‘I’m surprised you did this.’ Airex slid into the booth in the Safe House across from Valance, holding one of the glasses of Efebian Fizz the bartender was pouring and laying out as Endeavour’s crew filtered into the lounge. Most were out of uniform, and after so many long weeks of difficult work these past months, it was perhaps the most relaxed he’d seen the crew since returning.

‘It’s an important day,’ said Valance a little stiffly. ‘Two hundred and fifty years of Starfleet.’

Airex worked his jaw. Now wasn’t the time to debate that point. He shrugged. ‘I’m not saying it’s bad. These are important occasions for the crew. You look like you don’t know what to do with yourself, though.’

Her expression twitched. ‘Rourke could walk the tables and chat and it wouldn’t ruin the party atmosphere. I don’t chat.’

‘I don’t either,’ he sighed. ‘You’ll find your way.’

‘Perhaps.’ Her gaze turned to the gathered officers. Not even most of the senior staff were present, just Lindgren, Kally, and Winters, but it was still a good crowd. Still people she knew and had worked with for some time, either forged bonds with over the long years or had connected with on the Pathfinder and couldn’t conceive of leaving behind. She gestured at the tall screen filling almost a whole wall, showing the live feed from the Sol system. ‘Here comes the Enterprise.’

The screen shifted to show the flagship launching out of Starbase 1, and the chattering of the room hushed for the occasion. Frontier Day had begun. The simple majesty of the flagship. The speech of Admiral Shelby.

Hell broke loose only minutes later.

‘Eliminate the -’

Kharth didn’t know why Lieutenant Athaka had rounded on her and drawn his phaser, but she’d been on her feet and approaching his post at Ops when the scrambled communication flooded the bridge. It took little more than instinct before she’d twisted his wrist, snapped the phaser from his hand, and slammed a blow into his solar plexus. The impact sent the young Coridanite staggering back, but he didn’t look winded. Didn’t sound pained. Didn’t look anything.

She turned in time to see Valance’s yeoman Nestari emerge from the ready room and shoot Lieutenant Turak in the chest. ‘All of you – stand down!’

A hand grabbed her arm, and she almost lashed out again. But it was Logan, his skin clear, his eyes wide, moving with fearful purpose instead of the emotionless determination of the others. ‘We gotta go.’

Will Griffin was by the turbolift, veins dark against his grey skin, so it was to the rear of the bridge that they went, rushing through the wide open doors to the conference room. Nestari levelled her phaser at them, looking a better and more confident shot than Kharth had ever seen her. Then Logan drew Kharth’s phaser from her holster and his snap-shot, set to stun, dropped her.

Even as Kharth hit the door controls to seal them in the conference room, she saw the yeoman stirring. ‘That was a level three stun -’

‘They’re Borg.’ Logan’s voice was ashen as he swept into the conference room, phaser raised, and went to seal the other door. ‘Can you lock all of these?’

‘Of course, but that’s impossible. I know you’re -’

‘I ain’t imagining things ‘cos I used to be Borg, it means I know what they goddamn look like.’ He had his hand pressed to the controls of the other door. ‘Seal it!’

She had to move to the main display panel to access the room’s controls, but her command codes were enough to lock the room as if it was holding a meeting of the highest classification. ‘I know you know, but – we’ve never even seen a Borg Cube, how the hell have they suddenly assimilated half the bridge crew, why not me and Turak, why not you –’

‘I don’t know!’ He stormed away from the far door to join her, jaw tense. ‘But you saw it, I saw it. “How” don’t matter. What matters, Kharth, is you got Borg on your bridge.’

He was right; she hadn’t been panicking, exactly, but comprehension could come after resolution. ‘Then let’s stop them.’ But only error messages met her as she tried to access further commands from the control panel. She swore. ‘They’ve already locked down communication systems and shut down remote access to bridge commands. Even my command codes aren’t giving me control of anything more than this room. Nestari and Athaka don’t have the codes to do that.’

‘The Collective does,’ he groaned. ‘Which means the only place to lock them out will be the likes of Main Engineering or the bridge itself.’

Her eyes flickered to the window just as she felt a rumble of the deck. ‘We’re moving.’ She couldn’t access any bridge commands, but she had view-only access. A few taps brought short-range sensors up on the main display, and her heart leapt into her throat. ‘They’re taking us to Teros IV.’

Logan’s breath caught. ‘“Eliminate all non-assimilated,” they were saying. This is something different.’

Kharth’s hands thundered as she brought up internal sensors. ‘This is happening all over the ship – crewmembers are being assimilated, they’re turning on everyone.’

‘Why is this only happening to some of us?’ Logan breathed, and she gave him a sharp look as she heard the other unspoken question: Why not me?

