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"Warrior Souls"
Rating: PG-13 This chapter re-introduces another Enterprise character...and you'll either love him or hate him. Reviews and comments needed! Thanks ;) Seven Leen'da sat in front of a line of fragrant candles, her hands clasped in her lap. The flickering flames mesmerized her; light and shadow chasing each other, so much like her life and her world. “Are you ready, my Lady? It may be uncomfortable for you, if you are not completely grounded.” She nodded and felt the Priestess's hand on her left cheek. Joh'leen's cool fingers spread over her right cheek. Immediately, she felt a sense of disorientation and a rising panic. Mental discipline took over; she forced herself to control her breathing and heartbeat. Slowly, she floated free, as if she was in her mother's womb... The child of the past and of the future. The words rose in her mind unbidden. The one who was and will be. The one who came and will come. Different timelines, different destinies. This timeline is in danger; we must correct it immediately. More voices, familiar and unfamiliar. The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is an impossibility... The Aronians destroyed themselves; all that's left are ruins. The Aronians died, the Vulcans lived. The Aronians survived, the Vulcans died. Instead of the Vulcans, the Klingons arrived on Earth in 2063, and thus, the Terran-Klingon war had begun. The Aronians allied themselves with their warrior brothers, forged an agreement with the Xindi, and destroyed Earth. Then time blinked. The Vulcans lived, the Aronians lived. Two warrior cultures, one matrilineal, one patriarchal, meeting for the first time. Surak and Hu'fase, two warriors for peace, one laughing at their foibles; the other wearing a slight smile, which was all he allowed himself... Leen'da rose above it all and watched in mixed fascination and horror. She saw Joh'leen as a ruthless Clan Matriarch, leading her troops into battle. She saw herself as Yoshiko, a samurai woman from her own Terran history, defending her family from a rival clan. Then, suddenly, she saw a man, a tall blond one with the last name of Tucker, fighting on the field named Gettysburg in another bloody war between brothers, and she saw him fall in a hail of rifle fire... A dark-skinned man, serving in North Africa during World War Three, against Khan Noonien Singh and his minions; he was a medic named Mayweather, comforting a patient with a bright grin and a laugh; and the patient looked familiar, with brown hair and green eyes, and the last name of Archer...and she watched helplessly as a shredder bomb ripped through the medical encampment, and the young medic died in his patient's arms... Water swirled all around him, but he'd managed to seal the bulkheads, isolating the flooded engine room from the rest of the ship. He clung to the remains of the submarine engine as the level rose, his mouth moving silently in a prayer. “Our Father, thou art in Heaven...” His panic choked him as the water crept up to his neck, then his chin, but he knew that he'd bought time for his crewmates to escape, and he was going down with his ship, Her Majesty's Ship Clement, dying heroically, an honor to his namesake, a naval family named Reed... Leen'da picked her way carefully; it was easy to reach out and shield the man in Gettysburg, or protect the medic or pluck the drowning man from a watery grave, but instinct told her not to. Her heart cried out, but a cold voice told her, These deaths are necessary. “Why?” she screamed. “Why am I seeing all this? This world is not my own--” “But it is,” interrupted a man's voice. “You just don't remember.” She whirled around. He wore the clothes of an Aronian soldier under General Hu'fase's command, but the features were too smooth, too unnatural to be Human. Leen'da didn't recognize him at first, but then she heard Joh'leen's cool voice over her shoulder. “Daniels.” Joh'leen appeared in her vision, but instead of her robes, she wore a snug, body-hugging fabric. Her long blonde hair had been cut into a severe style and colored brown, and her delicate ears tapered to a point. Leen'da gaped at her, a friend and a stranger at the same time. The man called Daniels inclined his head in acknowledgment. “We meet again, Sub-Commander T'Pol, though I wish the circumstances were better.” “You brought us here,” said Joh'leen/T'Pol. “Why?” “Actually, I didn't. The timeline did. It called you back to a certain point of this people's history, so you can change it. The Aronians weren't supposed to die, but someone manipulated it so they were destroyed.” “The so-called 'Shadows'?” Daniels's smile was enigmatic. “That's a good name for them, so with your permission, I'll steal it. They're behind what we call the Temporal Cold War, and their leader is quite...persuasive, like with the Suliban.” “Who is he?” “I don't know his name...although 'Future Guy' will work as any.” T'Pol didn't quite roll her eyes and Leen'da giggled at the pained expression. “Your penchant for high drama is as prevalent as Commander Tucker's.” “Guilty as accused, Sub-Commander.” His grin vanished as if it never been. “Your captain and the others have already made significant changes, much to the Shadows' annoyance. Needless to say, they've been a burr in the Shadows's non-existent side. Archer, most definitely, and Tucker as well, but Reed's really been a problem for them.” “Malcolm?” Leen'da whispered. The name made sense to her now. The man she knew as Dom'ni was Malcolm Reed, and she saw some of the changes that Daniels mentioned. Dom'ni and Kan'nar were supposed to die in the bridge explosion, but they both survived. Malcolm and Trip survived and were able to change the course of the war. How? Daniels nodded. “Our intrepid Armory officer realized that the Shadows armed the enemy with some kind of ballistic missile, and now he's off to stop them. Alone.” The words flew out of Leen'da's mouth before she could stop them. “Is he crazy? He's going to get himself killed again! That lovable, suicidal fool has such a damnable death wish, and if he dies, I'm really gonna kill him!” She clamped both hands over her mouth in horror. T'Pol raised her eyebrows and Daniels only gazed at her. The time-traveler gently placed his hands on either side of her face and whispered the words she'd heard in her waking dreams. “Who are you? What is your name? Where is your true heart?” She held herself still and gazed deep into those unnatural eyes. A wall broke deep within her, and memories flooded her mind. Not just any memories. Hers. She Remembered. She Remembered it all. The music of more than fifty alien languages, the fear of the unknown, her insecurity being on the first Warp 5 starship, her growing maturity under the friendships of Jonathan Archer, T'Pol of Vulcan, Charles Tucker the Third, Travis Mayweather, Doctor Phlox of Denobula. Her growing love for Malcolm Reed, that difficult and taciturn Brit, who was a part of her now... Parted from me and never parted... She recognized the Vulcan words, spoken in T'Pol's voice, and for the first time, appreciated and understood the bond between T'Pol and Trip. The answers came in a rush.“I am the daughter of my samurai ancestors. My name is Hoshi Sato. My true heart beats in defense of peace...and love. My heart belongs to my friends and the man I love.” Daniels nodded and said quietly, “And your friends and your lover are in danger, Hoshi Sato. Will you help us save them?” She nodded, her mind crystal clear. Then she caught T'Pol's look of complete agreement. Hoshi looked up at Daniels and replied, “What do you want me to do?” |
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