Author's Note: This story takes place nine months after the events of Nemesis. The ideas for characters and situations come heavily from various drafts of the Nemesis script, by John Logan. Martin Madden (Madden appears in one of the deleted scenes on the Nemesis DVD, in fact, as portrayed by Steven Culp), the idea of an Andorian operations officer, Worf being reassigned to the Enterprise, Beverly going to Starfleet Medical and Geordi's relationship with Leah Brahms are all derived from Logan's script. The ideas on Andorian culture are derived from Heather Jarman's "Paradigm" from Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume One. The characters Lukiana Laurence, Clint Neilson and David Reeves are all original to this story, however. I thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In Search of Ashes

Prologue

The old being's mind was arousing in the new being. Various neural pathways rerouted and reconnected as floods of memories and emotions filled the head of the new being. Thoughts spread like wildfire through his mind. Creeping like tendrils from a mythic creature. Except this wasn't something for the words of legend or text of literature. The old being did however feel like he was in one of the literatures that the old being had read. A passage was brought to his mind.

Deep, into that darkness, peering...

Long I stood there...

Wondering...

Fearing...

Doubting...

But unlike the work of literature, the feelings inside the new being were very real. Not fiction. Not fantasy. It was truth. It was fact. The new being didn't exactly know how he was able to apprehend something from the old being. It just seemed natural. A seasoned mind was coming into a body that had seen no weathering. The old being was manifesting itself into the new. Inching its way into the very soul of the new. In time, the new being would be completely gone. But for now, the new being struggled. Unable to grasp exactly what was happening.

They were one in the same, the new and the old beings, but in their own ways, very different. In their physical forms, they were the same. But the old was intelligent and wise. The new, however, was unaware, and uncertain.

The body of the old being was still in existence, but had left to the new being a copy of his mind for the new being to assimilate. The old had claimed he wanted to help the new. He had claimed that his own experiences would help the new overcome his own unaware and uncertain mind.

In a way, the new being wanted nothing but to surrender to the outside force in his mind take over and help him. In another way, fear of the old came about. Unknowing of what the old being's mind would do to him, the new could only tremble inside. Yet in a third way, he hated the old being. The invasion of his mind had been against the very thoughts that had been put into his mind since coming into existence

And it occurred to him why he thought of the passage. Wondering: wanting to surrender to the force. Fearing: unknowing of things to come. Doubting: the uncertainty at his fate from the old being.

A torrent of thoughts raged through to him.

Memories. Recent memories. Faces. A commanding bald man with a shiny head holding something in his hand. He saw the bald man say something about leaving friends being a part of life. A liquid. A taste.

A tall bearded man sitting next to a pretty lady in a white dress. They were both smiling broadly. They kissed each other. He realized he was at a table with them.

A dark-skinned man with strange eyes. A feeling of friendship welled inside of him.

Another dark-skinned man with a bumpy head and sharp teeth.

A woman with red hair and pale skin.

A wise, dark-skinned woman with a big hat and a smile.

A young man next to the red haired woman.

Never saw the sun...

More memories. A little boy asking "Don't you ever get tired?"

A big, invisible thing in the water.

A British tar is a soaring soul...

It was too much for the new being to comprehend.

v v

Elsewhere in the universe, a different set of new and old beings fought in a similar battle. This was a physical battle, however, and not in the mind. This new being was intelligent, commanding, and battle-hardened. The new being had actually been in existence for quite a while compared to some. Nearly twenty-five years of pain and suffering brought nothing but vengeance and death to the mind of the new being. All he wanted was the very blood of the new being to ensure his own survival.

The old being in this set of new and old was also similar to the new being. He was also intelligent, commanding, and battle-hardened. But unlike the new, he was seeking peace, prosperity, and equality.

But the old being had his ways of dealing with the new being.

They had the same body, of course the new being's was obviously younger. But in his own way he was older. He was aged, but not in the same way. Veins were visible through his skin. Parts of his face were wrinkled. Breathing was hard. Thinking was harder. The new being was dying. And he wanted nothing more than to kill the old.

And the old wanted nothing more than to stop the new from destroying his friends. Everything he loved was in danger. He needed to protect it.

The new being attacked the old with a dagger, intent on killing. The old pulled out a rod and impaled the old.

And all things froze.

To see his own face dying. To see the life fade from himself. It was as if he had committed suicide in front of a demented mirror.

The new being reached for the old being's neck and the old could do nothing. It was as if a part of him was dying quicker than the rest. He knew that if he did not free himself from the grasp of the new being, he himself would die, and he would have done nothing to stop his friends from being killed.

But then the old being saw the old being from the first set of new and young. And he was saved, but at the cost of his friend, the other old being.

He then reappeared among friends, and could do nothing.

Sadness. Fear. Anger. Sorrow. Grief. Paternal love. All these emotions took hold at once. He had lost a friend.

One of the old beings was gone, and one of the new beings was gone. Two different sets of mirror images. But these were not exact mirrors. One set was a mirror where adulthood was converted to adolescence. The other where righteousness was converted to rage. Each ending in death. Each ending in confusion.

The surviving old being talked to the surviving new being. He talked of how the dead old being was a good person and was a friend. But the surviving new being didn't understand. He couldn't. The mind of the dead old being was still encroaching on him. Still rerouting the way he thought. Much like detours of antiquity, the road could temporarily not be used. Until he was done taking in the mind that he had surrendered to, he would not be able to do much. Due to the primitive nature of the surviving new being's mind, he was unsure when he would achieve a greater mind through the help of the dead old being's mind. He wished it would be soon, but for all he knew it could have been decades before he became fully aware.

Only one thing came to mind.

"Never saw the sun...Never saw the sun..." the new being began.

The surviving old being stopped and looked at him. "Shining so bright," he quietly sang.

"Shining so bright," repeated the new being.

The old being could feel nothing but hope after hearing those phrases.