Kassia's shop was gaining popularity by the day. There wasn't a moment, it seemed that she wasn't talking to someone, answering questions for someone else, ringing up purchases or doing readings. Troy was handling the store for her, since he wasn't due at work for a couple of hours yet, and she needed someone to look after it while she did a reading for a customer. She hadn't hired an assistant yet, though that was on the agenda next week.
Kassia and Cynthia Bennett, a Starfleet officer from security, sat at a small table directly across from each other in a back room to the shop. The only light came from lit candles. The room wasn't large, but wasn't cramped, and the walls were dark in color and covered with sheer material. It lent itself to the mystical aura Kassia wanted to portray.
Cynthia was excited, but nervous as her blue eyes shined in the candlelight. She professed to not really trusting stuff like this, but
Kassia knew better and smiled.
"All right," Kassia said, shuffling the deck of Earth Tarot cards in her hands, "What did you want to ask the cards?"
"Well, I want to know if this guy that I went out with last week could possibly be Mr. Right," she answered, her cheeks blushing slightly as she pushed back the blonde hair from her face. "Being in security, a lot of guys are put off by that. But . . . he was different . . . And I'm not any different than any other woman. I want to find the love of my life and have a family . . ."
Kassia smiled. "Well, lets see what the cards say . . ." She shuffled the deck until the cards felt right. But as she laid down the first card, she knew something was wrong. The first card was the Death card. Though it rarely meant an actual death and usually meant a significant change in one's life, she couldn't shake the feeling of this being something more. Something devastating.
She continued on, laying down the second card. It was the King of Swords. No doubt it represented the man in her life.
"He's a Starfleet officer also, isn't he?" Kassia asked.
"Yes," she replied with surprise.
"He's in the science section, or medical, right?" Kassia clarified.
"Yes," she replied again, still shocked.
As Kassia looked at the card, she saw the man's face, but there was something wrong. He was on the ground and covered with blood. She was suddenly hit with fear, like she had experienced in her nightmares. She tried not to let it show as she laid down the third card. It was the Queen of Swords.
No doubt about the fact that it represented the woman, herself. But Kassia's apprehension grew. The next card was the Lovers, turned upside down. These two were meant to be together, but there was definitely something wrong. Something was going to keep them apart. As she laid down the last card in her spread, she suppressed a tremble. It was the Tower. The Tower always foretold devastation . . . Something terrible was going to happen to this man, or to both of them.
"What do the cards say?" Cynthia asked. The images on the cards making her nervous. They didn't look so good to her.
"May I take your hand?" Kassia asked. "Sometimes it helps me gain a clearer vision."
The woman nodded and extended her hand to Kassia. As she took Cynthia's hand, she was instantly hit by horrific images. The man she was asking about was definitely killed, as were many other people on this station. Then an image of the woman came to her. She was killed brutally as well. Without thinking, Kassia pulled her hand free swiftly, taking a quick breath, like she had just been burned.
"I'm sorry," she said, forcing a smile for Cynthia's benefit. "My thoughts don't seem to be clear enough today. I'll tell you what, why don't you come back tomorrow for a reading, and I'll throw in that book on Earth astrology that you wanted, for your inconvenience."
"How did you -"
Kassia continued to smile. "Oh, I just seem to know these things."
As they settled on a time, Kassia bid Cynthia Bennett good day and entered the front of the store. Troy, knowing her so well, knew something was wrong, but couldn't approach her, since he was ringing up a customer's order. But he did watch with his dark eyes as Kassia went from person to person in her shop and touched them subtly, as if in the normal course of her conversations with them. But he knew what she was doing. He just couldn't figure out why. However, he could tell she was getting more upset with each touch, though hiding it well for the customers who didn't know her, like he did.
As soon as he found the opportunity, he went up to her and interrupted a conversation about the different prayer books on the shelves she was having with a young man as she touched his hand briefly.
"Kassia, can I talk to you for a moment?" Troy asked.
She smiled to the man. "You'll have to excuse me . . ."
"No problem. I'll just continue to browse," he replied.
She followed Troy to the back of the shop, where he immediately stopped and looked into her eyes.
"Kass, what is going on?" he asked. He was very concerned.
Finally able to let her guard down, she began to shake. "Everyone here is going to die!" she replied. "That reading I did for Cynthia Bennett showed something terrible was going to happen in her life. Only when I took her hand for confirmation, not only was she going to die, but so was the man she was asking about, and several other people . . . and everyone I have touched today are going to share that fate!"
Tenderly, Troy pulled her into his arms to comfort her, only to hear her take a sharp breath in as if in sudden pain followed by sobs. "What is it?" he asked.
As she looked into his dark eyes, frames by his brow ridges, she shook her head. "You too . . ." was all she could say. All he could do was hold her.
