Life for the Voyager continued as normal. Malory spent most of her time in Engineering and Astrometrics, when she wasn't acting as the unofficial counselor and story-keeper for the crew. "I'm telling you, we'll need these accounts for later," she maintained. "The more people like us, the more they'll hound Starfleet to come get us."

Her determination paid off when they used an alien array to contact the USS Pegasus in the Alpha Quadrant. She sent the entire five years' worth of logs with the Doctor, and when he returned, he brought with him the news that Starfleet had not given up on them.

A few weeks later on their journey, they received letters from home, transmitted through the same array they used earlier.

Everyone was excited to receive letters from home, except Malory. "I don't have anyone on Earth to get letters from," she said pragmatically.

Two seconds later, Neelix called out, "Letter for Admiral Malory!"

Paris raised an eyebrow at her. "You were saying?"

"Huh." She took the PADD and checked the sender. "Hm. Admiral Jacoby." She didn't even bother going somewhere private. She opened the file and started to read it. When she finished, she started to laugh. "Bureaucrats," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Kim asked.

"The Federation is at war," Malory said simply. "The Cardassians and a shapeshifting master race called The Dominion, because that's not cliched at all." She poked savagely at the PADD. "He wants to know the situation over here." She grinned at Kim. "Good thing I wrote down all our adventures, isn't it? Hope springs eternal, Harry."

She sent back the Voyages of the Voyagers to both Starfleet and a friend of hers in the Federation media circuit.

For some people, hope was a little harder to conjure up. The former Maquis were devastated to find out they were the only ones left, and Malory drifted through the ship, offering quiet comfort to help combat the survivor's guilt and the sense of loss.

Janeway received a Dear John letter that didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. "To tell the truth I'm actually relieved," she confided to Malory, as they sipped a glass of synthehol on the holodeck, watching the waves roll into the beach.

"I'm sure Mark is happy that you've found your own person that understands you," Malory said, giving her a hug. "Heaven knows he's in no position to judge."

Janeway gave a crooked half-smile. "No, he's not, is he?"

o - o - o - o

"I've decided," Malory said, five shifts into dismantling all the holo-projectors, "I really, really don't like the Hirogen. They're right up there with the Borg and the Kelvins."

"The Kelvins?" Joe Carey asked.

"Yeah. Didn't you ever read Kirk's missions?"

"I haven't got the security clearance for most of them," he replied.

"Oh." She grinned. "Whoops. Ignore that."

"I will, thanks."

o - o - o - o

Malory shivered for the third time in three hours.

"Admiral?" B'Elanna asked, watching her rub her neck tiredly. "Are you all right"?

"I'm fine," Malory said, distracted. "Woke up with a weird feeling."

"Maybe you're getting sick?" B'Elanna asked.

"I don't get sick."

Before B'Elanna could remind her that she had also succumbed to the macroscopic viruses a few years ago, the ship rocked from a passing shockwave. "What was that?" B'Elanna asked, grabbing for the wall to steady herself.

The screens holding sensor data blanked out, and then were replaced by a blue, glowing alert.

Malory turned pale. "Oh..."

"What is it?" B'Elanna asked.

"I have to talk to the captain." Malory bolted from engineering, her heart rate increasing. Who could have done this? She was in the turbo lift when her comm went off. "Malory."

"Admiral, can you join me in my ready room?"

"On my way captain." Malory was there in less than a minute.

"That was fast," Janeway said, surprised. She showed her the screen of her laptop. "I assume you know what this is."

Malory smiled wryly. "I invented the system, captain."

Janeway stared at her. "Well. Then you know what we have to do."

"Yes. But, I set up the system with a handpicked Star Fleet support system in mind to be able to handle the situation." She tapped in some commands and frowned at the data. "And from these readings, that's hundreds of particles. That could take out the entire Delta Quadrant, captain."

Janeway nodded slowly, trying to come to terms with what it implied. "Can we neutralize them safely?" she asked.

