A TIME AND A PLACE: 1

by D. Maxwell

"Evasive manoeuvre - 120 mark 24, engage!"

Response to the command was just not quick enough as the powerful energy beam sliced right through the huge starboard nacelle, severing it completely from the support pylon that fastened it to the secondary hull. The repercussion to the ship was devastating, it lurched violently as the escaping energy ignited whilst spewing out of the exposed channel. The internal dampeners quickly tried to reconfigure themselves as the resulting explosion suddenly propelled the ship erratically off its course. The mighty Starship drifted awry as the crew within her fought to contain the fires blazing away at her delicate insides. The loss of the nacelle dealt a critical blow, now they had to do what they could to prevent any more serious damage.

But she was not alone in this predicament. In space all around her, Starships were being cut to pieces, engaging the wrath of this unstoppable foe in a last ditch effort to prevent this new enemy from reaching Earth. Already the body count was high, over twenty Starships destroyed, with several immobilised, and thousands of personnel lost. But the fight still went on.

"Damage report!" Captain John Haifa called out, as the ship finally steadied itself. The internal dampeners managing to recalibrate for the unexpected change in momentum.

His First Officer Commander Rosa, who was puffing slightly, raced over to Haifa to give his report. "Starboard nacelle severed from secondary hull, Engineering reports the power feed back from lost unit caused a major explosion in engineering section C, with decks B through to F affected before they had a chance to shut it down. We have lost impulse power but still have primary reserve," he paused to take a breath."Casualty count not yet confirmed and we are receiving reports of at least seven hull breaches, but they are being sealed off and the personnel in those sectors evacuated..." Rosa had not yet reported the worst of it, he was about to continue when a powerful jolt shook the ship, setting off the alarms and beacons that meant only one thing, something terrible had just happened. Haifa and Rosa knew this was not the result of phasor fire by the enemy, this time it emanated from within.

Haifa wasted no time. "Engineering, what happened?" The air was thick with the sound of static. "Engineering are you receiving?"

Still nothing. Tension around the bridge began to tighten as the heart of the ship no longer functioning could only spell disaster. Then suddenly... "Captain, this is Lieutenant Astor Hanson here in Engineering..." his cough over the loud speakers echoed through the bridge, as all ears intently listened to his report "...we've just suffered a major blast which has ruptured the main reactor core as well as the dilithium chamber. I'm attempting to stabilise it as much as I can, but a matter/anti-matter explosion is now imminent. Sir," he paused to take a breath, fear laced within every word. "We are on a build up to detonation!"

A deathly silence enveloped the bridge. If the main reactor core was pierced, that could only mean one thing, and it was a known engineering fact that core breaches could not be repairedeasily, especially under the circumstances.. Haifa and Rosa looked at each other, they both knew there was still some time before the ship went up, time to think of alternate measures to save themselves and the crew. Above all, they had to keep their cool and not show signs of panic for fear of setting the crew off, even if on the inside they too were shaking like hell. Haifa knew he could not dwell on the thought of his prized ship simply blowing up, it was important for him and the crew to be assured that a solution to their dilemma would be found soon. But to do that, Haifa first had to fully assess the situation. He called out to Lieutenant Hanson, "is Chief Engineer Greer with you?"

There was a brief pause to suggest Hanson was having a quick look around "Negative sir, Commander Greer and the rest of the engineering crew all perished in the blast, I think, Sir, that I am the only one left." Haifa fell silent at the loss of his good friend, when Hanson called back to the bridge. "Sir could I have a medical team come down here," his voice gave clear signs of impending trauma, "there are bodies everywhere, and I can't...can't..." Haifa could sense what the young first year Lieutenant was trying to say, after being subjected to so much death so soon, he needed to see some life again, to know that he personally hadn't been subjected to some kind of living hell.

