Even though he was surrounded by the walls of his cell on board the Firebrand, Adam was somewhere else entirely.

He was on a beach in Pacifica and it was the best day of his life. They were walking hand in hand, with ocean rushing around their ankles. At first, the grains of sand under the soles of his feet felt alien and the need to run away when the white foam swirled around his small feet was overwhelming. Yet he felt her hand tighten around his and the fear slowly bled away with her assurances she would not let anything happen to him.  All he had to do was to look up and see that gentle smile and laughing blue-grey eyes to know it was the truth. As long as he held her hand, he knew she would protect him, she would make every bad thing go away.

It was his six birthday and she wanted to take him somewhere special because it was important, she said with complete seriousness, everyone enjoyed a day on the beach, even if it was for just once in their lives.  Adam hadn’t really cared as long as he was with her. On this day, she wasn’t a Resistance fighter, today she was just his mom, and he adored every moment he spent with her, committing the details to memory. In the years to come, when his heart ached from the pains of life, he would return in his mind, to this little piece of heaven she gave him, and let it comfort him.

He would remember her laugh, how the kite she taught him to fly, sailed in the clouds, with its vibrant colours seeming impossibly bright against the blue sky. He would remember the iridescent loveliness of the seashell she placed in his small palm, where she told him to always look for the beauty in things because it was there if you were just willing to see it.  Once upon a time, she was trapped in a dark, terrible place only to be given something so precious and beautiful, it changed her life forever.

When Adam left the Clarion to be transported to that space station in the alternate dimension, he left with the knowledge, she died within minutes of his departure. In the face of capture by the Romulans, he took comfort in the small consolation at knowing for Mary Travis, the end had come quickly. At least she did not suffer.

Except it was a lie, a bit of delusion he fed himself to feel better about her death because the truth was nothing like the reality.  Not only had she survived his departure, but she was also captured. For a whole week, while he was trying to understand where he was, his mother was being brutalised and tortured. When Svinak had finished with her, he had killed her without a second thought and then dumped her body like it was salvage to be found.

When told, Adam had said nothing, refusing to allow the Vulcan the satisfaction of seeing his anguish but later in his cell, he had wept for her again, feeling the grief assuaged after week on the other side, become fresh and raw once more. Strangely enough, he kept wishing the Captain was here because it felt like he would understand how Adam felt.  Logically, he knew Chris Larabee of the Maverick, wasn’t his father but when Adam was weeping for Mary with renewed grief, he wanted nothing more than to be in the man’s presence.

It was pure insanity but at that moment, Adam wanted his father.

The door to his cell slid open and Adam sat up immediately.  The room was not very big, just large enough for a bed and a privy.  Its walls were grey and the length of light fixture positioned in the centre of the ceiling was illuminated too brightly for Adam’s liking. It made it difficult to sleep but then Adam guessed, that was the intended purpose. The Romulans even without Svinak’s interrogation techniques, knew how to make you sweat.

So far, he escaped the violation his mother endured in the last minutes of her life and wondered why Svinak had so far spared him. From everything Adam had heard about the man, it was somewhat surprising he wasn’t tortured.  Was it his turn now? Adam wondered as the Vulcan stepped into the cell alone. It filled him with chagrin Svinak didn’t even consider him enough of a threat to have guards with him when he entered. Why would Svinak consider him a danger, Adam thought bitterly, he had been barely able to put up a fight when the Vulcan abducted him off the Maverick?

“How are you this morning?” Svinak said pleasantly, aware the boy was still stinging from the news of how Mary Travis met her end. It wasn’t in Svinak’s nature to be cruel but he wasn’t about to lie either. Perhaps if the young man understood the futility of resisting, he might live longer for it.

Adam didn’t speak but his answer was a hateful glare at the enemy.

“I gather you are still upset over your mother’s death,” Svinak shrugged, not about to let the boy’s silence bother him. “This is war, Adam. People die. You best accustomed yourself to that piece of reality if you choose to continue fighting with the Resistance.”

Adam bristled, wondering what the Vulcan wanted. Was he here just to gloat? “What do you want?” Adam demanded, breaking his silence so Svinak would get on with it and this exchange could be ended, sooner rather than later.

“I thought you would be happy to know that your liberation is at hand.”

Adam stared at him in suspicion. “What does that mean? I get an execution date?” He was perfectly aware freedom for a Resistance member meant death. The Romulans did not let anyone go. Fear gripped him this might be the case that his whole life would end so soon after meeting Chris Larabee but he was also a member of the Resistance and death had always been a reality of his life.

“Oh I have no doubt, you will meet that end,” Svinak retorted. “But it won’t be today. No, I need you alive. You are just a tool Adam, a means to an end. Thanks to you, I am about to get what I want. Commander Wilmington has kindly offered to give himself up in exchange for your life.”

“NO!” Adam stood up horrified by the notion.  The Resistance needed Buck Wilmington! It did not need Adam Larabee. He was more than prepared to die for the cause when faced with that choice. “I don’t want that! I rather die here!”

“The choice is not up to you,” Svinak replied, unimpressed by the display from the boy as if he had any say in the matter. “Consider yourself fortunate, Wilmington’s stipulation for surrender included my desisting in any effort to interrogate you. I’m sure I’ll get the chance again since I can’t imagine you’ll be returning to the other universe anytime soon.”

Adam smouldered in hatred, knowing he was right. He had no idea how his mother had managed to send him across to the other side, or if there would be anyone willing to help him after Buck Wilmington’s life was sacrificed for him. People would hate him and the only person who might love him, probably had no idea where he was.

Looking up at Svinak, Adam could only hiss. “I’m going to kill you for what you did to my mom. I don’t know how, but I will.”

Svinak smiled at that. “You may try boy, you may try.”

*****

“Are you sure about this?” Buck Wilmington asked as he stared through the view screen on the bridge of the Defiant and saw the distant purple cloud, sparking with energy grow larger on approach. 

Alexandra Styles stood at one of the unmanned consoles on the bridge, her fingers flying over its controls, trying to navigate the ancient tech while programming the information she needed to relay to the engineering deck.  Raising her eyes to him briefly, she found his manner jarring in comparison to the smiling, big man she knew on the Maverick, who had ended up being one of her best friends, despite an initially rocky start.

“Absolutely,” she said confidently. “I’m sending your engineering team, the proper intermix ratio for the anti-matter field of your warp core. This ought to bring your speed up to at least warp 8. I’ve also recalibrated your helm control flight program to compensate for the spatial discontinuity. It will give you an easier ride when you get in there.”

Buck gave the woman a little smile. “You know the last time I was in Jericho, I managed to catch your act.” Of course, he knew this wasn’t the woman performing at the Wyld Card but it was surreal seeing her standing on his bridge, making modifications from memory, to improve the functioning of his ship.

“You’re not my commander, I can shoot you,” Alex said not looking up from the console.

Buck laughed softly, her deadpan response reminded Buck of Julia who at the moment was off the bridge, refusing to allow Commander Standish to go anywhere by himself on the Maverick. His first officer had not been happy to allow the man access their quantum torpedoes, no matter how necessary the action was.

“We’ve never spent much time in this part of space.  The Bajorans signed a nonaggression pact with the Klingon Cardassian Alliance, so it was never safe territory for us.” Buck explained.

“I can understand that,” Alex straightened up. “On our side, they were annexed by Cardassia and they had a pretty rough time of it for a century.  I guess for your side, it was better to bend than break.”

“I suppose,” he said quietly, thinking of whether or not that would have worked for the Terrans. Enslavement was all they knew for a generation. After a century of subjugation, they were done being anyone’s creature. “So these coordinates in the Denorios Belt, they lead to a wormhole?”

“Yes,” Alex nodded. “It’s a stable wormhole through to the Gamma Quadrant. Once we put the plan into effect, you should be able to use it to escape the Firebrand. If everything you told us about this Scimitar class warbird tracks, she’ll take you apart like an egg even after we get in a few lucky shots.”

“Thanks to that son of a bitch, most of our better ships were destroyed,” Buck frowned. “Sorry,” he said after a moment, feeling the need to considering who her husband was.

Alex looked up at him in puzzlement before she realised why he apologised. “Trust me, Commander, if we run into Svinak, Vin will kill him.”  Alex had no illusions of that.  What her mate had seen in her head had outraged him down to his heated Vulcan core and knowing Svinak had placed her in that hell, to begin with, had inspired his fury.

“Sounds awfully personal,” Buck remarked, noticing something in the way she said those words that made him pay attention.  What on Earth had Svinak done on the other side to provoke such rage in his alternate version?

“What he did, was personal,” Alex said coldly.  “Vin doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing. Neither do I. If Vin doesn’t kill him, I will.”

“I know the feeling,” Buck said quietly, thinking of Mary. He wanted to kill Svinak too. Until realising Adam was taken, he had been more than prepared to.

Alex softened, seeing the pain in his eyes at the loss of Adam’s mother. “I’m sorry for your loss Commander,” she said kindly. “I don’t know your Mary Travis, but she sounded like an amazing woman.”

“Thank you,” Buck said grateful for the kindness but so accustomed to loss by now, he knew how to compartmentalise it. At a proper time, he would mourn her.  Right now, he had a job to do.\

“I met her when she was eighteen years old, in that Cardassian camp. She was scared out of her mind, caring for this newborn. I broke into the place to get Sarah but I was too late and when I realised Adam had been born, I had to do some fast talking before she’d even believe I was there to help. Took some convincing before she’d even follow me out of the place. Once we were out, I got them to our base in the Mutara Nebula.”

Alex knew the region. It was a dense cloud of high energy particles that made it impossible to scan and was extremely large.  Nestled within it, was the Minshara Class Ceti Alpha star system, making it a good hiding place for rebels on the run. Alex could understand why the Resistance might choose that as their secret safe house.

“She raised Adam on her own, but she was never comfortable with him joining the cause and to be fair, neither was I. I promised Chris* I would keep his family safe, having Adam on the front lines wasn’t my first choice.  Now, look at where she is.”

Alex left her station and approached the man’s command chair. Even though this wasn’t the Buck Wilmington she knew, she felt warmly towards him anyway. Alex ached inwardly for him, at the pain he must be suffering, having to go on when he should have been given time to grieve for the woman he loved. “We’ll get him back, Sir.  The Captain won’t settle for anything less.”

Buck managed a smile, “it’s good to see that Chris Larabee is a hard-nosed son of a bitch in any reality.”

Alex smiled, thinking of her Captain who once called a Cardassian fleet, insects, and who outwitted the race who created the Borg, to say nothing of the fact that he took on a Dominion fleet and saved them all.  Time and time again, Chris Larabee had proved himself an excellent commander. Yet it was the fact he had once stood by her when she was about to make the worst decision of her life and showed her a better way that gave him her undying loyalty.

“You have no idea.”  She replied.

*****

“Absolutely not!” Mary glared at Chris angrily as they stood on the deck of the hangar bay where the Cimarron was docked. “Chris!”

Chris Larabee sighed, expecting this protest from her and hesitating using his rank to get his way, not when he was convinced he might still get her to see reason, using the right argument. Her blue-grey eyes were almost dark from outrage, Mary stared at him with fists clenched and spine straightened as if she would fight him all the way to the Delta Quadrant.  Of course, she believed he had an ulterior motive for his request yet even if he did, the reason for it was still sound.

“Mary,” Chris drew in his breath. “If the Defiant is forced to go through the wormhole, they need to know what’s on the other side. We have no idea whether the Dominion exists over there, but if they do, the Defiant will need the information.”

“Why can’t we download our data onto their computers?” Mary retaliated, convinced he was doing this out of some foolish need to protect her.

