Memories within Memories

Posted on Wed May 20th, 2015 @ 11:26pm by
Edited on on Wed May 20th, 2015 @ 11:29pm

Elizabeth Heyworth slipped through the throng of officers gathered around the small Jumja stick stall, wrinkling her nose at the smell of it. She remembered being a small girl and having an affection for the food, but somewhere along the way she lost the taste.

As she passed through the wide street, she could hear street vendors shouting their wares. It seemed like hundreds of them had gathered at the foot of the Starfleet HQ building, likely to sell to the Starfleet officers who itched to find ways to spend the credits they had. Money wasn't really a thing for most cultures, but there was still a currency exchange. There had to be, otherwise the entire... She sighed. She was lecturing imaginary people in her mind.

Free of the crowd, she took the steps that led up to the main building two at a time, juggling several PADDs, an apple, and a small steriwrapped bowl of soup. As she reached the final step she stopped, swaying slightly as she did, turning her head towards the setting sun. It reminded her of a story that Stern had told her. The Day, he called it. The day his entire life changed. When she asked him if it was the day he had been infected with the Kvilla Virus, he had surprised her when he said no.

"It was before that," Stern said. The pair were due back to the Sedgemoor, but they weren't going to make it. Stern had blood across his face, and his left eye had swollen shut, but he still had a smile as he thought of the past. "It was the day I decided to stop dwelling on what could have been, and start thinking about what is."

Elizabeth knitted her brows tightly, which only made Stern laugh. "It was the day I decided to leave Earth behind, and put in for a transfer to the Sedgemoor."

Memories within memories.

--

The sun was high in the sky; it was noon, and there was a cool breeze. He could still taste winter in the air, but he knew spring was just around the corner as well.

The gardens just outside of the Council chambers in San Francisco were just beginning to bud, and the lush trees had already begun to fill in. He smiled as he took in the view for a moment.

He would not miss this place.

“Lieutenant,” a familiar voice said.

He turned. “Commander Parsons,” he said, saluting.

She waved the salute away and reached out to hug him. “I just heard,” she said. “When are you leaving?”

He shrugged, feeling awkward in her embrace. “I haven’t even been approved yet. Admiral Gohan hasn’t given me the official OK.” He broke the embrace and stepped back respectfully.

Liza Parsons wrinkled her narrow nose. “He will, if he knows what is good for him.”

Lieutenant Ibraham Stern smiled, the scars of his face wrinkling slightly. “Who knows what is good for the Admiral?”

Liza shrugged, defeated. “I don’t know. The man is impossible.” She looked at the council chambers behind Stern. “Did you hear the way he shut down Representative Karsh?”

Stern rolled his eyes. “Karsh is an ass anyway,” he said. “If I have to hear one more official complaint about Ferengi trade embargoes, or a motion about-”

“-how Starfleet gets in the way of politics,” Liza said, her voice deepening in what was to Stern a fairly accurate imitation of the wheezing way Karsh spoke. “You know how these political types are,” she said as they started towards the Council hall. “All bluster and bumble.”

Stern sighed. “I won’t miss it,” he admitted. “I understand just how critical our work here is, but I feel like men like Admiral Gohan have lost touch with what is really important for Starfleet.”

Liza looked at him with sorrowful eyes. “We all have,” she admitted. “The Dominion War changed a lot of things, and reminded everyone just how dangerous it is out there.”

Stern furrowed his brows slightly. “So we should just stop?”

Liza laughed. “Stop? Stop what? Stop exploring? No, of course not.” She looked up into the sky. “There are still exploration vessels out there, Bram. It’s just... Different now.”

She stepped into the building but Stern hesitated. He looked up as well, his eyes instinctively drifting in the direction of Cardassia, or, at least, where he thought Cardassia was. He could feel Liza’s thoughts floating into his mind as she paused and looked back at him. He knew she knew he could read her mind, and that he could see the concern there, but he pushed it away.

His mind drifted upward, reaching out to someone he would never feel again.

2374, outer rim, Cardassian Space

“Wolf, this is Fox, I’ve reached the inner hatch, preparing to breach.”

