After his original spat with Commander Lataro in the Day's End Lounge, Admiral Valdago was a bit reluctant to return, but he did. This time, he sat at the bar and talked with an odd fellow called Dweezle. Soon it was time for Dweezle to leave. He said that Lazarus would be showing up soon. Valdago made sure his drink was full before the creature left. He sat in silence and drank for minutes.
That's when a friendly looking trill entered the room.
"Hello," said the man. "Are you feeling a little less violent today?"
Normally, a man making fun of him wouldn't have kept his balls, but something about this man made Valdago calm.
"Yeah, I'm doing better. I tink I got rid of Lataro for a vile too."
"I'm sure he go the hint." Lazarus filled up his drink and began wiping off the bar. "So, you're from another universe, I'd like to hear that story."
"How about you tell me yours? I'm not in the mood to talk."
Lazarus, always the patron pleaser, began. "Well, I'm a Trill."
"I know you're a Trill; I'm not stupid," said the Russian, who actually began to show signs of intoxication after drinking for 24 hours straight. "Just don't get too cocky, you're not going to live forever, someday you'll get thrown out of an airlock or... burn up in some planet's atmosphere." Valdago remembered the fate of his wife.
"I know, but his is my first life. I'm pretty new to this world."
"Yes, I'm sure," Valdago replied untruthfully.
"Yes, the very first Kox host. It's quite an honor."
Valdago sobered up. His face became brighter. "Did you say your symbiote is Kox?"
"Yes. Currently Lazarus." Valdago's eyes began to squint.
"Anything wrong?"
Valdago actually began to cry for the first time in five years. Lazarus moved around the bar to support him. Valdago latched on to him like there was no tomorrow. "I'm so sorry, I should have done more, I should have helped, but I was too damn busy." He was babbling nonsense as far as Lazarus was concerned.
"Now, now," he said. It was the first time a man like Valdago had cried in his arms, at least in this lifetime. "Slow down. Let's move to a table."
The two walked to a nearby table, and as they did, Valdago began to tell the story of how Betriata Kox was incinerated as she crashed into Setra IV. "I was in the science lab trying to figure our where Nori was headed. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE BRIDGE, I COULD HAVE SAVED HER!" He began to weep again.
"No, you couldn't, you couldn't have known. It wasn't your fault."
"I just shut myself up, I lost all dose morals dat I had fought for during the war. I just moved up in da ranks faster dan ever. I became Admiral shortly after, and then Maruu followed. I just took control and wouldn't let the crew rest until I found Nori. Part of me blamed her because I was chasing her when Betriata died."
He cried more and more into Lazarus's arms. Lazarus, always the patron pleaser, just held him.
Inside the library Garek Loran noticed that there had been no civil war in this universe.
"Franny, it obviously occurred at least 15 years ago."
"Well, if you can remember when the civil war started..."
"No, that won't be it. The occurrence that changed our universes and stopped a civil war would have occurred years before the actual war began. Some event that caused one thing to happen, or not to happen. It's going to be a long time of sitting here. I hope we find it though."
Lieutenant Commander Benton was searching.
He had been following the alternate Johnny Chee when the man quickly ducked around a corner and into a Jeffries tube. Evidently Chee was much more familiar with the inner workings of the Virgo. Benton found his com badge in at a junction and realized that he had lost him.
Now he was trying to determine where he might have gone. He was headed to the bridge to talk to the doctors about the situation when someone jumped him from the back.
Benton fell to the ground and Johnny Chee jumped on top of him again. But, Chee wasn't quite as strong as the Kelvan. Benton rolled out of the way and grabbed Chee's arm throwing him over his body to the ground. Then he stood up, twisting the man's arm.
"What are you up to?"
"Oh about 200, what do you bench?" Chee followed that with a sweeping kick that knock Benton to the ground again. Chee then pulled a knife from his boot and gave Benton the chance to stand up. "Come on."
"Sure, let me up but keep the knife, you are quite a man, aren't you?"
Chee answered him with a slash that was easily dodged. Benton kept his position and watched carefully for another attack. It came within seconds. Johnny threw what appeared to be the knife, but as Benton dodged it vanished. It was merely a holographic projection. Johnny used the distraction to plunge the knife deep into Benton's gut. Benton stammered back and fell against the wall, holding the knife.
"That's the way we do it where I come from. You could learn a thing or two." Chee raised his hands in the air and began to strut around the corridor. "I TRULY AM THE KING!"
Benton looked up and spoke. "Johnny, there's one thing that we can teach you." Chee turned and looked at him. "NEVER GIVE UP!" Benton jumped up, pulled the knife from his stomach and ran for Chee. Johnny attempted to dodge but Benton gave it his all and jumped full force into him. The knife went deep into the Human's throat. Benton twisted it so that the wound would open up.
"Well, at least one good thing came out of the war with the Horde."
Chee's body stopped moving, but his throat did not. Benton began to look closer and noticed that something was inside of Chee's body. A small fist sized creature crawled from Chee's mouth. Benton was shocked. He immediately hit his com badge.
"Benton to Transporter Room Two."
[Hawkings here.]
"Hawkings, there is a small creature in my vicinity. Can you get a lock onto it?"
[I've got it, sir. Where would you like it?]
Benton thought for a moment. Then it hit him. "Are there any life signs in my quarters?"
[Negative.]
Just like Spot to get out of every cage. "Hawkings, beam the creature directly into Spot's cage, the coordinates are in the computer banks; I've done it enough. Oh, and how long can you keep the creature in the buffer before rematerialization?"
[Something that size, a good minute, easy.]
"Do it, as soon as you get him, site-to-site transport me to my quarters and then send the creature."
[Gotcha; commencing transport.]
