Chapter Two: The Anomaly
Year 2373
Deep Space Nine, The Alpha Quadrant
Jadzia Dax lazily cracked one eye open warily to a dark room barely lit with dim starlight through the windows. She turned to the computer time gauge that rested on the side of the bed and sighed tiredly as she caught sight of the hour. It was early morning. Oh, the joys of having a job which commands rising at 4:05 a.m!
Over the last few years, Lt. Commander Dax had become accustomed to waking at such a sharp hour, so much so that she had stopped using the computer's wakeup calls because she had conditioned herself to wake up on her own. Deep Space Nine's science commander now suddenly became aware of another warm presence beside her. Jadzia propped herself up on one elbow, leaning over her slumbering companion.
A simple smile came to her face as she watched Lenara sleep serenely. The faint starlight cast a ethereal glow to her skin and highlighted the fairness of her golden locks in a faint blue radiance. There was not a more peaceful sight to wake up to in all of the Alpha Quadrant. She felt she could just stay here forever like this, but alas…work beckoned. Jadzia sigh and rolled over out of bed as quietly as possible, careful not to wake the still sleeping beauty. She tiptoed to their bedroom door and began the tedious task of donning her daily uniform. Putting her hair up and straightening her uniform top, she was ready for action.
The hall was brightly lit as she stepped out into it passing by and nodding to other crew members on her way to the turbo lift. Jadzia reached the closed turbo doors and pushed the button for the platform to come up. She heard the sound of it rising and prepared her sleepy self for its arrival. The metallic doors opened and there was the Major, a smile forming on her face the moment she caught sight of the Trill commander.
"Good morning, Major." Jadzia greeted as she stepped onto the platform, to stand beside her.
"Good morning, Dax." Kira acknowledged, inclined her head to her, a smile threatening to sprout onto her face. "How was your dinner last night?"
"Good." Jadzia replied turning her head to face her friend, smiling characteristically. "Wonderful. How was yours?"
"Good." Kira replied. "Decent, for a night spent with crew schedules. Ija Beru was the highlight of the evening."
"I 'm glad." Jadzia said. "That you had someone to distract you from those crew schedules."
Kira grinned as they both stepped back for the doors to close. "To Ops."
------
Lenara woke up at around 7:00. She opened her eyes to greet the ever present starlight in the dimness of the room. It was hard to imagine a morning without the sun rising over the beautiful Tenaran landscape on Trill. One could see the radiant cornucopia of colors almost perfectly from the apartment window she used to have high above the streets in Trillius Prime. It was one of the things she missed the most after leaving Trill…that she would never see it again, it was an almost unbearable thought. But it was made survivable by the one person she would readily give it all up for and had given it up for in the end: Jadzia Dax.
Lenara rolled over and stretched contentedly beneath the satin sheets.
"Computer, tenement illumination to seventy percent." She ordered.
An artificial beep was her answer as the room became glorious with light. She reached out to the other side of the bed and found it cold, but familiarly empty. She was alone. Lenara sighed. Every morning without her was a trying morning, but Jadzia's job required that she be off to work at a very early hour. Perhaps, one morning she would wake herself up before Dax did and lay beside her, just enjoying the fact that she was there. Maybe, she would do that tomorrow.
She sat up and turned to let her bare feet hang over the edge of the bed. The floor was cold when she stepped down on it, but it was not a deterrent. She stopped as she passed by the full body mirror that hung on the wall. Her night gown hung loosely on her, comfortable just the way she liked it. Her golden-brown hair was loose and untamed at her shoulders. Lenara looked sharply at the reflection of her eyes in the insightful surface. They were green today…but tired from sleep.
Lenara smiled, but fleetingly. She had to get ready! She had to be to sickbay in one hour to analyze blood samples and like any active nurse, she had to look presentable for her patients. A glimpse of something in the mirror halted her in her rushing. The necklace Jadzia had given her the night previous lay reverently placed atop the dresser behind her and the diamond's brilliant radiance reflected its image in the mirror before her. Lenara turned around and reached out to grasp the necklace off of the dresser. Turning back to the mirror she held it up to her chest to see how it looked. Her reflection gazed awestricken back at her, at the glittering gem resting just below her collar bone.
