Starring at the reflection before him, Gray knew this wasn’t real. This figure standing at him was a mirage. An echo. Someone who was but was not now. 

“Who are you?” Gray asked.

“Jaceon,” He answered before shaking his head. “No, Nine of Eleven, tertiary adjut-”

“No, it’s Jaceon,” Gray said, stepping forward, placing both hands on each arm of the Brunali. “Don’t let them take that from you.”

Jaceon shook his head, “I cannot-I-I-I-I cannot remember.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Gray assured him.

For a moment, the chasm between them was filled with silence. The voices of the disrupted collective that once surrounded them died down. 

There was nothing.

Silence.

Holding back a tear, Jaceon took a breath. His Brunali raised cranial ridge shifted slightly upwards as his scared expression was apparent. “I want to go home to play pala.”

Gray nodded. “Then let me help you.” The engineer knew what to do. “Help me, help you.” He raised his hands up to the young man.

Jaceon appeared anxious at first, but then somehow, looking at Gray, he nodded and surrendered to his idea. He reached out and grabbed Gray’s hand. The moment his hand touched his, electricity ran through their bodies, and Gray felt the complete control of the Collective under him.

This was no ordinary Collective. It was a sub-Collective within the Collective. There was some chaos. Gray searched further within Jaceon’s memories. He could see the pathogen working its way. Then, by some means (one he couldn’t ascertain), these drones were disconnected and reestablished a second Collective, one that was protected by some sort of protection from the pathogen. Once the pathogen had infected the entire elements of the Collective, that defence was dropped. Searching further, Gray couldn’t make out all of the imagery he was seeing. Was this the Collective’s last stand? An attempt to save what they had just lost. A last-ditch effort to hide and protect their biggest advantage. He couldn’t be sure. All he knew was he had to take it down. 

Now.

Jaceon showed him further within the Collective. Shielding him from the others. 

“This needs to stop. Help me, Jaceon,” Gray pleaded him. For a moment, the young man looked at him with hesitation. “Comply,” Gray insisted in a firmer tone.

Nodding, Jaceon helped him.

The force fields dropped.

The shields dropped.

Gray thanked him, and as he disconnected, he pulled Jaceon with him.

USS Odyssey (NCC-80000)

“Time is up, sir,” Jen announced from operations.

Holding tightly onto his chair’s arm, McCallister took a breath before giving out his next set of orders. “Thank you, Lukiz,” He looked at Tomaz, “Commander, send in the calvary.”

“Aye, sir,” Tomaz said as he tapped the orders. After a few seconds, his computer beeped back at him. “They’re underway, captain.”

“Let’s join the effort, too,” McCallister said, a sense of eagerness coming through his tone. “Marova, alter course and bring us out of our shelter.”

The pilot nodded in acknowledgement.

McCallister tapped the panel in his armchair and opened a shipwide intercom. “All hands to battle stations!”

The Odyssey roared around on its axis and headed back to where it had flown from. As it performed its manoeuvrer, the ship’s forward flight deck doors opened and the ship’s starfighter squadron launched. As they disembarked, the Telemachus also launched, joining the starfighters. In formation, the Starfleet ships all marched forward towards the target. 

Back on the bridge, McCallister finished issuing his orders as they pushed through into the centre of the nebula.

“Sensors indicate that the shield grids around each of the interspatial manifolds are down,” Tierra announced from engineering. 

“The Borg Probe has detected us, sir.” Tomaz reported.

“Odyssey to Telemachus and Starfighters, execute phase four,” McCallister ordered over the secure channel that Jonarom had just opened for them all. 

The Odyssey opened fire with a spread of quantum torpedoes before it pivoted away from the incoming Probe. The six torpedoes hit home on target just as the starfighters all opened fire. 

“Telemachus to the Odyssey,” sparkled the voice of Captain Reyas over the bridge’s speakers. “We’ve retrieved our packages.”

Pleased to hear that, McCallister ordered his wife to take the support ship to help Rosle and her fighters distract the Probe while they completed the next phase. “Let’s keep an eye on the status of our fighters, but Marova take us in.”

Marova replied. “Aye, sir, heading straight for the central manifold.”

A proximity alarm then went off at Tomaz’s station. “Sir, the Malon fleet has just entered the nebula.”

“Then let’s get this done,” McCallister said as he stood up. “Fire tricobalt devices!”

From the underbelly of the Odyssey’s saucer section, a number of bright white bolts exited and landed hard against the unshielded Borg structure. Their immense firepower overloaded the transwarp apertures that were partially formed. More tricobalt devices were fired at the other manifolds, and eventually, each structure crumbled.

“Multiple direct hits, sir,” Tomaz shared. “The transwarp hub is destroyed.”

“Good, signal our forces to return to the ship, then lay a course out of here!” McCallister commanded. 

It was over. He hoped.