“This way!” gestured Soleta, even though the truth was that she didn’t have any idea which way to go. Nothing changed the fact that they were underground, and they needed to find a way to get to the surface. It was obvious that somehow the D’myurj had interfered with their ability to use the transporter. Now the only option was to get clear of the underground facility and hope that, once above, the Excalibur could lock on to them once more.
They rounded a corner and hit a dead end: a massive series of conduits were humming with power. She turned to Selar. “Energy generator. Their power source. Perhaps if we could shut it down somehow…”
“Look out!”
A lone Brethren stepped from the shadows and opened fire with his palm weaponry. His presence caught them off guard because before they had been moving in groups of three, so they weren’t expecting to find one on his own.
Clutching the baby, twisting her body to avoid the blast, Soleta was only partly successful. Having zeroed in on her voice, the Brethren’s blast struck her a glancing blow across the ribs. Soleta went down, still holding the baby, and the tricorder tumbled away from her.
She looked up as her death hovered directly in front of her eyes.
ii.
Selar saw Soleta lying there helpless, the unconscious baby still upon her, and the Brethren aiming his weaponry directly at her head. Within the next second her skull would be nothing more than a mass of protoplasm.
Before she had time to contemplate what she was doing, she dashed forward and hurled her own tricorder directly at Soleta. It landed on her stomach, effectively causing her to disappear from the Brethren’s sight.
She kept moving, stopping only long enough to grab up Soleta’s phaser. Her mind was already racing, thinking several steps ahead. She yanked off her comm badge and slapped it on Soleta’s chest. “Run in the opposite direction from here and then find someplace to hide,” was all she said and then she fired off a fast phaser blast at the Brethren. It didn’t slow him, as she expected it would not, but it was more than enough to draw his attention away from Soleta.
He lumbered after her and, with no tricorder and no means of hiding her presence, she was an easy target. Or at least that was the theory, for she darted between the throbbing generators that provided power for the entire complex. She gambled and won in one regard. Her pursuer had no desire to fire upon her and risk hitting one of the generators. That indicated to her that they might be vulnerable to a phaser blast.
But one generator wasn’t going to do the job.
Farther and farther she moved, gliding as noiselessly as she could from shelter to shelter, and she heard the pounding footsteps of the Brethren all around her. They were converging upon her, and she was running out of directions and out of options.
From around one of the generators came the D’myurj, and he was still wearing her late husband’s face, which infuriated her. She brought up one of the phasers, aiming it squarely at him, and he was simply looking at her sadly. “Put it down,” he said. “You cannot get away.” She looked upward toward the ceiling, many feet above. “No, not that way either. We are completely underground. You cannot get out of this place.”
“I do not intend to,” said Selar. With an abrupt twist, she jacked up the power level on her phasers, first one and then the other. A slow, steady humming sound, a building up of power began to emanate from the phasers.
“What do you think you are doing?” he asked, sounding only mildly curious.
“I have removed the safeties that typically manage the power flow of the phasers. It is causing energy to be transferred from the power cell to the prefire chamber and back again faster than the cell can absorb it. In short, it is causing the phasers to overload. The damage will be considerable.”
The D’myurj no longer looked mildly curious. Instead he was genuinely concerned. “Get those from her!” he ordered. “Get them and shut them down!”
Still unwilling to shoot because of their proximity to the generators, the Brethren moved toward her. They came together, grabbing for the phasers, trying to wrestle them away.
Selar darted between them, bending over, clutching the phasers tightly with as much fervency as if they were an infant she was trying to protect—
—and she is in her marital bed with her husband, and he is dying—
—and the D’myurj was shouting at them, bellowing, even as he was backing up with wide eyes, the expression of terror looking comically wrong on the face of her husband—
—and she is in a cave on a storm-torn world giving birth to her son—
—and she darted between two oncoming Brethren, getting distance, banging up against one of the generators as they turned as one to face her—
—and the phaser reached critical mass, and as they rushed her, trying to grab at them, she drew back her powerful arm and slung one skyward as hard as she could. It arced through the air, toward the ceiling, and lodged in a crossbeam, and then she spun away from them, dropped to the ground and shoved the other phaser against the nearest generator, holding it there…
—and love washes over her, true love, and this time when the tears come she welcomes them as if old friends whom she has missed terribly have arrived and is happy, at the last, to have the chance to see—
—and the phaser above and in her hand erupted at precisely the same time, as a massive burst of light enveloped her—
I’m sorry, Xy, I tried, I tried so hard, and his voice comes back, I know, you did your best, no one could have done better, I forgive you, we all forgive you, and she takes that forgiveness to her and smiles, and she is content—
iii.
Soleta was running and running, sprinting past Brethren who were running in the other direction. Just survive, Selar, that’s all I ask. Just survive long enough for me to figure out a way to—
She spun upon hearing the distant eruptions and saw a massive explosion from the area of the generators while, at the same time, another detonation erupted in the ceiling. Supports crumbled away overhead as exactly at the same moment a fireball blasted upward from the generators, a fireball that kept building upon itself as one generator after another detonated. The concussive force of the two slammed into each other and recoiled in opposite directions. A huge hole was ripped in the ceiling, and quickly widened as more and more debris began to fall from it.
The place was erupting all around Soleta, and the only thing she could think of was to go up, because if she stayed where she was and it all came crashing down, they would never find her.
She got to a ramp and started running up it. At the same time, she was pounding on the comm badge shouting, “Soleta to Excalibur! Soleta to anybody! Is anybody reading this? Beam me the hell out of here!”
Soleta kept on going even as flame tore through the facility below and debris rained down from on high. Higher and higher still she ran, to the uppermost ramps in the place, and suddenly she skidded to a halt. One of the Brethren was approaching, her shouting drawing him like a beacon. He was clearly locked on to her. She spun, started the other way, and there was another one coming right at her. Both of them had their energy weapons up, and both of them looked ready to fire at her. The gaping hole in the ceiling was twenty feet above her, but it might as well have been twenty miles.
To hell with you. Nobody chooses the way I die except me. She looked down regretfully at Cwansi, who was sleeping blissfully and would never awaken. Then she sprinted toward the edge of the ramp, a sheer drop yawning beneath her, and she threw herself into the abyss.
She closed her eyes so that s“€eyes so he would not have to see the flames and the floor coming toward her. Consequently, she was thoroughly surprised when she landed on something hard, much sooner than she could have expected to. She looked down and discovered that it was the top of a shuttlecraft.
The jolt of the impact almost caused her to lose her grip on Cwansi. At the last second she managed to pull him back and clutch him to her. He continued to snore softly.
&n
bsp; A blast of energy ripped just over her head. She twisted around and saw the two Brethren, both standing there on the ramp, firing at her. They fired again as the shuttlecraft angled around, and Soleta grabbed desperately onto the top. She skidded halfway down before snagging a protruding handle. One blast went past them and the other slammed the shuttle sideways, rebounding off the ship’s armor. The shuttle whipped around, facing the Brethren, and before they could fire again, the craft’s phasers lashed out at the ramp under the Brethrens’ feet. It gave way and the Brethren tumbled down and out of sight. Then with a roar of thrusters, the shuttlecraft rose through the hole above.
Immediately she was hit by such vicious winds that Soleta was knocked right off the top of the shuttle. Fortunately it had moved to the side, so rather than falling into the hole, she instead landed on the frozen ground. She desperately tried to shield the baby from the freezing air.
The shuttlecraft angled down, and Soleta saw that there were other shuttles moving in as well. The hatch slid open and Burgoyne’s face peered out from within. She could spot Kebron at the helm as Burgoyne reached out toward her. Getting to her feet, she stumbled forward and into the shuttle just as her legs gave out. She started to crumble to the floor of the shuttle, but Burgoyne caught her and eased her over to a chair. Then s/he crouched and looked into the face of the unconscious baby. “He can sleep through anything.”
“I knocked him out with a nerve pinch.”
“You could make a fortune as a nanny. Where’s Selar?”
She didn’t answer immediately, and Burgoyne repeated the question with greater urgency.
“Down there,” she said finally. “She was responsible for the detonation…for blowing the hole in the ceiling so you could find us. She…” Her voice trailed off.
Burgoyne processed the information. “She didn’t make it,” s/he said.
Soleta shook her head.
“But she was responsible for you surviving.”
She nodded.
“Well…she died as she would have wished to. Making amends.”
Soleta stared at hir for a long moment, and then reached out with her fingers. She touched Burgoyne’s forehead lightly, closed her eyes, and then shook her head. “That bitch,” she said softly.
“What?”
She withdrew her fingers. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. It’s what she wanted, and I’m not going to question it. And neither should you.”
“Question what?” said Burgoyne.
“Exactly.”
Starship Excalibur
i.
Robin Lefler sat in her quarters, clutching her child to her breast. He was happily suckling, and did not seem the least bit affected by everything he had endured.
“I am never going to let you go. Not ever,” she told him softly. “You’d better get used to having me around all the time. When you go to school, I’ll be there with you in the classroom. When you marry and go off on your honeymoon, I’m going to be in the room right next to yours.”
“Don’t you think you may be overcompensating?”
She looked up. Kalinda was standing in the doorway.
“A little, I suppose,” said Robin. “Look, Kalinda…I want to…I suppose I should…”
“Thank me?” Kalinda walked over to them and let her finger caress Cwansi’s face. Cwansi reached over and wrapped his tiny fingers around Kalinda’s single one. “This is thanks enough.”
“Still…I had trouble believing this wasn’t all some mad diversion, and I was nasty to you, and I shouldn’t have been—”
Kalinda leaned over, tilted Robin’s chin back, and kissed her gently.
Robin returned it, reaching up, touching her cheek, and she whispered, “Cwan…?”
“Good-bye, my love,” whispered Kalinda.
“Cwan, wait—!”
Then Kalinda’s head pitched back and her eyes opened wide. She twisted and convulsed, and Robin cried out to her in confusion, first Cwan’s name, then Kalinda’s, and she wasn’t sure what to say or what to do.
Kalinda sagged down onto the floor, caught herself before she fell over completely, and then looked up at Robin with confused eyes. Bewildered eyes. Kalinda’s eyes.
“What happened?” she said.
Robin didn’t quite know where to start.
ii.
Xy stood in the viewing bay, looking down upon the planet that was slowly turning beneath them. Soleta was standing next to him on one side, and Calhoun was on the other. Xy had already learned what had happened to his mother, but Soleta—at his request—had provided him a blow-by-blow description.
“Are you sure she was—?” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Soleta looked to Calhoun, who said softly, “We found the blast site. Enough of her DNA in the remains to verify that she was there. Nothing else left of her, I’m afraid. Considering she was at ground zero, it’s not all that surprising.”
“I suppose not.”
“I’m sorry, Xy,” said Calhoun. “I’m sorry it ended that way.”
“She deserved better,” Xy said. “All anyone is going to remember of her is that she betrayed her friends, her colleagues…endangered her vessel…all in some fruitless and pointless quest to save me.”
“Not pointless. Not to her.” Calhoun glanced at Soleta and then said, “And not exactly fruitless.”
Xy frowned. “What?”
Soleta handed him a data chip. He took it and looked at it, uncomprehending.
“Your mother may have done a good job blowing the place up, but she didn’t take out all of it. Their information banks were damaged but intact. With Morgan’s help, I was able to study the contents.”
“Did it tell you who these beings were? What their overall plans were?”
“No, they didn’t leave a detailed memo about their backstory or their goals,” she said dryly. “Mostly it was records of their research data, including the work they did on Rulan. They made remarkable progress on the slowing of cellular degeneration. It’s doubtful that it will be of much use to Hermats, but it could well be of use to you.”
Slowly he took the chip. “Are you serious?”
“Always. If my initial impression is correct, you can use the research to synthesize a drug that would slow the aging process considerably. You’d have to take it for the rest of your life, probably on a weekly basis. That’s a small price to pay, though—”
“What are we talking about here? How ‘considerably’ are we talking about?” Xy was trying to repress his growing excitement, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing.
“Well, not as long as a Vulcan. Give or take—” She shrugged. “A century?”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stared at the chip as if he were staring at the Holy Grail.
“Congratulations, Xy,” said Calhoun.
“She did it,” he whispered.
Calhoun knew to whom he was referring. “Yes. She did. I can’t say that I agree with the methods that she employed, but she accomplished her goal. She saved the one person she loved in the universe.”
Xy’s hand was trembling, and perhaps it was the Vulcan aspect of him kicking in, but it was suddenly incredibly important to him that no one see him having an emotional breakdown. “Captain…Soleta…I would…I would very much appreciate it if you left me alone right now.”
Calhoun seemed a bit puzzled, but Soleta understood immediately. “Of course.” She looked to Calhoun and somehow from her unspoken cue he immediately understood. He nodded and the two of them walked out of the room.
Once they did, Xy sank to his knees and, clutching the data chip to his chest, rocked back and forth and whispered thanks to his dead mother, who had sacrificed everything so that he could live the life she had dreamed of for him.
iii.
“What did she do to him?”
Calhoun and Soleta were walking down the corridor toward the transporter room, but he had stopped in his tracks. She looked at him with an arched eyebrow as he r
epeated, “What did she do?”
“Captain, you’re the one who brought it up. You’re the one who mentioned how well you thought Burgoyne was handling Selar’s passing. Would you rather I hadn’t told you?”
“I’m starting to think it would have been preferable, yes. Are you telling me she…?” A couple of crew members were passing by, and Calhoun quickly pulled Soleta into the closest room, which happened to be the armory.
Soleta glanced around. “I can’t say I’m enamored of these surroundings. If you don’t like what I have to say, how do I know you won’t shoot me?”
“Soleta—”
“All right, all right. At some point, Selar brushed hir mind and took away—”
“Hir memories?”
“No. S/he remembers well enough. But Selar excised the hurt.”
“That’s appalling.”
“Appalling?” Her elegant eyebrows knit. “Perhaps she simply thought she was doing the decent thing. Perhaps she was tired of hurting people and thought that, for once, she might be able to spare someone.”
“She lobotomized hir!”
“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic, Captain. The memories are there. They simply don’t sting.”
“S/he has the right to hir feelings. How could Selar possibly think that was the right thing to do?”
“I doubt she thought it was. But she probably thought it was the logical thing to do.”
Calhoun shook his head. “To the end, she remains a mystery to me.”
“I think she would prefer it that way,” said Soleta. “Are we done here? We wouldn’t want to start rumors.”