His foot tapped against the deck. His eyes kept glancing down at his PADD. Standing in the center of the bridge, Commander Lewis had anything but their current heading on his mind. Across the vastness of space, the Fourth Fleet had just engaged the Lost Fleet over Farpoint. Even with the reductions prompted by the Mariner’s success, the enemy forces still greatly outnumbered their own. It did not look good. They might lose the Deneb system, and if that happened, the sector would fall. Everything they had accomplished over the last month would be undone.

Commander Lewis understood why Admiral Reyes had chosen not to turn for Farpoint. This little ship was not in fighting shape after the Ciatar Nebula. Weapons still offline, shields at minimum, and thrusters severely damaged, what could it really offer? Not much besides drawing some fire and ramming a battlecruiser. But it didn’t change the fact he wanted to be there instead of watching the stars whizz by as they raced for Earth.

A ping on his PADD drew him from his thoughts.

Commander Lewis read the update quickly. 

“Hot damn! That’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed, and every officer within earshot looked over. Their thoughts, just like his, were with their colleagues on the line.

“Good news?” asked Lieutenant Morgan hopefully.

“Looks like it,” Commander Lewis said, crossing from the command island to his colleague. “Check this out.”

Morgan accepted the PADD and read the latest flash. And then he read it again, almost unable to believe his eyes. “Wow, with this, they might actually win it!” 

“Looks like the Atlantis came through,” Commander Lewis smiled. “I had five to one odds that Captain Theodoras would come back empty handed, but she got them. She got all of them. The Klingons, the Romulans, and even the Tholians. Explain to me how the Tholians care more about Deneb than our own admirals in San Francisco?” No one had an answer for him.

A few hours later, the far away battle was over.

Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes gathered the senior staff in the briefing room, and Commander Lewis ran them through the preliminary after action report. A lot was still hazy, but the big picture was clear. 

“The Fourth Fleet has prevailed, Farpoint is secure, and what is left of the Lost Fleet is in retreat back to the Gamma Quadrant,” Commander Lewis summarized after taking everyone through the details he had received. “The Deneb Sector will soon be fully back in our possession.”

“This is a moment to celebrate!” Lieutenant Commander Eidran exclaimed, his face awash with relief. “It is finally over.” The young man had grown up in the peace of the nineties, and he had never experienced anything like the chaos and tragedy of this gruesome conflict.

“Don’t toast just yet,” Admiral Reyes warned from the head of the table. “We don’t have casualty numbers just yet, but even preliminaries show that victory certainly did not come cheap.” She felt for every commander in that battle, the hard choices they had to make, and the reality they would now have to live with. The victory over Farpoint, just like Nasera, Arriana, Izar and so many others, had been paid for with the blood of brave officers who gave their lives for greater purpose.

“I know that all too well,” Eidran snapped, slightly more aggressively than he’d meant. He’d lost his mentor to the enemy, and then, with only days to grieve, he’d been thrust right back into the meat grinder. “But at least there won’t be any more. At least this is the end.”

“For now,” cautioned Commander Lewis. He had doubts it was truly the end. “There are still many unanswered questions. Was it truly an accident that the Lost Fleet reappeared at this particular moment? Why was their offensive so organized and effective when their knowledge of our quadrant was thirty years out of date? How come they immediately went to war without seeking out the counsel of their gods first? And are the Founders playing at a long game here?”

Eidran sighed. The Commander wasn’t wrong, but he just wanted to enjoy the good news. He was absolutely and completely exhausted, and he just didn’t have it in him to entertain the notion that this wasn’t the end. He hoped that Commander Lewis was just seeing ghosts, like he often did. “So what’s the plan for us now?”

“We stay the course for Earth,” Reyes answered firmly.

“But we don’t need to convince them to send ships anymore,” Eidran pointed out.

“No, but someone needs to explain why the hell the Fourth Fleet stood alone in the night,” Reyes explained. “It should never have come to this.” If Command had risen to its duty and brought the full might of Starfleet down on the Deneb Sector, they wouldn’t have been relying on hail marys, miracles and unlikely allies to achieve victory.

Eidran could sense the anger in Reyes’ heart as much as he could see it in her eyes. He could feel the conviction in her words, and it discomforted him. Why couldn’t she just get those answers via a phone call? Why were they taking a Duderstadt class light cruiser halfway across the quadrant so the admiral could have a conversation?

“Besides,” Admiral Reyes said, softening her tone. “After everything the crew has been through, I’m sure they’d all enjoy some R&R on Earth. We’ll be arriving just before Frontier Day, and I’m sure we can stick around for the festivities.”

Eidran nodded. That actually sounded fairly appealing after the month they’d just endured. He’d heard about the preparations that were underway for that momentous day, and it sounded like it was going to be the celebration of the century. It would be cool to be there in person.

For her sake, Admiral Reyes had no intention of celebrating. Worlds had been broken, faith had been crushed, and too many lives had been lost. Those admirals in San Francisco, they were at least partly responsible through their inaction, whether inadvertent or intentional. The only thing she wanted was answers.