Star Trek: Atlas

11: Brothers

"Bah! They run like cowards!" Martok said.

"Well done with the attack strategy, Brahms." Janeway complimented.

"Yes... though it is kind of odd you named the attack pattern after yourself," Martok said bluntly. "Typical Romulan..."

"Enterprise is hailing. I'm patching them in." Kiska said.

"I hate to interrupt the conversation, but we have bigger things to worry about," Picard said. "I doubt the Borg are running from this conflict. They never run from anything."

"They must be using this as a chance to regroup." Janeway surmised. "Picard is right, this is far from over. We have to pursue in order to secure the system."

"Hail coming in from the JWS Ruler. I'm patching them in."

"Don't think you are leaving me and Draconis out of this!" Anasazi said. "We are talking about the security of my home system here, after all!"

"I've got them on long-range scanners!" Felix reported. "They've fled to a nearby asteroid field ten light-years away!"

"Plot an intercept course. We're going after them!" Brahms ordered. "Warp eight! Engage!"

Soon after, the Atlas was going at warp speed after the Borg with the fleet close behind!

"They're trying to outrun us." Keal'dran reported. "They've increased speed to warp factor nine."

"Why aren't they just using their transwarp drives?" Kiska wondered.

"We must have damaged their transwarp subsystems in the counter-attack." Felix assumed.

"Good for us, bad for them." Brahms said. "Match their speed. Continue to pursue."

A few moments later, the cubes made a puzzling move.

"I'm reading energy spikes from one of the cubes." Keal'dran reported. "I believe they've engaged a self-destruct sequence!"

"Distance! Increase distance!" Brahms shouted.

Soon after, all the Borg ships except for one cube self-destructed! The Atlas was able to dodge the debris, with the Enterprise, Voyager, Defiant, Ruler along with the Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, and Klingon flagships! The rest of the fleet had to drop out of warp to avoid colliding with the debris!

"They've altered their heading." Keal'dran reported. "They're moving towards... The Jrekkon home system!"

"Time of arrival?" Brahms asked.

"They've just increased speed to warp nine-point-eight. At the speeds we're going, about ten hours. If they increase their speed again, it will be less." Keal'dran said, looking over the readings.

"Can we catch up to them?" Brahms asked.

"Only if we want to seperate from the battle group." Kiska said. "The Defiant, along with the Romulans, Cardassians, and Dominion ships are having trouble keeping up."

"Try to stay with them, Kiska!" Brahms ordered. "Open communications to all flagships."

"Channel open." Kiska said. "They're responding."

"Admiral, the rest of the fleet is unable to stay with the cube." Brahms reported to Janeway. "Only Voyager, Atlas, and the Enterprise can keep up."

"Then I guess we'll have to settle for being a little late for the party." Garak said. "We cannot allow that cube to escape. But don't worry. We may be late, but we'll come in with a bang."