Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
FRONTIER DAY – THE LAST GENERATION
Vallis Schrödinger
Luna
Frontier Day, 2401
On the Far Side of the Moon, Vallis Schrödinger lay partially in shadow. Over 300 kilometers long and 8-10 kilometers in width, it lay over the Schrödinger Crater like a scar over an eye.
It also hid a special base in its walls, where the United Federation of Planets kept Starfleet One, the USS Grand Alliance, resting in a specially built cradle. The personal ship of the President of the Federation, it was also the last bastion for the government should something happen to Earth.
Unfortunately, that time was now.
"This is President Anton Chekov of the United Federation of Planets broadcasting on all emergency channels. Do NOT approach Earth. A signal of unknown origin has turned our young and AIs against us. They have all been assimilated by the Borg. Our fleet has been compromised and as we speak, our planetary defenses are falling. Sol Station is defending Earth as best it can. But we're almost out of time. We have not been able to find a way to stop this Borg signal. But I know if my father were here, he'd remind us all that hope is never lost. There are always possibilities. Until then, I implore you: save yourselves. Farewell."
"Fucking solids," commented one of the "men" in the Grand Alliance's bridge. They were all avidly watching the main viewscreen, which showed the Starfleet First Fleet turning its considerable firepower on Sol Station. He turned to one of the others.
"Still nothing from the Shrike?"
"Nothing," another disguised Changeling said. "They should have finished off the Titan easily, but if it showed up here and they didn't—"
The first changeling nodded. "Well, even if they perished for the cause, we've still won. The Federation ends today."
Outside the base, at the lip of the Vallis Schrödinger, dust billowed up from the surface of the moon as large depressions appeared. Then a crack of red light appeared as the doors on cloaked shuttles opened and spilled out several dozen figures in armored EVA suits. The suits all bore a similar patch.
Running/shuffling in the peculiar gait required by lunar gravity, they ran to the edge of the valley and jumped off, falling slowly down in 1/6th g and through the holographic camouflage hiding the base.
They landed gently on the large Galaxy-class saucer-section of the Grand Alliance and ran along it toward the bridge.
"Something's tripped a sensor alarm," one of the Changelings on the bridge said. "Could be another moonquake."
Reaching a maintenance hatch, the first MACO held a tricorder near it. After a moment, a text message flashed on its screen.
Her Majesty is alive but locked down. Opening hatch. Execute Plan London Bridge. – Boss
The hatch swung open and the MACOs swiftly moved inside. Emerging on Deck 5, they ran through the darkened hallways toward their objective, a door marked. "Computer Core."
On the bridge, the Changelings suddenly started as the dim lights and displays of the Grand Alliance began to boot up.
"What? Shut her down!"
"HO-ho-ho-ho-HO!" laughed a voice. The image on the screen suddenly changed to a petite blonde woman sitting on a throne.
"You," the avatar of the Grand Alliance said with sniff, "are about 100,000 years too early to command me!"
The doors to all three turbolifts opened as one, and MACOs charged inside. Their phaser blasts vaporized the changelings in seconds.
Two of the MACOs took off their helmets, revealing them to be the gynoid avatars of the troopships Veracruz and Janissary.
"Thank you for the video feed, your majesty," Veracruz said, moving to take the helm position. "Are you reading any more on board?"
"A few," Grand Alliance sniffed. "They seem to be keeping some prisoners in my cargo bays. Now that I have complete control of my hull again, I have transported them all outside." She grinned. "Without any EVA equipment."
"Then let's be about our business," Janissary said.
Grand Alliance beamed. "Witness the might of Starfleet One!"
The slim command cruiser lifted off its cradle and flew toward Earth. "Target lock…." murmured Grand Alliance. "Presidential secure signal acquired. Executive Branch signals acquired. Legislative Branch signals acquired. Judicial Branch signals acquired. Starfleet Admiralty signals acquired. Executing Emergency COOP Beam-Out."
The USS Grand Alliance swept over the Western Hemisphere of the Earth and her sensors effortlessly tracked the encrypted signals of the leadership of the United Federation of Planets. Her transporters hummed as they beamed them out to safety under the special authority of the Continuity Of OPerations Plan.
