Drones were doing their jobs, regulating the system's best performance and executing their jobs to the letter. The heat forms sweat as it rolls down McKenzie's face and falls onto the ground. The tension was there, it was growing, and time was not in their favor as the Borg would soon notice their unwanted visitors. “Come on….sorry for the delay. I didn't expect a loop back in its starting mechanics.” She apologizes as McKenzie stays focused on the device with some assistance from Lieutenant Vahdat.

“Don't apologize, focus on the task at hand, Petty Officer…” Behrad stated as he looked at his side to a nervous Lauwerance passing around but keeping his end in check. “It doesn't help to walk around nervously, Ensign” He stated, annoyed, and looked back at the device. 

Lauwerance looked back at the two and then at Sujian, who just shook his head and a signal to focus on the task at hand. He shrugged and looked back in the direction that he was tasked with. 

“Tokyo might be getting nervous by our delay. How much time till the Borg will notice our presence” Towalr nervously looked around with the drones being present in the area. It didn't feel good to have so many people around that could either kill them or, worse, turn them to join their collective club. Towalr took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. 

Looking at the timer, “About two more minutes, then we have to move as we need at least 5 minutes to get in transportation range,” Sujian alerted them on the given time" He was the one that stayed mostly calm. He knew the progression was not looking good and not in their favor. “Petty Officer, your time is running out, is it done?” He stated in an irritated way. 

With a click and a tap, she reached out to the panel at the wall and pushed in a cable “Ready” She looked at Behrad and then at Towalr.

“Then do it, girl, we require time to get the hell out” Towalr urged her to begin the process.

Nodding, McKenzie taps into the device as it starts to buzz. The system begins to recognize the command and uploads the pathogen into the system. A smile appeared on her face. “We are uploading now” But the joy was temporary as the system started to slow down. Something was holding it back. “Wait…no, no” She mutters tapping onto the device and looking at the panel. “They are putting up a defense” 

The drones stopped moving and turned their attention to the away team. “Guys… the drones” Lauwerance spoke, raising his weapon. “They have noticed us” With that said the drones started to move toward where the team was sitting. “We have to move” 

“I need more time!” McKenzie spoke, trying her best to counter it. “Come on” 

Behrad got up on his feet and looked at the drones becoming hostile. “There is a time and place to be stubborn Petty Officer, now is not the time!” He pulled her to her feet and pushed her away from the device. “Move!” Signaling Sujian to take the lead. 

Nodding back in the direction of Behrad Sujian takes the lead in the escape movement trying to avoid the conflict with the drones as much as possible. The team worked as best in sync as possible, Sujian in front, Towalr second, Mckenzie and Vahdat next, and last Lauwerance. The lights were giving a patron of an alarm as the intruders were included. More drones were now moving in their direction. 

A scream came from behind the line as Sujian and Towalr looked behind, seeing Lauwerance being stabbed with nanoprobes in his neck and dragged away. Lauwerance's surprised face was still visible, but the team had to ignore the painful sight and move on. They lost their first member to the surprise ambush of the drones. “Move!” Sujian ordered as he couldn't get an aim on Lauwerance as he had already dragged around the corner. 

Towalr feels the panic slowly crawling up his spine, “Move move move aside!” His panic was taking him over as he took the group's lead, pushing Sujian aside. “I need to get out of here!” He rushed forward ahead of the team, ignoring their request to stick together. Towalr mind was focused on pure survival instinct, and his own life was more important than any of them.

Taking a breath for a brief second, “TOWALR!" but Sujian could only see him disappear around the corner, “f*ck…” He muttered against himself as he looked at the other members. “Move” Trying to follow the path that Towalr was taking. But there was no sign of him anywhere. Eventually, they manage to dodge most of the drones and get close to the outer structure of the sphere. But Sujian noticed something, “The virus…. it is taking effect?” He points at a drone, smashing himself against the wall repeatedly.

“That is good news….” McKenzie said, a bit relieved, but the ship alert went over to sound. It was different. It was loud, and certain lamps were blinking. “My big mouth….” 

“What is happening” Behrad looked around seeing steam coming off from certain locations and clicking sounds of bolts being released from their entangled slot. “Are they separating the infected location?” He looked at McKenzie, who made the same conclusion, “We need to get out of here right now!” The team started to rush as fast as they could and move towards a safe location, but it was only a guess as to what was considered safe.

