Jenara had been resting in a room she had been escorted to. Now that she was pregnant, she found that she tired easily. Plus, her senses were beginning to heighten while her ability to shape shift had vanished. It was the one thing about Tanzaran females. Once they were pregnant, they were stuck in humanoid form until after the baby was born. Pregnancy locked them into their natural state. It's a good thing they assigned me to medical duty, she thought. I don't want to risk the baby, and I'm really not as effective in a fight this way!
As she allowed her mind to wander, her hand flitted down to her abdomen. She saw the colors of the loose shirt she was given to wear along with matching pants in a soft shade of pink and touched where her child was growing. So, little one. What will I do with you when you finally arrive?
What was she going to do? She didn't even remember conceiving this baby growing within her. Who was the father? Though somehow she knew it was either Commander Lataro or Lt. Benton, her mind told her that was the case. But no memories surfaced. The only picture coming to her mind was the face of Johnny Chee, the young Marine lieutenant whom she had been assigned to monitor as he recovered from an apparent concussion. She had been with him all night and most of the preceding day. Her heightened senses had helped to monitor his condition: at first, he was lapsing in and out of consciousness; now he was deeply involved in dream-cycle sleep. Because Johnny had joined the Virgo's senior staff only a few weeks earlier, she only really knew what his personnel file said about him: brash, impulsive, often a discipline case until his internment in a Cardassian POW camp. That experience appeared to have added both maturity and resolve to his makeup. Sounds like someone else I know, she smiled inwardly. But still, she wondered, why does this nearly complete stranger stay in my mind so readily?
A sigh escaped her, when suddenly, her attention was drawn away from her current train of thoughts and to the sound of shouts. Immediately, she could sense the air fill with fear and hate. They were under attack! Oh, no! she thought as she got up and (over the now-conscious Johnny's protests) reached for her two short swords and accompanied Johnny, swiftly running from the room, out of the villa and into the encroaching battle.
The peace of the town was shattered as the Horde advanced into the city. Their attempt to link up with Lieutenant Wallace and his men was thwarted by a party of Horde skirmishers. Panic was in the air. Jenara tried to focus her mind as she headed straight for the thick of the battle, wielding her swords with precision. Those holodeck programs had really done wonders for her sword fighting abilities, though she was used to handling a rapier and not these short swords. But her movements were still deft and graceful. Each move she made contact, yet her heart was racing out of control. She could couldn't see beyond the blur of the Horde around her and she couldn't do anything to gain the upper hand. She was trapped in human form. She could not do anything to help these people gain an upper hand in this battle with the Horde, she couldn't save any of her fellow officers from the Virgo and she couldn't save herself or her child. She was vulnerable. Each blow might strike her. She could not change into a bird and fly to a safer vantage point and then change into a Tygalien Bear and rip the enemy to shreds. She was only a humanoid. Limited. Scared. Vulnerable.
Suddenly, in a moment of distraction, one of the Horde raised a sword behind her, ready to bring it down into her, as if to cut her in half. She turned, barely in time, seeing the movement out of the corner of her eyes. As she turned to deal with this threat she saw another Horde come after her. First, she used all the force she could muster and thrust one of her short swords into her first adversary's gut. Shocked surprise filled his strange, almost reptilian eyes as he toppled over to the ground. Then she turned to face her newest threat. Gaining enough time by dodging his first attempt, she managed to get both of her swords to the Horde's neck like scissors and then used them as such. Blood began pouring forth as the creature fell to the ground.
And still there were more threats! As she faced three more opponents charging her, she did not see the threat from behind. Taking down the last of the three swiftly, she suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain, course through her back and into her body. She screamed out and fell to her knees.
The Horde warrior uttered something unintelligible. It might have been "Die, Virgo bitch!" but Jenara really didn't know and couldn't know.
This is it: the end! Jenara thought. I'm going to die on this strange world, in a war we had no business fighting. My baby will never have a chance at life. And I was supposed to be the lucky one.
She had survived destruction like this once before. As time almost seemed to stand still, she looked at the wave of destruction. So many dead. Homes were being burned... And the children... Children were dying or being left without parents. Suddenly, she wasn't there in Noran anymore. She was back on Tanzaria. The night the raiders came! The sounds of the energy blasts surrounded her! She was huddled with her parents and brother and sister. Screams began filtering from the streets. Then suddenly, the door was forced open. Her father reached for an energy weapon, but was immediately struck down. A scream issued from her as the attacker came closer! Her mother changed form into a large, tentacled beast, reaching for the intruder, but as she knocked the weapon away from him, three more intruders arrived and shot her dead. Full of fear, her brother and sister grabbed her and they ran from the house, out the back door. But then, the sound of a laser discharge and the smell of burnt flesh, along with her brother toppling to the ground was enough for her to know he was dead. His consciousness had left his mind. It was just her and her sister now, but the intruders continued to discharge their weapons. Her sister swiftly changed into a gazelle as Jenara changed into a black cat. Jenara melted into the darkness and climbed a tree as she saw the attackers run after her sister. Within minutes, she could see from the tree branch she was on, her sister, lying dead on the ground. They had gotten her too. Anguish poured from her heart at the loss of her family.
"NO!" she screamed!
Everything turned black. There was nothing. No Noran, no Tanzaria, no enemies to fight; there was only blissful darkness. Emptiness of thought.
Johnny had seen the Horde strike Jenara, and the woman fall to her knees on the ground. Somehow he could feel her fear, her anguish, her pain. As he saw an opening, he took it. Before the Horde could strike the flaming-haired officer down, Johnny bashed him across the head with his bat'leth, then slashed the alien warrior's throat. The Horde enemy fell over dead. Jenara now seemed lost in darkness as he saw her still form on the ground, lying lifeless, blood oozing from the wound in her back. He knelt down by her and checked her pulse. She was still alive, but would she make it until he could get her to safety where she could be treated? Using a length of cloth torn from his tunic, he bandaged the wound crudely, threw her over his shoulder, and continued the mad dash through the streets.