Note: Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation, and DIC. Star Trek and all characters are the property of Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Studios.
Sailor Moon: Quest for Marius
By D. Pung
Part 2: The Best Of Both Worlds?
PG-13
The drone that had been Amy grabbed Dr. Losjern by his shoulder, slamming him against the wall. Her other hand went to his throat, and two thin tubes shot out of her wrist into his throat. After a second, the tubes retracted and her hand let go. What had happened a few seconds ago to Amy now happened to Dr. Losjern. Before long, a new drone staggered after. As the mass assimilation continued, a tiny voice whimpered, buried deep in the brain of the drone now known as 277 of 599. It went unheard by anyone. Before long, assimilation was complete, and the Borg left the battered facility to drift lifeless in space.
* * * *
"Sir! Now approaching Omega Facility!" said Ensign Warmex.
"Hail them!" ordered Pazrek.
"Sir, not much point in it," sighed Warmex.
"Explain," Pazrek said curtly.
"Sir, the facility has taken a pounding. There is no power in the grid, and no life signs," reported Warmex.
"No!" said Serena. "You're lying! Where's Amy?"
Pazrek turned. "Serena, please! We'll get to the bottom of this. Now is not the time for panic. Number One," he turned. "Take an away team. Search that outpost."
"Yes, sir," H'shang said as he turned towards the lift.
"Oh, no," whispered Serena, eyes wide. "Amy! Please be all right!"
* * * *
Amara gazed at the storm from the safety of the temple. It had been raining for two straight days. The team was due to meet soon. Michelle and Trista were already present, and they made out three shapes running up the stairs in raincoats. One tripped, and the other two stooped to help her. Her hood popped off, revealing pink hair as they ran for the door.
They removed their dripping coats as Michelle closed the door behind them.
"Hey," smiled Sam, pushing her wet bangs aside.
"You okay, Reeni?" said Mel.
"Yeah," sighed Reeni. "It's really wet out!"
"Everybody here?" asked Sam.
"Still waiting on Hotaru," said Amara. She looked back out the window.
Four blocks away, Hotaru rounded a corner. Water was coming out of the sky in sheets. Something felt wrong. She stopped at an alleyway, gazing down it. A shape moved out of the darkness. It was huge. Hotaru backed up, eyes widening in fear.
"HeLlO lItTlE sAiLoR sAtUrN," it drooled. Four heads came into view, fused onto one huge, misshapen body. Two grotesque arms and legs finished out the beast.
"SATURN COSMIC POWER!"
Amara started, then looked closer. No, it was not lightning. It was the unmistakable power of a scout transformation.
"Hotaru's in trouble! Let's go!" said Amara. The girls scrambled.
Saturn jumped aside, dodging the claw. She struck with her glaive. The thing blocked, and swung. Saturn's eyes widened as the other claw came swiping at her.
"EARTH LOVE SHIELD!"
The claw nailed the protective shield, shocking the creature. It withdrew.
"URANUS GALACTIC COLLISION!"
The creature looked up, all eight eyes widening in fear as the light of the crashing meteor highlighted it. Pluto gasped.
The impact of the meteor sent up waves of heat. When it cleared, the creature was getting up, and turning away. As it did so, it smiled and faded from view.
"LaTeR, sCoUtS!"
Neptune turned to Pluto. "What was it?"
Pluto's eyes were still wide. "I, I don't believe it. How can this be? Those four were dusted by the Inner Scouts!"
"What four?" asked Earth-Love.
"Jedite, Zoisite, Nephlyte, and Malachite! They were Beryl's four generals, corrupted from Queen Serenity back in the Silver Millennium. And how did they get fused into one?"
"So what does that mean for us?" asked Mini-Moon.
"Big trouble," sighed Pluto. "Big trouble."
* * * *
The door to the conference room hissed open. Pazrek walked in. The place was silent. Serena was staring out the window at the station, and the rest were silent, lost in their own thoughts. A beeping from her wrist startled her. She glanced down and opened her communicator.
"Hey, Moonface. We've got trouble," said Amara.
"Yeah, us too," began Serena. Then she saw what Pazrek had in his hand and gasped, eyes wide.
