One of the operatives passed Elric and Krystal each an Omega personal shield unit, and a couple of hypos containing the Omega Force immunosupport nanites. Jim (the only one who's head wasn't in an Omega helmet) spoke up. "Omega personal shield units, which are designed specifically for resisting Borg weapons, and are also pretty good at keeping out nanoprobes, or at least the airborne ones. Speaking of which, if those shields light up seemingly randomly, then those nanoprobes are definitely airborne, in which case we'll probably have to evacuate spacedock."
He then pulled out a couple extra Omega rifles, and handed those one each to Elric and Krystal. "Omega Force Antiproton Autocarbine rifles. Note that they have built-in anti-Borg features and such, including easy access support for that omicron radiation, which is actually pretty easy to add on to these, and finally..."
He passed them each a headset. "Omega Force designed, naturally. They'll sync up nicely with your weapons, shields, and have communications that tie in to our communications frequencies so all of us can stay in continuous contact with each other, and also the admiral, in case we need outside support."
Jim chuckled for a moment. "We like to come prepared alright."
The Captain took the rifle, headset and put on the shield unit. "Fascinating. Thanks for these. We can get set up right in the lab." And then Zeta chirped, prompting Elric to take out his tricorder. "Huh. Something strange about Deck 65. I'm not reading anything down there; possibly being blocked by a dampening field."
Jim stopped, almost going white. "They may have assimilated humanoids. If they have, and these are in fact a gift from Mirror Nat, then they're probably Mirror Borg, too. They're a hell of a lot more dangerous than our Borg."
He turned to Krystal, then back to Elric. "Nobody goes anywhere without a couple other guys as support. Understood?"
Krystal looked over the carbine.
"Hope you guys fixed the issue the older models had with the Borg adapting faster than against a MACO rifle," she said.
Jim laughed. "Yeah, we took care of that, and made it better, actually." He turned to one of the operatives. "How long did it take for them to adapt last time?"
The operative was probably deadpanning Jim. "I dunno. Maybe, like 37 drones."
Jim looked a little surprised, and turned back to Krystal. "Well there ya go."
Krystal rolled her eyes.
"In my experience with the older models... maybe 3-4 bursts," she said. "Then I had to remodulate. Stuck with my MACO rifle until I got a TR-116. Was able to get 6-8 shots with the MACO before remod."
Jim laughed. "Those days are definitely over. As for the TR-116..." he continued while holstering his Omega rifle and reaching for the back of his armor and pulling out another rifle. "We've got an upgraded version. Not many of them, but some." He turned to the Omega Operatives. "You know, we should've brought more of those. We even have omicron radiation infused bullets aboard ship, but didn't think to bring any."
"All I have to say is the Borg sound Sweedish," Elric added. "Anyway, you guys up to stepping into the lion's den?" He swung the rifle over his back and began climbing down to Deck 65. When he got there, inside another open jeffery's tube area, he tried to scan a locked door. The Omega Operatives would surely have a fix for this, but what was behind the door was the mystery.
Jim and the operatives followed Elric, and one of them scanned the locked door. "Sirs, we can't scan through it."
One of the other operatives turned to Elric. "We have a fix for this, naturally." The operative turned to Jim. Jim nodded in response as one of the operatives closed the door above after Krystal came through, and then another operative blasted the door open, causing swarms of mechanized green air to come pouring in.
One of the operatives shrugged. "Yep, they're airborne alright. If it weren't for these shields, Elric, Krystal, and Jim would all be Borg now."
Jim sighed. "So don't let your shields go offline, or you're screwed. The other operatives armor can probably keep it out if need be, so if worse comes to worse, let them takes hits first. Also, considering the amount of nanoprobes I see buzzing around us, there's bound to be mirror Borg drones down here. Mirror Borg, put simply, are like ours, but with two key differences: they're faster than you, and they shoot the moment they see you, regardless of your apparent intentions. Got it?"
One of the operatives passed Jim his helmet, and he put it on. If it weren't obvious before, Elric and Krystal would surely notice his armor was a different varient from the other operatives; the Quietus varient, not that either of them knew the name, but it made him recognizable from the others.
"Station's probably already on lockdown so the only way for this to spread would be if they open doors. Unless they upgraded and isolated the affected areas with forcefields," Krystal said.
(Apologies for not posting sooner, I was away for the weekend.)
"This is the U.S.S. Hepzibah, Commander Tarsi speaking. Your efforts to board our ship have been repelled, and your D'ren is in custody. As we speak, our chief Engineering Officer has access to your main computer, which enables us to do what is necessary to protect Federation assets.
