By eight hundred hours the Dutchman had been sitting inside the Borg cube long enough for the view beyond the shuttlebay doors to stop feeling quite as impossible as it had the day before. Recon had done what it was supposed to do. They had a mapped route through the sections nearest the ship, marked areas that still carried enough power to deserve caution, and a growing list of systems that looked valuable enough to justify coming back with more than scanners and curiosity. What they did not have was any guarantee that the cube would remain as cooperative once they started cutting pieces out of it.

The Reach sat in the shuttlebay with its rear compartment opened wide, equipment cases secured along both sides of the cabin and enough empty containment storage to make the crew’s intentions fairly obvious. Salvage tools, portable power units, scanners, cutting equipment and environmental gear had all been loaded the night before, leaving only the last checks before departure. Zedd had deliberately kept the first proper salvage group small enough to move quickly, but not so small that one bad decision inside the cube left everyone else waiting aboard the Dutchman to notice.

Ragnar entered without looking at the others. The Borg cube did not look any better on the second time and he still had that strange sensation you got when you knew you weren't supposed to be somewhere.

Cormus was already in the pilot’s seat with the internal route displayed across the console. He enlarged the section around the first junction, studying it with the particular concern of someone who knew the difference between getting people through a passage and getting heavy equipment back out again.

“The path we used yesterday is still the cleanest way in” he said. “Getting ourselves through it isn't the problem. Getting anything worthwhile back through some of those turns might be.”

“Then we don't cut loose anything we can't bring home” Zedd replied. He looked over the route for another moment before glancing toward Mei-Lin, who was securing her scanner beside one of the larger containment cases. “First priority is figuring out what's actually worth the trouble. I don't want half the crew spending six hours removing something because it looks impressive and finding out afterward that we've brought home a Borg door hinge.”

Mei-Lin looked up from her kit. “That sounds suspiciously specific.”

“I've worked with engineers.”

“And you're not one?”

Zedd gave her a look that answered the question well enough without needing to argue it. Cormus hid a small smile behind the route display before returning his attention to the navigation data. Yesterday they had been looking for a safe route through the cube. Today they were planning to start dismantling parts of it. The distinction was not lost on anyone.

Zedd tapped his combadge. “Bridge, this is Zedd. We’re loading up.”

Lindsy’s voice came back immediately. “We’re holding exactly where we need to be. I’ve got the Dutchman tucked in, the sensors trained down the route, and I’ll keep watching for anything that changes. The second that cube starts moving power toward your section, you’ll know.”

“Keep her ready to move” Zedd said. “If things turn bad, the Reach is coming back hard and fast.”

“Already planned on it” Lindsy replied. “Try not to make me come looking for you.”

Before he could answer, T’Vara joined the channel from Sickbay. “The baseline scans for the boarding party are on file. Anyone returning from the cube reports directly to Sickbay for clearance, whether they believe they have been exposed or not. If anyone is injured, punctured, injected, implanted or simply begins feeling unusually confident about their health, notify me immediately.”

Cormus glanced toward Zedd from the helm. “Was that directed at anyone in particular?”

“No” T’Vara said, her tone remaining perfectly composed. “Not yet.”

The channel clicked off. Zedd looked between everyone, then toward the rest of the shuttlebay and anyone else who had decided that walking deeper into a damaged Borg cube sounded like a reasonable way to start the morning.

“We're staying inside the surveyed sections for the first pass” he said. “Anything outside them gets marked, not chased. If somebody finds something we didn't account for, say something before touching it. If something powers up that wasn't powered yesterday, same rule, except with considerably more urgency.”

He motioned toward the Reach. “Anybody else coming with us, get your gear and speak up now. Once we leave this bay, I want to know who I’m keeping track of.”

Betes Hunt stepped onto the Reach with a duffle full of items. Looking over at the away, he slightly smirked. "Wasn't going to head over there without a contingency plan."

Ragnar looked at the man that was, as far as he could tell, the equivalent of his department chief if he had still been on a Starfleet vessel and gave a small nod in acknowledgement, his hand firmly over his rifle.

Shortly after the Combat Chief stepped aboard, several minutes went by, and a Monk entered... Though it was actually Po in full Drayan attire. "Sorry for my lateness," He stated to no one in particular as he sat himself down. "My experiment ran over; the chemical reaction took longer than I thought."

"We're just glad you're here Po, let's get this mission going" Zedd replied.

Once everyone was aboard, Cormus sealed the rear hatch and brought the Reach off the deck with a low, controlled lift. The shuttlebay doors opened onto the dead junction chamber surrounding the Dutchman, its walls rising away in irregular layers of Borg plating and conduits. Beyond it waited the route recon had marked the day before: dark corridors, narrow turns and a handful of sections where even a faint green glow was enough to change the plan.

“Leaving the ship now” Cormus said, easing the Reach forward. “Everybody stay seated until we reach the staging point. The clearances are better than they look, but only by a little.”

The runabout slipped away from the Dutchman and into the cube’s interior, following the same dead route Cormus had tested during recon. Mei-Lin watched the scanner feed from behind the pilot’s seat, calling out minor fluctuations as they passed sealed alcoves and dormant conduits. Ragnar remained near the rear compartment, one hand braced against the bulkhead as he kept watch through the side viewport, while Zedd stood beside the equipment cases and looked ahead into the dark.

Nothing had changed since recon.

At least nothing obvious.

After several careful minutes, the corridor opened into the first dead staging section: wide enough to set the Reach down, close enough to the mapped salvage targets to be useful, and distant enough from the active portions of the cube to make everyone aboard uneasy rather than immediately terrified.

Cormus brought the runabout down gently. “We’re in position.”

Zedd looked toward the rear hatch, then at the team around him. “All right. Yesterday we figured out where we could go. Today we find out whether coming here was actually worth it.”

The Reach settled into stillness inside the Borg cube, ready to serve as their transport, their cargo carrier and, if they were lucky, their way home.

"Got some specific locations mapped out to place these devices to cause optimal damage," Hunt announced. "I'll send a signal letting the ship know that I didn't get snatched up every three minutes. Should take about ten minutes altogether. Then I can join you all for the recovery process."

Ragnar glanced over at Zedd for a moment. "Where do you need me, Captain?" he asked. It was not that he was unsure about his position, but the second trip everyone else seemed happier and more settled, like the danger was over. So maybe there was something they knew he didn't.