Crawling

Posted on Sun Sep 15th, 2024 @ 3:55am by Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen

Mission: Lost in Space
Location: USS Sunfire
Timeline: Day Two going into Day Three

[Main Engineering, Shortly before Savar arrives]

The red alert klaxons were going berserk. Conduits were exploding every so often with the hits from the Borg. It was only a matter of time before the drones beamed in. Commander Kla'ren was moving from console to console trying to reinforce as many vital systems as he could, especially the shields. He could not allow the Borg to come aboard.

Then there was another large thrash. "Commander! The core's power is draining again, one of the conduits in jefferies 57 is failing!" One of his senior engineers called out.

Thriss looked around. Everyone else had their hands tied. "I'll take care of it, make sure to hold on to our systems as long as you can!" He called out as he dove into the nearest hatch with a repair kit, tricorder, and phaser.

After a few moments the Commander reached the damaged conduit. He immediately got to work before being paged on his communicator.

=/\=Commander, we are being bordered!=/\=

Thriss cursed before rushing to finish the repair. However, that progress halted when he heard a transporter in front of his position. He looked up and a drone was dead ahead.

"We are the Borg, we will add your distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile" the monotonous voice said.

"It'll be a cold day in hell before I submit" Thriss said coldly before firing on the drone, who was downed immediately.

Then he felt something grab him from behind followed by an injection in his neck. The Andorian fell to the ground before a second drone who transported in behind him moved off to aid the other Borg in taking the Sunfire. That drone would likely be back for him.

Savar and the security team quickly helped the engineers repel the Borg invaders and regain control of engineering. As both security and engineers worked on clearing engineering and restoring all systems. Commander Kla'ren still had not been found. Upon questioning of one of the engineers. Savar found the Kla'ren had gone to one Jeffries tube 57 to repair a sensor pod. It was there he would start his search for Commander Kla'ren.

---

[Jefferies Tube, Four Hours Later]

Crawling - Linkin Park

The jefferies tube felt cold, grey, and dark. Various commands flooded his brain waves. Borg Nanites flowed through his blood. Implants had already started appearing a few hours ago. Thriss was on the ground twitching like he was have a mini seizure. He had been able to fight off the assimilation process at first but he was failing. Of course without being on a cube, it would be difficult for the process to complete.

Finally, he was only left with his thoughts. He stopped twitching. Thriss Kla'ren was part of the Borg Collective. His skin was a mixture of the spirit white color of a Borg and the blue of an Andorian. He looked like an Aenar, actually.

The half-borg rose up like an animatronic getting ready to perform at a child's birthday party. He turned 90 degrees and moved in sync along the jefferies tube. His first directive was to report to the engines, where he would begin to convert the engines. He didn't have everything, but he was capable of limited assimilation. Simply injecting nanites into a system would begin to convert it, albeit it would take a while being there was only one Borg aboard.

Normally, drones would infect other vital points first in order to take the systems easier. However, with only one drone still active, there would be less resistance when infecting the engine systems in the engine room itself.

Once he arrived in the room, he approached the main control panel for the impulse engine systems and started to sabotage the system to allow him easier access. The Federation had better defensive upgrades ever since Wolf 359.

Savar was headed out of Engineering when he heard a starlted, yell. Turning he saw a Borg drone moving towards engine control. He quickly covered the distance and was close enought to see this was no ordinary drone but Commander Kla'ren. though he didn't look quite like a normal drone.
"Commander Kla'ren" he called out. "Stop your attempt. You cannot succeed."

He turned slowly and looked at Savar dead in the eye. "Failure is irrelevant. We will succeed."

He turned back and continued uploading the virus. There was also a backdoor system in the impulse control for the warp core. This would allow the half drone easy access to the core, without having to go to the core itself.

"You will not ." Savar replied firmly and tapped his combadge. "Send a security detail to my location stat! I have located Commander Kla'ren and he is a drone."

"Your attempts will prove to be unsuccessful. Your assimilation will be imminent" He said as he finished uploading the virus. Savar had not shown any aggression, or tried to foil his plans so there wasn't a point in attacking him. He moved away from the console and started towards main engineering. In time the virus would spread, but if he went directly to the core, he could speed things up.

Savar blocked his path. "It is you who will be unsuccessful in your attempt to assimilate this crew." His reply cool and even toned. "You are not a Borg drone you are Lieutenant.Commander Kla'ren, chief engineer of the USS Sunfire." Savar stalled as he waited for security to arrive. "Let me take you to Sickbay."

"Your attempts to resist us are futile. Submit or be destroyed" Thriss raised his phaser, which was on the highest setting and adapted for Borg use. A single tear fell down the Andorian's cheek. He was nearly gone. There was nothing he could do.

Savar was about to reply as security arrived and stood on each side of him. "Stop Kla'ren. This is your final warning." Savar answered as he turned to security. "Fire on Kla'ren."

He didn't fire. A true Borg would have already fired on or assimilated Savar. Why didn't he? The drone could not fire. Just then he was fired on by the security officers, downing him. It was just a heavy stun, but effective. Thriss fell to the ground swiftly.

Savar tapped his combadge. "Savar to Sickbay. Be prepared for incoming transport of Commander Kla'ren and two security officers. Also be advised that Commander Kla'ren has been assimilated and is unconscious. As I ordered him stunned." He tapped his combadge again. "Savar to transporter room. Transport Commander Kla'ren and two security officers directly to Sickbay." He addressed the security officers. "You are to stay with Commander Kla'ren. See tha the poses no threat to Sickbay or himself."

The assimilated Andorian and the two security officers transported away in the usual Starfleet blue hue only to reapear seconds later in sickbay. He was quickly place on a biobed and restraints latched on both his arms and legs. A force-field appeared as he arrived around the biobed. Doctor Wilson immediately began examining the Andorian to see how she could start treating him.

Savar watched as Kla'ren and the security officers disappeared in the grip of the transporter. He had every confidence Dr. Wilson could treat Kla'ren and return him to his normal Andorian state.

How could he have let this happen. He let his guard down and got assimilated. Now the Sunfire was going to get assimilate too. Kla'ren felt he let everyone down. He was supposed to help prevent the Borg from doing something like this. Not be the cause of this. He could even warn the crew of what he did and he didn't even know if Savar or anyone else caught what he did to the systems. Could he even regroup from this?