"This is all we found," said Pazrek, tossing it on the table. The team was numb, eyeing Amy's microcomputer.
"Not even a body?" asked Darien.
"Negative. This is both good and bad news as far as you are concerned, and nothing but bad news for us. Amy is not dead. That's the good news," began Pazrek.
At the temple, the team shared a startled glance.
"What happened to Amy?" gasped Michelle.
Pazrek continued. "The bad news is, Amy no longer exists. She has been...assimilated. She is now a Borg."
Serena staggered into a chair, and collapsed, head in her arms. Darien moved to comfort her.
"When assimilated, the Borg forces the hive mind into your brain, scanning and saving relevant information. The short of it is, whatever she knew, the Borg now know. They will have discounted most, if not all of it, as below their technology level and mystical nonsense, but they have access to her powers," stated Pazrek. "I'm sorry. We know how much this hurts."
"NO!!!" screamed Serena, jumping out of her chair. "NO! We will save her! I have never given up on my friends and I'm not going to now!"
Pazrek shook his head. "Listen, it's damn near-"
"Shut up! We didn't have to help, you know. We could have waited until Marius returned to our prime, but we elected to come. Therefore, we are not leaving without our team intact!" Serena gazed coldly at Pazrek. Her hands were on her hips, and Pazrek actually felt a flash of fear.
"Is it possible to recover someone who has been assimilated?" asked Luna.
Pazrek looked at her. "It's been done only once to my knowledge, the first time the Borg attacked the Federation. They captured and assimilated Jean-Luc Picard."
Mina gasped. "But, wasn't he in command the last time we were here?"
Pazrek nodded. "He became Locutus. The knowledge of Federation tactics, ships, and personnel were then used by the Borg against us. A single cube clobbered forty starships at a system called Wolf 359, and almost assimilated Earth."
"Wow," murmured Artemis.
"The day was saved by Riker and the Enterprise. They beamed aboard, captured Locutus, and returned him to the Enterprise. They studied him, finding out how the collective worked. They were able to use that against the Borg, causing them to self-destruct. Picard underwent microsurgery and counseling for months afterwards. The thing is, he remembered every horrible moment," finished Pazrek. "We did learn a lot, however. We learned to vary frequencies, weapon types, shield remodulations, because the Borg quickly adapt. Now, it is fairly easy to damage them, but it is still dangerous, because they can regenerate."
"Fine," snapped Serena. "How do we find Amy?"
Pazrek sighed. He tapped his combadge. "Number One, come to the conference room."
The door hissed open. "Sir?" asked H'shang.
"Scan for transwarp signatures and ion trails. We need to track down whichever ship did this. Load Amy's bio-readings from the transporter buffer into tricorders for an away team. Get several tranquilizers from sickbay," ordered Pazrek.
H'Shang raised an eyebrow. "You intend to recover the other girl? That is not logical."
"They volunteered, H'Shang. It is my responsibility to get them all home. Let me know what you find," said Pazrek.
H'Shang nodded, and turned on his heel.
"What did all that mean?" asked Lita. Darien and Raye were attempting to calm Serena down.
"Assimilation changes a person. Amy will look nothing like what she normally does. Her eyes will be black from the synthetic components in her, and no Borg has hair. She will have all kinds of bizarre tubing and wires in her. There will be two ways we will locate her. One, by the sudden use of her powers. Two, by her bio-readings that the transporter automatically records when used. Now, when we go over there, we're going to have to be careful. The Borg won't even stop us until we make a threatening gesture. We can scan all we want. However, once they start coming, they don't stop. Don't worry, we'll get her," he said as he motioned for them all to follow. They moved onto the bridge.
"Wait a minute. If the Borg don't believe in mystical stuff, how will Amy's powers get used?" asked Mina, confused.
"They'll know she has the potential, and will use that to their advantage. To them, it will be fact that she can do certain things," said Pazrek.
Back at the temple, the girls could only stare at each other, openmouthed.
"Oh my God," gasped Mel.
"Poor Amy," said Trista.
On the bridge, Serena smoldered. "Wait. You intend to lead a team over there to find her. We're coming."
Silence reigned for a few seconds. The team glanced at each other and nodded in agreement. The silence was broken by Sokor.
