[Bridge]

GWYN: There's nothing we can do. We can't warp away. We can't stop the signal. It's annihilation.
DAL: There is one thing we can do. We have to destroy the Protostar.
POG: We can't destroy our ship!
DAL: It's the only surefire way to stop the long-range subspace signal.
POG: No! We can't destroy our ship 'cos if our Proto-Core blows, everything in a 50 million miles radius goes with it. Not even Murf can survive a supernova warp breach.
JANEWAY: Jankom's correct. Destabilising the Proto-Core would create a veritable supernova so large, only a Proto-Warp could get us that far away. And even then...
ROK: Hmm. Unless we destabilise it at the exact moment we Proto-Jump. The destructive energy released would be spread across space-time.
ZERO: Hmm.
DAL: I know we just got our translators working, but could someone explain that to me?
ZERO: Rok-Tahk's correct. Estimating the Proto-Core's remaining power, an explosion of that magnitude could wipe out this entire star system. But elongate that damage cross dozens of lightyears in a short frame and...
GWYN: The destruction here is minimal. No one else gets hurt.
POG: No one else? Slow down! Pog isn't sure he likes this plan.
JANEWAY: We can make a shuttlecraft with the Vehicle Replicator and eject before detonation.
DAL: Except... the Protostar's auto-controls are fried. Someone will have to stay back to detonate it. I am the captain of this ship.
GWYN: No, Dal.
DAL: Admiral Janeway is true to her word. She'll help you get into Starfleet, but she can't help me.
JANEWAY: Or you let the hologram do it. When you were trapped in the Holodeck, you did grant me your command codes.
ROK: But you're not just a hologram to us. You've got memories, a personality. You're our friend.
JANEWAY: And that's why you'll make a copy of my programme on an isolinear chip and bring me with you. That way I can be in two places at once.
DAL: How soon until we can jump?
POG: It'd take any engineer at least a day, but... Jankom ain't any engineer.
DAL: All right, let's get moving. Get impulse online. If our math's fuzzy, it'd be nice to have a little breathing room.

[Dauntless Bridge]

TYSESS: What are they doing?
(Flying through the fleet.)
JANEWAY: Saving us all.

[Engine room]

DAL: Jankom, how we doing on that razzle-dazzle?
POG: She's primed and ready to jump... jump and explode, that is. Jankom's not just an engineer, he's a miracle worker.
DAL: Great. We've got one shot at this.

[Vehicle Replication]

ROK: With so little time, we left out all comfort for basic life support. We have stabilisers, but the engines are crude. Its navigation is archaic.
GWYN: We have Janeway for that.
ROK: Right. Seats. Oh, what about the seats?
DAL: We leave in five. Maybe seat belts?
GWYN: Forget belts. We'll just go with the hold-onto-your-butt grab handles.

[Bridge]

COMPUTER: Uploading holo-programme. Insufficient capacity.
DAL: How's it coming? Did you copy your programme? Is everything okay?
JANEWAY: Watch out. Now you'll have two of me.
ZERO: It's time to go.
JANEWAY: Thank you, security officer. I'll take it from here. Computer, place all controls under my authority and maintain this course.
COMPUTER: Affirmative.
POG: Gah! All this time, all the love we put into it and we're just gonna blow it up? It just doesn't feel right.
ROK: Think of it as letting a young star become what it's meant to be.
DAL: We'll see you on the other side.
JANEWAY: Of course you will, Captain. I just want you all to know what an honour it was to serve alongside you.
(Shuttlecraft falls out of the decompressed bay.)
COMPUTER: Proto-Core is online.
JANEWAY: On my mark. Ready? Go fast.
(Protostar jumps to warp and explodes. A star is born.)

[Dauntless Bridge]

TYSESS: We are no longer locked out.
JANEWAY: Any sign of the USS Protostar?
TYSESS: No, Admiral. I've tracked their warp signature, but read no signs of life.
JANEWAY: Send a search party.
TYSESS: But Admiral, the distance they crossed... it would take months to scan that many star systems.
JANEWAY: That crew just saved Starfleet. If they're out there, I want to know. You got this far. Wherever you are, don't give up now.

