New:  Requiem - A vignette



Veronica Jane Williams
xkhoi@iafrica.com

DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Paramount. That's it.

RATING: G


REQUIEM
(Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine)

The casing usually reserved to house a photon torpedo, now
housed her body. Like a casket, the top of the casing was
open.

Her hands were folded on her breast, in an appealing gesture.
She looked at peace, and almost as though a smile still rested
on her full, reds lips. Her rich brown hair, still shiny,
smoothed back, the ridges on her forehead now darkened.

B'Elanna had uttered one word last night, before she closed
her eyes forever:

"Sto-vo-kor"

In deference to his feelings, Tom had been left alone with
her near the end. The sickbay had been quiet, and the doctor,
after the final decision had been made, took himself off line,
knowing there was nothing more he could do for her. 

Tom held her hand in his, and watched how she faded...faded.
In the silence of the sickbay, the only sound he could hear,
was his own heart beat. It became the clock which ticked the 
seconds, drawing ever closer to her end. Once he saw a single
tear roll down her cheek. A lonely traveler charting down,
down, down...

Feel my hand on yours, my love, he willed her wordlessly. But 
her form remained unmoving, still. His eyes could no more register
the faintest of faint rise and fall of her chest to indicate there 
was still life in her. Slowly the seconds ticked and beckoned her
approaching end.  His eyes were hollow, dry, his heart broken in 
pieces. 

It was the Captain who gently touched his shoulder where he
had rested his head against her body after she quietly took her
last breath. She looked at him, into those blue eyes. Seeing the 
total desolation there. Seeing hope, lost.

"I am sorry, Tom," she whispered.

Now, looking at her beloved face before they were going to
eject the casket into the nearest sun, a million images
came to him.

B'Elanna telling him of her parents in the Vidian prison;
B'Elanna complaining to him she's cold; B'Elanna telling
him of her love for him while they drifted in space.
B'Elanna laughing, B'Elanna crying, B'Elanna playing, B'Elanna
fighting. B'Elanna's eyes shining at the present he gave her. 
B'Elanna's head thrown back, letting the sun of the holodeck 
warm her skin.

"Did you programme this guy?"

"Yeah," he frowned.

"He's a pig. And so are you."

He felt dead inside. She's gone...gone...gone. Never to smile
at me again, never to feel her warm lips on mine, her arms around
me. Never to smell her hair. Never to hear her laugh with
happiness.

"I love you, Tom."

"Tom! You made it, you made it!"

"Be patient with me, Tom."

"Hey, I'm only half Klingon, remember?"

"That's the Klingon half agreeing with my human half."

"I'd rather eat leola root raw than eat gagh!"

Tom listened to all the eulogies, and thought he'd die. He
stared fixedly at the floor a few metres away from him. He
couldn't bear to look at the coffin, at her...
 
His hands were clammy and they were trembling slightly. He felt 
slightly claustrophobic. I'm choking, he realised with a sick 
dread. I can't breathe. I can't breathe... Somehow the voices 
receded to a  continuous thrumming in his ears, like... like ship's 
engines...

"Lieutenant Paris, is there anything you'd like to say now?" the 
Captain asked.

Tom looked at her, half seeing only, his vision blurred as
he tried to focus on what was asked. Then he realised she
was addressing him. Anything he wanted to say? A thousand things
he could have said and didn't say? While she was living and
breathing in his arms?  Her trusting eyes on him? Waiting...?
A lifetime on this ship was not enough for what he wanted to say;
all that came out, in a painful, shallow rasp as he slowly rose, 
only three words:

"I love her."

Then he slowly walked towards the door and left the room.

DONA EIS REQUIEM

the end

Veronica Jane Williams
xkhoi@iafrica.com


Note:  Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
       (Grant them eternal rest, Lord)