‘I’m quite sure I ordered shore leave.’

Airex looked up sharply from the main display in Endeavour’s stellar sciences lab, jerked from his focus on the sensor readings Gateway had sent over. But he couldn’t fight a tight smile as he saw who’d interrupted him. ‘Captain.’

Valance gave a wry grimace as she stepped in. ‘I’m not used to that yet.’

‘You’ve had a command for months now.’

‘That was Pathfinder.’ With a sigh, she swept a demonstrative hand around the chamber. With so many of the crew taking in the sights of the Midgard system or the facilities of Gateway Station, it was quiet aboard generally, and particularly in a science lab whose facilities paled in comparison to those on the starbase. It was why Airex had come down here. He’d hoped to be alone.

But interruptions from Valance were different. He walked around the hovering holographic display and pulled up a stool, gesturing for her to do so too. ‘We’ve been through a lot. It must be strange, putting together so many of the original staff. I’m back. You’re back. Thawn’s back.’

Her grimace turned to a tight smile. ‘Who would have thought Lindgren would be the one constant all these years?’

‘Please.’ Airex scoffed gently. ‘She’ll command this ship someday.’

‘Maybe. But not any time soon. I’m not planning on going anywhere.’ Valance glanced up at him. ‘Speaking of command…’

Just as quickly as he stood, he sprang to his feet. ‘Dashell sent me something,’ Airex said in an evasive rush. ‘There’s a system across the border. One Starfleet hasn’t been to yet. A rogue comet’s heading for it.’

Valance watched him, plainly knowing what he was doing. ‘So?’

‘So, Starfleet spent the last quarter of a millennium watching this sector on long-range sensors and subspace telescopes. The mission was strategic, watching the Romulan border, but we have massive records of stellar movements for hundreds of years.’ He reached up to the display showing nothing more innocuous than what Gateway’s deep space sensors had picked up and swiped it across for the comparison Dashell had noticed. ‘Which means we’ve been watching this comet for hundreds of years.’

She stood, moving to the other side of the display. ‘What’s special about this comet?’

‘Originally? Not much. It’s designated RC/2163-23D, which lets you know we’ve watched it for a while, and nobody had anything very interesting to say about it. Starfleet discovered it after the original Starbase 23’s sensor array was brought online and spotted on a trajectory leaving system HD 146224-J. Scans were run as part of the long-range sensor calibration; we think it has particularly high deuterium deposits.’ Airex spoke in a light voice, knowing he was burying the lede. But Valance had been a pilot before she’d been an XO, had graduated Starfleet Academy second in her class with a degree in astrophysics. She would understand the implications when he explained how thoroughly mundane the comet was.

And she knew him, which meant she waited, gaze expectant, in silence.

‘Its study has been a very low priority, as you can imagine,’ Airex pressed on. ‘But it’s traversed the Midgard Sector for the past two and a half centuries at sub-light speeds. Popping up on our sensors. It passed through another star system in that time, getting caught in its gravitational pull, accelerating, achieving escape velocity, and moving on.’ As he talked, he drew a finger across the line on the stellar chart showing the progress of this comet over the centuries. ‘It’s changed course.’

Valance paused at that. ‘You mean, the gravitational pull of the star changed its course.’

‘No. That was almost a century ago. Sometime in the last five years, out in deep space, it turned.’ His finger dragged into a curve, and he nodded enthusiastically at her expression. ‘We didn’t pay it much attention. Neither did the Romulans. But after the Star Empire of Rator collapsed, Starfleet picked up the records from a Romulan surveillance outpost on their old border. Those confirm that the comet turned. And accelerated. That’s what caught Dashell’s attention – it was much closer to that outpost than SB-23, with much clearer scans.’

She folded her arms across her chest. ‘So it’s not a comet. Where’s it heading?’

‘It’ll enter the Koperion System in a few days.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘No, I don’t know anything about the Koperion System either. It’s old Neutral Zone. G-class star. Starfleet’s never been there.’

Their eyes met. Valance sighed. ‘You want to go.’

