Katianna walked into Kassia's shop. Kassia, strangely enough, had some extra time on her hands during which she decided she was going to tidy up her store. When Katianna walked in, Kassia quickly looked at Toren Len. "Lock the door." Then, she looked at Katianna. "Come to the back."
Katianna quickly followed Kassia to the back of the store where, about three months before, it had been decided that she would leave the station to keep the child safe. When Katianna walked in and took a seat,
Kassia locked the door and sat in front of her.
Kassia spoke first. "How was your trip?"
"Good. Daniel is beautiful."
"I'm glad."
"But..."
"Jovan."
"Yeah."
Kassia thought for a moment. "Well, have you tried scanning him?"
Katianna shrugged. "I get nothing."
"He's blocking you?"
"No. It's as if he's not even there."
Kassia stopped for a moment to think. "I don't know what to say."
Katianna shrugged. "I don't know what to do."
Kassia jumped. "What if you do something to draw him out?"
"Who out?"
"Kalimar."
Katianna looked away. "I'm not ready to believe that he's lost to me."
Kassia pulled a chair just in front of Katianna and sat, putting her hands on Katianna's. "Look. I understand that you love Jovan. I feel what you're feeling, but you need to remember about your children. Laurissa and Daniel need you now more than ever, and they need you to make sure that they are safe." She paused. "How can they be if you don't even know who you have in your home?"
Katianna shed a tear. "What if it is Kalimar?"
Kassia got up and walked to a nearby shelf. "There, I can help." She picked up a small vile and handed it to Katianna. "This is what the Book of Light refers to as Demon's Bane. It's recommended for use against the Great Evil that was to arise at just about the same time as Daniel's birth. If Jovan is Kalimar, then I recommend you use this against him. It should knock him out so that you can bring him back to be put in the brig."
Katianna received the vile and looked down at it guiltily.
Earthdate: February 24, 2385
Location: USS Seth
Jovan read the mission briefing that Katianna had handed him. A group of rogue Romulans had been smuggling Romulan Ale into New Canada. Katianna and Jovan were being assigned to stop them by Starfleet Intelligence.
Katianna looked at Jovan. "We're ready to transport to the surface."
Jovan smiled slyly. "Good. I can't wait to get some action."
Katianna handed Jovan a tetracorder.
Jovan looked at the machine questioningly.
"It's a tetracorder. Unfortunately, the cave we're going into is made of a substance that blocks normal scans. This will help us to scan more thoroughly."
Jovan shrugged and put the tetracorder in his bag.
They prepared for transport.
Location: New Canada
Jovan and Katianna shimmered into existence at the face of the cave where the Romulan Ale was being illegally stored.
Jovan smiled at Katianna. "I'll go first, just in case."
She shrugged. "All right," she replied, "I'll follow you," she smirked. She hid her apprehension well. She watched as he made his way in and went in behind him.
Jovan and Katianna moved into the cave slowly and carefully. After about five minutes, Jovan pulled out the tetracorder Katianna had handed him on the Seth. He scanned the rocks apathetically. "There seems to be nothing yet. Are you sure this is the right cave?"
Her heart was sinking. He hadn't bothered to explain to her once about the tetracorder. This wasn't Jovan. This was Kalimar. Jovan would have explained the whole thing to her just to do it. "Yes, this is the right cave," she said. It was hard to keep the hardness from her voice.
"So tell me about the tetracorder," she said, trying one last time to see if this was Jovo. Give him one last chance to prove himself.
Jovan looked at her, then he raised a brow. "You know how it works better than I do."
Her heart finally broke into pieces. This was definitely not Jovo. Slowly she took a step away from him. "I know. But Jovo would have explained it to me, just because." She backed up a little farther.
"What are you talking about?" Jovan looked at Katianna questioningly. "Of course I'm Jovo." He put out his hand. "Please don't walk away. We need to find the smugglers first."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but you're not Jovo." She fought back the tears in her eyes. "I have tried to ignore things for a very long time. I wanted you to be Jovo. But you were too perfect, and then there were things that weren't the same. Like this, with the tetracorder. Then there's the fact that I can't pick up any emotions in you. I use to be able to read you. I wanted to be wrong. But I know I'm not... Kalimar." Her green eyes were alight with her emotions. She kept them in check, but they were just beneath the surface.
Kalimar dropped his arm. "There are no smugglers, are there?"
She stared him down for a moment. "None," Katianna replied. "Just you and me."
Kalimar smiled and shook his head. "Well, that's just great." He turned around, took a step, and quickly turned back toward Katianna. "Do you think you're the only one who's suffered?" He began to mimic Katianna. "'Oh! Oh! I'm in pain. I'm the only damned person in the freaking universe that deserves any sympathy!'" He shook his head. "Wake up! You are not the only person in this cave with problems!"
"I'm not the only person in the universe with problems," Kat replied, "But they won't be solved by someone like you. Kalimar, you create suffering. You make things worse. That's what you are. What you do... What you thrive on. But its going to stop here." She wasn't yelling. She wasn't crying. She wasn't hysterical. She was willing herself to go numb. This is just how things had to be. There was no other way.
Kalimar scoffed. "Oh please. I create suffering? What about you? Little miss perfect Starfleet officer? You think little Laurissa is happy to be dragged around the quadrant because you happen to get yourself knocked up with the first demon-infested wanna-be that comes along? And what about him? Do you know what 'Jovan' really thinks about you? He blames you for all of this. I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't abandoned your daughter in that other reality. He's dead now because of you. Because he 'loved' you. How sick.
