Apeworld: Civil War III Chapter Twenty-Six

Caesar now led the way as the ape party, as well as Thrawn, made their way into the countryside outside Ape City. Suddenly, with great speed, Thrawn ran forward and blocked Caesar's path.

"I will go no further!" he said. "Ever since I first met you, I've had my suspicions about you. You are not all you seem to be, and I want to know why!"

"It pains me to agree with this barbarian!" said Zaius. "But on this occasion, I do."

"You seem to know a lot about our attackers," Thrawn continued. "Yet to the Imperial Alliance, the Borg were nothing more than a legend, a myth! Yet you, from a backward little race, seem to know a great deal about them! Why is that?"

"And what about that little trinket you carry around?" asked Zaius. "It allowed us to escape from his infernal prison, and it dealt with one of those... whatever they are!"

"I don't believe any of this!" said Zeera. "Caesar has saved our lives on two occasions, and you are questioning his every move!"

"And I am grateful to him for that!" said Zaius. "But I still have my doubts!"

Caesar reached into his tunic and held the strange device right in Zaius' face.

"I have seen things you have never dreamed of, Doctor! I have seen things that you would say is the work of the devil himself! I am your only way out of this situation, and this device will help us!"

Thrawn let out a huge huff and aimed his blaster at the device.

"I would advise against that, Admiral," said Caesar. "This device contains enough energy to obliterate half of this world."

"Then when we are out of this mess, you will give the device to me. My scientists will study it and learn its ways!"

Caesar quickly put the device back into his tunic. Then, as he looked forward, he heard a noise. In the distance, they could see trouble. Several Borg drones were approaching at a great speed.

"We must go!" said Cornelius.

Once more Thrawn raised his blaster and fired, still not having learned the lesson from his previous encounter with the Borg. The energy blast was deflected away as the lead Borg drone fired what appeared to be some sort of suppression fire at them. Seconds later, they fell to the ground, unconscious.

As the Borg drones surrounded them, one was about to begin the assimilation process when he was stopped by a female drone. Upon seeing this female, the drone moved backward. The female kneeled down and began to examine her prisoners. She looked at Thrawn for a few moments before turning her attention to Caesar. Seconds later, the rest of the drones picked up the lifeless forms of Thrawn and the apes and carried them away.

 

Magus stood outside what used to be the council chambers, Drathro by his side. All around the streets, Bel Iblis' troops patrolled, staying alert, looking for any sign of the Borg. Drathro looked at Magus and could tell something was bothering him.

"Somehow, this doesn't seem quite right," said Magus.

"In what way?" asked Drathro.

"Before, when the Borg have assimilated worlds, such as those along the border of the Neutral Zone, the Borg have used what really amounts to a giant scoop, taking everything—people and technology. Now they seem to be targeting specific things."

"As if they were looking for something, perhaps?"

Magus snapped his fingers.

"Of course! I've been a fool! If they get their hands on that, they could become unstoppable!"

"I'd heard the Borg already were!"

Magus strode off quickly and only stopped when he found Bel Iblis coming out of an old building.

"We are going to need reinforcements, General!"

"What for?"

"We are going to locate the Borg base camp and assault it!"

"Are you insane, Doctor? A full-on assault on the base camp of the Borg! I won't do it!"

"The Borg will not expect us to carry out such an operation. It will take them by surprise."

"And will also be a suicide mission!"

"General, you have my word—your casualties will be minimal!"

"I don't care if you have a signed statement from Mon Mothma and James Watt saying this thing will be safe! I won't do it!"

"Very well, General! I'll do it on my own!"

And with that, Magus strode off as fast as he could. As Bel Iblis watched, he began to realize that Magus was either brave or a fool.

"Doctor! Wait! What do you need?"

 

Thrawn's head was pounding as he began to regain control of his senses. At first, his eyesight was all a blur; he could only make out outlines and forms. He could barely distinguish between anything. But slowly, surely, his eyesight began to return, and what he saw he couldn't believe.

He appeared to be in the main base camp of the Borg as their prisoner. He began to wonder why they hadn't assimilated him, as they had done to almost all of his force. He began to look around and saw several Borg drones moving around. He seemed to recognize some of them as his own people, recently assimilated, now part of the collective. There was nothing Thrawn could do to save them, but he still hoped he could save himself and return to the relative safety of Imperial space.

Then, he heard a noise, a groan. He looked around, and not far away, almost opposite him, was one of the chimps, restrained in the same way. He couldn't tell if it was Cornelius or Caesar; they all looked the same to him. He soon found out that it was Caesar when he called out.

"Where am I? What are you doing to me?"

Thrawn watched as two female drones approached him. The first one seemed to move along with a grace that made him think that if he didn't know she was Borg, he wouldn't know. She had the trademark Borg skin pigmentation but did not appear to have much of their technology. The second looked more Borg-like, if anything could ever look more Borg-like. While the first female's eyes were both visible, the second's were not, one being covered by some sort of eye implant. Caesar looked at the two females.

"I demand that you release me now!"

The first female looked at the second.

"Seven of Nine, is this the one you told me of?"

"He is a temporal anomaly. He should not be here, yet he is."

If Thrawn wasn't being held captive, he would have wanted to ask Caesar some questions himself in light of what he had just heard.

"I'm not afraid of you!" said Caesar. "I've seen your likes before!"

"Illogical," said the female designated Seven of Nine. "The Borg have never been in this part of the galaxy before, and your race is not a space-faring species; therefore, our two races have never encountered each other before!"

"Perhaps he has," said the other female. "That would explain the temporal anomaly and the device he was carrying."

Thrawn's eyes opened widely. The conclusion came to him instantly. Could this Caesar be a time traveler from the future?

"You will tell us the workings of the device and how best it can be assimilated into the collective," said Seven of Nine.

"I will not," Caesar replied. "You will have to extract the information another way!"

"Very well," said the other. "Seven of Nine, assimilate him!"

Seven of Nine extended her arm and slowly moved it towards Caesar's head. A small probe began to emanate from her wrist area and began to move towards Caesar's temple. But when she was mere millimeters away, she stopped. Something, some invisible force, seemed to be stopping her.

"Not so easy, is it?" said Caesar. "The man who tutored me said that you were unable to penetrate energy barriers of a certain form with your probes. My device will remain a secret to you!"

Seconds later, Seven of Nine stopped, and the probe retracted itself.

"The energy barrier you erected will be broken!" she said. "We are Borg! You will be assimilated!"

As the two drones walked away to 'discuss' with the collective what they should do with their prisoner, Thrawn called out to Caesar.

"My suspicions are true," he said. "You are not of this world! You are an anomaly! Tell me exactly what you are? A freak of nature? A Free Federation intelligence agent?"

"I am neither, Admiral! I am Caesar!"

"Damn it, monkey! Tell me!"

"And divulge information to my other enemy, in the heart of the Borg stronghold? There is an old human saying that I'm sure you are familiar with—walls have ears!"

The conversation stopped as three more drones approached. One of the drones didn't seem to be as well assimilated as the others. Both Caesar and Thrawn concluded that this was a new recruit to their ranks. The new drone stopped suddenly and stared at Caesar, and as he did this, a feeling of shock and horror began to pass over him. The new drone had the same skin pigmentation as the other Borg but was also covered in red fur.

The Borg looked Caesar straight in the eye. Caesar instantly recognized him—it was Virgil, Zaius' assistant. The orangutan had been assimilated into the collective. A feeling of failure began to sweep over Caesar. He had lost one of his party. He hoped that the others in his group had not suffered the same fate.