Carrying Trev over their shoulders, Captain Cambil with Doctor Forbes were trying to keep the Tellarite chief engineer alive for now. Holding her phaser out in front of her, Cambil was determined that she (and the rest of the senior staff) were to reach their safe fallback position. When Lenjir announced it was safe to move, Cambil ordered them off the turbolift and towards Sickbay. 

Proceeding across deck twelve, they came across more of their crew who the Borg had taken over. Moving off her bridge so quickly, the captain hadn’t had enough time to digest everything that had happened so far. Instead, Cambil was living in the moment. Her thoughts were rushing from one idea to another. As the others laid down phase fire, she worked with Samris to carry the injured Tellarite to the side junction they used as a defensive point. Leaving Forbes to deal with Trev, she joined the others in fighting off the horde of partially assimilated crew trying to kill them.

“This is ridiculous,”  Hunsen grumbled as he took out two officers from airponics. “By the grace of the Four Deities.”

Cambil couldn’t agree anymore with her Betazoid first officer. This was unbelievable. How were they meant to survive this? Before she could respond, T’Rani had spoken for her.

“There is no logic in this situation, commander,” The Vulcan pilot said as she took down an engineer. So far, they were winning—only three more to go before they could reach sickbay safely.

“My love, this is no time to begin debating logic. This is a new version of the Borg we are dealing with and not exactly the type we can be certain follow any logic,” Samris said. The Romulan counsellor was crouching down by his fiancée’s knees to get a different angle.

“Samris may be right,” Jines added as he took out a security officer – two left to go. The chief operations officer was nursing an impressive bruise under his left eye after he had tackled one of the junior officers on the bridge. His hand-to-hand combat effort had resulted in them punching him back before Hunsen had stunned them. “That said, I firmly believe that once a Borg, always a Borg!”

“Shit,” Forbes shouted in frustration as he threw his medical tricorder and the hypospray in his hands onto the floor.

Cambil turned around, as did Hunsen, to look at the doctor, just as Lenjir took out the last Borg. Both captain and first officer were surprised as Forbes looked at them with a sad expression. Trev had died in his arms. His injuries from a phaser set to a high setting in close proximity were too much for the doctor to treat without access to sickbay. They had just lost their chief engineer.

“Shit!” Forbes repeated as he pushed back the tears and stood up. He ripped off his dress uniform jacket and placed it over Trev’s face and body. 

Cambil looked at Hunsen. She may not have been able to read his mind, but she knew what he was thinking. The loss of their chief engineer was heart-wrenching. Standing up, she vowed not to let Trev’s death beat them. They would get through this. Whatever it took. She tapped on her combadge, “Cambil to anyone who is left. If you can get off the ship, then do it.” The captain closed the channel. “Alright, listen up; we must get off this deck before the Borg traces our location. Ideas?”

Jines, who had placed a comforting hand on Forbes’ shoulder to consolidate the loss of Tre, turned to his captain. “Let’s take Jefferies tube seventeen via sickbay, captain.”

“Why Jefferies tube seventeen, Decter?” Cambil asked her.

“It sits behind environmental controls,” Jines answers. “We pick up some neurozine canisters and then flood the entire ship.”

“The Borg had locked down environmental controls like most of the other primary command systems,” Lenjir added.

“Probably not the backup emergency systems,” Forbes stated as he composed himself. “Decter’s idea will work if we simulate a ship-wide biohazard, making the computer think there’s contamination on all decks.”

“Forcing the ventilation system to open,” Jines added. 

Agreeing to the idea, Cambil smiled at them both. “I like it; let’s get to sickbay.” She ordered

“What about everyone else on the ship that isn’t with us and not a Borg?” Hunsen asked. 

“Unfortunately, they may have to be collateral damage once we release the gas,” Cambil said as they walked over the officers they had just stunned. Picking up their weapons, the group moved quickly through the corridor and eventually reached Sickbay. 

Moving in fast, they checked to ensure the area was clear. Once it was safe, Forbes got to work collecting the canisters. Everyone else secured sickbay by locking the doors before using their phasers to melt the doors together.

“Even if this works, surely the Borg on the other ships will notice their drones on here are not operational any more. What’s to stop them from attacking us and destroying us like they did to the Excelsior?” Samris asked aloud.

Realising he had a point, the group paused. Cambil knew he was right. With the Fleet Formation mode in effect, they could lose everything if they took the Borg out on their ship. 

It was a no-win scenario. 

Cambil would prefer to sacrifice the Themis instead of letting the Borg use it for whatever else they had planned. Then an idea hit her head.

“Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Holographic program,” Cambil said. 

“Welcome to Sickbay; please state the nature of the medical emergency,” spoke the EMH in her deep feminine voice. Stood before them was Themis’s holographic doctor, that had been updated just before they had left for the Delta Quadrant earlier in the year. Cambil had named her after the Bajoran doctor who delivered her as a baby. Korean was an average-height Bajoran woman with thick, curly brown hair and a broad, friendly smile. 

“Korena, am I right in saying you have the authorisation to modify the fetal transport unit?” Cambil asked the holographic Bajoran woman. 

Confused by the question, the EMH just nodded. “Yes, captain, myself and Doctor Forbes can both do that.”

“Then,” Cambil said as she shoved a spare phaser into Korena’s hand, “I need you to do it so you can beam all of us out of the Jefferies tube and then beam us to any of the shuttles or escape pods that remain.”

Still perplexed by what the captain was asking of her, Cambil quickly summarised what they were dealing with and planning to do. The EMH eventually nodded, and with some help from Hunsen, they modified the transporter to work on a larger group and not just a baby. Being a non-primary system, the Borg would have no access to it. 

Cambil then turned to them all. “Here’s the plan, we knock out the Borg, and then Doctor Korena will beam us to an escape vehicle. We’ll get off the Themis before the Borg realise what we’ve done and where we’ve gone.” Pausing, she looked at them all. “Let’s get moving,” She ordered her crew. 

They all nodded and knew this plan may work or may not. Either way, they would do some damage before trying to find a safe haven somewhere. With the fleet now attacking Spacedock, Cambil had wondered where they would go once they abandoned the ship. Perhaps Earth? Or New Berlin on the Luna colonies? Or would it be best if they went further? Maybe they should head to Alpha Centauri? Then it dawned on her, what if this Borg signal was being transmitted across the entire Federation? Had places like Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar Prime fallen? Then she paused. What about Bajor? Had her homeworld been taken over? Had Deep Space Nine been lost? Who was protecting the Celestial Temple? Knowing she couldn’t answer any of these questions, the one final thought that had crossed her mind was knowing if her sons and husband were safe. They had organised accommodation on Earth. Would Earth survive the fleet’s attack once Spacedock fell? Probably not. Earth would most likely become like Mars. Burning in flames for years to come. Could she save her family now? She didn’t know. For that notion, she hated herself. Why didn’t she just remain on Olbari with them? At least they would have been together during this fiasco. 

As she entered the crawlspace, Cambil closed her eyes and prayed to the Prophets they would look after them all and show them the guidance they needed to succeed. To survive. An intervention by the Prophets would be a welcome one right now. Nevertheless, she made peace with herself, knowing that if she failed, she would be with her loved ones in the Celestial Temple soon. 

“Jia’kaja, tre’nu’tol’a rem. La’por i’lanu kos. L’nar tan’a’tali nor.” Cambil chanted as they moved through the tunnels. 

Hoping the Prophets were listening to her.