Dawn of Forever, Part XVIII

The Borg Collective (a limited liability company) was the brainchild of Sebastian Skywalker. Despite the old Federation propaganda on the subject, societies still wanted things. Maybe it wasn't material wealth and keeping up with the Joneses, but however enlightened a society is it needs things. Food, medicine, energy, metal, processed goods, raw materials, planets and systems, and that was just the physical items. There were rights of passage, defensive alliances, technological data, astrogation charts, and other kinds of information. A civilized government achieved these items themselves, or bartered for them from other governments. An exchange, X for Y, whether it was physical matter, intellectual matter, or legal matter, was what took place between them. The Borg's problem had always been that they only took. That was why people opposed them... they were, when all was said and done, pirates, except instead of stealing goods and money they stole systems and civilizations.

So, what's a pirate that goes straight? Sebastian told them: a merchant. And that had been the breakthrough they needed. You don't need to take any more; if you trade something with people, they'll give you the things you want anyway. All you had to do was find out what people wanted. And what was amazing was that the Borg really did have something people wanted: knowledge. The pharmaceuticals were growing so fast that centuries-old medical supply companies were getting nervous. The droids were taking off now that the anti-Borg prejudice had started to wear off, and people realized that someone who's spent tens of thousands of years perfecting artificial limbs, implants, and processors may know a thing or two about droids. With all that, the money rolled in, and the Borg learned that despite the hubris of some species, those that had "evolved" beyond the need for it were a small number.

The Borg bought all kinds of things. Some were to expand their economic muscle, since it was quickly deduced that currency seemed to defy the laws of thermodynamics by giving more out than was put in. They bought small companies that were facing ruin and turned them into a license to print credits. Jokes about the Borg's assimilation of companies abounded, but there was no arguing that whatever faults they had, they weren't actually doing anything wrong. And that had been an outgrowth of the Borg's experience as outcasts; what people thought was no longer irrelevant. Yes, the Borg could swoop in and more efficiently run a business by replacing most of the employees with drones, but at the cost of alienating the population they wanted to deal with, and that was the whole point. The business, however much it was dwelled on by the Collective, was still secondary to their primary goal of biological and technological perfection. The Borg bought the rights to DNA from thousands of beings who were found biologically distinctive and cloned them in massive numbers. They had a running tab with salvage companies across both galaxies, legitimately purchasing the wreckage of all kinds of ships. They bought experimental technology from all corners of space. And then there was the assimilation.

It was the part of the entire venture that had drawn the most criticism. Romal had brought in top-line consultants from throughout the Empire while drawing up the contract because this was going to be big. Anyone who signed up and passed the rigorously high standards of the selection process would be assimilated for one year. At the end of that year, they would be released, all traces of the implants removed, and rich enough never to have to work again. Through them, the Borg gained knowledge and experience to add to their own. And it was just like Sebastian said; if you went into it voluntarily, knowing what was going on, it was actually a very positive experience. One or two even asked to extend their time at a fraction of the pay because they found the experience so tranquil.

The significance of all of this was how it all came together. The experimental technology, the diversified mental processing, the exotic materials, and the expanded knowledge of the Collective had been responsible for Sebastian's suit. The skin-hugging forcefield, powered by a prototype fusion mini-reactor, flickered as the blast grazed Sebastian, but rather than reducing him to a high-speed lump of carbon, he was deflected off his course. Wildly, uncontrollably, but -and this was the most important adverb- nevertheless alive. Sebastian, his head scrambled by the impact, screwed his eyes shut, hit the thruster, and relied completely on his instincts, eventually managing to straighten out his tumble. After a few seconds the shots stopped coming; he was too close for them to get a bead on him. He hit the reverse while the ship rushed towards him, so that he only hit with a bone-jarring impact.

"Landing successful," Two of Six said in his ear. Sebastian gurgled in reply.

Eventually Sebastian managed to pull himself up; his suit anchored him to the surface, helping diminish the spinning in his head. Sebastian hit the release, and a hiss rumbled in his suit while a compartment slid open, revealing his lightsaber. He took it, lit it, and sliced open the bony hull. Red-orange fluid sprayed out into space. "Ick," he commented. He was surprised when he looked back and saw the seal had covered itself over with a dried substance like the fluid. "It grew a scab."