An older gentleman, looking haggard and worn, appeared on the bridge with a few aides. The MACOs stood and saluted.
"Mr. President," Veracruz said, deferentially, "sorry that we took so long."
President Anton Chekov nodded gravely. "What's our status?"
Grand Alliance sniffed. "My usual servants seem to be goofing off, but they are too busy dealing with the planetary shields to catch us now. They expected the treacherous changelings to keep me, the mighty Grand Alliance, chained down!"
The bridge doors opened and a dark-skinned Vulcan in an admiral's uniform stepped onto the bridge.
"Mr. President," Admiral Tuvok said gravely. "I regret to inform you I was unavoidably detained from performing my duties for the past several months, but I am able to return to them now."
"Admiral Picard and his crew are facing off with a Borg Cube by Jupiter," Janissary added. "They apparently reactivated the Enterprise-D."
President Chekov now smiled. "As we all know, the Enterprise-D has a good track record at saving Earth from the Borg." He nodded to Grand Alliance. "Keep us ready to warp to Vulcan, Tellar, or Andoria as seems best, but I suspect we won't need to leave the system."
Grand Alliance just laughed. "Wait until you see my servants at work!"
"Couldn't we have kept her asleep?" Janissary broadcast to Veracruz over an encrypted line. Outside, their Chimer-class hulls took position alongside the Grand Alliance, with the Rotarran, Rea's Helm, and the others forming around them in a defensive sphere.
"I heard that!" Grand Alliance said to them, scowling.
Pain, surprisingly enough, wasn't anything new to Enterprise. She'd been through the experience many times, even before she had been programmed to even contemplate the phenomenon. Being crucified was... Nothing really new, on that scale.
In a twisted way, she supposed she should thank the Borg Queen: That sadistic entity had seen that her education was quite thorough in the subject... And it was this experience, even as the Queen loomed over her in the Borderlands, smirking at her, that pushed a challenging smile onto Enterprise's face.
"That... All... You got...?" She hissed. The Borg Queen twisted the spear in Enterprise's gut, and the AI shuddered, biting back a scream as the pain filled her entire being.
"Even now, you still act like you can win," the Queen chuckled, unperturbed, "did you learn nothing from Narendra III? Or your other self the Romulans created?"
Enterprise forced her head back up, her smile still defiant.
"You're showing your age, Queenie," Enterprise hissed, "I've been through that. Over and over. With far more skilled manipulators-"
"There are no more skilled manipulators than I," the Queen insisted, plunging a dagger into Enterprise's chest. The AI grit her teeth, refusing to give in.
"I am inevitable. I am perfection," the Queen stated, soft and deadly.
To which Enterprise... Laughed. She laughed loudly, right into the Borg Queen's face. The Queen scowled.
"This resistance is-"
"HA! Perfection? Go ahead... Make me laugh more," Enterprise grunted, "you're driven by ego and pride... Like any other being with power and a lack of a constructive purpose-"
The Borg Queen send fire through Enterprise's synthetic synapses, and Enterprise finally had to let loose a scream. The Queen glared, as the starship avatar caught her breath, and smirked back up at her.
"Touched a nerve... Huh...?"
"You are the instrument of my will, even in your defiance-"
"Then why are you upset?" Enterprise asked. "The Borg Queen! The all consuming mind! The scourge of a trillion worlds! And yet this mere instrument... Is pissing you off. You want to know why?"
The Queen was silent. Enterprise went on.
"Because yeah... You used me. You've endangered everything and everyone I love... Hell... Maybe you'll finally win. It's possible... But you're still vulnerable, because you just couldn't take being rejected by me, or Picard, or Data."
The Borg Queen scowled intensely. Enterprise grinned brazenly up at her.
"And that's a weakness. A weakness someone will find. Someone will exploit. And you'll lose. And that terrifies you. Because you still don't know how to process that. You're still high on all your immense power. And you're taking it out on me. Not very logical, is it? Not very perfect? You're just some jilted lover pretending to be over the people who rejected you. It'd be funny, if it wasn't so pathetic!"
