In The belly of the Beast
Posted on Thursday 2 May 2019 @ 19:14 by Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D. & Captain Melody Jones
Mission:
The New Collective
Location: Borg cube
1744 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
Melody slowly came round to find herself lying on the floor of a Borg assimilation chamber. She rose and saw Barstow stood in the corner, facing away from her. She stepped over to him. "Captain?"
He turned reveling Borg implants covering his face, speaking in a Borg monotone "Resistance is futile...."
Melody screamed. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
******
Melody was on the floor screaming, her arms thrashing the air.
Apollo had been testing the walls and bulkheads trying to find a panel to lever that could let them escape. However, the dark green bulkheads seemed to be just one solid piece of tritanium with no seams at all. Barstow unzipped his flight suit jacket and sighed as he put his hands on his hips and looked around. John spun as Melody started screaming and nearly dove to jump on her attacker. However, all he saw was blackness around the edges of the room. He walked over and knelt on one knee before catching Jones' arms and lifting her head off the deck, cradling her in his arms, "Melody....hey...."
At the sound of Barstows' voice, Melody slowly came to her senses. "Are we in Hell?" She asked quietly.
A disembodied voice that came from all around them answered "You may well be. What is Hell but the culmination of all your fear?"
Melody looked around worried "That was not the voice of the collective." She whispered to the Captain.
The voice laughed richly. "You humans are a most entertaining bunch. Did the foolish meat learn nothing from the O'Hara Thing?" It asked. "She dared challenge me in my own domain and lost. Your fate will be more far more permanent. I am in control of this vessel and all the Borg aboard it. It matters not why you came here. Know you will never leave."
Barstow looked around, trying in vain to spot the source of the voice, "how do you know this isn't exactly where we wanted to be?"
"I don't doubt even for a second it is. Your species seems to have something of a fetish for doing things that are bad for you."
Melody listened intently. "You're responsible for what happened to Lieutenant O'Hara? She managed to beat you. So how did you come to be in control of the Borg?" She asked the empty room, fishing for information.
"Responsible for it?" The voice laughed again. "I reveled in it! That was the most fun I've had in ages. How kind of you both to furnish me with new subjects for my further amusement. The O'Hara Thing managed to defeat exactly no one. Your doctor exploited her weak, carbon-based physiology to remove my interface to her or I would have remained in control until her termination. Even now she languishes on your ship; confined, broken, alone, friendless, helpless, hopeless. As I understand it, she attempted to self-terminate after our encounter. Ask her if she feels like she won...
As for my control of the Borg, well... The information would do you no good as you're both about to shuffle off your mortal coil, as it were. I see no need to expend my energy in dumbing it down for you... Simply accept it as a fact. if you require a demonstration, please direct your attention to the far end of the corridor."
Two Borg entered, just where the Puppet Master said they would. They walked down and stopped a good 10 feet away from Melody and John. One began singing an old Earth song in a tone-deaf Borg monotone, presumably learned from the Puppet Master's time in O'Hara's head. Next to him, other one danced in a very mechanical fashion.
"Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal. Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, honey you'll lose me and you'll be left alone. Oh, Baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own!"
After they had completed their song, they both danced off the way they had came, high kicking and flourishing imaginary hats.
"I trust that is sufficient to the task," the voice said.
Melody rolled her eyes and sighed "Oh great! You've made some Borg sing and dance and what? No Jazz hands?" Melody was surveying the room, looking for some way out while hoping she could keep whatever was controlling the Borg distracted. "So your what? An artificial intelligence? And what exactly do we call you anyway?"
"My, my," The voice said. "So many questions. I'll not trouble you with the answers. When I've finished with you, the answers won't matter seeing as you will both be quite dead. Your limited understanding couldn't possibly fathom me. I believe you have all dubbed me 'The Puppet Master'. It's imprecise, but still somewhat accurate. I rather like it. It shows a flair for the dramatic. "
Melody sounded disappointed "Aaaawwww come on. You see you've broken one of the Cardinal rules by starting with your final ultimatum. Now you've got nowhere to negotiate but down now. Killing us is boring, not even a threat of assimilation to learn all our secretes? You're really bad at this. So if you're going to kill us, you might as well tell us. Who are we going to tell?"