“Because our information could be wrong! We have no idea what the Dominion might be like on this side,” Chris countered promptly, ready for the argument. “You’ve negotiated with them face to face. If anyone knows how to handle them, it’s you. With any luck, it won’t even come to that. Back on our side, the Dominion didn’t interfere with us until we started getting too deep into their territory. It may be the case here, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Mary bristled with annoyance, mostly because she knew he was right but she was also convinced he was trying to protect her and that made his request hard to swallow. “Chris, I told you I would be there for Adam, and I intend to be.”

“Mary,” Chris said firmly. “This needs to be done. The plan won’t work if the Defiant is destroyed. Adam is a soldier. He’ll never forgive himself if anything happens to the Resistance while trying to rescue him.”

What Chris did not want to say, was that he didn’t want Svinak to have a chance to murder another Mary Travis, but making that revelation was to ensure his Mary would insist on joining their rescue attempt.  If she were to accompany them on this rescue to the Firebrand, Chris knew his ability to make decisions would be clouded, as it was, he was trying to think of this as just another rescue mission, not one involving another version of his son. 

Furthermore, while Alex, Vin and Ezra were more than capable of defending themselves on a ship full of Romulans, he couldn’t say the same for Mary.  She had some training in Vulcan martial art but she wasn’t accustomed to combat and he would not risk her life in such a dangerous mission. He knew he was being selfish but after seeing what Buck* was going through, having lost his Mary*, Chris was more than willing to admit, he didn’t want to know that same pain. He had already lost Sarah, he couldn’t bear losing Mary too.

“Alright Chris,” Mary said unhappily, not liking the idea but understanding his reasoning. Perhaps she even saw through his veiled attempts at strategy and guessed his fears for his ability to function might lay at the heart of this request. In either case, she would do as he asked because he was right. If the Defiant did go through the wormhole, something no one in the Alpha Quadrant of this universe had done yet, they needed to know what might be on the other side.

They had all agreed to ignore the Prime Directive because it was clear the contamination made by James Kirk had caused more deaths than the great Captain ever intended to save. As much as Mary loathed breaking it, being told the human race had been enslaved along any of the worlds supporting the Terran Empire for the last eighty years, left her stunned. The Vulcans were reviled by both sides because they were the ones who pushed the Empire into its peaceful stance, bringing about its collapse.

Adam was the product of that contamination. He had never known either of his parents because both had died before he had even been alive for an hour.  At fourteen years of age, he was called into service to fight the might of the Romulan Star Empire, and now he had lost his mother too. Mary did not want to think of another child enduring this kind of life. She certainly knew she would never want Billy to suffer such an existence.

“Thank you, Mary,” Chris said gratefully, now that it was settled and hoped she remained as safe on the Defiant when the shooting started.

 *****

There was something about the way Ezra Standish was staring at her that made Julia’s natural suspicion deepen even more than usual.

Ever since he emerged from their shuttle, she noted how he glanced her way, as if she was something fascinating. It occurred to her then, he might be reacting to her the way he did because he knew her counterpart on the other side. Unlike the Commander and Mary, Julia held no grand illusions about Kirk’s universe. It was supposed to be a Utopia where everyone got along and Terrans weren’t hunted. Perhaps not, but Julia was never one to assume everything was perfect on face value. No doubt, Kirk’s universe probably had its share of problems too. 

They were at present in the torpedo bay where Ezra was recalibrating the quantum torpedoes they had transferred over to the Defiant from the runabout, for use against the Firebrand when they made their rendezvous a few short time. Julia who had met his counterpart, the amoral owner of the Wyle Card Inn at Jericho still found it hard to imagine there was a version of the man who was a highly skilled chief of security.

“So tell me about her,” Julia finally asked as she watched him work, hunched over the torpedo sitting on its conveyor.

Ezra looked up from the open panel of the torpedo, his fingers still holding the tools needed for the recalibration of the torpedo yield intensity. “Who?”

“Come on,” she gave him a look of scepticism. “This other me you so obviously know.”

Ezra could not help but smile at her deduction. This version of Julia was hard and cynical, with qualities more familiar to himself than his Julia. While they looked the same, except this version wore her hair in a severe bun and whose emerald green eyes, stared at you like the cut of the stone, instead of the verdant lushness of grass. 

“I confess I am guilty of knowing your counterpart in my dimension and she is very different. In my world, she is the Chief Engineer of our ship.”

Julia raised a brow at that. It sparked a memory from her childhood where her mother who was an engineer, as much as one could be, in a slave camp. Ellie Pemberton had been a technician responsible for maintaining the machinery in the dilithium mine they were assigned to. She had died when Julia was ten, having come down with fever, and not considered valuable enough to save.

“Engineer? I never thought of going that route. I wonder if I would have been any good at it,” she mused. She supposed she might have inherited some skills from her dead mother. “I was always in combat.”

“In this world, I do not blame you,” Ezra said, feeling a little bit of sadness at knowing she was never allowed to find her passion, having it become extinguished by the world she was born into. “The Julia I know loved to build things, take it apart, learn how it works, or make it better. She lives in the light and knows no other way.”

“You and she are involved?” Julia guessed by the affection he could not conceal despite his somewhat practised poker face.

“Yes,” Ezra replied, hoping it didn’t make it uncomfortable for her. “She made me buy her a cat as a prelude to our eventual cohabitation.” He couldn’t help but flash the woman in front of him a dimpled smile, suspecting she would wrinkle her nose in disgust.

“We used to eat those,” Julia said with a straight face.

Ezra stared at her before he realised she was joking. “It’s nice to know you have a sense of humour. I was worried this universe had removed all your better qualities.”

Julia laughed. “It hasn’t but you have me intrigued, I may have to look up your counterpart again when I get to Jericho Station again, provided we survive the next 12 hours.”

“Commander Pemberton,” Ezra frowned. “You are a ray of sunshine.”

Chris waited inside the runabout Cimarron hating this entire situation.

In this dimension, at this moment, an alternate version of Buck Wilmington, his oldest friend, was about to enter a life and death struggle with an alternate version of Vin Tanner, his best friend. The whole thing felt surreal. In his own reality, the Captain of the Maverick remembered getting drunk at Vin’s bachelor party in the simulated setting of the burlesque parlour Buck programmed for the event. How they were all so wasted, they missed duty and when the girls found them...there was a lot of explaining to do.

Trying to imagine these two men, whom he cared for so greatly, ready to kill each other when in another reality, they were almost brothers, was hard for Chris to comprehend. If anything made him wish to get Adam and leave this place for good, it was this fact more than any other. Chris had no wish to remain in a universe where the seven were nothing to each other and the friendships forged meant even less. As it stood, it was likely one of them could die today and Chris hated having wished for one instead of the other.

“We’re approaching the rendezvous deadline,” Chris heard Buck over his com badge. “Better get ready.”

Chris stared at the open doors of the shuttle bay, through the cockpit window for a few seconds, contemplating what he would do in the enemy’s position, weighing up all the factors in their present situation. He wasn’t on the Maverick but he was a starship captain, accustomed to beating the odds. He had done so by considering all the possibilities and by knowing his enemy.

From everything, he knew about the Commander of the Tal Shiar, the son of a bitch was crafty and that meant he would never enter a situation at a disadvantage. Furthermore, Chris had a pretty good idea that a Vulcan not above mind rape, wouldn’t be above double-crossing the Resistance. After all, his end game had been achieved. Buck Wilmington was in the open and he was in a ship that was utterly no match for a warbird. Why play by the rules when Svinak didn’t need to? Romulans knew how to exploit a situation.

“Commander,” Chris spoke with the same demeanour he used when defending his ship against enemy fleets and rogue queens. “Deploy the torpedo now.”

Buck’s reaction was immediate. “Why?”

“Because,” Chris glanced at Vin who was next to him at the conn, preparing the runabout for launch, understood immediately. “He’s in a warbird and he can cloak. He’ll get here early to see if you have reinforcements, especially hiding in the Belt.”

There was silence for a moment before the Resistance commander responded. “Yeah, that would be just like the bastard too. Just like I’m sure he doesn’t plan on honouring this exchange.”

“That’s why we’ve got our back up plan,” Chris replied promptly. “As soon as we move into position, you get the Defiant to the Belt. We’ll meet you at the coordinates agreed upon.”

“And if you don’t?” Buck asked because this rescue mission was not going to be easy, not in the slightest.

The question hung in the air and Chris swept his gaze across the runabout at the comrades who braved this journey with him to retrieve Adam. He hoped to bring them all home but he couldn’t lie to them about just how dangerous this mission was.

“Then I expect you to send Mary home,” Chris said coolly. “She’s got a son waiting for her. I don’t intend to leave him an orphan.”

“You have my word,” Buck said quietly.

“Thank you,” he said, hoping Mary would understand when the time came.

*****

Mary entered the bridge of the Defiant, aware this wasn’t her ship but she couldn’t sit in the sidelines while Chris and the others embarked upon their plan. She’d agreed to stay behind reluctantly but if she was going to be sequestered away, with no idea of what was happening, she would surely go mad. Besides, she told herself as she stepped onto the bridge, she needed to be present when the Defiant entered the Belt. She was the only person on board who knew what was waiting for them. Mary only hoped, her presence didn’t prove too painful for Buck Wilmington. Seeing her wearing the face of the woman he loved would be disconcerting enough, not to mention painful.

Julia Pemberton was of the same mind when she saw Mary stepping onto the bridge from the turbo lift. The second in command of the Resistance knew exactly how Mary’s presence would affect her commander and wanted to spare him.

“You shouldn't be on the bridge,” Julia declared, being the first to spot Mary. “If Svinak sees you...”

Buck cast a quick glance at the woman, who looked so like his Mary but wasn’t. Yes, it was painful to see her but not because she looked like Mary*, but because she didn’t look like the woman he loved, even if they shared the same features. His Mary was someone who had crawled through the tunnels with him, whose hands were callused from hard work in the camps and later, handling weapons. There were lines on his Mary’s face, scars he’d charted with his fingers during their lovemaking. This woman was devoid of all the experiences they shared together.

“It’s fine,” Buck spoke up, aware that for this Mary, it was difficult to remain behind. It gave him some measure of comfort, knowing she loved Chris Larabee because if they did get Adam back, the boy would have in some small way, both parents. He gave Mary a little smile of assurance before adding, “she can take that station over there and stay out of sight.”

“Thank you,” Mary said gratefully, seeing the empathy in his eyes that was so much of Buck Wilmington’s DNA, whatever universe he occupied. In any case, she intended to remain as unobtrusive as possible, to not exacerbate his discomfort with her presence. She had a part to play in this mission and she needed to focus on that, or else she would descend into panic, worrying about Chris and the others.

Inwardly, she knew why he had requested her to remain behind, despite all his claims about her lending support to the Defiant when they made their run into the Belt. Chris wanted her to get home to Billy if anything went wrong and as annoyed as that made her, Mary couldn’t deny she did not wish her son to be left alone either.

“Captain Larabee believes Svinak is already here,” Julia announced, resigning herself to the woman’s presence on the bridge. If the Commander decided he could handle it, then Julia would take him at his word. For her part, Julia remained at her tactical station, continuing to scan the area, in search of the subspace echo Chief Standish told her to seek out. It would help her to determine if there was a cloaked ship in the area.

Once again, she marvelled at his acumen in comparison to his counterpart in this dimension. Julia only knew of Ezra Standish, owner of the Wyld Card by reputation, and nothing she heard could lead her to believe he could be anything like his counterpart from Kirk’s dimension. Pity. She rather liked the Chief.

“If he is on a warbird, I think Chris is right,” Mary stated to no one.

“I agree,” Buck answered, though Mary noticed he was trying not to make eye contact and took no offence, aware of why he had trouble looking directly at her.

“We last encountered four of them on our side,” Mary explained. “They violated our space and destroyed one of our survey ships. They were shadowing us the minute we answered the call but fortunately, we were able to detect them by searching for subspace echoes.”

“Yes, your Chief Standish advised me of that,” Julia replied and continued scanning.

