Chapter 19: Ch. 019 – One Minor Change Can Cause a Dozen Big Ones

Things settled back into the usual routine quickly. We ended up having nearly a month with nothing drastic happening. An episode had popped up, but I prevented the big events from happening by offering Chakotay the use of our ship.

In the show, Chakotay had used a shuttlecraft, so that he could perform a solitary ritual to commemorate the anniversary of his father's death, known as the Pakra. While he was out, he was attacked by a young Kazon. He managed to destroy the small ship and saved the boy, in true Chakotay fashion. Unfortunately, he did that in ignorance of their customs, so his act of saving the boy had doomed him to a life without his Kazon name, a fate worse than death to him. He would even have been executed by his people if Chakotay had not made an escape with the kid at his side. His shuttle was destroyed by the Kazon, but he managed to transport both of them to a training moon of the Kazon where he had been willing to risk his life, so that Kar could get his name. Instead of shooting Chakotay though, the boy turned on his leader when they came looking for them with Janeway and her away team which got him his name in the end by swearing loyalty to the new leader.

The whole mess was a headache that I did not want to bother with, so I let him borrow our ship since he would only be gone for a few hours and the rest of us had a duty shift. With the cloaking technology, he had no problems and was back before anyone's shift was over. Although we escaped this episode without any problems, I had no idea that I had unintentionally started a new course of events that would change a lot of what should happen in season two and three, making my 'future' knowledge mostly useless.

L'Naan invited Echo and me to Holodeck Two, to run a program that she created. The three of us would spar two to three times a week, but it seemed like that was not enough for the Klingon as she had made a couple of programs for training purposes. The one that we were running this evening was designed to create monstrous humanoids of varying levels of skill and wielding different weapons. It reminded me a lot of the exercise program that Worf used in 'The Next Generation' but I kept that to myself since L'Naan seemed proud of it and Echo seemed excited at the idea. Unfortunately, I only got to enjoy it for half an hour before I was called away.

"Sick Bay to Rebecca," the Doctor's voice chimed.

"Computer, freeze program," I said as I ducked under the mace of one of the fighters aimed at my head. "Go ahead, Doc."

"We have a medical emergency and need your assistance," he explained.

I sighed and dropped my holographic sword on the ground, replying, "I'll be there in a few minutes, Doctor. You two keep going; I'll come back if it doesn't take too much out of me. Computer, exit."

"Don't take too long or it won't be as fun beating you," Echo said as I headed for the door.

"Love you too, ai hompla (my hunter)," I retorted sarcastically.

I walked out into the corridor and over to the turbo lift that was just a few steps away. I told the computer to take me to Deck Five then headed for Sick Bay. I am not really sure what I had expected to find when I reached there, but it certainly was not Janeway, Katye, Filigree, and two Vidiians along with the Doctor.

One of the Vidiians was on the main bio-bed and looked to be mid-aged, but it was hard to estimate their age if they had the phage. The other was clearly a child, no more than ten. She also had the phage, judging by her appearance, and she clung to the other Vidiian's hand. I could easily guess that they were a mother-daughter pair and my heart sank with realization as to why I had been called. Janeway motioned towards the Doctor's office, so I walked that way while Janeway joined me.

"An hour ago, we received a distress call from the child. Her mother is a doctor, and they were traveling to a Vidiian colony to treat an outbreak of the phage when she collapsed. There isn't much that the Doctor can do, and, without help, she'll be dead by tomorrow," Janeway explained.

I sighed, looking through the window at the pair while searching my memories for an episode that fit. The situation was similar to one where the Doctor ended up falling in love with his Vidiian patient, but I was sure that Docter Pel did not have a child with her. Something was off about this whole thing, but I could not place my finger on what it was.

"I might be able to heal her, but it will be by me curing the phage and..." I started then let my words die off.

"I know. We've already seen that the Vidiians will go to extreme lengths to combat the phage, so a magical cure, no pun intended, will definitely catch their attention. Honestly, I'm not sure what should be done," Janeway replied.

"I thought I was past having to make decisions like this, but I should have known better," I sighed, shaking my head. "I've killed so many people, Kathryn, trying to keep my people safe, and in the end, all that are left are Raven, Katye, and Echo. I'm tired of being a killer and want to help her... I don't want to be responsible for a death when I could have saved a life, but this has the potential of putting everyone onboard in danger if the Vidiians ever learn of my healing ability."

Janeway looked a little surprised by my statement, but I had already told her that I had fought in a war. The truth was that I had fought through a couple, killing thousands of people and some were completely innocent. The massive battle against Iseto's army still haunted my thoughts from time to time, so many dead by my hand. The fight against the Disciples may have been harder, but that one left deeper mental scars than anything else.