For one moment she closed her eyes and allowed herself a genuine smile of true happiness. Slowly, she let her thoughts wander back to a time when they were in love and allowed to be so without the infringement of any law or crossing of any set boundary.
It was a cold night in the capital city of Trillius Prime. A cold night, but clear as glass. The stars shone down on the city with not clouds hindering their path. A party was being held at the Ministry to celebrate Phariain Roscar, the senior most member of the Ministry, honoring his more than one hundred years of service on Trill and a life's dedication to science. Nilani had been invited becauseher father, Hilel, was a top researcher for the organization. She remembered almost everything she had felt that night. The awe at seeing the great hall. The pleasant delight when the minstrels had sung a version of 'Il Torio' as an interlude to diner. Even the growing nervousness she felt when her father pushed her out into the crowd after dinner to socialize and mingle. It was all alive and breathing in her.
The society gathering had been boring and predictable. People conversed in groups according to their class. Nilani was jostled and dragged into a group of researcher's daughters by her more extroverted sister, Nirvana. She had tried to keep up the banter with one of the researcher's son her sister had left her with, but it was becoming difficult.
The talk was all so mundane, over the same topics, the same worthless interests.
"I hear Consul Leviathan is working on a new plasma diffuser which is supposed to enhance the process without wasting energy." The researcher's son droned on, only pausing to take a sip of his punch and then continued. "Father says he won't ever be able to do it, not leastways, without the help of the research department, though Leviathan seems like the kind of man who would take a go at trying it alone first."
Nilani focused her attention back on him, though she had been bored almost to death by his words. "Yes, the Consul does seem like a rather stubborn man doesn't he?"
"Yes, or at least that's how father speaks of him." He went on. "However, I do not know him personally, but I trust in what father says."
"Everyone who believes what your father says, must have a great deal of patience, indeed."
Nilani heard a voice from somewhere and another boy appeared, about the same height as the former only sturdier built and more handsome. His eyes were of a striking blue which seemed to smile at her without the added help from the grin below as he directed his attention towards her. A kindred and free spirit lurched, longed to be free in those eyes. She recognized him as the boy she had met on the stairs at the start of the evening, though she had not asked him his name. Within a small moment he broke the eye contact between them both and turned back to his companion, clapping his shoulder with his hand again.
"Isn't that right, Eudorus." The charming young man commented.
"Go away, Torias, you're behaving like a child." Eudorus shook off the other's arm and indulged in his punch once more.
"Oh, Eudorus, don't be a bore." Torias said, his eyes glinting mischievously. "You simply need to focus all of your energy on getting more enjoyment out of life."
"I do enjoy life." Eudorus snapped. "Just not as you see it."
"Oh, please." Another boy rolled his eyes approaching them. Nilani recognized him as the boy her sister was fond of.Nivrim Vos was his name, maybe. She couldn't remember for sure. "You enjoy your days like a fisherman relishes in the rotten smell and hot sweat of his work. You do it, but grudgingly."
"Is that so bad?" Eudorus shot back.
"So bad?" Torias repeated. "It is a crime! Life is to be lived freely, there is nothing else for it."
Nivrim scanned the room for the one person he was looking for. Spotting, Nirvana, his smile grew and he grabbed Eudorus' arm startling him.
"What are you doing?" Eudorus asked. "Take your hands off me!"
"You want to see how life is to be lived." Nivrim nodded towards where Nirvana was talking with a group of other girls. "Then come with me and I will introduce you to real beauty."
"But I-" Eudorus protested.
"No buts." Nivrim cut him off and began dragging him haphazardly across the room. "And no arguments either."
Torias grinned as he watched them go, then he turned to Nilani still smiling. She could only look at him. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute in her chest while every word she thought of seemed to get caught in her throat even before she had a chance to say it. Torias noticed her discomfort somewhat and took a step forward, extending his hand in the formal fashion to her.
"May name is Torias Vosion." He begun the greeting, waiting for her to reciprocate.
Nilani swallowed the butterflies creping from her belly to her throat and struggled to speak clearly and normally. "I am Nilani Solan and my father is a researcher for the ministry."
