He watched patiently as a new image built up: nearly three thousand tiny specks of light, each representing a hyper-powerful, interphase-cloaked photon torpedo attached to a warp drive that could outrace even the Borg. Most were in cl.u.s.ters of a few hundred. One cl.u.s.ter, he knew, surrounded Andor, another Alpha Centuari. The largest cl.u.s.ter by far surrounded the Borg sensor shield that in turn surrounded the entire Terran system.

After the recent example of Carda.s.sian treachery, even Sarek's Vulcan mental discipline was hard pressed to keep him from shivering inwardly at the sight of so much destructive power. No one, not Carda.s.sian, not Klingon, not any Alliance race, had found a way around the security system he had designed and now controlled, but they had tried, just as Zarcot had tried to destroy the Wisdom and kill Sarek for his own short-term gains. If Zarcot or someone else of his ilk did gain control of them- "Vortex," he said, wrenching his thoughts back to the task at hand. As he spoke, the major cl.u.s.ters vanished as the screen zoomed in on two tiny cl.u.s.ters of only five specks each. One cl.u.s.ter, he saw, was moving rapidly away from the other.

"Targets." At his word, a pair of ghostly Borg cubes appeared. One was in the midst of the more distant, comparatively motionless cl.u.s.ter of lights. The other was a short distance ahead of the moving cl.u.s.ter, as if being pursued by it. Which was, in truth, precisely what was happening.

Like every other known Borg ship, this one was constantly accompanied by a small cl.u.s.ter of the cloaked torpedoes, each one equipped with sensors that could track the Borg even while cloaked. The next time the Borg lowered the sensor shield around the Terran system, every interphase-cloaked photon torpedo would, at the command of Sarek or one of the four trusted advisors, maneuver inside the nearest Borg cube, decloak, and detonate. Those surrounding the Terran system would attempt to do the same with the unknown number of Borg vessels that would suddenly be revealed to their sensors. The energy leakage that was an unavoidable part of the decloaking process would inflict major damage itself. The photon torpedoes, it was hoped, would finish the job, reducing the cubes to metal sc.r.a.ps and vapor.

If every aspect of the plan were executed perfectly, a few minutes after the Terran shield went down, the quadrant would be free of Borg ships for the first time in more than two centuries.

But even then there would still be the billions of planet-bound drones, the drones that once had been humans and Andorians and Alpha Centaurians.

But if Kirk and Picard and Scott were telling the truth, as he was gambling they were, if they survived long enough to reach the Guardian's World, if the Guardian agreed to help them- Without warning, the Enterprise darted away, first under full impulse, then going to warp.

Kirk, pacing the bridge nervously, winced as the pursuing Borg ship once again changed course far more sharply than anything that ma.s.sive had any right to do. Not as sharply as the Enterprise, but there wasn't nearly the difference in maneuverability he had hoped for. No matter how many times the Enterprise zigged and zagged, no matter what kind of evasive maneuvers Picard ordered the computer to execute, the cube followed, never once losing ground for more than a few seconds. They weren't being overtaken as fast as they would've been in a straight flight, but the cube was steadily closing the gap.

And they were little closer to the Vortex than when they had started.

"Four minutes to weapons range, Captain," Worf announced. Over the last twenty minutes the distance to the Borg ship had been cut in half. Unless they found an evasive pattern that worked better than the ones they had been using, it would be cut to zero in another twenty or less.

As the computer angled the Enterprise into another sharp turn, something caught Kirk's eye as the star field swept across the viewscreen.

"There," he said, pointing to a smudge that had appeared near the left edge of the screen, "is that a nebula?"

"It appears to be," Data agreed as the Enterprise once again hit maximum warp on its new course. "It is not, however, large enough to allow us to elude the Borg. Even if it were entirely sensor-opaque, which it is not, it would be useless to attempt to hide there. The range of Borg weapons is such that if the Borg were to station themselves just outside the nebula, they would need only to sweep the entire nebula, and- "

"Picard," Kirk said sharply, his voice suddenly filled with hope, "I know my last suggestion hasn't worked out all that well so far, but that nebula gives me another idea."

"Explain, Captain."

"No time. Just take us in there, quickly. I'll explain as we go. Please."

Picard scowled at him for a moment, then glanced at the figures streaming across the viewscreen, quantifying the overall rate at which the Borg ship was overtaking them.

"Very well," he said abruptly. "Give Ensign Raeger the details of what you need."

At least, Sarek thought as he watched the ultra-secure viewscreen in his quarters on the Wisdom, Picard's unwise attempt to flee had proven one thing: It was the Enterprise the Borg were after, not the Wisdom. Unless it meant only that the Enterprise had attracted attention by moving, and the Wisdom had not. But whatever the reason, the Wisdom had not been touched by the Borg sensors since the Enterprise had launched itself into flight.

