summary:

Unacceptable Losses by halfofone
Part 5:
Date added: 2000-10-31 Rating of this chapter: R

disclaimer:

TPTB are many. In a perfect world I would be one of them but it's not and I'm not. No infringement of copyright/trade marks or other intellectual property is intended. This story was written for fun and not profit.

warnings:

Warning: This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.

Full warnings, credits and disclaimers can be found in the contents page and chapter 1.

text:

An hour later chaos reigned on the bridge. A direct hit had taken out most of the command consoles although the helm was still functional. Any crew not directly engaged in the fight were carrying the injured to sickbay. 29 tiny ships were chasing around the battered Starfleet vessel.

B'Elanna shouted at Harry above the din of exploding electrical circuits "Re-route all non helm controls to engineering and send a team down there to man them. I want phasers and shields operational before they make another pass. Do you have helm control Tom?"

"The old girl is still flying, sweet as candy. But no warp engines yet Captain."

Concerned B'Elanna yelled back over the din. "We have to make a run for it. We need warp engines. There are too many to fight."

His hands flew over the console. "Seven estimates repairs to warp engines complete in one point eight minutes." B'Elanna rolled her eyes at the unnecessary precision.

INTRUDER ALERT reported the computer.

"We've been boarded Captain" bawled Ensign Delaney covering ops. "Ten life-forms have entered Engineering."

"If they take engineering we are lost. It may be all over B'Elanna" said Harry. "We should consider negotiating a surrender."

B'Elanna took one look at him. 'It's as though he wants us to lose. To prove himself right.' She ignored him "Security send three teams to engineering now! And prepare to repel boarders. Delaney re-route power to whatever shields we can muster. We don't want any more of the little ticks on board."

"Security teams on the way Commander." And for a few moments there was relative quiet as the remaining bridge crew waited for reports.

The hiatus was broken by Tom yelling in triumph. "Warp engines are on line."

Wondering how the hell Seven had managed to repair the engines with a bunch of intruders in the way B'Elanna thundered "Get us out of here Tom. Quick as you like."

Gleefully Tom Paris attacked the helm and Voyager seemed to gather herself for a moment before the warp engines hurled the screaming hull into distant space, away from her persecutors.

"Seven report. Have you secured engineering?" There was silence before the cool voice of Seven of Nine was heard on the fight damaged crackling communication system. "The intruders are holding three of my team hostage Captain and they have set an explosive device. They are demanding we return to location of their battle fleet and surrender."

"I'll be right down Seven. Keep them talking. Tom you have the bridge. Just keep flying as fast you can away from that battle fleet. Harry you're with me."

B'Elanna and Harry ran most of the way to engineering. Lifts were only functional between decks one and eleven after that it was a rapid descent down the Jeffries tubes. They arrived eight minutes later. Ayala met her just inside the door and held his finger to his lips.

"What is happening?" she whispered crouching beside him.

"There are six of them left. We got four. They have three of our people captive on the walkway above and behind the impulse engine plasma intake valve. Only one way up there, through Jeffries tube three, and they have that well covered. The explosive device is just inside the tube access door with the operator. From what we can tell it's got an explosive power equivalent to a couple of photon torpedoes. We tried to lock on transporters but there's some kind of interference."

B'Elanna made a move to stand up but Ayala clutched her arm. "Wait there's more. Seven is up on the walkway about five metres from where they are holed up. She is injured but we don't know how badly. She stopped responding five minutes ago."

Ayala stepped back at the look on his Captain's face. 'My God Klingon rising!' he thought.

"Ayala I want to speak to them. Patch a comm signal to that section."

"Aye sir." One of his aides crawled across the floor to a comms console. B'Elanna suddenly realised why they were being so cautious as a flash of blue plasma ripped through the air above their heads and vaped a section of wall behind them.

"No tricks human scum" a thin voice screamed.

Ayala whistled as he looked at the one metre hole. "We could use some of their weaponry but I don't think trade is their top priority."

