Healing hearts
R'Rollow wasn't sure about any of this. His fur was all on end and he knew K'Mir was little better. Every single instinct he had told him to run, to fight, to do anything but stand there.
He stood there.
The room was large, airy and almost comfortable. It didn't feel that way. He and K'Mir were the only flesh forms in the room, but it felt crowded anyway. Three others occupied the room. Glenda'Lar stood by one wall, still in her Herald armor, but without her helmet. Mary lay on a slab that looked decidedly uncomfortable, but looks were deceiving anytime Iconian tech was involved. Her eyes were closed and her form was transparent, her energy shifting this way and that in some kind of enclosure. But she was talking to the third!
"...and then I woke up here." The girl all but sobbed that out. She sounded just as shocked as R'Rollow felt. "Did I have a seizure of some kind?"
"No. We are not sure what happened." The huge hovering form that loomed over Mary was straight out of a nightmare. Iconians had reshaped themselves both physically and mentally to inspire fear, the better to cow enemies into flight or submission. But this one was gentle as Mary started to cry. L'Miren was clearly unhappy, but her voice was kind. "It is all right, Mary You are going to be all right."
"I don't know what happened! I messed up, Mother." Mary said through her sobs. "I don't know how or why, but I messed up again. I didn't mean to be bad. I didn't mean to cause problems, but they just happen."
"You never do, Mary." That had just the right 'Mom is being patient with a silly child' tone to have both K'Mir and R'Rollow smile. "You need to regenerate now. Listen to the Healers and they will take care of you. You will be up and around in a very short time, but listen to them this time." That was pure 'Mom is not happy'.
"Yes, Mother." Mary said softly as her energy faded, just a little. Then she was surrounded by soft pink energy and her energy solidified, seeming to grow stronger as the onlookers watched.
L'Miren just hovered for a moment, scrutinizing the energy form that was now resting and then she turned her hovering metal body to eye the two flesh forms. R'Rollow stiffened, but L'Miren spoke first. "Thank you."
"She is a good kid." R'Rollow admitted. "I like her."
"Most people would who are not blinded by hate or fear. We should let her rest." L'Miren moved away from the slab and towards one wall. "You have many questions and so do we. But for now, thank you for aiding Mary. You will not be harmed and you will be returned to your ship as soon as possible." That was a promise from one of the few remaining true Iconians. "I… I do not understand. I do not know her."
"What?" R'Rollow stared at her, his surprise total. Of all the things he had expected her to say, that had not been on the list. She had acted like that and didn't know her?
"I do not remember her. She is in our records. I should know her. I feel her. I can easily sense her love for me and I feel matching affection for her. I feel her mind seeking mine even now in her rest. Her sense of familiarity, of caring for me, is not faked. I feel for her too, know how to talk to her, comfort her." L'Miren said slowly as the wall opened and she hovered out. Glenda'Lar followed her out, staff in hand. R'Rollow and K'Mir followed L'Miren when the Herald waved for them to. "She is so familiar, but I do not know her."
"I…" R'Rollow shook his head. "That should not be possible. She knows you but you do not know her. Is this a time problem?" He asked very carefully.
L'Miren paused in her travel and turned to eye him. No! Not him! The Iconian was looking at K'mir who flinched. Again, L'Miren spoke before anyone else could.
"Be at ease." The Iconian said to K'Mir. "I did not ask names. That was rude of me and when I realized that, I took time to find it out what I could about those who helped us. What I found made me confused. I sought answers in many places, both fail and foul. I did not expect what I found at the end of my search. The horror of what you endured would have shocked any of us, maybe even T'Ket." The towering Iconians was kind now. "Ferasen K'Mir. You have nothing to fear from me, mine or any who live here." L'Miren promised the Ferasen. "We had nothing but rage and you gave us hope again when you handed me the World Heart. All of our knowledge and genetic material was stored in that and long lost, but you brought it back to us. Through time, pain, fear and death, you and those with you brought us hope. We would have killed you and all of your peoples without thinking and you helped us. You ended the war, Ferasen K'Mir, saved us all and your reward was to be reviled for that act of selflessness. For not demanding things from us, or hurting us in revenge. We will never forget you Others. If we can aid you, we must."
