Uhura realized they’d been drawing closer to each other as he spoke. It wasn’t out of desire, but from a different kind of need. His words made her realize that Nomad had not only taken her past from her—it had stolen her future as well. A future she’d never had the chance to mourn, for she’d never known she’d lost it until now. And that knowledge clarified a feeling of loss that had been looming over her mind since she had first heard Shastri’s name.

The new solidity of that feeling hit hard, and she burst into tears.

Weeping openly along with her, Shastri took her into his arms. As he held her, a rush of emotions flooded through her, and with them a jumble of sensory impressions. Countless touches—friendly hugs, jovial backslaps, mutual shoulder massages in cram sessions. Jen clasping her hand, stroking her hair as she wept herself to sleep after hearing of her father’s death.

And there was more. The press of his lips, the warmth of his bare chest against hers. The joyous exhaustion as they lay together after trying to make up for years of inaction in a single night. The comfortable ease with which they’d begun their romance, in the afterglow of a triumph that made them feel all things were possible for the two of them as a team.

She resisted the impulse to kiss him, to stroke his hair. That option was far behind them. And it didn’t matter. What mattered was the older, deeper bond that their passion had grown from. The bond that had enabled them to pierce the veil of time and make a childhood dream into reality, against all odds and obstacles.

“Jen,” she sighed, hugging him tighter. “I remember you now, my dear friend.”

He pulled back, eyes goggling. “You—you remember? How much?”

She winced, chiding herself for giving him false hope. “Not much. Moments, emotions, sensations. But I remember how it felt to be here with—to be in the lab with you on Argelius. I’m finally there. No technical details yet… but I think the channel’s open now. We just need to tease out the signal.”

His smile was still reserved, but warmer and more genuine than before. “Then we should get back to work… old friend.”

Chapter Eighteen

San Francisco

On hearing the news about the hostage situation, Sulu rushed to Admiral Kirk’s Academy office, where he found the admiral on the way out alongside a worried-looking Doctor McCoy. “Oh, good, I didn’t miss you.”

“You’ve heard, Commander?” Kirk moved past without slowing down, and Sulu fell in behind him.

“About the hostages, yes, sir. I wanted to ask if I could come with you to the scene.”

McCoy looked at him with mixed feelings. “I’m grateful for your support, Mister Sulu, but what’s your interest? You don’t know Ashley.”