B'Elanna got the nod from the security man at the comms console. "This is Captain Torres of the Starship Voyager. You have committed an act of piracy and we demand your immediate surrender."

Her comm badge crackled. "You can demand nothing Captain Torres. You entered the Forest of Shining Leaves and your ship is ours by right. Return us to our battle fleet and surrender your ship. We will not wait forever."

"Not possible" she said shortly.

"Then we will all die." The voice sounded mournful. "Please reconsider Captain."

B'Elanna was faintly surprised by the conciliatory tone of the request. "Who are you?"

"Guardians of the forest." said the voice with unmistakable pride.

Ayala muttered crossly "What is this forest shit? We are in deep space not some bloody woodland."

"One of my officers is injured. Can we at least recover her and get her treated while you and I discuss this further."

"NO! Captain we cannot allow you to approach and there is nothing to discuss. You will comply with our terms."

"We can transport her without approaching your position...."

"Permission denied - any attempt and we will have to hurt one of the hostages. In any case I believe she will be okay."

Ayala nodded his head and said very quietly. "Life signs are still strong."

"I will consider your proposal Guardian."

"Not too long Captain or I will be forced to assume you are plotting a rescue." The alien made a noise that almost sounded like a giggle.

B'Elanna closed the link. "Ayala what happened to the other four intruders?"

"One badly injured in sick bay and three captured Captain. They are not very prepossessing Captain. Like mini-Cardassians with big heads and droopy noses and when I say mini, think one metre high. Physically weak but damn good guns and very quick."

"Bring them here."

"I kept them close - knew you would want a chat."

The three tiny invaders stood bedraggled in a row. "We will tell you nothing" one of them insisted.

B'Elanna ignored him and directed her questions at one of the other two. "I don't have much time so tell me why you attacked my ship."

"You entered the forest" replied the small and possibly female alien. Her proboscis nose quivered. Possibly with fear.

"The forest?"

"Our homeland. It's ours and you're not allowed."

"How the hell were we supposed to know that. Don't you warn people before fighting with them?" She shouted losing patience. "We are peaceful travellers trying to get home. What is it with the Delta quadrant?"

The three small beings began to snuffle and their little noses shook in obvious distress. "We were told not to talk to strangers."

"You were told not to talk to strangers. Oh my God" she exploded. "They are children. I have fifteen officers in sick bay, my chief engineer may be dying, our ship has nearly been taken apart and all this by a bunch of children."

"You wait until I speak to your parents." At her words the three small souls burst into racking sobs and spluttered an unpleasant looking mucus from their noses. "What's your leaders name?"

"Dusty miss." snivelled the smallest.

Angry, B'Elanna stalked out of the room and returned to main engineering. A plasma bolt passed her head and another hole appeared in the wall.

"All right you little fools put your weapons down this instant and come out here. We are extremely annoyed with you. We want to speak to your parents." Another plasma bolt zipped into the decking at her feet.

"Don't care." came the shouted reply.

Harry grabbed her wrist saying "for God's sake B'Elanna be more careful. They may be children but they are very dangerous and that bomb will destroy the ship."

"Transport me up there" she snapped at the security officer. She materialised seconds later on the walkway and ducked a blast from the slightly opened Jeffries Tube hatch.

She knelt by the prone figure of Seven of Nine, relieved to see her breathing.

"Our families are gone stranger. No one can stop us." called the children's leader.

B'Elanna felt slight sympathy stir. "What happened to them Dusty?"

"They've gone to visit my aunty in galaxy 53842."

B'Elanna swore. An old Klingon curse of great depth and profundity which the Universal translator duly converted with clinical accuracy.

"You said something naughty." chorused the kids from behind the hatch.

Seven stirred. B'Elanna took her hand and squeezed gently. "Hang on there Chief."

"The E'vha. Where are they?" Seven opened her blue eyes and struggled to rise.

B'Elanna held her back,"Easy. You know these little dears?"

"Species 5" said Seven. "Never assimilated, inter-galactic drives, bolt quantum plasma weapon technology similar to species 8472, chronometric/gravimetric shields. Peaceful explorers and scientists from galaxy H2343. The Borg expended many resources trying to capture and assimilate the E'vha. These children appear to be of school age."