"Yeah, right! You'd only be a liability!" he said.
"A liability?" asked Serena in a quiet, controlled voice.
"Only trained Starfleet personnel should undertake risky away missions," began Sokor.
Pazrek cut him off. "We'll discuss this later. I believe your friends had something they wanted to talk to you about. In the meantime, we will attempt to locate the Borg. Please try and relax, Serena. It will do you no good to remain angry the whole time we're searching."
Serena simply glared at Sokor as the others ushered her back into the conference room. As the door hissed shut, Sokor shuddered. Pazrek smiled grimly, then turned.
"Anything yet?"
* * * *
277 of 599 moved forward. The remnants of her human clothing had been discarded, and she was now encased in Borg synthetic body armor, laced with various essential components and devices. Her right eye had been ripped out and replaced. She could now see in various spectrums, and at incredible detail, due to the Borg eyepiece. She remained absolutely still, and held out her right arm. It was her turn. The three assimilation drones stepped up to her.
One raised his implement, the blade whirling rapidly. It came down in one fell swoop, chopping her right forearm off. A quantity of blood gushed out before the next stepped forward and inserted the metal interface, sealing it to her stump and cauterizing it, effectively joining flesh and metal. The last held out her implement, a claw with a welding torch. It stepped forward, snapping it to her metal interface, and twisting it in place.
The last step was to finish off her body armor and seal the arm. Her right arm dropped as she obediently turned away, moving to her alcove to recharge. In some far off, back corner of 277's mind, a small voice cried in hopelessness, feeling the pain. Behind her, the right forearm was picked up and discarded into a recycling chamber. Oblivious, 277 continued on her way, directed by the collective. After all, pain was irrelevant.
* * * *
"Are you sure?" demanded Serena. "We moondusted them a long time ago!"
"Well, except for Nephlyte and Jedite," pointed out Raye. "Nephlyte was betrayed and killed by Zoisite, and Jedite was imprisoned for all eternity...supposedly."
"That must be it," said Trista. "Somehow, Marius caused Jedite to be freed, and put him through this bizarre mutation. But we have seen no evidence of their old powers."
"No, just the ability to cause damage and turn invisible," sighed Sam.
Serena put her head down. It was too much. First, Amy captured and..changed. Then her old adversaries showing up? Why? she thought.
"Can you handle it?" asked Serena.
"Sure," said Amara. "But you needed to know what's going on. We'll handle it for now. You just worry about Amy."
Serena tightly closed her eyes. She didn't even want to think about what could be happening to Amy. Especially if what Pazrek said was true. I'm sorry, Amy, she thought. I failed you. I failed to protect you.
"Okay. Just remember, they were trouble all by themselves. I hate to think what they could be like all together. Be careful!" Serena said.
"Sure thing, Moonface," said Amara as she cut her communicator.
"Does anybody else here think that none of this is a coincidence?" asked Lita.
"It is too much at once," began Artemis.
"As if Marius was planning this all along?" finished Darien.
The door hissed open, and Pazrek looked in.
"I think we found them."
* * * *
"It is pretty," said Mina. They were gazing intently at the main screen, although they were the only ones. There was a flickering of lightning amid the purples and blues of the nebula.
"Overlay ion trail on screen," directed Pazrek. A green trail showed up. "Okay. They skirted around the nebula."
"Hmm. I'm getting increasing sensor returns. I do believe they are right on the other side of that nebula," said Warmex.
"All right. Ensign, launch a class-four probe to track the trajectory. Then direct Warmonger and Deathwish to follow us. Plot a course far enough into the nebula where we will not be detectable, but close enough to receive telemetry from the probe," ordered Pazrek.
The Marauder shuddered slightly as the big ship pierced the first gaseous clouds, rippling with electricity. The probe shot away, and the two smaller ships sailed in behind. They sailed to a stop within the raging nebula.
"Status," commanded Pazrek.
"Shields holding, no radiation exposure as of yet," said H'shang.
"Telemetry coming in. Uh....." trailed off Ensign Warmex.
"What is it?" asked Pazrek.
"I'm registering six cubes and one sphere!" reported Warmex.
