The Call of Darkness Part of LT.Hit-Man's Fanfic Challenge by Spyda ___________________________ Blood. One word, so many meanings. The Federation with their unlikely band of allies up till now had been successful in holding off the Imperial advances. And then there were the Borg. Ever since the attempted invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy the Borg have become almost twice as active. "They wont adapt to plasma." Said the egg heads in R & D. But the Borg found a way. Without warning One hundred and thirty eight cubes all of a sudden became almost totally immune to turbo laser fire. All seemed lost. But luck shined on the Empire and the spread of the Borg was halted at the wormhole with the use of advanced proton torpedoes. So there wasn't much left in the galaxy but keep the rebels in check. This is where Lt Hit-man came in. Fending off Borg one day and rebels the next, this cybernetic warrior desperately needed a break. The lieutenant had fought for the Empire for far longer then he could remember. The broken bodies of his enemies lay underfoot in the thousands. The call of the battle was all he knew. Hit-man had served his duty to the Empire for long enough now was a time for rest. As he looked over the frozen horizon of Hoth he remembered battles fought long ago. A grin came over his part-machine face. He remembered his enemies falling. But then he also remembered the sacrifices that were made. How the VERY few people that he could have ever relied upon, even fewer that could have could themselves friend, gave their lives for the Empire. His burning red eye glared as the lieutenant continued on his way. He had always thought of Hoth as a peaceful world and, apart from the wild storms that would rage over the icy plains every so often, he was right. He arrived at the caves previously occupied by the Rebels during the Battle of Hoth. With his implants, Lt Hit-man had no problem surviving the cold. The comfortable shelter provided by the former Rebel cave made an excellent place where he could temporarily detach from his world as an Imperial assassin. Hit-man pulled up a seat and stretched out. He opened his backpack and removed some of his items. The bag contained numerous small items to make the most of the lieutenants vacation. Stretching out, Hit-man removed a bottle of Romulan ale and swilled some down. "Oh man, I haven't felt this good in a LONG time. Holonet! Channel scan." A small holographic projector came to life. However no image appeared above the plate. "Hey you piece o' shit! I said Channel scan!" Still nothing happened. Two thoughts ran through Hit-man's mind. Number one, go back to the shuttle and go get a new projector, number two, apply the force grip simultaneously to the salesman's neck and testicles. Hit-man rose to his feet then quickly and purposefully dropped to the ground. "Shit…" he whispered to himself. Over a small icy mound in the cave, two Borg drones stood and looked around conducting scans. The lieutenant reached for his E-11 and prepared to do the job that he does best. "Hey ugly! Catch!" The two drones turned around to see the burly cyborg holding a very large gun. Two consecutive blasts ended their service to the collective. "Heh, this vacation even comes with free entertainment. God I love this place!" Hit-man stood and admired his handy work until he realized what was happening. "Shit." The only word that had any real meaning to him as he vanished from existence. Hit-man soon found his hands bound to a vertical table. Machinery and Borg drones attending to their assigned tasks was all that he could see. In a brief moment of realization he understood exactly what had happened. He had been transported to a Borg cube. As he completely came to his senses he knew that some time had passed since he was beamed aboard. "I take it you assholes have already tried to assimilate me huh? Didn't work did it? My implants will reject your stinking nanoprobes!" The drones ignored Hit-man as he continued to let them know what he though of them. In the process many new and exciting words were added to the collectives vocabulary. "You bastards are sure gonna get it. Once I get out of this shit I'm gonna cut you guys up so bad you'll be begging me to kill you!" Again the drones ignored Hit-man's taunts. "Alright? Where are you taking me?" The vertical slab began to move forward and Lt Hit-man was taken to a large room. Robotic arms carrying strange looking components combined together. The components snapped into place forming a female body. Finally a head a head attached to a long robotic spine slid and clicked into place. "Hey she-bitch! How about letting me out of this thing?" The Borg queen looked at the cyborg with unfeeling eyes and slowly approached. "Such a crude mentality. Common among your species." "Look lady. It's obvious that I'm here for a reason. You gonna get to the point anytime soon?" "How efficient. We can not assimilate you. But that is a problem we shall soon overcome. As we speak nanoprobes are being specially modified to bypass your cybernetic defenses." "Shit happens, what's your point?" "I'm offering you something else. Will you be my equal?" "Ah you want another Locutus." "Yes." "Well I think I can safely say…go fuck yourself." Hit-man said with a grin. The Borg Queen sneered and then began to speak with her usual unemotional voice. "You cannot possibly imagine the life you just denied yourself." The drones grabbed hold of the slab and moved Hit-man out of the room. He found himself in a long corridor. No other drones were present in this part of the ship. It was obviously non vital and having drones present would have been a waste of resources. That was the way of the Borg, efficient down to the very last detail. Suddenly his restraints snapped open and Hit-man was released from the steel slab. He spun around and prepared to make the two drones behind him suffer, badly. Only the two drones were already lying face down, dead. Hit-man deciding that it would be best to try and figure it out later ran down the corridor, trying to find something that would help him out. There wasn't really much he could do on a Borg cube but there was the possibility that he may find something useful. His first objective was to recover his weapons. Around the corner he stopped dead in his tracks. Six drones were rapidly approaching. Hit-man knew this wouldn't end well. Without his trusty E-11 and lightsaber by his side he could only rely on his fists. But he wasn't about to let them have it easy. As it was a thousand times before, Hit-man was ready to fight to the death. As the drones moved in a blurred figure moved out of the shadows, standing directly between