Katianna, Kassia and Tara all arrived in sickbay early. Lee was already up and ready. "I'm kidnaping Lee again," Katianna replied with a smile.
Tara just raised an eyebrow as Kassia smiled. "Have fun. We'll contact you as soon as Alicia wakes up."
"Want some Raktajino, everyone?" came the voice of Toren Len one of the nurses in sickbay. He brought in cups of the stuff.
"Thank you," Kassia replied grabbing a cup.
"You are quite a life saver!" Tara laughed, as she grabbed one of her own.
"We'll grab some out," Katianna replied as she lead Lee out of the room and then out of sickbay. "The Captain wants to see you," she said with a smile. "Then we're going somewhere special today, like I promised yesterday."
"The Captain?" he asked a bit surprised.
"She likes to greet special visitors herself," Katianna smiled. It didn't take long to get to the Command Deck and to Captain Mallory's office. Soon they were seated in front of her.
"First let me welcome you to Starbase 901," she said. "Though I suppose we should also we welcoming you to 2385." Her smile was bright and kind.
"Thank you, Captain," he replied.
"I want you to know that you'll have nothing to worry about until you get acclimated here. We'll provide you quarters and an expense account," she said.
"That's very generous," he said.
"Well, we'll make you work for it eventually. Right, Katianna?" she winked at her friend and crewmate.
"That's right," Katianna agreed with a laugh.
Kitty smiled. "Don't worry, there's no strings attached. But we do find people eventually want to work," she said.
"I will," Lee replied.
"You might have that chance sooner than you think," she replied, her smile never leaving her face. She then stood up and extended her hand. "It was good to meet you. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. I would talk longer, but I do have work," she said as she indicated the multitude of PADDs on her desk.
Katianna escorted Lee out and of the office and to the turbo lift. But as they got off and began to walk he could tell they were not heading toward the Promenade, but more away from it. They were headed toward what appeared to be personal quarters. Finally, she opened one of the doors and lead him inside. There was a woman holding a baby that looked to be about seven or eight months old. The woman had dark hair and aqua eyes. There were spots framing her face. Sitting on the floor with a PADD was a little girl of about five years of age. Her hair was Katianna's color, but she had spots framing her face, like the young woman's. As the girl looked up, her green eyes sparkled and she smiled.
"Momma!!!" she cried, as she got up and ran to her mother's opened arms.
"Hi, baby, how are things today?" she asked.
"No school . . . nothing to do," she replied. "So I was reading! Whose that?" she asked looking at Lee.
"This is a friend of mine from a long time ago. His name is Keung Lee," Katianna explained as she guided them to the couch so they could all sit. Laurissa immediately crawled into her mother's lap.
"You were on the Eagle," Laurissa replied.
"How did you know that?" Kat asked. She'd never told Laurissa about the Eagle.
"Daniel told me!" she replied with a smile.
Kara approached and Laurissa moved off her mother's lap. Daniel was almost asleep as Katianna took him in her arms. He was very light-skinned with no hair on his head and the clearest eyes. It was hard to believe he was only three months old.
"Needless to say, these are my children. My daughter, Laurissa and my son Daniel," she said.
Lee stared dumbfounded at the children. A daughter and a son!! He turned to Katianna. "This is indeed a surprise!" said Lee, who wasn't sure what to say and certainly felt out of his depth. "Hi kids" smiled Lee. He was tempted to ask about the father but didn't feel it was the right moment to say anything.
For all the time Katianna knew Lee, she couldn't recall how he reacted to children never mind now.
"And this is my friend, Kara Lac. I'll tell you about our adventures one of these days. There's a lot to tell." She sensed his unasked question as if lingered in his mind. "Their fathers are dead," she replied softly, almost turning her face away, trying to push out the thoughts of both Jovan and Arturus. Both were painful memories. Only Jovan's was more recent and more troublesome, since Kalimar was still around. "But they each left me a precious gift."
The smiled softened her face as Daniel went limp in her arms. He was sound sleep. Lee reached over and gently touched the boy's cheek. He didn't even stir. Katianna smiled.
"Kara, I think Daniel needs to take a nap," Katianna replied.
Kara came over and took Daniel from Katianna's arms. "Will you be staying for awhile?" Kara asked.
"I image . . . Unless we get called away," Kat replied.
Kara nodded and vanished with Daniel into the other room.
"I want to play!" Laurissa said enthusiastically. "Can you play tea party with me?" she asked.
"Oh, honey, I don't know . . ." Katianna said, trying to save Lee.
