The USS Avalon, stardate: the present
Jen stood by the computer terminal reviewing everything they'd tried so far. There *had* to be a way around the force fields the children had put up, there just *had* to be--but what that way might be continued to elude them.
Fifth had already sent teams searching for alternative routes into those areas, via maintenance hatches, jeffries tubes and the like, but so far those, too, had all been blocked.
There was one team that hadn't yet reported back, and it was them Fifth and Jen were waiting to hear from--they knew MacBreandain would want their report as soon as he finished with Kamiana and Paulos.
Just then the sickbay door slid open and a Lt jg from security entered. "Sir," she said quietly to Fifth.
The JemHaddar turned to her. "Yes, Lt?"
The Lt delivered her report in a low voice, the expression on Fifth's face fell, became dark. "You're sure?"
"Yes. My team's bringing him up here right now."
Jen stepped over to join them. "Report."
The Lt jg looked pale, and glanced to Fifth.
Fifth nodded to her reassuringly, then turned to Jen. "The Captain wanted us to override the lock on Cmdr Goth's quarters, find out why he never reported in." he said grimly. "So much for these children and their talk of Peace."
Fifth's tone worried her but before Jen could ask, the door opened again and two Security guards entered, steering an antigrav stretcher between them.
A stretcher on which lay the prone, motionless, and very dead body of Commander Goth Lasher.
That was the moment Kamiana picked to step from the office. She paused as she saw the body...even as Serrin was ordering his staff to prepare for an autopsy.
Kamiana could only stare. The pale man who had so haunted her--and now he was dead? How? She'd heard how the Children had insisted no one would be harmed. "What happened?" she asked.
"That's what I'm going to find out." Serrin called as his team wheeled Goth into the morgue section.
Kamiana felt sick. If this was anything to do with the Light, or because of the Prophet's interest in her...! She had been put off by Goth--feared him, though she couldn't explain why. That didn't mean she wanted him dead, he was still a member of the crew after all and he hadn't actually done anything to her. Other than frighten her, that is.
She sat down at a nearby table and put her head in her hands, trying to collect her thoughts. There *had* to be something, some reason the Prophet wanted her--but what?
She barely noticed Jen moving towards the office. "I'll have to inform the Captain," Jen sighed and after ringing the chime entered the room where MacBreandain and Paulos still were.
"Captain..." Jen said on entering. "We've found Commander Goth. In his quarters--dead. Dr Serrin is trying to find out why right now."
MacBreandain bit back the oath that threatened to burst out. Having his ship snatched out from under him, being dragged off to who knew where, was bad enough, but now one of his crew was dead? If this had anything to do with these children or their Light he'd have a few things to say about it.
He followed Jen into the main sickbay. "Doctor?"
Serrin was already running a scanner over Goth's motionless body. "We'd have to do a detailed examination to confirm, Captain, but according to these initial readings..." he paused, trying to make sense of them. "As you can see there are no outward marks on him, no sign of any wounds or injuries. What appears to have happened is...he was somehow incinerated. >From the inside. Some force burnt out every synapse in his brain."
"Some force." MacBreandain said harshly. "Like tha Light." He glanced at Kamiana then back to Serrin. "So much for all their talk o' Peace. Ye keep at it and find out all ye can. I'm after findin' out how ta make shure this doesn't happen ta anyone else."
"Of course, Sir." Serrin replied and resumed his work.
MacBreandain waved to Longshadow and Backus and they entered the office. Before he went back in, he shot a stern look at Kamiana. "Ye be thinkin' about that, Lt. I'll nae be losin' any more o'me crew ta this thing."
Kamiana nodded. "Of course not, Sir." she said quietly, wishing the deck plates would open and swallow her up. But they remained firmly solid beneath her feet. She shot an anguished glance at Paulos as the office doors slid shut behind the Captain.
"It is not your fault, Kamiana," Paulos said gently, coming over and taking a seat next to her. "Whatever this Light is, *it* has caused this."
"But it wants *me*, or rather the Prophet does--and I don't have the slightest idea why!"
"That is what we will all help you discover," Paulos replied, putting a hand on hers. "You are not alone in this."
* * *
Toshi Station docking bay, that same morning
The team of volunteers had assembled. Bedard nodded as they took their places--Myah taking the co pilot seat beside him, the other three taking seats in the main compartment.
Calara and Alexa checked over their supplies--they needed to be ready for anything.
Renee, too, was ready. That desperate-sounding call from Kamiana kept running through her mind...
* * *
The USS Avalon, 0800 hours, that morning
The internal commsystem, which had been silent for a while now, suddenly came to life. Tamianth's young but determined features appeared on every screen. "Attention, everyone. We have now entered orbit around our home planet. Captain MacBreandain, the Prophet waits to speak with you. You may take anyone you wish, his only request is that the one called Kamiana accompany you."