Hit-man and the drones. Two consecutive blasts of an unknown weapon screamed down the corridor. The blue bolts struck the group of drones tearing them apart on impact. The Borg corpses fell to the ground. As the figure turned around, Hit-man knew this was some kind of stealth device. He could see right through the strange being but could still make out it's shape. As the creature stepped into the light his cloak began to subside. Standing before the lieutenant was what appeared to be a human being. He stood at about six foot four inches. A black line ran up along his skin from the front of the left side of his neck just passing by the right side of his mouth. Another black line came up the back of the left side of his neck slowly twisting around to the front and becoming parallel to the other line near his left eye. The two lines continued up in between his eyes and disappeared into his neatly cut, jet black, hair. The whole left side of his face was almost completely white, gently merging with the almost normal looking right side. His right eye was blizzard blue while the other was a burning red. Though unlike the lieutenant, the entire eye wasn't red, merely the iris pigmentation as if it was a natural eye colour. He was dressed in a black combat suit and in his hand was a large silver gun. The barrel was rectangular and several inches long, it was quite large for a standard blaster. "We have to move quickly. Here are your weapons." The strange man hands Lt Hit-man his E-11 and lightsaber and walked briskly down the corridor. "Hey!" Hit-man yelled and the man stopped without making a sound. "Who the hell are you?" The man paused for a moment to consider answering the question. Deciding that refusing to answer might hamper his mission he obliged. "My name…is Spyda." “Well I'm. . .” “Lieutenant Hit-Man. I know who you are.” “Well that's just great Spyda… You mind telling me why your inside a Borg cube?” “We don't have much time.” Spyda suddenly looks down the corridor and then back at the lieutenant. “Five percent of this cubes drone population has been dispatched to assimilate you. This is a seldom used junction, it will take them several minutes to get here.” “Why mine? I didn't scrap those drones, you did.” “I’ll explain later. This way.” Spyda leads Hit-Man through a series of darkened corridors and passageways. Numerous redundant systems lined the walls. In the event of an emergency this area would more than likely flood with drones. Hit-man turned his attention away from Spyda for a moment. When he turned around the stranger was gone. “Hey! Where'd you go?” Much to the lieutenant's disappointment, Spyda did not answer his question. Instead a pair of drones became visible in the distance. Along with a pair of drones behind him and to both sides. Hit-Man was standing in the middle of a four way junction and drones were advancing from all sides. “Well boys…let’s make this quick.” Hit-Man drew his E-11 and proceeded to unload as much plasma as he could. The bolts of energy spread in all directions, felling the drones like small trees. Leaving nothing but blood flesh and metal. After a few moments the drones stopped falling. The bolts of energy stopping mere centimetres from their targets. The drones got closer and closer. A cybernetic arm reached out toward Hit-Man. “FUCK YOU!!” Hit-Man drew his light sabre and the dark blade sparked into existence. Hit-Man separated the arm from it's owner and sliced another advancing drone in the same swing. He spun and twirled the weapon with high finesse and deadly accuracy. The drones each fell to the ground in more pieces then when they arrived. A single drone was left standing. Hit-Man flung himself at the vile creature and swung with all the power he could muster. The blade glided in but never made contact. Instead stopping a few centimetres from the drone's armour. “No. . .it can't be. . .” A high pitched whine filled the air and the drone stood dead in it's tracks. For a split second the drone stood motionless, then it began to advance toward Hit-Man. Hit-Man swung again, the darkened blade glided swiftly through the drone. The drone landed on the ground in pieces. Hit-Man extinguished his light sabre and surveyed his work. Spyda immerged from the shadows holding a small device unfamiliar to the lieutenant. “That drone. . .it had adapted.” “I know.” “How?” “I stopped it from relaying it's information to the collective. Without instructions, the drone itself lost the data.” “They were all coming after me.” “They can only see you.” Spyda hands the device to Hit-Man, it resembled an old silencer. “Fix that to your E-11. It's the only way to counter act a metaphasic shield.” “What does it do?” “It will detect the modulation of their shields and alter your shots to fire on the same frequency. Instead of cancelling out the amplitude of the blast, it will double it.” "Well thanks for the toy. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got one mean bitch to pop." "That's inadvisable. My mission here is to set charges at each power conduit sub junction. I will destroy this cube." "I don't give a rats ass. The bitch is dying, and that's that." "Fine, there's a tyderian shuttle docked three floors down. It's fitting with an adaptive shield. That will be your escape." "What about you?" "I have an alternate means. You will need to be careful, the Borg will try to assimilate you." Hit-Man looked Spyda in the eye. He flicked his E-11 into ready position and held it out ready for battle. "They will fail." Spyda vanished into the darkness and Hit-man was left alone. He stepped over the numerous broken bodies of the drones and continued on his way. Reaching forward with his E-11 he let loose a barrage of energy at another group of drones bearing down on him. The small group of about four drones quickly dropped to the ground with quite sizeable holes in their chests. The lieutenant moved on and was confronted with another group of drones, and another, and another. All who stood in his way were cut down by the super heated fire from his E-11. The Queen stood motionless in her chamber knowing what was to come. She turned around only to face an oncoming red blast. Glancing into the oncoming artificial flame the thoughts running through her mind quickly changed. Assimilate, survive...then nothing. Quickly the lieutenant made his way to the shuttle. The borg remained in their alcoves. The shuttle launched into space as it's wings expanded. For a brief moment Hit-man considered the stranger that helped him on the cube. Who was he? What would become of him? And would he ever see him again? At that precise moment, the entire cube erupted in a giant, thundering ball of flames.