ACT FIVE

FADE IN: 

48 EXT. SPACE - AZURE NEBULA

Focusing on the half-destroyed Intrepid-class Voyager...

49 INT. VOYAGER - BRIDGE

Ops manager LASREN (Betazoid male) is the only person on the bridge - everyone else is assigned to repairs. But he has not taken the command chair - he is still at his Ops station. He reacts to something on his console... 

LASREN
(shouts out)
Commander Paris! 

After a moment, Paris appears at the doorway into the captain’s ready room - the door itself is broken and cannot close fully, hence why a shout was enough to reach him. 

PARIS
Lieutenant? What’s wrong? 

LASREN
Nothing, sir. In fact, something’s
very right. Enterprise reports
that they have received a hail
from Aventine. They’re on
their way back here. 

Paris is very relieved to hear this, but doesn’t want to get his hopes up too far. 

PARIS
Okay, great. How long till they
get here? 

LASREN
She’s only an hour out, sir - they
only have short-range comms left,
apparently. Captain Picard has
also called for another meeting of
all the captains once she returns. 

PARIS
Fine. Listen, Kenth... there’s
something I’ve been thinking
about asking you to do. But you
don’t have to. It’s not an order. 

LASREN
Commander - whatever it is, it’s
fine. You can rely on me. 

PARIS
That’s not in doubt. It’s just, I
was thinking... maybe you could
scan Captain Chakotay, try to
get through to him, and bring
him out of whatever state he’s in. 

CAMBRIDGE (o.s.)
Absolutely not. I forbid it. 

Paris JUMPS - he had no idea Cambridge was there. The tall and lanky counsellor slowly turns his seat to face Paris, from where he was lurking silently at the sciences station. 

PARIS
Jeez! Announce yourself next time,
can you, Counsellor? Or do you
just enjoy making me jump out
of my skin?

CAMBRIDGE
(sly smile)
Mister Lasren knew I was here.

PARIS
(annoyed)
Mister Lasren is a telepath. 

CAMBRIDGE
(stands, confronts)
Exactly why he should not be going
anywhere near Chakotay. It’s a
gross violation of the Captain’s
privacy to scan him without
his explicit consent.

PARIS
He can’t consent, can he? He’s in
some kind of self-induced fugue.
And anyway, what do you care? You
and Chakotay have been at each
other’s throats since day one.

CAMBRIDGE
I care about defending any man’s
physical and mental autonomy,
Commander. And as a medical
officer I have the authority
to say this will not happen.

LASREN
(breaking in)
Excuse me? I haven’t said yet that
I’ll do this.

CAMBRIDGE
Good. So you agree with me, then. 

LASREN
Sorry Counsellor, but no, I don’t. 

CAMBRIDGE
(throws hands up)
Oh for - what the hell is wrong
with the people on this ship?

LASREN
I told the Commander he can rely
on me. I won’t go back on that. 

Cambridge sighs, tries to think of another angle to come at this from that will convince them. 

CAMBRIDGE
Do either of you know what my last
starship assignment was before
signing on to Voyager? 
(off their blank faces)
The Melbourne. I left it fourteen
years ago - when it was destroyed
at Wolf 3-5-9. 

Starfleet’s first major battle against the Borg. Paris and Lasren are both suitably dismayed. Cambridge continues...

CAMBRIDGE
So you may believe me when I tell
you that I am intimately familiar
with the scarring that any battle
with the Borg inevitably leaves on
a person’s psyche. It was also the
day when my habit of locating the
nearest escape pod the moment
I set foot on a ship paid off big,
but that’s by the by. Whatever is
going on inside Chakotay’s head
right now, it’s what he needs. It
is both ill-advised and immoral to
interfere with that process, and
that is an end to this discussion. 

Paris absorbs Cambridge’s story...

PARIS
Mister Lasren... please inform the
Enterprise that I am ready to beam
over at their convenience. You’re
in command while I’m away. 

LASREN
Aye, sir. 

Paris meets eyes with Cambridge - there is no victory in either gaze - before turning and re-entering the ready room. Lasren goes back to working his panels. Cambridge settles back into the science chair and ponders... 

50 EXT. SPACE - USS AVENTINE

Aventine zooms through space at warp, left to right... 

51 INT. AVENTINE - GUEST QUARTERS

Hernandez stands leaning against the bulkhead, arms folded, and gazing out of the window at the stars streaking past. The door OPENS and Dax strides in. Hernandez looks over to her with a glower, unimpressed and accusatory. 

HERNANDEZ
You’re the second captain in as
many days to barge right into my
quarters without knocking. Doesn’t
Starfleet teach courtesy anymore? 

DAX
My ship, my rules. Besides, you
“demanded” to see me - on an
open channel, for my entire crew
to hear. Well, here I am. Talk. 

Dax folds her arms, mirroring Hernandez. The gesture seems to deflate the tension growing between the two women, and Hernandez softens. She steps up, thoughtful. 

