Clear Skies Ahead

I opened my eyes and was looking up at the ceiling of the Fae Dragon. My body felt heavy, but that was expected after the amount of Soul Power that I had used. Surprisingly, I was alone on the bed, but I also had no idea how long I had been out, though my wounds were healed so it was likely a while. I swung my legs off the bed and stood up slowly, before making my way out of the room.

Echo and L'Naan were sitting on the same couch, both using the Mind Linker, with Nyka and Filigree sleeping between them. I walked past them with a light smile on my face and headed downstairs. Raven was working on something at one of the benches, completely unaware of the world around her. I chuckled internally as I approached her from behind and watched over her shoulder.

There was a silver tool in her hand which was reshaping the mana crystal in her other hand, wave by wave. As usual, she was wearing a set of headphones and lightly swaying as she listened and worked. I waited for her to set down the crystal shaper, before I closed in and put my hands over her eyes.

"Becca!" she exclaimed with no hesitation while she spun around in my arms and pulled off her headphones.

I chuckled as I draped my arms over her shoulders. She kissed me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I returned the kiss passionately, cupping her cheek and resting my forehead against hers when we separated.

"I missed you too," I chuckled. "Was I really out that long?"

"No, but I still did," she replied with a cute smile.

"I could eat you up," I growled playfully in her ear before I moved a little lower and started kissing her neck.

Raven let out a soft moan before she pushed me away from her with an exasperated look on her face and chided, "You just woke up from sleeping a day and a half after fighting off a fleet of ships, and the first thing that you want to do is fool around?"

"I mean, it is me after all," I retorted with a shrug. "Besides, as I remember it, you were the one who started things with me after I woke up from the battle against Iseto's army."

"That was after a week of being trapped in a very small bunker with Katye and Echo fucking like rabbits," she pouted.

I chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Fine, fine... How are things?"

"So far, so good. The tracker that I planted on the Krawon shows that they are retreating. We've got another day or two if we keep holding position before they will be out of range, but it will give us a warning if they do decide to turn around," Raven replied, leading me towards the Bridge where Katye was.

"Ah, the mighty dragon has awakened!" Katye teased.

"More like the mighty punching bag," I retorted. "I hope that I don't have to do that again. These energy-based weapons aren't as easy to tank as normal bullets."

"You do realize that a single photon torpedo is about a hundred times the strength of a nuclear bomb, right?" Katye replied.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Dragon scales for the win," I chuckled.

"Fool," she sighed, shaking her head with a smile on her face.

I smirked and walked over to the star map with Raven. There were two new, blinking dots on the screen, one blue and the other red, so it was easy to guess that they were the trackers on both the Voyager and the Krawon. The Krawon must have been the red, as it was travelling the way that we had come from, while the blue dot was heading out of Vidiian Space.

"So, did you set up a rendezvous place or time with Janeway?" I asked.

"Not exactly. I told them that we would catch up eventually since we can maintain warp nine so long as the core has power. For now, the four of us agreed that it would be better to remain here and keep an eye on the Vidiians until they are out of range. I'm estimating that it will take us a week or two to catch up at the rate that the Voyager is going," Katye replied.

"The 'four of us'? I don't remember making any decisions while I was unconscious," I said, giving her a look of suspicion.

"Just accept it already. L'Naan is going to end up following us beyond this 'universe'. She's isolated herself from most of the Voyager crew, to the point that we are her only friends, and I'm pretty sure that she and Echo have already messed around a few times in the Mental Plane," Katye retorted, leaning back in her chair.

I was a little surprised by her statement and looked at Raven who simply shrugged, so I asked, "Why am I more comfortable with the fact that I can brush off a nuclear bomb than I am with adding another woman into this little harem thing we have?"

"Firstly, because you're a stubborn fool that is still holding onto the conventions of your first life, which don't really apply to us anymore, and secondly, it's two women since I'm also hoping to pull Seven of Nine into our group before we leave, even if it isn't in a romantic way... though I certainly wouldn't kick her out of our bed," Katye replied with a smirk.

"And what's your opinion on it?" I asked, looking at Raven.

"Meh, I won't deny that I have had a few thoughts about L'Naan since the problem with your bloodlines arose; I kinda always expected that it would happen sooner or later," Raven said.

I sighed, shaking my head, unsure of how I felt about the matter. There was a part of me that was attached to my old values because they were the last bit of 'humanness' that I had left, especially as I dreamed parts of Dystina's life to understand what it meant to be a Dragon. Raven and I were together first in this new life that Tori had given me, while I used the excuse of Katye's and my past lives together to explain away how the four of us got together. Adding another person meant that I could not lie to myself anymore.

"Look, neither of us are saying that you need to sleep with L'Naan, but you also don't need to keep her at arm's length. This relationship between all of us works because we fully trust each other; let whatever happens naturally, happen. After all, that's how this all started between us," Katye said as the usual voice of reason.

"Fine, I'll let things happen 'naturally'," I retorted. "But if you're serious about also bringing Seven of Nine into our group, remember, 'Borg provokes Klingon, Klingon breaks Borg nose'."

For the next two days, the Fae Dragon remained on the edge of the nebula until the Krawon finally disappeared from our star map. We set a course to meet up with the Voyager and were looking at a six-day journey after I spoke with Janeway over subspace. There was a trade city that Neelix knew of on their way, so she would give the crew a couple of days of shore leave while we caught up.