Mary studied the faces on the bridge and found it odd to see an officer of the conn who wasn’t Vin Tanner. In his place, was a Ferengi, not much older than JD. Hiding her surprise because she knew the dynamics of this universe was different from her own, Mary never imagined the Ferengi fighting for any cause that did not involve money. Then again, even in her own universe, there was a Ferengi serving in Starfleet. The navigator was slightly older, an Asian man who did a double take when he saw her before facing front again. Obviously, he’d met the Mary Travis of this universe.

“Echo detected!” Julia declared suddenly. “It’s emanating dead ahead, 5000 kilometres off our starboard bow. It's repeating every 0.2 seconds.”

“That’s it, he’s here.” Buck shot Mary a look before tapping the communications panel on the side of his chair. “Captain Larabee, we’ve detected the echo.”

“Acknowledged.”

Mary heard Chris’s voice and wanted very much to speak to him but held back. There was no opportunity for them to be making farewells now, not when time was of such an essence. Instead, she made a silent wish for him and her friends’ safety.

“Julia, deploy the Level 6 torpedo,” Buck ordered as soon as he heard Chris Larabee’s response. He had no wish to give the warbird time to attack.

On the view screen in front of them, the origin of the echo was a benign view of empty space. Stars blinked back at them in puzzlement but offered no more revelation than that. A low whine filled the air and Mary looked around her to see the yellow alert warnings flashing across displays, indicating to the Defiant’s crew, they were about to enter a combat situation. Even though she was not a part of this crew, she shared their sentiments when they tensed and prepared for the battle they were on the cusp of waging.

“Torpedo away!”

Even as Julia made the announcement, all eyes were fixed on the viewscreen, watching the amber orb of energy that was the modified quantum torpedo hurtling towards that empty bit of space, that seemed no different than the others.

“Fire another torpedo as soon as she becomes visible,” Mary heard Buck order once more.

No sooner than those words left his lips, the screen showed the detonation of the first torpedo, worked on so carefully by the Maverick’s security chief. It flared brightly across darkened space, but instead of brilliant white light, it traced the outline of a ship against the black. The Romulan warbird, cackled into existence, the greenish hull appearing in and out of view with the blink of an eye. Its exposure was brief, but it was more than enough for the Defiant to act.

“FIRE!”

“Firing torpedoes!” Came Julia’s reply and Mary saw another orb of amber hurtling towards the warbird, even as the ship was crackling with energy. The Protocol officer could only imagine Svinak’s confusion as his ship’s cloaking system started to fail, making the Firebrand visible for all to see.

The second torpedo struck a mere ten seconds after the first and while it had made the ship visible for targeting, the latest one had far more devastating effects. With the cloak engaged, the warbird’s shields were lowered and while the Defiant’s intent was not to destroy the ship since Adam was still on board and they had to retrieve him, the second torpedo had a more insidious purpose when it struck.

Across the primary hull of the decloaked warbird, spidery webs of energy spread across the formidable emerald coloured ship. Mary could see the minor explosions rippling across the tritanium plating, no doubt leaving havoc in its wake. Like the rest of the Defiant’s crew, Mary was realistic. The scimitar class ship was enormous, dwarfing the constitution class starship easily, however, the purpose had never been to destroy the ship, merely to fry its sensor array.

“Direct hit! Julia said elatedly.

“Shields up!” Buck ordered and then just as quickly, issued a further order to the officer of the conn. “Nog, get us out of here!”

Mary’s stomach clenched, knowing when the Defiant headed to the Denorios Belt, the Cimarron would not be making the journey.

*****

“Launch.”

That one-word order from Chris Larabee was all Vin Tanner needed to engage the main engines on the Cimarron and send the runabout blasting off the Defiant’s hangar deck towards the cackling outline of the Firebrand, exposed by the Level 6 torpedo Ezra had doctored. The warbird had materialised over the starboard bow of the Defiant, giving the crew of the Cimarron the opening they needed to proceed towards the unmasked ship.

“Thoron field emitter activated Captain,” Ezra announced dutifully, his hands moving across the console, generating the field that would keep the enemy from detecting them once they arrived at their destination. “As far as the Romulans are concerned, we are nothing but flotsam in space.”

Beneath them, they could feel the heave of the runabout floor as the craft lifted off the launch pad smoothly before proceeding to the outer doors of the hangar bay.

“Vin,” Alex spoke as the walls of the hangar disappeared around them to be replaced by the emptiness of space. “I’ve fed in the coordinates of our landing site to the conn. If you can get her under the left wing, there’s a maintenance hatch we can dock with over the tractor beam emitter.”

“Got it Darlin,” he said not looking at her, focussed on the flying the small craft. Taking the Cimarron to maximum acceleration quickly, they needed to cross the distance between the Defiant and the Firebrand as quickly as possible. At present, the warbird was still reeling from the effect of the Level 6 torpedo and with the launch of a second torpedo, it wouldn’t be long before the Firebrand raised its shields. The Cimarron needed to be in position before that happened.

“Jesus,” Chris whispered under his breath at the sight of the torpedo detonating against the hull of the Firebrand.

The sheer size of the craft and its tritanium plating prevented the ship from being obliterated, which would have been the case if the Firebrand was a normal D'deridex-class warbird, with its shields lowered. Of course, they never intended on destroying the ship. Chris had instructed the Commander of the Defiant to target his torpedo at the bow of the Firebrand because it was where most Romulan warbirds kept their sensor array. As he watched the hull go up in the concentrated explosion, plasma fire and clouds of white smoke flared against the darkened sky, given life briefly before the vacuum of space snuffed them out quickly.

Chris smiled faintly, knowing what effect this would have on the Firebrand. She was now blind.

Meanwhile, Vin ignored the destruction, his concentration fixed on narrowing the gap between the Cimarron and the wounded warbird. In comparison to the enormous, dreadnought sized warship, the runabout felt like an inconsequential piece of space debris which served to aid their covert approach to the ship. There was enough junk drifting about the Firebrand for the Cimarron to use to its advantage.

“Captain,” Ezra announced from his station. “She is raising shields and preparing to power up her disruptor banks. I dare say the Defiant may be about to suffer some consequences for that volley.”

“We expected that,” Chris said unsurprised by the report.

Even as he studied the ship through the cockpit window, he could see the Defiant’s engines firing in readiness to leave the area. There was never any intention for the Constitution class starship to remain and fight. In such a battle, the Resistance ship would be at a decided disadvantage and the movement could not afford to lose a starship, even one as dated as the Defiant. Besides, the Defiant had achieved what they intended to do with the torpedo attack, now it was up to the crew of the Cimarron to complete the rest of the plan.

“Here we go.”

Vin finally reached the warbird, approaching it from port. Slipping through the ship’s defences before the shields could be raised, the small craft slowed down and sailed into the space between the two sections making up the warbird’s port wing. With sensors disabled on the larger ship, proximity detectors would be oblivious to the intrusion by the smaller ship.

“Vin, you better engage clamps soon. The Defiant’s about to leave.”

Without glancing at his operations console, Chris could tell the starship was preparing to hit full impulse, from just looking at her through the cockpit window. As planned, once the torpedo payload was delivered, the Defiant had been instructed to head for the Denorios Belt to escape the Firebrand. Once that happened, the warbird would be in motion.

“Way ahead of you Pard,” Vin replied without looking up at Chris. He could feel the subtle vibrations that moved soundlessly through space, resonating through the hull of the smaller ship. The Vulcan had enough experience to know when a ship was about to accelerate. Performing a sharp spin in mid-air, Vin directed the Cimarron to descend unto the inside hull of the warbird’s lower left wing. A dull thud echoed through the runabout as it touched down, above the location Alex had fed into the conn, prior to their departure from the Defiant.

“Magnetic clamps activated.” He announced, once again evidenced by a sudden shudder against the underside of the craft. No sooner than the clamps were locked, the warbird surged forward in a burst of acceleration, causing the runabout to lurch forward with the movement.

Chris activated the inertial dampeners, putting an end to the teeth chattering rattle the ship was experiencing as it hitched a ride on the warbird.

“The thoron field is stable,” Ezra reported. “They have no idea we are here.”

“Good,” Chris said with approval. “I doubt that’s going to last for very long, but let’s maintain our cover for as long as we can.”

Alex was already by the access hatch on the floor of the runabout, next to the transporter pad. Getting to her knees, she activated the panel and the doors slid open, revealing the maintenance hatch she had directed Vin to dock with. Scanning the hatch with her tricorder, she took note of the readings before turning to Chris.

“I’m not detecting any Romulan life signs below us,” Alex informed dutifully. “We’re good to go.”

“Alright,” Chris rose to his feet from the ops station as Ezra started handing out phase rifles. “Let’s go get Adam.”

*****

“Follow them!” Svinak fairly roared at the officer at the helm of the Firebrand.

Around him, the bridge was still recovering from the power surge caused by the torpedo attack. A thin layer of smoke was drifting through the air, exuding from the ruined remains of a console that exploded when the cloaking field had been penetrated so ingeniously. At the foot of the ruined station, was the officer who bore the brunt of the blast when it exploded, sending glass and energy through his body. Next to his dead form, another crewman was attempting to extinguish the small fire still burning through the jagged hole of the ruined console. The rest of the Firebrand’s bridge crew were hunched over their stations, trying frantically to restore sensors.

“Yes Commander,” the helm officer answered nervously as they watched the Defiant accelerating towards the Belt, widening the gap between the ships. No sooner than he responded, the Firebrand surged forward in pursuit, determined to regain the lost ground created by the torpedo attack.

“Wilmington must have known we were going to take his ship,” Centurion Averal said standing next to Svinak’s command chair.

“That was always a possibility,” Svinak growled, unprepared to underestimate Wilmington on that point. “What I want to know is how they detected us? That first torpedo was meant to decloak us, nothing more. Furthermore, how were they able to detect our location in the first place to be able to launch it?”

“I cannot say,” Averal answered, similarly bewildered by all this. While they were aware the Terrans could cloak their smaller ships, to date the Terrans had exhibited no ability to detect a cloaked ship. “As far as we know, they have no technological expertise to do this.”

“No matter,” Svinak said tempering his emotions. Unlike Romulans who were accustomed through centuries of genetics to be comfortable with their hotter emotions. Vulcans, on the other hand, used logic to control it. A Vulcan who did not have Surak’s teachings would feel fury that would make most Romulans run for cover. “We can still outrun and outgun them. We’re taking that ship. Entering the Denorios Belt is not going to change that.”

“Commander,” the Centurion cleared his throat. “That is a highly charged plasma field. They’ve already disabled our sensors, we will not be able to detect them in there.”

Svinak bristled in annoyance and turned to Averal with a hard stare. “I am assuming our shields have not miraculously been disabled? We still have them?”

The Centurion nodded, detecting the menace in the man’s voice and told himself to tread carefully. “Yes, we do. The damage they inflicted was directed at our sensors.”

“Most likely so we cannot detect them when they enter the Belt,” Svinak concluded. “No doubt they intend to engage us in there, to even the odds.”

“Do they think they can retrieve the boy that way?” The Centurion, unable to believe the Terrans possessed the audacity to think even under such circumstances, they would be able to take the Firebrand. At the very most, the battle would be a stalemate.

“Possibly,” Svinak replied but now that the Centurion had asked the question, something was nagging at him, though the Commander of the Tal Shiar couldn’t imagine what that might be.

“Commander, we’re entering the Belt now,” the Firebrand’s navigator announced.

“Follow them in, then I want you to unleash a continuous barrage of disruptor fire.”

“Commander,” the Centurion stared at him in shock. “That’s extremely dangerous, we could ignite the plasma particles.”

“We will, but our shields will protect us will it not?” Svinak glared at the Centurion for daring to question him as if he hadn’t already given this due consideration.

“Yes, it will,” the Centurion answered, realising what the Commander intended. “We should survive it.”

“We will but I guarantee you, that constitution class relic will not.”

