Chapter 23

"How are you doing?" Geordi asked Reg as he opened the apartment door, not that he needed to ask. Reg looked pale and drawn, thin, under-nourished and bearded. He was wearing a t-shirt and sweats and was in socked feet. He clearly wasn't looking after himself.

"Come in." Reg mumbled and shambled away leaving the door open. "Close the door, Laika will run off."

"I thought she left with Nareev?" Geordi asked.

"No, he gave her to Barsha, she gave her to Emlyn…It's not that no one wants her, she won't eat. She's pining. She gets out and she just sits on Taryn's grave howling. Most of the time I feel like joining in." he poured himself a glass of scotch despite it being early in the day. "Do you want a drink or anything?"

"A coffee would be nice. I'll get it." Geordi stated, tearing his eyes from the depressed wolf sprawled on the living room carpet like a hearth rug and heading to the replicator. "This place is nice." Geordi added as he looked around the flat. He'd run past this building in 1891 chasing Data. It wasn't far from the safe-house Data had set up with the Matthews in Hampshire although felt much longer ago than a few weeks ago as it was for him chronologically, or even five hundred years ago. It felt like several millennia. It had clearly been extensively modernised and adapted for 24th century living.

"It's okay. Better than living with my Dad in Wales." Barclay stated as he sipped his whiskey. "It's closer to Taryn. I might move to the States though. Laika might do better further away but I wouldn't put it past her to try and swim the Atlantic to get back to Taryn's grave."

"You could come back to work? Reactivate your commission?" Geordi stated as he sat down with his coffee.

"Can I turn up on shift drunk?" Reg asked.

"Nope." Geordi replied.

"I won't be coming back then." Reg replied flatly.

"So that's your master plan? Drink yourself to death?" Geordi asked. "I thought you were better than that. I thought you were stronger than that."

"Did you read the autopsy report? Data's report of the evidence?" Reg asked. "She fought Geordi. There were three of them, they stripped her, poured booze down her throat and they held her under the water. She had the pattern of the bastards boot print bruised on her throat. It didn't show till the next day. She hated water. She must have been terrified…."

"We have a lot of new allies thanks to her. Everyone at that conference apart from the Corvas joined us. Even the Destri and the Dorna turned on them and cut ties with the Syndicate. Her legacy…"

"Her legacy should have been the baby we were having." Reg said coldly. "Our little son. She said it was a boy, she was right."

"When did you last eat anything?"

"I think I had some beer nuts at the pub the other night when I caught up with Dad." Reg mused. "Don't lecture me Geordi, just…leave me be."

"She adored you. Do you think she'd want you to pine away?" Geordi asked.

"I…I…" he stopped not knowing what to say. "She wouldn't want Laika to pine away either but nothing I do seems to make a difference. I've let her down." he sobbed. "I can't even get her damn pet to eat." he dropped his head into his hands. "Just, go. Leave me alone?" he pleaded.

"Not until you eat something." Geordi argued. "I wish Deanna was here." he muttered as he headed to the replicator.

"Get out." Reg said coldly. "I mean it, get out now!"

"Why, what did I say?"

"You know how I felt about Deanna, just because she didn't feel the same way doesn't mean it didn't hurt when she died and reminding me of that doesn't make how I feel about…." he choked up and started to cry. "We were going to be a family…and get away from this stupid, pointless war." he stated with despair.

"Oh God Reg, I'm sorry." Geordi exclaimed, he had no idea Deanna was dead in this timeline. "I just meant Deanna would know what to say. She always knew what to say." he added sadly.

Reg grasped his arm, symbolically hugging himself and sniffed. "I know you mean well, everyone means well but I really just want to be left alone. I'll eat something, maybe some soup later."

"Okay." Geordi agreed. "You know where I am if you want to talk or anything." Reg nodded and saw his friend to the door.

He shambled back to the kitchen and headed for the replicator. "I've got a delicious treat for you girl." he said with all the enthusiasm he could muster as he sat at the dining room table and put the plate in the adjacent space. "Come on Laika." he called and patted the seat beside his. She whimpered and just looked at him. "Come on girl." he said and she dragged herself over half-heartedly and clambered onto the seat. "Steak, just how you like it." She sniffed it and licked Reg's face. "No thank you Sweetie, it's a little rare for my taste." he smirked. "Just try it? Please?" he begged then sighed deeply. "I know, I miss her too." He petted the she-wolf affectionately. "But she wouldn't want you to starve." He lifted the plate up to her nose. "It's sirloin, King Henry the 8th knighted it just for you." He looked at her hopefully then dropped the plate on the table.

