About February 5^th, 2378

Stardate 55097

There she was…Karandis Seven.  A snow-bound planet in a system with many close planets.  This planet was one of the few that was far enough away from its sun to have snow all the time.  However, not only was it snowy…it was mountainous.  As such, it made for excellent skiing.

Commander Chris Harriman smiled as he remembered his first and last time to the planet.  For him, it had been over three years ago, but here in this galaxy, it was only a couple of months, close to three.  The last time he was here…was a time when he and Sarah were celebrating getting back together again.  Right before he took command of the Dragon-A.

He remembered their little adventure here.  At first, they were here to ski…but before their first run down a mountain could end, the snow collapsed in under them.  As he later found out, a telepathic species hid under the snow here, masking their life signs.  Little did they know how their telepathic abilities would effect Sarah…

They accidentally induced some sort of night mare state in Sarah, where if someone did not help her resolve her dream…she would forever remain in a state of coma, experiencing her worst night mare…over and over.

As he brought the Runabout Venturi into orbit, he remembered that nightmare.  For her…he had been assimilated by the Borg…  Over and over, she experienced that dream…until he disrupted the dream, and brought her out of it.  The fact remains that her worst nightmare was that something bad would happen to him, not her…  That was true love.

After the trial on Earth, his first thought had been to go home, to see his Mother again.  Then he changed his mind as memories of the past three years flooded his mind.  He instead called up his Mother and asked her to send him a certain file he had saved after his first trip to Karandis Seven…

He opened that file, which he had stored his log entry as well as the transport coordinates where he and Sarah had beamed out.  "Computer, access file Karandis Alpha, personal authorization Harriman seven five gamma echo."

"File accessed," the computer's voice responded.  Somehow…the voice is different from the Dragon's computer…

Before he could say or do anything with the file, the log played back.  He decided to listen…for memory's sake…

"Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 54955.57"

Chris frowned at the stardate.  When he had made the calculation, the stardate had been 52155.2…he remembered it clearly.  He did notice, however, that the stardate system in this time line seemed the same, just…set ahead for some reason.  How much damage had those forty Jem Hadar warships done to the timeline?

"Some times, people can act inhuman, no matter how advanced they have become. Others always show selflessness. I guess humanity was lucky that it was Sarah and I that had encountered this civilization, instead of one of those power-greedy people from Section 31."

When he heard that name, a smile crept onto his face.  He remembered how R'Sharn had acted when he told her that he had helped take them down finally.  She was…ecstatic, to say the least.

"We showed them that humanity can be as great as the next civilization. Little do they know how far humanity has to go before we are all selfless… How ever, this encounter only shows that peace and love is the path to a great life. Thinking about other people instead of yourself is the only way to actually live…"

With that, the log ended, everything but the stardate exactly how he remembered it.  He smiled even deeper, memories of his feelings for Sarah flooding into him again…memories of Sarah.  All of the good times they had, as well as the bad…

He immediately snapped himself out of his reminiscing and brought up the planetary location of the cavern he had beamed out of.  Once it was up, he programmed it into the transporter, headed to the back compartment…then hesitated.

He wondered how these people would react to him again.  Last time he had been here, for them any way, was two months ago, give or take…

After hesitation, he finally pressed the command on the bulkhead.  The familiar tingling sensation of transport overcame him as his vision was blinded momentarily.  A few seconds later, he was right where he had hoped he would be, in an ice cavern.

He looked around, the dancing patterns inside the blue hued ice all too familiar, and still mesmerizing.  Behind him were the two beds he and Sarah had been on…

And suddenly, before he could get a better look around him, he felt the familiar light brush of someone's mind to his…in fact, that brush was very familiar.

Valtra? he thought.  Is that you?

"Chris?!" the familiar soft voice stated from around the bend of a doorway.  A moment later, the very beautiful, light blue-skinned humanoid came around the bend, her eyes very wide with surprise.  "You have come back…why?"

Just as he remembered her, she was a very quiet, intelligent person…and too the point.

He let his eyes do the talking for a moment, which only caused her to frown.  "Where is Sarah?" she asked.  "Is she up on your vessel?"

Chris closed his eyes and hung his head.  "No, she's not…"

He felt the familiar touch of her mind once again…and then heard her gasp in surprise.

"Oh my…I'm sorry, Chris," she stated, quickly moving to his side.

He grinned a little and looked at her.  "I…thought you might want to know."

She also smiled and nodded her head.  "You were right."  She hesitated, her face clearly showing her uneasiness.  Had she accessed our minds during our last stay?  Did she then figure out human gestures?  "May I…?"

