Dr. Mira Montgomery was one of the first to be beamed aboard the USS Uniontown. She had requested to be transported directly to their Sickbay where she could coordinate a triage program in their cargo bay for the survivors of the Enterprise disaster.

She was met by the Uniontown's chief Medical Officer, a young doctor who had only recently been assigned as CMO.

Mira was assisting the injured crewman she had helped in getting to the lifeboat. "Doctor, this crewman has acute anxiety syndrome. Please see that he has 10ccs of melorazine and a place to lay down."

"Nurse," instructed the young doctor, "see to this patient's needs."

"yes, Doctor," a nurse responded as she escorted the crewman away.

"Dr. Montgomery? I am Dr. Phillip Dorane, Chief Medical Officer. How may I assist you?"

"Dr. Dorane, please to meet you. I will need to set up triage in your main cargo bay. How many other doctors are aboard this ship?"

"I am the only physician aboard, but I do have three physician's assistants, four nurses, and two med techs."

This ship was not nearly as big as the Enterprise and not even half the staff! Mira thought to herself. This is going to be rough for the next several hours. "Dr. Dorane, we have around eight hundred survivors out there and many of them are injured. Are there any of your crew who are cross-trained in medical procedures?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes. We have 14 crewmembers who are trained in emergency medical procedures."

"Good. I will need to have them all report to your main cargo bay, along with as many cots as you can replicate. Also, send two of your physician's assistants, two of your nurses and both med techs to the cargo bay as well. You will need to stay here and attend to those injured who need immediate surgery. I will have those critically injured beamed here as soon as I make that determination. Can you handle that, doctor?"

Even though both Drs. Montgomery and Dorane were CMOs, Mira outranked him as a Commander and so he proceeded to follow her orders. "I have already prepared the necessary medications, equipment and staff you will need, Doctor. They are on their way to Cargo Bay 1 as we speak and should be there any minute."

"Good work, doctor," she said, impressed by the young doctor's readiness. "Please have me beamed to Cargo Bay 1 immediately."

"Dr. Dorane to transporter room 1, please beam Dr. Montgomery to Cargo Bay 1 now."

"Thank you, doctor," Montgomery said just before she was encircled by the familiar tingling of the transporter beam.

As soon as Dr. Montgomery arrived in the cargo bay, she immediately began to set up triage. She didn't know how many of her staff had survived or were injured, so she knew she would need to rely on the Uniontown's small medical team heavily. The nurses, physician's assistants and med techs had all arrived with medications and equipment to be set up.

"I want those with minor injuries over along the left wall," she began, giving crewmembers directions in setting up the cots and equipment. "Those with severe injuries who need my immediate attention should be directed along the right wall and attended by a physician's assistant until I can get there. Tell the transporter operators to beam all injured directly into the middle of this cargo bay, along with all medical personnel and those cross-trained from the Enterprise who are able to help." No sooner than she had gotten the orders out of her mouth, than the injured began arriving. The first to arrive were Nurse Samantha Beckett, her husband, physician's assistant, Al, along with two wounded.

"Dr. Montgomery!" exclaimed Nurse Beckett.

"Samantha!" Mira shouted, hugging her. "I'm so glad you're all right!"

"Yes, I'm fine, but Dr. Wahlberg and Nurse Perkins are in bad shape. I don't think they're going to make it."

Mira took out her tricorder, knelt down beside the unconscious Dr. Wahlberg and shouted, "I need cortical simulators over her, stat!" A med tech handed her the equipment, setting down hypos full of medications as well. At the same time a physician's assistant from the Uniontown attended Nurse Perkins.

Dr. Montgomery applied the cortical simulators to Wahlberg's forehead. "Ten ccs of cordrazine," she ordered. Nurse Beckett was assisting her.

She administered the medication to Wahlberg. "His synaptic functions are shutting down! Twenty ccs of Type 10 Troaline, quick!" She administered this to the still unconscious Wahlberg. "The cortical simulators aren't working! His neurons aren't functioning!"

Nurse Beckett put a hand to Dr. Montgomery's shoulder. "He's gone, doctor. You can't do anymore for him."

