Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Marines Journey - The SHODAN crisis ❯ Chapter 61: More action on the ARK and the Borg queen gets involved + battered! ( Chapter 62 )

The Marine's Journey

Chap. 61: More action on the ARK and the Borg queen gets involved + battered!

By: Piccard

(My name is Greg Dyke, and I am director general of the BBC! -Ahem- I'm eccentric!)

Xerxes: Quiet Light, you've gone mad! I'll do this! I don't have much experience at doing intros, but I have to say here comes chapter 61, and we're sure that you'll enjoy it! Was that alright?

(I suppose)

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Disclaimer: Is somewhere in this fic, but I can't remember where exactly. (Chap. 49!)

Could I put some points in yer drinking skill? You're drunk enough as it is!

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Meanwhile, Xerxes was tiring as he noticed Tuvok looking out of a door, and as the Vulcan saw Xerxes he gestured for him to follow, and he did, into a room with the others. "What the?" He said in shock as he noticed a giant gun pointing out of the room towards a moon that was getting smaller. "Xerxes," He looked over to see Piccard, "Have you seen my tricorder?" "You mean this one?" The android said as he produced it, and as Piccard took it, he said, "You dropped it when you took off." "Thanks." Piccard said as he took a strange device from the floor and started scanning it. "What's that?" "This Xerxes is a central processor, every drone has one, and I'm trying." He stopped himself as he read the display and his head immediately snapped to get a view of the large gun. "We have to disarm that thins now!" Piccard shouted, and the others seemed to be confused. "Why Light?" "Well Dark, according to this, the ARK is on a course to the mansion, and when it gets there, it will charge this gun and obliterate everything down there." The others stood in shock as Piccard ran to a panel and started pushing buttons. "Don't just stand there, help me out!"

As Chaos walked up and started climbing up the cannon he was stopped by a familiar voice, "What are you doing Chaos?" He turned his head, "If we can't do it at that end Bio, then I'll block it at that end!" He wasted no more time as he continued on up, and Xerxes walked over to Piccard. "Need a hand?" "I don't understand these systems." Piccard said as he started pressing buttons, "I'm a marine, not a technician." "True, but I am!" Xerxes said as he pushed Piccard aside and started pressing buttons himself. "What are you doing?" "I may not have built this thing with combat in mind," Xerxes started as he pulled up a technical readout, "But I did design it with hacking in mind!" He smirked as he turned back to the console and Piccard spoke up. "Right, here's how we'll do this, Doctor," The hologram looked up, "You come with me and we'll deal with the queen, the rest of you deal with this cannon." "Hang on!" Piccard span and saw Dark, "Why take the doc and not one of us?" Piccard smirked, "Because the doc has an old vendetta to settle, so if you'll excuse us." And without any further ado, the two ran out, and left the other six to deal with the cannon.

"What do you mean you can't get a connection?" Sonic shouted as Tails kept on pressing buttons. "There's some kind of field that's blocking all our communications with the others." Sonic groaned as Tom walked up and sat at the tactical position. "The field is defiantly borg in origin, but where is it coming from?" Suddenly they heard a scream and ran out of the shuttle to see Cream pointing to something in the distance. "What is it?" Tails asked, and the rabbit just kept staring as she said, "It's coming this way." "Something's wrong," The group turned to Shadow. "I don't remember Gerald saying the ARK could move." "Thank the Borg!" They span to see D'sparil, "I sense that that things got engines!" "Just great!" Jon shouted as he flung himself to the grass and started muttering something about `doomsday' under his breath. "Now think," Tails started, "Does the ARK have anything that could stop us?" "The eclipse cannon!" Knuckles's shouted, interrupting the fox. "That's what the borg intend to do, destroy us with the cannon!" Tom shouted, "How long till they get here?" "About half an hour."

"Half an hour til they reach the mansion." Piccard said, glancing at his watch as he and the Doctor made their way down a dark corridor, "Doc, are you nervous?" The medic stopped and looked Piccard in the eye. "What makes you say that?" "It's just that since we got here, you've hardly said a word, and your face is slightly white." The Doctor just snorted, but then started thinking as Piccard said, "It has something to do with what she did to you doesn't it?" The doctor just shook his head as he clutched his phaser tightly and started walking. "I wish you'd tell me what she did to you." "I don't want to talk about it!" The doctor blurted, and Piccard just shook his head as they carried on and came to a large door. Piccard put his hand to it, and almost immediately his eyes flew open. "The queen's in here!" He said as quietly as he could as he readied his shotgun before his eyes glowed red. "Stand back Doc," A red ball began to form in his hand, "Pyro siege!" The door exploded as the ball struck it, and Piccard and the Doctor ran through, weapons primed and they stopped as they noticed that they'd come to an empty room. It was large, and the four green tubes that Piccard predicted were there, standing prominent in the middle of the room as Piccard and the Doctor started looking around. "Something's wrong." Piccard said as he looked at a nearby console, and as he activated it, his eyes widened. "How the f***?" The Doctor ran over, but before he could say anything, he looked at he screen, and his own eyes widened at what he saw:

`Operating console 32Beta, post Engineering core, USS Poledes.'

