Part 12 (1/2)

Maybe I did Deanna a favor by leaving her with the Caeliar, Riker brooded. At least she's safe from all of this.

”How much time until the Borg reach Earth?” asked Picard.

Nechayev replied, ”About seven hours. Maybe less. Why? Have something up your sleeve, Captain?”

”That remains to be seen,” Picard said. ”But Captain Dax informs us she has an idea in the works.”

”Say no more,” Nechayev said. ”Unless you need us to play a part, maintain operational security. You've all been given full presidential authority to do whatever it takes. I'm counting on you two and Captain Dax to make the most of it.”

Riker nodded. ”Understood.” His door signal chimed softly. ”If you'll excuse us, Admiral, Captain Dax has arrived.”

”By all means,” Nechayev said. ”Nechayev out.”

Riker turned off his desktop monitor and said, ”Come.”

The door sighed open. Dax entered, followed by Hernandez. The two women seemed to project an aura of excitement mixed with apprehension. They stopped in front of Riker's desk. ”We have something,” Dax said. ”As always, it's a long shot.”

”Naturally,” Picard said. ”What is it?”

Hernandez replied with confidence and elan, ”Supersedure.”

The term meant nothing to Riker. He threw a confused glance at Picard, who looked similarly befuddled, then said to Hernandez, ”I'm afraid you'll have to explain that to me.”

”I was telling Erika about some of the oddities of Borg social structures,” Dax said. ”And she immediately drew the comparison to a bees' nest.”

Picard reacted with a dubious frown and said to Hernandez, ”I trust Captain Dax also explained that you're not the first person to apply that flawed a.n.a.logy to the Borg.”

”Yes, she did,” Hernandez said. ”But I still think you ought to hear the details of our plan.”

”h.e.l.l,” Riker cut in, ”I just want to find out what 'supersedure' means.”

Making small gestures as she spoke, Hernandez replied, ”It's a technical term for the process by which bees replace old queens with new ones.”

”I got the idea when Erika mentioned her ability to hear the individual drones,” Dax said. ”That suggests that her link with the Borg is precise and deep. If we could give her a way to talk to the Borg, maybe we could use that ability to introduce her to the Collective as a new queen.”

Picard walked out from behind the desk to face the two female captains more directly. ”I'm hardly an expert on the subject of bees,” he said. ”But I seem to recall learning in elementary school that most beehives react to the arrival of a strange queen by killing the intruder.”

”That's why I won't be presenting myself as a stranger,” Hernandez said. ”I'll use my catoms to impersonate the Queen's presence inside the Collective.”

Riker replied, ”Forgive me, but that sounds a bit vague. You said you'd never encountered the Borg before. What makes you so sure you can trick them into thinking you're their queen?”

”Her voice,” Hernandez said. ”It's unique within the Collective, much like the piping a queen bee uses to direct her hive. My catoms can resonate on an identical frequency and make my thought patterns a dead ringer for the Queen's.”

Dax added, ”There are two stumbling blocks to linking Erika to the Collective without losing her to it. First, we'll need to physically patch her into a vinculum. Second, she'll need a lot of raw power to help her drown out the Queen's voice.”

Hernandez continued, ”The Aventine has more than enough power to help me pump up the volume, so to speak.”

”Once she does, she can take control of the Borg armada, or part of it, at least. Then she turns the Borg against themselves. It'd be like someone with multiple personality disorder whose personas start attacking each other.”

Riker grinned. ”Leave it to a joined Trill with psychiatric training to make that comparison.”

Returning his smile, Dax said, ”Go with your strengths-that's what my mom always said.”

Picard paced past the two women, stopped, and turned back. ”I admire your proposal for its audacity, Captains, but I can't endorse it.” He looked Hernandez in the eye. ”The technology you carry within your body is too advanced, too potent, to risk letting it be a.s.similated by the Borg.”

The youthful woman blinked with confusion. ”a.s.similated?”

