Standing at the head of the observation lounge table, Noli watched the assembled commanders of the Squadron with great interest as each absorbed the terrible news she had just burdened them with. Captain Ryan of the Hypatia, the unknown component around the table, was leaning on the back of a holographic chair and cursing under his breath. Captain Giarvar Kauhn, her good friend and former crewmate, clenched his eyes closed, rubbed his forehead with one hand and clasped the other across his holographic chest. Fleet Captain Kelvan Vos, the senior of the group in more ways than one, was the most composed of the lot, but even he had his holographic hands on his holographic hips, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re sure of the data?” Ryan asked, looking up from the chair.

Kauhn glared across the table at the newest member of the team. “If Noli says her team have found this, then they’ve found it.” Kauhn’s blind faith in the young upstart Captain seemed to rile the human in the group and a heated discussion erupted that caused the young woman to step forward and silence her holographic counterparts.

“There is no doubting it,” she spoke with a raised voice, stopping her colleagues in their tracks. “While the signal is somewhat feint, it is there, and definitely within the Etrada Nebula. What it is, what it does, we’re not sure and won’t know until we get closer, but it is definitely them.”

“Gods damn it,” a nightmare scenario to be sure for the Fleet Captain’s first assignment as leader of the Squadron. Holographic Efrosian Vos tutted, his hands glued to his hips. “I genuinely thought we had seen the last of them.”

“You never see the last of them,” Ryan interjected, shaking his head at the senior officer. “It doesn’t matter where you go, or what you do, they’re everywhere, involved in everything. Insidious. All that matters now is how we are going to deal with it, and no disrespect to you or your crew Noli, but I think a more experienced commander should be dealing with this.” Ryan spoke with authority, gained over years of being in command of vessels that routinely dealt with situations like the developing scenario the Squadron had been slapped in the face with. It was also his opinion that the more experience the better for a commander when dealing with such a threat.

“You’re not thinking of taking Hypatia in there are you?” Kauhn scowled across at the commander of his previous posting. “She’s not equipped to deal with a such threat,” he reminded Ryan – like he needed to.

“I’m pretty sure I’m the most qualified around this table. It’s not the ship that matters, but the people,” Ryan retorted.

“That’s exactly why Noli will go,” Vos countered sternly, drawing the discussion to a close. “Proteus and her team found the signal, they should be the ones to deal with it. They’re closer to it and are just as experienced as any of us when it comes to threats of this magnitude, if not more so.” The giant of a hologram turned and looked at the young Bajoran and smiled.

“Get out there, get the lay of the land, and I expect regular check-ins. However you choose to proceed with the mission from there on in, I’ll have your back, Captain. Meanwhile, the rest of the Squadron will assemble in the Zaran system should you need them,” the older man assured her, and Noli responded with a heartfelt smile of her own.

“Aye sir,” she nodded in agreement. “See you all when you get here,” she smirked, winking at her friend from the Lakota in particular before the holograms flickered and faded from existence and left her alone at the table.

Right on cue, the senior staff arrived for their briefing amid an array of conversations, most of them looking rather perplexed as they took their seats around the table. A hush soon descended once Noli took her seat the the head of the table, hands clasped together on the table before her.

“I know none of you expected to be here right now, but something’s come up,” she let out a sigh and gestured to the wall-mounted screen, “something you’re not going to like.”

On the giant display, an image of several overlapping lines quivering freely drew everyone’s attention. Most failed to understand what they were looking at beyond the basics – an energy signal – but some spotted it instantly, the blood draining from their young faces.

“What exactly are we looking at?” Lieutenant Kesha Iddar, the Cardassian physician, was a confessed technophobe. If something wasn’t important to her duties as a medical officer, she had a hard time understanding it, so all these random lines and sensor data patterns were as baffling to her as a medical journal would no doubt be to most of those around the table.

“It’s a Borg transmitter signal,” a Bolian woman at the end of the table answered quietly, the tone used signalling her discomfort as much as the expression on her face did.

Whilst many were taken aback by her declaration, two of her crewmates knew exactly how she felt. Each of them was eminently qualified to make such a declaration given their unique understanding among the collective gathered at the table. No one here had experienced what they had in recent months. No one. They hadn’t had their humanity stripped from them, forced to kill those they cared about. They hadn’t been forced to commit utterly heinous atrocities whilst entirely powerless to stop themselves. And they hadn’t had to deal with the hatred and loathing of people they had once called friends. It had taken months for Fyhya Kiras, Lauren Mitchell and Pamao Zh’ito to forgive themselves for their part in the disastrous Frontier Day chaos, never mind to earn the forgiveness of their colleagues, and now they were being reminded of that day all over again.

A Borg transmitter signal was impossible for any former drone to miss.

“Where did you find it?” Lauren eventually asked, breaking the silent deadlock around the table, eyes fixated on the waving lines.

Rising to his feet, the brutish XO wandered to the display and tapped some of the buttons on the panel. “Sensors picked up the signal emanating from deep within the Etrada Nebula over an hour ago,” he told in his usual drawl whilst the display changed to show the signal’s location compared to their own.

Noting the lack of other signals on the display, Chief Engineer Mora shook his head in frustration. “Why is it whenever something big goes on, we’re always the only ship in range?” he asked.

“Much of the fleet is engaged in operations dealing with the black market and the Syndicate,” Noli replied, momentarily drawing the focus back to her. “Fleet Captain Vos has dispatched the rest of the squadron to reinforce Zaran IV, but we’ve been ordered to investigate.”

“Is there a possibility of Syndicate involvement here?” Operations chief Lieutenant T’Mia asked from the seat at the bottom of the table.

“I doubt it,” Onsas shrugged, wandering around the table and returning to the seat at Noli’s right. “the nebula is a long way from any sign of Orion activity.” He pulled out his chair and slipped into it comfortably.

Sitting forward in his chair, the Romulan man to Noli’s left answered this time. “Best case scenario is we’re looking at some form of Borg component that has reactivated and will be relatively easy to deal with,” the older gentleman suggested, “the alternative is…”

“Some form of Borg vessel,” Mitchell interrupted the science chief, finally diverting her gaze back to those in the room. “Whatever it is, we need to deal with it quickly. If we’ve detected the signal, god knows who else will,” she told honestly.

“Number One,” Noli looked towards the executive officer beside her as she rose to her feet. “We’ll leave behind any personnel that are non-mission critical for the journey to the nebula so that we can continue efforts here. Get everyone else back aboard in the next thirty minutes. Lieutenant Kiras, we’ll make our way to Etrada, warp seven.”

As the senior staff vacated the room in hushed conversation once more, three young women sat in silence, watching the monitor on the wall. No words were said, only tears forming in the corner of their eyes gave any indication of their emotional state. Each knew how the others felt, for they felt exactly the same; being assimilated by the Borg had been the hardest, most traumatic experience of their lives, and now they were being forced to relive it all over again. Every last detail, every defining moment.

The Borg.

As insidious as ever.