Declawed [✱7]

Posted on Tue Nov 18th, 2025 @ 8:25am by Lieutenant Commander Alph & Lieutenant Commander S'Lace & Ensign Mana'i & Lieutenant Commander Raul Saez & Major Victoria, Daughter of Kalath & Lieutenant Akaar Zuul & Lieutenant Valerie Gordon & Captain Three of Five & Cadet Senior Grade Camilaar 'Cam' of Rhade & Warrior Choq, Son of None
Edited on on Tue Nov 18th, 2025 @ 10:30am

1,949 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: IKS Praxis' Claw, Deck 3
Timeline: After 'Distress Call [✱4]'

The team appeared in a shimmer of blue particles at the expected coordinates. Rather than an empty room, they found a scared-looking crew of a dozen young Klingon men cowering in the margins, trying to look ready for battle, except for three of them who stood forward with disruptor pistols pointed at the new arrivals. None of them could have been older than 20.

"Nuq'neH!" The one who appeared to be their leader demanded of the away team.

Kalath let her phaser rifle fall, knowing the strip over her shoulder would catch it. She put a hand to the disruptor of the leader, pushing it up towards the ceiling and stepping in to drive her palm into his face. "Cho'ij!" She called out in Klingon to command their attention before the young man had hit the floor. She knew by instinct how to handle this situation, and she'd acted before the others had a chance to process what was happening.

"I am Victoria, Daughter of Kalath. We are here to answer your distress signal. We are not your enemy, but if you tell us who is, we shall assist you." The Major stood proud and tall, commanding the attention and respect of the Klingons as best she could.

Choq was impressed at the Major's decisive action. Her time in Starfleet hadn't dulled her Klingon instincts. He wasn't sure he'd have done anything differently, though announcing he was a son of none may have lost any obedience immediately.

Cadet Iplik was not the vision of composure he expected to be the first time he had a disruptor pointed at him. He was trembling just a little, and his eyes were wide. He flinched when the Major took out the leader, and felt suddenly inspired to violence, even if he couldn't quite get his phaser out of its holster.

The other two with phasers pointed stepped back, lowering their weapons. One of them took a knee before the Major. "jIlob!" He declared. Then the one next to him did too. Soon they'd all declared obedience one by one to Kalath. A chorus of overlapping cries of "jIlob!"

After the chorus died down, the last to offer his obedience was the young warrior she struck. He rose to his full height, looking the Major in the eye. "Borg." He explained, knowing the one word was enough.

"Borg," Akaar echoed, immediately pulled out his tricorder and quickly ran it through several tactical subroutines. He scanned their surrounding area and as far as he could. "How many?" He asked, concerned that they hadn't been pounced on by drones already.

The Klingon shook his head. "I do not know. Our scanners haven't worked since the crash. We were travelling and decelerated suddenly. There was no contact from the bridge, nacelle technicians reported it was gone. We spent hours trying to figure out what was happening before we managed to get into the bridge. A drone grabbed the first warrior through and pulled him away. He emerged assimilated, and managed to get two more. Our disruptors were useless so we fled. There was no commanding the ship without getting past them, and none would risk assimilation.

"Wow." Lieutenant Gordon whispered quietly to herself. Borg. There'd been so few reports since the attack on Earth last year, other than a few independent collectives, the great hive as they knew it was thought extinct, according to the analysts she trusted.

Choq considered the revelation silently. The Borg were a foe his martial arts had limited use against, he would need to consider a conventional weapon.

"Major, I recommend we set up a pattern enhancer here and begin beaming the Klingons back to the Hercules." Alph said, and calculating that she would agree with him, turned to the engineering cadet who had the equipment pack.

"Do it." Kalath said with a nod, it was not as though it was honorable to flee, but they were right to fear assimilation. "The Borg have always had the ability to undercut our energy weapons. Melee has proven consistently to be the most effective and reliable defence. If any of you have close-quarter combat training, speak up, and let me know your weapon of choice. Mr Alph, make it happen. Me, I'll take a bat'leth, custom pattern Kalath-Beta-Delta."

"Of course, Commander. I will relay the instruction to the ship using my internal communicators, for security." Alph reached into his sleeve, and produced what appeared to be a small padd, that emerged from his wrist. "Please select a weapon for fabrication if you have the requisite training." Alph said, passing the padd to the group.

Choq took the padd and selected a standard mek'leth. He offered the device to anyone who might want it next.

Lieutenant Gordon made a gesture with an extended palm and splayed fingers with matching smile she hoped was polite to decline the offer. If her phaser couldn't get the job done, well, she was probably getting assimilated.

"I can use a sword as well, Commander, short but curved." Akaar told Alph.

"Cadet, please set up the pattern enhancers." Alph asked the young man, whose identity he was not certain of, having not yet fully updated his personnel files. He could not accurately identify his species on first observation.

"Aye sir," the Felinoid replied, Camilaar of Rhade had the pattern enhancer in both his pawed hands. He set it down after triggering its tripod legs and made a few adjustments. Technically they needed two, but one was enough nowadays. He wrapped his pawed hand around the black grip and rotated it.

