Welcome back to Let’s Play. Upon beaming back to the U.S.S. Innovation, O’Malley learned that the Borg had killed every single officer on board the Innovation while he was away, leaving him in charge of the ship. Will the power go to his head, or will he spend most of his time tinkering with ship’s systems? (If you’re new, you might want to start with Episode One.)
Well, I guess I’m in charge of the ship. I head to the bridge and get my first overview of the situation in space.
It’s pretty bad. Debris floats everywhere. Damaged ships drift aimlessly. I don’t see any Borg ships in the immediate vicinity, which is probably a good thing, since weapons and shields are down. About the only systems that are functional are engines and navigation.
My first act as captain is an easy decision:
After all, my own replicators are broken, so why not take advantage?
Fortunately, I don’t have to decide what to do next on my own. The U.S.S. Seacole hails, and asks us to beam survivors from several nearby ships and deliver them to the Seacole for evacuation. Simple enough:
That task completed, I get hailed by the U.S.S. Renown. Their engines are down, but they’ve got the supplies necessary to get my weapons and shields online again. I’m to rendezvous with the Renown and get my ship repaired.
Turns out broken engines are the least of the Renown’s problems; they’re venting plasma, and their structural integrity field is on the verge of failure. I hail them when I arrive, and they beam over the necessary supplies.
“Can I maybe get some spare crewman? Or maybe a senior officer to command this ship?” I ask, hoping I won’t have to command the Innovation myself.
“Sorry, Ensign, we don’t have anyone we can spare. Now, once you get your weapons and shields back online, there are some damaged Borg spheres on the other side of the planet you can take out to test the repairs.”
The crewman at the con lays in a course, and we head to the other side of the planet. Meanwhile, engineering crews have the weapons and shields back up in short order. We soon encounter a pair of Borg spheres. They’re certainly damaged; their weapons and shields are apparently offline, and they only have minimal engine power. Good target practice, I suppose. I order their destruction.
They’re destroyed easily enough; I try not to get my hopes up. Real Borg spheres will be more trouble. Sure enough, the crewman at Ops tells me there are some Borg ships repairing themselves in sensor range. We head over to take them out.
Another Starfleet ship meets us there, and together we attack the spheres. These spheres have functional weapons, however, so I keep my fingers crossed that the shield repairs hold out. Soon enough, however, the spheres have been destroyed.
We receive a hail from the planet surface. Commander Kelly wants me to beam down and help take out some Borg installations on the ground. I motion for one of my bridge crew to tag along with me, and we head for the transporter room.
As soon as we arrive, Kelly looks disdainfully at my lack of equipment (and ignores my protests that I had personally tuned my phaser). He points at a crate of phaser rifles. I choose one at random, and he nods approvingly.
Alright, Ensign. There are some civilians in that complex being held hostage by the Borg. I need to you to rescue them.” He points at a group of Borg surrounding a cowering civilian.
Hostages? Borg don’t take hostages… Kelly merely shrugs when I ask. “Who knows why the Borg do anything?”
I look around. Kelly is being guarded by several Starfleet officers. “Could I get some help?”
“What, you want some of my crew? I’m sorry, Ensign. I need them to protect me. I’m coordinating ground efforts here, and they can’t be spared.”
Sighing, I head into the complex and take out several groups of Borg. Civilians run away the moment the Borg are distracted; they won’t even stop long enough to let me ask them any questions.
The last of the civilians rescued, Kelly contacts me via my combadge. “There’s a Borg communications device being set up nearby. I need you to disable it before they can call for reinforcements. Kelly out.”
Sure enough, there’s a large structure being set up nearby by the Borg. Several groups of Borg are patrolling the perimeter, and a shield has been set up protecting the main structure.
Well, if an engineer has any useful skills, it’s disabling computers, so there’s nothing but to go for it.
My crewmate and I take out several borg drones, then head for a computer console just outside the shield. I figure out a way to hack into it and disable the shield; then we disable the transmitter from the console on the inside.
The transmitter shuts down, and Kelly contacts me again. “Good job, Ensign,” he says, “the transmitter is down. I’m getting reports from Starfleet that a few more Borg spheres have arrived; you’d better get up to your ship and take them out.”
I’m just about to complain about having to do everything myself, when the crewman at Ops tells me several other Starfleet ships have arrived to assist.
“Fire,” I say, with as much drama as I can muster.
The Borg sphere barely finishes its transmission — We are the Borg, resistance is futile — before it explodes.
We’re busy celebrating when we get another hail. It’s Admiral Quinn, from Starfleet Command.
“Ensign O’Malley, you’ve done well against the Borg; they appear to be retreating. Have you ever considered command?”
“Sir,” I reply, “I’d much rather be an engineer.”
“I’m sorry, Ensign,” he says. “You’re…” He pauses. “We need all the ship captains we can get, and you’ve actually shown some affinity for it. Head to Earth Stardock for repairs; come see me in my office while you’re here.”
Why do I suddenly get the feeling I’m in trouble?
Join us again for next week’s episode of Let’s Play Star Trek Online: Azura Rescue (or: Innovation Renovation)!