by Alys Landale
Bringing the ship into the battle, he went in search of Voyager. This shuttle was no match against the other ships around him, and besides that, he needed to get Paris to sickbay.
The commander turned the vessel around and caught sight of the ship. Voyager was in direct pursuit of Takma’s vessel.
Paris’s full attention was riveted on the sight ahead of him as he watched Takma’s vessel begin to open the corridor.
Gerek’s surroundings were growing darker as he finally made his way to the central power generator of the base. He had finally made it. So far, none of the parasites had latched onto the generator yet. That meant he was free to fulfill his purpose.
Taking his phaser, he brought it up level with the large generator. This was it. Of course, he had known that he wouldn’t be getting out of this alive. He knew that he wouldn’t live through this battle the first moment he had heard it was about to be arranged. But that didn’t erase the regret he was feeling at having to leave this life so soon.
*I always knew this day would come,* he said. *At least I lived my life to the fullest up until now.*
His mind then played over all of the things he had achieved in his life. He remembered the battle he had been ‘chosen’ to fight in and the man who had told him of his destiny. He then remembered how that same man had died the day he had told him of this.
He smiled. *Life really is full circle,* he thought.
“Well... my time’s up...” he said. “And now... another’s shall begin....”
As his last words left his lips, he pulled the trigger to his gun.
Tuvok had a good lock on Takma’s vessel. Now all he had to do was fire. “Firing,” he said as he entered the commands.
The torpedo had just left Voyager. Janeway waited in preparation for it to hit its target. That was when it hit.
A large explosion rocked the Imperial station and then surges of fire began to engulf its hull. Janeway’s attention was turned to the station as she watched it glow an ember color and then explode in an array of fire and energy.
“Shields...” she was unable to finish her order before the blast wave hit. Officers were knocked from their stations, consoles exploded, and curses ran rampant as Voyager was tousled by the energy wave.
The Resistance vessels were lucky. Almost all of them were far enough away to only be tousled a bit by the wave. The line of Imperial battle cruisers prevented them from ever being hit by the explosion. Those very cruisers were crushed by the explosion so brutally that in the aftermath of it all only a field of debris existed where once there had been an entire fleet of Imperial battle cruisers.
Janeway then turned her attention back to Takma’s ship. She had been far enough away not to be affected by the blast. The torpedo that had been fired; however, had been knocked off course. Janeway watched as it sailed by the Pretor’s ship harmlessly.
“No,” Janeway whispered. All the crew was silent as they watched Takma’s vessel begin to enter subspace.
Chakotay struggled to keep the ship under control. They had been lucky to clear the blast area fast enough. He was now able to plot a course back to Voyager.
Just as the Federation ship appeared on the screen, so did the Pretor’s farther beyond it. Paris’s surroundings were beginning to fade, but he blinked away the vertigo long enough to see the familiar picture of the rift being opened. He held his breath as he watched the Imperial vessel slowly slip into subspace and then dissolve away as the corridor closed.
His mouth was dry as he stared out at the area of space the ship had just occupied. He tried to will it to come back, but there was no use.
*I’m so sorry. I failed you again,* was his last thought. Then a familiar darkness began to settle over his eyes as his surroundings vanished with Takma’s ship.
Every single officer on every ship was completely silent as thoughts of their failure attacked them. Janeway looked to the ground as the horrors of their downfall pounded upon her.
Harry was the first to speak. “Captain, we’re being hailed,” he said.
“On screen.” Her voice lacked its usual confidence. It sounded more like a frightened animal than the proud captain that owned it.
Chakotay’s face appeared on screen. “Captain, we need you to beam us to sickbay. Paris has been shot.” He chose not to elaborate anymore. Janeway could see the haunted expression that his face possessed. She wondered just what had happened back there.
She turned to Harry. Without words, he activated the transporter beams and pulled the shuttle in with the tractor beam.
She stared off into the space beyond her viewscreen for some minutes before she replied. “Tuvok you have the bridge. I’ll be in sickbay.”
Doc finally finished up with Sargon. The man had lost a great deal of blood, but it looked like he would pull through.
*One crisis under control,* he thought. He had felt the blast wave a few minutes ago, but he had no idea what had happened. Sometimes being stuck in sickbay had its drawbacks.
As he put his instruments away, he saw four forms materialize before him. B’Elanna and Chakotay were trying to hold up an unconscious Tom Paris as blood dripped from his shoulder and chest down to the floor.
“Put him on the table,” Doc ordered.