The pattern enhancer lit up and hummed softly in the background.

Alph tapped his combadge. "Alph to Hercules. We have twelve Klingons to beam aboard, with more likely to follow. Code Green quarantine. Repeat, Code Green quarantine." Alph said, observing the subtleties of announcing a Borg presence over an unsecured channel like a combadge.

S'Lace's expression was a study in utter neutrality when she heard the term 'code green quarantine'. She had yet to ever have to face the Borg, and she had considered herself fortunate that the last remnant of that race had been wiped out.

And now...apparently it had not been.

"Understood," S'Lace replied. She tapped her combadge, "Transporter room, twelve Klingons to be beamed directly to Sickbay, send them directly to the quarantine chamber.

What now? What would the Captain do? Certainly more than simply remain passive. She was in command of a war ship, with a fighter escort

She turned to Petty Officer Chau at communications, "Order the star fighter wing to spread out through the system, have them scan for anything...unusual. Any anomalous readings, anything that does not seem to belong."

Chau did as instructed, forwarding the commands to the fighters.

"Fighters confirm. But we're getting a request from Captain Three, putting her through." Saez said.

"Commander, I understand a code-green quarantine has been declared. I request your permission to return to the Hercules and accompany the away team. Given my personal history, I expect I will be useful. Lieutenant Turwit-Bil is on standby and ready to take command of my fighter." Captain Three of Five's voice manifested throughout the bridge.

S'Lace took less than a second to weight the options. Was this placing Captain Three in some jeopardy, placing her within proximity to a Collective?

"Permission granted," S'Lace replied after another moment. It was worth the risk, in her estimation.

She turned to Dr. Enu'Tha, "Scan the Hercules, pay close attention to internal sensors. I wish to know if there is any deviation in our environmental systems," she turned back to the comms officer, "I want every single crew member to acknowledge with a tap on their comm badge. If any member of the crew fails to do so I need to know who did not, then discover their whereabouts."

"Yes ma'am." Enu'Tha said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. "Not only that, I will also send an otherwise unoccupied science crewmember to stand in every empty room and confirm manually every two and half minutes that everything's okay. No way I'm getting Borg'd." Enu'Tha said, frantically typing commands into his console for the small science team that had come along.

S'Lace gave a nod. Then as her crew went about their duties she performed the most difficult task a commander could undertake when presented with a crisis and they had done all they could to deal with it.

S'Lace waited...

---

Soon the Klingons were gone, and the shipment of weapons had arrived as requested. Alph distributed them to those who had requested them. A pair of security officers and a pair of marines armed with the rarely-seen Starfleet-issue shortsword in to hold the position.

Choq took his requested mek'leth. He took a few steps back and swung it around the space to get a feel for it. It was well-made, the starfleet replicators had not missed any details he could perceive.

Major Kalath took her optimised bat'leth. It was significantly lighter and made up of a synthetic metal, with transuranic alloy in the core to keep the weight high enough for maximum strike force. She had triple-digit hours in the holodeck practicing with this model.

Akaar accepted the short curved sword from Alph, strangely identical to those his people used, and readied himself for combat against the Borg drones. He wondered what they could possibly gain on this vessel, and why wasn't a Borg ship around. He realized that was the most unsettling thing he found about this situation.

"Any further preparations before we depart, Major?" Alph asked, confident they had attended to all the logistical considerations.

A moment later, Captain Three of Five beamed aboard. "I am here to assist. As a former drone, I have experience and understanding you all likely lack." Three told the group with the trademark tact one found from xB's who'd been assimilated as long as she had.

"Captain Three of Five." Alph explained to the cadets as an introduction that could be heard by all. "Assimilated from 2378-2391."

Camilaar raised an eyebrow. "Captain, while the academy course on the Borg is quite detailed, what is it missing?" His tone pure curiosity, the Felinoid would have come up to the former drone and took all she said in, but he only took a step closer. His tail wriggled around behind him, indicated his interest.

"If you have memorised the entire course and follow the instructions given, you will be as prepared as one can be without having been assimilated." Three explained succinctly.

"Alright everyone, moving out." Kalath said, moving towards the exit. "Remember, don't use your phasers unless there's absolutely no choice, it won't take them more than a few shots to adapt. Stay together, keep your eyes open. Drones shouldn't bother us if we don't bother them. Remember that dismemberment may be the most effective defence strategy that maximises survival chances of the drone. We're going to save these people, if we can."

Choq nodded and prepared to follow. He held his mek'leth parallel along the length of his arm in a backhand grip.

Lieutenant Gordon exhaled, and checked the results of her final tricorder diagnostic before taking in another breath. She was ready. Effectively unarmed, but ready.

Akaar held his shortsword ready, while nearby Camilaar had his phaser pointed up while he glanced around and his ears ridged, open to his sides listening for any machine type sounds.

Alph followed silently within the advancing Federation column. He watched Mana'i ahead, she was an unknown quantity. Could she, unlike himself, be assimilated? Or would she be technology the Borg might consider worthy of assimilation? The ethical implications were significant, but he focused instead on his task.

 

RSS Feed