Dr. Montgomery slumped back on her heels and was silent for a few seconds. "Have his body beamed to the morgue," she said as she slowly got to her feet. Several other crewmembers had been beamed to the cargo bay by this time and she knew she had more work to do. Time enough to grieve later, she thought as she quickly went to the next patient who happened to be Crewman Sutton from Engineering.

Dr. Montgomery scanned Sutton discovering he had severe plasma burns on his chest and legs along with three broken ribs. "dermal regenerator," she called. "You're going to be fine, Crewman, just try and relax. "Get him started on metorapan immediately, and give his 100 ccs of Lorzetarine for pain," she order the Nurse who was assisting Sutton.

"Dr. Montgomery," called a Physician's Assistant. "We have a critical injury here."

Dr. Montgomery quickly ran over to where her next patient was laying on a cot. It was Morty Snerd. She remembered how she had tried to avoid him at that last New Year's Eve party on the Enterprise.

"Dr. Montgomery?" he said weakly.

She ran her tricorder over his body and said to the Assistant, "Beam him directly to Sickbay, fast!" She took his hand in hers, "You'll be okay, Morty, don't worry."

He smiled up at her and then was beamed to the Uniontown's Sickbay. His spinal column was crushed, along with severe plasma burns all over his body which had caused damage to his internal organs as well. She knew he wasn't going to make it. But maybe Dr. Dorane could help...

Nurse Beckett came up to assist her in treating her next patient was Lt. Cmdr. Alexandra Chang.

"What about Perkins?" she asked Samantha, as they both assisted Chang onto a cot.

Samantha Beckett shook her head, "She didn't live long after being transported over. She had sustained too many internal injuries. She never had a chance," she said sadly.

Dr. Montgomery scanned Chang. "you're going to be just fine, Alexandra," she said. "You have plasma burns, but they're not too serious and your right fibula is fractured in three places. We can handle that. Give me a dermal regenerator, 20ccs of corophizine and 10ccs of codrize for pain," she ordered. After she had administered that medication she said to Nurse Beckett," Run a knitter over her leg for ten minutes."

"Looks like you're going to be on vacation for awhile, Alex."

Alexandra Chang tried to smile, and said, "Thank you Dr. Montgomery. I'm feeling a little better now."

"You will need to spend some time recuperating at a starbase, Alex. Make the most of it!"

Chang smiled, "Yes, sir."

The cargo bay was starting to fill up now with more and more of the injured being beamed aboard. Dr. Montgomery was going back and forth assessing injuries, treating the seriously injured, beaming those who needed immediate surgery up to Dr. Dorane and recruiting any Enterprise crewmembers who had any knowledge of medical procedures and who weren't injured themselves. Amid all the hustle and bustle of the busy cargo bay she hadn't even thought about her own injured shoulder.

After about two hours of non-stop work, Mira noticed a familiar face being beamed in. It was Simon McRaney! She quickly went over to him.

"Simon!" she shouted, smiling. He was holding his left arm and was clearly in pain.

"Doc," he said trying to smile, obviously in a great deal of pain.

After Mira had scanned him she discovered shy. He was suffering from a fractured humerus bone, several sever lacerations to his legs and muscle spasms in his back.

"What happened to you?" she asked as she continued to treat his injuries. "Five ccs of lorzetine, 10ccs of metorapan, and hand me a knitter and autosuture," she ordered Nurse Beckett who was assisting her.

"When everything hit, I was in shuttle bay four helping to unload geological samples which had just come in. The rocks were heave and sharp and unfortunately landed on my legs. Aside from getting slammed up against a shuttle and breaking my arm, I also twisted my back in the process of trying to get up from under all those samples! Thanks to help from a crewman, I was able to get into a shuttle and get out."

"I'm sure you managed to get a lot of others out with you too," she said knowing that this was not the whole story he was telling her.

"Bring me a healer and knitter, Samantha." As she continued to work on Simon two crewmen came over to him.

"Commander McRaney. We just want to thank you for pulling us out of that shuttle bay. If it hadn't been for you, we would still be trapped under all that debris! We just wanted to shake your hand, sir." The two crewmen shook Simon's hand.

