She was alive, Salvage Facility 21-J was back under their control, and the colonists of Beta Serpentis III, much to their own disappointment, had not been assimilated. On a typical day, that wouldn’t have been newsworthy, but today, it was everything to Commander Lee. Somehow, they had prevailed, and not only had they prevailed, but so too had they survived.

“Commander Lee, I hear it was real touch and go there at the end,” Admiral Reyes offered as she, Commander Lee, Captain Lewis and Dr. Brooks stood together in the main reception room of the colony’s central administration building. “I’m glad it all worked out.” There was a deep sincerity in the way she said it. She was relieved that it had not all ended having to bury two more of her people.

“As am I,” Commander Lee replied softly, still haunted by what had happened. As she and Tom Brooks sat there, heating the shuttlepod’s warp core to critical, she’d suddenly realized her own mortality. And it had shaken her to her core. “All thanks to you, Jake.” Commander Lee smiled as she looked over at the aged spook. She owed him his life. Through a mix of bravery and brashness, Captain Lewis had saved her from her fate at the last possible moment.

Captain Lewis simply nodded. No thanks were needed.

“And Dr. Brooks, I’m really starting to think you want your atoms annihilated in a conflagration of matter and antimatter,” Admiral Reyes added as she turned towards the old scientist. “You really need to expand your playbook beyond warp core breaches.” Twice now, when all other options had been extinguished, the squadron’s newest transplant had turned to a solution few others would ever have considered.

“It’s one of the few things the Borg have not yet adapted to,” Dr. Brooks chuckled darkly. As he saw it, the difference between himself and the others was simply the fact he did not fear that final option. “Get us a mission that doesn’t involve the Borg, and I’m sure I can come up with something a little less fatalistic.”

“I’ll admit that after the Lost Fleet, Frontier Day, and now this, I long for the days we can just get back out there, charting nebulas, exploring ancient ruins, and discovering the mysteries of the universe once more,” Admiral Reyes smiled. It had been a long four months, and they’d paid a heavy price for the victories they’d achieved. She was ready to get back to doing what the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity had been established to do.

A shimmer of bright light pulled them from their discussion. The group turned as Captain Dorian Vox materialized on the temporary transporter pad the engineers from the USS Polaris had set up to cut through the interference caused by the planet’s lanthanide-rich crust.

“How’s everything looking?” asked Admiral Reyes.

“A hell of a lot better than earlier,” Captain Vox offered as he stepped off the pad. “We’ve arrested the remaining colonists aboard Salvage Facility 21-J, and once the Polaris arrived, the ASTRA folks were able to shut down the transceiver and expunge the Borg subroutines from the station’s computer core.”

“Nicely done, Captain,” Admiral Reyes nodded. Although Dorian Vox and the Diligent had only been a part of Polaris Squadron for a short period of time, and for much of it she’d been away with the Serenity over Earth, she appreciated the no-nonsense approach he took to everything he did. It had done them well in the Battle of Nasera, and he’d been just as effective as he and his teams stormed Salvage Facility 21-J.

For all his professionalism though, Captain Vox did look a bit spooked though. “Admiral, I’m going to be straight with you though. The place was a shitshow when we stormed it.” It had taken hours to wrestle control back from the dozens of zealous Andorians and hundreds of weaponized synths that held it hostage. “I’m still not sure why Command thought it wise to leave a pile of Borg tech just sitting there under the control of an automated system it could corrupt.”

“What else would you have them do with it?” Dr. Brooks asked.

“Destroy it,” Commander Lee cut in. “Destroy it all.” She spoke with a coldness borne of the horrors she’d witnessed while trapped with Dr. Brooks aboard Salvage Facility 21-J. She wanted nothing to do with any of it any more.

“I agree,” nodded Captain Vox. It seemed the logical choice, but Admiral Reyes, Dr. Brooks and Captain Lewis looked like they had other ideas. “I mean, that’s what we’re going to do, right? Right?” Anything else, in light of what had happened, seemed foolhardy. Borg tech was simply too dangerous to leave lying around.

