Chapter 7 - Endings And New Beginnings
Jack McCall checked the reflection in the mirror of his quarters. For the first time in five years by his measure, he wore the uniform of a captain in Starfleet. After his questioning with Temporal Investigations ended, he rushed to his quarters, took a shower, and with more reverence than he'd ever given it before, as if performing some religious rite, put his uniform on. And much to his surprise, for the first time since his return from the Glazyalan prison camp, the damn thing actually fit him.
The door chime sounded.
Before answering it, Jack gave himself a last look in the mirror. He smiled. "This looks right."
He walked toward the entrance to his quarters, forgetting for a moment that there was no doorknob to turn.
"Enter," he said.
The door opened and Mei-Wan strolled in. She stopped and grinned at him. "Back in uniform already?" she asked.
"I thought I'd put it on again just in case they decide my five years away makes me ineligible for command."
"Have they said that was possible?" Mei-Wan asked with a concerned look.
"Hancock told me they were currently reviewing my status," Jack said with a smirk. "We'll see how it shakes out."
Mei-Wan nodded absently, lost in thought.
Noticing her attention drifting, Jack couldn't help smiling. "That's one thing I haven't forgotten about."
"What?" She turned to him.
"How your mind gets absorbed with some problem."
Mei-Wan shook her head. "Sorry."
"So what did you want?" Jack asked, motioning for her to take a seat on the couch.
"I did some checking," she asked, sitting down. "According to the computer, Hickok died in 1876 as we discovered."
Jack gave a slow nod. He hadn't expected that to change.
"Everything else appears to be as I remember from before." She paused a moment. "The one exception I found was the Hickok Museum in San Francisco. Where it used to be now sits a building called the Willie Brown Political Science Institute."
Jack thought back to a day, two and half years ago, seven and a half by his reckoning, when he and Mei-Wan had visited the now non-existent Hickok Museum. Things had been very different then, but like the museum, so much had changed.
"What about Zachary and his daughter?" Jack asked.
Mei-Wan closed her eyes for a moment. "Cindy Zachary died at the hands of the Danorans... just as before."
"I guess there are some deaths we can't prevent," Jack told her.
"There was something else I thought you might find interesting," Mei-Wan said. "According to Starfleet, Khalid and Renee Dasari were killed in a landslide on Fornak Five near the Klingon border a little over four years ago. The only survivor was their daughter, Ahwi."
Jack sat down in the chair across from her. "So I was right. They aren't infallible."
"But it doesn’t make sense, Jack. They manipulate time. How could they not prevent their own deaths?"
"Only Ahwi Dasari can tell us that," Jack said. "I intend to get answers out of her the next time we meet."
Jack could see that the fate of the Dasari family wasn't what was troubling Mei-Wan the most. There was something more personal, something she was avoiding.
He'd become aware of so many changes in her since she'd found him in 1874. Much of it appeared to be for the better, but now he saw there was a sadness to her as well, the result of some loss that tore at her soul.
Jack was apprehensive about what it meant for her and the both of them. "Are you okay, Mei?" he asked.
"When I thought the Zeparan was going to kill us, I... I realized there were things in my life I regretted, things I wished I'd have done differently."
"Like our marriage?"
"It should have been you I thought of, but it wasn't. You deserve a wife who thinks of you when she faces her last moments of life. I'm not that woman." She looked at him. "I'm going to file for a divorce."
Jack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Moments like this couldn't be prepared for. One could only live through them and then move on.
"In all this talk of choices, I realized I hadn't ever taken responsibility for my own life and made my own, personal choices," Mei-Wan explained. "I think it's about time I started doing that."
"Mei, I think..."
"Jack, we both know I've let circumstances, duty, my parents, and a whole host of other things make my choices for me," She paused and met his gaze. "Because of that, our marriage had problems neither of us could work past."
"I had a part in those problems too." A sad look came over his face. "I'm truly sorry for that. I never meant to hurt you."
"I know," she whispered. "And I hope you know I never meant to hurt you either."
He gave a nod.
"I wish..." she started. "I wish I could go back a couple of years and tell myself what I know now."
"Sometimes, after you've gone down a road you never expected, you can't go back to the life you had," he told her. "All you can do is move forward."
Jack put his arms around Mei-Wan, and held her tight. "You made a difference in my life, Mei. You kept me from becoming a person consumed with revenge and hatred. I'll always owe you for that... and for the love you showed me."
In his warm embrace, Mei-Wan closed her eyes to fight back tears. "You're an easy man to love, Jack McCall. I'll never regret that part of our life together."
He leaned back and looked at her. "Neither will I."
"I should go," she whispered.
She started for the door, but a few steps away, she stopped. "If I had told you I wanted to give our marriage another chance, what would you have done, Jack?"
"Does it really matter now?"
She turned to him. "It does to me."
"I would have done my best to make the marriage work."
