“This isn’t easy.”  Captain Wren Walton stood at the far back wall of the massive space that held The Constructor.  Beside her were Baron Nine, Commander Park, Lieutenant Ada Josephs, and Lieutenant Wallaker.

Baron put his hand on her shoulder.  “It is not easy.  It is necessary.”

Wren accepted the touch.  She was feeling plenty of things.  Being comforted by Baron helped, even as she prepared to do the unthinkable.  “You and I have very different concepts of necessity, Baron.”

Ada stood off to the side, her eyes red from the tears she had shed in the last hour of desperation.  There had been nothing to stop what was about to happen.  No alternatives, no second opinions, or last-minute saves.  She had said all the words necessary to Baron Nine.  She knew that beneath the calm exterior and placid face there was a tumultuous storm of feelings turning over and over.

The voice of The Constructor had begun as a low rumble when they’d returned.  Now it filled the room – still fragmented, still mechanical and sounding more desperate as the minutes passed.  Baron stepped forward, turning to his friends.  “I do not know what will happen next. I will try not to forget you, but I cannot promise what will happen once it takes me within itself.”

Each of them walked forward, giving him one last hug, and a last word.  Ada held on the longest, her tears renewed.  Park and Wallaker helped walk her back to the entrance, where they stood in mute sadness.  Captain Walton stood in front of Baron, close enough to reach out and touch him.  She said, “I wish there were another way.”  She kicked lightly at the ground, feeling tears at the corners of her eyes.  “I’m not great at goodbyes.”

Baron cocked his head to the side, as he had done so many times before.  “This is ‌part of the life you lead, Captain Walton.  Goodbyes through death, life, and transfers…this is the way of Starfleet.  I’ve studied it over and over.”

Wren chuckled dryly. “Are you telling me I should be used to this by now?”

A smile slipped over the usual straight lips of the ex-Borg.  “It is my attempt at a joke.  It appears it landed well.”  His smile radiated, but the rest of his face was in shadow, and foreboding.  The moment was almost here.  “Thank you.  For the time on the Perseverance with you and your crew.  I learned much about being human through them, and you.” He glanced at The Constructor, a quiet fear sloshing around in his eyes.  “Perhaps that was my destiny – to be born of monsters, to be freed by your people, and to learn so that I may teach these monsters the meaning of heart.”  He blinked, and a quiet tear drifted from his eye, slowly arching down and off his face.  “That is a story worth telling, Captain Walton.”

She sniffled and immediately felt annoyed with herself. She was usually more in control, but this moment was pushing her to the limits.  Walton shook her head. “It is a story worth telling.  Do me a favor – call me Wren.  I don’t want our last conversation to be stuck in rank.”

One last cock of the head.  “Wren.  I like the sound of that.  Wren.”  His smile returned, broader than before.  He opened his arms. “Wren, I will miss you the most.”  She walked forward and embraced him, holding on for as long as he would allow her.  He pulled away, and the two exchanged a quiet nod.  He said, “Whatever happens next, I will keep you and your crew safe.”

Baron Nine began the walk towards The Constructor as the noise from the creation echoed louder and louder.  Walton remained where she was, watching with a broken heart that felt like it was pushing sharp edges against her chest.  The ex-Borg walked up to the chamber, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

Suddenly the merge began, and an intense and blazing light erupted from the chamber.  An unmistakable guttural scream shouted across and off the walls. There was a mournful cry at the end, and what Walton could only think of was a quiet whimper, as if defeat had come.  There was a moment of silence.  The lights faded, and the body of Baron Nine collapsed to the ground, lifeless but untouched.  Wren watched as the ruby red lighting calmed, turning to orange, and then to a dull golden color.  “Ada!”

Josephs ran forward, wiping her eyes as she pulled out her medical tricorder.  She scanned from a distance and swore under her breath.  Turning to Walton, she whispered, “He’s alive.  He’s ALIVE.”  Her eyes pleaded for permission to retrieve the body.

