[Intro]
[Three measured piano notes answer a low synthesizer pulse before twelve-string guitar and toms enter in 7/8.]

[Chorus]
Beyond the known, where the black winds blow,
We carry the light where no star will glow.
Beyond the known, let the old worlds fade,
Raise the bow to the dark, let the engines be shown—
No voyage begins by remaining at home.

[Verse 1]
The docking clamps fall with a thunder of steel,
The deck plates reply with a shudder we feel.
Blue in the chamber, the warp core awakes,
A mechanical heartbeat that trembles and shakes.
Warm bridge lamps burn on each console and chair,
While winter-black distance waits coldly out there.
The last beacon dwindles, a pin in the night,
Then the captain says softly, “Ahead—carry light.”

[Pre-Chorus]
Every hand has a station, each station a name,
Every name is a life in the reach of the flame.
Past the charts and the buoys, past the boundary stone,
We turn toward the dark that has never been known.

[Chorus]
Beyond the known, where the black winds blow,
We carry the light where no star will glow.
Beyond the known, let the old worlds fade,
Every mile is a promise, every choice must be paid.
Raise the bow to the dark, let the engines be shown—
No voyage begins by remaining at home.

[Verse 2]
The captain stands still by the forward viewscreen,
With a face made of calm and a heart in between.
There are letters from children in lockers below,
There are gardens and streets that the crew used to know.
A helmsman keeps one faded photograph near,
An engineer laughs so the rookies won’t fear.
Yet the captain counts shadows no officer sees—
Every order may cost more than medals or keys.

[Bridge]
I am not without fear; I have learned how it weighs,
How it waits in the pause before one voice obeys.
I can point through the dark; I can name where we steer,
But command means remembering who trembles here.

[Guitar Solo]
[The departure theme rises through harmonized guitars while the rhythm shifts between 7/8 and 4/4.]

[Final Chorus]
Beyond the known, where the black winds blow,
We carry the light where no star will glow.
Beyond the known, though the price is unnamed,
We will answer for every life carried and claimed.
Raise the bow to the dark, hear the bright engines drone—
We leave as a crew; we return as our own.

[Outro]
The last beacon closes like an eye made of gold,
The universe opens—unwritten and cold.
Blue beats in the hull as the far starlines bend,
And the map leaves a blank where our orders begin.