"But Uncle Paul does!" she insisted.
It wasn't long before Kat and Lee found themselves in the middle of a child's tea party laughing and giggling. For the occasion, Katianna even replicated lemonade and some cookies. When the cookies were gone, Laurissa asked her new friend to read a book to her. Without hesitation, she crawled into Lee's lap and rested against him and listened to him.
Alicia woke again to the lights being dimm but not quite as...dimm. She looked around and saw the bed where Lee had been was empty and she immediately sat up and tried to stand but felt her knees buckle under her weight and she was instantly grabbed around the waist and other people crowded in to help..."Silly girl. Where did you think you were going a male voice asked in a tone that hinted at humor. She placed both hands on the bed and they easily placed her on it and she just sat there with her head up at about a thirty degree angle. She coughed and then asked, "Where's Lt. Lee?" She was disgusted with herself for sounding so panic stricken, but she didn't recognize anyone or the design or style of medical facility she was in...
But before her question could be answered, she'd lasped back into darkness.
Alicia woke to find her head throbbing in pain and herself confused, this didn't look like the Eagle and she didn't see anyone she knew. She forced herself to a sitting position and waited... finally a young man wearing glasses atop nose ridges stopped and asked her, "How are you feeling?" Alicia frowned but admitted, "My head really hurts. Could you find Dr. Shurov for me."
"I can get you something for the headache," the man said looking at the PADD that had been beside the bed, "But I don't know a Dr. Shurov."
Alicia laid back down, with her right hand covering her eyes asked, "Do you know what happened to my friend Keung Lee? He was here last night." She wasn't going to cry...
"Ah, yes. He was feeling better and I was told he was taken on a tour. Would you like me to summon him?" The woman reached in and placed a hypospray to Alicia's neck and she heard the hissing and felt the burning sensation. "Give that a few minutes to work, and it might make you sleepy so don't try to get up without help." The woman said. "I'll be over at the computer after I've located your friend in case you need anything." She saw her patient nod as she turned to leave.
"Sickbay to Commander Nadira, Ms. Devries is awake and requesting, Lt. Lee's presence."
Katianna got the impression he was actually enjoying himself as he read to Laurissa, who she already knew was enjoying herself. Suddenly her combadge chirped.
[Sickbay to Commander Nadira, Ms. Devries is awake and requesting, Lt. Lee's presence.]
"Looks like fun time is over, little one," Katianna sighed. "Mom and Lee have to get back to work."
"Awwww," she said as she crawled off his lap. "Will you come back and visit again?" she asked.
He smiled. "Perhaps," he replied.
With that they walked out the door and toward sickbay.
Fifteen minutes later Keung entered sickbay with Katianna. But as he walked over and took Alicia's hand which was resting on her chest, Kat hung back. Alicia opened her eyes and looked dreamily into his... With a sob she sat up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and cried, "I'm so confused, my head hurts so bad, and then you weren't here..."
Lee stroked Alicia's hair as he tried to work out what he had to say. Was it his responsibility to tell her the truth or let the doctor handle it? "Well, I'm here now" said Lee softly. "Why are you confused?"
She sniffed back her tears and just rested her head against his shoulder. Finally in a quiet voice she said, "I don't recognize this place, or the uniforms, and when I asked for Dr. Shurov; the nurse didn't know who I was talking about." His hand messaged the middle of her back for a moment and then he moved and guided her back to lay on the biobed. He reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. He looked up and made eye contact with the nurse and said, "I'd like to see Dr. Cherrin please." He looked back down at Alicia and then over his shoulder to Katianna--who Alicia hadn't seen enter.
Dr. Cherrin arrived and looked at Lt. Lee as he walked around to the other side of the bed. "Good Evening Ensign Devries. I'm Dr. Cherrin," he said as he ran a scan, then asked, "how are you feeling?"
Alicia looked and saw the young doctor and thought she'd seen him before....maybe that was only a dream, but said, "My head hurts and I don't recognize this place..." her sentence trailed off as he nodded.
He produced a hyposray from his lab jacket and injected 1cc of Imaprovoline. "Just relax and let that medication work." He patted his patients shoulder and saw that Commander Nadira was present, and directed his question at her, "Do you think we should call Lt. Kassia in?" The woman hadn't been noticed and in silence nodded,
"Have her come down," Katianna said. "I think she might be needed." Finally Katianna stepped toward Alicia and smiled. "Hey . . . remember me?"
