Distant Shores - Marco Palmieri [62]
He never returned Gres’s message.
“I’m going to kill her.”
When Ramiro entered Mark’s office and made that pronouncement, Mark had been absently fiddling with his left ring finger. The wedding ring didn’t weigh all that much, but Mark couldn’t help but be hyper-aware of its mass. The wedding had been a month and a half ago, and he was still getting used to the idea.
Mark didn’t even need to ask who “her” was-it had to be Taisha. “What is it this time?”
“She pulled the rug out from under us again. ‘The war effort,’ she said. Ever since she got that promotion after her pet project was such a success, she’s turned into a complete martinet.”
Mark sighed. “You know, Ramiro, there is a war on. Right now, people are lot more concerned with the Dominion and a lot less concerned with plant hybridization.” When Dominion forces took over the Bajoran sector, it started the war that everyone had been fearing for years. It actually compelled Carla and Mark to accelerate their plans, getting married several months sooner than they originally intended.
“I guess.” Ramiro lightly punched the wall of Mark’s office. “I’m just so sick of it, you know? For years we’ve been worrying about the Dominion, and now this-it isn’t supposed to be like this, is it?”
“What isn’t?”
“I don’t know. I’m just babbling.”
Chuckling, Mark said, “That’s nothing new.” Then his comm beeped.
Before Mark could say anything, Ramiro said, “I’ll let you take that. Talk to you later.”
When Ramiro departed, he activated the viewer, only to see Gretchen Janeway’s face. “Mark, you’re not going to believe it-they’re alive!”
Mark blinked. “What’re you- “
“They found Voyager ! Well, sort of. I didn’t get all the specifics-apparently it involves something classified-I swear to you, this war has turned Starfleet crazy, it wasn’t like this in Edward’s day-anyway, they got some kind of message from Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram. Apparently, Kathryn was able to use some kind of alien communications array to send the hologram through.”
The phaser drill started in on Mark’s stomach again. “Kathryn-you mean, she’s alive?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m trying to tell you! According to the hologram, they got sent to the Delta Quadrant by some kind of array four years ago. They’ve had some losses, but they’ve integrated with the Maquis crew they were chasing-they’re all working together, and trying to get home!”
Mark shook his head. “She’s alive…” he muttered.
But she was also impossibly far away-the Delta Quadrant was at least twenty thousand light-years away, possibly more. It would take decades for them to get back to Federation space.
That night, when he and Carla got home, there was a more formal message from Starfleet waiting for him. Steeling himself, holding tightly onto Carla’s hand, he sat down on the couch-since proposing to Carla, he had been able to sit on the couch regularly again-and played it.
It was from some admiral he didn’t know. He told him a lot of what Kath’s mother said, plus some more details, including a full list of who survived-and who didn’t. He was pleased-both for Kath’s sake out there in the Delta Quadrant as well as that of T’Pel and their children-that Tuvok was among the survivors. Aaron Cavit was not, sadly, nor was Stadi, nor the entire medical staff-which was why the EMH was in use in the first place. However, Joe Carey, Harry Kim, Tom Paris, and Vorik were among the survivors. So was Samantha Wildman and, to Mark’s surprise and glee, Samantha’s daughter Naomi-and Gres was the father. She discovered that she was pregnant very soon into their Delta Quadrant sojourn. I guess those trips to that doctor on DS9 did the trick….
Kath had also made Chakotay-the Maquis captain she was chasing-her new first officer to replace Cavit and had indeed integrated the members of Chakotay’s cell into her crew. It was