Vice Admiral Quinn Reynolds - Data, Data, Data
Quinn Reynolds
((Vortex, Neon Heights, Nassau))
It was a strange thing, talking to the ghost of a dead man. Of course, Kael wasn’t dead in this timeline, but in her own, Quinn had lost and grieved him. She spent most of the conversation trying not to think about how restoring their timeline would mean losing him all over again, trying to convince herself that this wasn’t her Kael.
But he looked like him, talked like him, smiled like him. The same kindness was in his eyes, albeit coloured by an existential weariness. It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying, and she’d let Sami and Jo do most of the talking.
Tam: I can only tell you what we know, and information is scarce. We lost the subspace networks early in the invasion. The only libraries and databases we have come from the surviving starships. ::He sighed once more.:: You’d think the Borg would be a goldmine, but they don’t store much data aboard their ships or in their drones, especially those they’ve abandoned.
Reynolds: If they assimilated Johnson, they must know about us, and know we’d want to set things right. But this timeline suits them down to the ground, and they won’t want us to discover anything we could use to undo it. ::She frowned as she continued the thought process.:: Moving most of their information storage to a unicomplex and making the fleet access it remotely would significantly reduce the chance of that.
Kael nodded at her, though she couldn’t tell if she was simply voicing a conclusion he’d already reached, or agreeing with a new theory. Operating like that could make individual Cubes and Spheres more vulnerable, but at this stage, what did that matter? Their conquest was complete, and resistance was minimal. If they lost ships and drones but preserved this timeline where the Borg were ascendant, they would no doubt consider it a worthy trade.
Marshall: Response
Reynolds: So we need to find a way to access their remote network. Or infiltrate a unicomplex. ::She took a deep breath as the enormity of it settled on her shoulders.:: And that might be the easiest part of repairing the damage to the timeline.
Neathler: It might be worth it to work on several fronts.
Marshall: Response
Neathler: ::She lowered her voice.:: If one team fails, we have others who might be able to complete their task.
Quinn glanced toward Sami, her thoughts running along similar lines. As much as she wanted to minimise how many people she sent into danger, she had to balance it with maximising their chance of success. It was one of the worst parts of command; there was no formula to follow, no calculation she could make. Just experience, information, and the best guess she could make. And the thought of that made her chest constrict, a premature ache at the thought of who and how many they could lose.
Reynolds: I agree.
Marshall: Response
Sami’s gaze shifted up, toward the XB watching them from the mezzanine. Quinn was deliberately trying not to think of her as their Lena Josett, much as she was trying not to think of Kael as her Kael. It was a little easier with the Bajoran-Cardassian hybrid, if only because she didn’t have the same connection to the woman. And that Lena’s situation would be improved if—or rather, when—they restored the timeline.
Neathler: So we need volunteers to infiltrate a unicomplex if we can locate one.
Volunteers? Perhaps it was callous, but Quinn had no intention of asking for volunteers. She was the ship’s captain, and she would give orders. Ensure the greatest chance of success by selecting what she thought were the right people for the job. Yes, the risks were astronomical, but they had all joined Starfleet knowing that was a part of the job.
Neathler: And someone should peruse those libraries and databases from the surviving starships. Find out where the timeline differs from our own.
Reynolds: What we need to find is the tipping point, what event or sequence of events Johnson changed. But if the Borg are trying to hide their records from us, that implies what we need won’t be found here. ::She paused and shook her head.:: If Wolf 359 never happened in this timeline, we should check if the Enterprise still encountered the Borg thanks to Q.
Tam: I can tell you that much—they did. It was the first and only contact we’d had with the Borg before the invasion.
Marshall: Response
Neathler raised her hand, and then lowered it again. To gesture at their silent watcher? Lena could be a good source of information—if she had any. Given what Kael had said earlier, she wasn’t sure what the woman would know. And that was assuming she’d be willing to share, although Quinn wasn’t sure why she wouldn’t. Kael was content to let the hybrid overhear all of this conversation, so she couldn’t imagine Lena had any objections to their goal, at least.
Neathler: Maybe Lena can provide us with a possible location, ::She paused and looked towards Quinn and Jo.:: Or maybe we can pinpoint its location by examining the last transmissions from the drones that are currently in the ship’s morgue.
Reynolds: It’s worth checking with both. Best-case scenario, one can confirm the other.
Neathler / Marshall: Response
Quinn glanced up at the mezzanine, then back toward Kael. It was like a growing itch, the desire to be somewhere he wasn’t, to put his face out of her mind. If such a thing was possible. With lines of investigation they could pursue, it seemed like a good time to make an exit. She had a feeling that the respite was hardly going to qualify; in the absence of Kael’s presence, there were plenty of other things to weigh on her shoulders.
Reynolds: Alright. It seems like we have the beginnings of a plan, at least. We can speak with Lena, then head back to the ship.
Kael looked at her for a moment and then nodded. He turned his gaze toward the former Borg, watching them from the second floor, and beckoned her down. Lena stepped back, vanishing back into the shadows, and Quinn assumed she was on her way down. Her stomach dropped at the thought, her throat dry; she might not know Lena well, but the idea of seeing one of her crew in that state was a sobering one.
Neathler / Marshall: Response
Reynolds: ::She looked to Sami and Jo.:: Is there anything else we should ask in the meantime?
Neathler / Marshall: Response
Commanding Officer
USS Gorkon
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