Mira looked up at Simon, but didn't say anything as he shook the crewmens' hands. He looked at Mira and just shrugged.

As she ran the healer over his lower back, she said to him, smiling, "Are you sure you don't have a head injury too?"

The next several hours saw Dr. Montgomery treating many, many patients. By the time it was all finished and everyone had been treated initially, 15 hours had passed. She had been running on adrenaline ever since she first beamed over, and now with everything slowing down, she was beginning to feel the pain in her injured shoulder.

"Dr. Montgomery," said Lt. Wendy Lynn, who had assisted her through the last five or so hours, "you look exhausted. You should get some rest now. All the patients have been attended to and the rest of your staff and the Uniontown's staff can handle anything else which needs doing."

"Thank you for your concern, Wendy. How many of my staff survived, do you know?"

"I believe all, except for Perkins and Walhberg. Steve Morgan and Shannon Nelson were the most severely injured, but Dr. Dorane says they will be fine. Everyone else escaped with minor or no injuries."

"Thank the Prophets for that!" she exclaimed. "Perhaps I will go to Sickbay myself and see to this shoulder. It is really beginning to bother me now that my adrenaline level is getting back to normal." She started to pack up the medical equipment when a Uniontown nurse stopped her.

"Dr. Montgomery, we can handle all this now. Would you like me to have you beamed directly to Sickbay?"

Mira looked slowly around at the now almost empty cargo bay where so many of the Enterprise's officers and crewmen had died. "Yes," she said sadly, "please."

There were 781 survivors of the Enterprise Disaster. Of that, 395 were injured, 112 seriously though this was not know for several days afterwards. it took that long for all the lifeboats and pods to be found and for what was left of the Enterprise to be searched. Some of the injured were being transferred to starbases where with would recuperate. Others were treated and would return to duty as soon as they were reassigned.

Mira got her shoulder treated, and during the six weeks that it took for them to get back to DS9, she kept busy with treating the wounded and spending time with Simon. He recovered very well from his injuries and tried to keep her spirits up playing poker. There wasn't much to do as they all waited to see where each would be stationed. During this time Mira decided that whenever she got back to DS9 she would try and go back to Bajor to find her mother and aunt one more time. This trip would be the last time she would attempt to find them. There was no telling how long it would be before she was assigned to another ship and she knew she needed the time to rest also. her injuries were mental and spiritual rather than physical and would take time to heal as well.

When she got back to DS9, she filed all her reports, checked on her patients and got them settled to wherever they were to be transferred and finally managed a passage to Bajor. All this had taken three days at which time she discovered that she would be reassigned to the USS Endeavour, a newly commissioned Galaxy Class starship. Mira just hoped that this ship would not be going into the Gamma Quadrant! She hoped never to visit that section of the galaxy ever again!

With the two months leave time granted her, Dr. Mira Montgomery boarded a shuttle to Bajor, ending up in the Meditation Gardens for a few days of nothing but rest and relaxation.

Dr. Mira Montgomery had been at the Bajoran Religious Retreat called The Meditation Gardens for two weeks when she decided she had had enough of rest and relaxation. She had caught up on her sleep, walked many miles through beautiful gardens filled with all kinds of flowers, trees and even a lovely slow moving brook which she loved to sit by and just think.

She pondered on the age old questions of life and death, what her purpose was in this universe, and even considered resigning Starfleet. She had enough of death and disaster after the Enterprise and the Gamma Quadrant. She never thought she would long again for the peaceful, dull routine of a starbase, but she had, for awhile at least.

Now she had come to her senses and dismissed the notion of resigning from Starfleet. She had done a lot of good there and wanted to do more. Besides, who would Lt. Cmdr. Taggert pick on if she were gone? Mira smiled at the thought of Maxine Taggert. Even though Maxine gave her a hard time whenever possible, she was fun to spar with. Maxine kept Mira on her toes!

Mira packed up her few belongings in her backpack, said her goodbyes and thanks to the Vedeks and proceeded into the heart of Bajor's largest city to find a little jewelry shop that she had stopped at before boarding the Enterprise. She bought a silver Bajoran earring there, which was one of a kind, and wanted to replace it. It was lost in the disaster, along with several other personal belongings.

