Maybe I did Deanna a favor by leaving her with the Caeliar, Riker brooded. At least she's safe from all of this.

"How much time until the Borg reach Earth?" asked Picard.

Nechayev replied, "About seven hours. Maybe less. Why? Have something up your sleeve, Captain?"

"That remains to be seen," Picard said. "But Captain Dax informs us she has an idea in the works."

"Say no more," Nechayev said. "Unless you need us to play a part, maintain operational security. You've all been given full presidential authority to do whatever it takes. I'm counting on you two and Captain Dax to make the most of it."

Riker nodded. "Understood." His door signal chimed softly. "If you'll excuse us, Admiral, Captain Dax has arrived."

"By all means," Nechayev said. "Nechayev out."

Riker turned off his desktop monitor and said, "Come."

The door sighed open. Dax entered, followed by Hernandez. The two women seemed to project an aura of excitement mixed with apprehension. They stopped in front of Riker's desk. "We have something," Dax said. "As always, it's a long shot."

"Naturally," Picard said. "What is it?"

Hernandez replied with confidence and elan, "Supersedure."

The term meant nothing to Riker. He threw a confused glance at Picard, who looked similarly befuddled, then said to Hernandez, "I'm afraid you'll have to explain that to me."

"I was telling Erika about some of the oddities of Borg social structures," Dax said. "And she immediately drew the comparison to a bees' nest."

Picard reacted with a dubious frown and said to Hernandez, "I trust Captain Dax also explained that you're not the first person to apply that flawed a.n.a.logy to the Borg."

"Yes, she did," Hernandez said. "But I still think you ought to hear the details of our plan."

"h.e.l.l," Riker cut in, "I just want to find out what 'supersedure' means."

Making small gestures as she spoke, Hernandez replied, "It's a technical term for the process by which bees replace old queens with new ones."

"I got the idea when Erika mentioned her ability to hear the individual drones," Dax said. "That suggests that her link with the Borg is precise and deep. If we could give her a way to talk to the Borg, maybe we could use that ability to introduce her to the Collective as a new queen."

Picard walked out from behind the desk to face the two female captains more directly. "I'm hardly an expert on the subject of bees," he said. "But I seem to recall learning in elementary school that most beehives react to the arrival of a strange queen by killing the intruder."

"That's why I won't be presenting myself as a stranger," Hernandez said. "I'll use my catoms to impersonate the Queen's presence inside the Collective."

Riker replied, "Forgive me, but that sounds a bit vague. You said you'd never encountered the Borg before. What makes you so sure you can trick them into thinking you're their queen?"

"Her voice," Hernandez said. "It's unique within the Collective, much like the piping a queen bee uses to direct her hive. My catoms can resonate on an identical frequency and make my thought patterns a dead ringer for the Queen's."

Dax added, "There are two stumbling blocks to linking Erika to the Collective without losing her to it. First, we'll need to physically patch her into a vinculum. Second, she'll need a lot of raw power to help her drown out the Queen's voice."

Hernandez continued, "The Aventine has more than enough power to help me pump up the volume, so to speak."

"Once she does, she can take control of the Borg armada, or part of it, at least. Then she turns the Borg against themselves. It'd be like someone with multiple personality disorder whose personas start attacking each other."

Riker grinned. "Leave it to a joined Trill with psychiatric training to make that comparison."

Returning his smile, Dax said, "Go with your strengths-that's what my mom always said."

Picard paced past the two women, stopped, and turned back. "I admire your proposal for its audacity, Captains, but I can't endorse it." He looked Hernandez in the eye. "The technology you carry within your body is too advanced, too potent, to risk letting it be a.s.similated by the Borg."

The youthful woman blinked with confusion. "a.s.similated?"

Captain Picard cast an accusing stare at Dax. "Didn't you tell her what the Borg do when they encounter new species and technologies?"

Dax averted her eyes and replied in a humbled tone, "I may have skipped that part of Borg 101."

Riker could see the strain on Picard's face. Clearly, in the course of trying to formulate an explanation of a.s.similation for Hernandez, Picard was reliving the various ordeals he had suffered at the Borg's hands. To spare his former commanding officer that effort, Riker spoke up instead.

"With organic beings, it's a physical process," he said. "A Borg drone, queen, or sometimes even one of their ships, injects its victims with nanoprobes. These nanomachines bind with the subjects' RNA and effect a number of biological changes. More important, they suppress the subjects' free will and make them extensions of the Borg Collective, which gains access to its drones' memories and experiences. On a more practical level, the Borg a.s.similate technologies and concepts by stealing them."

Hernandez nodded and looked somber. "In other words, the Borg take all your best toys and make you a zombie."

"Basically, yes," Dax said.

Picard's countenance was haunted by his memories. "It's far more terrible than anything you can imagine," he said, though not to anyone in particular. "Part of you remains trapped inside yourself. You become a spectator to the hijacking of your mind and body. It's like a nightmare from which there's no awakening. You see everything, and you can't even shut your eyes."

A grim silence descended on the room.

Dax coughed to clear her throat. "Well, we weren't planning on risking Erika, for whatever that's worth."

