From: tlb2665@usl.edu (Burleigh Thomas L)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: ST:USS Cavalier, Chapter 08, "Baptism of Fire"
Date: 5 Oct 92 14:48:47 GMT
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana


(C) Copyright 1992 by Thomas L. Burleigh. The following are the property
of Paramount Pictures, Inc: the characters of William T. Riker, Jean-Luc
Picard, D'Tan, and Spock; the Borg, Romulan, and Vulcan races; the
StarFleet organization; and, the USS Enterprise. This story is an original
work of fiction base on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a registered
trademark of Paramount. All rights reserved.


                            ST:USS Cavalier
                               Chapter 8
                           "Baptism of Fire"

   Once the Holoview came on, Riker faced the Borg ship speeding up to the
Cavalier. They, Riker was thinking, are still waiting for a response to
their hail. (Buddy, you're mine!)
   "Full power to shields," Riker ordered, "ready phasers and torpedoes.
Ready front thrusters for heat beams. Ready Magnetic Drives for anti-proton 
beams. Mr Shaw, steady increases on main Zero-Point reactor to maintain
power levels - yell if it gets up to fifty percent. Let's go with an Alpha
attack pattern." 
   When StarFleet was developing the Cavalier, a ship that could take on the
Borg, they realized that firepower alone wouldn't do the trick. Tactics
were necessary. Tactics that could succeed.
   The Alpha attack was a rather simple tactic. The heat beams would bore a
hole through a Borg ship to it's power center. Then particle beams would
shoot through this hole. If sucessful, the ship would either blow up or
completely shut down, depending on the results of the Borg ship's still
unknown power source reacting with high concentrations of sub-atomic
particles.
   "Sir," spoke up Lt. Darby at Communications, "the Borg are still waiting
for a resonse."
   "Well," replied Riker, "let's give it to them."  Then addressing Thompson
at the Tactical helm, "lock on the heat beams and fire."
   Thin beams of bright white light jumped from the Cavalier to the center
of the side of the Borg ship facing them. Sparks jumped out from the point
of impact, making a rather impressive pyrotechnic display.
   "They've raised shields." spoke up Lt. Samek at the Science helm. "But,
their not effective. Heat beams have cut about half-way to the core so
far."
   "Maintain firing," Riker responded to the Bridge, "prepare the
anti-photon beams to fire on Mr. Darby's mark - yell when the heat beams
reach the core."
   "Sir," said Lt. Darby, "the beams are just about there. Their structural
integrity is decreasing..." Then glancing at a red light the just started
flashing at his station, "They're powering up phasers!"
   "Shaw!" barked Riker, "increase main reactor by ten percent and channel
power to shields!"
  Blue streaks of phasers leaped out from the Borg ship and struck the
Cavalier's shields just as their output increased. They bounced off the
shields, rattling the Cavalier rather radically.
   "Damages?" Riker asked Thompson.
   "Minor, Sir.  They probably didn't expect...."
   Cdr. Thompson was rudely interuppted by a bright red thrust of light that
was where the Borgs just were. A second later, it dimmed considerable, and
everyone saw the Borg ship reeling away from the Cavalier. It spun on an
axis of red plasma shooting out of the hole they just punched in it.
   Everyone watched in awe as the ship separated its distance while being 
pushed and twirled by its new source of thrust. Such girations from a mass
about as big as a regular terrestial moon was a rather impressive sight.
What they saw next blew them away.
   Or, more accurately, blew the Borg ship away - leaving a cloud of fine
debree with a small star shining in it.
   Riker, staring in steady amazement at the cloud that remained from the
Borg ship, slowly sat down on his command chair.
   A moment later, he spoke up, "Power down main FZPEE to normal levels," he
softly ordered, "Stand down from red alert."
   The crew on the bridge busily resumed their duties as Captain Riker sat
there in deep thought and amazement. (WHAT have I got my hands on here?
What manner of ship is this?!?)
   Commander Thompson walked up before Riker. Constant stoic expression in
place, he said, "Captain, I think I can explain what happened."
   "Make it so." Riker said staring strait into his eyes.
   "Well, Sir, the Borgs MAY be less powerful than we thought. Judging from
what just happened here, and from what the Science helm detected, the Borg
ship seems to get it's power from a perpetual fussion reaction of some
sort. The ship itself must be, primarily, a large, comples lattice
structure to contain the reaction. Or, as an analogy, the reactor structure
itself."
   Riker mentally chewed on this for a moment. This would explain what just
happened. Their heat beams broke down the "reactor structor lattice"
Thompson just theorized. Then the fussion reaction would leak out....
   "But a fussion reaction on this scale?"
   Shaw jumped into the conversation ,while still working at his Engineering
station, "Sir, I got some ideas about that I'm working on here. Since the
twentieth century, various people have speculated that planetary gas-
giants were stars that failed. My guess is that the Borg either make gas-
gaints into what you could call "mini-stars" and build the ship around it;
or, sorta vice-verse, building a ship around a "smaller" gas giant then 
making it into a mini-star. Alot of guesswork in this idea, though. The
computer should get the details to either confirm or throw out this
theory."
   "So," Riker said, "you two are trying to tell me that a Borg ship is
really a massive application of TWENTIETH century theory?"
   "Yes, Sir." Thompson replied. "Warp and other capablities added on as
they assimliated other races."
   "Incredible.." Riker thought out load. Before he could continue Dr.
T'Por entered the Bridge. She entered just as Riker said "incredible".
   "If you're talking about what I learned about the Borg, Sir, I must agree
with you."
   Riker spun around to T'Por. (What NOW?) he thought to himself. But
T'Por spoke before he could.
   "I just finished studing those planting devices the Borg soldiers were
using on the planet's surface. And, it's not anything mechanical they were
doing - they were planting seedlings!"
  The situation was quickly getting over his head. First the Romualan
legacy imparted to him by Spock; then their unauthorized exursion through
Romulan space, into Borg space, and their combat with a Borg vessel. Riker
was thinking that the latter was really the only thing than went right.
  However....
  "Lt. Darby," Riker asked, "Did the Borgs do anything on sub-space radio?"
 "I'm afraid so, Sir.  I got a track on some trachyon emissions.  If we
could move to intercept them, we could learn about their communications
some more. And, maybe even jam it."
  "People," Riker said standing up, "I think we just about in over our
heads. We took a chance coming here. We did good, too. But our situation is
becoming too much for un to keep acting independently. It's time to talk to
StarFleet!"

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