Resistance is Futile - Rhaigne
April 19th, 2005 - Part Two

"Hush, little one, we'll tell you later."

"No! I wanna know now!"

"all right. Karista - would you explain?"

"A cyberpath is like a telepath. Only difference is that the cyber variety uses technology rather than regular ESP."

"Thank you. Now, where were we? Ah yes…"

Rhaigne smiled at the children around her, most named for people she had once called friend. People whom she missed dearly. But there was no point in dwelling on the past. No point dwelling on how she might have saved her friends, or her friends might have saved her. She held a large grove now. The ice was long gone. People often came to her to hear the stories of those who had fought for justice and peace during much darker times...

* * * * *

…The Oracles seemed confused by Katherine's statement. Duguael snorted in an ill-concealed attempt to hide his contempt for the Oracles and their apparent inability to "see" what was around them. I looked up at the Oracles and came to the same conclusion.

We volunteered, along with the triplets, to go and explore this new threat. The Oracles agreed, despite the protestations of their generals. It was conceded that we would go, on the condition that we were accompanied by two Bifrost scouts.

The Oracles provided us with equipment, and, much to the Brothers' pleasure, announced that the rig had been retrieved and repaired. We decided to use the cab of the rig as well as one of the Bifrost's Humvees to close the distance. The scouts decided to use snowmobiles.

We divided up into what was quickly becoming our standard formation. Fair Karista, Dark Alexander, and my Feral Little Self rode in the Humvee, while the Mighty Brothers rode in the truck. The Newcomers divided themselves, one in the Hummer, and one on each snowmobile. Katherine was the one riding in the Hummer, her scanners and abilities relaying the information from the scouts. The two vehicles drove side by side with the snowmobiles slightly ahead of us. This meant that the more powerful vehicles had to go slower than our two scouts.

Adoaver Dragonsoul and Lt. Stephane Ayotte were our two scouts, and back then I would likely just have snarled my feelings. Especially towards Dragonsoul. There was something about him that gave me the creeps, and every time I glanced in their direction, the hackles on the back of my neck would rise and I'd find myself taking on wolf aspects… always spooked Duguael when I did that, but that's a story for another day.

We drove most of the way, stopping at an old, abandoned gas station just outside of the city. We hid our vehicles, and at Karista's (yes, Kari, I mean your namesake) suggestion, we decided to check out the pit stop and depanneur. The windows were surprisingly intact, and it was a simple matter for me to shift and dig an entrance through the snow. Unfortunately, we had no way of pinpointing the gas pumps or knowing if they even worked. We found bags of chips, cases of soda, other junk food and assorted rank meat, spoiled cheese and curdled milk. Some things we did find, and stuff our packs with, were toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes and "other" essential products that were somehow all still good.

Duguael gathered all the cigarettes (for barter), matches and lighters while the twins scrounged up some barbecue supplies. We dumped our treasure in the sleeper of the rig and moved on towards our goal. All the while, Duguael muttered about needing to get electricity flowing properly again…

Although most of the conversation was beyond me, I could tell that Loehann and Duguael were discussing the relative inability of the so-called Oracles to know what was going on. Yet, they were able to keep the Trogs as bay, as well as all the other dangers. Clearly, they weren't as powerless as they seemed. So why did they have such obvious frailties?

A radio signal came from Loehann. Katherine's sensors had pinpointed the power source to within 100 meters and, almost simultaneously, she announced that there was a group of eight beings coming towards us on foot. Our scouts were the first ones to see them.

"Stay back." Lt. Ayotte warned, "You won't believe this, but…"

"We are the Borg.
The Change is irrelevant.
We will purge your Changed Taint.
Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated."

"Owen," Karista responded, "That was not funny."

"It wasn't me !"

"Con-feerm-eh." Replied Ayotte, "Ve are facing eight humains, all pale, all vearing black exo-suits, all with cybernetik himplants. All Borg."

Their message came through the commlink again as we sprinted forward. Karista put a hand on me, in an effort so slow my headlong rush. I could feel her magic, ready in the hand that was restraining me. Owen and Loehann drew weapons. Katherine scanned ahead of us, her instruments confirming that we were facing cyborgs. At this point, we cleared the snow bank and caught up with the two scouts.

They were Borg, alright.

The battle was furious. We lost Ayotte to them. It was truly terrifying. Imagine the scenes from Star Trek where they fought the Borg hand-to-hand. Now, with all of the power behind the blows of Loehann and Owen, they would still keep coming. Karista's magic would knock one down, and then the next would simply absorb the next attack like it was not even there.

