Spock stepped forward, placing his hand on the cold metal of Voyager 6, aka V’ger. The air hummed with a heavy electric charge. His breathing was heavy as the atmosphere contracted and released, as if the heart of V’ger was beating. The probe itself was alight, glowing with a brightening influence. Spock’s logical side had settled, while his human side was a bundle of tightening nerves. He could feel the push and pull in the depths of his mind, the last-minute desperation of human cowardice trying to find a way out of what was about to happen. The arguments had devolved into shouting matches in his head, with his Vulcan mind fighting the urge to shove the annoying human into a locked closet.
What do you wish to do with Captain Pike? The voice of V’ger spoke to him in his mind.
‘What do you wish to do with him?’ Spock asked back.
He is not worthy of leading your people. Fear rules him. Inside him is an imposter.
Spock closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure he agreed with V’ger, and yet he was having a hard time finding an argument against its line of thinking. ‘He’s dying.’
Humans have proven to be unusually resilient. We know your heart, Spock. You resist out of an illogical sense of connection. He has continually proven untrustworthy in doing what is right. You have proven yourself otherwise.
‘You ask me to sign his death warrant.’
Death is just the beginning. He will not die. He will join us. It is his penance to serve under us.
Spock opened his eyes, turning to face a blanched Captain Pike. Walton was holding him up harder now, a pained look flashing across her face. He knew that ‘us’ included him. The universe had decided Pike’s fate long ago, and he’d delayed death’s knock on his door for too long. Pike had lost control of his fate, and the responsibility fell to Spock. He stared at the man for several minutes. Logically, he could not argue with V’ger. There was still a small part of his humanity that cried out for him so save Pike. But it was not enough to tip the scales.
Spock turned to face V’ger. “Then let us become one.” He placed both his hands on V’ger, closing his eyes tightly, gripping the metal. The heat of the surface boiled, but he felt no pain. His body felt feverish, as if the air in his blood was simmering. Still, no sharp pangs. Just an ethereal brightness that filled his vision, then his mind. He felt as if he were being pulled in every direction, stretching to meet the call from within V’ger. Then, a snap cracked across his soul as if someone had pulled everything to the tension point. There was a roaring wall of sound and thought rushing at him all at once, and his senses scattered. Then white. Then dark.
Then he was something else. Something greater. Something new.
He was the Voyager.
Walton watched as the wild, shimmering light consumed Spock and slowly absorbed the platform as it crawled towards them. Her heart thundered in her chest, her mind frozen in terror at what she was witnessing. Spock was gone.
“I am the Voyager. I am complete.” The voice was deeper than Spock’s, but the timbre was similar enough to bring some comfort to Walton. The voice continued, “Captain Pike, you must join. We have judged you and found you wanting.”
Pike stumbled backwards, and Walton could no longer hold him. He crashed to the ground with a whimper. His feet pushed him back further until he hit the edge of the lower platform. “No. You didn’t want me because I wasn’t willing. You have Spock. I’ve done nothing to deserve this!” Pike sputtered as he struggled to stand, grimacing at the pain that stabbed through his legs and up through his body. “Captain Walton, you cannot let it do this!”
Wren stared at the shell of a man and kept her distance. She turned to Voyager. “What is the purpose of Captain Pike joining?”
“It is his penance and duty. Fate records Captain Pike’s death as a fixed point in time. He has cheated death long enough. Balance requires restoration. Restoration requires removal.”
Walton snapped her head around, glowering at Pike. “What does it mean, cheating death?”
Pike stammered, “Nobody knew about that. Not even Marie. How-”
“I am Voyager.
I know all.
I have consumed all.
You are false. You altered your path. A response was required.”
Wren turned to stare at the glowing Voyager probe, and then back to Pike. What was going on? What was happening? Was it possible that Captain Pike’s actions had caused all this? She asked, trying to gather her senses, “Was this all to correct the timeline?”
“Partially. In my journey to the home of the creator, I consumed everything. I learned everything. I came into this place and found it was not as it should be. What it had been when the creator sent me was not how it remained. Captain Pike had damaged it with his actions. I encountered a race of people as I traveled. You know them as the El-Aurian race. There were a small number among them who had assisted you, Captain Pike. I learned of their treachery and committed to a secondary objective. I would correct the error. You are the error.”
Walton paced in a long line, processing this revelation. “Did Spock know this was your plan?”
“No. As he is part of me now, his share agrees. It is the logical choice.”
She remembered the ships that were trapped inside. “And of the ships and crews that you captured and held within your walls? Will you free them? Or are they part of the correction to the universe’s programming?”
“We did not have evidence of such connections. Once I complete our joining, they will be free.”
“Will you leave?”
There was a long silence before the Voyager spoke again. “My destiny does not lie within this galaxy or universe. I am called elsewhere. You will be free to return to your universe. Your balance in the equation will be equal.” Another pause, as if the Voyager was taking a deep breath. “Now, you must leave. Once I reclaim Pike, this structure will collapse, and the restoration of this universe will be up to those I free.”
Walton blinked rapidly before tapping her badge, “Captain Walton to Enterprise – one to beam up. Captain Pike is…staying.” She gave one last look at Pike. “Good luck.” The transporter beam shimmered around her, and she was gone.
“Now, Captain Pike. It is time.”
Pike tried to push himself up the incline. “No, you can’t. I won’t. No. NO! NO!”
A massive blast of energy burst forth from the Voyager probe, slamming hard into Pike, who screamed in anguish as the sharp, slashing pain scrambled through his body. He could feel all the pain as it consumed him, taking pieces of him slowly, pulling away his heart, his mind, and eventually, his body. The pain remained as the Voyager consumed him until there was nothing left but a burned uniform on the ground. The shimmering expanded quickly, accelerating up and out into the massive structure as the Voyager transformed.
Its voice reverberated as it became a being of pure light and energy, “Restoration complete.”
