Episode 05: Courage is Fear - Part 2 (Season 1)

After numerous engagements with the Asurians, Klingons and the rest of Task Force Archeron, the three Theurgy vectors finally reunited. However, thanks to the USS Cayuga - as well as survivors of the USS Endeavour - the crew of the Theurgy now knew of the Borg threat and, faced with the prospect of an all-out Borg invasion, the Theurgy raced to the heart of the Azure Nebula and the apertures. It was there that the USS Cayuga, in conjunction with a Klingon fleet under the personal command of Chancellor Martok, engaged the Borg cube that guarded the subspace aperture. In the following hour, the Klingons sustained heavy losses. Out of the twelve ships which started the battle, several were destroyed while yet more were assimilated. The Klingon flagship, the battleship IKC Negh’var, sustained serious damage, but nevertheless, the Klingons successfully defended the Cayuga. During the hour, however, more of High Chancellor Martok's forces arrived to the field of battle. Unfortunately for the Klingons, however, they were compromised from within. N’Garen, a weapon’s officer onboard the Negh’var, was secretly infected by one of the parasites that had taken clandestine control of Starfleet Command. Seeking a Borg victory, N’Garen drained energy from the Negh’var´s shields, allowing Borg drones to board the battleship, with drones even beaming into the Bridge so that N’Garen herself could be assimilated. With that, the parasites would be able to infect the Borg Collective itself, a key step to the final victory of plunging the entire galaxy into darkness and chaos. Nevertheless, the Martok and his bridge crew swiftly demonstrated their skill at close-range combat. The Klingons countered the boarding action with their signature bladed weapons, their bat´leths and d´k taghs, with Chancellor Martok himself fighting the Borg in personal combat. N’Garen saw an opportunity to assassinate the Chancellor, but after exposing herself for what she was, she was swiftly overwhelmed and killed by the Klingons. Finally, after an hour of battle and bloodshed, the USS Theurgy decelerated out of warp to join the battle. Under the command of acting captain Wenn Cinn, the once formidable multivector dreadnought had suffered considerable damage in the previous week. Many of its crew, including Captain Jien Ives and the ship’s artificial intelligence, Thea, had been taken captive by the Savi. All three vectors had sustained heavy damage, preventing the use of the Theurgy’s potent Multi Vector Assault Mode, while the vessel’s squadron of warp fighters were similarly diminished. The Lones Wolves squadron, along with the Allegiant and the surviving Klingon ships, used the debris field around the Borg Cube to maneuver in cover, fighting desperately. Eventually, a new vessel arrived: the Versant, a five kilometer long Precept-class ship of the Savi Flotilla. Following the liberation of the ship’s prisoners, a mix of captives from the USS Endeavour and the USS Theurgy, they had proceeded to gain control of the goliath ship and bring it to the battlefield. Thus, under the command of Captain Ives and with the aid of the AI Thea, the Versant opened fire on the Borg Cube with its graviton beam lances, inflicting catastrophic damage on the Borg Cube. Three large holes had been punched clean through the Cube’s hull. Seizing the opportunity, the surviving Lone Wolves regrouped to launch a daring attack. At the orders of Lieutenant Commander Thomas Ravon, the fighters flew directly through the holes in the Cube, firing their weapons on the unshielded interior of the vessel as they went before emerging on the other side. The density of the metal mass reflected the shockwaves of the blasts, and the effect was a lot more emphasised than any exterior impact could possibly be. The damage proved catastrophic, crippled the Cube’s ability to fight. The Versant and the Theurgy later finished off the Borg ship with a final barrage, permanently destroying it. The sudden appearance of Doctor Nicander on the bridge of the Theurgy offered a solution - one which Captain Ives saw merit in. The officers on the Versant held a device powered by what the Borg termed “Particle 010”, but what the Federation knew as the “Omega Molecule”. If detonated, the particles were capable of unfathomable destruction that would undoubtedly destroy the subspace tunnels as well as affecting the local subspace strata for lightyears around the Azure Nebula. Warp travel in the region would be rendered impossible for millennia. Since it could not be done remotely, the plan - desperate as it was - involved someone staying behind the detonate Omega device while the Theurgy, Cayuga and the Klingons fled at maximum warp. Two volunteers stood out: Doctor Lucan Nicander, who's credibilty was low because of him being infected by a parasite, and Captain Wenn Cinn, whom the Bajoran Prophets had manipulated events to make the sacrifice. The decision was made, and Captain Ives gave hir orders. The Versant prisoners were beamed back home to the Theurgy, while the Omega device was taken by Wenn Cinn onto a shuttlecraft. Too heavily damaged to escape the Omega detonation, the Theurgy moved to access a different aperture, although they didn’t know where it would lead. The Omega detonation, as feared, was enormous. The subspace tunnels were instantly destroyed, as were the hundreds of Borg cubes that were already flying through them as the tunnels collapsed. The Azure Nebula was ignited in an explosion even brighter than a supernova, with the light due to be visible across the entire galaxy for decades to come. Warp travel would become impossible in the vicinity of the Azure Nebula after the detonation, stranding millions of people and five inhabited planets without warp drive. The farthest the shockwave reached was the Nimbus System, but Starbase 84 was spared. While the Negh´var had been disabled, more Klingon ships had arrived before the detonation, so Martok could escape on the IKS Vor'nak. The Cayuga survived, successfully outrunning the blast at high warp, as did Task Force Archeron, having been warned by the Cayuga of the threat as they approached the battlefield. The third Borg invasion had been thwarted. While the Federation and the Klingon Empire each lost dozens of ships in the effort, the victory saved hundreds of billions of lives throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and permanently closed off the Borg beachhead. For the Savi, the battle was the start of an enormous upheaval. The presence of the parasites was exposed, as was their corruption of Savi culture and society, while the Savi themselves were exposed to both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. For the USS Theurgy, the battle was extremely costly. Many lives were lost, including Lieutenant Commander Wenn Cinn, dozens of crewmen and a full third of the Lone Wolves. The Theurgy itself came close to destruction during the battle, and even after emerging from an aperture several hundred lightyears away, the ship was barely spaceworthy. Nevertheless, it had been a victory. The plans of the Infested had been foiled, while the Borg threat had been neutralised. As a result of the battle, the crew of the Theurgy gained an alliance with the Klingon Empire after Chancellor Martok personally witnessed the truth of their claims about the parasitic threat. As such the Theurgy set a course for the world of Aldea, a vassal world of the Klingons, where the Theurgy could make repairs, find safe harbour... and rest.