We will not, I repeat, we will not seek retaliation on you or your companion ships. We hope you do the same.
It is suggested that you negotiate the terms of your surrender with us.
I will keep communications active with you, r'Llaillieu."
Jim and the operatives all jumped down and started keeping watch for Borg. Jim looked at another closed door, and scanned it. "Still can't scan through."
"Then scan for movement," Krystal said. "take us as friendly or something, then anything that isn't us may be hostile. Filter out the nanoprobes and focus on large objects only."
"This door opens into a corridor with several doors to labs throughout it. We need to get to Science Lab 23." He paused, hearing a multitude of strange, mechanized buzzing sounds from behind the locked door. "Friends of yours?"
Soon, sparks started flying out of the door, and the door opened. Two, large, burly looking Borg drones stood there. Clearly, the mirror Borg preferred adding armor and strength over reducing biological material.
The drones immediately started walking towards the group, unusually quickly; the Omega Operatives shot them down.
"Unless they're cut off," Krystal said. "They are only an isolated pocket of their own. Just like what the Enterprise-E had to deal with after destroying the Cube in 2373."
Jim turned to Krystal. "That's why I told you to stay in threes. One to watch one way, one to watch the other way, and one to do anything else, like destroying nanoprobes."
Mind racing, Dragon walked toward the view screen staring at the Federation starship in front of her. She forced the rage deep down into its cage and rolled her head around on her shoulders. Only two people could give someone the command codes to the ships, and neither one of them could be captured or interrogated unless they wanted to be, which meant that D'ren had done something. But Dragon didn't know D'ren's mission so she assumed it was a plan to take down the Hepizbah.
She inhaled deeply and strolled back to the XO chair beside the throne that belonged only to the Warlord. In a reluctant, gravelly tone, Dragon answered her opponent, "We...surrender."
Everyone on the bridge fell silent, and all eyes turned upon the acting-captain. She cast a glare to her acting-XO and he began barking orders to lower all defenses and deactivate all weapons.
The Brig
"Who in this great cosmos is Krystal Jade?" Aenlyn asked, genuinely perplexed.
D'ren said, "I don't rightly believe the person who had you activate me cares one way or another for the man who kidnapped the original D'ren. I don't even think they care about the original. I think they care only for the destruction of The Infamous Empire."
Aenlyn said, gritting her teeth, "And I care only that you tell me what in the world is going on."
Rolling his eyes, D'ren said, "At the moment, it doesn't matter. We'll wait for the captain of this, uh, ship to question me and then I will use her to get to the person or persons responsible for setting you on your course."
The Trill groaned and leaned her shoulder against the side bulkhead as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Oh good, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel like a pawn in this galactic game of chess."
The group approached Science Lab 23 and Elric stepped into the door's humanoid recognition sensor. The door swished open, revealing a lab full of drones standing and waiting for instructions. These were the science officers working down here. Were all the labs full of drones? As soon as they noticed the open door, the drones opened fire.
Elric knelt down, allowing someone else to fire from above him. He pulled up his rifle and shot drone after drone with antiproton bolt bursts. One drone, moving fast toward them was hit in the chest and sent back into another drone. Elric fired the second setting on his rifle, engaging the full auto sweep which momentarily rapid-fired more bursts at incoming Borg.
Jim and the operatives began firing on the drones themselves. Jim noticed that some of the drones were falling back, and motioned for the operatives to pull out their T-116-B rifles. They did, and fired at the drones, taking them all down.
Jim spoke up. "Do we still have what we need here to take out the nanoprobes? Is it even worth taking out the probes individually at this point, or should we take out whatever central thing they have controlling this mess?"
Suddenly, the lights went out. Jim and the Omega Operatives didn't appear to be particularly affected, as their helmets presumably had built-in night vision of some kind. Jim turned to Elric. "Well, they've got main power alright. Need a light?"
He then pulled out a couple extra Omega rifles, and handed those one each to Elric and Krystal. "Omega Force Antiproton Autocarbine rifles. Note that they have built-in anti-Borg features and such, including easy access support for that omicron radiation, which is actually pretty easy to add on to these, and finally..."
He passed them each a headset. "Omega Force designed, naturally. They'll sync up nicely with your weapons, shields, and have communications that tie in to our communications frequencies so all of us can stay in continuous contact with each other, and also the admiral, in case we need outside support."
Jim chuckled for a moment. "We like to come prepared alright."
Winning.
He turned to Krystal, then back to Elric. "Nobody goes anywhere without a couple other guys as support. Understood?"
Winning.
