“We’ve completed the inspection.”  Sadie Fowler stood in front of her captain, Peter Crawford.  He’d asked her to report to his ready room to give the final details on the situation with the station.  She handed over the PADD, “The forty-nine bodies of the Syndicate operatives were found in various places across the station – shoved into a corner, room, or locker.  They died as described – massive aneurysms with fatal damage to the nervous systems.  We were able to identify a few of the key players.”

Crawford felt a chill as he read the section she was referencing.  “You think Captain Horat Rigilia had something to do with this?’

“There’s enough there to ask some questions at a minimum.  The bodies we identified connected with his history.  The larger concern is…,”

Peter tossed the PADD onto his desk, “Where is Patra in all this.”  He thought through the implications, “It would track.  He’s known for his brutality, his madness, and his violence.  This kind of experimentation is something we would expect from him.”

Sadie had been thinking the same.  She was blunt, “There are plenty of bad actors out there who would be capable of doing this…but not many would take it to the length that they did.  The only reason they stopped is because Niner started ripping their minds apart.”  She shuddered at the image.  “I don’t think Patra and his group will give up on this idea.”

Crawford nodded, “Finalize the report and send it up the chain.  They’re sending a team to scuttle the station…should be here in a day or two.  How is our patient?”

Fowler reported what she knew, “He’s still in a coma.  The swelling is going down.  Doctor Reid said this morning she expects he’ll be stable in twenty-four hours so they can wake him up.  Who we get when he comes to…is anybody’s guess.”

Doctor Leopold Halsey checked his watch. It had been forty-eight hours since the operation. The swelling hadn’t cooperated as they had hoped.  He tapped at the bed console, feeling some relief.  The extra day had helped, and the swelling was slowly fading.  Doctors Helena Dread and Jordan Reid stepped into the room with a team of nurses and orderlies.  They began the process of bringing Niner out of his coma.

It took an hour and painstaking attention to his vitals, but the coma was lifted.  Halsey pulled up a stool to sit next to the revealed face of Niner.  Most of the Borg implements had been removed.  The rest would take time and additional surgeries to complete.  Leopold spoke softly, “Niner?”

The eyes of the former Borg Drone flitted open, “Hello, Doctor.”  It took him time, but eventually, they were wide open, and he searched the room, “I am alive.”  He moved his arms, smiling as he did the same with his feet, “I am alive.”  Closing his eyes, he relished the fullness of life that he felt.  He opened them and turned to Halsey, “I am…not Niner…and I am.”

“What do you mean?”  Halsey pulled out his tricorder to complete a few scans.

“As I slept…I dreamed.  I dreamed of Baron.  I dreamed of Niner.  I dreamed of…me.”  He slowly sat up with Leopold’s assistance.  He continued, “We talked…all three of us.  In the darkness.  We…we agreed to become one.”  He blinked and faced the others, “I wish to be known as Baron Nine.”  He asked, “I understand the need for a middle name…I would ask you to help me find that name that would fit me.”

“Starfleet’s going to want to get a look at him.”  Crawford sat in the briefing room with Reid, Dread, Clemente, and Halsey.  “We’ll have to give them everything we’ve got…but we can try and make recommendations on his future.”

Clemente offered, “We are a fully equipped science and medical vessel.  We could ask them to send a representative to liaise with us while we conduct studies and examinations with him on board.”  He looked around the room, “He trusts us.  I would wish to keep that trust intact.”

Helena Dread agreed.  “The question we need to answer before we take this to Starfleet is, will he be a member of our crew? An advisor?  Or a test subject?”

Clemente held up a PADD in answer, “We were able to identify his colony from reports at the time and his genetic makeup.  According to the records, his colony was Federation, and he was a Federation Citizen.  He still has the rights and provisions afforded to them.”

Reid suggested, “Captain Halsey, would the civilian sciences might interest him?”

Leopold sat up in his chair, considering the question. His wife was head of the department Reid was referring to, and it wasn’t a Starfleet posting.  “That could work.  The oversight of a civilian liaison would make it less of a challenge…and he seems inclined to do something aboard this ship.  His interview with Counselor Ford mentioned something about him finding a purpose in this new life.”

Crawford made his notes, “Let’s make it official.  Put the proposal together and have it on my desk by the end of the day.  The longer we wait, the better chance Starfleet decides to tell us what to do.”