A/N: Conclusion of Persistence of Vision. I already have two chapters written for the next installment. I am hoping to get one up for Hurricane Irene makes her way here and a possible power outage. A tiny little teaser at the end of the chapter.
"Why do you always put your command face on around me?"
Kathryn stiffened when she heard Bryan's voice. She couldn't bear to turn around and come face to face with him. She hadn't even come to terms with his death yet. "You're dead, Bryan. Why should I be warm and fuzzy to you?"
Bryan's hand reached out and stroked her arm tenderly, she pulled away. "Never did find my body, now did they? For all you know, I'm very much alive and very much here, Kathryn. Isn't that what you've always wished for, that some how I had managed to survive that attack and was just lost somewhere, trying to make my way home to you, to the kids?"
If he was real, she wasn't sure how he would have known that they had kids. Bryan had died even before she found out she had been pregnant with Ava. "I'm a scientist, Bryan, you know that. I don't hold any false notions that you're alive. The Borg left no survivors."
"What if I'm real, Katie?"
"And what if you're not?"
Bryan chuckled. "Always questioning, aren't you Katie?"
Kathryn turned slightly to glance at him. He was standing close to her. It was no surprise they were wedged into the turbo lift. Her composure melted a little seeing his face. She had never gotten the proper chance to say good bye to him. Like he'd mentioned, there was no body ever found. This is ridiculous, Kathryn, he's not really standing there. Still, a small part of her wished that he was. It would make things so much easier. She wouldn't have to worry about who would care for Ava and Michael if she were to die on this mission. She wouldn't have to feel guilty leaving them to go on away missions. In short, life would be simpler. But simple was not something that came with the Delta Quadrant and being the only Federation Captain out in it. "It's my nature, you know that."
He grinned, dimples similar to her son's deepened. "Don't you ever wonder what it would be like, the four us together and happy? I can show you Katie, if you'd just let me."
She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to see them together as a family. Non of it was real anyways. If she kept denying him she couldn't fall deeper into the hallucination, now could she? "No, I don't want to see, Bryan."
"I don't recall giving you much of a choice," he replied, a child's laughter echoing behind her.
She recognized it immediately as Michael. He was calling for Ava. It sounded like they were playing. Their voices sounded carefree, happy. How many nights had she dreamed of hearing their voices sounded just like they were now? Of course they would sound just like she wanted; this was a hallucination after all. There was denying that. Yet she couldn't stop it from unraveling around her.
"Open your eyes, Kathryn and look at them."
Would it hurt? Just a glance, something to keep in her memory forever when this was all done. Kathryn slowly opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of an Indiana field, Michael was chasing butterflies, and Ava, giggling ran after him. She watched them for a while, tears in her eyes. This was how her children should be living—not on a starship, thousands upon thousands of light years from home and traveling through the most dangerous quadrant of space.
Bryan slipped his hand into her own. "Just say the word, Kathryn, and this can all be yours."
"This is what I want Bryan," she said, finally giving into him and falling into his embrace. "This is what I want."
"I have it." Sarah said, almost relieved. "B'Elanna was writing a program to open up a symmetrical warp field."
The Doctor looked pensively at her. "Alright, well, you'll have to sequence the magnetic plasma constriction in the following formula. T = c sub one over theta times p sub e."
Kes wrote the formula onto a PADD and handed it to Sarah. "Do you know what any of this means?"
"No, that's why I almost failed my calculus class at the Academy," Sarah snarked, snatching the PADD. She had to move fast. Slipping underneath the railing she tried to reach the command module so she could activate the magnetic plasma sequencing. As her fingers touched the controls, a hand reached out and grabbed ah old of hers.
Sarah wasn't surprised to find it was Tom. He kept appearing and reappearing in her hallucinations. By now she had figured out that the hallucination was trying to prevent her from getting to Engineering and creating the symmetrical warp field. She ignored him. Slapped his hand away. "I know you're not real Tom. You can try to stop me all you want. I'm setting up that resonance burst."
"Why? We could leave this all behind Sarah! No one would know we're gone! Just think. No protocol, no responsibilities."
"The real Tom would feel guilty."
She finished entering the code and was about to ask what temperature the Doctor recommended she set the core to, when Kes started screaming. Sarah whipped about to see her leaning against a bulk head telling the Doctor that it hurt too much. "Kes!" she called trying to get the girl's attention. "It's not real!"
"It's no use, Lieutenant," the Doctor said from the small view screen. "She is completely engrossed in whatever she is hallucinating."
Sarah slapped her hand down onto the panel, hard. "Can I get in?"
"What do you mean?"
"Kes is telepathic, can I get in and access the hallucination."
The Doctor looked perplexed for a moment. "Yes, I don't see why not but you risk getting sucked into the vision yourself."