"This console's from the Poledes!" Piccard said as he deactivated it and turned to the doctor. "How'd they get it?" But the doctor didn't respond, he simply pulled up his phaser with a flick of the wrist and fired over Piccard's shoulder taking down a Sabreclaw-drone that had tried sneaking up on him. "Looks like they are here, they just tried hiding!" The doctor shouted as he span and started pressing buttons like mad on his phaser.

Back at the cannon, Dark suddenly tensed completely, dropping his laser piston and succeeding in getting everyone's attention. "You alright Dark?" "I am but Light isn't!" Dark shouted as he grabbed his pistol and legged it to the door. "You guys carry on here, I'll take care of the threat!" and with that, he ran out, leaving the others bewildered until Xerxes said, "Let's get back to the cannon and find them later!" The others agreed as they got back to what they were doing before. "Damn it Light!" Dark said as he climbed a pipe to an upper level, "Why do you get yourself into these messes?" He asked himself as he pulled an item out of his pocket and studied it carefully, admiring the yellow jewel. "I'll save you for later." He said inwardly as he pocketed the thing and carried on running down the corridor.

Meanwhile, SHODAN was walking with her avatar and stopped as they walked into a lift. "Med-Sci" SHODAN said as the lift started moving. "SHODAN." She turned her head. "Yes, my avatar?" She stalled slightly before talking, "Do you think he'll be alright?" SHODAN laughed, not the manical kind, but the one you use when someone's being thick. "Of course he will be." SHODAN said as the lift ground to a halt and the doors opened, and the two walked out into a large lab to see the armoured figure sitting with the helmet on the bed next to him, and as he looked up, his green eyes seemed to dull slightly upon seeing SHODAN, and he ran a hand through his ginger hair before she started talking. "You did very well down there just, none of my creations gave that many of them a run for their money." He smiled as he pulled his helmet back over his head and heard her continue. "But the only downside is that they know your identity, and will most likely tell Piccard and the others when they get back, so we have to make sure they don't get back." He chose that moment to speak up. "How do we do that? I aint going near the borg!" "You don't have to," SHODAN started, "You only have to wait until the queen is dead and the other drones have failed, then when they're on their way back, well, I'm sure you'll think of something." SHODAN said as she walked out, and the avatar walked over to the figure. "You know, I never heard your first name." He raised an eyebrow under his helmet as he watched her blush, "I'll tell you in due time." He said as he got up and walked out, leaving a bewildered avatar behind, but she quickly regained her senses and followed him.

Back on the ARK, Dark had detected something similar to Light's magic signature, and he was right as he looked through the grating and saw the destroyed door below him. Dark smiled as he noticed a grate on the wall in front of him, and as he pulled it off he started to crawl through. "No matter how prepared the queen may be, nothing she has can outfight me!" (Deliberate rhyme! Doctor: CRAP!) Dark muttered to himself as he crawled through and noticed Piccard and the Doctor on the floor below him surrounded by Drones with the queen pacing around, and by straining his ears, could hear every word she said.

"So we meet again Doctor." "Be quiet!" The EMH shouted as the queen continued walking, "I'd have thought you'd be more receptive to me after we last met on the Voyager H." "I wasn't receptive that time, and I sure as hell won't be now!" She chuckled as the Doctor tried to struggle, but it was pointless as she pinned him back against the tubes with one hand. "I'm stronger than you think Doc, don't even try me!" She growled as Piccard just watched wide eyed, "Is she always like this?" He whispered to the hedgehog-drone next to him, and swore he saw it nod its head slightly as the queen turned to Piccard. "And we have you, the only fine example of a pathetic race." "I'm sure SHODAN said the same thing before," Piccard started with a smug look, "Are you sure you aren't related?" The queen screamed as she punched Piccard in the stomach, most of the power was absorbed by his light blue armour, but the force still winded him, and he collapsed to the floor as the queen stood over him. "I've been waiting for an Arrowsmith in the collective for a while now, are you going to come willingly?" Piccard's eye's glowed white. "No chance in hell! Divine radiance!" The white rings of energy sent the nearby drones flying, and as Piccard grabbed the Doc and started running, the queen nodded her head, and Piccard crashed head first into a force field, falling to the floor and looking up to see the queen over him. "Damn." He said weakly as she pulled him up. "Any last words before your assimilation?" She asked, and Piccard looked around helplessly, and caught a glimpse of a dark form on the upper levels, "Yeah, two words, GET HER!" She wondered what he meant, but then heard a voice above her shouting "Iron fist!" and as she saw a form land on the floor, a very hard punch sent her flying backwards, denting the plasma coolant tubes as she impacted, and as she recovered she looked up and glared, "Dark Piccard."

