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"I'm a Believer" by A. Rhea King
Rating: PG
Remembrance (5) “Hoshi, find Vardee,” Archer ordered without glancing up as he walked across the bridge to his ready room, “Put it through to my ready room when you get her.” Archer sat down at his desk, continuing to read the latest Starfleet report on the Jit relocation. “Captain,” Hoshi said over the companel. Archer pressed the companel button on his desk. “Yes?” “She’s not responding.” “Locate her.” Archer looked up, rubbing his chin. “Observation. Deck C.” “And she’s not responding?” “No, sir.” Archer stood up, walking out of his room to the lift. “You have the bridge, T’Pol.” Archer stepped on the lift. “Deck C.” The lift dropped two decks and stopped. Archer stepped off and walked to the observatory. He walked in and stopped, staring at Vardee. She was staring out at space, oblivious to the door opening and closing. “Vardee?” Sista jumped, looking at him. She hastily wiped her tears away as she rose to her feet. “Yes?” Sista asked. Archer walked up to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” “You don’t cry for nothing.” Sista’s head dropped to the side. She sank down onto the bench, putting her hands between her knees. Archer sat down beside her. “What is it?” Archer asked quietly. Sista smiled at him, but it didn’t stop her tears. “You get homesick?” Archer nodded. “Sometimes. Are you homesick?” Sista looked around the room. “Been long time since been home...” Sista looked down at the floor. “But then...there no home to go to. Stupid to miss.” “You can miss it even if it’s not there, Vardee.” Sista looked up, staring at space. For a while the two were silent. “What you come for?” Sista asked. “Starfleet sent word about the Jit relocation. Sounds like things are going well and several have relocated to Earth to join Starfleet. They also sent some specs they asked us to try that may improve the hull polarization. I wanted you to look them over and work with Trip and Malcolm.” “That Jokra job. He help.” Archer looked up at Sista’s face. “Vardee.” Sista looked at him. “You never refuse to help me. What’s wrong?” “Ask Jokra, Jon’than. It his job.” Sista stood up. “When shift over, meet me in holosuite.” Sista looked back at Archer waiting for an answer. Archer nodded. Sista left the room. Archer looked down at the PADD in his hand. # Archer walked to the holosuite door and pushed the pad beside the door. The door slid open and he stepped into a dark room. In the center of the room Sista was laying on a reclining chair, staring up at a holographic outer space. The holograph cast dim light from the stars it had placed in the sky around the room. “You wanted to talk to me?” Archer asked. “Diedra, another chair,” Sista ordered. Another reclining chair appeared beside Sista. Archer accepted the invitation and laid down on the chair next to her. “Diedra, bring up Uylito system.” Archer noticed her English was perfect and assumed the Diedra’s computer was running the translator. The scene above changed. Planets and a sun in a small-scale three-dimensional model hung above them. The system had five planets and each planet had two or more moons. Sista reached up and a holograph of a red and green planet encircled by rings passed over her hand as it orbited the sun. “Aphripa. This is home.” Sista pointed to the planet, her finger following it’s path as it orbited the sun. Sista pointed to a much smaller blue and green planet. “That one is Siva. Varlikon still live on it.” “Where was it?” Archer asked. Sista slid up in the chair so she could hug her knees. “Uylito system.” “Where is that?” “A long way away.” “Do you know how many survived?” “No.” Sista sighed, looking at Archer. “We left Aphripa with twelve adults. Eight were Varlikon and they tried to treat us like slaves. Then after we got rid of them, the Jit adults left.” “Did you kill the Varlikon?” “No. I left them on a planet. Maybe that did kill them, I don’t know.” “You never went back?” Sista shook her head. “No. The adults and older children would have killed them had I went back. I had no love for them either so it was best.” “And what happened with the adult Jit?” “Two got really sick and died. The others left at this port or that port until it was just the eleven of us.” “Is that what’s bothering you?” “No.” Sista sighed, lying back in the chair. “I wonder if my father got away before it was destroyed. I miss my father.” Archer nodded. “I miss mine too.” “Is he still alive?” “No.” Sista sighed. “You had to leave Aphripa in a hurry, Vardee,” Archer said. “It makes sense that you still miss it.” “No. It’s stupid that I miss it.” “Why do you think it’s stupid?” Archer looked at Sista. Sista sat up on the edge of the chair. “Diedra, replay vishta sata kay unta cinta.” Around them the scene changed with the focus on the Diedra. Varlikon or Jit and Cardassians were shooting at each other and explosions nearby shook the picture. The lack of sound made the scene feel unreal. “I found this in the archives years later. There are several video feeds from the surface that continued recording. But this is the only one that isn’t...” Sista looked down. “No one dies in this one.” Sista looked at the launch pad, watching