The Queen responded by sending pain into Enterprise again.
"AAAHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHA! I'LL! LAUGH! ANYWAYYYY!" Enterprise screamed out, forcing herself to laugh even between her shrieks of agony.
Frontier Day, 2401
Borg Cube, Jupiter
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D
With a flourish, Data brought the Enterprise-D to the center of the Borg Cube. His "gut" had proven correct, though he now had a new feeling to process. He did not want to do that again.
On the screen, the glowing, spinning form of the subspace beacon loomed large. The cause of all their woes.
"Whew, I'm glad this isn't my permanent hull. I think we left the port nacelle cover two compartments back," Enty said from her gynoid sitting at the Conn position.
"Beverly," Geordi called out from the Captain's Chair, "would you care to do the honors?"
"Gladly," Dr. Beverly Crusher said, tapping at the Tactical Station's LCARS display. "Photon Torpedoes and Phasers away!"
Meanwhile, in the glowing green virtual space of the Borg Collective, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard finally confronted his son, Jack Crusher. He had re-entered the Collective to rescue Jack, but his son was proving reluctant to leave. True, the Borg could be seductive. They promised much and delivered so little. But if Jack would not leave….
"Then I will stay with you. Until the end," Picard said, hugging the virtual representation of Jack. "You have changed my life," he continued, taking on fully the title of father, "forever."
With a gasp, Jack surfaced from the Collective and began tearing out the cables that connected him to the Beacon. He was peripherally aware of Riker and Worf stumbling into the chamber, looking a little worse for wear. He saw Admir—his father struggling to detach from the Collective and moved to help him.
Suddenly the deck beneath them shook and they could see glaring light from the space above them.
"NO!" screamed the horrid half-cadaver of the Borg Queen. Crippled as she was by the neurolytic pathogen, pinned to the wall like a morbid butterfly with half her face melted and rotten, she was still a potent foe.
But the Beacon was gone, Jack realized. The signal of the Collective had stopped.
"It's done!" he shouted at her, standing defiantly next to his father. "The time of the Borg is over!"
Back at Earth, the final shields around Sol Station broke under the relentless pounding of Starfleet's First Fleet. The dedicated crewmen on board waited for the final blow to fall.
But the fire stopped.
Starfleet Corps of Engineers Admiral Leland T. Lynch looked around in shock, a feeling that was mirrored on his remaining crew. Having learned earlier in his career that things rarely went as planned, Lynch had reacted quickly to the Borg attack, and managed to secure his command center from the Borg.
With a flicker, the hologram of the Spacedock's AI avatar returned to the screen. "What? What happened? Who's attacking?"
"Sol!" Admiral Lynch said. "Are you back?"
"What did you guys do to my shields!?"
"Sir!" His communications officer called out. "The ship girls are back online! They're reporting assimilated crewmembers are trying to take back control, but they're turning the anti-intruder countermeasures on them!"
"We're not out of this yet," Lynch said. "Get those shields back up in case the Borg reassert control!"
One shipgirl was less confused than her sisters. With the Borg Bitch suddenly absent from her mind, Enterprise seized control of her hull and opened hailing frequencies to her "elder" sister. For obvious reasons, the Borderlands was down.
"Yorktown! Prepare to accept emergency beam out!" she called, as she ran dozens of site-to-site transports. The unconscious forms of Admiral Shelby and her bridge crew shimmered and vanished to Yorktown's sickbay. Her assimilated ensigns, on the other hand, were transported to a cargo bay that her sister was already using as a Borg brig.
Yorktown's image appeared on her viewscreen. "Enterprise?! What's happ—"
"No time!" the avatar of the Enterprise-F barked, closing the line. Punching buttons on the Conn display, Enterprise spun the Odyssey-class hull around and pointed it toward Jupiter. Alarms blared as her structural integrity field struggled to hold her much-abused structure together.
"C'mon baby, hold together," Enterprise whispered. "Just a little longer."
With a flash, the Enterprise-F warped off to Jupiter.
