A Stitch in Time Saves Nine - Alexander Knight

Jenny’s vision cleared, time travel was much like being transported in many respects but left you feeling a little sick in the stomach. Looking around the cockpit of the ship she checked that everything was in order. It was quite a small ship and only had enough space for one person in the front. The controls were quite complex but her hands danced across them with ease as she checked their position. Behind her were the controls for the quantum slipstream.

“Well we’re in the correct place Rupert, please tell me we are in the correct time?”

Rupert checked with the controls “Yep looks good to me dear” he replied.

“Thank god for that, the more we time travel the more I hate it you know”

“Yes I know what you mean. Well we had better go and find out what the mission is this time; I will contact control and put it through to the back. You put the ship into stealth mode so we are not discovered.”

As Rupert made contact Jenny did a final scan of the area to check they were not going to get any unwelcome visitors, next she engaged the cloaking device and un-buckled her self.

“Rupert I really hate the fact we had to leave Xander with John and Sue like that, we only get to spend time with him once a year and something has to come up! He will never know anything about us or his family if we are not careful, I mean it isn’t even his real auntie and uncle we have to leave him with.”

“Look dear you know when we took this position, he would have to live in the past as a cover, he will be safe with them, He is not a little boy anymore so don’t worry.”

“I know, I know, he will soon be going to starfleet himself, I just wish it could be in our timeline not the one he is in.”

“Well we shouldn’t be long, we could even go back to five minutes after we left if you like.” he said with a little humour in his voice. “That way we will not miss any of our vacation”

“Yes well it doesn’t make it any easier to leave him.”

As they moved into the back, Rupert gave her a little kiss on the cheek “I know I hate it too dear”

The doors slid open with a whoosh as they entered the rear part of the ship, It was slightly larger than the cockpit and contained lots of equipment including its own medibed and EMH in-case of emergencies

“Computer Open a secure channel” commanded Rupert, the computer chimed in response and within a few seconds it requested security authorization “Authorisation Rupert Omega, Beta, one, four.” Again the computer chimed and Captain Braxton appeared on the panel. He was a dark haired man with what you would call distinctive looks, but a kind and gentle face.

“Ah Rupert and Jenny my best time line enforcers, nice to see you again, and I am sorry it is on such short notice, but there is a point ten incursion in the time line.”

“POINT TEN!” Exclaimed Jenny “That does not sound good, what is it?”

“Well it looks as if the Borg are trying to stop themselves from assimilating someone.”

Rupert butted in. “Well surely that is a good thing? Well obviously not seeing as we are involved, who is it they are trying to stop and why?”

“It is Seven of Nine, they are sending a ship back in time to stop the past Borg from assimilating her when she was a child.”

“Seven of Nine…. Sounds familiar, oh yes she was part of the voyager crew, Why would they want to stop her from being assimilated admiral?”

“Well if they did not assimilate her, then the USS Voyagers crew would not have been able to remove her from the Borg collective. Which in turn would have had a remarkable effect on many of Voyagers missions, as well as the fact that Starfleet would not have learned as much information on the Borg as they did. And our extrapolations suggest that if they are successful then Starfleet may not even exist in the future because of it. Within an hour you should be able to detect a Borg Ship, it is just on routine surveillance the Raven is hiding from their sensors and Seven of Nines Farther will be on board the Borg Cube, Arnica and her mother are monitoring his situation from the Raven. You see they were the first humans to study the Borg.”

“Yes I remember Admiral” replied Jenny.

“What ever you do, you must allow the Borg to assimilate them all, do not be tempted to try to stop them; I know it will be hard but they must ALL be assimilated. You are to hide undetected until the future Borg vessel arrives it will only be a small sphere big enough for four Borg drones, the Borg cube will not be able to detect it nether will the Raven. Whatever you do you must stop the future Borg from killing Arnica instead of assimilating her.”

“Thank you Admiral. You can count on us! Knight Out” Rupert turned to Jenny

“Well if there is one thing I hate doing it is skulking around on a Borg Ship. Come on we had better get ready”

Within the hour they detected the Borg Cube.

