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A flutter of motion caught Janeway’s eye. Turning to look over her shoulder, she saw a vast army arrayed behind Phoebe, standing on the rise, watching the battle below, just as she was. She recognized some of them… which was to say, she recognized their species. Among the throng were Hirogen, Borg, Ocampa, Illiderians… almost every race she had encountered in her voyage through the Delta Quadrant, and countless others she could not name.

One of them who vaguely resembled a Monorhan male pushed his way through the throng, and called to those assembled in a commanding voice, “Where will you stand?”

The assembly stared blankly at him. It was as if they were all certain that to enter the fray unleashed on the field was certain death, and though they clearly had a stake in the outcome, they were unwilling to sacrifice themselves to assure their victory.

“We are one!” the Monorhan cried again. “We have experienced life beyond time and know now that our infinite existence was still too small. The Others will force you to choose between slavery and exile. I would make another choice, here and now. I would choose victory!”

Janeway felt her heart rise to the call of this stranger’s words. Though she had no obvious personal stake in the outcome of this battle, the force of his passions called out to her to stand with him and face death rather than shrink from this fight.

But the faces of the listeners did not flame with the same passion Janeway felt surging within her. It was difficult to place a single name on so many disparate and alien expressions, but the best description that came to Janeway’s mind was pity.

Turning his back to the others in defiance, the valiant and doomed speaker ran to the edge of the cliff and leaped. Though from this height Janeway could only assume that he had already met a violent death when he fell to the ground below, moments later she saw him clearly join the battle.

Finally it dawned on her that, like Phoebe, these must all be Nacene who had taken other forms. In their more “natural” state, they appeared as flowing masses of translucent energy like the thousands who were engaging one another on the field below.

In a flash of light, something shot upward from amid the Nacene assembled behind Janeway, and took flight into the sky. It was a strange sight, a star rising with the same speed it might have fallen from the heavens. Moments later, other members of the crowd began to follow. For a dazzling minute, the sky was filled with their beautiful exodus. Many of those on the battlefield turned to witness the spectacle. Once the last had fled, the battle was resumed, though it seemed to Janeway that this desertion had given one side energy and enthusiasm to pursue their ends that had been absent in the more evenly matched battle that had been waged moments before.

Janeway and Phoebe were alone upon the rise.

“Why didn’t they follow him into battle?” Janeway demanded.

“We were afraid,” Phoebe replied simply. “We wanted to live…. to explore… it is our nature. We did not understand that this was our moment. In Exosia, time does not force us to make such choices.”

Exosia?

Janeway had heard that word before.

“Exosia is your realm?” she asked.

“It is our home.”

“Wait a minute,” Janeway interjected hastily. “When we encountered the Caretaker’s mate, Suspiria, we were told that Exosia was her realm. It was the place she went to when she wasn’t present with the Ocampa she had taken to her array.”

“Who told you that?” Phoebe asked with barely concealed contempt.

“The Ocampa who led us to her… his name was… Tanis, I believe,” Janeway replied, annoyed.

“Then he was misinformed,” Phoebe said flatly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The Nacene you knew as Suspiria was a liar,” Phoebe said. “I am certain she was attempting to reenter Exosia… she was probably using the life force and abilities of the… what did you call them…?”

“Ocampa…”

“Yes, the Ocampa, to create some crude key of her own. But she has been barred from Exosia along with the rest of us for tens of thousands of your years. Whatever