Star Trek Remembrance
Chapter 7~ The Ragoreyn
"Time to Deep Space 9 ensign, Crusher?" Riker asks.
"20 minutes sir," Crusher reports over the Com badge.
"Okay, Riker out," he says.
Guinan returns with a decanter containing green liquid and 2 glasses. She walks over to the Ragoreyn and pours two glasses. She sets one down in front of the Ragoreyn. She takes a drink from the other. She flattens her hand and takes the glass and sets it on her flat palm. She holds it up to the being, "You are safe here," she says.
The being slowly gets off the medibed and stands next to it. He picks up the glass on the bed and holds it up to his face.
What's happening?" Riker asks.
"It's a ceremony among his people. If he trusts me, then he will reveal himself," Guinan responds. She remembers from when she met them that not all of their species are trusting. Some of them are very reserved and even weary of other species.
Guinan stood silently for a few moments. She was waiting to see if the Ragoreyn would show himself to her. She truly hopes he would. She could feel how stressed he was and she knew he needed help.
"Like a true nature reveal?" Riker asks. This had him very curious.
"No," Guinan says, "The Ragoreyn normally wear their armor everywhere, except among family and to them, their friends, are their family. I am waiting to see if he will reveal his true self to me."
A low hum emits from the being.
Guinan smiles, "And now, we will meet, the Ragoreyn," she says and turns to the other crewmates, "Don't approach him. Stay where you are. When he is ready, he will come to you."
The being's armor appears to slowly melt away and drip off of him. The dripping material never hits the floor but instead, disappears into mist. Slowly, a humanoid male, similar to a human, is standing there. He is pale with a purplish hue and long white hair. He has crystal blue eyes with thin white eyebrows, a strong jowl line, sharp cheekbones, a medium-sized nose, and medium lips. He was very muscular and wore a black, silk-like material that was shiny with the reflection of the lights from the Sickbay. The pants he wore were form-fitting and his shirt was similar to a tank top at the top with the stomach area open, showing a muscular stomach and lack of a belly button. He had black boots with a black shin guard that stop just at his mid-calf.
There were gasps across ten-Forward. All beings were not expecting what they now saw before them.
"Amazing," Riker whispers. Even by human standards, this being was a sight to behold. Riker half expected to see a being with a type of plague, almost; a horrible figure with a disfigurement or something comparable.
"I think I'm beginning to see how they can mate with any other species. They are quite breath-taking," Troi admits. She could feel her cheeks flush. She full well knew she was taken aback by him. She felt a strong attraction to him. But looking around the room, she could see, she was not alone.
Riker nods his head, "I would agree with that statement," he says.
Worf looks over at Riker and Troi, "That is not what I was anticipating," he says.
"Me either, Lieutenant," Picard says.
Doctor Crusher looks over at the Ragoreyn closely. Across the being's body were discolored black spots with lines protruding from them, like veins, covering parts of his arms, one shoulder, face, chest, and both hands. His uniform was ripped and in one place, his shoulder, shredded.
"My god, Jean-Luc," Doctor Crusher says, "He's even worse than I thought!" She was beside herself. She had no idea how to help him. It was obvious exactly how injured he was now and there was nothing she could do!
The being slowly sniffs the drink and then looks up at Guinan. He places the glass in a flat palm and then wraps his fingers around the bottom of the glass.
Guinan lifts her arm with the glass towards the being and at the same time, he lifts his arm with the glass towards her.
Guinan navigates her glass towards his mouth, tilting the glass, and he does the same to her. Together, they both take a sip of the beverage.
The being's eyebrows both raise and a slight smile lifts one corner of his mouth.
Guinan laughs, "I know," she says as they both lower the glasses. "It's a unique taste, and strong, but quite good I think."
"What did you give him?" Worf inquires.
"Aldebaran whiskey," Guinan answers.
"Quite enjoyable," Worf says.
Riker turns to Worf.
