Cerulean Stars - Chapter 92

Cerulean Stars - Chapter 92

Stardate 48330.5 - May 1, 2371 - 15:10:00

Even across nearly two hundred light years Captain Picard seemed to have a kind of presence to him that Raine had only encountered a handful of times before, and each one of those had been a living legend.

He was also her first captain, the one she had grown up watching on broadcast television who had kindled her love of an entire genre of fiction. So to say she was more than a little starstruck at meeting the man, would have been the unfortunate understatement of the decade.

“Captain, I, er, is there something I can help you with… Sir?” She stammered out, just barley holding herself back from crawling under the desk to die.

Picard gave her an understanding look that made Raine think she wasn't anywhere near the first officer to react to him like that. “To start with Commander, how is Ensign Sito really doing?”

“Bad.” Raine admitted with a grimace, defaulting to officer mode to try and not embarrass herself further. “A high level of PTSD at a minimum, and I'd be shipping her off to Starbase 310 for actual treatment and recovery if we could spare the Defiant to actually make the trip.”

She was sure Picard would be able to read between the lines there and figure out she was saying she didn't trust Ensign Sito to be able to make it to said starbase in anything less than a full Starfleet vessel.

Picard looked down and let out a tired sigh. “I was afraid of that.”

“I assume treatment on Bajor is out of the question?” He inquired as he looked back up to meet her eyes.

It was Raine's turn to sigh. “I haven't dug too deeply into things. But Ensign Sito seems to have a rather deeply set aversion to the Bajoran culture and religion that I suspect would make consoling by one of the Bajorans a more trying than helpful affair.”

Not that the Bajorans had any consolors to spare in the first place given their still ongoing occupation recovery efforts.

“I see.” Picard muttered, and she got the sudden distinct sense from his tone that the man was building himself up to asking something in particular. “Has she told you anything about the mission she was on, Commander?”

“She has.” Raine confirmed with a nod, starting to get a suspicion about just what it was he wanted to ask. “And it doesn't look like her cover was compromised, though you may have your other missing ensign to credit for that.”

Picard's brow furrowed in confusion as he tried to figure out who she might be referring to. “My other… Wesley?”

“She mentioned talking to what she thought was a hallucination of him.” Raine said, giving a light shrug as if to say she wasn't completely sure either way. “Given the circumstances of his recorded departure, I figured him showing up was more likely than the alternatives.”

Because the alternative was a single consistent hallucination, which was unlikely medically, or the Cardassians playing mind games with holograms, which was unlikely informationally since it would have required them actually knowing Ensign Sito's identity and not doing anything else with that knowledge.

“I'm surprised you're aware of that.” Picard offered, leaving Raine to blink uncertainly at the man since, as far as she knew, the event hadn't been classified. 

“I have a tag set up that flags any reports involving non-corporeal encounters.” She told him, not wanting to admit she was also one of the numerous Starfleet officers who followed the Enterprise's adventures for their entertainment value.

Picard studied her for a moment, and it was clear from the look on his face that something in what she had just said must have tripped the man's bullshit sensor.

“You were the girl who had the first recorded encounter with Q, weren't you?” 

Or, she thought to herself, maybe he had just read about her somewhere and was trying to recall the specifics.

Raine gave Picard a wry grin. “Yes, he saved my life while chasing another being with phenomenal cosmic powers.”

Her grin morphed into a frown as she recalled the other more annoying half of that event that she only recently discovered.

“And then bifurcated me before dropping one of us into the mirror universe for some reason that I'm still not entirely sure about.”

“With Q I've come to learn there is very rarely just a single reason for anything he does.” Picard returned bitterly, an emotion Raine would likely have shared if she didn't strongly suspect that Starfleet's encounters with the Borg were the only reason they were actually in a position to win a war with the Dominion.

“They walk amongst the stars like giants, vast, timeless, and all we can hope is to not be stepped on.” She paraphrased, more aware than most just how accurate those words were to their current state of existence.

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Kira was more than a little thankful that the settlement house had a rear patio with furniture they could actually sit down in, because the whole matter seemed to be escalating in a way that was making her tired just thinking about all the paperwork she was going to have to fill out.

“Now.” Bashir began with a clear tone of interest almost the moment they sat down. “What was that about Elim Garak?”

Remara clenched her hands in her lap, looking down at them for a moment before returning to meet Bashir’s eyes. “Do any of you know about the destruction of the Talkan?”

“It was a Cardassian shuttle that was destroyed after a group of Bajorans took control of it in an attempt to escape being taken to Terok Nor.” Nerys said, the unexpected knowledge enough to make Kira turn a confused look to her duplicate since she herself had never heard anything about it.