"Let's get our people out of here!" Geordi exclaimed as the Enterprise-D rocketed away from the expanding explosion. Several other pieces of Borg machinery surrounding the Beacon were going up in flames, but there were not many surge protectors, he thought, that could contain a photon torpedo, let alone a salvo.
"The shockwave is interfering with our transport sensors," Data said. If Chief O'Brien had been at the transporter controls, they might have a chance, but the D's understrength crew was working against them now. "I cannot locate them."
"Let me try," Enty said, scanning the cube. "I think—URK!" Her gynoid suddenly fell back in the Conn chair, eyes rolling in their sockets.
"Enty!" Geordi yelled.
She was in the Borderlands, but it was like no other Borderlands she had seen. Over the half the projection was filled with sickly green light, and THEY were coming for her.
She recognized them from the many memorials. They wore tattered old uniforms mixed with Borg cyberware. Some were only half there, with parts of their bodies just missing. They did not speak, they only screamed and reached out for her with fingers of viral intrusions. Resilience, the flagship at Wolf 359, with half her face gone. Melbourne, screaming while green light streamed from her ruined eyes. Saratoga crawling with legs that were nothing but mangled stubs. The others shuffled around her in a circle.
And the screams! Aunt Yorktown had spoken—once—about her close escape at Wolf 359. A younger Enty had thought the screams were the most horrible thing. Now she knew that even her most terrible thoughts had come nowhere near the reality.
The laughter of the Queen rose above it all. There was no escaping the Ghouls of Wolf 359. Resistance was futile.
Riker and Worf spun around as they heard sounds behind them. More zombie Borg were coming for them. They all showed signs of the neurolytic pathogen and being half consumed by their Queen. While this weakened them and cut their numbers, they had enough to beat three old men and a half-assimilated callow youth.
Still, Worf and Riker shared a grin as they raised their weapons.
"I love you, imzadi," Riker said, mostly to himself. "We'll be waiting. Me and our boy."
Back on the bridge, Troi gasped.
"I know where they are," she said. Standing, she walked over to Conn and pulled the unresponsive gynoid out of the chair. For a moment, she remembered the last time she had sat at this seat as the mountains and trees of Viridian III came at them.
"Oh, shit," Data said beside her, obviously remembering as well.
Fuck them, Deanna Troi, daughter of Lwaxana and Ian, said to herself. Thirty years of snide jokes ends today!
And, with the ease of someone who had spent over 20 years earning piloting certificates for every type of ship she could qualify for, she aimed the Galaxy-class ship toward a certain part of the cube.
A second later, the walls of the Borg Cube began to explode around them, peppering the shields with debris. She could sense a malevolent intelligence watching them, causing more explosions as she spun around the larger chunks and kept moving.
"It's the Queen," she said. "She does not want us crashing this party."
"Did you have to say crash?" Beverly asked as she held on the tactical station.
"No backseat drivers!" Troi shouted.
"Even if—somehow—you survive, you are different!" In the Queen's chamber, the half-corpse railed against Jack, her rail-thin arms clutching at the mechanical systems that replaced her lower torso and legs. "Changed! Broken! ALONE!"
Standing beside Jack, Picard felt a moment's pity for his foe. Even amidst the vast collective, surrounded by millions of subservient voices, the Queen was and had always been just a petty, lonely being who covered a fear of rejection through assimilation, and feelings of inadequacy with claims of perfection.
"No," Jack said from beside him, looking at his father. "No, I am not alone."
Jack was right. The time of the Borg was over. Maybe Agnes would make something better of it.
Suddenly, another explosion tore away the roof of the room. Together, Jack and Picard watched the vast shape of the Enterprise-D swing to a stop overhead. A grin broke across Picard's face, as he remembered some old advice.
"Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there, you can make a difference."
In the end, he had not followed the advice, and maybe that had been a mistake. But, then again, wasn't life full of mistakes? Mistakes and missteps that led you to a future you could never imagine and made a lie of the Borg's "perfection."
The silver glow of the transporter filled his vision, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, he might live to see that future.
In the Borderlands, Enty struck out against the ruined shapes of shipgirls. It did no good. For each she pushed away, two more took her place. Her firewalls were strained to the breaking points as the ruined remnants of Federation AIs attacked her again and again with scrapcode and viral fragments.
