You know as well as I do there’s no such thing as luck! Kyle chastised her jokingly.

She let out a laugh of amusement, but did not reply…she left it at that. She wiped the tears from her eyes…then left the transporter room…

The shimmering in his eyes cleared after only a few moments, but it was still bright in the small clearing. The sun was directly over head. Chris looked up at the sun with his eyes closed and absorbed the warmth…

The sounds of a forest were all around him. The rustling of leaves in a slight breeze…a few bird-like creatures chirping…and the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore near by. It truly was paradise…and was the perfect place for Sarah’s grave.

Chris opened his eyes and looked over to her grave. It was still there, the marble-like head stone shining in the bright sun. He slowly walked towards it in the tall grass, crushing it as he left the edge of the clearing and entered the short grass. A moment later, he was standing next to her grave…he wouldn’t dare stand on top of it.

He kneeled down and rested the book he was holding on the ground for a moment. "Hello, Sarah," he said quietly. "It’s been a while…what, almost a year?"

He stared longingly at the marble…wishing he could touch her, see her one last time…and it was only four months ago that he had finally gotten over her death. A good time of his life aboard the Dragon had been spent in his quarters, alone…

"I…have some bad news," he continued, hoping that somehow, somewhere…she could hear him. "Well, good news and bad… First and foremost, we did it! The crew is going home finally! However…I’m sure you know what that means…what the bad news is…"

He didn’t bother to explain…he was leaving her behind, finally giving up all hope of ever getting her back. Though that was healthy on a psychological level…it still was bad to him. He swore once that he would never abandon her…and now he was doing just that…

"I guess the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," he quoted. "I’ll make sure to tell your parents…how you lived…and not let them dwell on how you died."

He then lifted the book up and looked at it. The protective cover, as well as the nanites Chris had injected, would keep it preserved until the power cells of the nanites wore down…

"I’ve brought you a farewell gift," he commented, turning the book over in his hands. He let out a small laugh and said, "It took you forever to finish the book. I figured you might want to keep it with you…keep it safe from any harm that might come to it."

He set it on top of the fairly large head stone, adjusted it so that it was straight…and then stood up. Moby Dick… He read the words on the head stone for what he knew would be the last time…

Here lies Captain Sarah Caft Harriman

Let it be known by all that she died while in the line of duty and that her service to her crew was exemplary

May she find peace among the stars

Chris sighed and closed his eyes, wishing they would have been able to put her date of birth and her date of death…but as they didn’t know when they were, they couldn’t put a time of death…and it just didn’t seem right to put a date of birth, there by its self.

"Remember that old song we used to sing at the Academy?" he asked. "Lonesome Road? It feels like many of us must do that…you, myself, Vendar, Tom and Ada… But I know that’s what you’re singing right now. ‘Don’t turn your head…back over your shoulder…’"

A sudden, familiar sensation over came Chris as a bright light engulfed his vision, interrupting his thoughts. A moment later, he was standing on the bridge of the Dragon, the alert klaxon sounding. "Break orbit, full impulse!" Tom ordered in an alarmed voice. Chris spun around and moved to the command chair.

"Report," he ordered as he took his place.

"Our friend the lovely Borg just came around the bend," Tom stated, sitting down in his chair.

Chris looked at him in alarm. "You mean they knew we were coming?"

Tom nodded his head quickly, accessing something on his console. "Looks that way. They were here waiting. My guess is after they got a hold of our logs, they realized we would some day return to this planet…and they wanted revenge."

Chris shook his head. "No…that’s not like the Borg. They don’t even know what revenge is."

Tom looked at him, but didn’t further argue the case. Instead, he asked, "So then why did they bother to wait here for us?"

"Simple…our technology," Chris stated. "Helm, set a course for the Onkrine system, maximum warp. You see…we have technology that they don’t. Our warp cores, our shields…almost every system on this ship has, at one point or another, undergone a change, an improvement. They want those improvements."

Tom nodded…then frowned and looked at his console again. "Sir…isn’t the Onkrine system…"

"That’s right," Chris stated, their only savior ahead. "Vendar, dispatch a message to any Federation vessel that comes within range, tell them to stay clear of the nebula and to stay clear of the Borg…we’ll handle them."

"Aye, sir," she replied quickly, beginning her scans for any Hintaru or Britar vessels.

The Dragon suddenly lurched as weapons fire began hitting the shields.

"Prepare to disengage impulse engines and primary maneuvering thrusters," Chris ordered. "There are to be no energy discharges. Once we enter the nebula, atmospheric thrusters only."

