"A New Life"

written by

Michael Gray

Mei-Wan checked her watch for the third time as if doing so would hurry along the person she'd been waiting on. Patience, Mei, she told herself. She's still getting adjusted to all this.

"Sorry," Li-Na Lau said, coming down the stairs wearing a gray sweater over a white t-shirt. "But most of the clothes you picked up for me, well..." She smoothed out the loose-fitting, dark blue pants she wore.

"Not your style?"

Li-Na let a wide smile answer for her.

"Then it's a good thing we're going out today." Mei-Wan opened the front door, motioning for Li-Na to follow. "There's a shop we can stop by where you pick out something more to your liking."

"Is that allowed?" Li-Na asked with a smirk.

"I doubt Temporal Investigations would begrudge you clothes to wear."

"Do I need clothes if I don't have a life?" Li-Na closed the door behind her and was greeted by a gentle breeze that tossed her shoulder length black hair about. "Just because I'm alive doesn't mean I really have a life."

"It could be worse," Mei-Wan said as she led her sister along the path from her parents home onto a quiet San Francisco street.

Li-Na gave a brief nod. "Robin."

Mei-Wan did her best not to react. The guilt she felt about Robin Nelson grew with each day and now that Starfleet wasn't returning her inquiries about her friend any longer, that growth had become exponential. She couldn't help feeling she had betrayed Robin by letting her fall into the clandestine grip of Temporal Investigations.

But there was nothing she could do. Both Robin and Li-Na were from another timeline and the regulations were more than clear on whose jurisdiction they fell under.

"I'll figure out a way to get her released," Mei-Wan murmured, more for her own benefit than Li-Na's.

They turned a corner onto a wider street. Mei-Wan's thoughts shifted from the burdens on her soul to the wispy clouds filling the bright blue sky above.

"They can't hold her forever, can they?"

"They did agree to let you go." Mei-Wan pulled her jacket tighter to defend against the strong winds blowing in off the bay. "That's a hopeful sign."

"I wouldn't exactly call this freedom." Li-Na took a moment to look behind them. "My shadow is still there."

"I told you to expect that." Mei-Wan didn't bother to waste time on as little as a glance. She knew he was there, but was determined to ignore the agent from Temporal Investigations assigned to keep an eye on Li-Na.

"I know, I know," Li-Na said with a sigh. "But I don't have to like it."

"You have to understand how they view you."

"I know how they view me. It's the same way I viewed you back in my world when I realized who you were and where you'd come from." She looked down a moment. "I know exactly what they're afraid of."

Mei-Wan only nodded, not wanting to repeat an argument that was now quite pointless.

"Do you think maybe we could go see Robin?"

"For the time being she's not allowed any visitors," Mei-Wan said. "And you'd be the last person they'd want going to see her."

"I still don't understand why they let me out and not her."

"Because you've got a strong family connection here."

"But Robin's family..."

"Four years ago the parents of this timeline's Robin Nelson were told their daughter was dead. Exactly how should Starfleet go about explaining to them that despite how this Robin looks and sounds like their daughter, she's not their Robin?" Mei-Wan's thoughts returned for a moment to the day she'd gone to tell the Nelsons the circumstances of their Robin's death and how that news had devastated them. "How could any parent deal with such a thing?" she whispered.

"So Temporal Investigations is going to keep Robin's existence a secret?"

"I really don't know."

"You have to help her, Mei. She was your best friend back in my world. You owe it to her."

"Believe me, I'm doing all I can to get her released. It's just going to take some time."

Seeing the pain in Mei-Wan's eyes. Li-Na changed the subject. "So has anyone figured out how to explain me yet?"

Mei-Wan turned to her sister and grinned. "I suggested we pass you off as some second cousin who turned up on our doorstep, but Temporal Investigations didn't think that would work."

"Thanks a lot, Mei."

Mei-Wan could tell Li-Na had tried to give her hurt a humorous tone. "I'm sorry. You deserve better than that. Despite what looked like a contentious relationship between us in the other..." She stopped and corrected herself. "…in your timeline, I think it's pretty great that I have a sister."

Instead of the smile Mei-Wan had expected, Li-Na looked away, her mind on something else. "This problem Momma has, the one she goes to the doctors for..." She took a long breath. "Was that how I was killed here?"

"There was an accident, one of her students, a guy with serious personal problems, set a warp field reactor to overload. Mom was pregnant at the time and if you do the math..."

Li-Na chuckled. "Back in my world there were times I thought my Mei wished I had never been born and here I am now and you wish I had been."