Sarah closed her eyes, preparing to breach the gap between her and Kes. "No I won't. I'm about to show that bastard he messed with the wrong crew."
Chakotay awoke with a start and staring into blackness. Pulling himself up off the floor, he wondered how he had gotten there in the first place. Hadn't he been on his way to Engineering to help B'Elanna? Obviously he hadn't made it. He was laying in a dark and blood smelling corridor. The blood he assumed came from the body next to him. Perhaps the Botha had overtaken the ship. He was unarmed though and had no memory of intruder alerts. Glancing down at the body on the floor, he realized he knew who it was. Pushing her onto her back, Sarah's lifeless eyes stared back at him.
Hadn't she just been on the bridge? Alive? Judging from the amount of blood that was drying and caked onto her uniform, she had died swiftly, probably bled to death. Chakotay stumbled forward and found the body of B'Elanna Torres, much in the same manor as Sarah's. A torn and broken, bloody mess. Before he could even pondered why he had slept through the entirety of their murders, for he was sure they had been murdered, he was sprinting down the deck towards Kathryn's quarters.
If Sarah and B'Elanna were dead then what had happened to the Captain? The children? And how had all of them ended up on deck three? Had they been on their way to Kathryn's together? Chakotay hated not having the answers. He hated that he hadn't been conscious when Sarah and B'Elanna had their lives stolen from them.
He was so consumed with his guilt and grief that he wasn't aware that he was running by more of the crew as he tried to get to Kathryn and the children. Outside of her quarters Tuvok had been slain. Were they all dead? Was he the only one on this ship still alive?
The door to Kathryn's quarters was blown open, the black burns around the corridor walls making the situation more ominous than it already was. Chakotay approached slowly, aware that he didn't have a weapon. Stepping inside he was hit with the smell of charred flesh and fabric. His stomach twisted in knots. Kathryn's body lay amongst the destruction of her quarters. He rushed to her, praying to find a life sign, however faint it might be, if he found one she still had a chance. But just like the crewmen he had seen in the corridor, Kathryn was dead. Her eyes glassy in death. Gathering into his arms, he cried, sobbing her name over and over, just wishing that this was all a dream.
A shadow appeared in the door. Chakotay glanced up through his tears to see her standing there. "You did this," he growled.
Seska grinned, hatefully. "We can be together now, Chakotay. You don't have anymore duty to Janeway or her crew."
Chakotay shook his head furiously, clutching Kathryn's dead body to his chest. "You'll have to kill me too."
"Very well then," Seska said with no remorse and she raised her weapon. "I hope you enjoy death."
Sarah opened her eyes. Neelix was standing there, next to Kes. She was covered in blisters and sores, screaming in pain. Sarah placed herself between the two and glared at the fake Neelix. He looked surprised to see her. "You...you aren't supposed to be here!"
"Damn straight I'm not," Sarah snapped. She turned towards Kes and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Kes, listen to me. Remember in sickbay, when you saw the character from Captain Janeway's hallucination, remember how you projected it back towards her."
Kes nodded her head. "Y-yes."
"I need you to do that now, project this hallucination back onto Neelix. It's not really him. You won't be hurting him! Focus, Kes!"
"NO!" the delusion of Neelix screamed and he grabbed Sarah, tossed her into a bulkhead.
Her vision went black for a moment, when it came through she was looking at a raging lifeform but not Neelix. Somewhere, somehow, the physical contact while Sarah was in a telepathic connection with Kes, had revealed the true identity of the intruder to her. She didn't know what to do, she didn't have to know what to do. Kes projected the delusion of her pain and sores onto the alien and he toppled over. It was all Sarah needed to break the connection and rush to the warp core. "I'm setting the temperature to three million kelvins." As her fingers glided over the controls, she threw a smile Kes' way. "Nice work, Kes. You did it."
The Doctor looked equally as pleased over her shoulder. "All you have to do now is activate the warp core Lieutenant and the field should be broken."
Sarah activated the warp core and almost immediately people around her began to wake up. B'Elanna blinked at looked between Sarah and Kes. "What happened?"
Kes looked shocked by her display of power, at the now unconscious alien lying on the floor of Engineering but didn't answer.
"Long story." Sarah answered.
"Is that who's responsible for all this?" B'Elanna asked looking at the alien. "He looks harmless."
It began to stir and B'Elanna reached for a phaser. He stopped all motion when he saw the weapon.
"You're a powerful little thing," he snapped at Kes. "I must say you surprised me." He glanced over his shoulder at Sarah, standing next to B'Elanna holding onto the phaser. "But I probably shouldn't have messed with you. You were easy. I could access your brain without the field. But giving you early access gave you the ability to block the field. That mistake came back to bite me."
Janeway entered the room and glared at the alien, placing a hand onto Sarah's shoulder. "Why did you do this to us?"
"Because I can."
"Is it just telepathy or is there technology involved?"
