Glossary IV:
Xeuf (zoo-v): Xeufian, an inhospitable planet with temperamental weather, compromised mostly of desert and bogs/marshes used primarily as a refueling station or criminal hideout
Piezite (pie-zite): Piezite
1. a civilization situated on the edge of the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants, well-known for their xenophobia. Despite this, they operate an extensive trade network well into both quadrants, interacting with people of all kinds firmly for their personal benefit. 2. The Federation first encountered the Piezites in the form of a slave ship, collecting Ferengi creditors. Several shrewd Ferengi had sold the debts to Piezite traders in their area and the Piezites, in turn, collected the debtors as indentured servants, set to work off their debts on whatever colony the Piezites needed them on. They have recently begun expanding into the Federation black market. 3. They brand their indentured servants and slaves with their planetary emblem: two, four-winged Piezite birds of prey meant to serve as their two homeworlds and four stars meant to represent the four governors of the empire.
Theatras (th-ee-ah-trus): Betazoid, literally meaning second father; step-father; foster-father
Theatry (th-ee-ah-tre): Betazoid, an affectionate term for a step-father or foster-father, derived from the word theatras
Chapter Four
"A Different Kind of Enterprise"
Federation Starship
NCC-1701-D
U.S.S. Enterprise
Galaxy Class
We were on the Enterprise for a little while, I think…" Kestra thought aloud, examining the details of their cabin, brushing the finer aspects that amazed her with her fingers. "Right, Thad? Before the Aries?"
He was trying not to listen to her.
He was trying not to focus on anything.
Rather, he was trying to simply look at the stars flickering outside one of their many windows and keep his satchel tight against his chest.
But it was all too much.
Thad swore he could hear everything from the air filter to the electricity powering the entire ship. Everything of sensory substance was clawing at his head, making it pound and quiver at the same time. If he didn't relax, he was going to throw up. Or worse, have an aneurysm. Nonetheless, he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his left temple with the heel of his hand. "Uh...yeah. Yeah, you were… You were born on our Enterprise."
"I don't really remember the starship we took to Shankar," Simon considered, stretched out in the lounge chair with his feet propped up on the ottoman. He was trying to act casually, but his body was limp, trembling with exhaustion. "Only that I didn't sleep the whole time. I was basically dead by the time my feet touched solid land again."
Carmen stopped dead in her tracks, looking a bit ridiculous with her arm stretched out in front of her to test her depth perception. "Why?"
Simon snapped out of his memories with a sniff. "Why what?"
"Why didn't you sleep on the trip?"
"Oh. I don't know… I suppose it was the ship itself. I'd only ever been on a train at that time, I think, and never for very long."
"A ship does make a lot of noise." Kestra mused, pressing her ear against the wall to both hear and feel the vibrations of a finally-tuned spacecraft. It made her sigh.
"This one is significantly less than any others. Including that damn escape pod." Carmen said, squinting to read the details of the replicator and silently mouthing the words that appeared.
Kestra threw a pillow at her. "Don't say damn."
Carmen rolled her eyes.
After a moment, it occurred to Kestra that Carmen might've forgotten how to read. So she made her way over to her sister and the replicator, picking up the pillow as a pretext to see if she needed any help. Carmen would never ask (none of them ever asked for help, even when they all knew they needed it), but she gratefully accepted Kestra's willingness to go over the alphabet with her.
Simon quickly fell asleep in his chair, his limbs spread out in every direction, mouth wide open, his chest rising and falling steadily.
Thad sighed at the quietness that gradually fell around them after that. By the time Kestra had returned from her meddling with the officers, he'd been too tired and worn to bother arguing with her. He planned on doing so later, but as of now, he had no energy. Picard's security officer, a Klingon named Worf (whom Thad vaguely remembered), had escorted them to their guest cabin where their belongings had been deposited earlier and they'd been meandering every since.