"I understand what you're saying," she replied, crossing her arms, then let out a heavy sigh as she also looked out at the two Vidiians. "Then heal her. We'll handle whatever happens because of this, together."

"Thank you," I replied with a light smile.

She returned the smile and gave me a nod. I led her out of the office and over to the main bio-bed where the others were gathered.

"Hello, my name is Rebecca. What's yours?" I asked, looking at the young teen.

"Syrala," she replied in a soft voice.

"And your mother's?" I asked, just in case she really was Danara Pel.

"Pedira."

"I'm going to try helping your mother, but what I'll do will probably seem very strange to you, and it could take her a few some time for her to wake up. Nothing that I'm doing will hurt her," I promised.

"Okay," she agreed.

I gave a look to Katye and she instantly understood what I was asking.

[The problem is in her brain; its ability to regulate her heartbeat and lungs are failing,] Katye's voice echoed through my mind.

I nodded my head and asked, "Doctor, are you currently controlling her vitals with the computer?"

"I am," he replied.

"How long can she survive without that help?"

"No more than an hour, or she would be in serious danger."

"If I haven't fixed it in an hour, I doubt that I'll ever be able to. When I start healing her, will you deactivate it and closely monitor her vitals then alert me when she is stable? I won't be able to tell."

"Yes," he agreed.

"Alright, I'm going start," I said then placed my hand on the woman's head.

I closed my eyes as I started channeling Yang mana into her. If not tightly controlled, the healing energy would spread throughout her entire body. My hope was to hide what I was doing by doing as little as possible. It was not that I would not heal her if she asked, but unless she was willing to stay on the Voyager and cut most of her communication with the Vidiians, it was too much risk.

Unfortunately, there was a limit to how well I could control the healing spell, since it had been a 'power' granted to me by Tori instead of something that I had developed on my own. It was also not something that could be trained in the Mental Plane by Fae since it required a physical body. By the time that the Doctor gave me the signal that I could stop, there was a noticeable difference in her face as a lot of the lesions were mostly healed and her color looked much better.

Thankfully, I did not have the chance to reveal that I was upset about how much I had healed because the secondary price of the spell hit me. Using any mana would take a bit of stamina along with it, but it was usually so little that it was negligible. Both Yin and Yang mana could use double to ten times the amount of stamina as any other element, because they were Conceptual Elements, covering so much more than simply Fire or Earth mana. It was very similar to natural affinity, but the amount of mana and stamina drain depended on how well you understood the element and individual spell.

I nearly collapsed, but Katye was ready for it and caught me before I could really fall. Syrala was too shocked by the change in her mother, but Janeway and the Doctor noticed. Katye helped steady me, but there was no way that I would be going back to the holo-deck tonight.

"I'd like to be notified when she wakes up," I said.

"Me as well, Doctor," Janeway added.

"Of course," he agreed with a nod.

"I'll stay here with the Doctor and help keep an eye on Syrala. Will you make it back to our ship alright?" Katye remarked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, but could you message Echo and L'Naan to tell them that I won't be coming back to the holo-deck," I replied.

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"Sure."

I gave her a grateful nod, before heading for the door. The turbo lift was just a few steps away, so I took it down to the Shuttle Bay and headed for our little ship. Raven was awake when I got there, so I told her what happened and the possible situation that we could have on our hands. She agreed with my choice, of course, but there was no denying that I had taken a risk by doing it.

I was tired, and it was something that meditating would not fix, so she joined me in bed. I fell asleep rather quickly, but it was not to a peaceful rest. I found myself in a dream that was not really a dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, well... so this is what we look like now," a voice rumbled.

I was floating in a black void, but the stars in the distance told me that this was space. Despite that, I quickly realized that I could stand and walk if I tried. I turned around and found myself, or rather the Dragon I had been in my first life.

She looked similar to my Dusa form, but there were some notable differences. Her stormy gray scales were a seafoam green and long, wild violet hair hung past her shoulders. On her back, a second pair of wings had been created, all with of the webbing a violet color that reminded me of Katye's mana color.

"Dystina?" I asked.

"Or you can call me Rebecca; we're the same, after all," the dragon-humanoid replied.

"I am not you!" I snapped.

She chuckled, "Being me doesn't change who you are, but rejecting me will hurt you in the end. Our Chaos is slowly returning, and you'll have no chance of taming it without my help. You need me."

"The hell I do! You are the cause of all of this!" I roared.

"I am, but so are you," she said with a taunting smile as the dream world faded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up with a scream and, unfortunately, electricity rolling off my body. Raven had been lying next to me when it happened, so she was shocked by me in a couple of ways. It did not hurt her too badly, but it was something that had not happened in a long time.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean..." I stammered as I quickly started healing her.

