Four days.  Four days of overnights, late nights, and early mornings.  All focused on one goal – saving the lives on the planet below and keeping the Borg off their trail for good.  The Mackenzie had relocated far enough away to read the Sphere’s status still but not close enough for them to show up on the mechanical sensors.  The shuttles on the planet were doing their work while the other measures were activated – several city buildings had been selected for destruction. They had been burning for a few hours, sending black smoke into the atmosphere.  It was spreading like a stain, making its mark across the planet.  The Chief Science Officer reported, “Sphere is approaching the system – they’re scanning the entrance.”  She tapped at the console, and the resulting sensor view splayed across the viewscreen, a green blinking dot signifying the Borg Sphere.

Commander Park had shifted from her place at the operations station to her standard chair at the captain’s right.  She watched the movement of the Sphere concerning the planet.  It was absurd to hope or believe they’d pass the system over and continue their mechanical merry way.  Yet, she silently wished for them to do just that – leave and never return.

The dot began to move as Thasaz confirmed their fears, “Sphere is in motion…intercept course is the planet.”  Sighs of exasperation could be heard around the bridge.  Having the power of an Excelsior II class starship and being able to do nothing in the face of the danger looming over the planet wasn’t just frustrating…it was a paradoxical predicament of the highest order.  One million people would be slaughtered if the Borg sniffed out their ruse.  They had already lost three thousand Voth to the Borg.  She wasn’t sure the crew could take another loss like that.

Captain Wren Walton sat in the center chair, gripping the armrests.  They’d been able to spare the Nama people but had lost the Voth.  They needed a win.

Thasaz continued to update, “The Borg have moved to the planet…they’ve started their scans.”  All eyes on the bridge and across the Mackenzie stared at their screens, watching and waiting.

“You gotta admit, this is fun.” Chief Security Officer Seraphina Pearce was strapped into the right side console of the shuttle that Chief Flight Control Officer Gabriela Castillo was piloting through the atmosphere in coordination with four other shuttles.  Her jaw was set, clamped tightly as she tapped orders into the console while Pearce handled the coordination with the others.  Castillo wasn’t sure ‘fun’ was the word she would use.  Her predecessor, William Prentice, was more of an adrenaline junky than she was.  Part of her wanted him back for this mission if only to be able to sit back and watch his madcap maneuvers in action.

She swerved, avoiding a perilous pocket of turbulent air, “It is pushing the limits of the shuttle and the rest of us, so if that makes it fun, fun it is.”  She dived to avoid another pocket, “I have other words I would use…but we’ll go with fun.”

The shuttles and runabouts continued their work while on the bridge of the Mackenzie the clips, dots, and lines traced the movement of the Borg.  Park muttered as she watched the clock above the view screen, “Come on…get out of here.”  People nervously waited for a signal from the shuttles in the shelters and basements.  

Each second passed was another held breath or another sweat drip off a brow.  The Sphere just hung there in space, waiting.  Those on the bridge felt it was taunting them, drawing out the staring contest simply for kicks.  They knew the Borg were like Vulcans regarding emotions…but it was hard to ignore their feelings as the cragged metal creation stayed stationary.  

Suddenly, it shifted forward as if to head into the planet, and everyone across the Mackenzie held their breath, gripping consoles, hands, and hearts as the milliseconds ticked.

Tick.

Tok.

Tick.

Tock.

The Borg Sphere jumped to warp a full second later, the dot flashing away on the screen.

“They’re gone.  Tracking.”  Thasaz sat back in her chair at science, letting out the breath she’d been holding, “It worked.”

Walton stood, watching the screen.  “But they are not gone from the Delta Quadrant…they’re going to keep searching until they find what they want…and we’ll keep chasing them, trying to stay ahead of them.  That trick will only work once…they’ll adapt like they always do.”

Commander Park at operations agreed, “We can’t take them on in a fight…but we could find a way to slow them down…or just…put an end to their mission.”  Like many others, she was tired of the shuffling shuttle game they played with the Borg.  The challenge was they couldn’t stand up to them in a fight.  They would die needlessly.

Kondo sat back in his chair at tactical, thinking, “We know enough about them to know they’re much like our computer cores.  Their interactions with Picard and Janeway have shown us they have weaknesses…it’s just a matter of figuring out what that is…and hitting it hard.”  He’d spent much of his spare time in the boxing gym, working out his frustration and fears with gloves to bag.  It was helping.

Thasaz reflected on the conversation.  She’d never faced the Borg and had heard plenty of stories over the years.  Every story ended with a brutal loss in the victory.  Something had to be sacrificed.  She hoped they could avoid a similar fate.  She spoke up. “They know who the Mackenzie is…but we could use a shuttle or a runabout to board the Sphere.  Small teams designed to keep them from focusing on us…we go in with minimal weapons.”

Pearce at security was tapping at her console, “We could manufacture some hand-held weapons that wouldn’t trip their internal sensors…and there’s plenty of ways to rework our hand-held phasers and rifles to avoid drawing attention.”  As much as she didn’t mind a fight or two, she wasn’t looking to tangle with the Borg.  She wanted to live to see another day.

Wren appreciated their counsel.  “We’ll need a plan once we’re inside the Sphere.  Park, put some teams together.  Warm up the holodeck with the information we have.  We need to be ready for this with everything we have.  I don’t often say this…but we must be flawless in our efforts here.  Helm, set us on a slow course tracking the Sphere…we need to know where this bastard’s going.”

“How do you lie to the collective?  How do you get them to believe the impossible – that they found nobody with nothing to help them restore their numbers?”  Thasaz asked as she sat in the science lab with the team she’d pulled together.  “There’s a lot that can go wrong.”

The Chief of Security, Seraphina Pearce, wondered, “So they scan the sites, drop the drones to scan further…that data has to be stored somewhere, right?  The connection to the collective makes it pretty immediate…but the Borg is like any computer – there should be some kind of…storage device for the data.”

Commander Park was working on a console, “If we were to disconnect them from the collective temporarily…could we insert corrected data for transmission to the collective?  Overwrite the old data?”

The Romulan Chief Science officer grimaced as only a Romulan could, “It would have to be seen as an accident or something…the Collective would see us arriving or beaming aboard and conclude that the Sphere was under attack.  We’d have thrown a warp core breach into a wasp nest.”

Ensign Carolyn Crawford from engineering had been deep in thought since the meeting started.  Her PADD was a collection of brainstorms.  She snapped her head up as Thasaz finished, “What if…we disguised ourselves as a Borg drone team?”  The room turned to face her, confusion and concern filling their faces.  She pressed forward, “Look, we collected tons of Borg equipment from the sites we’ve been to – there’s more than enough to go around for a team or two…and I know Chief Katsumi could fabricate plenty of Borg pieces to make a shuttle or runabout look the part.”

Lieutenant Hiro winced, “Doctor Longfellow will not be happy…but it could be reasoned he is rarely happy.”  Her mind had begun to work through the possibility of the plan offered by the Assistant Chief Engineer, and her conclusion was – it wasn’t impossible.