Coran entered Katianna's room as she held the dark matter weapon in her hands, mentally preparing for the ugly task at hand. "Are you ready, Katianna?"
Katianna barely looked up. "I... yes. Are all the Order assembled?"
Coran nodded. He began to leave. "Katianna. We lost a lot of people against the Sons of Kahless. The powers of evil have grown a great deal in recent times. We've been losing the war against the Pah-wraiths." He paused. "Including the warriors I've been sent from across the sea, we've only got nine capable fighters. Against a god, these are difficult odds."
Katianna stood up. "How difficult?"
"The last time something like this happened, we lost half of our people.
Since the occupation of Bajor, we've diminished even more. The nine we're taking with us, they are all that's left of our dying Order."
Katianna looked down at her weapon. "Then let's hope the Prophets are on our side."
Both Katianna and Coran walked down a corridor and reached a beautiful courtyard where eight Bajorans were preparing swords for battle. Coran called them all to attention. "Let me introduce you to the remaining Order." He began to call them off one by one: "Samin, Boam, Forr, Gian, Tunim, Piatt, Reva, and my beloved wife, Levi."
Katianna was slightly surprised. "Wife? You're married? Coran... wow... I didn't know."
Coran smiled. "There are still many things that you do not know. All comes in its due time."
Katianna nodded and joined the group, preparing herself for battle.
Location: Captain Kitara Mallory's Office, Ops Deck, Starbase 901
Kassia entered Kitty's office. Kitty was going over several PADD's, but she looked aggitated. In fact, Kassia could feel it. As Kitty noticed her Officer's presence, she looked up and their eyes met.
"There are six dead, Kassia..." she said, the upset in her voice, thinking of Ensign Lamb and the others of the courrier vessel.
Kassia's green eyes were filled with understanding as she approached the
Captain. "Captain, we had no way of knowing exactly how Kalimar was going to get on the Station... But we knew there were probably going to be some casualties. We're dealing with a demon..."
Kitty sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Which I wasn't told about until today," she replied.
"Kitty..." Kassia replied, knowing that what she needed was a friend, not an officer. "What would you have done had you have known? What could you have done? Even Katianna wasn't sure if she was dealing with Jovan or Kalimar for awhile..."
Finally Kitty nodded with understanding. "However, I am the Captain. I should be informed of these things."
"Believe me, it was for your own safety," she replied.
Kitty thought about it for a moment, and realized that Katianna would have never put her in danger. Taking a deep breath, she picked up a PADD, resuming her official role. "So did the plan work out as well as we hoped, since we didn't have that much time to plan it?"
"It worked pretty well, I would say," Kassia smiled. "Danni and I were able to complete the spell and the Starbase is now protected."
"But I see here that we have a complaint from a shop owner about his windows and doors being blown open?" Kitty asked inquiringly.
"Well, that happened when Tara sent Kalimar flying from an energy blast from her Skryll- Chiron," Kassia explained.
"Okay," she replied, "I was just curious. I've already put in the work order to have it repaired."
"You know, things could have been a lot worse, Kitty," Kassia looked at her, her green eyes filled with such seriousness it made the Captain meet her stare.
"I know, you told me about your vision," she replied.
"I didn't see it. Tiyanna did... But it was her warning I brought to you, after I realized who the vision was of... So many more would have died, just like in her vision had we not prepared..."
Kitty's visage softened. "Tell Tiyanna I owe her one..."
Kassia smiled. "I'll do that, Aunt Kitty."
For a moment, they were able to smile, but reality came back too quickly. "So where is Katianna headed?" Kitty asked.
"The place she knows Kalimar is going... Bajor... To stop him before he releases something worse than himself..."
"Another demon?" She asked.
Kassia nodded. "Kalimar was bonded with another demon called the Kosst Amojen. He's gone to Bajor to release her... Katianna's gone to stop him..."
Kitty felt Kassia's emotions. "But it's a trap..."
Kassia nodded. "Yes, but she has to go. She has no other choice... It's her destiny to try to stop this from happening. If she doesn't succeed, it might mean the end of all of us..."
