“We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!”

Resting her hands in her lap, Captain Rio Canção felt a cold chill go down her spine as she saw the visual of the Borg settlement on the broken planet before her. No sympathy for them entered her thoughts for those drones that had probably died the moment the cube had crashed into the planet. After listening to her chief science officer theorise about what may have happened, Canção couldn’t help but wonder if they had stumbled onto something that would help them know more about the Federation’s deadliest foe or if was there more of a mystery here than they could see. Knowing her squadron commander as well as she did, she knew that James would want to investigate.

In his chair to her right, her first officer sat, looking down at the holographic console he was operating to his right-hand side. Hearing the Borg’s common hail had not made her flinch, instead, she remembered the first time she had heard it. The time when she and her first husband attempted to flee the Collective. The time when the Borg had crushed her people and assimilated them, leaving countless of her people as refugees across the galaxy. Now to see them in this state, a sense of satisfaction filled her. 

“Natima, lock a full spread of quantum torpedoes on the location of that transmission,” Canção ordered. “Prepare to fire on my command, the moment Fleet Captain McCallister tells us to.”

The young Cardassian lieutenant behind the captain appeared concerned at first at hearing that order but dutifully did as she was told. 

Those orders made Commander Thaustin turn in his chair and speak quietly. “Ma’am, I don’t need to remind you that the Borg won’t attack unless they perceive you as a threat.”

Leaning over to her first officer, she spoke quietly but seriously with him. “Thaustin, that opening hail was provocation enough for them to consider us and the rest of the squadron a threat.”

Nervous by what he had just heard, the young first officer just nodded his head. “Understood, captain,” He responded.

On the other side of her, Counsellor Naef-Oron noticed the exchange between the two leaders and cleared his throat to grab their attention. The large Brikar was massive but had a soft side that made him an excellent counsellor. “If I’m not mistaken, captain, the Borg Collective would normally have opened fire by now or taken action to begin assimilating us. This is not usual behaviour.”

“Naef is right,” Canção agreed. “What are they up to? Any ideas, people?”

Commander Belire Kazlaf was sitting in her hover chair, covered by her eco-skeleton framework when she answered the captain while still remaining focused on the sensor readings coming in on the science console before her. “I think they’re scanning us, but doing it in a subtle attempt.”

Turning to the Elyasian woman, Canção was intrigued by that idea. “Explain, commander.”

“Their sensor array, though damaged, is performing low-level scans of us and the other ships in the squadron,” Kazlaf reported. “At this rate, they wouldn’t have completed a proper scan for another hour or so.”

“That doesn’t seem very efficient,” Thaustin said. “I thought they liked to be efficient and straight to the point.”

“The Borg don’t do anything unless it gives them an advantage,” Cançāo stated. “So what are they trying to get the upper hand on with us?” 

“I can’t determine, that shield that is protecting their settlement is powerful.” Kazlaf shared with a shake of her head. 

“What if they can’t perform the scan like normal?” Thaustin suggested. “Is there anything else in the system that is preventing them from doing normal Borg-like behaviour?”

“I’d need to transport to stellar cartography to get a better look at that,” Kazlaf replied.

Believing that was a good idea, Canção nodded and instantly the commander used the ship’s site-to-site transporter to beam herself to stellar cartography. It had been adjusted to allow her to use the zero-g environment she was more comfortable with and the holographic controls gave her the chance to fly among the stars while she scanned. 

Canção turned back to the viewscreen and still felt that chill in her spine. The Borg were up to something. She was certain of it.