They didn't unpack or eat or do anything to get comfortable amongst this Enterprise. Instead, they looked around, satisfying their curiosity, up until that point when the weight of the day (of the last several days, really) finally started to push down on them. It was only once everyone else was finally asleep that Thad's migraine began to ease up and he found the motivation to dig into his bag (the very one Crusher had insisted Data save) and pull out their only real chance at a future.
He'd hidden it in a box to fool anyone who might go looking through his stuff (though he admitted keeping it hidden relied entirely on any snoop who did go looking through his stuff to not also look in the box), but most people thought the device he held in his hand was actually a piece of paper or a hidden line of code in some ancient computer. No one thought it was this. And even if some snoop did found it, the odd language and pressure triggers made it look like a toy.
Yet it was so much more.
Thad ran his thumb over the etching in the worn metal, feeling his anxiety begin to settle.
o tu cray sa nee Vaw
tuda noks ya Na
sov sa ri clu dra s'Ros
"Observe, within me Roslyn's secrets keep. Here the path to fortune dwells. Heed me and find all that you seek." He whispered, pressing the pressure points sequentially until something unlocked within the device. Thad felt the vibrations run through the metal and up through his arm.
Blue light leaked through the exquisitely assembled fragments.
Captain's Log
Jean-Luc Picard, Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise
Stardate: Unknown
Entry 1: For the record, this is the Enterprise's third day stranded...somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant near the moon now identified - per Commander Data - as "Hercules".
Today will be the first day that our guests - the Reygas - are active members of the ship. While onboard...just over twenty-four hours at this point, and under no obligation to do so, they have offered their technological and engineering knowledge - as well as their foster father's star charts - to help us get home. In exchange for their help, which includes their knowledge of local space, I have agreed to take them to the border of the Alpha Quadrant. Any further risks the chance of an encounter with the Breen, the Cardassians, or the Ferengi.
The children have suggested that they can make it the rest of the way to Betazed from there on their own, but I have already noticed several similarities between Thad, Kestra, Carmen, and Will and Deanna. Riker and Troi are two of my best officers, but they have proven to be stubborn at times and perhaps...overly-independent. I will have to make sure not to overlook these characteristics in...in their children.
Personal Log
Kestra Reyga
Stardate: Stardate? I don't- just put the...47th day of Doker, year 716. That sounds right.
Entry 1: How do I- oh, there we go. Testing - one, two, three. Testing. There we go.
Entry 2: So, in honor of Theatry - I have my journal. That wasn't burned, thank goodness, but I can't resist the Enterprise's audio and visual logs. They're just like the one Lee used.
*excited squeal*
This is so cool. Okay. Okay. It's...like I said, it's the 47th day of Doker, 716 and we're currently aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise - but not our Enterprise. This galaxy-class apparently - well, not apparently. It's not where it's supposed to be, whether that be because of a temporal rift or a black hole or wormhole, it can't be positively determined until the ship's computers are back online. That being said, an ion storm in conjunction with a spatial anomaly may explain the damage done to the electrical system. Those bad boys suck.
I offered my services as an electrical engineer to Commander La Forge, Chief of Engineering, and I'm just about to head down to there. Simon'll join us later, but, for now, everyone's sleeping. Thad's gonna be an absolute pain in the ass later, but - for now - he's not my problem. Hopefully, it can stay that way for a little bit.
Day 4 Stranded in the Unmapped Gamma Quadrant
The next morning, Kestra woke up early to get to work with Commander La Forge. He and Picard had agreed to let her help, if only because they needed an extra set of hands and she was small enough to fit into some of the tighter parts of the ship.
Not long after his sister, Thad slipped out in search of the holodeck. He knew since its creative capabilities relied on the computer that no one would come down to use any of the chambers, which meant that he'd have nearly half a deck to himself. Half a deck where he could tinker with his puzzle and dive further into its mystery.