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss." Torias brought her hand up and kissed the knuckles before letting it fall gracefully back to her side. "We met earlier at the staircase, but I did not have time to ask you your name."
"Me too." Nilani shook her head.
Torias watched her, captivated by her. She was quiet and small, yes, but there was a strength to her all of her own. It shone brightest in the depths of those fiery green eyes and even as she smiled simply up at him, he felt the energy radiating from her.
"Now there is something new." She commented to herself watching him.
"What?" He asked curiously.
She looked up at him surprised as the hand holding the punch glass only inches away from her lips halted in mid air. Had she just thought out loud? And he heard it!
"Oh, nothing." She covered as she took a sip of punch and focused intently on the small crystal glass to shift her attention away from the fear building in her stomach or the heat rising in her cheeks.
"Nothing is a thing for scholars to debate, but your thoughts are your own." Torias said. "But I am curious. What was the something new you spoke of?"
Nilani sighed and looked up at him, coaxed to truth by the memorizing character of those eyes. "It is just, the way you look at me. No one ever looks at me that way, as though they are searching for something they have finally found and you show an interest in what I actually have to say which is something very rare indeed."
"You must be joking?" Torias' grin faltered for a moment, but fell back into place without missing a step. "You're the most beautiful and interesting girl I've ever met. I can't imagine someone could ignore you, let alone choose to."
Nilani blushed, but did not shy away from him. "Thank You."
Torias smiled and turned to look back behind him to watch as Nivrim talked with Nirvana interestedly while Eudorus tried nervously to keep the attention of another girl. Torias turned back to her and nodded.
"He's a smart boy, Eudorus is." Torias commented watching her. "He's fortunate to have you."
Nilani looked at him surprised. He didn't think…"No, he and I are just acquaintances. We met for the first time tonight."
"Oh, sorry." Torias shook his head at himself, chuckling a little. "I assumed and all too often my assumptions tend to get the better of me. Nivrim could tell you a whole bunch of stories about that."
Nilani giggled at that. "It is not the worst flaw you could fault yourself on."
"No, but it's the most reoccurring."
"At least you're honest."
"True, but honesty is not always forthcoming."
"No, but it is always real."
Torias smiled, his eyes blue eyes shining down on her. She would later come to recognize and to love those eyes even after years of separation, they would hold the same feelings of love and adoration for her as they had on their first meeting at the staircase of the Borisan Hall. The look in those eyes. Dax had fallen in love with her upon first glance without even knowing her name or anything about her and had trusted that love to the very end. Nothing, not even occasional discord brought that love under speculative light. It just always was, always felt right. It was unyielding, indefinable as the night of a full moon and ultimately unconditional with no end in sight.
Those eyes studied her thoughtfully for a moment. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, Torias held out his hand to her and so trusting was she of him that she took it without any hesitation before he even had a chance to ask the question he was seeking. Torias had to chuckle slightly at this. "Come with me. There is something I would like to show you."
The two ventured out from the crowded hall and out onto the northernmost balcony where the moon was glistening like a great silver tear overhead. Wordless in the serene night, Torias led Nilani over to the railing and, taking one of her hands gently in his own, began pointing out various stars he knew and facts about them. As a precaution to steady her away from the low edge of the railing, Torias placed his opposite hand on the front of Nilani's waist and shortly after she brought up her other hand to cover his own almost unconsciously. An odd display for some, but then any common stranger would only be looking, not seeing. No one but the two of them could see what was between them, what separated the them both from the grand scheme of things as a whole and placed them in a world completely their own. It was almost a form of magic.
Lastly, their joined hands stopped at the base of one particular star in the sky, one who's light made all of the others they had previously examined seem somehow tiny and dim.
"What is this one called?" Nilani asked curiously.
"My grandfather always referred to it as the Nobian star. According to his star charts it used to be the central star of the Nobian system, but after the main planet was destroyed it became a rogue without a charge to defend."
Nilani turned back to look at him as their eyes met. "I think I like the roguish type."
"Think so do you?" Torias asked leaning in a little closer to her.
