S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity is the 12th episode and the Season 2 finale of Star Trek Eternity.

It was created on August 11, 2014 and found the crew of Hope and the assembled fleet of Syndicate Loyalist and Resistance ships joined in the common goal to defeat Sion "Xatrix" Logan and the rest of the Borg Collective. It is preceded by S02Ep11 Broken City.

Prologue
''"Death is too easy. I want them crushed, begging." ''

- Sion "Xatrix" Logan to Colin Byrne. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

The episode opens in the meeting between Colin Byrne and Sion "Xatrix" Logan within the throne room of V'Ger. In feign, Colin approaches Sion as a peasant would a king in the hopes of finding some creative means of ending the conflict the Borg have terrorized over the quadrant and the crew of Hope. Within Colin's blood housed a team of nanoprobes, each itching for a mechanical responds to ignite in exposion. When Sion calls upon Colin's bluff, the fallen Commanding Officer acts even as the Borg King grabs him by the throat. He bites his tongue, the detonator, and braces himself for finality only to be surprised that the end didn't come in a fury. Sion had rendered the nanoprobes inert, stamping out Colin's plans almost instantaneously even before the Mad God King ripped the tongue from Colin's mouth. Not understanding why, Colin is left alive, taken into a hold deep within V'Ger's cavernous mass interior. The Borg armada continues it's movement towards the Concord System.

Prelude to Battle
"Today we are canceling The End. Today we are calling off the Apocalypse.  TODAY WE ENGAGE THE BORG!"

- Rick Barlow to the assembly. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

Three days pass upon the crew of Hope, the fleet assembled to be the last remnants of the Delta Quadrant use the facilities housed by the Dyson Sphere to refit and upgrade their ships for the coming battle. More over, a series of mines are laid around the perimeter and interior orbital planets of the Concord System, these planets also set to ignite in a fury of explosions. While the Engineering staff onboard Hope scramble to make the ship ready. the Liberated of the Resistance Fleet act as an early warning detection line under the command of Gabriel "Matrix" Logan, for when the Borg Armada reach the system. Most of the command staff onboard Hope ready their regarded departments for the worst while, in concert with both Amelia Moore and Rick Barlow, Janelle James assess on how both are doing with the new child as well as the approaching battle. Still, deep within the recesses of Hope, Commander Talla Vreenak scraps together his own responds to the approach Borg, manufacturing an enhancement of his own to the ship. Nearing zero hour of the assembly held in the Void, Barlow gets a report from the outlying scouts that the Borg Armada will approach the system with an ETA of three and a half hours.

In the assembly, the Hope's Captain issues the plan of attack to use the minefield and the orbital patterns of the planets in the Concord System to lure the Borg into a bottleneck so that the larger ships of the Syndicate Fleet, commanded by Gerrick The Red King, could eliminate that which remained squeezed in the corridor created. In essences, Barlow's plan of action was to use the numbers of the Borg ships against the Collective, dwindling their approach down so that they could face them one after the other. To lure the Borg into a corridor would be one side, but dealing with V'Ger and the Eternity would be another obstacle. To this, Barlow's proposal of a third fleet, led by Hope and incorporating all ship's capable of cloak or stealth technologies would remain on the flank of the battle, awaiting the arrival of the Eternity. At the Eternity's arrival, they would assault the ship, cut a hole in the ship's defenses big enough to allow the Dyson Sphere's advanced teleporter systems to lock onto the Eternity's unique Neurological Composition Signature, at which point an assault team, led by Commander Vreenak, would retake the ship, severing the neural link. With the Eternity reclaimed, it's weapons and defenses would be more than a match for V'Ger. A contingency plan of sorts was also purposed, a hail mary should all things fail. If reclamation of the ship proved too difficult, than Vreenak and his team would be tasked with setting the Eternity's Tachyon Core into overload. The tachyon explosion of unknown magnitude with incalculable destruction would serve to destroy the Borg, V'Ger and, more than likely, everyone within the blast radius.

