Miracle
Title: Miracle
Media: Star Trek
Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry. Erica McCoy is mine, though.
Rating: PG-13 (see warnings)
Summary: "Do you believe in miracles, Doctor?"
Warnings: Alternative Universe, Slavery
Author's Notes: This one is just a story scrap written during Precalculus that got a bit out of hand...
"Do you believe in miracles, Doctor?" the blue-skinned alien asked.
"After all my years onboard the Enterprise, of course I believe in miracles, Mara," McCoy replied. "Why?"
"Because I think someone has managed the impossible and escaped without tripping the alarms, Doctor," Mara replied, pointing in the murky darkness of the pit that had been their shared home for the past month and a half, towards where two of the newest additions to the slave population of this planet had bedded down for the night.
Only, they weren't there any more.
"Where could they have gone, Mara?" McCoy asked, but Mara only shrugged in reply.
"I don't know, Doctor," she admitted.
That was when a powerful explosion rocked the slave pit.
"What was that?" Mara asked fearfully.
"Sounds like someone just blew up the power generators," one of the other newcomers observed, McCoy couldn't remember his name.
~*~
"When I said to deal with the generators, Mr. Spock, I didn't expect you to use an explosive device," Kirk grumbled as he dusted off the rags that served as clothes for the slaves of the Cormarani.
"It was not my idea, Captain," the half-Vulcan replied.
"Don't tell me that you actually listened to Erica, Spock," groaned Kirk, as hurried footsteps heralded the arrival of the third member of their group, Erica McCoy.
"We'd better get a move on, the guards are starting to move this way," she informed them. "Mr. Spock, how come that explosion was so big? You said--"
"All will be explained in time, Miss McCoy," Spock quickly interjected, "but now is not the time nor the place."
"Which way to the slave pits, Erica?" Kirk asked, giving his First Officer a look that clearly stated that he was not off the hook.
"Follow me, Uncle Jim," Erica replied. "We're going to have to take the long way around."
~*~
"Some rescue," grumbled McCoy, as the sky began to lighten with the coming of dawn, hours after the generators had been demolished.
"Perhaps it is just some new cruel game of the Cormarani, Doctor," Mara suggested, the despair in her voice breaking the gruff doctor's heart.
"It certainly looks like it," McCoy morosely agreed.
"What do you think, Pa?" one of the other slaves suddenly remarked to his companion, who wordlessly shrugged in reply. McCoy figured that "Pa", like many slaves he'd been working alongside in recent weeks, was unable to speak.
"About this rescue Mara and Doctor are talking about, Pa, what else?" the slave insisted, earning a glare from Pa, who was clearly annoyed with his talkative companion.
Their interaction reminded McCoy of Chekov and Sulu, and the doctor wondered what the two were doing right now.
Probably looking for me, the doctor figured.
"Breakfast ho!" a female voice called out from above, alerting the inhabitants of the slave pit to the pending arrival of breakfast and cutting short any further thoughts on the crew of the Enterprise that McCoy might have had.
"Huh, they must have someone else bringing our food today, Doctor," Mara remarked.
"I could have sworn tht I just heard my niece's voice, Mara," McCoy agreed.
"How 'bout now, Pa?" the slave asked.
McCoy figured that the slave was desperate for some kind of verbal reply from Pa, a reply the doctor was completely certain that he wasn't going to get any time soon--if ever.
"I thought it was an insane idea, Hikaru," Pa replied, startling McCoy, "but clearly, they pulled it off."
"Sulu? Chekov?"
"Aye, Docktor," Pa--or as he was rightly known as, Pavel Chekov--replied, even as his companion, Hikaru Sulu, said, "The one and only, Doctor."
"You know these men?" Mara asked.
"Know them?" McCoy replied. "They serve on the Enterprise with me, Mara."
"We're just waiting for the effects of the generator to disappate before Mr. Scott beams everyone aboard the Titos," Sulu informed McCoy.
"Titos?" McCoy asked, confused.
"My ship, Doctor McCoy," another voice spoke from the shadows behind Chekov and Sulu.
"Your ship?"
"Aye, Doctor, my ship," the man replied. "My name is Astral Kodos. The Titos is a Federation transport ship, designed to carry large numbers of people throughout the galaxy."
"Kodos?" McCoy asked suspeciously.
"I believe you have had the bad luck to cross paths with my great-uncle, Doctor," Astral replied.
"You could say that," McCoy agreed.
"Let me assure you that I am nothing like him, Doctor McCoy," Astral declared.
"Well, since Erica clearly trusts you, then I guess I should do the same, Captain Kodos," McCoy remarked.
"Call me Astral, Doctor," Astral corrected.
"Okay, people, listen up!" a voice bellowed, loud enough for all of the slaves to hear. "In a moment, rescue workers from the Titos will beam down to organize you all into groups to be beamed back up to the Titos. To facillate the process, I have been asked to direct you to assemble into family groups."