Nilani smirked and back out of his embrace slowly, puzzling the poor boy before reaching out her hand and taking hold of his smooth chin gently. "Perhaps, but thoughts are not necessarily sure things unless," and here she stopped and leaned in towards him again bringing their faces so close to one another that their noses almost touched, "unless we choose to make them so."
With that said, Torias closed the gap between them and the first kiss of the many to live on in eternity was ignited between the two. The sweetest of all first kisses was born that night and as evidence of its uniqueness, the Nobian star shined brighter in the sky over Trill that night than ever it has before or since in recorded history.
Slowly, Lenara let the necklace slide down across her skin before she laid it back on the top of the armoire. She smile to herself and ran one hand over her abdomen where the symbiont was fluttering anxiously over the sudden revival of the memory. I had been so long ago, but still the feeling of that night lingered just as the tingle from the first touch of two pairs of lips did. The happiness which began that night resonated just as strongly today as it did then. Lenara could not think of anything more in the world she could ask for because everything she had ever longed for she found in Dax's love.
From nights spent reminiscing about old memories or nights spent making new ones. From mornings laying awake and just holding one another in the comforting embrace of each other's reassuring arms. From lunch hours occupied with the throwing back and fourth of playful yet eloquent banter. Or of the challenging days which were always the hardest to bear. Of the hours spent worrying over Dax when she was on away missions on the Defiant or off escorting some diplomat from the Alpha quadrant. But since then had been together, Jadzia had tried her best to make sure her adoring wife would never have to be widowed again, not again, never again. Still, Commander Dax made it perfectly clear that whenever Deep Space Nine was in danger, she would be gladly willing to defend it, no matter what the cost. Lenara had accepted this, though with the announcement of every away mission it became a more and more difficult to acknowledge.
She often wondered what she would do if Dax would ever be taken away from her again. The notion would cross Lenara's mind often, but she did her best to push the thought away entirely. But still the threat lingered in the back of her consciousness every waking hour as a nightmare which would not dissipate from its plotted course.
Lenara sighed as she thought back to the fateful day she had been widowed. To the feeling of aloneness and dread she felt upon entering the empty house, knowing that her love was about to embark on a dangerous mission and she was powerless to stop it. She had tried to tell him about the risks the night before he left for the base, to convince him not to go, but he had said that she was overreacting and that he would perform the first successful test. He swore it would work and that he would be alright, she would see. And she had seen.
Lenara reached out for the corner of the armoire as grief and emptiness as she had only felt once before perforated her body from the abdomen, where the symbiont was shuddering in the aftermath of the memory, up all the way to her palpitating heart. She remembered the day a Starfleet officer in uniform came to her door. He was no older than her husband, younger even by a few years. A boy who had not yet earned his first stripes of service or seen more than a year of on task experience told her that the love of her life was gone. Oh, how her heart had broken in that one instant. She could still remember all of the sensations she had felt then: the pain of her breaking heart, the shock, the disbelief that such a thing could not be true, and the horrible reality that it was.
Lenara took a deep, shuddering breath as she stood up to her full height again. She had promised herself she would never endure such a thing again. Never.
"Infirmary to Dr. Kahn." The intercom voice suddenly beeped over her head.
"Dr. Kahn here, go ahead please."
"Dr. Kahn, Dr. Bashir is waiting in his office. He said you'd scheduled an appointment for-"
Oh, the appointment!!! She'd completely forgot about it.
"Yes, of course! Tell Dr. Bashir I'll be there in a few minutes. "
"Yes, Ma'am."
Lenara ran into the walk in closet, quickly threw on and over tunic and was out the door in a few short moments.
------
08:00 Hours
Ops was buzzing comfortably with status reports on everything ranging from the stasis of the main habitat ring to the tiniest fluctuation in subspace particles outside the station flooding in to be cataloged and checked, like normal. Every ensign and officer who had been assigned to the morning's first shift was on the bridge, seated at their consoles. The Captain was still asleep sound in his cabin as he did not have to be on call for another hour yet, so the only two senior officers on the bridge for the morning were Major Kira and Lt. Commander Dax.
"So you and Lenara enjoyed your anniversary last night, did you?" Kira asked smiling as she read the surrounding sensory report on the console in front of her.
