Adam Allgood pianodrums@aol.com I have noticed that other authors post disclaimers before their stories. Here's one. Sailor Moon, and all related characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha, Bandai, Dic, etc. Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry, and all of it's related characters belong to Paramount Pictures. Any other characters were created by me. Star Trek: Sailor Moon Mutual Dilemma Chapter 11 "As you now can see, your resistance has been hopeless. You have succeeded in destroying our vessel, but that is irrelevant. We have been chosen by the Borg to be a speaker to your people." The scouts moved closer together. "We won't listen to you!" shouted Sailor Jupiter. "Darien!" cried out Sailor Moon. At Serena's cry, Roshalon faltered. His cold expression faded slightly, replaced by a blank, quizzical expression. "Serena....." Roshalon appeared to be in a trance. The scouts were filled with hope. Was Darien remembering? Suddenly, Roshalon's face darkened. "Serena, also known as Sailor Moon. Human species. Enhanced by extraterrestrial power. You too will be assimilated." Serena's face fell once again. "Oh, noo." Serena's voice became a rattle in her throat. She buried her face into her hands, and went to her knees. Roshalon advanced. "It is not understood why you resist us, Serena. It was our conjecture that you would wish to be one with that whom you love." Sailor Moon began to sob. Jupiter moved in front of her. "Serena, don't listen to him! He's just trying to make you weak!" Jupiter raised her eyes, and glared at Roshalon. Her voice was grinding with fury. She clenched her teeth. "Listen, pal! I don't care about the Borg, your mission, what's irrelevant, or any of that! You will let Darien go right now, or you'll be sorry!" She assumed a fighting stance. "Your threats are irrelevant." said Roshalon. "Picard to away teams...Prepare for immediate transport! We must withdraw and regroup!" The voice of Picard rang out on the rooftop. Sailor Venus looked up. "Venus to Picard, I have some business to attend to. Permission to remain in the city until I request beam-out." There was a slight pause. "Permission granted. Venus, be careful. Take no unnecessary risks!" "Aye sir! Sailor Venus out." The others grouped together as Venus leapt off the roof and onto another building. "Be back in a jiff!" she called. As the transporter effect paralyzed the others, they heard the voice of Roshalon speak as it faded. "You cannot escape us! You will all become one with the Borg!" *** Sailor Venus quickly retraced her steps back toward her house. She couldn't remove those terrible images of Borg soldiers tearing Devon's face, and replacing it with machines. She felt that it was her responsibility to prevent it. Looking down, she was terrified by the sights of the street filled with dark machinery. The Borg were building what seemed to be a large factory down there. Venus didn't even want to know. She completed the trip, and landed outside her own bedroom window. The lights were out. Two Borg soldiers were approaching the house. Venus leapt up onto the windowsill, and looked in. There was nothing. Feeling a surge of adrenaline, she pushed the window open, and crawled inside. Nothing in her room seemed out of place, but Devon was nowhere to be found. "Devon?" Venus moved towards the far wall in her room. Suddenly, the closet door burst open, and a shouting figure rushed out. Venus screamed, and raised her arms in an attack stance. Suddenly, the figure stopped. "Hey, wait! Don't shoot, I surrender!" Venus gasped as a laughing Devon emerged from the shadows. "Now we're even!" he said. Venus smiled. "Devon, do you know what's going on?" "Well, it seems that an army has been dispatched on the street. I guess it's the invaders, right?" "Mm-hmm. Devon, you're going to need to trust me again." "Why?" At Devon's question, the front door began to shake. Venus grew agitated. "They're going to capture us unless you come with me, Devon!" "Okay, where'll we go? They're everywhere!" "Stand up." Devon stood, and Venus grabbed him by the arm. She drew him close to herself, so the transporters would be able to lock onto both of them....just in case they only beamed in objects bearing a communicator. "Enterprise," she said, tapping a gold ornament on her chest. "Two to beam up." She stretched her arms out and gave Devon a hug. He gasped as the transporters took them. It was such an unusual sensation. At first, Devon thought the tingling originated