[Unity - SW v ST] Parallel Lives (1 of 2)

[Sonnenburg]

If you're unfamiliar with the Unity saga, this story probably won't make much sense.

Part 1: Parallel Lives

There is the first memory. It’s distant, fuzzy, but from where it all springs. A boy, barely a day old, carried into the daylight for the first time, so he wouldn’t know that there was anything unusual about two suns. This was where his destiny would be realized, where-

-where she would become something else, something no longer fully human. It would have seemed unlikely as the four year-old girl walked off the station holding her mother’s hand onto a ship named after a great bird-

The Falcon.

No... no, that wasn’t the name. It was... Raven.

The first step to realizing destiny was on that ship.

Yes, there is no doubt about that.
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There he is, playing in the sands of the desert. Older now, yet still there was time to wait, time to enjoy the moments.

If she’d known, she would have cherished them, for joy would not come again for a long, long time. But now, for today, she was just a little girl.

Destiny would come for him when it came.

No matter how much she might wish it could be avoided.

And more time passed, and the boy saw them. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it. He had seen so many droids come and go over the years on the farm.

The drones were practically a member of her family. Always being watched by her parents, sometimes even on their ship. They were so familiar, it was hard to remember that they were also dangerous.

But then, when he looked at the remains of the Jawas, and heard the words of Obi-Wan, he knew. The droids had drawn the Empire here, and he knew that if they would go to this much trouble, that the risk of attacking a few moisture farmers wouldn’t even be worth thinking about. He raced for his speeder and took off, hoping that it wouldn’t be-

Too late. The Borg had found them, and the ship was crashing. Within moments, the drones were everywhere. “Annika, run!” her mother screamed. “Run! Hide!!!” The girl hid and watched helplessly as her father was changed by them, but her mother fought. She had a pipe, and she began battering the drones, trying to slow them down, trying to let her daughter get away. But the Borg wouldn’t tolerate this for long, and soon there was a shot, and the girl was so shocked, so frightened, she couldn’t even scream.

The boy hopped out of the speeder and looked at his home.

Her home - burning.

Everything he ever knew - destroyed.

The smoke from the bridge.

Yes, that awful smoke, billowing from the doorway.

She looked down at the lifeless body of her mother, and in a little girl whose mind was so traumatized, something small and fragile went “snap!”

The sight of them, dead, was the moment when he made his decision. He found Obi-Wan again, and told him that his life here was now over.

And the Borg took her away.

She appeared on the Borg ship, and they changed her. They altered her body, and put her inside a maturation chamber, so that ten years would pass in one. And as they sealed her inside, the last of the little girl was locked away inside her mind as well, replaced by the voice - the constant voice. She was now one with the Borg. She would now forever be part of them. On this day-

“You’ve taken your first step into a larger world.”
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Time passed for her, though it was irrelevant. She did as she was told, without individual thought. Her mind was part of the process, but within the voice there was no resisting the flow. When the Borg chose to assimilate the Federation, she went, to assist in the assimilation of Locutus. And when Species 8472 threatened, and it was necessary to momentarily humor Janeway, she was sent as well. A part of something far greater; a tool in service to the Borg. It was the only existence she knew now.

The boy hadn’t imagined anything like this happening to him. A raid on the Imperials, rescuing a damsel in distress, fighting off a monster, everything was scary, but thrilling! They were going to do it, going to save the day and defeat the Empire!

Victory was inevitable. Species 8472 fell, and the girl did as commanded, and began the assimilation of Voyager, but then-

“Ben?” the boy said, seeing the old man fighting Darth Vader, the master of evil himself. And-

The discharge, and the voice was now silent.

Obi-Wan turned to Luke, and then, for reasons the boy couldn’t fathom, he raised his saber so that he was helpless. “No!!!”

She awoke. The voice was gone, and they were stripping her of her implants. She was changing... she was being changed, and she didn’t want it. She wanted to go back!

It was the only connection the boy had left!

Please! She pleaded in her mind.

Don’t go! He begged.

I-

-can’t-

-go on-

-alone!

And so desperate was she to escape being abandoned again.

So fresh the wound of them being taken away.

There was no room for rational thought.

There was no room for self-preservation.

And the girl raised her powerful fists.

And the boy pointed the gun.

And the only thing that was left was given voice.

The rage.
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But as more time passed, rage gave way to sorrow, and finally there was acceptance.

The boy was a hero, delivering them from certain death. He was young, but he was known, respected. And he continued to grow.

Yes. Now that she was no longer part of the Collective, the slowing of the aging process was gone. The body matured from 21 to 22 - which was unusual for her since it had taken five years to go from 20 to 21. But she adapted. And she used what she’d learned.

He had the lessons of Obi-Wan, after all. He could feel the Force, small though it was through him.

But her thoughts would still drift to them.