“Fox, you have the go,” Wolf said, his gloved hands grasping the small pipe as he made his way across the outside of the massive space station. He could feel the ice cold of space against his envirosuit, and each breath fogged up the plexi-glass plate of his helmet. He tried to turn enough to see Fox, but he couldn’t find her. “Dog, do you read me?”

Dog, on the furthest side of the station, heard the chirp in his ear. “I read you.”

“Fox is making the breach, we need to step it up if we’re going to keep up,” Wolf hissed into the comm. “How close are you?”

“Just about there,” Dog replied.

The station was cylindrical in design,and its skin was pitch black. Six pylons stretched out around it, and four spires from each of those. Ships of all strange designs were docked along the spires, and at the top of the station there was a command station. Wolf hoisted himself up into a small alcove and shifted around. He could see the massive star in the distance, and the planet that the station was now orbiting. It was a rim planet, a class J gas giant with only a number designation for a name.

He reached around and felt his fingers as they grasped the grating that led into steam vents. A small explosion that made no sound in space, and the grating came away. He was in.

--

Free of his helmet, Wolf - Ibraham Stern - checked his sidearm, and then looked around quickly. He had come into an antechamber that wasn’t pressurized, but beyond it led him into a pressurization chamber. He had hesitated, worried that it would alert security, but none had come, nor had any been present. The entire deck, it seemed, was abandoned currently. He saw signs of construction, and reasoned that the station was still largely under construction.

“The audacity of these bastards,” he heard Dog chirp through his earbud. “To build so close to our space.”

“Cut the chatter, Kilroy,” Stern growled. “Keep on schedule,” he added.

The hallways were dark, but his eyes adjusted quickly and he began moving down towards the nearest juncture. The plan was to meet two decks up near the main command center and attempt to infiltrate the main systems chamber. From there access a primary node, download combat plans and orders, and then move for extraction.

“Should be easy,” Stern had said to Admiral Damian Gohan.

The Admiral, his thin lips turned down slightly, had said nothing. He wouldn’t have given the mission to Stern if he didn’t think the man could do it.

But then, he honestly didn’t think the man could. Still, as with all things that Gohan did, there was a dual purpose to this mission. Even if the agents were captured or killed, it let the Dominion know we are watching you, we know where you are and what you are up to.

The junction was a small T shaped section of the corridor. He glanced left and then pulled back sharply as a group of Jem’Hadar came into view. Cursing his timing he slithered back down the corridor and pressed himself against a doorway alcove, his sidearm held tightly against his chest. He began to count as he heard their footsteps.

Soon they had passed and he pressed on. He looked right and watched their backs as they disappeared around another corner and then slipped into the lift. Rather than order the lift upward he leapt into the air and, with one hand, gripped a metal bar that was attached to the hatch there. Using his feet he pushed against the side of the wall and the hatch pushed open. He pulled himself through it.

---

June, 2389

The walls in the waiting room were stark white, harsh against his eyes. The bright light of summer poured hot through the flex-glass windows, and he held up a hand. The light played across his palm, and he could feel the warmth of it against his skin.

“Lieutenant?”

Stern looked up at the woman. “Yes?”

“The Admiral will see you now.”

Stern smiled at her and stood, but she seemed to pull back as he walked towards her. He sighed inwardly.

“Sir,” he said as he entered the office, throwing up a salute.

Admiral Damian Gohan looked up. The man had a slight frame, and a thin, pale face with dark hair and eyes. Those eyes... blue as ice and deep. Stern always felt like Gohan knew everything before even he did, and try as he might he never could read the man’s mind. “Sit,” he said.

Stern complied, sitting before the massive dark wood desk that Gohan sat behind. Gohan’s hands steepled and he looked over the Lieutenant. “I have been reviewing your file.”

“Oh?” Stern furrowed his brow. “Is there a specific reason or are you just reminiscing?” Gohan had been responsible for a lot of what was in there.

“Both,” Gohan replied. “A few months ago you put in a request for transfer.”

“I did,” Stern said.

Gohan looked down at the file. “I’ve not yet replied to your request.”