"It's fine, Becca. What's wrong?" Raven asked with concern as she put a hand over mine.

I sighed when she pulled my hand away and explained, "I had dream where I was talking to my other self... It wasn't good."

"Sick Bay to Rebecca. Pedira has regained consciousness and is asking to speak with you," Katye's voice rang through my comm badge on the nightstand.

"I'll be there shortly," I replied, tapping the badge.

Raven placed a hand on my shoulder, and I could not help but flinch, thinking about what I had just done. Chaos was the root of my power, but also would be the undoing of everything if I lost control of it. The proof was right in front me since I had accidentally hurt someone who I had loved for twelve years.

"It was just a dream, Becca," Raven said gently.

"The charred bedsheets tell a different story," I grumbled as I stood up. "I'm sorry, Raven, both for hurting you and my bad mood. I need to get going, but I'll try to be in a better mood when I get back and I'll make it up to you."

"Love you," she said.

I leaned over and kissed her then replied, "I love you too."

She gave me a weak smile and I brushed her cheek with my fingers before I turned and left the room. Echo was out on the couch when I walked into the room, but she was using the Mind Linker, so she was not aware that I was walking by. I moved past her quietly as I left the ship and headed for the turbo lift.

My thoughts kept circling back to the dream despite my efforts to push them away. In truth, I had known something like this was bound to happen after I had learned the truth about my past life, but I had not expected it so soon. Without realizing it, I had fallen back into a lot of my bad habits like ignoring my personal problems and keeping things from Raven and Echo.

When I entered the Sick Bay, Janeway was already there and talking with Pedira. Katye and Syrala were sitting in the Doctor's office and looked to be using his computer. He was nowhere to be seen, but that was not too strange for the holo-gram. I walked over to Janeway and Pedira who looked at me with almost reverence in her eyes.

"It's good to see you awake, even if it is much earlier than I expected. My name is Rebecca," I said.

"Are you the one that saved my life?" Pedira asked.

"I am," I replied, holding in my sigh.

"Thank you," she breathed with obvious relief in her voice. "The thought that my daughter nearly had to watch me die all alone breaks my heart. I can't express how much what you did for us means to me."

My expression softened since I believed the sincerity in her words and replied, "I can imagine more than you'd think; I gave my own, who was about seventeen at the time, a death scare. That little rebellious kid clung to me for nearly an hour after finally I woke up from my coma."

"My name is Pedira Pel, Doctor Pedira Pel... I–I want to... It's not that I'm ungrateful for..." she fluttered, unable to finish a sentence.

"You want to know how I saved you," I sighed. She looked conflicted and apologetic, so I sighed again and explained, "My species has a number of different types of abilities, and one of mine is the ability to heal with a type of energy that exists inside my body. There are a number of restrictions and limitations, including some that endanger my life, so I would ask that you keep my ability a secret."

"I understand, but I must ask, is there anything that you could do for my people? We have suffered from the phage for generations, and it kills thousands every day."

"I don't mean to sound heartless, but there isn't much that I can do. Judging by the amount of energy it took to just save your life, it would take a number of sessions before I could fully heal you and I would have to rest in between each. Even if I used every moment healing and recovering, the amount of help that I could provide to your people is minimal, so instead of healing the masses, those in power would likely use me to further their political power by granting favors of my service. While I understand the reasons behind the actions of the Vidiians we have met before, it doesn't give me a lot of hope that your leaders would truly use my help responsibly. I also have family here that are trying to get home which is on the far side of the galaxy; I can't abandon them to face this journey alone," I explained.

She sighed, but nodded her head and replied, "I understand and hate to say that you are probably right. Could I possibly study your ability then? I have created a few of the medical devices that our people use, so I might be able to learn something that could help me make a cure."

"That's a possibility, and another of my kind has a knack for combining what we call mana and technology, so she would likely be able to help you, but Captain Janeway will have to approve you joining her crew."

"Captain Janeway, may I formally ask to join your crew?" Pedira asked, turning to look at Janeway.

"You may, but there are some conditions that you must agree to. You will have to serve as a member of my crew for as long as you stay here, but more importantly, you can't reveal anything about Rebecca's ability, nor can you regularly contact your people. One of my crew has been a victim of a bizarre procedure that split her DNA into two different people, so there is already a chance that there are some of your people searching for us," Janeway replied.

"The Klingon is here?!? I've read the report of Chief Surgeon Sulan, and they are looking for your crewman. I can agree to your terms completely, but is there any chance that I could also study her DNA? His initial research was very promising."

"I won't force her to help, but I can ask her if she is willing," Janeway said.

"Thank you, Captain. I promise that I won't betray your trust, and I'll help wherever you need me," Pedira said.

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