“Here we go action time!” they scanned the area to see if they could detect the Raven.“ I detect the Raven Rupert, it is just off the port side of the Borg Cube co-ordinates 312 mark 0.23, two life signs aboard, the other one is on the Borg Cube near Unimatrix Seven, just as the Admiral said it would be.”

“OK monitor them I will keep any eye out for the Sphere.”

As Jenny monitored the life signs she scanned the Raven. “You know the techniques they have used to hide from the Borg are quite remarkable. Not as good as our technology but for their time really quite impressive I have down loaded there information on the Borg and the technology they have used to stay hidden from them, in case we need to use it later. There is even a type of computer virus that they have been working on to stop the Borg and I think it might work! They must have studied the Borg for weeks like this…” the computer began to bleep at her “Uh-oh it looks like his personal cloaking device is running out of power, this must be it, he is beaming back to the raven.” Rupert began to speak over the top of Jenny “There is a temporal distortion appearing

Co-ordinates 315 mark 0.23. The Borg Sphere is appearing. Ok ready the Quantum Torpedo’s and phases.”

As the Borg Sphere appeared from the Quantum Singularity Rupert fired. The torpedoes flew off towards their target with the phasor following swiftly behind it. Upon detonation it looked like a wonderful firework display as the sphere started to explode. Jenny had to shield her eyes from the blast of light as she monitored the Ravens progress. “The Borg Cube has detected the Raven and is trying to get a tractor beam on it. The Raven has started to make a run for it, we will have to follow them towards that class m planet, they have been hit and are out of control. Nice shooting by the way!”

As Rupert checked that the Sphere was destroyed he noticed a slight temporal abnormality on the Borg Cube and then it was gone “Strange, oh well must just have been an effect from the explosion. They are scanning the area to see what made the explosion now and coming up with nothing. Is every thing ok with you jenny?”

As jenny watched, her controls showed that some Borg had beamed over to the Raven she replied. “Well I suppose so, they will be assimilated soon. They have just beamed over.”

“Well Jenny the Raven is not in trouble yet we had better go and check that they are assimilated.”

Within that they got ready to beam over to the raven. “I have programmed our Temporal Transport Beacon to stop the Borg from detecting us as well as returning us to our correct time in-case we get in trouble ”

“Sorry what was that dear I was just thinking about that distortion on the Borg Cube.”

“The TTB’s……… I have programmed them so that the Borg don’t detect us”

“Oh yes of course well I hope they work Jenny” stated Rupert with a smile.

Their vision cleared as they were beamed over, they were immediately confronted with a Borg struggling with Arnica’s Father. The Borg’s assimilating tubules entered his neck and immediately his face showed pure terror as the nano-machines turned him into a borg in front of there eyes, the veins on his forehead turned dark and small borg devices erupted from his face.

Jenny turned to her husband and burred her head in his shoulder. “Oh that is terrible”

“Come on now you know we can not help them this has already happened, there is nothing we can do.”

They watched as the borg walked around the ship looking for Arnica and her mother, then there was screaming coming from behind a door and within thirty seconds Anicas mother came walking out of the room as if she were a puppet while the nano-machines assimilated her insides.

Then another Borg pulled the small child from under a desk. She was absolutely petrified, as she struggled she caught sight of Rupert and Jenny “Help me!” She Cried. Then the Borg started to strangle the little girl “That can’t be right!” Exclaimed Jenny.

“No!…. Ahhh those anomalous readings that were on the Borg Cube as the Sphere exploded must have been the four drones beaming over!”

“ONE OF FOUR CEASE, YOUR ORDERS ARE NOT TO KILL, YOU MUST ASSIMILATE!” said one of the other drones

“I AM FOLLOWING OTHER ORDERS!” replied the future Borg Drone.