"Oh, yes." Jadzia quipped looking up from her console. "The perfect romantic evening."
"Are you still both looking to start a family?" Kira asked scanning the each report that popped up onto the screen.
"Yes. I finally convinced her that I am not going anywhere anytime soon so it wouldn't be a burden to us just to try." Dax explained typing something into her console and accessing a whole other report to scan and read. In doing so she frowned to herself. "She still worries for me though."
Kira's smile fell a little. "I would too if I'd gone through what she's been through with you."
"I suppose I would too." Jadzia agreed. "I understand how she feels, but it makes me feel guilty every time I have to leave for an away mission."
"Maybe you should talk to her about it." Kira suggested looking over at her.
"We have talked about it." Jadzia confessed turning towards her. "And she insists that she's fine, but I can still see the worry in her eyes every time I'm called away."
"You can't blame her." Kira stated returning to her console.
"I don't." Dax reassured as she too resumed her work, finding it not so riveting as it was only a few moments ago. "And I never will. It was my fault in the first place, my impulsive drive that left her alone to suffer. I won't do it again to her, she doesn't deserve it."
"I didn't think you would." Kira said. "Still I am sure Lenara would feel better hearing you say it."
Jadzia leaned back in her chair, her hands still on the console as she thought back. Her eyes switching their focus from various places on the console as she became lost in memory.
It was early one morning, hours before Dax herself had to be up for work. Jadzia awoke slowly, grudgingly succumbing to the yearnings of her body's natural alarm clock. Leisurely, she reached out across the bed expecting to encounter her partner's slender form and instead found only empty space. Puzzled, Dax sat up and gazed about in the dim light of their quarters. She scanned the room until her eyes fell upon the form of her companion. Lenara was standing before the bay window on the other side of their room gazing out into the expansive recesses of space as starlight illuminated her face and thinly clad body.
Dax smiled and took a moment to admire the sight, but the firm look of concentration on her love's face was enough to bring her back to reality.
"What are you doing?" She asked quietly
Lenara's stern disposition disappeared into the beginnings of a contented smile as she turned to her. "Thinking."
"I can see that." Jadzia quipped her smile returning. Eloquently, she rolled out of bed and walked over to stand beside Lenara. Gently and with the utmost reverence for the divine creature whose presence she was blessed to be in, Dax reached down and traced her love's jaw bone down to where it met her chin and allowed her fingers to dwell there. "What were you thinking about, I wonder?"
Lenara leaned into the gentle touch, but did not allow herself to get lost in it. "Us."
Jadzia's smile slipped into a characteristic smirk she was prone to in her smart-aleck moments. "I love it when you're so specific. It makes trying to figure you out much easier on my mind."
Lenara allowed a small laugh to escape her lips. "Only for you, Dax."
"Aren't you sweet." Jadzia commented, her eyes glinting mischievously.
Slowly, Dax leaned down and lightly captured Lenara's lips in a chaste kiss, deepening it, once she knew her partner was comfortable, into a passionate dance. Lenara reached up and placed one hand at the back of Dax's neck, planting her in place, not that she'd mind you understand. Jadzia arms encircled Lenara's waist making her feel like a warm force field had surrounded her, keeping her safe against all odds. Time seemed to stretch out into eternity for the two of them as the peaceful exchange between the two ensued. There was nothing that could produce the same cosmic effect throughout the universe, but a lovers' embrace. Slowly, Jadzia pulled away, but allowed her forehead to rest against Lenara's as they stayed there for a few silent moments.
The spark in Lenara's eyes became curious as she watched Dax look at her. "What are you thinking now?"
Jadzia released a stout breath and smiled at her honestly, her arms still around her lover's waist. "I think I am seeing stars."
Lenara's smile became an expression of genuine happiness. "You're wonderful."
Jadzia's expression took on an air of the youthful playfulness she had never quite grown out of. "I know."
Dax stared down into her eyes as Lenara laughed lightly at her and the same warm feeling she was becoming more and more used too over the days of the past year reenergized itself throughout the tiny atoms of every fiber of her being. Finally, she felt truly complete. Never before in her life had she known this feeling with another person. With determined initiative, she said the words it had taken her only a few days to realize, but had issued in the happiest times of her life.