McCoy looked around the pit, as the slaves--eager to be free of their Cormarani masters--did as they had been bidden, but he was unable to spot the speaker, his niece.
"Mara, don't you have a family to be with?" McCoy asked as he realized that the blue-skinned alien was still beside him.
Mara shook her head.
"I was disowned by my family as soon as I was old enough to work as a slave, Doctor," she informed him sadly. "I was not born a slave."
The doctor's blood ran cold at Mara's words.
"You are Cormarani, Mara?" Chekov asked.
Mara nodded.
"Why were you disowned by your family, Mara?" Astral asked, as the first of the Federation rescue workers arrived in a focused shower of sparkling light.
"My parents disobeyed Cormarani law by being together without their parents' blessings," Mara explained. "My birth only made things worse."
"They never regretted having you, Mara," a voice said from behind McCoy.
The doctor turned to find himself face to face with Spock, Kirk, and Erica.
"How do you know what my parents thought of me, Pointy Ears?" Mara demanded of Spock, her reference to his pointed ears a product of her ignorance of his identity.
"You will see, Mara," Erica replied. "And his name is 'Spock', not 'Pointy Ears'."
"Captain Astral, your crew would appreciate your presence," Kirk informed Astral, "particularly your First Officer."
"I do hope she didn't bite anyone again," Astral remarked.
"It was a close thing, Astral," Kirk admitted.
"Astral!" called a voice from where the other slaves were being processed before being beamed aboard the Titos.
"The wife is calling, Captain," Astral informed Kirk. "Is this good bye?"
The captain of the Enterprise shook his head.
"Not yet, Astral," he said. "We are to escort you to the nearest starbase."
"I'll talk with you once we've gotten everyone settled onboard the Titos," Astral informed Kirk before heading over to his wife, the First Officer of the Titos.
Mara made to follow him, figuring that she would be heading to the Titos as well, but Kirk stopped her.
"You are coming with us to the Enterprise, Mara," he told her.
"I am?" Mara asked in surprise. "Why?"
"You'll see, Mara," Erica repeated with a self-satisfied grin.
"Kirk to Scott, seven to beam up," Kirk said into his communicator.
Aye, sir, replied the Chief Engineer.
~*~
"Do you think she will forgive us for allowing the Council to take her away from us, Mythimum?" asked the taller of the two blue-skinned humanoids accompanying Commander Scott in the Enterprise transporter room.
"She has every right to hate us for that, Pa'tram," his wife, Mythimum, observed.
"Surely there was more we could have done to keep her safe, Mythimum," Pa'tram insisted.
Mythimum shook her head.
"You know as well as I do, Pa'tram, that we did everything we could do to keep her safe," she reminded her husband.
Further debate was curtailed by Captain Kirk's voice on the comm, informing Commander Scott of the size of his party.
"Aye, sir," the Scotsman said in acknowledgement of his Captain's command.
Moments later, seven figures materialized on the transporter pads.
"Mara!" exclaimed Mythimum as she spotted her long-lost daughter.
"Mother?" Mara said, stunned to see Mythimum and Pa'tram. "Father? Is that really you?"
"It is, Mara," Pa'tram affirmed as his wife embraced Mara.
~*~
After Mara was reunited with her parents, the three were beamed over to the Titos, where Mara found out that the rescue mission would not have been possible without Mythimum and Pa'tram's assistance.
Back on the Enterprise, Erica was telling her uncle how they would not have been able to rescue him without the knowledge of Cormarani technology Mythimum and Pa'tram willingly provided.
"But wouldn't it have gone against the Prime Directive to interfere with Cormarani culture the way you did?" McCoy asked.
Kirk grinned.
"As it turns out, we'd be going against the Prime Directive if we didn't, Bones," he gleefully informed his friend.
McCoy gave Kirk a look that clearly expressed his opinion of the Captain's sanity.
"The Captain is correct, Doctor," Spock added. "Though he is omitting several key details."
"That's why I have you, Spock," Kirk declared.
Spock glared at Kirk--or at least, it would have been a glare, had he been human--before explaining to McCoy how they had learned--thanks to Pa'tram and Mythimum--of an unusually detailed prophecy on Cormaran foretelling the abduction of the doctor and his subsequent rescue by the Enterprise and the Titos.
"But that's not the coolest part 'bout the prophecy, Uncle Leonard," Erica interjected, her excitement finally getting the best of her. "The prophecy is named after the seer who made it, and you won't believe what her name was, let alone what her name means."
"What is it, Erica?" McCoy asked, knowning better than to reprimand her for interrupting Spock right then.
"The seer's name was Mara," Erica replied. "And in the language of the Cormarani, the name 'Mara' means 'miracle'."
Erica was right, McCoy didn't believe it.
