Soji leans forward, her face incredibly still, her eyes wide. “Do you—regret what you did?”
Jurati tilts her head, confused.
“To Bruce,” Soji adds. 1/8
Jurati’s lungs stiffen as if a lightning strike rattled through them.
“You—you don’t have to answer that,” Soji says. “I—I just sometimes blame myself for Picard’s—well, I’m so thankful you and Dr. Soong could give him a second chance.”
Jurati stood up and left the table. 2/8
“Oh,” Soji says. “Okay.”
Jurati sits back down with two a drink. “A special concoction I affectionately call a Sour Rios.”
Soji picks up a glass. “What’s in it?”
“Better not to ask,” Jurati says, smirking as she takes a swig. She gently places the glass on the table. 3/8
Soji sips the Sour Rios. “How are you even alive?” Soji teases.
“It’s funny—well maybe not, really—but I ask myself that a lot,” Jurati says, her face falling flat. “Like every day. Mornings. Nights. Now.”
“I’m sorry I asked the question,” Soji says.
“No, no,” Jurati says. 4/8
“My brain tells me that Oh is responsible,” Jurati says. “But my eyes saw his face, my ears heard my name on his lips, my—heart bears the—well, so, yeah, myself blames myself, if that makes sense.”
“I’m sorry,” Soji says. “How do you—deal with it?”
Jurati lifts her glass. 5/8
“But seriously,” Jurati says. “You.”
“Me?” Soji asks.
“You’re everything Bruce lived for,” Jurati says. “We lived for. And seeing you in this diplomacy gig—and killing it in that top—softens the guilt and grief—a little.”
“Yeah—I did,” Reno says. “And it was fucking grueling to engineer my friends like some—cannibalized, engine parts.”
“But—again—you got to do something to save them,” Shaw says. 1/8
“You didn’t have to see hopelessness in their eyes as you crouched into the escape pod,” Shaw says.
“You tough enough for some straight talk, Captain Dirge?” Reno asks.
Shaw shrugs.
Reno leans forward. “Your friends died—frozen debris forever floating at Wolf 359.” 2/8
“A bit—cold,” Shaw says.
“Literally, my man,” Reno says. “You couldn’t save their asses. But who the hell do you think you are? You took that seat when one of them could’ve. You gonna wallow in the hopelessness of that horrific moment forever?” 3/8
Kirk, McCoy, Spock, a civilian human-Vulcan hybrid, and a civilian man enter the transporter room.
“We’re all set here, Captain,” Scotty says from behind the transporter room console.
“Thank you, Scotty,” Kirk says hesitantly.
1/14
“If you’ll step up on the pad, please,” Kirk says.
The woman cautiously nods and steps up on the pad.
Spock stands on Kirk’s right. McCoy stands on his left, holding a hypospray.
Kirk, with his palm open, says, “Bones.”
McCoy grips the hypospray.
2/14
“Now think about this, Jim,” McCoy says. “Are you really gonna trade one life for another? This—procedure—will end the life of this living, breathing being that you see standing before you.”