She’s gone Chris thought as he woke up. He stared at the ceiling of his quarters…yes, his quarters, not their quarters…but his quarters. They were no longer shared…they were just his.

Two weeks ago, he had been ripped away from Neo Risa, the transporter making it all too sudden for him. Not only had he been ripped away from Neo Risa…but he had lost the one person he had loved.

Two weeks ago, he secluded himself in his quarters…and he hadn’t been out since…

Doing what he had done for the past two weeks, he slowly pushed the covers off, never taking his vision away from the ceiling. Then he slowly pushed himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

He moved to the sink, turned the water on, and splashed his face and hair, getting his clothes wet. He looked hard into the mirror, thinking that he would see Sarah’s reflection coming behind him, her warm smile plastered on her face despite the fact that she wasn’t a morning person.

If she had been gone, say for just two weeks, on a vacation, he would have smiled at that memory. Now, however, he simply did not change his morbid expression…for he would never see her reflection again…

He closed his eyes, fighting back the tears…only to realize that he had no tears left. He had cried himself dry long ago, and could not even force himself to cry…

He shook his head, then moved out into the living room, his throat dry. He went to the replicator, ordered water, then moved to the couch. As always, it was facing out into the great unknown of space, the slow curve of the bow of the Dragon easily visible if he were standing.

He stared at the slowly passing stars, wondering where the Dragon was for the first time since Sarah's funeral. He did remember seeing the Dragon traveling at maximum velocity after the funeral, but once they reached their last position, they dropped back into standard sub-Transwarp velocities so that they didn’t miss any stellar phenomena.

 

 

First Officer’s Log

Captain Harriman still hasn’t come out of his quarters yet. At least at first, he answered hails, but now he won’t even do that. He ignores everything now. I am all but the CO of the Dragon, it seems.

Right now, we’re traveling next to a Tilarian vessel. To our surprise, we discovered four Bajorans aboard the vessel, and they are about to transport over. Kailar Nerissay is with me as we await their transport signal…

 

 

Lieutenant Commander Tom Halkrat nodded to the transporter chief, who had just told him they had received the signal for transport. The familiar hum of the transporter filled the room, and three seconds later, four people who were clearly Bajoran appeared. Tom stepped forward a step, Kailar right behind him.

"I’m Tom Halkrat, first officer of the USS Dragon," he said confidently. He looked to his left to motion to Kailar and said, "And this is ambassador Kailar Nerissay, the first Bajoran we encountered in this galaxy."

One of the Bajorans nodded his head, recognition on his face. "Ah, yes, we are familiar with that story of our ancestry."

Kailar stepped forward in surprise. "You are familiar with that story?!" he asked in a voice of pure surprise. They hadn’t called themselves Bajorans in this galaxy, Tom remembered…but he couldn’t remember at the moment what they had called themselves. "No one other than myself that we have found ever knew the story!"

The Bajoran smiled, her ridges seeming to be emphasized by the smile. "Then it appears we have much to talk about."

Tom once again motioned to Kailar and said, "The ambassador will show you to your quarters. If you have any concerns, please bring them to either the ambassador or myself."

"Thank you, sir," she replied as she walked off of the transporter pad. Together, Kailar and the woman left, followed closely by the other three.

Tom smiled as they left, then walked out of the transporter room after them, wondering what they would find next in this galaxy…

 

 

So, we have four new Bajorans aboard, Chris thought as he read his console. That’s when it hit him. The memories suddenly flooded through his mind.

A Bajoran had been there he thought. Lieal had been her name…she had been friends with both Sarah and myself…

 


 

Cadet Chris Harriman laughed as Lieal and Kyle Pharnen joined him. They were walking through a corridor of the Academy that had a magnificent view of the Presidio, laughing about their last years of high school together.

"I never did like Chemistry," Kyle laughed, "but my Chem teacher thought it was the most important subject in the world. Needless to say, we didn’t get along very well."

Chris shook his head, smiling. "That was nothing compared to the conflict I had with my history teacher. I only love the late twentieth-century period, but he thought that was the worst time of human history. As such, he tried to restrict me from doing projects on that time period."

Lieal looked at him wide eyed. Sarcasm permeating her voice, she asked, "And you managed not to strangle him?!"

The group broke out laughing again as they rounded the corner into a corridor that didn’t even have windows. Ahead were two human women, one of which caught his eye. Though the women didn’t see them yet, or at least didn’t notice them, Chris asked Lieal, "Hey, who are they?"

Lieal looked ahead, then said in a voice of recognition, "Oh! You mean I never showed you a picture of Sarah and Lisa?"

Chris shook his head, unable to take his eyes off of the one with light brown hair. He remembered that Lieal had mentioned Sarah had light brown hair, and he also remembered that she had mentioned Lisa as having black hair. He instantly made the conclusion that the one that caught his eye was Sarah.

