Let slip the dogs

Posted on Wed Apr 15th, 2026 @ 5:46am by Doc & Major Victoria, Daughter of Kalath & Lieutenant Akaar Zuul & Captain Three of Five & Warrior Choq, Son of None & Major Klaang & Lieutenant Rujash & Sergeant Jepok
Edited on on Wed Apr 15th, 2026 @ 5:49am

1,091 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: IKS Praxis' Claw, Halls
Timeline: After 'A Stilled Heart'

The team had continued to pursue the Borg who had left Engineering, one appeared injured, damaged, or both, and had fallen behind, limping and stopping irregularly, as if to give its nanites a chance to heal whatever harm had been aggravated by the continued movement. From what they could tell it was an older Klingon, recently assimilated.

As they reached a four-way intersection in the hall, before the team could do anything, there was a sudden cry of Klingon violence, and blades seemed to shine and flash from every direction. One severed the drone's left leg at the knee, another dug into its right shoulder, a third stabbed into its chest, knocking the drone on its back.

The three warriors carrying the blades were obviously ready to kill, bloodlust had overtaken them, and they looked ready to descend on the fallen drone and continue hacking until nothing remained.

“Whoa Klingons!” Akaar blurted out as he came to a halt just out of strike range of the ambush area. He wasn’t too loud but enough that they probably heard him.

Kalath took her phaser pistol from its holster and fired a single stun shot into the central Klingon, not enough to render him unconscious, but enough to knock him back and get their attention. "Stop what you are doing!" She ordered in Klingon. "This man was once one of your crew, he can still be saved!" She shouted.

The other two withheld their attack, but one stomped the injured drone's arm down as it reached for him. "Federation petaq!" He swore at Kalath. From his collar, he was also a Major, between Commander and Lieutenant in authority. Perhaps the most senior officer remaining. "You dare give orders on our ship!"

"Your ship is overrun with Borg, Major. I'd say its their ship now. What exactly is it that they've been taking apart in your engine room?" Kalath demanded of the Klingon, keeping her pistol raised in case reason didn't work on the KDF Major.

"That is classified military information. Why are you here, to plunder our secrets?" The Major demanded of Kalath, unintimidated by the weapon she had trained on him. He twisted his foot to pin its arm better as the Borg under him twitched.

"We are here to help. We got your distress call." Kalath explained.

"She speaks the truth, sir." Choq reinforced, hoping the word of a fellow KDF serviceman would sway him.

The Major still seemed for a moment like he might attack, but finally he relaxed, short of the foot he kept hard against the Borg. "We sent no such call. At least, any that was sent was not done so with the permission of this ship's hierarchy." He said plainly. "But allies in this battle are appreciated. Our numbers grow few. But retaking the ship is not impossible. What did you do to make the Borg flee?" He asked.

"Nothing special." Kalath admitted. "They ran when they saw us. Well, shuffled away." She corrected realising she had never seen a Borg move in a way that could really be called 'running'. "I'm Major Victoria, Daughter of Kalath. This is Lieutenant Zuul and Beq Choq, a KDF serviceman on transfer service with Starfleet. Who do I have the honour of speaking with?" She asked, hoping to completely de-escalate.

"I am Major Klaang. This is Sergeant Jepok and Lieutenant Rujash. They are the only officers I have found remaining alive and unassimilated. Have you found others aboard?" Klaang asked with something approaching optimism.

"We found about a dozen cadets. We beamed them back to our ship to get medical attention. They seemed unharmed." Kalath told Klaang.

"Kahless be praised. I feared all were lost." Klaang said with relief.

"I hate to interrupt but if you know what attracted the Borg to you, we could quickly stop them?" Akaar encouraged with a stare, there wasn't time for pleasantries. "At the moment we don't know their objectives. We will always be one step behind them until we know why they are here."

"We did nothing to attract them. We had been waiting for one to depart for us to ambush, but when they all came at once we had to wait. Fortunately, this one lagged behind." Klaang told Zuul.

The hologram Doc finally spoke up as the Major referenced the wounded Borg. "You've disabled this drone. It's in shock. If you let me treat it, the being that used to be your shipmate still has a chance of making it to Sto'vo'Kor some day." The lantern device floated along behind him as he moved forward.

Klaang looked to his comrades, who didn't seem to object. He stepped back off the drone and Doc moved swiftly to address its injuries. Fortunately, being assimilated much of the work was done already, but Doc worked quickly to apply a capsule of Persephone-type counter-nanites, the kind developed in the aftermath of the mass-assimilations at the siege of earth. They wouldn't de-assimilate the Klingon, but they'd shut him down as they laid the groundwork for their eventual overthrow of the body's Borg ecosystem.

"What is your next move, then?" Klaang asked Kalath.

"We find out where the Borg are going. What's that way?" She asked the Major.

"What's your next move, Major Klaang?" Akaar gestured at the Klingon. "The more the merrier," he grinned.

"If you seek to fight these Borg, we shall join you. But I make no promises of leaving them alive." Klaang said, looking disdainfully down at the work the Doctor was doing dealing with the downed drone's injuries.

"They are your comrades, Major. But I cannot stay your hand for you. If you cannot control yourselves, so be it." Kalath said disapprovingly.

"And your comrades I see are proof of the promises you make about saving them." Klaang said, looking past the trio to the quiet bald blue woman in navy, obviously a former Borg herself.

Three of Five remained quiet, she knew that few reacted well to ex-Borg, especially in circumstances where actual Borg were a threat.

"Come then, the bridge awaits." Kalath told the group, as Doc beamed the downed drone away for care back on the Hercules.

Choq prepared to follow Kalath. He thought of providing some of the wisdom of Kahless about saving one's fellow warriors to allow them to fight another day, but he knew the words of a Son of none were seldom heeded.

Together, the team moved forward, soon they would be upon the bridge at the end of the Vorcha's long neck.

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