Malory was quiet for a few moments as she reviewed the specs. "Yes. The protocols will still work. With Seven's help and half the crew, yes."

"No," the captain said, "we can't risk telling the crew."

Malory frowned slightly. "Captain, we are not in the Alpha Quadrant. Now, with time, the three of us could do it perfectly well, but the fact that we were able to detect them means something's already gone wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"In a perfect state, Omega particles are undetectable. Why do you think we used them as weapons? Nobody ever saw them. Only people with Omega particles infused into their DNA, like me, can sense them. Side effect. I thought I was getting the flu, but it turned out to be Omega."

Janeway stood up and moved to the sofa. "Let's get started then."

Malory moved to the replicator. "Coffee?"

They spent the next sixteen hours in the ready room, until their plan was ready. "I'll call a briefing for the senior officers."

"I'll get Seven."

Seven was waiting for the admiral. "The Omega Directive," she stated.

Malory sighed. "So, you already know. Good. Come on."

"I will not help you destroy Omega," Seven told her. "We should harness it. Out of everyone, you can."

"I know I can," Malory said. "What do you think that would accomplish?"

Seven's eyes gleamed with desire. "Perfection."

"And then what?" Malory asked. "You think the Borg are the only species looking to harness Omega? It's either get rid of it to save the quadrant or harness it and rewrite history as you know it. I can't do that. What I can do, is make sure the captain has what she needs to keep the crew safe."

Seven frowned. "Very well. I will assist you."

They went to the conference room. Everyone was waiting. The captain gave them a brief overview of the Omega Directive and told them their mission. Then she gave it to Malory. "Admiral?"

Malory stood up. "Yes. When I designed the directive, we had a team of specialists already picked out. Considering the circumstances though, it's down to us. Seven and I have encountered the Omega particles before. They are extremely unstable, and a disturbance could cause chaos for the entire quadrant for decades to come. Instead of seventy years to reach the Alpha Quadrant, it would take us seven hundred. So, we need to get rid of them safely. Depending on the number of particles, Seven and I will come up with specs for a disposal unit. We'll need manpower and resources from science and engineering. B'Elanna, we'll need multiphasic shielding around the warp core, up to 500%. I'll give you a hand with that. Doctor, we'll need bucket loads of arithrazine, as much as you can synthesize. And Tom, you'll need to be ready to get us out of here at a second's notice. If things go south, we'll need as much distance as possible."

Janeway took over. "I don't have to tell you what's at stake. If a large-scale Omega explosion occurs, we will lose the ability to go to warp forever. We've got our work cut out for us. We'll reach the solar system in three hours. Dismissed."

By the time they got there, the multiphasic shielding for the warp core was complete, the eighty-kiloton photon torpedo was ready, and the resonance chamber was being framed in the cargo bay.

"We cannot destroy it," Seven told Malory again, as they were working on the resonance chamber.

Malory frowned. "We have to, Seven."

"Not if you were to stabilize it." Seven looked at her, something akin to hero worship in her eyes. "You can. I know you can, even with this technology."

Malory sighed. "Seven, we've talked about this. I know you want to keep it to study it. So do I, for old times' sake. It's a part of me. But think of the risks. You know how many Borg were destroyed in the attempts to harness Omega. I'm not going to risk this crew for a simple particle, no matter how awe-inspiring. And neither are you."

Seven knew Malory was right. She finally ducked her head. "Very well."

Malory sighed. This was worse than taking candy away from a baby. "But," she conceded, "when we do have it, I'll try my best to stabilize one, so you can see it."

Seven's eyes lit up. "You would do that?"

"It's the most beautiful thing in the universe," Malory said, getting a strange ache in her chest as she thought of it. "Of course, I would."

o - o - o - o

They reached the planet and found the source of the Omega explosion: a small moon. Just looking at it gave Malory goose bumps and chills. That was a lot of energy.

"Admiral Malory," Janeway said, "you'll form part of the away team. Tuvok, Mr. Paris, with me. Cmdr. Chakotay, you have the bridge."