Media: Star Trek
Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry. Erica McCoy is mine, though.
Rating: PG-13 (see warnings)
Summary: "Do you believe in miracles, Doctor?"
Warnings: Alternative Universe, Slavery
Author's Notes: This one is just a story scrap written during Precalculus that got a bit out of hand...
"Do you believe in miracles, Doctor?" the blue-skinned alien asked.
"After all my years onboard the Enterprise, of course I believe in miracles, Mara," McCoy replied. "Why?"
"Because I think someone has managed the impossible and escaped without tripping the alarms, Doctor," Mara replied, pointing in the murky darkness of the pit that had been their shared home for the past month and a half, towards where two of the newest additions to the slave population of this planet had bedded down for the night.
Only, they weren't there any more.
"Where could they have gone, Mara?" McCoy asked, but Mara only shrugged in reply.
"I don't know, Doctor," she admitted.
That was when a powerful explosion rocked the slave pit.
"What was that?" Mara asked fearfully.
"Sounds like someone just blew up the power generators," one of the other newcomers observed, McCoy couldn't remember his name.
~*~
"When I said to deal with the generators, Mr. Spock, I didn't expect you to use an explosive device," Kirk grumbled as he dusted off the rags that served as clothes for the slaves of the Cormarani.
"It was not my idea, Captain," the half-Vulcan replied.
"Don't tell me that you actually listened to Erica, Spock," groaned Kirk, as hurried footsteps heralded the arrival of the third member of their group, Erica McCoy.
"We'd better get a move on, the guards are starting to move this way," she informed them. "Mr. Spock, how come that explosion was so big? You said--"
"All will be explained in time, Miss McCoy," Spock quickly interjected, "but now is not the time nor the place."
"Which way to the slave pits, Erica?" Kirk asked, giving his First Officer a look that clearly stated that he was not off the hook.
"Follow me, Uncle Jim," Erica replied. "We're going to have to take the long way around."
~*~
"Some rescue," grumbled McCoy, as the sky began to lighten with the coming of dawn, hours after the generators had been demolished.
"Perhaps it is just some new cruel game of the Cormarani, Doctor," Mara suggested, the despair in her voice breaking the gruff doctor's heart.
"It certainly looks like it," McCoy morosely agreed.
"What do you think, Pa?" one of the other slaves suddenly remarked to his companion, who wordlessly shrugged in reply. McCoy figured that "Pa", like many slaves he'd been working alongside in recent weeks, was unable to speak.
"About this rescue Mara and Doctor are talking about, Pa, what else?" the slave insisted, earning a glare from Pa, who was clearly annoyed with his talkative companion.
Their interaction reminded McCoy of Chekov and Sulu, and the doctor wondered what the two were doing right now.
Probably looking for me, the doctor figured.
"Breakfast ho!" a female voice called out from above, alerting the inhabitants of the slave pit to the pending arrival of breakfast and cutting short any further thoughts on the crew of the Enterprise that McCoy might have had.
"Huh, they must have someone else bringing our food today, Doctor," Mara remarked.
"I could have sworn tht I just heard my niece's voice, Mara," McCoy agreed.
"How 'bout now, Pa?" the slave asked.
McCoy figured that the slave was desperate for some kind of verbal reply from Pa, a reply the doctor was completely certain that he wasn't going to get any time soon--if ever.
"I thought it was an insane idea, Hikaru," Pa replied, startling McCoy, "but clearly, they pulled it off."
"Sulu? Chekov?"
"Aye, Docktor," Pa--or as he was rightly known as, Pavel Chekov--replied, even as his companion, Hikaru Sulu, said, "The one and only, Doctor."
"You know these men?" Mara asked.
"Know them?" McCoy replied. "They serve on the Enterprise with me, Mara."
"We're just waiting for the effects of the generator to disappate before Mr. Scott beams everyone aboard the Titos," Sulu informed McCoy.
"Titos?" McCoy asked, confused.
"My ship, Doctor McCoy," another voice spoke from the shadows behind Chekov and Sulu.
"Your ship?"
"Aye, Doctor, my ship," the man replied. "My name is Astral Kodos. The Titos is a Federation transport ship, designed to carry large numbers of people throughout the galaxy."
"Kodos?" McCoy asked suspeciously.
"I believe you have had the bad luck to cross paths with my great-uncle, Doctor," Astral replied.
"You could say that," McCoy agreed.
"Let me assure you that I am nothing like him, Doctor McCoy," Astral declared.
"Well, since Erica clearly trusts you, then I guess I should do the same, Captain Kodos," McCoy remarked.
"Call me Astral, Doctor," Astral corrected.
"Okay, people, listen up!" a voice bellowed, loud enough for all of the slaves to hear. "In a moment, rescue workers from the Titos will beam down to organize you all into groups to be beamed back up to the Titos. To facillate the process, I have been asked to direct you to assemble into family groups."
