Epilogue
Nathan was not happy about Chris Larabee wanting to be present when the aliens were finally conscious after receiving a variety of mediums that rendered them otherwise, thus allowing for their safe removal to the brig. The doctor, who had been mostly responsible for the retaking of the Maverick through his liberation of Engineering and for the anesthetic gas pumped throughout the ship, was quick to resume his duties as chief medical officer. With the number of casualties that emerged from the bridge after the fighting there had concluded, Nathan decided that he would leave the alien busting to the rest of the senior staff. Besides, it was not as if his hands were not already full.
Buck Wilmington was suffering severe tracheal bruising, same as Rain whom he had been very relieved to know was well and even more pleased when he learned from Vin and Ezra how well she had equated herself during the fight. Alexandra Styles was badly beaten up and had to be sedated when Nathan treated her injuries, only to be shuffled back to the brig when it was all said and done. The anesthetic gas had allowed the male members of the crew to take back the Maverick but the danger was by no means over. The women were still under the influence of the Many and all that could be done as the situation worked towards resolution was to keep them all confined under lock and key.
Julia Pemberton seemed well as far as anyone could tell. She remained unconscious for a time after the alien had left her body and tests conducted by Nathan concluded that she was merely recovering from the exhaustive process of being host to an alien mind. According to Nathan, Julia could awake at any time. Although Ezra wanted to stay at her side, he was still Chief of Security and with Chris determined to face the invaders once they had regained consciousness, he intended to be by his captain's side when the interview with the aliens convened. He knew that if he asked, Chris would allow him to be relieved of the duty but as much as Ezra loved Julia, he was not about to shirk his duties any more than he had been doing since this fiasco had began.
Chris was hardly in top form when he entered the brig. Though the marvels of modern medical science had fixed his broken bones and mended the tear in his flesh, his body still remembered the injury and he was still left tender and sore, with aches reminding him most prolifically that caution was required. Chris walked into the brig, his steps still somewhat ginger with Ezra and Vin flanking him as Buck and JD were needed on the bridge to deal with what had transpired during the failed invasion. The brig was armed with a full security contingent, prepared to take extreme measures to defend themselves if necessary.
They knew for a fact that aliens had to make physical contact with a body to possess it and somehow, the crystal had kept them from escaping as Salya had demonstrated when she had so easily vacated Julia Pemberton's body. It was easy for the aliens in their non-corporeal form to escape the brig but they would be incapable of doing much else as a shapeless energy form, much less take over the ship. Now, Chano was trying to understand how the crystal artifact had can trap their bodies in space but for the moment, the prison of flesh and blood would have to do.
"I still think this is not a good idea captain," Ezra voiced his concerns as he saw the captain grimace when they walked towards the cells were the prisoners were kept.
"For once I gotta agree with Ezra Chris," Vin gave the security chief a look, indicating that he ought to try reasoning with the captain because he too could see just how much pain Chris was in. "You don't look like you're in any shape for this."
"Will you two relax," Chris growled, refusing to admit they were right. "You sound like a bunch of hens."
Anything either man was about to say in protest was cut short when they reached the cells where the ringleaders of the coup were being held. All three were conscious, with Narita pacing the floor like a caged animal while X'hala and the Alex entity sitting silently on separate bunk beds. Although they could have been kept apart, Chris saw no reason for that when the force field ensured that they were not going to escape one way or another. The cells in Starfleet brigs were damn near impenetrable and Chris did not wish the aliens to believe they were going to be treated in the same manner as they had been by the Daia they had known in the past, simply because they were helpless.
Upon seeing him, Narita hissed at Vin. "You better pray that I do not escape this place Vulcan, for I will make you pay for this!"
Vin wanted to respond but saw the look Chris gave him and restrained himself. The captain for his part, held together perfectly as he saw the woman before him and reminded himself that she was not Mary but a vengeful creature prepared to kill all of them if allowed the opportunity. "If you have done with the posturing," Chris glanced at X'hala, "I need to speak with the one of you who is in authority."
Narita glared at him hatefully and barked. "I swear to you that I will kill this body first before I allow you to have your Mary back." The malevolence in her voice sent a chill through Vin and Ezra but Chris remained impassive.