“You have not,” Stern agreed.

“You are a good agent,” Gohan said at length.

“Am I?” Stern asked. “Sometimes I wonder about that.”

“Why?”

Stern looked away. “I’m 40 years old,” he said. “I am not a young wolf anymore. I don’t know how long I can keep doing this.” He touched his collar. “Most of the guys I went through the Academy with are Captains now, and the ones that aren’t are out.”

Gohan lofted a brow. “So rank,” he began, “that’s what this is about?”

“What?” Stern looked at him. “No,” he began, “I mean, not really. Maybe partly. I just know I can’t stay here, and I can’t keep doing this.”

Gohan sat back, quiet for a moment. “Do you know why you are still just a Lieutenant, Ibraham?”

Stern said nothing, watching Gohan.

“Because you are weak,” he said. Stern’s expression darkened but Gohan continued. “After the war when every officer and enlisted man and woman was banding together to rebuild our broken Federation, what did you do?”

“I worked,” Stern retorted. “A full year after the war ended.”

“Oh,” Gohan began, “you did. Light duty, as I recall.”

“I-” Stern began. Gohan silenced him with a glare.

“You weren’t the only one who was hurt. You weren’t the only one who had lost someone under their command,” Gohan said. “You ran like a coward, and everyone around you had to pick up the slack. So much promise, so much talent.” He shook his head. “Wasted on a coward.” He leaned forward. “I am going to approve your transfer request Lieutenant Stern, but not because you want to leave here.” He looked up from the datapadd on his desk. “Because I don’t want cowards under my command.”

Stern glared at Gohan, his face twisted into anger, his teeth barring. He clenched his fists so tight that blood began to well up in them, his shoulders and arms trembling. He stood, and in a rare moment of disrespect turned and walked out of the office.

Gohan watched him go and stared at the door for a long while after he’d left. He looked at the chair where Stern had sat, and stared at the puddles of blood on the arms of the chair. He closed his eyes.

--

Fox - Raela - watched the doorway nervously. Her ridged brows were furrowed tightly as she looked from left to right. “Hurry,” she hissed at Stern and Kilroy.

“Cool your jets,” Kilroy snapped. His handsome features were twisted into an expression of intense concentration as he attempted to decipher the encryption on the data that he wanted to extract. “It’s in here tight,” he whispered to Stern.

“Work as fast as you can,” Stern said calmly, turning to Raela. Her Cardassian features were outlined in the low-light, and as she turned to look at him he felt a tightness in his chest, and a warmth rush over him. He smiled at her reassuringly, and she nodded.

The reassurance was short lived. Orange energy-fire crackled as the sound of disruptor weapons opening up echoed through the hallway. “Damn,” Raela whispered, “we’ve got company!”

Her weapon came up and she opened up. Two Jem’Hadar fell back, but they were quickly replaced. Stern looked at Kilroy. “Are you done?”

Kilroy was sweating now. “Not even close,” he moaned. “I can’t get past the encryption!”

Stern muttered a curse, drawing his sidearm. He hesitated for a moment and then drew his backup weapon. Energy fire screamed down the corridor. The first Jem’Hadar he hit took the blast in the face and left shoulder; his skin puffed in a mist of blood that quickly evaporated in the heat of the energy, throwing him back into the second who also took a blast in the face.

Stern could see the Vorta now. The female stood calmly and casually, her hands behind her back, surrounded by a dozen Jem’Hadar. Her violet eyes locked onto Stern, and as weapons fire ripped back and forth she started forward.

Stern’s vision blurred as he tried to shoot the woman. His shots went wide.

The Vorta held up a hand. Stern could feel the blood in his mouth from the multiple wounds he’d suffered. Raela was slumped next to him; his vision was blurred but he knew that sometime during the firefight she had taken a shot to the neck. Was she alive? He could still feel her thoughts screaming in his head.

He looked back at Kilroy. The man’s mouth was moving, and he thought that he had said that he had the information, but Stern wasn’t sure. He looked back at the Vorta and pointed both of his weapons at her.

