Paradise

*Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven*
Helena, All's Well That Ends Well*
William Shakespeare

Jo wandered down the hallway from the locker room on her way to her bedroom upstairs. Her booted feet echoed on the hardwood floor. The place seemed so quiet. No one was enjoying the fireplace in the living room as she passed through or the cool evening air out on the back deck, and the lights were out in the kitchen.

She proceeded up the spiral staircase, but she knew things were just as dead quiet upstairs. As her feet made the ascent, her mind wandered down the back roads of her mind, amongst memories of friends and team-mates of days and years past.

The loss of her friend Alex Dalton was still too painful to think about, but the sunny blonde rookie automatically brought to mind the young woman she had replaced, Kim Tycho. Kim had fallen in love with Garek Loran, the Chief Engineer of Starbase 901, and the two of them had gotten married. But that wasn't why she had left the Banshees. No, the real reason was far more incredible. For reasons too convoluted to mention at this late point in the story, Garek had been invited to join the Q Continuum, and the Q had magnanimously extended that invitation to include his new bride. As far as Jo knew, Kimmy and Garek were still living happily ever after in some Q-forged dreamscape.

Sam Beckett on the other hand had left the Banshees under much more mundane circumstances. She had returned to Earth several months ago to further her Starfleet training. The tall, willowy blonde, part cyborg but all human, had always been shy to the point of incapacity around strangers. Now she was studying to enter the medical profession where she'd have to be around strangers all the time. Still, Sam had always had a big heart, and Jo had no doubt that she would be able to conquer her neurosis and be the best damn doctor to come out of Starfleet Medical in years.

Max Vasser's departure only last week had been a complete surprise to everyone, but it probably shouldn't have been. Of all the Banshees, Max had been the most gifted thanks to her esper powers, but had also been through the most hardship. She had watched her best friend get killed. Twice. And each time Max had blamed herself. She had been robbed of her vaunted esper ability by the evil Jelly Brains. She had found her father after twenty years of thinking him dead only to watch him get killed too in a quantum universe implosion. It was no wonder she had finally snapped. Jo hoped Max was happy with West; that she'd found what she'd been looking for.

Then there was Jazz Phoenix, Max's best friend. Killed in the line of duty. Twice. Jo hadn't known the fiery Wing Commander very long, but even in that short time had grown to respect her as much as she respected Lee Carter.

The lights were turned down in the big upstairs common room except for the area right in front of the big wall screen. She saw Lee Carter sitting on the couch also apparently lost in thought. There was a lot of that going around these days it seemed.

Jo dropped her carcass heavily onto the couch beside Carter and with forced joviality said, "So... what's the good word?"

Carter looked up from her mental meandering and ventured a small smile. "I just got finished packing up Alex's stuff so it can be sent back home to her parents on Earth."

Jo sighed, then shrugged at a stray thought. "Maybe we'll see them again some day."

Carter shook her head. After Captain Cross' official report on our little misadventure, Starfleet decided to string up a line of warning buoys around Gaia marking it as an officially quarantined world. No one's going there for a long time. Looks like Gaia got her wish."

Jo harrumphed.

Carter looked sideways at Jo. "Jeez, you look down!" she said.

"I just never thought it would end this way," explained Jo. "One by one, or in a couple of cases by twos, the Banshees have all gone their separate ways. We're the only ones left." Jo mulled over her feeling for a few seconds, then added, "I hope Alex and Dexter have found the paradise they were looking for."

Carter thought it over a while, then replied. "I think we all have, Jo."

In response to her friend's quizzical and dubious expression, Carter explained. "Paradise isn't a specific place, and as nice as Gaia was, it's not the blue skies and green grass that makes it Paradise. Paradise is being happy with where you are in life, no matter where in the universe that happens to be or who you're with, and knowing that there's hope for a wonderful future. You can live on Gaia, or in the zenite mines of Ardana, as long as you're with the ones you love and are content, well... that can be Paradise for you."

Jo turned what Carter had said over in her mind. "Alex and Dexter are happy introducing new life to the planet Gaia, Kimmy and Garek are happy in the Q Continuum, Sam's happy back at school, Max is happy traipsing across the Galaxy on her quest to stick a thumb in the eye of evil, and if there's an afterlife, Jazz should be happy that her warrior's sacrifice wasn't in vain... Maybe you're right, Lee... But what about us?"

Carter smiled, and with firm conviction said, "Something will turn up."

SO END THE TALES OF BANSHEE SQUADRON