"Not if I do it first." Chris answered firmly and regarded X'hala. "You will vacate these bodies immediately and return to your receptacle in the artifact or any other the place you wish to go. In either case, your bout of possession is over."
"You're mad!" X'hala laughed in derision as she rose to her feet and came towards the edge of the force field so that she could look at him directly. "If we do not choose to leave, you cannot make us go. These bodies are ours. Accustom yourself to that fact Captain. You will have to kill us to remove us and I don't think you have the stomach for all those murders on your conscience."
Vin stiffened, his eyes fixed on Alex and wondered if she even had any idea of what they meant to each other. The expression in her eyes said no. He did not know what Chris had in mind but he knew he wanted Alex back at any costs, no matter what his duty to Starfleet. She was worth more than any commission ever could. He was certain Chris felt the same for Mary.
"No, I don't have the stomach for that," Chris said in a perfectly neutral voice. "What I do have however, is another solution. I won't kill them but you won't get to use their bodies either. I'll stick the entire lot of you into stasis for the rest of their natural lives if I must. You think being confined in that artifact was bad, you wait until you're trapped in a human body. I'll put you into stasis and then eject all of you into the nearest singularity I can find. You can spend god knows how long wondering if you'll ever die and never knowing until it comes for you. If you've taken their bodies and ended their lives, I swear to you what possession you have will be brief!"
"You would not dare!" X'hala exclaimed, her eyes widened with fear imagining that prison once again.
Chris leaned closer to the force field and met her eyes with a patented Larabee glare set for maximum intensity and replied in a low voice that sounded like grated glass. "Try me lady, try me."
"He's lying!" Narita shouted, watching the horror sink into X'hala's eyes at the realization that it was not a threat that Chris Larabee was making to her but rather a promise of what was to come. "He does not have the stomach to hurt his precious lover! It is only a bluff."
For the first time, the entity inhabiting Alex's body chose to speak. "Shut up Narita."
Everyone including captives and captors, turned to the alien wearing Alex's face. She had remained silent through most of the discussing observing quietly all that was occurring and trying to reach some conclusion, particularly in the light of Salya's actions.
"How dare you...?" Narita started to retaliate when the third member of the group spoke again.
"I dare very well Narita." She returned coolly. "I also meant it. Be silent and listen."
"What is the meaning of this?" X'hala demanded, not wishing to have it known that there was dissension in the ranks before the enemy that was present.
"I am called Kalista." She introduced herself before any of the Daia present mistook her for their Alex. "X'hala," she looked to her leader. "I do not wish to speak out of turn but perhaps we should consider giving them what it is they wish."
"Have you lost your mind!" Narita exclaimed immediately. "X'hala, her brain is just addled as Salya after her coupling with the first officer."
"Coupling with the first officer?" Vin found himself saying even though he knew nothing that transpired in the last few hours was Alex's fault. Buck, on the other hand was something else all together. He was about to become infuriated by the idea of Buck giving Alex what he could not when he realized the exchange he had shared with the creature that was called Narita who was using Mary's body against her will just as surely as Kalista must have used Alex's. He had no wish to face Chris with that on his conscience and decided then and there that while he might not like it, he was not about to accuse Buck Wilmington who had been a good friend of something that he was not strong enough to resist either.
"This is not the time." Chris said sharply and hoped it was enough to quell Vin's outrage for the moment. Unfortunately, Chris doubted that there would ever be a time when it would ever be. Vin seemed to agree and answered with a slight nod as he turned back to Kalista who was about to respond to Narita's claim about her senses.
"X'hala," Kalista ignored Narita's response and continued speaking. "We have spent the last two hundred and fifty thousand years awaiting freedom, all the while plotting our vengeance against those who had done this to us. We were on the verge of evolutionary change and they hastened the process so that they could imprison us indefinitely in the artifact. We spent so much time envisioning all the terrible things we were going to do and now that we can do that, they are dead. Killed no doubt by their folly with far more effectiveness then we could ever imagine for them. Although it was not their intention, they did us a kindness."
"What?" X'hala looked at her as if she were mad. "Kindness?"
"Yes," Chris found himself lending weight to Kalista's argument. "You're alive. Although your race is gone, you are all that is left of the Accran people."