"I…" K'Mir slumped. "I just wanted to go on. To forget. To try and make sense of everything that happened." She was trembling and R'Rollow took hold of her hand. Anywhere else, he would have had to be careful not to be seen doing so. Catian and Ferasen alike would have problems with him showing affection to K'Mir in public. To say nothing of a captain having a relationship with a junior officer. Starfleet and KDF both had rules against such. Here? He didn't care! "I just wanted the war to stop! To protect the one I loved who kept throwing himself into harm's way! That is all!"
"I know." L'Miren was very sad now. "I have had time to think. As I said, I wanted to understand the beings who came out of nowhere to hand us hope again. It made no sense to me and I wanted it to. So I secluded myself while the others rebuilt what they could. I did it to ponder. When I exited my thoughts, I understood both more and less. I am so very sorry for what was done to you." Her awful spiky metal hand came up and ever so slowly reached out to touch K'Mir's arm. K'Mir gasped and then started to cry! "There. The pain is eased, but you will need more care."
"Pain?" R'Rollow asked, concerned.
"The ache that never went away." K'Mir stammered through her tears. "It is gone!" R'Rollow stared at her and then hugged the sobbing Ferasen. L'Miren retracted her arm just as carefully as she had extended it.
"Eased, not gone. I am not a Healer. The one who did this to you was an idiot." L'Miren was back in unhappy mode, but not with them. "Sloppy. The materials she got from such a method cannot have done what she said." At that. R'Rollow stilled.
"What?" R'Rollow would have turned to look at L'Miren, but he had his hands full of crying Ferasen.
"I have read what was available and I have talked with many, but understanding the core problem eludes me. May I touch you, Catian R'Rollow?" L'Miren inquired. "You will come to no harm from my touch." Again, an oath!
"I came here to deliver Mary. No more." R'Rollow said as K'Mir tried to push him towards L'Miren, but she had no leverage and his hug kept her from fighting. "I accept my fate."
"I do not." L'Miren countered and all the fires of hell might have gone out in fear from her tone. "You also were there. You stood with the female who calls you mate against all. Against us and then against those who came to destroy our world so long ago. After my ruminations, my defragmenting and reorganizing of my millennia of memory, I remember. Two hundred thousand years as your Federation tells time and your face is as clear to me in those ancient memories as it is to me now. You and others of your group protected me while I secured the World Heart. All of you might have perished protecting me if not for the courage and leadership you showed. Then, I saw you…" She nodded to K'Mir. "...tackle the one who hurt me and take the World Heart from her. I was in the gateway, but I saw you stop her. Saw you take it from her, that which you gave to us in this time. I did not remember than until I reorganized my memories."
R'Rollow shook his head, but then bowed it. Instead of touching him with her hand, L'Miren bent down to touch her forehead to his and a gasp echoed from Glenda'Lar. Such a gesture of trust from such a powerful being was not a little thing.
"You humble me." The Iconian said quietly as her power surrounded the Catian and Ferasen. "Both of you. So small, so slight, so frail and yet, so strong and so determined. So hurting and so loving." She retreated a little and rose to her full height. "My people will all agree, likely even T'Ket." That was sour. "That doctor is an idiot as well as something far worse."
"What do you mean?" R'Rollow asked, confused. He felt the same.
"I mean that there is no way that what was taken from your mate cured the sickness I feel in you." L'Miren was quiet, but furious. Not with him or K'Mir though. "Just as there is no way that the same… Was what the term he used?" She mused and then nodded. "Oh yes, 'quack'." She made a noise of disgust. "There is no way that quack did not know that she was hurting Mary. That she was damaging Mary's energy in a specific way that we Iconians recognize. We remember those who attack us." R'Rollow felt shock and K'mir tensed in his arms, but L'Miren was quick to reassure them both. "You are not to blame. Your Alliance is not to blame. We will discover who is to blame and seek redress, but not now. Now? You need help. Both of you."
