by Alys Landale
Harry raised a tricorder. “I can’t get a good reading but it doesn’t look like he’s that far away. It looks like he’s coming to us.”
“Good,” said Chakotay, “then we’ll meet him half way.”
Each left shuttlebay and directed their course to intercept Paris.
Aria realized she was moving. No it wasn’t her, someone was carrying her. She opened her eyes to see Rune’s face above her. A wave of pain passed over her and she turned her gaze down to see the dark purple of her blood staining through her clothes.
She also could see exposed pieces of torn flesh around her midsection.
Then all that had happened came back to her. She remembered the parasite’s weapon plunging into her. She remembered Rune pulling her out of its grasp. And then there was the darkness.
She averted her eyes back up to Rune. “I guess... this is ...what I get... for not following orders.” Her voice sounded weak even to her, but she had to say something.
He looked down at her but continued his march to shuttlebay. *Just like her to start joking at a time like this.* he thought.
“You always were the most stubborn officer I had on the ship.” he joked along with her. *And just like me to encourage
her.* he thought again.
She would have laughed but it hurt too much. “Some... think of stubbornness...as a virtue...”
She smiled and shut her eyes again. He remembered back when he had first met her, how she had given him strength when he was in such pain. He now did the same for her. Sending as much strength to her as he could, he took on her pain.
It took him a few seconds to finally get used to the feeling, but he pushed all the discomfort behind him. As he shook his head to clear it, he thought he felt another presence nearby. Then from around the corner emerged two of the humans from Voyager.
Harry was the first to see Tom and the woman he carried. His breath caught in his throat as he realized that all the purple stains on both their clothing was blood.
Chakotay was the next to see the couple. His eyes widened as he saw the two but he said nothing. Tom then approached him.
“What are you doing back here? I thought I told you to leave,” said Paris.
“We brought one of our shuttles. Come on, we can get her to sickbay on Voyager.” Chakotay said and then lead the way back to the Delta Flyer.
In a few minutes, all occupants were inside. Chakotay powered the engines and the group began their journey back to Voyager.
Tom laid Aria down on the floor. Harry rushed over and brought back one of the emergency medkits. He then began to run a tricorder over the woman’s injuries. The ensign frowned. He didn’t know much about medicine or her physiology but he could tell that she was in even worse shape than she appeared.
Aria’s eyes fluttered open once more. She rested her gaze back on Tom. “Rune,” she said.
He diverted his attention from her injuries back to her. His voice was soft as he spoke to her. “Shh, save your energy. We’ll get you to sickbay soon. Just hold on.”
She smiled sadly. “We both know... that’s not going... to happen.”
He pushed a strand of blue hair out of her eyes, but said nothing. His voice seemed caught somewhere in his throat. She then raised one of her hands up to his face. She traced the lines of his eyes and then ran her fingers through his blond hair.
She then spoke again. “Do you remember... the first time we met...?”
He looked at her sadly. “How could I forget.”
She sighed. It then turned into a slight cough but she recovered quickly. “I... I never told you....why I was sent there....”
He put a finger to her lips, “It doesn’t matter.”
She continued anyway. “I was... only supposed... to help you. But then...” Her voice began to falter. “It’s up to you
now.” she said. “You’re... ready. You’re the only one...” Her eyes began to lose focus. She knew she didn’t have much longer.
Chakotay, who had heard their entire exchange, then said. “We’re almost there. Just another minute.”
Paris barely heard what the man had said. Aria still held a hand up to his face. It began to lose its strength, but he took the back of her hand in his. He couldn’t help but realize that it was already growing cold.
Her vision came back to her for one last moment. She looked up into Tom’s eyes. They were so blue. But they were now glazed over in a light moisture as he stared right back down into her violet orbs.
“I love you Rune.” she said. Her voice was so weak, one could hardly have heard it. But to him it was as loud as a chorus full of angels.
He gently bent down to kiss her. Their lips mingled there for a few moments before he rose back up again. “I love you too.”
Their eyes met one another’s one last time. Then the hand that he held in his suddenly grew limp. Her breathing suddenly stopped. And then the interior of the Delta Flyer slowly vanished and was replaced by the Transporter Room aboard Voyager.
Harry, who had been by Paris’s side during he and Aria’s last words, put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Paris didn’t even acknowledge the pain due to the pressure on his injury. Kim was unaware of Tom’s injury since the heavy material of his coat hid his wound from the view of others.
Chakotay walked over to where Janeway and B’Elanna stood. The half-Klingon had been in Engineering while he had transported back so she had not had the chance to go with them to get Tom.
Everyone was silent. Harry got up from where he was knelt next to Tom and stepped back. Paris took Aria’s hand and gently kissed it then placed it on her chest. Without even turning around, he addressed Janeway.
“Hail Raken’s vessel.” There was no emotion as he spoke these words. “The Jihaid has been taken care of for now.”
No one spoke, but Harry left to do what was asked.
Raken had finally managed to get the propulsion back on his ship. Now he could catch up to the Jihaid.
