Chapter 5
Jackie watches the viewscreen in awe as the top 1/3rd of the Prometheus keeps speeding towards the Borg city built around the energy linked asteroids.
Jackie: "...The Borg."
Lei walks over, with a shotgun: "These replicators are amazing! Those tall aliens won't know what hit 'em."
He takes out his 9mm Handgun and wrenches it.
Lei: "Reloaded. "
He notices Jackie's attention to the viewscreen.
Jackie, ponders: "I don't understand. The Borg are a Delta Quadrant species? What are they doing all the way out here? They must've transwarped over. They're trying to assimilate that energy those two asteroids are producing..."
Lei has no idea what she's talking about. He approaches her, looking down at the floor.
Lei: "Look, Jackie, I'm really sorry, but I don't know anything about this century. I shouldn't have followed you into the run."
He lifts up his shotgun.
Lei: "Now you're a wanted starship hijacker. I chase people like you for a living... or at least I used to. You know, not including the starship part."
Jackie is way too busy working on the sensor readings to listen to him.
Jackie: "I think I'm on to something here... I'm reading so many assimilated aliens, and one of them seems to match Darpa's."
Lei: "Jackie, are you even listening me?"
She gets up and runs over to tactical.
Jackie: "I know his readings anywhere... I can't believe it. The Borg kidnapped him? ...Now he's assimilated... Pren was reluctant to tell me about the Borg part, as usual..."
She picks up her Tricorder with the isolinear chip stuck in it, trying to find anymore information.
Lei: "Jackie, listen, I'm not going with you this time. I have to figure out what happened to me."
Jackie: "Maybe I can beam him out or something..."
A Borg sphere, and two Borg transport pods fly out towards the Prometheus vector. They slam tractor beams onto the vector and pull them towards the asteroided city.
Jackie stops: "...Shit!"
Lei, startled: "What? --Is it bad? --Are the Borg bad?"
In the distance, the bottom-two sections of the Prometheus suddenly drop warp. It starts firing phasers and torpedoes at the Borg spheres and pods.
A Borg cube suddenly approaches, rotating, and firing torpedoes. Jackie and Lei are beamed off the vector by the Borg.
The torpedoes from the bottom vector's of the Prometheus knock the sphere and pod's away from the helpless top vector. The Prometheus then reintegrates, just as the cube hits it with energy beams.
Texas: "Take us out of here, consornit!"
The Prometheus, fully intact, jumps to warp. The cube turns around, not caring much.
Jackie and Lei rematerialize inside one of the Borg bases on one of the asteroids. Two Borg drones walk towards them in the corridor.
Lei: "What the hell are they??"
Jackie: "...The last thing we'll ever remember."
Lei holds up his shotgun and blasts one of the drone's in the chest. The drone falls back onto the floor.
Jackie immediately goes over her tricorder: "Yes! We got lucky! I think I'm picking him up..."
She continues to reconfigure her tricorder as she runs down the next corridor.
Jackie stops, coming face to face with a drone. Lei pulls her away and blasts a pack of bullets at the drone. The drone goes flying over a ledge.
Jackie: "This way!"
They approach an alcove with a drone regenerating. The drone is a human, short, and is an old man.
Jackie: "Darpa!"
She taps at panels, and struggles to pull him out the alcove.
Lei, looking out: "Your friend is one of them...?"
Jackie: "Not by choice. He hasn't been gone long, so he might be easy to separate from the collective."
She starts working on the Darpa Drone's temple device.
Jackie: "I learned this in Borg class."
A whole crowd of drones approach from another side of the corridor. Lei arcs around and blasts his shotgun at drone after drone, blasting each one away and into other drones.
Lei: "They just keep coming!"
A drone in the crowd is hit by a pack of bullets and knocked down. Another Drone is hit, but shields the bullets.
Lei: "Umm... okay. Level 2?"
Jackie has just about sabotaged Darpa's interplexing beacon. Lei grabs Jackie, who grabs Darpa. They make a run for it.
Lei: "Let's go!"
They take a platform down to the bottom floor of the Borg base. Jackie leans Darpa next to a wall as he awakens.
Darpa: "Uhh... uhhhh..."
Jackie: "Darpa! Darpa! It's me! Jackie!"
Darpa: "...Jackie?"
He focuses his eyes.
Darpa: "...Wha... what are you doing here?"
Jackie: "I came to save you. I missed you so much."
Darpa: "All I remember is being transported onto a Jem'Hadar vessel... Then they brought me to the Gamma Quadrant... then the Borg..."
He tries to make sense of his memories.
A drone approaches Lei. Lei smacks the end of his shotgun across the drone's face. The drone recovers. He then forces the nose of the shotgun through the drone's shields and blasts it. The drone goes flying back, but takes the Shotgun with it as it gets stuck to its shields.
Jackie: "A Jem'Hadar vessel?"
Darpa, pulls her closer: "The Niekada. They're working for the Borg!"
Jackie: "That doesn't make any sense..."
Lei is confronted by another drone. It sticks its assimilated arm out at him, but Lei grabs the arm. He redirects the arm into a console in the wall, electrocuting the drone.
Lei: "Okay, I'll just do this for the next hour!"
Darpa, looks at Jackie like a father would his daughter: "...Ja... Jackie. Why did you come here? The Borg are ruthless!"
Jackie: "I had to save you Darpa. You're like a father to me. You're all I have left!"
Darpa: "Jackie no!"
Jackie, starts crying: "...After dad died... and Brian left... you're..."
She stops.
Darpa: "Now you've doomed us all!"
He embraces her, showing her he still loves her.
Jackie: "I know... I'm sorry..."
Tubules fly down from above. One of them pierces into Jackie's shoulder, slamming her against the wall.
Lei dodges a soaring tubule, forced to jump at the sight of an attacking drone. He leaps off the drone's chest and clings onto a wriggling tubule. He swings around, coming back to kick the drone down.
He then starts bobbing up and down, grabbing Jackie. The tubule pulls them both up into the air until one drone leaps off an upper level, tackling them. They all go flying, slamming back to the bottom floor in pain.
Lei: "Augghh!!!"
The drone picks Lei up and stabs tubules into his neck.
Lei: "Ugh! --You got to admit. I had you guys going there for a while..."
He looks for a response in the drone's eyes.
Later, Lei and Jackie are placed in an assimilation room. Their consciousnesses slowly falling in and out as they lay against beds beside each other. Drones work on them. They have accepted their fate.
Jackie: "They've already begun the assimil-- ation procedure..."
Lei, tries to turn his head: "Ugh... the what? I still can't believe all these cybernetics."
Jackie: "Well... heh. It's been nice knowing ya... or at least, it'll be nice to know you more in the next few minutes."
Lei: "I should've known better than to follow you around this god forsaken future."
Jackie: "Hey, Lei. You have anyone where you come from... a family or a girlfriend or something?"
Lei, tries to maintain his focus: "Ugh! ...No. My girlfriend left me for another girl. What about you?"
Jackie: "I-- argh!! --I thought I was in love with Brian... but I found him with another woman."
She glances over at him, in pain.
Lei: "You know Jackie. If we weren't about to be assimilated... I'd definitely take you out for a beer..."
Jackie, smiles: "...Really?"
Lei: "Yeah."
A drone walks over and slams Lei's head against the metallic bed. The drone takes a spinning drill and aims it for Lei's left eye.
