Airex caught Thawn on the way out of the conference room. ‘Lieutenant. Once you’ve settled in, I’d appreciate your thoughts on some sensor calibrations I’ve been working on so we can pick up any additional homing signals unrelated to our lost Cube.’

‘I…’ Thawn’s gaze flickered to the doors closing behind her. But there was nothing she could do about what was going on in there, and Airex’s words – and the work they brought with them – dragged her back to the present. ‘Of course, sir. I should probably get back into uniform, though.’

He looked apologetic. ‘Of course. I shouldn’t expect you to switch settings so quickly.’ He nodded and straightened. ‘Report to Astrometrics in two hours?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And Lieutenant?’

‘Sir?’ She’d turned to go but paused as Airex continued.

His smile softened. ‘It’s good to have you back.’

She had always liked and respected Airex, feelings made all the harder for how difficult he was to please, for how rarely he’d given praise in their years of working together. But neither of them were who they had been when they’d met, and words which would have once made her day now merely cheered her up a little. He gave such assurances more freely, and she needed them less. It felt more like a fresh brick in the wall of her self-esteem, contributing but not foundational, rather than the sort of words she’d have once lived and died on.

But she could have stood for a few more of them when she turned to see Logan ushering her to his post at Tactical. Awkward, she headed over.

‘You’ve been using the AIP, Lieutenant?’

She again glanced to the closed conference room doors as her chest tightened, both apprehensive of what Valance wanted with Beckett and what the security chief, so tense in the meeting, wanted with her. ‘Oh, uh – yes, sir.’

But Logan softened as she arrived, catching her glance. He gave an apologetic smile. ‘Forgetting my manners. How was the expedition? Hoping you cutting it short ain’t too bad of a setback.’

She relaxed an iota but still grimaced. ‘The Khalagu don’t want anything Borg near them. It shows trust they brought the AIP to us so we could handle it. But I believe we were making serious progress in our relationship with them. For what good that does.’

‘It matters,’ said Logan. ‘Once this is over, we still gotta make good on our commitment to the Midgard Sector.’

‘If there is a Midgard Sector.’ At his raised eyebrow, she frowned. ‘Sir, you’ve seen the reports. Borg sightings. Homing beacons. What do we do if the Collective comes looking for the remains of their missing Cube?’

‘Honestly? Let ‘em have it and be grateful if they let us stay out of their way. Which brings me to that thing. The AIP. You’ve been handling it so far?’

‘With Commander Cortez. She really is excellent, sir; I’ve never known her to be rash. The device is in good hands.’

‘You got me all wrong,’ Logan said, sighing. ‘I’ve no doubts about Cortez. Or you. I just don’t think good hands for this kind of equipment exist. But if you’ve gotta use it, you can’t get complacent. There are things we can look out for.’

Behind her, the conference room doors slid open again, and a rather dazed Beckett staggered out. She bit her lip and looked at Airex. ‘I appreciate your warning, sir. We’ll take every precaution.’

His eyes flickered from her to Beckett, and his jaw tightened an iota. ‘This could go real wrong, real fast, Lieutenant. But you’ve had a long day. I’ll let you rest.’

Beckett hadn’t waited, and she had to stick her hand in to block the turbolift doors from closing so she could step in and join him. ‘What happened?’ Thawn pressed. ‘What did she say?’ He looked shell-shocked, running on automatic, so she hit the button for the lift to take them to Deck 2.

‘Uh.’ He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘She wants me to head up Intel.’

An apprehensive flutter hit her chest. ‘And when this crisis is over? Did she say she has a position for you or is that something you’ll talk about later?’

‘We won’t talk about it later.’ At last, he blinked. ‘This isn’t temporary, like in the Delta Quadrant. She wants me to be Chief Intelligence Officer. Permanently.’

‘Great Fire. That’s wonderful!’ She clutched his arm. ‘Isn’t it?’

‘It is! It’s just…’ He winced. ‘It’s silly.’