As if in answer, the voice of The Constructor boomed over them, the voice familiar and yet its own.  “You may take him.  Our business is concluded.”

Walton stood in place while the others ran to retrieve Baron Nine’s body.  “What should I tell the Vorethi?”

The hum continued to shift, and there was an audible grumble within the depths of The Constructor and beyond.  “You will tell them we wish to discuss the terms of our continued existence within the outer reaches of their system.  Extend to them a warning – our continued existence is required.”

Wren watched as they carried the body past her and towards the transporter point.  “I will relay the message.”  She searched for the right words for her final greeting.  She settled on, “Thank you.”  As she walked to join the group huddling outside the area, she heard the reply, and could have sworn there was something more in the words as they drifted across to her.

“Thank you, Wren.”

Walton stepped onto the bridge, her focus clearing.  She spoke as she rounded on the center chair. “Prentice, get us the hell out of here.”

Will didn’t ask questions.  He had learned that long ago with Captain Walton.  “Aye, sir.”  The Perseverance turned, angling for the exit, and slipped back out, leaving the Vorethi-bots behind.

Wren sat roughly in her chair.  Now, the cleanup started.  And it was bound to make more of a mess.  Hell, she chuckled to herself, this was why they invented Fleet Captains’.  She asked, “Cadet Williams, get me the USS Zephyr on an encrypted secure priority one channel.”

“He’s alive.”  Ada Josephs stood outside the quarantine room, the color returning to her face as the tears were fading.  Baron Nine’s body was lying in state, and being monitored closely by every scan the Deputy Chief Medical Officer knew and a few more she wasn’t sure if it would help.  She tapped at her PADD. “His brain patterns are gone – erased in whatever process was used to extract him from…him.  The odd thing is, the synaptic pathways are still responding.  And they’re regenerating.  Slowly.”

Lieutenant Wallaker sat at the console that faced the protective glass.  “This data, if I’m reading it right with a little wishful thinking, means that the body could redevelop new consciousness through neurotherapy and rehabilitation.  Who knows – the original human who was in there before Baron Nine pulled them all together might still be there.”

Ada disagreed. “Pieces maybe.  The Vorethi-bots honed that system off the original concepts.  I don’t think they designed it to leave anything behind.”  She scrolled through her PADD. “His heart never stopped beating.  I kept the medical tricorder locked onto him during the procedure – the vitals stayed stable.”  A quiet smile tugged at the edge of her lips.  “It’s as if they knew we needed to see him again.  That we couldn’t live without him.” Hazel stared at her, and Ada replied, “What?”

Wallaker found herself amazed and amused.  She didn’t dare show evidence of the latter emotion.  She stuck with the former. “He was really important to you.”

Ada faced Baron Nine’s body.  “He welcomed me aboard. He would share his studies with me over lunch and ask me how I was doing.  Baron told me once he was trying to learn how to ‘human’ better.  Getting to know people, learning who they were, and trying to understand why people cared about things.  He made me laugh.  He listened.  You don’t meet an ex-Borg every day.”

Hazel looked at the body.  “You think you can bring…whoever is in there back?”

Ada replied, “I’m a doctor. I’m going to do everything I can.  Life is worth living, and whoever’s in there – deserves to open their eyes and continue writing Baron’s story.”

“How did Fontana take it?”  Commander Park asked as she sat on the couch in Captain Walton’s ready room, a dark liquid sloshing around in her tall glass.

Wren sat down on the opposite side of the couch, a sparkling drink in her hand.  “Putting our reports together is going to take some time.  He knows there wasn’t much choice.  He’s more frustrated with our new friends, the Vorethi, and their part in this. The Hazard Team got the Runyon to Zephyr, along with the survivors.  All I know is that the evidence we’re bringing to the table is going to make things more complicated and a lot tenser. So we have that to look forward to.”

Park downed her drink.  “You think we’ll hear from Baron Nine…or The Constructor?”

Walton stared out the window, eyes tracing the stars passing by the window.  “I hope so.  Whatever happens to him there or here with us – I hope he finds his way.”