Resistance - J.M. Dillard [28]
“As good a reason as any to stay away from a woman,” Nave said. Though she was enjoying the thinly veiled flirtation on romantic characters from the fourteenth century, her mind was focused on darker themes. Instead of continuing down the path of the mysterious Laura, she began, very tentatively, “You were here, on the Enterprise, when the crew encountered the Borg and their queen.”
She didn’t want to dwell in a negative way on whatever the encounter with the Borg might bring, and she had no intention of allowing herself to become afraid, although even reading through the dry texts of the Enterprise’s, and especially Captain Picard’s, battles with the Borg had been harrowing enough. But Lio had survived that, Lio had seen and fought the Borg, and Sara felt it would be useful to learn from someone who had personal knowledge of the enemy.
Lio quickly pulled his head back, as if he’d been slapped; pain flashed in his eyes, so brightly Nave was sorry she’d asked the question. For the second time that evening, she had overstepped her bounds without meaning to.
But Lio composed himself with admirable speed, although he cast his gaze downward at his glass. In his expression Nave saw at last some of the dark, brooding temperament he had always claimed.
“I fought against the Borg.” He steepled his hands around his glass, framing it in a triangle composed of his fingers. “I was an ensign. I had no clue what I was doing then. But now, I’ll be leading any away team that boards their ship. I spoke to the captain after the briefing.” He glanced up at her, all the humor gone from his tone. “What do you want to know?”
That gave her pause; she had assumed any combat involved would be ship-to-ship. She hadn’t considered that Lio himself might be put directly in jeopardy. Even so, it was too late to back out of the conversation gracefully. “I want to know what they’re like, in case…in case things escalate.”
“If things escalate,” Lio countered, “then I’ll have failed at my job.”
“You won’t fail,” Nave said firmly. “I just wanted…any tips you have, as someone who’s been there before.”
“Tips,” Lio said, and his lips twisted with infinite irony. “Stay the hell away from them. That’s the best tip I can give you.”
“Lio…” She was gentle in her exasperation.
He threw back his glass of amaretto and emptied it in a single swallow, then slammed it down on the table. “What are the Borg like?” he asked rhetorically, gazing out one of the ports. “They’re soulless. Mindless. Bent on taking from you everything that makes you a unique individual. If you’re lucky, they’ll simply kill you. If you’re not, they’ll assimilate you.”
“How did you fight them?” Nave asked softly.
“We used phaser rifles, which killed a few, slowed down the rest—then they adapted. We had to keep changing the frequency…and each time, they adapted and took more of our people. You’ve seen the pictures, how their bodies, their limbs are fitted with prosthetic weapons. Razor-sharp hooks, vibrating saws, rotating blades…” He looked down at the empty glass, his expression bleak. “I had a friend. Another ensign, a buddy of mine in engineering. We were assigned to the Enterprise the same year. Joel Azaria from Delios VII, a great guy. He was…” Lio paused, ran a hand over his face.
“It’s all right,” Nave said. “You don’t have to talk about it.”
Lio recovered and continued. “We were with Commander Worf in one of the corridors, and the Borg just swarmed us. We kept firing the rifles; they kept adapting. I was standing next to Joel—he was on the outside flank. One of the Borg had a retracted blade built into his wrist. Joel was firing at him one second, the next he was down. The Borg advanced one step, and before any of us realized it, the blade had gone straight through Joel’s midsection.” He lowered his head and shook it slowly. “I wanted to take him with us, even though