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SCORPION Episodes 68 & 69 Part E

The away team (Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim) beam aboard the Borg cube. It has taken heavy damage - walls are scorched, lights are flickering and a haze fills the air. Two dead Borg can be seen on the floor, one other is slumped lifelessly in its cubicle.

The away team members are carrying phaser rifles. As soon as they materialise they shine their phaser beacons into the darkness as well as their wrist-mounted beacons. There is no active Borg drone in sight. Chakotay pulls out his tricorder: "This way." On their way through the corridors they see a damaged Borg drone mindlessly repeating the same movements.

The Borg drones ignore them, mindlessly and pointlessly attempting to make repairs. Tuvok: "Lower your phasers. If we don't appear threatening, they should ignore us." Kim: "Looks like they're a little preoccupied."

At an intersection Chakotay says, looking at his tricorder: "The alien bio-readings are getting stronger. We're close."

Kim suddenly sees something. "Commander!"

They see a pile of dead Borg bodies, their bodies mangled and mashed together in a bizarre "sculpture of death" - it is the exact same image that Kes saw in her mental flash, but this is the real thing. Tuvok: "Curious." Chakotay: "That's not the word I had in mind."

Tuvok: "Those bodies are reminiscent of one of the premonitions Kes described."

Kim: "Didn't she say we were all going to die?" Chakotay: "Let's keep moving."

At the far end of one corridor there is a Borg drone working on a section of the wall. The drone is standing next to a large irregular opening in the wall. The perimeter of the opening is covered with glistening alien flesh. It is as though something dissolved through the Borg wall from the other side and latched onto the perimeter with its own skin.

Chakotay: "It looks the bio-mass dissolved right through the Borg hull." The Borg drone raises his hand toward the "fleshy" perimeter and assimilation tubules extrude from the Borg's fingers and penetrate the alien flesh. Instantly, the "flesh" crackles with energy that jolts the Borg drone backward slightly. The away team observes with interest. Tuvok: "This Borg is attempting to assimilate it." Kim: "Doesn't look like he's having much luck."

Chakotay scans through the opening. The Borg drone ignores him. "There's a chamber beyond this opening, forty metres wide, high concentrations of antimatter particles. Looks like a warp propulsion system of some kind." Kim: "It's a ship?" Tuvok: "Starfleet has encountered species that use organic-based vessels: the Breen, for example."

Chakotay: "There doesn't seem to be anybody inside." He contacts Voyager. combadge Via comms: "Chakotay to Voyager." Janeway, via comms: "Go ahead, Commander." Chakotay: "Captain, we've found an entrance to the bio-mass. We think it may be a ship of some kind. Permission to go inside?" Janeway, via comms: "Granted."

Chakotay indicates a nearby device. "Harry, that's a Borg distribution node. See if you can download their tactical database - it might contain a record of what happened here." Kim: "Aye, sir." Kim moves to the distribution node and starts work. Chakotay indicates to Tuvok that they should proceed together inside the alien ship: "Tuvok."

Chakotay and Tuvok enter inside the alien ship. The walls are organic-looking, with pulsing veins of energy running along the walls and fleshy membranes hanging from the ceiling.

In the centre of the room there is a raised structure that looks like a chair which has grown out of the floor of the vessel. The only source of light is a weird glow from certain sections of the walls, and there is a low, rumbling sound. It is like being inside a body cavity - dark and glistening and utterly alien. The form-fitting shape of the chair-like structure suggests that a very large humanoid might sit there - someone over ten feet tall. There is a prolonged and creepy silence as they get a good look at its various features.

Chakotay notices a nearby wall with several pulsing "veins" running through it. He moves to the wall and scans it.
Chakotay: "They seem to be organic conduits. They're carrying electrodynamic fluid."
Tuvok: "Maybe an energy source."
Chakotay: "Maybe."

They see a section of the wall which is blinking colourfully colorfully with what can only be described as "neurochemical pulses". Chakotay: "This looks like a binary matrix but it's laced with neuropeptides. Could be their version of a computer core."

Meanwhile, Kim is downloading data from the Borg distribution node.

He glances round, hearing three scraping sounds from somewhere in the corridors in the distance. He glances at the nearby damaged Borg who ignores him.

Back inside the alien ship, Chakotay and Tuvok continue to study the various features, taking tricorder readings.
Tuvok: "This damage was caused by a Borg disruptor beam. The wall appears to be regenerating itself."
Nearby is the body of a dead Borg drone. There is are thin alien tendrils sticking out of his mouth, wrapped around his head, one leading into his nostrils.
Chakotay calls: "Tuvok."

Kim hears more sounds in the distance. He completes the download.

In Voyager's Sickbay, Kes is working when suddenly....

....she is overwhelmed by a mental flash of Kim's face - he is screaming in agony!

The Doctor rushes to her. Doctor: "Kes." She looks at him, panic rising. "Harry's in danger!" Doctor: "What are you-" Kes: "Get them out of there!" The Doctor uses comms. "Sickbay to Janeway."