With all knowing their place, the massive mobilization commences. Rick makes Janelle James acting First Officer and promotes Anam Farqooi to Lieutenant and acting Second Officer. Its in this meeting that Owen Scott confesses that, before his time in Ha'Dara, he was part of a Starfleet mission to investigate the pool of suspects that had the means of causing the Hobus supernova, the Borg being the better in the pool. He conveys all the information he held in regards to this investigation, pieces of information that, although, Barlow knew already, was still put off by Scott not letting this come sooner. In engaging further surprises, Vreenak imposes another with Vreenak Omega I, not wanting to say more other than when Hope engages V'Ger that it may cripple the ship given the right oppotunity and that all allied Borg vessels should remain out of the line of fire. Barlow presses for a bit more information, but when none is given for fear that others might listen, Barlow makes due with allocating both elements into his toolkit. Finally, in turn of fearing for the worst, Rick convinces Amelia that their daughter, Madelynn Barlow should not be onboard Hope during the battle. As part of the assault team to retake the Eternity, Amelia would take the child with her to the Dyson Sphere wherein Ensign Asri Nazir would care for the child. If the worse were to unfold, Nazir would be Madelynn's guardian.

Thermopylae
"We go to war. All ships on me."

-Gabriel "Matrix" Logan to Charlie Fleet. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

Charlie Fleet initiate the early engagements of the Borg armada's assault on the Concord System; the Resistance craft and the coordination between each buy time for Hope and Bravo Fleet, under stealth mode, to pass through the rings of the minefields and into a flanking position in wait for the Eternity and/or V'Ger's arrivals. Under the command of Gabriel "Matrix" Logan, the Resistance fleet round out a few kills before leading the bulk of the Collective's might into the minefield, the preprogramed explosives moving towards the attracting Neurological Composition Signatures indicative of a Borg consciousness. In the firestorms of explosions, Charlie Fleet leads the horde of Borg ships towards the first orbital planet of the Concord System, Gertrude, of which upon closing the distance ignites into a fury as the planetary detonators destroy the space body causing a massive cataclysm to rip across the Borg's numbers as well as several ships within Logan's Charlie Fleet. The destruction of another planet, Ingenious, creates the death corridor that squeezes the Borg's numbers into a tight bottleneck that, as they approach in assault to the core of the system, are forced to engage one on one with the fleet of capital ships that comprise of Hope's Alpha Fleet; the plan, in concentration of using the Collective's massive numbers against them, appears to work; though, at the cost of near destruction of Charlie Fleet. Still, the Borg vessels continue to enter the system, their numbers and powers growing until the Eternity enters the system. Hope and the rest of her Bravo Fleet de-cloak upon the flank, weapons and fire ablaze in a concentrated pattern that, as they attack swiftly, punch a hole small enough for the Dyson sphere and it's Voth transporter technology to beam Vreenak and his Away Team inside the corrupted Starfleet vessel.

Meanwhile, V'Ger, still on course to the Concord System with the heavier of it's fleet, a former holoemitter that once housed the image of Jetan Remsen now reworks itself into a mechanical spider that tiptoes and flings itself across the expansive corridors of the Borg's flagship, a Tribble (Janeway), on it's back begins it's course to infect the Central Plexus with a faster acting viral agent of the Progenitor Virus. This inoculation against control begins to permeate slowly through the Collective's Consciousness (C-Consciousness).

The Borg Armada still within the Concord System, and those entering, continue blindly through the corridors created in the wake of the explosions of the minefield, a sweeping death befalls them at the end of this corridor as Gerrick and the Crimson Knife await, their ship's weapons in combination with the other heavier ships comprising Alpha Fleet begin to press the attack, moving the offensive line closer towards the Collectives. Meanwhile, seperated by it's own consciousness and ability to adapt, the Eternity engages Bravo Fleet, it's weapons slicing through. On the cusp of having to withdraw, Gabriel "Matrix" Logan and the four ship's left from Charlie Fleet emerge from the hornets nest of the minefield, their systems connected into one another (Clasp Formation). They hit the Eternity with all the power they can muster until, in finality, Logan's ship, the Excalibur, impacts the area of Eternity's Bridge stilling not only the Borg's Harbinger, but also throws the Collective's assault on the Concord System to a standstill.

The Calm and the Storm
"I..., SPEAK!!!"

