Chapter Text
Maya didn’t mind the cold, wet air. One advantage of growing up without modern technologies and comfort was that she was well accustomed to feeling the changes in the weather and the seasons. She had no destination in mind but itched for some sort of goal or direction, something to keep her mind from getting stuck in a spiral with all her new worries: Saavik’s baby, Enzo’s situation at school, and (most pressing of all) this looming decision to work with the DTI…Which somehow wasn’t an actual decision to make. Or was something she had already made up her mind about. Or would make up her mind about. None of it made sense.
As she made her way around the block, Maya kept her hands buried in her pockets, her fingers still curved around Carmack’s device. It was still early, so if she wanted to go somewhere or do something she would have no shortage of options. The thought did cross her mind that if she took a longer walk she could go to her favorite bar, calm herself with a beer or two, and maybe enjoy some pleasant company (even if her troubles weren’t ones she was in any position to share), but Maya dismissed the idea. She needed to sort herself out without the help of hops and barley.
Instead she settled for exploring the neighborhood and taking the time to puzzle out her situation. Out of everything on her mind, the only one that needed attention now was her business with the DTI. It haunted her, the way Carmack had told her she had already been there, in the past. Maya slumped down on a bench and closed her eyes as she tried to make sense of it, how she had already done something and not done it yet at the same time, or how the past could be tampered with yet people could still have a conversation about it in the future, or even if any of this mattered at all. She slipped her hands out of her pockets to fiddle with her ring as she thought, but instead of soothing her mind it instead drew her focus to Saavik and her child. The ring had been a gift from Saavik, a small gesture Saavik had meant to honor an Earth tradition, even though Maya had grown up far from earth.
Maya opened her eyes, slid her hand back into her pocket, and gripped the device in her pocket tighter and took a deep breath before she stood up. This wasn’t a choice she was prepared to make tonight, so she began to walk home.
While she was no closer to her decision, the short walk calmed her mind, at least enough to where she felt like she could sleep on it and approach the issue with a clear head in the morning. Drowsiness began to settle in, and she felt a cozy sense of relief when she stood just outside the door to her building. However, her access code did not open the door, and she was greeted with a flash of light and an angry buzz. Maya furrowed her brows in frustration and tried the code again with the same outcome, and again (entering the code slower and with added attention). She closed her eyes tight and clenched her jaw to hold back a scream of frustration. That was the right code, but now she was trapped outside with no way of getting in. She leaned against the wall and ran her fingers through her hair. Someone was bound to come by eventually.
“Human!” a gruff male voice shouted behind her. Maya nearly jumped as she turned to face the stranger, and when she saw the two men behind her she felt another surge of shocking surprise. Romulans. In military uniforms. Panic crept in as Maya tried to recall if she had ever seen or heard of a Romulan living on Earth (with the exception of Saavik, who was only half and acted more like a full Vulcan). Something was not right, but Maya tried to remain calm. The Romulans had phasers and an intimidating, authoritative air.
“I’m not interested in your excuses. If you have a work permit, we will leave you be,” the Romulan continued.
“Dare I ask what happens if I have no idea what you’re talking about?” Maya studied the pair of Romulans as she spoke. They hadn’t made any move to suggest they were prepared to draw their weapons. She was fast, but not fast enough to outrun phaser fire if they were ready to shoot. “I’m just trying to get home.”
One Romulan placed a hand on his phaser. “So you live in a sector that’s restricted to humans?”
Shit.
A wave of nausea swirled in Maya’s belly. This is what Carmack warned her about, the world changed as if everything had been put out of place while her back was turned. Her eyes darted from one Romulan to the other. There was no escape. “Bold of you to assume that I’m a human.” Maya kept her eyes on the Romulans as she slid her hand back into her pocket. She could get out of here if she didn’t give these men a reason to use their weapons.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!” One shouted as he drew his phaser. Maya complied without hesitation, removing her hand from her pockets and holding them open in front of herself. “Out after curfew, in a restricted sector with no credentials, and behaving threateningly. More than enough reason to kill you on the spot, but luckily for you I’m in no mood to spend the rest of the night filling out forms.”
The other Romulan pulled his communicator from the clip on his belt. “Headquarters. Indeed to beam back with a prisoner. Be prepared to process her.
Moments later her surroundings dissolved away to be replaced with the interior of a building unlike any place Maya had seen on earth. The walls were dark and gray with green accents on the door frames and windows, and painted on the wall across from the transporter pads was a green bird of prey with its wings outstretched. This may have been Earth, but the Romulans controlled it now.
The Romulan woman who handled Maya’s intake was more polite than the men who arrested her, or perhaps she was too preoccupied to take the effort to flaunt her authority. Maya sat across the desk from her and tried to plan out her escape as the Romulan woman stared at her computer console with her brow furrowed. There were guards with phasers, so the device in her pocket would only help if she could activate it discreetly enough to not attract attention.
“Again, your name?” the Romulan woman asked, beleaguered.
“Maya Noonien-Singh.” She didn’t see the need to give a false name, there would be nothing about her in those databases either way.
“And you have lost your identification?” She did not look up as she worked.
“I never had any.”
The Romulan looked up. “That isn’t possible. Our record keeping practices are too precise to make such a mistake.” She pressed a button on the console. “Commander. I need your assistance.”
“On my way,” a female voice answered. There was something eerily familiar about it.
The Romulan went back to work as if staring down the screen would somehow yield the information she wanted. Maya took a deep breath and began to slowly slide her hand back into her pocket.
“Hands where I can see them!” a guard shouted.
Damn.
The door on the far side of the room chimed and slid open, and when the commander stepped inside, Maya was hit with the jarring realization as to why the voice sounded so familiar.
“Saavik?!” she blurted out.
The commander turned her head and raised a curious eyebrow. Just like the Saavike Maya knew, this woman was pregnant. The only obvious difference was that this Saavik wore a Romulan uniform and had a look of displeasure on her face instead of one of cool, calm logic.
“I don’t understand how or why a human criminal would know my name, but I suggest you show more respect by not speaking out of turn.”
“Commander,” the Romulan woman began. “I cannot confirm this human’s identity. She has no identification credentials and her name isn’t in any of the databases.”
“This is what you disturbed me for?” Saavik leaned over the other woman’s shoulder to see the screen. “She has clearly given a false name. Run a biometric scan to find out who she is, and in the future, if there is a brain in your head, it would behoove you to use it.” Saavik straightened up and stepped away, but paused when Maya dared to call to her.
“”You know, I know a little about you. You deserve better than this.”
Saavik narrowed her eyes. “Did I or did I not just tell you to stop talking out of turn?”
“Oh, you did, but I still thought you might like to know that I think you should be commanding a starship and conquering planets instead of punishing human petty criminals. Shame you’ve been held back so much by being half-Vulcan.”
Saavik moved around the desk to stand beside Maya and leaned over her. “You’re a bold one to make up such slander to simply insult me.” Though she denied these allegations, the way she clenched her jaw suggested that Maya had hit a nerve.
Maya slipped a hand back into her pocket, but no one shouted at her to stop. With Saavik so close to her, would they decide it was worth the risk of friendly fire to use their phasers? “Is it also slander, or is it true that your baby’s father is a Vulcan named Tural?”
Saavik said nothing but simply seethed and stared down Maya. Maya did not break her steady eye contact as she felt around to activate the device in her pocket. As the room dissolved away, she could hear the fading sounds of shouting and phaser fire.