"And Kara Lac. The lone survivor of an entire race. Is she happy? Was she happy abandoning her world because you let yourself get knocked up with the daughter of their king? What would good ol' Arturus think if he knew that, once he was gone, you ran off with the handsome Lancelot?" Kalimar turned into Arturus. "You've betrayed my memory, Katianna. You're such a worthless--" Immediately she struck him to shut him up and then smiled with a wicked twinkle in her eyes. "You can't hurt me," she replied, forcing everything away from herself to put up the charade. "What you're representing to me are lies. You take what's truth and twist it to suit your whims of darkness. But it won't work this time!"
Kalimar turned back into Jovan's form and stumbled back. "Ow!" He looked up at Katianna and smiled. His eyes glowed red as he pulled out a dagger. "You like explanations, right? This is a traditional Romulan blade. It was used in the olden days for clean assassination. I planned to use it on you. I figured that you would die in the heat of battle against some vicious smugglers who would not allow their precious ale to be taken from them."
Kalimar ran up to Katianna and pinned her against the wall, placing the blade to her neck. "Since there are no smugglers, I say, why wait!"
Katianna quickly pulled out the vile of Demon's Bane and crashed it on the floor. The purple gas shot up, and Kalimar let go of Katianna, stumbling back. Katianna began to run.
Suddenly, a wind swept by her, and Kalimar was in front of her, blocking her exit. "Nice trick. It's too bad I got so strong so quickly." He whispered into Katianna's ear. "Sex with you has fed me. You're quite the little animal. Now let's see you squeal." He slashed at Katianna's arm with the blade, then he threw her back five feet.
Katianna landed on her rear, cradling her arm.
Kalimar licked the blood off the blade. "You taste marvelously delicious. I'm going to enjoy bathing in your blood."
Katianna began to run further into the cave. She heard Kalimar yell, "Where are you going? Aren't you having fun?!" Katianna kept running until she reached a larger cavern. She looked around and noticed a crack along the ceiling of the cavern. Then she noticed the cavern held up by three columns of rock. Out of nowhere, Kalimar appeared behind her.
"Hi," said Kalimar as he grabbed her by the hair.
Katianna quickly used both hands to grab the arm holding the blade, and twisted it so that the blade stuck into Kalimar's chest.
Katianna was thrown forward. She rolled behind one of the three columns of rock just as Kalimar fired an energy blast from his hand, shattering the rock. Katianna got an idea.
Kalimar pulled the blade out of his chest. "That hurt, you bitch!" He threw the blade to the ground and fired another blast as Katianna jumped out of the way. Kalimar's eyes glowed angrily. He fired at Katianna again as she jumped behind the second column, and the blast shattered that column as well. Katianna ran again and jumped behind the third column just as Kalimar fired a fourth time, shattering the last column.
Katianna then ran to the exit from the cavern the same way she had come.
Kalimar was almost gloating at his impending victory. "Leaving so soon?"
Katianna made a face. "I have other engagements." She pulled out her phaser, set it to overload, and threw it at the cavern's ceiling. The phaser exploded, tearing a hole in the cavern's infrastructure. Katianna began to run.
Kalimar looked up and saw the cracks in the rock continue to grow. "Shit," he said as tons of rock fell upon him.
Katianna jumped out of the cave's entrance as the dust from the imploding cave shot out after her. She landed clear of the cave on some bushes. She didn't even look back as she called for the transport.
Location: USS Seth
As she appeared on the Seth, a little worn and torn, she took a seat at the helm and breathed in deeply. She was covered in dirt and blood. Several scratches adorned her body, but it was nothing. Not even the cut on her arm mattered to her. She was completely numb and almost zombie-like as she steered the Seth back toward the Station and placed the ship on autopilot. Without expression, she went into the back and to the replicator where she got herself some hot, sweet, herbal tea.
As she sipped it, she began to sit down on the nearest seat and instantly she was inundated by memories. Memories of when she and Jovo had first kissed. It had been on this ship: in that very spot, she thought as tears began misting her eyes. Then a sob broke from her lips.
Jovo was dead. There was no denying it now. He was really dead and he wasn't coming back. He was never coming back again. The tears were so strong they were like torrents as they fell hitting the deck below. It seemed as if almost every man she fell in love with died somehow. Of all the men that had managed to capture her heart, only one still lived that she knew of. The others were dead, and that now included Jovo being added to that list. A list of only four: three dead.
Even if Jovo didn't blame her, like Kalimar wanted her to believe, she couldn't escape the fact that he was dead because of her. That Kalimar had been able to take over because Jovo had started relying too much on the orb's powers, and that had been while he had gone to retrieve Laurissa for her. His intentions had been good. He had done it out of love because he knew how much she had missed her daughter... But this is where it had lead. It really was her fault he was dead, and she would have to live with that for the rest of her life. Unable to control the pain, that coursed through her, she took the cup of tea and threw it as she cried out her pain. Sob after sob wracked her body as she hid her face in her hands. She would survive this like she had survived so much before. She had to for her children, but a large part of her felt near death. The pain was excruciating. How was she going to go on, she thought?
She just didn't know.
The black rabbit walked back out of the hole alone. It walked for several steps, then it fell over, dead.