"You knew they were children. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried but my communicator failed when I was hit. This behaviour is untypical of the E'vha."

"I think we are dealing with a bad case of naughty children. Heavily armed ones."

"Dusty" she called to the ring leader. "This has got to stop. We have several wounded men and women and one of your friends is in our sick bay also badly hurt. This is not a game."

"I don't believe you. You're just trying to make us give up."

B'Elanna tapped her comm badge. "Doc what is the name of the child you have in sick bay?"

"He says his name is Torrie. And he is a very bad patient. Also he has lost blood. We need donors from his people B'Elanna. I may be able to synthesise some but it will take too much time."

"Did you hear that Dusty. Your little pal Torrie is hurt bad and needs help. Now be a good little boy and come out of there."

"I'm a girl and I won't."

"Well I'm coming in." B'Elanna stood up and ignored the plasma flying past her head.

"Be careful B'Elanna," said Seven. B'Elanna looked at her amazed. "That is the first time you've used my name since......" Another plasma bolt careered past her right ear and thundered into a bulkhead recalling the distracted Captain to what she was doing.

She marched decisively to the hatch and pulled the door open wide. Four small frightened faces stared out at her. Behind them she could see the three Starfleet officers with two more of the E'vha children holding guns on them.

"All of you out. I have had enough of this nonsense."

At the sight of the angry Klingon two of the children started crying. B'Elanna held out her hand to one of the children and helped her out of the Jeffries tube. The other children put down their weapons and together with the captured engineers filed out in turn leaving one very angry looking E'vha kid crouching at the back of the exit trying to open a small black box which B'Elanna guessed was the bomb. B'Elanna leaned in lightning fast and to the child's fury picked her up and lifted her out easily holding the struggling, kicking kid in front of her. "And you, I suppose, are Dusty. You are in a lot of trouble kiddo."

Still holding the fighting mad child at arms length B'Elanna ordered "Now we are all going to see the Doctor. Computer. Eleven for emergency transport to sick bay."

The Doc's eyes popped a little when he saw them materialise. "I wish you would warn me B'Elanna when you're bringing a party."

B'Elanna handed the child to one of the Starfleet engineers. "Hold on to her and do not put her down. Doc, Seven is hurt badly" B'Elanna bent down and lifted the injured woman as gently as she could although it took some effort. Six foot of implant packed ex-Borg was hefty even for a Klingon. "Where do I put her?" she gasped.

"Well I was going to say, before you decided to play knight in shining armour, that we have no beds left and to leave her where she was." B'Elanna glared at him. "Okay. Okay. Ensign help me move Ensign Prokov over here. She's walking wounded now. Sorry Ensign your bed is needed."

B'Elanna carried a stoic Seven to the vacated bed and set her down trying not to look to relieved. "How is she Doc? Will she be okay?"

The EMH pushed her back out of his way and ignored her. He proceeded to examine Seven with a tricorder.

The children were watching fascinated, tears forgotten. "He's going to cut her open" whispered one. "That's what my mummy said these primitive peoples do when you are sick."

"There is no need for that" said the Doc with a flourish. "I will simply cut off her arm with my rusty saw and apply a few leeches to the bleeding stump."

The children responded with a cacophony of noises indicating both disgust and glee.

"When you have quite finished entertaining the prisoners Doc....." At the sound of her voice the children fell silent and started looking scared again.

"She will be fine. It appears she took a heavy stun blast from some kind of plasma based weapon. It has caused minor burns and a great deal of internal bruising. There is some internal damage but her nanoprobes are well on the way to healing it. She needn't stay any longer than it takes to pass a dermal regenerator over those burns."

B'Elanna could not disguise her relief. She grinned at the Doctor and then remembered she was supposed to be Captain. "Is anyone seriously hurt?"

"There are some reasonably bad injuries but nothing I can't fix. The child is one of the worst - he fell 5 metres off the walkway and suffered internal bleeding. I have patched his injuries but he lost a lot of blood."

