=/\=

Holodeck One had been programmed as a grassy glade, overlooking two cliffs. On the left as one entered the holodeck, a broad vista of unspoiled countryside could be seen, highlighted by a tall waterfall, graced by doubled rainbows, courtesy of sunlight refracted through mists which flew upward as water spilled into a rocky pool below. Standing at the edge of the cliff on the right revealed the view of a tranquil bay, lined with a broad arc of sandy beaches and blue-green sea, fading into the horizon. No one had to fear that an investigation by an intrepid toddler such as Aimee Gilmore or Miral Torres Paris could result in a fall off either edge. It was a virtual landscape, after all, and Tom Paris had made certain the holodeck safeties were functioning and active.

This was a virtual landscape in another way, too, since it was an entirely imaginary one. The bride and groom, with assistance from General Korok and several other former drones who'd once been able to wander this "countryside," had worked with Commanders Paris and Barclay to recreate favorite vistas they remembered from their visits to this lost sanctuary of Borg who carried the Unimatrix Zero mutation in their genomes. While their bodies regenerated in cubicles on vessels which might be located anywhere within the Milky Way galaxy, their minds flew off to Unimatrix Zero to enjoy a fleeting taste of the lives they'd once had, even if they were never conscious of the trip once they awoke and became, once again, cogs in the machine that was the Borg Collective.

Most of the wedding guests were well known to the public. Thanks to previous Starfleet Publicity Office efforts, the entire crew were among the famous. A little family visiting Earth for the first time, but also quite well-known, was delighted to be included. Their home was in an asteroid belt located almost 30,000 light years from the central world of the Federation. General Korok's vessel had transported Ambassador Neelix, his wife Dexa, and their children Brax and Alixia to Earth. They'd arrived only days before the occasion was to take place. Before returning home to Talax II, Neelix would also receive his official credentials as Federation Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant. Many public interest stories had appeared in various publications, which pleased the ambassador. For his son Brax, the real attraction the opportunity to spend time with his friends Mezoti and Naomi in person, rather than only as "datastream pals." Dexa enjoyed the opportunity to chat and compare notes with Samantha Wildman on how quickly their youngest progeny were developing into engaging little persons in their own right.

While Axum's "family" consisted of the crew of his Borg sphere and others, such as Korok, with whom he had developed friendships, the Hansen and the McGinty families were well-represented. Commander Tuvok, his wife T'Pel, and their daughter Asil had traveled from Vulcan at Seven's special request to attend the happy event. Marla Gilmore and her daughter Aimee had been invited to come with Lieutenant Commander Harry Kim. Harry's mother had inquired if this meant he would be asking Ms. Gilmore to become Mrs. Kim. Harry carefully deflected the question, to his mother's dismay and his father's amusement.

Although Starfleet had sent a specialist to document the wedding for viewing once the museum was operational, Doctor Mark Zimmerman had his own imager in hand and was busily recording away, and for much the same reason as he had the engagement party. Although he was reconciled to the inescapable fact that Seven of Nine would never be his, it did help to keep busy at a time like this.

Icheb stood along the side of the cliff edge with his sister Mezoti and their friends Naomi, Brax, Verit, Farys, and Austin, while at the same time endeavoring to keep an eye on Miral Paris. Just because she couldn't be hurt by falling off the edge of the holographic cliff didn't mean she wouldn't try. In fact, she thought it was great fun to look over at her father and hold her foot over the edge, giggling, to see what he would do. Icheb had agreed to pull her back at least half the time, since Tom was getting a little winded from chasing his very athletic daughter around the glade. He had duties to perform as a member of the wedding party. It wouldn't do for him to be gasping for breath while he stood at Axum's side, handing the rings to the groom. B'Elanna was the "official" matron of honor, in part to get back at her for throwing her own wedding bouquet directly at Seven. Seven hadn't appreciated this at the time, although now she planned to throw her own bouquet, "as tradition demanded."

"Why aren't you the best man, Icheb?" Naomi asked, grabbing hold of Miral for him as the child ran towards the cliff's edge for the umpteenth time. No one had kept track of the exact number.

"I have my own role as a member of Seven's family, so it's okay." He smiled at his sister. "According to Ioronian tradition, Mezoti and I have to give away the bride, so to speak, like in the Earth tradition - except it goes for the bride or the groom in their culture. I thought it was nice for Axum to ask Tom to be best man, since B'Elanna is Seven's attendant."

"It's so sad he's the last Ioronian." Farys knew all about grieving for those you love. Two of her grandparents had been killed by the Cardassians during the Occupation of Bajor.