"I could have sent people with her..."
Kassia shook her head. "To their deaths... These are demons. Gods of sorts... How do you destroy a god?" she asked.
Kitty and Kassia's eyes met and Kitty knew there was nothing she could do. She felt helpless. She and Katianna had formed a friendship of trust, and though she wasn't privy to everything her officer did, she was sure it was in her or the Starbase's best interests. She had every faith in her officer. But she didn't want to find out later that her officer was dead... She wanted to do something to help her. But her hands were tied... All she could do was sit and wait.
"I understand how you feel, Captain," Kassia replied, wanting to do more, especially with her new found abilities and yet not being able to do anything else to help her friend. "I understand all too well..."
Location: Fire Caves, Bajor
Kalimar landed the Seth in a clearing in a forest that overlooked the fire caves. He took a small bag in hand and exited the vessel, locking it behind him. Kalimar began to walk outside of the forest and laid eyes on the wastelands that stood between him and a conglomeration of volcanoes riddled with caves, among which lay the mythical gateway to the Bajoran Hell. Kalimar began his trek across the wasteland as geysers ejected boiling water in the distance.
The nine members of the Order of the Light suddenly stopped just as they saw the wasteland ahead. Coran addressed them, "We are about to enter the realm of the Dark. Many of us will not lay our eyes upon the Light until we sit at the table with the Great Messenger. Let us pray."
The group separated and faced the west, in the direction of the setting Bajoran sun. Katianna was left standing with Coran. Coran looked into Katianna's eyes. "Do you not have a prayer to offer?"
Katianna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really worship any god. Until all this happened, I didn't even believe in gods and demons."
Coran smiled. "There is no one, then, that your people look to for guidance?"
Katianna thought. "There is Tiadara. We Tanzarans have looked to her for millennia. Many of us lost our faith when the Eriarti came."
"The greatest weapon of the Dark is to turn the Light's faithful away from Its radiance." Coran laid his hand on her shoulder. "Take a moment, and talk to Tiadara." Coran walked off to speak to his Prophets.
Katianna, left alone, kneeled toward the west as well. She closed her eyes and asked, "Tiadara?"
There was no answer.
Katianna tried again. "If there is some message you'd like to give me, I'd very much appreciate it right now."
Nothing.
Katianna stood up. This is a waste of time.
~The talisman,~ came a whisper.
Katianna was too shocked to respond. Bajorans did not have telepathic abilities. Someone else was saying this. Tiadara? She looked in her pocket and pulled out the forgotten talisman. She hadn't even thought about putting it on. Still, this message was more than she could ignore.
Katianna put on the talisman. "Thank you, whoever you are."
She felt a warm tingle as the rest of the Bajorans got up, smiled at her as they walked past, and began to walk into the wasteland. She followed suit.
Kalimar stopped at the foot of the mountains ahead among which lay the fire caves. He turned around and surveyed the landscape.
Kalimar saw a convoy in the distance. He smiled. "Company. I must prepare dinner."
He dropped his bag and knelt on the sand. Then, he put both hands on the ground. Before long, the sand began to rise, and something underneath the surface began to burrow toward the convoy.
Kalimar, satisfied, took his bag again, and began to walk up the side of the mountain.
The group of nine Bajorans was midway through the wastelands. Levi was explaining something to Katianna. "Since we're brought into the Order of the Light as children, that's how I met Coran. For some reason, we were always close. Usually such relationships are not allowed. We were lucky.
The Prophets have always smiled upon us, and the Light as well."
Katianna smiled. "That's great. I never thought of Coran as the married type. He always seemed more of the monk-slash-eunuch type."
Levi let out a laugh. "He does come off that way most times. That is only because he believes in his mission wholeheartedly." She stopped for a moment. "We all do."
Boam, a man in his early thirties stopped and pulled out his sword. "Did you feel that, Sire?"
Coran looked around. "Be alert, Warriors!" Everyone stopped and looked around, absorbing the dead silence around them.
Katianna walked to Coran. "What's going on?"
