That’s quite alright son. Take a seat.

Thank you, I’ll review it later.

Now, I know it probably feels like I’ve been ducking your calls. I owe you an explanation.

I know what you wanted to talk to me about. Voyager, my son. I heard the rumours when Voyager was lost in the badlands, that he might have been responsible.

And I know it’s your duty as a part of these enquiries to explore every possibility. No matter how unlikely.

So you’ll have to forgive me for not wanting to explore that particular narrative. I don’t like to indulge idle speculation.

Now I know from this

that you’ve heard that we’ve made contact with Voyager.

It’s early days, but we’re hoping to use this communications network that they’ve found to stay in more regular contact. We’ve been reaching out to all known family, friends and associates of the crew to ask them to write messages, anything they want to tell the people on Voyager. I assume that’s what this is?

From what we’ve heard, he’s currently serving as Captain Janeway's number one. The Maquis are a delicate topic even on this side of the galaxy. If this letter has news of the events of last year…

I was once Kathryn Janeways commanding officer. She’s resourceful, steadfast and fiercely protective of anybody on her crew. If she trusts these ex-Maquis to serve on a Federation starship, I trust her judgement and ability to handle any fall out.

I’ll submit this for security review. If it passes the checks, it’ll be included in the transmission.

Now back to the main reason you’re here. Truth be told, my son has been a bit of a sore spot for me for a long time. All I wanted was for him to be a model officer, to thrive in Starfleet the way that I have. But the more I tried to encourage him, the further he seemed to pull away.

I even requested a transfer to Starfleet Academy to be a bit closer to him and taught his Survival Strategies course. But he just seemed to resent me being there. Juggling being a starfleet officer and a father is a tall order. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

I thought that I lost him once when he left Earth after being dismissed from Starfleet. Then he turned up on my doorstep in cuffs a few months later. I don’t think I left my office at headquarters for a week when that happened. He was just so determined to rebel, and I don’t think even he knew what against.

Months later, Captain Janeway approached me with her proposal for using him to help track down the Maquis in the badlands. Lieutenant Tuvok had reported in one of his transmissions that the testimony he had given about his time with them was in his words ‘surprisingly accurate’. Praise from a vulcan, even given the circumstances, gave me hope that the man I knew he could be was still in there.

But then Voyager was lost, and I lost him again. Just as I thought he would be able to get his life back on track.

There’s an old saying, “It’s the hope that kills you.”

I did my part. I turned up to the reunions. I fought to keep the search going longer than anybody else in Starfleet. I made sure that resources were allocated to the Voyager Friends & Family Support Group. They’re good people, they were hurting. We all were. So I’m sure you can understand why I wasn’t exactly in the right frame of mind to have this conversation.

Then the Klingon war started, followed by the Dominion and I was able to bury myself in my work. But we got the news a week and a half ago. Voyager was alive. Their EMH had transferred itself from the Delta Quadrant not only that, it had somehow managed to save one of our starships from being captured in the process.

Afterwards we were able to debrief it. I read its report. Tom is alive. He’s thriving. I couldn’t be prouder of him and I’ve penned a letter to him myself to make sure that this time, he knows that. It won’t make up for any lost time, but I hope it can provide him with some comfort while we try to figure out a way to get him and the rest of the Voyager crew home safely.

For a moment there, I had almost forgotten what hope felt like.