“It’s an isolated location.  We would have missed it if we didn’t have a rough idea of where it was.  You can bet the Borg will eventually find it.”  Thasaz sat at the table in the briefing room, “We’ve reviewed the details from his computers and databanks…and he was right.  He didn’t build any failsafes into the first creation.  We ran some scenarios – the population could be anywhere from 100,000 to 500,000 by this point.”

Another tap of the table console, “Based on his record of their creation, DNA, and details on their body structure…they’re an ideal candidate for the Borg based on the scans we’ve been using to fine-tune the methodology.”

Commander Park leaned back in her chair, “Giving the Borg 100,000 bodies to assimilate would tip the balance of things around here.  We’d go from shit to…well, whatever’s next on the spectrum of crap in the Delta Quadrant.”

Captain Wren Walton steered them back on track, “It’ll take us two or so days to get there.  We’ve decided to keep the Nama people onboard – we move them to Markonian, and there’s a chance the Borg follow their scent there.  For now, we can bob and weave our way around them.”  She finished with, “There is another problem we can use the time to work on.”

Thasaz tapped the console one last time, “According to his records, the planet is hidden, but there’s not much protection outside of the interference.  Once a ship makes it inside, there are no defenses or naturally occurring ways to combat anything.  Which leads us to…,”  She gestured to their PADDS, “…we’re going to have to find a way to hide the planet from the Borg.  It’s a Goldilocks scenario – it has to be good enough to fool them, but it can’t be too complicated to rouse their suspicion that they’re being played.  Evacuation is out of the question if the numbers we’ve gamed out are accurate.  I’ve assigned you to a science team to lead them through the process.”

Walton leaned forward, her arms crossed on the table, “This is the priority over the next few days.  Commander Thasaz’s team identified the planet, its composition, and its general position in the system.  We must figure out how to make all that work with what we have to hide them.”  She looked around the table, “We’re in the business of saving…let’s rack up another win or two.”

Two days had passed. “What do we got?”  Wren sat forward in her chair.  Thasaz ran the sensors carefully.

“Pre-warp.  The population is over…holy sh…one million…the computer is still working on a full count.  There are six cities spread across the planet.”  Thasz was in disbelief at the numbers as they updated.  It had been over a thousand years.

Wren gasped, “That is much more than the computer estimates were…”  That was a lot of souls.  “That many bodies…would feed the Borg’s advances for a long time.”  She turned to Oscar Reede at communications, “What are you reading?”

He pressed a hand to ear, “Radio transmissions mostly – music, news, talk…they’ve got a planetwide radio network from what I can see.  There is also a television network…but not a satellite out there.” He read through the data, “I think they’ve done it through terrestrial transmission towers.”  The images from the shows played across his screens.

Thasaz said, “They can’t see or know we’re here.  No planetary defense system is detected…or any system to reach out here to see what’s happening.”

Walton dryly observed, “If he kept them hidden here all this time, they’ve never had a reason to look to the skies in fear or worry about what is out there.  Makes you think.” She wondered what she would have preferred – an eternity of peace with the threat of an apocalyptic enemy around a blind corner or the life she had lived in her service to Starfleet.

The crew watched the peaceful-looking planet momentarily, feeling the relief of not being chased or under threat.  The one thought nagging at the back of everyone’s mind was how long that would last.  Walton broke the moment, “Get your teams back together – let’s evaluate what we knew against what we’re seeing now.  Let’s figure out how we will save all one million people.”

“That nebula we went through…could it be…replicated?”  Assistant Engineering Chief Carolyn Crawford stood in the meeting room with her Chief, Commander Katsumi, and their engineers.  The holo screen at the center of the room displayed the qualities of the phenomena.

Katsumi rotated the image around, “Replicating it whole would give the Borg a reason to question the sudden formation of a nebula in the middle of this system.  They’d test the theory.”

Ensign Matthew Jarvis stepped forward and tapped into the console, “What if we…created the illusion of an apocalypse or something?  Like… an asteroid had impacted the planet and destroyed all organic life.”  The planet changed to reflect his suggestion, “The Borg are hunting for it…if we remove it, they’ll give up the hunt.”

Crawford moved closer to the plans and pointed out as she adjusted the inputs, “They’ll need to believe it…holographic presentations can be convincing…but we’d need to make sure there’s evidence on the planet of nothing left.”  She tapped a few more commands, “We can mask their life signs – we know how and what they’re looking for…if we install transmitters across certain points on the planet….”  She kept working as she talked through her plan, “We’d have to do some actual damage to some buildings to make it believable…”  Another round of console work, and she stepped back, “There.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s doable.”

Matt examined her work, impressed, “Solid.  Those transmitters…we could also modify these to not only prevent their signatures from being read…but we could also send readings to the Borg – massive casualties, a poisoned atmosphere…identify what the Borg aren’t willing to risk to assimilate and work that into the plan.”

Katsumi looked at both of them, “That’s good.  There’s one more piece you’re forgetting – the atmosphere will need some of that poison to convince the Borg it’s true.”  She scanned the holo screen, “It could be done with runabouts and shuttles disguised as the phenomena themselves – the movement and spreading of the atmosphere effect would hide them well enough, I think.”

“You’re going to have to be able to validate the violation of the Prime Directive.” They turned as the Chief Diplomatic Officer, Charlie Hargraves, stood in the doorway, “The other groups have similar suggestions…but yours seems the most plausible.”

Katsumi knew the answer: “The Prime Directive can be violated if certain requirements are met.”  She gestured to the plan on the holo screen, “I think we meet most of them.”

Charlie smiled in response.  Katsumi knew her business, and she wasn’t just an engineer.  She’d made a point of studying and working in the other departments on the Mackenzie recently.  “Compile a report and send it to the captain.”  He was about to turn when the Red Alert klaxons rang out, “Crap.  What now?”  He headed for the bridge while the group of engineers dashed to stations.