Episode 05: Courage is Fear - Part 1 (Season 1)

While the Theurgy conducted repairs in the Azure Nebula, she was intercepted by the Asurians that sought vengeance for the defeat at Starbase 84. Yet they weren't alone, since they brought reinforcements in the form of a dreadnought never seen before in the Alpha Quadrant - an advanced ship that belonged to the mysterious Savi. Yet no more had the engagement began when Task Force Archeron entered the Azure Nebula, and the crew of the Theurgy faced impossible odds of survival. Was the truth finally going to die with them? By March 2381, various actors and conflicts had begun to concentrate on the Azure Nebula. Most crucial, however, was the initiation of a third invasion of the Alpha Quadrant by the Borg Collective. Following the failures of their first two invasions of the Federation, and significant losses during conflicts with Species 8472 and the USS Voyager, the Borg were forced to resort to unconventional means to reach the Alpha Quadrant. Thus, in early 2381, two Borg cubes discovered a subspace aperture within Borg space that led to the Azure Nebula. The cubes promptly used the 50,000 lightyear shortcut and emerged in the Alpha Quadrant, swiftly moving to reconnoiter the sector, while the Collective amassed a large armada on the other end of the subspace tunnel. The invasion had begun, and the Borg Queen entered the Azure Nebula on a Tacitcal Cube ahead of the invading force - joining the two scouting cubes in Federation Space. It didn’t take long before the Borg vanguard encountered resistance. One cube engaged and destroyed a Federation starship, the USS Endeavour. The other cube found and engaged the USS Cayuga, inflicting heavy damage and forcing the crippled Federation vessel to flee into the Azure Nebula. Still, Borg jamming prevented either the Endeavour or the Cayuga from warning the Federation of the threat. However, good fortune ensured that the Cayuga’s distress call was answered by a vector of the renegade USS Theurgy, which rendered assistance and spread the word of the Borg threat. Meanwhile the Tactical Cube that carried the Borg Queen was discovered by a fleet of eleven Starfleet ships from Task Force Archeron, which had been hunting the Theurgy. The ensuing battle would prove to be savage. All eleven starships were lost, with all their crews either killed or assimilated, but against all odds, the Starfleet force did succeed in destroying the Borg cube. Their sacrifice, at the cost of nearly four thousand lives, would prove crucial. Shortly after the battle, the other two Borg cubes reached the debris field of the battle, and initiated the Royal Protocol - using a female drone to create the new Borg Queen. At the same time, the USS Theurgy was locked in a battle for survival after it was forced to separate into three vectors to enact the Continuance Protocol.