He got up and walked back to the replicator and returned with a steak for himself, medium rare this time with pepper sauce, vegetables and potatoes. "Okay, we'll force ourselves to eat together. Deal?" he asked as he cut a piece of steak. He looked at it on his fork and sighed. He put it in his mouth and began to chew, then suddenly spat it out onto the plate. "Christ that's disgusting!" he pulled a face and drained his scotch. As he put his tumbler down Laika swept her tongue around it. "Don't you start drinking. That's all I need, an alcoholic wolf." He picked up the plates. "I'm going to strip down that replicator and then we'll try again." he advised Laika. He knew it wasn't the replicator though, other people had brought her food every time they found her on Taryn's grave. She wouldn't eat a morsel and to him nothing had tasted right since the day Taryn died. It was like she took the flavour of the universe with her along with all the joy.

…

Lural grabbed the man slumped over the table by the shoulder and pulled him back in his seat. He stared blankly at the ceiling, his throat cut. "This is him." Lural stated in Kolari as he held a scanner to the corpse. "Udin the Bold." he snorted.

"Not so bold now Rhadaman Anthus." the Captain of the Guard commented and grabbed the man's leg. He cursed in Kolari as he recognised the pattern on the sole of the man's shoe.

Lural scowled. "I wanted this one alive. He dared to grind our sweet Tahedri under his boot like an insect. This death was far too good for him."

"Syndicate scum. They rob us of our blood-kin and they rob us of the opportunity to avenge her!" The Guardsman spat in the corpse's face and kicked his chest angrily, sending the body sprawling over the floor.

Lural grabbed his kinsman's muscular arm. "This man is a j'hordak. A bottom feeding slug. They killed him because they knew the F'deraxt'la had his DNA on fileand we would find him. It is the one who ordered her death that we must find Cousin. Their spirit will feel the icy breath of the Mother Goddess for killing a female with-child and they will feel the ice of our steel at their throat." Lural assured him.

"My Prince?" One of the guards handed Lural a padd he had found.

"Good, good work." Lural thanked the man with a slap on the arm and a feral grin. "In their rush to clean house they left their travel itinerary. Ready the ship. We are going to Garasant."

…

"You know this isn't real don't you?" Taryn asked as she snuggled into his shoulder in bed. "You're dreaming."

Reg sighed, his complicated, logical brain wouldn't even allow him to believe she was still with him in his dreams. "I know. Just let me pretend okay? Just for a minute." He buried his face in her hair as he held her tight.

"You'll be sad when you wake up if you think this is real." she whispered as she caressed his chest idly with her finger.

"I'll be sad anyway." he replied and kissed her temple. "Do you think they'll let me into the Orion afterlife? Will I qualify? Do Orion's even have an afterlife?"

She giggled. "The Dark Place. If they don't let you in I'm not going. Besides, I'm waiting for you, the baby is too, he's a sweet little soul. Wherever we go we'll go together. I've always liked the sound of the Summerland."

"Summerland. Is that an Orion thing?" he frowned.

"No it's not Orion, it's Wiccan from Earth. It's what my Miffy believes, she used to tell me about it when I was tiny. When you die you go there to be reunited with all your loved ones before you get reincarnated. Maybe could be together in our next lives?"

"I like that idea too. I'm sure I'd keep looking until I found you, even if I wasn't aware of it consciously." He sighed. "I know this is a dream, but where did this come from? I don't know anything about pagan or neopagan theology?" he frowned. "Your grandmother is Wiccan? I thought she was Jewish from the pendant she wore at our wedding?"

Taryn nuzzled his neck and giggled. "The Star of David has six points not five you big prat. She wears a pentacle."

"So she's some kind of Devil worshiper?"

"Wiccan's don't believe in Satan. For them the antithesis of a male god is a female one. Not an evil counterpart of a supreme being from a different faith." Taryn explained. "She believes in living at one with nature, taking personal responsibility for your actions and three-fold return. You give to get. Then there's the Triple Goddess, the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. She embodies feminine energy, she's like the phases of the moon. It's quite similar to Kolari theology. There's a Mother Goddess in our mythos. She's often thought to be similar to Earth's Mother Nature but she's actually closer to the neopagan Triple Goddess." she stated. "Grandad taught Folkloristics and Theology at Cambridge."