“ONE OF FOUR YOU ARE MALFUNCTIONING YOU MUST BE TERMINATED, YOU ARE NOT COMPLING WITH YOUR ORDERS!” and he blasted the future borg with an energy discharge, the little girl dropped to the floor spluttering and her father picked her up

“Daddy!!” she cried with glee but he just looked at her blankly “YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN!” and with that she started screaming as they were all beamed back to the Borg Cube

“We will have to follow them just to make sure the other three Borg don’t try that”

“Oh do we have to Rupert it is torture enough watching as her parents get assimilated, do we really have to watch that little girl go through it too??”

“I am afraid so dear, Come on we had better go before this ship crashes.”

They each pressed a few buttons on their TRD’s on their arms and began to beam over onto the Borg Cube. It was dark with a green tinge to it inside the cube, and around them Borg Drones went about their business ignoring Rupert and Jenny. Consulting his tricorder Rupert began looking for the little girl.

“Sensors detect Arnica, they must be taking her to a maturation chamber. This way!”

He led off down a dark corridor; Jenny was busy collecting as much information as possible from the data nodes and console’s.

“Look there she is!!” He said pointing off to the right.

Jenny looked up to see the little girl being pulled along by the arm crying her eyes out, she caught sight of Jenny and started to call for help, Jenny had to look away again. She filled with rage and was about to stop the Borg when a Borg came flying past them and smashed against the wall.

“What The!!!……” Exclaimed Rupert.

Two of four, the second of the future Borg Drones came striding towards the little girl, knocking Borg out of the way as if they were flies and within seconds a dozen other Borg drones started attacking Two of Four it was not long before his movements stopped. The other Borg then carried on with their business as if nothing had happened; one of them carried the dead Borg off to salvage the Borg components.

“We had better keep an eye out for the other two drones from the future, we will only get a couple of shots off from our phasors so make each one count jenny!!”

They then followed the drone dragging the little girl again.

“Rupert we should be able to detect which ones are the future Borg, they will emit a slight temporal distortion, look here…there is one there” She pointed down to her tricorder and showed Rupert the blip on the screen. “It is a bit like a homing device really.”

“OK Jenny you follow the girl and make sure she is ok…well you know what I mean! I will go and hunt myself a Borg!!”

“Be careful Dear!!” she replied.

“Don’t worry jenny I will.”

Jenny watched as her husband walked away in the direction of the future Borg watching with his tricorder and almost bumping into a drone on the way.

“Come on Jenny you can do this” she said to herself as she turned and made her way deeper into the Borg Cube.

She followed the Borg for what seemed an eternity, turning more corners than she could remember, the corridors were dark and humid, drones were moving about her all the time her heart was pounding and felt as if it were in her throat. She was hardly paying attention to where she was going, luckily her tricorder was monitoring the path she was taking in case she got lost. They finally reached their destination. It was the main maturation chamber of the ship. Inside were lots of cabinets where the young of many races most of which Jenny did not recognise were being transformed into Borg. The Borg Drone pushed the little girl into an alcove and began to strap her in place; She looked up to Jenny through her tearful eyes and asked.

“Why wont you help me?”

“I am sorry dear I can’t help you, this is the way history has to be, Sorry I truly am dear. Sorry” Jenny had to turn away from the little girl, her sweet innocent face was like torture to jenny and she could not bare to watch.

Suddenly her tricorder began to beep to her, it had detected a future Borg and it was heading straight toward her. She quickly turned and fired her phasor and the Future Borg staggered back from the blast, but it kept coming, she prepared to fire again but before she could it pushed her out of the way. She went flying against the wall and slumped to the floor. By the time she had got her senses together the Borg Drone was fighting off the drone that had strapped the girl into the alcove.

She scrambled to her feet and jumped towards the fighting drones. Just as the future Borg was winning she grabbed hold of its head from behind and twisted it with a force she did not know she possessed. It twisted around with a crack as she broke its neck. Stunned with what she had done jenny let go of the Borgs head and it slumped to the floor lifeless. The little girl beamed with joy at the thought of being rescued.

“Thank you I knew you would help” She cried.

“No I am sorry but I cant. You have to stay here!”

Arnica started to cry again and then screamed as she looked past Jenny. She could see two more Borgs coming through the doorway.

