Yes... and its name is Minya

Two minutes later, Minya emerged from the turbolift, her skin pale gold, her hair a rich, deep auburn. "You wished to see me, Captainlance?" she asked.

"Minya," I said, feeling an involuntary flush of desire as I beheld her perfect figure, "are you familiar with the Borg?"

"My people avoid them," Minya said. "They have no need of what we offer."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to be anything but blunt. We're being pursued by a Borg Cube at this moment. In less than an hour, they will be within weapons range. Our options are limited; this ship is no match for them."

Minya tilted her head slightly to one side. "Why do the Borg pursue this ship?" she asked.

"Doubtless, they intend to assimilate us."

"Captainlance, I beg forgiveness for my impropriety, perhaps you can explain this to me... what does it mean, that they 'assimilate' you? I have heard my customers speak of this thing with great fear, but I do not know what it is."

I was acutely aware of the building level of fear all around me, and suddenly wished I had chosen to have this conversation in private; add it to the impressive list of command mistakes I'd made so far. "It is when they capture other beings, and transform them into Borg. We would avoid this fate at all costs... including the destruction of our own vessel, if necessary." I hadn't thought of that until just that moment, but suddenly realized it was true; I would destroy the ISHTAR and every life on it before submitting to the Borg.

"They have never done this to any of my people. When we come within range of their vessels, they ignore us. We eventually stopped trying to communicate with them. I do not understand why others view them with such terror, they do nothing to us."

I leaped from my chair at Warp 10. "They IGNORE you? They scan your ships, and they let you go?"

Minya shrugged, sending a silvery ripple through her skin that slid through her hair and frosted the tips. "We have nothing they want."

My mind was racing, but it was Ensign Davis who spoke my thoughts aloud even as they formed. "Captain, the Borg are only interested in bettering themselves or responding to threats. If Minya's people have an inferior technology, and their biological distinctiveness is of no use to the Borg -"

"The Borg leave them alone!" I shouted, for a moment most un-Captainlike. I composed myself as quickly as I could. "Minya, can you duplicate your species' standard hail?"

"Of course. I was frequently called upon to present our invitations to other ships."

"Isabella! Er, Lieutenant Greene," I corrected, "I need you to do whatever you can to make our ship appear on sensors exactly as Minya's ship did. We know the Borg have scanned us, but we were at long range and leaking warp plasma, so maybe they didn't get a very good look. Grab anyone you need help from - this may be our one and only chance. Minya," I said, turning toward the tall, lovely alien woman, "if this works... we'll all owe you so much more than our lives."

Minya nodded, looking somewhat confused. I envied her lack of anxiety. She really didn't know the threat the Borg posed to all of us.

A final thought occurred to me, and as the bridge crew scuttled about doing what they had to do, I quietly approached Ensign Amasova at Communications. "Ensign," I said quietly.

"Oh! Um, yes, Captain?"

"Tell the science lab to keep working on weaponizing the virus... in case this doesn't work. And inform Engineering that we may have to... release antimatter containment."

"Yes, Captain." Her fingers flew over they keys of her console as Amasova entered the communications silently. I was surprised at her composure; she had seemed so nervous and on-edge, and here she was, calmly passing on my orders which could lead to her own **** and that of everyone else on board. Clearly, I had underestimated her.

Fifteen minutes later, we were as ready as we would ever be. Minya lowered her lithe, sensuous body into the Captain's chair in my place, and looked up to me for confirmation. I took a deep breath, not caring for the moment if it gave the crew the wrong impression - we all knew that this would either work or it wouldn't, and there would be no second chance. "Whenever you're ready, Minya," I said. "Hail the Borg."