‘Captain Galcyon is hailing us, sir.’

At Cassidy’s nod, the forward viewscreen appeared to show the shining bridge of the USS Liberty bathed in alert lighting with, front and centre, the figure of Captain Elara Galcyon. Rosewood stepped back, scratching his nose self-consciously; he hadn’t seen Galcyon since they’d run her blockade back on Tau Mervana.

‘Commander Cassidy.’ If Galcyon held a grudge, she wasn’t letting it show, her voice calm and professional. ‘We came as quickly as we could.’

‘Just in the nick of time,’ said Cassidy with a nod Rosewood found surprisingly respectful. ‘They’re using their deflector to open a wormhole.’

‘I can see that. We made the modifications you suggested.’ Galcyon read something offscreen and made a small, frustrated noise. ‘We’ve got to act now. Moving into position. I’ll keep you posted.’

‘Pull us back,’ Cassidy ordered Ranicus as the screen went dead. ‘Let the Liberty take point.’

Q’ira looked at Cassidy indignantly, but seemed to think better of yelling at him, instead turning to Rosewood. ‘You didn’t mention calling for backup!’ she hissed.

He winced. ‘You’re not privy to those sorts of mission plans,’ he said. It was only half of the answer.

‘Liberty is in position!’ called Falaris. ‘Station is opening fire on her, but… there’s no way they can bust down a Sagan’s shields in the time they have.’

On the holographic viewscreen, they could see the Liberty swooping into position, her deflector dish glowing brighter and brighter with a build-up of energy. A brilliant beam of light erupted from it, connecting with the darkened knot in space that was the nascent wormhole. For a brief moment, the swirling rift began to falter.

‘She’s using her deflector to launch a directed tetryon beam at the nascent wormhole,’ said Aryn, a shot of satisfaction running through his voice. ‘It’s receding!’

Q’ira shifted her feet. ‘We can still do this,’ she murmured, and Rosewood knew she was talking to herself. ‘We can still get her.’

He didn’t answer, because he felt no surprise when Falaris called out again.

‘Station’s power grid is about to overload! Commander, they’re trying to brute-force this. Liberty’s compensating, but if the station keeps this up…’

The screen flickered with an incoming hail from the Liberty, and Cassidy jabbed a button to bring the screen up. Galcyon’s expression was grim as she greeted them.

‘Pull back, Blackbird. Liberty can ride this out; you can’t.’

Aryn was on his feet. ‘Captain, respectfully, if that station detonates with the device on board, then the ensuing subspace damage -’

‘Your briefing was thorough, Lieutenant, and my crew accounted for this possibility. If we split our tetryon beam, we can stabilise the subspace disruption of the station’s detonation and close this wormhole.’

Cassidy sucked his teeth. ‘Captain, I got this far, and I ain’t just gonna stand back and let you put your ship and crew in danger while we sit our asses down -’

‘Commander, you got the mission this far. Please trust me and my crew to finish it without worrying about keeping you safe.’ Galcyon’s eyes shone with desperate sincerity.

There was a pause. Then, once again, Q’ira burst forward. ‘Captain – you don’t know me – I’m not Starfleet – but you have to get that Changeling off the station, we have to prove they’re a Changeling –’

‘Do what you have to do, Captain!’ Cassidy was on his feet, and Rosewood found he barely needed a look from his commander to grab hold of Q’ira’s arm and haul her back. ‘We’ll get clear.’ As the screen went dead, he rounded on Ranicus. ‘You heard the lady – get us out of here.’

‘No!’ Q’ira’s cry was all but ignored by Ranicus, and the deck hummed as the Blackbird pulled away. She turned to Cassidy, eyes blazing. ‘You said we’d stop her! You said I’d get payback, justice – you promised!’

Rosewood cleared his throat. ‘Nobody promised -’

‘Maybe I did,’ said Cassidy bluntly. ‘I let you believe that, anyway. I wasn’t lying. It’s just worked out that keeping my word to you isn’t the most important thing here.’

Her expression collapsed. ‘You’re… you’re Starfleet. You all go back to your jobs and uniforms. This was my entire life…’

Rosewood never thought he’d be grateful for a subspace disaster, but Falaris’s voice interrupting the horrified tension was more welcome than it had ever been.

‘Station’s power grid is overloading – the whole thing’s going up.’

Cassidy’s jaw was iron-tight. ‘The wormhole? The Liberty?’

‘Splitting a tetryon beam, just like they said.’ Aryn sounded almost admiring. ‘Wormhole’s receding, but -’

‘Station’s going -’

On the viewscreen, the starbase shattered as an eruption came from deep within. Its heart had burst. Blackbird soared away, and within seconds they could feel the deck shudder and shake, the initial impact hitting them enough to have Rosewood again grabbing hold of the railing. Then the viewscreen went dead.

‘We’ve lost sensors!’ called Falaris. ‘Interference is too great!’

But Ranicus’s voice held a different urgency. ‘Main shockwave still incoming -’

It hit before she’d finished the pronouncement. Rosewood’s arm felt like it was nearly yanked out of its socket as the Blackbird lurched and spun, knocked so wildly out of control that inertial dampeners barely did their work. Then Nallera crashed into him, and they both went down as emergency alerts went off, the lights flickered wildly, and while it could have only lasted seconds, it felt like a lifetime before everything went dark, and quiet, and still.

Cassidy groaned as he stood. ‘Report,’ he grunted.

Falaris had somehow kept her post, gripping her console hard. ‘We’re in one piece, Commander.’

‘The station? The Liberty?’

‘Too much interference…’

Aryn was wincing as he read his screen. ‘Subspace didn’t get ripped apart,’ he said, voice rough. ‘I think… I think they did it.’

‘But they were right on top of whatever happened.’ Rosewood couldn’t stand, but Nallera could, and she hauled him up as if he weighed nothing.

Cassidy rounded on Falaris, expression twisting. ‘Get me eyes, Lieutenant.’

‘I’m trying, sir -’

‘This don’t end with us sitting back and watching while another ship fights and dies -’

‘Incoming communication!’ barked Ranicus. Her voice cleared after just a beat, relief almost palpable. ‘It’s the Liberty!’

The holographic screen flickered as it came to life. Conditions aboard the Liberty didn’t look much better than on the Blackbird. Captain Galcyon’s hair was wild, her face scuffed, but she held firm to the armrests of her command chair, and there was a tight smile to her face.

‘Liberty to Blackbird. Mission accomplished, Commander. The wormhole was closed before it could fully open.’

Cassidy let out a slow breath. ‘Are you alright, Captain?’

‘Only minor bumps and scrapes here. But I’m sorry, Commander. The station’s gone. Nobody survived that. A terrible loss, but… it’s over.’

Nobody spoke, but Rosewood could feel the tension on the Blackbird’s bridge break with relief as people breathed, softened, relaxed. They had not come face to face with their foe, but there had been victory, nevertheless. For days, they’d been desperate to get the job done by their own hands, but though they’d been denied that, the only thing that mattered now was that it was over.

Except for one of them. And in the shower of relief, Rosewood could not bring himself to look at Q’ira, who could only hear the final notes in the symphony of her life being utterly, irrevocably destroyed.