"There are your donors. We have three more on the way. Can I talk to Seven?" The EMH smirked. The one night affair between the Captain and Chief of Engineering was common knowledge and B'Elanna growled irritably.

"She knows about this species Doc. We have to get these kids back where they belong before their parents get the wrong idea."

He smiled knowingly and ushered her towards the bio bed. He took the children over to other side of sick bay where their companion was lying on a bed. The ring leader was still being carried by the large engineer but she had stopped struggling and now had her arm around her captors neck and was hanging on firmly.

Seven watched the children curiously. "It would appear that Eight Bells has made a friend."

She turned her attention to B'Elanna and the Captain's heart stopped as the ex-drone smiled at her, well not exactly smiled, Seven didn't smile, but the sky-blue eyes were warm and the full mouth quirked in amusement. She hadn't seen Seven look like that for months. Now she came to think of it Seven had never looked at her like that, ever.

"Thank you Captain for rescuing me."

B'Elanna struggled to find words. "It was nothing. Just, you know, my job." Feeling stupid she decided to get back to business.

"We have to find the parents or families of these children. Have you any idea where we should start?"

"There is a more immediate problem than that Captain. The E'vha have technology that would render the Borg nearly invincible in this galaxy as well as giving them access to other galaxies. The Borg maintain a high state of readiness where the E'vha are concerned. Capturing E'vha vessels and personnel is still one of the collective's highest priorities. "

"The battle fleet." B'Elanna swore again. "These bloody children. What the hell are their people thinking letting them wander off like that? Eight Bells," she called loudly ignoring the EMH's scowl, "Come here and bring Miss Muffet with you."

Eight Bells carried the cringing kid over And gave her a reassuring hug before setting her down in front the Captain.

"How many other children are there in your fleet Dusty?"

"Nineteen."

"But there were twenty nine vessels."

"Yeah one each - are you stupid? It's no fun to share."

"Well who is flying yours now you are here?"

"Duh. The autopilot. Is she really Captain cos she's pretty dumb?" the kid asked Eight Bells, her little proboscis nose shook as she giggled in amusement.

Grinding her teeth B'Elanna stamped on her rising temper. "Where are your parents? We need to find them."

The kid was stubborn. "We don't need them. We are okay on our own."

Seven interjected "We are concerned that the Borg will target your companions and their vessels."

The child looked cockier than ever. "There are no Borg in his sector. We scanned for them. We're not stupid like her" and she jerked her thumb at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna was close to exploding and snarled angrily "I've had enough of you brat. Tell us how to contact your parents or I will sling you in the brig and leave you there."

The child shrank away, close to tears, but her jaw jutted out stubbornly and she kept silent.

Seven said calmly. "The Borg are aware of your scanning technology and maintain a disguised presence in all sectors waiting for just such an event as this. Overconfidence was identified as a tactical weakness of the E'vha. Your presence will certainly have been detected."

"I think you are making that up blonde lady?" said the kid a little less confidently.

Seven looked her impassively and then extended her hand with the implants. Assimilation tubules wiggled from the back of her hand and the kid backed into Eight Bells screaming and hiding her face against his leg. "I am Borg" said Seven in her best collective monotone. "Resistance is futile."

"I want my mummy" howled the terrified child.

Eight Bells hoisted her aloft. "Boss," he said disapprovingly, hugging the weeping girl, "she's only a kid."

B'Elanna was grinning evilly "Yeah but now she's a co-operative kid. Okay Dusty how do we contact Mummy."

"I have to find my ship. I can call Mummy from there. She is staying with my aunt in another galaxy so we can't use subspace communication."

B'Elanna tapped her comm badge. "Helm set a course back to where we met that fleet. Warp nine. Dusty can we contact your fleet and ask them to meet us halfway?"

The kid nodded slowly.

"Come on then. This won't take long. We've only been travelling away from them for about an hour. By the way why didn't they follow? For intergalactic travellers I wouldn't have thought chasing us would be a problem."