"Well, I think its about time you introduced us to her!" he said enthusiastically, trying to hide the fact that he liked her.

Lieal shrugged and replied, "Sure, but which one do you have a crush on?"

Chris felt his face suddenly turn red-hot, realizing that Lieal knew him too well to be fooled by his attempts. "Uh, I’d rather not say, not just yet," he said hesitantly.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, a smirk crossing her face. "You never were good at hiding things from me…so I’m sure I’ll find out."

Sarcastically, Chris said, "Oh, no doubt, miss Betazoid."

Lieal’s smirk increased as she pushed a flock of her hair behind her ear. "Of course, and you better believe I’m psychic!" she said in a half-serious sounding voice.

"Psychotic, you mean," Chris remarked wryly.

When they finally reached the two women, they turned to meet them, both smiling. Chris tried to avoid the look from Sarah, but he somehow couldn’t…

"Hey, Lieal!" Sarah said in a surprised tone of voice. "I didn’t know you had actually decided to join the Academy!"

Lieal smiled and replied, amused, with, "These two characters can be quite convincing."

Sarah looked at Chris, which made him almost blush, and then at Kyle. "And who are they?"

"Sarah, Lisa, I’d like you two to meet Kyle," Lieal said, motioning to Kyle, and then motioned to Chris. "And this is Chris."

Chris nodded his hello, unable to say a word. There was something about her…something in her eyes. He couldn’t quite tell what…Then again, it could be her body, but he dismissed that right away. He remembered human anatomy, and realized his hormones had made him think that. It never was easy suppressing those thoughts…

"How dare you!" Sarah suddenly shouted at him. Bewilderment crossed Chris’s face as he wondered if he had just done something wrong. "You pervert!" she added, slapping him hard across the face.

Chris nearly fell backwards, not from the blow, but from the surprise. Her hair flying all around, she spun around and stalked off, Lisa hot on her heels trying to ask what was wrong.

He consciously rubbed the spot where a red mark was no doubt forming, then looked to Lieal. "What the hell did I do?" he asked, confusion in his voice.

Lieal, equally confused, shrugged and shook her head. "I have no idea, I’ve never seen her react like that."

Chris looked back down the hall to see Sarah storm around a corner and out of sight, Lisa still asking her questions. Confused, he rubbed his cheek one last time, then looked to Lieal. "Mind doing me a favor?"

Lieal grinned almost evilly. "I knew she was the one you liked." She nodded her head, then added, "Of course I’ll try to find out what’s wrong for you."

As Lieal took up a jog after Sarah and Lisa, Chris and Kyle turned around to head for the lounge, only to find several other cadets, and a mean looking gardener, staring wide-eyed at him. The rest of Chris’s face turned red as he turned back around, deciding to take the long way around.

As they walked swiftly down the corridor, Kyle commented in a joking tone, "You always did have a way with women."

 


 

Chris shook his head at the memory, laughing at himself for allowing such a thing to happen… That was when he still cared about his image, when he still had hormones to surpress. It had been quite embarrassing…but that didn’t change the fact that he and Sarah had gotten together…

 

 

"Good!" Commander Kalia Tarkent commented, her comm badge still active. As she watched the readouts on the plasma conduit, she nodded and once again said, "that’s good. Hold it there for now."

The readings on the conduit stabilized at the correct frequency. Nodding in satisfaction, she stored her tricorder and headed back out of the Jeffries tube and into the corridor. "Stand by, I’m on my way back," she said, closing the hatch.

"Acknowledged," Lieutenant Meylar Palzen replied.

Kalia stored her tricorder in a pouch on her uniform, then began walking down the corridor, nodding to officers as she went.

For a moment, dizziness seemed to sweep over her, causing her to stumble for a moment. A Britar officer came to her side and asked, "Are you OK?"

Kalia pushed herself off of the wall, looked at the officer, and nodded. "Yes, I’m fine."

Ignoring the person’s questions, she made it to the turbolift and said, "Engineering."

The turbolift immediately began moving, and a moment later, stopped and opened up onto what she had guessed was engineering.

Kalia slowly, cautiously moved out of the turbolift, unsure as to what she was doing here, and where here really was.

"Commander, that conduit seems pretty stable," some guy stated as he approached her. "I’d like to run a level five diagnostic of the starboard interlock, I think it might be out of alignment."

She looked at the person, seeming to be increasingly unsure as to what he had just said. "I’m sorry?" she asked, confusion definitely showing on her face.



Star Trek Dragon graphics and written material copyright Jon Wasik. Star Trek is a registered trademark
of Paramount Pictures, a Viacom company. No copyright infringement intended