Coran ignored her. "Quiet," he said as a rumbling sound was heard.
Forr looked down. "I think it's coming from--." He was cut short as a huge worm-like creature six feet in diameter and sixteen feet long hurled itself out of the ground where Forr used to be. The sandworm quickly reentered the sand, leaving no trace of Forr.
Everything became quiet again for a moment. Then, the rumbling returned.
Piatt hurled himself at Katianna and pushed her out of the way as the sandworm jumped out of the ground for the second time. This time, Reva used her sword and sliced the sandworm as it came back down. The sandworm screeched and whipped its tail, smacking it on the ground where Gian was, crushing him.
Samin flipped onto the sandworm and rode it as it squirmed. He plunged his sword into the creature again and again. Katianna got out from under
Piatt and pulled out a photon grenade. She waited for the sandworm to screech again. When it opened its mouth and showed its grinding and sharp rows of incisors, Katianna threw the grenade in. She and Gian jumped out of the way as the sandworm's thorax exploded in a blast of blood and guts.
Levi ran up to Katianna. "You are a remarkable warrior."
Katianna pulled a piece of sandworm flesh from her hair. "Just part of the job," she said as she took Levi's hand.
Location: Kassia's Shop, Promenade, Starbase 901
Kassia took a moment to breathe the incense she had just ignited. She could not stand by and allow Katianna to go through the task of stopping
Kalimar alone. She had to do something. Sitting in a lotus position on top of a table, surrounded by candles, Kassia began to concentrate, as if asking for a vision. It didn't take long to get one.
Kassia saw a gray triangle forming on top of a black background. One vertex of the triangle was burning with an eternal flame. She watched as the dark became non-existence for a moment, then a second vertex burst into flames. Two of three.
The vision shifted into something she was more used to. She saw Katianna laying on the floor, gasping for air. Kalimar was walking towards her with a woman by his side. The woman charged an energy blast and fired it at Katianna. Katianna burst into flames and turned to ash before her. Then, another wave of nothingness swept through her.
Katianna was in danger.
Location: Fire Caves, Bajor
Kalimar took from his bag a small, spherical, jet stone. He held it in his hands.
He had made his way over the mountains and into an immense cavernous chamber with a natural skylight through which the approaching night could be seen. In the middle of the chamber was an abysmal hole fifteen feet in diameter that led to a magma pool several hundred feet below.
Kalimar held the black stone above the hole, and a black cloud began to form above the chamber. "Demon awaken. Hearken to my words. Let the Great Adversary be freed of the fires. Let the Heavens be set aflame!"
He threw the stone up. As it began to fall, it was caught by a pillar of fire that shot up from the magma, through the cavern, and up to the black cloud.
Kalimar shrugged his shoulders. "That was easy. Now to pick a body."
"Kalim'harr!" yelled Coran.
"Ah. The buffet's arrived."
The Bajorans pulled out their swords and began to attack Kalimar.
Location: Transporter Room 3, Starbase 901
Tara and Kassia ran into the transporter room. Tara looked around. "We checked all of the others. This has to be where it is."
An ensign looked up from his assigned post. "Where what is, ma'ams?"
Kassia walked to the ensign. "The transtream pad. Is it here?"
The ensign nodded. "It just beyond that door. Why do you need it? Nobody ever uses it."
"I need to save a friend." Kassia and Tara left the ensign and ran through the far door. The transtream pad still lay covered in plastic, never having been used.
Tara looked at the pad suspiciously. "Isn't this still new technology?"
Kassia began to pull off the plastic. "Relatively."
"Where are you going to go?"
"I believe that the Seth has a transtream pad. Call it an educated guess."
"A guess? What if it doesn't?"
"It will." Kassia powered up the machine. "Computer, locate the USS Seth. Authorization code Nadira 115 Epsilon."
Tara looked at Kassia. "How did you know?"
"Katianna gave me the codes just before she left for Tanzaria to have Daniel about two months ago."
<Seth has been located. Plotting course.>
Kassia watched the screen. "Thank the Light for astrometrics."
Tara asked, "The Light?"
