaned against the wall in the office next door to the operating room.  “I hope we got it right.”  

Reid finished the notes on the PADD, “We’ll have to wait for the swelling in his brain and everything else to calm down before we take a chance at waking him up.”  She handed the PADD to Helena, “I’ve got the first watch.”

Dread accepted the PADD, “You did good work today, Doctor Reid.  You worked well with the team, managed the chaos, and got his heart restarted twice.”

Jordan shook her head, “It’ll all be for nothing if we lose him on the way.”  She sat back in the chair, “I know…I know.  Take the win – that’s your motto.  It’s just not that easy for me yet.”

Helena scoffed, “I didn’t say it was easy, Jordan.  It’s never easy.  I make a choice every time I walk out of an operating room.  I choose to fight like hell to believe in the wins and that there’s more where that came from.  Wins are my superpower…and I want to be on fire with them.  Because when the losses come…my fire doesn’t go out.”

Reid finished, “Because you burn bright.”

The XO smiled thinly, “The name Dread means something when you hear it – not because I’m a bastard…but because that fire never goes out no matter how dark it gets.”

Reid saluted Helena with her cup, “But you are a bastard sometimes.”

Dread chuckled, “Gotta keep up the reputation, Doctor Reid.  Good night.”

Jordan stood and stretched as she exited the office to go to intensive care, where her patient lay.  She would need to feed her fire coffee and lots of it. 

“We’ve completed the inspection.”  Sadie Fowler stood in front of her captain, Peter Crawford.  He’d asked her to report to his ready room to give the final details on the situation with the station.  She handed over the PADD, “The forty-nine bodies of the Syndicate operatives were found in various places across the station – shoved into a corner, room, or locker.  They died as described – massive aneurysms with fatal damage to the nervous systems.  We were able to identify a few of the key players.”

Crawford felt a chill as he read the section she was referencing.  “You think Captain Horat Rigilia had something to do with this?’

“There’s enough there to ask some questions at a minimum.  The bodies we identified connected with his history.  The larger concern is…,”

Peter tossed the PADD onto his desk, “Where is Patra in all this.”  He thought through the implications, “It would track.  He’s known for his brutality, his madness, and his violence.  This kind of experimentation is something we would expect from him.”

Sadie had been thinking the same.  She was blunt, “There are plenty of bad actors out there who would be capable of doing this…but not many would take it to the length that they did.  The only reason they stopped is because Niner started ripping their minds apart.”  She shuddered at the image.  “I don’t think Patra and his group will give up on this idea.”

Crawford nodded, “Finalize the report and send it up the chain.  They’re sending a team to scuttle the station…should be here in a day or two.  How is our patient?”

Fowler reported what she knew, “He’s still in a coma.  The swelling is going down.  Doctor Reid said this morning she expects he’ll be stable in twenty-four hours so they can wake him up.  Who we get when he comes to…is anybody’s guess.”

Doctor Leopold Halsey checked his watch. It had been forty-eight hours since the operation. The swelling hadn’t cooperated as they had hoped.  He tapped at the bed console, feeling some relief.  The extra day had helped, and the swelling was slowly fading.  Doctors Helena Dread and Jordan Reid stepped into the room with a team of nurses and orderlies.  They began the process of bringing Niner out of his coma.

It took an hour and painstaking attention to his vitals, but the coma was lifted.  Halsey pulled up a stool to sit next to the revealed face of Niner.  Most of the Borg implements had been removed.  The rest would take time and additional surgeries to complete.  Leopold spoke softly, “Niner?”

The eyes of the former Borg Drone flitted open, “Hello, Doctor.”  It took him time, but eventually, they were wide open, and he searched the room, “I am alive.”  He moved his arms, smiling as he did the same with his feet, “I am alive.”  Closing his eyes, he relished the fullness of life that he felt.  He opened them and turned to Halsey, “I am…not Niner…and I am.”

“What do you mean?”  Halsey pulled out his tricorder to complete a few scans.

“As I slept…I dreamed.  I dreamed of Baron.  I dreamed of Niner.  I dreamed of…me.”  He slowly sat up with Leopold’s assistance.  He continued, “We talked…all three of us.  In the darkness.  We…we agreed to become one.”  He blinked and faced the others, “I wish to be known as Baron Nine.”  He asked, “I understand the need for a middle name…I would ask you to help me find that name that would fit me.”

“Starfleet’s going to want to get a look at him.”  Crawford sat in the briefing room with Reid, Dread, Clemente, and Halsey.  “We’ll have to give them everything we’ve got…but we can try and make recommendations on his future.”