It was typical that Simon and Carmen be the last to wake up. One was just fourteen and the other could sleep through a nuclear disaster. However, when Carmen rolled out of bed and proceeded to run into the wall, the sound of her impact first with the wall and then the floor was enough to jolt Simon awake.
"Are you okay?" He immediately demanded, crouching over his little sister, pulling her up into a sitting position.
Carmen took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut and then blinking in an attempt to stop the world from spinning. She'd lost control of her equilibrium before, but she'd forgotten that things sometimes moved along with it. "I think...so,"
"What were you doing?"
"I-I think I was kinda dreaming. I mean- I thought we were at home, and I needed to go to the bathroom…"
Simon chuckled. "You gotta remember to open your eyes now, fang."
"Hm," She agreed, clicking one eye shut and reaching out to rub a curl of golden hair between her fingers. Carmen had practiced for years seeing through the eyes of others. She'd had to learn how to live blind, but as her empathic abilities had grown stronger, she'd been able to work as a telepathic link between her biological siblings and Simon. From all of their points of view, she'd been able to glimpse pieces of the world she was missing, including the faces of her loved ones. Simon had a honey-ish complexion and the same black eyes as her and other Betazoids, but they were a different shape. Hooded and lined with dark lashes, so he could look a bit devilish if he wanted to.
Carmen thought it was a bit ironic - Simon was a gentle soul, mischievous and always good-humored, but he could come off very sinister and threatening, even without trying, thick and angular as he was. Yet it was her other brother, Thad, that, even as hot-headed as he was, was the real threat. Tall and broad, Thad was devious and brilliant, coming off as charming, smiling brighter than Simon, who never smiled with his teeth, keeping them hidden like some secret.
It was odd to feel and see at the same time, Carmen reflected. It was odd to sense her brother's tenderness and read it on his face as well.
It was odd to be thinking about her brothers this way, comparing and contrasting them unlike she ever had before.
But then again, a great deal had started to change since Lee died. It was teaching them a lot about who they each really were.
"What color is it?" Simon smiled, drawing on a game they use to play as a pastime.
Carmen's lips twitched as she considered. "Gold, like...hay."
"And this?" Simon gently pulled on one of her own curls.
"Brown,"
"Like?" He challenged.
She considered. "Wet soil,"
"Good. C'mon," He pulled her back onto her feet. "Let's see if that magic box can fix us somethin' to eat."
Kestra didn't remember much of anything before Ankon. She'd barely been seven when they were taken, so she couldn't have been able to come up with any meaningful detail about either the Enterprise or the Aries as her family had known them.
She was sure, however, that she would've remembered the engineering department if she'd ever seen it.
It was a spectacular scene of lights, glass, and polished metal, all sparkling and ready for her to play with. Engines and computers stretched above their heads, at least two decks high, buzzing with energy and opportunity. She didn't particularly understand why there was carpet on the floor, but she was eventually happy there was when she crawled out of a Jefferies tube and slid into the assessment center. She rolled over onto her back for a second, the lower half of her body still in the crawlspace, and took a deep breath of satisfaction.
La Forge glared at her from across the table, raising an eyebrow high skeptically. "You need a break or something, Reyga?"
"Oh, no, Commander. No. I'm good." Kestra slid the rest of the way out and got up slowly from her knees. "Just needed a breather. I didn't realize how much energy it takes to crawl. Ah, but I got it all done."
La Forge balked. "The entire panel? It's only been two hours!"
Kestra made that face again as if she wanted to ask what exactly La Forge meant. Was it suppose to take longer? Or only an hour? "Well, I finished the one you sent me to and I started on the other one, but I ran out of resistors. I hope there's a station nearby where you guys left. What you laid out isn't much more than a patch job."
"It'll get everything back up and running so we can do more permanent repairs later. I'm sorry if it doesn't meet your boondock standards." La Forge snapped, slapping down his padd tablet.