‘This is Valance. Valance. She didn’t give you the job because of your father. You know that’s not how she works.’

The turbolift slowed. Beckett at last softened to give a crooked smile. ‘You’re right,’ he said, and she could see he was quietly grateful for how she’d cut to the heart of what was bothering him without him needing to voice it. ‘Thank you.’

They stepped onto Deck 2, then both stopped. Thawn looked up and down the corridor. ‘Oh,’ she said at length.

He frowned and straightened. ‘Yeah. Uh. My luggage was beamed to my quarters.’

‘My bag was beamed to mine.’ She hadn’t packed anything for her trip. The Starfall’s replicators had seen to her needs. ‘But I need a fresh uniform.’

‘I need a new uniform. And to get down to SOC.’

‘And I have to be in Astrometrics.’ But they had been together for nearly six weeks, living on top of each other in the Orion-class runabout. If they weren’t there, they were in and among the Khalagu, never apart for very long. The work had been hard and sometimes isolating, but they had also found a quiet pocket of the universe untouched by outsiders and been welcomed to its secrets, beauty, and people. Together.

Now, cold reality was slipping back, and it brought more than the Borg. It brought schedules, duty, uniforms, structure. Working apart. Separate rooms. Everything she’d left behind, they’d left behind, and they hadn’t talked about what came next. They’d thought they’d had more time.

Thawn bit her lip. ‘I suppose I’ll… see you later?’

His expression shifted. ‘You’re going to work stupid late, aren’t you. Especially if Cortez takes the AIP over for another extraction tomorrow.’

‘I… probably.’

‘And I’ve got a galaxy’s worth of information to consolidate. And I think I play nice with Shepherd now? So adjusting won’t be quick.’

‘No.’ She adjusted her feet. ‘Maybe we get… lunch.’

He frowned. ‘Lunch?’

‘Tomorrow. When the mission’s done and we’re settled in.’

‘Oh. Yeah. I… lunch. Sure.’

Her smile was tight. ‘I’ll see you then.’

They turned, and she felt the kaleidoscopic glow of the Synnef Nebula finally fade away, its purples and golds and mystery disappearing for the cold starkness of Endeavour’s decks, the sharp edges of all her looming duties, and the shadows of what waited deeper into the sector. It was those shadows that made her hesitate some twenty feet away. Pause. And turn.

‘Nate?’

He whirled with a flicker of apprehension and hope, and it was that latter that had her moving. She raced the distance between them, grabbing his stupid leather jacket by the collar to pull him down for a quick, greedy kiss.

‘I’ll be finished late with Airex,’ she breathed against his lips when they broke apart. ‘And then I’ll come to your quarters?’

He smiled with relief, gleamed with relief. ‘We didn’t get co-dependent or anything while we were away, huh?’

‘Most certainly not,’ she said with mock-huffiness. ‘We’re well-adjusted professionals.’ She kissed him quickly again, then let him go. ‘I’ll see you later.’

They parted properly then, though Thawn found her feet still grow heavier as she headed down the corridor towards her quarters. The last time she’d been there, she’d been dithering, delaying, refusing to decide what to do after finally breaking things off with Adamant. Only at the last possible second, with Beckett about to depart on the Starfall, had she grabbed nothing and set off to intercept him.

But ‘breaking things off’ with Adamant would take more than a conversation. It would take paperwork to process a divorce. More importantly, it would take speaking to her family. His family. She had broken commitments to her house, and more was at play here than anything so petty as people’s feelings.

That, at least, could wait. They were in a crisis, after all. The fate of the sector was at stake, and even Thawn’s aunt would not expect her to put her Starfleet duty on hold to see to the politics of the Houses of Betazed. Duty was everything, after all.

But the thought that the reawakening of the Borg had granted her a reprieve was small comfort. They all had to survive to make the most of it. And with the stakes this high, the potential consequences so dire, Rosara Thawn knew one thing.

She would rather not relearn how to sleep alone.