‘That’s back on the “how,”’ she said briskly. ‘I’m more worried about the what. The Borg aboard are killing people. We’re headed for Teros IV at top speed. There’s no way this ends well when we get there.’

Chief Petty Officer T’Kalla broke her beer bottle over the skull of Lieutenant Zherul. ‘Get the captain out of here!’ she bellowed over her shoulder, rounding on the next wave of transforming party-goers, with fighter squadron leader Lieutenant Tyderian at their head.

‘This way!’ Airex kicked open one of the access hatches and waved a frantic, ushering hand. Lindgren dived in without hesitation, but he had to grab Valance by the elbow to pull her back. ‘Karana!’

‘We can’t leave -’

‘We will die.’ He couldn’t have forced her. She was stronger than him. But the force of his words at least made Valance turn from the roiling fight in the mess hall, and climb into the Jefferies Tube after him. She grabbed the hatch, looking back. ‘T’Kalla!’

But the half-Vulcan veteran didn’t have a chance to move before the oncoming rush of assimilated crewmembers overtook her. They didn’t have weapons, but they had fists, shards of glass, chair legs. Valance hesitated for a moment, almost climbing back out.

Then Airex’s hand was at her shoulder again, and she slammed the hatch shut.

In the quiet dark, as they fought to get their breath back, she hammered her combadge. ‘Valance to bridge.’

There was no response but a faint crackle. Lindgren muttered as she pulled off her heels. ‘The comms aren’t down per se – that sound’s the system rejecting your connection. Someone’s taken control from the bridge.’ She tossed the shoes aside. ‘This isn’t the dress code for a crisis.’

‘This isn’t just happening all over the ship. This is happening at Earth,’ Airex breathed. ‘You saw them shoot Shelby; this could be galaxy-wide. So at least the dress code for a party didn’t include phasers.’

Valance’s stomach roiled. Crewmembers had reeled at the transmission that had cut across the whole ship. Then, just as some of them had transformed before her eyes, they’d turned on each other. On those who hadn’t changed. If they’d been properly armed, it would have been a bloodbath. ‘We can’t do anything about Earth,’ she decided. ‘We can do something about right here.’

‘If they’re on the bridge, they’ve got control of the ship,’ said Airex. ‘We can’t fight our way there.’

‘Then we head for Main Engineering,’ said Valance. ‘Via a weapons locker.’

The first locker they checked was already being raided by Borg. The second was empty. The third had only two phasers left, and when Valance heard footsteps down the far corridor, she didn’t wait to find out who they were before snatching the guns and diving back into the Jefferies Tube.

‘We’re moving,’ she said once she rejoined the other two. ‘The ship’s at full impulse, I can feel it.’

‘At least it’s not warp,’ said Lindgren.

‘For now. We should move.’

Getting to Main Engineering via Jefferies Tubes without heading for an access hatch that would put them right out into the open took a while. They had to prioritise stealth over speed and at least once wait for the coast to clear before they could cross a section of corridors to reach the next hatch. Eventually, they crawled out onto an upper-level gantry to peer at the scene below.

A dozen crewmembers, all with the pallid grey skin and blackened veins of the Borg. All armed by now. Dark bundles of fallen officers lay scattered across the deck, no more than half a dozen, all unmoving.

Valance’s throat caught. ‘That’s Adupon,’ she breathed, eyes falling on the body of the Bolian engineer. He’d served aboard as long as her.

‘I don’t see T’Varel, but we should assume we’re alone here. Without help,’ said Airex. ‘If we can get through them to the main control panel and seal off this section, we can use our command codes to lock out the bridge and restore control.’

‘Maybe from up here, with the element of surprise and a sudden burst of fire, we can take them down,’ mused Lindgren. ‘But then we’ve got to move fast to -’

They heard the footstep from the far side of the gantry just as the phaser shot went off. It took Lindgren in the hip, and Valance sprang to her feet, phaser coming up for return fire before she could even think. She shot true, the stun blast hitting the assimilated figure of Lieutenant Forrester and dropping her instantly.

Then all the heads of the Borg below snapped up.

‘Go, get her out of here!’ Valance yelled at Airex.

‘No,’ whimpered Lindgren, clutching her side. ‘I can -’

‘That’s an order!’ She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. But the engineering section of Endeavour was a warren of options for taking cover, moving about, hiding. Valance knew it well, had spent enough time here. This had once been Cortez’s domain, after all. Leaving it to the Borg felt like another violation on top of what was happening to her crew, to her ship.

Airex looked like he’d argue, then there were the heavy footsteps of Borg approaching the ladders, and with a muttered oath he reached down to drag Lindgren back to the Jefferies Tube.

As the hatch slammed shut behind him and Valance looked about the upper levels of engineering, considering her options before the Borg got here, she felt a different hum run through the decks of Endeavour.

They ship had opened fire.