=/\=

Three hours later, the "senior staff" was still working. Their parents had been gone for almost two weeks. The children on the holodeck were doing fine, though Seth was concerned they holodeck running twenty-four hours was going to a serious drain on their power supply if or when they had to go into battle with the Mandorians. Natalie was optimistic she would be able to find a solution before it would come to bloodshed.

"Ok, what if we did take a shuttle down to the surface," Blake began, reverting back to a previous idea that had been eventually disbanded and thrown into the proverbial galactic waste basket. "If we did, is there away we could harmonize our shielding to match each level of shielding that came across as we descended to the planet. I know Voyager can’t do it, that why we decided no to do this plan, but the Borg have special technique’s to go through shielding by changing their shielding to match the weapons and shields. Can we manipulate that?"

It was a puzzling theory and a fascinating one at best. But to manipulate the Borg shielding technique would take months and years of research and testing. Most likely the Borg had assimilate the technology from a species that had spend years and years perfecting the design of the shielding. There would be no possible way the eight of them could design something remotely similar to what Blake was talking about in such a short amount of time. Half the crew of Voyager would be dead by the time they figured it out and Michelle Ashmore would be married.

However, the "senior staff" was not that logical and promptly decided to take on the challenge, despite the Doctor’s request to find a more suitable rescue mission.

"This could be dangerous and you have no idea how to even begin," the Doctor pressured. "This could take months." Natalie was no mood for pessimism.

"If you are going to be the rain on our parade, go drizzle in Sickbay," Natalie replied smugly. "The Bridge is waterproof." Most of the "senior staff" had already disbanded and set to work on coming up with an amateur version of the Borg shielding technology.

Anna and Emily read through all the available information Voyager had about the Borg shielding and analyzed Voyager’s capabilities at being able to create a version of their own.

"Remember," Naomi had warned. "It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to get us there and back. It doesn’t need to work forever." Anna and Emily understood and they went to work.

=/\=

Sixteen hours later and Anna and Emily were exactly where they had started. No problem had been more difficult for the girls. They were finding it very frustrating to weed through all the data on the Borg shielding. Even though Anna was fluent in Borg decryption codes, she wasn’t able to piece together the mechanics that guided the Borg shielding. Ashamed and confused, Anna threw down the PADD and leaned against the bulkhead in Engineering. The hum of the warp engine and the stress of finding her parents were giving her a migraine.

"That’s it!" she shouted. "I give up! I know longer want to do this". As soon as she said that, she regretted it. Saying she no longer wanted to work meant she no longer wanted to find her parents, and she knew that wasn’t true. "I just don’t think I can do this. It’s too hard. I don’t know enough to do this. I’m only nine and three-quarters old!". Emily chuckled at the "nine and three-quarters" bit. Anna laid her head in her hands.

"I am so sick of this," she whined. The console beeped. Anna raised her eyes. The console beeped again. Anna read the incoming information. "It worked."

"What?" Emily asked.

"It worked!" she exclaimed. "It worked, it worked, it worked. We did it, Em, we did it!". Emily and Anna danced around the room ecstatically. They rushed out of Engineering, making a mad dash for the Bridge.

=/\=

They entered the Bridge shrieking happily. Emily and Anna stopped short of Natalie and Naomi and paused to catch their breath. Natalie and Naomi waited patiently as they panted and gulped air.

"Better?" Natalie inquired.

"Yes," Emily gasped. "We…we did it. We got the shielding online. We’re ready to go." Everyone was silent for a moment, then they started jumping up and down in excitement.

"Batten down the hatches," Natalie quoted a phrase her mother used often. "We’re going to war."

"Aye, Captain," Emily said with a grin. "I’ll be in Engineering. Seth and I have a lot of work to do." Emily was in the turbolift before Natalie could say anything. Instead, she turned to Anna.

"Anna, I want you to go down to Astrometrics and keep tabs there," she ordered. Anna nodded and left. "The rest of us will take our stations here. We have a few hours before leave for the planet. Let’s make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. Oh, and someone is going to have to go down to the Holodeck and tell the kids what is going on". Blake took it upon himself to deliver the good news.

=/\=

Transport to: Table of Contents | Chapter Seven