[Shuttlecraft]

GWYN: We did it.
ROK: Ooo, Janeway would want to see this.
POG: Huh? Why is Janeway tiny? That's not her hologram.
JANEWAY: I bet right now Jankom is wondering why I'm not a hologram and just a prerecorded message.
DAL: Er...
ZERO: What does she mean, prerecorded?
JANEWAY: I imagine you have questions. I'm sorry, but I lied to you.
ROK: What? I'm so confused. What's going on? Where is Janeway?
JANEWAY: There was no way for me to leave. Over the course of my time with you, I've grown. Literally. My programme has become too large, too rich, and complex for some tiny little chip. It just wasn't possible to remove me from the computers in time.
DAL: She stayed on the ship, Rok.
POG: No.
ROK: Janeway.
JANEWAY: And knowing how stubborn you all are, especially you, Jankom, I did what I had to so that you could fulfill your potential. I'm truly proud to have seen how far you've all come. My only regret is not being there when you arrive at the steps of Starfleet Academy.
ROK: But... but we don't have navigation!
JANEWAY: You may think you need me to get there, but after seeing everything you've accomplished, I have full confidence you'll find your way. Because together, your potential is infinite. Now, go boldly.
ROK: Janeway.
DAL: Always telling us what to do. Even to the end.

[Starfleet HQ - one month later]

VULCAN: While the ship's crew is still missing, we did find this. When the Protostar destabilised their core while simultaneously engaging warp, it not only lessened the degree of decimation so as to save others, but at the point of impact, it created an interspatial rift.
JANEWAY: Excuse me. A rift?
VULCAN: More specifically, a wormhole. From this, one of our stations picked up a signal from the Protostar.
JANEWAY: The Protostar is gone.
VULCAN: Ah, the one stolen by the criminals on Tars Lamora, yes.
JANEWAY: You mean the heroes that saved our hides when we nearly destroyed ourselves. In their absence and in my presence, they get our respect.
VULCAN: We mean no disrespect, Admiral. Because of their sacrifice, we picked up this.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Mayday. Mayday.
JANEWAY: I've already heard this.
VULCAN: Not this message.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: It's day 72 since the Vau N'Akat captured the Protostar. They're planning to launch it back through the wormhole with a weapon aboard.
VULCAN: This was sent from another time, 52 years from now.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Half my crew's gone, but I'm trying to hang on.
JANEWAY: How? How is that possible?
VULCAN: The hologram adviser's last act was to duplicate the parameters logged in the original wormhole Captain Chakotay was lost in, thusly creating an interspatial flecture to approximately the same space-time coordinates in an alternate future.
JANEWAY: He's alive, and she pointed us in the right direction.
VULCAN: There are discussions of sending an exploratory ship.
JANEWAY: I want to be on it.
OFFICER: I'm sorry for interrupting.
JANEWAY: What is it?
OFFICER: Admiral, it's them.
(The shuttlecraft has splashed down in the bay.)

[Tribunal]

TELLARITE: Stealing a Federation ship, impersonating officers, even illicitly inhabiting the mind of an esteemed admiral.
JANEWAY: All in an effort to warn us.
TELLARITE: The list of offenses would take me all afternoon to read, yet you want us to consider letting them apply to Starfleet Academy?
VULCAN 2: Including this... augment?
TELLARITE: The Academy is not a space camp for children. This is a serious disciplined institution designed for only our brightest.
VULCAN 2: What about the written and oral tests, psych evaluations? This is unprecedented, even reckless. Good intentions do not make up for Federation crimes.
JANEWAY: Good intentions? I know my prior statements about my experience with the accused were unusual to say the least, but one year ago, not one of them had ever heard of the United Federation of Planets. Yet through fate, engineered by their own ingenuity, they set their compass to Starfleet, and without their intervention, I cannot say with certainty if all of us would be sitting here right now.
POG: Go get 'em, Janeway.
JANEWAY: The Protostar, named after the early stage in the formation of a star. Powered by it, we designed a ship that could explore the far reaches of our understanding in hope of finding others who share our ideals, so that we may create a stronger alliance. Stack up those tests, the psych evaluations, interviews. They don't hold a candle to what this crew has been through. And concerning the augment, whose name you've conveniently forgotten, his name Dal R'El. Is he genetically engineered? Yes. Was he enhanced in every way? Look at him. Of course not. But his heart is bigger than any in this room. I should know. The Federation is made up of over 150 member species. Dal's DNA includes of 26 those, so I ask you, is there a better living embodiment of what our alliance represents?

