=/\= Starbase Nimsi, in seclusion =/\= The Starbase had, at this point, called a Red Alert. The lights darkened in the ladder way where Acheson hid from the security. The internal sensors in that region had been taken offline, and he was working on the assumption that they wouldn’t be returned. He sat there, thinking of his present situation and his mind wondered slightly. After being in the young Lieutenant’s bedroom, he had yet to sleep on the starbase and 20 hours had elapsed since he had that encounter. He smiled, recollecting her beauty and about what he was apart. The mysterious hallucinations continued to affect him. He heard a strange mechanical noise and looked behind him. A Borg drone, with the shape and face of Commander Marsh, marched toward him. Acheson grabbed his phaser in a panic and fired at the kill setting. The blasts were ineffectual and the drone slammed him into the bulkhead, using the mechanical arm to restrain his body. He fought with all the strength he could muster, but the hold was firm. She reached, with her remaining hand and pressed at his neck. Acheson braced himself, knowing what would happen. He hadn’t been hallucinating after all. The Borg were coming after him, but no one else. To resist such a purpose was true futility. He grunted in pain, as the drone injected him with her nanotubules, into his neck. The pain throbbed, even as she retracted. He felt what almost defied sensation. The feeling permeating him was that of thousands of little beings shooting through his bloodstream. He looked down at his arm and the veins on top of his hand sudden turned gray, as the creatures made it there. He reversed his hand, revealing a whitening palm with blackened veins near his wrist. He seemed almost calm, as if the universe’s balance had restored itself. He would be gone, but would have some peace in the Borg perdition. He looked at her emotionless face and saw in it what he had feared. Once again, her face showed no emotion and yet it told him everything. He saw, in her eyes, the reality of his failure and the human toll it had taken. Suddenly, in a flash, it was all gone. No Drones. He looked down at his hand and saw, once again, a peach colored flesh, with blue veins. The veins carried not Borg nanoprobes or inorganic compounds, but rather T-Hemoglobin. His skin was not white and was still perfectly human. Looking at the bulkhead in front of him, he noticed 2 blackened scorch marks on a tritanium metal sheet. His right showed a phaser, at the kill setting, and the air smelled of ionization. He heard a voice. +TAPS+ Crickard to the Bridge, I heard phaser fire. What do internal sensors say? +TAPS+ Nothing. We lost sensors in that section. Engineering is trying to reroute. Something about a down EPS relay junction. The man came closer, wearing a tradional Starfleet uniform. Acheson tried to hide deeper in the ladder well, but the black marks on the wall were a sure sign that something was amiss. He noticed them and walked forward carefully. He prepared his phaser, ready to stun the guard. The guard looked around, and saw Acheson. Acheson fired, but the shot missed. At point blank range, he found a way to miss. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking his toll. The guard tried to draw his own phaser, but by some miracle <<and something I’ve always wanted to see>>, it was stuck. The clasping mechanism for the phaser had been warped, ever so slightly, and it wouldn’t allow the weapon to release. The security officer went to his reserve training and grabbed Acheson, taking his phaser to the air. He hammered Acheson’s hand into the bulkhead, until he released, dropping the weapon. He tried to go for it, bending over. Nathan dropped into a wrestling position and countered the move, kicking the phaser into a corner. The two grappled for a few moments and Acheson found his hand near the guard’s combadge. He grabbed it, removing it in short order. He threw it and it landed in the other end of the room. He pushed the guard back and the guard pushed him. Both officers fell back. “You wanna play that way, eh?” The guard adopted two fists, in a boxing like formation. Acheson swung, but the guard blocked it and struck himself, hitting Acheson around the middle of his stomach. Acheson grunted and fell back but pressed forward, not about to give up. He threw another punch at the guard, but this time it hit the target and the guard fell back. Just as he was going to follow up, he remembered the phaser and hurried back to the corner. The guard got up and tried to rush him, hoping to get there before he did. Acheson found the phaser and aimed it at the guard, just as the guard arrived. He put his hands up. “Ok, let’s not do anything rash!” Acheson looked around and fired, with the phaser set on stun. The guard fell back, before slouching to the ground. The blow would render him unconscious, atleast for a few hours. Acheson dragged the body across the hall, into another room. Opening the door, it revealed a cargo hold. He carried the body into the rear and left it, hidden by several contained. Using the angle he had, he was able to disarm the guard and keep the weapon, just in case it was needed. He carefully walked back to the hiding place, hopeful that a Chimera member would arrive soon. =/\= END LOG =/\= 1LT Acheson CTAC USS Chimera -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm