With a leg propped up against a stone bench, Thomas Riker chugged the remainder of his water in what brief time he and the others were given for a rest break.. He turned his canteen upside down in disbelief as if he needed to see with his own eyes just how bone dry the container now was. Two droplets fell out and splashed on the cement. It did not bode well for the rest of the day unless he could persuade the Gil that was overseeing their search and rescue team for a second canteen. That was assuming he even had one. Resources were at a premium on this day, but still… he'd be of no use to anyone if he passed out from heat exhaustion. Or worse.
The sweltering heat of summer in this part of Cardassia was made worse by torturous, sticky humidity so thick the former Starfleet Officer wondered if soon he'd need gils to breathe. Having grown up in the cold wilderness of Alaska, Riker still wasn't used to the Cardassian climate even after four and a half years.
The sky was cloudy so there was no need to duck under the large tree behind the bench for shade. And the clouds weren't all that were darkening the skies. Thick smoke and dust from the Dominion's bombardment of Cardassian cities over the last several hours conspired with the planet's natural climate to make the air practically unbreathable.
Riker and his fellow prisoners were no longer at the labor camp sacrificing their bodies for demanding physical tasks the Cardassians didn't want to do themselves. Make no mistake though, they were still carrying out demanding physical work, but this time they were helping clear rubble and searching for victims and casualties buried in the rubble of the nearest destroyed city.
With no more water to soothe his dry throat, Riker ducked his head to cough into his arm, wiping sweat onto his sleeve as he did so.. When he looked up it was to see a Cardassian civilian walking over with a container of fresh water. The tall human had noticed the elderly Cardassian male a short while earlier. White haired and frail, he was no longer able to do the kind of work that Riker was doing, but he had come out to help in the small ways that he could.
Thanking him for the fill up, Riker smiled gratefully to which the old man simply nodded with a glint of respect in his tired blue eyes and trudged on to offer water to others.
The two Gils assigned to guard the prisoners and keep them working were busy helping dig survivors out, leaving Riker to wonder momentarily if they even cared if the prisoners scattered to the four winds while they were distracted.
I can't blame them one bit, Riker thought. If most of my homeworld was left in rubble I wouldn't care about a bunch of petty criminals running off either. Still… at one point I was a Starfleet Officer. My duty is to stay and help.
Taking another long sip of water, he replaced the cap on the canteen and lumbered back over to the chunks of collapsed building near one of his fellow prisoners. Others that Riker recognized from his own camp had spread out around the block with a handful of others, identically dressed, but whom Riker didn't recognize.
The man to his right, a Bajoran, hefted a large slab of concrete over his left shoulder with a grunt and heaved it onto a pile he was apparently building behind him. Riker looked at him curiously.
"Hey, I know no one is under that pile," he shrugged, before giving the nearest Cardassian soldier a sideways glance. "You know we could probably slip out and try to find our own people. Someone on our side."
"We could," Riker agreed. "But I'm not sure I could sleep well at night if I did. Your people have good reason to want to walk away from helping the Cardassians and I won't say anything if you choose to leave, but I used to be a Starfleet Officer. My place is here. Besides, maybe I'll be forgiven when I get back home if I do a good job here."
The two men shared a chuckle and continued tossing debris behind them.
"Eh, I'll stay for the time being, but at some point I'd like to make contact with someone who can get me home. I have a wife and daughter I'd like to be reunited with, Prophets willing. But you're right. I should try to be better. If this were my home, I'd hope others would want to help. Maybe the Cardassians will learn from this."
Riker grinned proudly at the younger man.
"That's the spirit. With that attitude, I'm sure you're an amazing father."
The Bajoran shook his head regretfully.
"If I was, I wouldn't have done the things I did that landed me here. I let my anger get the better of me and I did things that got me taken away from my family. I'm a perfect example of why it's so important to let go of anger and bitterness."
"Well, the important thing is that you see it. Now you can change it." Riker pointed out. "I'm Thomas, by the way."
"Doran. From a different labor camp then?"
"The one next door, I guess," Riker joked with a tired grin.
A weak groan from somewhere in the rubble caught their attention.
"Did you hear that?! Sounded like a person is trapped somewhere in here…," Riker asked, concerning dimming his blue eyes.
He braced himself against a well secured slab of concrete and pushed hard on another with a loud grunt.
"I… wish they'd… given… us… phasers… for this," he groaned.
Doran tossed his handful of twisted support beam to his pile and rushed over to help the struggling human.
Between the two of them, the slab grudgingly shifted up and to their left. It was enough to widen a hole just large enough for the person to fit through if only he had the strength.
"I can hold it long enough for you to pull him outta there!" Riker said quickly with a winded effort. He fervently hoped that the man wasn't pinned in some other way they couldn't see or that pulling him out quickly wouldn't exacerbate an injury to a more critical emergency. Once the slab was released now it was going to slide to the ground.
Apparently, his new Bajoran comrade was thinking along similar lines.
"What if moving him causes more harm?" He asked.
"He's dead for sure if we don't get him out of there soon!" Riker responded urgently.
Reluctantly, Doran let go of the slab and moved at warp speed to tug the man out of what was nearly his tomb.
Once they were fully clear and well out of the way, Riker leapt from his own position and the heavy stone slab he'd been propping up fell to the ground, cracking in half. Dust and dirt billowed around it, giving the air a chalky scent for a few moments.
Riker was about to ask if everyone was okay when the sound of a transporter beam cut him off. Pushing himself to his feet, he dusted himself off as a small group of Starfleet Officers from various departments materialized in front of them.
The red headed woman in command red glanced around, quickly assessing their surroundings. Satisfied they were in no immediate danger and noting that two of the three men they'd materialized in front of were lying prone on the ground, she nodded at her team.
"Go," she instructed with authority.
From Riker's distance, he couldn't quite make out how many rank pips were poised on her collar, but he'd bet a week's wages at the mercy of Quark's stingy Dabo wheel that she was the captain.
Her team scattered immediately with those in red and gold uniforms making beelines for more of the wreckage. Those in blue were medical personnel and they rushed over to Doran and the injured man he'd moments earlier pulled from the debris.
With her team digging in nearby, the woman approached Riker and as she came closer, he swore she looked familiar. Her expression also changed to one of recognition and a smirk tugged at her perfectly painted red lips.
"Well, well, well… Thomas Riker as I live and breathe," she chuckled.
"Audrey! Audrey Mason. Well, I'll be damned. I haven't seen you in years."
The pair met in a fierce bear hug that threatened to suffocate the much smaller Mason.
"And they made you a captain even," he continued with a delighted grin.
Mason laughed at that with a playful roll of her green eyes as they released each other.
"Yes well… no one ever said Starfleet brass exercised good judgment," she said in that self deprecating way she had.
"Very true. It's good to see you," Riker told her, his expression softening with sincerity.
"Likewise. But I'm afraid now isn't the time to catch up as you're well aware. I wouldn't be a very good captain if I let them keep going without me," she jerked her head toward her crewmembers scattered in the distance. "What I can tell you quickly is part of my orders are to get any Federation citizens imprisoned in the labor camps here and take them back to Federation space. The Cardassians have agreed to release you all to Federation authorities. I'm not judge, jury, and executioner though. I don't know if you'll still have to finish sentences back home. My ship is just your ride home."
Disappointment appeared on Riker's face, but he nodded.
"Understood," he acknowledged, looking down and clasped his hands in front of him.
Mason touched his arm comfortingly.
"I'm sorry, Wi-...Shit. Thomas, she said with emphasis on the correct name as she covered her face with her hands, obviously mortified.
"Hey, it's alright," Riker chuckled. He remembered how hard Mason could be on herself and he took her hands in his, pulling them away from her face.
She nodded, reluctantly making eye contact.
"How would you like to feel like a Starfleet Officer again for a bit? I could really use your help."
"Anything," Riker assured her.
"You know the prisoners here. Could you help me round them all up? The Towton is supposed to remain in orbit to render assistance for the next few days until relief ships arrive. We were part of the main attack force so we'll be among the first to ship out. It would speed things up a bit if we could get all Federation citizens from the labor camps collected and ready to go by noon the day after tomorrow."
Riker nodded, drawing himself up with some of the pride he used to have when he was a Starfleet Officer.
"I'll take care of it," he reassured her confidently.
"You're a lifesaver. And Thomas?"
"Yes?"
"Remind them that they're not free men yet. They could be, but they're not yet. If they act up or get any bright ideas before they're returned to Federation space, they could find themselves in more trouble and without an extenuating circumstance like the ruin of the world they're imprisoned on presenting an opportunity for their release. They need to be on their best behavior if they want a shot at a second chance back home. I spent three years under Captain Jellico's command as a Lieutenant Commander. I can be a hardass if I have to be. Understood?"
Riker nodded. He understood full well that she was addressing him as well as the collection of prisoners she'd been sent to escort back home. If anything, she was likely directing her comments especially at him given that he'd stolen a Federation starship nearly five years earlier. He knew she wasn't going to play games with anyone and he wasn't interested in playing any. He'd wanted to distinguish himself from Will Riker, but he'd chosen the wrong way to do it.
Perhaps that was why his and Mason's paths were crossing again. A second chance.
There was so much he needed to try to repair in their fractured past as well if only she would be receptive to it. He'd been so young and had made such terrible choices then. Would she give him a second chance, even at friendship? Her warm greeting had ignited a flutter of hope in him.
Mason smiled warmly at him, trust shimmering in her green eyes though still with a hint of cautiousness.
As she turned and hurried off to join her crew in the relief efforts, it dawned on Thomas Riker that he could have a future he could call his own. One separate from his twin, but no less meaningful or joyful.
Thomas Riker was going to start over.