Haifa motioned for Rosa to look into it while he thought about their predicament. With the weight of the crew's concerns bearing down on him, he carefully weighed up the situation. A lost nacelle and a punctured power base, that practically made them useless now, and with only one operating nacelle remaining, they could barely move let alone stand and fight. Normally a ship this badly damaged would immediately withdraw from the confrontation and the crew would abandon ship, but this was the USS Bosconia, one of the lesser appreciated Starships in the fleet. Captain Haifa had served on this vessel for years, and in his view the Bosconia never received the proper recognition it deserved, nor was it looked upon as being a major force in Starfleet. Other ships such as the Hood, Galaxy, the late Yamato and the Enterprise always seemed to be in the forefront of Starfleet operations, always receiving the attention and lime-light from Starfleet Command and the Federation. But not the Bosconia. Excelsior Class Starships of its calibre and age were rarely thought of these days, people just accepted them as being there, always serving above and beyond the call without ever receiving any thanks. They were always being overshadowed by the more up-to-date, newer, and increasingly popular Galaxy class Starships.

Haifa thought of the only way he could still deliver one more punch to the enemy, whom he was now beginning to hate with a passion, which would make Starfleet Command finally stand up and take notice of his ship. The cost would be a high one, however the result would be worth it. He only hoped the crew would go along with his plan.

"Mr. Rosa!" The ship's First Officer turned to the Captain in response to the summons, having just called a medical team to Engineering. Haifa, hesitated for a moment, then said very slowly but firmly, "After carefully considering the situation, I believe the only course of action left to us now, is to prepare for the implementation of Starfleet Command order 0030."

Rosa looked at him with shock, "Sir...0030!" Haifa's response was a simple nod "but, Sir," he continued, "there must be another alternative..." his voice trailed off as he looked toward the view screen to see the unscrupulous enemy casually destroying Starships at random, Starships full of men and women, some of whom were his friends, some of whom were aquaintances, but all of them were allies and fellow shipmates. He watched transfixed as yet another Starship, Excelsior Class, was consumed in a blaze of fire as it disintegrated under the continual barrage from the enemy. Seeing this horror impacted greatly on Rosa's attitude. He turned back toward Haifa and acknowledged his agreement to the order with a slow nod.

Haifa reached out to his First Officer, and friend, and squeezed his shoulder gently. "Now you know why we cannot simply abandon the ship." Rosa looked into Haifa's eyes and saw complete reasoning, the necessity of what must now be done became suddenly clear, he nodded his agreement again "please inform the crew of my decision and let me know their response..."

Rosa snapped out of his thoughts, refusing to let them take a hold of him, "Yes Sir," he finally said with an understanding smile.

"...Then instigate procedures to re-channel all remaining starboard nacelle energy through to the defensive systems and see if you can also use it to increase shield strength. Then take the port nacelle off line and use its power to reactivate the impulse drive."

Rosa, now back into First Officer mode quickly turned his attention to the problems at hand.

"Sir that may take a while, we'll have to redirect entire energy pathways, and I'm not sure if we can complete it all in time."

"Understood Mr. Rosa." Haifa turned to face front as Rosa quickly left his side to comply with the orders. The Captain then called to sick bay, "Dr. Shale, can yoyu give me a casualty report?" There was a brief pause.

"Shale here Captain, ahh...so far unconfirmed reports suggest 156 killed 229 injured and 17 missing. John," the urgency in the Doctor's voice was clearly evident, "I don't think we can hold out much longer the way we're going, I've got a lot of broken people down here, and we're running out of troops pretty quick. If you've got an idea on how we can complete our mission, well you'd better hurry up with it or we may have to pull out."

"Thank you Doctor." Haifa said with the briefest of smiles, yes Doctor we have thought of a way to finish our mission he thought, turning his attention to his helmsman. "Mr. Warner..."

He turned around to face his Captain, "Yes Sir."

"...set course 1138 - 066 which will place us on the other side of the enemy vessel, but do not engage until we have restored impulse power. I also want you to take us to a distance of 150 kilometres when we reach the co-ordinates."

