The Return of a familiar face

Posted on Mon Aug 31st, 2026 @ 5:01pm by Commander Lillian Carter

509 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 9: Across Time
Location: Runabout Hermione
Timeline: Present

ON

Lillian sat at the helm of the runabout and let out a long, slow breath. She had just dropped out of warp and was on final approach to the Briar patch where Deep Space 21 was located.

To say she had mixed feelings about this return was an understatement. She had managed a few weeks of duties afer the incident with the blue gill paracites but eventually, the nightmares and flashbacks became overwhelming, the loss of Keiben, wkaing up in the middle of the night screaming, drenched in sweat.
So, for the last 6 months she had been receiving counselling on Earth for her trauma and, for the most part, it had worked.

The nightmares had stopped; she could once again close her eyes and not see that disgusting creature coming out of his mouth, feel it forcing its way down her throat.

Losing all control and becoming a passenger in her own body.

The colourful swirls of the Briar patch now enveloped the runabout, and she reduced her speed to half impulse. Going any faster would overload the impulse engines, and despite everything that had happened to her, she was still too much of a professional pilot to blow up her own engines.

With one hand on the control panel, her other hand moved and rested on her swollen belly, and she felt a flutter as the baby inside her moved, as if responding to her touch. A child conceived with Keiben when she had been occupied by a blur gill; he was occupied by the queen. Whereas she had survived the death of the queen, he had not. She could remeber what happened in detail, and she shuddered, but she would not blame the baby for any of this.

It was innocent.

It would not have been her first choice to get pregnant... her career had been her primary focus. And especially, she would not have chosen to get pregnant by someone else's husband, but she wasn't exactly consulted. The parasites had wanted to experience human bonding, and now.... She was having to deal with the consequences.

She was determined that this one event would not ruin everything that she had worked for and, baby or no baby, she would return to work and get on with her life. She was not due to deliver for another 3 months. And when the baby was born.... Well, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Something else played at the back of her mind. Keiben was a betazoid. Would her child be born with empathic abilities? Sometimes, she imagined she could sense glimpses of feelings from the baby, but that was just her imagination, right?

The curved structure of the outer docking ring and upper pylon of DS21 came into view through the gases of the Briar patch. She activated the Comm system: "Deep Space 21, this is runabout Harminone. Requesting permission to dock."

A male voice came back, "Permission to dock granted. Landing Padd A."

"Acknowledged."

She slowed the runabout to manoeuvring thrusters and began docking procedures.

END

 

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