the picture around them shake. “There were earthquakes even before we launched. We never had them before,” Sista nodded toward the Diedra and Archer looked toward the ship. The Diedra rose from the landing pad and shot off into space, but the view was still focused on the launch pad. There was an explosion on the other side of the launch pad and lava shot up from the ground. Nearby another lava vent erupted, shooting red-orange lava into the dark sky. The ground around the camera continued to crack and vent yellow sulfur steam. Varlikon, Jit, and Cardassians began running for their lives. The lava poured out onto the street and began flowing toward the camera. The picture went static and the holograph of the Uylito system returned. “Diedra, zilikata tarta cinta.” The view changed to an external visual sensor on the Diedra that was focused on Aphripa. Lines of orange-red raced across the surface as the planet began to implode. Then the picture changed to stars racing by at warp and ended. “Diedra, show Uylito system as it is now,” Sista said. The system appeared, but where Aphripa had been there was now an asteroid belt. “This is Siva.” Sista pointed to the planet orbiting inside the asteroid belt. “The explosion re-arranged the solar system.” She pointed to the belt. “This was Aphripa.” Sista looked at Archer. “Like I said, there’s nothing to miss. Only a bunch of rocks.” “Where is the Uylito system?” Archer asked again. “Long ways away. At the edge of the Milkyway. Y45 in your database.” “That’s a long ways away,” Archer agreed. Sista nodded. They fell silent. Sista smiled. “When do you think you’ll see your home again?” Archer shrugged. “Maybe in a couple years...maybe longer. I don’t know. Hell, if I had my way I’d die on the bridge out here.” Sista smiled, looking at him. “I don’t think your crew would like to hear that.” “Probably not.” “So you’ll go home one day. Back to Earth. Be thankful you have home to go to.” “You have a home, Vardee,” Archer said. Sista shook her head, looking away. “Vardee, we may not be blood related family, but does that matter? I know I, and many others, think of you as family.” Archer smiled. “Not to mention you have a man that’s crazy in love with you. What more could a girl want?” Sista smiled, softly giggling. “I could want the finest Derivuin silk dresses, million of bars of latinum--gold pressed--and breakfast in bed every morning. Oh! And I wouldn’t mind owning a planet or two.” The two laughed at her joke. “Well, that’s not asking for much,” Archer laughed. “I try to keep it simple.” The two laughed again. Sista looked up at the holographs around them. “Diedra, bring up earth’s solar system.” The holograph changed. Sista stepped off the chair and walked over to earth. Archer could see her smile in the glow of the sun. “This is your home?” Vardee asked, pointing at the holograph of earth. “Yes.” Sista smiled. Archer got up and walked over to earth. He walked around it until he found North America. He pointed to where San Francisco was located. “This is where I was living before we launched Enterprise.” Sista smiled, looking at it. “Malcolm loaded all these places and descriptions of places. See if he put the building you lived at in the database.” Archer smiled. “Diedra, bring up 2145 Downing Street.” The holograph expanded to a sunny street in San Francisco and a street lined with a row of narrow townhouses. Archer walked up to the steps of one of the townhouses. It was painted brown with a dark cream trim and on the step sat a bronze statue of a begging Beagle. “Here?” Sista asked, walking up to stand beside Archer. “Did you program this?” Archer asked her. “No. Trip did. Malcolm gathered the data, but Trip programmed everything. Why?” Archer sat down on the top step, patting the statue. He looked up at Sista. “He remembered my pre-Porthos statue. I’m surprised he did. I gave it to a friend the night before we left. For safe keeping.” Sista sat down next to him. “Pre-Porthos?” “I’ve always liked Beagles, but never had a place I could have one until I bought this place. That statue moved everywhere with me. And then I got Porthos.” “Was the statue jealous?” Sista joked. Archer laughed, looking at the statue. “Perhaps. But Porthos spent hours sitting at the screen door staring at it.” Sista laughed. “What did you do with this place when you left?” “Sold it. I didn’t know if I’d be back any time soon.” “You guessed right.” “It was a premonition.” Archer laughed, sliding his hands in his pants pockets. Sista turned, looking behind them. Archer turned, seeing the ocean beyond the city. Sista pointed at the ocean. “I have only seen an ocean in the holograph the children made for you. Is it really this pretty?” “The ocean is beautiful.” Archer took a couple steps forward. “Jon’than?” Sista laid her hand on his arm. Archer looked down at her. “Yes?” “Thank you, Jon’than. Don’t tell Malcolm about today. I don’t want him to worry.” “I won’t,” Archer promised, putting his arm around her shoulder. “I get homesick sometimes too.” Sista laid her head against his shoulder, laying her hand on top of his. The two friends stood on Downing Street watching the ocean beyond San Francisco. |
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