from his excitement at being hugged by this beautiful girl. As his vision faded, however, he realized that it was something more. Suddenly, the bedroom was replaced by another strange, metallic room. Devon gasped. In just a few seconds, without moving a leg, Devon now stood in a different room; a room he had never seen. Sailor Venus released him, to his slight disappointment. He gasped and observed his new surroundings. Himself and Sailor Venus were standing on some kind of pad. There was a translucent circular disc under him. Blue light was shining through it. Venus was standing on another one of those pads. There were eight in all. Ahead of him, by the door, there was what seemed to be a computer terminal. A solitary man stood behind the console, monitoring its readouts. As if just noticing the two on the pad, he looked up in surprise. "May I help you?" He wondered why the two were not moving off of the transporter pad. Sailor Venus suddenly regretted not studying the tour she had hours ago more carefully. She did not know her way around the massive ship. "Uh, yes." Venus stammered. "I need to get to," she struggled to recall the location of their temporary quarters. "...Deck four...section five." The man behind the terminal responded briskly. "Take a right when you leave this room, go straight until you reach a turbolift, get on, and tell it to take you to deck four. When you arrive, walk out until you reach a fork in the hallway. Take the left path to section five." The man drew paths in the air with his index finger. "Thank you, sir." Venus exclaimed. She stepped off the pad. Devon followed suit, his mouth open in astonishment. As they left, the man smiled at him. "First time in a transporter, kid?" Devon managed an uneasy smile. "Yeah" To this the man extended his right hand. Devon took it, shaking it slowly. "Welcome to the Enterprise! If only the times were better." "Thank you, sir." Devon grinned again and walked out the door, an electrically controlled door of course. The man called out after him. "Hey kid, my name's John! You're not a cadet or anything, so don't bother with that 'sir' stuff." The man grinned again. He was probably quite charming at parties. "Yes si..." Devon began. "John," he corrected. The man chuckled. "What's your name?" "Devon." "Well Devon, it's been nice to meet you. You'd better run along, your friend is waiting." Devon smiled again and moved down the corridor. He caught up with Mina just before arriving at a door marked: TURBOLIFT. "What was that all about?" Mina asked, pressing the button beside the lift's door. Sailor Venus was now in the form of the girl he viewed in that picture on her wall. "I'm not sure. People on this ship sure are nice." Mina remembered Picard's stern lectures after the scouts had disrupted Bridge functions. She remembered his order to fire on the Borg ship with Darien still on it. "You're right, they are." She said, sarcastically. The lift's doors opened, and they both stepped into the elevator-like pod. "Deck four." she ordered. The lift's doors immediately shut, and Devon felt his weight increase slightly as it moved upward. The technology responded to verbal commands! These occupants must be quite advanced, whomever they were. The lift stopped, and the doors opened. Mina and Devon walked the corridors until they reached a door marked: GUEST QUARTERS. They entered. "Where have you been?" exclaimed a playfully angry Raye. She noticed Mina's companion, and continued. "And who's he?" Lita and Amy entered from the other room. They all regarded the newcomer with interest. "This is Devon, everyone. Devon, this is Raye, Lita, and Amy. They're just like me. Everyone, this is the guy that I tripped while coming." The others murmured their hellos. Lita offered Devon a seat. He took it, still shocked with all that had happened this day. "Where's Serena?" asked Mina, looking around. "She'll be here soon," responded Raye. "She's down in the Sickbay, recovering from a nasty bump on her head that she got in the fight." Lita sat down opposite Mina. "Yeah, we were just about to go see her when you two came in!" "Why should we stop you? Let's go!" Mina exclaimed. They stood. "Picard to the scouts, please come to the Bridge." The voice of Picard rang out on each girl's communicator. Amy tapped hers. "We're on our way." She stood, and everyone turned towards the door. "Is it all right if I stayed here?" Devon asked. "Sure. If our friend Serena comes in, please tell her to meet us on the