MacBreandain muttered under his breath. He'd expected that. But if these children, or their Prophet, or the Light itself, thought he was going to walk blindly into the lion's den, or let anyone else do it, they didn't know Cullyn MacBreandain.
Kamiana was the key to this, he was sure of that--but to go down there without more information than they'd been able to get out of the children was an unacceptable risk in his opinion.
He tapped the commchannel open. "I'll talk ta yuir Prophet--but he's going ta have ta come ta me. I'm nae sending anyone down there without some answers. This Light o'yuirs has already killed one o'me crew an' I'll nae have that happen ta anyone else."
"Killed?" Tamianth replied, the disbelief clear in her voice. "That is not possible. The Light does not bring death; it is the embodiment of Life."
"Ye come down ta tha Sickbay an' I'll be showin' ye how 'nae possible' it is!" MacBreandain snapped. "We've got questions an'I want some answers naow!"
There was a long silence, then Tamianth's voice was heard again. "It is for the Prophet to answer your questions, and he will. You have only to proceed to the surface. We can transport you there ourselves, or you may use your own transporters."
"Ye tell this Prophet ta come here an'--" MacBreandain started to retort, butbefore he could finish, he heard the slight beep of the channel being closed.
"I've had enough o'this!" he looked around at the other officers. "They want ta play games wi'us, we're nae going ta play until they start talkin'. I want ta have--"
That was as far as he got before the world around him dissolved in brilliant white.
And the next thing Captain Cullyn MacBreandain of the USS Avalon knew, he was--somewhere else.
A city, it looked like. Damn. This had to be the planet, nothing else made sense. There were more of the white robed children about, so that fit.
He glanced around and saw something else. He wasn't alone.
Kamiana stood a few feet away. So did Paulos. And Lcdr Longshadow...and Backus. Dr Serrin also...and Cmdr Jen, along with Fifth.
"It looks like he took you up on it," Jen said quietly. "But why all of us, too?" she wondered.
"We're *goin'* ta find out." MacBreandain walked over to the nearest child--then did a double take as it sank in. This was their home? where, then, were their elders? He looked around at the crowd that surrounded the away team. All children--or at most, teenagers. There didn't look to be one of them much over eighteen or nineteen in Terran terms.
"Where is yuir Prophet?" he snapped.
One slender girl, who Cullyn figured couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen, indicated a building at the head of the plaza. "He will speak with you shortly. You are our guests--we welcome you to this place of Light."
"I'm nae in the mood for yuir games..." Kamiana heard MacBreandain start in on the child. Then he seemed to think better of it and rejoined the others. She sighed and moved to the large fountain at the center of the plaza. There were steps leading up to it and she sat down on the topmost one, wondering yet again what she was doing here. It was this Prophet's doing, she knew that, but she was no closer now to figuring out why he was so interested in her than she had been when this whole affair had begun.
A short distance away the others looked around and discussed what to do now. MacBreandain...Paulos...Jen...Backus...Longshadow...Serrin...and Fifth. The seven of them plus herself snatched abruptly off the Avalon and deposited here, for what reason only the Prophet knew.
Then she saw a flash of light at the top of the steps leading to one of the larger buildings, and in that light a man appeared.
MacBreandain advanced on him even as he descended the steps.
(Cullyn MacBreandain.) the Prophet's mental 'voice' sounded in his mind.
MacBreandain opened his mouth to say something, but the Prophet raised a hand, cutting him off.
(You have questions, you want explanations. And you will have them. But first things first.) and with that he moved past Cullyn and the others, ignoring them, making straight for Kamiana.
She'd stood up as he appeared, then froze. Her mouth dropped open as she saw his face. Oh by all the Houses! It was *him*! But how? He was dead. It couldn't be him, and yet it was.
She couldn't do anything but stare, he was talking to the others, She didn't hear it,though. She could only gaze into those pale blue eyes. Six years of pain, anguish, guilt, and unanswered questions surged through her. HE WASN'T DEAD! That meant she hadn't killed him the way a part of her had always felt no matter how many times she'd told herself otherwise. Suddenly it was as if the last six years had never been.
Then he walked over to her and held out his hand. "Michael..." her lips soundlessly formed the word.
He smiled, took her hand.
"Naow just ye be waitin' one minute--" MacBreandain started to shout.
Then the Prophet and Kamiana were gone in a flash of white light.
MacBreandain had seen the way Kamiana had looked at 'the Prophet'. He turned to Paulos. "Well, what did ye think o'*that*--seems she does know tha man after all." He had been willing to bet that Kamiana hadn't been lying when he'd questioned her earlier. Paulos had assured him of it. But this now flat went against that. "So much for wha' she was sayin' on tha ship."