Mira found the little shop nestled between a store for old clothing and a book shop. The elderly owner remembered her from her last trip.

"Ah, the good Bajoran Doctor!" he said, smiling. "Come in and sit down. What can I do for you today?" He ushered Mira to sit at one of the chairs which were sprinkled around the cluttered, old shop.

The man was elderly, and slightly bent over at the shoulders with white hair and a neatly trimmed white beard. He wore typical Bajoran clothing, lose fitting robes in dark tones of brown and sepia with a small, round hat on his head.

"Argio, how have you been?" Mira asked as she gave him a hug and then sat down in the proffered chair. She hadn't been one to hug before the disaster, but ever since then she felt the need to let others know how she cared about them. Death has a way of doing that to a person. That or either shutting down altogether. Mira's father had taken the later route over his grief when her mother had left them. She remembered what that had done to him and she didn't intend to be that way herself.

"But you are not wearing the pretty earring I made especially for you? Why?"

"That is why I am here, old friend. Perhaps you heard what happened to my ship, the Enterprise?"

"Yes. So awful. I am truly sorry. But I see that you are fine. That is good."

"Thank you. Yes, I am fine, but I did lose my earring then, however. And I would like to have another one made. I know it will not be exactly like the one I lost, but I know I will love it just as much!"

"Ah, yes. The one I make for you was silver, was it not?"

"Yes, that's right. I would like this one silver as well. Can you make one for me?"

"Yes, yes of course. But it will take two weeks. The next shipment of silver is not due here for another week, and it will take that long to make the earring. Do you have that much time?"

"Yes. Right now I do have. I have nothing to do for the next several weeks."

"Good! Then I will start to work on the sketch for your earring right away."

"Thank you Argio. I will come back for it in two weeks time." Just as Mira started to leave, Argio called to her.

"Oh, I almost forgot. My memory is not what it used to be you know."

Ever the doctor, even on vacation, Mira said, "There are drugs to help your memory, Argio, if you would like me to I will..."

"No, thank you good doctor. But I am an old man and the memory, it will go sometime, correct? I do not wish any medicine for that. But what I was going to tell you is someone came in soon after you left the last tie you were in here. A young Bajoran girl. She was inquiring about you."

"Asking about me?" Mira could not imagine who that could be. She had no friends on Bajor.

"Yes. She knew your name and I believe tried to catch up to you, but apparently never did?"

"No. No one came to me after I left here. I went directly back to DS9 at that time and then shortly after that I left for the Gamma Quadrant. Did this girl say what she wanted with me?"

"Let me see...she said something about someone in your family," he was trying hard to remember the rest of what the girl had told him.

Mira's pulse quickened. The last time she was here she had been looking for her mother and aunt, but with little success. "Was it about my mother or aunt, perhaps?" she asked Argio hopefully.

He smiled and said, "Yes, yes that was it. She said she had news of your mother, I believe."

Mira couldn't believe it! She had spent weeks on Bajor asking anyone who might have known about her mother and aunt and no one had much information at all. And now, just after she had thought about giving up her search, success! At least if sounded like it could be success.

"Argio. Do you know who this girl is and where I might get in touch with her? This is very important!"

"I believe she left a note or something. Just in case you ever returned. Now where did I put that?" he said as he went behind his counter, pulling open drawers and sifting through papers.

Mira could hardly believe it! News of her mother. And after she had just about given up all hope! She was also thinking that if she had some of that memory assisting drug right now, she would gladly have given Argio a hypo whether he liked it or not!

"Oh! Here it is."

Mira could hardly keep herself from ripping the paper from his hands!

"The girl's name is Rajell, Breena. She lives in a little village not far from here." He gave Mira the piece of paper which held so much promise for her. She gently took the paper as if it were sacred.

"Do you know how I can get to this village? Is there a shuttle going there soon?"

"The village is close. Shuttles do not go there but maybe once a week, to offload supplies. I believe the next one is not due in for another five days."

"Is it close enough to walk?" asked Mira, determined to get there as quickly as possible.

"If one is in good enough shape, then one could walk to the village of Kellor in two to three hours time."

