Subject: Grail: Last Look Back - Arda

<<Okay, I forgot I had this in my Saved Draft folder. I managed to

finish it up and now, I'm sending it out. It's got a few events to

relate it to the time line, just a quick back post. Sorry about the

inconvenience. I'll be trying to get something out tomorrow that relates

to the current storyline.>>

"Finishing Up"

by Lt Arda Kaje

Arda left the shuttle bay, repairs running on the three Runabouts

without a hitch. She had spent the rest of Beta shift with Kaede and

then come back for Gamma. Well, perhaps she could sleep a little late.

One thing about being head of department, when shifts got messed up

because of alerts, you could always move someone around to cover for you.

She called up her duty roster for the Beta shift. Not having one single

shift run complete, she knew that everyone had yet to spend an entire

shift on duty. She checked Gamma shift and began moving people around a

bit to give her Alpha shift runabout pilots a break. This was, of

course, temporary.

Arda had never done something like this before. She also had

never been in charge of a department before. She had also never had to

work such irregular shifts. Then again, she had never had to work

shifts. Her job on Xzarre's ship had been an around the clock deal.

Well, at least her real job. The one they had asked her aboard to do,

she never did.

She pushed the thought from her mind and rescheduled a few of the

officers. Now, she had Alpha shift off. Rotations would go back to

normal tomorrow.

For the rest of the shift, she decided that time spent with her

daughter would be time well spent.

She headed for the turbolift. There was a Yeoman already

waiting, having pushed the button. She stood next to and they

acknowledged each other.

The doors parted, revealing another officer inside. He looked

familiar to Arda, but almost the entire crew looked familiar to Arda at

this point. She stepped in with the Yeoman.

A short conversation ended up with her being recognized by a Nova

officer, whom she now remembered as Francois DeMontigny, the Yeoman being

introduced as Vincent Rogers, and both being invited to a poker game

hosted by Francois. Arda blinked. Poker?

She remembered a friend from one of the now Maquis worlds that

she had stayed on shortly after the Circle began it's flushing out of

non-Bajorans. As a half-breed, especially since the other half was

Cardassian, Arda had been forced to leave Bajor in fear of her own life.

She had befriended Inteer R'heam on Delta VII. His biggest hobby was

slaughtering other at poker. She had learned a few things from him, but

that was long ago. She hadn't played since Delta VII was handed over to

the Cardassians. With no other choice, Arda had fled the planet, once

again having her life turned over from fear of death. She was afraid

that her mother's killer (who was presumed by her to be her unknown

father) would come after her once he found her there.

She walked into the nursery and took Kaede into her arms. The

baby girl gurgled in excitement at seeing her mother.

{{{{Mommy,}}}} she said. Arda put her on the floor and sat down

next to her. Everything about the little girl in front of her was

developing extremely fast. Of course, Arda's pregnancy only lasted about

two and a half days. Arda had weaned her off nursing because she had

started to develop teeth and, by golly, did *that* hurt.

Now, she was eating soft cereals and drinking from a bottle. It

was a lot easier since she started holding the bottle herself and Arda

didn't have to take a long portion of her day to feed her. She was now

able to get whatever chores around the apartment she had to get done,

well, done. Kaede clumsily grasped a block in her chubby hand, but

dropped it again.

"Oops," said Arda. She picked it up and placed it in Kaede's

lap. This time, she picked it up with both hands. She squealed and held

it up in the air for all to see. Arda clapped. "Very good!" Bringing

her hands quickly apart, Kaede let the block fall to the floor in front

of her. Then she repeated the whole process.

Arda stretched out on her side, taking a quick glance at her

watch. She had a few hours before the game. She laid her head down.

Kaede manuevered herself over and lay against her. The two took a short

nap together.

Jessica-Lynne Sullivan

-+=+- anuther viktum uv the publik ejukashun sistum -+=+-

_____________________________________________________________________

You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.

Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com