Alicia opened her eyes and looked at the person who had taken her other hand. Slowly the bed adjusted into a seated position and she smiled. "Katianna--thank god, I was really beginning to think I'd lost my mind....but I still don't recognize the place." She said as she looked around once again.
Katianna's smile and voice were calm and soothing. "You wouldn't," she said. "You're on a Starbase." She decided to give her the information slowly so as to not shock her too much all at once.
"Excuse me! " She said with disbelief, and looked at Lee who nodded, yes.
Kassia entered and stood next to Dr. Cherrin, "have her Neurotransmitter levels normalized?"
"They'ere still a bit low." He said handing his latest scan to her. She read through it.
Kassia scanned them. "They're normalizing. They should be all right by morning, but if I would like them checked every four hours, in case they dip again. If they do, give her 2cc of peletherine. But no more than that."
Doctor Cherrin nodded and noted it in his chart.
"It's all right," Katianna tried to calm Alicia. "This is Starbase 901. The USS Ronin picked up your damaged shuttledpod and brought you here."
Kassia then stepped forward. "And I'm Lt. Kassia. You're being treated for a severe concussion among other injuries you sustained."
"Shit," Alicia screamed and threw herself off the biobed and stumbled breaking past the sacrilimage of Lt. Lee....they'd been picked up by the alien force... She scrambled on hands an knees until tackled by Lt. Lee. Who pinned a struggling wiry Alicia to the ground. He spoke into her ear as she struggled to catch her breath, "It's the truth. I wouldn't lie to you...Alicia, stop! Listen to my voice."
She listened and deep in her heart knew it was him, but they could be using him, couldn't they?
But, Katianna hadn't been on the shuttle there would be no way for them to use her. Alicia relaxed, and felt herself being lifted and placed back on her bed. He said, "Just listen to what they have to say..."
"Alicia, it's really me . . . Remember? You first saw me on the Eagle, when I started taking the self defense courses . . . Then we meet in person that day in one of the Rec rooms. We talked and played 3 dimensional chess . . . Do you remember that?" Katianna asked, her green eyes looking at her friend, trying to convince her first, that she was indeed who she was.
"I remember..." She looked at the other woman and the clothing she was wearing but edge away closer to Lee. She thought to herself it must be the drugs...she was halucinating. "There's no such ship as the Ronin in the Starfleet ships' list' nor is there such a Starbase as 901..." She looked at Lee who was strong and as serious as usual, and didn't seem to be affected by the nonsense she was hearing...so it must just be her hallucinating. She took a deep breath and scrunched her eyes closed.
Kat took a deep breath. "Alicia, this is where I work now. I am a Commander in Starfleet . . . Keung and yourself have come forward into the future . . This is a Starfleet installation. The Ronin is a Starfleet vessel . . . There's so much to tell you," she said. "Just as my friend . . . and that I'm very happy to see you." Tears were misting her green eyes, and Kassia's hand was on Kat's shoulder. She knew what Kassia was thinking as well. It was good to see her care about something other than her training.
Lee looked at both women and shook his head, and shook Alicia's shoulders. "Open your eyes Alicia, " he said. "Remember me telling you on the Eagle that I'd been thrust through time into the future...some how it happened again." Her eyes opened and she just shook her head no in disbelief.
Alicia looked at he friend Katianna. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe any of this... You've all lost your freaking minds."
"Look at her uniform," Kassia offered gently, not bringing herself into the discussion. "Look even at the technology around you. And even if I, myself, am not human, there are many humans here. Even the Captain of this Starbase is a Tanzaran."
"I understand how difficult this must be to wrap your head around . . . But it is true," Katianna said, then paused before she finally took a breath. "This is 2385. The Eagle was decomissioned a long time ago . . . We all thought you were dead." The memories came back just like they had when she had first seen Lee and spoken with him. "Just like I told Lee . . . I would much rather have you here."
Katianna left and took her PADD to the nearest station and sat at the computer for a few moments and then uploaded images from the wrecked shuttlepod. She handed the PADD to Alicia. "These are the remains from your shuttle and when the doctor's agree you can leave--I'll take you there personally."
Lee saw the images she was looking at and brushed her hair out of her face and said, quietly but firmly, "I've been there and seen the ship for myself. I've spoken to the captain. I can varify for a fact that this is Katianna--our friend, and that we are where she says we are."
Alicia rested her head back and looked deeply into Katianna's eyes and saw the tears as tears started falling from her eyes, "Kat?'"