“My husband and son were on board.” Remara told them. “They, like most of the others, had nothing to do with the escape attempt. But all that mattered to the Cardassian commander in charge was making an example out of those who tried. So he ordered the defense platforms to shoot down the shuttle before it could even break past the atmosphere.”

Bashir scrunched his brow in a way that suggested something about that story sounded familiar to him, and Kira made a mental note to ask when there were less people around.

“And that commander was Elim Garak?” He inquired.

Remara nodded. “I was late to the shuttle, but I heard some of the Cardassians at the port facilities talking about how Garak had been assigned to deal with things.”

That wasn’t completely damning of course, but it was certainly enough for Kira to want to dig into things to try and find out if they needed to have Odo arrest their resident tailor.

“I'm sorry.” Remara interjected as she furrowed her brow and looked back and forth between Kira and her twin. “But it's been bothering me since I first saw the pair of you, have we met before?”

“Yes.” Kira told her, not particularly surprised Remara hadn't been able to figure it out given she had been thirteen and lacking a twin when they had last met. “I'm Kira Nerys.”

Remara blinked, turning a questioning gaze over to Nerys.

“I'm also Kira Nerys.” Nerys offered, her voice sounding just a tiny bit less sure of that than she had earlier.

“I… You…” Remara closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before focusing back on Kira. 

“I guess there goes any chance my family has of seeing justice.” She muttered in a bitter tone that left Kira feeling oddly guilty despite the fact that she knew she didn't have anything to feel guilty about.

Bashir offered a comforting smile to the older Bajoran woman. “I can assure you, Miss Remara, we will investigate what you told us to the best of our abilities.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Remara muttered in an almost mocking tone. “So what are you actually here for Nerys? Come to finally hear the truth? ”

“We were hoping you might be able to confirm how my mother died.” Kira informed the suddenly confrontational woman with a frown as she shot a quick glance over to Nerys, who seemed to be equally annoyed with the aggressive turn things had taken.

A smirk found its way onto Remara’s lips. “I couldn’t say, since she was alive when I last saw her on Terok Nor.”

“How long ago was that?” Nerys asked as the bottom seemed to drop out of Kira's stomach.

“I had just turned twenty.” Remara answered without even pausing to think about the question. “So a little over nineteen years ago.”

Which would have been when Kira herself was nine, six years after her father had claimed her mother had died.

“That would have been around a year before I remember her dying.” Nerys pointed out.

“So you remember what your mother was doing when you were nine?” Bashir inquired, holding up a hand to forestall Remara when it looked like the older woman was about to answer instead.

“How could I forget?” Nerys scoffed bitterly as she turned her head to look out at one of the far off mountain ranges. “She was being forced to be a comfort woman for Gul Dukat.”

The memory of what Kira had learned about another universe's version of her mother briefly flitted across her mind, and she couldn't help but wonder if maybe Raine had been right about just how deep similarities between the two actually went.

Remara let out a barking laugh. “Forced? Oh, Nerys dear. She wasn't forced. She was there sharing his bed willingly.”

Kira had to fight back her immediate urge to lash out and punch Remera in the face for the mere suggestion, a level of restraint her twin apparently didn't possess as Nerys surged to her feet before landing a rather feeble looking punch to the other woman's face.

“Take it back!” Nerys demanded as Remara gingerly rubbed her cheek. “Mother would never have cheated on Father like that if she had any other choice.”

Several things fell into place for Kira at that moment, and she visibly flinched as she focused grimly on Remara. “That's why you accused us of being collaborators, wasn't it?”

“No.” Remara corrected as she glared at Nerys. “I accused your family of being collaborators, because I found out you were receiving four times the standard amount of rations as a favor to Gul Dukat.”

Something which Kira was now coming to suspect could very well have been because her mother was in a willing relationship with the man. And from the viable flinch on her duplicate’s face, it looked like she might have had the same thought.

“So the question is.” Bashir muttered half to himself. “Why does the Major think her mother died, and how did Nerys know she didn't.”

“My father.” They both answered at once before exchanging a confused glance.

Bashir stared silently at them for a second before letting out a tired sounding exhale. “Ladies, I know neither of–

The man’s combadge chirped, and he let what he was going to say hang unfinished as he tapped the device. “Bashir here.”

“Doctor.” The voice of the ensign they had left on the shuttle echoed out. “We just received a return order from Commander Sisko, he wouldn’t explain why over an open channel, but he said he wants the three of you back on the station by oh eight hundred tomorrow.”

“All right.” Bashir confirmed as his brow furrowed in sudden worry. “Tell him we’ll be returning to the runabout shortly. Bashir out.”

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Author’s Notes: Oddly, Bashir has nearly figured out most of the Kira conundrum at this point, but is now over focusing on the Garak situation.