Star Trek in all its incarnations and all its characters belongs to Paramount/Viacom. I just like to borrow them from time to time for personal amusement.

This story is for Night's Darkness, a kind, generous and talented young woman (and connoisseur of all things Shran) who beta reads all my work and offers gentle correction where needed and encouragement always.

To Walk Through Fire

The little boy ran through the tunnel in the ice. His sparkling brown eyes kept a careful watch on the ice borer that stayed just a short distance ahead of him and just out of his reach. He was fascinated by these creatures and was determined to catch one, although his parents had warned him repeatedly that they were dangerous and not at all a suitable pet. But then, his parents thought that anything fun or even the least bit interesting was dangerous, not suitable, not a toy and not allowed.

He probably wouldn't have even noticed the ice borer if his brother, Tren, had been watching him and playing with him as their parents had instructed. He idolized his big brother, wanted to be just like him and craved his attention and love. They had been having fun skating on the big pond in the park until some of Tren's friends came by and asked him to join them in a game similar to what humans called ice hockey, though with a lot fewer penalties. Tren was a strong, fast skater who was as much in demand as an "enforcer" as he was for the position he played. He immediately agreed and only laughed when his little brother begged to be allowed to play too. "You're too small! You'll get hurt, and then I'll get in trouble. You can watch, or you can go skate over there where I can see you. Now don't go running off!" Having delivered his warning, he got involved in the game and soon seemed to have forgotten all about his younger brother who disconsolately watched the game for awhile and then skated alone in the designated area until he saw the ice borer and gave chase.

He had decided that he would show them all. His parents would have to notice him, and might even be proud of him, when he caught and tamed an ice borer so it was a good pet. He was proud of his mom and dad, but they were always so busy with their important jobs and going to see the Chancellor, and even the Emperor, that they seemed to notice him only when he did something wrong. As for Tren's friends who were always making fun of him and never wanting him around, they would be so jealous of him and his pet, but he wouldn't let them play with it, and maybe not even see it, no matter how much they asked. He was so engrossed in his fantasy and so fixated on the ice borer that he didn't notice how wet and soft the ice had become in the floor of the tunnel. He didn't even hear the loud crack as the ice gave way beneath him. All he knew was that suddenly he was falling into a big hole. He called for his brother. He called for help. He landed feet first in a nest of ice borers, and it felt like his legs were on fire. He frantically tried to brush them off and to get away, but that only made it worse. Now his hands were burned too, and every movement seemed to make him sink deeper into the roiling, steaming cauldron of water, ice and hot, wriggling, glowing worms. He could no longer form words, just scream until his voice was hoarse.

Tren's head snapped up, and much to the disgust of his team, he lost control of the puck when he heard a sound he couldn't quite place. He heard it again, and his antennae told him that it was coming from the ice cave. He was pretty sure he had never heard a sound like that before, but something about it seemed familiar. He suddenly felt very afraid. He quickly scanned the pond and the area around it but didn't see his little brother's bright blue coat anywhere. He heard the sound a third time. Oh, Gods! He just knew something awful had happened to his little brother. Oblivious of what his friends were saying to him or whether they were following him or not, he stumbled off the pond and down the path toward the ice cave. He heard the sound yet again, but not so loud this time. As he entered the ice cave, he noticed an unusual number of new ice borer trails. He was truly terrified now because he knew his little brother was crazy about those creatures and he could guess what had happened. "Thy'lek!" He called as loud as he could, "Thy'lek, where are you?"

Tren followed the main tunnel in the ice cave because that was the direction the ice borers were coming from. The friends who had followed him tried to dissuade him from going further, told him that it was getting too dangerous, told him that Security had been summoned and would know what to do, but he ignored them. Didn't they understand that he had to be the one to find his defenseless little brother? Didn't they understand that it was all his fault that this horrible thing had happened to him? He hadn't heard any screams in awhile, and whether that was good or bad he didn't know, but his antennae were picking up small, soft sounds of crying and moaning from just ahead. He concentrated as hard as he could. "Hang in there, Thy'lek. I'm almost there. It'll be OK." He didn't sense anything back from his brother.

By the time Tren reached his brother, the ice borers had all fled their nest. Little Thy'lek was curled up at the bottom of the hole. His face was deathly pale, almost white like the mythical Aenar in the horror stories. His eyes were glazed and he didn't seem to recognize Tren or even to realize that his big brother was there. He was moaning softly, shivering uncontrollably and his small antennae were tightly curled close to his head. His boots and snow pants were charred to well above his knees, and the sleeves of his bright blue coat were charred to the elbows. Tren picked him up as gently as he could, but his little brother's hoarse scream was like an ushaan-tor through his heart. He tried to get Thy'lek to hold on to him around his neck so he could climb out of the hole, but Thy'lek didn't have the strength. As Thy'lek's small hand slid down his brother's coat, it left behind what looked like a thin, pale blue glove. It wasn't until much later that Tren realized that Thy'lek's gloves were bright blue like his coat and that what he thought had been a glove was actually the skin off his little brother's hand. The other thing he remembered until the day he died was the smell. It was the same as the time when his sister had burned the steaks they were to have for dinner. After his little brother's horrible accident, he could never bring himself to eat that cut of meat again, not even when it was part of the celebratory dinner on Graduation Day at the Imperial Military Academy.

When Security arrived with the medics, it was now Tren who was crying and trembling. He didn't want to let go of his brother. He was afraid he would never see him alive again. The Security officer had no patience for this and said, "Look, son, I don't have time to argue with you about this," as he tried to pry Thy'lek out of Tren's arms. One of the medics was gentler and more successful. "I have a little brother about his age. His name is Telev. I promise to take care of Thy'lek just as well as I would take care of him," she said softly as she held out her arms. Tren decided to trust her but burst into tears again as his little brother was whisked away. He wasn't allowed to come along. There wasn't enough room, and the medics were going to be extremely busy in the 15 minutes it would take to fly to the docking port of the Empress Ti'ara Medical Center, the only hospital in the province that had a pediatric burn unit.

TBC