DRONE
Episode 96
Part B

 

Early next morning, in Torres' private quarters, she is woken when her portable computer activates as the Doctor puts through a call. Doctor: "Rise and shine, Lieutenant!" Torres, still mostly asleep, groans. "It's 0600 hours. Early bird gets the gagh." He claps his hands to help wake her. Torres, still not fully awake: "What d'you want?" Doctor: "'Good morning' would be nice, but I'd settle for my mobile emitter. Do we have an E.T.A. on those repairs?" Torres: "Oh, go away." Doctor: "Can't you at least give me a prognosis?" Torres: "The one day I get to sleep in-" Doctor: "You're worried about a few more seconds' unconsciousness?! My freedom is at stake!" Crossly Torres starts to get up and ends the call by putting all of her palm on the off switch as she passes.

She makes her way sleepily into the bathroom.

She lets her night-dress slip to the floor and orders: "Computer, activate the sonic shower."

But during her shower, the wall-mounted screen activates - it is the Doctor, making a further call! Doctor: "One more thing, Lieutenant. I was thinking-"

"Hey!" She grabs a towel and wraps it around her.

Doctor: "I'm a doctor, not a peeping tom. There's nothing I haven't seen before. I was thinking: if you brought the emitter to Sickbay, we could work on it together. I prepared a-"

One moment he is looking at Torres, then the screen goes blank - she has thrown her towel over it so that the Doctor cannot see her. "Hello? B'Elanna?"

The tubules in the Science Lab.

In Cargo Bay 2, Seven suddenly wakes. The computer reports: "Regeneration cycle incomplete." She looks round.

She wonders about the disturbing significance of the thing that has woken her. She leaves the cargo bay.

Chakotay enters the Bridge, from the corridor entrance, thus ending the night shift and ending Kim's overnight command of the ship.

Kim gets up to greet him. "Commander. How'd you sleep?" Chakotay: "Well enough. What's new." Kim: "That nebula's expanding at a rate of 8,000 cubic kilometres per hour. I had to adjust course 11 times." Chakotay: "Sounds like you're enjoying the big chair." Kim: "It's not a bad way to spend the night."

Chakotay: "I hear you've been doing a fine job. The crew's impressed." He teases, "Is it true you make them call you 'captain'?" Kim: "Sir?"

Seven enters the Bridge from the turbolift and heads straight for Chakotay. Chakotay: "Good morning." Seven: "That remains to be seen." Chakotay: "Problem?" Seven: "The proximity transceiver in my cranial implant has been activated. That could indicate a Borg presence nearby."

Chakotay: "Harry?" Kim: "I've been running sensor sweeps all night. I haven't seen anything." Seven: "Perhaps the nebula is masking a vessel." Kim: "Not a chance. A ship wouldn't last 10 seconds in there, not even a Borg cube." Chakotay: "Maybe it's a false alarm. Your transceiver could be malfunctioning." Seven: "It is possible." Chakotay: "Why don't you pay a visit to Sickbay. Meanwhile we'll redouble our scans, just to be sure." Seven: "Very well." She leaves.

	Kim: "I'll get the scans under way." Chakotay jokes: "If you don't mind being an Ensign again..." Kim smiles...
	....and Chakotay smiles too.

Next morning, bright and early, Mulchaey walks along the corridor heading for the Science Lab.

Mulchaey arrives at the Science Lab but when he enters he sees something very unusual. He puts down his engineering case and gets a tricorder out.

He approaches closer to the phenomenon he is seeing, in order to scan it more closely.

He moves closer to the main console, taking tricorder readings. Suddenly two Borg injection tubules strike!

At that precise moment, in Sickbay, Seven's proximity transceiver in her cranial implant alerts her again. Doctor: "Seven?" Seven: "My proximity transceiver activated again."

On the Bridge, Kim reports: "Looks like someone's re-routing power from the warp conduits." Chakotay hurries over and joins him at Ops. "To where?" Kim: "Deck 8 section 22, the Science Lab." Chakotay, via comms: "Bridge to Science Lab. Ensign Mulchaey, respond." There is no reply! He ends the comlink. "Harry?" Kim: "Sensors are being deflected by some kind of forcefield. Commander, the forcefield has a Borg signature." Chakotay: "Red alert." The lights dim, red alert status flashes and klaxons sound. Via comms: "Captain to the Bridge." He orders: "Tuvok, take a security team to the Science Lab." Tuvok leaves immediately. Via comms: "Chakotay to Seven of Nine. Looks like you were right - we've detected Borg on the ship, deck 8, Science Lab." Seven, via comms: "How many drones?" Chakotay, via comms: "Unknown. Tuvok's headed there now." Seven, via comms: "I will join him."

As Seven leaves Sickbay, the Doctor is worried. "The Science Lab? My mobile emitter's in there!"

Tuvok and a security team, armed with phaser rifles, head for the Science Lab. Seven joins them, armed with the smaller phaser (type-2).

For some reason the Science Lab door is partly open, in itself indicating that something is wrong. Seven forces the door open.

They enter to find....

....that the computer console has strange additions.

They enter to find....

Seven examines it visually. "This technology resembles a Borg maturation chamber but many of the components are unfamiliar." The technology added to the console gives off the characteristic green light of the Borg.

One of the security guards calls Tuvok over to where the unconscious body of Mulchaey lies. "Commander!" Seven notices the two puncture wounds on his neck. "He was punctured by an extraction tubule. It removed a tissue sample." She scans the wound with a tricorder. "There are residual nanoprobes surrounding the wound. Their encoding signatures are identical to my own. Tuvok: "Your nanoprobes? How?" Seven: "I don't know." Tuvok orders the guards: "Take him to Sickbay." They carry Mulchaey out of the Science Lab.

Tuvok notices that Seven is approaching the computer console. "What are you doing?" "I will be recognised as Borg," she informs him and walks unharmed through the Borg forcefield.

She presses several controls on the console, and a viewing window opens to reveal the contents of the maturation chamber.

Seven: "A drone, but unlike any I've seen." Tuvok: "It appears to be in the foetal stage." Seven: "I don't understand. The Borg assimilate. They do not reproduce in this fashion."

Later, with the Captain summoned, Janeway, Tuvok and Seven look at the contents of the maturation chamber. Janeway: "Where did it come from?" Seven: "I believe it was created here, in the Science Lab. When the away team beamed back to Voyager there was a transporter malfunction. Our patterns merged briefly. It is possible that some of my nanoprobes infected the Doctor's mobile emitter." Tuvok: "They began to assimilate." Seven: "Yes. Nanoprobes are encoded to utilise any technology they encounter. Once it assimilated the transmitter it began to transform this diagnostic station. When Ensign Mulchaey entered the room they sampled his DNA." Janeway: "Using his genetic code as a template to create a lifeform." Tuvok scans the foetus with his tricorder. He reports: "The drone has increased in mass by 17 per cent." Seven: "The maturation rate is 25 times that of a conventional Borg."

Janeway: "Tuvok, erect a level 10 forcefield around this section. Post round-the-clock security." Tuvok: "You intend to let it mature?" Janeway: "The alternative is to pull the plug, and I'm not prepared to do that, not unless I have to. Resume your analysis. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with here, or should I say whom." Seven: "Yes, Captain."