Even by Federation standards, Mary had to admit the scimitar class warbird in the view screen before the bridge of the Defiant, was impressive. She was almost a dreadnought, Mary thought.  She supposed the Commander of the Tal Shiar deserved no less. Like the rest of the Maverick’s crew in this dimension, she still had difficulty believing a difference of upbringing could create such contrast between Vin Tanner and Svinak.

“The Firebrand is in pursuit!” Julia announced to no one’s surprise, from tactical.

“Hell, we knew that was coming,” Buck displayed the same calm, Mary noticed in Chris’s face when he was facing enemies when he was taking the centre seat on the Maverick.  “Nog, stay ahead of them!”

“Yes Commander,” Nog replied. “I’m increasing power to the engines.”

“Can we outrun them?” Mary asked, unaware of what speed these old constitution class ships were capable of achieving.  She couldn’t imagine it could outrun the Romulan ship behind them.

“No,” Buck said simply, maintaining eye contact with the view screen, as the Defiant approached the purple cloud of plasma energy that was the Denorios Belt. “But it doesn’t matter, speed’s not going to do them much good when we go in there.”

No sooner than he made the statement, the ship was enveloped by the gaseous clouds of purple, making up the charged plasma field of the Belt. Their scanner would now be of little use to them as the plasma field played havoc with their sensor array.   Fortunately, they were moving through this phenomenon using instrumentation only, relying on coordinates provided to them by the visitors from Kirk’s universe. Klaxons were screaming in protest and Mary saw tendrils of energy flaring across the wide expanse, like lightning bolts.

“Adjusting our shield polarity to compensate for the external environment,” one of the officers, whose name Mary believed was Wo Chin, declared from the navigation station next to the helm.  He was a young man in his twenties with a strong chin and intelligent dark eyes.

“The Firebrand is charging weapons!” Julia exclaimed. “Commander, she’s going to fire disruptors in here!”

“Son of a bitch!” Buck cursed, aware of what that could do to his ship.  If Svinak couldn’t catch him alive, the Commander of the Tal Shiar was perfectly content with obliterating him and his ship.  “Nog, increase speed, get us to Captain Larabee’s coordinates right now. Bearing 23 at Mark 217.”

“Already on it Sir!” the Ferengi pilot replied quickly, his fingers tapping the display on his console to comply with the order, with near lightning speed that might have impressed Vin Tanner, Mary thought.

“You’ll need to modify your flight program to compensate for spatial discontinuities,” Mary advised. She had been trying to remain quiet not to distract the Commander, but now they were enacting their plan, she had no choice but to make herself heard. “It will help make the ride smoother.”

Buck glanced at her and said with a little smile. “Julia, you heard the lady.”

Mary smiled back at him, wishing her presence here didn’t hurt him so much because he deserved time to mourn, not be faced with such emotional conflict at a time like this.  She had no doubt like the Buck Wilmington she knew, this one had the heart of a red giant. The loyalty he commanded in his people was proof of that.

“Making those adjustments now!”  Julia hollered back as the first explosions from the ignited plasma particles began to ripple through the hull from behind. They were still ahead of the blast area but not by much and the Defiant shook with each fresh explosion.  Mary was reminded of the Maverick’s battle with the Vrihan. Even if space was a vacuum, she could feel the ship’s shuddering through her bones.

“We’re approaching those coordinates, range 3100 kilometres and closing!”  Wo Chin announced.

“How are our shields?” Buck asked Julia, concerned what effect the barrage the Firebrand was unleashing on the plasma field was doing to his ship. He was not blind to how unmatched they were, but then again, after spending most of his adult life fighting an enemy with superior forces, he was accustomed to being the underdog.

“It’s holding because we’re staying ahead of them,” Julia replied. “But it’s taking all our power to maintain shield integrity.

“Commander,” Wo Chin declared, looking over his shoulder with some measure of confusion. “I’m, reading unusually high proton counts and a 400% increase in external wave intensities.”

For the first time, Buck looked to Mary. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes,” Mary replied, trying to be heard over the groans the ship was making amidst the Firebrand’s bombardment. “The Bajorans call it the Celestial Temple. Head straight for it.”

On the viewscreen, the clouds began to dissipate and though there was still enough of it to play havoc with their sensors, the Defiant was still able to avoid bursts of plasma being ignited by the Firebrand. Suddenly, without warning, an explosion of white light appeared before them, like the birth of a newborn star.  Everyone was transfixed as space itself began to dissolve in a vortex of colour. It swirled in front of them, revealing the currents of neutrinos and quantum energy. It was almost beautiful.

“Oh my God,” Mary heard Julia exclaim.

“It’s a wormhole,” Wo Chin said to no one in particular, awe exuding from his voice.

“Take us through,” Buck said with a little smile, glad to see Captain Larabee’s gamble had paid off.

“Yes, Sir!” Nog replied throwing a look at Buck and revealing the grin on his face.

Mary could not help but smile hearing the eagerness in the Ferengi’s voice to fly into the unknown in front of them. Despite all the years of warfare these people had been forced to endure since the fall of the Terran Empire, it was nice to know the spirit of exploration existed in them.

Entering the maw of the wormhole, the Defiant was quickly surrounded by the same dazzling display of colour and brilliance they had when the phenomenon appeared in front of them. Thanks to the adjustments made to compensate for spatial discontinuity, their journey through the wormhole was nowhere as turbulent as it had been when Benjamin Sisko first discovered its existence years before.

Behind them, although no one on the Defiant saw this, the vortex closed as suddenly as it appeared, leaving only empty space where a starship had been.

 *****

“Where are they?” Svinak demanded as he stared at the viewscreen before him, switching perspectives in quick succession to give him an alternate view of the space surrounding them, in search of a quarry that had mysteriously vanished. A moment ago, they could see vaguely the Defiant through the gaseous plasma cloud in the Belt. Now there was nothing except the swirling cloud of obscuring plasma, revealing no sign of the Defiant.

“They’re gone,” the Centurion looked up from his station, baffled. “One minute they were there and then they were gone! Unfortunately, even if our sensors weren’t disabled we are unable to scan for them. Perhaps firing disruptors destroyed them as you had intended,” he said to the Vulcan, hoping that would appease the Commander. 

“Even if they were destroyed, there would be significant debris. That’s a starship, not a shuttle!” Svinak barked.

His instincts on this whole situation told him something wasn’t right. The nagging feeling that crept up his spine had taken firm grip now and he knew at the core of him, he was missing something.  Having hunted his prey for some time now, nothing about Wilmington’s actions in this entire situation felt right. The man knew what was at stake if the conditions of the exchange were not met. Adam Larabee’s life would be forfeit.

Yet, not only had Wilmington ignored the exchange, he had the audacity to attack the Firebrand in a ship so old, it had no chance of victory.  If sacrificing the boy was his intention, then why bother showing to this meeting at all? 

Svinak eased back into his command chair and focussed his concentration on every aspect of their engagement with the starship since the first torpedo was struck.  The first torpedo had decloaked them, the second had disabled their sensors. There was no doubt the torpedo strike on their sensor array had been deliberate. Why the sensors? There were far more logical targets if they wished to cripple the ship. In fact, with quantum torpedoes deployed, the Defiant had been in the position to do considerable damage to the Firebrand.

Svinak didn’t think Wilmington would squander the opportunity.  Disabling the sensors seemed like such a redundant gesture when the Denorios Belt would render them blind anyway. Unless... Svinak’s mind started to journey down an extremely unpalatable possibility.

Was there something else the Defiant didn’t want them to see?

It hit Svinak with a burst of clarity. The Vulcan jumped out of his chair. “Centurion! Sound intruder alert and have a security team meet me in the brig! They’re attempting to rescue the boy!”

*****

Beyond the walls of the hull, they could hear the low rumble of disruptors firing.  It shuddered through the wall in bursts of explosive sound, causing minor tremors to pass through the tritanium hull into the rest of the ship. Descending through the mouth of the maintenance hatch, the crew of the Cimarron, climbed down the short set of rungs of the ladder descending in the engineering deck of the Firebrand. 

“They are firing disruptors,” Ezra observed, commenting on the weapons discharge they could hear through the hull of the ship. “Surely they do not think they are able to target the Defiant without sensors?”

“They’re not trying to target the Defiant,” Chris answered automatically, “they’re trying to ignite the plasma particles to overload her shields. Svinak knows the warbird’s shields can take the blast, a constitution class ship will not.”

Trying not to think about Mary, Chris was certain Commander Wilmington was astute enough to get the Defiant to the rendezvous point before that happened.  Instead, he concentrated on what they had to do next.

“Vin, you take point.” He ordered as they paused for a moment in the middle of the empty corridor, along with the section of engineering containing the tractor beam emitter.  “If they see you first, it might confuse them enough to give us a few seconds.”

“Right,” Vin nodded in understanding. Wearing the face of the Tal Shiar commander, even if he looked like he’d gone Terran was worth a few seconds of distraction.

“I shall take up our rear Captain,” Ezra volunteered, his sea-green eyes scanning the area with usual hawkish observation. 

Alex was scanning them all with her tricorder, her expression while tense, did not display undue concern and she appeared satisfied by what she was seeing on the display. “The adjustments I’ve made to our com badges seem to be working Captain,” she said looking up at Chris. “We’re all currently displaying Romulan life signs.”

“Good,” Chris nodded, pleased by her suggestion to make the modification at the onset of the mission. In the event they were discovered, it would make it difficult for the enemy to detect their life signs if they were reading Romulan, like everyone else on board. “Can you locate Adam?”

“Yes,” Alex nodded, already scanning for it because she anticipated the Captain’s next question.  “He’s twenty decks up in the brig.”

Chris’s jaw tightened at that, thinking of Adam...no his son, who was he kidding?  Chris had stopped thinking of him as anything else the minute he laid eyes on the boy and saw Sarah reflected in his face.  It didn’t matter he wasn’t the Adam he buried, the boy was his flesh and blood nonetheless and nothing anyone would say would ever convince him of that.

As the tractor emitter was not a key area of the ship, it was not a high trafficked area. They could make it to the turbo lift without encountering anyone. Of course, it helped, Alex was monitoring the tricorder every step of the way, to ensure they had plenty of time to hide before anyone discovered them. The instant they reached the brig however, that would change.  Flanking each side of the lift doors, as they waited for it to open, it did so a few seconds later, without depositing anyone onto the deck.

“So far so good,” Vin, ever the optimist, stepped inside first and waited for the others to join them.

The ride up twenty decks, took the same amount of time as it would on a galaxy class ship. When the doors slid open, Vin and Ezra stepped in front of the open doorway and were confronted with at least three Romulan crewmen along the corridor. Without offering them any warning, the two Starfleet officers opened fire. One of the Romulans tried to reach a nearby communications panel, but Vin dropped him before he could even set his hands on them.

“It is fortunate we disabled their sensors,” Ezra remarked as Vin waited for Chris to join him, with Ezra retreating to the rear of the group behind Alex once again.

“No kidding,” Alex agreed. “The alert would be screaming by now after that display.” 

Chris had wanted the sensors disabled prior to their arrival on board the Firebrand, not only because it would keep the ship from tracking the Defiant, but also because it would disrupt internal warning systems, such as the one they would have triggered by discharging their phasers on board.

“Should we attempt to hide the bodies?” Alex inquired as they hurried up the corridor.

“No time,” Chris dismissed the idea. “We could run into more people that way.”

“The Captain is correct,” Ezra replied, his eyes scanning the area behind him to ensure they were not caught off guard from behind.

Reaching a corner, Vin gestured at them to hold position as he peered around it to see what was there. There were two guards positioned at the entrance to the brig, the normal procedure when guarding a prisoner of importance in the brig. No doubt, there would be more of them inside the room.

“How many Alex?” Chris whispered.

“I’m reading two Romulan signatures and one...” she met her captain’s eyes. “One human.”