"I've been saying things like that since my memory came back." She faced the screen again. "The computer is plotting the trajectory of the Seth since it's planet bound. That way, it knows where to send our matter stream so that we don't turn into a quantum pancake."
"How reassuring."
Kassia laughed. "Relax. It's safe. Important delegates are already using it to get around. Get on."
Kassia and Tara walked onto the pad. They felt a slight gravitational shift as the pad began to tilt and turn. The two arcs surrounding the pad began to flicker and glow a bright blue. Suddenly, the arc shot the stream through them, and they were gone.
The ensign walked into the room. "Are you ladies done in--. Uh oh." The ensign walked out of the room. "I better tell my shift supervisor. I hope I don't get extraction detail for this."
Location: Fire Caves, Bajor
Boam went at Kalimar twice with his sword, missing both times. The third time, Kalimar grabbed it with his open hand, hit Boam in the forehead with the handle, and flipped it around. Then, he kicked Boam, sending him flying against a wall. Piatt and Samin attacked Kalimar at the same time with their swords. Kalimar blocked every attack, then, he used his own sword to guide Piatt's thrust into Samin, then he backhanded Piatt, knocking him into the chasm.
Kalimar growled. "C'mon! I haven't broken a sweat!"
Katianna presented herself. "Kalimar!" She pulled out a photon grenade, setting it to explode on impact.
Kalimar smiled greedily. "Why, Kat! I've been looking for--"
Katianna threw the grenade, and it hit Kalimar on the chest. The blast caused him to go tumbling into the chasm. Kalimar quickly kicked the side of the chasm, and propelled himself into the air. He backflipped and landed on the other side. Kalimar looked down. "Close one." He jumped across the chasm and landed in front of Katianna. "Try that one again."
Katianna went to punch him in the face, but Kalimar grabbed her arm. He charged up an energy blast. "Now's when you go away." He hit her in the chest with the energy blast. It exploded, but nothing happened. "What the--?"
Katianna smiled. "I came prepared." She headbutt Kalimar and flipped backward, kicking him in the face.
Tunim, Reva, and Coran attacked Kalimar. They went at him, slash after slash, trying to get him to fall into the chasm. Coran went to kick Kalimar, but he grabbed his leg and used him as a bat against Tunim. He then grabbed Reva's sword, pushed it back, embedding it into the front of her head. Boam fired a plasma blast at Kalimar with his gun. Kalimar used Reva's body as a shield for the first shot, then the second. He tossed her body into the chasm and blocked the third with his hand, reflecting it back at him. The plasma blast his Boam in the belly, and he flew back against the wall again, though this time he was dead.
Tunim and Levi attacked Kalimar. Kalimar backhanded Levi, throwing her off. Kalimar then kicked Tunim's sword, knocking it out of his hand. He completed his attack by sidekicking Tunim's head, swiping it clean off the rest of his body.
Katianna angrily attacked Kalimar again. She kicked him twice on both sides. Kalimar grabbed her leg on the fourth kick and slammed her on the ground. Katianna jumped back up, Tunim's sword in hand. She slashed twice at Kalimar. The third time, she managed to embed the sword in his side.
Kalimar growled. "Ow! You bitch!" He pulled out the sword, twisted it around, and slashed at Katianna's neck, but instead of going through, it was repelled by a powerful blue shield. "What is that?!" That's when he saw the shimmering thing on her neck. Kalimar lunged forward and yanked off her necklace. He quickly dropped on the floor and stepped on it.
Katianna looked at Kalimar, bewildered.
Kalimar smirked, "Tough luck," then he uppercut her, causing her to fall on Coran.
Levi attacked Kalimar. She slashed at him once. Kalimar quickly twirled her around and held her in an armlock. Kalimar sniffed her. "She smells like you, Coran. I'm gonna borrow her for a bit if you don't mind."
Levi tried to fight away. "You'll never win, you demonic--"
Kalimar cut her off by snapping her neck. Then he grabbed her with one hand and tossed her into the pillar of fire that had been created by the jet stone.