"But he's not! I forgot to tell you! When the Fluidians investigated the Ioronian's system when they were mapping that sector of space, they discovered a small group in a mining camp on the Northwest Continent. They'd managed to hide from the Borg like the Delta Quadrant's Sakari did. There's only a few dozen of them left though, which isn't a viable population to revive their race, and the ecological balance of the planet was totally ruined by the Borg. Food has been hard for them to find, and they've barely hung on. We only found out about them this week. They've asked to move to Accordia once the conditions will support them there. Axum said the former Borg have decided to offer other remnant populations that option, too. He's really glad not to be the very last one!"

Speculation about where other pockets of survivors might be found on worlds known to have been devastated by the Collective ended when Captain Chakotay called out, "We're ready to begin. Please, everyone, take your seats so that Miss Annika Hansen can walk down the aisle to become . . . Mrs. Annika Hansen."

A ripple of amusement spread through the crowd. Since Axum only had one name, he'd decided to assume his wife's surname of Hansen after the marriage. The Bajoran guests, like Farys, all lauded his choice, since that was their custom. As the guests sat down in the chairs provided, Naomi picked up Miral and sat between her parents and Neelix's family for the duration of the ceremony. Icheb and Mezoti moved to the holodeck entrance to meet their mother, who was waiting there with her Aunt Irene and B'Elanna. Seven's wedding garments were soft and billowy, the antithesis of the snugly-fitting outfits she'd always worn on Voyager in the past.

Once all the guests were in place, Captain Janeway stepped beneath the arbor at one end of the holodeck. Axum and Tom took their places in front of her, on the right side of the arbor.

To the strains of Mendelssohn's Wedding March, played by Harry Kim on clarinet and Susan Nicoletti on oboe, Seven and her Aunt Irene strolled slowly down the aisle, followed by Icheb and Mezoti. B'Elanna, holding a bouquet of orchids Commander Tuvok brought from his greenhouse on Vulcan, was last down the aisle. Once the bride had reached Captain Janeway's position, the captain began, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony . . . " After she'd finished saying the words which had been recited at the beginning of weddings for many generations, a part of the groom's people's traditions was interpolated into the service. Captain Janeway said, "Icheb and Mezoti, you are children of the bride and have reached the age of knowledge. Will you accept Axum to be your co-parent?" After both said they did, the captain asked Aunt Irene if the Hansen family would accept him. Once Aunt Irene, as head of the family, agreed they would accept Axum as one of their number, the rest of the ceremony proceeded in a manner familiar to most of the guests in attendance.

The couple promised to love and cherish each other, in bad times and good times, and in sickness and in health. They exchanged rings to represent their love for one another. Axum gave Annika a special golden band. It split on a hinge, which allowed him to snap it in place over the Borg appliance on her left hand. Once the two halves touched, they fused together to form a single, never-ending circle, a token of his love. Although Axum had no appliance on his hand to interfere with the wearing of a ring, Annika had chosen a band for him which fastened itself in the same way. They would always share this reminder that they'd first met in Unimatrix Zero.

After Captain Janeway declared the pair "husband and wife," they shared a very gentle kiss, followed by a much longer, deep embrace. As Axum had explained at the end of the wedding rehearsal, smiling broadly when he demonstrated the moves with his very amused fiancée, "That's how we concluded the wedding ceremony on my home planet. "

As the glowing couple walked back down the aisle to the applause of their guests, Mezoti whispered to her brother, "So, which is the best wedding you've ever been to now, Icheb?"

Icheb had to admit sheepishly, "This one was even better than Tom and B'Elanna's. It's our family's wedding. I really like that Axum's traditions were included. He's a match for our Seven, isn't he?" To that, Mezoti had to agree.

=/\=

Although Mezoti had joked with Icheb about this being the "best wedding they'd ever been to," it was special to her. She'd gone to a marriage ceremony on Wysanti with her foster parents and the twins. That one had been a far more formal affair than either of the Voyager weddings Mezoti had attended. The reception hall for that event had been huge, and it needed to be. More than five hundred wedding guests had been present. Less than two hundred guests were on board Voyager for this one, and only a dozen were dignitaries associated with the Federation Council. As Captain Janeway had explained to Mezoti while they traveled on the turbolift to the rehearsal dinner the previous evening, this was, in essence, a family wedding, not a public event.

The reception was held on Holodeck Two, which Tom Paris and Reg Barclay had planned on programming to look like a very fancy catering hall in San Francisco. Instead, at the couple's request, they'd created a replica of Voyager's Mess Hall, but expanded in size so that all of the guests could sit at tables without being crowded together. Two hundred guests simply wouldn't fit into the original on Deck 2. Luscious floral arrangements supplemented the room's decor. Voyager was no longer plowing its way through the Delta Quadrant, when most decorations for its celebrations had to be replicated. The scent of real flowers was something Mezoti could truly appreciate, since she'd spent the last two years on the natural world of Wysanti.