-Colin Byrne stabbing Sion "Xatrix" Logan. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

Before the lull, Commander Vreenak and his team were involved in a firefight with the assimilated crew onboard Eternity, the battle forcing them to find means of escape; an access channel of sewage and muck beneath the grated corridor. At the calm, that firefight seized and Captain Barlow was able to make contact via communications link with the Away Team. Acting quickly and not knowing how long the lull in the battle would last, Hope and crew strived to give every advantage they could find to give the Away Team every opportunity to reach the primary objective of retaking the Eternity. Sensor data mapped out the vastly changed internal structure of the Eternity and further, how far away Vreenak and his team were to the tracked neurological signature. It would appear that, with fleet movement and the Eternity's turn around to engage Hope and Bravo Fleet, that the Away Team was three decks below the primary objective. With the secondary objective too hot and crawling with Borg Drones, Barlow orders Vreenak to take advantage of the lull and get to the primary; crossing through several meters of corridor and manually climbing the three decks in the turbo-lift access shaft.

Systems begin to be affected by the Progenitor infection onboard V'Ger forcing many of the massive ship's internal systems to grow dark. Through this confusion, Colin Byrne is able to make his escape from the cells that hold him, aided by the mechanical spider and the Tribble that coos at his owner's release. In mind with his resolve to kill Sion, Colin finds his way through the corridors of suspended activity, the millions upon millions of Drones not in mind of his presence. He enters the Hall of Swords before crossing into the amphitheater and throne room where, sitting on his throne, Sion "Xatrix" Logan sits seemingly unaware. Anger and hatred fueled, Colin takes one of the many weapons from the Hall of Swords, crossing the expanse of the amphitheater and stabs Sion with all the fury and rage that he could muster. The Borg King laughs, waking from the action and tosses Colin away, pulling the sword from his own chest and discarding it. He presents that having Colin Byrne use the Progenitor Virus on V'Ger allowed him to adapt the Collective to it's effects, rendering it useless to combat him and his armada instilling the notion that it was the only doorway left closed to him to assault the Dyson sphere and all those that reside within and around. The Progenitor Virus had been a safeguard, its effects hindering Sion's continued efforts of war. Now, adapted, V'Ger awakens, the drones aboard reacting and resynchronized. To this, the Borg King forces Colin to watch as V'Ger enters the system and, with a wave a hand, cuts Hope nearly in two.

The Battle in the Concord System ignites again, as Hope is ripped apart and V'Ger enters the system. Commanded now by their King, Sion coordinates what's left of the Borg Armada to push openly towards the Dyson's sphere, the massive weapons of V'Ger cutting a deeper more wider corridor for the horde to move through.

In a death spiral, crippled with just enough power left in the ship to course correct, Barlow orders Hope's helmsman to set the ship on a collision course with V'Ger all the while initiating Vreenak Omega I. The, "lightning in space," connected with V'Ger spreading like a cancer, disconnected drones and attacking even at a cellular level the nanomachines. Still fresh from his former efforts in adapting, Sion's hold of Colin lacked, the Commander falling to the floor as the Borg King, in mind to cut the cancer out of the Collective, entered the C-Consciousness.

The Consciousness
With the Borg King's hold now on the entirety of the Collective, and the objective of purging those infected by Vreenak's Omega I weapon by murder, the Borg armada begins to wain as Gerrick and Alpha Fleet move their lines forward to direct assault during the chaos the battle for Concord had become. Onboard Eternity, the attack drones reactivate, renewed in their attempts and skill at killing the onboard intruders they begin to openly fire upon the Away Team as they strive to climb the turbo lift access shaft towards the Eternity's Central Plexus, a location previously indicated as being the home of the neural composition signature. The Away Team is waylaid by the Borg Assault drones until, survived by beaming aboard at the moment of impact, Gabriel "Matrix" Logan and the few survivors of the Excalibur crash aid, in flank, giving room for the Away Team's rescue. Logan holds the horde at bay along with Dr. Brett Reese and Ensign Rostham, while the rest of the Away Team, now coupled with the survivors from Charlie Fleet, endeavor to open the door to Eternity's Central Plexus. Onboard V'Ger, Colin Byrne makes his way through the turmoil that now ensues upon V'Ger. With Sion relinquishing his physical form to exist wholely in the Collective's Consciousness, Byrne ventures to the massive ship's own Central Plexus, a massive facility within the center of the ship. Colin throws himself upon the consciousness's core, seeding himself into it's etherial planes, damning him never to return to his physical body. In his etherial form, Colin is able to communicate to several million of drones though distant their voices are he's able to zero in on Sarah Jamieson, their familiarity of past friendship sparking the ability for Colin to issue that she make her way to Engineering in an effort to impose the firmware shutdown hardcoded in the Eternity. He's also able to disconnect several other points of control before he becomes lost in his search.

