Beginning: A Star Trek Novel (New Frontier Reloaded Book 2)

by ROVER MARIE TOWLE

  .o

  Nobody paid attention to the spiny basil plant liquefying and oozing into the nearest air vent. Then again, not many people looked down at their feet early in the morning.

  Kejal found Kira's office through trial and error. She ended up walking in while he was playfully spinning around in her huge chair.

  "What in the-- Kejal?"

  "Whoops!" Kejal stomped his foot to stop the spinning. "I came to say goodbye before mother and I left the station." He cocked his head. "You cut your hair."

  She touched her hair, which she'd styled much like she had in the one old photo Odo had of her. "Yeah."

  "But don't worry, it looks nice. Really." Kejal stood and walked past her desk. He gathered her in a strong hug. "I'm so glad I got to know you."

  Kira sniffed, but somehow didn't burst into tears. She rested her head on his shoulder. "The feeling's mutual."

  "But the goodbyes are hard, aren't they?" Kejal whispered, rubbing her back.

  "Yup." She wiped her eyes and held onto his shoulders. How did she find such strength? "But you better go. A Romulan freighter is supposed to dock in an hour, and somehow I have to keep them away from the Klingons again."

  "This job keeps you busy."

  Nodding, she swallowed all her tears and straightened. "It does, but I wouldn't change anything about it."

  "Good. Don't." Kejal chuckled. "Besides, it must annoy the Cardassians."

  "Definitely!" Kira joined his amusement. She shook her head, sighed and cupped his face in her palms. "Sometimes, I feel like you belong to Odo and I."

  Kejal's eyes softened. He grasped her wrists. "In a way, I do."

  She kissed his forehead. "You should get going."

  He hugged her again. "Take care, mom. I love you."

  Her hands squeezed his forearms. "I love you too, son."

  Elated, Kejal turned and exited her office.

  Exactly four hours from that moment, Odo and Kejal sat together in a tiny two-seater science shuttle. On the viewscreen, the billowing structure of Kejal's nebula spread out before them.

  Odo brought the ship as close as he safely could to the dark area of increased molecular density.

  "Ready?" Odo asked.

  Kejal handed him the rectangular box. "Ready."

  Odo took out the braid. Kejal watched him gingerly lay it down on the transporter pad. As he did, the last words from Mora's final treatise echoed in his mind.

  "What is life? What makes us alive? What makes our genes tick? What force animates us? I don't have that answer.

  "What I do know, however, is life itself is about learning. Through our experiences, we grow, and through growth we acquire even more knowledge."

  Kejal leaned on Odo's back. "This is a great thing you're doing, mother. Something only a scientist can appreciate."

  Odo smiled over his shoulder. "I know."

  "Our lives are a journey, and the path we take isn't always certain, but by applying what we've learned and experienced, we have the ability to create our own destination regardless of the terrain we face...and no matter where we walk, we leave footprints behind."

  "It was your idea. You should do the honors." Kejal stroked the braid. Emotion swept over him. "He would want you to do it."

  "From stardust we came, and to stardust I return you." Odo whispered under his breath, "Goodbye, Doctor Mora. No, goodbye...father."

  To the computer, he said, "Energize."

  "When I look back at my own path, I feel proud. Yes, there are parts I wish I could change, but overall I'm proud of what I have achieved in my lifetime."

  Mora's braid disappeared in a white shimmer. The panel behind the transport pad lit up to confirm its safe arrival at its destination.

  "I have two fantastic sons. We are not biologically related, yet they mean as much to me as my own flesh and blood. Watching them grow and learn has been the most rewarding experience of my lifetime."

  Odo looked up at the viewscreen. His blue eyes gleamed. He wrapped his arm around Kejal's shoulders and pulled him close. Kejal welcomed the comforting half-hug.

  "Let's wave to him." He said, raising his hand.

  Smiling, Odo did the same. "That felt like goodbye."

  "Their names are Odo and Kejal, and they are my footprints."

  Onscreen, the dark section of the nebula churned like a Changeling taking shape.

  "Let's go home," whispered Kejal.

  Odo sat down and set in the course. Kejal glanced at the nebula on the viewscreen as the shuttlecraft pulled away. Seeing it sent a delightful shiver down his back, though he wasn't sure why.