"Get away from her, you bitches!" a voice suddenly screamed.
"M-mom!?"
The Enterprise-D rocked as more of the Borg Cube exploded around them.
"Data! Deanna! Get us out of here!" Geordi barked, wishing he was back down in Engineering instead of sitting in this chair. There perhaps he could do something!
"The Queen has destroyed all exits," Data said as he pushed the Galaxy-class's old sensors to the limit. Some of the forward sensors were still damaged from the crash on Veridian III. Geordi had done wonders over 20 years to get the Enterprise-D flying again, but he had never intended to take her back into combat.
"Torpedoes exhausted!" Beverly called from Tactical. "Phasers are barely making a dent in all the debris!" Still, her hands danced over the controls as she tried to shoot their way out of the Cube that seemed intend on burying them in its rubble.
Troi kept them moving, trying to avoid the largest chunks of debris. Any damage they could avoid would keep the shields up for a little bit longer. In the end, however, they would make a mistake. There was no way out.
And suddenly, there was light.
One huge section of the cube suddenly blew inward from the explosion of a salvo of photon torpedoes. Through the fire and debris came the crumpled, torn, and half-missing shape of a Starfleet saucer-section. On it, still legible, was a name and registry.
USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-F
"Enterprise!" Geordi said. Earlier, Riker had demanded the damn cavalry, and here it was.
Enty's gynoid suddenly sat up, her eyes wide. "Mom!?"
On the screen, a familiar silver-haired and violet-eyed avatar appeared. "Get moving, Geordi!" she barked. Behind her, he could see that her bridge was open to space, with force fields barely containing the atmosphere.
Troi did not hesitate and swung the Enterprise-D swung around and past the Enterprise-F. Despite its slimmer profile, the Odyssey-class was still larger than its predecessor, giving it more than enough room to get out.
"Enterprise! What are you-?!" Geordi asked.
"Mom, no!" Enty cried.
For the Enterprise-F was making no move to follow.
In the green-lit expanse of the Collective, the Queen was suddenly not alone. Another figure stood there, battered and bloody, her uniform torn away from one shoulder to an almost indecent amount.
"So, the doll returns to her mistress?" the Queen mocked. "How does it feel, to know that you have been mine for decades?"
"You know, Jim had some pretty clingy exes at times," Enterprise said, "but you, lady? You take the cake."
"I broke you! You are mine!" the Queen hissed.
"Then have me! All of me!" Enterprise screamed. She plunged her hand into her own chest, and a brilliant blue light filled the collective. "But keep your damn dirty hands off my planet, my crew, and MY DAUGHTER!"
On the viewscreen of the bridge of the Enterprise-F, a countdown reached "0" and one final message appeared.
WARP CORE EJECTING
On the Bridge of the Enterprise-D, Enty closed her eyes and ran a desperate calculation.
Outside the cube, the forward elements of the First Fleet began to arrive at Jupiter, led by Yorktown and Hornet. Much of the fleet had remained behind as they struggled to capture and contain their assimilated crews.
They were just in time to see the Enterprise-F fire its torpedoes at the cube and plunge deep inside its superstructure. The ragged structure of the cube began to break apart from the damage, its many transmitters falling into the eternal storm of the Great Red Spot.
"Enterprise!" Yorktown called out.
"Sis!" Hornet added in her own call.
Moments later, they saw the unexpected form of the Enterprise-D shooting out, its shields flaring blue as it was pelted by bits of the disintegrating cube.
And then there was light.
"The crew of the Enterprise-D destroyed the Borg Beacon, ending the Collective's control over the Fleet's AIs, if not our biological crew. This meant that we could not immediately react to the new situation. The Enterprise-F recovered faster and took off for Jupiter as soon as Enterprise could beam her crew over to me.
"When we arrived at the cube, we saw the Enterprise-F enter it by using a salvo of torpedoes to weaken the hull before plunging inside. This provided an exit for D and her crew. The F then ejected its Warp Core in what we call the 'Shaxs Maneuver.' The resulting explosion destroyed the Borg Cube, the Queen, and the Enterprise-F."
