previously on the Encinitas…

“Status report!” barked Liam.

“Captain, the boarding party has been beamed aboard, and one has been beamed directly to sickbay,” reported the Transporter Chief.

“Unfortunate…” said Liam, having expected no injuries.

“Doctor, what’s the status of the patient?

“Stable” was the short reply after being interrupted.

“How strange that the creatures have seemingly disappeared,” mused Camelia with her eyebrows arched.

“Status report on engineering?”

“On the good side of the news, the warp core is stable again”, reported Didier.

“Strategic.”

Martin looked at his console and said, “The shields are back to normal and-” and he was interrupted by the Communications Officer.

back to the present…

“Captain, incoming transmission from Commodore Ekwueme, sir. Priority one.”

Well, that’s weird; Liam and Nydia both had their eyebrows arched up so high they practically disappeared. They did not expect a call from a commodore…

“On screen” was the simple response of the captain. The dark screens suddenly lit up and showed the face of a commodore.

“Unexpected call, Commodore, what may I do for you?” replied Liam, his eyebrows partially arched up.

“Ah, captain… I have rather unfortunate news and have to brief you quite quickly with the rest of the information in the data that will be sent to you after this transmission.”

“Captain, we have reports of the Borg being sighted again, and they have been confirmed. They are back, captain; I repeat, they are back.”

Everyone’s faces that were currently on the bridge paled to a noticeable degree, with the captain palling to a lesser degree than the rest of the bridge crew.

“There were rumors that they are back, but there was no credible evidence.”

Liam, being an intelligence operative for Starfleet intelligence in the past, had privy to information deemed classified and above, yet he heard no such chatter of the Borg. He heard of rumors about the collective stirring again, but there was no confirmation of them actually being there.

The rumors are that the Borg devices separated from the collective are “waking up” and that Borg devices that were believed to be defunct are activating to create a signal, a rather simple homing beacon. No one in Starfleet or in the intelligence community wanted to say anything really, as the scars both physically and mentally from Frontier Day were still as fresh as snow.

“Captain, we didn’t even hear any chatter. We had suspicions and rumors that the collective was stirring again, but ultimately, we had no credible intelligence that said so. They were just there, but there was no intent. Long-distance scanners picked up Borg signatures in the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant but no confirmed sign of aggression.”

That was concerning, very concerning considering that the Borg were usually aggressive upfront. As Liam was musing, he was brought back to reality by the voice of the commodore.

“Captain, you have standing orders to join the Fourth Fleet in this operation. We do not speak of this operation. All other details will be sent to you after this transmission.”

“One last order: your ship doesn’t have the capability to face the Borg. So your standing order is to gather intelligence and report to the head of intelligence for the Fourth Fleet. I know that you know how this works as a decorated intelligence officer and team leader.”

The commodore, with all seriousness in his face, then said, “Good luck and godspeed.”

The commodore’s transmission ended abruptly, and the bridge crew of the Encinitas all looked at the captain.