Mira looked out the window of Argio's shop. "it looks like good weather today," she said. "I think I will walk."

"Good luck to you then. I hope you find what you are looking for."

"Thank you, Argio. I hope so too. And I will be back in two weeks for my earring."

"I will have it ready for you then, my friend."

With that, Mira began the next phase of her journey on the road to Kellor. As she walked along the Bajoran countryside, she wondered who this girl might be and what was it she had to tell her of her mother. If only this girl had reached her before she left for the Gamma Quadrant!

The countryside was beautiful and if Mira had not been on such an urgent mission, she would have taken the time to enjoy it. As it were, she was in a big hurry to get to Kellor.

After about two and a half hours, she finally reached the village. In her hurry to find this mystery girl, she had not stopped to pick up any supplies, including water and she was close to dehydrating. Being a doctor, I should know better, she chided herself as she found the address written on the piece of paper that Argio had given her.

She stood outside the small fence which surrounded the house, just looking at it. It was a humble, nicely kept house. No different from the many others which lined the broad street. She went up to the door and touched the chime. The door opened to reveal an average sized girl, approximately 26 years old standing there.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"I hope so," began Mira. "i am Dr. Mira Montgomery of Starfleet. I am looking for Rajell Breena.

The girls' face lit up in a big smile when she heard Mira's name. "I am Breena," she answered. Please come in. Would you like something to drink? You look rather worn out." She ushered Mira to a cozy chair in which to sit down.

"Yes. Thank you. I would like something to drink if it's not too much trouble. In my haste to reach you, I failed to procure any drinking water and since I walked all the way here from the city, I..."

"You walked all that way here?!" she exclaimed. "No wonder you look tired and thirsty. What would you like? Water, tea, fizz?"

"Just a nice cold drink of water would be wonderful," answered a weary Mira as she sat down.

Breena walked over to the replicator which was located along the opposite wall from Mira. "Water, cold," she ordered to the computer. She brought the water to Mira and said, "I need to turn off the transporter. I wouldn't want anyone disturbing us while we talk," she explained. When she came back, Breena took a seat on a small sofa adjacent to Mira's chair.

"Well, I can't believe you're actually here," said Breena, who was looking very intently at Mira. So much so, that it make Mira uncomfortable and she shifted in her seat uneasily. "I'm sorry. I'm staring at you, aren't I? It's just that..."

"Why don't you just tell me why you were looking for me?" asked Mira, taking a long sip of her water.

"I don't know where to begin."

"Argio said you had some information for me about my mother. Why don't you begin with that".

"Mira, may I call you Mira?" she asked getting up from her seat.

Mira nodded.

"Mira, I do have information about your mother, but first I think I need to tell you who I am. I am... your sister."

Mira was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe what she had just heard! "you are mistaken, Breena, I have no sister," said a confused Dr. Montgomery. "I am an only child."

"Maybe you are your father's only child, but not your mother's. Orlean Sabra was my mother too."

Mira sat very still for what seemed to Breena like a long time, but was in fact only a few seconds before she spoke again. "Perhaps you had better tell me the whole story from the beginning, Breena. I need to hear what you know."

Breena sat down again and began to explain. "I was born 25 years ago to Orlean Sabra and Rajell Tion. This was during the Cardassian occupation and the years that the Cardassians were on Bajor were very bad to say the least. I was raised in a group of people who were resistance fighters, my mother included."

Mira interrupted her, "My mother was a nurse, not a fighter, Breena. She would never intentionally harm anyone."

"Mira, I don't mean to be cruel, but when was the last time you saw your mother?"

"Right after the invasion. She left my father and me to help nurse the people of Bajor. She was the reason I became a doctor. So don't tell me she turned into some kind of killer! I don't believe it!"

"Please, you must understand. Mother did not want to fight, but we had no choice! All of us, including the children were taught to fight. It was the only way to stay alive. You don't know the horror of that occupation unless you've lived through it. Yes, she fought Cardassians, but not because she enjoyed it. But because she had to in order to survive!"

"So, where is she now? Here? With her other husband?" Mira was angry at her mother all over again for leaving her and her father. She thought she had put these feelings behind her a long time ago. The intensity of her emotions surprised her.

