On the bridge of the USS Ingenuity, the crew ran through their final checklists. They were playing a dangerous game, the sort that could turn you into stardust, but when the alternative was being stranded forever, was it not a risk worth taking? They had to try.

“You feeling ready?” Commander Cora Lee asked as she stepped up beside Ensign Elyssia Rel, setting a reassuring hand on the flight controller’s shoulder.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Ensign Rel smiled lightly. She was more than ready to take the crew home, but she had no illusion about what that would entail. Navigating the Underspace was no small task, and the responsibility for getting the crew safely through its turbulent eddies rested solely on her small shoulders. 

Assuming, of course, that this worked at all.

The technology they would be using to excite the formation of an aperture had originally been developed for the opposite purpose, used to belay the effects of a runaway aperture threatening to consume Vespara Prime during the Labyrinth crisis. The last time, it had also been conducted under auspices of the braintrust from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, while this time, the modifications were the brainchild of a single Romulan xenotechnologist playing the role of an entire astrophysics department.

As Commander Lee stepped back onto the command island, the Ingenuity‘s commanding officer looked over at their operations chief. “How are we looking, Kellan?”

“Intermix levels for exotic particle generation look, ummm…” Ensign Kellan Seltzer fumbled with his words. “Well, they look like something.” But what exactly they looked like, he had no the slightest idea. If he’d had a doctorate in particle physics, he might’ve had a better idea, but as he did not, it was all gibberish to him. “I mean, at least they’re in line with what Sena says they should be.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Commander Lee shrugged. They were well past the time for questioning the Romulan. Sometimes, you just had to take a leap of faith. Otherwise, they might as well just park themselves over this abandoned rock and settle in because, with the coming of the Blackout, any hope they had of ever seeing home again had been erased. Not unless they turned the Ingenuity and the Serenity into a pair of generational cryoships and set off on a 2,724 year journey across the galaxy at sublight speeds. That was how long it would take within their frame of reference to get home at .9c, and beyond their bulkheads, a mind bending 6,250 years would pass them by, such a timescale that there was no promise even the Federation itself would still exist by the time they reached the Alpha Quadrant.

“Serenity confirms she’s standing by,” her executive officer reported from his chair near the center of the command island.

“And you, my friend?” Commander Lee asked as she took her seat next to him. “How about you?” Lieutenant Commander Sherrod Allen had been the most outspoken critic of their plan, but then again, he was always the most outspoken critic of anything bold or risky. Typically, it helped keep them all grounded, and it was what she appreciated about him, but right now, she didn’t want to be grounded. She wanted to get home, and it was time to fly.

“I’ve already shared my perspective with you and Captain Lewis,” Lieutenant Commander Allen reminded her. “But against my better instincts, here we are.” He understood the hunger to get home. He missed it too. But this felt reckless to him. If they just waited, maybe the Blackout would part, or maybe they’d find another way.

In sharp contrast to the Ingenuity, there was no conversation at all on the bridge of the Serenity, each member of the crew just focused on the task at hand, preparing to embark on their journey home. Or to burn up. Who knew? But on Captain Lewis’ bridge, once the call was made, you just went with it, and he saw no need, unlike the young commander in charge of the Ingenuity, to wander around and check in on everyone’s metal well being.

“Ingenuity says they’re ready,” Lieutenant Greg Gadsen reported as he got the confirmation from his counterpart on their sistership. It was time for the moment of truth.

“Mister Selik?” Captain Lewis asked, looking towards the conn.

“On your orders, sir,” Lieutenant Selik nodded calmly, his demeanor completely absent of any stress or nerves, the whole situation seemingly nothing more than another day in the office for the Vulcan flight controller.

“Tell them we’re a-go,” Captain Lewis ordered.

As things got underway, the captain looked forward instinctively, almost as if expecting to see some visible shift in the space before them. But he saw nothing, not because nothing was happening, but rather because the reaction between spacetime and the exotic particles flowing off the Ingenuity‘s deflector simply did not cause any photons to be emitted as a byproduct.