Onboard the Eternity, the doors open to the mass interior of the vastly changed Bridge. Consoles are covered by a thick biomechancial ameba that seems to pulse and move with a livelihood of it's own. It seals the doors, separating Gabriel "Matrix" Logan from the rest of the Away Team, as it's inner core, a spire stuck in the center of the Bridge, turns to face them. In a show of additional theatrics played by the Borg King, the Away Team looks upon their former Captain, James Maxwell moments before the assimilated beast that used to be human ignites the entire facility in battle, the ameba thrashing arms of tendrils out in stabbing sweeping motions.

Lost for a time, Colin Byrne eventually finds a pocket, or, room insides the Borg's C-Consciousness, having to, "feel," his way through several matrixes before finding where Sion "Xatrix" Logan was hiding, his own incorporeal self faulting as it edged deeper and deeper. Its to his surprise that, within the room that houses a pair of chairs and a single chessboard showcasing a game already in play, Colin not only finds Sion, but also Maxwell both locked in the movements and strategy of the game before them. James, meeting his former First Officer, seems to be casual at greeting, offering his hand to help Colin, "pull," himself into the room. In Colin acception, his hold of his incorporeal exsistence solidifies to focus, no longer in suffering to be banished into nothingness. James explains the chessboard as being the Consciousness's interpretation of the Legacy and his manipulation of it. The former Captain speaks of permutations, variations, that time and time again as he played this game over and over fell upon the same endgame; that the Borg would win and Mankind would fall. There was however a loophole, a piece of the chessboard that, if taken to the other side of the end, would allow Mankind the ability to survive and take back what would be lost to them; namely the Eternity. Jim had been moving the pieces, moving the events around, since he was connected to the Legacy so that the moment it was possible to relinquish the Eternity from the Borg and Sion that it would be given the chance to do so. Colin begins to understand that their mission in the Delta Quadrant wasn't to prevent the End, or circumvent it, it had always been about the Eternity; never to defy fate. James explains to Colin that the reason he is feeling, "whole," again in this reality is that he relinquished his, "seat," at the game. With a corporeal body to return to, Jim would be able to continue his course, but the final move to free him from Sion's hold, and thus the Eternity's, would have to be done by Colin Byrne's hand. Being pulled back to his physical form, James Maxwell along with the Legacy, dissolves as the unimatrix fractures into a million pieces leaving on Colin and Sion alone to stand in the gale of a snow storm.

Betrayal
"Desperate to destroy themselves never understanding that it's this that makes them. If they (humanity/mankind) wish pain, than I shall give it to them, drag them down into hell burning into whatever night might yet be capable of engendering until nothing is left but ash."

-Sion "Xatrix" Logan to Colin Byrne. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

On the physical plane, Gerrick and Alpha Fleet push back the Borg, the battle for the Concord System finding conclusion as the remnants and the disconnected of the Collective's fleet are dispatched easily. In patrol, Gerrick finds Hope, the Intrepid damaged beyond repair all the while V'Ger and Eternity lay motionless. Unaware of the state of either the crew or the Away Team, Gerrick calls for a collection of officers to beam over to Hope to assess the situation. In accompaniment to the team, Gerrick finds Barlow and the rest of the crew are intact and relatively unharmed; though, in sharp contrast, the Intrepid is not. Discussion of repairs and debriefing on the situation and the Captain of Hope is told that his plan of attack had worked, the Borg routed, the Concord System is safe. Still without word from the Away Team or understanding the situation onboard Eternity or V'Ger, Barlow wish to get Hope back in fighting form, continue to the fight and determine the fate of Vreenak and the rest, is belayed when the simple truth that Hope is not in a state to support the fight any longer. Begrudgingly, Barlow orders the ship to evacuate and the proceedings commence with the help of the Crimson Knife and crew. As the Hope is placed in a tractor beam, the last of the crew processed off the ship, Gerrick stabs Rick Barlow in the gut, the blade piercing his liver. Rick doesn't understand why, but notes that he is leaving behind all that he fought for, his wife and daughter and the crew. In final revelations he falters to the ground, bleeding to death. With note that now he would be the only one able to tell of the heroism of Rick Barlow and Hope, Gerrick resolves himself in keeping the lie bold, so bold it turns to truth, fabricating that Barlow was murdered by his Operation Manager, a man in favor with the Shadow Brokers. He creates this lie in interrogation of Anam Farqooi and Janelle James.