“Cover me,” Vin said stepping out into the corridor.

Immediately, the two Romulan officers standing at the entrance to the brig turned in his direction. Armed with disruptors, they were about to go for their weapons until realising the face in front of them, belonged to the master of the Firebrand. As the confusion crossed their faces, their reach for their weapons paused for but a second, but it was enough.  Chris and Ezra took advantage of the pause and fired, sending amber streaks of energy that flew past Vin and struck both officers in quick succession. They collapsed without uttering a sound, their puzzlement at Vin’s presence still on their faces as they slipped into unconsciousness.

“That pretty face of yours,” Alex said as she emerged down the corridor to join Vin. “Gets you out of trouble all the time.”

“You know it Darlin’,” he winked at her as Chris and Ezra joined them at the door.

“Alright,” Chris said quickly. “Ezra, you and I will go in. Alex, you and Vin stay out here. This is the brig so there won’t be many alternate entries out of this deck.  Once they discover the bodies in the hallway, the entire ship is going to come down on us.”

“We got your back pard,” Vin nodded.

Chris and Ezra readied their weapons as Chris signalled Alex to activate the door panel. The door slid open and the two men stepped inside the brig. One Romulan appeared to be at a monitoring station while another was at the door to the cell.  They jumped to their feet at the sight of the two humans, with the Romulan at the station reaching towards the console, no doubt to alert the bridge. Ezra pulled the trigger on his phaser before he managed to give them away.

The second slammed into the wall he was standing against when Chris fired at him. This Romulan managed to draw his weapon but Chris had to credit his time on the holodeck playing the Man in Black for giving him the edge. Simulated gunfights had allowed him to become a fast draw.  No sooner, than he had collapsed, Chris hurried to the door he had been guarding and activated the panel along the wall next to it.

Entering the room without hesitation or before Ezra could warn him to take caution, Chris stepped into the small cell and saw Adam sitting up on his bunk, alert and aware something was happening outside his cell.

For a second, Adam could only stare at the man, unable to believe he was here. A short time ago, he was contemplating a future where his only goal would be to murder Svinak. With mom gone and no way to get back to the dimension Svinak stole him from, what else was there left for him? He had been lamenting the cruelty of finally meeting the man who was a version of the father he never knew, who didn’t care about that little technicality, only seeing Adam as flesh and blood.

While it was nowhere as painful as losing his mother, it left Adam wounded nonetheless.

Except the Captain of the Maverick was here. He had crossed the dimensional barriers to come for Adam like a father would do for a son. The emotion that filled the boy was so intense, it was a salve to the ragged wound left by his mother’s death. When Chris Larabee promised to be there for Adam, it hadn’t been just words. He had meant it and now he was here, on board the Firebrand

“You came,” Adam said in quiet awe.  “You came for me.”

Chris smiled faintly and didn’t give a damn if logic said otherwise, he answered from the heart. “You’re my son. Of course, I was going to come after you.”

And it was true. Adam was his son, perhaps not the same one he buried and would always be a part of him, as Sarah was, but nevertheless still his flesh and blood.  When he realised the teenager had been stolen away, the fury that filled him was not the rage of a Captain having one of his own abducted off his ship, it was the fire of a father losing his child.

Adam’s eyes misted over and he nodded, accepting it and accepting him.

“Captain,” Ezra prompted, not wanting to interrupt the moment but the truth was, they had no time to spare. They needed to get off this deck immediately before their presence was discovered if it was not already.

“Right,” Chris nodded, needing no further reminders. “Adam, come on. We’ve got to go.”

“Yes Sir,” Adam answered and followed Chris out as they emerged from the cell to the monitoring station where the two Romulans remained unconscious to the world. Adam’s own training kicked in as he dropped to his knees next to one of his warders and immediately retrieved a disruptor.

“Chris!” Vin’s voice called from outside the brig! “Hurry, we’re going to have company!”

Chris exchanged a look with Adam and Ezra before they emerged to see Vin firing at a Romulan approaching around the corridor, with Alex covering him. Klaxons had started screaming throughout the ship, indicating intruder alert.

“I guess, they know we’re here,” Alex grumbled.   “Now the fun really starts.”

*****

Mary had never been through the wormhole herself, although she had seen it from the observation ring of Deep Space Nine. She could not help but feel the same awe as the rest of the Defiant’s bridge crew as the ship moved through the eddies of neutrinos, ionized hydrogen, waves of theta-band radiation, held together by fragile quantum level fluctuations.   

The whole trip took less than a minute and just as suddenly, the sky opened once more and this time, they were returned to the comforting safety of space, its canvas of stars twinkling in welcome to the new arrivals.

Turning to Buck, Mary said with a smile. “Welcome to the Gamma Quadrant.”

“Commander!” Julia exclaimed. “I am detecting a ship on an intercept course.”

Buck stared at Mary. “We invite anyone else to this party?”

Mary tensed, perfectly aware of who could be on the ship approaching them.  “Not that I am aware of, but I hoped we weren’t going to be here long enough for the Dominion to detect us.”

“The Dominion?” Buck stared at her with concern. “I take it they are people we don’t want to meet?”

“Commander,” Julia looked at him. “They’re hailing us.”

“Well, they’re not shooting at us,” Buck sighed. “I suppose that’s a good sign.”

When the ship came into view, Mary’s stomach hollowed because what she was looking at was a Jem’Hadar battleship. The size of it was comparable to that of the Firebrand and Mary wondered if they didn't just deliver the Defiant from one enemy, to face another as equally dangerous.

“This is Commander Buck Wilmington of the Terran Alliance,” Buck said responding to the hail. After all, the Defiant was the trespasser. “We’ve just come through a wormhole from the Alpha Quadrant.”

“They’re responding,” Julia informed dutifully.

Suddenly the viewscreen showed the bridge of the Jem Hadar battleship, except seated in the command chair was no Jem Hadar or Vorta. It was a Founder.  Mary rose to her feet in astonishment, recognising the changeling occupying the command seat.

“Odo?”

The changeling stared at her in surprise. “Yes, I am Commander Odo of the Commonwealth of Free Planets, welcome to the Gamma Quadrant.”

The instant the klaxons sounded, both Vin and Alex knew they were about to have company.  Taking up position at the corner leading to the corridor that would end with the turbo lift, Vin raised his phase rifle in readiness to shoot while Chris retrieved Adam.  A little further along the opposite wall, Alex was similarly positioned, her own rifle poised and ready to fire. Although both were bridge officers, both had spent enough time in the holodeck fighting side by side in imaginary battles to be prepared for a real-life situation.

The instant the turbo lift doors opened, a trio of Romulan legionnaires emerged. Vin and Alex opened fire immediately, not wasting time with warning shots. Vin took out the first, while Alex dispatched the second. The third managed to pull out his disruptor long enough to squeeze off a shot that impacted on the wall in front of Alex, who retreated to avoid being hit. The disruptor blast left a dark, charred blemish against the metal finish.

As always, Vin reacted strongly to anyone taking shots at his mate and fired his rifle at the remaining Romulan, hitting the enemy square in the chest. With their weapons set to kill, the Romulan flew backwards and slammed into the wall before landing face first on the floor.  With the turbo lift clear, Vin looked over his shoulder to see Chris, Ezra, and Adam, who appeared unhurt, emerging from the brig and hurrying towards them.

“Coast is clear for now,” VIN told Chris, even though the klaxons indicated it would change soon enough.

“Not for long,” Chris replied. “Ezra, it’s time. Take Adam with you.”

“Captain,” Ezra stared at him, unhappy to be ordered to leave without his Captain. “I strongly disagree with this course of action.”   It should be the captain who was going first, not him.

“What?” Adam asked, looking at Chris. “I’m not going without you.”  The boy stared at Chris in outright disdain at that idea.

“Ezra, if anything goes wrong, you need to figure out how to get us out of here, so get to it!” Chris barked as they emerged from the corridor and headed towards the turbo lift. 

Ezra frowned, not liking the idea at all but perfectly aware the Captain was correct. Besides, their primary goal was the safe delivery of Adam from this prison and until he was off the Firebrand, that task remained unfulfilled.

“Rest assured young man,” Ezra said still staring at Chris, as he wrapped a hand around the boy’s forearm. “We are going nowhere without the Captain.”

With that, he tapped his combadge. “Computer, activate site to site transport on my com signal.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Chris assured Adam, who was about to demand what was going on when suddenly, the hum of a transporter beam was heard and the boy’s eyes widened in understanding.  There was no chance for Adam to protest because he was soon engulfed by the golden shimmer of a transporter beam that would take him and Ezra straight to the runabout. Once inside the runabout, Ezra could transport them safely off the Firebrand. After Ezra and Adam were gone, Chris turned back to Vin and Alex.

“Alright, let’s get the hell out of here,” he said as they resumed their journey down the corridor towards the turbo lift.

They were halfway there when a door slid open and a Romulan appeared in the corridor, obviously having lain in wait until the time was right to strike. The Romulan barrelled into Alex who was closest, using enough strength to slam her into the opposite wall, forcing the rifle to drop from her hands. She uttered a soft cry as she was pinned and was about to strike when Vin reached for the enemy and yanked him back with one hand and spun him around. Wasting no time, Vin dropped both hands on the Romulan’s neck and twisted sharply. A sickly squelch of bone was heard before Vin dropped him to the floor without a word. His neck was twisted at an odd angle.

“Stop playing with your food and let’s go,” Chris ordered, having been accustomed to seeing Vin display such brute force on numerous occasions before this.  The Captain of the Maverick activated the turbo lift and took up flanking position in case anyone emerged from it.

“Are you alright?” Vin asked Alex, as she picked up her rifle.

“Yeah,” she winced, unhappy at being caught by surprise. “I’m okay,” she gave him a reassuring smile before she joined him as they hurried to the Captain.

The turbo lift doors slid open but instead of being empty, it was filled with at least five Romulan legionnaires. Leading them was Svinak.

For a second, Chris did not react, struck with the shock at finding himself face to face with the Commander of the Tal Shiar.  He had thought seeing this dimension’s version of Buck Wilmington was jarring but it was nothing in comparison to laying his eyes on Svinak. For the first time, Chris could well understand why Adam had reacted so strongly to Vin. If not for the hair, which for some odd reason was dyed black, most likely to appear more Romulan, they were identical, down to the cobalt coloured eyes.

The pause was just long enough for Svinak to stop him from firing his weapon. The Commander of the Tal Shiar barrelled into him, sending them both sprawling backwards as Alex and Vin opened fire on the enemy emerging from the turbo lift. While three of them had the benefit of cover inside the lift, the first two died as soon as Svinak attacked Chris, giving the two Starfleet officers an unobstructed line of fire.

Meanwhile, Svinak had shoved Chris into a wall, one hand keeping him pinned while the other snatched the phase rifle out of his hand and tossed it away. Like all Vulcans, Svinak was using his Vulcan strength to his advantage. However, Chris was not about to let him draw his own disruptor and brought the elbow down on the man’s face, making sure the joint connected with Svinak’s nose, causing the Vulcan to reel. Green blood spurted from a broken nose and Svinak loosened his grip on Chris.

“Chris!” Vin saw his best friend going hand to hand with his counterpart and knew Chris couldn’t last long against the Vulcan, whose strength far exceeded a human’s and Svinak had more than just that in his arsenal.

“GO!” Alex shouted at him. “I’ll take care of this!” She ordered and faced the turbo lift again. The Romulans were pinned in by the barrage she and Vin were laying down to keep them from emerging, but they could not maintain this for long.  As VIN tried to weave through the barrage of disruptor fire being aimed at him, Alex laid down continuous fire to provide him with sufficient cover to reach Chris.

Chris took a step forward, intending to deliver another punch after breaking Svinak’s nose, hoping it would be enough to bring the Vulcan down. Being four times stronger than a human, Chris knew what advantage he had would be brief. Sure as hell, Chris knew, that in a fight with Vin, the Officer of the Conn, wouldn’t even break a sweat. Throwing a punch, his fist never connected with Svinak’s jaw because the Vulcan recovered quickly. 

