Shuttlecraft Young (NCC-76991/01)

Though they had arrived ahead of schedule, the mammoth task of hauling the massive wreck from the Borg Cube now faced the four pilots. Sitting comfortably but hard at work, Bollwyn reviewed the incoming sensor feeds. They were far from the ship, and their return trip would be tricky, so he had to know everything before they attached their tractor beams to it.

“This large section of the Cube appears to be mostly intact, though I’m not detecting any active drones,” He shared over the intercom. “There are some active power nodes, and regenerative forcefields have sealed off a few internal areas. I suspect whatever caused the Cube to explode, that elements of it activated emergency procedures to protect as much as possible.”

Shuttlecraft Crippen (NCC-76991/06)

Looking at the information pouring in, Mkana nodded to the assessment given by Bollwyn and tapped onto the console. “Do we know what this part of the cube was part of? I mean, if it is a valuable part, it could contain more accurate information on what happened to it or better say why it happened.” 

Shuttlecraft Young (NCC-76991/01)

“Based on what we know about Borg Cube designs, this area of the ship may include the Central Plexus,” Bollwyn shared. “I’m sure the captain and the others would be interested in accessing it to see if the Cube still has any records of its last connection with the Collective.”

The young scientist tapped away at his scans before speaking further down the intercom with the others. “That said, the outer hull itself is heavily damaged. We are going to have to take it easy as we move it. There’s no active deflector field, so any rocks or ice that hit it will cause damage.”

Shuttlecraft Crippen (NCC-76991/06)

“If we stay in formation, it should be a piece of cake. We need at least one confident pilot to shoot down the rocks and ice to keep the rest safe. Any volunteers for the job?” Mkana tried to create a valid formation to keep them safe and achieve their goal of tugging this piece back. 

Shuttlecraft Glover (NCC-76991/02)

“I’ll do it,” Adler said, speaking through the comms. “I have pretty good aim. So it should be a piece of cake.” He said confidently. He was one of the best pilots in his class. He was sure he could hit the rocks and ice without hurting his crew mates or the Cube piece they were trying to recover.

Shuttlecraft Engle (NCC-76991/03)

Ashton had been sitting there listening to the conversation. He was still a bit nervous about the mission. It wasn’t his flying. He knew he could fly almost anything when he needed to. It was the whole teamwork stuff. He’d never done anything like they were about to attempt. The others sounded extremely confident, so he was happy to sit back, listen and let them lead. He’d do what was needed of him.

Shuttlecraft Young (NCC-76991/01)

“Right, let’s get this done, then,” Bollwyn suggested over the channel. He pressed a few buttons on his shuttlecraft and then shared what he had done with the others. “I’ve selected the coordinates of the best areas for our tractors to tug from. I’m transmitting them to you now.” 

As soon as he pressed the sent button, he tapped his own tractor beam emitters to begin powering up. “By my own calculations, we will need to remain at one-half impulse to pull this giant mess without causing too much damage to us and it.”

Shuttlecraft Crippen (NCC-76991/06) 

“Received, setting course to my angle.” Following the lead of the shuttlecraft Young, Mkana manoeuvres his shuttle to the given coordinates. Hovering before the piece, Mkana made some final scans. “I am detecting a structural failure on my side. I must recalibrate the tractor beam, or I might damage it too much.” 

He started to scan the hull another time just to be sure and set up the parameters for the tractor beam. 

Shuttlecraft Engle (NCC-76991/03)

Ashton received his coordinates and moved his shuttle into place. “Shuttlecraft Engle in position and ready to lock on,” he said over the open comms. As he waited for the others to get into position, he scanned the area he was to lock onto. Everything seemed solid. Getting the damaged piece secured didn’t seem like too big of an issue. Ashton felt the whole moving it as a unit was where they would run into problems. He told himself that he was just overthinking it. Time was the only thing that would tell. He closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer for him and the team.

Shuttlecraft Crippen (NCC-76991/06) 

“Begin locking” Mkana gave the command as he tapped a few times on his console as his shuttle grabbed onto the Borg piece. “Lock confirmed, holding structure in position.” He looked at the information pouring into his console. “Glover, we got some incoming debris; please take care of that.” Mkana saw the alert on his console. 

Shuttlecraft Glover (NCC-76991/02)

“I got it,” Adler said as he tapped on his console, repositioning his shuttle as he selected each of the incoming debris and opened fire. “You’re clear,” he said to them.

Shuttlecraft Engle (NCC-76991/03)

Ashton locked on to his coordinates, and a few minutes later, the shuttles were dancing across space like a well-choreographed ballet. Ashton was just thinking about how smoothly things were going when he heard Mkana contact the Glover about some debris. Adler moved in swiftly and de-escalated the situation with ease. 

With everyone’s attention drawn to the debris ahead of them, no one caught a glimpse of the one approaching the Engle from behind. The collision took Ashton by surprise. “I’m hit.” he quickly told the others as he began a diagnostic of his systems. “We’re good. We’re good. Everything seems to be running just……” There was another sudden jolt, and Ashton’s tractor beam began losing power. “Scratch that,” he added and told the others about the power loss.

Shuttlecraft Young (NCC-76991/01)

“Keep going, everyone. I’ve got you covered, Ashton,” Bollwyn stated over the intercom as he increased the power to his tractor beam, and the onboard computer confirmed full synchronisation from everyone. “Shuttlecraft Young to Columbia, we are on our way to bringing you a nice piece of treasure!”