Sarek was uncertain what he would do if the Enterprise, in its increasingly desperate maneuvers, took itself and its pursuer out of sensor range. While the cloaked torpedoes could-and would-easily keep pace with the Borg ship, the Wisdom could not. He was also uncertain-puzzled- as to what Picard was thinking. He was buying a little time, but to what end? He couldn't keep the Enterprise out of range of the Borg weapons forever, not even for another hour.

If it weren't for the real possibility that Picard was permanently linked to the Borg, he would have answered the Enterprise's hail long ago, letting Picard know that the Borg ship could be destroyed at any time, but- His puzzled frown deepened. What was Picard doing now? The Enterprise had entered one of the tiny nebula that dotted the region of s.p.a.ce the Vortex was pa.s.sing through.

And it wasn't coming out, not if the Wisdom's sensors could be trusted. They could distinguish only vague shadows within the nebula, but the surrounding s.p.a.ce was crystal clear. And empty.

Was it time? he wondered. With the Enterprise motionless, the Borg ship would be within weapons range in less than a minute. Its weapons were fully charged and ready. Certainly Picard could not be foolish enough to think that the nebula would provide a safe hiding place. Not only was it far too small, but there were numerous voids, some running through it like meandering river canyons. All the Borg ship needed to do-Suddenly, a set of symbols flashed on the viewscreen and vanished. Calling them back onto the screen, Sarek saw that a ship, presumably the Enterprise, had just pa.s.sed through one of the narrow, canyon-like voids, exposing itself to the outside world for a fraction of a second. But that fraction of a second was enough for the Wisdom's sensors-and, almost certainly, for the Borg's. The Enterprise was moving, Sarek saw, at full impulse on a course that was only a few hundredths of a degree from being a collision course with the oncoming Borg ship.

For an instant he thought that Picard must have realized he couldn't escape and was planning to do as much damage to the cube as he could-by attempting to ram it.

A foolish maneuver at best, but then Sarek saw the true endpoint of the Enterprise's present course: the Vortex. And he realized what Picard was attempting. If the Enterprise went from full impulse to maximum warp the moment it emerged from the nebula, it would pa.s.s well within weapons range. But at that speed, with the cube moving at an even greater speed in the opposite direction, the Enterprise would be through that range in too short a time for the cube to react effectively.

By the time the cube was able to make a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, the Enterprise would have gained enough time to reach the Vortex before the cube could catch up.

They would then have time-at least a few seconds-to do what Sarek should have realized they were planning from the start of the evasive maneuvers: transport Kirk into the Vortex.

Which might restore the timeline without the help or advice of the Guardian.

Perhaps it would not be necessary to give away the Alliance's secret weapon after all.

Despite the urgency that was driving the Borg Queen's actions, a kind of exhilaration she had forgotten the very existence of gripped her as she raced after the Picard creature's ship. Like the capacity for fear, it was something that must have, all unknown, lain dormant in some vestigial corner of her still-largely-organic brain, only to be resurrected by her more-than-intimate contact with the Balitor creature and its out-of-control emotions.

One small part of her was disappointed that the chase would soon be over. The Picard creature's ship, while agile, was steadily losing ground. Soon it would be within weapons range, and that would be the end of it. The concentrated firepower of her ship would reduce the entire structure and all its occupants to a spreading cloud of plasma in a matter of seconds.

Ahead, the fleeing ship made an abrupt turn, nearly ninety degrees, but it would do the Picard creature no good. No matter how maneuverable the tiny craft was, it would be- Abruptly, the Enterprise slowed. A moment later, it began to fade from the sensors. But even as it did, something else was revealed to her through the visual interface: a nebula, a small cloud of interstellar dust.

She watched in disbelief as the Enterprise, now on impulse power, faded entirely from the sensors as it crept into the heart of the nebula. Surely Picard couldn't think he could hide in such an obvious way?

At her current speed, she would be in weapons range in less than thirty seconds, at the nebula itself in little more. Once there, she could simply sweep the entire nebula. It might be largely opaque to her sensors, but it would present little obstacle to her weapons.

But then, for just an instant, the Enterprise reappeared as it moved-still on impulse power-through one of the voids in the nebula. In that instant, she saw the projected course of the Enterprise, showing precisely where it would reenter open s.p.a.ce. It had essentially made a U-turn and was on a near-collision course with her ship.

If she had not been in direct control of the ship, that piece of information would have been noted and used only to pinpoint the spot where the Enterprise would most likely emerge from the nebula. Without her guidance, the ship would have continued racing toward the nebula, altering its course just enough to bring it even closer to that exit point than its present course would. And its sensors would continue to monitor all s.p.a.ce surrounding the nebula in case the fleeing ship reappeared at some other point.

