A blast rocked the basement that served as a shelter. Fifteen able-bodied resistance fighters, some wearing the tattered remains of the Tanzaran Defense Force uniform, huddled along with another two dozen plague victims. Nothing could be done for them except to make them comfortable as the plague seared out their lungs.
Troy held the earpiece of a comm system to his ear. "That's it... the government just authorized the destruction of Elekon City to mitigate the spread of the plague."
"That was our last megaton-range nuclear weapon!" Katianna exclaimed. "What are we going to use to fight the enemy?"
"It doesn't matter at this point... I'm afraid we've lost!" another of the resistance fighters said. "We should sue for peace while some of us are still left!"
Troy grabbed the man by the shirt front. "You shut your mouth! As long as there's still one of us breathing, we keep fighting--you hear?"
Katianna stepped between the two. "This isn't helping. We've got to get out of this shelter! The bombardment is getting closer!" she exclaimed as yet another, closer, more powerful blast shook the shelter. Concrete dust fell from the ceiling, covering everything. The plague victims began coughing even louder.
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Troy asked. "None of these people are strong enough to move on their own."
"I've an idea," Katianna said. "Get some people working on those rocks. You people, come with me..."
Moments later, an opening was cleared. Troy, Katianna, and five other resistance fighters emerged from the hole. The street was almost empty. Most of the buildings were on fire; debris littered the once-pristine avenues. "Set up a perimeter," Troy ordered as stretchers were passed up from the shelter. Another blast landed thirty meters away. The entire group was sprayed with dust and debris.
"Everyone up?" Katianna yelled.
"Yes, we're clear!"
"Okay, let's do this!" Immediately four Tanzarans shifted into beasts of burden; four others shifted into carts. Troy, Katianna, and the others loaded the stretchers onto the carts.
"There's a safe area thirty blocks to the east. About 1200 people are holed up there," Troy said. "The radio's gone."
"Let's move!"
The thirty blocks were more like thirty miles with the intervening debris.A saucer-like craft darted between the remains of skyscrapers, strafing their path. A cacophony of screams sounded as one of the bursts from the saucer hit a cart. Troy and Katianna tried to bring the craft down with small-arms fire but their blasters couldn't even mar its surface. Still, they moved...
The sun set, and the reddish moon cast a baleful glow across the ruins of the city. A bright flash to the east indicated the death of Elekon City and its four million inhabitants. The party rushed to an alley for protection from the coming shockwave.
"We've got to find shelter before the fallout begins!" Katianna said with alarm as she watched the mushroom cloud on the horizon.
"We're less than a quarter of a league from the safe area! Let's move!" Troy ordered. The remainder of the party proceeded on its grim way. The saucer had apparently disappeared.
They reached the safe area nine hours after they'd left the shelter. But what was there was scarcely better... the incinerated corpses of over 1200 Tanzarans lay smoldering in what had been a city park. In the distance, a small child wailed...
The party began to grow frantic as the first ashes of fallout began to settle from the sky. The prevailing wind would bring most of the fallout into their area. Without another shelter, they risked severe radiation poisoning. The burst of a weapon could be heard in the distance. The child's crying stopped.
"This way!" one of the fighters said, indicating the entrance to an underground transit tube. Without heed to what might be waiting below, the party rushed to the entrance. The underground station was an utter disaster. Corpses littered the platform; a tube train lay skewed on the tracks as sparks arced from its electrical system.
"We need to find water, to wash off the contamination," Troy said. "Split up and start looking."
Katianna checked the plague victims. Only three remained alive. "It was worth the try," Troy said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You did well here!"
"Was it worth it?" she said. "If we'd stayed put we'd be better off!"
"The shelter we were in was five kilometers closer to the blast. We'd all be dead!"
"As I said, we'd be better off..." Katianna replied distantly.
They both heard it at once--a trickling of water, as from a water main. Troy and Katianna both rushed to the scene.
They opened a maintenance room and found the water... and five small, gray-skinned humanoids brandishing weapons. They'd been set up!
"Everybody back!" Troy yelled as he pulled a grenade off of his web gear. He activated the grenade but was hit by blaster fire as he threw it. The grenade landed short...
The blast filled the room, incinerating the raiders inside. Troy himself was badly burned in addition to the shots he'd taken. Katianna screamed as she looked upon his mangled body...
"Troy!" Katianna awoke with a start, beads of persperation trickling down her head. She took a deep breath and she tried to steady herself from the images in her nightmare... Her memories of the attack on Tanzaria... She hadn't relived those for several years... As she sat up, she felt her unborn son start squirming. She tried to suppress the shudder that came over her. The images of the dead... There were so many dead... And then Troy... He had almost died. Actually, they had both almost died, but she had only had radiation poisoning compared to his radiation poisoning and wounds from the granade... She shook her head as she tried to clear the images from her head.
She looked at the other bed and saw Kara asleep, her daughter with her. She thought about the child she had heard crying that fateful day on Tanzaria and shuddered. She took another deep breath and this time did shudder. The last place she wanted to go was Tanzaria... This was her having to face her nightmare. She had been there once before after many of the survivors had rebuilt and it had been beautiful again, but she hadn't been able to get past her own memories then and she couldn't seem to do it now... And then she thought of Troy... God she missed him...
Taking a deep breath, she got up and went to the front of the shuttle and sat in the co-pilot seat beside Jarrod. She knew she probably looked a fright as she combed her fingers through her hair. His dark eyes looked at her with concern.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'll be fine," she replied. "Computer, check Starfleet Database for a Troy Adenatar Nadira."
<Searching... Located>
"Stats and location" she asked.
<Troy Adenatar Nadira, Commander, CMO stationed on Tanzaria>
Katianna reeled. The only reason she hadn't looked for him now was that this was her alternate's brother... This was not her actual twin. And yet, here he was. She would have a chance to meet him. But did she dare? Her mind was filled with the visions from the nightmare, and if she ever needed family it was now... and yet... she just wasn't sure.
"I can sense you're troubled," Jarrod said as he looked at her.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. For a moment she was silent. "Do you remember the destruction of Tanzaria? Of course, you do. Most of us do... My brother and I tried to save people from the raiders and the radiation... There was dead everywhere... Troy and I almost died. Moreso Troy than myself... I can still see all those bodies... and his body when the grenade went off too close to him. I can still smell the stench of death and hear the cries of those trying to live or grieving for loved ones. I can even hear the sudden silence of those cries as they were picked off one by one by the raiders as they came to finish the job the plague started..."
"And that is why you do not want to return to Tanzaria?" he asked gently.
She nodded. "The memories might as well have been yesterday for me."
"Those were very bad times," he agreed. "Only few survived... But those that did were strong and were meant to live for a reason... Perhaps you were meant to come back to finally exorcise your demons..." he suggested.
She laughed gently. "I suppose we shall see... Until then, I don't know what I'll do..."
"Meditation," he replied. "Focus on something pleasurable and only that. It will at least clear the rest of the things from your mind for the time being."
"Sounds like you've done that before."
"We all have our demons, Commander," he replied with a gentle look in his dark eyes.