Half of Endeavour’s crew had bolted when they’d made it back to Gateway, shore leave snatched from their grasp once already. Anyone remaining was on light duties, liaising with the starbase for the repairs and refits or any personnel changes. That made Alfheim Colony a tempting destination, as well as the recreation centres on the station itself, leaving Endeavour even more like a ghost ship. So Kharth wasn’t surprised to see only one person in the gym, and less surprised to see who it was.

The thuds and rattles of the basketball on the deck, as it hit the board and net, rang across the court enough to muffle her approach, but when the ball bounced back for Logan to catch it, he stopped and said, ‘Hey Kharth,’ without turning.

She scowled. ‘No way you knew it was me.’

He glanced back with a toothy grin. ‘Maybe I’ve said that to five people today. Maybe I called Athaka by your name earlier.’ He bounced the ball on the deck. ‘Nah; I figure you’re one of the only folks to come work out or seek me out.’ His eyes landed on her uniform. ‘Guessing the latter.’

‘I was… checking in.’ Kharth hadn’t been sure what her plan was before she got here. Now he’d wrong-footed her.

‘Oh, right.’ He tossed the ball to bounce to her. ‘Response rates from drills on the road back were good. Security team’s still young but I like Qadir. He’s a good tactician. If we’re gonna -’

‘I met Elijah Bishop.’ Lacking better ideas, she got to the point. Logan stared, and she thudded the ball on the deck twice, not without uncertainty. Ball games were not much her thing. ‘Did you know the Zephyr was in dock?’

Without the ball, he looked oddly lost, now with nothing to do with his hands. ‘I did. Didn’t know Eli was on board.’

‘Apparently with some others from the Oberon.’ Taking pity on him, she tossed the ball back. ‘He said he dropped you a line.’

‘I didn’t…’ Logan turned away, focusing back on the hoop, and took a shot. The ball proved holographic, bouncing wide and dissipating before a fresh one materialised from the air above him so he could catch it with a dissatisfied hiss. ‘Eli’s tried reachin’ out a few times over the years.’

‘Look.’ Kharth stomped over, assuming her gruffest voice. ‘I told him I wouldn’t play go-between. But I guess I’m playing go-between. He says he and some of your old shipmates will be in the Keystone tomorrow. If you don’t want to do anything or talk about it, just say “okay,” and I’ll go.’

‘Okay.’ It sounded reflexive, but Kharth was as good as her word, turning away before Logan gave another frustrated hiss and said, ‘Sorry. Sorry you got dragged in.’

She stopped. ‘I was asked by a guy who seemed worried about you to check in. If it turns out he’s a secret dirtbag and you hate him or something, that’s none of my business and I’m not fighting on his behalf.’

‘I don’t…’ Logan shot again, missed again, and this time let the rematerialising ball bounce once before he caught it. ‘I never read the message. The one Eli sent from the Zephyr. He’s a good guy, there ain’t nothing wrong with him. I just didn’t read it.’

She could have left, Kharth told herself. Instead, she turned back. ‘What’s going on, Logan? Old shipmates want to see you. Did they turn their backs on you after you were rescued from the Borg? Did they fail to save you in the first place? Is it some older grudge? They were shitty to you at the Academy?’

‘I don’t know who’s with Eli.’ Logan had his back to her, beginning to dribble the ball sharply, rhythmically, inside and outside of his feet. ‘Look, I ain’t being cagey ‘cos it’s a dark secret, Kharth. I’m being cagey ‘cos it’s stupid when you say it out loud. You should get it.’

‘Get being stupid?’

‘Get that you can’t go home again.’ He stopped dribbling and turned to her. ‘You ain’t gone back to Teros, and you ain’t gone to the new shelter on the surface. ‘Cos maybe you won’t be welcome or ‘cos you ain’t sure how to deal with it not being the same. Just for me, home means the past.’

Kharth made a frustrated noise. ‘Do you talk to anyone from your life before you were assimilated? Family?’ He shook his head, awkward, but she couldn’t swallow the next burst of indignation. ‘Do you know how many of the people I can’t go home to are dead, Logan? This is not the same.’

He straightened, brow furrowing, and it was like he’d shut a door in her face. ‘Yeah,’ he said after a beat. ‘Guess you’re right.’ He turned away again, moving at pace to dribble, head for the board, shoot. This time he didn’t miss.

She rolled her eyes but didn’t move. There were people on Teros, on Alfheim, she’d known from her old life. People who weren’t dead. People she’d run away from time and again. Kharth set her hands on her hips and said, voice grating, ‘I get it, though. We hate seeing how much we’ve changed, sometimes.’

Logan leapt to catch the ball. His laugh as he landed was hollow, but not insincere. ‘Sometimes?’

‘You know, you were more fun when I met you,’ she said, still sharp. ‘You didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of you before you made Chief of Security. That might be because you’d given up on anyone thinking well of you, but I didn’t need another miserable, self-hating bastard on this ship.’

He looked stricken for a moment, before giving a tight smirk. ‘Was that position taken?’ he asked, tossing her the ball.

‘Positions, you’ll find.’ She bounced the ball, caught it; bounced, caught it.

Logan laughed. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing with that, do you?’

‘I don’t – we didn’t have ball games on Teros. Or joy. Or laughter.’ This time, when she returned the ball, it was more of a throw at than a throw to. ‘Anyway, I’m going down to the shelter on Alfheim. Day after tomorrow.’ This had not been planned, but that was her next gap in a duty shift, and if it took spiting someone else to make her confront her demons, so be it.

He spun the ball in his hands, expression inscrutable for a moment, before he said, ‘Alright. I’ll drop Eli a line. Tomorrow night, you said?’

‘Tomorrow night. Do what you want.’

She turned away, but then he said, ‘D’you want to come?’

Kharth paused, halfway gone already. ‘And crash a reunion?’

‘It’s Starfleet officers having a catch-up. Don’t tell me you don’t have old war stories to fit in.’

‘Some more literal than others.’ She glanced back and thought he hadn’t expected her to as she caught the flash of apprehension, vulnerability in his gaze. She drew a raking breath. ‘The Keystone. Tomorrow night. Sure.’

She left before he could say anything else, like pry about her plans, or her decision to return to Alfheim. Not simply because he was right about homecomings, even to places she’d never been before.

But what the hell was Airex doing down there?