Now it was Kestra's turn to balk. She deflated and frowned uncertainly. "N-No. I didn't mean… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound...pompous. I was just…"
"No," La Forge sighed. He leaned into the table, shagging. "I'm sorry. All you've been doing is trying to help and…all I've been doing is biting your head off."
"You have a lot on your plate." Kestra perked with an idea. "Have you had something to eat?"
"What?"
Kestra ran over to the replicator and entered something. Within a moment, she returned to La Forge with a large banana nut muffin. "My sister says I get bitchy when I'm hungry. I forget to eat when I'm working, so she always had some muffins in the kitchen for me."
La Forge accepted it dubiously. "I mean… What the hell. I honestly don't remember the last time I had breakfast."
The girl smiled at his acceptance, slowly reinflating with confidence. La Forge's endorsement and approval were important to her. Engineering had always been one of her favorite topics and she'd been able to discuss it endlessly with Lee, who constantly quizzed her and would stay up for hours working on someone's broken machine. Since he'd passed, she'd had no one to bounce ideas or thoughts off of in the same way. It was refreshing and exciting to be able to talk advanced technological theory and execution with someone after so long.
La Forge bit into the muffin, continuing to sag against the table. He barely had the energy to chew efficiently. After a minute, he asked, "Your sister baked blind?"
Kestra had already gone about finding more resistors. "She did a lot of stuff. Not everyone needs a VISOR." She teased.
La Forge grunted.
"I mean, she had to. We helped her adapt. But...one day we were playing 'I Spy', and the next…" Kestra looked down at her hands only to shake away the memory. "When we got to Xeuf, Lee taught us all a lot, but he had a farm, so Carmen pretty much kept inside. She memorized where everything went in the house, including everything in the kitchen. And one day...she just started cooking."
"She make anything good?"
Kestra scoffed. "Gods, no. Not at first, anyway. Eventually, things didn't get so burnt. Or soggy. Or generally horrible. She'd actually perfected a few recipes by the time we left."
"Damn. It's been so long since I got my VISOR...I wouldn't even know what to do if I just went blind again."
"Don't see yourself short, Commander. I'm sure you'd manage."
"Well, yeah… I've had to do it once or twice, but not for a prolonged period of time. Nobody's had to do that for...generations."
"Nobody in the Federation," Kestra corrected him. "When did you get your VISOR?"
"I was five."
"Hm,"
"What?"
"Nothing. That's just...that's how old Carmen was."
"Taking a break are we?" A familiar voice teased as he rounded the corner into the assessment center. From his angle of entry, Riker didn't even see Kestra until it was too late. She'd stiffened at the sound of his voice and even contemplated diving back into the Jefferies tube to hide, but didn't get the chance by the time he appeared. Riker felt his heart sink at her timidness, losing a bit more of the day's rationed optimism.
"Unless you want to find my dead body in one of these damn tubes," La Forge groaned, straightening up and dusting the muffin crumbs off of his already dirtied uniform. "But at least we got some fresh blood here to keep things lively. Reyga's been here two hours and already rewired an entire panel. At this rate, she'll fix half a deck by end of day."
"I see you weren't exaggerating yesterday." Riker offered an encouraging smile, trying to break Kestra out of the shell he'd noticed formed every time he or Deanna were within earshot. "Maybe you'll be able to teach Mr. La Forge here a thing or two."
"Anyone's welcome to my job at this point." The chief huffed.
Riker chuckled and caught Kestra doing the same, warming his heart. When La Forge was called away by one of his teams, they were left alone together, awkwardly tense. Kestra went about busying herself, restocking her kit, hoping that Riker would just go away. Instead, he stepped gingerly forward.
"Is there...anything I can do to make this easier on you? I'm sure overall avoidance would be preferable, but it seems that's not necessarily a guarantee. Especially if you're going to be helping out around here." Riker sighed. "Kestra?"
She bit her lip. "I'm not sure there's anything you can do...Commander."
