"This is the Queen's cell."

I stood there, transfixed, caught between wonder and a renewed sense of terror. "I..."

"...remember," Hugh finished for me, "even though you've never been here before. Same here. It's all just … there." He activated the clear panel in his hands.

The room hummed to life. The ceiling lowered, meeting the rising platform below.

This was something I didn't recognize. Yet somehow, I knew it would provide the means of our escape.

"This one is from after your time," Hugh explained. "A spatial trajector. The Borg acquired the technology after assimilating Sikarians. Its use was reserved for the Queen in the event of an emergency."

Now I understood how the Queen managed to escape from exploding vessels all those times without detection. It was how she'd transported onto my ship when the Borg attempted to assimilate the Enterprise.

You humans think in such three-dimensional terms, she'd sneered at me. I had to admit, it sounded better than, I used a Sikarian spatial trajector.

The explorer part of me wanted to discover more, but there was no time.

"It has a theoretical range of—"

"Forty thousand light years," Soji interrupted.

I made a mental note to ask her how she knew that later. This extensive range changed the parameters entirely. I now had the chance to get Soji farther away from here than I'd previously imagined.

Time to communicate with my crew. "Raffi, we found a way to get off the cube, but we need to go now. Let's set a rendezvous."

"Rendezvous? Where are you going?"

"Nepenthe." It was the farthest place I could think of where I felt certain we'd find refuge. "Rios, do you know it?"

"Sure, but, how..."

I knew they wouldn't like it. I also knew that the Romulans would likely release La Sirena if Soji wasn't aboard her. "Just meet us there." I cut the link before they could raise more objections.

Hugh continued to work, and I forced myself to practice patience. Listening to the soft trilling of the computers, I couldn't help but remember when I'd intended to use him as a weapon to destroy the Borg. I'd nearly used him to commit genocide.

But when I came to him for help today, he gave it without hesitation, though he'd surely face the Romulans' wrath for it. We'd only briefly reconnected, but I was so grateful to him.

Then, the worst happened.

"Hands in the air!"

The Romulans had found us!

No sooner had the lead soldier shouted the order when he fell to the ground.

A long blade impaled the second. Amidst the scuffle and dark green blood spurting everywhere, I discerned my young bodyguard. He made quick work of the enemy soldiers.

"Elnor, I told you to stay on the ship."

"Yes." He shrugged, bracing himself for another reprimand. "I didn't listen."

I should have been angry at him. But if he hadn't disobeyed, our mission would have ended right then and there – and I'd already raked him over the coals once. "Thank you."

Elnor relaxed.

"More guards are coming," said Soji. "I can hear them."

An eerie feeling of deja vu washed over me. Dahj, too, had been frighted by the sudden discovery of her newfound abilities. She'd used similar words when the Tal Shiar came for her.

"She's right," Hugh confirmed. "We're almost at full power. Go. I'll keep them from tracing you."

I turned back to Elnor to find him studying Soji. He'd never seen an android before, much less one this advanced. She was not at all what he'd expected. And there was something else. It hadn't occurred to me that he might feel jealousy toward her.

Of course, nothing could've prepared me for such a situation! He wondered if I cared more about this girl – a synthetic neither of us met before today – than I cared about him. After all, I'd enlisted his help to rescue her, and not the other way around.

How could I make him understand? Why did this conflict have to arise now, of all times?

Deanna would help me make things right. She would love both Soji and Elnor. But guilt replaced any relief I might have felt. I never wanted to involve the Rikers in this – I was that desperate.

"Elnor, come. This thing," I gestured toward the trajector, "will take us to a safer place."

He shook his head. "I'll stay behind and cover your escape. My blade is pledged to defend you."

"Then I release you from the pledge!"

"I decline to be released." He turned and took his stance at the chamber entrance.

"What are you doing?" This was madness! He was so stubborn. Why didn't he ever listen to me?

"Preparing to fight!"

"They're getting closer," Soji reminded us.

I looked to Hugh.

"It's ready," said the former Borg. "Step through."

Now, if only I could talk sense into this boy. Was he doing this to somehow prove his worth to me? How could I tell him how much I cared about him, how sorry I was for everything? "Elnor, I will not leave you behind again."

The Romulan youth smiled. "It fills me with joy to hear you say that."

When he first agreed to bind his sword to my quest, I knew he still resented the fact that I'd abandoned him. But in that moment, all was forgiven. And the boy was wiser than I realized.

"You've come so far already," he said. "They'll destroy her, Picard. Now go."

He was right. I recognized that Elnor was no longer a lost child in need of rescuing. He'd grown into an adult. I had to acknowledge his right to decide his own fate. And we'd run out of time. I only wished I could say all the things I'd meant to tell him before parting ways a second time.

Data's daughter still needed me. "Come." I held my hand out to her.

She staggered away from me. But to my relief, she collected herself. I was her only hope for survival. She moved toward the portal, still refusing to take my hand. I didn't need her to – I just needed her to cooperate so I could get her out of there.

I glanced back for the final time at my friends who'd done so much for me. Many words remained unsaid, a tumult of emotions whirled inside of me.

Elnor looked up to me as he had fourteen years ago. I was his hero again, and I was proud of the man he'd become.

Hugh offered a silent you're welcome. That was the last time I saw him.

I forced myself to face the gateway, still apprehensive about assimilated Borg technology.

Together, Soji and I stepped through.