The Ties That Bind
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Star Trek: The Next Generation no mine...no money, no sue, please?
No knob, no handle, no latch, no buttons, no keypad, no nothing. There was no way to open the door.
"Phasers" Worf suggested.
"They won't work" Q replied, "She's locked us out"
"There has to be a way to get in there" Will said, examining the door.
"You could always try talking to it" Q murmured under his breath, but Will heard it. It was worth a shot.
"Miranda Leslie Riker, you open this door right now!" he ordered loudly in his most commanding voice. Nothing happened. "Miranda, this is your brother! I demand that you open this door immediately!" He waited for a second. The door didn't open.
"Will!" Jean-Luc nodded at the door. A knob had appeared. Will quickly grabbed it and pushed the door open. They stepped through one at a time....and each fell to their knees in agony. They didn't know where the pain was coming from, and exactly where it hurt was unsure, but was devastating. As soon as Q stepped over the threshold, though, the pain bated. The humans pushed themselves to their feet and looked around.
"What the hell was that?" Will wondered aloud.
"I'd say it was Miranda's pain" Beverly answered.
"Why did it go away?" Will asked, looking at Deanna. She shrugged.
"Whoa" Geordi whisteled.
"Your father certainly didn't hold back" Beverly commented. They'd just acknowledged their new surroundings.
"No kidding" Will replied. The living room area was huge, with bay windows on either side. The furnishings, neon greens and yellows, were well made and of unique design. They clashed with the bright blue carpet and walls. Everything, however disorienting, appeared to be quite expensive.
Her gifts from Mr. Wu sat in places of honor around the room. There was a hallway leading to the right and a hallway leading to the left, past the large kitchen area, which was in varying hues of greens and purples.
The rooms, however, were empty of people. There was no sound in the apartment, except that which was being made by the visitors.
"Where is she?" Will asked aloud.
"Randy, dear, we have guests!" Park stood in the right hand hallway with a smug look on his face. He didn't look as well as he had at her party the night before, though. Perhaps the torture was taking a toll on him as well.
"Q! Well, I can't say I'm surprised to see you" he went on, stepping forward, "I knew you'd come for this one. She's special, isn't she?"
"Hmm. I should've known you wouldn't be able to resist her" Q replied just as smugly, "You always did go for the easiest prey"
"Easy? You call this easy? Why, she's the most challenging one I've had in eons!" Park exclaimed. He was breathing hard and his cheeks were sunken in. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were red rimmed. He looked like a maniac, which of course he was so it wasn't surprising.
"Let her go!" Will demanded angrily, taking a step towards him. Park ignored him, keeping his eyes focused on Q.
"I don't know why you brought them, Q" he said, "I hope you don't believe they can do anything to stop me"
"You've got what you want, why don't you just let her go?" Q countered, his eyes narrowing. A thought had just entered his head.
"Let her go? But I've spent seventeen years preparing her! You didn't think she was naturally so bitter, did you?" Park gloated.
"You? You made her that way?" Geordi exclaimed, outraged.
"How did a being like you ever get into Starfleet?" Picard wondered aloud.
"Oh, please, Captain" Park replied scathingly, "Your precious Starfleet isn't everything you'd have us believe it is. But enough of this small talk! I'm sure you're all anxious to see our dear little Randy. Randy, dear, won't you come out?" He snapped his fingers and grinned, "Oh, that's right. She can't walk, I've just broken her legs. Well, we can fix that" He snapped his fingers in the air just as Q so often did. For a second, nothing changed, and then they saw her.
She was suspended in the air like she was hanging from some invisible hook, gliding out from one of the rooms off the hallway. Her head was dropped and her legs hung at an odd angle. The wounds that had healed from her physical body were still very much present on her mental one. Barely conscious, her mouth worked but nothing came out. Her hair was matted with blood and what smelled like vomit.
"My god" Beverly managed to gasp.
"What have you done to her?" Will asked, disgust and pain dripping from his words.