"You're registering what?" asked Pazrek in disbelief. He shook his head. "That's too much for even us to handle. Ensign, contact Starfleet with a comm probe. Let them know what's going on here. Keep scanning. Find that bio-signature."
"Yes, sir," said Warmex as she bent to the task.
* * * *
Reeni was with the twins in the park. Besides being on Nega-watch, they were enjoying the warm, sunny day. The rain had stopped two days ago, and they had decided to have a picnic. Having already eaten their fill, they were lounging around while Reeni was picking the daisies that were growing in abundance. The park was fairly crowded.
"Nice day," murmured Sam, lying on the blanket, the sun warm on her face, making her drowsy.
Mel simply nodded, gazing after Reeni. She was actually allowing herself to relax. Then she heard screams. Mel sat bolt upright, as did Sam. Reeni had dropped the daisies and was running towards them. Mel snapped open her communicator.
"Trouble in the park!" she said before jumping to her feet. Her twin was already standing. They glanced at each other and raised their hands as Reeni initiated her transformation. Light swirled, and the three Scouts rushed to the scene.
They arrived to find the creature they had been looking for. It held a woman in one hand, and she was screaming hoarsely. Then it noticed them, as three became seven.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Uranus. "Let's do it!"
"NEPTUNE STUNNING TSUNAMI!" shouted Neptune, pointing her mirror at the thing. As the water burst out, the beast snapped the woman's neck, killing her, before tossing her into the oncoming attack.
"NO!" gasped Uranus. "You'll pay, mutant Nega-creep!"
It absorbed the water attack, reeling only slightly. "PlEaSe, CaLl Me GeNeRaL tRoUbLe. AnD dO yOuR wOrSt!"
"PLUTO FINAL SAY!"
As the energy from Pluto's attack hit, Uranus launched hers.
"URANUS GALACTIC COLLISION!"
After the impact from the meteor, the Scouts looked in vain for signs of General Trouble, but found nothing. Earth-Love examined the body sadly.
"She's dead. Her neck was indeed cleanly snapped. And, uh, I hate to say it, but methinks that punk is setting us up for a fall. With the impacts of our attacks, it could be blamed on us," she said worriedly. Sirens could already be heard.
"Well, we could stay and try and reason-" began Earth-Anger, to be cut off by Uranus.
"He couldn't have gone far. Let's try and find him before anyone else gets killed!" she ordered in a rage. The Scouts agreed, Earth-Anger reluctantly, and they moved off to try and locate him.
* * * *
Lieutenant Fuji Togiro gazed at the body of the woman. The coroner was already examining her. There were no eyewitnesses, as when the screams had started, everyone had run away.
"Cause of death?" he asked. He had seen bodies before...but not like this. It was barely recognizable.
"Massive neck trauma. Lieutenant," the coroner began, looking up.
"Yes?" Fuji asked.
"Notice the water? And the scorch marks?" continued the coroner.
"Get to your point," said Fuji, now intrigued.
"Well, there's no body of water in this park. And sure as hell, water doesn't cause scorch marks. I think this was done by the Sailor Scouts!"
* * * *
"Sir, I may have something," began Warmex.
"Shoot, Ensign," said Pazrek crisply.
"Two things. First, the cube near the back has the localized bio-readings we're looking for. Second..." she trailed off.
"Okay, so that cube has their friend on it. Isolate and prepare to disable that cube. Now, what else did you find?" Pazrek said.
"Uh, I can't really describe it. The probe is not certain what it is, and neither am I. There's just something weird about the sphere, which seems to be in charge of their force," trailed off Warmex.
"On screen," commanded Pazrek. The viewscreen blinked to show a Borg sphere crackling with black energy.
"What in the name of the Prophets is that?" wondered Sokor.
"That's where Marius is," said Serena. "That's Nega-energy."
"Are you sure?" asked H'shang.
"Definitely. Lord knows we've been hit with it enough," sighed Serena.
"So, our Locust seems to have taken over a small Borg fleet. She is pretty powerful," said Pazrek.
"Hmm. Sir, they seem to be getting underway," began Warmex.
"Target the last cube! Disable only! Let's go!" ordered Pazrek.