Clemente offered, “We are a fully equipped science and medical vessel.  We could ask them to send a representative to liaise with us while we conduct studies and examinations with him on board.”  He looked around the room, “He trusts us.  I would wish to keep that trust intact.”

Helena Dread agreed.  “The question we need to answer before we take this to Starfleet is, will he be a member of our crew? An advisor?  Or a test subject?”

Clemente held up a PADD in answer, “We were able to identify his colony from reports at the time and his genetic makeup.  According to the records, his colony was Federation, and he was a Federation Citizen.  He still has the rights and provisions afforded to them.”

Reid suggested, “Captain Halsey, would the civilian sciences might interest him?”

Leopold sat up in his chair, considering the question. His wife was head of the department Reid was referring to, and it wasn’t a Starfleet posting.  “That could work.  The oversight of a civilian liaison would make it less of a challenge…and he seems inclined to do something aboard this ship.  His interview with Counselor Ford mentioned something about him finding a purpose in this new life.”

Crawford made his notes, “Let’s make it official.  Put the proposal together and have it on my desk by the end of the day.  The longer we wait, the better chance Starfleet decides to tell us what to do.” 

“You said you were always looking for somethin’, Baron.”  Chief Counselor Milton Ford sat across from the newest member of the Olympic, Baron Leo Nine.

The former Borg Drone attempted a smile and found he liked how it felt.  “I remember pieces of my life on the colony.  I remember staring at the stars at night, wondering what was out there…what was waiting around the next planet.”  His stare grew distant, “My mother told me stories of faraway planets of every color and type.  I would listen to her until I fell asleep.  I never forgot those stories.”  He returned his attention to Ford, “I’ve always wanted to explore…and now I have that chance.”

Milty moved onto the next question, “You have the identity of three distinct personalities within you…how did you all agree to share?”

Nine shook his head, “It isn’t sharing, Doctor Ford.  It’s a…melding together of us.  We were three…and now we are one.  It was hard at first to accept this was the way forward.  At first, the Baron part of me wanted to be the only one.  His desire to live again…and be free blinded him to what was possible.”

Ford didn’t frown but noted on his PADD, “How was he made to see?”

“He wasn’t made to do anything…we sat together and worked through how to all survive.  He accepted it once he understood he would be a part of this new identity.”

“And Niner?”

Another smile, this one felt smoother.  “Once Baron agreed, he didn’t hesitate.  Baron’s sacrifice the first time impacted Niner.  It was humbling to him that the original owner of this body would do such a thing.  Presented with the chance to reward Baron for his kindness, Niner agreed.”

Milton ticked the last question off the PADD, “And you?”

The eyes of Baron Leo Nine blinked a few times.  “I do not know where I came from.”  He played with his hands, strewn with fading bandages.  “I…I appeared into the darkness with the other two.  I didn’t have a name…or a memory.  I was…just there.”  He frowned, “There was this feeling of space that needed filling.  I…felt pulled into it…and I was there.”  He looked at Ford, “I’m not sure what it means, Doctor.”

Milton made further notes, “I think you filled the space of the Collective, Baron.  The Syndicate filled that space with Niner after they disconnected him.  I’m a counselor, not a scientist…but I think you arrived at the right time in the right place.  Niner and Baron needed you.  And it seems like you needed them.”

Another pause in the conversation as Baron Nine processed the hypothesis.  He replied a moment later, “I…what does the future hold for me, Doctor?  I am something new…and something old.”

Ford stood and went to his bookshelf, searching the spines until he landed on what he was looking for, “There was a captain who wondered something similar.”  He searched the pages and smiled wide when he found the section he had underlined and handed it over to Baron who read as Milton continued, “Captain Kirk spoke those words after intervening in a conspiracy to throw the galaxy into chaos.  There was a lot of fear around the future with the Klingons and what that meant for the Federation.  Cooler heads prevailed.”  He nodded to the book, “Kirk and those with him understood what the future could and should mean.”

Baron Nine read aloud, “Some people think the future means the end of history.”  He traced the words as his eyes moved across them, “We haven’t run out of history quite yet.”  He read the remaining text silently, glancing up as he finished, “The future is The Undiscovered Country.”  He looked at the book, “You’re saying there is so much more to discover about me…and myself.  That the future is mine to be discovered.”

“Yes.  And we’ll be here to help you through it.  What do you think?”  Baron Nine asked if he could keep the book to read the rest, and Milton agreed.

“I think…I think that I am something new and undiscovered…and that my new mission is to understand who I am now…so I can find my way on that path.”  He stood, “Thank you, Doctor Ford.  Same time tomorrow?”  Ford nodded and Nine left the room.

Milton finished his notes and submitted them to the captain.  He didn’t know what the future held for Baron Nine or even for the Olympic.  

He did know they would discover it together.