Catching Chris’s fist with one hand, Svinak clenched his own and Chris felt the pain of bone starting to snap.  Chris tried to throw another punch with his free hand, but Svinak caught it too and shoved Chris against the wall hard.

“Captain Larabee I presume,” Svinak said with a sneer. “You are a long way from home.”

“Well so were you when you came on board my ship,” Chris grunted, ignoring the pain as Svinak closed in on him.

“You had something that belonged to me,” Svinak said coldly. “I merely came to retrieve it.”

“That something was my son!” Chris hissed, his fury bubbling at the way Svinak described Adam as if he hadn’t just destroyed the boy’s world by taking his mother from him. Before Svinak could reach him, however, he was yanked back by the collar and dragged forcibly away.  The Commander of the Tal Shiar barely had time to react when he was head-butted so hard, he went sprawling along the corridor.

“Its okay Pard,” Vin glanced at Chris before turning to Svinak. “I’ve got this.”

Considering what Svinak did to Alex, Chris had no doubt of that, however, they didn’t have much time before those reinforcements arrived. He didn’t want Vin’s desire for his pound of flesh, to get in the way of them getting off the Firebrand alive. “Don’t waste too much time with him Vin, we need to get off this ship.”

Vin’s eyes were dark when he answered, “This won’t take long.”

*****

We’ve got to get them out of there!” Adam nearly shouted when he materialised on the transporter pad inside the Cimarron, ignoring the fact they were suddenly on another ship, only that the Captain... his father, was still on the Firebrand.

“Calm yourself,” Ezra said patiently, maintaining as always, his poker face, even though the situation was critical. “I have every intention of retrieving the Captain, Commander Styles, and Lieutenant Tanner.  Now sit down somewhere, I’ve got work to do.”

Hurrying to the transporter controls, Ezra was about to lock on to the Captain’s com badge signal when Alex’s science station emitted a shrill sound of alert.  The Security Chief stiffened immediately with Adam’s eyes following the sound to the station where it originated. Ezra turned to see Adam quickly sliding into Alex’s seat and began scanning the console.

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure,” Adam studied the screen, his brow furrowing. “It seems that they’re getting ready to perform a baryon sweep.”

Without saying another word, Ezra left the transporter controls and immediately slipped into Vin Tanner’s seat at helm control.

“What are you doing?” Adam demanded, watching Ezra’s hands flying over the controls in an all too familiar fashion. “Are you taking off? You said you weren’t going to leave them!” The boy exclaimed horrified.

“Adam,” Ezra said not looking up from the controls as he disengaged the magnetic clamps. “The warbird’s sensors are damaged but the Romulans are astute enough to be aware we could have only arrived on board their ship by two means. One, by having a ship in close proximity to them, which requires a transport through that plasma field outside, which is rather perilous. Or secondly, by a vessel docked covertly against their hull.”

The magnetic clamps detached with a dull thud and Ezra immediately fired the thrusters, lifting the runabout off the hull of the Firebrand. “They are conducting a baryon sweep so it will destabilise any warp particles along their hull. If our runabout remains in this position, our anti-matter core will destabilise and we will be unable to take off. I must get the runabout in the air before the hull is swept.”

Adam let out a sigh, once again reminding himself this was not the Ezra Standish he knew. This man was the Chief of Security for the Maverick who was probably just as dedicated as the Josiah Sanchez* he knew.  “I’m sorry.” He apologised. “What do we do?”

“Fortunately, the Firebrand seems to be holding position,” Ezra replied, “no doubt because they have no idea where the Defiant has gone. So I am going to circle around and allow the sweep to be conducted before taking up our former position.”

“Can my dad afford to wait? Adam asked, the word slipped past his lips without his meaning to do so and he felt somewhat embarrassed referring to Captain Larabee that way, even though every fibre of his being felt it to be right.  After the man had come for him, Adam couldn’t think of any other way.

Ezra smiled, wondering if Adam knew just how much hearing it would have meant to Chris Larabee.  

“Not indefinitely,” Ezra said as he piloted the runabout away from the Firebrand. “But rest assured, we will not leave him or the rest of our party to languish for long.”

*****

Meanwhile, Alex was maintaining her barrage against the Romulans in the lift, aware they were probably calling for reinforcements to attack them from a different direction on the deck. Unable to look at her tricorder to see where such an attack might originate, she was mindful of being blindsided. When she saw the Captain take up position in the space Vin formerly occupied, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Captain, we need to get off this deck before they send reinforcements. I need to check the tricorder!”  Until Ezra was able to transport them off the ship, they still had to stay ahead of the enemy.

Understanding what she needed of him, Chris aimed his phase rifle at the lift and started firing, allowing Alex to lower her own weapon to conduct a quick scan. 

As anticipated, Alex detected the approach of at least a half dozen Romulan life signs closing in from a service stairway on the other side of the deck.  “Captain, we’re going to have company soon!” She shouted at Chris. “We have to get off this deck.”

Chris thought quickly.  After a second, he adjusted his aim away from the enemy and focused instead on the door panel and fired. The controls of the turbo lift were obliterated with one well-aimed shot and before the rain of sparks even landed on the deck, the doors slid to a close, trapping the Romulans inside.

“Find us another way out of here Alex!” Chris ordered, now they had a moment to breathe and he could go see where Vin was.

After hearing about Svinak from Adam and the rest of the people in this dimension, not to mention after what he had done to Alex, Vin wasn’t sure how he’d react seeing Svinak face to face.

*****

Here was a picture of himself, if he had been raised Vulcan. Technically, Svinak was raised Romulan, but the differences were slight in his opinion. Both races subscribed to an alien way of thinking he couldn’t possibly imagine. If he had been found by anyone other than the Tanners, could he have become something like this creature in front of him? Callous and cold without any empathy? A murderer with no moral compass, with a ruthlessness to achieve his own ends, no matter what the cost?

After this, Vin would never again regret being disconnected from his people because this, this monster is what he could have become.

Still disorientated from the headbutt, Svinak wasn’t able to keep Vin from throwing a one-two punch across his jaw before he realised who he was fighting.  When he did, his reaction was swift, and he lashed out, blocking the third punch before it connected and threw a forward kick that sent Vin back a few steps. When he swung again, Vin ducked and rolled across the floor, getting to his feet behind Svinak and throwing a sidekick that slammed his counterpart into the wall.

“That’s for my wife,” Vin hissed, remembering what state Alex had been in, nearly destroyed by being trapped in that terrible place in her mind. This bastard had made her relive that nightmare and for that, Vin was going to make him bleed.

“You’re weak!” Svinak spat green blood on the floor, wiping his lips. “Copulating with that... that...Terran. Defiled and sullied as she is.”

Vin saw red and for a few seconds, they went at each other, blow for blow, with Svinak being at a disadvantage because he wasn’t fighting someone who was adhering to any known discipline. Instead, he was facing an opponent who not only embraced his rage and anger but also channelled it into combat, fighting opponents ranging from Klingon warriors to alien xenomorphs with his bare hands.   When Vin flung Svinak against the wall once more, prepared to put his fist through the man’s face in a crippling blow, Svinak ducked and scrambled away, panting hard as he tried to buy himself more time.

“Look at you,” Svinak raised his eyes to Vin, his distaste plain. “So human.”

“Thank Christ for that,” Vin moved in, glaring at him. “Better human than a murdering son of a bitch like you.  We may not be raised Vulcan but there’s things you just don’t do!” He was affronted to his Vulcan core by Svinak’s use of forcible melds for interrogation.  It was nothing less than rape.

“I do not give an Erebus damn about Vulcan,” Svinak snapped. “Vulcan has done nothing for me!  They made my parents...” he stared at Vin. “Our parents, exiles, because of V’tosh ka'tur!”

V'tosh ka'tur.  Vin stared at Svinak for a second because that word evoked a memory so potent, it staggered Vin how clear it was.   A face flashed in his memory, a face who was smiling at him when he said those words. Even more jarring was the realisation how much like him that face resembled.

It took but a second for Svinak to realise the reason for his sudden pause.

“You don’t know do you?” Svinak sneered.  “You don’t know your parents were disciples of V’tosh Ka’tur. Did it never occur to you what they were doing near the Rim, so far from Vulcan? They were exiled like we are, because Svianek and T’Lara were V'tosh ka'tur, Vulcans without logic.”

Svianek and T’Lara. His eyes widened. Were those his parents’ names? When he was little, he had tried to tell the Tanners but he had been too young to say it properly and so their names were lost in time. However, what Svinak was saying had a ring of familiarity to it that was rearing its head from a place deep inside of him.

Taking advantage of his counterpart’s distraction, Svinak threw a kick before Vin was ready for it and it struck him across the jaw. The pain was considerable, but one who had gone through the Pon Farr in recent months was accustomed to it and though he went sprawling, he also knew how to roll. In a matter of seconds, Vin was on his knees, seeing Svinak about to throw a kick to his face. Vin caught the man’s foot before it connected and shoved him backwards.  The Tal Shiar Commander staggered backwards for a few feet, giving Vin time to get upright.

However, before he could do anything else, a blast struck Svinak in the side. Vin turned sharply to the direction the bolt of phaser energy had come from and saw Chris standing there, appearing unrepentant at stepping in to put an end to this battle.

“We’ve got to go.”

“You should have killed him,” Alex joined them, still wanting to kill the bastard but understood why Chris couldn’t do it. Looking at the unconscious form of the Vulcan, and then meeting Vin’s gaze, she realised she didn’t want to kill this man and have his death on her conscience. Not when he looked so much like Vin.  The last thing she needed was to see this bastard in her dreams wearing her husband’s face. She had all too many ghosts there already.

Still, he did have some payback coming. Without uttering another word, Alex threw a well-placed kick that connected with Svinak’s unconscious face. If his jaw wasn’t broken before, it certainly was now.

“If anyone deserves to kill him, it should be Commander Wilmington,” Chris said firmly. After what this Vulcan had taken from the man, Chris would not rob him of the satisfaction.  God only knew when Ezra finally learned the truth about Sarah and Adam’s death, there was no corner of the universe the guilty would be able to hide, where Chris wouldn’t find them. He would not take that vindication from Buck Wilmington when it was time for this Vulcan to pay for Mary Travis’s death.*

“We have to go,” Alex said studying her tricorder. “There’s a service hatch on the other side of this deck, we should be able to make our way to the aft turbo lift from...”

“Captain,” Ezra Standish’s voice came through Chris’s com badge.

“Ezra, we could use a beam out about now.  We’re about to have company.” Chris replied, never more grateful than to hear the man’s voice at that moment. As he spoke to Ezra, Chris noticed Vin staring at Svinak with an unfathomable expression on his face. If Chris did not know better, he would have thought his best friend seemed almost pensive. What had Svinak said to him?

“Standby for transport Captain,” Ezra replied. “I apologise for the delay, I was forced to uncouple the Cimarron from the Firebrand. The Romulans suspected we might have an alternate way of leaving the ship and attempted to run a baryon sweep.”

“Acknowledged,” Chris nodded, understanding what that would have done to the Cimarron. 

“Ezra, beam the Captain and Alex first,” Vin said after tapping his com badge.

“Just wait a minute...” Alex started to say when Vin shot her a look that silenced her immediately.  It was not often he exerted himself but instinct told her that to argue with him right now, was not a good idea.  There was something in his cobalt coloured eyes that warned her against it.

“You heard him,” Chris said firmly, understanding Vin wouldn’t make the request lightly. Besides, the transporter was only capable of taking two at a time anyway.

“Aye Captain,” Ezra replied. “Standby for transport.”

“Don’t be long cowboy,” Alex said quietly as the transporter started to hum around them.