Mr. Warner turned back to his console and began programming the information "course laid in Sir."

The Captain turned his chair to face Rosa and Ensign Janette Genza, who was the only female remaining on the bridge, as they worked feverishly together at the engineering console. "Status report Mr. Rosa?"

"Sir, preparations are almost complete. Over 60% of the Engineering bay has been lost, so we are attempting to co-ordinate as much as we can from up here. The nacelle feedback took out a lot of people but Lieutenant Hanson is still with us and is doing a fine job."

"Let me know when you are ready," Haifa said turning around to face the remains of his reasonably intact bridge. It was then he discovered just how helpless he really was. For the first time, there was nothing more he could do to assist in the preparations. Until Rosa and Genza had completed the power modifications, all he could do was sit and be patient, whereas elsewhere in his ship he knew things were in chaos. His crew were quite capable of attending all the emergencies, knowing full well Haifa's responsibility was to get the ship operational again. Haifa sighed, this was one of the very rare occasions when the outline of the mission took precedence over the safety of the crew, and no matter how much he felt shafted by Starfleet Command, he would obey those orders to the letter 'STOP THIS ENEMY AT ALL COSTS'.

In the first attack, the Bosconia had warped into the area and engaged the enemy with their initial offensive. The enemy then fired a shot which hit directly in the forward torpedo bays. The explosion that resulted had virtually blown the ship apart. The bridge's torpedo firing station blew up in jet of crimson and yellow flame killing the weapon's officer and her surrounding crew personnel immediately. Whole decks were destroyed and the forward hull almost disintegrated from the blast. The Bosconia responded with all operating phasors on maximum power. Haifa, after managing to stabilise his crippled vessel, then ordered the ship to approach the enemy from the aft side hoping to catch them off guard. Haifa could sense a shot coming from the enemy soon and tried to avoid it with some evasive manoeuvres, but it was too late, the enemy fired again with a critical blow that cut the starboard nacelle from the ship. Haifa quickly deduced that with the angle of the shot and the position of the ship, it had been destined for the main bridge. Only his timely order had saved the ship from being destroyed completely.

Haifa, looking at his crew working away at their posts on the bridge, once again started thinking about his 0030 order. He began to seriously reconsider whether to abandon ship or continue the fight. Yet his crew would quickly realise, as Rosa did, that if they abandoned the ship, the enemy would have one less target to worry about. Worst of all, if the enemy continued on their way to Earth, as their heading had predicted, and destroyed it, he and his crew would have no home to go to. Perhaps even worse than that (if that were possible), history would say that the USS Bosconia and her crew gave up in the thick of the fighting and helped allow the enemy to win. Disgrace was something Haifa and his crew was not about to accept in a hurry. If they and the Bosconia were going to go down fighting, then so be it. It would also be a glorious end to the unrecognised career of a fine Starship.

At this point however, they were not doing anything. The ship was on a virtual shutdown while the power modifications took place, they could not move or shoot, and for all intentions looked like yet another dead Starship, floating in a sea of corpses, in space.

Haifa turned to the Engineering station, trying to hide the urgency in his voice. "Mr. Rosa, status report?"

"We are almost ready sir."

Haifa acknowledged the answer with a nod, he turned to look at the carnage outside. All around was a graveyard of ships, with debris floating everywhere. The enemy continued without hesitation to do away with the mighty Starfleet. Haifa realised that if the Bosconia wasn't ready soon, the enemy would be finished here and would continue unopposed on its journey toward Earth.

It was Rosa who broke the silence which had descended on the bridge. "Sir! All nacelle power has been successfully channelled through to the main impulse drive. Warp systems are all off line and phasors are at full strength, shields are operating at 58%, we have managed to stabilise the reactor core, however we estimate a complete power failure from the reactor breach in 18 minutes, minus..."

Without turning Haifa replied, "Thank you Mr. Rosa and well done."

