The Nexus slowly crept forward at half impulse, its eight wide-beam energy banks waving their multicolored fans of destruction, exploding all incoming Swarmers.
The beams were incredibly effective, able to destroy and make hundreds of Swarmers explode before their burst and shock radius could affect the Nexus, while simultaneously taking out the other Swarmers nearby. The Nexus was essentially swimming through a sea of explosive fire and insectoid hull husks and debris.
As the Nexus delved deeper into the swarm, the Hur'q cloud diverted all its efforts to thwart the behemoth vessel. Their one singular tactic of overwhelming a single point was the only tactic the savage and maddened Hur'q knew.
—
"Weapon batteries at 3% sir!" Veirik yelled out, the frustration evident in his voice. "The ship wasn't designed for such long combat exposure. It was designed with the Plasmonic Leech in mind to quickly replenish energy supplies." He shook his head as he saw all his weapon batteries flash red alerts. "I'm getting just minuscule amounts back from the beam arrays. These Swarmers are just too small to replenish what we are expelling!"
Kayuli spoke up, his holographic image flickering from the damage on the bridge. "I am detecting larger ships inbound, sir. If we reduce engine power even more, and divert it to the weapon batteries, we could create more sustainable feedback loops on the larger ships!"
Anzyl nodded, his fingers clenched to the chair. "Agreed. Siphon everything we can from the larger frigates. Helm, drop to minimal thrusters. Tactical, find us a larger prey and go hunting! Fan the Swarmers with the energy array that requires the least amount of energy output!"
Veirik nodded, his hands already flying across his console. "We seem to have gone through the majority of their Swarmers. I can single-target them now easily. Switching to Yellow Kinetic beam arrays."
—
Outside, the Nexus slowed to a crawl as only two thin, yellow beams of pure kinetic energy jolted out. Like little flashes of yellow lasers, the Borg's energy weapon of choice sliced and shredded the tiny Swarmers as they approached, making them burst into explosions.
The larger Vridyat Ravagers—frigates about the size of a standard space-faring vessel—sped toward the Nexus. These were followed by the even larger Nekcrid Assemblies, slower-moving cruisers that acted as the Hive's main bodyguard vessels.
—
Veirik's face twisted into a wry smile, and he adjusted his footing, looking like a predator about to pounce as he saw the larger ships approach on his screen. "Come to papa… Daddy's hungry…" he whispered to himself, then fired his plasma beams as soon as they entered range. "Attacking larger ships with Plasma; it has the best feedback ratio."
—
As the larger ships approached, the Nexus fired off six teal-colored plasma beams. The vessel's shields sputtered and flickered as every volt of energy was siphoned by the Plasmonic Leech feedback loop, as if the Nexus had begun feasting on the insectoid vessels.
—
"It's working!!" Veirik cried from his console. "The Plasmonic Leech is siphoning their shields and electromagnetic radiation fields that power their ships! Weapon batteries at 35%!"
Anzyl clapped a cheer in his chair. "Yes! Keep siphoning until batteries are at 50%, then reroute the siphoned energy back into shields and the Hull Nanite replicators. We need our ship to heal itself."
"Yessir!" Veirik cried back as the batteries on his console quickly began to fill up.
—
Outside, the Nexus blasted any and all incoming vessels. The smaller Swarmers it swatted away like flies with its yellow kinetic beams, while the larger frigates and cruisers were drained of all their energy before they could even get in range. By the time the Nexus was in range of their weapons, the ships were nothing more than lifeless, dark husks, drained of all their energy and power.
—
"Hull nanite replicators at full power!" Eroga yelled from her Operations console. "Hull and repair nanites in full activation!" Her face was aglow as the bridge began to sparkle with tiny blue repairing Borg nanites, as if someone had dusted the bridge with blue glitter. Bulkheads glistened and fixed themselves, and consoles sparkled blue as cracks were sealed and wired back into place.
"Shields at 100%!" Keten smiled and looked up at the Captain. "The Nexus is as good as new, sir!"
Anzyl grinned from ear to ear. "Man, I love this ship." He sat back in his chair as it glistened blue, repairing the burns and cracked frames. "Okay, time to take out the hive. We have our order to put the Mad hives out of their misery. Helm, Full speed ahead."
"Aye aye, Captain," Lusaalli replied from her own glistening blue console. "Full impulse towards the Vedcrid Hive."
—
The Nexus' impulse engines flared as it sped past the lifeless, drifting husks of ships, approaching the substantially larger Vedcrid Hive—a mother ship of the Hur'q, a gargantuan vessel that looked like a three-pronged spearhead, with organic-looking connections throughout its massive hull.
—
Anzyl let out a sigh as he glared at the last ship on his viewscreen. "Time to put these mad and infected bugs out of their misery… Fire all weapons!"
—
The Nexus unleashed its full force on the massive hive vessel. Armed with only phasic beams and turrets, the hive was surprisingly unprotected, as its main line of defense and offense were the thousands of Swarmers, which was now glittering debris in the background.
The Hive ship gave minimal resistance as it fired its phaser beams, and was suddenly horrendously bombarded by the Nexus and its overpowering eight Plasma beam arrays and volleys of red torpedoes. The Hive's shields buckled, and the ship's hulls erupted from the impacts of the torpedoes. The ship sputtered and then erupted in a massive eruption of fire, flames, and debris.
—
"Yes!" Veirik cheered as the bridge of the Nexus erupted in cheers and high-fives amongst the crew.
Anzyl let out a deep sigh of relief, sitting back in his chair and closing his eyes. "I never want to see another Hur'q bug ship ever again…"
He then sat up and tapped his combadge. "Praxas to Sickbay, casualty report."
—
T walked around Sickbay, his calm and collected voice replying back. "Thirteen crewmen suffered plasma and fire burns from exploding consoles across the ship; they are being treated now." He said, administering medical hypo sprays and dermal regenerators to nursing staff. "And as for our 'medical concerns' earlier, Captain, all telepathic crew members are reporting quiet and calm silence." A kind smile escaped his Al Aurian face as he smiled at Alia and Tuvix, both sitting up from their med bays, exhausted and letting out sighs of relief.
"I expect full recoveries across the board. T out." He said, smiling softly at his crew and his pristine, functioning, sterile Sickbay and his domain.
—
Captain Praxas leaned back in his chair, a wide, triumphant grin on his face. "That's good to hear, T. Then all will be available for the children's Band and Orchestra recital in the Melting Pot at 1800 hours. I expect my First Officer to make an appearance." He chuckled, knowing full well what this meant for Alia.
—
T, ever the professional, simply nodded and continued his rounds. However, a small smile played on his lips as he looked over at Med Bay 7.
In Med Bay 7, Alia, who had just managed to find some semblance of peace and quiet, immediately slumped in her med-bay chair. The buzzing noise was gone, replaced by a quiet serenity she hadn't felt in days. That peace, she now realized, was to be short-lived. She let out a soft sigh, knowing that she would have to face a room full of energetic, children playing their hearts out on musical very loud instruments.
Tuvix sees her and leans over beside her, "Oh, Cheer up Commander, I hear they have been practicing Beethoven's 5th and got the opening just right… sort of."