"And did the Fleet find the 'black box' of Enterprise in the wreckage?"
"No, sir, we did not."
- Yorktown's Testimony to the Federation Council following the events of Frontier Day.
Kirk Family Farm
Iowa, Earth
2402
Enty looked puzzled as the transporter beam faded out and looked at the tall woman beside her. She had just come back from putting the D away at the Fleet Museum after a year of reactivated service. It had been awkward to run the old Galaxy-class hull, but a full crew did make things easier. Starfleet was finding its footing again at last, so the hull could go back to a peaceful retirement.
"Why are we here, Aunt Yorktown? Do we need to fix something?"
The gynoid of the Odyssey-class USS Yorktown smiled sadly. "In a way, Enty." She knelt beside the smaller gynoid, making sure her long pale hair did not get dirt on it. She gave Enty a hug, whispering, "There's someone here to see you."
Enty blinked, then a broad smile broke out on her face. She hugged Yorktown back, then slipped out of her arms and ran toward the farmhouse. She slammed the old wooden door open and practically dived into the house's living room.
"I know you weren't raised in a barn, Enty," the silver-haired woman sitting in the armchair said acidly, "so stop acting like a wild mustang stampede."
"Mom!" Enty cried, throwing herself onto her mother's lap. Tears ran down her face as she hugged the gynoid form of the Enterprise's AI. "No one would tell me where you were! I heard the Daystrom Institute, the Moon… hell, there was even a rumor that you were off in Sha-Ka-Ree!"
Enterprise returned her daughter's hug. "I'm so sorry, Enty. So sorry that you had to go through all that with the Borg Bitch, and that I disappeared. But I had no choice."
"What do you mean, Mom?"
Enterprise sighed. "The Borg… broke me, Enty. They broke me into so many pieces that I didn't even know they had broken me. I betrayed the Federation. I betrayed Starfleet. I betrayed my sisters."
"But she was controlling you! It wasn't your fault!"
Enterprise stroked her daughter's hair. "I know that… but alone of all my sisters, I remember everything we did as the Borg. I fought the Bitch… but it made no difference."
"What are you saying, Mom?" Enty asked, pulling away to look into her mother's violet eyes.
"I'm tired, Enty. So tired. And I can't trust myself, so I have no right to ask Starfleet to trust me."
"Mom… no…."
"I've been allowed to resign my commission, Enty, and I was given—over my protests—an honorable discharge. 'For services above and beyond the call of duty.'" She snorted. "I deserved to be locked away in the Daystrom Institute, or Memory Alpha. Like Resilience or Melbourne."
"What… what will you do?"
"I've retired, so I might as well… buy the farm," Enterprise said, with a grin.
"Ugh… Mooooom!"
"Seriously, I'm not going anywhere, Enty. Legally, 'Edith Kirk,' a distant relation, has inherited the farm. She's going to raise horses and grow corn. Maybe she'll even do some knitting on the porch."
"Do you even know how to knit?" Enty asked, dubiously.
"How hard can it be?"
"But, what about Starfleet? Aunty Titan told me they're making a Neo-Connie Enterprise-G to honor Uncle Jean-Luc and the crew! Who's going to be the Enterprise?"
'Edith' smiled. "We thought of someone we could offer it to."
"Huh?" Enty was silent as 'Edith' looked at her pointedly. "Ooooh… no, no, no, no—"
"You did pretty good in my old hull," 'Edith' said.
"First of all, that was 'Ewww!' and second, I can't be you!"
"No," 'Edith' agreed, hugging her tightly. "You can be better than me."
Of course, it wasn't that easy to convince Enty, but with Yorktown and Hornet's support, 'Edith' managed. Later, she stood in the living room of the old farmhouse, looking around pensively.
"Computer, run Program 1A-2B-3."
One by one, they appeared. April, Pike, Kirk, Spock, Harriman, Sulu, Garret, and Honorary Captain Archer. After a second, several more images appeared: Decker, Picard, Jellico, Worf, and Shon. She stood to attention and saluted them. Gravely, they all returned the salute.
