<USS Banshee> "A Longer Life: Part Two"
- From: EnsnSaraCrusher@xxxxxxx
- To: ussbanshee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:26:36 EDT
"A Longer Life: Part Two"
By: Lt. SG Sara Kaelyre
The sun was low in the sky; night was falling and the setting sun seemed to
bathe everything from the falling snow to the bare trees to the Alexander
Column in a bronze light. The hissing, cold, biting winter wind and the sound
of
snow crunching under leather boots were the only sounds that could be heard
though out the square, as yet another fresh layer of snow was added to the
already
large piles which covered everything in sight.
Palace square was dark and foreboding at sunset and the warm, soft, lights in
the distance, which seemed to call to all passers by like a sirens call, were
a welcoming sight. The winters in Russia were always hard even with the
global weather centers and atmospheric controls, it just seemed as if the
strong
sturdily Russian people preferred to keep the bitter stinging cold and the
blistering snow.
A young woman dressed in a long black camel hair coat, big floppy black hat,
and long knee high boots walked slowly down the old stone street. Slowly,
hauntingly, she passed by Mariinsky Theatre. She gripped at the collar of her
coat
thrusting it tighter around her neck as she continued to walk against the
wind. The puffs of warm air coming from her nose came in short bursts forming
crystallized clouds as she lifted her head to look towards her destination.
Sara couldn’t see her face, she couldn’t tell who this woman was, not from
were she was standing and not though the blowing snow, but something told her
to follow the woman. So she was. From the square, passed all the landmarks her
Babushka, (or as Sara called her, Bobe, since she couldn’t say Babushka
-grandmother-) though the empty streets of St. Petersburg. She couldn’t
explain the
need to follow this woman in the black camel hair coat, she couldn’t even
explain what she was doing on Earth let alone back in Russia. She was simply
moving on instinct.
The large dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral loomed closer and closer as Sara
followed the woman. She stopped at the corner and watched as the woman crossed
the
street and headed for the cathedral. Then the woman turned at the corner of
the cathedral and Sara quickened her pace to catch up to her. The street next
to the cathedral lead to the old cemetery which rested on top of a slight hill.
Sara remembered the Christmases she use to spend with her Bobe and her Papa
as she walked up the hill following behind the woman who didn’t seem to
notice
she was there. Her great-grandparents and other family members were buried up
on that hill and every Christmas she and her Bobe would bring poinsettias to
place on the graves.
Sara shivered as she stepped into the cemetery, partly from the cold and
partly because she always got the chills when she entered places like this.
She’d
lost sight of the woman she was following but something seemed to pull her
towards the east corner of the large graveyard. She walked the snow covered
paths
ignoring the large looming head stones, some of which began to bare familiar
names. Nikolaev. Newman. Crusher.
Off in the distance, standing alone in front of a single head stone hidden
slightly by young bare trees the woman in the black camel hair coat stood
staring down at the head stone. Sara walked carefully towards the woman who’s
coat
was dancing along with her long black skirt in the winds that seemed to be
picking up. Sara stood mere feet from the woman yet still could not see her
face
nor the name on the head stone. Sara felt the need deep down in side her to
reach out for the woman. To comfort her.
As the winds blew harder Sara stood there reaching out with arm, hand and
fingers. She watched as the harsh winter wind blew, taking hold of the
woman’s
hat and sending it sailing though the air. Sara pulled her hand back as she
watched a river of silken hair flow down the woman’s back in cascades of
brilliant red. Sara slowly began to move herself so that she could look upon
the woman’
s face, her heart pounding painfully in her chest, for fear of who’s eyes she
would see staring down at the snow covered marble.
The stillness between Sara and the woman in the black camel hair coat was
broken by the sound of crunching snow. Sara stopped and looked passed the woman
only to see yet another woman approaching. This woman, who’s face she could
see, she didn’t know. Her hair was long and chestnut, her eyes a warm brown,
her
face smooth, and her body, from what Sara could see under the parka she wore,
was young and firm.
The young woman with the chestnut hair walked up to the woman in the black
camel hair coat and wrapped her arms around her. The woman in the black camel
hair coat buried her face in the other woman’s neck and hair, and Sara could
see
her shoulders softly rise and fall as if she’d just sighed. Sara stood there,
unable to move, and watched the two women for what seemed like forever.
Finally the woman with the chestnut hair stepped back and lifted the other
woman’s
chin, looking her in the eyes she said softly.
"The shuttle is waiting. We need to go Cyanah my love."
The woman in the long black camel hair coat nodded and stepped back. She
looked down once again at the head stone, and it was then that Sara finally saw
her face, her sparkling green eyes moist with tears and a soft sad smile.
Sara’
s heart stopped. She watched as Cyanah and the other woman walked back towards
the gates of the grave yard arm and arm. She watched them until they were out
of sight and slowly, numbly Sara walked over to the head stone. She looked
down and read "Sara Kaelyre.."
Sara didn’t get the chance to read anymore, the moment she saw her own name
she began to back up. Then suddenly she felt herself fall backwards into the
wet soft snow. Sara began to shake as she sat in the snow, her bare legs, feet,
and hands quickly becoming numb, looking at her own name etched into the snow
covered marble.
Sara’s eyes snapped open as she gasped but she did not jolt or bolt up right
in bed. She merely lay there on her back looking up at the ceiling of their
bedroom, her sweat soaked body shivering lightly. Her legs and feet were no
longer numb but her arm was. Sara turned her head slowly and looked down to see
Cyanah asleep, her head resting on Sara’s arm, the way it had been when
they’d
fallen asleep after making love.
The dreams came and went, seeming only showing up just went Sara felt she was
being silly over these emotions she was feeling about a time which was years
from now. Gently Sara slipped her arm from beneath her wife’s head and then
sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed as softly as she could. It
was nearly four in the morning, so after sitting on the edge of the bed for a
few minutes letting herself relax after the dream with her head in her hands,
Sara got up and grabbed her uniform, boots, and a pair of spare scrubs she kept
in her dresser drawer.
She dressed in the living room, putting on her scrubs and figuring she’d
shower and change into her uniform before the morning staff meeting. She left a
hand written note about being needed in sick bay and not wanting to wake Cyanah
since she had worked late the night before and needed the sleep. She sighed
the note the way she always did. All my love - Forever and Always- ~S. She
kissed
her wife softly on her forhead, moved a still damp strand of hair from her
beautiful face, left the note on her own pillow, and then left their quarters.
Sara walked into her lab and closed and locked the door behind her as she
barked out orders in a husky, still half a sleep voice. "Computer display RNA
and
DNA strands 234-D though 234-M as well as all results from experiments
Kaelyre S. Alpha 4, Alpha 5, and Alpha 6, and the results from simulations
Kaelyre
S. Beta 9 and Beta 10"
The computer did as Sara requested while she went for her first cup of coffee
of what she knew was to be a very long day.
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