“I ain’t gonna do anything stupid Darlin’,” he gave her a little smile as an apology for how harsh he was with her a moment ago. “I’ll be right along with Chris.”

“Make sure you do,” Chris said firmly as the shimmer of the transporter surrounded him.

Vin watched long enough to see them disappear before he went to Svinak’s unconscious form and placed a finger under his temple and at his cheekbone.

“My mind to your mind,” he said quietly, even though the Vulcan did not hear.  It was a simple message he was going to implant in the man’s mind, but for his sake, Vin hoped Svinak of the Tal Shiar listened.

Cross over again to our universe, and the next time, I will kill you.

When the Cimarron emerged through the Bajoran wormhole, they were immediately confronted by the sight of the Defiant facing a Dominion battlecruiser.

At least they thought it was a battlecruiser.

While certain elements of it resembled the warships Starfleet battled over the skies of Cardassia Prime less than a year ago, there were subtle differences. For starters, when Ezra scanned the ship, there were no life sign readings for either the Jem’Hadar or the Vorta. In fact, the readings Ezra did detect, indicate a wide range of Gamma Quadrant aliens on board, from the Dosi to the Tosk. Secondly, the Defiant was facing the cruiser, without shields raised and neither ship charging weapons. If anything, the two ships seemed to be regarding each other in greeting.

“The Defiant’s hailing us,” Alex announced staring at Chris with bewilderment.

“Put it through,” Chris nodded at her.

“I suppose it is a positive sign that no one is discharging weapons,” Ezra remarked, continuing to scan the ship, finding the comparisons between this ship and the Jem’Hadar cruisers from their own universe fascinating. A theory was forming in the Security Chief’s mind about what this might mean, but reserved judgement for the moment.

“I would,” Chris replied, having no desire to replace their escape from one dangerous situation for another.

As it was, they had made good their escape from the Firebrand without incident once Vin returned to the Cimarron and reclaimed the conn. Fortunately, the Firebrand did not offer any pursuit and Chris suspected it had more to do with Svinak’s incapacitated state than the warbird’s disabled sensors. Taking advantage of the Firebrand’s difficulties, they reached the coordinates for the wormhole without detection, which was just as well because Chris had no desire for the Romulans to learn about the passageway to the Gamma Quadrant.

Neither Chris nor Adam had a chance to exchange any more than a few words since their return to the Cimarron but the air between them was heavy with unspoken emotions. Before they left this dimension, Chris knew he and Adam needed to have a serious talk. Although it gutted Chris to admit it, there was every chance Adam may wish to remain here instead of returning to the Maverick. After all, this was his home. However, while Chris wanted the boy with him, he could not force Adam to make the crossing if Adam felt inclined to stay.

Chris also noticed Vin’s manner was more stoic than usual since he returned to the runabout. Normally, Chris had an uncanny ability to figure out what was going on in the helmsman’s head but on this occasion, Vin seemed especially imperceptible. Even Alex noticed it, though she didn’t voice it and probably decided it was a discussion best held behind closed doors between husband and wife. Whatever was bothering Vin, Chris was almost certain it had to do with Vin’s exchange with Svinak when they faced each other. Once they weren’t faced with a Dominion ship that may or may not blow them out of the sky, Chris made a mental note to ask him about it.

“Captain Larabee,” Buck Wilmington’s voice greeted over the runabout’s comms, interrupting his ruminations. “Glad to see you all made it back in one piece. Is Adam with you?”

Chris exchanged a little smile with Adam, before replying. “He’s right here and he’s fine. We all are,” Chris added for Mary’s benefit. No doubt, she was listening in closely and he felt a wave of longing to see the beautiful protocol officer who had been more patient with him than she ought to be about this whole affair. When they returned to the Maverick, Chris made a mental note to thank her for her support in a more personal gesture. “It looks like you have company.”

“Yeah,” Buck replied and though Chris could not see his face, he knew the big man was smiling. “I’ll let Mary tell you about it. Meanwhile, the main hangar is waiting for you to dock.”

Chris exchanged a glance with Ezra and the rest of his crew. “Acknowledged Defiant.”

“Chris,” Mary’s calm voice filled the cockpit and both Chris and Adam smiled involuntarily for entirely different reasons. Chris didn’t realise how much he missed her voice or having her by his side during this mission. “I’m glad you’re all back safe.” While her tone was measured, only Chris could tell how happy she was at their safe return.

“What’s happening Mary?” Chris asked as Vin took the Cimarron towards the main shuttle bay of the Defiant. “That is a Dominion ship right?” He asked for confirmation because something about that battlecruiser didn’t feel right and he wanted answers.

“Well it appears in this dimension,” Mary explained. “There is no Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant.”

“No Dominion?” Ezra exclaimed. “But that is a Jem’Hadar battlecruiser out there.”

“No,” Mary corrected, amusement in her voice. “That is a High Guard starship for the Commonwealth of Free Planets.”

“Commonwealth?” Even Vin looked up at that in surprise.

“Of course!” Alex exclaimed, her formidable intellect already grasping the possibilities of how such a development could have come about. “Captain, if Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development holds, it’s very possible, the same factors that made Earth become the centre of the Terran Empire might have happened to the Dominion. Remember, the Dominion was around for almost 2000 years before we stumbled upon them. If the Founders chose to bring order to their quadrant using mutual cooperation instead of conquest, this could be the result.”

“So they’re good guys now?” Vin stared at her, supposing it was not that far-fetched. Just look at the differences between himself and Svinak. All it had taken was Svinak’s fosterage by Romulans instead of humans. A similar situation might have been all it took to change the Dominion.

“I am taking their lack of hostility as a good sign,” Ezra remarked, understanding now the different life sign readings he was detecting from the High Guard ship. What need did the Dominion or rather the Commonwealth, have for a genetically engineered race of warriors like the jem’Hadar or even the Vorta for that matter, if they had citizens willing to join their cause?

“Who are they?” Adam asked, completely baffled by the conversation, since this dimension had no idea of the wormhole and the Dominion.

Chris stared at the ship hanging against the dark canvas of space, looming larger and larger in the cockpit as the Cimarron prepared to land on the Defiant.

“I think,” Chris said with a little smile. “I think they’re us.”

*****

When the Cimarron set down on the hangar deck of the Defiant and the main hatch slid open, Chris emerged to see Mary waiting for them. He noticed none of the Defiant’s crew was present and supposed Buck Wilmington wished to give Mary some privacy to greet her friends, not to mention spare himself the pain of seeing the facsimile of his former love, displaying affection to his dead best friend. Especially when his wounds were still so raw.

“Chris!” Mary greeted him with a warm embrace and Chris didn’t stand on ceremony when he returned her grateful hug with a deep kiss of greeting, that made Adam stare somewhat.

“Sorry Adam,” Chris regarded the boy who was probably finding this all a little surreal. “Mary and I are ...”

“It’s okay,” Adam stopped them from trying to explain, somewhat expecting it by how Mary had spoken about Chris when she first sought him out in the Maverick. “I figured something was up.”

“How are you?” Mary came to him and repeated the same hug. “Are you alright?” She touched his cheek and found her affection for this young man having deepened, since learning he had been taken by Svinak. “Are you hurt?”

Once again, Adam wrestled with how she made him feel. She wasn’t his mother, he knew that, but her ability to make him feel a little less raw by the comfort she offered could not be ignored. The concern in her eyes felt real and her empathy for his pain made the loss of his mother a little easier to bear.

“No I’m okay,” he shook his head and then remembered what had hurt most about his captivity. “But Svinak told me he killed my mom.”

Bastard, Chris swore under his breath, even though they all suspected Svinak cruel enough to inflict such news on Adam before this.

“Oh Adam,” Mary embraced the teenager again, remembering how he’d wept in her arms when they were on board the Maverick, thinking he’d purged himself of the anguish, only to have Svinak revisit it upon him again. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” Alex stated as she and Vin emerged from the runabout. “I think I broke his jaw.”

“I wanted to kill him,” Adam said darkly, trying not to look at Vin as he said those words. It was still taking him some getting used to, seeing Vin Tanner wearing Svinak’s face but the man had followed Chris Larabee into this dimension to save his life. Adam knew in time, he would be able to hurdle the difficulties he had regarding the Vulcan.

“If he comes across to our side again, I will kill him,” Vin spoke with a tone of menace that made everyone who knew him shuddered a little.

“So pray to tell Mary,” Ezra replied, eager to leave the subject of Svinak behind for the moment. As it stood, Ezra wasn’t eager to remain in this dimension any longer than necessary. Now that they had Adam, they needed to seriously consider returning home to their own universe. “What is the situation with the behemoth outside?”

Deciding Ezra’s effort to change the subject was a good idea, she brushed Adam’s cheek once more before disengaging from the young man, flashing the friends who’d returned safely a smile of gratitude. “Well, it appears, on this side, the Dominion... I mean the High Guard, is based on the same principles as the Federation. Their charter is much like ours, promoting cooperation among member races. The Commander of the Ascent, that’s the ship next to us, is Odo.”

“The Odo?” Ezra’s eyes widened in surprise, remembering the Changeling who was the well-respected Security Chief of Deep Space Nine, who ultimately became responsible for the peaceful end of the Dominion War.

“Yes,” Mary nodded, “the Founders in this dimension never cloned Jem’Hadar or Vorta to run the High Guard. In fact, they seem very open to offering the Resistance help in exchange for future membership.”

“Well,” Ezra replied. “I think it is safe to say this may be the start of a beautiful relationship.”

*****

Perfectly aware of how his presence would be perceived by the crew of the Defiant, even after his participation in the rescue of Adam Larabee, Vin remained out of sight in the Cimarron. Vin knew the Captain was eager to leave this dimension and head back home as soon as possible, so he busied himself by running a diagnostic on the runabout’s systems before they made the crossing. In truth, it was the best place for Vin to be right now. There were too many thoughts in his head, thoughts he couldn’t quite process.

Ezra who was on board, was conducting similar checks at the tactical station, noted Vin’s distant expression, staring through the cockpit window of the Cimarron into the space outside the hangar bay doors. Vin had been sitting in silence for some time now and Ezra who found such instances disturbing finally decided to investigate.

“Vin,” Ezra asked, taking the empty seat at the operation station. “Are you alright?”

Vin looked up at Ezra after a few seconds of silence, before he realised Ezra had actually spoken to him. He had been so lost in his head, he hadn’t even heard the man speak. “Sorry Ezra, I’m just a little distracted.”

“After the last few days,” Ezra sighed. “I can appreciate why.”

It wasn’t every day a man was allowed to see a darker version of oneself. Ezra was somewhat grateful that the version of Ezra Standish in this reality was a man he could imagine becoming if he had chosen to follow Maude on plans for him. Vin’s view through the dark mirror, however, was something no one should ever have to see.

“No, it’s not that,” Vin quickly corrected, aware Ezra probably thought he was shaken by his encounter with Svinak. “I’m not thinking about that son of a bitch at all. After facing him, I ain’t got no problem with the fact he looks like me. All we got in common is where we started from, but he’s been twisted up into something awful who is nothing like what I am. What I got in my life, he’ll never understand. If anything, I feel sorry for him.”

Vin thought about his life on the Maverick, the best friend he had with Chris Larabee, the camaraderie with the rest of the seven he served with, not to mention the joy of being with Alex, who was his soulmate. Svinak would never have any of that and worse yet, he would never understand he was missing anything, to begin with.

Ezra smiled, thinking how much Vin had grown since coming on board the Maverick. He was a far cry from the painfully shy Vulcan who was too afraid to talk to anyone or make himself heard. The Chief was also glad he was not too disturbed by Svinak, even if something was clearly on his mind.

“Then what is troubling you?” Ezra asked gently, relaxing enough in his tone to shed his own tendency to play interrogator, thanks to his role as a Security Chief.

