Sillika stared blankly at the screen infront of her. It had some sort of rapidly changing display, but she wasn't even trying to read it. She wasn't... No, she was trying desperately not to think. She knew what she'd see if she did, the image burned into her mind. She shuddered again as the picture rose into her mind's eye. Callum, face terrifyingly blank as he stared straight ahead as he uttered those 3 cold words.
"We Are Borg."
Not even 'I am.' 'We are.' Like... Like in that terrible instant he'd gone, vanished, destroyed by the metal rising out of his skin...
"No!" She slammed her fist into the panel, causing the screen to flash madly for a few seconds. Like he'd been destroyed... Which was pretty much what had happened. Keryl had explained it just after they'd arrived, told them as much as she'd known. Sillika's mind drifted back to that meeting, heard her own voice asking what had happened to him...
"This?" Keryl tapped a key and a small screen rose out of the table. It showed a slowly rotating image of a Shee and as Sillika watched, the Shee's skin paled, thin pieces of metal rising up through the flesh. After a few seconds it stopped. Sillika gulped as she stared at the impassive face, one eye slightly red. Keryl pressed another key and the Shee's clothes changed to black armour-plate, a variety of extra pieces flying in from the edge of the screen and fixing themselves onto the figure. A curving eyepiece slid over the red eye, what looked like some sort of gun slotting onto an arm. Finally, the changes stopped. The image now was of something very similar to the ones that had attacked them. Keryl sat back.
"Assimilation. The first stage is what the probes can do by themselves, the rest needs to be added afterwards." Her golden gaze locked with Sillika's.
"There's nothing we can do."
The hiss of a door jerked Sillika back to reality. She looked up as Jay entered.
"Hey," he smiled slightly. Sillika tried to return the grin, but failed as her lips refused to move.
"Hey," she muttered, turning back to her screen, trying to concentrate on the words. She was supposed to be learning about the Celon's shielding system, but she wasn't taking it in. Jay rested his hands on her shoulders, fingers moving in small circles across her knotted muscles.
"What're you thinking?"
"Nothing much."
"Y'know," his hands dropped back down and he flopped into the seat next to her, "It's amazing what content a 'nothing' thought can have."
Sillika stared at the floor.
"I'm sorry. About Vixa, and the others."
Jay rubbed his forehead.
"It's not your fault. It's mine, I should have been more careful," his fists clenched, "And now..." He trailed off, head down. Sillika wrapped an arm round his shoulders.
"Hey, it isn't your fault. You weren't to know about the Borg, how could you?"
"Yeah, well..."
There was silence for a few moments. Sillika kicked the floor absently.
"Jay?"
"What?"
"Do... D'you think he's okay?"
When he didn't respond, Sillika felt her heart sink. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but even an optimistic lie would have been better than nothing.
"Jay?"
Jay shook his head slowly.
"I don't know, I honestly don't know. From what Keryl said, if he is still alive..." The sentence hung in the air. Sillika swallowed.
"I know. I don't want to, but... I know."
Jay sighed as the door hissed shut behind him. No matter what Sillika said, he did blame himself for what had happened. He was the Commander, he'd been in charge, and he'd failed. Dismally.
"Hey, Jay? Give me a hand?"
Jay nearly jumped at Keryl's voice. She was slightly further down the corridor, lugging a very large piece of equipment. She wiped her forehead, flicking sweat-damp hair out of her eyes.
"What about it?"
Jay nodded.
"Sure, where are we going?"
"Bridge," Keryl adjusted her grip, letting Jay take some of the weight, "This'll be more useful plugged up there."
That seemed to be all, conversation wise. As they manovered the load, Jay mused that Keryl hadn't been very talkative so far. She'd explained about the Borg, but very little else. He glanced towards her as they reached the bridge.
"You okay?"
"Why, do I look that bad?" Keryl palmed the door, gesturing him to keep moving. Jay helped heave the thing through the door, then decided to try again.
"I mean, are we a problem here? You haven't exactly been welcoming."
Keryl glared at him, then suddenly her expression softened.
"Probably true, and I'm sorry if I've been a bit... Clinical. It's just... Never mind," she shook herself.
"Hey, I do understand. About your group I mean."
"Whatever," Keryl shoved the machine into an alcove in the wall, fingers dancing around the back as she plugged it into various sockets. Jay felt his temper rise slightly.
"What's the matter with you? I'd have thought you'd be a bit better pleased to have a little company."
"Pleased?" Keryl swivelled round, her gaze burning, "I've had to expose this position, which has never been the most secure, just in order to save you two from those tin-plated monstrosities. And as for being a bit distant, yes, I damn well am. Basically I've had too many friends die to risk making any more. Those Borg have killed every friend I've had, my brother and destroyed any chance I had of getting home. Every hour of every damn day I spend tracking the bastards, trying to stay one step ahead. *That's* what the matter is with me!"
Jay realised his jaw was hanging open. Keryl turned back to the machine and began tapping keys. After a second she stopped and rested her head on the side.
"I'm sorry. Really. It's just... I've never had the best temper, and it's been stretched to breaking point too many times. You want a drink, while I attempt to apologise?"
Jay nodded, trying not to stare. Keryl seemed to flip from one subject, and mood, to another faster than anyone he'd ever met. He tried a grin.
"Sure. What'cha got?"
"Basically liquid caffeine with sugar. It's not what you'd call healthy, but since life expectancy is currently a little uncertain, I haven't been too bothered. That was supposed to be a joke, but I guess my sense of humour needs work too," Keryl smiled slightly. Jay returned the grin.
"Doesn't sound too bad to me. Lead the way."