"Oh." He paused to think for a moment. "You're not in limbo are you? Trapped like some lost tormented soul?" he asked with concern.

"No, I know where to go and the way is open. I'm just not moving on until you join me. Like a waiting room. I'm not alone. There are others here waiting too."

"Anyone I know?" he asked as he turned and relished the sensation of her body against his.

"There's someone here that's pleased you befriended their son."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Her name is K'Ehleyr."

"I don't know anyone called that." he replied with a scowl.

"Well, she knows you and she says the expression on Worf's face was a picture when he saw those floozies you added to her son's program." Taryn giggled. "She found that most amusing."

"What? Oh you mean Alexander Rozhenko's mother." he realized. "I didn't know that was her name."

"She's worried about him. She says he's caught up in Klingon nonsense. That's why she waits. She wants to protect him."

"He was only tiny when she died. I never knew her but Alexander mentioned her a few times. She meant a lot to him. It was a shock when I heard he joined the Klingon Defense Force, the last thing he seemed to want was to be a Klingon Warrior." He looked at Taryn earnestly. "Seriously, I'd never have made that connection. I was expecting you to talk about my Nanna and Grandpa."

"They aren't here. They must still be alive." she whispered.

"They can't be. Their ship was lost when I was a…a… I was a kid."

"There's lost and there's lost." she stated profoundly. "You look rough as old arseholes Reg. You need to take better care of yourself." she stroked his cheek tenderly.

"I know." he conceded and took her hand, kissing her palm.

"There's no rush for you to join me. I'll wait forever if I have to. You could even meet someone else. Have the family you hoped for… I won't mind as long as you're happy. I want you to be happy."

He shook his head. "It wouldn't be the family I hoped for without you."

"You need to answer that." she whispered looking distracted. "It's important."

"What is?" he asked with a frown.

He woke with a start at the sound of a message on the terminal. He'd either fallen asleep or passed out drunk, the two were interchangeable these days. His face was pressed against the panel on his desk which flashed that there was a missed call. A sob emerged from his throat as his head began to clear and the aching sense of loss hit him. He rapidly looked up what he could remember from the dream with tears in his eyes. The Dark Place, The Summerland, all real references to the afterlife and in context. The issue was he was fairly certain he'd never heard them before and he chewed his knuckle as he thought about it. Every time he dreamed about her it always seemed so real. It was almost as though their mating bond worked from beyond the veil and she was actually visiting him. He opened the communique and swore before jumping from his seat. Laika must have got out again and was back at the cemetery. They'd been trying to get in touch with him for the last two hours. He grabbed his jacket and froze as he stepped into the hall.

The glass in the apartment door was smashed. To his amazement and relief there was only a small amount of blood in the debris outside. How exactly she hadn't woken him when she did this he had no idea. Although he had slept with his face against a beeping, flashing terminal and that hadn't roused him. He carefully stepped over the broken glass and went in search of his wayward animal.

…

"Nareev?" Lural asked as his brother scowled over the witness statement along with the other evidence. The Tahedri cursed and threw the document across the room angrily. He unleashed a tirade of idiomatic Kolari as he stood and began to pace.

"We know who ordered her death and there is nothing we can do. They are beyond our reach!" Nareev punched a hole in the door before turning and pacing again. "She lies in her grave unavenged, her boy-child unavenged, her mate bereft and we must stand by like impotent fools!"

"Wait. Lural, you're the lawyer. Am I reading this precedent right?" Gantrix, formerly a Caitian Envoy and newly declared Consort of Barin asked. He pointed to the page in the tome like book of Kolari laws with his tan furred, clawed finger, a translation device in his other hand. Lural's eyes widened as he read over the Caitian's shoulder.

"Yes, that's it." Lural grabbed the book. "We can't convict him, but we can call him to trial."

"What would be the point of that? Dragging him all the way here for a trial just to let him go?" Nareev bellowed then paused, a sly grin spreading over his handsome face. "Look up the Right of Uks'mak'hari? I want to check something."

…

"I'm sorry, we found her like this when we unlocked the gates." the gardener at the cemetery told him.

