On an unknown world, atop a mountain plateau, beneath the darkness of the night sky...

A man and woman hug one another as the gentle breeze caresses their bodies. The man towers more than three feet taller than his lover, but he makes up for the height difference by lifting her into his arms.

"I'm going to miss you," The woman says.

The man sighs. He sweeps his fingers through her long, curly brown hair. "Don't say that. I'll come back someday. I promise."

"José. Don't make a promise you can't keep," The woman says, as she pulls back to look into his eyes. "You and I both agreed that was an impossibility. Once you leave, you won't ever be able to return."

José falls silent. A deep sense of remorse fills his gaze. His shoulders slump, and he lowers her to the ground.

"...Evelyn, I-"

"You can't stay. If Nick goes back alone, they'll ask questions. They'll send another team, and they won't even tell you."

"But..." José says, his voice low, "you could come with me."

"You know I can't," Evelyn counters. "It will be impossible to claim this world is barren if you bring another human back. You've said so yourself."

The man, one of Ramma's Chosen, sets his wife down and drops to his knees so he can look into her eyes.

"Of course. But still... it isn't fair. I can't leave you, or our child. If I go- if I leave and never see you again, what use will there be in continuing my life? A hundred thousand years of loneliness. A hundred thousand years wondering what fate befell you. I'd... I'd rather die."

Evelyn's soft expression, the look of a woman gazing into her soulmate's eyes, hardens in an instant. Her gaze turns frosty, and anger fills her countenance. "Don't ever say that again. As long as there is life, there is hope. Don't you remember? That's what you told me when we first met. I thought we could never win against our oppressors, but you taught us differently. You showed us that where there is a will, there is a way. Even slaves can bite the hand of their masters, so long as they have the will to fight back."

José slowly shakes his head.

"This situation is different, Evelyn. Fighting against your enemies is one thing... but your allies? Your own interests? I'm one of Ramma's Chosen. I represent the will of Terrankind. Standing up to them is akin to assuming the role of a demon. A heretic. I can't do that."

Evelyn pulls away from José. A look of pity enters her eyes. "We all make our choices, José. We all have our obligations. Would you rather spend a few years living with me in peace, until your commanders decide to send another team to collect your 'corpse,' or would you rather go back, ensuring I can raise our child safely?"

"Haha..." José chuckles, his tone lacking all trace of humor. "You know what I want to say."

"I do."

Evelyn forces a pained smile.

"I want you to stay, too. But you don't have that luxury. So go. Leave. I will raise our baby, be they a boy or a girl, and ensure they know what a great man their father was."

José lowers his head. As he stares at the ground, his chest begins to ache. Tears fill his eyes. He furiously wipes them away, while choking back a sob.

"Great man... great man! What a joke. A great man wouldn't abandon his family. A great man wouldn't run away, praying for grace from those above him. A great man would stay and fight!"

"No. An idiot would," Evelyn says, laughing wryly. "Please stop, José. You're only hurting me the longer you drag this out. Do you want me to suffer and cry the whole time you're gone?"

The Terran wipes his eyes again, this time keeping his fingers atop his eyelids for several seconds while he tries to control himself.

"...I know. I'm sorry, Evelyn. I'm so, so sorry. I'll... I'll be stronger. For you. For us."

José shakily wipes away his tears.

"But... if Command does return to this world... if they come back in spite of my sacrifice... I swear, I'll make sure they regret that decision."

Evelyn sighs. She takes a step forward, drapes her arms around José's neck, and nuzzles her face against his.

"I'm sure you will. That's what I love about you, José. If anyone hurts the people you love... you'll never show them mercy. Even if it means becoming a demon in their eyes."

"Haha..." José laughs, his voice choked with emotion. "I wouldn't go that far."

"That's good. I don't want you to forget your humanity, José. Even if the worst were to happen to me, you must always remember who you are and what you stand for. Your mission is noble. If it weren't for you, my world would still be in the throes of thralldom, ruled by the tyranny of demonkind. You've given us hope. You've become our Lightbringer."

Sadness lingers in José's eyes. However, his wife's words still manage to make him smile.

"You always know how to lighten the mood."

"I'm doing the best I can," Evelyn replies. "Now go. Return to your people. I will live a long and healthy life, thanks to you. I will rear our child and raise it to become a mighty warrior... just like you."

Hearing Evelyn mention his child, José's body loses some of its strength. He staggers slightly as disorientation envelops his mind.

Behind José, a mountain of a man, a dark-skinned fellow with thick black facial hair, walks over.

"Yo, Jojo. It's time to go, bud. The portal will open in three minutes."

