Chapter 52

Perhaps Tasha should have been afraid, but she was not. All of it seemed too dreamlike to inspire real fear. The stone door to the temple was halfway open, just big enough to allow her to slip through, and she paused only momentarily before doing so. The darkness around her immediately lifted, revealing a soft glow, as she continued into a large unfurnished hall. From what she could tell, there were only two objects in the room; both floated in mid-air. She was drawn to the larger object first and for unknown reasons felt compelled to look away from the other.

Did you think I wasn't real? Now you can see for yourself, what Picard did. He left me here in this prison to suffer.

Yar approached the floating sarcophagus cautiously. It was standing upright but angled backward. The grey tube resembled something like a suspended animation container she had seen on antique exploratory starships. Inside the container was a woman who looked just like her. The woman from her dreams and nightmares. The face was young, and with her eyes shut as though sleeping deeply, appeared almost innocent. "Are you dead?" Tasha heard her voice pierce the silence.

If I was dead, would I be able to speak to you?

"I don't know...you had the power of the Q. I have no idea what you can do."

Had is the correct word. I don't have that power anymore...do you think I'd be in here if I did?

"All I know is that this feels like a trap," said Tasha, taking a step backward.

Okay...you think I'm lying? You wanted your answers, so get them. And once you have what you've been looking for, I expect some help from you.

"I don't understand..."

I find it both amusing and annoying as hell that Picard didn't make you as smart as me. He must have really been threatened by me to have created you as such an idiot.

"Fuck you."

That's the spirit. Look to your right, and you'll see what I mean.

Tasha did as she was told and now saw what she had been afraid to look at directly before. Again, she felt as though she was being directed toward the object. It was frightening and yet familiar. The metal box spun in mid-air, and within it lay a blinding light that threatened to pour out of the edges of the box.

What do you think's in there, Tasha? Three guesses...it's not some paper drawings.

Tasha stepped even closer so that she was looking upward now, her neck craned back at an uncomfortable angle. She could reach the box if she needed to. But what would happen? "Why would Picard leave you here with the power of the Q just floating nearby? You think I'm an idiot, but I know Picard. He's smarter than that."

You'd better get over your hero worship quick, or else something very bad might happen to you.

Tasha tore her eyes away from the glowing box. "Let's get this straight...I don't trust some half-dead floating copy of me any more than I trust Picard. I know I have him to blame, but why shouldn't I blame you? You said you basically competed with him to create me, and you both don't give a shit about what happens to me!"

Wow...so many hurt feelings, Tasha. But that doesn't change the fact that you came here. You wanted to know the whole truth about who you are. Only I can show you that, and only when I'm freed from this prison. Meanwhile...if you want to know what happened to Ishara, just close your eyes and ask the questions you've always been afraid to ask.


She did close her eyes and was immediately transported to a blazingly hot Turkana night. Ahead of her in a grimy alleyway was a girl about seven years of age running for her young life. It was Ishara, and she was carrying a bag over her shoulder, that was clearly weighing her down. Tasha screamed after her sister to run and keep running. But seeing someone ahead of her, she halted, and spun back in the other direction, looking straight through the invisible Tasha.

Tasha turned, knowing that Caine would be the pursuer, just as he had always been. He closed the distance, carrying a sharp knife in his fist.

"Drop the bag kid, you've stolen from me for the last time."

Ishara tilted her head and pulled a sidearm from her hip, pointing the lethal weapon at Caine's head. "Over my dead body, Caine."

The man merely snickered and pulled out a larger disruptor pistol. "Drop the bag kid, and I'll let you go...well, sort of..." He nodded back over her shoulder, and Ishara looked, despite her instinct not to trust a word he said.

Tasha watched as a man stepped out of the shadows into the pale moonlight. Her heart dropped as she heard Ishara say the words..."Daddy, is that you?"

The man crouched down. His blonde hair was longer, greasier, and he looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. "It's me, honey."

Ishara, who hadn't trusted anyone except for her older sister since she had seen her parents murdered in front of her, hesitated just one more moment, before tossing the bag to Caine. Then she walked into her father's waiting arms.

"Did you do like I asked?" Her father asked Caine.

Caine laughed as he opened his bag, checking silently for a specific amount of drugs. Once satisfied, he looked up at Erik Yar. "She'll think her sister is dead. That's what we agreed on, right? You keep one, I get the other."

Erik Yar nodded grimly, before wrapping his arm around his daughter's shoulders and walking her away into the night.


"...I get the other." Tasha could feel her feet slipping from under her, and she was falling. She woke up on her back on a cold hard surface. Above her spun the box, seemingly in perpetual motion. She sat up slowly, unsure of what to think or believe. But what she felt was a cold, painful rage.

Well? Did you get your answers?

Tasha turned on the unconscious figure. "I'll never believe what you just made me see!"

Me? I didn't have anything to do with it, Tasha...I'm stuck in this prison, remember?

Tasha leaned over with her hands on her knees. She was nauseous to the point of being physically ill. Had Ishara disappeared into the night with their father? Was she still alive, and why had she been abandoned for dead, or worse by her own flesh and blood? Caine did this...no, it was Picard. He created me and created this life that I have lived. He needs to know just what he's done.

Do you know who to blame now? Picard will never understand how his arrogance destroyed your life. He will never understand until you've got him at your mercy, Tasha.

Tasha turned to look back at the floating cylinder, the face inside just as placid as before.

"What do I need to do?"

Take your key and open the box. That's all you need to do.

Tasha looked down where the key lay against her neck, still hanging on the same chain. Without thinking, she took it from around her neck and reached up to the box, shoving it into the keyhole. She was rewarded by the emergence of the most brilliant of white lights. It floated above her head, and she raised her arms up to it. It descended as if responding to her wish, and within seconds she held it between her hands. Never before had she felt so capable of both great and horrible things.

There was a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to find some version of her own face staring back at her. Her counterpart's hair was longer, but more notably, the eyes were harder, colder than she saw when she looked into a mirror. At that moment, as she still held the power of the Q literally in her hands, she realized something. She'd been wrong when she had told T'Sara that there was only one Yar. "You're not me," she declared and her words were followed by a surge of genuine pride. But it was short-lived.

"That is so true," said the other Yar. The woman grabbed the glowing orb from Tasha's fingertips, and with expert control drew it into her own chest, which now was illuminated with white light. Tasha took an uncertain step back, but her eyes were drawn to the woman's fist which was raised and now appeared to be clutching a palm-sized ball of molten lava.

"For a quick death, always go for the heart," she said before plunging her fiery fist into Tasha's chest. Yanking her hand free, Yar watched as Tasha toppled over backwards, landing on her back with a thud that echoed through the chamber. She knelt down and whispered as the light flickered from Tasha's eyes. "See? You can die after all. You silly, naive girl... there's only room for one of us."

As Tasha jerked and then grew still, Yar stepped over the body, and headed out into a world that if all went according to plan, would soon be hers again.