And the legacy he had. He wanted to be a Jedi as his father had been. He would follow in those great footsteps.

And then the message came.

A vision. He saw- “A city in the clouds.”

“We know about Voyager's plan to invade the Sphere,” the Queen said. “It will fail.”

The boy looked heartbroken. He had seen his friends, and... “They were in pain.”

The girl knew what it meant. It meant that all her friends were going into danger.

“Decide, you must, how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could, but- you will destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.”

She convinced Janeway to let her go on the mission. She could help, she could make sure that things would work out.

He concentrated on his training, working on his exercises so that he could become a Jedi like his father did.

She’d wanted to be with them for so long.

His every thought had been bent on it.

Yet now, she felt only fear. But she knew that if she stayed with them, she could perhaps save Voyager.

“I can’t keep the vision out of my head,” the boy lamented. “They’re my friends, I have to help them!”

She left.

He left.

And there was more waiting than what was expected.

She would become one with the Borg in time, as she’d wanted. But there was a price.

The boy fought valiantly, but ultimately, he was no Jedi. He wasn’t as good as his father had been. And so, when caught off guard, he paid the price for his arrogance.

The price was to help the Borg do what had happened at Wolf 359 again. She had to help assimilate her own people.

He clutched the stump of his hand, crawling away from his vanquisher. “You do not yet realize your importance,” the dark man called. “With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy!”

“We all originated from lesser species. I myself came from species one two five, but that's irrelevant now. We are Borg.”

“I’ll never join you!” the boy snarled.

“Comply, or we will turn you into a drone.”

“If you only knew the power of the dark side!”

“You're torn between your desire to be one with us and your loyalty to them. It's time for you to complete your task. All of your emotions, grief, guilt, remorse, compassion will be irrelevant once humanity is assimilated.”

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”

“You attacked us! You murdered my family!”

“No... I am your father.”

“Papa,” the girl whispered, looking at the drone before her.

“No... that’s not true!” the boy lamented. “That’s impossible!”

“Your family's here. You're here. Be one with us again,” the Queen said, offering the one thing she’d been wanting for so long.

“Come with me!” Vader said, hand outreached. Father offering it to the son who had wanted nothing more than to live up to him.

It was the greatest of all temptations.

Because no matter how many in the Rebellion knew him.

No matter how many of the crew had accepted her.

At the end of the day-

-she was still horribly-

-horribly alone.

And they looked in the face of temptation... and there was no choice. They left, the outstretched hand pushed aside, and a battle for escape. And they were returned to the comfort of friends. But there was no denying that feeling that rumbled within, the question of whether they had made the wrong choice.
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The echo of the feeling never really went away.

She left Voyager, and joined the Enterprise. It was all new, and while there were problems Picard had proven an even abler guide than Janeway, because he too had been there. But still, she felt the outsider. He knew, but that didn’t take the feeling away.

He trained Leia in the ways of the Force, so that in no time he was no longer the last of the Jedi. But still, when she walked away, no longer being the last didn’t help.

They each looked out at the stars, and silently wished the loneliness would just go away.

It was not an easy thing. They had become used to it by now. So much lost, so much tragedy, and the weight of their decisions, that it was hard to see. No, that wasn’t quite true. They saw... when they looked at each other, they saw... but they were still afraid. It took time, but then, they took away the loneliness, and then they took away more.

He went into her mind as she lay comatose, and opened the door that had sealed up that little girl on the Raven so long ago. And with that gone, she was forever changed - and she would never be tempted by the Borg again.

He locked his mind away, fighting a losing battle against his own darkness. But she was too smart for him, and found a way in, and showed him the truth. He was like his father... and like his father, he too could come back. He-

“Luke...”

He looked over at her. “Annika?”

“I think so,” she said. “What happened?” She looked up from where she lay prone, alongside Luke, and a chill went through them both.

“Hm,” the Emperor said with a disapproving noise. “It appears you’re more resilient than I thought.”

[to be concluded]

[Chris OFarrell]

WOHO! More Unity!

*does happy dance*

[Sonnenburg]

WOHO! More Unity!

*does happy dance*

Thanks. It's nothing monumental, just a two-parter, but while I was reformatting everything for the website I got to reading and thought I'd do one more thing with the Skywalkers.

[phongn]

It took me a bit to realize what was going on, really. Interesting, but I'm still mulling it over.

[rhoenix]

Admittedly, I was rather happy when I saw you were writing fanfic again. And in the Unity universe, no less!

The chapter was a bit hard to follow, line by line as you did, but it got the point across.

Then again, I've no real advice for you on that count - I resolved that problem by alternating entire chapters between my two main characters in the one story i've finished, and it didn't quite work as well as I'd hoped.

In any case, I look forward to reading more.

[Crazedwraith]

More Unity is good. Very very good.

[Stuart Mackey]

Monstrous Good!