“Commodore Robert April,” Wren Walton accepted his handshake as they stood in transporter room one of the USS Enterprise. “I am thankful to have someone to turn this ship over to, sir.”
April smiled. “It is good to be back onboard a ship with that name, Captain Walton. I understand you wish to return to your squadron.” She replied with a nod. He said, “We’re grateful for the rescue from V’ger. We didn’t think we’d ever escape. Do you know why V’ger held us captive?” Wren shared the growing theory that the probe was desperate for a connection to the creator and was hoarding ships with carbon-based lifeforms that seemed like the creator.
She lamented, “Given what we knew of our V’ger and the readings we’ve been reviewing, it’s an oddly human behavior to see happening with a machine like V’ger.” She handed over a handful of data chips. “We converted it to be compatible. It might help you understand it more.”
“Thank you, Captain Walton. We’ll put it to good use.” He accepted a tablet from his yeoman, and he made notes as he spoke, “I relieve you of command of the Enterprise, Captain Walton. You are free to go.”
Wren couldn’t help but smile. “I stand relieved, sir. Thank you. I’ll start transporting our people over.” April gave her one last smile and headed out the door, followed by his yeoman and a gaggle of new command officers. Walton let out a long sigh once she was alone. They had saved this universe. There was something still bothering her. The Borg. They had played a large role in V’ger wiping this universe clean. Somehow a betrayal had occurred. The missing depth and context bothered her. The door opened, and the crew arrived. She filed the concern into the back of her mind and went to work on the transporter controls.
“You’re still stuck on the Borg,” Captain Peter Crawford asked as he sat across from Wren at the briefing table on the USS Denver. They were making their way back towards the porthole that would take them home.
Wren groaned, “I’m not stuck on it, Pete. I’m just trying to reconcile the destruction we saw with the active Borg being absent from all scans.”
The door slid open and Captain Helena Dread strolled in, coffee in one hand and a PADD in the other. “We still debating the finer points of Borg existence? I agree with Wren on this one. Doesn’t feel right. V’ger, Spock and Pike, I can rationalize that madness. The Borg being out of the picture with just a snap of a V’ger finger? That’s, as Spock would say, illogical.”
Captain Park was working on her PADD and interjected, “V’ger said that the Borg had, let me find it here, ‘They attempted to interfere with our programming directive from the creator. We deemed them an infestation and destroyed them.’ While it doesn’t sit right with me either, what can we do about it? We have a chronometer running on how long we can safely stay here.”
Wren asked Crawford, “How long until we reach the porthole back home?”
He winced. “That’s the part you will not like.” He tapped his PADD to check the updated readings. “Four weeks.”
Wren’s jaw dropped. “You’re serious.”
Crawford nodded. “We can push the engines, shave off a few days. Early runs of scenario runs get us home in time.” The threat of being wiped from existence was more than just a threat. It was a fate none of them wanted.
Walton threw her hands up in surrender. “Not much of a choice. The benefit here is that we’ve got the enhanced sensor specifications from the Enterprise. We can still search on the way.”
Dread added, trying to find a silver lining or bright spot in the spiraling mess, “We’ve got plenty of reports to write and debriefing to do. Nothing wrong with a little sensor work, Pete.” She added with a sad smile, “Keeps us busy and not thinking about the Loom coming for us in our sleep.”
Crawford groaned. “Helena.” She rolled her eyes. He gave her a mild look and turned his attention back to the others. “Wren, you’ll take point on the sensor work. The rest of us will have our teams support you as we head home. Make it clear to your crew that we are going home. And we are going to get there in time.”
Crawford silently hoped he could deliver on that promise.
