Stephen sat in his chair, his crew in tact and the ship undamaged. "Are all systems ready?"
Jennifer walked to a console and checked the screen. [Yes, sir. Ready to begin shipwide systems shutdown.]
"Good."
Jon pressed a button on his computer. "Initiate primary systems shutdown."
The lights went dim and shut off. Back up lights came up.
Stephen pressed another button.
"Initiate secondary systems shutdown."
The backup lights shut off, leaving them all in the dark. The bridge officers all turned on their wrist flashlights.
Officers walking in the corridors turned on their wrist flashlights as they continued walking.
[Ready?] said Stephen over the com.
Jennifer didn't answer. She walked to the console in front of the warp core and pressed a button. "Initiating warp core shutdown."
Every light on the ship shutdown completely. The Virgo was in the dark.
Suddenly, the Virgo shook. It began to drift backward as it turned on its nose, and then upside down. The ship flew backward until, suddenly, a flash of blue light appeared.
The ship glowed. When the light faded, the Virgo was stranded and dark.
Stephen tapped a button on his computer. "Reactivating primary systems."
The lights all came back on.
"All right. Did it work?"
[Yes, sir!] exclaimed Jennifer. [The subspace winds drove us out. We're out of the anomaly."
Stephen didn't believe it. "Jon, check your chronometer."
Jon smiled. "She's right. We're out."
"K'Lara, what date is it?"
"March 1, 2384," K'Lara said happily.
"Great," Stephen sat back in his chair, relieved. "Well," he got up, "I've got stuff to do. Can you cover for me, Jon?"
"What stuff?" asked Jon.
"I promised Dana I'd help her move into my quarters a few months ago, and
haven't gotten around to it."
Jon smiled and waved him off as he took the captain's seat.
Stephen casually walked off the bridge.
"So, K'Lara died?" asked Dana as she helped pile up her belongings.
"Yeah," Stephen said. "Her and all of the engineers."
"Wow."
"And what scares me is that that could have happened in an anomaly that didn't loop time. We could all be dead now."
"You got lucky. But it was a lesson, and you're a better captain for it."
Stephen smiled as he approached a consoled. "Initiate site-to-site transport Maruu Pi."
The huddled pile of Dana's belongings disappeared.
Dana continued, "So, what else do you remember?"
"Something about the T'rais."
"The T'rais?"
"Yeah," Stephen scratched his head. "And the Kelvans."
"The Kelvans? What do they have to do with the T'rais?"
"You know, I don't even remember." Stephen grabbed his wife's shoulder. "Oh well, I don't remember so it mustn't have been that important."
"Yeah." Dana kissed him on the lips. "Well, let's get everything organized upstairs."
"Okay. Let's go." Stephen walked out with Dana. Suddenly, he started running to the nearest Jeffries tube. "First one to the Deck One cleans!"
Dana ran after him. "Oh no you don't!"
They ran and laughed down the corridor frightening two ensigns.
The Virgo, having planted a beacon at the edge of the anomaly, went to warp, leaving the beacon flashing a red light.