"...Oh and Sir," he continued. The sudden change of tone in Rosa's voice caused Haifa to swing around and look at his First Officer. "I have sent the word around the ship, the crew are all in support of using order 0030. Dr Shale said it was typical of you to something crazy like this just to get the Bosconia some official recognition." The two of them smiled as they considered the Doctor's comment. Yes, now they would be remembered. They broke eye contact as Haifa swung his chair back again.

For the first time in a while, his confidence began to increase as got ready to pit himself against the odds with this formidable foe.

"Charge all phasors for maximum firepower," he called.

"Phasors charging sir!" came the reply.

"Helmsman, ahead maximum impulse, engage on preset co-ordinates. Rotate 180 degrees mark O when co-ordinates have been reached."

Mr. Warner hit the console with a smile "Aye sir."

After sitting helpless for what seemed like an eternity, the Bosconia moved off into battle once more.

"Lock phasors on target," came the order.

"Phasors locked sir!"

Haifa gritted his teeth as the word came out."Fire!"

* * *

The USS Salvatore sat silently within the void of space, completely immobilised. She had been disabled the moment she arrived on the battle scene. The enemy had knocked them out of commission with a single, well placed shot. The whole vessel had been badly shaken about from the resulting explosions and fires, while the crew were running around attempting to bring all the chaos under control. It took some time, but they were able to eventually get the ship under control. The engineers looked over the damage and could not see any way of getting the ship operational again. Captain Allan Placer sat quietly in his command chair, relieved that all the life threatening emergencies had finalled settled down. Providing the enemy left them alone, they could stay here for weeks until the rescue teams arrived. But until then, they sat helpless in space, with no impulse or warp power of any kind. Their phasors and torpedoes were totally inoperable and even their visual communications system was off line. Placer sighed to himself. At least most of his crew were safe and that was the main thing. Most of them were young first and second year graduates who he felt should never have been sent into this battle in the first place. It was very evident that he was truly the senior officer on board, both in rank and in experience. He made a Log entry which was short and to the point saying simply that the Salvatore had played a small part in this war but its contribution was now over.

Placer sat in his command chair with his young bridge crew around him looking at the carnage outside. Although they were safe from enemy fire, a new fear faced them now, that of drifting Starships hitting one another. Although it was a great concern, nothing was more depressing for the crew, than to look at all the death in space.

"There's the Firebrand," someone mentioned. Silence again. Their communications were initially switched to audio to monitor all the transmissions in the immediate vicinity, but the cries and screams of the dying had forced them to switch it off, allowing them to imagine instead all the suffering taking place in the universe just outside their protective enclosure, powerless to do anything about it.

Then unexpectantly amongst all the coldness...

"What's that?" called someone.

Out from within the sea of dead Starships, came movement. Then light. It only took the crew of the Salvatore an instant to realise what was happening.

"It's the Bosconia," cried a voice "she's powering up!" Before them on the giant view screen, the crippled Starship, minus its nacelle which continued to burn plasma and molten titanium, limped off to confront the enemy.

"I don't believe it, they're going to attack!" They all stood stunned beyond belief at the spectacle before them, watching in complete awe as the ship slowly moved into position for its strike.

Down but not out, the blinding light of intense phasor fire surged forth from the dying vessel toward the invincible foe.

As the phasor energy impacted with the huge enemy craft, Placer who knew the retaliatory strike by the enemy would finish the Bosconia for good, realised that this great act of defiance had to be noted for Starfleet records. He knew Captain Haifa quite well and he also knew of his unhappiness with Starfleet's attitude toward him and his ship, Placer smiled inwardly knowing that the Bosconia would finally be recognised now, not just as an old, outdated Excelsior Class vessel, but one which stood up against the odds and proved itself worthy in the face of the enemy and death. But for Placer, the immediate thing now was to make a special 'Historical Log' . "Duty officer," he called out, "note for Starfleet historical records, Starship USS Bosconia registration NCC 1367, Captain John Christopher Haifa in command." he took a breath as he watched the Bosconia finish is barrage "let it be known that on stardate 44001.4 in the vicinity of Wolf 359, Captain Haifa and his crew showed outstanding bravery above and beyond the call of duty in the face of the enemy and are expressly recommended by myself, Captain Allan Gladsten Placer of the USS Salvatore, to receive all Starfleet commendations and honours associated with this act."

