“So we’re blind.”  Captain Wren Walton sat on the edge of the center seat as her second-in-command, Park Seoyeon, finished with the report on the conditions of the nebula.  The screen filled with static, and the lights flickered as the unique qualities around them impacted the power regulating systems.  “At least we won’t be alone in stumbling around this thing.  Ensign Castillo?”

The Chief Flight Control Officer gritted her teeth as she felt what was in front of her, “I can see maybe ten feet in front of me, captain.  It’s like the worst kind of fog.”  She kept an eye on the scattered sensor reports from her console, “We’re getting hints on where the Sphere might be compared to our position, but it’s sporadic.”  She didn’t add, I’ll take stumbling around in the darkness versus getting assimilated.

Walton put her hands together as if to pray, “Steady on then.  Can you extrapolate the exit point of the nebula?”  She didn’t like being trapped anywhere, and wandering around with an unhappy Borg Sphere was pretty low on her list of experiences she wanted to have.

Thasaz was running her hands across the console, “We started mapping the exterior. as much as we could.  It’s large, but there are some indicators of where the exit points would be,” she put the scans on the screen, “There will be significant readings of these three variables.  The good news is our shields are unaffected.  Everything else is crap.”

Thirty minutes had passed.  Castillo shifted them carefully through the clouds of gas and energy.  She’d seen readings that suggested the Sphere was nearby.  She’d resisted the urge to take a hard right turn or dive down into the basement of the nebula at full impulse.  She’d been excited to take on the challenge.  Now, she would be happy to get free of this thing and back in the clear black background of space. Gabriella was aiming for a collection of readings that looked promising.  Suddenly, the ship shook as alarms and klaxons rang.

Kondo’s hands were on his console now, “That was a near miss from a Borg weapon, captain.  It slid across the shields.  We’re holding at 90% – engineering has dispatched damage control teams.”  He glanced sideways at his helm partner, “Recommending a course change, Ensign.”  She saw the adjustment and gave a nod, her eyes still wide.  The Borg had nearly missed them and taken their shields down ten percent.  The warnings from her captain were no longer rooted in theory.  They would die at the hands of the Borg if they couldn’t get away.

Walton remained on the edge of her seat, “Thasaz?”

“They might be tracking us.  The team is evaluating.”  She paused and turned, “We should disable our transponders, communications systems, and passive operating systems – where it is safe to.”

“Make it happen,” was her answer.

Thirty more minutes had passed.  The shields had returned to full strength.  Castillo had put them on a diagonal transit pattern, hoping to find a way out. Her hands gently crossed her console, her eyes watching the sensor readings closer as she and Kondo worked in tandem, identifying what was around them, near them, and behind them in hopes of getting a navigational miracle.

The floor beneath them shook with a heavy drop as the lights on the bridge exploded in sparks and fire.  Castillo clenched her jaw tightly to prevent the screams that were erupting in her throat while she held onto her console tightly, feeling gravity pulling at her as the ship shook around her. Gabriella’s eyes searched the sensors wildly for a guestimate on the Sphere as the bridge continued to shudder.  As the seconds passed, she took a risk and sent the Mackenzie into a hard left turn, and the floor stopped shaking.  She looked up from her console and gasped.  The emergency lights were on, and people were slowly picking themselves off the floor. The fans engaged, drawing away the low-hanging smoke and the acrid smell of burnt flesh.

Walton accepted the hand of her XO as she was pulled off the floor.  “I’m fine,” she waved off the concerned look and gestured to the rest, “Get them checked out.”  She walked to the front console, finding a new depth for her burning hate of the Borg and the Delta Quadrant.

Her tactical officer, Kondo, reported, “Shields are at 75% – that was a direct hit.  Looking at what little the sensors can tell us, that was a chance meeting – we passed right by each other before I lost them again.”  He turned to Gabriela, her face crestfallen.  “You couldn’t have prevented that, Ensign.”

Wren agreed, “The bastards got lucky.”  She looked at Castillo and motioned a medic over, “Take a look at that head.”  The ensign tried to protest, but the captain leaned down to meet her eyes, “We need you at your best.  You’re keeping us all alive.  We’re going to do the same for you, ensign.”  Castillo swallowed nervously and nodded, her hands working on steering the Mackenzie out and away from this nightmare.

It had been over two hours since they’d entered the nebula.  Castillo’s back was sore from her position and attention to the situation.  She felt the aches and pangs of frustration and anxiety mixing around in her muscles, screaming for resolution.  Another turn to the right and a downward shift completed her recent attempt to find a way out of the clouds that taunted them from a malfunctioning viewscreen.  They hadn’t felt the sting of the Borg since the second attack.  The lights had been repaired, and the carpet cleaned in the interim.  Thasaz hadn’t been able to detect the mechanical nightmares either.  The helm officer sat up, “Captain, I think I have a reading on an exit!”

Thasaz looked at what the ensign was referring to, “It’s the best reading we’ve had.”  She felt the relief flooding her body.  Were they finally going to escape them?  Walton ordered a course change, and the Mackenzie swerved towards a possible exit.  All eyes were glued to the screen as they inched closer and closer until…,”That is definitely an exit.”

Castillo waited to smile in relief until they were clear from the clouds and for Kondo to check his threat screens, to which he reported, “We’re in the clear.  Nobody in range.”  There were gasps of thanks and sighs of relief across the bridge as Walton put her head in her hands, relieved that this part of the journey had ended.

“Set a course for the planet, maximum warp.  Park, have Doctor Longfellow meet me in Cargo Bay One.  We need to figure out why the Borg were ready to chase us.  You have the CONN.”