"I guess we always see the possibilities in what we don't have more than in what we do have." Mei-Wan's attention drifted away from her sister to the set of shops and restaurants they approached. "Remember, if anyone asks, you're a friend of mine from Starfleet."

Li-Na rolled her eyes. "I know the drill, Mei. Give me some credit, okay?"

A guilty smile slid across Mei-Wan's face. "Okay, okay."

"You sure are a lot more uptight here."

"It could be because I have more to be uptight about in this timeline."

"Sorry," Li-Na whispered. "Mom told me about your divorce."

"It's not just that. Here I've made some discoveries that..." She turned to Li-Na. "No point in boring you with a lot of archaeology."

"I don't know. From what Dad was saying the other day, you're stirring up a lot of trouble." Li-na grinned. "Trouble is always interesting."

Mei-Wan let a grin bloom across her face as well. "I think I could do without the interesting, the extraordinary, and the exciting for a while."

Li-Na stopped walking. "Is that why you gave up the baby?"

"What?" Mei-Wan spun toward the younger woman. "I thought we'd agreed not to talk about that."

"I'm just trying to understand you," Li-Na stated, her mood turning somber. "You know, you haven't even asked if it's a boy or a girl."

"I don't want to know." Mei-Wan started to walk again. "It's better that way."

"Do you regret your decision?" Li-Na asked, following her sister.

Mei-Wan thought about the choice she'd made nearly a month ago. What was it Todd Nakano had told her?

That's the problem with choices; when you make one it always closes off other possibilities.

"I made the right decision," she told Li-Na. "Both for me and..." She almost said "my," but caught herself. "… and the baby."

Li-Na nodded and placed a hand on her stomach. "It took me a while to be so sure about my own choice, but now…" A wide smile spread across Li-Na's face. "I'm starting to really enjoy the way I feel--- knowing there's this living person inside me."

The two women walked in silence for the next several blocks not paying attention to the crowds of people they passed by.

"Be honest with me, Mei," Li-Na said, finally breaking the quiet between them. "Do you think I have any chance of getting back into Starfleet?"

"I... I really don't know." Mei-Wan couldn't bring herself to look at Li-Na. She had told the truth--- she didn't know. But her suspicions were all bleak.

"I was an engineer. I'd eventually like to get that part of my life back."

Mei-Wan tried to think of the right thing to say--- something encouraging that wasn't a lie. "I'll do everything I can to help you."

Li-Na looked past Mei-Wan toward a small shop. "How about we get some ice cream?"

"Sounds great." Mei-Wan began to follow Li-Na, but a hand on her shoulder brought her to a stop.

"Mei-Wan?" a deep male voice asked.

Expecting to be confronted by the agent who'd been following them for some violation of the agreement with Temporal Investigations, Mei-Wan was more than a little surprised to see the man now standing in front of her. "Professor Saselo?"

Bald except for a wreath of white hair that formed a half circled around the back of his head, and wearing clothes far too formal for someone out for a leisurely stroll, Raymond Saselo smiled. "I'm glad I caught up to you." He glanced behind her and noticed Li-Na. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really need to speak with you."

Guessing that this man wanted to talk to Mei-Wan alone, Li-Na turned to her sister. "I'll get our ice cream." A moment later she stepped into the shop.

"Mind if we sit down?" Saselo asked, motioning to a nearby bench.

With a nod, Mei-Wan followed and joined him on the bench. "I find it a little hard to believe you just happened to run into me here."

"I stopped by your parents' house and Sheng said you'd just left." A grin crossed his face. "It's probably for the best we met here anyway considering your mother's feelings about me."

Mei-Wan chuckled. "She still blaming you for my career choice?"

"Yes, still."

It was difficult for Mei-Wan to share her mother's disdain for the man who had allowed her childhood love of archaeology to blossom into her life's passion. Mei-Wan never took for granted the opportunities Raymond Saselo had given her. It was because of those opportunities, not that he was Chairman of the Academy's Archaeology Department, that he would forever have her respect. "So what was so important that you decided to risk my mother's wrath once again?"

Saselo's intense gaze met her eyes. "The Archaeological Council has asked Starfleet to set up an archaeological institute on Kel-j'na. With everything that happened concerning the discovery of Hel'yra, we feel it would be wise for the Council to have a presence on Kel-j'na, one with a full compliment of skilled archaeologists to investigate whatever Starfleet runs across as they explore the region."

Mei-Wan couldn't help smiling. "I assume, since we're talking about it, Starfleet agreed to this proposal."

"Yes, far more enthusiastically than we had expected." Saselo looked away a moment, lost in thought. "It always troubles me when they're this agreeable. Starfleet's reasons are rarely the same as ours." He looked at Mei-Wan and laughed. "And here I sit saying this to a Starfleet officer."