Their graviton sensors told a different story though. 

“I am noting an increase in gravitational shearing consistent with the formation of an aperture,” Lieutenant Commander Sena reported from the science station.

Over the next few seconds, the ripples in spacetime became more pronounced. 

“Gradient is increasing…”

And then there it was, a hyperlocal distortion consistent with an Underspace aperture, now fully formed just a few hundred kilometers off the port bow of the Ingenuity.

“Captain, it’s time.”

“Take us in, lieutenant,” Captain Lewis ordered without a moment’s hesitation. The course had already been selected, and he would not deviate now. It was time to go home.

Lieutenant Selik commanded the Serenity forward, and forward the Duderstadt went. At first, they saw nothing, but as they drew closer, the stars began to bend, the lensing from the intense gravitational shearing warping even the trajectories of light itself.

And then the Underspace reached out and grabbed them.

The acceleration was abrupt as the Serenity was pulled towards the labyrinth once more. Around the bridge, most of the crew had to steady themselves, but Lieutenant Selik didn’t budge, his hands firmly planted on the conn and his eyes fully focused on his displays as they crossed the threshold between normal space and the Underspace.

All around them, suddenly they were surrounded by the highly-energy yellow and brown walls of an Underspace corridor. It had worked. They were now well and truly on their way home.

“Sena, I owe you a beer when this is all over,” Captain Lewis offered as he looked back at the Romulan. He’d never really trusted her, but today, she’d done good. Against all odds, she’d contrived a way, not just to overcome the Blackout, but to cut their trip from years to hours.

“An ale, captain,” Sena nodded. “I’ll take an ale.”

“An ale it is then,” Captain Lewis smiled broadly for a moment before turning back to the front of the room. There was still one more thing that had to go right before they could rest easy. The Ingenuity had held the door open for them to pass through, but the Pathfinder class cruiser would have no such luxury herself. As she advanced towards the aperture, the exotic particle density from her emitters, the only thing holding it open, would fall, and she’d have to slip through before the door shut. “Any word yet on Ingenuity?”

“Not yet, sir,” Lieutenant Irina Tarasova reported from tactical. “But it’s still early.” She knew the plan was that they give it a few seconds to make sure the Serenity was through before they raced into the Underspace themselves. It didn’t make it any less nerve wracking though.

For a moment, and then a few more, too many really, they sat there, waiting with bated breath. Captain Lewis’ thoughts were on his girlfriend Elyssia at the conn, on the bright young Cora Lee in the big chair, and on the other one hundred and eighteen other crew of the Ingenuity that had trusted him with their lives over the last six months. As much as tried to put up walls to prevent it, his girlfriend, the commander, and the kids, they all meant something to him.

“Wait… stand by,” Lieutenant Tarasova finally said, puncturing the uncomfortable silence as she rechecked her sensors again. She didn’t want to be wrong, to declare success too early. But yes, there it was, a small blip against the chaotic turbulence of background radiation. “I’ve got her. She’s back there. She made it. She’s maybe ten seconds behind us and closing fast.”

Captain Lewis exhaled deeply. They’d made it. At last, he could breathe easy.

“We did it, boss,” Lieutenant Commander Eidran said as he reached over and patted the captain on the back, an ear-to-ear grin plastered across his face. “We fucking did it. We’re going home.”

Everywhere across the bridge and across the twenty nine decks below, there was a collective sigh of relief, accompanied by a muted sense of celebration. Everywhere except at the conn. At the conn, Lieutenant Selik was still in the zone. He couldn’t take his hands off the controls, nor his focus from his displays, not unless he wanted to accidentally cut this all short.

A few moments later though, with the sensors still set to max, an alarm suddenly began to sound at Lieutenant Tarasova’s console. 

No one else heard it, not against the backdrop of what they’d just accomplished, but the tactical officer looked down. Suddenly her expression changed. What was that she was seeing on her scopes? A sensor anomaly? She checked it again. No, most certainly not an anomaly.

