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 -+=+-
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