Paulos shook his head, "No Captain, what she said on the ship was true. She didn't know who this man was until she saw him. She was very surprised when she saw who it was, and ... relieved." Paulos looked down at the ground, frowning and trying to think fast. "He looked a little familiar to me also, but where or when I might have seen him before I cannot be sure of."
The Deltan looked back up at his Captain. "A search of Kamiana's personnel files might give us a clue. I can start on that right away if someone might be spared to help me?"
MacBreandain nodded. "Well, how ye're going ta get ta tha ship--these children shure are na' listenin' ta anyone but tha Prophet an'no telling when he'll be back or wha's happenin' ta Kamiana right naow. We have ta find her, though...but ye should be able ta tap into tha ship's computer via tricorder. Ye do that an' see what ye can find."
Paulos accepted the tri-corder as it was passed to him, and looked around at the others. "Serrin, could you help me check some medical files? This might take a while with only a tricorder, but it could help us deal with 'the Prophet.'"
Serrin nodded. "As long as the ship's computer still functions, we should be able to access medical records from here." He moved to stand beside Paulos and the two men began working.
The signal went through with no problems--apparently the children had not interfered with the computer's main functions. A moment or two later, they were into the medical files.
It was only a moment after that that Kamiana's records came up.
MacBreandain had sent Jen and several of the others off to start searching the city for any trace of Kamiana or the Prophet. Once that was done, he came over to join Paulos and Serrin.
"Have ye found anythin' yet?" he asked. "An' why do ye think ye've seen tha Prophet before, any ideas about that yet?"
"There is something...I should have connected earlier." Paulos looked up at the captain, handing him the tricorder. There is a picture of a human man on the small screen. "This is Michael Landry...or should I say 'the Prophet.' Kamiana does have a history with him, he was an instructor at Starfleet Academy when she was a cadet...and for the last several years it has been believed that he was dead."
MacBreandain looked at the screen, studying the image. Paulos was right, it was the same man. Or a good facsimile. "Counsellor, like I told ye before I wouldna be askin' this if it were nae as important as it is. If this is really tha man Kamiana knew--then how he became this Prophet comes inta question. Just what this Light is an' what it's all about, if there's a motive beyond what they've told us." He looked at Paulos. "I'll assume Tyrrel was one o'his students. But so were a lot o'other cadets, I'm sure. Some of whom might be aboard ship right naow. We have ta know why he singled her out. An' how..." his eyes narrowed. "how was it ye recognized him, or thought ye did, earlier?"
"I couldn't say how 'the Prophet' came into being, or the Light. But I believe that this is Michael Landry. He was one of Lt. Tyrrel's instructors and the Academy, and in some ways he helped her to find something that she truly enjoyed and had a talent at..." He tried to frame his words carefully. "She was not able to follow the path that she wanted to, however, and soon after making her decision Landry left the Academy. The ship he was on disappeared and was believed lost."
"You asked me before about the notations from my office that appear in Kamiana's file...they are related to this. She blamed herself for his death because she feels that he left the Academy due to her decision. I think that she may feel that she owes him something, if she still feels that she disappointed him by the choice she made in the past she may try not to disappoint him in her judgement again."
Paulos frowned, torn between what he felt was right and what was required for the sake of the ship. "I think that perhaps we should be cautious about what we tell her...if there is a chance that she may tell Landry. I want to trust her, but in this situation I'm not sure that she should be put in the position to be used by anyone; us or 'the Prophet'."
"I saw tha reference in her file, before I called ye in, Counsellor. It didna mention this man, it only mentioned that ye treated her for 'stress' after she was kidnapped by people from an alternate universe. I did notice that it was almost a month between when she was rescued an' when ye started sessions wi'her." MacBreandain paused, shook his head. "I'll take yer recommendation about bein' cautious. Tha question then is, what do ye think we should tell her, assumin' tha Prophet--Landry--whatever--will let us find her?"
"I think that will depend on how we plan to get out from Landry's influence. It may be that Kamiana will give us the key to do that...and as of yet we don't seem to have anything of vital importance that she does not already know. We can let her know that 'the Prophet's' identity is known and perhaps it would be best, if she needs, to have a counseling session." Paulos looked directly at the Captain. "I still have objections to breaking patient confidentiality, but I would let you know anything that might be relevant to our getting out of this situation."
MacBreandain nodded. "Fair enough, that. Though, just for me own clarification, maybe ye could explain why it *was* almost a month between when Mak brought her back an' when ye had yuir first session wi'her. Why was she nae ordered inta counselling immediately?"
Paulos was silent for a moment, his own memories of that time getting in the way. "She was ordered to have counseling, but it was made quite obvious as soon as she returned to this universe that I could not be her counselor. I had just arrived on the Defiant before the trouble with the alternate universe Defiant, and she didn't know me in this universe. She met that universe's version of me...he tortured her and he enjoyed doing that. She was scared of me because of it...and could only come to me when there was no other choice. She has gotten over that fear, I hope."