The Vorta tilted her head slightly as powerful energy formed around her hand. The blast was deafening. The air sucked out of his chest and he felt the world spinning. He could see Raela. He thought about the first time they had kissed.

He felt the bulkhead as his back slammed into it, but his mind was on the first time she had run her hands through his hair. He felt his right ankle snap as he came down, but all he could feel was the heat of her breath.

His head slammed back into the wall as he felt the power of the Vorta’s telekinesis lift him into the air. He remembered the way her skin felt against his as the Vorta flung him aside. As he came down, he found himself next to her, both of them laying on the ground. He could see Kilroy, the man ducking behind a console, his weapon firing at the Jem’Hadar that would soon overwhelm him. He tried to reach out and touch Raela, but there was no strength in his arm.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered.

--

September, 2389

Stern picked the bottle of whiskey up and poured himself another drink. There was a sharp chill in the air, and he considered turning the heat on in his small apartment, but he decided he was too drunk to move.

The door chimed and he muttered something.

The door chimed again. “Come in!” he shouted.

Liza stepped into the small room and then stepped back, wrinkling her nose. “God, what is that horrendous smell?”

Stern shrugged as he downed another glass.

“How long have you been here drinking?” she asked as she made her way over to him. She eyed the almost empty bottle and shook her head. “You know you can get a lot of trouble for having that, right?”

He shrugged again.

“What is with you?” She sat across from him. “Things have been really good lately. For once the Council has listened to our suggestions, and aren’t you due to transfer soon? Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Stern stared at the brown liquid in the bottle. “I can’t get it out of my mind,” he slurred.

“Get what out of your mind?” Liza asked.

“Her.”

Liza sat back. “That was a long time ago,” she said. “Fifteen years?”

Stern shrugged.

She sighed and picked the bottle up. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself. You can’t go back and change what happened Bram. You can’t keep living in the past, or it is going to tear you apart.”

“I wish it would,” Stern whispered.

--

2374

He could still hear Kilroy screaming. His eyes were half open as he stared at the doorway that led out of his small cell. He was shackled to the floor and had his back resting against the far wall. What felt like days before, but in reality were only several hours, the Vorta had come to see him. He had asked about Raela, but the Vorta ignored his questioning and instead asked him why he was here.

“To steal our plans?” she said. “How did you find out about this station?”

He had remained silent. The pain had come then, unrelenting and terrible. Through it all he kept his mind focused on Raela, and he found strength. He told himself he would escape. That he would find her, that he would find Kilroy.

Only Kilroy was dead now, and he had no idea where she was. He couldn’t feel her mind anymore.

He stared at his shackles. How long had he been here? He couldn’t remember. Had it been days or years? Weeks or months?

Where was Raela?

Where was...

--

February, 2390

“Do you know yet?” Liza asked.

Stern shook his head. Most of his things had fit into a single dufflebag, which was already packed. Next to it there was a small wooden box. “I probably won’t know until I get there.”

Liza pursed her lips. “Strange that you wouldn’t know what your next posting is.”

“You know the Admiral,” Stern replied, his fingers tracing the lines of the box. “He does enjoy his surprises.”

Liza shrugged. “Can’t be too much of a surprise. You know it is a ship posting, so there’s that.”

“There is that,” Stern said. He looked at her. He could feel her thoughts, and he could see the way she was looking at him. He knew what she was thinking, what she wanted so desperately bad.

He would not give in to her. “It has been an honor serving with you, Commander Parsons.”

She sighed, the left side of her lips turning downward. “And with you, Lieutenant,” she said sadly. “Be safe out there, okay?”

“Always,” Stern said as he picked up the box and his bag and stepped outside into the crisp winter air. Snow had begun to fall. He looked up at it almost surprised by it.

--

Elizabeth opened her eyes. The sun had set, both here, and on that time. Liza Parsons wasn't who she said she was, and Stern had lost Raela forever. A short time later he would be infected with a virus that would kill him, and now Elizabeth had lost Stern as well.

She went inside.

--

Ibraham Stern
Intelligence Operative

With;

Lieutenant Elizabeth Heyworth, PhD
Science Officer