SD 03/05/05 - "Hybiscus of Borg" aka "The Wrath of Ironbottom #11" He's back, and worse than ever. Much worse.

Seven of Eleven, the "Bored Borg" we talked to in that first encounter with that cube of odd Borg a couple years ago gave us the news. Ironbottom's taken over the cube! It seems thanks to a "programing error," he was able to impose his will over the collective and take it over instead of the other way around. Those Borg whose feedback suggested they felt less than cooperative with his goals, were thrown out by Ironbottom, or "Hybiscus" as he's calling himself now. He seems more like a noxious weed than a flower to me. Oh well, Piccard went low with "Locutus," so it seems he decided to go a "high" route.

And what are his goals? What Seven told us sounded like Ironbottom's Borgification twisted his desires even further. He wants to conquer the Federation, assimulating humanity under his rule and driving everything else out, then drive away the empires surrounding it. One Galaxy, under Ironbottom, one race, his Borgified version of humanity - without free will and under his absolute control, one ruler, him - Ironbottom.

His danger couldn't have been made more clear.

Despite the "space herpes," the ship has been fixed up to the point where it's ready to go. Our two main sticking points, we're undermanned and those rodents chewed up the long-distance communications. We can recieve normally, but still can't send to anything beyond scanner range.

So we're on our way, on our way to kick Ironbottom's ... bottom.

Oddly enough, Seven of Eleven and his small group of Borg in their shuttle are coming to help, so they say. "Hybiscus took over our cube," they say. Considering who they Borg are, one wonders *why* are they helping us? Seven answered they were doing just fine before Ironbottom took over, getting materials only when they needed them. "Vanila Borg," to use a quote from Orlan, he told us expand only when they feel is necessary, very seldom going out of their way to get a world far from their frontiers, and do not desire rapid campaigns of conquests as Ironbottom does. When questioned about the Borg Queen reported from some eyewitnesses, Seven responded they hadn't heard from her in several years.

That last bit of info and the "Bored Borgs' " odd behavior does lead one to wonder. Did some malfunction split them off from the Collective and made them live on their own? If so, maybe we can negotiate something once the battle is over. Maybe ... considering Borg have a habit of going back on their deals once they have what they want, best to always have a loaded phaser on hand.

So we're off, three ships to fight Ironbottom's cube, the Borg shuttle, the Ferrengi Marauder Moneybags, and this huge Battle Carrier. To make sure the Moneybags stays in the fight, I had a number of personel over there at all times. However the ranking officer when I made the decission to go was Lt. Droolin. Considering the Ferrengis' reputation for being lechers, at least they can relate to him on that level. As there's no women there, at least he'll be keeping his pants on. I just hope the bunch isn't slobbering over porno should Ironbottom pull an ambush on us.

A lot can go wrong, but for the moment what's foremost on my mind is the pleasure of being able to launch a photon torpedo salvo at the figure who's been a pain to us for so long.

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