SECTOR 001 – The crew of StarBase 118 Ops played a critical role in stopping the assimilated Enterprise-F as it attempted to destroy Spacedock and launch an assault on Earth.
After returning from a mission, the crew of StarBase 118 Ops aboard the USS Narendra (NCC-26595) received orders to join the fleet at Sector 001. What was meant to be a celebration of Frontier Day quickly turned into chaos as Starfleet ships inexplicably turned on one another.
“Starfleet ships firing on other Starfleet ships. Friends fighting…killing friends,” recalled Marine 2nd Lieutenant Francisco Villa of StarBase 118’s Echo Company. “It was like nothing I’d ever seen before.”
Following a conversation with Commander Serala of the USS Chin’toka (NCC-97187), Commodore Sal Taybrim and his crew took over from Captain Mei’konda Delano and the USS Astraeus (NCC-70652), allowing the Astraeus to regroup. The Narendra then set its sights on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F), Starfleet’s flagship, which had been assimilated by the Borg.
The Enterprise and its crew were leading an assault on Spacedock and Earth, but the efforts of the Astraeus had bought time for the unassimilated forces to organize a counteroffensive.
“The Astraeus had been designed for deep space exploration. The Narendra was designed as a warship from a time when war was a reality and not something the Federation waved away as a folly of the distant past,” explained Commodore Taybrim. “And in this situation, that design mattered. The Narendra was far more maneuverable than the Astraeus—or even the Chin’toka—and she was fresh.”
As the larger battle raged, the Narendra engaged the Enterprise, throwing everything it had at the more modern ship. Joined by the USS Rahuba (NCC-70655) and the Raptors of Echo Company, the crew of StarBase 118 Ops found themselves at a disadvantage until a daring plan from the Narendra’s bridge crew turned the tide. Using a tractor beam, they grabbed the remains of the USS Chawla, which had been destroyed earlier, and launched the wreckage toward the Enterprise. The resulting warp core breach disabled the flagship.
With engineering teams working frantically to repair damage from the battle, the Narendra barely restored warp power in time to escape the blast radius.
Meanwhile, an internal battle had been raging aboard the Narendra as assimilated crew members fought against their shipmates. Once the Enterprise was disabled, however, the Borg link appeared to have been severed.
While the full effects of the assimilations on the crew—and the toll of the battle on those who were not assimilated—remain uncertain, Earth and Spacedock are now safe. The crew of StarBase 118 is finally on their way home for a well-deserved rest.
Written by Gogigobo Fairhug
