Star Trek : Angel - Vignette No 2

[unusualsuspex]

Cadet Hiroshi Misaki had pondered her future long before Starfleet Academy. Her life had offered her many directions, each one of which seemed to offer a shining future and yet not one of them seemed the right choice. So what was it that finally made her choose Starfleet?​

HIROSHI MISAKI​

A STRANGER’S KINDNESS​

Plato - Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.​

SS ARCADIA
SUBSPACE
EN ROUTE TO EARTH
February 20th 2367​

“Settle my little one, it will pass.” Hiroshi Yuuka stroked the forehead of her youngest daughter and held her close. The shivers that wracked her small body began to subside and her breathing eased. For now, the crisis was over.​

She took a cool cloth from the wash basin and gently wiped Sakura’s face and noticed that the red flush was fading. She smiled at her daughter, but on the inside her heart was breaking.​

“Sleep now, you will need your rest when we arrive on Earth. There is so much to see!”​

“Yes mama.” She looked up at her mother with perfect almond eyes and said, “Will the doctors really make me better mama?”​

I don’t know, we have tried so many thought Yuuka but what she said was “Let us wait and see little one.”​

The eyes of the little six year old began to drift closed as her mother rocked her and before long she had fallen into a deep sleep. Laying her daughter down gently in the bed, she turned on the night light and quietly left, safe in the knowledge that Sakura would, for now, sleep peacefully.​

PARIS
FRANCE
EARTH
February 21st 2367​

Q looked out over the historic city of Paris from his perch on the pinnacle of the Tour Eiffel and sighed in the way that only an omnipotent being could sigh. He still didn’t understand why his fascination with this noxious little species occupied so much of his obviously brilliant mind. And yet here he was again, observing them.​

Yes their lives and aspirations were petty and meaningless in the scheme of things, but if Jean-Luc Picard had taught him nothing else, it was that the human race was tenacious. They clung to life, to hope like few other species he’d encountered. The Klingons were only too happy to throw their lives away in the belief that Sto-vo-kor awaited them. The Romulans were willing to throw other’s lives away much more freely, but even they would sacrifice their own at the drop of a hat rather than be taken prisoner by their enemies. The Borg…pah, the Borg don’t even realise they have lives he thought.​

He watched the teeming streets below as a child would study an ant farm. Each tiny spark of humanity would go about his or her business and interact like frantic molecules with others while ultimately living their lives for themselves.
Every so often though, he would detect a moment that stood out in its own obscure way and catalogue it for future reference.​

Still, he sighed. Truth be told (which was a rarity for Q) he knew it wasn’t humanity that was causing his melancholy. Not entirely anyway. His relationship with Q over the past four billion years – give or take – had often caused moments like this. Q infuriated him, plagued him, belittled him, lambasted him and generally made his life a total misery. No wonder he was so fond of her.​

Wonderful he thought. I’m even thinking like Jean-Luc now.
But he couldn’t deny the truth of the matter. Four billion years might seem like a short time, but he genuinely believed they may have a future together. More importantly, (and this is where humanity played its part), he had begun to feel…broody for want of a better term. He’d found himself, in the quieter moments of watching stars go nova and observing petty intergalactic wars, wishing he had a son to share it with.​

And worst of all, he didn’t understand why a child would make the slightest difference. He didn’t like not understanding. In a fit of pique, he mentally guided a large flock of the vermin humans called pigeons over the Palais de Concorde and had them defecate en masse, much to the surprise of the Federation President who had just been enjoying the view.​

Vie de merde Monsieur Le President he thought then clicked his fingers and disappeared.​

SPACEDOCK
EARTH GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT
February 22nd 2367​

Hiroshi Tarou, with his family in tow looked around the passenger terminal of Spacedock in confusion. The Gal-Lines representative had given him quite clear instructions on how to reach the transporter annex which he had nodded and smiled at before getting completely lost.​

Shaking his head, he turned to his wife. “She said turn left at the immigration control, then up one deck to the main concourse and look for the main transporter signs. I do not understand.”​

She sighed in the way of wives galaxy wide (except for Klingon women who struck first) and said mildly “No Tarou, she said down one deck, as I have been trying to tell you.”​

Without waiting for his embarrassed reply she approached a tall, blonde Starfleet lieutenant commander.​

“Excuse me, could you direct me to the main transporter annex please?” She smiled looking at Tarou and the girls. “My husband, much as I love him, seems to have problems remembering directions.”​

The blonde laughed. “Oh that sounds like most of the men I’ve ever known.” She pointed across the busy concourse, “Take the turbolift down two decks and as you come out, go left past the Port Authority offices and it’s the next left.”​