"Does it matter?"
"Oh, it matters to me, because I don't intend let you continue preying on others," Janeway said, kneeling down.
"How would you propose to stop me?"
Janeway was silent for a moment, thinking. "We could destroy your technology," she finally said. "Or adjust your brain wave pattern to prevent telepathy and then we could turn you over to the government of Mithern. We could even keep you confined in our brig behind a force field."
"I'm sure you're very well intentioned, Captain," the alien said, " and I'd like to be able to accommodate you...but you see...I'm not really here."
Before Janeway or the others could do a thing, the alien disappeared in a transporter beam. Janeway blinked and glanced up at Sarah, B'Elanna and Kes. Slowly getting back to her feet, she whispered that she wanted to see Sarah and B'Elanna's reports by morning, and left Engineering amidst a cloud of confusion.
Captain's Log; supplemental. We have no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the telepathic alien. We can't even be certain that he was actually here. He seems to have left us with any number of unanswered questions. For now, Lieutenant Barrett advises that we just go about our daily lives. I find that I agree with her. Too much dwelling can lead to low morale.
Sarah Barrett nursed her cup of coffee and kicked her boots off. After a long day of reading crew reports on their experiences with the telepathic alien, she was looking forward of a night of relaxation. Dinner was set on the table, now she was just waiting for Tom. He'd gone to the holodeck for a little bonding time with Harry who was having a particularly hard time dealing with the aftermath of his hallucination of Libby. Sarah didn't blame him. Three weeks ago he'd hit some form of temporal anomaly and been on Earth, with her. Glancing at the time, she realized she had time to change into something a little more comfortable.
She had just slipped on a black, slinky nightgown when the chime went off. "Come in," she called out flirtatiously.
The door swished open and she leaned against the wall enticingly–only for B'Elanna Torres to walk in. Immediately both their faces turned red. "You were expecting someone else...sorry I'll stop by your office tomorrow."
"Wait!" Sarah said. B'Elanna never came to speak to her. "Let me...let me just put my robe on." She sprinted back into the bedroom, grabbed her robe and slung it around her shoulders, pulling it tightly to her body. Damn it, this is going to be all over the ship by tomorrow morning. She went back out into her living room to find B'Elanna sitting on the sofa. "Alright, what's troubling you."
B'Elanna shrugged her shoulders. "Just something Captain Janeway said to me a few moments ago. I figured I'd go see her first, since you've probably be inundated with people not being able to handle their experiences."
Sarah shook her head. "It's alright, part of my job." She sat down on the sofa, aware that Tom was really late and that dinner was getting cold. It would just have to wait. Unfortunately, sometimes her job came first. "What did Captain Janeway say that upset you?"
"We talked about the possibility that the alien's telepathy targeted our deepest sometimes darkest fantasies," B'Elanna replied, leaning forward on the sofa. "I guess, I just don't know how to deal with mine."
"Everyone has fantasies, B'Elanna," Sarah told her gently, "it's apart of what makes us human. I'll admit, that alien had a way with getting into the dark places of our minds and accessing our fears. But, it doesn't make us less of a person. Is that what you're afraid of? That this dark fantasy you experienced makes you less of a human and more Klingon?"
She quirked a grin. "You're good."
"I've had a lot of time to hone my skills."
B'Elanna laughed half heatedly.
"Fantasy is just that, B'Elanna, fantasy. A separation from reality. Maybe you should take a separation from fantasy for a few days," Sarah suggested. "Mull over what happened. And if you need to speak to me, you know where to find me."
"I'm sorry," B'Elanna replied, getting up from the sofa. "I've kept you long enough and its obvious you have a date tonight."
Sarah's cheeks flushed pink again. "It's alright, duty comes first." Sometimes, most times.
B'Elanna nodded her head. "Still, I should be going. Just to exercise some discretion. I promise, Sarah I won't blab this all over the ship come morning."
"That is if I don't piss you off between now and then?" Sarah asked, quirking an eyebrow and small grin.
"Sarah you're my friend, I wouldn't do that to you," B'Elanna told her firmly before leaving.
The counselor blinked into the empty space. Friend? She mulled that word over in her brain for a moment. Yes, their relationship had gotten much easier in the last year but Sarah still didn't think B'Elanna considered her a friend. Maybe she did. They hung out with Tom and Harry a lot at Sandrine's but never on their own. Sarah had just thought they'd come to a cool understanding of one another.
"I'm hope you put that one for me and not someone else," Tom Paris drawled as he stepped into her quarters.
"Of course it's for you," Sarah replied distantly.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah," she replied, grinning seductively at him. "I was just thinking. Let's skip dinner."
Teaser: Janeway shook her head slightly. If there was one thing this entire incident had made her realize was this—jealousy was something else she was going to have to add to the lists of things she was going to have to face in the Delta Quadrant.