*Lanco III. Colonel John Exfran from Assault Ops has been left in charge while Captain Allington, Commander Forrester, and several others have been transferred to the 5th Fleet to respond to the Borg assault. Gate operations remain suspended.

Dalos Alpha System. The 5th Fleet, 234 ships strong, waits for the 6th, 2nd, and 4th Fleets to arrive before making a move against the Borg. Sam is in command of the R.S.S. Odysseus, a Titan-Class Battlecruiser, with Vice Admiral Aaron Thompson commanding the Fleet from the ship.*

Thompson: How long?

Science: About 4 hours until the 6th Fleet arrives. The rest should be here before then.

Sam: And the Borg?

Science: They're still travelling at Warp Speeds. Current velocity will put them here in 3 hours 46 minutes approximately.

Thompson: Not good.

Sam: They'll get here before the 6th Fleet.

Thompson: Tell Rear Admiral UH Mik'ron to get his fleet in gear. That cube steamrollered the 1st and 3rd Fleets.

Sam: Did you know Admiral Prentice, sir?

*Thompson looks at Sam, sat in the command chair, with Matt in the First Officer chair next to her.*

Thompson: We went to the Academy together, served with each other for 10 years...

He was a good Officer, like you, Captain.

Sam: There are a few Admirals at Naval Command who might disagree with you.

Thompson: They work "by-the-book". We both know that sometimes you have to take chances, and that we can't just blindly follow orders.

Sam: Sir.

Ops, put this sector on holo-display.

*A holomap of the Dalos Sector appears in the centre of the bridge, just in front of Sam, Matt, and Thompson. The fleet is shown as a blue dot over a white dot. There are several other white dots indicating the Dalos Bravo, Charlie, and Delta Star Systems.*

Display the 2nd Fleet's present position.

*A blue dot appears on the map, slowly moving towards Dalos Alpha and the 5th Fleet.*

Now the 4th Fleet.

*Another blue dot appears, this time on the other side of the sector. This one is moving towards Dalos Alpha at a faster speed and is only 20 LY from the System.*

Is the 6th Fleet in range yet?

Science: Yes, sir, but they haven't entered the sector yet.

Sam: Have the Borg?

Science: Barely.

Thompson: Show it.

*Sam glances at Thompson, glaring at him for a moment, before nodding to the Ops Officer.

A red dot appears on the very edge of the map, heading towards Dalos Alpha at high speed.*

Matt: We may want a bigger fleet.

Sam: This was all Command could spare. A lot of our ships are still either fighting the Romulan Rebels or patrolling the Federation Border. We've seen 5 Iconian Ships in that area in the last week alone.

Thompson: In other words; we're on our own.

*Sam stares at the map for a few moments, before turning to Admiral Thompson.*

Sam: Admiral, can I see you in my Ready Room?

Thompson: Of course.

*Sam turns to her right to address Matt.*

Sam: Commander, you have the bridge.

Matt: Understood.

*Sam gets out of her seat and leads Admiral Thompson into the Ready Room. Once inside, she leans on the desk with her arms folded and stares at Thompson, who's waiting, dreading.*

Sam: Sir, I understand that you're in command of the Task Force, but we need to get something straight.

Thompson: I know, I know. It's your ship, for however long this mission lasts.

Sam: Good. Now, a question?

Thompson: Shoot.

Sam: Command only put me in charge of Lanco III because of my experience with the Iconians. I have zero experience with the Borg. So, what am I doing here?

Thompson: I requested you.

Sam: May I know why?

Thompson: A couple of years ago, you led the Republic Peacekeeping Task Force at Solais. You've been involved in more anti-pirate operations than anyone else in the fleet. You'd been in action on the Romulan Civil War Front when it first broke out, and you've seen action against the Iconians.

Simply put: You've seen more combat than a lot of people in the fleet in a short space of time. That's why I asked for you.

No one in the Military has any experience with the Borg, so you're the closest thing to qualified as we can get.

Sam: And it'll tick off some of the Brass back home to see me commanding a Titan-Class Warship.

*Thompson smiles.*

Thompson: That too.

While we're on the subject, how are you liking the Titan-class?

Sam: It's... big.

Thompson: That it is. This is your first time aboard one?

Sam: Pretty much. The largest thing I've ever boarded, ship-wise, was a Birmingham Class Starship, the U.S.S. Odyssey.

The tech's way more advanced than a lot of things I've seen.

Thompson: Oh, the Odysseus' last refit was 5 years ago! You think this is cool, just wait until they give you a brand new one! The Valiant was launched a few weeks ago. I've never seen a ship so--

*The ship shakes and the lights dim before returning to a low level, red-alert state. The red-alert klaxon starts sounding.*

Matt *Over comm.*: All hands to battlestations! Captain Allington and Admiral Thompson to the Bridge!

*Sam and Thompson walk outside to find themselves inside the Borg Cube.*

Sam: What the--?