"All right. Then I'll want ye ta do yuir best ta find her. I dinna think he'd have taken her off tha planet...so she has ta be somewhere in this city. Once ye do find her, talk ta her. Ye can also try ta get some idea of where these children came from--an' haow they came ta be followin' this so called Prophet who used ta be this Landry."
"Aye, Sir. Would you like me to conducting a telepathic search?" Paulos looked around briefly before facing the Capain again. "I could try, even if I didn't contact her or any of the others I might be able to find a telepathic shield...or something similar which could help us locate them."
Cullyn nodded. "Ye do anything ye have ta, ta find her an' tha Prophet. Ye do that an' maybe we'll find a way ta get us all out o'this."
* * *
A wooded area on the planet surface...
It was a quiet glade, with tall trees and a brook babbling gently away along one side. The songs of unseen birds could be heard in the air, and now and again small animals scurried through the vegetation.
A flash of white light, and the Prophet and Kamiana appeared.
"Michael..." she whispered, still in shock, a dozen half-formed questions whirling through her mind.
(It's been a long time, Kamiana,) his gentle mindvoice whispered.
"I know it has--but I--we all thought you were dead and I--" The old guilt she thought she had put aside surged back up again. "Michael, I'm so sorry. I know you must have hated me--for everything."
(No. I couldn't ever hate anyone. Least of all you,) he sent back almost fiercely. (Yes, I was hurt, disappointed, then--but I was wrong. I know that now, I've known that for a long time. You did exactly what you were supposed to do.) He gave her hand a firm yet gentle squeeze to underline his words. (If you hadn't, I never would have left Terra on that mission, nor become what I am now.)
"What exactly *are* you now?" Kamiana seized on that question first. "When you left, you were almost psi null. Now some of the crew are half convinced you're one of the Q. What *happened*?"
(There are powers in the universe that are beyond the knowledge of the races the Federation knows, Kamiana.) he replied. (I discovered such a power--and became one with it. But let me start at the beginning. You know I was supposed to enter the Gamma Quadrant, try to make contact with any of those who were against the Dominion. We'd had word that representatives of one of these races would meet with me at a certain place. Only when I arrived--it turned out to be a trap. They wanted only to lure us in to be destroyed by the JemHaddar. My shuttle was damaged, forced to run--then we crashed. They sent trackers on foot after me.)
Kamiana squeezed his hand, sensing that this was even now very distressing to remember. "Please...go on, Michael. You'll feel better."
(I entered a cave, it seemed the best place to hide...I don't know how far beneath the surface I ended up, I just knew I had to keep moving. Then...there was a chamber.)
He touched the medallion again. (There were all sorts of things stacked there. Artifacts, I thought. Things of power. I could feel them calling to me. It drew me to this,) glancing down at his medallion, (to touch it. I couldn't resist. And when I did--that was when it happened.)
He gazed into her eyes. (It was as if my eyes were opened, Kamiana. I could see--feel--*know*--things I'd never imagined existed. The Light became part of me, and I part of it. And I saw--that everything I'd wanted, worked for all my life--was what it wanted too.)
Kamiana wasn't sure what to make of this. She could feel his sincerity, he truly believed every word he said, she'd stake her life on that. But too many other things didn't make sense. How had the children gotten involved in this--and why hijack the Avalon? that wasn't like the Michael she remembered at all.
"What exactly is this Light?" she asked. Maybe the crystal was somehow controlling him, she thought. She had to know--if that were the case, she'd do whatever it took to free him. She couldn't let him down again. "And what happened to you after that--it's been years."
(The Light took me to other worlds. Worlds the Federation does not yet know exist, Kamiana. Some, where those who live there had learned to live without the hatred, the violence, the killing...worlds of true Peace.) he 'whispered' his eyes shining at that memory. That part of the Light's visions had been his deepest dream realized and more, it was what he wanted most for the peoples of the Federation and those around them.
She could feel his joy...and pain, too, she realized. Pain at having had to leave those worlds--it was clear not only in his words but in the emotions she was getting from him, too.
(That wasn't all,) he continued, the pain she'd already picked up becoming even greater. (There were other worlds, too. Worlds where war had destroyed all, where only burnt cinders remained of what had once been places of life.) He shook his head.
The anguish was almost pouring off him, Kamiana had to shield herself somewhat to keep from being overwhelmed. To do this to anyone was bad enough, but to someone as sensitive as Michael...!
Her thoughts touched his as she sought to ease him, and that gave him the strength to go on. (I had to see,) he said slowly, (I had to see what others had done--so that I would understand what lay ahead for our worlds if they do not come to Peace.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But wait, there's
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