The seven ships began moving forth as the orders came from the sphere. A green rift opened nearby. The ships altered their course to enter the transwarp conduit. As the last one prepared to do so, three small ships raced out of the nebula nearby and opened fire. Torpedoes and phaser blasts ripped into the cube as the three ships circled, firing away.
"Good catch! Lieutenant Sokor! If any holding beams latch onto any of us, target them!" ordered Pazrek.
As if to imply Pazrek was psychic, a holding beam lashed out to the Deathwish, holding her in its grasp. The Deathwish's shields began falling rapidly before three quantum torpedoes terminated the beam and allowed her to reraise them.
"Sir! The cube's shields are almost down, and Deathwish reports being boarded, but the situation is under control!" said Warmex.
"Copy. Disable engine systems and power distribution first! Get them in a regenerative mode, so we can beam over!" snapped Pazrek.
"No phaser cannons?" asked Artemis.
"We're not trying to blow them away, just disable them. Unless you want to kill your un-friend?" replied Pazrek, raising an eyebrow.
"Borg shields are down!" reported Warmex.
Impacts began resounding throughout the Borg cube. As power fell off, the cube entered regenerative mode, and the weapons and shielding were deactivated.
"All right! H'Shang, I'm going. This is my responsibility, not yours. Any arguments can wait. Sokor, get a security team and meet at Transporter Room Two. Scouts, with me. Cats, stay here. H'Shang, you have the bridge," finished Pazrek as everyone began moving.
H'Shang raised an eyebrow in the Vulcan way as Pazrek left. "Continuous scans. Maintain transporter and communications lock on them."
"Yes, sir," said Warmex.
* * * *
Transporter Room 2 was a beehive of activity and anxiety. The Starfleet personnel all received modified tricorders.
"Ready, Sokor?" asked Pazrek, slinging his phaser rifle over his shoulder as a medic passed out a hypospray filled with tranquilizer to everyone.
"Yes, sir," he said, and then hesitated. "Permission to speak?" Upon receiving a nod, Sokor continued. "As much as I understand their desire to rescue their friend, I still think bringing them along is a bad idea."
Serena had paused on hearing him start; now she interrupted Pazrek. "We're going, and that's final."
"You'll just get in the way," said Sokor. "I understand your concern, and I do not mean to offend you, but-"
"GET IN THE WAY!?!" snapped Serena. "I'll show you! MOON HEAVENLY POWER!" Serena's hand snapped up, and white energy poured from her fingertips, enhancing her strength and turning her into Sailor Moon. Before anyone could do anything, her fingers went to her tiara. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" She flung the white disc, angling it up and softening the edges so that it hit Sokor square in the chest, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the wall behind without actually ripping his uniform or severely hurting him.
"Sailor Moon!" gasped Raye.
"That's enough!" snapped Pazrek.
Moon grasped Sokor by his shirt and lifted him up until his feet were dangling. "Listen real carefully, okay? That was my weakest attack, and I deliberately weakened it further. I could have cut your head off."
Sokor was frightened by the look in Moon's eyes. It was feral, ugly, and inhuman. It was Death, lurking in the shell of a beautiful soldier, and it promised vengeance.
"But I didn't. I don't want to hurt you, or anyone else on this ship. I just want to kill all but one thing on that cube. And if I'm not mistaken, our powers will remain useful long after your phasers are ineffective. So. We are going with, and we are going to rescue our friend, and then we are going to take Marius home and beat the hell out of her for even dreaming of hurting one of my friends!" Moon set Sokor down. "I'm sorry about that, but you needed to get it through your skull that we are not useless, and that we are coming, and that failure is not an option."
As she turned away, Sokor rubbed his chest, eyes wide. He knew damned well that he was going to get a huge bruise from that.
"What are you guys waiting for?" demanded Moon. "Transform, and let's do it! Amy's waiting!"
"Right!" said Lita as Darien became Tuxedo Mask. "JUPITER COSMIC POWER!"
Lightning rippled around her, and Sailor Jupiter was ready.
"MARS COSMIC POWER!"
Fire roared, replacing Raye with the Inner Scout of fire.
"VENUS COSMIC POWER!"
