Laria opened her eyes. She looked around in panic. The last thing she remembered was connecting the reactor lead to the subspace relay, the sound of Daniel's agonizing screams in her ears…but now she had no idea where she was.
She seemed to be surrounded by bright white light and nothing else. The sound of her heart beating echoed through her ears. She couldn't see anyone else, but had the overwhelming feeling that she was not alone.
"Who's there?" Laria asked loudly. Her voice echoed off the emptiness like she was in a sealed space, but there was absolutely no sense of scale. The light surrounding her seemed impenetrable.
She looked down at her body. Her uniform, her hands, nothing at all showed any signs of the plasma explosion. In fact, Laria felt physically better than she had in ages. Then, as if somebody had flipped a switch in her brain, she had the epiphany:
"I'm dead…" she said out loud.
"Dead?" a voice came from behind her. She spun around to see General Rhaan, standing in the light and staring straight at her. "What does she refer to?" he asked dispassionately cocking his head to one side.
"She refers to the termination of her linear existence," came another voice. Laria looked around to see Kira standing on the other side of her.
"This doesn't make any sense…" Laria said still in disbelief.
"She is of Bajor," another voice sounded out from the light.
"Laria turned her head once more to see Vedek Grigan standing there with his hands crossed in front of him. "She sacrificed herself her linear existence to save it."
"But she is not of Bajor," the figure of Rhaan said loudly. "She knows so little of it."
"And yet she feels it within her," the Kira figure said without any hint of emotion. "How curious…"
Laria felt her knees start to shake.
"Prophets!" she said dropping to her knees and averting her eyes.
"She did not expect to meet us," came another voice. Laria looked up and found herself back in OPS at Deep Space Nine. The sound of her heartbeat still pounded in her head. Annabeth looked down at her. Laria climbed back to her feet and walked over.
"But she believed in the Celestial Temple, and has for the majority of her linear existence." Another figure, this one in the shape of Katie stared at her from across the room.
"She is not of Bajor," the voice of Rhaan echoed in her head again. She was back in the white light.
"And yet she sacrificed everything to save it," Kira added.
"Prophets," Laria said as the whole disorientation of the experience started to kick in. "But…"
The figure of Rhaan raised his hand to silence her.
"She is not of Bajor," he repeated again more forcefully.
"She IS of Bajor," Vedek Grigan said again.
Laria finally couldn't take anymore. They might be her gods, but they were not giving her any answers.
"Where am I? WHAT am I!?" she shouted.
"You are you…" the figure of Kira said appearing directly next to her. Laria froze as Kira grabbed her ear. "Her pagh is strong."
"Her heart burns with a new fire," the figure of Katie said appearing in front of her.
"Her purpose has not been met," Annabeth said from behind her.
"What purpose?" Laria said looking at the figures surrounding her. "What am I supposed to do?"
Suddenly, she found herself alone, standing on the bridge of the Pershing. The sound of her heartbeat still pounding in her brain.
"You are of Bajor," Vedek Grigan said calmly. "But you are not of Bajor," Rhaan repeated. "You live in this place."
"You are both," Kira said directly next to her ear. "You will see the old brought into the new."
"Is that my purpose?" Laria asked nervously. "To bring Bajor closer to the Federation?"
"You will do what no other of Bajor has done," Kira added.
"To meet her purpose, she must be reborn. Her linear existence must continue," Annabeth said firmly.
"She will be reborn in fire," Katie said.
"Her place is not here," Rhaan added as Laria found herself back in the white light.
"Her place does lie elsewhere now," Vedek Grigan said with a nod of his head.
"She will be reborn…" Kira said as her expressionless face turned to a smile. "…in fire."
****
The Pershing had docked at Deep Space Nine along with Dee's fighter squadron. Katie, Phil, T'les, and Scharr had joined Annabeth and Kira outside the infirmary waiting for any news from Alex and Bashir. Tigranian, however, couldn't stand just standing there helplessly.
He wandered into the Bajoran temple on the promenade. As he stared at the altar, he prayed to Kahless, the Prophets, and anyone else who would listen for a miracle.
"I am a Klingon warrior!" he said fighting back tears. "Death, especially such a glorious death as hers, should fill me with pride…" he said staring at the Bajoran eternity wheel mounted on the wall, "but instead I feel only pain. Bring her back to me, please…"
He felt someone else step inside the room He turned around to see Rhaan staring back at him.