Only Alex, spooky/ freaky/ weirdo Alex, had any luck. For some reason, his powers seemed able to reach into the shields and technology and shut them down. Others he lifted into the air, throwing like so much paper in the wind. My claws also proved somewhat useful, but when I saw assimilation tubules I withdrew.

Poor Stephane, though. I think it would've been better if he'd been killed by the Borg's attack. Instead, a Borg drone snuck up behind him. Two small tubes came from its fingers and it pierced Stephane's neck. Within seconds, the blue tinge to his skin began to fade and implants sprung from his face and neck. Owen was forced to end Ayotte's existence - thankfully the Borg shields hadn't appeared yet…

We were able to move on - mostly because the remaining Borg were drawn to help the bulk of their party, apparently finding us to be a low level threat. A group of troglodytes were under attack a few hundred meters away. It was a tough choice for some of us. Loehann and Karista were both for helping the Trogs while the rest of us pointed out the futility. Despite their protestations, Loe and Kari were outvoted and we moved on, with the sound of the battle quickly fading into the background.

As we moved forward, I noticed that Dragonsoul was talking with Karista. For her part, Kari was having one of my "raise your hackles and try not to growl" moments. He was obviously disturbing her with whatever it was he was saying - and to be honest, I was too young to understand it then. Now, being older and wiser, and having loads of "film" in my photographic memory, I remember everything that I heard.

"It surprises you that 'Pelor' was unable to defeat the Borg defenses?" Dragonsoul asked her with all the smarm of a used-car salesman. "Come, child, you must realize that the power of Faith is a joke? After all, what god or gods could allow this freakish misery to torment their subjects?"

"It's a test." Kari replied with a firm resolve, her eyes flashing with anger at the slight. "We are challenged to defend ourselves and be strong in the face of this adversity."

"And the Christians? Especially Quebec's Theocracy? Do you believe that their faith and religion gives them the right to force others into their beliefs?"

"Of course not." Karista's voice was the very model of restraint, "However, they have lost their way. Pelor preaches much the same thing that Christ taught. I do not need the presence or sanction of each member of the clergy to know that I do Pelor's work. Many of the Christian priests do the same. It is a handful who have corrupted their faith to dictate that they should rule. I also challenge you to prove that those priests who push the power and might of the Theocracy are not Fallen. They no longer serve the god they claim."

"Of course." Dragonsoul said. "And I mean you no disrespect, Lady. I merely point out that we have lost one comrade today, and Pelor - or any other god - has failed to protect him or us…"

"You do not offend. It has always been the lot of the faithful to defend themselves against those who do not share their beliefs. I also chose to not preach, only to practice. What I believe is my business and none others. In the end, faith is that which allows you to sleep well at night. It is not that which gives one power over others."

Katherine's voice ended the debate. Something in the snow ahead of us was triggering her sensors. We searched but we could find nothing that would put out a signal strong enough to register on her scanners like this. Then Alex realized what it must be. He closed his eyes and extended a hand. I almost leapt out of my furry little skin when the snow pack next to my foot erupted and a small metallic box floated up to adult-eye level. It was Tokath's familiar. Owen joked about it being just the piece of "Trek-nology" that we needed…

Thanks to the semi-sentient little device, we had a detailed schematic of where we were going. I was terrified about the sheer numbers involved. In retrospect it's probably best that I couldn't count that high…

We arrived at the converted warehouse. It must have been eight or nine stories before the ice came. Now, four stories extended above the snow and they were all covered in wires, pipes and antennae. I shuddered to think what might be beneath the snow. Standing there, looking up at the edifice, I quickly became enthralled by the geometric shapes and neon circuitry. Almost a kilometer away, we could all feel the low hum of electricity. Its source was definitely within the complex. Somehow, even the chaos of the snowy landscape seemed planned out by this monolithic monstrosity.

We approached cautiously, reluctant to enable magical defenses for fear of being detected. We all prayed that these things would conform to the television show but somehow knew that they would not. Our first indication of that came when we were detected. Three spherical objects ejected from two stories above the snow, causing a crater and explosion of snow where they landed. We crouched low, hoping that they were going after something else, but they began to converge on us. The glowing blue globe of energy around their now deployed forms gave us all pause.

Destroyer droids - right out of The Phantom Menace.

Karista tried to summon her duplicates but the spell fizzled from her fingers. Duguael's powers failed to grab onto the shielded forms. We were stalemated. Owen leapt forward, his axe glancing off shields. Karista pulled Loehann back while we tried to get past the droids, hoping that Owen was not making the sacrifice that we feared he was making. I questioned why it was so important to get into this building.