His First Officer spoke up "Report acknowledged sir." Placer rested back in his chair, satisfied in the knowledge that although he could not personally help the Bosconia, he had done his duty for Starfleet. At least the actions of Captain Haifa would now be a special part of Starfleet history. It was only a shame that Haifa had to resort to this kind of act, just to get noticed. The satisfaction within Placer began to give way to a new feeling, one which deep down began to gnaw at him, the feeling of something not quite completed. Placer realised that Haifa needed to be told, he and his crew needed to be told that his action of theirs was not going unnoticed and it was important for him to know that one way or the other, Starfleet would look upon them as heroes.

Without hesitation he spoke up. "Patch me into the Bosconia."

"Direct hit on enemy ship sir!" Mr. Warner called out.

"Damage?"

"No damage sustained sir, according to the historical records they have an some kind of ability to adapt to our phasor frequencies."

"Damnit." Haifa said between gritted teeth, the time was fast approaching for him to test his theory, one which had not as yet been tried by any Starfleet vessel. "Helm, continue with original heading. Keep firing phasors," he turned to his First Officer. "Mr. Rosa. Can we alter our frequencies on a random basis?"

Rosa quickly looked at his console, shaking his head slightly, "Negative sir, phasor controls are inoperative, we can control the intensity but little else."

A sudden jolt shook the ship, everyone braced themselves against what ever solid object they could get their hands on.

A small siren echoed through the bridge, Mr. Rosa checked his console, the news he had wasn't encouraging. "We have sustained a direct hit sir, shields down to 16 percent."

Haifa knew that he could not keep the attack up, his only course of action was to try a different tactic, at least he had distracted the Borg ship, giving another Starfleet vessel somewhere the chance to live just that little bit longer, "Cease fire, redirect phasor power to shields."

"Beginning to redirect power," Rosa responded.

"Captain," it was Lieutenant Hanson from Engineering. "Reactor core on preliminary to destruction, critical mass will be reached in...." a powerful jolt shook the ship again, setting off more warning sirens and alarms. Haifa was becoming desperate, he needed more power and more time.

"Lieutenant," Haifa called out amongst the confusion "re-adjust power configurations so we can increase impulse out flow."

"Aye sir," came the crackly reply.

Mr Rosa called out from behind the Captain, "Sir, shield strength now increasing to 52 percent, that last shot took us off guard."

"Acknowledged." He quickly scanned his bridge for any casualties, as the emergency alarms continued wailing around him, making him more and more agitated "Can someone turn those damn things off!" Within a moment the bridge was silent again "Thank you." His thoughts turned back to Mr. Warner. "Helmsman how long before we reach the co-ordinates?"

"27 seconds sir."

"Mr. Hanson." The time was ripe for him to prepare for the initiation of order 0030, he only hoped his ship could give it one last go. "What is the possibility of obtaining partial warp speed through the port nacelle by rechannelling all remaining phasor, shield and impulse power?" Static filled the room then a lone voice found its way through.

"I think it is possible Sir," he said with uncertainty, "it will cause instant reactor meltdown and we won't get very far, but if all available power is channelled through the drive I think should be able to achieve warp 0.3 at least, if I begin recelebrating now."

That was the answer Haifa wanted to hear. "Proceed Mr. Hanson."

"Aye sir."

Haifa turned to Mr. Rosa, noticing the trauma of the situation beginning to show on his face. He looked older, rougher around the edges. Rosa knew the time was near, and no doubt, like everyone else, hoped that another solution would be found soon. Although deep down, he and everyone else knew there was none, Haifa spoke softly to him."Do what you can to assist from here."