"Hope you guys fixed the issue the older models had with the Borg adapting faster than against a MACO rifle," she said.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
The operative was probably deadpanning Jim. "I dunno. Maybe, like 37 drones."
Jim looked a little surprised, and turned back to Krystal. "Well there ya go."
Winning.
"In my experience with the older models... maybe 3-4 bursts," she said. "Then I had to remodulate. Stuck with my MACO rifle until I got a TR-116. Was able to get 6-8 shots with the MACO before remod."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
One of the other operatives turned to Elric. "We have a fix for this, naturally." The operative turned to Jim. Jim nodded in response as one of the operatives closed the door above after Krystal came through, and then another operative blasted the door open, causing swarms of mechanized green air to come pouring in.
One of the operatives shrugged. "Yep, they're airborne alright. If it weren't for these shields, Elric, Krystal, and Jim would all be Borg now."
Jim sighed. "So don't let your shields go offline, or you're screwed. The other operatives armor can probably keep it out if need be, so if worse comes to worse, let them takes hits first. Also, considering the amount of nanoprobes I see buzzing around us, there's bound to be mirror Borg drones down here. Mirror Borg, put simply, are like ours, but with two key differences: they're faster than you, and they shoot the moment they see you, regardless of your apparent intentions. Got it?"
One of the operatives passed Jim his helmet, and he put it on. If it weren't obvious before, Elric and Krystal would surely notice his armor was a different varient from the other operatives; the Quietus varient, not that either of them knew the name, but it made him recognizable from the others.
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Jim spoke up. "Are you all ready to jump in?"
Winning.
"This is the U.S.S. Hepzibah, Commander Tarsi speaking. Your efforts to board our ship have been repelled, and your D'ren is in custody. As we speak, our chief Engineering Officer has access to your main computer, which enables us to do what is necessary to protect Federation assets.
We will not, I repeat, we will not seek retaliation on you or your companion ships. We hope you do the same.
It is suggested that you negotiate the terms of your surrender with us.
I will keep communications active with you, r'Llaillieu."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Soon, sparks started flying out of the door, and the door opened. Two, large, burly looking Borg drones stood there. Clearly, the mirror Borg preferred adding armor and strength over reducing biological material.
The drones immediately started walking towards the group, unusually quickly; the Omega Operatives shot them down.
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
One of the operatives turned to Jim. "Might want to have somebody keep guard of the main transmitters up above, just in case."
Admiral Nat's voice came over the comms. "Consider it done."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
Mind racing, Dragon walked toward the view screen staring at the Federation starship in front of her. She forced the rage deep down into its cage and rolled her head around on her shoulders. Only two people could give someone the command codes to the ships, and neither one of them could be captured or interrogated unless they wanted to be, which meant that D'ren had done something. But Dragon didn't know D'ren's mission so she assumed it was a plan to take down the Hepizbah.
She inhaled deeply and strolled back to the XO chair beside the throne that belonged only to the Warlord. In a reluctant, gravelly tone, Dragon answered her opponent, "We...surrender."
Everyone on the bridge fell silent, and all eyes turned upon the acting-captain. She cast a glare to her acting-XO and he began barking orders to lower all defenses and deactivate all weapons.
The Brig
"Who in this great cosmos is Krystal Jade?" Aenlyn asked, genuinely perplexed.
D'ren said, "I don't rightly believe the person who had you activate me cares one way or another for the man who kidnapped the original D'ren. I don't even think they care about the original. I think they care only for the destruction of The Infamous Empire."
Aenlyn said, gritting her teeth, "And I care only that you tell me what in the world is going on."
Rolling his eyes, D'ren said, "At the moment, it doesn't matter. We'll wait for the captain of this, uh, ship to question me and then I will use her to get to the person or persons responsible for setting you on your course."
The Trill groaned and leaned her shoulder against the side bulkhead as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Oh good, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel like a pawn in this galactic game of chess."
Elric knelt down, allowing someone else to fire from above him. He pulled up his rifle and shot drone after drone with antiproton bolt bursts. One drone, moving fast toward them was hit in the chest and sent back into another drone. Elric fired the second setting on his rifle, engaging the full auto sweep which momentarily rapid-fired more bursts at incoming Borg.
Jim spoke up. "Do we still have what we need here to take out the nanoprobes? Is it even worth taking out the probes individually at this point, or should we take out whatever central thing they have controlling this mess?"
Suddenly, the lights went out. Jim and the Omega Operatives didn't appear to be particularly affected, as their helmets presumably had built-in night vision of some kind. Jim turned to Elric. "Well, they've got main power alright. Need a light?"
Winning.