（外文电子版资料）Star Trek - DS9 - 001 - Emissary - J M Dillard.doc

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Emissary J. M. Dillard CHAPTER 1 HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER with Jean-Luc Picard shattered Ben Siskos life forever. On stardate 44002.3, a fleet of forty Federation starships received orders to proceed to Wolf 359 to intercept a Borg vessel on its way to Earth. The Saratoga was the first to arrive. Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko served as the Saratogas first officer. Like the rest of the crew, Sisko had never seen a Borg and knew little of the race save that Starfleet Command deemed them a grave threat. He knew they were considered even more treacherous, more dangerous, than the Romulans; he knew that most others who had engaged them perished. Sisko was not afraid. He had absolute faith in himself, his captain, his ship, the Fleet. But he had not been prepared for the size of the thing. On Saratogas main bridge viewscreen, the Borg ship hung gray and motionless against a backdrop of stars, dwarfing the Federation vessel with its vastness. To Siskos eyes it wasnt even a proper ship, but a huge ungainly cube of spaceborne metal layered with thousands upon thousands of randomly placed conduits, piping and tiny compartments. There was no sleekness to it, no grace, no suggestion its builders had taken any care or pride or pleasure in its design. It looked as if some mindless force, some instinct, had driven them to add on each scrap of metal, each honeycomb, bit by bit. Like a bird building a nest, Sisko thought. Or a hive. Insects building a gigantic metal hive. At the sight, Captain Storil leaned forward in his chair and frowned, a faint crease appearing between his dark upswept brows. Sisko took note of the gesture. For the captain, it was the equivalent of a gasp, a muttered curse, a reaction of resounding surprise. Storil was a Vulcan, dedicated to the repression of feeling in the pursuit of pure reason. Like most of his race, he possessed an astonishing intelligence and a degree of mastery over his emotions that made him, by human s