[Corridor]

JANEWAY: They've dropped all charges.
ROK: We did it, Murf!
POG: What about Starfleet Academy?
JANEWAY: After carefully considering all sides to the argument, they felt strongly that fast-tracking non-Federation citizens into the Academy wasn't fair to the other more qualified entrants currently awaiting their turn. But I was able to convince them to permit five of you to be taken under my wing, as warrant officers in training under my personal command of a ship of my choosing.
POG: Yes!
ZERO: So we haven't been accepted into the Academy, but we are part of Starfleet?
POG: You're gonna be our captain?
JANEWAY: In a way. Welcome aboard.
POG: Yes! Yes! Oh, yeah.
ROK: Five? But there are six of us. Who didn't get in?
DAL: It's okay, guys.
ZERO: Oh, Dal.
DAL: What's important is you get to carry on this adventure.
JANEWAY: Dal, you got in.
DAL: What? Me? I don't understand.
GWYN: I won't be joining you.
ROK: What?
POG: Why?
DAL: I don't understand.
GWYN: First contact with Solum hasn't happened yet, but it will with someone, someday. Knowing what will happen to my people, I have to go. My father made mistakes, but he was right. I need to save the Vau N'Akat in my own way.
JANEWAY: Starfleet has offered aid to return Gwyn to her home planet.
GWYN: Maybe hearing about the greater universe from one of their own will open them to a brighter future.
ZERO: Gwyndala, the Unifier.
ROK: I like the sound of that.
POG: Jankom Pog's gonna miss you.
DAL: Yeah, we all are.
GWYN: I'll miss you guys too.

[Academy]

JANEWAY [OC]: I have the unique privilege to have grown up with Starfleet, but there are parts of our universe still nexplored. Those uninitiated who have never been under the protection of an alliance or pursued dreams beyond their scope. Today, the crew of the Protostar has been given a chance. A chance to discover who they are.
MACDONALD: You seem rather adept with Murf. Have you ever considered becoming a xenobiologist?
ROK: Xenobiologist? What's that?
MACDONALD: It's the study of new lifeforms.
JANEWAY [OC]: A chance to prove what they're capable of. A chance to improve themselves.
(A new suit for Zero.)
ZERO: It's perfect.
JANEWAY [OC]: And finally, a chance of finding their place in an endless universe.

[Stellar cartography]

GWYN: Remember when you called me a chump for ever thinking I would get off that rock?
DAL: Now, look at us. To think, the two of us would be in cat boots.
GWYN: You mean cahoots.
DAL: How far away is Solum?
GWYN: I recognised these particular star clusters from the ones visible in the Solum holo-programme. I know where my home world is now.
DAL: He's still out there, isn't he? Your father.
GWYN: Crazy, huh? Time travel.
DAL: I don't want you to leave.
GWYN: I know.
DAL: Promise me we'll see each other again.
GWYN: We got this far, didn't we?

[Starfleet HQ steps]

ROK: There she goes!
(A small ship takes off.)
DAL: I hope you find what you're looking for, Gwyn.
ROK: Whoa. Guys. Guys, guys!
POG: Huh?
ALL: Whoa! This is crazy.
(A new starship is unveiled.)
ZERO: Brilliant!
POG: Is that what I think it is?
ROK: No way!
JANEWAY: Your previous ship was a prototype, but Starfleet's now approved a new Protostar class.
ZERO: Magnificent.
DAL: So... are we...? Is that our ship?
JANEWAY: Oh, I have a much bigger plan for us. Well, are you coming or not?