  I'm just tired. It's been a long night...oh wait, it's technically morning.

  Kejal puffed out his cheeks and rubbed his eyes. "I'm going to regenerate. Will you be okay, mother?"

  "Mmhmm."

  The slosh of a Changeling liquefying filled the cabin. Only a tiny fraction of him remained conscious. Enough to sense Odo setting the ship on autopilot and leaning back in his chair.

  During the next two hours, Odo slept. He did that a lot now-- just relaxing and going to sleep in his humanoid form. Except, this time, he mumbled Mora's name. Twice.

  Kejal reassumed humanoid form. He watched his mother's hands twitch as though grasping someone's clothes. Odo's simulated breathing accelerated. He behaved in an extremely perturbed manner.

  Then, suddenly, he startled awake, wide-eyed and gasping.

  "Are you okay?" Kejal asked.

  Odo groaned, shifting in his seat. "I'm fine. I...just a dream. I'm fine, Kejal."

  "What was it about?"

  A beep from the computer prompted Odo to make a minor course adjustment.

  "I saw Doctor Mora in my dream." Odo replied. He shook his head and folded his arms.

  Kejal gasped and leaned into his mother's personal space. "Mom says dreams of people who died are their way of visiting you. What did he look like? Do you remember?"

  Something haunted flashed through Odo's blue eyes.

  "He, um, he looked exactly like his wedding hologram. He had the blond braid...he looked younger than he was when I first encountered him."

  Odo's description made Kejal long for the ability to sleep and dream. He curled up in his mother's lap, laying his head upon his shoulder.

  "Tell me more."

  "There isn't much to tell, Kejal." Odo encircled Kejal in his arms. "We were standing in a place of foggy white light, I suppose, and he was wearing white clothing. He hugged me, much like I'm holding you. His arms were strong again. He looked completely healthy, Kejal..."

  More emotion washed over Kejal. His inner substance churned with the desire to hug his father again, and it hurt that he couldn't.

  "Did he say anything?"

  "Hm. Just some nonsense about seeing us in about eleven billion years. Dreams are often ridiculous and defy logic, so it didn't surprise me."

  Kejal chuckled. "Mother, I think he's trying to tell you what you refuse to see. He's okay. He really is okay."

  Odo kissed Kejal's hairline. "I admire your faith. Nerys once said faith is a journey."

  "It is. Sometimes it happens overnight, and sometimes it takes a lifetime." Kejal met Odo's eyes. "Transporting father's braid into the nebula is just like the deka tree seed. You hope a star will form there, don't you?"

  "I do. And I hope we're both still alive to see that star when it shines."

  "We will be. I hope it has planets. Planets with people to watch that sun rise and set every single day."

  Kejal felt Odo's mouth stretch in a smile against his forehead. "Oh, Kejal, you're such a dreamer."

  "So are you. Don't pretend you aren't. I've seen parts of your mind that nobody else ever will." He touched his mother's chest. The very spot he was born from. "I saw all your hopes and dreams for me as I left your body. And they came true."

  Odo squeezed Kejal's shoulder. "I know. I watched the holo-videos Doctor Mora left in his desk. He loved you with all he had, Kejal. Same as me."

 
Kejal focused on Odo's eyes. They carried a sadness in them that never entirely disappeared.

  "He loved you that way, too, mother, but he didn't realize it until you left the lab. Do you remember the day he was talking nonsense about events from years ago?"

  "I do."

  Sitting up, Kejal went on. "One of those bad spells took him back to the day you left. He was crying. He said we had to find you before the Cardassians did. He said you were terrified of thunder. He said he needed to tell you he was sorry."

  "I was able to say what needed to be said. You walked in right after we finished the conversation, actually. The night he died..."

  "I know, and I'm glad." Kejal smiled and poked Odo's cheek. "So, are you going to let me fly this ship?"

  Odo snorted and gestured at the controls. "Go ahead, but get in your own chair first. You're heavy."

  Laughing, Kejal moved to his seat and took the ship off autopilot. It wasn't long before the viewscreen showed a familiar brown world circling its central red dwarf.