"It is an acquired taste," Worf says and smiles slightly.
"Guinan, what kind of ceremony was that?" Picard asks.
"It is," Guinan says and laughs a bit at the being. Then she smiles, "Apologizes Captain, he just told a joke. He has quite a sense of humor. It is their Ceremony for the Awakening. If you participate, and it is accepted, then you are telling him you will cause him no harm and protect him, like you would family."
"It sounds beautiful," Troi says.
"Well, it is, but there is a catch."
"Oh?" Picard says.
"You are also giving him permission to slay you, should you cause him any direct harm."
"Fascinating," Worf says. "Then he is a warrior."
"Very much so," Guinan smiles.
"But by doing the ceremony, you are telling him, that you are not his enemy and you will treat him as a family member?" Riker says.
"Exactly," Guinan says. She then turns to the being, "Oh," she smiles, "It's nice to meet you. I am Guinan."
"He told you his name?" Picard asks her.
Guinan nods, "Tohaus," she smiles.
"Is he able to understand us?" Riker asks.
"I don't think he can hear you, no," Guinan answers, "But I do think that he can read lips. So I imagine if you are facing him when you speak, then he can understand you."
Doctor Crusher turns to Picard, "It's worth a shot. He needs medical attention. If he can tell Guinan about his physiology, then maybe I can help him."
"Agreed," Picard says.
"May I approach him now," Doctor Crusher asks. She was waiting patiently but her patience was wearing thin.
Guinan can see the doctor was trying to get a better look without approaching him. She turns to the being, "She," she points at Doctor Crusher, "is a healer. She will do you no harm."
Tohaus looks over at Crusher and nods slightly. He raises his right arm but his left one he could not raise very high.
Guinan looks at Tohaus and then turns to the doctor, "Yes, he knows you are a doctor and only want to help him."
Doctor Crusher steps in front of the Ragoreyn.
A flash of light emits and Q appears just behind Doctor Crusher.
"Q!" Picard blasts, "Is this your doing? Are you responsible for injuring this being?" Picard points to Tohaus.
Q was about to respond when he follows Picard's hand across and sees the being he is talking about. Q turns to the being and stops in his tracks. He was visually startled, "You?" he steps in front of him, "But this isn't possible." Q steps even closer to the being. His faces change drastically, "Tohaus!" Q exclaims.
The being suddenly grabs Q and throws him over the medibed. Within an instant, the being had leaped over the medibed and was on top of Q with Q's throat in his hand.
"A very good warrior!" Worf growls and then laughs.
Captain Picard was startled by the speed of the being even though he was injured.
"Wait!" Guinan yells. She steps over to the being and Q, "He isn't your enemy here," she says.
The being looks up at Guinan and back down at Q.
"I swear," Q gasps, "I am not up to anything!" he gasps again, "We are being attacked! The Continuum is under attack! It's being destroyed," he coughs.
The being let's go of Q and tilts his head. The being slowly gets up.
"Destroyed?" Riker confirms.
Q nods.
Riker crosses his arms, "And I'm willing to bet that's causing an Electro-Synth Wave isn't it?"
Q nods again and slowly stands and grabs his throat, "I swear to you, it isn't us. But there is…" he notices something about Tohaus, "You're injured. You very injured!" he looks at the beings left shoulder and sees it was almost completely black. "No, no!"
Picard was surprised exactly how upset Q seemed to be when he noticed the Ragoreyn's injuries.
"Q? Can you understand him?" Riker asks.
"Q can hear their telepathy speech, just like me, but most species cannot hear their regular words."
Q steps over to the being and looks him over, "What happened?!" Q takes the being by the left arm and holds it out and looks at him, "How badly are you hurt?"
The being takes Q by the shoulder and stares into his eyes.
Q's face falls, "Wha," he looks down and swallows, "How long?" he looks up into Tohaus's eyes, "When was the last time you saw him?"