"We were Undaia! We were never Accrans!" Narita exclaimed hotly.
"You were Undaia," Chris responded automatically. "Now you are stronger. You're a life form we can't possibly imagine. Don't you understand, Salya figured it out. She understood that without a body you would not necessarily die. Death is something that comes to human body, to a being trapped in a cellular existence. Your energy and energy does not die, it transcends into higher state of being."
"Don't you see," Kalista responded. "X'hala, we are free to go anywhere, to do anything that we want. Why trap ourselves in these shells of flesh when we are free to roam through the universe like gods. When we were adrift, we saw the wonders of space but we could only curse it then because we could not explore it. You have led us through our imprisonment," Kalista placed her hand on X'hala's shoulder. "Lead us now through our freedom."
"What you ask..."X'hala tried to think of the words but they would not come because the idea was too incredible. "We could die."
"We could," Kalista agreed, she would not deny that. "However, all things die. That is the way the universe works but I do not think we will. I want to go X'hala. I want to see the things Salya will see before us. You once said that we had to be better than Daia, that the greatest evil is to become the enemy. If we take these bodies for ourselves, if we steal from these women their futures as ours was once stolen, we will become Daia."
"I won't be called that." Narita gasped, tears welling in her eyes because she was afraid and angry, yet she did not want to be like those who had did this to her. That was even too much for her. "I would rather die than become Daia."
X'hala said nothing for a long time as she considered the words spoken to her, realizing that Salya, her most trusted lieutenant, her friend for so long had abandoned them because she was sick of the killing and realized after awhile that she too, was sick of it. All their lives had been a struggle, a symphony of pain that never seemed to end and only lengthen once this terrible thing was done to them. Freedom was always some elusive word during their imprisonment, something on which to pin their waning hopes and now that they had it, they were squandering it in some wasteful bid for vengeance against enemies who had turned to dust long ago. There was little point in it.
Her mind reached through the expanse of the ship, communicating with the Many, revealing to them her intention and realizing with even more surprise that many were not averse to the idea of leaving the body and testing out the limitations of this incorporeal existence. Trapped in the artifact, they had been given little chance to do so but now that the opportunity presented itself, they were rather eager for it. Sometimes, X'hala had to admit, her own people could surprise her.
"Captain," she looked after a moment. "It is time we left." She said softly.
"Where will you go?" Chris asked, unable to help feeling something for these poor creatures whose actions had foundation in terrible suffering.
X'hala smiled as her eyes shifted upwards toward the bulkhead but really it was the stars she was indicating. "Everywhere."
When they left the body, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen. Suddenly, the Maverick was filled with iridescent color that seemed to glow through every corridor of the ship as the mass exodus began. Crewmen watched in silent wonder as the orbs of light move through the vessel, seeking escape through any means necessary. For a moment, it looked like fireworks had been let loose inside the ship with the sparkle of unearthly light bathing them all as the aliens made their escape from the cumbersome surroundings of the Maverick.
Chris and the others moved to the small window in the brig after they saw the aliens leaving the bodies of the women inside the cell. As they considered the great expanse of stars beyond the ship, they saw hundreds of sparkling blue orbs converging upon a fixed point in space. The illuminations were like a newly formed star and for a moment, their eyes were so filled with its radiance that it was almost blinding.
"It is beautiful." Ezra replied softly, still remembering how Salya had looked when she had left Julia's body.
"I hope they make it." Vin found himself remarking as well. After all that had happened, he could not help but feel some measure of sorrow for what the Undaia had endured.
"I think they already have," Chris said with a little smile as the radiance from the Many's convergence sparkled in his eyes. "I think they already have."
"My first dinner at the captain's table with the senior staff," Rain grinned as she entered Four Corners for dinner some days later. "I'm moving up in the world."
The atmosphere on the ship was lively, despite the journey to Pacifica having been abandoned with the ship recalled to the Frontier immediately because of some minor crisis that required immediate action which only the Maverick could undertake because she was the closest ship near the trouble. In truth however, no one was too eager to do any more vacationing after the debauchery that had preceded the Many's attempt to take the ship. Nathan had been hearing horror stories everywhere from men who had been seduced by women who were utterly horrified by the recollection when the aliens had departed their bodies. It made him glad that he had been in the company of the only unaffected female on the ship.