José rubs his fist against his forehead as he tries to stymie the helplessness plaguing his heart.

"...Wait. Evelyn. Before I go... I don't want my baby to never hear his father's voice."

Evelyn raises her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

José stretches out his hand. He touches a heart-shaped locket attached to a chain around Evelyn's neck, then pops it open.

With a tremendous strain, José begins forcing nanites out of his bloodstream, congealing several million of them into a few tiny grams of metal. The metal takes shape, becoming a computer chip stuck inside the locket's interior.

"Haah... haah..." José gasps, struggling to swallow air. "That was... ex... exhausting. Whew."

After finishing, he closes up the locket and presses it against Evelyn's chest.

"This is for our child. When he... or she... grows up... give it to them. Then I'll always be with them."

The black man behind José stiffens. "Jojo... what are you doing? We're not supposed to share technology with primitive civilizations. If the higher-ups find out-"

"I don't care," José says, smiling. "This is my one and only act of rebellion against Ramma. You won't tell anyone, right, Nicky-boy?"

The other Terran shakes his head and chuckles. "Nah, bud. I ain't no snitch."

After saying their goodbyes, José and Evelyn split apart. She stands still and watches as an eruption of energy tears into the space atop the mountain plateau, opening up a rift in space.

"José!" Evelyn calls out.

Her husband turns to look at her for the last time.

"I know, Evelyn. I love you too. Forever and always."

Then, he disappears.

The portal closes behind him, leaving only the stillness of a summer night in his wake.

.......................................

A hissing of air.

Disorientation.

Slowly, José Rodriguez opens his eyes. He blinks several times, trying to clear away a dense film covering his vision.

The sounds of distant beeping noises grow ever clearer. Over time, his vision comes into focus, revealing to him a strange room, one that appears partly foreign, and partly familiar.

Exosteel walls. Medical equipment. A one-way mirror, allowing him to see a hallway outside, but preventing others from looking inside.

The man stands, enveloped by an unfamiliar metal capsule, his body held upright by a pair of metallic prongs wrapped around his chest.

"Uhhhhh..."

José drawls, but his mouth doesn't quite work properly.

"Whuhh... whurr am I?"

The groggy-headed Terran coughs a few times, expelling thick, viscous blue liquid from his mouth and nose.

At that moment, a blinding beauty appears; a blond-haired woman with an oddly symmetrical face. She wears a white doctor's gown, looking to José like an angel descended from the heavens.

"Ah! You are awake. How do you feel, José Rodriguez?"

José stares vacantly at the woman. Her face appears familiar, like a wonderful dream. Her hair isn't quite the right color, but the size of her nose, the distance between her eyes... everything else seems to match up to his memory.

"E... Evelyn? Is... is that you?"

The Terran smiles faintly, as a comforting feeling envelops his heart. He lifts his hand to caress the face of the woman he loves, ignoring the blue liquid stuck to his skin.

However, when his hand touches Evelyn's face, he blinks in confusion.

For some unknown reason, her body feels extremely cold to the touch, like a piece of iron left in the fridge for an hour.

"My apologies, José Rodriguez," the woman says. "My designation is Penelope. I am a holographic entity serving aboard the UTC Bloodbearer. You have just awoken from a... complicated medical procedure."

"Muh... medical... procedure?" José asks, his head still swimming. "Bloodbearer? Wait... that's right... I remember now."

Penelope smiles, her expression appearing somewhat plastic compared to a genuine human. "Yes, please speak frankly. I would like to know where your memories start and end. What is the last thing you recall?"

The Terran pauses to collect his thoughts.

"Alpha Centauri Starbase IV. We... we were headed there. The whole crew. I entered stasis. Before that... I chatted with Nicky-boy. Did we make it to our destination? Did something happen to me during my stasis-sleep?"

The more José talks, the more his vision becomes clearer. He starts to look around the room and shift against the metal restraints holding him in a standing position, while Penelope reveals a pained look.

"I see. It appears that, as expected, you have lost your memories. That is unfortunate."

"My memories?" José asks, still gazing around the room. "What do you mean? Wait, hold on... is this a joke? A practical joke? Oh, come on! Don't tell me Nicky-boy put you up to this!"

José cracks a huge grin as he shakes his head. "That guy. He's always pulling this crap on me. Alright, alright! Where are ya, Nick? Come on, show yourself! We've all had a good laugh!"

However, even as José smiles, Penelope's expression only dims further.

"Admir- no, err, Private Rodriguez. There are a great many things I need to speak with you about. Um. I must inform you that this is... this is not a practical joke. You have suffered a serious injury, and the procedure I had to use was one that came with many after-effects."

