A/N: Hello for the final time in this story! Thankyou to everyone who reviewed, I still can't believe you all like it enough to review! A few notes to you wonderful, wonderful people:

volley: Sorry! Thanks for all your reviews!

Triptacular: What can I say but thankyou? Thankyou!

firebirdgirl: Thankyou for your many reviews! Happy reading...

General Kunama: Hehe, Malcolm is great! Thanks for your review. Hope you enjoy the epilogue!

The Libran Iniquity: Here you go! Hope it isn't too sad...

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm not even old enough to own a car, let alone Star Trek...

Epilogue

Captain Charles Tucker was the last of the original Enterprise seven to take the journey through that strange and wonderful tunnel. He had outlasted Captain Archer – who had been fatally wounded on an away mission several years after Malcolm's death – and had been cut to the quick as T'Pol, the only woman he had ever truly loved, was reported missing presumed dead, after her ship, the Excalibur, had entered uncharted territory past the Delphic Expanse and never returned.

Trip had been placed in command of Enterprise, and had watched as a whole new generation replaced the original bridge crew before his very eyes. Travis and Hoshi had married, and when Hoshi fell pregnant with their first child had transferred to the Starfleet base in Brazil, where Hoshi took up teaching once again. But Travis, unable to resist the call of the stars, had gone on "one last trip" with his brother's cargo ship, which was attacked half-way through its run by Orion raiders. Travis died heroically defending his brother's children from the boarding party. His brother escaped, and later told Hoshi of her husband's bravery. Hoshi, comforted by her knowledge of the time which comes after death, had re-married, had two more children, and later died peacefully in her sleep at the age of fifty-seven. She was met on the 'other side' by a joyous Porthos and a teary-eyed Travis.

And as for Phlox, the fine doctor died quite cheerfully at the age of forty (quite advanced for a Denobulan) in his family home with his three wives and seventeen children by his side. Being a doctor he knew that all things had their end, and was happy knowing that in his lifetime he had saved the lives of at least fifty other people, and that those he had been unable to save he would soon meet again.

And now Charles Tucker stood, alone, at the age of sixty-three, among the rubble of the once-shining Enterprise bridge, as the United Federation of Planets stood on the brink of an interstellar war with the Romulan Empire.

"Sir, vital systems are failing!" A young ensign called out from her position at the head of the bridge. Trip gazed at the image on the viewscreen, through which their attacker – a darned ugly Romulan bird-o'-prey – could be seen. He gave a lopsided grin and gripped the ensign's shoulder. They were the only two left on the bridge, – hell, the entire ship – the rest having been rescued by a Vulcan science vessel before she had been forced to retreat. Trip had maintained that a captain should go down with his ship, and the ensign had insisted upon remaining with her captain.

"Y'know, if I were ten years younger..." Trip grinned at the ensign, who cocked an eyebrow up at him.

"Only ten?" She asked cockily, causing Trip to laugh properly for perhaps the first time since the whole torrid Romulan affair had begun. Her eyes met his and they both knew that there was no reason to be afraid. Trip drew in a breath, and recalled a time when he had been chief engineer of the very ship on which he was standing now. There would be other Enterprise's, but he doubted they would ever be headed by a captain as proud as he was in that moment.

"How 'bout goin' out with a bang, Ensign?" He drawled, and the ensign grinned back.

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He had greeted them all. He had guided Archer through the strange, bright valley, and with a slight smile welcomed a highly sceptical T'Pol. It had been with a sad sigh that he had shook hands with Travis, for he had still been young to leave his wife behind, and he had sighed even more when a young girl ran towards him with the word "uncle" on her lips. She looked every inch her mother.

Next he had embraced Hoshi, but had quickly stepped aside for Travis to take her as his rightful bride once again. Then Phlox had arrived, grinning broadly and – at this point he had grimaced slightly – been happily reunited with his bat.

Major Hayes was still awaiting the jury's verdict.

And now their group was to be complete.

Malcolm Reed stood up with a smile as a familiar blonde-haired figure appeared in the afterlife.

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Trip gazed across the green landscape with a vague expression of distaste.

"Kinda boring, isn't it?" He said to no-one in particular, and so was quite surprised when a clipped British voice replied;

"Quite. No pleasing you, is there, Mr Tucker?"

Trip turned round with a smile to see a very old friend standing by his side.

"Thought you'd be first to meet me, Malcolm. I'm glad you are." And as he spoke, Trip caught a glimpse in the far distance of his ensign, his loyal-unto-the-end ensign, being greeted by her friends and family. He smiled. Malcolm followed his gaze, then tugged gently on his sleeve.

"Look over there." He told him, but it was at that moment that Trip noticed something very strange about his friend.

"You look... young. Younger than you ever did on Enterprise."

Malcolm nodded, smirking ever so slightly – a smirk, Trip noted, that had not changed one jot.

"Of course." Malcolm said, nodding down at Trip's hands. "Look at yourself."

Trip looked down. He grinned.

"Smooth as a baby's bottom, hey, Mal?" He paused. "So how – excuse the expression – the hell does that work?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow, weighing his answer carefully.

"We are placed at the age in which we were the happiest. Mine was when I first met Cathy, yours was those few weeks when you and T'Pol were truly together... Hoshi has trouble, for she was just as happy with Travis as she later was with Andrew." Malcolm paused, then pointed to a small group of people standing a short way off beneath the shade of an oak tree with a slightly wry smile. "They're all three over there. Andrew and Travis get on surprisingly well." Trip nodded, his eyebrows raised, before asking;

"So is this... it? The afterlife? A giant horse-field 'cept without the darn horses?" Malcolm laughed, and only when he had recovered sufficiently did he cock his eyebrow in an expression of mock offence.

"There really is no pleasing you, Trip Tucker! And no – this isn't all there is." He smiled enigmatically. "This is just the entrance hall... inside there are rooms powered by engines of the like that you could never dream of." Malcolm held Trip's gaze for a moment, and the one-time engineer was sure that his friend was trying to tell him something, but Trip could not for the life of him grasp what it was. He gave up and clapped his hands together eagerly.

"Then what are we waiting for? Are the others here?" Trip stopped suddenly, as something Malcolm had said a few moments earlier finally hit him. "And who on earth is Cathy?"

Malcolm's face split into a grin, and he slapped Trip on the back, leading him away from the entrance to that strange and wonderful land.

"There's no rush, Trip." He said. "We've got all the time in the world."

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A/N: Please tell me what you think!