Return to Deck 1

Posted on Wed Apr 1st, 2020 @ 8:19am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Jennifer Daxer

1,990 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Demons in the Dark
Location: Deck 1 Bridge

Taiga and several engineering officers rode in the turbolift up towards the Bridge. She felt the ship jump to Warp, Alora must have got the engines back online. A huge weight was lifted off her shoulders as she suddenly felt relieved that they were back moving again. Now it was only a matter of getting the ships crew back in order, as well as getting her bridge back.

The Tokyo's bridge was a special design, it would self-isolate when such a problem came up. If the bridge was compromised its backup systems would shut it down for safety and to stop any sabotage or hostile force taking over the ship. Therefore it had self-isolated once the virus had infected its packs, and was now closed off.

The doors of the turbolift opened revealing the corridor that led the the bridge on deck one. The deck was lit by the emergency lighting as most of deck one had yet to be brought back online.

"Ok, I want you all to spread out. Start injecting those gel-packs" she said. The engineers nodded and took their engineering packs. Taiga herself carried her own case, specially prepared with the hyposprays for the bridge gel-packs. She knew that the bridge would only let those with command level access through the lockout.

The door to the bridge was locked. The emergency lockout code flashing on the door terminal. Taiga placed her right index finger on the panel.
"Computer, confirm command access. Authorisation Aisaka 16845-Alpha-Red" Taiga said.

It took a few seconds but the doors swished open to let her in. The bridge was dark, all of its consoles were shut off and powered down. The red emergency lighting casting a red glow over the room. The doors behind her swished closed and locked.

"Right" Taiga said. She moved down towards the Operations console to start the sequence to bring the bridge back online.

As Taiga started towards the OPS station, the flashlight on her wrist began to flicker, before turning off all together, leaving her with only the red glow from the few emergency lights that were active.

Frustrated Taiga began to smack the wrist light. "Come on you stupid thing, work. I need some sort of light!" she cursed as she continued to smack it, hoping that it was only a loose wire.

Two or three smacks later, the light came back on, but it was shining green, instead of white. Behind her, the sounds of the door swishing open, then closed was followed by that of foot steps.

"Green?" Taiga said to herself in confusion. She then froze at the sound of the footsteps coming closer to her. She looked up form the console and began to shine the light around the empty bridge. With the doors locked there was no way anyone could have entered, and she had no escape route either. She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, she turned quickly, but nothing was there.

"Whats going on?" she asked herself outloud as she began to slowly sweep the bridge with the green light. "Who's there?!" she called out.

About half way through sweeping the bridge with the flashlight, Jennifer Daxer came into view, standing in the exact spot where Taiga had first laid eyes on her.

"Your Executive Officer couldn't exactly identify your rear... I'd like my gun back."

Taiga shuddered. "What..." she said outloud as she backed away from the console. "You're not here, no, you can't be!" she said shaking her head whilst still backing away.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow at the woman. "I was able to successfully sneak up on you, wasn't I?" She asked. "Not that it was difficult, mind you."

"Then, or now?" Taiga asked as she reached for the phaser on her belt. She didn't want to shoot her, but she might have no choice if she got much closer. "What are you doing here? You must be in my mind...." she paused. "But I got cured by the doctor... how am I still seeing you?"

"I'm not dead, yet." Jennifer said, as if suddenly speaking for the virus. The moment the words were out of her mouth, a Borg implant quickly sprouted from her cheek. The woman gasped, and fell to her knees, shuddering in what appeared to be agonizing pain, as several more sprouted along the various points of her exposed skin.

Taiga backed away some more, but came into contact with the wall. "Whats happening..." she said as she watched. The Borg implants were emerging from Jen's body, cutting through her skin and causing her pain. Taiga raised her phaser slowly, pointing it at the woman in pain. "I... should... end this..."

As Taiga stood there against the wall with the phaser pointed at Daxer, the implants quickly covered the Vulcan woman's body. "This... this is what you sent me into..." She said, gritting her teeth through the pain. "Even I couldn't... resist."

"No. I didn't do this to you" Taiga said. "I... We... were doing out duty as Starfleet Officers... The Borg did this to you. Not me!"

"I was following your orders!" Jen snapped, then cried out as more Borg technology completely covered her body. After a moment, she stood up, looking exactly as she had, when Taiga had confronted her in Engineering.

"It's very simple, Taiga Aisaka." Jen said, taking a few casual steps towards Taiga, now that she was fully assimilated. "We will assimilate your ship, and then use it as a starting point to assimilate the rest of the Alpha Quadrant."

"Not on my watch. I don't care who you are, or were. I will stop you from endangering my crew and The Federation!" Taiga said standing up straight. Her eyes seemed different as if lit by fire. She aimed her phaser and fired, the orange beam striking Jen straight in the chest. "I am a Starfleet Captain and I have taken an Oath to protect my crew and to protect The Federation at all costs, even if it means my life!"