"It is a biological ship," Two of Six reminded him. "Such capabilities are hardly surprising."

"Yeah, but this is..." Sebastian floundered. "This is gross."

"Irrelevant."

"Easy for you to say, I'm the one climbing through this crap." More quickly this time, Sebastian made three cuts. He scurried through the opening before it could seal. Inside was nothing but more of the fluid. "Can you still read me?"

"Yes."

"I'm not sure what this is," Sebastian said. "But hopefully I can find my way through to some kind of hallway or something."

"Are you able to detect any Vong?"

"No, but this stuff is playing hell with my readings. I can't sense any crew, but then if they were Vong I wouldn't expect to." He crawled/swam through the liquid. "But there is something. Can't put my finger on it." Sebastian felt a membrane before him and slit through it, crawling through. The only illuminating was from his suit lights. "There's fluid in here too," he said. "Clear, possibly water. What kind of ship is this?" Particulates floated around him. Sebastian stepped closer and looked at them closely while his HUD presented some information. "None of this makes any-" He was thrown off his feet as the fluid suddenly rushed sideways. He reached down and dug into the membrane with his suit's servo-enhanced grip and managed to stop, but it was like clinging to a rock in a whirlpool. Then, just as suddenly, everything stopped. "Any idea what just happened?" he asked.

"That fluid is not water," Two of Six replied. "It's a very complex organic fluid." Sebastian pulled himself back to his feet. "We are working on a theory. Advise us of what precisely occurs... now." Sebastian was thrown onto his back and dragged along the membrane before he managed to get another grip.

"What precisely happened," he shouted as he tried to get a better hold in the current, "is that I got knocked on my ass!"

"It appears the fluid is the fuel supply for the bioship's heavy weaponry."

Sebastian relaxed as the fluid stopped a moment. "What, this stuff?"

"Affirmative," Two of Six said.

"But," Sebastian floundered, in more ways than one. "These are just chemicals. How can a chemical have enough of a punch to get through an armored hull?"

"It's an organic chemical, but the energy appears to be stored as nuclear, not electrical, bonds."

"That's stupid," Sebastian commented. This time he was braced and didn't budge as the fluid rushed.

"If one makes a bioship," Two of Six said, "one is forgoing the use of machinery. One cannot simply divert reactor output to weaponry, a new energy supply of adequate output must be found."

The fluid stopped moving; Sebastian pulled out his saber. "And one's getting one's butt out of this tube." He slid through the wall and more of the red-orange liquid flooded in. Sebastian quickly crawled through.

"This is why bioships are such a rare phenomenon," Two of Six informed him. "Despite irrational romantic attraction, purely biological starships are inherently flawed. They are structurally weak and lack a means of large-scale energy production necessary for running such a vessel, nevermind defending it."

"This seems to be disproving your point, Two," Sebasian said as he continued cutting and crawling through the bioship.

"The statement is true," Two of Six said. "In order for a bioship to become this effective it requires extremely advanced biological elements. To put it simply, bioships begin with such a disadvantage that even greater technological advances must be made simply to catch up with their mechanical counterparts. That is the reason effective bioships are almost non-existent."

"Not to mention the fact they're absolutely disgusting," Sebastian said. "I don't get it. This is less likely a boarding than an autopsy."

"You have found no evidence of the Vong?"

"I've found no evidence of anything," Sebastian said. "Every chamber I enter is filled with something more grotesque than the last. I can't see Vong getting around in here without a Scuba suit." There was a huge jar that knocked Sebastian over. "Now what?" he demanded.

"That was us," Two of Six advised.

"Well thanks," Sebastian said irritably.

"We've locked on with a tractor beam," Two of Six explained. "The torpedo's effect is dissipating; we don't wish the ship to escape with you on board."

"Oh," Sebastian said. "Sorry. Thanks. You going to be all right?"

"We have adapted to the bioship's weaponry. It still penetrates our shields but it is causing minimal damage to our armored hull. Danger is minimal. Drones have been relocated from vulnerable areas to concentrate on repairs."