Guinan perks up and her face changes, "Oh no," she whispers.
Tohaus lowers his head and sighs.
"Q?" Doctor Crusher begins as she steps up next to them, "Do you know his physiology? He is injured but I don't know how to help him."
Q nods, "Of course," he says.
In a second there is a flash of light that emits from the medical tricorder in doctor crusher's hand. She looks down at the tricorder and then takes a quick reading of the being. She looks back up at Q, "Thank you," she says. She turns to the Captain, "Their entire species and everything about them has been updated in our systems. I can finally treat him," she smiles and walks over to the being. She reads something from the tricorder and gently takes his right hand and looks into his eyes, "They are a matriarchal species." She squeezes Tohaus's hand, "You are injured and will be helped," she commands, "You will come with me." She casually leads him back to the med table and lays him down and begins to work on him.
Q steps next to the medibed, "Energy heals them. It's what his species eats. Any type of energy will work."
Riker leans over to Picard, "When was the last time you saw Q do anything to help anyone?"
"Or offer tips on how to help them?" Picard says.
"I didn't think he could," Worf adds.
"Me either," Riker agrees.
"Q," Picard says, "Are you not able to heal him?"
Q turns to Picard, "Q powers don't work on his species."
"Why is that?" Riker asks.
"Because to him, the Q can be nothing more, than a snack."
Riker's eyebrows go up, "You mean his species can eat, Q?"
"Yes, they can. But they chose not to." Q turns to Picard, "Lucky for us. But believe me, if I could heal him," he turns back to Tohaus and places a hand on his shoulder, "I would."
Picard was startled at the sediment. He turns to Riker and sees the reflection of his thoughts on Riker's face. A scan of the rest of the bridge crew told Picard they were not the only ones with those thoughts either.
On Deep Space 9
"Tell me some good news about that Borg ship," Sisko says.
Well," Kira shakes her head, "It doesn't appear like it's going to explode anymore."
Odo side glances Kira, "Well, that does qualify as good news," he says.
Kira shrugs.
"Agreed," Sisko says. He turns to O'Brien, "Can you tell what they are up to?" he asks.
"My readings are coming in sporadic waves. It's difficult to tell," he responds.
"Life signs?" Odo asks.
"126," O'Brien replies.
Kira turns to Odo, "Doesn't a Borg cube complement up to 100,000 drones?" she asks.
"179,000 actually," Odo replies.
Sisko walks over to O'Brien's station, "And this one has 126 crew members? Is that due to the Electro-Synth Wave?"
O'Brien shakes his head, "No sir, it looks like there is extensive damage on the cube. Far more damage than an Elelctro-Synth Wave can even cause."
Kira steps over to O'Brien and begins to push buttons on the console next to him, "Then what did cause it?" she asks.
"What kind of damage are you seeing?" Sisko asks.
"Damage on all decks, all regeneration sections are gone, engines are offline, life support is in critical cascade failure…" he looks closer, "It also looks like they are moments away from a hull breach."
"What about the warp drive?"
O'Brien pushes a button, "It's okay," he says confused, "No damage at all."
"Now, how do you get that much damage on ship and not involve the warp drive?"
"It's almost like, there is enough damage to be critical, but not quite detrimental," O'Brien adds.
Odo looks over at Sisko, "Sounds planned to me," he says.
"I would agree," Sisko says, "But the question is, who planned it?"
"Meaning?" Kira asks.
"I don't think the Borg did this to themselves. It's not in their nature. But I think whoever did do it, knew exactly how and where to hurt them."
"But who would be stupid enough to mess with the Borg?" O'Brien asks.
"I can think of a few species," Odo replies.
"So can I," Kira says.
"For right now, everything seems to be okay, sir," O'Brien says looking at a console.
"Ok, now that, that is diverted, at least for now," he turns to Quark, "Let's deal with you."
A faint smile crosses Quark's lips. He was kind of hoping they would have forgotten about him.