"Aye sir," he said with a nod, indicating to Genza to give him a hand.

A blinding white light filled the bridge as the explosion of a passing Starship near the Bosconia ignited the heavens all around her, catching everyone off guard, for the life of a heart beat, the crew looked at the screen to witness the remains of the vessel disintegrate into dust.

"Who that was?" Haifa thought to himself. Suddenly the moment was shattered by a voice that called from what seemed like miles away...

"Sir, audio message coming in from the Salvatore."

Haifa swung his chair in the direction of the message, re-assessing himself in the process, he faced his Communications Officer, Lieutenant Bryant, "Put them on stand by. I'll be with them in a moment."

Haifa swung his chair back in time to hear Mr Warner call out from the helm "Captain, we have just reached co-ordinates 1138 - 066 and have completed the 180 degree rotation."

Haifa looked at the screen in front of him, satisfied that at least one major hurdle in his plan had been overcome. He turned his attention toward Engineering "Mr Hanson how long before we can obtain partial warp speed?"

"Twenty seconds sir." Sounding more and more distant.

"Report confirmed sir." Mr. Rosa added.

"Acknowledged, well done Mr. Hanson." Haifa spared a brief thought about the Lieutenant, all alone in the burnt out remains of Engineering, being asked to do far more than his training would have considered. These were the people Starfleet ignored, Haifa thought to himself, this was the kind of man who history would know nothing about. What a damn waste. The thought of it made Haifa scorn.

"Why don't they reply!" Captain Placer cried out unexpectantly, as he knew time was running out. He and his crew had watched the Bosconia fire its salvo at the Borg ship as they raced to overtake it and they had all gasped for breath as the unidentified Starship went nova in front of them. He realised his young crew still hadn't worked out what Haifa intended to do, even though in front of their unbelieving eyes, the Bosconia, after finally moving in the path of the Borg, had turned around to face the huge cube-shaped vessel head on.

Placer tried to hide his desperation. "Try to put me through again."

Mr. Rosa spoke out "Partial warp speed in 7 seconds sir."

"Come on, come on." The tension was starting to finally work its way into Haifa, sitting in his chair with knuckles white from gripping the edges too hard, staring at the huge blackness that was the Borg ship in front of them, as it continued firing at the few remaining operational Starships who gave resistance.

The voice of Lieutenant Bryant, snapped him out of his trance, "Captain the Salvatore is still hailing us."

Haifa had not forgotten about them, although he had no doubt that Allan Placer had been watching them the whole time and had long since worked out what he intended to do. Haifa had not actually seen the Salvatore in his view screen at any time, and he briefly wondered where she was. Was she lying idle, dying like the Bosconia had been, or was she still in the thick of it, fighting until she blew apart with exhaustion like the Bosconia was now. It didn't matter, Haifa was sure the only reason Placer was trying to contact him was to try and talk him out of using 0030, to say it wasn't worth risking so many lives with such a gesture. Haifa snorted to himself, maybe to Placer it wasn't important, but to him and his crew it was. They weren't giving up without a fight, but even as he thought of Placer probably sitting comfortably somewhere in his ship staying out of this war, the words, "On speakers." just came out. Somehow the hearing of a voice from another ship would make him feel better, making him realise that he was not the only survivor in this unending slaughter of human life.

There was a pause then...

"John," Haifa recognised the voice of Placer straight away, to Haifa, he sounded quite good, it seemed the battle hadn't been too hard on him "I know what you're planning to do, and I just wanted to quickly tell you that we...." A huge blast, like the pounding of a gigantic fist, hit the ship, jumping in on top of Placer's message.

Within a blink, all the alarms and sirens went off again, as the explosion smashed its way into the bridge, the blood curdling cries of Commander Rosa and Ensign Genza echoing through the room as the Engineering console ignited in a fury of fire and plasma, Haifa turned to see their scorched bodies being engulfed by extinguishing foam from the automatic fire repressents.