"I told them not to. They had to stay and guard the forest while we captured the dragon."

"The dragon?" queried Seven of Nine.

"Your ship."

B'Elanna shrugged her shoulders in disbelief but then noticed the complete puzzlement on Seven's face and biting her lip to avoid laughing said laconically "Oh yeah. The dragon. Of course."

Eight Bells carried the kid to a comms console and started to show her what to do. The child listened for about fifteen seconds before her hands started to fly over the console. "White Knight to Guardians please respond."

After a few seconds a thin panic laden voice replied. "Dusty help us. The Borg are here."

"Breadhead you've got to make a run for it. Head for the co-ordinates I'm transmitting. The dragon is going to help us. Has anyone been captured?"

"Not yet. But they are getting very close. Two ships damaged and riding piggy-back. Fleet now heading for your co-ordinates at warp ten. See you soon Dusty."

"Dusty! Ask how many Borg." said B'Elanna urgently.

"Hey Breadhead how many Borg?"

"1 cube in pursuit. We called for help - time to arrival three rotations."

"Dusty why can't they just get out of the galaxy? We can hide you until your folks arrive."

The kid was derisive. "You are dumb do you think they let little kids have inter-galactic drives. Those things are valuable. Our mother ship is in this quadrant looking for us. We sneaked off and hid in a nebula so we could go exploring."

B'Elanna took one look at Seven. "Computer - Ship wide broadcast. All hands to battle stations. We have less than thirty minutes to prepare to engage the Borg. Shields, weapons and engines are the top priority."

"Torres to Harry Kim. Harry get to the bridge and do your best to reorganise it. I am going to engineering. We'll set up an ops centre there. And get the Flyer ready for launch."

Seven heaved herself out of bed and grimaced. "I'm going back to engineering with you." B'Elanna did not bother arguing - she needed Seven. Recovery would have to wait. She fell in step with the ex-Borg signalling to Eight Bells to bring the E'vha child along also.

"I hope these weapons of yours are as good as they look Dusty. We are going to need everything we can throw at them if they get on board Voyager."

Twenty nine tiny vessels shaped like crescent moons fled through the Delta quadrant at the theoretical maximum warp speed. Four of the little ships had joined together to form a bigger craft which flew in the centre of the shoal. Behind them and in hot pursuit, only slightly slower, was a Borg cube.

The larger bulk of the USS Voyager, damaged and slow, lumbered towards them at the relatively stately speed of warp 8.5, the maximum allowed by Federation engine design and the damage sustained. The Borg paid it little attention concentrating on the bigger prize.

On Voyager B'Elanna Torres was debating possible tactics with her senior crew. A small alien girl sat on a large male human's lap and listened to the conversation. B'Elanna was acutely aware that this was her first real challenge as Captain. And possibly her last.

"How long now until their mother ship arrives."

"Thirty minutes at most."

"Dusty when your fleet arrive you and the other children are to transport back to your ships and head at maximum speed for the rendezvous with your mother ship. We will try to delay the Borg but we are unlikely to hold them back for long." The small girl was playing with the Ensign's beard and only reluctantly acknowledged the Captain's instructions after some prodding.

B'Elanna stifled her annoyance with the little brat. "Seven thinks that if we hit this section of the cube with a full spread of quantum torpedoes we may be able to take their warp engines off line for five to ten minutes. Enough time to give you and us a head start."

Harry was doubtful. "We can't directly engage a Borg cube in our current condition. Even if Voyager was undamaged we wouldn't last more than half an hour in a conflict with a cube."

"We need a different approach then. Can you think of one Mr Kim? I am open to better suggestions if you can make one." B'Elanna was finding it hard to talk civilly to her first officer.

"We could avoid them altogether" he said coldly. "Captain these kids are better equipped to dodge the Borg until their families arrive than we are. It seems to me they are keeping two steps ahead of the Borg without our help."

"Well I want to increase the odds in their favour Mr Kim." Harry hesitated and then decided not to answer. The discussion round the table turned to considering detailed tactics.