Riker considered what he could do, walking around to where La Forge had stood as he thought. He hated that he felt so useless - both to the ship and these kids. He couldn't stand that there was just nothing he could do to fix at least one of these problems.
"You know...I lost my mom when I was pretty young, too."
Kestra nodded without looking up. "Grandpa talked about her sometimes. He used to say… I had her name and that's why I had her hair."
Riker perked up, eyes wide. "Your name's Elizabeth?"
"Kestra Elizabeth." She finally looked up, locking blue eyes with him before judging the rest of his face. She swallowed, trying to hold back the tears that welled along the edges of her eyes. As best she could tell, he was about the same age her father had been the last time Kestra had seen him. "I can...appreciate how difficult this is for you, too, Commander. Please don't feel like you have to walk on eggshells around me. Around any of us. We'll get over it."
"I'm not sure you ever get over losing someone you love," Riker advised wisely, pained at the idea of what it would mean for Kestra to bottle up her emotions so tightly that she could operate around him without issue.
She sniffed and let out a rattling gasp, shrugging. "Maybe this is fate. The universe...finally giving us the opportunity to say goodbye. That- That's what's hardest. We didn't...know- We didn't...say…a proper goodbye."
Kestra was trembling now with the intensity of her emotions and Riker cursed himself for initiating the conversation at all.
"E-Excuse me. I have to finish my work."
She dove back into the tube before he could offer any apology or say goodbye.
He groaned, inclined to pound his head against a wall.
He needed to talk to Deanna.
Troi felt horrible by the time she left her office.
For one, she'd had back-to-back appointments all morning but for the life of her, she couldn't say what any of them had been about. She couldn't recall any of what her patients had said or what advice she'd given in response, or if she'd even given any advice. That, combined with the general anxiety and despair she'd been feeling since the waifs arrived, made her tired and sick to her stomach.
Still, as soon as she had the opportunity, she dragged herself down to the guest deck and did her due diligence as a ship's counselor.
She couldn't say that she wasn't all that curious to know what an alternate version of herself's children were like. Before Thad had begun stonewalling her and Crusher the day before, Troi'd found Carmen quite sweet. And Kestra had been bright and articulate in the observation lounge. Troi had to admit that even Thad's assertiveness was something to be proud of.
If she were to be proud of them.
At the very least, it had reminded Troi of what Riker had been like on Betazed all those years ago.
With a deep breath, she pressed the doorbell.
A moment later, the doors opened and she was greeted by the lanky Simon and his large smile.
"Hello," She began, trying to keep herself from tripping over her words. It made her feel all the worse to realize that she hadn't considered Simon before coming by. Uhhh… She'd been so consumed by the idea of Thad, Kestra, and Carmen - of what they meant and how they made her feel - that she'd almost forgotten about the fourth child the away team had brought up. "I was just...coming by to check on you."
"Oh! Yes, uh… Counselor...Troi, right?"
"Yes. And you're Simon,"
"Thank you. Imma afraid I'm the only one here at the moment but thank you." Simon rubbed the back of his head nervously, unsure of what to say next. He didn't have the same easy charm that his siblings did and it wasn't as if he was used to entertaining guests. "Thad and Kestra a-are out at the moment. I know Kestra's in engineering like she talked about last night. I'm not quite sure where Thad is, though."
Troi stepped further into the cabin, trying to ease Simon's tension by disregarding his lack of hosting skills. "What about you? Kestra said you'd help too. Or aren't you as fond of mechanics as she is?"
Simon chuckled meekly. "I am and- and I was. Helping. I just forgot my computer padd. I'm not as...well-versed in aerospace technology as Kestra. I prefer physics or chemistry. So I- I figured I'd need my instruction manual if you guys actually want to get home." The young man shook his head at the bad joke. "I also...just wanted to check up on Carmen. Her eyes and all."
Troi smiled softly at the young man's sweet disposition. "And where is Carmen? If I may ask."
