Say you don't need no diamond rings
And I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of things
That money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money
Money can't buy me love
– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)
=/\=
In 3110, things were not going so well. Once the USS Adrenaline fell, and the USS Saint Eligius was lost, the Varg-i-yeh became even more emboldened.
They went after the Berren System, and then Tandar Prime. They captured Andoria and the Xyrillian home world. They took their shots at Daranaea and ended up destroying that planet as those fox-faced aliens made a stand to rival Masada.
They took out Ferenginar, and Kronos and New Vulcan and Bajor and Cardassia and Betazed. The trip to Dawitan was a fast one, for the Witannen had burned everything they could, and had spiked the remainder with radiation. The Imvari launched suicide runs, kamikaze flights and suicide bombings, but in vain.
The Lafa System was curiously devoid of life, although there was enough evidence of heavy industry that there had been life there, and it had been intelligent, and it had been there fairly recently. But what the Varg-i-yeh did not know was that the Calafans had escaped into the mirror, taking everything with them that they could carry. It was not just their children and their food animals and plants, but they took everything imaginable, even pests. Anything at all – they did their best to leave naught for the Varg-i-yeh. And, as a final act, they sowed the grounds with salt and destroyed the amplifying dishes on Point Abic, thereby slamming the door between the two universes shut, once and for all. They vowed to never speak of our universe again, and to not tell their children. As far as their future descendants would know, there was no universe but the mirror, and Calafans were simply silver or copper but there was little reason why one would be either.
And on Earth, finally, when the Varg-i-yeh got there, the humans fought with everything they had. They used their phasers and their disruptors and photon torpedoes. They even hauled out ancient phase cannons and rifles and eventually it got down to nuclear weapons and then to bullets and lead shot and Uzis and even Winchesters and Kentucky rifles and flintlocks and blunderbusses until they were gone, and then it was swords, it was epées and scimitars and sabers and daggers, and even kitchen knives. And when those were done, it was rocks and sticks and teeth and hands, until the last of the humans, holed up in caves, not unlike their distant ancient Neander Valley cousins, had died, worn down by resistance and hardship and hunger.
And the Varg-i-yeh, as it were, planted their metaphorical flag and declared the Milky Way defeated and set their sights on the next prize – the Canis Major galaxy. All of the spoils of the Milky Way were theirs, and they were bored with us.
=/\=
In 2192, Kira sat down with his brothers Arashi and Izo. "I read a little about this system," he said, "and a good thirty years ago or so, the Defiant was here."
"So?" asked Izo, fiddling with his PADD. He was bored, and wanted nothing more than to get out of there. "The Defiant's been everywhere."
"Two – well, four – people left then, and they went here," Kira said. A mouse, cheekily, rushed by his foot.
"Still, this doesn't mean anything," Izo said, "for something that old; you know we wouldn't bother pursuing, no matter what she says." No one had to ask who she was.
"Actually," Kira played his trump card, "this should interest you both."
"Oh?" Arashi finally looked up from his PADD, where he was going over finances. He was, perhaps, even more bored than Izo. "Is there any profit to be had?"
"Quit thinking that way," Kira said, "you ever wonder why you two are a few years apart in age? I mean, I'm born in '58. You're born in '59. And then Izo here doesn't show up until '61." What he did not know was that there had been an earlier birth – Jun – in '56. But that did not matter to his point.
"I dunno," Arashi said, "maybe Ma didn't have a lover for a while."
"C'mon, this is Ma we're talkin' about here," Kira said, "and she turned thirty-one that year. She definitely had a lover."
"This is still boring," complained Izo.
"Izo, she didn't just have a lover then. She got pregnant," Kira said.
"What?" Arashi was incredulous, "We have another brother?"
"No lie," Kira said, "and it gets even better. See, I remembered a little something, but it was not much. I mean, I was only maybe two and a half then. So I had that Vulcan slave, T'Pau, look things up. She had to get a bit creative as most of the records were destroyed."
"Destroyed? By whom?" Arashi asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Izo asked, "It had to have been Ma."
"Yeah, I think you're right," Kira said, "well, back when, it was a few months before you were born, Izo, and the inventory noted there was an escape pod missing. It was just before they left the area – right after Travis Mayweather and José Torres were killed."
"My Dad," Izo said, referring to Travis.
"And maybe mine," Arashi said, referencing Torres.
"There was also a record of a little girl's dress being purchased, really early in '61," Kira said.
Arashi looked up after searching for the purchase information on his PADD, "Huh, I never noticed that before. Are you saying we had sisters?"
"One sister, and one more brother, far as I can tell," Kira said, "I can't tell what their names were, though."
"You think they're alive down there, in that system?" Izo asked. The question hung in the air for a moment.
"There's someone down there building contraband starship parts," Arashi said, "think they'd be involved?"
"They're Ma's kids," Kira said, "Do you doubt it?"
=/\=
Yimar, Jennifer, Tom and the twins flew over to the Defiant, and were allowed to dock. The Empress herself went over to meet them, with her sons. She even took Milton along, "Watch what I do," she said, supremely confident.
Tom and Yimar got out first, and Hoshi looked him up and down like a piece of meat. Then Jennifer – Hoshi narrowed her eyes. "You're familiar somehow."
"I get that a lot," Jennifer said cautiously.
And then the twins appeared. Hoshi just stared. Kira finally stammered out, "Uh, are you?"
"Yep, we are," Takara said. "We are your brother and sister. You must be Kira."
"I, I am."
"We're between Arashi and Izo," Takeo said, and introduced them.
Hoshi finally recovered enough to stammer, "It's a trick. Those two are dead."
"No, Mom," Takara said, "now, what other lies have you been telling yourself about us, and the Calafan people, and anything else?"
Milton arched an eyebrow and looked over at Tom and Jennifer. Perhaps he could get out after all. Those two seemed to be his best bet. He decided, if there was any way for him to get away on their ship, he would do so, even if it meant stowing away.
"We'll take DNA tests if you want us to," Takara offered.
"That won't be ..." Hoshi began.
"No, uh," Milton began, and Hoshi glared at him, so he added, "it could be amusing."
"Oh, all right," the Empress was a tad exasperated, but she did call for Doctor Stone.
"We've got what you need," Yimar said, "and we can continue to make these ... materials ... as needed."
"It seems like a trade would be a good idea," Jennifer said.
"What if we just take what we want?" Arashi asked, "Your stock – even of incomplete goods – could prove helpful to us. And we know you haven't put anything together yet, so all you have against us are ships that are the level of the old NX class or so."
"We have expertise," Jennifer said, "a thing which I know many of your engineers have been lacking."
"No one asked you, Crossman," Hoshi said, all of a sudden remembering who Jennifer was. She then punched up Communications again.
"Engineering. Ramirez here."
"Get over here," Hoshi commanded, "you're being disparaged."
"On my way."
=/\=
Can't buy me love
Everybody tells me so
Can't buy me love
No no, no, no
– The Beatles (Can't Buy Me Love)