"Aye captain."

They beamed down and found people dead and dying of radiation poisoning. Malory spared them a sympathetic glance, but her attention was focused elsewhere: there was a resonance in the air... "It's through here," she said, vaguely realizing that the captain was speaking. She ignored them all and moved to what looked like a test chamber.

"This is solid duritanium," Tuvok said, "and it has fused into the frame. We would have to use phasers to get through it."

"Do it."

"The Prime Directive?" Tuvok reminded the captain.

"Rescinded," she shot back.

They cut through the door and as soon as it slid open, Malory's skin began to tingle, and her nerves began to sing. She could feel an ancient, almost forgotten sensation rushing through her veins, and she took a few steps closer, staring into the heart of the chamber. "Hello," she said softly, feasting her eyes on the particles. "I haven't seen you in hundreds of years..."

"Admiral," Tuvok said, "you are glowing."

"It's just the light," she replied distractedly, but she knew it wasn't. Like magnets, the Omega particles were reacting with the residual energy in her DNA. She waved her hand, and the particles followed her movement. She glanced at the test chamber's readings, interpreting them instinctively, and almost wept. Such a waste...

"Admiral," Janeway warned, putting a hand on her shoulder.

The admonition brought her back to reality and Malory stepped back, shaken. "We'll have to use the resonance chamber. There are too many particles for a simple torpedo." She glanced at the particles, sorely tempted. "With ten of them, we could be home in a week," she whispered. "With fifty you could remake a star system."

Janeway shook her head. "The final frontier has some boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, Admiral. You know that better than we do."

Malory took another step back. "I need to go back to the ship," she said, clearing her throat. "I need to adjust the specs for the chamber." She forced herself to walk away and beamed up to the ship.

She stopped by sickbay to see how the creator of the particles was doing, and maybe find out why they had created so many in the first place. She found him shouting at Seven not to destroy the particles. "You don't know what you're doing! This is our future!"

Something in her snapped and Malory stepped forward, eyes blazing. "Don't be naive," she told him. "Do you think even if we left, that your precious particles would be left in peace? the Borg would surely come after you. Then even if you survived them there are others, from all corners of the universe. Creatures that scavenge on the remains of subspace would follow you wherever you went. There are civilizations that would tear this galaxy apart for even one single particle. The war to end all wars was won with a fraction of your treasure. When you mess with Omega you are taking on the entire universe. We are doing you a favor." Her tone softened as she realized why he had created them. "And as for the future of your children, try extracting power from zero-point energy. I'll give you the base calculations myself." She left the Doctor and the patient staring at her in shock.

She stalked down the hall, breathing heavily, trying to calm herself down. I am the Last of the Elites. I am a Star Fleet officer. Calm down. Calm down. But she couldn't stop the rush of memories.

The Elite gathered in the council chamber, their faces drawn and their eyes weary from all they had seen. "This is the only way. All in favor say aye." A pause. And then, "Aye." A terrible, sorrowful pause. "Then let the end begin." They were only sixteen years old...

"Admiral."

Malory slowly unclenched her fists, as the memories were swept under the carpet. "Yes?" she asked.

"Did you mean what you said?" Seven asked. "About the entire universe?"

Malory nodded. "Omega is the Holy Grail of particles. The Borg are small potatoes compared to some people. Come on."

They finished the chamber in the nick of time: two ships were heading their way. The Voyager managed to beam up both the particles and the away team and headed off.

Malory started to glow again as she and Seven worked on the resonance chamber. "Eleven percent neutralized," she reported, as Janeway walked into the cargo bay.

Janeway stared at her. "You're actually glowing."

"Um, yes. Side effect. The particles are harmonizing quite nicely though."

"You're not going to blow up, are you?" Janeway asked cautiously.

"I can promise you I will not."

"Other than you turning blue, how's it going?" she asked, taking a place at the other imager.

"Too slowly," Malory said. "I'm turning it up to maximum."

"Won't that drain the power?"

