It had taken the better part of a month to transfer from The Black Rock to Starfleet Headquarters. Then hitching a ride to get them in the ballpark of Deneva took a few days. But now, they had a runabout to take them the rest of the way. Mark sat left seat on the Longevity-class runabout. It was one of the newer ones, faster, with better shields. It had everything they actually needed if they ever were going to make a long trip on their own.

They were a tiny fraction of a lightyear away, but even at warp four it would be an hour or so before they made it close to the planet. In some ways it felt like coming home, as it was. But that also brought plenty of nerves too. How was this going to go since he hadn’t been home in a million years? He wasn’t sure. But… the last few weeks aboar dhte shuttle had been quiet, restful. And well within Federation space… restful.

Mark