Matt: There was a spike in Tomeron particles and boom, we're here.

Thompson: Tomeron?

Sam: They're particles that don't apply to the normal laws of space-time. They share similarities with Tachyon particles, accept instead of travelling faster than light, they open subspace fissures when they come into contact with an equal amount and concentration of Chroniton Particles.

Apparently, the Borg have managed to perfect it.

Thompson: Subspace fissures. Like the fold-space drive?

Sam: Similar, but our Fold-space drive utilises Epsilon Particles to project 2 beams across space instantaneously. Where those beams meet, a transpatial rift is formed from the origin to the destination.

Matt: Unfortunately, due to particle dispersal, there's a limit to how far the beam can go.

Sam: The Federation uses a different method involving Omega Molecules, I believe.

Alright, let's see what we can do about getting out of here. T'mar?

T'mar: I'll save you some time; we can't. Any weapons fire would cause as much damage to us as it would to them.

Sam: Environmental analysis.

Science: 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% Carbon Dioxide and other trace gases.

Sam: That's Earth's atmosphere, not Borg.

Thompson: What's the temperature?

Science: 18 degrees Celsius.

Sam: That's colder than Borg ships. They're normally roughly 39 degrees Celsius.

Thompson: I don't mean to interrupt, but don't you think we have more important things to--?

Sam: Sir, we can't get out. The ship's hull won't allow us to form a Fold-Space conduit at this range, and the explosive force of our weapons is likely to cause more damage to us than it is to them.

Thompson: Point taken. Shields?

Sam: Agreed. Raise Secondary Shields, divert power from the rest of the Shield subsystem.

Ops: Shields up. Generators 1, 2 and 3 now powering Secondary Grid. Should I take power from the Subspace coil?

Sam: Negative. We don't want to burnout the grid.

Ops: Sir, they're extending an umbilical!

*Outside, a docking umbilical is extended from the wall of the bay towards the Odysseus' port Docking Airlock. The umbilical phases through the secondary shield and connects with the hull.*

They've made contact!

Thompson: Same as 139. They adapted to our shield nutation without requiring any action. They've probably adapted to the anti-adaptive weapons as well.

Sam: Remodulate shields.

Ops: I'll have to take them offline for a moment. *He starts pressing controls frantically.*

Sam: Get a security team down to the Airlock.

T'mar: already on it.

Ops: Raising Shields.

*The shield grid re-establishes and severs the umbilical.*

Sam: Helm, port thrusters. Push us away about 30 meters. Carefully.

Helm: Aye, sir.

*The ship moves 37 meters away from the umbilical, and the section still caught within the shield begins scraping against the hull.*

Ops: Sir, we're getting an impact alert on the airlock.

Sam: Shut down the shield for a moment. Let the deflector field push the umbilical away. Remodulate while you're at it.

Ops: Aye, sir. *After a few seconds* Done.

Thompson: We can't keep this up forever.

Sam: I'm aware of that Admiral, but they obviously want something from us, or we'd be ashes by now.

Matt: Right. They didn't assimilate the 1st and 3rd Fleets, so why didn't they destroy us immediately?

*A few moments later, a hologram of DeSalle appears directly in front of the viewscreen. She looks at T'mar.*

DeSalle: Isn't your race supposed to be extinct?

*Sam turns to T'mar.*

Sam: Don't let her bait you.

*She turns back to DeSalle, walking to position herself in front of her. Thompson and Matt follow.*

Jessica DeSalle, I presume? I expected you to be...

DeSalle: Borg?

Sam: I was gonna say 'taller', but that works too.

*DeSalle raises an eyebrow before walking through Sam and into the centre of the bridge.*

DeSalle: Not exactly an Allen-Class Tactical Exploration Cruiser, but I guess it serves you well enough.

*Sam turns around to look at her.*

Sam: Did you have something to say, or to save time, shall I just use my magical powers of the Force and tear your ship apart right now?

*DeSalle and Matt suppress their amusement at the joke, while everyone else struggles to get it. DeSalle turns back to face her and begins walking towards her.*

DeSalle: Captain Samantha Marilla Allington, Serial Number 247X312B. *She's now directly in front of Sam, who is keeping a neutral expression.*

Sam: Oh, I'm sorry. Am I supposed to be impressed?

DeSalle: To be completely honest, Captain, I don't care. The pendant.

Sam: What pendant?

DeSalle: The Iconian pendant your great-grandfather received at the end of the Shadow War. We want it.

Sam: Shadow War? What was that, some Science Fiction Convention?

DeSalle: Don't test me, Captain.

Sam: Test? I'm very good at tests.

*DeSalle vanishes.*

Matt: Well, now you've done it.