"Sir, maybe we should fire on the Borg, just to make sure we keep their attention," Tom suggested.

He looked at Tom, then nodded. They didn’t want any harm to come to the new Federation. "Ada, full aft torpedo spreads. Target the Borg’s weapons array."

"Aye, sir," she replied. The launch siren sounded immediately after words.

"We are now approaching the Onkrine nebula," James reported. "Trilithium particles appear to be slightly denser than before, we better be very careful."

"Disengage weapons fire," Chris ordered, realizing he had just ordered the fire to begin. "Drop us out of warp right into the nebula and disengage all energy emissions."

"Dropping out of warp in two…one…"

With that, the streaking star field was engulfed in the orange-hued nebula of the Onkrine nebula…

"Vendar, did you get any messages out?" Chris asked.

"Yes, sir, two Britar vessels near the nebula," she replied. "They evacuated immediately."

He sat back slowly in his chair and sighed. Part one of the great escape was done. The Borg had to know that they couldn’t enter the nebula without possibly setting it off…and they knew what that would mean.

"Ada…can you come up with some sort of high-yield weapon that can destroy that cube?" he asked.

He looked back at her to see a face of concentration. "The only thing I can think of is…maybe making an isolitic weapon."

Chris’s eyebrows went up. "You realize that those were banned by the Khitomer accords…and that it could cause serious damage to surrounding space."

"I think if we launched it to hit the Borg right after we activated our device," she said in defense, "the Borg would be destroyed and we’d be safe. Not to mention there are no inhabitants any where near that part of the galaxy."

Chris looked forward at the view screen, wondering how his charges would be piled up on him now…he was already facing a serious demotion…now he was breaking the law…

"Do it. How long?"

"Maybe ten minutes to convert a probe into one, depending on how much luck I have," she said, moving towards the turbolift.

"Make it quick! Vendar, can they detect us if we cloak?"

She shrugged and looked at him. "Probably. They know we have a cloaking device, so they will probably be looking for that."

"But it’ll still give us an edge, even if only a few seconds, right?"

She nodded.

"Then prepare to take us back on course to our entry coordinates," Chris ordered. "We’ll leave as soon as the weapon is finished…"

The hive mind was small…only a few thousand drones. No governing mind, no Queen to figure out if the standard way of Borg life would work or not. They were alone…

This Federation vessel. It held records of a subspace disturbance that sent it here. The Borg would assimilate that knowledge and adapt a Transwarp coil to emit the interference. They would succeed. Resistance is futile.

Those few thousand voices spoke as one to the drone. "A cloaked vessel has been detected leaving the nebula…activate."

With that, the enhanced vision of the Borg reached the brain of the drone. The drone moved out of its alcove with a clicking sound and began to walk its way to the weapons control of its section. It reached it quickly and brought up a scan of the vessel, ready to attack.

"Vessel identified, USS Dragon. Pursue."

Another drone not far down the line moved to its station and activated this section’s Transwarp coil. The Class Four tactical cube immediately jumped up to maximum velocity, gaining quickly on the Federation vessel.

"Entering weapons range of the Federation vessel. Disable."

The drone entered in its commands and began firing torpedoes. They all impacted on the Federation vessel’s shields and caused minor damage. Minor damage that would accumulate over time. The vessel would be theirs.

A full spread of Quantum and Photon torpedoes hit the Borg cube’s weapons array. Two torpedo launchers were completely destroyed, four more were damaged. Three tractor beam emitters were damaged and three phaser emitters were like wise damaged.

Suddenly the ship dropped out of warp, seemed to engage some sort of transporter and transported maybe twelve or more…life forms aboard, and then jumped back into warp. The sensors identified the life forms as changelings.

"Shield rotation analyzed, re-calibrate weaponry."

The drone rotated the modulation of the weapons to that which it was given and fired another spread of torpedoes. "Federation vessels shields are down to fifty three percent. Continue weapons fire. Approaching edge of the galaxy."

Four more torpedoes streaked away and damaged the shields of the Federation vessel, followed closely by other torpedoes fired by other units. The Federation vessel’s shields were falling fast.

"Vessel has dropped out of warp. Prepare to exit Transwarp conduit. Vessel is approaching entry coordinates. Intercept and disable now."

There was no voice of alarm, not confusion. The Collective worked as one mind…

The cube dropped out of Transwarp, and there the Dragon was in space. It seemed to have stopped. More weapons fire hit the Dragon, causing its shields to drop to eighteen percent.

"Alert, cloaked object detected. Engage disruption beam."

The drone complied and engaged a disruption tractor beam. The object immediately decloaked.