The crew morale was slowly restoring itself. They had survived the fearful Borg, even if they were in a state of chaos, serving them as a handicap. They were a force to witness, and if the tractor beam had captured them, no one would know what would happen next. Both Towalr and Sujian were now in the ready room, waiting for the call to be received from Starbase 86. It took longer due to the distance, but a call came through.

The figure appeared in front of them as Ryoko Takato stood there with some stuttering flickering here and there. She scanned the room and narrowed her eyes as they stopped at Towalr. “Commanders, I hope you are the bringing of good fortune. Did you succeed?” 

Towalr had his arms crossed over each other and shrugged for a brief moment. “We succeeded in the mission that you gave us. Lieutenant Vahdat is busy scanning the stadium for the pathogen. The cube was in a state of chaos for more than ten years.” Though he was unsure at this point, he heard one of the senior staff talk about it and looked at Sujian.

“The away team manages to retrieve it, yes. We would like to know where to bring the pathogen?" Sujian was not going to tell stories. He wanted to check on his sister as fast as possible. But being dragged into this room by Towalr made that option impossible. 

Listening to them both, it was only then that she noticed it. “Where is Captain Yoon-Jung?” Ryoko spoke calmly, but she hoped it wouldn't be as bad as the two were giving off with their body posture. 

“Captain Yoon-Jung is…” Towalr had difficulty wording it and scratched the back of his head.

“Captain Yoon-Jung led the mission to the cube. They managed to get to the most fruitful ground to get the pathogen. However, the team hit an obstacle or, better said, a safety net. Scan the drones in the regeneration alcove. You risk being seen as a threat. Captain Yoon-Jung took the risk, seeing the importance of this mission. The drones did get active in response to the invasive scanning. Doctor Ibrix managed to get enough pathogen out, but…” Sujian shrugged a bit, looking sideways for a moment before resuming.

“But Lieutenant Deem was not paying enough attention to her surroundings.” Looking back at Ryoko. “She almost got hit by a worker drone. The saw hit Captain Yoon-Jung in protecting Lieutenant Deem, cutting open her shoulder down partly to her right lung.” Looking sideways at Towalr, Sujian waited for him to continue.

Towalr blinked a few times before realizing he was following. “Right, yes, hmm, we managed to scare off some scavengers that were threatened by our appearance in the graveyard of Delta-408. But to the amazing skills of communication and diplomacy, yours truly. I managed to scare them off.” He nods proudly. “So on my orders, we went closer to the cube to find the away team as I suspected something was wrong from the start….and Lieutenant Alavidze managed to get the away team back onto the ship.” 

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she looked back at Sujian. “What is the status of the away team?” 

“Captain Yoon-Jung is still considered critical, but not due to her injury. The situation was dire at the cube. Doctor Ibrix managed to stitch her together, but she lost a lot of blood. So she had to be creative with her surroundings and used the nanoprobes she captured with the pathogen and injected it into the Captain to restore her.” Sujian shrugged at that idea. “But with the risk of Borgfication, Doctor Ibrix is doing her best to reverse it right now.” Taking a deep breath, “Lieutenant Deem is in a shell shock condition. We lost Petty Officer Dazz during this operation. The rest of the team made it out safely." 

Slowly nodding to the information, Ryoko took a second to process it. “That is troublesome. Well, it doesn't change the objective.” She mutters to herself.

The two looked at each other, confused, as Towalr spoke up, “What do you mean, Captain? Our objective is reached, and we will bring this specimen to the desired location." A wave of concern and uncertainty overcame him as he looked at Ryoko. “Right?” 

A cold facial expression response came to that question, “Not quite, Commander. The Tokyo is needed to resume the follow-up mission dictated by the Fourth Fleet Command. You are given time to recover yourself. Get the crew ready for this. Use your combined forces of Science and Engineering department to research the pathogen you have and see what is the best way to deploy it.” 

“De…deploy it?” Towalr manages to get it out, as even Sujian is quiet because of what was told. “What do you mean by deploying it” 

“Quite precisely the definition of what the word means, Commander. Tokyo is to deploy the pathogen on an active Borg ship and make sure it gives results. Your orders are to do it if possible, meaning I don't want you to die trying to see if the deployment is a success.” Ryoko would not add more people to the list who could face death and actually meet the reaper.

The fear that was dissolved by completing the mission was slowly crawling out of the shadows onto Towalr's skin, “This mission is a suicide run by definition.” He argued, “You can't make us go and do this…” 

“I will not have the same argument with you repeatedly, Commander.” Ryoko tsk for a second, looking at him. “I got Borg reporting from left to right, from the edges of Beta Quadrant to Delta where you are now. So pick your poison, as I have to swallow it daily, sending my people to dangerous situations and trying to defend the borders. Starfleet needs this to be tested…but this mission has limits.” 

“Meaning that we have to perform the mission, yet if it is too hot for us, we pull out as the safety of our crew is more important. That is what you are saying, Captain?” Sujian looked calmly at Ryoko.

“You can't be seriously agreeing with her?!” Towalr looked shocked at Sujian.

“Yes, that is exactly what I mean, Commander. I will brief you on potential targets to benefit you the most.” Ryoko took a deep breath. “Meanwhile, focus on the pathogen as much as possible and try to figure it out.” She shrugged. “Good luck, Takato out.” The hologram disappeared. 

The room became quiet as Towalr focused on Sujian “We don't have a choice….We have the pathogen, and Starfleet knew this would play out from the start. Seeing how Captain Takato is willing to let the ball go if we fail, meaning that Starfleet didn't expect us to succeed in the first place.” Sujian turned to walk towards the door. “We do this, we at least try, and we are safe to return home.” 

“I will object,” Towalr protested.

“Those will be void messages, you know that.” Sujian didn't face Towalr and left the ready room to get to his sister.