[BACKPOST] Spying on the Borg

Posted on Mon Aug 28th, 2017 @ 12:27am by Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Borg Unimatrix Vessel (Area of Operations Classified)
Timeline: Late winter/early spring 2378

Materializing in what they'd hoped was a deserted section of the unimatrix vessel, Clio quickly activated the bio-dampener strapped to her wrist. Mere seconds later, a pair of drones rounded a corner and marched past her, so close they brushed against her on either side. She held her breath, expecting to be snatched up and taken to an assimilation chamber.

The drones kept marching onward, oblivious to the woman they'd nearly collided with. Clio slowly let that breath out, steeling her nerves before creeping out of the quiet section toward a more populated area of the ship. The mission was a simple one, on paper. Get in, download as much information as possible, and then retreat back to the beam-in point for extraction.

The mission planners at Starfleet Headquarters were, of course, idiots. If she survived this suicide mission, Clio intended to tell them so.

Fortunately, the bio-dampener she'd been supplied with seemed to work. None of the drones looked at her, even when their paths crossed hers enough to bump into her. That, at least, was reassuring.

Taking care not to jostle the drones too much, Clio briefly consulted a tricorder before realizing it would be little help in finding whatever passed as a computer terminal on a Borg vessel. She was unfamiliar with Borg technology readings, and all of the readings looked the same to her unpracticed eye. She did, however, have some idea of what such a terminal would look like and where it might be.

So she moved cautiously toward the center of the ship, sidestepping various drones on her way there. It was easy enough at first, until she got close. When she neared the center of the ship, the high rails on either side of the walkway abruptly disappeared. She balked, taking several steps backward to the relative safety of the railings and clinging instinctively to the rail nearest her. She was half tempted to say 'screw this' and go back to the beam-in point, but she was no quitter. Swallowing her trepidation, she inched out onto the bridge leading to what seemed to be a control node.

Creeping slowly along, she made it to the node and fished the recording device out of her pocket. It took her a moment to figure out how to interface with the node, but soon she was downloading the requested files. Most were heavily encrypted, but breaking the encryption would be a job for someone else. Back on Earth. If she could get the information to them.

The download was agonizingly slow. The drones tasked with maintaining the node arrived and began working around her, seeming not to notice her intrusion. One of them moved uncomfortably close to her, and Clio took a half-step sideways to avoid him. Slowly, the download ticked onward until it flashed a 'download complete' light. Snatching it from the node, she tucked it back into a pocket and headed back out onto the bridge that led back to relative safety.

So focused on getting across without falling, she failed to notice one of the drones swiftly leaving the node behind her. He slammed into her and kept going, sending her sprawling... right off the edge of the walkway. With a startled shriek, she grabbed for a handhold... any handhold. By some miracle she caught the walkway's edge, slamming into it with a good deal of force. She clung precariously to the cold metal, trying to pull herself back up as her feet kicked at nothing. Her heart pounding, she clawed her way up a bit, trying to swing her legs up onto the walkway. Just as she thought she might manage it, she ship shook sharply as if under weapons fire. The sudden rocking of the ship shook her free from her already tenuous position and send her hurtling downward .

There wasn't time to scream before Clio slammed into the metal decking several meters below, landing with most of her weight on her left shoulder. She groaned as the shock of the impact wore off, rolling onto her back before trying to sit up. The effort of movement sent her vision white hot and stole her breath away again, but she wasn't ready to give up. She was not going to die or get assimilated on this godforsaken ship!

There was no hope of reaching the beam-in point, which left her one option. Gingerly moving in centimeter increments - with her jaw clenched - she ran the fingers of her right hand across her left forearm, finding the embedded emergency beacon and activating it only seconds before her world completely blacked out.