Futile

<WARNING. Antimatter storage malfunction. Containment failure imminent.>

As coolant conduit 3 ruptured in his ear, Ensign Jonathan Hansen ordered a warp core ejection.

<WARNING. Warp core ejection systems off-line. Containment failure in pro..>

An almost blinding white light filled main engineering of the USS-Enterprise-E and Hansen knew he had had it. Then, he remembered.

<Program Ended>

Hansen instantly reappeared in holosuite 3.

"Damn it."

This was his third attempt at engineering holotest alpha five, and with only three days to go until his final assessment, Hansen had to move fast. For the past four years, he had been slaving away at Starfleet academy working towards his commission in Starfleet and if he didnt pass this test, he would throw it all away.

Ensign Jonathan Hansen was the cousin of Anika Hansen, the first Human ever assimilated by the Borg, over thirty years ago. As a child, he had heard of his Uncles great achievements in the field of propulsion, and how his invention had propelled him and his family in to the depths of the delta quadrant. With the return of Anika and the knowledge of slipstream technology, Jonathan knew that he had to follow in his Uncles footsteps and go further than any Human had ever gone before. His ticket to his dream was Starfleet, and USS-Leviathan NCC-1286234.

The Leviathan was the most advanced ship in the fleet and Starfleet was looking for the most advanced officers to serve on her. Hansen was a capable officer, but so were half the other academy graduates. He had made it this far, to the final leg of the selection process for a posting as assistant engineer on board Leviathan.

"Computer, restart simulation." <Procedure not recommended. Holosuite undergoing upgrade.>

"This is important, damn it! Override, authorization Hansen four seven alpha tango."

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

*Great. Im trying to earn the posting of my life, and the computers having an identity crisis.*

"This is the emergency medical hologram. Please state the nature of the medical emergency!"

Hansen had had enough. He had been working on the holotest all morning and at the precise moment when he really needs the simulation, the things been replaced with a simulation of an Apollo class sickbay.

"Computer, end program and activate engineering holotest alpha five." <Command level authorization is required to run holoprograms other than emergency medical hologram on sickbay holo-emitters.>

This was bad. Not only had the holotest been erased, the computer really did think that he was in sickbay.

"Computer, exit." <Please restate request.>

"Computer, arch!" <Please restate request.>

The emergency medical hologram, who by now was getting slightly more than fed up decided to but in to Hansens argument with the computer.

"Would you please tell me whats going on here."

"Computer, who was the last person to access engineering holotest alpha five?" <Engineering holotest alpha five was last accessed by Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Hansen.>

"Lieutenant Commander?" <Affirmative.>

"Excuse me? Do you need a doctor at all?!" "Computer deactivate emergency medical hologram." "Now wait just a min"

With the signature shimmer of a degrading hologram, the EMH left Ensign Hansen.

"Computer, if I currently hold the rank of Lieutenant Commander, why wont you accept my command level codes?" <Processing.Unknown.>

[Lieutenant Commander Hansen to the Bridge.] "On my way."

Hansen didnt know what was happening, but for now he decided to play along.

Location: USS Leviathan Bridge

"Commander," Devore said. "Were having some problems with the external sensors. Theres a ship out there that the computer cant identify. And when we attempted to get a visual, all we got was static."

"Sir, Ive been having problems with the holographic imaging system down in holosuite 3. The same thing thats causing the holosuite to malfunction may be the cause of the problem with the viewscreen. Computer, run a level 3 diagnostic of the external sensors, the holographic imaging system and the Bridge viewscreen." <Diagnostic in progress.>

"Sir," called the helmsman, "Were being hailed by the alien vessel. Audio channel only."

"Lets hear it. On speakers."

A voice all too familiar was thrown around the Bridge. One that Ensign Hansen had not heard in a long time.

[We are the Borg. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. You will be assimilated.]

The voice was Anikas, was Sevens.

*How can this be possible? Anika was rescued from the Borg years ago!*

[Whats the matter Jonathan? Wont you join us? You always wanted to follow in your Uncles footsteps!]

His mind racing, Jonathan Hansen answered the collective.

"You cant be Anika." [No. We are not. We are Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct of unimatrix zero one.] "But you were Anika once, werent you?" [We were assimilated thirty years ago by the Borg. We are and always shall be Borg.]

With that, Seven nodded her head at a control panel, and instantly the Leviathan Bridge was shaken like a rattle.

[You have three minutes to surrender your ships or we will destroy you.]

The Bridge shook again. "Hull breach on decks 5-8, casualty reports coming in."

"Commander Hansen, return to engineering. We need your expertise to keep us in one piece." "Why me sir?" "Well you are chief engineer!" "Right."

Location: USS Leviathan Main Engineering

<Diagnostic complete. There are anomalies found in all systems specified for diagnostic. All malfunctions are being caused by a malfunction in gel pack 15-beta.>

"Ensign Porter. Youll be in command of Engineering until I get back. Im going to check out a malfunctioning gel pack." "But sir, I think the Borg is something bigger to worry about!" "You have your orders Ensign."

Hansen was beginning to enjoy his new-found authority.

Location: Jefferies tube 15-04

Hansen reached for his tricorder and began to scan the gel pack.

~Join us.~ "Youre not Anika. This is all some sort of weird hallucination."

~We are Seven of Nine.~

Even more determined than ever, he finally managed to replace the gel pack, ignoring the voice of the collective calling him. The damaged gel pack suddenly morphed into Anika as Seven.

"You will join us. You will fulfil your goal and follow your Uncle."

The Anika/Seven/Gel-pack made one more final transformation. A male Borg stood before him.

"We are Six of Nine. You are Eight of Nine. You will join us."

"Uncle?!"

The Borg disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty Jefferies tube.

[Engineering to Hansen. You better get down here.]

Location: USS Leviathan Engineering

<WARNING. Antimatter storage malfunction. Containment failure imminent.>

"Computer, re-route emergency power to warp core ejection system!"

<Unable to comply. Emergency power is already routed to shields.>

As coolant conduit 3 ruptured in his ear, it suddenly dawned on Hansen how to save Leviathan.

"Computer, what is the current status of decks 5-8?"

<Hull breach on decks 5, 7 and 8. Emergency force fields not functioning. No lifesigns.>

"Redirect life support power from decks 5, 7, and 8 to shields and transfer emergency power from shields to warp core ejection system."

<Auto core ejection system activated.>

"Tractor the warp core to the Borg cubes co-ordinates."

<Program Ended>

Hansen woke to the image of Devore, two doctors and a pair of antennae looking over him.

"Sir? What hap"

"Dont try to move. You got a nasty shock off the holosuite grid when you tried to initiate the holotest during a slipstream drive test. You have Ensign Shaka to thank for all of this."

"Oh great. Did I miss the deadline for the holotest?"

"Im afraid you did. But Im going to allow you one more attempt due to this minor disaster."

"Thank you sir. You wont regret it."

"I better not."

The doctors and Ensign Shaka left Commander Devore and Ensign Hansen.

"Computer, activate engineering holotest alpha five."

"Hansen?"

"Yes sir?"

"This time Im watching you, and Im counting on you to pass."

As the hologrid disappeared to reveal the Enterprise engineering, Hansen knew he already had.