"Don't get too excited," Nathan let his gaze sweep across the faces of his friends in the room, both at their respective corners trying to deal with the embarrassment that had occurred during the last few days. Nathan doubted that there had been a senior staff meeting since then where anyone could manage to look each other in the eye. "Neither the senior staff or the captain is what they used to being at the moment."
"Hey," Rain shrugged as she slipped her arm through his and proceeded forward. "If you were them, bonking each other left, right and centre, you'd feel bad too."
"Bonking each other?" Nathan looked at her, shaking his head at her choice of words.
"What? You prefer referring to it as doing the wild mamba, the wild thing, help me out here..." she started to rattle off a few more lurid descriptions before Nathan finally conceded defeat.
"Okay, okay," he exclaimed. "I get the hint."
"They'll be fine," Rain said confidently as she walked boldly through the patrons of the ship's bar, pausing just long enough to wave at Inez who was behind the counter, having ventured out of her quarters for the first time since her tragic loss. The bartender was not exactly as bubbly as she used to be but Inez nevertheless returned Rain's wave before returning to her duties. "They're embarrassed and a little uncomfortable. Its up to us, with our incredible tact and charm to make them feel better."
"God help them." Nathan groaned, shaking his head.
Still, he had to admit as he followed Rain towards the Captain's table, he really liked this girl.
"It never happened you hear me?" Alexandra Styles whispered as she sat across Buck at one of the tables, trying not to feel any worse than she already did. Why did it have to be Buck that Kalista was assigned to? Why not Vin or Chris, hell even JD was even better than knowing that she had seduced Buck Wilmington in the captain's ready room no less? That was most likely why the captain had ordered a new desk from supply. God, she had not been able to step into the Ready Room without being revisited with images of their heated coupling as he did and then she and then on top and ... oh, this was so humiliating!
"Oh, come on Alex," Buck let out a groan, wondering what she found so awful about the whole situation. Hell, he enjoyed pleasuring her and felt slightly envious for what Vin would be getting with both barrels once he was old enough to appreciate it. "I know it wasn't you and I know it didn't mean anything but we can discuss the thing like adults."
"I don't want to be adult about this!" She hissed, glaring at him. "I am humiliated and embarrassed and appalled at being another notch on your rather long belt!"
"Hey," he said with a hint of offense in his voice. "I'll have you know that I do not have a long belt. Actually, I have a note book and you are going to go in there underneath the heading 'utterly spectacular"." He teased.
"Oh god." Alex groaned and thudded her head on the desk. "I think I'm going to be sick." She hid her face against the table and drew another smile from Buck who could not deny that he was enjoying this somewhat.
"Alex," he reached for her shoulder and said in a completely different voice that was devoid of smugness or any juvenile emotion.
"What?" she grumbled, looking up at him.
"I want you to know that I realize what happened between us was not your idea but I don't hate it that it happened. Touching you was wonderful, Vin's a lucky man but I don't want this to hurt our friendship and I promise you, our friendship means more to me than what we shared."
Alex met his gaze and a little smile stole across her face as she realized that she had underestimated him. "Buck," she sighed. "Our friendship means the same to me as it does to you. I'll live with this even though you'll never let me forget it." She gave him a look of sarcasm which he returned with a satisfied smirk.
"That's true." He grinned.
Alex rolled her eyes and added. "Because you're still a pig."
"That's true too," Buck agreed. "But I'm a pig that got to third base." He capped off that remark with a wink and a truly shit eating grin.
Alex groaned and wished the Many had taken her with them.
Ezra sat across Julia and could tell that she was mad at him.
How could she not be after what had happened? He had made love to her without even the faintest idea that it was an alien who had been in possession of her body, not the woman herself. How did he explain that away? The truth was he could not and it did not aid his situation that he had felt something for Salya who had left released Julia willingly, unlike the others who took much convincing and threats before they would vacate their hosts. There were no words to describe how muddled the situation was. It was bad enough that his heart was breaking knowing that the passionate love he had shared with the woman he loved was not her at all but someone else entirely.