"Any time you enter a Borg ship, it's a risk," Riker said. "And unless the Aventine has another amazing innovation we don't know about, I'm guessing you'll need to board a Borg ship to gain access to a vinculum for Captain Hernandez."

"You're right," Dax said. "I do plan on boarding a Borg ship to use its vinculum. But first, I plan to have my people eliminate every drone on the ship and neutralize its defenses. Erika won't set foot on it till it's been secured."

With his composure recovered, Picard replied, "That's a tall order, Captains. How do you intend to carry it out?"

Nodding toward Hernandez, Dax said, "Erika has a very keen sense for where the Borg are. If we give her natural gifts a boost, she can help us pinpoint a small scout cube or some other smaller Borg vessel traveling alone."

"I'd need energy and equipment to extend my range and enhance my precision," Hernandez said. "If I could make a direct interface with t.i.tan's sensor module, it'd be a big help."

Riker nodded. "All right. I'll have my science officer help you set it up."

Picard sounded doubtful and dismissive. "Even a brief infiltration of a Borg cube is dangerous," he said to Dax. "What, may I ask, is your plan for capturing such a vessel?"

Dax's voice took on an aggressive edge. "We'll fight them with the same tactics the Hirogen used on us," she said. "Erika picks a target, and the Aventine uses its slipstream drive to catch it. We fire a few low-yield transphasic torpedoes to knock out their shields. Then our strike teams beam in with projectile weapons, chemical explosives, and energy dampeners replicated from the ones we captured. The Aventine emits an energy-dampening field to suppress the Borg ship's regenerative capacity and defensive systems. Then my people go deck by deck, section by section, and secure the cube. Once we eliminate all the drones and access the vinculum, we send over Erika to do her thing-and coronate a new queen for the Borg."

The grimace on Picard's face was sterner than any Riker had ever seen. Picard heaved a deep sigh. "I can't fault you for a lack of ambition," he said, "but I remain unconvinced. Your plan is beyond dangerous; it runs the risk of granting the Borg access to a staggering new level of technology. Furthermore, you grossly underestimate their speed and ferocity."

Riker thought he heard an undercurrent of fear in Picard's voice, and he wondered if perhaps the captain's recent brief rea.s.similation had inflicted deeper wounds than Picard let on.

Picard continued, "Put simply, Captain Dax, your plan is foolhardy."

Undaunted, Dax replied, "It's also our only chance."

From the first moment Hernandez stepped inside t.i.tan's stellar cartography lab, she was overwhelmed by a sense of deja vu. Standing beside Melora Pazlar at the end of the widow's-walk platform, she watched the galaxy appear from the darkness and take shape in reduced form all around them.

Pazlar freed herself from her metal motor-a.s.sist armature and said with a smile, "When you're ready, just give a push to come up and join me." Then she vaulted straight up, off the platform, with the same ease that Hernandez herself had once taken for granted in Axion.

Hernandez hesitated to follow the science officer, unsure of how much freedom of movement she would have in her new clothing. At Captain Riker's request, Hernandez had exchanged her Caeliar-made attire for the current Starfleet duty uniform. The black jumpsuit with gray shoulder padding and a burgundy-colored undershirt had appeared in her quarters' replicator, complete with the rank insignia for a captain.

She took a breath, bent her knees a bit, and sprang with grace into the open s.p.a.ce above. It felt strange, she thought, to be back in a uniform after eight centuries of wearing gossamer. She added it to the other aspects of her past-sleep and hunger-that had caught up with her since she'd fled her captivity in Axion. A lifetime of sensations had come back to her in a matter of hours.

Within moments, she was beside Pazlar, who reached out and manipulated elements of the simulation in much the same way that Inyx had plucked stars from the darkness in the Star Chamber, during the century that Hernandez had helped him seek a new homeworld for the Caeliar. I hope he's all right, she thought. The Quorum must've been furious at him for letting me get away.

"It's easy to configure," Pazlar said. She raised an open palm and extended it. As she drew her hand back, a low-opacity holographic interface appeared. "You can alter any of the simulation parameters with this. Just be careful if you start messing with the gravity." She c.o.c.ked her head and gestured at the lower part of her body. "I'm a bit fragile, you see."

"Understood," Hernandez said. She reached forward and expected to find herself miming physical interaction with the projected controls. Instead, when she pushed her fingers on the various padds and slider panels, they met with the same resistance she would have expected of a physical console. Muted feedback tones followed each of her inputs. "It's very intuitive," she said.

"I know," Pazlar said. "Xin-I mean, Commander Ra-Havreii-designed the interface himself." The slender blond Elaysian averted her eyes when Hernandez glanced over at her.

"All right," Hernandez said. "I've set up a signal feed on the same frequency as my catoms. How do I activate the sensors?"

Pazlar pointed at a radiant blue panel on the interface. "Press that, and the sensor module switches into high gear. You'll be able to pull up high-resolution scans on anything within a hundred light-years."

"Then the only thing I still need is a simulated quantum field to power my catoms."

Nodding, Pazlar said, "We can't generate even a fraction of the energy that the Caeliar were making at New Erigol, but we'll give you everything we can."