But she was not bound by the limitations of the drones who normally controlled the ship. Their orders were narrow and rigid, while hers were, basically, whatever she said they were.

In less than a second, she saw two things. First, if the Enterprise went to maximum warp the moment it emerged, the combined speeds of the two ships would be such that they would pa.s.s each other so rapidly she might not have time to fire.

Second, the course the Enterprise appeared to be following led directly to the Vortex.

And she realized something that would have meant nothing to any drone but which meant everything to her.

The two-the ones called Scott and Kirk-had "appeared" near the Vortex, and now Picard was apparently attempting to return them to that same spot. Would they then vanish the same way they had appeared, going back to wherever or whenever they had come from, taking Picard with them?

And how, she wondered as a new possibility suddenly arose out of her Locutus memories, could she even be certain that they were still on board? The three of them and any number of others could very easily have left the Enterprise and remained behind in the nebula in one or more of the smaller craft the Enterprise carried.

Craft that a normal Borg ship would ignore once the main craft had been destroyed.

But with her in control, this was not a normal Borg ship.

Whatever their plan, they would not escape.

With a renewed sense of urgency, she slowed the vessel, dropping out of warp just as the Enterprise's projected emergence point came within weapons range. At this lower relative speed, she would have more than enough time to disable the Enterprise when it emerged, no matter how rapidly it was moving, no matter what evasive maneuvers it undertook. She could then determine whether the Picard creature and the other two were still aboard or had remained behind in the nebula in one of the smaller craft.

There was no way any of them could escape now.

Twenty-Three.

SAREK'S HOPE of keeping the Alliance's secret weapon a secret was short-lived. Seconds after the Wisdom's sensors had picked up the Enterprise's motion within the nebula, the Borg ship altered course slightly and dropped to sublight.

But Picard, Sarek realized instantly, would have no way of knowing the Borg ship had slowed prematurely. The Enterprise sensors would be as blinded by the nebula as the Borg's. If, as Sarek expected it to do, the Enterprise emerged from the nebula at maximum warp, heading almost directly at the Borg ship, it wouldn't shoot through the danger zone nearly fast enough to avoid Borg fire. Not only that, even if the Borg ship, now almost at a standstill, somehow failed to destroy the Enterprise and let it slip past, it would now be able to overtake it long before it reached the Vortex.

It was time to act. He had no choice.

Deliberately but rapidly, Sarek entered another code into the control panel. The neurobiosensor quickly verified his ident.i.ty once again.

And cleared the signal to be sent.

On the screen, the five specks of light swarmed toward the Borg ship like angry insects, burrowing into it in the seconds before the Enterprise emerged from the nebula.

Now continuously monitored by the neurobiosensor, Sarek sent the decloak and detonate signals.

Focusing her entire attention on the Enterprise's projected exit point from the nebula, the Borg Queen impatiently suppressed the countless unrelated signals that were clamoring for her attention. There would be time enough for them when her objective was accomplished. For the next few seconds, she wanted no distractions, nothing that would take even a tiny fraction of her attention from that objective: the complete and final destruction of the Picard creature and his ship.

But then, an infinitesimal instant after the Enterprise finally emerged from the nebula and went immediately to maximum warp, just as the intensity of a particularly insistent signal spiked violently, the ship's sensors went dead.

A fraction of a second later, she was enveloped in something the remaining organic portions of her brain interpreted as searing pain.

The Borg ship reappeared on the Enterprise viewscreen, indistinctly at first as the sensors struggled to pierce the last fringes of the nebula. The cube wasn't, Picard noticed with alarm, at the predicted coordinates or moving at the predicted speed. But there was no time to do anything but what they had hastily planned and programmed into the computer.

With virtually all power temporarily diverted to the warp drive and the shields, the Enterprise surged ahead, the Borg ship now crystal clear on the viewscreen, its course and position pinpointed by the sensors. While they had been inside the nebula, it had altered its course so that the Enterprise would pa.s.s within hundreds of kilometers, not the tens of thousands they had calculated. Worse, the Borg ship had dropped out of warp, which meant the relative velocity at which it and the Enterprise would pa.s.s each other would be far too low to-Picard gasped as he suddenly felt invisible flames searing his flesh. For an agonizing instant he thought it might be some weapon the Borg of this universe used, but then, through eyes that barely functioned because of the pain, he saw what was happening to the Borg cube on the screen: It was expanding, beginning to disintegrate, shards of blinding light pouring out through dozens of widening fissures. Somehow, the cube was being destroyed!