"We're not all the fire phasers first, ask questions later, bunch some in the press would like to make us out to be."

"I knew that about you the moment Sheng asked about letting you sit in on a class." His jovial mood faded. "Which is why I came looking for you."

"You want me to be a part of it?"

"Not exactly."

Mei-Wan's smile faded. What her old Academy instructor had been describing sounded exciting and just like the kind of assignment she'd been hoping for.

Saselo grinned. "We'd like you to be the one to run it. The official title is something like 'Executive Director'."

Mei-Wan knew better than to get too excited about something until she had the full story. "Would I have to give up my commission in Starfleet?"

"No, you can retain your commission. In fact, Starfleet Command insisted on that. Though you won't be reporting to them, but to the Council." He watched her a moment. "I suppose Starfleet wants to keep an eye on what we're up to. Because of that I think, they agreed you'd be the best person to run the Kel-j'na Archaeological Institute. We of course, think you're simply the best person for the job, that is if you want it."

"I suppose I should just leap at this, but I'd like a chance to think it over."

Saselo let only a brief frown come to his features. "I hope you won't keep us hanging as long as you did with the Ravenscroft Expedition."

"How soon do you need an answer?"

"We're still finalizing the details with the Kel-j'na government, but we should begin setting up the facility and selecting the staff in four to five months."

Mei-Wan finally let herself smile again. This was a dream come true for her. Not only would it allow her to do the kind of archaeology she wanted, but she'd be the one in charge. Sure, Starfleet would always be peering over her shoulder, but they wouldn't be telling her when and where she could go. That would be up to her. She would only have to answer to the Archaeology Council, and that was something she didn't think she'd have any trouble with. They were scientists like her with a passion for archaeology.

"I'd like it if midshipmen archaeology students from the Academy could be a part of the staff during the summer."

He smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."

She shook her head. "Don't go getting your hopes up. I'm a field archaeologist, remember? I don't have the patience to teach."

"According to Natalie Fowler you do."

"I never thought you were the type to go sneaking around behind someone's back," she said with a grin.

"No sneaking was required. Natalie came by to see me last week and you just happened to come up." He took a deep breath and after a moment slowly exhaled. "I won't try to pressure you this time, Mei. But I really do think you should think long and hard before turning this down."

"Don't worry, I will." She gave him a warm smile. "And thank you."

He stood to his feet. "No need to thank me. You've earned this." He cast a glance toward the ice cream shop. "I suppose I should get going. I think your friend is getting a little impatient."

Mei-Wan followed Saselo's gaze and found Li-Na standing at the door of the shop holding two ice cream cones with a sour look on her face. Mei-Wan stood and turned back to the professor. "I'll be in contact."

"Soon, I hope," he said as he turned to go.

What the hell am I doing? Mei-Wan thought as she watched him start to walk away. I know this is what I want.

"Professor."

He stopped and turned back to her. "Yes?"

"I don't need..." She hesitated only a moment to give herself one last chance to think it through. Yes, this was what she wanted. "I'll take the position."

"Are you certain?" Raymond Saselo asked. "You can have more time to think it over, Mei."

She stepped toward him and smiled. "I'm certain."

"Wonderful! I'll let the Council and Starfleet know, and you should have your new orders in a few weeks." A couple of seconds later, he walked away very pleased.

"He sure seemed happy," Li-Na said, handing Mei-Wan one of the ice cream cones.

"Not as happy as I am," Mei-Wan replied. She took a taste off her cone. "Mmmm... Mint chocolate chip. My..."

"Yeah, your favorite," Li-Na said, far less impressed with her ability to choose flavors for her sister than Mei-Wan was. "So what was that all about? Or is everything in your life classified?"

"I've been offered a new position."

"A new ship assignment?"

"No," Mei-Wan said, taking another taste from her cone. "Executive Director of the Kel-j'na Archaeological Institute."

Li-Na's brow slowly raised. "I guess Dad wasn't just bragging when he said you'd made some important discoveries." She gave Mei-Wan a playful nudge. "Good job, Sis."

Mei-Wan smiled, not because of the compliment, but how Li-Na had referred to her. Whatever differences there were between the timelines they had come from, the truth was they were sisters.

"So, you gonna take the job?" Li-Na asked as they started making their way back home.

"I've already accepted."

Li-Na's eyes widened. "Wow, that doesn't sound at all like you."

Mei-Wan smiled with more than a touch of satisfaction. "I know."

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Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2005 Michael Gray

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