"Medical emergency team to the bridge!" Haifa called out, more from instinct than anything else, as he rushed over to his fallen comrades. Deep inside his psychosis he realised calling a medical emergency was a pointless one, his entire ship was a medical emergency.

"Captain," someone called out through the smoky haze, "shields have failed completely, we are no longed protected!"

"Acknowledged." Haifa said taking one last look at the remains of his friend, as he sat back in his chair. He called out to Engineering, "Mr. Hanson, give me all the warp power you've got!"

Nothing happened.

Directly on their viewscreen, the great Borg ship standing defiant, loomed over the insignificant spec that was the Starship USS Bosconia.

Haifa called out as loud as he could, the early symptoms of panic, barely noticeable in his voice "Mr. Hanson are you receiving?..." Static was his only reply. If Engineering was destroyed, Haifa thought, then their whole offensive was over, they would truly die a meaningless death, having come all this way for nothing. With the Borg laughing all along knowing that resistance was futile. "Mr. Hanson, are you there?..." Haifa called again, staring at the Cube of Death, surrounded by a stream of static, then...

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Hanson I'm still here." A cold chilly feeling of relief swept over Haifa at the hearing of Hanson's voice.

"Are you all right?" It was a clumsy question, but it was all that would come out.

"There is not much left down here Sir, but I've managed to get all the functional systems now on line,.." Haifa could detect an air of pride in the man's voice, and well there should be. For a first year Lieutenant, who was the Admiral's son, he had done more than could be expected of him, "...We will have partial warp speed in three..two..one.. Sir, we now have partial warp power."

Haifa heard what he wanted to hear, "Received and understood Lieutenant, and thank you." a deep feeling of accomplishment settled on his soul. For the first time in a while, he sat up straight, ignoring the wailings and beacons of danger going on around him. He turned his attention to his only remaining Bridge Officer. "Mr. Warner," the Helmsman turned to look at his Captain. "Inform the crew to brace for impact." For a brief moment Warner and his eyes locked, the sense of duty and of what must be done was understood between them, a sacrifice to ensure that others may live. Mr. Warner nodded as he swung his chair around to face the Borg. Haifa looked straight at the giant cube that was responsible for the deaths of many of his friends and his crew, adapt to this frequency you bastard, "all ahead warp point three.....engage."

If only Starfleet could see us now. Haifa thought as the remaining nacelle began to fire up. All he could do was look at the wall of Borg in front of him. His eyes did not close.

"Captain, they have just received a direct hit!"

"Did they get the message?" Placer yelled.

There was a silent pause, then;

"Negative sir, their communication systems have gone down."

"Damn!" Placer pounded the arms of his chair, knowing that Haifa would never be aware that he had recorded this action of bravery. "Damn!" He said again, finally sitting back in disgust.

Then from out of the back of the group a voice cried.

"They're preparing for warp speed." The realisation of what was going to happen suddenly hit the crew, and the complete understanding of their Captain's insistence of making the special historical log entry and his continuing agitation at not being able to contact the Bosconia. Finally for them, it had all become clear.

Even though the Bosconia only had one nacelle, it could still generate enough speed to cause a major impact. The terminally ill Starship was going to commit the ultimate sacrifice. Placer, having seen enough, got up out of his Captain's chair and left the bridge.

It was over in the speed of a blink. The Borg ship, caught totally unprepared, took an almighty battering. At warp 0.3 the speed of the impact together with all the flammable elements of a Starship including the reactor ignition, blasted a huge portion of the Borg ship apart. Even Locutus of Borg had not been prepared for a Starship to resort using order 0030. The Borg, taken aback by this illogical action, were momentarily stunned by what had just happened. Then, with mechanical precision and cybernetic logic, repair work began.

Less than an hour later, the Borg, who considered the suicide attack to be a mere inconvenience in their progression, engaged its engines and left Wolf 359 for Earth.