‘I want us to go. Endeavour.’ He straightened. ‘I’ve seen the strategic map of the Midgard Sector. There are a dozen concerns appearing every day. Humanitarian needs, security needs, industrial needs. But that’s not the only reason we’re here, is it? Gateway has vast resources to deal with the stability of the sector. But Starfleet spent the last two centuries merely watching phenomena on this border. It’s time for us to go out there.’

Valance looked at the holographic display, drumming her fingers on the edge of the console. ‘We can go,’ she said at length. ‘That is what we’re here for. But I don’t know why you made this pitch to avoid the conversation you know I came down here for.’ She turned back to him. ‘I want you as first officer.’

He had to swallow down the bubbling emotion. ‘Do you?’ At her exasperated confusion, he winced and pressed on. ‘A lot’s changed since we last worked together, Karana. We’ve both changed.’

‘You’re the best scientist I know,’ she said calmly. ‘You’re a good officer with excellent instincts. And I think everything we’ve been through the past eighteen months makes it clear you will tell me things I don’t want to hear.’

‘I told you things you didn’t want to hear because I was being an arsehole, thinking I was driving you away to protect you while really I was protecting myself,’ Airex said bluntly. ‘I’m still coming to terms with everything about Lerin. It’s not just that I hid what he did from you all; I spent a long time blocking it out from myself.’

‘I understand you’ve been trying to get back to basics for the last year,’ was Valance’s level reply. ‘But there comes a point where you have to stop laying the foundations and start building on them. Trust me. I know.’

Airex drew a slow, apprehensive breath. ‘Can we see how this mission goes? You and me, working together. I’m still a ranking member of the senior staff. I’ll still be taking point on this scientific enquiry. We’ll have to work closely together, navigate decision-making together.’

‘Alright,’ Valance said reluctantly. ‘You’re my first choice. But I don’t think I can go more than one excursion without assigning an XO, or without Qureshi finding me one.’ She glanced at the star chart, and her expression tightened. ‘I suppose there’s one additional trial by fire on the way.’

He followed her gaze, and though there were countless dots of stars on the chart, he knew where she was looking because his own eyes were inexorably drawn there. ‘I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.’

‘It’s fitting, in a way, isn’t it?’ But she didn’t sound happy about it. ‘Teros was where it all fell apart. If we’re to work in Midgard, we must come to terms with it. Right our past wrongs. Those people…’

‘We had to abandon them,’ Airex said brusquely. Then his expression cleared, and he looked at her. ‘My word. You understand what happened there, now?’

Eighteen months ago, Endeavour had been in the midst of a humanitarian mission to Teros, home of a Romulan Relocation Hub where survivors of the supernova had been placed, then all but abandoned by Starfleet after Mars. The ship had arrived to find a missing scientist, only to become embroiled in the hub’s needs. The Omega Crisis of 2399 disrupted that, forcing Endeavour to depart before their humanitarian mission finished. The resulting pushback from the locals had erupted into a riot.

The crew had been horrified to abandon Teros. But the Omega Directive meant only starship captains understood the necessity of Endeavour’s withdrawal. One of Airex’s past hosts had been briefed a century ago, and he’d stood by Captain Rourke on this difficult mission. Valance had not known and had stood by him anyway. Despite everything that happened and everything they did.

Rourke had destroyed a ship of the RSE trying to make off with Omega particles, killing the fifty crew as the vessel tried to run. Helm Officer Connor Drake had died in the Teros riot. And Chief of Security Saeihr Kharth had lived on Teros for years after Romulus, and was forced to turn her back on the community by the Omega Directive.

There was more. More Airex didn’t want to think about, though coming to terms with his past meant he had to. He had hoped he’d have more time.

‘I understand,’ Valance said in that toneless way he knew meant she was particularly struggling. ‘And I expect the fact that the others won’t will come up again. I’ll talk to Kharth.’

Guilt coiled in him. ‘A fine XO I’ll make,’ he said dryly, ‘if you can’t trust me to have a conversation with the senior staff.’

