Star Trek Discovery: Penitent's Walk

XII: Goodbyes and Hellos

"I'll say this: it's a hell of a view," Lucero said and shook her head in mild awe. The observation deck of the Zerothian Emergency Management Station was a transparent sphere that protruded from the station's central core on a narrow spoke. Once she got over how much it resembled Hazarian Station, she could let go of her apprehension and simply be overwhelmed by the sight of the northern hemisphere, and beyond it the Enterprise's running lights glittering against the darkness of space.

"That it is, Captain," Pike said. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet your crew."

"Discovery's crew, you mean," she corrected. "And I'm sorry, too. They were a remarkable group."

The Discovery crewmembers had stayed long enough to attend the thanksgiving ceremony, which had involved a state dinner and several long speeches by Zerothian leaders that basically amounted to 'Thanks Starfleet!' Lucero hadn't seen much of them but did get to say goodbye as they beamed to their transport. She'd wanted to tell them what they had meant to her in the scant time together. How they'd reminded her of her own abilities, and the fact that she was, in fact, more than the sum of one disastrous mission.

But, as with so many things, a commanding officer doesn't have the luxury of spilling their guts, so instead she'd been being appropriately reserved and professional as she thanked each of them personally, pausing when she got to Detmer. "Lieutenant," she said, "I hope you never serve on my ship."

Detmer cocked an eyebrow, knowingly. Owosekun had rolled her eyes.

"They were your crew," Pike corrected her gently. "Maybe they were on loan, but they were yours. They looked to you for leadership, and you gave them that."

Lucero felt her cheeks growing warm. "They could have left. I told them to evacuate. But instead they chose to stay, and because of that..."

"Five billion people are still alive," Pike finished. "Because you took their raw talent and harnessed it. That's what a captain does."

Lucero felt her eyes filling. "Sir, I'm sorry. I should have answered—"

"Stop," Pike shook his head. "Lynne, you don't have to apologize for anything. Captains don't do that. It demoralizes the crew."

Lucero shrugged. "Well, since I'm a Commander..."

"Not for much longer," Pike said with a twinkle in his eye. "Starfleet has chosen to revisit that particular demotion in light of the fact that you basically saved a planet from extinction."

Lucero took a shuddering breath and blinked away tears. "Captain..."

"That's your rank," he smiled. "At least after a short ceremony later this afternoon."

"Why do I get the feeling you had something to do with that?"

He shrugged modestly. "I may have...pointed out the relevant facts to them."

She blurted out a laugh. "Well, thank you, Cap...Chris."

"Lynne," he said with the effortlessly paternal gravity only he could manage, "Starfleet is better having you at the helm of a ship, than serving penance for something that wasn't your fault." He looked out the observation bay. "And speaking of ships..."

It took Lucero a moment to zero in on what he was looking at, but when she did it hit her like a hammer blow.

The disc-like shape of the Magee-class research vessel caught the sunlight off Zerothian Prime's terminator, accentuating the sleek lines of its built-in warp nacelles. It dipped at it approached the station, and Lucero gasped as she read the registry: USS Cabot NCC-0325.

"They said she was lost," Lucero gasped. "At the tribunal they said..."

"She was officially designated as lost when her structural integrity failed," Pike explained. "But her superstructure was relatively intact. Some enterprising engineer at San Francisco Yards had been pitching an innovative plan for the past few years for how to gut a starship and rebuild the interior through modular elements. The Cabot gave him the opportunity to prove it." Pike smiled. "He's a big fan of yours, too. You made his career."

"And you may have had something to do with that, too?"

Pike shook his head. "Nope. Starfleet green-lit that one all on their own. And she's here to pick up her captain."

Lucero used her sleeve to wipe away the tears she'd failed at staving off. "Thank you," she said.

"Lynne," Pike said seriously. "It's my honor. Truly." He looked out at the graceful little ship. "You'll have to assemble your crew. Maybe you can poach a few from Discovery." He cocked his head. "You may want to pass on the red-haired one," he said with a wink.

She let out a laugh and pressed her face to the viewport like a little kid. She turned her head to get the best view possible of the ship. Her ship.

Epilogue

One year later

"All right, that's a wrap on the Odysses Nebula," Lucero announced with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Excellent work, everyone. We mapped the hell out of that nebula."

A ripple of laughter ran through the small bridge. "Course, Captain?" asked her Executive Officer, a compact paleogeologist named Steven Hsia who stood behind her at the science station.

"Take us to Laurentian System. We'll link up with the Hartman Science Task Force there, and see if we can solve their little exobiological mystery for them. I mean, there has to some reason people keep turning inside out when the beam to the moon's surface, right?"

"Aye sir," smiled her helmsman, Ensign Pimchanok, a startlingly beautiful young woman who'd managed in her few weeks aboard the Cabot to inadvertently break the hearts of a half dozen of her colleagues, and a few visiting scientists as well. "Taking us to warp."

"Mister Hsia, implement standard warp-out protocols."

Hsia nodded. "Sensors to full. Setting to Omni-directional."

Pimchanok swiveled in her seat. "Sir, may I ask...what are we looking for when we implement this protocol?"

The bridge was suddenly very still, acknowledging that an unspoken protocol had been breeched: no one ever asked the captain what they were supposed to be looking for when they went to warp. It was assumed she'd tell them when they found it.

"A ship, Ensign," Lucero said with a sad smile. "A ship with a remarkable crew."