Mezoti entered Holodeck Two right behind the Talaxian family. Neelix had offered to prepare some of his "Delta Quadrant specialties" for the reception in the Mess Hall kitchen. Seven and Axum thanked Neelix, but assured him they wanted him to enjoy the party as a guest. The meal had been planned in advance and catered by establishments on Earth, with entrées such as Jumbalaya from Sisko's in New Orleans and hesperat from Tom and B'Elanna's favorite Bajoran restaurant in San Francisco. Korok expressed delight when he learned Seven had remembered to include gagh and Blood Wine from a Klingon café in Sausalito.

After touring the holoprogram's kitchen, which had been reproduced accurately to the last millimeter to the one in the real Mess Hall, Neelix admitted to Dexa, "It's hard for me to believe I prepared almost seven years of meals for the entire crew in a space this tiny."

"And a fine job you did, too," Tom said, as he approached the couple with Miral squirming in his arms, trying to get to Alixia, who was in Neelix's. "We found out just how much we'd learned to enjoy your food when Chell took over at the end of the trip." Leaning down and whispering so he wouldn't be heard by anyone other than the Talaxians (and Mezoti, since he was unaware of just how sharp her hearing was), Tom said, "We're lucky we arrived home so quickly after you left us, Neelix. Chell was a good cook, but he wasn't you."

Neelix was so very pleased by Tom's remark, Mezoti refrained from asking Tom if he really meant what he'd just said. From Mezoti's recollection of the food Neelix had served, Chell's couldn't have been any worse.

Although the meals in the actual Mess Hall were served buffet style, a bevy of holographic waiters circulated the tables, bringing the selections chosen to each of the guests. During the lull between the soup and salad courses and the entrée, Naomi slipped next to Mezoti into Icheb's seat, which he'd vacated to visit the table where his suitemates were sitting. "Have you heard the story my dad's telling everyone?"

"What story?"

"When I offered to introduce Neelix and Axum at my parents' party welcoming Neelix's family to Earth."

"I was there, remember? I heard what they said. I thought it was funny."

The Wildmans had hosted a little gathering at their home to welcome the Talaxian family to Earth. When Annika and Axum arrived, Naomi offered to introduce Neelix's family to Axum. Axum told Naomi they'd already met. "We stopped at Talax II on our way back from Wysanti. Contacting the Talaxians was part of our diplomatic mission. When we arrived, Neelix said, 'So you're Axum! Wonderful to finally meet you. Seven was so sad when she found out you were on a ship far away, among the stars of the galactic fringe in the Beta Quadrant! She thought she'd never get a chance to be with you in the flesh, so to speak.'

"I was surprised Annika would talk about me to Neelix and told him so. And Neelix replied, 'Oh, she didn't. But Mezoti told Naomi, and Naomi told me why Seven was looking so disheartened, because she was moping around for such a long time after that Unimatrix Zero action. Naomi's my goddaughter, so she always told me about everything that was going on with the people she knew. There's a reason Naomi always talked about Voyager being a small ship. She's the one who made it that way!'"

"But that's true, isn't it?" Mezoti said, laughing.

Naomi grimaced, replying ruefully even though she was chuckling. "I may have helped to spread the news around the 'small ship' Voyager, but I wasn't the only one. My mom said the 'rumor mill' was in full swing long before I was even born!"

=/\=

After the entree, but before the wedding cake and the throwing of Annika's bouquet, the two girls visited many of their friends. When the Doctor approached, flashing his imager, they cooperated by sending greetings to Mazani, Arebi, Azan, and Rebi. "Naomi is already in the Freshman Class of the Academy, and she's only seven and a half years old!" Mezoti said. "But she looks like a cadet now. She's so tall! I miss all of you. I hope you can visit soon, too, like Neelix's family has. Just let General Korok know. I'm sure he'll find a way to bring you all here."

Towards the end of the night, after Captain Janeway caught Annika's bouquet (or rather, caught the floral missile Annika had launched right at her), Mezoti and Naomi approached the table where she was sitting with Chakotay. Mezoti asked them, "Does this mean the two of you will be getting married now, too?"

"Has Naomi been telling you that?" Chakotay replied, while Naomi slumped a little due to acute mortification.

"No, it was Icheb. He told me everyone expects it."

"He must be eager to get me paired off, too, now that your mother is married to Axum," Chakotay laughed, even though Janeway was poking him in the side with her elbow while laughing herself.

Mezoti thought a moment before saying, in her straightforward way, "I think he wants you to be happy. He likes you a lot, you know. He told me he always thought you were better with Captain Janeway, and now that she's going to be a Rear Admiral Janeway at Starfleet Command and you're a teacher at the Academy, there won't be any protocols to stop you from getting married."