McCoy looked around the pit, as the slaves--eager to be free of their Cormarani masters--did as they had been bidden, but he was unable to spot the speaker, his niece.
"Mara, don't you have a family to be with?" McCoy asked as he realized that the blue-skinned alien was still beside him.
Mara shook her head.
"I was disowned by my family as soon as I was old enough to work as a slave, Doctor," she informed him sadly. "I was not born a slave."
The doctor's blood ran cold at Mara's words.
"You are Cormarani, Mara?" Chekov asked.
Mara nodded.
"Why were you disowned by your family, Mara?" Astral asked, as the first of the Federation rescue workers arrived in a focused shower of sparkling light.
"My parents disobeyed Cormarani law by being together without their parents' blessings," Mara explained. "My birth only made things worse."
"They never regretted having you, Mara," a voice said from behind McCoy.
The doctor turned to find himself face to face with Spock, Kirk, and Erica.
"How do you know what my parents thought of me, Pointy Ears?" Mara demanded of Spock, her reference to his pointed ears a product of her ignorance of his identity.
"You will see, Mara," Erica replied. "And his name is 'Spock', not 'Pointy Ears'."
"Captain Astral, your crew would appreciate your presence," Kirk informed Astral, "particularly your First Officer."
"I do hope she didn't bite anyone again," Astral remarked.
"It was a close thing, Astral," Kirk admitted.
"Astral!" called a voice from where the other slaves were being processed before being beamed aboard the Titos.
"The wife is calling, Captain," Astral informed Kirk. "Is this good bye?"
The captain of the Enterprise shook his head.
"Not yet, Astral," he said. "We are to escort you to the nearest starbase."
"I'll talk with you once we've gotten everyone settled onboard the Titos," Astral informed Kirk before heading over to his wife, the First Officer of the Titos.
Mara made to follow him, figuring that she would be heading to the Titos as well, but Kirk stopped her.
"You are coming with us to the Enterprise, Mara," he told her.
"I am?" Mara asked in surprise. "Why?"
"You'll see, Mara," Erica repeated with a self-satisfied grin.
"Kirk to Scott, seven to beam up," Kirk said into his communicator.
Aye, sir, replied the Chief Engineer.
~*~
"Do you think she will forgive us for allowing the Council to take her away from us, Mythimum?" asked the taller of the two blue-skinned humanoids accompanying Commander Scott in the Enterprise transporter room.
"She has every right to hate us for that, Pa'tram," his wife, Mythimum, observed.
"Surely there was more we could have done to keep her safe, Mythimum," Pa'tram insisted.
Mythimum shook her head.
"You know as well as I do, Pa'tram, that we did everything we could do to keep her safe," she reminded her husband.
Further debate was curtailed by Captain Kirk's voice on the comm, informing Commander Scott of the size of his party.
"Aye, sir," the Scotsman said in acknowledgement of his Captain's command.
Moments later, seven figures materialized on the transporter pads.
"Mara!" exclaimed Mythimum as she spotted her long-lost daughter.
"Mother?" Mara said, stunned to see Mythimum and Pa'tram. "Father? Is that really you?"
"It is, Mara," Pa'tram affirmed as his wife embraced Mara.
~*~
After Mara was reunited with her parents, the three were beamed over to the Titos, where Mara found out that the rescue mission would not have been possible without Mythimum and Pa'tram's assistance.
Back on the Enterprise, Erica was telling her uncle how they would not have been able to rescue him without the knowledge of Cormarani technology Mythimum and Pa'tram willingly provided.
"But wouldn't it have gone against the Prime Directive to interfere with Cormarani culture the way you did?" McCoy asked.
Kirk grinned.
"As it turns out, we'd be going against the Prime Directive if we didn't, Bones," he gleefully informed his friend.
McCoy gave Kirk a look that clearly expressed his opinion of the Captain's sanity.
"The Captain is correct, Doctor," Spock added. "Though he is omitting several key details."
"That's why I have you, Spock," Kirk declared.
Spock glared at Kirk--or at least, it would have been a glare, had he been human--before explaining to McCoy how they had learned--thanks to Pa'tram and Mythimum--of an unusually detailed prophecy on Cormaran foretelling the abduction of the doctor and his subsequent rescue by the Enterprise and the Titos.
"But that's not the coolest part 'bout the prophecy, Uncle Leonard," Erica interjected, her excitement finally getting the best of her. "The prophecy is named after the seer who made it, and you won't believe what her name was, let alone what her name means."
"What is it, Erica?" McCoy asked, knowning better than to reprimand her for interrupting Spock right then.
"The seer's name was Mara," Erica replied. "And in the language of the Cormarani, the name 'Mara' means 'miracle'."
Erica was right, McCoy didn't believe it.