"I made a few last-minute modifications. They're holding." Malory watched the scans. Twenty-five percent, fifty... if she was going to show Seven perfection she'd have to hurry. She started rotating the particles, bringing them into alignment, the skills coming back to her with ease. Seventy-two percent, seventy-five... There. She looked into the viewer. "Seven. Kathryn."

For seven point eight seconds the three women saw fifty million Omega particles in a state of absolute alignment. For those seven point eight seconds, Malory felt like the universe was singing...

And then quite suddenly they were gone. Destroyed. The chamber was empty.

They stayed silent, still in shock, until Chakotay called for an update.

"We were successful," Janeway said, tearing her gaze away from the chamber. "Get us out of here. Janeway out." She looked at Malory. "You're not glowing anymore."

"No. All normal. Worse than normal. I feel like I just came off a sugar high." She shook her head. "Seven? You all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, still in awe. "Thank you."

Malory smiled. "It was my pleasure."

Janeway shook her head. "You'll forgive me if I say I never want to see another one of those in my life."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Malory told her. "Humans don't live long enough."

"That's not comforting," Janeway replied.

Malory shrugged.

o - o - o - o

And then they came to the Void. It was an expanse with no planets, no stars, not even a dust cloud. It would take two years to cross it.

"Though I walk in the valley of deep shadow, I fear no harm," Malory said quietly, as they stared at the scans.

"The Bible?" Paris asked.

Malory nodded. "Good principles in it. Good poetry. Neat foreshadowing. You should give it a try."

"Have you done this before?" Chakotay asked. "Crossed an expanse like this?"

Malory gave him a brief smile. "I crossed over from the Andromeda galaxy on my own, Chakotay. This void is gonna be a cakewalk."

"Why?"

"There's a hundred and forty of us, this time. I won't end up talking to myself for days on end..." She glanced at the observation window. "We're gonna need to replicate curtains and stickers, by the way. Possibly rig up some visual distortions on the navigational shields."

"Why?" Kim asked.

Malory shook her head. "That much black, drives you crazy."

Neelix fidgeted uneasily.

"And we're gonna need to run a tight holodeck schedule and get some extra crew entertainment. Classes, clubs, that sort of thing."

Janeway nodded. "Good plan."

So Voyager ventured into the endless night. It started well. People replicated curtains or glow in the dark stars to put onto their windows and signed up for holodeck time. All systems were operating at optimum efficiency, and Voyager had never been more peaceful. Everyone hated it.

Fifty days in, everyone was going stir crazy, and no amount of ceramics classes or art-of-the-ninja classes would take the edge off. Tom and B'Elanna were dangerously close to killing each other at least twice every day. Neelix developed a phobia of nothingness. A lieutenant in Security got addicted to Parrises squares. And Captain Janeway decided that since nothing was happening she could schedule her captain's-depression period. Not even Chakotay could move her from her quarters.

Malory let it go for fifteen days, and then marched up to the lion's den. She used her admiral's override to get in and found Captain Janeway staring at the black. "Not now, Chakotay," Janeway said tiredly.

"I'm not Chakotay," Malory replied, her tone both sarcastic and compassionate. "Are you done with your pity party?"

Janeway waved a dismissive hand.

"I'm serious," Malory said, crossing over to sit on the sofa across from her. "All good captains feel the weight of the universe on their shoulders, but this is frankly getting ridiculous. Kirk got his two weeks on Vulcan, with Commander Spock to pull him out of it. Picard got his two weeks after the Stargazer went down, with Beverly Crusher to pull him out of it. You just got fifteen days. You're done. Let's go have lunch in an Italian cafe and ogle hot waiters. Maybe Chakotay will join us and we can skip the hot waiters."

Janeway just looked at her. "Why are we here?" she asked.

"Because you haven't gotten up and I don't want to waste power on an intership transport beam," Malory replied.

"No. The Delta Quadrant."