Naomi stepped away, groaning painfully.

Captain Janeway took pity on the first-year cadet. "Relax, Naomi. I'm not sure I'll ever marry anyone, but I guess it's safer never to say never."

"But you're together, whether you're married or not," Mezoti said confidently.

Instead of responding to this, Chakotay changed the subject. "Do you think you'll go to the Academy someday, too, Mezoti, like your friend Naomi, here? "

"I probably will, but Admiral Paris told me I should explore all my options before committing. I think he doesn't want to be too pushy, like he was with Tom. He told Seven he's never seen anyone more prepared to be a cadet at my age than me. Except for Naomi, of course. But that's to be expected, since she's half Ktarian and has grown up so quickly. Not that anyone really knows how old I am."

"Shall we go over to your brother and visit with his suitemates?" Naomi said, a little desperately. "I think I saw Icheb signaling us to come over to where they're sitting."

"Is it the company of the cadets you're interested in, or Icheb's?" Mezoti said archly.

"Go, go!" Captain Janeway ordered. "Visit your friends. Don't waste your time on old people like us."

Their welcome at the captains' table clearly exhausted, Naomi and Mezoti said their good-byes and walked towards the table where Icheb and his friends were sitting. As they walked away from the two captains, however, Mezoti heard Chakotay say, "Out of the mouths of babes, Kathryn." Mezoti glanced back at them and saw him put his arm around her, very gently. Captain Janeway settled back, looking very comfortable.

Icheb was right, she decided. They did belong together.

=/\=

The party went on for quite a while. No one was very eager for it to end, because when it did, Voyager would leave orbit and touch down - permanently - on Earth. Many of the guests were eager to catch up and share what they were up to now with their crewmates; others preferred to reminisce about life on Voyager, at a time when weddings were virtually unimaginable. Only Tom and B'Elanna had actually managed one, but not until the seventh year of the journey. Tabor and Jor maintained they would have wed if the trip had lasted much longer, since they were married within days of Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant.

Eventually, even the happiest occasions must end. As the party began to wind down, Naomi asked her parents for permission to go to the bridge to watch Voyager's final approach to Earth. When Mezoti asked Axum and Seven if she could go, too, Seven said, "We'd like to be there, too." At a nod from his captain and her always-supportive "first officer," all the senior officers left the reception. Axum, Icheb, Mezoti and Naomi slipped out after them. When they arrived on Deck 1, they took positions around the bridge as Commander Rollins ceded the command chair to Captain Janeway.

Tom guided Voyager out of orbit. With his steady hand at the helm, the ship glided gracefully for a final pass over Earth, skimming above its continents and oceans one last time before Tom settled the vessel onto the green grass of the Presidio. The ship's exit ramp was lowered to the ground. The wedding guests, who had been alerted that the festivities had come to a close, slowly walked down the ramp into the cool San Francisco night.

Janeway turned the conn back over to Commander Rollins, who had volunteered to stay on board with a skeleton staff until clean-up crews had cleared away the party debris. The next day, Voyager's days as a vessel assigned to explore new worlds and scientific phenomenon would be officially over. The work crews assigned after that would be museum curators, who would finish the transformation of the ship into the "Voyager Museum of Space Exploration."

As she approached the ramp to leave Voyager for the final time while it was still a commissioned Starfleet vessel, Mezoti was aware she'd taken part in an epic journey, even though she'd only been on board for a short part of it. There was much about its history she still needed to learn, especially concerning the pivotal role Captain Janeway and her crew had played in bringing about the alliance which, everyone hoped, would help maintain peace in the galaxy for a long time to come. One thing Mezoti did know, however. Her presence at this moment, when Voyager's epic journey had truly come to an end, was a privilege afforded to very few. Only two hundred wedding guests and a handful of additional crew who had handled the ship's operations during this day could ever boast they'd been here.

As she was walking with Naomi and Icheb down the ramp, right in front of Chakotay and Captain Janeway, Mezoti heard her sigh sadly, "I'm sure you really will be able to see Alcatraz from here - on a clear day."

Naomi continued walking down without hesitation. Perhaps Naomi hadn't heard what Kathryn Janeway had said, but Mezoti knew Icheb must have, because he stepped awkwardly and stumbled against her. He never did that in the normal course of things.

Mezoti glanced at her brother's face. He was biting his lower lip. Clearly, he had heard, and what the captain said must have some meaning for him. Although he was no longer capable of communicating with her subvocally, from his expression, Mezoti could tell it must be connected to a memory that was, to some degree, a painful one.

Now was not the time to ask him for clarification. It didn't matter. She'd get him to tell her about it eventually. She knew he would confide in her. After all, they were family.

=/\=