"I love you, Lenara Kahn." She said.
Lenara seemed caught off guard by the sudden admittance, but she smiled and leapt forward into Jadzia's embrace as she caught her in a tight hug. "I love you, Jadzia Dax."
"Nothing will ever take me from you, I swear it." Jadzia said, her heart in her throat as she stroked Lenara's back through the gold satin of her night shirt. "I promise."
"I know." Lenara said as she buried her face in Dax's shoulder. Slowly, though her good natured side emerged and she became determined to lighten the moment. "Oh, dear, what then shall I do on all of my day's off if we never shall part?"
Jadzia grinned into her hand and with a grunt picked her up off of the floor and held her completely in her arms. Lenara gasped as she felt her feet leave the floor beneath her. Carefully, she was brought over and deposited on to the bed with Jadzia landing atop of her supporting her weight with her elbows propped up on the mattress on either side of her. Playfully, Dax gazed down at her as their eyes met.
"Well, I guess you're just stuck with me for good." Dax quipped. "And as a requirement I prescribe every waking hour you do not spend working must be spent with me, not allowing you to seclude yourself from the world."
"It's pretty well decided now is it?" Lenara arched one golden brown eyebrow up at her captor.
Jadzia nodded, the grin still in place. "Face it, we're bound to spend the rest of eternity together and I'm afraid I can't see any safe way out of it anytime soon."
Lenara leaned up and claimed Dax's mouth in another passionate kiss before pulling away abruptly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Neither would I." Jadzia replied before she descended for another kiss, this one long, full of love and everything she wanted Lenara to know, but did not trust herself to express to her in words.
The rest of their morning and even a little time spent after the alarm went off was theirs to have, to hold, and to keep together for as long as they both shall choose to.
It had been a very pleasant morning, Dax remembered, one of her favorite to date, though she had to admit that she would not be adverse to trying to top the record.
"Dax!" Kira called punching in some controls on her console.
"What?" Dax asked startled, blown out of her daze.
"Come take a look at this." Kira asked.
Jadzia stood up and walked up to Kira's console, leaning over her shoulder to read the stats from the surrounding sensors array.
"I'm detecting a lot of electrical interference." Kira stated. "But the sensors can't seem to tell where it's coming from."
"Could be an unnatural influx of energy from the wormhole." Dax interjected.
"It's possible, I'm not ruling it out, I just can't see that as being the cause of it though." Kira commented.
The scientist in Jadzia frowned. She honestly couldn't come up with another reason for the unusual anomaly. Her natural instincts for such situations were off keel and she was sure it'd never happened to her before this morning.
The captain emerged from his quarters, in full uniform and ready for action. "Report, Major."
"High levels of electromagnetic interference in the perimeters just outside the wormhole." Kira resounded typing rapidly into her console.
"What is the source?" The Captain asked.
Kira shook her head. "There's too much interference. I'm not getting clear readings anymore."
"Sisko to O'Brien. Launch a probe into the anomaly."
Suddenly, a great shockwave of energy came from the perimeter of the wormhole and crashed into Deep Space Nine. Alarms began going off everywhere whilst steam was flooding into ops from two damaged conduits. As the steam flooded the room the crew members became lost from sight to one another. Jadzia had been knocked out of her chair from the initial jolt as had Kira. The station was shaking beneath her propelled by still more explosions in other parts of the station as Jadzia felt herself slam into the cold metal floor.
As the shuddering of the creaking structure came to cease and the debris slowly stopped falling around them, Jadzia tried slowly to sit up, but was forced back down as sharp pain shot like fire through her legs and up her spine. Carefully, she reached back one of her hands to feel the back of her neck. It was cold and numb. When she brought her hand back it was covered in warm scarlet liquid. But the blood did not hold her attention for long. She remembered the last time she had found herself bleeding and numb in such a situation.
The shuttle gave a sudden forward reel. Torias began flipping through the status reports on his console as fast as he could, but it never hurt to have a second assessment. "Vos, status report."