"It'll be enough," Hernandez said. "Axion had to sustain itself, millions of Caeliar, and who knows what else. I just need enough to boost my catoms back to full strength. A fraction ought to do the trick, I'd think."

The science officer tapped her combadge. "Pazlar to Ra-Havreii," she said, and Hernandez noted a subtle shift in the woman's vocal inflection-it became gentler and a bit higher. "We're ready for the simulated quantum field."

"Perfect timing, Melora," Ra-Havreii replied. "Stand by while I bring it online.... Charging the deflector." The channel closed with a soft double beep a few seconds later.

Hernandez waited to feel the infusion of new strength. Several seconds pa.s.sed with no change. Pazlar filled the silence by explaining, "It might take a few minutes to bring the main deflector up to full power as a quantum-field generator."

"I know," Hernandez said. "I was the one who wrote the plan for the reconfiguration."

"Right," Pazlar said, flashing an embarra.s.sed grin. After another awkward moment, she added, "I'm sure Commander Ra-Havreii was able to make the changes. You can count on him."

Overcoming her aversion to meddling in others' business, Hernandez said, "Commander, may I make an observation?"

"Of course," Pazlar said.

"I've noticed that you and Commander Ra-Havreii seem to have a very cordial working relationship."

Immediately, Pazlar became tense and defensive. "So?"

"Don't misunderstand," Hernandez said. "I'm not making any a.s.sumptions about your relationship with-"

"Xin and I don't have a relationship," Pazlar said. "We're just friends."

Unable to suppress a knowing smile, Hernandez replied, "If you say so, Commander."

Pazlar crossed her arms and spent a moment looking fl.u.s.tered. "All right, there was one time when he tried to kiss me, but it didn't happen, and it was all a big misunderstanding-just crossed wires, you know? It didn't mean anything."

"Forget I mentioned it," Hernandez said. "It's none of my business, anyway. Sorry I pried."

Apparently unwilling to drop the subject, Pazlar added, "I made it very clear that I don't feel that way about him."

"No doubt," Hernandez said.

A fresh silence yawned between them. Then came Ra-Havreii's voice, filtered through the overhead comm. "Engineering to Pazlar. Quantum field stabilizing at full strength...now."

Again, Hernandez opened her senses to the state of the local ambient energy potential. She was rewarded by a flood of strength and focus as her catoms pulsed with renewed vigor. Nodding to Pazlar, she said, "I'm ready."

"Sensors online and ready," Pazlar said. "The system's all yours now, Captain."

Hernandez closed her eyes and felt a rush of raw data from t.i.tan's sensors being transmitted directly to her catoms, which processed all of it and accelerated her synapses to keep pace. Then she extended the range of her senses and let herself hear the intimidating chorus of the Borg Collective.

Millions of voices-some near, some distant. Cl.u.s.tered in groups as small as three or as large as thousands, a roar of minds yoked to the will of something that included them all and yet remained apart from them, aloof and domineering. She fought to pa.r.s.e their cacophony and subdivide it into manageable blocs. With effort, she began to separate them by sectors, and then by subsectors, and then by individual ships.

"I hear them," she said to Pazlar. "I see them."

Holding the snapshot of the Borg armada in her mind, she began to search it; she combed it for lone vessels, stragglers, outriders, or scouts. Her mind raced from one target to the next, flitted from sector to sector at the speed of thought.

Each time she found a promising lead, she targeted t.i.tan's sensor module on the coordinates that she heard echoing from that link in the Collective. Her first effort found a trio of small Borg vessels-ostensibly a light attack group but still too formidable for the Aventine to challenge alone. Several subsequent leads proved to be ma.s.sive a.s.sault cubes en route to major star systems; such targets would be too heavily manned by drones for the Aventine's limited strike forces to overcome.

Then she found it. The ideal target.

Zeroing in with t.i.tan's sensors, she said to Pazlar, "Have a look at this." The simulated galaxy expanded and flew away as the holographic projection enlarged a detailed sensor scan of a small Borg probe, traveling alone. "I'm not reading any major targets along their trajectory," Hernandez said. "They might be a long-range recon vessel."

Pazlar summoned a new command interface and made a quick evaluation of the ship. "Definitely a scout of some kind," she said. "Probably no more than fifty to a hundred drones...o...b..ard. What are their coordinates?"

"Bearing zero-one-three, approximately ten-point-five light-years from Devoras." She felt a profound trepidation as she added, "Inside Romulan s.p.a.ce."

Grinning, Pazlar replied, "Good thing they're on our side in this fight."

That's right, Hernandez reminded herself, ashamed that she had succ.u.mbed so easily to old fears. Things changed while I was gone. The Romulans aren't the biggest problem anymore.

Pazlar tapped in more commands. "Target locked in," she said. "Sending its coordinates to the Aventine." A moment later, she added, "Aventine confirms: target acquired."

"Now all we have to do is go get them," Hernandez said, with a bit more brio than she had intended.

Throwing a cautionary look in her direction, Pazlar said, "I wouldn't be in such a hurry to meet the Borg if I were you. Finding them was easy." She eyed the image of the black ship in front of them and frowned. "What comes next won't be."