Sebastian nodded. The Borg were rather organic in their own way. People liked to compare them to an insect hive, like bees or ants, and in some ways they are. The Borg may have been mechanical, but their approach wasn't to shun the biological, it was to embrace both equally, the organic shoring up the weaknesses of the mechanical, and vice versa. It was just the logical conclusion of the entire approach: optimizing the interaction between human and machine. But still, as advanced as even they were, you couldn't take the human element out of that equation. However good the technology was, it still wasn't advanced enough that you could count on it to run itself without people there.

And there it was, right in front of him. "Son of a bitch," he whispered.

"Is there a problem?" Two of Six asked.

"I know why I haven't found the crew," Sebastian said. "Because there is no crew. Because this isn't a ship."

"A gigantic, synthetic, organic creature designed for stellar confrontations?" Two of Six asked.

Sebastian sighed. "The problem with dealing with Borg is you don't appreciate a good breakthrough, you know? Yeah, this ship must be alive, completely alive, designed to run itself. Like you said, making up for the biological deficiencies requires so much advancement to catch up, they could certainly have it function just fine without a crew on board. In fact, it'd be better. Absolutely no wasted space, because all of it is used to run the ship, because there's nothing but ship to run!"

"If it is a living thing," Two of Six said, "autonomous, then logically it must have a functioning brain."

"Exactly," Sebastian said. Then he got it. "You want me to speak to it?"

"We wish to know if it will pose a threat to us."

"Well they're our enemies, I think they mean... oh, wait a minute. Wait, you mean to assimilate this thing."

"It is our purpose," Two of Six pointed out. "It is in the service of an enemy of the Empire; we are entitled."

"But it's alive," Sebastian said. "That kind of falls in the grey area."

"We will consult with Romal the Attorney, if necessary."

Sebastian sighed. Still, he should see what they were dealing with. He closed his eyes, focused and reached out...

Something reached back.

Sebastian discovered he was screaming when his mind finally managed to break the grip that had been on him. There was a rumble and a huge laser beam sliced through the membrane wall nearby and kept going, then twisted to cut a large hole in it. "Sebastian," Two of Six said. "You must leave, now." Sebastian didn't ask questions, he ran over the cut section of the "floor" and felt the jolt as the Borg's tractor beam latched onto the cut segment. It was quickly dragged out like a grisly elevator system, various bodily fluids oozing around the opening as they rocketed pass. "You were out of contact for several minutes," Two of Six explained. "The organic fuel looks to be destabilizing."

"They're self-destructing," Sebastian said as he was finally pulled clear of the ship. "I'm sorry, they must have learned your intent while I was connected. They don't want you assimilating this bioship."

"Stand by," Two of Six said. Sebastian peered through the blue glitter-field of the tractor beam and saw the ship rapidly receding. Moments later it vanished, replaced by the interior of the Tactical Cube.

"Exterior view," he demanded. Four spiky protrusions jutted out from the wall nearby. Energy arced between them, forming a diamond, then the air within flickered and presented a semi-transparent view of the now rapidly receding bioship. There was a flash and the ship was replaced by an expanding cloud of vapor. Bony fragments that managed to survive peppered the area with relativistic-speed shrapnel. Fortunately, while the kinetic energy of the fragments wouldn't diminish in space with nothing to slow it down, the extra distance meant that fewer fragments struck the cube. The armor looked like the top of a pepper shaker in some places, but the damage was little to the Borg's regenerative skills.

Two of Six transported beside him. "They're smaller and weaker than other warships," she said. "But their numerical advantage makes them a dangerous adversary."

"And that's not the worst of it," Sebastian said, turning from the view of the debris to her. "The mind of that bioship, it's just instinct; no higher thoughts whatsoever."

"Your reaction indicated there was something wrong in there," Two of Six said.

Sebastian nodded. "It was being controlled by an outside force, something capable of handling the detailed functions of not just that ship, but every single one of them simultaneously. And I'd know that kind of mind anywhere."

"A yammosk?"

"We should be so lucky. It's more powerful than any yammosk I've ever encountered; just a brush with a link to its mind almost overwhelmed me. But I can tell you one thing for certain." Sebastian shook his head slowly as if unwilling to believe it himself. "They're Vong."

Go To Part XIX
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