"No, she isn't here. She died on a small moon of Jeneet 8, along with my father and our aunt, Orlean, Katirra." Breena sat back onto the sofa and waited for Mira to respond to what she had just said.

"When did this happen?" Mira asked flatly.

"About 10 years ago."

"So I am ten years too late," she said slowly. "I had the feeling that I would never find her again."

"I'm so sorry, Mira. I tried to find you at that time, but I had no idea where you were. I was only 15 then, and my resources were limited also. But I want you to know that i did try."

"How did it happen?"

"We were in a resistance group which was almost captured by the Cardassians. There was only one transport ship, a very small one, and there were many children with us at that time. My mother, father and aunt put us on the ship, along with the pilot and told him to get us to safety. The Cardassians were coming fast and we knew that if they captured us, then we would be tortured and forced to reveal other resistance cells. No one would have done that intentionally or willingly, but..."

"Yes, I have witnessed some of the Cardassians persuasive measures in my time. Please, go on."

"Since most of that particular cell was made up of children, and there was no room for the adults on the ship, the three of them decided to stay behind and try and hold off the Cardassians for as long as it took for the ship to get safely away, which it did. They did not die in vain, Mira, but died saving many children.

"But how do you know they're dead if you didn't stay around to witness their deaths?" A spark of hope ignited in Mira's heart.

Breena shook her head, putting her head in her hands and leaning forward. "i didn't want to tell anyone this, but now I see I must. Just before our ship was too far away to see them, I looked back and saw what happened."

"What did you see, Breena?" said Mira gently, lightly touching her on the arm.

"I saw Aunt Katirra shoot mother and father."

"What?! Why?" Mira couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was impossible to believe!

"I overheard mother talking with father one night when they didn't know I was awake. They were discussing what they would do in case they were ever taken by the Cardassians. Mother told Father that if ever that was about to happen, and he had a chance that he should kill her before the Cardassians had the chance to torture her. She said she had seen so much suffering and that she didn't want to die that way. But father said that he could never kill her, for any reason. He was very kind hearted, you see, even though he was a resistance fighter. My aunt overheard them talking and she told them that if the time ever came then she would kill them both before they had the chance to suffer. And that's what she did, Mira.

"What happened to Katirra?"

"Her body was found much later. It appeared she had taken several phaser blasts before she died. If i know her, she took a few Cardassians with her before she went!" Breena smiled at that thought.

Mira sat for a long time thinking over what she had just heard. Her mother and aunt had died 10 years before. She never had any chance of finding them. and to think that her mother had actually married another man!

"Do you know if mother ever loved me or my father, Breena? I want the truth."

"Yes she did. She found it very hard to leave you both, but she felt that she belonged on Bajor when her people needed her the most. She always talked about you and your father. She always said that when the Cardassians finally left Bajor, then she would go back and try and make things up to you. She never thought the occupation would last 40 years!"

"She loved my father so much that she married yours!" said Mira bitterly.

"You're wrong, Mira. Mother never married my father. She loved him, yes, but they were never married. I did take his name, however.

Mira was surprised by this admission. "Why did she never marry him?"

"When I asked her that, she would always reply that she was already married, and that would end our discussion on that subject."

"I never really knew her, you know," said Mira, trying to hold back her tears.

This time, Breena was the one to touch Mira on the arm in a comforting manner. The two sisters were very much alike. "Perhaps you could say awhile, here with me and we could just talk about our mother. All three of them are buried her eon Bajor. It's just recently that I managed to bring them back. And I have many stories I'm sure you would love to hear."

"I don't know, Breena. I don't really belong here and..."

"Nonsense!" said Breena, interrupting Mira," Of course you belong here. You're my sister!"

Mira looked into Breena's eyes, and thought, "Yes, maybe I do belong here after all!"

For the next month, Mira and Breena talked about their mother, their aunt and both of their fathers, along with everything that had happened to them over the years and Mira was finally able to put flowers on her mother's grave.

By the time Mira left Bajor with her new earring and memories of a new sister, she knew that she would always have a friendly place to stay whenever she came back to Bajor and a sister to share her life with!