"She smashed the door to get out, she must have known… She must have felt it was her time." Reg whispered as he looked at Laika lying dead on her mistresses grave. He swallowed to clear the lump from his throat. "I'll call someone to get her moved…" He looked at the gravestone. It didn't read 'Taryn the Just, the Eloquent and the Liberator.' as the empty tomb on Barin Prime did. Nor did it read a list of her many accomplishments. It read 'Taryn Boudicca Barclay beloved wife' and a smaller inscription stating 'Reginald Endicott Barclay IV dearest unborn son.' She had told him she wanted to name their son after him but he had balked at the idea of course. He felt the very least he could do was grant her wish even if it was only an empty gesture on her headstone. She was only three weeks pregnant but Beverly had assured him the foetus was untouched by the autopsy and remained within her body. She had merely determined the baby had a Y chromosome as Reg had wanted to know.

"I think we should ask for permission to bury her here." The manager who was standing with them told him. "A lot of people were touched by the way she kept coming back. Like Greyfriars Bobby."

"Thank you." Reg whispered. "My wife hand reared her, they were inseparable. It would have meant a lot to her to have Laika nearby."

…

"And that is the evidence." Lural stated as he paced around the chair where the accused sat. "Myata the Inviolate…"

"You dare use my given name boy-child?" The Tahedri of the Caj Corvas spat.

"Myata the Inviolate," Lural repeated leering into the man's face, "Mighty patriarch of the Caj Corvas gave the order and our beloved Tahedri, Taryn the Just, the Eloquent, the Liberator was stripped like an off-world whore, forced to swallow cheap Kolari rum and held under water until she and her unborn boy-child breathed no more."

The sound of plaintive wailing echoed into the courtroom from the square outside. The show trial was being broadcast planet wide and beyond. Most of the Greater and Central Kolari Empire were interested in the proceedings and Taryn's pregnancy was, until know, withheld from the public. Emotions were running high, as they always did in their society. The crowd outside bayed, condemning Corvas, cursing him in the name of the Mother Goddess and calling for vengeance.

Nareev shifted in his throne, beside him sat Gantrix his mate. His eyes met Elona's across the room, his brother's mate who was clearly relieved not to have married into the Corvaskar, meaning House of Corvas in their tongue. Her family, the Trunac were powerful and influential and the Caj Barin had yet to form blood ties with them. It was a good match politically and more than that, the pair were passionately in love, something that counted even in the rarefied air of high-born Kolari aristocracy.

"And what of it?" Corvas hissed. "My word is law. I ordered the death of a F'deraxt'la half-breed and ridded the empire of her mongrel pup to the bargain. It was a pity her F'deraxt'la lover wasn't there too, she should have watched them cut his throat and then drowned her in his filthy Human blood. That little blood traitor dared to speak out against the Syndicate, to do so means death." The man grinned. "You have no jurisdiction over me, no recourse in law and this is nothing but an empty show trial."

"You are right." Nareev stated. "This is but a hearing to ascertain the truth. We have no right to pass judgement over you." His eyes met Lural's briefly. "You're free to go Corvas." Nareev stood and walked towards the door behind the throne. The Barinkar, his blood kin filed past him as he paused, followed by the Palace Guard. "The Spaceport is that way, your ship is waiting." Nareev pointed towards the large doors to the courtyard.

"But my guard?" Corvas asked.

"Yes, it is unfortunate that under Kolari statutes your guard aren't allowed to enter our city." Nareev added rubbing his chin. "Oh well." He sighed and turned to leave.

"The crowd… you must protect me." Corvas demanded. "It's your duty. The Right of Uks'mak'hari. I have the right to your protection as a visiting Tahedri."

"Actually, I have no such remit. It turns out that convention is a courtesy and was never written into imperial law. The law is fascinating don't you think?" Nareev smirked. "You may wish to name your successor, my people are currently a little testy and you know how heated a crowd involving Green Kolari can get." Nareev looked up as a thick silk sash was lowered beside him. He wound his hand in the cloth and was pulled up to the gallery. He crossed the rail lithely, joining his blood kin, his face impassive as he watched Corvas look around the courtroom with fear in his eyes. The upper level was filled with the royal household. Not just the Barinkar but the guards and all the staff. They stared down at him, their eyes filled with hate and accusation.