“Captain, I think I’ve got something on sensors,” Lieutenant Tarasova reported. “It looks like we’re not alone in here.”

“What do you mean?” Captain Lewis asked, his demeanor shifting on a dime as he turned towards her. It was not impossible to envision that someone else had found their way into the labyrinth, but finally on their way home, he was in no mood for any surprises.

Lieutenant Tarasova looked down at her scopes again. The distortions in the Underspace were doing a number on their sensors, but they were close enough now that their enhanced sensor suite could acquire their guests on visual. “See for yourself.”

The viewscreen shifted from the scene off their bow to something else altogether. Ships. Many, many ships. An armada was probably the best way to describe it. But they weren’t Starfleet, nor the Klingons, the Romulans, or the Cardassians. The capital ships, if that’s what the big ships were, he didn’t recognize them, but there was something familiar about the smaller starfighters seeded among them. “Magnify on one of the little guys.”

The camera zoomed in on one of the starfighters.

“Ah hell,” Captain Lewis grumbled. He recognized it. But no, it shouldn’t exist. Not anymore. Glancing around the bridge, he saw no recognition on the faces of the crew, but the Romulan looked as disturbed as he was. “You recognize it, Sena?”

“A Vaadwaur fighter,” Sena nodded grimly.

“The Vaadwaur?!” asked Lieutenant Commander Eidran. He knew the name. Who wouldn’t after the events of the prior year? The Vaadwaur had played no part in the labyrinth crisis, but their history with the Underspace at least caused everyone to freshen up on their knowledge of the ancient race. “I thought they were a dead civilization?”

“They don’t look very dead to me,” Captain Lewis observed flatly. “It’s either them, or it’s someone who commandeered a few of the vessels they left behind.” He turned back towards his tactical officer. “Irina, give me a breakdown of one of those big capital ships.”

“Seventy-two polaron emitters, split evenly, port and starboard,” Lieutenant Tarasova reported. “Plus four forward-mounted polaron cannons and eight torpedo tubes.”

“A warship.”

“Most certainly,” Lieutenant Tarasova agreed. “Eight warships to be exact, plus twenty four escort-sized vessels and approximately one hundred starfighters.”

“Something tells me they’re not out here on a mission of exploration and discovery,” Captain Lewis noted. “And have they seen us?”

“I can’t be certain, but I don’t think so. We can only detect them because this variant of the Duderstadt is built specifically for long-range surveillance mission profiles,” Lieutenant Tarasova surmised. “Also, no observable change in their course or speed since we acquired them.”

“Alright, well, Mister Selik, let’s back off our speed a bit,” Captain Lewis ordered. If they were invisible at this distance, this was where he wanted to stay. There was no reason to tempt fate. “Maintain present distance.”

“Present distance, aye.”

“Any idea where they’re going, Sena?” Captain Lewis asked, turning back to their resident Underspace expert.

“Unknown,” Lieutenant Commander Sena replied. “We have a good track on our return route, but as for the rest of the labyrinth, it is unknown to us.”

For a bit, they just sat there, quietly stalking the armada before them. But then Lieutenant Tarasova had an update: “We have a junction coming up, and captain, they’re splitting off down a different corridor than the route Lieutenant Commander Sena has defined for us.”

Decision point. Continue for home, or break and follow?

Captain Lewis considered the call for a second. The hunger to return home was strong, but this was a new development, one that made his spidey senses tingle. “Helm, adjust heading to follow and notify Ingenuity of our intentions.”

“Sir, please be advised that this will take us off course from our intended destination,” Lieutenant Selik cautioned, the first time over this entire affair that the captain thought he spied a hint of emotion coming off his flight controller. The Vulcan wanted to get home too.

“Yeah, I get that,” Captain Lewis dismissed the concern. “But you don’t bring that much ammunition to a party unless you plan on using it.”