  "By the way, in my dream..." Odo spoke without taking his eyes off the viewscreen, "Doctor Mora showed me his wife and son. Olan looks just like him. Then he said something about life being love and love is something else, but my memory of the dream is fuzzy after that."

  "And that's not enough to prove there's more?"

  "Can we drop the subject?"

  "Tch, you're so stubborn! Here, you fly this thing." Kejal got up and paced circles around the cabin. Now that he could see his homeworld, he was impatient to get back into the Great Link and share his experiences.

  The lack of space in the shuttle meant he stepped on the transporter pad with each pass.

  "Doctor Mora said the same thing." Odo remarked. He slid his hand across the control panel.

  When Kejal stepped on the warp pad again, everything glimmered. Suddenly, he stood alone beneath a cloudy reddish-brown sky.

  "Mother!" Kejal shook his fist playfully at the sky.

  Odo shimmered into view holding the travel bag. He grinned. "You forgot your bag."

  "Hey, you beamed me without warning."

  "My hand slipped."

  "Tch." Kejal elbowed Odo's side. "What about the shuttle?"

  "It's pre-programmed to return to Bajor if we don't beam back aboard within the hour, but I suspect it'll run out of fuel and end up adrift before it reaches the wormhole."

  Kejal nodded once and looked out over the golden ocean. The pull of the Great Link gnawed at his mind like the chords of a song he couldn't stop thinking about.

  "It's nice to be home. Hey, Vokau!" He ran up to the blob coming ashore and hugged it before it fully formed into Vokau.

  She shot him a look without discouraging the embrace. "Welcome home, Kejal. Did Mora Pol die well?"

  The point blank question made him flinch.

  "Yes."

  "I'm..." Vokau hesitated, searching for the right words, "sorry, Kejal. Is there anything I can do?"

  Her gray eyes didn't quite reflect her emotions, yet Kejal picked them up in her quiet voice.

  "Well..." Kejal stepped back and extended his hand. "Here."

  Vokau grasped his wrist. He bowed his head and let his arm liquefy. The chemical receptors in his morphogenic matrix let him pass his entire two month experience to her in just a few seconds.

  "Oh...I see." Vokau didn't let go of his hand after their arms re-solidified. She stepped forward, awkwardly reached up and embraced Kejal. He grinned at seeing her learn. "Am I doing this properly?"

  "You bet." Kejal gave her a gentle squeeze. "See? Their expressions of affection aren't so horrible, are they?"

  "No, they aren't." Vokau turned to Odo. "Odo, welcome home."

  Odo smiled a little. "Thank you. Any trouble in our absence?"

  "None," she replied. Then she faced Kejal again, her expression as close to curious as it ever got. "What is this Celestial Temple you mentioned a moment ago?"

  "You want to see what I believe in? I'll show you." Kejal grasped Vokau's hand and liquefied his palm. Her gray eyes widened before their hands congealed again.

  And for the first time, she smiled.

  "Oh, Kejal," Vokau squeezed his hand tightly. "The Bajoran faith sounds like a wonderful thing, but I'm not sure I understand it."

  "I'll teach anyone who wants to listen." Kejal grinned. "Mother? Shall w-- mother?"

  "I'm here." Odo reappeared through the hidden trap door beneath the island rocks. "I put your bag in the vault below."

  "Ah." Kejal looked up at the cloudy red sky. Dim rays of sunlight occasionally broke through. He'd been through such an experience in seeing the end of his father's life, yet here, at home, almost nothing had changed.

  Life went on.

  Vokau oozed back into the ocean of Changelings without another word. The surrounding golden fluid rippled and lapped against Kejal's boots, beckoning.

  "They're waiting for us, mother."

  Odo joined Kejal at the island's edge. "Let's go home and tell them about Doctor Mora."

  "And you get to tell them all about married life."

  "Hmph!"

  Odo extended his hand. Kejal interlocked their fingers. He smiled, his brown eyes gleaming.

  Together, the two wayward drops became an ocean.

  And time marched onward...

  Epilogue: The Storyteller's Legacy

  A breeze rippled the pond. It stilled again, creating a reflection of the Storyteller and the children gathered around him.

  "Kira Nerys lived to be two hundred and thirty years old. Odo was able to see her once a year...sometimes twice. She and Odo always said they loved each other before parting ways, especially when her age became obvious. Her health stayed strong and she worked aboard Deep Space Nine until her dying day.