"I've seen how you and Melissa look at each other," she said. "You love her. How could you stay married to me?"
"Because when I married you, I took on a responsibility to both you and the marriage," he said. "I had five years to think about that and I knew I couldn't turn away from it if it was what you wanted."
"Then I'm glad I made the decision I did," Mei-Wan said. "You shouldn't have to live in a prison because of duty."
Jack walked up to her with a warm, full smile beaming on his face. "In seeking out the life you want, don't forget to allow yourself some happiness, Mei." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently. "Please remember that."
Mei-Wan smiled back at him. "You remember that too, Jack McCall."
She turned and walked out of Jack's quarters and his life.
***
An hour later, after the Chamberlain had gone to warp on a course for Earth, Jack McCall decided it was time to let go of the past and focus on what was ahead. He walked into Melissa Vargas's quarters and found her sitting in a couch, trying to appear she was reading a book, but her nervousness was evident.
"Jack," she said as she fought back a smile. She stood and walked up to him. "I talked to Admiral Hancock just before he left. He told me you lived five years in the nineteenth century?"
Jack nodded. He had dreamed of this moment for those five years when he would once again stand face to face with her. He was so consumed with happiness that he nearly missed seeing the dread in her eyes.
She looked away, as she fought back her fears. "That's a long time to be away. I imagine it felt like a lifetime."
"It helped me realize what was really important, Melissa."
"I saw you and Mei when you arrived back. You look as if you're getting along much better now."
"We understand each other more than before," he said, stepping closer to her. He found it hard not to react to the beauty of this woman. A beauty made more so by Melissa's Vulcan features.
Near tears, Melissa took a deep breath and turned to Jack. "Then I suppose..."
Jack shook his head. He could see how she was taking what he said. "Melissa, Mei and I are getting divorced."
To Jack's surprise, Melissa was upset.
"I'm so sorry, Jack," she said. "Is it because of me? Of what happened between us?"
Jack put his hands on her shoulders. "No. Mei and I have changed. We're both going to live life rather than have life throw us every which way." He touched her cheek. "And more than anything else, I know that I want to live my life with you."
Melissa smiled and now shed tears of joy. "Jack..." Their lips touched and both of them relaxed in each other's embrace.
Less than a week ago, Jack McCall had been on his Nebraska ranch in the year 1874. It would take him some time before he'd get used to being back in the twenty-fourth century, but that didn't apply to holding Melissa in his arms. Being with her was the one thing he needed no time to get reacquainted with.
Less than ten seconds into their reunion, the intercom chimed.
Melissa grinned. "Have you ever thought about taking a demotion so we could have some privacy?"
He smirked. "Don't tempt me." He turned his attention to the person on the other end of the intercom. "McCall here."
"Sir," Conrad's voice came through. "Admiral James is requesting you report to him as soon as we arrive at Earth. He's asked that you contact him in the next hour to discuss the details."
Melissa patted his shoulder. "It's okay. I can wait... a little while."
He grinned. "Set up a secure channel to my ready room, Mr. Conrad. I will be there in two minutes."
"Aye, sir." The intercom shut off.
"I really would like a chance to talk to you."
"I know," Melissa replied. "Assuming we'll eventually be headed back to the Kel'j-na Region we should have plenty of time to talk." She grinned. "Among other things."
He smiled for a moment, but then a serious look came to his face. "I needed to ask you something... your hair, did you have it cut sometime recently?"
Melissa gave him a confused look. "I cut it right after you left for Folam. Why? Don't you like it?"
Jack let out a short sigh of relief. His fear that her hairstyle, and perhaps a whole lot more, were different due to the alteration of history had turned out to be baseless. Everything, at least everything in his immediate world, was back the way it was supposed to be.
"No, I like it just fine," he told her. "I need to get going."
"Jack," she said before he reached the door. "Is Mei going to be okay?"
Jack thought a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Actually, I think for the first time in her life, she's going to be more than okay."
***
Hank Evans stood in front of a door trying to decide if he really wanted to push the button that would let the woman on the other side know he was there. He'd faced life and death situations countless times, but he was more terrified of this encounter than any which had threatened life and limb.
His finger touched the control.
The door slid open and Kadan Loftus glared at him. "So you're back. What do you want?"
"I, well..." he stammered. He collected his thoughts along with his courage. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the way I treated you. You deserved better."
She crossed her arms across her chest. "Really?" she asked with a stern look on her face.
"Considering my track record, I know you have no reason to believe me."
"Who's fault is that?" She leaned against the door frame eyeing him suspiciously.
"Mine."
Her expression softened only a little.
Hank met her gaze. "I was wrong."
"Did you come here to tell me that just so you could feel better about yourself?"
"No. If anything I feel a hell of a lot worse because I know it's coming far too late, but I wanted to tell you that you were right and how sorry I am for hurting you." Hank turned and walked down the corridor.