At that point the overhead tannoy chimed. “Lieutenant Commander Gray please report to Docking Gate 7, that’s Lieutenant Commander Gray to Docking Gate 7. Thank you.”​

“Sorry,” said the blonde, “that’s my call, but good luck!”​

As she jogged off to her assignment, Yuuka returned and took Sakura and Asami’s hands. “This way my gallant husband,” she smiled and the girls all grinned at him.​

“I’m still convinced she said up one deck…” he grumbled, and Yuuka laughed.​

RIO DE JANEIRO
BRAZIL
EARTH
February 22nd 2367​

Q, in all his infinite self-confessed wisdom, still found that calling a carnival Fat Tuesday took some of the fun out of it. He had imagined that the riot of colour and sound that was Mardi Gras might have lifted his spirits some, but despite dancing in the parade and causing a firework display to create a short lived image of his face in the sky, his melancholy mood would not be shaken.​

Sitting at the feet of the statue Of Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado Mountain, he watched the twinkling lights below. He’d been tempted in his depression to make the statue wave at the crowds, but then thought better of meddling in religious affairs.​

“This is pathetic,” he blurted. “There has got to be something to get me out of this miserable mood.”​

“Try a little kindness.” The voice came from a shabby looking woman standing a little distance away.​

“I was talking to myself Madam if you don’t mind.”​

“Oh I know that sir, but up here you never know who might hear you.” She looked up at the towering statue, its arms outspread in benediction. “It was acts of kindness that made Him the man he was.”​

“Well thank you for your insight into my tortured psyche Madam. I’m sure I’ll be fine now.” His caustic tone hid the fact that deep down (very deep, but there nonetheless), her words had touched something.​

“I believe you will sir. Enjoy the Carnival.”​

He turned with another cutting remark on the tip of his tongue only to find that she had melted into the shadows once more.​

“I was right; it’s obviously an inherent fault in humanity to say exactly the right thing at precisely the wrong time.” He raised his hands to click his fingers but paused for some reason to study the shadows where the woman had disappeared. Shaking his head, he never saw the flash of his disappearance briefly illuminate the smiling face of the woman.​

LONDON
ENGLAND
EARTH
February 23rd 2367​

They had a short time to kill before their appointment with the doctors and were currently enjoying it by walking along the banks of the River Thames. Sakura had decided that today she wanted to be a pigeon and had been flapping her arms ceaselessly as she ran around her parents and sisters.​

Misaki smiled at her little sister’s antics. It was sometimes hard to believe that she was afflicted with a terminal disease. Their visit to Earth, and to London in particular, had been to meet with specialists who they hoped could provide the treatment that would make little Sakura’s life a little more comfortable. Both she and Asami were old enough to know that it would never cure her though and were making the most of the short time they had with her.​

Misaki herself was here with her own agenda. She needed a direction for her future now that her exams were finished. Despite finishing in the top five percentile of her school and having almost carte blanche on her future, nothing piqued her interest. She’d briefly considered becoming involved in the scientific research work that her father was employed in, but realised that was too close to home for her. She knew she needed to branch out.​

It was then that she noticed that her father had stopped one of the passers by to take their picture. The tall and slightly flustered looking man took several holos as they stood with their back to Big Ben and when he had finished her father proudly introduced his family. They bowed in the formal manner and were impressed (if slightly amused) when the man clumsily returned the greeting.​

“We are celebrating my eldest daughter’s completion of her exams though she is unsure of her future as yet.”​

The man looked thoughtfully at them as he said, “The future, Mr Hiroshi, is a very malleable thing. It is what we make it, whereas the past can never be changed.” His voice tailed off as he looked back toward the crowd, obviously searching for somebody.​

“Mr Hiroshi, I’m afraid I have to dash but I hope your stay here is pleasant.”​

“Thank you Mr…” but the man was already moving off through the crowds.​

He smiled, returning his attention to his family. “Time I think to eat.” The three girls were more than enthusiastic about that and Sakura dashed off ahead, flapping her tiny arms and cooing much to the amusement of the crowds passing by.​

Misaki looked back to see her mother arm in arm with her father, her smile radiant. She wished she could capture this moment, freeze it in time and never have to face the events of the afternoon but knew that the only way she could freeze time was to remember this moment. Sakura flew on ahead, oblivious to all around her.​

******​

 

[unusualsuspex]

Re: Star Trek : Angel - Vignette No 2 (cont)

Q was also pretty much oblivious to his surroundings as his mood had deepened. It was no good, it was obviously this depressing little dirt ball of a planet that was bringing him down. What he needed was a good Klingon opera to blow the cobwebs out of his head, though admittedly the border line between good Klingon opera and bad was very narrow.​