"We're losing velocity! We've blown a power conduit!" Nivrim shouted a loud sound resonated from outside the shuttle. "It's cumulative!"
"We've lost stable altitude!" Torias yelled, as he tried to compensate with the forward thrusters, but the engines weren't answering.
"Engines two and four have exploded and the main plasma conduit to engine three is leaking!" Nivrim shouted as his hands began to fly feverishly over the controls.
Torias slammed his fist down on the con button. "Dax to Standard control, mayday, mayday. We've lost two engines and the third is going fast!"
"Torias! If we enter the planet's atmosphere at this speed the shuttle will explode!" Nivrim shouted.
"We'll have to use the back thrusters to decrease speed!" Torias shouted already initiating the command on his console.
Nivrim suddenly stopped. "But they're already compensating for the loss of altitude. If we use them to slow us down we'll burn them out!"
"Do you have a better suggestion!" Torias yelled. It wasn't a question.
Nivrim shook his head. "Thirty seconds to atmosphere! Twenty! Fifteen! Ten! Five!"
The Athion gave a mighty lurch and power conduits were exploding all over the place from the extra external pressure, but regardless the smoking tin can made it through the atmosphere of planet Trill. Below them were the green woodlands of the north, the most beautiful of all natural regions on Trill, but on this day the trees looked like green spikes ready to spear through them.
"Mayday, mayday!" Torias shouted into the com link, but it was static with interference.
"The thrusters are gone and engine three is on its last leg!" Nivrim yelled.
"We'll have to try for a safe landing!" Torias shouted as another, smaller power conduit went out with a small explosion above his head. "Engine three is all we have."
The shuttle flew, not slowing as it neared the woodlands. The backend was smoking as it burned away and finally, not one hundred meters from the ground, engine three gave out. The nose of the shuttle dove through the trees haphazardly, igniting small fires on the desolated wood as it slide by at hundreds of miles per hour. One of the metal wings tore off completely as it hit a rocky outcrop. Finally, it stopped when the nose of the shuttle slammed into another rocky outcrop, bouncing over it from the force and coming to rest on the battered ground surface.
The initial impact had jarred the pilots in their seats. For the first of the two, everything after the first impact was blurry and numb. An armor piece from the shuttle canopy had been jerked from its place as sparks of friction flew and in one solid minute of impact, it had fallen down and skewed the first pilot's seat, impaling itself through the right side of Torias's body. The second of the two test pilots had been thrown completely from his seat. His right arm lay beneath another piece of the craft's fallen steel armor and he was conscious, though pinned to the ground, he still struggled to free himself.
Torias felt numb as though he were on some sort of anesthetic that was designed to put him to sleep. Blue eyes registered the broken glass and burning console in front of him. His ears picked up the sounds of groaning from behind him. He tried to turn, but his body refused to move from the neck down. He did not know what was wrong with him, but his mind refused to function, refused to register what had hit him. He coughed as blood rushed into his right punctured lung. His head lulled from side to side finally settling limply back on his headrest staring straight ahead of him. His coughing became more violent as his body ceased to feel anything anymore. Breathing became more shallow, as blue eyes half closed. Dax's last thought was of his wife, his last sight of the broken glass of the front windshield and, then the world went dark one final time. One more inhale and a full exhale as the young Trill's body went mercifully limp, eyes still unfocusedly staring forward.
The rescue team didn't arrive from the Lunar Base for another hour. By the time Commander Tirgan and his men had peeled back the mutilated metal of the door, Commander Vos was almost delirious, his sight a red haze of dizzying reality and Commander Dax was long gone.
Dax strained to pick herself up off of the ground. She heard some of the other crew members talking, their voices mumbled through the rush of steam.
Benjamin had been knocked over by a piece of debris and was just coming to stand up. "Major!"
Kira appeared leaning heavily on a burned out console, clutching her side where a thin stream of red liquid was escaping from in between her clamped fingers. "I'll be alright."
The Captain nodded, obviously concerned, but propelling himself to keep searching for the rest of his crew members. "Ensign Peters! Dax!"
