After we had made our way to a nearby anti-grav sled to store the precarious stack of PADDs in one of the containers due to be loaded onboard, Beljo took me on a walking tour of the exterior. The groundskeeping staff maintained a walking route around Voyager to allow visitors to take pictures with the exterior hull, with a number of attractions positioned along the path. While none of them were open at this hour, I had to hand Beljo credit where credit was due for some of the names.

There were also a number of small stages, where during standard opening hours actors would provide re-enactments of some of Voyager’s more family friendly off world adventures.

I couldn’t help but think to myself that Voyager had almost become a small village, for the second time in her life. It almost felt like a shame to be taking her away from her new family on these prestigious grounds, where she also got pride of place in the home of Starfleet.

But the ground, no matter how prestigious the location is, is no place for a starship. In many of my interactions with the Voyager crew over the years I have heard that the ship became a home. While many of them have settled back into Federation life on Earth and elsewhere, returning to their former lives, Voyager’s home will always be amongst the stars.

To make sure she got there safely, the next couple of days were going to require a lot of hard graft. Especially for the engineering crews, who had the seemingly insurmountable task of dismantling the various onboard exhibits for safe transport to Athan Prime. They needed to work with speed, but also care. The last thing I needed was a repeat of the Boimler incident when I was on such a tight schedule.

I was snapped out of my spiral by Beljo announcing that we were ready to board. Seemingly without my noticing we had managed to complete a full lap of Voyager and stood at the base of one of the landing gear ladders. Where Beljo paused and turned to me.

“Well this is where I leave you”

“Not coming onboard for one last tour of the ship?”

I see his eyes widen in panic. not the most reassuring reaction...

“With all of those engineers onboard poking around? Absolutely not! No. No. I know Voyager. The ship has a habit of throwing things at you when you least expect and I’m more than certain that she has more surprises buried in her bulkheads. I don’t want to be around when they reveal themselves”

I move to step past him towards the ladder, and he places a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“I may be a little worried about going onboard at this time but still. I do care for this ship...”

“Do try not to get it blown up”

And with that, he turned away and started heading towards the exit. Leaving me hoping that he was over exaggerating about his concerns, while I had a not insignificant climb ahead of me.

I could have decided to book a shuttle to board, or just used the transporter. But I felt it was appropriate for me to board Voyager from the ground, just before she left it for the last time. Besides, guests and officials alike were not permitted to use this method of boarding due to the availability of safer (and faster) options. Meaning that aside from maintenance crews, I could be the first one to use these rungs since Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant. A novelty that kept my spirits high as I made my way into the underbelly of the ship.

As I reached the top of the landing gear I took a deep breath. I was technically onboard Voyager, but as soon as the doors in front of me opened the real work began.