"Julia," he said after the long stretch of silence between them. She had avoided him for most of the days following the Many's departure and with their regularly scheduled captain's dinner only a short time away, Ezra had finally cornered her into seeing him so they could at least try to talk things out.
"We cannot go on like this. Please," he reached across the table and was encouraged when she did not pull her hand away when he enveloped it with hers. "Talk to me."
"Talk to you about what?" She met his gaze, pain etched in every dim fleck of her emerald colored eyes. She was close to tears but was hiding it valiantly. "You did not even know it wasn't me."
"How could I even guess?" He asked with a pained expression in his eyes. "You were there and you wanted me and I have wanted you ever since you have entered my life. Julia, I love you," he found no fear in saying words that had been so alien to him for so long. "I loved you since I first saw you and when you came to me and said that you wanted me, I was so happy, I never even stopped to think."
Julia blinked and her tears rolled down her cheeks, unable to restrain her sorrow any longer. "I know that." She said after a moment. "I know that but I still can't help feeling this way. I don't know if I trust you any more Ezra. You made love to my body but you had no idea that it was not me! I wanted it to be special, to mean something and now I don't know what to think!"
She rose abruptly to her feet, unable to remain any longer without feeling her insides weeping.
"Julia!" Ezra caught her hand, trying to make her stay. "Please, do not leave it like this." He almost begged and would have if it would have done any good but somehow, he did not think it would.
"I need time Ezra," she pulled her hand away from him and Ezra knew then that he would not convince her, not today anyway. "I just need time. Tell the captain I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well."
With that, Julia hurried out of Four Corners, taking the broken pieces of Ezra Standish's heart with her.
At the captain's table, Vin was glad that Chris had not arrived. Like the rest of his comrades who made up the senior staff, Vin had not escaped the presence of the Many on board the Maverick with his dignity intact. As much as he hated to admit the invasion into his mind by Narita as she bombarded him with images of Mary's life, he also found what he had seen tantalizing. Over the past few days, he had found himself gazing at the lovely blond, wondering how it was she could remain so composed and sedate around Chris Larabee when he had seen how hot the passion inside her could burn when she felt enough to express it.
Until that exchange between them inside his quarters, Vin had no idea how much difference there could be in the simple biological functions between humans and Vulcans. When she had touched his mind, and showed him the sublime ecstasy of the lovemaking she had enjoyed with her husband, Vin though the overpowering sensations would be the end of him. Since that day, he had replayed it in his mind how it felt to be touched that way while sharing the experience in one's mind as well. He wondered how it would feel to touch Alex in that manner, to run his fingers over her skin and bask in the sensual pleasure of her body. He wanted so badly to feel it as Mary's husband had and yet he felt like he was a boat adrift in the water by a shore he could almost reach but not quite.
As Mary sat across him, he saw that she could not meet his gaze even though there was no one else at the table. The others were still engaged in conversations around the room, no doubt, just as awkward as this one. He could see Alex and Buck talking and felt a pang of jealousy knowing that Buck had been able to pleasure Alex in a way he could not but as angered as he felt towards the first officer, Vin knew that he was not as innocent either. He still could not bring himself to tell Chris what had happened between himself and Mary and the captain was too smart not to notice that neither had been able to make eye contact.
"Mary," Vin spoke up and saw her raise her eyes to his slowly, as if doing so was just too hard. "Does it really feel like that?"
Mary's cheeks reddened and it took a moment for her to answer when she realized that his question was not mean to embarrass her but rather one of genuine curiosity. "Yes," she nodded. "It feels like that all the time."
"You must have loved him very much," Vin replied, remembering how hot the love had burned between herself and her husband. He had never thought normal Vulcans who subscribed to non-emotion could feel that way.
"I did." She said with a bittersweet smile, feeling some of the awkwardness drain. "I still feel him inside my head sometimes," she whispered. "I almost think he's still alive and then I remember that he's not."
"You love Chris that way?" Vin found himself asking, hoping that he was not intruding by the question.
Now she did smile and it was not bittersweet but rather warm and inviting. The question in the past was hard to answer but when he asked her so pointedly, it screamed in her head with such clarity, she as surprised he did not hear it. "Yes," she nodded. "I do."