Corvas eyes widened as the great doors opened. Beyond were a sea of angry faces, male, female and indeterminate in green, ruddy and grey as well as Muni, a representative sample of almost all species of humanoid life from the Alpha and Beta Quadrant. They began to run towards him, howling for vengeance for their fallen queen.

"I name my second son Endar as my worthy success…." Corvas blurted as the crowd swallowed him, tearing at him with their bare hands as they dragged him into the courtyard and beyond.

"Blessings of the Mother Goddess to you Endar, son of the Corvaskar. May your reign as Tahedri be a long and fruitful one. We shall return what's left of your father with his ship. We prefer not to have that kind of filth soiling our streets." Nareev intoned over the clamour of the crowd. "Tell your Syndicate and Dominion friends that we, the Caj Barin are truly inviolate today and in perpetuity. Unbroken and unyeiding, unlike your worthless, traitorous Myata. May he rot in the Nine Hells for the death of our Little Flower and her unborn, for this day we have avenged them." he stated and signalled to end the broadcast.

…

Someone was banging frantically on Data's door.

"Geordi. Come in." he offered. The Enterprise senior team had been assigned quarters in San Francisco while they were waiting for the Enterprise F to be commissioned. "Did you hear about what happened on Barin Prime?"

"Yes but…Reg's Dad called because he couldn't find him anywhere. His old combadge was picked up at the shuttle depot. He stole a shuttle from the repair line. I'm worried he went to the E, I'm worried he's going to do something stupid." Geordi explained desperately.

"Why would he go to the Enterprise E?" Data asked.

"Because he met Taryn there. It's a hunch Data, I can't really explain it." Geordi stated.

Data nodded and tapped his combadge. "Commander Data to Transporter Control, request emergency transport to the San Francisco Fleet Yard."

"What are you looking for?" the supervisor in the control room of the orbital shipyard asked.

"One of our former officers, he is bereaved." Data explained as they scanned for life signs.

"There he is." Geordi pointed.

"He is in the port forward airlock." Data stated. "Can you override and seal the outer door from here?"

"I'm trying, the interlink is down." the officer stated with a frown.

"Barclay you are too clever by half." Geordi muttered knowing exactly who was responsible for the fault. "Can you beam him out?"

"I'm trying, there's some sort of scattering field in the area." the man told them.

"Beam us as close as you can to his location." Data ordered.

…

Reg grasped his wrist as he flexed it and drew a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. It felt strange to be back in uniform, but he needed to be to gain access to the ship. He'd showered and shaved, it almost felt like a ritual. He was preparing himself for his final journey. She may well be happy to wait an eternity for him, but he couldn't and wouldn't wait that long to be with her. He reached out and opened the airlock doors, the force field still active.

"La Forge to Barclay." Geordi's voice came over his combadge. "Turn around Reg." He turned and saw his friend's face at the window of the airlock door. "That's it. Now come on over here and open this door and we'll talk about this."

Reg shook his head sadly and turned back to the open hatch. "There's nothing to say."

"Your Dad called, he told me about Laika. I know you feel you failed Taryn but you didn't. The only way you'll fail her is by giving up like this. Reg?"

"They threw him to the mob." Barclay whispered. "She'd never have wanted that."

"You're right, she wouldn't. But she would understand why they did it." Geordi stated. "Their need to avenge her, it's…it's…it's what defines them as a people." he reasoned.

"They had no other option under Kolari imperial law. As Tahedri, Myata Corvas' instruction to kill her was law. As Tahedri he could not be convicted or punished. As Tahedri Nareev could not order the death of a fellow Tahedrin." Data explained. "Nor could he kill him himself, although that was his right as her kinsman."

"But Corvas ordered her death, she was a Tahedri. There must have been some way to…" Reg argued. "Some humane punishment surely? Not ripped to pieces by a…a lynch mob?"

"It is a loophole in their legal system. Nareev could have used the same legal deception to get away with murdering Corvas but that would have led to a blood feud that would potentially destroy both Caju. This way vengeance was seen to be done. The Caj Barin are satisfied in terms of Orion chivalry within their law and the Caj Corvas have no legal recourse. The man who ordered her death is dead. The three men who carried out his orders are dead. They turned on the one who drowned her themselves and the others were publicly executed by chuulak."