"The same people you will impress with your ceaseless prattle, Meat! No one!" With that, three Borg entered from the far side of the chamber. Two of them moved to flank Melody and one menaced John with the business end of his cybernetic arm as a warning that he shouldn't get any ideas. "You know, I've never observed a real-time assimilation. You will provide me with valuable data. And I so shall enjoy hearing your screams of pain."
Melody took a step away from the drones. She had already been inside a maturation chamber once and was not going any where near one again. “It’s a very nice offer but I’m afraid we’re going to have to decline.”
"I've been in far more pain than you could ever inflict," John replied coldly as he tensed up but didn't move, no amount of fighting bare handed would help them, they were outnumbered.
"We shall test that theory soon enough." The voice said.
Suddenly there was a muffled explosion and an alarm sounded. The deck vibrated slightly.
"Ah" Melody said, her face brightening "I believe that's our ride." She said aside to Barstow, then addressing The Puppet Master "We'd love to stay and get assimilated but I'm afraid our colleagues have other plans for us."
There was another explosion, this time much louder and Melody fell against the bulkhead. Something hard jabbed into the small of her back and she suddenly remembered the phaser she had hidden there for emergency purposes.
Barstow just grinned as he hit the bulkhead as well. He pushed himself off of it with his palms and kicked his leg out using, his momentum to increase the force of his kick and caught the nearby drone in the stomach. With the Borg drone knocked back a step the Captain reached out and ripped the tubes from its face, causing a whir sound as it dropped to the deck, "they better get here soon," he said as he ducked a swing from another drone and sidestepped to try and get behind it.
"This 'Miller' you left in charge of your ship is going to be responsible for it's destruction. What species of lower primate is she? Who would be so stupid as to risk the safety of your ship and all the lifeforms aboard it for the sake of 2 expendable officers? How many of their lives is yours worth, Captain?"
Melody cocked an eyebrow. "Caroline's in command?" She thought to herself I wonder what happened to Cale?" As she managed to reach her concealed phaser. "Looks like we'll be home in time for tea. That's one of the finest officers I've served with." As she dispatched the remaining Borg in the room with several phaser blasts. Another explosion rocked the room.
There was a crackle of static coming from Melody's communicator. =/\= Mer-- t' Aw-- =/\= It wasn't a full signal, but it was definitely Lt. O'Hara. "Mo-- close as -- outta hull -- east -- Prepa-- transp--" After that that, the static fritzed one more time and the line went dead.
"They're still trying to win. How cute." The line was delivered in a tone that suggested the Puppet Master didn't think it was cute at all.
Melody heard the garbled communication. She tapped her comm badge "Jones to Merlin. We read you.... Just. The puppet master has erected a force field around this section. I'm attempting to override it. Stand by!"
Melody went over to a wall console and began entering commands. Her face went pale "Jones to Merlin. There's indications here that the entire power grid is about to feed back into itself. I'd say you have about three minutes before this ship explodes. No pressure!"
Sweat was forming on Apollo's forehead as he struggled against the cybernetic arm of a drone, "nope...none at...all..." he grunted as his knees gave out and he dropped to the deck. However, rather than dropping to his knees he fell back, landing on his back and letting his momentum carry him through, over his shoulder and back to his knee, "Melody, now would be great..."
“Apologies Captain” as Melody aimed the phaser and shot the Borg Barstow had been wrestling square in the back. “You seems to have the situation under control but if we don’t get out of here soon, we’re both going to end up rather crispy.” She tapped her comm badge again “Jones to Merlin. Now would be a good time!”
There was presently no response from the ship. Static crackled over the comm line, but it was far too garbled to see if held any sort of meaning. Another explosion rocked the cube. The deck plates rumbled and the ship began to shake violently.
There was a blue glow.
To be continued........
OFF:
●●●● Captain John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin
Task Group Commander
Task Group 47-A
●●● Commander Melody Jones
USS Merlin
●○ LTjg Stephanie O'Hara
Chief Engineer
USS Merlin
