By Alan Tripp

–

Scene: Main Bridge, U.S.S. Beowulf

—Last Time—

“Where who went, Captain?” asked Sar at tactical, the Romulan’s expression one of curiosity.

“Starfleet’s original 27th Expeditionary Fleet,” Alan Sollace answered. “Aka. ‘The Lost Fleet.’”  

—And Now—

“It’s one of the great mysteries,” he continued. 

“An entire fleet went missing while out on some sort of mission,” the captain explained. 

“Official story was training maneuvers, but most believe they were on some sort of covert mission.”

“We too had a fleet that went missing around that time,” the Romulan tactical officer, Sar, noted. 

She shuddered slightly. 

“It was all covered up, and any talk of it was squashed to the point of you’d not speak of it out of fear of disappearing.”  

“It appears they went to do battle with one another and something happened with that … anomaly …. Event … Whatever it was and dragged them here as it did us,” Alan speculated. 

He then pointed at the screen. 

“And that Starfleet captain I do believe is a distant relative … several generations removed.” 

That’s when the klaxons sounded … the one marking attempted unauthorized beam ins. 

Sar’s fingers crossed her panel as she absorbed the readings. 

“Borg are trying to punch through our shields to beam in. … So far, they’ve been unsuccessful.” 

“But we all know that might not last,” he noted. 

“Break out the swords and knives,” he ordered. 

—

Scene: Main Bridge, U.S.S. Sam Houston

“We’ve got Borg punching through our shields, Captain,” Lt. Apojyn reported calmly. 

She’d trained her people well, one lesson being to maintain a sense of calm even in battle.

“So far deck five is the only breach,” the Bajoran added.

“Break out the swords and the knives,” she ordered. 

—

 Scene: Main Bridge, U.S.S. Beowulf

“Swords?” asked the chief tactical officer. 

“Swords,” Alan said. 

“During my first mission aboard the U.S.S. Nelson …,” Alan continued.

—U.S.S. Sam Houston—

“… we encountered a lone Borg Cube,” Ahlayna continued, speaking to Houston’s chief tactical officer. 

—U.S.S. Beowulf—

“They boarded the ship …” said Alan. “… and while helping repel them, I made use of this family sword,” he patted the sword at his side.

—U.S.S. Sam Houston—

Ahlayna reached up to touch the hilt of the sword strapped to her back.

“Who would have thought that something as simple as a bladed weapon would slice through the Borg personal shields like a knife through butter,” she said. 

“So, pull out what’s stored in the armory and replicate whatever else needed …” 

—U.S.S. Beowulf—

“… and tell the crew to not be afraid to use them if it comes down to being assimilated and sticking them with the pointy end,” Alan finished. 

Thinking of the Nelson brought back fond memories of that ship and crew, but he quickly pushed those thoughts from his head. 

They had a threat to deal with and then something occurred to him. 

The ships of the Lost Fleet would have no idea who the Borg were, what they represented and how to meet that threat. 

“Frak,” he muttered before turning to communications. 

“Contact the Excalibur and tell them we are going to talk with the older ships and brief them on the Borg threat,” he ordered. “Then get me the captain of the U.S.S. Red Wolf.” 

— OUT OF STORY —

Alan Sollace is the older male version of Ahlayna Sollace. Both are technically the same person, but from different realities … different timelines.

The added twist is that in the STO universe, Sollace was born female.