"Oh, of course. She's asleep," Simon sighed, leaning against the arm of a chair. "She...said she started to get a bit of a headache after lunch." He made a general gesture at his eyes. "I'm not too worried. If you're concerned. Her optical muscles are probably just a bit rusty - or something to that effect. She knows what to do, though. She's good at that kind of stuff."
"Lee taught you four quite a lot, didn't he?" Troi said, amused that it was the same man, Lee Reyga of Xeuf, who'd taught Carmen medicine, Kestra starship mechanics, and Simon chemistry and physics.
"More than we could possibly absorb," Simon admitted, rubbing the back of his head. He relaxed a bit at the thought of his foster father. "He was always insistent that we exercise both mind and body. And whatever we did, it couldn't involve work. The farm, its upkeep - that was work. It didn't matter that we enjoyed most of what we did, Theatry still insisted we read or run or runaway for a little while to experience...at least the perception of rebellion."
Theatry, from theatras, meaning second father. It was a Betazoid word Troi had used many times herself growing up and she felt it was appropriate for Simon to refer to Lee that way, given the deep affection he felt for him. Affection, gratitude, and grief. Lee's death was still raw in Simon's heart and soul, Troi recognized. She knew the feeling well. But she also knew that talking often helped people to heal. That was, after all, a critical part of her job. "Tell me about him. About how you found him."
Simon slipped down into the chair, hanging his long legs on the arm he'd been leaning on. He sighed, wrapping his arms around his chest as if to protect himself from what his memories might stir up. "It was Theatry who found us. At an auction on some...Piezite colony or someplace. We'd been working for days and then all of the sudden, they just threw us on a cargoship, packed to the brim. I don't know how long it took us to get there, but the light hurt so badly when they pulled us out." The boy grounded his teeth, his heart pounding and his eyes brimming with tears.
Troi cringed. Simon couldn't manage to say another word about that day, but his memories were very clear and entirely visible to her whether Simon knew it or not.
The town square was well kept, which Simon thought ironic given the horror they'd scheduled for the sunny morning. It had taken them nearly a day of walking to end up there and the adults were practically dragging the children who were unfortunate enough to be chained to them. Simon could remember the woman behind him holding him up by his shirt, choking him just enough to keep him awake. There was no sympathy, no tenderness at all to be found amongst the iron links that connected them. It was everyone for themselves when it came to the Piezites.
A few at a time, the slaves were dragged on to a dais that also doubled as an execution stage judging by the dark stains in the wood. Simon's stomach lept when he noticed the knicks in the wood and made the connection.
Kestra was the first of them (though not the first child) to be pulled up in front of the town crowd, half of which was there for the entertainment while the others rattled their own chains in preparation for bringing a party of human property home at the end of the day.
"Ten," From behind the dais, Simon couldn't see the buyers' crowd, but he recognized the tone of someone bidding and felt Kestra's insides rattle with trepidation. Tears poured out of the corners of her eyes, but no one cared.
"Twelve,"
"Fourteen," the first man returned.
"Fifteen,"
"Twenty," the first bidder shouted, determined.
"I have twenty," the official Piezite auctioneer shouted. "First chance...second chance…"
"Twenty-five!" Someone called hastily.
"Thirty," the first man responded bitterly.
"Forty,"
A moment of silence.
"I have forty. First chance….second chance… Sold! To the man in the blue!"
Kestra was pulled off the dais and over to the paying station where a tall man with nicely cut dark hair, a trimmed beard, and a long, tattered, cobalt blue jacket stepped up with the necessary currency. He quickly removed Kestra's shackles and offered her his canteen. Simon remembered thinking that she at least ended up with someone kind.
A little while later came Thad. His starting price was double that of Kestra's, though lower than the adults because as a boy he had the potential to become a strong man in a few years. Several bidders competed, racking up the price until eventually, the man in blue won.
Simon felt a glimmer of hope, a longing that the four of them might still end up together.