Meanwhile, onboard the Eternity, the fight continues as Vreenak and his team dispatch most of Maxwell's amebic infection using gernades that, like the Omega I weapon, sever connectivity of consciousness; that collective hive structure that is the pinnacle of the Borg's organization. Though the beast that is James Maxwell acts without the consciousness of the Hive Mind, the nanobodies that coordinate are affected by the radiation particles. Eventually Vreenak and his team manager to tear away the ameba from the consoles, freeing the controls and unlocking the doors. Upon opening, Gabriel "Matrix" Logan crosses the expanse, leaping above the Away Team and injecting the spire that houses James Maxwell with Generation 7 nanomachines. This frees James from the spire and the Eternity from Sion's control, both men weakened by the assimilation/dissimulation event as they fall to the floor.

The freedom of Eternity ripples through into the C-Consciousness, the sudden loss of Eternity stumbling Sion "Xatrix" Logan as he and Colin Byrne physically battle each other, their bodies rolling and tumbling down the hillside of the snowstorm. The fractured reality crumbling as the cancer spreads and more and more are disconnected. Gaining the upper hand easily, Sion holds Byrne by the throat, issuing the decree that humanity is a sickness, a virus, a plague whose only ambition is to seek itself so far down into darkness that there would be no degree of hope of ever escaping. He showcases the debauchery and the worst of mankind in flashes that pierce Colin's mind like knifes through his brain. Through the waves upon waves of images and sounds, Sion controls a drone onboard Eternity, a finality twitch that ignites the ship's Tachyon Core for overload despite Byrne's attempts to the contrary. But the plan of action keeps Sion in focus on combatting Colin Byrne enough to where the large cloud of sickness and decay that was Vreenak Omega I consumes both of them.

Abrupt Finality
"You have a future. I've seen it and I can't ask you to make this sacrifice..., there's been too many. If this ship demands more blood, than it will be mine and hers. Call it redemption..., call it a reckoning. You need to go Marisol. You need to go."

-James Maxwell to Marisol Hocevar. S02Ep12 Sons of Eternity

Eternity stirs, with it's systems now free of the Collective, and Sion "Xatrix" Logan as well as the Consciousness of the Collective destroyed, Vreenak and his team reclaim the ship. Immediately following this, onboard the Crimson Knife, alarms begin to flair as Gerrick is made away of Eternity's movements as well as the large amount of energy being built up within it's hold. Recognizing it as the beginning stages of a tachyon explosion, he orders Hope to be left behind and the ship ready for warp, he calls out to all he can that the Away Team has succeeded in their secondary objective, failing to retake the Eternity.

Contrary to those estimations, Vreenak commands the ship, assessing the situation aboard Hope and beaming over anyone he can to the Eternity's Conference Room. After that, work begins to pull towards the attention of the Tachyon Core and the immediacy of quelling it's rupture. He sends Marisol Hocevar, Owen Scott beaming her directly into Engineering. However, to Vreenak's surprise, James Maxwell, relinquishing himself from the care of Dr. Reese, insists that he is beamed over to help.

The cataclysm of the Tachyon Core facility burns brightly as Marisol access the situation, noting that the core needs to be manually purged. Along with a liberated Sarah Jamieson and a swiftly following James Maxwell, the trio work to weaken the security locks under the facility's deck plate. However the core reaches critical mass quickly and, despite manual ejection, the compartment has to be vented manually. At first, Marisol resolves herself to do it, but that is taken away from her as James orders her to leave, taking care of it.

After the facility is vented, Maxwell and Jamieson's body tumbling out into the vacuum of space, the Tachyon Core detonates, the blinding white light of accelerated unstable tachyon particles spreading in a mass radius.