"That's not much better than what they did to Corvas. It's barbaric." Reg stated, fidgeting with her wedding ring that he held in his hands. It was looped onto a cord which he placed around his neck and tucked inside the collar of his uniform.

"By our standards maybe." Geordi told him. "If I were in your place I'm not sure I could find the compassion for them you have."

"It's not compassion. She'd have wanted justice, not revenge. She would have found another way. She'd have bided her time, for years if she had to." Reg replied softly.

"Her cousins told Captain Picard that as much as their blood burned with their need to avenge her, their people yearned for it even more so. The populace of Barin Prime were calling for the deaths of all of the Caj Corvas. They were ready to start a feud at whatever the cost." Data stated as he worked on the door mechanism. "They needed closure and to feel she is at rest. Their culture is such that the deaths of those responsible is the only way to salve their sense of loss and move on."

"Closure." Reg whispered and gazed plaintively at the force-field controls with his dark eyes. As though he hoped it would provide him with answers or impetus. "That's what I need too." He stepped closer to the panel. If he didn't act before Data opened the door they would either restrain him or they would all be taking a spacewalk. Data would survive of course but Geordi? By the time they both floated clear of the transporter scattering field he'd set up it would likely be too late for Geordi. He didn't want that. "Bury me with her. Tell my Dad I love him."

"Listen to me, you don't have to do this…Reg look at me, just turn around and look at me. That's… that's good, now Data's trying to open this door. We're getting you out and we'll get you through this, just…NO REG DON'T!" Geordi screamed as Reg looked at him apologetically and reached out his hand. He dropped the force field and was instantly blown into the void.

Geordi dropped to a crouch and wept, falling to the floor as while Data attempted to lock on to Barclay with the Enterprise transporters via a nearby terminal, also calling the Fleet Yard to do the same.

"Fleet Yard Medical Centre. Do you have him?" Data asked and waited for a reply.

"We got him but…he was out there too long. I'm sorry." the doctor reported.

"I'm sorry too." a deep voice came from the shadows of the empty ship. "I know how he felt, losing his wife, but my son survived and I had to live for him. He was robbed of too much, more than he could cope with."

"You are Captain Sisko." Data stated with a frown.

"I'm here as the Emissary of the Prophets." Sisko replied and stepped into view, still in his uniform. "But yes, I'm Ben Sisko."

"Can you tell us what the hell the point of all this is sir?" Geordi wailed, sitting on the floor. "Is this going to be how it is for the rest of our lives? Stuck in this never-ending loop of…"

"I know how hard this has been. The Prophets have been with you each and every step of the way." Sisko intoned.

"I do not feel as comforted by that comment as I believe you intended." Data stated.

"I can understand that." Sisko smiled wryly. "But rest assured the words do not exist to stop this Barclay ending his life. He was set on that course the moment a Syndicate operative held Taryn Prior under the water with his foot on her throat."

"Yeah, well, sooner or later the Prophets will abandon us just like Andrews has." Geordi said coldly.

"The Prophets are eternal and they will never abandon you. I assure you of that." Sisko began to pace. "I can speak more plainly than the Oracle they sent. Andrews is inept and that is the kindest thing I can say about him. He is behaving like a spoilt child because, as he sees it you didn't follow his instructions to the letter. The Prophets have watched you struggle against the insurmountable with only the most vague of guidance and are immeasurably proud at what you have accomplished."

"What have we accomplished?" Geordi asked angrily. "Each time we try to put things right everything just gets worse."

"Sometimes it really is always darkest before the dawn." Sisko assured him. "The best thing Andrews did was select the two of you. You of all people have the resolve and skills to prevail. Where he went wrong was insisting that you, along with Guinan, shoulder that burden alone."

"Are you saying we must break the Temporal Prime Directive?" Data asked.

"I'm saying you should bend it a little. In every reality you have been surrounded by officers who are highly skilled. You trust them with your lives, you need to trust them with what you know." Sisko advised. "Follow your instincts. Do your research, it is after all where your strength lies Data. Your strength lies with your ability to reach people Geordi. That's what makes you an indomitable team but you need the qualities of others…"

"Reg's imagination? Taryn's spirit?" Geordi suggested. "They've been the constants since we went through the looking glass."

"Exactly." Sisko stated. "Others have their own strengths to add to yours. Guinan's stability. Beverly's compassion… Use the assets you have. Andrews told you to play the cards you're dealt and he was right in that respect. That is exactly what you must do but your crew are the cards."