Things onboard our ship were a little awkward the first few days, but that was mostly because of me. I was not sure how to act around L'Naan, much to the amusement of Raven and Katye. My Dragon side disdained her weaker bloodline, so I found it hard to see her as attractive, but that also ended up being the root of the problem that I was having. I was trying to think of her like the others instead of letting her find her own place within the group and with me.

Echo was more casual with romance, valuing loyalty over true commitment, so it really was not too difficult for me to understand why she and L'Naan had gotten so close, so quickly. Raven and L'Naan could spend hours at a workbench, working on some new prototype. Katye had the natural ability to get along with just about everyone, so she would engage L'Naan in conversations while we ate to make sure that she felt welcome. L'Naan was like a combination of Raven and Echo with a temper that could match my own, so it was not difficult to enjoy her company once that was all I was trying to do.

Echo and L'Naan would both spar against me, together, with no powers, in the Mental Plane. Her skill had increased greatly since the last time that we had sparred, proving how much effort she had put into her own training, and the value of Echo's teaching, but even without my powers, my physical body in my humanoid form was enough to hold back the pair despite it being my weakest form. We would spend hours fighting before the mental fatigue would build up and I would take a break from the mental world while they had their own ways of dealing with it.

When I was not using the Mind Linker and Raven and Katye were busy with their own projects, I took up a new hobby that I knew would be helpful in the future. Many episodes centered around the holo-deck and the Doctor would have his own share of problems, so one of us needed to start learning about holographic programming. Raven and Katye were honestly better suited to learning it, with Raven's technical skill and Katye's talent with languages and codes, but I did not want to rely on them to do all of the work when those problems started popping up. It certainly was not as fun and exciting as battling armies or enjoying the company of Raven, Katye, and Echo, but writing out the code was a calm and methodical process that forced me to use my mind in a different way.

Eventually, we rendezvoused with the Voyager and landed in the Shuttle Bay. As we approached the ship, we were hailed by Janeway and were asked to head to the Mess Hall once we were settled. It was obvious that something was going on, but we were all still a little surprised when we walked into a celebration. There were dozens of happy faces with Janeway and Neelix leading the cheer as we entered.

What we had done for the ship was impossible to hide from the crew, so Janeway had not bothered to try and explained exactly what we had done to help them escape from the Vidiians. I was not sure if she added in the fact that the Vidiians were after us in the first place, but decided to keep that question to myself and just enjoy the party. The next day, I met with Janeway in her Ready Room to give her a report of what happened after they left, and gave her a realistic idea of how long I could use that kind of full defense. Outside of the nebula, I might be able to protect the Voyager for a minute if they were under that heavy of an attack because I would burn through my mana so fast; it really had been the perfect setup which was not too much of a surprise for my group.

Later that day, I stopped by Pedira's quarters to check in on her and Syrala. Syrala ran up to me with excitement after Pedira opened the door and welcomed me in. I gave the child a hug and then nodded to Danara who was also in the room.

"They say that you fought off a bunch of ships!" Syrala exclaimed.

"Yes, my ship acted as a distraction so that the Voyager could get away. That's why I've been gone for the past week," I replied, not wanting to go into too much detail.

"You're so brave," she said.

"The line between bravery and foolishness is very thin, so don't try to do any of the crazy things you see or hear me do," I chuckled.

"Syrala, why don't you go to your room and play? I think Becca would like to talk to us alone," Pedira suggested.

"I'll see about scheduling some holo-deck time for us next week. I've been working on a new program, and you can be the first to give me an opinion on it," I offered.

"Okay," she agreed with a smile and then headed for her room.

Pedira sat down on the couch next to Danara who was looking uncharacteristically melancholy. I sighed and sat down in a chair across from them.

"Well, I'll start by saying there were no casualties within the Vidiian forces, just some minor injuries," I said.

"Thank you, Rebecca," Pedira replied. "Were... were you badly injured?"

"All things considered, I got off real lucky," I said with a shrug.

"I'm thankful, very thankful," she sighed.

I nodded and continued, "We gave them an ultimatum, which included threatening that we would not let you two continue your research into a cure for the phage. Of course, no one is going to stop you or kick you off Voyager unless you betray our trust, but should you manage to cure it, we hope that it will make it easier for you to rejoin your people."

Danara scoffed, which made me give Pedira a questioning look.

"She hasn't taken the news of Tolam using her to get the Voyager very well," she explained.

"I understand; I've been betrayed by someone close to me as well. It's a crappy feeling that stays with you, but there are still people worth your trust, I've learned," I remarked.

"I know. I wouldn't be here without the kindness that you and this crew have shown me," Danara said.

"Kindness is not the only thing that this crew can offer," I replied with a smile. "These people will treat you like family and put their lives on the line for you for no bigger reason than it being the right thing to do."

"You seem to really care about this crew," she remarked.

"I do. Life hasn't been peaceful for me and my group, as people covet our powers and desire to use us for their own gains, but since joining this crew, we have been able to relax and enjoy life like we are normal people once again. Of course, things pop up and not every person is perfect, but good people are hard to find, and this ship holds a lot of them. If you give it a chance, you could find a place for yourself here."

"Perhaps," Danara replied, giving a small smile.