"NOOOO!!!" yelled Coran as he got up and ran at Kalimar.
Kalimar simply turned around and punched right through Coran's side. "I thought I killed you once before." He used his leg to pull his arm out of Coran and to push him back to where Katianna lay. Katianna crawled to
Coran as Coran gasped for air.
Levi, whose body had been floating within the pillar of fire, began to convulse. The air in the chamber turned stale and dry. Fire began to shoot up from the chasm. Thunder roared.
Before long, Levi was shot out from the fire and landed in a genuflecting position next to Kalimar. She raised her head; her eyes were glowing red. Then, she stood up.
Levi looked at Kalimar. "I thought you were dead."
"Yeah, well, I'm not. Good to see you too, Amojen."
Katianna whispered to Coran, "Who is that?"
Coran could barely make out the words, "Kosst... Amojen..."
"Oh."
Amojen looked at her new body. "Hmm. The last time I had one of these it was a Cardassian male." She felt her breasts. "I could get used to this."
Kalimar was pleased. "Well, I wanted us to be compatible. I wanted to give you that one," he pointed at Katianna, "but she was a feisty one."
"Indeed." Amojen approached Katianna and Coran. "Where is the Emissary?"
Katianna looked at Coran, then back at Amojen. "The who?"
Kalimar shook his head as he came up to Amojen's side. "She doesn't know. She's not involved with Sisko. He has other worries now. She and a witch are our only obstacles."
Amojen nodded. "Ah. A Tercerim. It's been too long since I've fed on a witch's flesh." She looked at Katianna again. "So, do you have plans for this one?"
Kalimar thought for a moment. "Not particularly."
"Then, I may have a kill?"
"Take pleasure in it. It will be the first of many."
Amojen smiled and lifted her arm. "I will set the universe aflame, and I shall start with you."
Suddenly, a phaser blast hit the ground, just in front of Kalimar and Amojen, sending the two flying backward against the wall on the other side of the chasm. The USS Seth descended into the chamber through the skylight. As Kalimar and Amojen got up, several blasts from a skrill came at them, keeping them down.
"Go, Kassia, go!" Tara said from her position on top of the Seth.
Kassia initiated a transport and both Katianna and Coran were transported onto the Seth.
Tara jumped back into the Seth as Kalimar and Amojen began to fire energy blasts at the Seth, hitting the Seth's shields harmlessly. The Seth quickly went to impulse and shot out of the area before the two demons could do much of anything.
Location: USS Seth, over Bajor
Katianna lay over Coran, not even noticing that Kassia and Tara had just saved her life. "You're going to be okay."
Coran coughed painfully. "My time here is through. We have failed today.
The Dark Trinity is more than half-reunited. I'm sorry that the task of stopping the Dark must now fall upon you."
Katianna shed a tear. "Please. Don't talk. Keep your strength."
"You cannot let the Light be extinguished. You are our only hope."
"You will not die on me."
Coran did not respond.
"Coran? Coran. Coran!" Katianna's eyes suddenly went blank. "Stop the ship."
Kassia looked back. "We need to get--"
"Stop. The. Ship."
Tara leaned down over Katianna. "Katianna. Commander. If we stop, we risk everything."
"Computer, land this ship."
<Voice recognition confirmed. Setting to autopilot.>
Kassia looked at Tara. "I'm locked out."
The Seth landed on the side of a mountain range that lay next to a green prairie. Katianna opened the airlock and carried Coran's body outside, ignoring Kassia and Tara's protests.
Katianna laid Coran's body on the ground and morphed her arms into shovels with which she began to dig. Before long, she had a large hole made. She lay Coran into it and began to use the same procedure to cover him up.
Katianna, then, fell over on top of Coran's fresh grave. "I promise you I will carry out the Order's mission. I will stop the Dark. And I will kill Kalimar with my own two hands. You will be avenged. You and all your family."
Katianna stood up and walked back into the ship. She barely acknowledged
Kassia and Tara's presence. "Take us back." Katianna walked into the quarters and shut the door.
Kassia and Tara just looked at each other, petrified.