“We’re home.” Commodore Geronimo Fontana stood in his expansive ready room, PADD in hand as he recorded his log. “I’ve put Perseverance and Mackenzie on mandatory shore leave. Commander Thorne has put the freshman class on shore leave as well, and the semester will resume at the end of July.” He let out a long sigh. “The state of the crew is much harder to detail. Our JAG department has put under review the implications of what we may have done with V’ger and Spock. It will take several months, if not a full year, to conclude. Walton found the last fifty of our missing on their journey back home. That’s good news. We’re complete.” Fontana swirled the hard cider in his cup. “Complete in numbers of souls, but complete in soul is something else entirely. Our counseling department is working with all our people. Repairs to hearts and minds take time.” He stared out the wide windows into the blackness of space. Questions would never find answers. It would haunt him. “Computer, end and save log.”

“This sucks, Wren,” Captain Park muttered as they sat in her living quarters aboard the USS Perseverance. “This really sucks.”

Captain Wren Walton drained her faux red wine, grimacing at the sour aftertaste. “Seems like the right word for this situation. Sucks all around.”

Park refilled her white wine, sitting comfortably on the loveseat opposite Walton. They both sat quietly, sipping in silence. Park spoke first. “Did Spock die for nothing?”

Wren shook her head. “Without him or Pike joining, we’d all be dead. Or consumed with the Borg.” She felt her stomach lurch at the thought of what might have happened. If they had known the truth, would they have done the same thing? Would the decision have been just that much harder? “He died for something. What that something is…it isn’t so certain anymore, is it?” Her stomach soured further while she logically worked out possible answers.

Park replied, her stare out the window long and haunting. “We thought he died to bring V’ger full circle.” Her eyes misted as she continued, “What if he died for us? What if…the only way to save us…was the choice he had to make?” Park wiped the corners of her eyes clear. “His choice wasn’t just for himself or V’ger…it was for us.”

Walton stood and slid next to her friend and former XO. “Makes it a lot more noble, I think. I wonder how he felt when he found out the truth deep inside of V’ger before it became the Voyager.” She put her arm around Park and gently pulled her close.

Park sniffled, her tears at the edge. “It’s tragic. You were there. Spock became the legend he was supposed to be and then had to fade into the background.” She leaned into Walton. “Why does this one hurt so much?”

Wren understood. This mission, more than any of the previous ones, had left its mark. A deep mark that would not fade overnight and had struck them all deeply. “It hurts because we thought we were making the right call, only to discover what we knew was a lie. It hurts because no matter what we could have done, it was going to end the way it did. Someone would have to join with V’ger.”

“Would you have?”

Wren replied, “Would you?”

Park sighed, wiping the remains of tears from her face. “I don’t know. Knowing what I’d be missing would make it hard. I’ve found a place to call home and people too. People who care.” She shifted to face Walton. “You didn’t answer my question, Wren.”

Walton gently released her friend and sat facing front, her elbows on her legs, fingers steepled in thought. “It crossed my mind when Pike refused.” She let the confession breathe, and her churning stomach settled slightly. “It more than crossed my mind. I took a step towards V’ger, Seoyeon.” Park sat up at the use of her name, her eyes wide at the revelation. “Spock watched me do it. Those eyes. They said so much in that moment.” Wren shook her head at the memory. “I was going to do it. It happened so quickly, but then he stepped in.” It was her turn to be misty-eyed. “I felt his voice telling me to step back. That it was not my time.” Walton turned to her friend, “I’ve told no one, Seoyeon. I don’t want to tell anyone else. I didn’t think about doing it to be the hero. I don’t want that label. I don’t need that label.”

Park rested her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “You were going to do it to save us.”

Walton’s tears broke loose, and she fell into Park’s arms. “I couldn’t let everyone die like that. I wouldn’t have let that happen. I would have done it. I would have put my hands on that infernal machine without blinking if it meant saving every one of you.” Wren shuddered as her emotions sprung from the depths, finding release. Park held her, soothing her softly.

“Baron, what is it?” Lieutenant Ada Josephs asked as she glanced up from her desk in her office as Baron stepped hesitantly through the door.

“They spoke to me before we left.”

Ada set the PADD down. “Who spoke to you?”

The placid eyes of the former Borg searched the room as he thought through the answer. “Both of them. The device we inspected and the Voyager. I have been working to understand what they said and its meaning.” He remained still, but his speech and stance concerned Ada. She stood, slipping a tricorder into her hand, scanning him as she walked slowly toward him.

“What did they say to you, Baron?”

“Our future is not our own. That Voyager must correct errors in other universes. That our universe is possibly in error.” The scans were coming back normal, aside from heightened readings around his brain and the chemicals within.

“You said the device spoke to you. What did it say?”

Baron appeared to process for a moment longer than usual as his eyes lost focus. “It was a warning. That we will suffer a fate similar to it. That Voyager will come for us. And it will consume us all.” His eyes regained their focus. He looked at Ada, a curious look on his face. “Does that require a report of some kind?”

Ada scoffed, “That thought had crossed my mind, Baron.” She tapped her badge, “Ada to Wallaker. I need you and your science team down here on the double. Get Commander Hale down here too.” The chief medical officer turned to face an expectant and unbothered Baron.

She envied him. The sickbay doors opened, and Ada turned, girding herself for what was next.

It was never boring in the rimward.