INTERLUDE

I took a step forward.

Voyager welcomed me with a familiar hiss, as the door in front of me slid open, revealing her characteristic 2360s designed Starfleet interior décor.

At once, I felt at home. These were the types of corridors that I had walked for much of my career. They varied in width, length and height. But the general appearance was the same. This, I had always thought to myself, was the correct balance between form and function.

The types of luxury interior that were seen on the likes of the Galaxy class were too… Comforting. It made sense of course, considering the aims of the class. They wanted the families onboard to feel like the ship was their living room. But I’ve always believed you never want to be too comfortable on a starship.

Then in stark contrast, there are the interiors of ships today. Reflective of a Federation scarred by war, and generations of officers trained to fire a phaser before they learned how to run a sensor sweep. Spartan. Pure function. No carpets. Just the unmuffled sound of boots on polished duranium deck plating following you throughout your day.

I had of course memorised the interior layout of the Intrepid class, but Voyager was unique. The extensive modifications made by Lieutenant Torres and her engineering teams during the ship’s travels in the Delta Quadrant meant that she was truly one of a kind. Each deck had been modified even further during Tweekle’s tenure as curator to make rooms and built-in enclosures for exhibits.

Tweekle’s work was now being undone, but the ship was between states. Meaning the only real source of truth was Voyager herself. I found a wall panel, tapped to activate it and brought up a map. As I began to try to navigate through the ship, I was greeted by the familiar female voice of Voyager’s computer core.

“Please define query parameters”

“Ah, Computer-”

What… Were my query parameters? I once again found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that had to be accomplished during the next- I glanced at the chronometer on the LCARs display- Now 46 hours.

“-what is the shortest path to deck 11 from my location?”

“Current location is Deck 15 section 2. Calculating shortest route to Deck 11…”

The panel in front of me changed to display a deck overview. I was represented by a green dot, with a yellow line representing the path that I was to follow.

“Tweekle clearly didn’t make his way down here” I muttered to myself as I set off at a pace. At least on this deck, Voyager was laid out exactly how she was meant to be.

A short turbolift ride later, and I stepped out into the heart of Voyager. Main Engineering.

As I did, my face broke out into a smile as a familiar voice called out from across the room.

“Took you long enough.”

I turned my head to see B’Elanna Torres standing confidently with her arms folded in the middle of the room as engineers bustled around her

“Captain Torres-”

She holds up a hand, I take the hint and stop talking.

“When you sent that message… You do know that I’ve retired, right?”

“Retired in name only, from what I understand”

My words are accompanied by a smile. But are met with an icy glare. I start to worry I’ve overstepped.

As I open my mouth to try to recover the situation, her piercing gaze defrosts into a smile of her own.

I audibly exhale, in the moment it seems I had forgotten to breathe. This amuses her even more.

“You know, if we’re going to get this ship ready to fly in a couple of days. You’re going to need to get used to my sense of humour”

I shift nervously, and nod.

“Now come on, we have work to do”