As the phaser beam lanced out striking Daxer, the Assimilated woman hesitated only a moment as her Borg shielding absorbed the blast. She stopped advancing, and lightly waved a hand.

The door that Taiga had entered through opened to admit several Humanoids that were all assimilated. Many of them were crew members who had died during the assimilation, with the exception of one.

"Join us, and we will bring you closer to perfection." A small child, also assimilated, stepped from the crowd of drones to stand next to Daxer. "Resistance is futile."

"No..." Taiga said. The little girl was something she just couldn't deal with. What made it worse was that she looked like what a daughter between herself and Ryuuji would look like. "You're not real! I need to get my ship back!" she said as she fired more shots at Daxer and then with a bit of hesitance at the girl.

The phasers shots were useless, being absorbed by both of them. Jen waved her hand again, and the other drones blocked the bridge exits.

"Perhaps surrender would be a wise choice." Jen said, as the remaining Borg gathered behind her to stand looking at Taiga. "Become one with the Borg."

"No!" Taiga said as she pushed past her emotions and made a final push to the Operations console. She was trying her best to now ignore the drones, she knew deep down they weren't real.

"I'm going to get my bridge back online..." she repeated to herself over and over again. "I need to save my crew"

As Taiga began entering command codes into the Operatinos console, a metallic hand grabbed her by the shoulder, and immediately, Taiga was injected with Borg tubules.

"You will become one with the Borg." Daxer said from right behind her.

Taiga dropped to the floor, the painw as intense. It was the most painful thing she could remember. Her entire body began to feel hot.

"We are the Borg" echoed through her mind. Many voices, many of them hardly distinguishable. "Resistance is futile"

Taiga stumbled as she held onto the console for support. Her fingers ran across the consoles surface as she started the procedure to unlock the bridge command functions. Something erupted from the side of her face, its cold metallic surface digging into her skin.

"Comp...uter..." she said as the heat and the assimilated overcame her. "Restore... all... b... bridge functions...." she managed to say. She felt like she was falling, falling and then her eyes closed.

Her eyes opened slowly. The bridge was different, the consoles were all now green and black, plagued by Borg writing. The command chair area had been replaced with a table upon which Taiga now laid. She was fastened down by her wrists and ankles, her uniform had been removed. "No..." she struggled to say looking around. She was going to be assimilated, but this couldn't be right.

Jen stood staring at her, seeing the various implants that had sprouted along her body. "A little short for an adult drone, and we will have to do something about... the small size there too..." She said gesturing towards Taiga's chest. "Too small, even for the Borg."

"Oh because the Borg have preferences!" Taiga's firey personality snapped back at her. "They have nothing to do with...." she was cut off as an intense pain ran through her body. "The bridge... I need to...."

Jen turned, and tapped a button the Helm station, bringing the ship out of warp. On the viewscreen, it was now obvious that they were in orbit of Earth.

"Need to have you presentable, if you're going to lead the assimilation of sector 001, Captain." Daxer said, turning back to Taiga. "Maybe then they won't resist."

"I will. Never. Do that!" she said pausing due to the intense burning of the nano-probes running through her body. "I would rather die... than destroy my own home!". Suddenly without warning several drones entered the bridge, one of them came and stood close to Taiga.

Taiga gasped in shocked as she looked up at the assimilated Ryuuji. Ryuuji looked up and down her half assimilated body. "This one is a good command unit" he said, his voice raspy and slightly hoarse. "Unit is not a good as a family unit. Unit Aisaka has failed several attempts at reproduction" Ryuuji said before turning away.

Tears filled Taiga's eyes as she laid there, not only was she being forced to lead the assimilated of everything she knew, but now her only hope of happiness had been snatched away. "STOP IT!" she screamed loudly her eyes clasping closed. "NO MORE! STOP ALL THIS SHIT NOW!"

As she stopped screaming, the bridge went completely silent, and dark, save for the red emergency lights, and Taiga's wrist light, which now was shining white.

After a few minutes, Taiga's eyes re-opened. The Borg was gone, she was laid on the floor behind the Operations console. She felt a little dizzy, almost disorientated. She pulled herself up slowly and looked at the console's main screen.

Placing a finger on its panel, she found her voice. "Unlock bridge commands..." she was breathing very heavily. "Authorisation Aisaka 16845-Alpha-Red".

The console lit up brightly catching her eyes by surprise as all functions started to come back online. Quickly Taiga grabbed the case she had brought with her and flicked it open. She loaded one of the hypospray with the cure for the gel-packs. "Time to get my bridge back" she said to herself as she made her way towards one of the power panels.

As she placed the hypospray against the gel-pack she took a deep breath. "Go do one Jen. I don't need any more trouble from you" she muttered as she injected the serum.

Posting By

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Daxer
Chief Security/Tactical Officer - Taiga's Borg Illusion.

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