The Enterprise
THE ENTERPRISE,TAKING POINT IN THE SMALL but determined armada, blew past Jupiter with the rest of the ships howling on her tail.
Picard had the comm links open to the entire squadron, allowing for simultaneous transmission. “Steady,” he warned the other ships. “We’re coming within range.”
“We have visual,” came Calhoun’s voice from the Excalibur, and then, “Grozit, look at the size of that thing.”
He knew immediately what Calhoun was reacting to. The initial attack force was furiously battling four Borg-spawned starships that were identical to the ones that had assaulted the Enterprise. Despite the size differential, the smaller starships were proving a formidable challenge for the far larger ships. They had adopted a hit-and-run strategy that was working perfectly, diving in quickly, firing, and then getting out of the way as the Borg starships worked to determine which way to look first.
In the meantime the massive Borg cube, which had initially been hanging back, was slowly approaching Earth.
Picard immediately saw the danger.
“We have to cut past the Borg starships; we need to get between the Borg cube and Earth.”
“No. You do not.”
Seven of Nine—or, as she had referred to herself, Seven of the One—appeared once more on the Enterprise bridge, like a wandering ghost. She stood next to Picard, looking at the monitor screen. “We will come at the Borg cube from the other side. You attend to the Borg starships. We shall focus on her.”
“On it,” Picard said sharply. “You mean on it, the cube.”
“No,” Seven corrected him. “This is between us…and the queen. If we destroy her, we destroy them. And we will.”
“Seven, if you destroy the queen…you’ve destroyed Kathryn Janeway. You need to find a way to capture her…to free her from—”
“Commodore, we must assume that Kathryn Janeway is dead. Her conversion to the queen was no simple assimilation. Now there is only death for the Borg. We will destroy them. We will seek them out and make them all pay. Forever.”
“Seven!”
It was too late. Seven of Nine had vanished.
Before Picard could react to that, Leybenzon called out, “Estimated fifteen seconds to range of Borg starships!”
Picard forced himself to focus on the job at hand. “Picard to fleet. Two-by-two formation. Prepare to engage.”
“Good luck, Commodore,” came Calhoun’s voice.
“And to you, Captain.”
The Enterprise and her fleet closed with the Borg starships and opened fire.