"Silent Pain" by Lt. Arda Kaje SD 49712.16

Arda woke suddenly, frightened by Kaede's mournful wail. The sound reverberated through her entire consciousness. This telepathy thing was going to take some getting used to. Tears sprang to her eyes as she struggled from the blanket she had managed to tangle herself in. She gathered her daughter into her arms and cried with her, feeling her pain and rage as Epic prevented his own from coming out.

Kaje wish she had known what happened. She'd have to ask him later, if he wanted to tell her.

She thought back to her previous conversation with the Betazoid. He had sung her to sleep, trying to console her as she cried, her past emotional turmoil churning up dust and opening old wounds. She couldn't tell him everything. She had never spoken of her life with anyone except Luc Dusaj. The only reason she told him anything was because he had revealed to her who he truly was and that he wanted to help put Xzarre out of business. She shook her head. It was too much to think of right now.

Kaede had slowly clamed down, Epic's hurt and rage fading from her mind. Kaje felt Kaede's fear dissipate and she only hugged her daughter closer and tighter. Their combined story sounded like some strange fiction, but, yet, here they were. Alive and real.

Kaede was conceived in a telepathically induced dream by a creature in a nebula. The whole thing was too much for Arda to comprehend, but it was true. In two days, the gestation period was complete and Arda went into labor. Her Cardassian heritage prevented the Bajoran hormones to block out the pain of labor like in full-breeds. It was a scary time, Arda didn't know what to expect. Yet, Kaede was an exact duplicate of herself. Genetics and all. It was almost as if Arda had given birth to her own identical twin. But, like all twins, identical or not, Kaede had her own identity and fingerprints. That was the only way to tell them apart. Well, that and age.

The tiny girl looked up at her mother, their time on Lerins Nebula having helped the both of them mature into a loving relationship and helped Kaede almost double in size. She silently blew small bubbles at her mother, whom she knew by sight, sound, smell, and thought. Kaje kissed her baby's forehead and took her down to the nursery. She had to see if Epic was alright.