"We need to find their power source - potentially it could save this region from the snow and cold. Besides, we knew that some of the Bifrost were prisoners within - rather, they'd been assimilated. And we wanted to rescue our comrade Tokath. Why we certain that he was within I don't know. We just were.

The corridors of the ground floor were empty for the most part. We encounter partially assimilated creatures. What must have been a Drider at one point. It limped along on five legs; three legs looked like they were atrophying. It shuffled behind us, equally impervious to our powers, but it did not attack. In fact, it eventually lagged behind.

As we proceeded to explore the upstairs, we encountered a patrol of Borg drones, We flattened ourselves against a wall as they passed us, not even daring to breathe at our good fortune. I was able to count them as they passed. I was also able to do the simple math that calculates two to one odds…

The upper floors seemed nothing more than regeneration areas. We passed a large number of alcoves and tubes. It was warmer and warmer the further in we went. Almost humid in fact. We proceeded to search the lower levels, finding much the same as above. However, some seven floors down, probably well beneath the ground, we came into a huge chamber. Several captives were being placed in tubes. Alex was surprised that these Trog and Bifrost prisoners had not been assimilated into the collective.

Our attention was drawn to the middle of the chamber where a single female form directed her minions. We feared to guess what this incarnation of the Borg Queen could do.

But I fail to describe the other features of this massive chamber. First, our vantage was a catwalk around the perimeter. The chamber took up the entire space of the complex at this level and was some three stories deep. In one corner we saw a large device that seemed to be the source of the building's power but we had no way of being certain. In the center of the room, extending to within three feet of the ceiling all the way to the floor was a gigantic tower of gleaming metal, containing a glowing energy field. Within the field, we could see the ghostly images of hundreds of beings, mostly human. I had the sickening feeling that these were many of the people who had disappeared after the Change hit Trois-Rivieres. The energy pumping through this great machine was so great that we could feel our heartbeats in our temples.

Karista gasped as her telepathic abilities picked up the presence of Tokath… within the cylinder. As if in response, his ghostly form appeared at the side of the cylinder, his hand and faced pressed up against the side like something out of a freakish cyber-horror.

I screamed as I saw a large figure enter the chamber at the bottom of the cylinder. Escorted by two Destroyers, Owen Heavystrike entered the room, a device in his neck that was likely the cause of his passivity. Loehann roared as well, absolving me from total responsibility for wrecking our cover.

"We are the Borg. The Change is Irrelevant
We will purge your Changed Taint. Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated."

The Queen's voice echoed throughout the chamber, but I could hear the small feminine voice behind the amplification. As we geared for the inevitable onslaught of Borg drones, time seemed to freeze all around us. Many of the drones began to sizzle and short out from the energy, and I could feel wetness at my ears and nose. It became harder to stand and maintain my balance.

"Tokath !" Karista shouted mentally, "If you can hear me, please answer!"

I couldn't understand why she made that plea. In the next instant though it was irrelevant. The Borg had recovered and were using teleportation technology to flank us, appearing two to every one of us. In a matter of seconds each of us was overpowered and assimilation tubules were being forced into our necks. Somehow, only Alex escaped. He leapt headlong off the catwalk, plunging three stories and landing with a loud metallic bang. He appeared to suffer little or no damage from the fall and I lost sight of him as he darted around the back of the cylinder. Sparks flew as he did… something. Then, he was lifted into the air, along with the rest of our group, some tactical drones and the Borg Queen.

"You created me." The voice came from all around us and was even in our heads. "Why do you now fight me?"

"An artificial intelligence!" Duguael said, "They've created an A.I !"

The Borg Queen seemed to dedicated her formidable resources to take control of her creation, even as Karista's formidable telepathic ability tried to communicate with the beings trapped within the device. Moments later, her plan was formed.

Loehann threw his hammer at precisely the same time that Karista through her lightning. Dragonsoul aided as well, much to my surprise. A tiny crack formed in the casing and energy spilled forth onto the floor. They energy seemed to eat at all flesh at the base. In moments, Borg equipment began to clear the gasses. Seconds later, a collective of Borg materialized at the base of the column. They looked up at the crack in the cylinder and an energy field extend between each of their brows, forming a tendril to the hole and ceiling it. In the confusion, the Borg Queen teleported herself and her remaining flunkies who-knows-where. We were left facing a monstrous machine with the potential power to destroy us.

I was terrified...