One compartment at time

As the three officers spread out across the compartment, they found exactly what they had been expecting. Every single panel and conduit, every bulkhead and beam, every single bolt had been assimilated. Passing from one room to the next on the engineering deck, they found few if any survivors. The one or two people hiding in a vent were sent back to the ship to be looked over by the doctor. The three officers found part of a crewmember splattered against a wall. By the time they had finished with the deck, they had found a grand total of 10 people. Two of them were partially assimilated and were too far gone to be saved. Three of them had been assimilated just enough to be considered Borg but could still be saved. One was barely conscious. Three had crawled out of a vent and needed to be rehydrated. The last one was the first officer who had been recruited to help find more survivors. The first officer was definitely the best survivor they could have hoped for. He had knowledge of the inner workings of the vessel like no one else aboard other than the captain.

"Thank you for rescuing us. The Borg swarmed us when we dropped out of warp."

"What were you doing this close to Borg space," Commander Smith asked. The commander was still amazed to have found 8 people who could be useful in combating the Borg. She did not as yet know the Queen's plan and so did not fully understand her mission. She knew only that she needed to find survivors as quickly as possible. Captain Doe did not like delays. Neither did the Queen, but the Queen was not the one who would have Smith's butt hanging from her bulkhead if Smith failed the mission.

"We did not know where we were until the Borg attacked. Our home system is 150 light years from here. We were headed home from a scouting mission when an ion storm threw us waaaaay off course. We came out of warp and within seconds the Borg had locked a tractor beam on us. It was just lucky they did not detect your ship."

The commander just laughed. The Borg were no match for the technology contained in their ship. The Queen was far superior to all others. As theses thoughts wondered slowly through the commander's head, the captain was trying to decide what to do with her. He knew her thoughts, as did the Queen. Smith tended to forget that, like the Borg, she was part of a hive mind. Though, unlike the Borg, this hive mind was entirely made of volunteers. Shaking his head, Doe made note of the erroneous thoughts in his log of the mission.