And he knew the source of his pain: the Link to the Borg. Through that Link he was experiencing a feeble specter of what the tens of thousands of drones-and the ship itself?- were experiencing as they were vaporized.

As suddenly as it had descended on him, the agony was gone, shattered into a thousand bearable fragments that faded rapidly from his consciousness.

And the Borg cube was no longer a cube, not even a disintegrating one. It was little more than an expanding sh.e.l.l of fragments being vaporized by the ma.s.sive fireball that was propelling them outward even as it destroyed them, like the shockwave of a miniature supernova.

"All stop!" Picard ordered sharply.

The Enterprise dropped out of warp, the image on the viewscreen wavering momentarily as the sensors adjusted to the sublight environment.

Then the viewscreen dimmed as automatic filters kicked in to protect the screen and its watchers from the eye-searing glare as the fireball consumed the last remnants of the sh.e.l.l before beginning finally to fade.

A moment later, Sarek's voice erupted onto the bridge. "Picard, is it your intention to return Kirk to the Vortex?"

After a moment of shocked silence, Picard recovered his voice. "Wisdom on screen," he snapped, and Sarek's face appeared instantly. "What happened, Sarek?"

"If you wish to restore your timeline, Picard, answer my question."

Darting a look at Kirk, who seemed as puzzled as himself, Picard scowled. "That was the plan," he said, "but if you can- "

"There is no time for discussion, Picard," Sarek said, more tension in his voice than Picard had ever heard in any Vulcan's. "Proceed to the Vortex if such is your wish."

"I won't know if it is or not-unless you answer my question: Did you destroy that Borg ship? If you did, I would say we have more options than you led us to believe."

Before Sarek could reply, his image vanished from the viewscreen.

For a seemingly interminable moment the Borg Queen was paralyzed with shock and pain as the distant ship that had for a few minutes served as her body was torn apart and vaporized. Like the equally impossible sensation of exhilaration, it had been resurrected from a past that, until these last few hours, she had thought dead and forgotten.

But then it was over, and she was once again whole, once again fully rational.

And she knew instantly what had happened.

The ship she had been controlling had been destroyed-because of her!

Anger-yet another unwelcome ghost from that distant past-swept over her. But not anger at the Picard creature or whoever had triggered the destruction of her ship but at herself, at her rashness, at the sheer irrationality of her actions.

The alarms she herself had put in place decades ago in every Borg vessel had been warning her. She had sensed those warnings, but she had brushed them aside. She had been so absorbed in her obsessive pursuit of Picard that she had failed to instantly comprehend their meaning or their importance. Worse, her control of the ship had been so complete, the ship so much an integral part of herself, that she had, unknowingly, kept the ship from reacting.

She had kept the ship and its thousands upon thousands of drones from saving themselves.

It would not happen again.

Her actions from this point on would be dictated by strict logic.

And that logic now overwhelmingly dictated that, in order to be absolutely certain that she would achieve her primary goal, she would have to scale back the magnitude of her intermediate goal by hundreds of worlds. Instead of waiting another hundred years for thousands more ships to be built, she would have to be satisfied with the thousands already built. Without the a.s.sistance of the Narisians, she would no longer have any way of learning what new weapons some Alliance world might secretly devise in those hundred years, and that kind of uncertainty was unacceptable. To accept it would be to accept the very system that she had spent the last several subjective centuries proving wrong.

No, she had no choice. She had to initiate the final phase of her plan not a hundred years from now, but now!

The shrunken image of the Enterprise bridge vanished abruptly from the corner of Sarek's viewscreen, leaving only the full screen display that indicated the locations of the interphase-cloaked photon torpedoes. At the same moment an ear-piercing alarm erupted from his control panel, sending even his heart racing.

Because he knew instantly what it meant.

He had never before heard it except in simulations, but its meaning was unmistakable: Someone, somewhere had broken through the layers of security that surrounded the interphase-cloaked fleet.

With the neurobiosensor still continuously confirming his ident.i.ty, he sent the signal that would freeze the entire system, locking out all incoming signals until everything could be a.n.a.lyzed and the source and nature of the intrusion determined.

Automatically, the system began spewing out teraquads of data, detailing the status and history of every interphase-cloaked device, including source, destination and content of every signal they had ever sent or received.

But before Sarek could even begin to search through the avalanche of data, another alarm went off.

And one of the specks of light on the screen winked out.

Followed by another.

And yet another.

As close to panic as a Vulcan could come, Sarek zeroed in on the final readings transmitted from the now-missing ships, scanning them rapidly. Everything appeared completely normal until- Impossible! With the system frozen, not even he could force a detonation command through.

But someone had.

Milliseconds before the datastreams ended abruptly, all three devices had received-and accepted-an unauthorized detonation signal.

And on his screen, still more lights were winking out.