"Wait. What happened to Mary?" K'Mir asked, confused. "She was hurt. Even when she tried to hide it, she was hurting. Even when she helped me cope, I could feel her pain."
"Yes. Her energy was infected with an insidious weapon designed to fight beings composed of energy. It ignored you and everyone else who was not like us as inconsequential. It was intended to attack us." L'Miren was quiet but fury lurked deep in her tone. "The weapon is AI based and highly dangerous. It could have infected us all. That is, if we had not faced such before and did not have safeguards in place for such. T'Ket would have killed her on sensing such a weapon. We can do better and will. Mary will be fine."
"They put an AI weapon in her." R'Rollow breathed, horrified. "They are pragmatic, but… Oh my god!"
"So, the AI that attacked the Denali came from Mary?" K'Mir asked, confused. "No, that makes no sense."
"No, it did not, but likely that AI detected the weapon in her. Such a weapon as is being removed from Mary as we speak would have killed any AI fairly easily. They cannot adapt as easily as we can." L'Miren had a frown in her voice that would never show on her metal face. "Hence why it tried to kill her, both with a direct attack and suborned Starfleet personnel. It failed, but just barely. Thanks to your people."
"And her Herald." K'Mir said softly. "We need to get Jhinis back before they do terrible things to her too!"
"Mary's Herald. Yes. I burn to lash out. To strike those who hurt Mary and took her retainer. But I cannot." L'Miren was calmer now. "I am too strong. We Iconians are too powerful. If we act as I wish to, we would cause harm to innocents. We have done far too much of that. When all we sought was vengeance, none of us would have hesitated. T'Ket even now would not hesitate. But… You showed us a different way." She bent down to touch her forehead to K'Mir who had gone utterly still again.
"I was following Kagran's lead." K'Mir said weakly. "R'Rollow's lead. I just…" Something wafted over her from L'Miren and the Ferasen sighed, relaxed. Then she jerked. "Really? I..."
"Suggesting that was rude of me." L'Miren sounded almost ashamed as she retreated a bit. "I am still feeling out what is right and wrong after so long thinking I was the only one who knew what those were. I could only trust my sisters and look where that got us."
"I took no offense." K'Mir offered, holding out her a hand. L'Miren carefully moved her own metal hand underneath the Ferasen's but only for a moment. Then she retreated a bit. Even when friendly, such raw power as L'Miren exuded could do very bad things to organic forms. "I… I am honored by your thought, but I need time to think on that. For now, though? We need to focus on the now. Mary. Jhinis. R'Rollow."
"And you." L'Miren reminded her. "You are not dying, but pain short circuits organic minds. Both of you will be able to contact your ship while you heal." She heaved an all too human sigh as Glenda'lar shook her head from where she stood by the wall. "And I need to go make sure Mary rests."
"What is she doing?" R'Rollow asked carefully as Glenda'Lar stepped forward.
"They want her to go into full downtime and she won't. She is planning rescues. Using far too much of her energy planning elaborate scenarios." L'Miren was not happy again. "Somehow, it does not surprise me that the girl runs tactical simulations on her downtime, but she needs to rest and that is not resting."
"That sounds familiar." K'Mir stiffened at R'Rollow's wry tone. He grinned at her as the Iconian and Herald stared at the pair. "I had a bit of experience in dealing with someone who needed to heal and wanted to get up and do things well before she was physically capable." K'Mir hissed at him, but he was unmoved. "Would you mind some help?"
"You and your mate have already done far more than anyone could have imagined." L'Miren sounded unsure. That was almost shocking. "That said? What I feel about Mary even not remembering her says that she will be stubborn."
"Especially since her Herald is the one in danger." R'Rollow nodded. "Can you make her hear me?"