José's grin fades slightly, but he flexes his arm. "Procedure? Whatever you did, you sure did a good job! I've never felt better in all my life! I feel like I'm ten years old again! By the way, why are you here and not Doctor Bashir? Isn't he usually the person in charge of big operations? Kind of weird he'd send a hologram here instead of coming in pers-"

Suddenly, while José speaks, he stops mid-sentence.

His eyes fall upon a medical table off to the far side of the small chamber, one resting within a somewhat darker area than the rest of the facility.

It doesn't seem to command any attention, yet José's eyes still adhere to it as if he's seen a ghost.

"What... what the hell? What in Ramma's name?!"

Pins and needles crawl up José's feet, through his spine, and into his brain. The Terran takes a step forward and pulls against the metal prongs, causing them to automatically open and free him, but Penelope manages to reach out and grab his shoulder, steadying him. The holo-doctor follows his gaze and sighs despondently.

"...I apologize, Private Rodriguez. I..."

José sucks in a long, deep breath. "That's... that's ME?!"

On the table, a dead, lifeless corpse rests, its face and body a perfect facsimile of José himself. Numerous cuts and slashes line the corpse's skin, as if its original owner fought in a terrible battle, only to end up succumbing to his wounds.

Realizing something, José scans the medical room more thoroughly.

"Wait... this facility... Psionics? The Bloodbearer's Psionics bay?"

Penelope purses her lips, then nods.

"...Yes."

"But... that body over there; it's me? I died?!"

Helplessly, the holo-entity sighs, revealing her complex programming which is more than capable of emulating basic human emotions.

"You did. I was going to wait to tell you, but you woke up unexpectedly. I was unable to cover the body in time."

Hearing her words, José stands up, turns around, and gazes at the strange metal tube he just exited.

"...A cloning capsule. It's for Ramma's Chosen only."

Penelope nods again. "You are familiar with Psionic technologies, it seems."

The Terran shakes the disorientation out of his head, then looks down at his naked body, examining himself.

"Oh my god. Ramma's Chosen can only revive once. When we do... it means..."

"You fell in combat," Penelope says, pursing her lips. "Unfortunately, your last brain scan was out of date. Very much so. Because of your Psionics training, we were able to capture your soul before it entered the Great Beyond and place it into a clone body. However, your brain was too damaged for us to recover any memories."

The more Penelope talks, the more questions that appear in José's mind. He glances around the room again, frowning.

"Wait a minute. Hold on. Where is everyone? Seriously, where is Doctor Bashir? Where are the other aides? Assuming I met some terrible end, there should be dozens of personnel in this facility tending to my needs. Why is only one holo-crewman here?"

Penelope smiles. "José Rodriguez. You have just undergone a life-threatening operation. Please, step into the sonic shower, clean yourself off, put on some clothes, and take a seat. I have been personally assigned to ensure your rehabilitation goes smoothly."

"Rehabilitation?" José echoes. "Uh... forgive me for being rude... but... how many memories did I lose? What happened to me? How did I die? Where the hell is everyone?"

Penelope's expression turns stern. "Private Rodriguez. I am your psychologist, as of this moment. That means I am your commanding officer. You are not going to be a poor soldier and disobey my direct orders, are you?"

José blinks. "Err, no. Of... of course not. I'm just confused, is all. Can't you answer a few of my questions?"

"I can, and I will. But for now, you will follow my commands. Nobody will interrupt us, and you are not allowed to leave the Psionics bay until I have relayed to you in full everything which has transpired during your memory gap. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Finally, José relents. His shoulders sag as he glances out the window, confused by the completely barren hallway outside.

"...Alright. I'm sure you have a good reason for... all of this. I do expect answers though, Evelyn."

"Penelope," The holo-female says. "My designation is Penelope. But if you would like, I can change my designation to Evelyn."

"Oh, um, sorry... no. That's not necessary."

He glances at the hologram again, pain flickering within his eyes.

"...You do look just like her, though."

José chuckles wryly. He turns toward the medical bay's showering room and staggers inside while closing the door behind himself.

Once the Terran leaves the hologram's view, a surge of despair wells up in his heart.

Confusion. Anger. Distrust.

"What the fuck is going on..." José mutters, as he activates the sonic shower, allowing its sound-waves to beat the grime from his body. "Something isn't right. It's not right at all, not one bit..."

He closes his eyes, allowing the cloning fluid to dissipate from his face and chest.

"Nick. Nicky-boy... where are you man? Please tell me this is just another one of your sick jokes. Please..."