Chapter 2

Thanks to sosseres for editing this chapter!

A hideously bright and pale formation obstructed Alex's view as he began to return to consciousness. It was one of the most malformed, disgusting things he had seen in his life.

"Get that out of my face," he muttered.

The Emergency Medical Hologram took a step backwards. "Sorry that my lowly features do not appeal to your human sense of attractiveness. I'll have my face re-programmed, just for you."

Alex groaned. Why did they still use this damned Mark One when there were newer and better versions out there?

"Doctor... what happened to me?"

The hologram raised an eyebrow in an almost Vulcan-like fashion. "You mean you don't remember getting clobbered on the holodeck? I believe that a simulated Klingon managed to beat you with his bat'leth, and as you well know, the secondary command functions of the new computer are not online. The safety protocols on the holodeck were completely non-functional."

"Please, no lectures. My head hurts enough as it is."

The EMH rolled his eyes as he deployed the surgical panel overlays across Alex's body. A three-dimensional hologram of the inner workings of a human body appeared in the air over the surgical bed.

He suddenly became very nervous. "Doctor, why are you prepping me for surgery?"

"I discovered during my physical examination that one of your ribs was cracked twice. It will be much easier to use the organ replacement replication system instead of artificially healing it. It won't take more than a few minutes. Jane, activate full medical scanning. Overlay and highlight any changes from normal human anatomy."

The entire hologram began glowing red.

"Alert," Jane's feminine voice warned, "preliminary medical scans show no damage. In-depth scans are not penetrating fully through Ensign Rockwell's body; they are reporting zero data acquired. I recommend a level one diagnostic run on this surgical bed's sensors immediately."

The doctor looked baffled. "I tested it out less than ten minutes ago, to check over T'Khiori! Sensors were fully functional then! Switch to auxiliary medical sensors. Access internal ship sensors as well, set to life-science mode."

"Maybe it's Jane," Alex suggested, "after all, I've had less than a day to work the bugs out of her."

"Computer failure is a possibility," Jane acquiesced, "as all sensors are receiving the same results. If my logic circuits were not operational, I would believe that a dampening field was activated within your body."

He laughed. "A dampening field, eh? I doubt it... I don't have anything except the normal organs. Kidneys, heart, liver. Don't remember anything about a sensor dampening field emitter in my anatomy class."

"To satisfy my curiosity," Jane reported, "I just ran a security scan of your body. Ensign Davis' security sensors feature electronic counter-counter measure systems. I managed to penetrate what appears to be a highly localized sensor refraction field, but the scans were stopped by a plate of metal that, at best guess, is at least five centimeters of structural integrity field reinforced tritanium alloy."

Alex shook his head in resignation. "Great, the sensor systems have become rerouted or something; it sounds like she's scanning our own hull armor. I'll run a diagnostic later. Until then doctor, I'd rely on medical tricorders and more traditional medicine."

The doctor nodded in agreement, reaching for his medical tricorder. Just as he was about to begin the examination, a thunderous klaxon rang throughout the room. The primary lighting switched off to be replaced by the red glow of alert condition illumination.

With a few quick taps on a control panel beside him, Alex climbed up from the surgical bed. He was grateful that he evidently still had his uniform on, and not a hospital gown.

"Sorry, doc. Duty calls. Jane, initiate site to alcove transportation; Ensign Alexander Rockwell to the bridge."

The doctor attempted to stammer out an argument, but Alex was already on the bridge before any actual protest could be formed. He quickly made his way to his console, dimming the surrounding viewscreens somewhat to be able to watch the rest of the bridge.

Captain Scott swiveled in his chair towards the rest of the appearing crewmembers.

"We seem to have developed a slight problem," he began with a grimace, "the Borg have returned to the Vulcan system. Except they don't seem to be going after Vulcan home defense forces this time. They are scouring the area with twenty squadrons of ten bioships... and they are pinging away with every form of subspace sensor technology that we know of, plus a few that we've never seen before. It looks like they're searching for us."

"Captain," Loepker commented, "maybe we should give ourselves a little breathing room. I recommend jumping to Vulcan's Oort cloud and hiding out for a while. If the Borg catch us in an area where they can concentrate two hundred bio-pulse weapons on us, we don't stand much of a chance. Normally I wouldn't be worried; the subspace cloak can protect us against most attacks. But the Borg have an uncanny ability to thwart defensive systems. Obviously they're getting even better at it if they have taken over that many 8472 ships."

"Agreed," Captain Scott replied with a nod, "Jane, if you would please set a course for Vulcan's Oort cloud and engage, I would be much obliged."

Jane's feminine voice quickly replied with an affirmative. She also informed everyone that it would take ten seconds for the coaxial core to charge for the jump.

Alex grew incredibly nervous as he looked at his sensor readouts. "Sir, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that the Borg have-"

He was cut off as a shower of sparks cascaded across the bridge, four separate EPS conduits exploding outwards. The combat lighting went offline, most of the consoles shorting out. The deck shook violently, tossing Loepker to the ground with a nasty cut across his forehead. Luckily, the operations console was still functional; it was hooked directly into Jane's emergency core power supply.

"Sir, the Borg hit us with multiple Bio-pulse weapons the second our coaxial drive began charging!" Alex reported. "The drive systems are offline, along with main power and internal defense systems. Our impulse reactor is also completely non-functional, and I am receiving only partial auxiliary power. We have no propulsion left exempting our maneuvering thrusters, and we don't even have the power to run them. We're dead in space."