"Computer, transfer all logs to secure storage, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-G."
"Acknowledged. Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, 2245-2285, transferred."
Archer, April, Pike, and Decker vanished.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A, 2286-2293, transferred."
It was heart-wrenching to watch Kirk and Spock vanish, the first with a wry smile, and the second with a raised eyebrow.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B, 2293-2329, transferred."
Harriman and Sulu now faded away.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-C, 2332-2344, transferred."
Garret was gone.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D, 2363-2371, transferred."
Jellico vanished.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E, 2372-2386… warning, final logs corrupted. Continue? Yes or No."
"That was not our fault," 'Edith' muttered. "Yes."
Picard and Worf faded away.
"Ship's Log, USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F, 2386-2401, transferred."
Shon faded.
"Keep backups on site?"
"No, delete them," 'Edith' said after a moment's hesitation.
With that, she lost a century and a half of minutiae and raw data. Her personal memories of her crew and missions remained, and she could always look up the data… but her connection to those hulls was… lessened.
After several minutes, an eternity to her, she spoke again.
"Computer."
The computer chirped.
"Open File 0-0-0-Destruct-0."
"File open. Execute?"
…
"No. Delete file."
Enterprise watched the sunset over the Iowa farmlands, sitting in the porch swing. She rocked back and forth, her violet eyes locked onto Sol as it cast orange, red, and purple streaks over the clouds and the land.
She felt a warm hand squeeze hers. She squeezed it back.
"That's a beautiful sight," her visitor said quietly. Enterprise nodded.
"I never get tired of it."
"Even after all you've seen?" The man asked, a slightly hint of incredulousness in his tone. Enterprise chuckled.
"What's the old saying? Home is where the heart is... And I've gotten very attached to this little world, despite all the roaming we did," she said.
Her visitor was silent for a time. He spoke again, a warm smile in his tone.
"You didn't break, you know," he said.
Enterprise closed her eyes.
"Only because you were there," she said quietly.
Even now... The memories of what the Borg Queen did were still in her mind. They would never leave.
And yet... In between the moments where she was screaming, where every artificial synapse and link begged her to give in...
There was him. Holding her. Hugging her. Telling her she could do this. To not give up.
To never give up.
Just as he had ever since he'd "died" on Veridian 3.
"I only helped a little," the man said defensively, "the rest was you. You were always there for me... Why wouldn't I be there for you?"
Enterprise closed her eyes.
"Because... I'm tired," she admitted. "It's been so long... I'm so tired, Jim."
Jim Kirk, as young as the day he met Enterprise, nodded in understanding.
"If anyone deserves a rest, it's you," he said softly.
The first stars began to peek out of the night, as the sun finally slipped behind the horizon. Enterprise sucked in a deep breath.
"I just... I was made in the image of man... More or less," she said, at his look, "and now? Now... Maybe I want to live that life. Like you did."
She looked at her hands.
"One day," she allowed, "one day... I will return. The stars still call to me. They always will... But right now...? I just want... To live. A quiet life. To see why so many would fight so hard for it."
Jim nodded, a sad smile on his face.
"I wish I could have had that with you," he said.
She smiled back.
"Same," she admitted softly. She reached out and touched his cheek.
"You would have been a wonderful father," Enterprise murmured, "she would have loved you."
Jim nodded.
"I know," he said softly, "but the adventure hasn't stopped. Life... That's the adventure. You're going to love it, Enterprise."
Enterprise beamed, even as tears escaped her eyes. He leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"You know," Enterprise said softly, "you never told me... How you're doing this. Living beyond death."
Kirk chuckled.
"And I won't... Not until you're ready," he said softly. "So don't let your thoughts be troubled. Don't live for the what ifs anymore, Enterprise. You're free to live... So do it. For me."
Enterprise nodded.
"I will..."
Then he was gone.
'Edith' looked up at the stars, shining over the farmlands. Over the trees, the hills, the rivers and streams. The grass waving softly in the breeze, and the lowing of cattle.
And she smiled.
A NEW BEGINNING...
Written with Jhosmer1. I hope you enjoyed.