Vin stared at Ezra, wondering if he ought to confide in the man, instead of Alex. At present, his wife was on the bridge of the Defiant. The Captain had wanted all data regarding the Gamma Quadrant made available to the Resistance, so they would have some idea of the races they would be encountering. Then again, she was still recovering from what Svinak had done to her and Vin didn’t want to burden Alex unnecessarily just yet. There would be plenty of time to disclose what was on his mind when they got home, in the privacy of their quarters.

Besides, Vin remembered how Ezra had offered good counsel when Vin had been uncertain and confused during the onset of Pon Farr. He had listened kindly and said the words that helped Vin understand his situation. While he probably couldn’t help Vin with his current problem, Ezra’s ability to listen often provided its own clarity.

“When I was fighting, Svinak told me my parents were V'tosh ka'tur.”

“What does that mean?” Ezra asked, never having heard the reference before. Then again, his knowledge about Vulcan culture was limited. Since meeting Vin, he had begun a delayed study but it was not enough for him to recognise the term.

“It means Vulcan’s without logic,” Vin explained, having called up the information when he returned to the Cimarron on the library computer. “When I was found and brought to Earth, the authorities tried to find my family but because there was no record of the ship, there was no way to trace them. I didn’t even remember my parents’ name anymore so I was no help there either.”

Sadness filled him at that moment. Sadness and shame. No matter what, he should have at least been able to remember that much about his parents.

“When we were fighting, Svinak said his parents were exiled because they were V'tosh ka'tur.”

“You believe it might be the same for your parents?”

Ezra guessed, understanding why Vin was so distracted now. From what Ezra knew of Vin’s past from his service record, Vin had not been able to identify his parents, an understandable situation since he was only five when they died. The ship that crash landed on that forgotten world on the Rim, the Seleya’s Heart, had travelled without a flight plan, so there were no records of it. Was the gap due to Vin’s family being ostracized by Vulcan society?

“I think so,” Vin explained. “The thing is Ezra, I remember hearing the words V'tosh ka'tur being said to me, so yeah, I think it could be the same for my Vulcan parents too. That’s not all, Svinak told me their names. With all his mental training, he was probably able to access the memory. He knew their names Ezra and if their names are the same as my parents...”

“You can find out who they are,” Ezra concluded and understood what a watershed this was for Vin. “Do you wish to?”

Vin had been pondering the question ever since he returned to the Cimarron. A part of him craved the knowledge, another part of him was frightened of what he might find. He was finally comfortable with himself and his life. Did he want to ruin that by uncovering secrets in his past?

“I don’t know Ezra,” Vin said honestly. “I got used to being me without having any connection to them but as much as I loved my human parents, I gotta remember my Vulcan ones didn’t choose to die and leave me alone. It feels like I ought to at least try and find out who they were.”

“I offer my assistance, Mr Tanner,” Ezra said kindly.

“Thank you, Ezra, “I appreciate it,” Vin said with a little smile, knowing it was help he wouldn’t refuse if he decided to pursue this. Ezra was one of the finest investigators in the fleet, if there was a truth to be found, he would find it.

“What are friends for Mr Tanner,” Ezra patted his arm, “What are friends for?”

*****

When Adam learned his mother’s body was still on board, the Defiant, he insisted on seeing her.

Buck had been reluctant to allow the boy access to the empty shell that was Mary Travis, especially after what Svinak had done to her under torture. The Commander of the Defiant would have preferred to spare the boy the anguish of seeing the terrible injuries inflicted on his mother’s once lovely features but nothing he said would convince Adam otherwise. Even Chris had made a half-hearted attempt to talk Adam out of it, but in the end, the kid insisted and the decision was taken out of both their hands.

Despite Chris’s offer to accompany Adam to undertake the painful duty, a part of him was grateful when Adam insisted on doing it alone. Having faced the horror of losing Sarah years before, he had no wish to do it again, even if the woman lying in the Sick Bay morgue was not really his Mary. No matter what his mind told himself, his connection to the beautiful Protocol Officer was too strong to bear the ordeal. He wondered if Adam had suspected as much when he refused Chris’s offer.

In any case, the boy wanted to say goodbye to his mother and Chris could appreciate that.

So now, Chris found himself standing in the corridor outside Sick Bay, facing Buck Wilmington who had accompanied them there but would go no further than that. Considering Chris’s own feelings about viewing a body of Mary Travis, he could appreciate Buck’s desire to spare himself further anguish by repeated viewings of her lifeless husk. Especially when what remained bore no resemblance to the vital woman, he’d loved for so many years.

“I’m sorry about Mary*,” Chris found himself saying because it was hard to look at Buck and see him so wounded. Even if he was a totally different Buck Wilmington than the one who was presently on route to the Maverick, the essence of the man remained the same whatever the universe. He still had the same big heart always worn on his sleeve and boundless compassion. There was a part of Chris who wanted to protect that heart, even though there were times it was Chris himself who caused it more hurt than any other person.

Right now, his apology felt hollow in the face of the man’s loss and Chris recognised the hurt Buck was hiding behind his eyes because he had seen the same agony in the mirror for so many years. Words and platitudes did nothing to assuage the pain. Five years after Sarah’s death, it still felt raw in his heart despite his love for Mary. He wouldn’t insult this man’s intelligence by making the claim time would heal all wounds. He knew from experience, it didn’t.

“I didn’t know her,” Chris said instead, “but she must have been something.”

And she was, that much Chris could attest. From what he had been told, the Mary Travis of this world was a young woman who readily accepted the responsibility of a child, not hers and loved him so much, the boy was devastated by the loss. Not only had she loved him, but she had also prepared him to survive in this harsh world and her last act, was to give him the father he’d never known, in a world where he’d never have to struggle to survive.

“She was,” Buck spoke, closing his eyes, thinking of his Mary, of the woman he loved for nearly seventeen years, whose void in his heart would never be filled. Raising his eyes to the man who wore the face of his best friend, Buck remembered the Chris Larabee of his childhood, whose work he tried so hard to continue, at a personal cost that had never seem as high as it had been since he was faced with Mary’s body. “We were together for a long time. Since I broke her out that prison when Adam was a baby. Christ, she was goddamn amazing.”

He fell silent for a second, unable to speak as the emotion choked him, and for a few seconds, both men said nothing. Chris allowed him the time to compose himself, not trying to offer him comfort for his agony because Chris knew it wouldn’t help.

After a moment, Buck met Chris’s blue eyes and managed a little smile. “It’s good to see you again Chris. You’re not the friend I buried but I’ve missed seeing him.”

Buck’s eyes were so heavy with sorrow, Chris found it difficult to look at him. Was this what his own Buck went through with him when he was suffering his worst pains after Sarah and Adam’s passing? How had the man endured it? And worst yet, how could Chris be so oblivious to how much it hurt Buck to watch him this way? Once he got back to the Maverick, Chris resolved to thank Buck again for always being there, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he was being.

“If he were here, I think he would thank you for everything you did for his family,” Chris replied. “Not just for looking out for his son, but carrying on this fight.”

“I wish I could have done better,” Buck sighed. “Maybe if the High Guard helps us, we have a chance.”

“I hope so,” Chris said with a little smile. “The Odo I know from our side was a pretty straight arrow. If he’s the same here, you can trust him.”

“I think so too,” Buck nodded in agreement. “They want to help us, but they want to know the Resistance speaks for more than just the Terrans, so we’re going to work something out.”

There was a hint of optimism in his voice and Chris hoped it would prove justified in the days to come. This dimension had shed too much blood already. There needed to be an end to the war and suffering, not just for the Terrans but also for the whole of the Alpha Quadrant.

“Chris,” Buck said, finally broaching the one subject they had been avoiding. “You need to take Adam with you.”

Chris exhaled loudly. “I would take him with me in a minute Buck, but I don’t know if that’s what he wants. This is his home,” Chris swept his gaze over more than just the Defiant.

“This is no one’s home,” Buck retaliated with more intensity than Chris was accustomed to seeing on that face. “Until we drive the Romulans out, with, or without the High Guard, it’s a place where young men die too early. I’m not going to have him go the way his father did. I made a promise to my best friend and the woman who raised him to keep him safe. I wasn’t there to save her but I sure as hell am not going to let her last hope for him die with her.”

“I came to this dimension to get him because I want him with me,” Chris said firmly. “I lost my son when he was five years old but this Adam feels like mine and I don’t care where he came from. I look into his face and I see my wife. I see everything good we made together. This whole situation is insane but maybe that’s all we get in this life. If he wants to come home with me, I would have him in a minute but I won’t make that choice for him.”

“You don’t have to,” Adam said stepping out of Sick Bay long just in time to hear Chris’s words to Commander Wilmington. Both men fell silent at his appearance.

There were tears on his cheeks from where he had wept his last for his mother. Even as he looked into her bruised and battered face, she was beautiful to him. She always would be. Until the day he died, he would always remember the beautiful woman who held his hand as they walked along the beach, collecting seashells.

“Commander,” Adam looked at Buck. “Do you think I could have a minute alone with the Captain?”

“Sure, kid.” Buck met his gaze and saw something in Adam’s eyes that told him Mary* might just get her way after all. Giving Chris a nod, he left them in the corridor, disappearing around the corner to the turbo lift that was at the other end of the deck.

Once they were alone in the hallway, they stared at each other not speaking for what felt like an eternity. So many things needed to be said between them, all of it mired with thick emotion. Chris stared at this boy, who was Sarah in every way, looking back at him with the same icy blue eyes.

Even though Adam was a soldier and a freedom fighter, on the cusp of becoming a man, he was still a frightened teenager whose longing for the mother he lost was etched in every corner of his face. Chris felt his heart ache for the boy, understanding how strong that bond had been and how devastated Adam must feel having lost it. More than anything, Chris wanted to be the remedy to all that pain because Adam could be the same for him.

“Did you mean it?” Adam asked finally. “Did you mean it when you said I was your son?”

“I did,” Chris admitted it readily. “I know it’s crazy but I think your mother understood what we could be to each other. It’s why she sent you to me. I can’t promise you that everything will be perfect Adam. It’s going to take time for us to get used to each other but I want you, not just as a substitute for the son I lost. No one will ever replace him but you are my flesh and blood too, and I see you as nothing else but that.”

Adam absorbed, thinking about what his mother wanted. In their last moments together, she had managed to give him the gift of a father, something he’d always craved but never spoke out loud. Yet like all mothers, she just knew what he needed and made it possible anyway.

“I know you’re not my father,” Adam raised his eyes to the Captain of the Maverick and saw familiarity. “But you feel like it, in here.” He tapped his chest. “When Svinak brought me back and I thought I wouldn’t see you again, it hurt.”

“It hurt me too,” Chris replied, trying not to let the emotion show in his face but it was so naked in Adam’s eyes, it crumbled his resolved. Crossing the corridor to the boy, Chris put his hands on Adam’s shoulder and made the young man look at him.

“Come home with me to the Maverick, Adam,” Chris said earnestly. “I want you in my life because even if you aren’t the son I lost, you feel like mine and I feel it in here too,” Chris repeated Adam’s gesture a moment ago, tapping his chest as surely as the boy had touched his heart the minute Chris laid eyes on him. “Come home with me, be my son and I promise you, I’ll be the father you need.”

With that, Chris embraced Adam for the first time, and it was less than a second later, Adam was hugging him back.

“Okay dad,” Adam whispered, saying the words to the man he'd been longing to have the captain hear since Adam realised Chris Larabee had crossed the dimensions just to find him.

And with those words, Chris realised for the first time in five years, he was ready to let the past go. He would always love Sarah and Adam. He would long for them every day of his life. Their murderer still awaited justice and he would not rest until that account was paid but today was the first time he really felt as if he was starting to heal.

With Mary and Billy, and the miracle that brought this boy into his life, Chris Larabee had a family again. A man could only be so lucky twice in one lifetime.

This time, he would not waste it.

THE END

BACK TO MAIN PAGE