Disclaimer:

The characters, worlds, etc of Star Trek are the copyright property of Gene Roddenberry, Parmount Studios, etc. As they do not belong to me, I am not making any money off of them. I am only playing in the would already created and promise to put them back after I am done. All disclaimer rights apply. In other words, anything recognized is not mine.

The others had been furious with his sudden decision to leave, leaving him to his own devices until his departure. In the end, they had come to accept the path he now walked took him from their euphoria and back to a familiar place. Instead of leaving in disgrace as once before, he left them with their blessing and an understanding. As the transporter had brought him aboard the vessel, hope for the future flared brightly in his soul.

Once upon a time, he would have been concerned by the isolation from the rest of the crew. Now he lurked in the shadows of the bridge, grateful for the sacrare of his position. It would have once bothered him to be viewed as a sacer, but those thoughts and beliefs belonged in another life, and yet they were still very much a part of him, of who he was. He wondered if he had changed much during the intervening years, would they others recognize him and how much had changed during his absence.

Thousands of stars now rushed past him as he stared out the ship's view screen. In the back of his mind he could hear the faint buzz of activity as the bridge crew quietly submitted to their tasks and left him to his own thoughts. His thoughts slowly turned to past events, events that had shaped the universe as he once knew it. Despite the last four years of uneasy peace, an emptiness persistently filled his heart. Once upon a time he had believed that duty could fill the hole and he had found some peace despite the aching of his own heart. Now as they slowly reached their destination, he knew that the lie was no longer sufficient.

He had justified his actions, consoled himself with the knowledge of the numbers that had survived because of the sacrifice of two. But in the end, when the nights were lonely and cold, he would rail against those that had driven them apart. He had lashed violently lashed out at those he had responsible for his pain, for the loneliness that had kept him company even in the arms of Eden. No matter the outcome, the end of his journey would be a saccarify one. Unconsciously, his feet pushed against the deck plates of the bridge as though superstitiously that he could singlehandedly increase the sheer speed of the vessel.

Beneath his feet, he could feel the vessel's speed slowly surceasing to the pull of gravity. From his corner on the bridge, he could see the familiar constellations as they drew closer to the end of their journey. Despite the swelling of joy at the sight, his feet remained cemented to the deck. Magnetized as he watched his fantasies unfold before him, a shiver of anticipation quaked through his being. He was numbly conscious of the fluid of activity humming at the edges of his mind as the last few course adjustments were made. His senses tinged with the unexpected joy discovered with the knowledge of being so close to the greatest discovery of his life.

Mesmerized with the prospects of the immediate future, he could do nothing more then wait as the vessel's speed was adjusted to accommodate the last leg of the journey and the beginning of the next. The world shrank in, surrounding him as his thoughts passed through the vast emptiness of space. The comforting hum of activity around him faded as a single voice called to him above the deafening static.