He never even noticed the small child until she ran headlong into his legs and bounced backwards on to the pavement. She looked up at him from her seat on the floor and said in a voice filled with awe “You are very, very tall!”​

“And you, young lady, are very small.” Strangely, it wasn’t what he’d intended to say at all. His actual thought had been young children should be neither seen nor heard, and yet something had stopped him.​

The young child placed a hand to her chest and suddenly began to gasp. Oh wonderful, this is where she begins to bawl and everybody points at the nasty man. He was about to make a hasty departure before an irate parent appeared when the small girl fell sideways, her breath now wheezing fitfully.​

He would never know why he bent down to her side at that point and as a small crowd gathered around him, he immediately wondered why he had.​

“She’s choking!” somebody whispered, while another voice said “Do something!”​

“Shutting up might help!” he snapped back and the woman suddenly found herself temporarily unable to voice a snappy comeback.​

He lifted the child’s head and saw that her face was taking on a distinct blue pallor. Had he been out of sight he would simply have performed something very Q in nature and sent the child running off back to her mother none the wiser, but with a crowd gathered round it was an option he didn’t have.​

Thinking quickly, he imagined into being a small laser scalpel case in his pocket just as he heard a startled gasp from his left. By the almond eyes and dark hair, it could only be the child’s mother. And now we have histrionics to add to the commotion but nothing of the sort occurred.​

She knelt beside Q and said, as he took the laser scalpel case from his pocket, “Are you a doctor?”​

“Starfleet Medical Madam.” The lie came easily after all the time he’d spent teasing Jean-Luc and his band of Moron Men, but his attention was now back on the child. He felt her start to slip away and something inside him said THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. Vaguely he heard the mother say something about Chendari Syndrome and how it had never been this bad before, how they had always managed to cope.​

Turning to her he said “Please call an ambulance,” and then he tuned her and the crowd around him out as he laid the child on her back and made a small incision in her throat.
Misaki watched in awe as the man carefully worked a tube into the incision he’d made.​

As the child drew a deep, shuddering breath through the tube Q placed a hand on her chest, for all the world appearing simply to be aiding her breathing. But deep inside her small body he found the virulent centre of her disease and with a brief thought, twisted its genetic make up.
Malignant scar tissue softened and down at a level beyond comprehension, the power of the disease to harm became negated with one action. Q knew it would remain in her system for some time but the threat to her life was ended.​

The crowd parted as a paramedic team arrived and the lead member looked at the emergency tracheotomy. “Nice work mate.”​

Q involuntarily swelled up at the praise. Obviously he could have simply thought the swelling in her throat away, but where would the showmanship have been in that? “A little barbaric I suppose but…” He had no chance to expound on his handy work as the medic shouldered him aside to lift the little girl on to a gurney.​

Despite being somewhat miffed to have his moment of glory swiftly snuffed out, Q saw his chance to slip quietly away from the spotlight. Once out of sight of the milling crowd, he snapped his fingers with just one wistful glance at the small form as it was carried into the ambulance…​

…and continued to watch from the very top spire of Big Ben across the river.​

Now what was that all about? He wondered of himself. A selfless act Q? He rarely let himself become involved with anybody – anything – on the personal level and yet he realised that he couldn’t have stood by and done nothing. Strangely, his melancholic mood had lifted as well. He’d just have to make sure that nobody, not in the Continuum, not anywhere, ever heard of this. He had, after all, an appearance to maintain.​

The thought of a small Q (as opposed to a lower case q) returned to him again. I wonder he thought whether it’s not time to rekindle Q’s passion. The advantage of a small Q was that he would never have to worry about nappies, which seemed an appropriate enough thought to leave Earth with. He smiled, not the usual sneer he reserved for the less deserving characters of the human race, but a genuine one for the small child then snapped his fingers.​

SACRED HEART HOSPITAL
LONDON
ENGLAND
EARTH
February 24th 2367​

Sakura opened her eyes sleepily and tried to speak. Yuuka, who had been sat by her bed throughout the night, got up to take her hand.​

“Mama is here little one.”​

“Where is the tall man mama?”​

Yuuka wished she knew. She’d attempted to find him before the ambulance left the embankment but to no avail. It was as if he’d disappeared into thin air. All she said to Sakura though was, “He was a very busy man and had to go to work but he said to wish you well.”​

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. “He made me better mama. Did he tell you?”​

Yuuka nodded, tears of joy in her eyes. “Yes he did little one.” That simple act of kindness by a stranger had given her just a little longer with her daughter, a gift whose value was beyond calculation. “Yes he did, but now you must rest.”​

Sakura looked at her in the strangest way. “Now that he made me better mama, does that mean I don’t have to hurt any more?”​