"He's a lucky man." The Vulcan remarked as he saw Chris entering Four Corners and hastily added before the captain reached his table. "I hope some day I'm that lucky. Thank you for showing me what it could be like Mary, I know you're sorry it happened but I'm not. I have something to look forward to now."
For the first time since this all began and ended, Mary found that she could look him in the eye. "Its worth waiting for Vin," she sighed and felt some of the tension evaporate, now that they had some chance to speak of it. "I'll be fine Vin," she confessed after a moment. "I'm a little confused about it all but I'll be fine."
"I'm glad," Vin retorted, pleased that they had reached something of an understanding. "However, if you don't mind, I don't think I'll be needing any lessons for awhile."
Mary gave him a look and retorted. "No kidding."
Chris entered Four Corners about the same time as Josiah Sanchez. As he paused at the main entrance of the popular recreational facility, he allowed his gaze to sweep across the room to see if the rest of the senior staff beyond himself and Josiah were already here. He noticed JD and Casey at the far end of the room and when she saw him, Casey lowered her gaze into the drink once more. The young Bajoran was still unable to form any coherent sentence that did not have the words, 'I think I'm going to die', followed by 'you're old enough to be my father', whenever she was in his presence. Chris wondered to take the last remark as an insult and decided he did not care as long as things were back to normal.
As normal as they could be considering what had happened. The fallout in the wake of the Many's presence on board the Maverick had left a great deal in shambles. He only had to glance at Buck and Alex who were making their way to the captain's table upon his arrival, to be reminded of that fact. The science officer was swatting Buck across the shoulder, no doubt in response to some tasteless remark he was making about their tryst. On that thought, Chris reminded himself to have that old desk of his ejected into space before he could ever feel comfortable working in his Ready Room again.
Ezra Standish was alone and judging by stonier than usual expression on his face, reserved only for a most tense game of poker, Chris guessed he was hiding a great deal of pain under that seemingly indifferent facade and wished that there was something he could do. Unfortunately, Ezra was intensely private, even more so than he was Chris suspected and anything he might try to say would not be well received. The security chief seemed to notice that he should get moving to the captain's table and immediately rose to his feet to begin the journey there.
Casey was still taking refuge behind JD who found the whole thing rather amusing. Perhaps because JD knew that Chris had too much honor to be swayed by any attempt by Casey to seduce him and because the boy was too idealistic to know that there were men who would put aside friendship and honor for the attentions of a lady. Whatever the reason, Chris was grateful that JD was keeping a sense of humor about the whole situation because Casey needed to see it in the same way too. Besides, there was no way Chris was getting rid of her as his Yeoman. Her coffee was to die for.
He noticed that Rain and Nathan were the only ones who were at ease with each other and the warmth between them despite the newness of their relationship only indicated that Rain was here to stay. Chris was glad, Nathan needed someone in his life.
Besides, he liked her.
Also, being able to make eye contact, Chris noticed, was Vin and Mary. He knew something had gone on between them and though he knew it was not a sexual act as heated as what had transpired between Buck and Alex, Chris knew it had caused them similar discomfort. While it was very telling by Vin's reaction to Buck's tryst with Alex, the nature of this discomfort, Chris found that he was not angry or jealous. He knew his best friend loved Alexandra Styles with a passion that existed even though it could not be expressed. There was nothing that could happen between Vin and Mary that could ever challenge that. He also knew that Mary would not consciously betray him and that it was best that he not knows what it was that happened between his best friend and the woman he loved. It would serve to muddy a situation that seemed settled enough when left alone because Chris valued the relationships he had with those involve more than his desire to know. Sometimes, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.
"You know something Josiah," Chris let out a sigh as they resumed walking towards his table.
Josiah was in a good mood because he had been given temporary reprieve from the affections of Audrey King considering what had transpired between them during the recent invasion. The lady had been so mortified by her attempt to seduce him that she had cited needing some time to sort herself out, which was exactly what Josiah needed to decide how he felt about her and whether he was ready to date again. "What Chris?" He asked, noticing the same amount of angst at the table they were about to join.
Chris looked at the senior staff before retorting. "Boy, do you have your work cut out for you."
THE END