Matt Kirby

While the Borg sphere grew in size as it got closer to the Eagle, Matt could only sit in his chair and watch, his hands gripping the armrests so tightly, his fingers hurt.  On this mission, he knew he had followed orders.  He knew he had done everything right.  He had given the proper commands to his crew.  Even with doing everything correctly, things could still go badly.  They could be heading for a dark and horrifying disaster from which he would rather die than experience.  Because the Borg looked at things so differently, he clung to the tiny bit of hope that they would survive.

Roger Allen

The bitterness Roger initially felt over the possibility their mission could end in their deaths or assimilation, was gone.  Now he was angry, his Vulcan half unable to give him the discipline that normally carried him.  He wasn’t upset that the Eagle drew this assignment; Starfleet service often had danger.  He was, well, he couldn’t really explain it.  Whatever was going to happen, he would survive if he could.  He’d always done that, being orphaned at such a young age.  A long time ago someone said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  He chose to focus on that.

Nick Saunders

Staring at a Borg sphere on the view screen, Nick should have been filled with fear.  Looking at the others on the bridge, he could see they all were.  For some reason, he was numb.  Maybe thinking about Mara helped him go that route.  Of course he wanted to get through this alive and not spend the rest of his years as part of the Collective, but that overwhelming terror just wasn’t there.  He felt guilty, like he was acting as though he was better than the others.  What could he do?  He felt what he felt.

Lori Weaver

Lori was so scared she thought she was going to vomit on the floor of the bridge while standing next to her captain.  The last time she experienced something that intense, was three years after graduating from the Academy.  On the Mithrandir, her first assignment, she was part of an away team sent down to Vendek III to rescue a freighter crew from a pirate attack.  A team member had been wounded and she had to cross open ground to help him.  She never thought it was possible to be so terrified.  Looking at a Borg sphere, the experience on Vendek seemed like a routine and quiet day.  If it came to being assimilated, could she end her own life instead?  Everything in her was about preserving life, but was being a Borg drone any kind of life?  Please, Matt, get us out of this!

Haia Ohtani

Following the Borg ship gave Haia the opportunity to study them in ways not normally given.  Dedicated to science, she was hoping to be able to observe or discover something that would give her acclaim in the community.  Expanding knowledge was something that drove her.  Now that the Borg were paying attention to them, Haia was stunned at how quickly she went from curiosity to wanting to run screaming off the bridge.  Though no one knew that was in her, she was embarrassed.  With her eyes wide, she fixed her gaze on the sphere.

Iziraa

Izi was fuming inside, her antennae leaning forward.  She understood what their assignment was and she respected the captain’s way of following it, but she was a woman of action, a warrior.  Shadowing a possible enemy from a distance while trying to not be an imposing threat, irritated her.  Not responding to someone needing help or waiting until the Borg left the area, was infuriating.  Now that their adversary came after them, the orders were still to do nothing.  She wanted to pound her fists on the tactical console.

Matt Kirby

The Eagle and the Borg sphere were facing one another, the damaged Romulan ship drifting nearby.   What were the Borg thinking?  What did they want?  Why was the Eagle worth attention now when they previously weren’t?  Why were they waiting to do something?

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“The Borg are scanning us,” said Iziraa.

“Don’t do anything,” said Kirby.  “Let them give us a good looking over.”

“Their scan is complete,” said Iziraa.

Seconds ticked past and the maddening silence was broken by a swishing sound.

A Borg drone had appeared on the bridge.