"Light, take the Doctor and run!" "No chance Dark." Piccard pulled himself up and grabbed his shotgun from nearby, "We're a team." "And we aren't splitting." Dark looked over his other shoulder and saw the Doctor pointing his phaser at the queen. "I can kill her in an instant." Dark said, "but I'll need time to charge." Piccard and the Doctor smiled as they ran forward and Dark started chanting. The queen immediately picked up on what they were trying to do and ran forward, kicking Piccard square in the helmet as he bought the butt of his shotgun around and slammed it into the side of her head. "You're not so tough!" Piccard yelled, but the queen bought her leg up and kicked Piccard's shotgun away, "I may not have magic, but I'll last as long as I can." She said as she sprang up and sent Piccard flying with roundhouse kick.

The Doctor saw this from his position and fired a phaser blast as soon as Piccard was clear, but she span round and ran over to the doctor, kicking his phaser away and sending punch after punch at the emitter, but he managed to dodge them all as he countered with a few martial arts moves of his own, but after a five minute brawl, the queen got a lucky shot in that sent the Doctor into a wall at the opposite end of the room, and the queen took the chance to turn back to Dark. "Now to stop you charging!" she shouted as he ran forward, but screamed as Piccard grabbed her right leg and bought her crashing to the ground. "You'll pay!" She shouted, and slammed her foot into Piccard's head, causing him to yell as he had to recoil, and then a very powerful kick sent him backwards, and he landed next to the Doctor. Just as Piccard got up and ran over to his shotgun, the glow around Dark vanished, and his eyes shot open as they glowed black.

"Sorry to end this so soon queeny, but in the words of Edmund Blackadder," Dark taunted as his forehead started glowing black too. "I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!" He cupped his hands and the glow centralised. "You may last long against melee and weapons, but let's see how you fare against psionics! RUPTURE!" Piccard gasped as a black beam shot from Dark's hands and surrounded the queen. "Is that bad?" "Doc, Rupture is Dark's most powerful move." "What does it do then?" "You're about to find out!" Piccard said as he queen started to yell, and the three began smirking as The queen clutched her head and started bulging in certain places, before after a minute, she stopped dead and tensed, and Dark said, "Now the borg leave the picture!" Before the queen expanded like mad and exploded, not with a bang, but with a sort of a `splut' as her various body parts and cybernetic gear went flying, and her skull and spine landed at the doc's feet. Gently, he picked the thing up, holding the head in one hand and the spine in the other. He could hear her voice, calling him to help her, revive her, but he just glowered as he muttered, "Goodbye bitch!" Just loud enough for the others to hear as he ripped the accursed device in half, watching it's red glow go out, and as it did, he dropped them all and a massive explosion rocked the station.

(My thanks to Magnus for the Rupture technique. I haven't played the game it comes from so to be safe I had it cast in beam form!)

"We disabled the cannon!" Came over the com link. "Well done Bio, get the guys down to the planet, we'll see you there!." Dark said as he turned off the link, and smiled at the Doctor, who was staring at the skull. "Never knew you had it in you Doc." He smiled back as he looked up and wiped some dust from his uniform as he turned to face Piccard. "This station has to be destroyed!" Piccard said as his eyes started glowing. "What do you." Dark started, but both he and the Doctor both vanished in a blue light as Piccard looked around the large room one more time before he pulled the yellow emerald from the floor. "Thanks for dropping this dark." Piccard said as he picked it up and absorbed it's energy, transforming into his more powerful self, and as he started chanting, the glow around him starting flashing between god knows how many colours until after a minute his eyes flew open and he yelled two words, "ARMAGEDDON STRIKE!"

Down on the planet, everyone looked up to see a multicoloured light above the ARK, and as soon as it started flashing, a large column on energy pierced the hull, and explosions could be seen reigning over and throughout as the station finally exploded with a massive bang and as the explosion vanished, they swore they could see a figure falling, and Dark adjusted his helmet to see. "Well I never, he actually survived." Amy looked up and managed to get his attention. "Survived what?" "That cloud was the armageddon strike, Light's most powerful technique, but he avoided it as he heard it killed the caster via vaporisation." As they started to run towards the falling marine in the distance, Dark finished his tale, "He isn't dead, I can tell that much, but he is seriously drained!"

There we are, the borg are gone on Chapter 61! You might tell me they were supposed to put up more of a fight, but consider two words, BOSS BRAIN! He's up to something and hasn't resurfaced yet, so I'm saving all the description for him and SHODAN's final battle. I have no plans to end this yet, but I will say one thing, the end is on the horizon, it's just approaching incredibly slowly! And as for the armoured figure, don't worry, if you haven't already guessed who he is, you'll find out next chapter! But anyway, how was it? Good, Bad, Evil as a demonic hamster called Arnold? (See I can be random as well!) Please review!

Piccard, signing off! /\/**