In the darkness, the creature attacked. It lashed with tooth and claw and we did our best to fight it off. I used my "spray and pray" kinetic bolt-thrower and the rest of the team used their hand weapons. Fortunately, we were able to overwhelm the creature through sheer weight of numbers. As I struck the final blow, the creatures exo-skeleton blew apart and black oil spurted our of the creature. We all dived for cover and avoid the mess. We carefully stepped around the substance as we made our way out of the room.
A further exploration of this floor of the spaceport revealed more Borg going about their business and a ladder leading upwards.
The ladder took us up to the next floor. More corridors took us into some kind of engineering bay. Numerous Borg operated strange machines. A huge machine sat in the centre room. Mabrin confirmed that it was processing some combination of Borg nanites and Marauder black oil. What horror was being created here? The Borg remained indifferent to our presence and we were able to observe the workings of the machinery. Akio and Mabrin were able to discern how it operated. They believed that they retrieve the nanites we were looking for from the device, but at some risk. Tren and I monitored the Borg activity as they operated the machinery, first disabling the security systems and then syphoning off the nanites.
I further explored the area and discovered various malfunctioning electronic devices. I wondered what the cause could be. I decided that it was time to use the Borg virus, and I dispatched it into the network. There was no apparent effect.
The next floor up appeared to be some kind of cargo bay. As we reached it, there was a dull thud below, as though some object had fallen. Carefully observing down the ladder, we discovered that the Borg had all collapsed and were inert.
As we moved through the corridors of this new level, we discovered new Borg creatures that we had nor prior record of. They seemed to be some evil mix of Borg and Marauder. Further into the level, we discovered spacesuits and other assimilated equipment. Another ladder led upstairs. We chose to investigate rather than move further through this level.
The uppermost level was some kind of flight deck. We discovered a shuttle inside a small bay. It appeared that the bay was designed to have its roof open and close for egress and exit to and from the bay. There was some kind of traffic control system being maintained by Borg drones.
Our final avenue of investigation was back a floor below. We sent Ana in her eagle form through the duct system. When she returned she was shaken to her core as I have never seen her. She described some kind of half-spider / half-Borg Queen monster in the cargo bay. This corrupted Queen appeared to be near the very artefact that we were here to retrieve.
And the adventure continues...