The two walked over and laid Paris on the biobed as easily as they could. Danag stood back and watched in silence as Doc began to run a tricorder over his wounds.
“The bullet has grazed his lung. It will take me a while, but I should be able to fix him up.” He then turned to Chakotay. “I thought the Consul was with you as well.”
“He was.” replied the Commander.
Doc was silent as he took in the full meaning of the man’s words. By the expressions on each of their faces, the EMH could tell that they had just been through something that no person should ever have to face.
He then turned back to his patient. Whatever had happened over there, he was sure that it would haunt these people for the rest of their lives.
*
Xara sat alone in her cell on the Pretor’s ship. She felt the familiar sensation as the ship jumped into subspace. That was it.
She was alone and Rune wasn’t there to save her.
Backing up into the corner of her cell, she brought her knees up to her chin as if for protection from all the demons that were plaguing her mind. She was alone.
A sob was the first thing to erupt from her throat. Then the tears began to fall. Fear seemed to wrap her in its blanket.
Memories of her past experiences in the concentration camps played havoc on her mind. She couldn’t go through that again.
She wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and let the tears run free. She remembered the dream that she had had a few nights ago. She remembered how Tom’s father had been there to stay with her that night. It had been just like this, only there was one difference. There was no one to watch over her now.
Tears ran down her face and dampened the knees of her pants. She was alone and there was no one to save her.
*
Janeway greeted Chakotay and Danag just as they were walking out of sickbay. “What happened?” she asked in a timid voice. She was almost afraid of the answer.
Chakotay lowered his head. “Gerek and Maris are dead. Tom should be fine; B’Elanna’s in there with him.” He paused for a moment. “But we lost Xara as well.”
“Xara?!” she asked. “What was she...”
Chakotay brought a finger up to her lips. “It’s a long story.”
Paris awoke hours later to the familiar surroundings of Voyager’s sickbay. The bright lights attacked his senses unmercifully as he tried to adapt to his surroundings.
His body protested at every move he made, but he finally got to his feet. It was by the grace of the Spirit that no one was present in sickbay otherwise; they would have forced him back to bed.
His mind then fell on the events at the station. Leaning against the biobed, he relived every moment spent there. He remembered Sargon
being shot, Maris dying in the corridor, and most of all, the look of terror on Xara’s face as Kail carried her away. He had failed them all.
He had set a gambit in hopes that by risking a few, he would gain a victory over a more powerful adversary. But now that gambit had failed. He had lost those that he had risked and now it was up to him to him to prove that their sacrifices hadn’t been in vain.
His chest began to constrict as he felt the sorrow and pain welling up inside of him. Somehow, he managed to get over to the viewport at the side of sickbay.
He stared out at the stars flying by them. It was clear that they had entered warp. The stars began to blur even more as he felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Kail would pay for this. Takma would pay for this. He would make sure of that. Anger pulsed through his veins. He would get Xara back and then make both Takma and Kail pay for all that they had done.
He clenched his hand into a fist as the anger began to grow inside of him. He could feel his nails grinding into his palms; at least that was a small distraction.
He stared out at the stars flying past. “I swear to you Xara, I’ll find you. And when I do, Takma and Kail will wish they had never laid eyes upon me.”
A few drops of blood slipped through his clenched fingers and fell to the floor below as if to add verification to his promise.
He was alone in sickbay, so no one was present to hear this oath. His voice turned to a whisper as a final drop of blood fell to the ground before he finally unclenched his fist.
“I swear by the Spirit. They’ll pay.”
The End
Well, here’s the good news. This isn’t the end. Here’s the bad news. You’ll have to wait a week or two for the final installment of the Fates Series. And yes, I know that I said that this would be the last part. Well, it was supposed to be. I had planned to extend this part to include the final battle as well, but it turned out longer than anticipated. I decided to split the part up because of (1) its length, and (2) it would take at least two more weeks to put the full part up. I thought that perhaps you would prefer to read this part now and then tune in for the final installment in a couple of weeks. Sound good?
Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who has emailed me. They really give me a reason to head back to the computer and begin writing again. That’s one reason I was able to get done with this part this weekend. I read some of the emails and was so thrilled that all of these people were reading that I wrote almost twenty pages within two days alone.
The next part will be up before May 16. I’ll be going on vacation then, so I plan to finish the series before that time.
Thanks for reading. And if you have any fanfiction, please email it to me and I’ll archive you’re work. My archive is really growing. I’d like to thank everyone who has sent in their submissions to me. Thanks a lot.
Well, that’s it for me. Thanks for reading!
Alys Landale