He went next and Carmen was due to come right after. She'd originally been further ahead of him, but one of the Piezites had dragged Carmen over to Simon when she wouldn't stop crying. She was shaking despite the weight of her tiny shackles and could barely stand to let Simon go when it was his time on the dais.
"Don't go! Si-Simon, don't go!" She choked on her sobs, clutching to his rags. "You can't go! You can't take him! Please! Don't go! Simon!"
"Shh, it's gonna be okay. Don't cry, don't cry. We're gonna be together, I promise."
"Please don't take him!"
"Now who will take this strong, young thing?" The auctioneer drummed, starting the sale and trying to distract from the commotion by gesturing to Simon's scrawny limbs. "A telepath on top! You can take him gambling!"
"We're gonna be together. Just hold on for a few more minutes and we'll all be together." Simon insisted, his own eyes watering.
The Piezite who was pulling them apart lashed out and smacked Carmen across the cheek, throwing her down the stairs. "Quiet! Get her under control!" He jerked Simon into the middle of the dais.
"WE'LL START AT TWENTY!"
"Twenty,"
"Twenty-two,"
"Twenty-five,"
The man in the blue did not speak, obviously distressing Thad and Kestra. Thad looked uneasily between Simon and the man. Kestra pulled on the man's jacket and told him something, but he remained silent.
Simon's heart dropped.
"Thirty!"
"Thirty-five,"
"Thirty-seven!"
"Fifty!" The man in the blue finally called out.
Several of the buyer's shoulders fell in defeat, making Simon's hope rapidly return.
"Fifty-two!" Someone challenged - one of the men who'd tried to buy Thad.
"Fifty-seven," The man in the blue turned.
"Come off it! Let 'im 'ave it!" Another person hollered.
"Fifty-nine!"
"Sixty,"
"Sixty-two,"
"Sixty-seven!" The man in the blue turned to his challenger with a formidably calm expression. "Money is of no importance to me. What about you?"
The challenger glowered but did not increase his bid.
The auctioneer struck the dais with his baton. "Sixty-seven! Sold to the man in blue!"
Almost immediately, the Piezites dumped Carmen onto the dais, shivering and sobbing. Nobody was eager to take a loud, blind child so the Piezites were happy to take the meager sum the man in blue offered. Simon didn't wait for the Piezite who'd struck her to push her down the stairs. He carefully led her down and over to the pay station, holding her cuffed hands in his.
"Shh, shh. Hey. Hey, there," The man in blue said softly, drawing them away from the pay station and crowd before kneeling down and undoing both Simon and Carmen's shackles, just as he had Kestra and Thad's. He threw them away into the bushes to be forgotten. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay. Look who I got here."
Thad and Kestra came rushing forward and wrapped their arms around Simon and Carmen.
"It's gonna be okay." The man in blue repeated, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the dirt off Carmen's face. Then he gently placed a hand on Simon's waist, turning his attentions from one child to the other. "Are you okay?"
Simon nodded, leaning into Thad instinctively but unable to look away from the man who'd kept them all together, who showed such tenderness to them. The first person to do so in years.
"Okay," He kept his hand on Simon's waist and placed his other on Kestra's shoulder, linking them together in a circle. He looked at each of them with wide, transparent dark eyes one at a time to make a point and begin a rapport. "My name's Lee. Lee Reyga. I live on a planet called Xeuf in a place called Conqourd Valley. You guys are gonna live with me there now. But you are not slaves. I didn't buy you to use you, I bought your freedom, do you understand? You owe no service or debt to me. You are free, but you can stay with me until we can find your parents. I have a farm and a big house. A few dogs, cats, and cows...it's a very nice place. You'll be comfortable there."
"Our parents are dead," Simon croaked, beginning to shake himself, his body unwinding after contorting with so much tension and exhaustion over the last several days.