“There’s still much we have to learn from the Borg,” Dr. Brooks offered. Although he and Commander Lee had lived through the same nightmare aboard that old salvage depot, he had come to a different conclusion than his young colleagues. “There’s a treasure trove of secrets over there still waiting to be unlocked.”

“Dr. Brooks is correct,” Admiral Reyes added. “I spoke with Command right after the jammer was disabled. Starfleet Security and Starfleet R&D are dispatching a team to take control of the facility.” Captain Vox and Commander Lee both looked less than pleased, so Admiral Reyes added some additional color: “After all that has happened with the Borg recently, there is renewed interest in cracking the code of the Collective. The facility is being reactivated to continue that critical research.”

Neither Captain Vox, nor Commander Lee, looked pleased with the answer, but they also knew nothing would be changed by arguing. The decision had been made far above their paygrade.

“What about the colony, ma’am?” asked Commander Lee, changing the subject. She’d worked the humanitarian mission on Nasera after they retook it from the Lost Fleet, and she knew how important the work was that lay ahead. “How do we help them heal?”

“Those who were directly involved with the hostage situation, and those who directly took up arms our people as we retook the colony and the station, will be handed over to Starfleet Security and then delivered to civilian authorities to stand trial,” Admiral Reyes explained. “And as for the rest, they will be free to return to their lives on Beta Serpentis III.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Captain Lewis grumbled. “The whole lot of them should be taken out back and shot for treason.” The Borg worshipers of Beta Serpentis III had almost opened a new door for the Collective to storm right into the heart of the Federation.

“Life will not be the same as it once was though,” Admiral Reyes continued, ignoring the outburst from her intelligence chief. “The colony is going to be placed under the stewardship of Federation Colony Operations.”

“That’s a crock of shit!” Captain Lewis exclaimed. After what they had done, they should have had to pay. They were getting off far too easy.

“Is it Jake? Is it really?” Admiral Reyes countered, her eyes narrowing on him. For all his heroics and all he’d been through over his decades in and out of Starfleet, Captain Lewis was still blind to such simple things. “Ask yourself what brought the colony to this point, what led them to see assimilation as the key to their salvation.”

Captain Lewis didn’t answer. He just folded his arms across his chest.

“They felt abandoned. The only Federation these colonists know is the one that rode in on its high horse and demanded they deactivate all their synths. Those synths were what made this place livable, and without them, it pushed the colony over to the edge in its struggle to surive,” Admiral Reyes explained. “When you push someone to the point of desperation, they will do desperate things. What they need now is to see something better from us. They need our support. They need to see the Federation as we see it.”

Captain Lewis looked unconvinced, but an argument like that would never have swayed him. The others nodded along though. They understood. Over recent months, each of them had become far too acquainted with what a desperate situation could push one to do.

Before anything further could be said, Captain Lewis’ combadge beeped.

“Lewis, go.”

“Jake, this is for your ears only.” 

It was Chief Ayala Shafir, and from the tone of her voice even in just those few short words, Captain Lewis knew something was wrong. He excused himself from the conversation with the others, and once he was alone in a hallway outside the main reception room, he let her know. “Okay, go.”

“It’s… it’s Lieutenant Morgan…” she said as her voice trailed off. It sounded almost as if she was sobbing, and that was very uncharacteristic for her.

“What about him?” Captain Lewis asked, growing concerned. Lieutenant Morgan had been off his game ever since Earth. He and Dr. Hall had been talking about it just hours earlier. And when they’d charged into the Beta Serpentis system, Lieutenant Morgan hadn’t reported for duty. At the time, Captain Lewis had paid it no heed. He’d had bigger things to worry about. “What’s going on, Ayala?”

“He’s… he’s… he’s dead. Jace is dead.”