Star Trek: The voyages of the USS Apollo

Chapter Eighteen: An Old Friend

Ethan could not believe his eyes. In the stadium surrounded by over ten thousand liberated Borg Drones, sitting on a bio-bed right in front of him with some Borg implants removed was Ensign Jodem Tal, the Ops Officer on the Roosevelt. Jodem stood up from the bio-bed and said with shock in his voice "Commander Rivers? Is that you?" Ethan pointed at the four rectangular pins on his uniform and said "It's Captain Rivers now. I got promoted after our encounter with the Borg at the Vega Colony." In that moment Jodem remembered everything that happened and frantically asked "Vega Colony. What happened there? Did we beat the Borg? How long has it been since then?" Ethan wasn't sure what question to answer first, so he decided to explain everything that had happened since then.

Ethan calmly said "Well after you and Captain Taggert got captured by the Borg me and an away team beamed aboard and tried to save the Captain. The Cube that you got beamed onto warped away back into Borg Space, so we couldn't go after them to save you. By the time we found Captain Taggert he had been fully assimilated and..." Jodem noticed the reluctance in Ethan to explained what happened to Captain Taggert and realised that something terrible must've happened. As Jodem realised what it was he said "He didn't make it back, didn't he." Ethan shook his head, confirming what Jodem had suspected.

Jodem then sat back on the bio-bed and began processing the information in his head. As he did so he said "It's a lot to take in. I just can't believe he's gone." Ethan sighed and said "I know." The two of them were silent for a few moments, both of them processing what they had just learned, before Ethan said "You know I think you would've liked his funeral. It was very emotional for us all." Jodem then remembered the coordinates of the Borg Sphere and realised that they were deep in the Gamma Quadrant and that the Federation had to be around forty thousand lightyears away at best. Realising this, he asked Ethan "Wait a minute, we're tens of thousands of lightyears away from the Federation so how did you get here?" Ethan placed his hand on Jodem's left shoulder and said "My friend. I think that's a story best told back on the U.S.S Apollo."

"Captain's Log: Supplemental. It turns out that one of the liberated Borg Drones is Ensign Jodem Tal, the Ops Officer for the U.S.S Roosevelt. During the Battle of the Vega Colony he was assimilated into the Collective and has spent the past two years as a mindless Borg Drone whose only instinct is to assimilate any life he comes across. His Symbiont, Tal, was untouched by the Borg nanoprobes however and served no use to the Borg. So Tal was left alone, thank God. Jodem has been brought onto the Apollo to have his Borg implants removed and then we will explain to him what has happened since we ended up here in the Gamma Quadrant. Needless to say it will be a lot for him to take in."

It had been about an hour since Ethan had been reunited with his old friend Ensign Jodem Tal and the Bridge Crew were patiently waiting for him to arrive in the Conference Room to get caught up on everything that had happened since their arrival in the Gamma Quadrant. The liberated Borg Drones had been transported to temporary residences until their implants could be completely removed and their lives returned to them. As Ethan thought about how the Drones would fair after such a traumatic experience, the doors opened and Jodem Tal stepped in. Doctor Bernard had removed many of the implants from him, yet there was still significant scarring. The Borg implant on his right eye that was an ocular implant that allowed him to see things at great distances was too deep to be removed completely and was permanently stuck in him. The left hand had an implant identical to Seven of Nine's and looked something like an inverted fingerless glove. His skin was slightly paler and Doctor Bernard said that it would be at least a month before it returned to it's natural pigmentation. It was truly horrifying that the Borg had violated Jodem's body in such a brutal way, along with his personal rights and right to choose. Jodem had been chopped up like minced meat and he had been treated no better than how farm cattle was treated back during 20th century Earth. The Bridge Crew felt a degree of sympathy for him, as he was given no choice by the Borg who could not be reasoned or bargained with. They did not feel pity, remorse or fear and would not stop ever, until they had assimilated all biological life in the Universe.

As Jodem sat down at the table, Ada shook hands with him and said "Nice to meet you Jodem. I'm Ada." Jodem did not respond. He was still traumatised from his time with the Borg. Jodem looked ahead at Ethan and asked "How did you all end up here?" Ethan took a breath in and said "After the Battle of Vega I was promoted to the rank of Captain and given command of the U.S.S Apollo. The Apollo is equipped with hull plating that allows us to traverse plasma storms, so we were assigned to survey planets in the Badlands." Jodem was shocked as he heard Ethan say that they were assigned to survey the Badlands and asked "The Badlands? Why the Badlands?" T'Vrell then explained "Because the Badlands have not been fully surveyed. We must fully survey them in order to fully understand them." Ethan then said to Jodem "While there we came across the True Way. The infamous terror group intent on restoring the old ways of the Cardassian Union. They had obtained a relic from the Iconian Empire that we call "The Sphere" due to it's shape. The Sphere is able to open up a wormhole to a chosen part of the Galaxy. They chose the Gamma Quadrant because they intended to obtain weapons and technologies that could allow them to build a "Cardassian Empire" as they called it and conquer the Alpha Quadrant. The Wormhole was highly unstable and we ended up getting pulled in and deposited in the Gamma Quadrant, forty thousand lightyears away from our previous position. It closed before we could use it to return to the Alpha Quadrant and we have spent the last year trying to return home."

Jodem couldn't believe it. His old friend had become a Captain while he was assimilated and had been stranded in the Gamma Quadrant thanks to the True Way terrorist group. As Jodem processed this information in his head, he realised that the Apollo had travelled one thousand lightyears away from the Alpha Quadrant and asked "Wait a minute. If your trying to return to the Alpha Quadrant, then why are you headed further away from it?" He got his answer as Laren said "The Bajoran Wormhole is twenty nine thousand lightyears away from us. While the Alpha Quadrant is forty one thousand lightyears away. That's why." Realising what Laren meant, Jodem said "Oh. So since the journey to the Gamma Quadrant end of the Wormhole is shorter your going that way. I see. So we should be home in twenty nine years." Ethan realised that Jodem had said "We" and asked "What do you mean by "we" exactly?" Jodem then answered "I'm coming with you. I want to return to Trill and see my family again. That's what I mean."

The Bridge Crew all looked at him with stunned looks on their faces. They had expected Jodem to choose to live out his life on Concordia rather than spend almost thirty years on a spaceship. Ethan didn't look surprised however and said "Then in that case it looks like we have a new Operations Officer. Been meaning to fill that seat in for a while now." Jodem smiled at the idea of going home and said "It's good to be back with Starfleet Captain. Now what are my orders?" Ethan stood up and gladly said "Your orders are to receive a Starfleet Uniform and Com Badge. Then Commander Alisha Flores will inform you of your assignment and what you will be doing now that your part of the Apollo Crew. Then report back to me for your first assignment. That will be all."

With that, Jodem saluted Ethan, glad to be part of Starfleet again and proud to once again be exploring strange new worlds. Seeking out new life and new civilisations and boldly going where no one had gone before. Jodem then left for the Crew Quarters to receive his uniform and equipment. Excited to serve Starfleet again as the Operations Officer of the U.S.S Apollo. Jodem was also relieved that he had been liberated from the Borg. But little did he know that the U.S.S Apollo's many dangerous and difficult encounters with threats that were as close to pure evil as the Borg were far from over.