Bridge." Mina turned back and followed the others out. The four scouts moved down the corridor. Back in the room, Devon was shocked to find the white cat he had seen earlier, with another, almost identical black cat. They jumped off the table and moved towards the door. It wouldn't open for them. The white cat turned towards Devon. "Would you be so kind as to open this door." Devon began to tremble and make terrified noises as he assisted the talking cats. Once they were out the door, Devon relaxed. The for scouts, plus the two forgotten cats stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge. Serena was already there. She nodded to her friends. Captain Picard was seated in the command chair. At the arrival of the girls, he stood and turned around. "Your efforts on the surface were admirable and heroic." The scouts murmured their thanks. Serena smiled, and joined them. Picard continued. "Your displays of sacrifice down there has reinstated my faith in all of you. Welcome back to the Bridge." "Thank you, captain." said Lita, proudly. "However," said Picard, his voice dropping the room temperature by twenty degrees. "Don't pull any more stunts like that on my Bridge. My orders are final. If you ever interfere with the functions of this crew during a crisis again, I'll have you in the brig before you can shout those transformation slogans! Understand?" The scouts gulped. "Y-yes sir." "Good! Please, take a seat." The captain's voice became cheery once again, confusing the scouts. Serena moved over to where the scouts were beginning to sit. "Hi, guys. Are you okay?" "What about you, Serena?" asked Mina, worried about her injury. "Oh, I'm better. The doctor gave me something for the bump on my head. It was weird, though. She pressed something on my neck, and a bunch of freezing-cold air blasted my neck." The other scouts shrugged. "And then she began to run this humming thingy over my hair, and my head felt all tingly!" Raye snorted. "She didn't hit your meatballs with it, did she?" Serena twisted around in battle mode. "Hey! Stop that!" Serena appeared to be healed, and that relieved everyone, especially Raye. However, the red scout refused to let anyone see this. "Nope! I guess she missed them! That's lucky for you, meatball head!" Lita, Mina, and Amy chuckled as Serena and Raye began to argue. The two cats on the floor were less amused. "All right, that's enough!" scolded Luna. This caused heads to turn all over the Bridge. The scouts blushed a little. "We'll explain later." said Lita. "Maintain your posts!" ordered the captain. The surprised ensigns slowly turned back to their terminals, but they periodically glanced back at the two cats seated under the five pretty girls. This universe would take some getting used to! The Vulcan ensign at the science console murmured: "Fascinating," and took no more notice of the spectacle. Luna jumped into Amy's arms. "Oops!" she whispered. There was a silence on the Bridge. A solemn attitude filled the air. Everyone was aware that at this moment, the city of Tokyo was being assimilated, piece by piece; block by block, into the Collective. Video screens at the rear stations kept a record of Borg soldiers walking the street, accosting innocent civilians, injecting them with nanoprobes, and taking them in for assimilation. The skyscrapers could still be seen, but the streets and storefronts were now covered with black wiring, distribution nodes, honeycomb-like cells, filled with Borg soldiers ready for action. The scouts couldn't bear to watch their city be desecrated like this. "They'll pay for this!" whispered Lita, harshly. The comment went unanswered until Worf's console began to sound. The high, tinny bleat sounded like an alarm. "Captain," said the Klingon. "There is an energy buildup on the Bridge!" "Where?" asked Picard, urgently. He immediately stood, hand at his holstered phaser. Worf pointed at a site between the security console and the scouts. "There!" He and Picard drew their phasers. The scouts stood and moved away. Sure enough, a green spark filled the area pointed out by Worf. It grew in intensity until Picard and the scouts recognized it to be a transporter beam. The other members of the Bridge crew stood and drew their weapons. "Scan for other energy signatures!" Picard turned towards Worf. The Klingon checked his console. "None!" The beam definitely carried a Borg soldier. The green beams of energy began to fade. In its place stood a very familiar sight. "Roshalon," murmured the captain.