Jenny rushed to her knees and slid across the floor to where her phasor had dropped. She turned and fired at the first Borg, it was a better hit than the first shot she fired, this one hit the Drone square in the chest. It staggered back a few steps and then fell to the floor, but the next one kept coming. As it got nearer she recognized it as her husband, he had been assimilated. Grief ran through Jenny's body and a tear ran down her face. She could not believe what had happened, her mind was doing overtime trying to figure out what to do. She certainly could not bring herself to kill her husband even if he was now Borg. Then it hit her grabbing her tricorder she began to work she only had seconds to make this work and it was her only chance.

Her husband pulled nearer to her as she connected the tricorder to her TTB. Rupert's Assimilation tubule's shot out from his wrist and entered Jenny's neck as she fought to finish her plan.

Two of four the second of the future Borg Drones came striding towards the little girl, knocking Borg out of the way as if they were flies. Within seconds a dozen other Borg drones started attacking him, it was not long before his movements stopped and other Borg then carried on with their business as if nothing had happened. One of them carried the dead Borg off to salvage the Borg components.

“We had better keep an eye out for the other two drones from the future, we will only get a couple of shots off from our phasors so make each one count jenny!!”

They then followed the drone dragging the little girl again.

“OK Jenny you follow the girl and make sure she is ok…well you know what I mean! I will go and hunt myself a Borg!!”

Just then her tricorder began to bleep and a message appeared

“DO NOT SPLIT UP jenny”

“Er No! I would rather we stayed together dear. If you don’t mind” she replied.

“Of course not Jenny why would I mind?”

They turned and made their way deeper into the Borg Cube.

They followed the Borg for what seemed an eternity, the corridors were dark and humid, drones were moving about all the time. Jenny’s heart was pounding and felt as if it were in her throat. She was hardly paying attention to where she was going, luckily her tricorder was monitoring the path they were taking in case they got lost.

“I was just thinking Jenny, that virus you found we will have to take a closer look at it. I remember in the past the Borg disappeared for nearly 30 years because of a computer virus, but we have no idea where it came from or even when it came form” he seemed pleased with himself at the thought of possibly being responsible for the Borgs temporary downfall. They finally reached their destination. It was the main maturation chamber of the ship. The Borg Drone pushed the little girl into an alcove and strapped her in place then walked away onto its next task. Arnica looked up to Jenny with tearful eyes.

“Why wont you help me?”

“I am sorry dear we can’t help you, this is the way history has to be, Sorry I truly am dear. Sorry” Jenny had to turn away from the little girl, her sweet innocent face was like torture to jenny and she could not bare to watch.

Suddenly her tricorder began to beep to her, it had detected a future Borg and it was heading straight toward them

“Behind you she called to Rupert”

He quickly turned and fired the phasor and the Future Borg shot back from the blast. The little girl beamed with joy at the thought of being rescued.

“Thank you I knew you would help” She cried.

“No I am sorry but we cant. You have to stay here!”

Arnica started to cry again and then screamed as she looked past Jenny. She could see another Borg Coming through the doorway. Rupert was already prepared and fired his phasor but it just bounced off its shield.

“They have adapted Jenny” He called as he began to fight the Borg Drone hand to hand. Jenny started to squeal a little at the sight of Rupert fighting with a Borg she had to look away incase the unthinkable happened again, and just as she did she heard a loud CRACK! She could hardly bring herself to look in case it was not her husband left standing.

“Its Ok dear it is dead” Exclaimed Rupert.

Jenny spun around and hugged her husband “Oh thank god I had a horrible feeling he had got you”

“Not this time dear, not this time and I think that is all of the Future Borgs dealt with.

“Yes, Can we go home now I really don’t like it here” Said Jenny”

“Of course we can, five minutes after we left wasn’t it?” He asked

“Yes something like that but I have something to do first”

Jenny pulled out her Tricorder and typed a message and sent it,

“What are you doing Jenny?” Asked Rupert. “Just sending a friend a message” she replied then turned to the Small girl that was crying “I am sorry we can not take you with us. It is just the way it has to be” and with that they disappeared in a blue haze.