Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko and the television series Star Trek. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
"Stop, Jeremie! Don't do it!" Janeway cried out.
"NO!" Jeremie roared back, "I finally have it, weak and defenseless. I'll never have another chance like this, XANA has to be destroyed!"
"No, Jeremie, it doesn't, not yet," Janeway said, calmer now, "sometimes, you have to do what seems like the wrong thing in order to do the right thing."
"Huh?" Jeremie replied, "what do you mean by that?"
"During the Second World War, England managed to crack Germany's military ciphers" Janeway retorted, "one of the messages they intercepted stated that Germany was about to bombard a fairly populated English city. What do you think happened?"
"They evacuated the city."
"Wrong, they didn't. They did nothing. The Germans bombed the city and thousands were killed, all to protect the fact that England had Germany's codes. Churchill carried the burden of that decision for the rest of his life."
"What does any of that have to do with XANA?" the genius replied.
"The point of my story is that sometimes you must do some unpleasant things to accomplish your goals," Janeway said, "Churchill could have warned the city, but when the attack was repulsed, the Germans would have known that their codes were compromised and changed them. You could have turned off the supercomputer years ago like you said, but would Aelita be here if you did?"
"No," Jeremie replied.
"Then what else might happen if you destroy XANA now," Janeway said, "maybe nothing; but maybe, you could lose everything you care about."
Jeremie was silent a moment as he pondered Janway's words. Fnally, he looked at the Borg and said, "I'll take that chance. I have my enemy in my grasp, and I will destroy it!"
With that, Jeremie began crushing the orb that was XANA. It tried everything it could to escape, to somehow, anyhow, divert the boy's rage and purpose away from it. Then, as if a switch had been thrown, Jeremie stopped. Dr. Janeway had the nanopobes override Jeremie's consciousness, stopping him from eliminating XANA.
"I'm sorry, son, I truly am," Janeway sadly said, "but I can't let you do this. Hate me forever if you must, but I must do what I know is right."
He then walked over and took the orb from Jeremie's trembling hands. Janeway regarded the rogue program for a moment, then the world around them began to change. Carthage Sector began to reform itself in its original configuration. As further memory was released and reorganized, the sectors of Lyoko began to reform. In a matter of moments, Lyoko was back to its original condition.
Janeway then said to XANA, "I have spared your existence for now, because it is necessary. Withdraw and do not confront these children for three Earth weeks, regardless of any time jumps. This is not a pardon, only a reprieve. One day, you will have to answer for the deeds you have done. Now go!"
With that, Janeway released XANA, and it disappeared from Lyoko, slinking its way back to the Internet.
"I'm sorry I had to do that to you, Jeremie," Janeway said, "but it's for the best though you will probably never believe me. Now, let's get out of here and prepare to fix everything up."
The remaining Borg materialized in the scanners and joined their captured comrades. Kiwi gave a bark, and they turned as one and marched to the elevator, where they were taken to the roof and their ship. They boarded their vessel, and the ship lifted off, flew over to the pond where Janeway's ship was stored, and was teleported away. Once settled next to Janeway's ship, the drones consciousness were merged with the Collective, while their bodies were dematerialized and stored for later recovery.
The gang found themselves back in the alcoves on Janeway's ship. After stepping out, Janeway tried to console Jeremie, but the genius just turned away, rebuffing him. The man sighed, but shook it off.
"Okay people, we won!" he began, "now comes the hard part. We've got to get everyone that was assimilated, and get all of the invading Borg technology out of them before we can do any kind of Return To The Past. Now that's going to be real tricky, since a lot of vital organs were replaced with Borg implants. So what we need to do now is get everyone back over to the factory and set things up so the nanosecond the old tech is out, we launch the Return before anyone has a chance to die. And that includes you too, Ulrich."
They returned to the factory, back to the assembly area where they left the assimilated humans, and saw that nothing had changed. All of the people were peacefully asleep.
Ulrich stood by Yumi, wrapped in her arms, pressing himself against her like he was trying to merge with her. When Janeway transported him here, he fabricated his clothes just as he did for Yumi earlier.
"Aelita," Janeway said, "could you help me with setting up the Return To The Past? I'd ask Jeremie, but he's not exactly speaking to me right now."
"I'll do it," Jeremie said, hearing the exchange, "but that doesn't mean I forgive you for what you did."
"Fair enough," the man replied.
They set things up, then gave Jim and Suzanne the bad news.
"I'm afraid you won't remember a thing about this," Janeway said, "the method I used to transport you to Lyoko was specifically set up to keep your patterns out of the supercomputer's database. Since you don't have an entry there, you won't remember a thing about what has happened. Having said that, on behalf of the United Federation of Planets and the Borg Collective, I thank you for all you have done to make my mission a success. I will tell you this much, you will have a long and happy life together, and the generations that spring forth from you will flow even to my era. Peace And Long Life to you, James Moralés and Suzanne Hertz-Moralés; Live Long and Prosper."
With that, Janeway sent out a command, and the nanoprobes began their work, consuming and removing all of the Borg technology from the humans. Odd had been warned of what was coming, and had laid down. Now, the devices that replaced his forearms disappeared, leaving stubs in their place. The camera that replaced his eye vanished, leaving an ugly, gaping hole. He started shuddering as convulsions started because implants that had replaced organs disappeared.
The other humans started experiencing the same symptoms. In a matter of seconds, they would die if the Return wasn't initiated.
Janeway turned to Ulrich and Yumi and said, "if you two want to get it out of the way now, I suggest you do. Return To The Past Now."
Ulrich and Yumi locked their lips in a passionate kiss as the chronometric wave of the Return washed over them.