"She sacrificed herself to save Bajor," Rhaan said looking down at the carpet. He cautiously took a few steps towards Tigranian who made no effort to stop him. "She will be remembered as a hero to our people, I promise you that."
"Forgive me, General, but I take little solice in that right now…" Tigranian said averting his gaze. Rhaan nodded understandingly and took another step towards the captain.
"I don't blame you at all. It's obvious you loved her very much."
Tigranian shut his eyes tight. Tears from a warrior's eyes were bad enough, but he definitely didn't want this man to see him cry.
"Yes, I did." Tigranian said resigning himself to what seemed inevitable now.
"Back at the reception," Rhaan cautiously began. "You said you hoped that you could convince me that Starfleet wanted to be our partner." The general sighed. "If it helps ease your pain at all, you and your crew have done exactly that. In my report, I'm going to recommend that Bajor continue working towards full Federation membership. It's because of the Pershing that I still have a home to go back to you. Thank you, Captain."
"Don't thank me," Tigranian said meeting his gaze. "Thank her."
"I will…"
"Hunter to Tigranian." Alex's voice echoed out of Tigranian's comm badge. He took a deep breath as he prepared to roar. He wanted all the honored dead his Sto'Vo'Kor to know his par'Mach'kai was crossing the River of Blood to meet them.
"Go ahead…" Tigranian growled.
"There's someone here who I think probably wants to speak to you…"
Tigranian and Rhaan looked at each other.
****
The captain rushed into the infirmary and into the crowd of crew members.
Just as Tigranian approached Annabeth and Kira, the figures of Bashir and Alex stepped through the door. Julian had a look of amazement on his face.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked, not able to take the tension anymore.
"I have a greater knowledge of Bajoran physiology than most Federation physicians, but I have no idea what just transpired in there."
"Alex?" Tigranian said looking to his chief medical officer. Quietly, she walked up to the captain and took his hand in hers.
"Dan," she said on the verge of tears. "I can't explain it. There was absolutely no signs of life. She was dead…and then she wasn't. It's like she just decided to wake up."
Tigranian rushed straight past Alex.
"Sir, you can't…" Bashir said holding out a hand to stop him, but a touch from Kira silenced the doctor's complaint.
"Let him see her, Julian. I think we owe them that much."
Tigranian stepped inside the operating theater. Laria lay on a biobed a few meters away. She sensed his presence and painfully raised her head.
"Daniel…" she said as a smile crossed her pale face.
"No, don't move," he said rushing over. He bent down on one knee to look her in the eyes before gently placing a hand on her cheek.
"I thought I had lost you for good this time…" he whispered fighting back tears of joy.
"Daniel," Laria said moving her gaze to the ceiling. "I met the Prophets."
"What?" he replied still in shock.
"I awoke in the Celestial Temple. I actually spoke to them. They said I still had a purpose in this life and they sent me back."
"You didn't see the River of Blood?" he said almost sounding disappointed. Laria couldn't help but chuckle, but a wave of pain from her side caused her to wince.
"Hey, take it easy," he said moving a pillow under her head.
"No, I didn't see Kortar's boat this time," she said regaining her composure. "But they did tell me something else."
"What?"
"That my place now lies elsewhere. I hope they meant at Kahless' table with you," she said grinning.
Now it was Tigranian's turn to laugh.
"I hope they did too…" he replied. After seeing her smile, he couldn't wait anymore and kissed her. His touch instantly caused her to relax. "...but I hope that's not for a very long time."
He leaned back and gazed at her once again, a grin slowly creeping across his face.
"I know that face," Laria said pursing her lips. "That's the 'I'm thinking something mean about my fiancée face."
"Well," Tigranian said cocking his head to one side. "You spoke to your gods today and basically got kicked out of heaven. That's probably the most Klingon thing I've ever heard."
"Oh shut up," Laria said. Now, it was her turn to lean up and kiss him.
Suddenly, they both felt they were being watched. They simultaneously looked over to the door and saw a half dozen pairs of eyes staring at them. Tigranian stared at Annabeth and grimaced. His first officer just shrugged her shoulders.
"Hey!" Laria said shouting at them. "Can't a woman come back from the dead in peace here?" she took special pleasure in glaring at General Rhaan. The group of gawkers suddenly looked away in embarrassment and left the room.
As they were heading back to the promenade, Kira leaned over to Annabeth.
"Remember when I asked how the hell those two got engaged?"
"Yes," Annabeth said with a smile.
"I get it now."
Annabeth laughed.
"I think we all do."