"So how do we get back to the nineteenth century?" Geordi asked. "And where do we go this time?"

"You can leave that to the Prophets." Sisko smiled and walked over to the weapons locker. "What do you know? My access code still works." he grinned as he opened it and tossed each of them a phaser, grabbing one for himself. "Ready?" he asked.

"Wait, you're coming with us sir?" Geordi asked incredulously.

"I feel like stretching my legs and nineteenth century London is as good a place as any." Sisko reasoned as they were absorbed in a green light.

…

She watched as her daughter rapidly turned the dolly in the tub, washing the laundry in the yard. The girl paused to wipe the sweat from her eyes and returned her hands to the handles, one hand up, the other down and she twisted the stool like wooden dolly to agitate the wash. "You alright Katie?" she asked.

"Yes Ma." The girl replied with a smile, her face flushed, but not nearly as flushed as it had been a week ago. She'd had the fever and they'd come close to losing her, closer than she was willing to admit.

"Come and help me feed these through the mangle?" she suggested. It was still work but it would let the girl have a breather for a few minutes. Katie was a hard worker, and proud, only ten but she'd never admit she needed a rest while there was work to be done. "Ready Annie? Peter?" The younger children turned the handle while they kept the folded sheets straight, the large rollers squeezing the water from the fabric.

The two younger children screamed as the lizard-like man shimmered into view. Katie grabbed her siblings and towed them towards the back door by the scruff of their clothing. Their mother grabbed a box of laundry soap and threw some in the alien's eyes. He howled and loomed over her, raising a knife as others unshrouded around him. Defensively she raised her hands to protect her face as the being moved to strike.

He howled again as a slender golden hand grasped his wrist and dropped to his knees, the knife falling from his grasp. Unfamiliar sounds filled the small yard as two dark-skinned men sent streams of orange lightning towards the inhuman creatures who fell inert.

"What do you know about the being who is advising your crew?" Data asked the Jem'Hadar who wriggled in his grasp, trying to pry Data's hand loose from his wrist.

"I will not betray the Dark Master." the being hissed.

"Did he tell you that was his appellation or is that something you ascribed to him?" Data twisted his wrist further. "Do you have a birthing chamber aboard your ship? Are you able to increase your numbers?"

"I am Shanith'ricaan, and I am dead. As of this moment, we are all dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives. This, we do gladly, for we are Jem'Hadar." he chanted. "Remember – victory is life!" he declared. Sisko nodded to Data and he grasped the back of the warrior's neck. There was an audible pop and he fell dead.

"Are you alright Ma'am?" Sisko asked the woman, helping her to her feet. "Miss?" he turned to Katie who was cowering by their back door, shielding the younger children with her body. Peter, who looked no older than three or four was sobbing, he'd skinned his knee in the scramble to get away but otherwise they appeared unharmed. The mother nodded, looking stunned.

"Sorry, that'll need washing again." Geordi added as he realized he was standing on the damp sheet they had just mangled.

"That's…thank you." the woman said softly but earnestly. "Who were they?" she said, looking at the alien bodies.

"They're no danger to you now." Sisko assured her. "I'll stay and clean up here. You two have more work to do." he told Data and Geordi with a grin. "Good luck gentlemen."

There was a flash of green light and Data turned to face Geordi, they were in the Captain's Ready Room. Data blinked.

"What the…" Geordi looked around confused. "What just happened?"

"We appear to be on the Enterprise." Data checked the terminal. "It is twenty-one minutes, thirty-two seconds after the hyper-subspace transport test."

"Yes, but this is the Enterprise D." Geordi said as he examined the fish that lived in the wall. He turned back to Data. "Captain Data." he grinned.

"You are also a full Commander again." Data stated and froze as he caught sight of something unfamiliar on his left hand. "I appear to be married." He looked wide eyed at Geordi and showed him his wedding ring. "To Jessica?" he suggested.

"I don't know Data," Geordi held up his own left hand to show his ring, "I'm just hoping it isn't to me."

Author's Note:

As always all comments are welcome.

If you haven't heard of the story of Greyfriars Bobby it's well worth a google.

Yes, loin steak was knighted by Henry the 8th and that's why it is called Sir Loin (sirloin).