A beam of energy engulfed the creature on the floor as it tried to crawl away. Seconds later, Benton also disappeared.
He reemerged in his quarters. He ran to Spot's cage just in time to see the creature rematerialize. He picked up the cage and began heading for sickbay. "Computer, locate the captain and have him meet me in sickbay."
<The captain has been contacted.>
Benton began to increase his speed, and so did the flow of blood from his wound.
Inside sickbay, Lieutenant Karalin Xianna was in charge. With both Dana Maruu and Sandra Yosh gone, there main medical team was quite empty. They had been close enough that if anything major were to happen they could be contacted, but now, they was no way. I'm sure glad nothing major has happened.
No sooner did she finish her thought when Lt. Commander Benton ran into the room, bleeding heavily and carrying a cage with some sort of insect creature inside. Benton put the creature down onto a counter and fell onto a bed.
"I must be out of shape, I haven't puffed this hard since I fist took Human form." He coughed up some blood.
Immediately Xianna grabbed some equipment and ran to the Kelvan. She administered some Vitamin E to the wound in an attempt to help it heal. Then she gave Benton a shot of platelets to help the blood to clot. She also gave him and anesthetic.
"Just relax. Breath slowly. You've lost a lot of blood."
Captain Maruu entered the room. "What's going on here?"
"Not sure," answered Xianna. "Benton just ran in here with that cage and fell onto the biobed."
Maruu walked over to the thing and took a look. It looked like a beetle, but was much larger than most he had encountered. "How's Benton doing?"
"He's stabilizing, but he's had some major damage to his inner systems. He may need surgery, if that's the case, we're in trouble. Two surgeons are required for that type of surgical operations."
"Sir," Benton managed to speak, "the alternate Chee. He did this. He's dead, in the a corridor near the brig. That thing in Spot's cage crawled out of his mouth."
"Now we need an autopsy. Can anyone do that?" asked Maruu.
"Again, no. You need two surgeons and the only other officers we have that can open a body are your wife and Yosh."
Maruu stood staring at Benton as he lie dying on the biobed. "Transporter Room, do you have a lock on that body that was next to Benton?"
[I can get one.]
"Do it, and send him directly to sickbay. Maruu out. Xianna, watch Benton and get ready for surgery."
"Where are you going, sir?"
"To get some surgeons, of course." He left Sickbay.
Nori sat in the brig. She was half sleeping, half thinking about escape. It was pretty quiet. The ensign on duty didn't talk, he just worked on projects at his terminal.
Captain Maruu entered the room. He immediately excused the guard with a nod of his head.
"I'm going to make this quick. I need your help."
"You need my help. Well, that's a first. Why should I help you?"
"Don't you even want to know what it is?"
"Well, I'm guessing from your goody-two-shoes attitude that your not lonely for your wife, if you know what I mean. That leaves either some sort of help in getting me out of here and back home, which I'm all for, or you need some doctoring in which case I want to know what's in it for me."
"Your last guess was right. I need you and Yosh to save the life of one of my crew, and I also need an autopsy of Johnny Chee."
Yosh stood up and walked over to the force field which held her in the cell. "You said that Chee was dead?"
"Yes, Benton killed him but was wounded in the fight. He needs surgery."
"Say no more, I'm in. Anything to cut apart that son-of-a-bitch Chee."
Nori couldn't see Yosh from the angle but looked in her direction. "Don't you think you should confer with me first?"
"I don't give a damn what you do, Dana. I'm there. I'm gonna cut that man apart."
Nori looked at Maruu. He looked back at her as if to say, 'What are you gonna do now?'
"Fine, but I want a full pardon."
"I'll do what I can, you haven't been charged with any crime in this universe, although I doubt you'll be allowed to roam the galaxy freely."
"Understood, now take me to your wounded."
In the library Garek noticed that the civil war that he remembered never occurred here. He began looking at the time the war started, about 17 years ago.
"Benton will recover, now. It's a good thing we got to him, he had sever internal damage," Nori stated.
"I'm glad I convinced you two to help."
Yosh looked up at Stephen. "You know, I remember when I first joined the medical corps. My first assignment was on a planet infested with a plague. I was faced with a death to life ration of ten to one. Every patient that died in my arms hurt me, for a while. Soon it became common place. I guess that's why I lost my sense of the importance of life.
"But I had forgotten that even if the death lost its meaning, the life never did. Every time I saved a live, I felt that life flow inside of me. I had forgotten what that felt like." She put her hand out. "Thank you Stephen Maruu, for returning my humanity."
"Any time," he accepted her handshake. "Any time. How about you Dana?"
"Well, after that speech I guess all I can say is thank you Stephen Maruu," she smiled, really smiled, for the first time in years, "for returning my Bajoranality." The two smiled at each other.
"Now let's check out that body over there."
The two began work on the autopsy. Using the computer to compare where the creature had been, they began to learn what it was.
"It certainly isn't a Trill or any subspecies, but it is a parasite. Much like a Trill it can't survive without a host of very special treatment. It seems to be 90% brain, 10% exoskeleton. Unlike a Trill, it totally takes over it's host. Whatever Johnny Chee was doing, his mind had absolutely zero control over it."
Yosh added some more information to Nori's report. "I've searched your database and although I've never heard of it, apparently this isn't first contact with this species. They attempted a takeover of the Federation about 20 years ago. They took over the bodies of top Starfleet officials, but some men named Jean Luc Picard and William Riker stopped them. I'm not much of a history buff."
"So in your world they've returned. Maybe they have here too," Maruu thought aloud.
"If they have returned, they've been here for a while. This creature was in control of Chee's body for about eight years."
"Franny," asked Garek, "What the hell are the Borg?"