Starlight shone as Mina transformed into Sailor Venus. The Starfleet officers were duly impressed with the light show, and Pazrek ushered everyone onto the pad. Then he spoke.
"Energize!"
The first group, consisting of Sokor and his five Security personnel, spread out and established a perimeter as the second group materialized. The air was hot and humid, and smelled uncomfortably of flesh and metal. Everyone was already sweating.
"Tricorders out," ordered Pazrek. "Begin scanning."
The Scouts looked about uncomfortably. The walls were solid metal, with cables running everywhere. The floor was grating, and eerie green lights flickered all over. But the most terrifying thing was the alcoves along every wall, each containing a Borg drone, wired into the collective.
"Oh, my," murmured Moon.
"This way," said Sokor. He led the way. All the Starfleet officers had their rifles ready. After a long twisting walk, every step wondering if the Borg would jump out at them, they reached a chamber with five alcoves along each of the three walls. Sokor stopped, and gave signals to his team. They spread out, and readied their phasers.
"Find her?" asked Pazrek.
"The one in the middle, back wall," answered Sokor. "We're ready. How do we get their attention?"
"That's Amy?" gasped Moon. Amy's signature blue hair and eyes were gone. She had only black tubes in her head where her hair had been. Only one eye was visible, and it was black. The other was merely an extensive eyepiece. Her skin was a mottled white, and was moist. She was covered in a black suit, much like the other Borg, with tubes and conduits wired throughout her. One hand was recognizable, although it was partly covered in metal and had an interface on it that was plugged into the wall alcove. The other was a claw.
Pazrek nodded grimly. "Borg surgery is a bit on the invasive side. Now, we need to shoot at something to get their attention. We do not want to blast them while in their portals. That could cause a feedback that would possibly kill Amy. A power node would be perfect."
"Like that one right there?" asked one of the Security officers.
Pazrek leveled his rifle. "Get ready." He pulled the trigger, and a red-hot beam of energy impacted into the power node, destroying it. As if flipping a switch, the Borg began swarming out of their alcoves. Phaser rifles kicked off, blasting them back.
277 disconnected and moved towards the nearest Starfleet officer. He was preoccupied shooting at another Borg, and she grabbed him and lifted him up, tubes shooting from her wrist into his neck.
"My God," gasped Moon, watching the officer fall. Eight of the fifteen Borg were now dead. Pazrek took aim at another, and then switched to the officer before he fired.
"he..lp....me..."
Pazrek closed his eyes for a second. "Sorry," he whispered as he pulled the trigger. The beam lanced out, killing the officer before assimilation was finished.
"They've adapted!" snapped Sokor, watching his beam hit with no effectiveness.
"Our turn!" shouted Jupiter. "JUPITER SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" The ball of lightning sailed into the nearest drone, smashing it backwards towards its alcove, where it crashed in a smoldering heap.
"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" called Mars, pointing her hands at another drone, rings of flame smashing into it, burning through the armor and searing it dead.
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" Energy blasted from Venus' hand and blasted the drone in front of her.
"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" called Moon, throwing her tiara with practiced ease, directing it through the necks of three Borg, severing the heads. As they collapsed, her tiara returned.
277 raised her hand. No words were spoken. None were deemed relevant. Power surged through her and water blasted from her open hand, smashing another Starfleet officer into a nearby alcove and electrocuting him. Smoke issued from the officer's clothing as he gave one final spasm.
"AMY!" screamed Moon.
"We are 277 of 599. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile," 277 said in her robotic monotone voice.
Tuxedo Mask was quietly sneaking up on 277, hypospray in hand, when Venus moved from the other side, her hypospray ready. She jumped at 277.
277 saw it coming, and with strength greater then that of any Scout, since she was indeed an assimilated Scout, caught the wrist with the hypospray. Staring blankly at Venus, she closed her grip.
There was an audible snap and Venus felt a wrenching pain as she screamed, as the bones in her wrist were crushed. 277 whipped Venus into the nearby wall. She hit with such force that more audible cracking was heard, and she collapsed into blissful unconsciousness, lying at weird angles.
"VENUS!" screamed Sailor Moon. "NO!"