"Yes." L'Miren drawled that word out to at least three syllables. "She can hear you."
"Mary, we are working on it." R'Rollow said in command voice. "Go to sleep. Now."
"She went to sleep. She turned off her scenarios and went to sleep." The shock in L'Miren's voice was palpable. "That was well done. You are full of surprises, Catian R'Rollow."
"She just got out of Stafleet Academy." R'Rollow shrugged, but he did look pleased with himself. "She still respects authority. I give it… About two years before she argues with authority instinctively."
"Want a job?" Glenda'Lar inquired from where she stood. Everyone looked at her and she shrugged. "We could use him in the orphanage, Great One."
"I wouldn't do that to him." L'Miren snapped, but it was humorous rather than biting. "Besides, he is not evil enough to keep them all in line. V'Lar has her hands full with all of you silly lot." Glenda'Lar bowed to her.
"Orphanage?" R'Rollow and K'mir chorused. Just like that, the humor in the area faded.
"We cannot bring back those we killed." L'Miren said quietly. "We cannot do that any more than we can bring back those we lost. That said? We can do some things. There were many who lost families in our War. We were guides and guardians once. It was decided that we would try to do that again. What we have done so far has been through subterfuge…" She paused as Glenda'Lar bowed to her. "You are hardly ambivalent, Herald." L'Miren said mildly.
"No one would have believed you, Great One." The human in Herald armor said calmly as she rose from her bow. "No one would have accepted you. I didn't at first although I did come around quickly in V'Lar's care. You could not have acted openly. Look at they did to Mary! With me and others who followed me into the healing there, you did well. You did marvels and I am hardly the only one who has benefited. There will be others who you help who will wish to follow the path I did."
"They will think we altered your minds." L'Miren protested. "Infested you with parasites. Enslaved you! They will not accept that this is your choice any more than they accepted Mary."
"You were in their orphanage?" R'Rollow inquired carefully of the Herald as K'Mir eyed the Herald.
"I was." Glenda'Lar admitted. "I was a handful to the authorities. My parents were miners and in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know if it was the Iconians who killed them or someone else. No one knows and now? It doesn't matter. I cannot change the past. I was fifteen and lost. I had no kin that I knew of and I was angry. So angry and sad. I lashed out. The authorities didn't blame me, but they couldn't control me either. In foster care, I was little better than an animal. Until, one day, a very strange woman appeared at the foster home I was in and took me away. Brought me here." The smile she gave L'Miren was heartfelt. "They calmed me. Helped me past my grief and rage. It took time, but they did it. Since then, they have done it for more than just me. I decided I wanted to help and they were a bit leery about letting me take this path." L'Miren made a sad noise.
"What was done cannot be undone, Glenda'Lar." L'Miren was very sad now. "We hoped you would find a better way than war and death."
"You are finding a better way." The Herald said firmly. "I wanted to help you find that way and I will. I help V'Lar with the orphanage. But for now?" She nodded to the Catian and Ferasen. "You both need time and rest. Come."
She held out her hand to K'Mir who took it a bit hesitantly. R'Rollow still had her other hand in his He hadn't let her go this whole time. In a flash of blue, they were gone. Only when they were gone did L'Miren relax.
"We cannot hide the truth from them." A Healer said as he stepped out of a camouflaged door. "Mary has already guessed, but she will hold silence. She is your daughter, Great One. She can do no less than what she feels you would wish of her." He bowed to her.
"Stop that!" L'Miren snapped, not humorous at all as the Healer rose. "I am not your mistress. I never will be. I just want to fix what I can! We have to fix what we can of what we did. To your people and so many others."
"What will be, will be. That was a very good thought." The Healer said mildly. "She will accept it quickly. He will take some convincing."
"I leave that in your hands, Healer." L'Miren had a wicked smile in her voice as she vanished in a haze of blue.
"Thanks." Ssaak said with a growl that any Gorn would have recognized as irritated.