"The timelines solidified around the Caretaker and put the Voyager on this path," Malory said, completely serious. "Is this what you've been brooding about? The array?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"Captain, it actually does say Admiral on this uniform. You don't have to worry about that."

"You weren't the admiral then, were you?" Janeway retorted.

"No, but I agreed with your decision," Malory said.

"What?"

Malory raised an eyebrow. "You think if I hadn't agreed with your decision to save the Ocampa that I wouldn't have taken over both ships and gotten us back? I've carried out mutinies before, many a time, even without admiral override codes."

Janeway just gaped at her.

"I'll tell you another secret. The Caretaker? Wouldn't have had enough juice to get us to the Alpha Quadrant. I went back and studied the scans we got. He'd have thrown us ten thousand lightyears. Maybe." She gripped Janeway's hand. "You did the right thing, captain. No one on this crew blames you for it." She hauled the stunned captain to her feet. "Now. Let's go have lunch, and maybe a game of Velocity. That's an order."

"Yes, admiral," Janeway finally replied.

Chakotay came to see Malory later that day. "Thank you," he said, "whatever you told her, she's coming back to us."

Malory raised an eyebrow at him. "When are you going to do the proper thing and marry her, Chakotay?" she asked casually.

He stared at her, a blush starting to crawl up his neck. "What?" he asked.

"You know. A ring, a proposal, a wedding, vows, that kind of thing."

"Uh..."

"C'mon, Chakotay. Anyone with eyes can see that you two love each other, and what else are you gonna do for two years? Sand paintings?" She clapped him on the shoulder. "And, it'd make life around here interesting again."

He cracked a grin at that. "So, for the good of the crew, you want me to marry her?" he asked.

Malory rolled her eyes. "For the good of you and Kathryn, I want you two to get married. Find some peace, while you can. Don't waste your chance."

"What if she says no?"

"Then you wait a day and ask her again. You should get a positive answer sometime before we get out of this void. And in the meantime, we'll get prime entertainment."

He frowned at her.

She grinned at him. "All admirals are rabid shippers, commander. We have betting pools that span the entire fleet, on whether or not two people will get together. There's 50 to 1 odds that Picard will die of old age before he spits it out to Beverly Crusher that he's in love with her."

Chakotay snorted. "I see what you mean."

"All right. Go on and plan your grand dinner." She shooed him out. "Have fun!"

Malory just happened to be loitering outside the holodeck when Kathryn and Chakotay exited it the next evening. She was waiting for the holodeck, to play chess against a simulated Gary Kasparov. Malory straightened up from the wall and gave them a nod. "Evening, you two." She walked past them to the holodeck entrance, stopped, and turned on her heel. "Wait just a second," she demanded, hurrying after them.

They stopped, and turned to look at her, both grinning.

She grabbed Janeway's hand and inspected the gold band with the single sparkling green gem. "You said yes?" she asked, trying her hardest not to squeal.

Janeway nodded, a blush coming to her face.

Malory flung her arms around her, and then Chakotay, hugging them tightly. "I'm so happy for you two! I'm so excited!" She grabbed Janeway's hand. "Kathryn, can I help you plan the wedding? Please?"

They both laughed at her. "You can help me," Janeway agreed. "You are going to perform the ceremony, after all."

"Yes!" She kissed her cheek. "I'm so happy for you."

o - o - o - o

The wedding was the most exciting thing to happen in the Delta Quadrant, and boredom on the Voyager went out the window.

Plans were interrupted for a while when the theta radiation spikes increased, and they found a wormhole that would lead them to the other end of the void.

The wedding was stalled again when Seven's nanoprobes fused with the Doctor's mobile emitter and created an advanced Borg. Malory stayed well away from it, to reduce temptation for the fledgling drone.

Finally, the big day came. Malory, as highest-ranking officer, performed the standard Star Fleet ceremony, and didn't even bother looking solemn as Kathryn and Chakotay exchanged quiet vows.

"Finally," was Tom Paris' entire best man speech, and he sat down amidst cheers, and a napkin thrown at him by the groom.