He frowned in reply…then realized what she wanted.  He hesitated at this, knowing what happened last time these people accessed their memories…but then again, that was with Sarah.  She wasn't here now…there was no danger to her…

He nodded almost imperceptibly.  "Be my guest…"

She smiled lightly again…then closed her eyes.  She clearly began to concentrate as Chris could somehow…feel her accessing his memories.  The launch of the Dragon, the Dragon being stranded in another dimension, and then in the Kalium galaxy…Q's little 'test,' the Vorkalai war, Devil's Virus…Chris's encounter with the pirates…the final battle…everything.  She seemed to be accessing everything.  Though Chris didn't experience everything in those memories again, he knew that Valtra was.

After several minutes, the feeling passed with the memory of the trial.  Valtra's eyes slowly opened…before she nodded her thanks to him.

"It seems…that you have had quite an adventure in the past two…what do you call them?  Months?"

He nodded and laughed a little.  "Yeah, I'd say that's an understatement."

She smiled a little in response to that.  "Indeed…"

She moved to the ice bed and sat down on it, contemplating.  After a moment, she motioned to a place next to her, which Chris took as an invitation.  He sat down on the cold, hard ice…but somehow found it comfortable at the same time.  I wonder if these people have some sort of device that creates all of this, maintains it…

She looked at him, those ice blue eyes as sharp looking as the rest of her.  He and Sarah always did like the color blue…

"I know how much she meant to you," she stated simply.  Hesitantly, she added, "and…I'm happy that you have gotten over her death.  The way you reacted when we…caused that accident.  I thought that, should she ever die, you would never get over her death."

Chris let out another small laugh and shook his head.  "No, I haven't gotten over her death.  In a sense…I've accepted it and learned to live with it."  He looked back at her and slowly shook his head again.  "But…I'm still not over it.  There's not a day goes by that I don't think about her."

She didn't change her expression, she simply stared at him, her eyes seemingly all-knowing.  "That is completely understandable…even I have gone through something similar.  Before my people first settled underneath the ice here…I lost my…what you call…'husband.'  To this day, I still think of him every day."

Chris frowned when he heard her talk about not always being her.  "Just how long have your people lived her?"

She thought for a moment, then seemed to nod to herself.  "About fifteen of your years."

Chris was surprised, expecting them to have lived here for maybe centuries…

"Where did your people live before?"

She hesitated and frowned, then shook her head.  "I'd rather not tell you, for security purposes.  Just know that it isn't from anywhere close by."

He smiled, realizing that he expected as much.  These people were very tight on security…  He had gathered last time that they were here hiding from some other species that was hunting them down…he just wondered who.

Suddenly, breaking the line of conversation, she stated in a worried voice, "You had better go.  Everyone else is becoming agitated by your presence…"

He nodded again and stood up, as did she.  "I think this is the correct gesture for good bye…"  With that, she embraced him in a soft hug.  He felt just how cold their bodies were for the first time…and yet the hug was warm at the same time.  Metaphors often were contradictory…

He returned the hug, then stood back some.

"Remember something," she said before he tapped his comm badge.  "She may be physically gone…but she will forever live as long as she remains in your memory."

He stared at her for a moment, thinking about that statement…then smiled and nodded.  "I'll remember that.  And you can bet that I'm still trustworthy, on all notes."

She smiled back and replied lightly, "As you have shown."

He hesitated a moment, then decided to leave it at that.  He didn't want to anger the rest of her kind any more than he already had…

Chris tapped his comm badge and stated, "Harriman to Runabout Venturi…one to beam up."

With that last order, Valtra disappeared in a cascade of light…

There it was.  Finally, she was home again.  As it had been three years ago when she last visited, it was still there.

Commander Kara Trieal brought her borrowed vehicle to a stop and turned off the engine.  A moment later, her daughter bounded out the door, happier than ever to see her Mother.

Mimicking her daughter, Kara forced the driver side door open and bounded out of the vehicle, landing hard on the driveway, but not caring.  A moment later, her eight-year-old daughter was in her arms, hugging her tightly.

"Mommy, you're home!" her daughter exclaimed, pure excitement in her voice.  To her daughter Courtney, she last saw her mother two months ago…but because the Dragon had been lost, she was very pleased to see her again.

To Kara, however, it was something else…over three years.  She squeezed her daughter hard, trying not to squeeze too hard, but also finding it difficult to do that.

She opened her eyes, tears streaming down from them…only to find Rick jog out the door of their home.  He immediately ran straight up to them and simply didn't give Kara time to put Courtney down.  He hugged them both, probably not helping Kara's attempt to ease up off of her daughter.

For what seemed like hours, they simply stood there, hugging, not even kissing.  They didn't care about kissing…they just did not want to let go.  They never wanted to lose each other again…