Captain Picard cast an accusing stare at Dax. ”Didn't you tell her what the Borg do when they encounter new species and technologies?”

Dax averted her eyes and replied in a humbled tone, ”I may have skipped that part of Borg 101.”

Riker could see the strain on Picard's face. Clearly, in the course of trying to formulate an explanation of a.s.similation for Hernandez, Picard was reliving the various ordeals he had suffered at the Borg's hands. To spare his former commanding officer that effort, Riker spoke up instead.

”With organic beings, it's a physical process,” he said. ”A Borg drone, queen, or sometimes even one of their s.h.i.+ps, injects its victims with nanoprobes. These nanomachines bind with the subjects' RNA and effect a number of biological changes. More important, they suppress the subjects' free will and make them extensions of the Borg Collective, which gains access to its drones' memories and experiences. On a more practical level, the Borg a.s.similate technologies and concepts by stealing them.”

Hernandez nodded and looked somber. ”In other words, the Borg take all your best toys and make you a zombie.”

”Basically, yes,” Dax said.

Picard's countenance was haunted by his memories. ”It's far more terrible than anything you can imagine,” he said, though not to anyone in particular. ”Part of you remains trapped inside yourself. You become a spectator to the hijacking of your mind and body. It's like a nightmare from which there's no awakening. You see everything, and you can't even shut your eyes.”

A grim silence descended on the room.

Dax coughed to clear her throat. ”Well, we weren't planning on risking Erika, for whatever that's worth.”

”Any time you enter a Borg s.h.i.+p, it's a risk,” Riker said. ”And unless the Aventine has another amazing innovation we don't know about, I'm guessing you'll need to board a Borg s.h.i.+p to gain access to a vinculum for Captain Hernandez.”

”You're right,” Dax said. ”I do plan on boarding a Borg s.h.i.+p to use its vinculum. But first, I plan to have my people eliminate every drone on the s.h.i.+p and neutralize its defenses. Erika won't set foot on it till it's been secured.”

With his composure recovered, Picard replied, ”That's a tall order, Captains. How do you intend to carry it out?”

Nodding toward Hernandez, Dax said, ”Erika has a very keen sense for where the Borg are. If we give her natural gifts a boost, she can help us pinpoint a small scout cube or some other smaller Borg vessel traveling alone.”

”I'd need energy and equipment to extend my range and enhance my precision,” Hernandez said. ”If I could make a direct interface with t.i.tan's sensor module, it'd be a big help.”

Riker nodded. ”All right. I'll have my science officer help you set it up.”

Picard sounded doubtful and dismissive. ”Even a brief infiltration of a Borg cube is dangerous,” he said to Dax. ”What, may I ask, is your plan for capturing such a vessel?”

Dax's voice took on an aggressive edge. ”We'll fight them with the same tactics the Hirogen used on us,” she said. ”Erika picks a target, and the Aventine uses its slipstream drive to catch it. We fire a few low-yield transphasic torpedoes to knock out their s.h.i.+elds. Then our strike teams beam in with projectile weapons, chemical explosives, and energy dampeners replicated from the ones we captured. The Aventine emits an energy-dampening field to suppress the Borg s.h.i.+p's regenerative capacity and defensive systems. Then my people go deck by deck, section by section, and secure the cube. Once we eliminate all the drones and access the vinculum, we send over Erika to do her thing-and coronate a new queen for the Borg.”

The grimace on Picard's face was sterner than any Riker had ever seen. Picard heaved a deep sigh. ”I can't fault you for a lack of ambition,” he said, ”but I remain unconvinced. Your plan is beyond dangerous; it runs the risk of granting the Borg access to a staggering new level of technology. Furthermore, you grossly underestimate their speed and ferocity.”

Riker thought he heard an undercurrent of fear in Picard's voice, and he wondered if perhaps the captain's recent brief rea.s.similation had inflicted deeper wounds than Picard let on.

Picard continued, ”Put simply, Captain Dax, your plan is foolhardy.”