Katianna nodded. "It's me . . ." she said. She moved closer to Alicia. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you alive . . . I know this is going to be difficult for you, but I promise, I will do anything and everything in my power to help you adjust."
Kassia stood back and watched with a smile, as Katianna took Alicia's hands. She could sense just how sincere Katianna was and what a strong bond she had with these two. She couldn't quite understand it since she was suppose to come from a different dimension, but perhaps dimensions met and split, she thought. After all, these bonds were real.
Alicia reached out and pulled Katianna into a hug. Lee stepped back to stand by Kassia and Dr. Cherrin to wait.
"The last thing I remember is trying to grab our helmets, the consoles were exploding and I know at least one of Lee's security detail was dead..." She pulled back from Kat and looked at Lee who nodded. "How come my head hurts so bad...if it wasn't sucked up by the aliens?"
Kassia frowned, confused by the images, and asked, "Scott, can you repeat your scan?"
Dr. Cherrin repeated his scan. "She's got a severe concussion. She shouldn't be trying to walk anywhere for the next 24 hours at least . . . But there's no sign of tampering . . . However, look at this." He showed Kassia the scan.
"A wormhole . . . But through time?" Kassia said.
"Trust me, stranger things have happened," Katianna replied, thinking of all her mishaps that crossed her over to different dimensions and times.
Kassia nodded. "Of course," she smiled.
"At least you arrived here," Katianna said. "If the shuttlepod hadn't stumbled on that wormhole anomaly, you'd both probably be dead . . ." She sighed outwardly a sigh of relief. Almost as if it had been one she had held for over 100 years. "There is so much to tell you. I don't even know where to begin."
"Just don't overwhelm her," Kassia cautioned.
Scott looked at everyone, and ordered, "Lt., you're spending one more night here under observation and I'll sedate you if need be now say "good night."
Lee smirked, headed off to change into a set of scrubs he found lying on the bed across from Alicia's. He kissed her on the forehead and said, "I'll be right back."
Dr. Cherrin fiddled with the hypospray and moved into medicate Alicia who held up her hand to fend him off..."I'll be good--don't sedate me..."
Kat took her hands in hers and both women looked at each other, "He's got medication that will help with the concussion--now's not the time to be hard headed about things. She embraced Alicia again like if she let go she'd lose her again...but knew that wasn't true.
"And I promise I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning," Katianna replied. "Do you want me to stay for awhile longer?" She looked to Cherrin, who aquiesced if Alicia wished it, as long as Kat's presence wasn't disruptive or upsetting.
While Kat held onto the other woman Dr. Cherrin moved in and administered the medication which was a combination of drugs for the concussion, oxygen derivation and Morpazine which would produce dreamless sleep for 8 hrs.
Kassia moved a chair over and Katianna released her friend and sat down and watched the other drift off to sleep. She did catch the murmered, "but...what about my family?" but was to far gone, it could wait til tomorrow.
Katianna wondered what she would tell Alicia . . . This was over 100 years in the future. Her family, the family she knew was gone most likely . . . a member or two might still be alive. It would be something to research. But most likely she just lost everyone she knew . . . except Lee and herself . . Of course, Katianna knew she wasn't the same Katianna Alicia knew, but she was close enough. That Katianna was still inside her under all the darkness.
"Will she be okay, Kassia?" Kat asked, as she stared down at her friend. She could feel the counselor behind her.
"In time she'll be fine," Kassia replied calmly, "She just needs to adjust and it's going to be a big adjustment."
"I'll do anything I can to help her."
"Just be yourself," Kassia replied, gently laying a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Your support is what she'll need the most. Your listening ear . . Your being there for her . . . Your strength . . . Something you have a lot of," Kassia smiled.
Katianna looked at Kassia, their green eyes meeting. "Thanks . . ."
"I"m just merely doing my job," Kassia replied.
"Yeah, right," Kat replied. "Thanks anyway."
Kassia continued to smile with a hint of a laugh in her eyes.
Lee walked back in and accepted the water and the tables the doctor handed him. He winked at Katianna and sat down on his bed...with her sitting between the two. "Well, that could have been worse." He said.
Katianna laughed softly. "Yeah, I suppose," she replied, looking at him and shaking her head. "I'm just glad you're both okay."
The lights dimmed and Kassia walked out of the bay talking quietly to Dr. Cherrin as they paused by his office. Lee and Kat continued to talk quietly until he was unable to keep his own eyes opened. She watched them both sleep then got up and headed to Holo Pursuits to workout.