*OOC: Is it me, or does Sam seem to be channelling the spirit of Jack O'Neill here? lol*

*The image of Fleet Admiral Hugo Memphis appears onscreen.*

Memphis: Admiral Hampton, glad to see you felt like joining the battle, for all the good it'll do us. The civilian transports are beginning to evacuate the capital. If you could send some ships to meet up with the Defence Force and leave some behind to cover the evacuation, we'd appreciate it. Be advised, we recently lost contact with the R.S.S. Odysseus, which was supposed to be leading the defence.

Hampton: wouldn't miss it admiral. What is the borgs current position.

Memphis: They're approximately 3 hours out. Be advised, the 4th and 5th Fleets are already on station. The 2nd Fleet will arrive in less than an hour, and the 6th Fleet will arrive shortly after the Borg.

Hampton: roger that.

The nova the harvest sister ship soon warps in as well.

Hampton: we will buy you all the time you need admiral.

The fleet starts getting in position

Hampton: admiral I've called in all my free ships from proxima XII I have about 850 ships on there way. We will hold the line here we will just hope the iconians don't push anywhere now. I've dispatched a few ships to lacos III as well.

He turns his chair forward again facing the massive view screen.

Hampton: all prepare for combat.

In orbit of lacosIII admiral north sits on the bridge of the Timber a USC mountain class super carrier. With his battle group.

North: Hampton well the fleet arrives and we are here atill in orbit Sam left though but we will hold the area our prowlers have penetrated iconian sensor blocks and have found them hard at work. Working on some black op mission now.

Hampton: north you will need to hold that spot as long as possible. The nova arrives on scene as well so we have the republic space pretty secure for the moment.

*On the Odysseus, everyone is assessing their options, while Sam is talking to T'mar at her station.*

Sam: You okay?

T'mar: Yeah. She just... unnerved me, that's all.

Sam: T'mar, if you need a break...

T'mar: It's not...

My grandparents told me stories about DeSalle. They gave me nightmares.

Sam: Well, don't worry. I have a way with nightmares. They don't particularly like myt sparkling sense of personality much.

T'mar: Why does she want your pendant?

Sam: I have no idea. It was made from an Iconian metal. Apparently, it has some kind of link to the Veil, but...

Thompson: In that case... *Thompson walks up behind the two.* we better make sure she doesn't get it, or this ship.

Sam: Don't worry, sir. If the time comes, I'll definitely be ready to engage the auto-destruct.

T'mar: I wouldn't bother. I checked the computer and I figured out how DeSalle's been adapting to our equipment so quickly. *She shows them an image of Borg code in the computer buffer.*

All transwarp coils in the quadrant are based off of the coils we recovered from Borg vessels. DeSalle exploited a back door program so she could access our computers. That means every ship in the quadrant, except the Iconians, is at risk.

Thompson: And it means she'd be able to deactivate the auto-destruct.

Sam: Can you purge the program?

T'mar: Disconnecting the transwarp coil wouldn't help; DeSalle's already dumped a Borg command code into the main computer so she can control our systems by remote. If we tried to erase the code, we'd have to shut down the core, and the code's set up so that if we tried that, it would shut down all, and I mean ALL systems, including the backups. We wouldn't even be able to start up one of the fusion reactors!

Sam: Well, that's just cheating.

*DeSalle appears directly behind Sam, who turns upon hearing her hologram form.*

DeSalle: Captain, by now you'll have figured out that you can't engage your auto-destruct. You'll have also realised that I have full control of your vessel, should I choose to exercise that control.

Now, the pendant.

Sam: What do you want it for?

DeSalle: That is none of your concern.

*Sam places a PSG on the floor (one from Lanco) and places the pendant next to it. She activates the shield, covering the pendant. She draws her phaser and remodulates it to match the PSGs frequency, before aiming at the pendant at full power.*

Sam: It is if you don't want it disintegrated.

DeSalle: You're bluffing.

Sam: Try me.

*A few long, tense seconds pass before Sam disengages the safety, precipitating a short tone.*

What'll it be, DeSalle?

*DeSalle takes a step back.*

DeSalle: You win this round, Captain.

Sam: That'd put the score at 2-0 wouldn't it?

*DeSalle vanishes again.*

Matt: Well... *Matt turns in his chair to face Sam.* now we have some leverage.

Hampton sits on the bridge watching the Borg get closer

Hampton:all right everyone lets. Get ready everyone.

Officer: sir capt. Reyes wants to speak to you.

Hampton turns in his chair to face Reyes hologram.

Hampton: go ahead captain.

Reyes. Sir long range sensors show some strange readings from the Borg.

Hampton: anything we can use though captain.

Reyes : not sure yet admiral the readings are just different then normal Borg readings.

Hampton: well lets get ready they are entering range now captain

OOC: Er... shouldn't they still be 2 hours away?

Ooc: oops yeah well they are still well in senso range lol woops my bad.

Meanwhile in Romulan space cole stands on the bridge of his ship looking over recent reports.

Cole: what is te status of the fleet

Officer: sir we still regrouping from the last engagement