Loftus stepped away from her door, letting it close. She fell back against the nearby wall and slid against it down to the floor. After running his words through her mind again and again, the love she had felt for Hank Evans, and still felt, tore at her heart.
***
"I thought you'd be packed and ready to leave by now," Jack said as he stepped out from behind the desk in his ready room.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
Jack motioned Hank over to a couch as he sat in a chair.
"I went to see Akala a little while ago."
A surprised grin came to Jack's face. "Really?"
"Not for counseling," Hank said with a frown. "She is the personnel officer."
Jack nodded.
"Anyway, she and I talked and I've cancelled my resignation."
All hint of joviality left Jack's face.
"She's a nice lady," Hank said. "Listens to what you say and hears what you mean. I can see how talking to her could help someone sort things out."
"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked.
"No, but I'd like to give Starfleet another shot. And serving aboard this ship is the place to do that." Hank turned an eye Jack's direction. "Assuming I have the captain's permission to still be his tactical officer."
"Since I'm not officially back on duty just yet, I may not be the person to get that permission from."
"You'll get the Chamberlain back again," Hank said with a smile. "Now more than ever, you belong in the center seat."
***
Hank Evans had only one more thing he wanted to take care of before turning in for the night. It was something he wished he had done prior to leaving on the mission which threw him into another timeline and then into the past.
He walked toward his desk in the security office and sat down in the chair. He reached down to one of the small, secure compartments below. After touching the correct combination of keys on the compartment's touchpad control, the unit opened. He pulled out a small, wafer-thin object and stared at it a moment.
"I wish I'd had you with me during the gunfight with the Pranges, or the brawl with those two Zeparans," he said with a smile as he imagined the look on Chester Prange's face if he'd found Hank suddenly standing behind him. He turned the chip over in his fingers. "From here on out, where I go, you go."
He slid the displacement device into a special pocket under the waist of his pants. Hank sealed the desk compartment and walked out of the office.
***
The guard standing at the door gave Mei-Wan a nod as she entered the quarters assigned to Robin Nelson.
"A visitor," Robin said with a wry grin. "How fortunate for me that I am allowed such pleasures."
Despite how bad she felt about the way Robin was being treated by Temporal Investigations, there was little she could do about it. The Presidential Order concerning temporal incursions which she and Hank had done their best to avoid in the other timeline, had fallen with full force upon Robin. Though Mei-Wan suspected that wasn't what her friend was truly angry about.
"I'm sorry," Mei-Wan told her. "If I could do something about this I would."
Robin's expression softened and she motioned Mei-Wan to a chair in the spartan living room. "I guess I should take every opportunity for human contact I can get." She sat down across from Mei-Wan and regarded her for a moment. "You're looking good. A little thinner I think."
Mei-Wan did her best not to react. "The doctor took care of a..."
"The baby's gone," Robin interrupted.
Mei-Wan gave a slow nod.
Robin grinned. "And Li-Na is suddenly pregnant. Your family sure has some unusual reproductive activities."
Mei-Wan's eyes snapped wide. "Robin..."
She smiled. "Don't worry, Mei. I'll keep your little secret."
Mei-Wan sighed. "Have they said how long they intend to hold you?"
"Not really," Robin stated. "I'm guessing there'll be months of interrogation, psychological evaluation, and who knows what else." She leaned back in her chair. "I guess they're worried Li-Na and I might want to return reality to the way we remember it."
"Something like that."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "I guess you'd know all about that, wouldn't you."
Mei-Wan took a deep breath. "Robin..."
She raised her hands to cut Mei-Wan off. "Please, don't tell me any more about how necessary what you did was and how different it is from my situation." She stared at Mei-Wan. "I've lost everything I know because of you... my best friend."
"I'm sorry," Mei-Wan said.
"No you're not," Robin snapped back. "I'd tell them about the baby if I didn't know it was my Mei-Wan's child. She may be gone, but I can make damn sure her child survives."
"Then you and Li-Na finally have something in common," Mei-Wan said. "That's why she agreed to have the child transferred to her."
Robin rose from her seat. "Well, if that's all you came here to say, I'd like to be left alone for a while."
Mei-Wan nodded and stood. "I'll try everything I can to get you free of Temporal Investigations' control, Robin."
Robin Nelson shook her head. "Haven't you done enough to my life?"
"I did what I felt was right."
Robin nearly laughed. "You know, I could almost see you not caring about everyone else from my timeline, and maybe even me and Li-Na, but how could you do this to Todd? Does he even exist here?"
"I don't know," Mei-Wan said. "I haven't had the time to check yet."
"More like you haven't had the courage," Robin replied. "Or is it that you're just that much of a cold-hearted bitch?"
Mei-Wan turned and walked slowly out the door. She knew no matter how much she tried to deny it, she was indeed responsible for Robin's plight, and despite the sting of Robin's words, Mei-Wan was determined to do all she could to help her friend.
