"Thanks again, Will."
The two captains were saying their goodbyes when Kana arrived on the bridge. The Endeavour had received new orders, direct from Admiral McCaffrey's office: they were to return to VX-41, pick up the scientists they had left there, and resume their interrupted nebula survey. The Daedalus, on the other hand, was to proceed to Starbase Two for repairs, as well as R&R for the crew.
"Any time, Hiro."
"Hopefully, next time we'll get to rescue you."
"Don't count on it," Drake grinned. "Happy travels."
"Same to you. Daedalus out."
For a few seconds they were awarded a side-on view of the great silvery starship that they had worked so hard to rescue, and everyone on the bridge could feel a surge of pride that they had, against the odds, succeeded. Then the Daedalus' nacelles flashed, the ship disappeared into subspace, and the Endeavour was once again alone in the night – the Icarus and other escorts had left formation hours ago.
"Docking course, Mr Hill," commanded the captain. "It's time we say goodbye to our marine friends."
"Oh, thank God. Oops. Did I say that out loud? How careless of me."
Drake turned his chair and smiled at her. "Alex. Are you feeling better?"
"Still a bit shaky," she replied falsely. Since she had none of her host's skill at piloting a spaceship, she had needed an excuse to keep out of the helm chair this last dayr or so. Shell shock from the explosion that she had 'narrowly' survived had seemed a good one at the time, and it still seemed to be holding up.
"You'll have plenty of time to chill while we go back to scanning dust clouds."
"Oh, I find staring at big brown blobs endlessly exhilarating, Will. Orgasmic, even."
They were a lot more interesting than the void that she had left Alex snoozing in, anyway. Or the limbo that her Vyar captives were trapped in, never to be released from. A torturous, insanity-inducing, prolonged end. Could there be any crueller revenge? If, at some later date, she came up with one, she would be sure to implement it.
"You really are in shock."
Kana grinned, and so did Alex. After fourteen hours of blissful relaxation in the perfect darkness in her subconscious, she was feeling refreshed, better than she had since her last spell of shore leave. She stood next to her second self and watched her friends and shipmates, smiling, proud of them all and proud to be a part of them. They had done some great things this mission; she knew that even Kana wouldn't disagree with her.
"Feeling better?"
"Much. Nothing like a long, restorative sleep, is there?"
Until very recently – well, twenty-odd years ago – Kana would have shrugged, unable to offer a valid answer. It wasn't until she had begun her partnership with Alex that she had learnt what it was to sleep, and to dream. She couldn't imagine life without either, now. "I suppose you'll be wanting your body back?"
Alex shook her head. "Nah. Keep it, for now. I think you've earned it."
"I have to earn my time now?" Said Kana jokingly.
The human Nain didn't reply. She watched the main screen, the asteroid into which VX-41 had been built slowly expanding to fill the viewer. Before long, Tyler and his marines would be gone, and Sarn and her scientists would be back aboard. She looked forward to that. She and her friend had some catching up to do. She was sure Sarn would be keen to hear all about the Endeavour's encounter with the Vyar.
And she would be glad to finally see the back of Tyler.
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Before he left the ship, there was one last thing for Major Kenneth Tyler to take care of. He tracked Alex Nain down to the ship's shuttlebay, where she was relaxing aboard her stealth craft, indulging in a bar of creamy white chocolate. Although he didn't announce himself in any way, she knew that he was there.
"Come to say your goodbyes?"
He stood and watched the back of her head for several seconds, until it became inescapably clear that she wasn't going to turn around and look at him. Fine. He hadn't expected her to be particularly civil, anyway. He didn't need her to be. They had never been friends, and he hadn't come to try and improve their relationship now.
"Before I go, I just wanted to clear a few things up."
"Go on."
"You were shot. You fell out of the tower on the Vyar penal station. That was a twenty-story plunge, there was nothing to land on but the ground at the bottom, and yet you walked away unharmed."
She didn't reply in anyway. He went on: "Then, on the Daedalus, that explosion killed two of my men and Captain Matsura's chief engineer, but didn't even singe your hair. And another thing: I was monitoring internal sensors. There were Vyar in the engine room. You walked in, there was some kind of radiation surge, and then you were the only one left. Radiation that utterly atomised the Vyar, and it left you untouched."
"Heh heh. What are you implying, Major? That I'm immortal? That I'm a magician? That I'm an agent, secretly working for the Vyar? What?"
He didn't answer her directly. "And then there are all those stories about you. Van De Berg, and others. You appear where disaster strikes. Sometimes you prevent it; sometimes you seem to cause it; but every time, you walk away unscathed."
"We've been through that: I'm cursed." She popped a cube of chocolate on her tongue and savoured it as it melted away.
"And then there's this Dark Soul business. Don't try and tell me it's just a nickname."
"Okay. It's my middle name. I'm Alex Dark Soul Nain. How's that?"
The major wasn't treating this as a joke. "There's something very strange about you, Lieutenant. Beyond those red eyes of yours, although I bet that's got something to do with it. I'll find out what it is."
"Feel free to try. But you should know, Major, that if someone is keeping a secret it is usually for a good reason."
"Is that a threat, Lieutenant?"
She finally turned, and in her deep, complex red eyes there flickered something cruel and taunting. "No. You would know if I was making a threat. Goodbye, Major. If we ever meet again, it will be bad for one of us. There. In case you missed it, that was a threat."
STAR TREK: Endeavour NCC-194
To be continued in 'Phobos'
Legal Notice
The characters of all Daedalus personnel used in this story (with the exception of Chief Engineer Atherton) were originally created by Michael Jan Friedman for his novel Star Trek: Starfleet Year One, published by Pocket Books,and all credit for those characters goes to him. I use them here because Year One is a favourite Star Trek story of mine, and has been a big inspiration for Endeavour NCC-194. This story is my tribute to that novel, and to Mr Friedman's work in general.