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Space amaliens (try to) recruit Samaria
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Sure, he can show her where to find them.

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She doesn't seem to have meetings scheduled or anything so she will go ahead and be a full-time student of the galaxy. Plus concerts if she can figure out how to set those up.

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Graft is happy to help her set it up.

A week later Lucien notifies her that a Borg prisoner has arrived and she can come to talk them.

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Right. Okay. She will... brief herself on security procedures.

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Security procedures: Do not accept offers of assimilation, do not disable the security forcefield.

 

The Borg's cell is moved in, the entire room hovering an inch above the ground. One of the walls is a translucent forcefield - she sees the Borg within. It's host is a middle aged woman who does not at all look like she was in fighting shape before she was assimilated - her bodies bearing obvious surgical scars where fat and organs were removed and cybernetics added. She doesn't look quite as dead as some of the Borg in the pictures she was.

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"Hello."

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The Borg stares at her but doesn't otherwise respond.

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"I'm Isabella. Do you have a name?"

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"This unit has no designation." says the Borg, in a hoarse monotone.

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"Would you like a name?"

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"No."

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"Why not?"

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"This unit is one of the Borg, that is all this unit is."

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"Is the - unit's - brain - still working -"

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"Yes, this unit has functioning memory centers."

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"She's still alive. The Borg can access their host's memories as long as that's the case."

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"- Lucien, if you can't fix her, maybe you should kill her and wait until there's one who's dead inside for me to talk to, I don't like keeping this poor woman alive like this."

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He presses a button to dull the force field.

"She still has at least a year left. Deassimilation is still really risky but it's improving and the default policy is to wait on it getting better until long-term damage becomes a bigger risk."

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"Oh." She shudders a bit. Turns back to the Borg. "What is the unit's... brain's name?"

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The borg stares at her for a second.

"Hemmia."

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"Does Hemmia have anything she'd like to contribute to the conversation?"

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"Miradan District Fourteen will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

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"Why are you willing to say that but not to answer my most recent question?"

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Lucien checks some information on his datapad.

"I don't think Hemmia wanted the Borg to say that. Miradan District Fourteen is where she used to live. Borg with living hosts tend to prioritize the assimilation of places familiar to their hosts. We think it's because of the demoralization advantage of assimilating places they are recognized."

"There aren't any cases of successful communication with hosts outside of my species, which has a biological advantage. Sometimes their lips move when their memories are accessed but we now think that's physiological and not an attempt at communication."

Lucien is actually crying as he says most of this, but it doesn't affect his ability to say the important things. 

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"I was addressing the Borg, not the host. I wanted to know why it would bother to talk to me at all, but not relay Hemmia's thoughts."

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