A few minutes later they were seated at a hastily cleared table in one corner of the bridge. The drink was slightly bitter, but it was hot and soon began to fight off the advancing wave of exhaustion. Jay nodded to Keryl.
"This isn't so bad."
"Urgh, I think I'll have to disagree with you on that," Keryl grinned, then made a face as she took another sip of the black liquid, "I much prefer fruit juice, but you can't beat this stuff for helping you stay awake for thirty odd hours fixing glitches."
"Probably very odd hours if this set of equipment is concerned," Jay cast a glance around at the unfamiliar screens. Keryl laughed quietly.
"Yeah. You try hanging upside down in an access tube for two hours, then finding out that dodgy reading was a problem with the display screen!"
Jay grinned.
"Well, I have been known to respond to unexpected call-outs wearing just a towel. And I've done at least one emergency red alert with my trouser on backward and no shirt. Naturally, none of the female crew got much done that drill," he winked. Keryl laughed.
"You wish."
"Something like that," Jay took another slug of the drink and could practically feel his eyelids peeling back. Any more of this stuff and he'd be bouncing off the ceiling. Keryl looked down, staring into her mug.
"Thanks Jay."
"For what?"
"This. I can barely remember the last time I actually had a conversation. Or laughed, if I'm honest."
"Oh, people laugh at me all the time."
"You know what I mean, towel boy."
"Now you wish."
"As if," Keryl frowned at him for a second, "Just out of interest Jay, how old are you? You're pretty young for a Commander."
"25. I got a lot of hectic missions when I first joined, got promoted quickly. What're you on about age for anyway, you can't be older than me."
"True, but a lady never reveals her age," Keryl grinned, "What were you out here for?"
Jay told her. When he'd finished, Keryl whistled softly.
"Deep space exploration, eh? Sounds like you had quite a trip."
"You should ask Sillika some time, her story's odder than mine," Jay took another sip of the drink, then raised an eyebrow.
"Your turn. What was your mission about?" He asked. Keryl hesitated for a moment before replying.
"We were... On a research mission."
Jay glanced at the screens and instruments again. He didn't recognise much of it.
"This ship looks a bit advanced for a simple data-gathering mission."
Keryl sat back and squirmed uncomfortably.
"This... Wasn't an ordinary data-gathering mission. The Celon's crew was the pick of the best. None of us had below 250 IQ points; all of us were more qualified than people three times our age. We were picked straight from the top collages on NewAlbia; the top achievers in every year selected, shuffled, analysed and selected again. There were 50 of us."
"50? To crew a starship?" Jay just caught his jaw before it dropped. Keryl nodded.
"Yup. A smaller starship, but the Celon's the most advanced in the fleet."
Jay frowned.
"No way. The Discovery's the best."
Keryl smiled.
"As far as you know Commander. I *worked* on the Discovery. The Celon was your ship's sister craft."
"It didn't have one."
"It did, believe me."
Jay's frown deepened.
"But, this place doesn't look anything like the Discovery."
Keryl nodded.
"I said *was*. It was... Upgraded. This ship's got a hyperwarp rating of 15..."
"15? That's not possible!"
Keryl shrugged.
"Not normally, but we have the first prototype drive capable of that speed. That's where the problems started..."
"Why? What happened?"
Keryl swirled her drink round the mug, looking slightly embarrassed.
"It blew up. It worked for six months, then just blew. We didn't get any warning, and we ended up smashing down here."
"Then you accidentally called up the Borg."
Keryl shuffled again.
"Not exactly..." She trailed off, then sighed.
"Our mission was to identify and study a new species of bio-mechanical beings reported from this sector. We were looking for as much information as we could, especially weaknesses. Command was worried about the weapon reports from the damn things; we were looking for a way round. We'd gotten quite a database on them, loads of info that could be useful against them. Most of us were doing our own tests on their technology too, just out of curiosity."
Jay stared at her.
"You mean you deliberately attracted those things here?" He asked incredulously. Keryl shook her head quickly.
"No! After we crashed, the communications and engines were beyond even our repair skills. There were plenty of parts though, and we could adapt a few spares to try and build a working array, somehow get a message through. We built one, but we couldn't get enough range on the thing. Bryon had been working on Borg communication, and thought he'd be able to adapt their tech to work with ours. He was right. It worked, but not how we'd hoped. He accidentally sent out a distress signal, a Borg distress signal. Next thing we knew, those blasted cubes had appeared and we were forced to move constantly just to keep ahead of those metal-plated bastards. They were too fast," Keryl's voice took on a pained edge, "Slowly, each of our groups began to fall. We lost contact with the last one three months ago. There were only four left in my group, me, Bryon, Cessia and Zaine. We decided to head back here."
"Why didn't you stay here in the first place? Infact, from what you've told us, why is the ship still here?"
Keryl smiled slightly.
"The Celon has a special cloaking system. It projects a type of hologram, along with a scanner disrupter, that can disguise it as anything we want. We'd decided to leave the ship when it first crashed so we could look round the planet. When the Borg attacked, we just had time to turn on the system before we had to run for it. My group was the only one to ever get back." She stopped, a variety of emotions flickering across her face. Jay rested a hand on her slightly shaking shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."
"No, you need to know." Keryl pushed his hand away and stared at the floor.
"A few weeks after we'd gotten back, there was a fault in one of the generators. The access was blocked; we could only get at it from the outside. As you can guess, we got attacked. I... I was the only one who got away. The others were... They were killed." Keryl wiped her eyes, then her face set back into it's usual determined expression.
"I'm going to find some way to take those bastards down."
Jay reached over and grasped her hand.
"We. Me, you, Sillika. Whatever else happens now, we're in this together."