As soon as he could, Troy closed the shop early for Kassia and contacted Soma, to let them know he would be late, if he showed up at all for work that evening. There was a family emergency and family came first. He was going to help Kassia through this as best as he was able.
As he brought her some herbal tea, they sat together on the sofa in their quarters.
"So what's going to happen?" he asked, gently touching the spots on her face, reassuring her that he was here and he cared.
"I haven't gotten that far into the premonition yet," she replied, taking a sip of her tea. She fought off a shudder. "Every time I see someone die, I break the connection . . . "
He nodded with understanding. Sometimes this gift of hers seemed more like a curse, he thought. But making up his mind, he took her hand.
"Okay, I want you to finish the reading on me . . . If I'm going to suffer the same fate, then see it through. Then we'll know what happens."
"But -"
"Kass, you have to do this. If we find out what happens here, we can warn everyone. Maybe save these lives . . ."
She nodded. Yes, she thought, this was what she had always used her gifts for. To try to make things better. "Okay," she said, setting her tea down on the table. "Lets do this."
He smiled at her as reassurance, before she closed her eyes. As she focused on the images of Troy's death, she saw how it was done. More and more details formed in her mind. The Son'a were on the station. They were brutally killing everyone in sight. Suddenly, she saw an image of herself, leaning over Troy crying. A Son'a came up to her, but she wouldn't move away. She wouldn't leave Troy. She couldn't . . . He raised his weapon to her and - she broke the connection. She was going to die as well . . . if something wasn't done.
As she opened her eyes, she knew what she had to do.
"So what happened?" Troy asked.
"I die too," she replied, with a strange sense of detachment, "When the Son'a attack the station . . ."
"What?!"
"The Son'a attack the station . . ." she said again. Suddenly she was spurred into action and stood up. "I have to go. I need to talk to Commander Wallace . . ." With a quick kiss to her brother's cheek and a thank you, she ran out of her quarters and to the Commander's office, where she knew he would be.
Kassia managed to make it through the station, and through the control center, to where the Commander's office was. Like a cat, she moved with stealth, and was lucky enough not to be noticed. This was a conversation she didn't want anyone aware of just yet. As she reached the office, she entered, to find Commander Wallace sitting there reading a bunch of reports on PADDS stacked on his desk. He lowered the PADD he had been reading and looked at this unexpected visitor. She was young, dark haired, green eyed and looked like a Trill, yet was distinctly different from one, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was different.
"Can I help you?" he asked, wondering who this girl was and what she was doing in his office.
"Commander, hello," she smiled. "My name is Kassia. I run a shop on this station . . . I need to speak to you about something of great urgency," she explained.
"If this is something pertaining to your shop, I'm afraid that you're in the wrong -"
"No, that's not it," she gently interrupted, looking into his brown eyes. "Something terrible is going to happen to this station and the people on it. I am here to warn you, so that this can be changed."
Immediately, she could sense his skepticism. "Really? And you are what? Some sort of psychic?" he asked.
She shook her head. This wasn't going to go anywhere fast, unless she could change his mind. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am. I am an empath,a telepath, and a psychic."
"Then you already know I don't believe you."
"Yes, I am aware of that. But this is important and I need to have your trust. If I can't get you to believe me, a lot of Starfleet officers and many civilians are going to lose their lives. My brother and I being two of them . . ."
He still wasn't buying it. "And just what is suppose to happen?"
"The Son'a are going to attack the station. The devastation they have left behind on their recent attacks to that colony and the Darwin will be repeated here. "
He was surprised about the information she seemed to know, but people did talk and rumors always spread like wildfire. He still didn't believe her. "If they ever did attack, that might happen," he conceded, "But they're not going to . . ."
Kassia groaned with frustration. "What can I do to make you believe - wait! May I have just one more moment of your time? Please?" she asked, desperation flashing in her green eyes. "It will only take a minute . . . and then you'll believe me about my abilities and about this."
He shrugged. If it were this important to her, he would play along. He was surprised when she approached him, coming around the desk, taking his free hand in her own and closing her eyes. Instantly, he felt something as his own eyes closed. His mind began to wander.
Images from his life came to her mind. She saw his past and present clearly. The future was cloudy, as it always was when she was trying to affect a change. But what she wanted was the past anyway. She sifted through the memories until she found one that she knew would make him believe . . . something that he never spoke about.
As her eyes opened, she gazed at the Commander. "I know what you did during the Dominion War," she started.
The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end.
"I know about the Vorta . . . and I know that you had to shoot him . . . to stop the Jem'Hadar from slaughtering more men in your unit . . . You had to do it to save lives," she said, seeing his memories and the violence of that moment.
At that, he was truly shocked. "I have never told anyone about that," he said, holding her intense gaze.
"I know . . . And now you believe me about my abilities . . ." She said, as her green eyes filled with seriousness and bore into his. "This station is going to be attacked by the Son'a, and its going to happen soon . . ."