“Sir, we’re being hailed,” said the man at Ops.
“On screen.” he ordered.
The viewscreen was then filled with the image of Harry Kim. “Captain, the crisis aboard the Jihaid is over for now.”
Raken let out a pent-up breath. “Good. I take it Captain Landis and Commander Brandwin are aboard your vessel.”
Harry nodded. “They’re here.”
“Then beam them over to my vessel. Their crew is impatient to know of their condition. Besides, I’m sure we could find a solution to this situation much more easily if they worked from here.”
Harry gulped. He didn’t know how to broach this topic so he just told the captain straight-forwardly. “Commander Brandwin was killed during their escape. I think it would be best if you came over here.”
Raken didn’t move when he heard this news. He felt his head began to swim. She was dead. Just like that, she was dead.
He realized that he needed to say something. “Myself, as well as the rest of his chief officers, shall beam over immediately. Raken out.” Raken ended the comm line.
*Aria is dead* he thought. The true meaning of those words had still not sunken in. Aria was dead and it was Rune’s fault. He closed his eyes. He knew Landis was cursed, but he had hoped that Rune would die before Aria.
Recovering from his shock, he turned to his Ops officer. “Have the senior staff of the Jihaid meet me in the transporter room,” he said and then got up to leave. Now he could make Rune pay for what he had done.
Tom stood at work over one of the consoles in Astrometrics. They had gotten Aria’s body ready for transport to the Jihaid. If there was one thing that he would make sure of, it was that she would get a proper funeral. Her people believed that the dead should be committed back to the earth from which they had come; therefore, he would make sure Raken had proper instructions as to where the burial should take place. It was impossible to get her back to her homeworld, but maybe the planet she was so fond of in this sector would do.
He b
egan his work once more. The parasites had already reinforced the shielding around the ship with Borg codes. It wouldn’t be long before they had repaired the propulsion and were back on their way again. It was a good thing that he had had some experience with the Borg before, it also helped that Seven of Nine was there to aid him.
His left arm was beginning to grow numb, but he paid that no attention. If he had to, he could work with just one hand. Then all his hard work began to pay off as he found a hole in the shielding.
“I think I’ve just found a way back in,” he said. Seven walked over to his console.
“Yes, it appears that the parasites have not had the opportunity to encode this area as highly as the others. If we insert a logarithm of our own into the matrix, it might prevent the hole from filling for some time,” she said.
He nodded. “Give me a few more minutes and it’ll be done. I don’t know how long it will hold up but it should give me a chance to get back inside the ship.”
B’Elanna and Janeway walked in just in time to hear his last sentence. “You’re going to try and get back in?!” asked B’Elanna. “I thought you said you were trying to find a way to destroy the ship.”
He turned to face her. “The only way to destroy it is from the inside out. If we try and shoot it down then the parasites will only attach themselves to this ship as well.”
He turned back to his work and finished implanting a logarithm into the shield’s grid. That would hold open the hole until he was ready to go in. Now all that was left to do was to find Raken.
That proved to be a very small problem since the afore mentioned man entered into astrometrics at that very second. Following him were Sargon, Danag, Meylin and Satira. Harry and Chakotay entered just after them.
Raken advanced to where Paris stood. “I heard about Commander Brandwin. I suppose you were too cowardly to tell me yourself.”
Rune was feeling extremely tired at the moment. He didn’t have time to deal with this. Perhaps his injury was finally catching up to him.
Satira noticed Tom’s fatigued appearance. The man had just gone through a lot but he was usually able to keep up a mask despite however much he had been through. She saw the dark stains on his coat that were evidence of Aria’s blood. Then something else caught her eye. At his feet was a small crimson puddle. Even from where she stood on the other side of the room, the scent of blood assaulted her senses. She wondered just how badly injured he actually was.
Getting no response from Paris, Raken grabbed the man by the collar of his coat. “What the Hell do you think you were doing you bastard. If it wasn’t for...” He stopped midsentence as he felt his hands come in contact with a sticky moisture from Rune’s coat. He looked down at his hands to see them dyed in the scarlet of Tom’s blood.
Paris never said anything or even flinched as Raken did all this. Raken then stepped back. No one else in the room had yet to notice what Raken had. The man then lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke to Paris again.
“I loved her,” Raken said, malice all but dripping from his teeth. “And you let her die.”
Paris finally spoke. He said his words low enough so that none except Raken could hear him. “Believe me, if I could change this I would. She meant everything to me. And that’s why I’m entrusting you to take care of her burial. You’re the only one I can depend on in the matter.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself then?”
Paris gave him a slightly sarcastic smile. His eyes were shining with fury and a need for vengeance. “Because a dead man can’t take care of such matters.”
Raken was caught by surprise at what Tom had just said. Satira, on the other hand, was done with waiting. Rune was hurt and she knew that he would never admit to it. So while everyone else remained silent she walked up to where the two Captains stood.
Raken stepped away and moved towards the door but didn’t leave. Satira just looked at Paris. “Shall you be going to sickbay willingly?” she asked.