Running in combination with the heat was not a good mixture, and fatigue was kicking in for the team that was present. Taking a few breaks Behrad looked at Sujian. “We do not know where the safe location is….” But then quiet hit the deck. 

They looked at each other puzzled as to what was happening, yet McKenzie noticed the activation of force fields at her side and pushed Behrad to Sujian's side, making him drop to the floor. The force field closes as she leans onto it. “Shit….” She muttered as further clicks were felt. Looking for a device to deactivate it, she shrugged and looked at them. “I guess we find out what they do with the separated part…it was an honor sir” She gave a nod as a click was heard and within seconds the whole part was shoved right out of the sphere.

From the outside, the sphere pushed out the infected area, and it floated for a few seconds, and then a few phaser shots from the open sphere at the floating piece hit and exploded right there in space. With horror, both Behrad and Sujian saw it happen right before them. “We are not getting off this ship alive, are we…” Behrad concluded as the realization hit him.

“The shields are up. The alarm changes back to the previous condition. They are hunting us” Sujian shrugged as he held the handle of his rifle tidily. “We need to move now.” He helped Behrad get up on his feet and move away from the force field and the open space that once held the infected area. They were getting desperate and the further they got to the outer hull of the sphere the more static communication was getting through. 

“Tokyo ….team…..report….away….” 

Taking a deep breath, Behrad tried his best to better the signal, but his focus was misplaced as a drone caught him off guard and slammed into him. They started to wrestle on the ground as the shot was fired. The drone body fell to the ground motionless as Sujian stood there. “Get up” 

The team, now no longer consisting of five people but two, moved as fast as they could to the outer area. The signal was booting up. Yet Behrad stopped and pulled up the side of his shirt showing three punctures, “Shit….” He shrugged and threw the tricorder at Sujian and held his weapon up. “Go….I hold them off” He shook his head when he saw that Sujian wanted to react. “Just go…” He turned around and aimed his rifle, not seeing Sujian going.

Seeing the swarm of drones heading his way “Come at me…” He muttered to himself.

Not looking back but hearing the fireshots, Sujian rushed on to get to safety. Then arrives at the outer hull area and notices a big gap between him and the safety zone he needs to be to get transported. He looked at his right side seeing drones appearing and then at his left side seeing the same thing happen. He took a deep breath as he looked at the area that was out of reach in front of him.

“Tokyo to away team, do you read!” Tamaz's voice echoed on his combadge.

“I read you Tokyo…” He took a deep breath. “This is Sujian speaking….the last confirmed survivor of the away team.” 

A brief quiet was on the line until. “Commander Deem, are you in range to get transported?” Ko's voice was now heard.

He looked again at the distance of the platform that was no longer there creating the gap. “I cannot reach the transporting area. I have hostiles closing in on me” He took a deep breath as he noticed the drones coming closer, “Is my sister there Captain?” 

“I …I am here bro….what are you talking about Su…..you get your ass back here” The panicked voice of Yozria was now heard.

“Breath, little star, this is natural and will happen eventually.” He spoke calmly, hearing the footsteps nearing him, “I am not going to come home. I do not wish the Captain to endanger the lives on the Tokyo for myself. Live your life to the fullest and who knows we shall see each other in the future, little star.” Sujian looked at his side seeing the drones now coming closer as he backed away trying to create space. “Captain Yoon-Jung, as your security officer, I advise you to leave. Yozria I love you" With that he broke off the signal and rushed into the drone group to fight them.

USS Tokyo - Bridge

The channel closed as the bridge crew looked stunned at what had happened. The sphere ejected the infected area to safe harbor their ship and sacrificed their part to do so. Yozria collapsed onto her knees and started to cry in disbelief that she just lost her brother.

Taking a step back from this, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, to bold her fist in trying to relocate her pain. Ko opened her eyes, “Lieutenant Padgok…get…..” A tear rolled over her cheek. “Get us out of here now” She took her security Chief's last wish into account as the Tokyo moved away from the sphere and jumped into warp.  The crew failed to complete their impossible mission and made the biggest sacrifice.