"I would expect that to be fairly obvious" Park replied. Miranda was now hanging right beside him, "I inflicted physically the wounds you and your father inflicted mentally. I always thought a person should look the way she feels"
"I did not do that to her!" Will cried, telling himself too. Park flipped a hand at him.
"Oh, I know you didn't! So does she, now. But for so long, oh! How I made her suffer in your name!"
Will tried to lunge at Park but Worf and Data were holding him back. Miranda was barely losing consciousness, unable to move and having difficulty breathing. A drop of blood slowly ran from the corner of her mouth to her chin. She looked as if she might not have the power to open her eyes, let alone overpower this maniacal super being that had imposed himself into her mind. Of course, Q would have reminded them if he hadn't been paying attention to something else, everything they were seeing was only a representation of what was going on.
Data's strong mechanical fingers were starting to bruise Will's arm. He forced himself to stop struggling so Worf and the android let go.
"Ah, well, as we all know the weak human mind and body combination can only withstand so much" Park went on in a lamenting tone, "I'm afraid our dear Randy is failing. I could torture her some more, but I think it will be so much more devastating to watch her die in your arms. And as we all know, devastation equals fun!"
Park disappeared, or seemed to, and Miranda crumpled onto the floor. Will rushed to her, propping her head on his lap.
"Miranda!" he whispered, "Don't you give up on me! I need you!" His endearing words, however, had no affect on her. He couldn't even tell if she'd heard him.
"These injuries are serious" Beverly proclaimed.
"Q, is there anything you can do to help?" Jean-Luc asked. Q frowned.
"Short of giving her the power of Q, no" he answered.
"Can you do that?" Geordi asked. He wasn't as close to Miranda as the others, but he couldn't stand to see her in such a state. He felt it went against the very nature of the universe to see anyone in such a state.
"She wouldn't be able to control it" Q told them, "In trying to destroy Park she could kill you all"
"If Park can affect her, why can you not?" Data asked.
"I don't know" Q replied slowly, still thinking and concentrating on something none of the rest of them could feel.
"Councilor, is there anything you can do?" Worf inquired before the Captain could get to it. Deanna shook her head remorsefully.
"I can't even feel her"
"That's because I'm blocking your empathic abilities" Q reported, "Other wise you'd be in no better shape than she is"
"There must be something we can do" Jean-Luc said.
"Perhaps we should try talking to her" Data suggested.
"She's barely conscious, Data" Will reminded his friend as he wiped blood away from his sister's mouth.
"I have read that humans are able to hear those around them, even in an unconscious state" the android replied.
"Data's right, Will" Beverly confirmed, "She may not be able to respond, but she should be able to hear us" It took a second for Will to digest this. He was on the verge of tears, realizing he was about to lose his entire family for a second time. And this time, it would be worse, worse because he loved her so much.
"Miranda, Data says you can hear me. I hope that's true, because I need to tell you a few things. When you first came on board I was shocked and angry. I didn't want to let you in. But I did, Miranda. You're my little sister, and there's nobody that's meant more to me, ever. I love you, and I need you. I need you to stay with me"
"We all do, Miranda" Jean-Luc piped in, "We all need your vibrancy. I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to have such a...youthful passion for something"
"You have shown me that it is not always important how good your technique is, as long as you try your best you may still bring honor to yourself and those around you" Worf said.
"You have taught me that, though I may be an android, my life is just as valuable as any other living being. I am not artificial" Data added.
"Wesley and I have come to see you as part of the family" Beverly went on, "He feels you're like an older sister he never had. I've come to see you as a daughter I never had"
"All those times you came down to Engineering with Wesley, and you never had a clue what we were talking about" Geordi chuckled at the memory, "You still came up with a couple pretty good ideas, just from instinct. Guess I started paying more attention to my own after that"
"What we're trying to say, Miranda, is that you've touched all of our lives" Deanna concluded, "And not only ours, but the entire crew's. You're important to us, and we wanted to you to know that"
"And if you think you're important to them, wait till you see what I've got waiting for you" Q added. Silence fell and they all waited to see what would happen.