He didn’t try to put on a face as he just stated. “Why would I go there?”
She knew something was wrong by this. He always had some elaborate excuse as to why he was fine but not this time. She recognized the sign of his blood at his shoulder and pulled back the coat to expose the wound. His gaze never shifted from her. He never said a word. He never blinked.
However, the others in the room were brought to life. Collective gasps emanated from those surrounding them. Satira even looked surprised at her findings. There was nothing less than a hole in his shoulder. His advanced healing had already begun to work at it but not even that could fix the damage done. Torn flesh and blood hung from the wound and there was a trail of blood running down from the wound all the way to the floor.
B’Elanna stepped forward. “Tom why didn’t you say anything?”
Satira seemed to ask the same question but she knew what kind of response would be forthcoming.
“You didn’t ask.” he said. He then turned to Janeway. “Tell Xara that some of the crew is here. I want to speak to her as well.”
“Not like this.” said Satira. “I am ordering you to go to sickbay this instant. I do not know what you are getting ready to do, but I will not have you doing it with only one arm.”
He relented and let her lead him off to sickbay. She could win their usual battle just this once.
Xara sat in the captain’s ready room. Janeway had placed her in there shortly after Chakotay and Harry left. She hoped Rune was alright. He was the closest thing she had had to a father in the longest. If anything happened to him.
No, he’d be alright. This was Rune. He’d pulled himself out of a countless amount of scrapes before, but something about this time seemed different.
The door to the room swished open. In came another little girl. She had long brown hair and small spikes on her forehead.
Behind her was a large, hairy fellow with spots.
The girl walked up to Xara. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” Xara replied.
“My name’s Naomi and that’s Neelix.” she said. “The captain wanted me to see how you’re doing.”
Xara looked back and forth at the two new people in the room. “I’m Xara.” she said and then turned to Neelix. “Have you heard anything about Rune yet. He should be back by now.”
Neelix saw the worry in the young girl’s eyes. “Yes,” he said. “Rune came back just a little while ago. He told us to come down here and tell you that he’s alright and he just had a few things to take care of before he talked to you.” The captain had told him all about the death of Commander Brandwin as well as Rune being ushered to sickbay just a few moments ago. There was only one more part of the message he had to give. “There are a few more of the Jihaid’s crewman onboard now as well. I could send one of them in if you want.”
Her eyes brightened. “Who’s here?”
“Well, let’s see, there’s Danag, Sargon, Captain Raken, and Satira. I think that’s their names.”
Xara wondered where Aria was but didn’t ask. “Can I see Satira?” she asked.
Neelix looked to the ground. “Umm she’s in sickbay at the moment but I’m sure that Danag would be able to come down here.”
“Why’s she in sickbay?” Xara asked. “Who’s been hurt?” The little girl was out of her chair now and looking up at Neelix.
Naomi had overheard what had happened to Tom but kept her mouth shut.
“Umm, well...”
“No one here was hurt and she wouldn’t have left the other ship if it was someone over there. It’s Rune isn’t it?”
Neelix was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected her to figure it out so quickly. “Yes, he was injured when he came back.
She’s working on him now.”
Xara headed towards the door. “Take me to sickbay.” she said. “He never let’s her keep him in sickbay. If he’s there he has to be hurt bad.”
Neelix didn’t know what to say so Naomi went over to Xara. “I’ll show you how
to get there.”
Doc stood at one end of sickbay watching the proceedings. Paris had refused to let him work on him, so he had been forced to show Satira how to work some of his instruments. By that time, Tom had lost even more blood and Satira had an even larger job ahead of her.
Janeway stood to the side with the EMH. They watched the Dezorisian work on Paris. The captain had tried to convince
Tom that Doc would be a better choice for the task since he was more knowledgeable concerning the equipment around them, but he had been adamant about only Satira working on him. So what could she do but let him have his way? She couldn’t just let him sit there and bleed to death.
The EMH walked over to where the two sat. Paris hadn’t even agreed to be given any pain killers or even to lie down on a biobed. He sat in a chair while Satira worked on him.
“It would go much faster if you would let me help,” said Doc.
Paris turned to him. “Satira knows what she’s doing.”
Doc let out a sigh. Tom’s eyes were beginning to glaze over. Even if the man wouldn’t show that he was in pain, the EMH knew it to be true. He turned to Satira for support.
“You can see he’s in pain. Just let me give him something to help,” he said.
Satira didn’t look up from her work. She was close to sealing one of the broken arteries. She then replied from where she worked. “It is his decision.”
Doc’s tone turned to one of exasperation. “You’re a doctor. Surely, you can do more to help him. If you’d just let me help then this could be done much more quickly.”
She averted her gaze to look at him for once. “He is my clan leader. It is not my job to question him. Besides, I deem myself lucky that I was able to convince him into coming here in the first place.”
The EMH didn’t have a chance to reply because at that moment the doors to sickbay flew open. Paris looked up to see Xara running to him. She stopped just a few feet from him.