HERNANDEZ
Bear with me, Captain. What I need
to tell you is vital, but it’s hard for
me to come at a problem straight
on. After eight-hundred years living
with the Caeliar, keeping secrets
becomes a virtue.

DAX
If it’s so vital, why wait till now
to tell me? We’re almost back
at the nebula. 

HERNANDEZ
Oh well, excuse me - I did just
have my mind invaded by what
felt like a trillion other people.
It takes a minute to process all
that, and to put it together into
a coherent timeline.

DAX
(relaxing, 
receptive)
I’m sorry. I do understand how
that feels, believe it or not.
What do you need to tell me? 

Hernandez takes a breath, centres herself. Where to start? 

HERNANDEZ
I read everything in your files
about the Borg before I went to
that ship. I thought I was ready
for whatever I’d find. I wasn’t.

DAX
If you’re blaming yourself for what
happened to sh’Aqabaa’s team or
to Ravosus, don’t. As far as I’m
concerned, you deserve a medal
for saving three of my officers.

HERNANDEZ
I’m not talking about what the
Borg do. I’m talking about what
they are. I was expecting a group
mind, but that’s not really what
the Borg are. It’s one mind, one
tyrannical consciousness enslaving
all the others. 

DAX
The Queen. 

HERNANDEZ
Not exactly. The Queen’s just the
face of it. There’s something else
behind her. It’s sadistic. And it’s
so... empty. A void that can never
be filled. And the bigger it gets,
the hungrier it becomes.

Hernandez moves to stare out of the window again, clearly troubled. Dax follows gently, giving her space. 

HERNANDEZ
There’s a piece of music. You love
it. But then a new musician comes
around and rearranges it. It’s the
same tune, but now it’s in a minor
key. And suddenly everything that
was comforting and familiar... now
seems ominous and unsettling.
(turns back to Dax)
The Borg are no symphony. There’s
no conductor uniting the players
into a whole that’s greater than
its parts. And they’re not a hive
either. The Borg are a prison.
Trillions of voices muted, buried.
Lost souls chained and shackled
to the will of something that
doesn’t even know what it wants.
But the worst part of it was...
I still recognised the tune.

DAX
What do you mean? 

HERNANDEZ
I told you about when the original
Caeliar homeworld was destroyed...

DAX
Yes - you said only three city-
ships escaped, through those
subspace tunnels.

52 FLASHBACK – TTN 1x16 “WHATEVER IT TAKES”

The planet of Erigol EXPLODES... subspace tunnels surround the planet as dozens of Caeliar city-ships try to escape through them. Only three succeed, plus the Columbia. 

53 BACK TO SCENE

Hernandez continues her explanation... 

HERNANDEZ
(nodding)
Axion was the capital, the one
I was in. It got thrown into the
depths of the Beta Quadrant, about
eight-hundred-sixty years in the
past. Kintana ended up in another
galaxy at the dawn of time.

DAX
And the third?

HERNANDEZ
Mantilis. Several of my crew from
Columbia were onboard. The Caeliar
always thought it was destroyed
or lost. Now I know it wasn’t.

DAX
How do you know?

HERNANDEZ
I read Voyager’s and Enterprise’s
records as well as yours. They
both suggest the origin of the
Borg is somewhere deep in
the Delta Quadrant.

DAX
Okay. And...? 

HERNANDEZ
There’s a reason I was able to
hear the voice of the Borg. Was
able to tune myself into their
frequency, impersonate a Queen,
control their ship enough to
rescue your officers. 

54 FLASHBACK – VOY 10x21 “ALPHA”

Deep in an icy cave, the three barely surviving Columbia crew stagger in looking for shelter. 

Instead they find a Caeliar, in the form of blue twinkling lights as seen in DS9 12x15 “Ghost Ship”. Like a swarm of angry fireflies, the blue lights LAUNCH on the humans... 

55 BACK TO SCENE

Hernandez continues her explanation...

HERNANDEZ
Mantilis crashed somewhere in the
Delta Quadrant. The Caeliar were
dying without the gestalt. They
tried to merge themselves into
my crew to save themselves... 

56 FLASHBACK – VOY 10x21 “ALPHA”

The local alien species, the KINDIR, stumble into the same icy cave... and find two humans with mottled grey skin and technological implants bursting through their uniforms... 

57 BACK TO SCENE

Dax realises with horror...

DAX
...and they became the Borg.

Hernandez nods - but excitedly, not sadly. 

DAX
Are you sure about this? 

HERNANDEZ
Absolutely positive. I felt it all
when I was connected to them. 

DAX
Then why are you smiling? Riker
said we had no chance against
the Caeliar. If the Caeliar created
the Borg, then we have no
chance against them either. 

HERNANDEZ
No! Don’t you see? Now we know
this, we know how to beat them.
Because if the Caeliar made the
Borg... they can unmake them too. 

Off Dax’s cautious optimism... 

BLACK OUT

END OF SHOW