Yuuka’s heart broke at the question. The stranger may have saved her life yesterday, but there was nothing that medicine could do to stop the pain that Chendari Syndrome brought.​

“Just rest for now and we will talk soon.”​

Sakura smiled, accepting her mother’s words and her heavy eyes closed once more. Yuuka quietly stepped out of the room to see her husband in quiet conversation with the specialist, a look of shock on his face. She bit her lip knowing what that meant.​

“Yuuka, the doctor needs to speak with us.” Her heart fell as the doctor took them into the small room adjoining Sakura’s and sat them down.​

“Mrs Hiroshi, I’m Doctor Edwards.” She nodded, not really caring now that they had come this far. “I need to ask you one or two questions about Sakura if you’re feeling up to it?” Again she nodded wordlessly as Tarou took her hand.​

The doctor asked how Sakura had been the past few weeks, whether the Chendari had seemed worse, how her daughter seemed to be coping and other questions that she answered much like an automaton.​

Eventually the questions ended and the doctor studied his notes with a perplexed expression. “Mr and Mrs Hiroshi, I’m not quite sure how to tell you this…”​

Here it comes, thought Yuuka.​

“I…that is…” He stopped, unsure how to continue. “To be honest I’m not sure exactly what has happened with Sakura, but the Chendari virus has become inert.”​

Yuuka looked at him. “I’m afraid I do not understand doctor. Do you mean she is in remission again?” More time for her to share with little Sakura, but more pain for her child. The equation was simply not fair.​

“No Mrs Hiroshi, I mean it appears to be totally inert. That means there still seems to be a trace of it in her results, but the malignant tissue that was forming in her throat and lungs is retreating. The swelling in her brain is completely gone.” He shook his head. “I’m at a loss to explain this but within a few months, if this continues, Sakura will have no symptoms whatsoever. The disease seems to have simply…given up.”​

She looked at the doctor, then at Tarou, then back to the doctor. Confusion, hope and joy swirled around in her mind. She recalled her little one’s words; “He made me better mama.” It couldn’t be.​

“Is this a result of yesterday doctor?”​

The doctor shrugged, frustrated to be unable to give a definitive answer. “I don’t see how Mrs Hiroshi. The gentleman saved her life no doubt about it, but this…I’m sorry I simply can’t explain it.” He smiled. “It’s best I think that we simply accept the mystery of good fortune.” As Tarou placed an arm around her shoulders and the tears of joy flowed from both of them, the doctor stood.​

“I should warn you that we’re not completely out of the woods yet. There will need to be more tests and Sakura may have relapses as her body copes with the changes.”​

“Of course doctor,” Tarou said, “we understand.”​

“Then I’ll let you have some time alone.” He shook their hands and smiled. “Medical miracles I’ll accept any day.” As he left the room, Yuuka looked deep into her husband’s eyes as they both wept tears of joy. “Tarou, we have our daughter back.”​

******​

In the waiting room, they explained the turn of events to Asami and Misaki, such as they could. The girls were ecstatic and they hugged their parents and each other with such joy that Misaki dropped the folder she’d been carrying spilling its contents across the floor.​

Stooping to pick them up, her father saw the bold print across the heading that read ‘A CAREER IN STARFLEET’. He raised his eyebrows at Misaki who smiled.​

“I believe it is the right choice for me father.” In fact she’d thought about it many times and then dropped the idea as others came along, but the events of yesterday had eventually spurred her into visiting the Starfleet offices in London. “I want to enter Starfleet Medical. I hope you approve?”​

Tarou placed his hands tenderly on her shoulders. “I would approve if you told me that you wished to flap your wings and become a pigeon, though I think Sakura may have filled that vacancy already.”​

She laughed and hugged her parents tightly, feeling the swell of the future rise up to meet her.​

EPILOGUE​

“Do you realise Q just how insufferable you are when you’re in a good mood?”​

“I know,” he said, “attractive isn’t it?” He looked at lady Q, waggling his eyebrows.​

“Oh please.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Enough with the eyebrows. It might have been cute a couple of billion years ago, but I prefer a man who can do a little more.”​

He was on the verge of blurting out his latest adventure in a bid to impress her, and bit his tongue just in time.​

“So what Herculean task do I need to perform to impress the woman of my dreams?”​

She turned on her heel and as she walked away she called back, “I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Under her breath, she grinned, “Try talking to religious statues, it brings out the best in you.”​

 

[kes7]

I loved this. Loved, loved, loved it. A real mood lifter, and very well written. Even though it's not a Christmas story, it seems to fit with the season.

 

[unusualsuspex]

Thanks Kes! Ho Ho Ho!