Jadzia wanted to move towards them, but her legs and body refused to obey her wishes. She could feel pressure all over her body as though a great weight were pinning her to the floor, though as she looked around herself she could not see anything that could be so heavy as to restrain her to the floor.
One of the other crew members, one of the surviving ensigns perhaps, shouted over the steam. "Ensign Peters is dead, sir!"
The captain's face became grim. "Dax! Dax, can you hear me?!"
The steam began to dissipate in intensity and the air became clearer, but the alarms were still going off like crazy. Kira limped over to the only undamaged console she could find. "All systems are off line, Captain."
Benjamin smacked his com badge. "Sisko to O'Brien, can you hear me? O'Brien?!"
"All communications systems are off line including the com links." Kira interjected pushing in her already useless com link.
Jadzia felt the small area around her head begin to get cool and wet, as though the side of her face was floating on the surface of some lake. Her ears were picking up the sounds of the surrounding area, but her mind was focused on a time not anywhere remotely close to that place and time.
"Why won't you listen to me?!"
"Because you're not making any sense! Look, I don't have a choice in this."
Angry tones and bitter feelings were replaced by tears and hopeless words. "Fine, go off and do your duty to Starfleet, go on pilot the Aithon, go on and get yourself killed."
"You're just overreacting! You worry too much for your own good. I'll be fine. What could happen?" Torias tried to reassure gesturing with his hands to himself as he spoke.
"Torias! You told me yourself that the system controls were worrying Commander Belair when he gave them the check up yesterday. And you ask what could go wrong?"
"Belair's head is screwed crooked on his shoulders. He would worry about the floor if just changed color beneath his feet. The man's a tight neck! He's so tense that he can barely manage to inhale air let alone ease up on a shuttle run."
"Torias you don't understand, how can you not understand."
"How can you keep bringing this up?! Nothing has happened to me so far, why are you so adamant that something will go wrong tomorrow?"
"I can feel it. Please…please don't leave me…I beg of you. Torias?" More tears came, these ones more of fear and panic than of frustration or anger. "Please, don't leave me."
Torias gazed at her, his gaze level and his face seemingly indifferent while his voice was calmer than the cool sheen of water over a steady surface of some winter lake ice. "You're getting yourself worked up for nothing. It won't happen like that, you'll see."
Jadzia's eyes shot open as the memory faded from her. She felt cold to the touch, slicked over in a sheen of sweat. The steam had cleared and the crew members who were not incapacitated were moving about trying to figure out just what was happening. Dax could hear Benjamin's voice shouting orders, but could not understand the exact words he was saying because her ears were ringing in a strange monotone. Suddenly, Dax felt two arms help pick her up off of the ground and an order not to move from the medic who had pulled out his tricorder and was trying to assess the damage done to her system.
"An acute spinal fracture." The medic frowned and turned to his assistant. "She can't move herself. I need an anti-grav lift to transport her to the infirmary. Hurry, go!"
Major Kira leaned even heavier against the console station and her breathing became heavier. The medic moved from Dax across Ops to her and began analyzing her wound a little too personally. Kira slapped his hands away with one arm.
"A piece of falling debris sliced through my side." Kira informed him for his own diagnosis so he didn't have to touch her again. "It needs cauterization. You better hurry."
Her voice sank to a whisper as she fell backwards, still holding her side in a vice grip to try and stop the bleeding. The medical assistant returned with another assistant and a anti-grav lift following close behind them. They knelt down next to Dax who had lost enough blood now that she was drifting in and out of consciousness.
The first assistant reached for her shoulders. "Help me lift her up. Be careful."
They placed Dax on the stretcher and vacated the room just as repair teams were arriving to put out the electrical fires and tend to the wounded. A medic approached Kira, and this time she did not object as he helped to lift her off of the ground and place her arm over his shoulder. A nurse was using a cordial stimulator to heal a cut on the Captain's temple as he continued to give orders. Kira craned her head back around as she was being led away. On the main screen the wormhole flashed just as normally as it did at any given time of the day. The anomaly had vanished into obscurity just as quickly as it had shown up.
Author's Note: Oh, a mystery! I hope everyone enjoyed this piece, still, I would like to hear your thoughts. Leave me a review! Thanks!!