‘If you talked to her, it wouldn’t be a conversation with the senior staff,’ she pointed out. Then, ‘How is it between you?’

Airex sighed. ‘We talk. We’re civil. We’re sometimes even friendly.’

Valance quirked an eyebrow. ‘I didn’t know she was friendly with anyone.’

‘I wouldn’t say we’re friends. But we’re not colleagues, either. I don’t know what we are.’ For a moment he thought of asking about Cortez, but last he knew, she was still at Izar. ‘Is your brother joining us on Endeavour?’

‘Half-brother,’ Valance corrected, then shook her head. ‘The KDF want Gov as a liaison at Gateway. The Empire has a vested interest Midgard, too. This way we can at least keep them friendly, instead of eyeing up Romulan territory for expansion.’ She pursed her lips. ‘If you won’t talk to Kharth, there’s someone else you can talk to.’

‘I feel I should worry you’ve found a worse option,’ Airex drawled. ‘Do we need to parlay with the Borg Queen?’

‘Beckett. Junior,’ Valance amended as his expression briefly suggested she’d found someone worse. ‘He’s the one officer taking a professional hit out of this. Dashell will be happy moving to a dedicated science role, Harkon gets to move to smallcraft on Gateway and be the Tempest’s helmsman, everyone else is in a comparable position, but there’s no senior science billeting for him.’

‘I was surprised you kept him on for Pathfinder. That’s a serious research ship. He’s three years out of the Academy. That might be enough for Comms, or Helm, of even Ops, but a Chief Science Officer needs to have a serious breadth of knowledge or be on a much more minor ship,’ Airex said, shaking his head.

‘I needed someone good in the field. I had Dashell on the bridge and in the briefing room,’ Valance said. ‘I know he’s a pain in the ass, but he’s my crew. And…’ Her shoulders sagged. ‘Rourke always had a soft spot for him.’

He scrubbed his face with his hand. ‘I understand. I just don’t know why you’re asking me.’

‘First, I want you to press-gang him into the department aboard. Whatever it takes.’

‘I need someone to do a comparative study of Starfleet and Romulan star charts. With his anthropological background, he’s a good fit. Not to mention I’m losing Veldman and Danjuma to Gateway,’ he grumbled.

Valance made a noise. ‘That takes Kowalski and Song; Kharth will love that, too,’ she recalled. ‘But I don’t just want you to give Beckett a job. That boy has never had a positive role model.’

Airex hesitated. ‘Are you sure that should be me?’

‘I don’t know. The closest he had, again, was Rourke. But they’re very different.’

‘He’s not much like me, either.’

‘Then let me change this assignment, Commander.’ But Valance spoke in a light, almost teasing tone. ‘Put your centuries of experience to use and find someone to help him shape up. Or we might lose a good officer.’

Airex sucked his teeth. ‘Thawn’s coming aboard, too. I’ve the awful feeling this isn’t about Beckett’s career.’

‘I’m trying,’ Valance said delicately, ‘to ignore that.’

‘Is Rhade staying aboard?’

‘He’s in consideration for a few roles on Gateway.’ She kept the same tone. ‘They’d all be a promotion from his position on Endeavour, and I can’t beat those offers. But he also has until the end of this mission to decide.’

‘So that’s a week or two,’ mused Airex, ‘depending on what we find with this comet.’

‘And at Teros.’ Valance gave a tight, humourless smile. ‘Plenty of time to make life-altering decisions. And doubtless find something to turn it all upside-down along the way.’ She nodded to the display screens. ‘I’ll talk to the Commodore; start this moving.’

‘Karana.’ His voice came out a little strained as she turned away, and he cleared his throat when she looked back. ‘Whatever I choose. You know my decision is to stay, yes? That I’m not going anywhere this time?’

For a heartbeat, Valance closed her eyes. When they opened, her shoulders had set with more ease than he’d seen in her in months, years. ‘Then whatever they throw at us, Teros or Koperion,’ she said with the whisper of a smile, ‘I know we can handle it.’