Captain's Log Stardate 74827.43: December 31st, 2399. Time: 0700 hours.
They are gone. Admiral James Van Cleave and Lieutenant Alexander Tor, I have to accept that now. Starfleet is now changing them from “missing in action” to “killed in action” based on Mog’s report. There is no stopping a new day. I have to move on with my life, for myself and for Christopher.
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Anna wiped tears from her eyes and looked blankly down at the Raktajino in front of her, oblivious to the continuous red crackling outside of her Ready Room window as more ships came pouring through the Rift. Ten ships belonging to the Grand Duchy of Pikeland were now present along with an additional 20 from other regions of time and space. Some they had categorized before and others were their first encounter. Each of them was heavily damaged from the Ja’Desh ship that lurked in the rift. Each new ship was dangerously listing, some near catastrophic failure, many decimated of crew, and now all docked in their seven bays. They were nearing over capacity and would soon have to start deciding which ships they can save and which ones they can only rescue crew off of.
Her mind refused to comprehend what Mog had told them about what happened that day seven years ago. The ex-husband? She could learn to live with. She would have to find a way, even if it meant blocking out every single happy memory. She would finish turning her heart cold to him and his refusal to understand the position her parents had put her in and how her future was always planned for her, and by extension, her children.
But, her son, her first born son, the meaning of day and night. The future of Elas and Troyus, was gone.
She watched tears splash into the now cold drink and pushed the thoughts aside of her grandmother and father disciplining emotions out of her. She needed to grieve, in private, so there would not be any incidents of “undying devotion” to her. She hated that aspect of her life being a high empath, bordering telepathic, and “toxic tears.” Her body shook uncontrollably in loneliness. Afraid to even seek out her youngest son to find mutual comfort in their grief.
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Christopher had his own little world hidden on Space Station Requiem. An unaccounted-for room just off a main Jeffries Tube. Him and Alex had discovered it when they first came on board the station. It looked as though it was meant to be a large utility room that was built, then forgot about. As a newly minted officer on the Space Station, his brother was like a god to him in all that he could do. Alex took extra steps to ensure it never appeared on any maps, computer directories, or scanners and even installed a second set of walls, floor, ceiling, biofields and filters, a dampening field and force fields. His big brother took every precaution he could think of to hide this safe place of theirs. The entire station could blow up around them and their little room would remain - safe, and by extension, Christopher would always be safe. For the first ten years on the station, Christopher would run to this room when there was danger and lock himself in until his brother came and got him. He had everything he needed in this little room to live for several months. Food, power, entertainment, everything a teenage boy could hope for in a secret hide-out. Best Part? Even their parents didn’t know it existed.
Christopher looked around the room and their treasures they had collected over the past 20 years of living on the station. Viewing each item brought back the memories behind when it was found, or otherwise acquired. He rested his hand on a phaser burn on the wall from when they were attempting to create a better phaser that used less energy and could not be detected by sensors. He chuckled at the memory of the comical chaos that had happened the day they first tried it. After Alex disappeared, he had slowly moved into this room as his quarters because it was “safe.”
He did not want to accept what he was being told as the truth. He looked over at the pair of stuffed T’Booky Bears his mom had made them as babies that now shared his bed with him and snorted. There was a third bear from an older sister he never knew. He always wondered if he should tell his mom that he knew where the bears went. They always seemed important to her and now they are his treasure too. Someday, he might have children and pass them along to them.
He turned his attention to the wall of screens and monitors then gave a wicked grin. Security on this station is horrid, he thought to himself, I have to engineer everything myself. He strode across the room, grabbing a handful of Tarok Beans from the aquaponics system that lined one wall. He straddled his workstation chair to view all the changes happening on the station and paused at the “Souls Counter”. Eyes wide he started to frantically tap on the screen and run diagnostics.
“I've got a bad feeling about this...” He muttered to himself. “How do we have more than 10 million souls onboard?” He picked up a PADD, transferred the data to it, tapped his Comm Badge to page security to meet him at the Command-and-Control Center with Fleet Captain Tor.