  "Odo happened to be with her the night she died. She retired to bed complaining of a headache and said she'd visit the Infirmary if it wasn't better in the morning. Something about the way she spoke sounded wrong, yet Odo couldn't put his finger on it. He told her he loved her before they settled between the sheets, and she said she loved him too. When he awoke an hour later to her making the same gurgling noises he heard from Mora Pol, he knew, instinctively, that he was about to witness the end of her life. He didn't call an emergency medical team. No heroic measures could save her, and he didn't want her final living moments to be the pain of cortical stimulators and life support devices.

  "Instead, he thanked Kira Nerys for all she gave him. She never regained consciousness, yet Odo told her he loved her over and over anyway. He had no regrets when she took her last, painless breath in his arms. The tears he cried for her were as numerous as the stars. Kejal found him that way when he came to see why Kira Nerys wasn't at her desk. He had to help Odo sit down when her remains were taken away in a body bag. They cried together-- or rather, Odo sobbed and Kejal longed to shed tears himself. Odo made sure Kira Nerys was clean, dressed in her wedding gown and wearing makeup before anyone else saw her. He chose the glossy red lipstick. Red was always beautiful on her lips. He never forgot how perfect her aged face looked the last time he set eyes on it.

  "An autopsy revealed a ruptured aneurysm in her brainstem. If she survived it, she would have been in a permanent vegetative state. Not quite alive and not quite dead. Odo knew not calling for help was the right choice. He got to share a precious last moment with his wife, and he wouldn't have traded it for anything. She got to die in his arms, and he knew she wouldn't trade that for anything either.

  "Kira Nerys' funeral was one to remember, and yes, Kejal sang at the service. Afterward, Odo had her cremated and absorbed her cremains into himself. He kept her ashes in the same place he carried Kejal during his pregnancy. She became a part of him, and her ashes never left his body, not even when he rejoined the Great Link.

  "Over the next century, the Great Link dispersed into the universe, leaving Odo and Kejal alone on the Founders' homeworld. On that day, they made a promise to each other, embraced and went their separate ways
to experience life as only Changelings can.

  "Kejal returned to Bajor, where he became the first alien Vedek-- although few knew it, because by then he looked completely Bajoran. He also went into medicine, believing that spirituality and science could coexist to heal the sick. He studied Delfeya syndrome until the day he made a breakthrough in genetics. By chemically changing how the affected Bajoran's DNA folded into chromosomes, he was able to render the genes responsible for Delfeya syndrome inert. This was something no geneticist had thought to do before. He named it Mora's Solution and the first Bajoran to receive it was ninety-five year old man named Daran Fyal. Kejal shed his first tears on that bright fall morning, and he thanked the Prophets for giving him wisdom. A mere fifty years later, Delfeya syndrome went from a terminal disease to a treatable annoyance. In a hundred years, it practically disappeared from the Bajoran gene pool.

  "With that goal met, he set his sights on another. He sipped deka tea every morning in honor of his father. By the way, he did finally taste it on the four-hundredth anniversary of Mora Pol's death-- and realized he hated it. Heh!

  "He visited Mora Pol's grave often. A deka tree did grow in the spot where Odo planted a seed. Without guidance, it split two ways and bent over the graves, completely covering them in its branches. Kejal discovered it dropped its flowers on them throughout spring and rained seed pods in the winter. And he laughed-- perhaps the deka seed pod prank war wasn't lost after all.

  "Six centuries after Mora Pol's death, a violent tornado destroyed what used to be his house and uprooted Kejal's beloved deka tree. Kejal was so distraught that he wouldn't visit the site for the next ten years. But, eventually, he did, and he found a surprise. The tornado had scattered his deka tree's seed pods. His tree's death gave its children room to grow. Their seeds fell and germinated until the hills were covered in deka trees. Within a century, Bajor named it the Aya forest. It had ten thousand and forty-five trees. Kejal counted them. He gave each tree a name, and he taught the children who played in that forest how to care for the trees. When they stumbled on the grave arches of Mora Pol and Mora Leruu, Kejal smiled a little sadly and told the children who they were.