Lee looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. He stared at Simon for a moment, then glanced over the other children before licking his lips and swallowing. "Then will you let me look after you? I promise I can take care of you and keep you safe."
Simon nodded, as did the others.
"Okay," Lee petted the back of Simon's hair and bit the inside of his cheeks. "Okay. Let's go home."
Troi bit back her own tears, her chest swarming with Simon's feelings. She took a deep breath and turned herself away from Simon to compose herself.
"He took us back to Conqourd," Simon continued, his voice shaking a bit. "He got us new clothes, patched us up, and gave us all a bed for the first time since Shankar. He let us do whatever we wanted to do. And then, after a while, he started to direct us towards the library and the garage. He showed us how to fix an engine, how to milk a cow, taught us how to ride a horse and plow a field...He kissed us and tucked us in."
He wiped a tear away with the heel of his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Never apologize for loving someone, Simon." Troi quickly told him, reaching out to extend her reassurance with her mind. "Love is a precious thing. It's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."
He nodded, sensing how often she'd said those words to herself.
"When did he pass away?"
"About…four months ago. He, uh...had a heart attack. Out in the field." He held down a sob. "By the time we got him into town…" Simon shook his head. "We- We shouldn't be here, you know. Theatry left the farm - everything - to us. But, Jay-"
"Jay?"
"Lee's biological son. They didn't get along. It had a lot to do...with Jay's mom. She and Lee butted heads a lot too before she died. But, uh, Jay, he...paid the judge off. Made him...change Theatry's will to say that everything was his. Then he ran us out of town. Told everyone Carmen and I would...steal their thoughts now that Lee wasn't around to control us." Simon sniffed. "It wasn't a nice place...but it wasn't bad either."
"Lots of dust. I was always sweeping."
Troi looked over her shoulder to see Carmen leaning against the doorframe, her hair a bit wild from how she'd slept. She met Troi's eyes dead-on for a moment but then dropped them, not wanting to be invasive.
She suffered no discomfort or despair from seeing Troi, unlike Thad and Kestra. There was only a hint of familiarity and a dash of curiosity. Some part of Carmen had known that she'd forgotten what her parents looked like, long before her sight had been stolen. A face isn't all that important to a five-year-old, though - rather, it's how that person makes a five-year-old feel and so while Carmen had faint impressions of how the hum of her mother's voice had made her feel, none of those feelings quivered to life because of Troi.
It crushed Deanna more than she'd expected to realize as much. Everything was different now that the waifs were aboard the Enterprise. Sure, the damage done by the black hole had certainly changed the aesthetic of everything, but knowing they were onboard - people who shared the same DNA as her, who had Will's eyes - made it all sit heavier on her chest than any other catastrophe had before. The damage outside of the cabin was her responsibility to help fix; the waifs' mental health was her duty to maintain - but these children weren't hers. Despite the fact that Carmen was a spitting image of her younger self, Troi meant nothing to her. Nor to Thad and Kestra, really. It was her likeness that pained them, but it was not her voice or her touch that they pined for in their dreams.
And that simple fact changed everything about the Enterprise to Deanna.
I'm sorry. Simon told Carmen.
Don't be. The sedative was wearing off anyway. Carmen answered with a shrug.
Troi turned the chair slightly so she could see both of them without straining. The two of you communicate telepathically very well. Are you always aware of each other?
Simon nodded. Yes.
Since Shankar. Carmen added. And I can act as a bridge for Thad and Kestra so we can all talk together. Another reason the Xeufians didn't like us - we didn't always have to speak in front of them.
It can be a little off-putting. Humans call expressions or intuition "silent conversation" but when an actual silent conversation is going on, they find it disconcerting. As if we're conspiring against them.
Carmen smirked. Most of the time in Conqourd, we were.
Simon threw her a disapproving look but also didn't disagree, making Troi smile. Is there anything you need? I know activity is limited, as is the replicator too, but please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or need something.
We're fine so far. Thank you, counselor.