ILLUMINARRPG: (3 - 1545) 3XO/CMO Commander Quinna Solice SFI Lt. Michael Weston

[Kris Bailey]

Mission: An end and A Beginning

Day: 3

Stardate:2446.03.19

(USS Illuminar -- Personal Quarters -- Deck 2 -- 3XO/CMO Commander Quinna
Solice SFI Lt. Michael Weston-- 1545)

Quinna managed to go back to her quarters and get a couple of hours of
sleep, and would you know it, Morning sickness reared its ugly head.  When
she thought that it was clear, Quinna went and sat at her computer
console.  A message awaited her.

[Quinna, I think we need to talk.  Contact me when you get back.]

Quinna hated this…  She did not want to have this conversion but she knew
that putting it off would make things worse.  She needed to have this
conversation with Michael before she had the conversation with the captain.

“Solice to Weston, Can you meet me in my quarters?”  She asked.  “I am
available anytime you would like to come.”

=^=Welcome back, Commander,=^= Michael’s voice sounded happy, yet softer
than usual.  =^=Oddly enough I’m available right now if that’s
convenient.=^=

Quinna thought for a moment.  She needed to suck it up while she still
could.  “Now is perfect.”

Quinna managed to close the communication before she made another run
holding her mouth and stomach.

Fortunately, Michael had been laying in bed, studying the notes that he had
taken with his research when Quinna called.  He grabbed the note that she
had written and was at her door in moments.  He rang the door chime and
waited for the door to open.

Quinna heard the chime but was not in a place to answer.  She plopped down
on the floor grabbing a nearby wet towel. To clean her face.  She hoped
Michael would just walk in as she did not feel like moving at the moment.

After a minute Michael began to wonder if he got his wires crossed, then
decided she called him. Maybe she had a naughty surprise in store. Who was
he to deny her moment of joy? He opened the door and entered. The front
room was vacant. He made his way to the bedroom and peeked in. To his
surprise it too was vacant.

~Okay?~ he thought to himself. Then he called out, ”Quinna?”

Quinna looked at the door.  She moaned a bit as she tried to stand again.
She made her way to the door and stood there.  “Hey.”  was all she could
say.  She wanted to cross the room, she wanted to kiss him, she wanted to
assure him that everything was going to be ok, but she was not even sure of
that herself.  She slowly moved and sat on the bed.  She patted a spot next
to her for him to join her.

Michael looked at Quinna suspiciously. She did not look well at all. And
the moan she emitted before coming out of the bathroom was, well, not
pleasant.   He walked over to the bed and sat down.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “Did something happen on Vulcan I should know
about?”

“I got spooked by a dream the night before I went to Vulcan.  And that is
what I thought.  Then I got hit with severe morning sickness.  But I was
able to complete the mission.  Oh, how am I going to say this?  I am not 2
weeks pregnant, I am now 8 weeks, and although you are the only one I have
been with…”  Quinna paused for a moment.

“Seriously,” Michael said, shocked. “I had a weird dream too.  I dreamed I
fought a Klingon. But when I woke up I had a bloody lip, and this..” he
lifted his shirt to show a series of bruises on his chest and ribs. “There
were others in my dream, but one character was a man in a Starfleet
captain’s uniform. When I researched his image I found him to be Benjamin
Sisko. He disappeared a long time ago, under mysterious circumstances, on
Bajor.”

Then her words struck him, “Wait… what?  Eight weeks?  How’s that possible?”

“I think they did something to me.  I cannot be sure.  However…” Quinna
paused again, “I believe that this baby is not yours.  You were right.”
Quinna got up off her bed and started to pace the room.  “I did not even
know you 8 weeks ago.”

Michael was stunned.  He was having to take what he was being told in
pieces. “They did something to you?  Who did something to you?  Who is
they?”

“They did not tell me.  The wormhole aliens.  I think it is one of
theirs.”  Quinna then stopped.  “You did not sign up for this so I think we
should just end things now.”  Quinna did not want that but she knew this
was a much bigger thing.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Michael’s brain was about to explode.
“Wormhole … aliens?”

He stood up and began to pace, “What are you talking about, wormhole
aliens?  When did you encounter wormhole aliens?  And how did they…
impregnate you?”

“Wormhole Aliens, Prophets, Whatever, I don’t have these answers.  There is
no reason why you shouldn’t be the father but someone about our shared
dream…vision, Whatever you call it. The mysterious gestational jump by 6
weeks, the severe Morning sickness…”  As if on cue, Quinna bolted back to
the bathroom.

Michael put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. He was trying to
make sense of what Quinna had been saying. ~Wormhole aliens?  Prophets?
Was she talking about the Bajoran Prophets?~  He had read about them as the
“Gods” of Bajor.

He never really found out what happened when Quinna and Gregory went to
Bajor while the Illuminar was at Betazed. What did the two of them do?  And
what did they do that involved these “wormhole aliens”.  He had tried to
stay out of the venture as Quinna clearly did not want him involved. But
now he was involved.

The words of the “dream” came back to him. “You are the Protector.”  The
protector of what… or who?  He went over to the bathroom and leaned against
the wall just outside.

“Quinna,” he called in, “what did you and Dieter do at Bajor?”

“We talked to the Monks about my locket.  Trying to get translations on the
ancient Bajoran on it.”  Quinna said as she came back out.  “And no, I did
not sleep with Dieter if that is what you are getting at besides that was
only a couple of weeks ago.  So what are you getting at?”

He shook his head, “No, that was not what I was getting at.  I’m just
wondering what the Bajoran Prophets have to do with this, and when they
have access to your body.  In my dream, if that’s what it said, they said I
was the Protector. The protector of what?  You?  The baby?  Both?”

He suddenly turned and looked at Quinna, “They were specific.  I was the
Protector. Not I was the father.  As if that was my only role in this.
Even if I were willing to step away, which I’m not, I’m not sure that I
can.”  The realization came across him, and his feelings were split.  In
part he was relieved, but the rest, as sad,  He was not the father.  But he
was going to have to say it out loud.

“I’m not the father, and I think you know it,” he said softly.  It wasn’t
an accusation, more of a revelation.

Quinna took a deep breath, “Yeah, your right.”  Quinna stepped back away
from Michael.  She knew what she had to do now.  “You did not sign up for
this.  I think we should end it now.  Go back to the life you want to live
before Roanoke.  Before we met.  Where you were happy.  And when you run
away with little Leeza Pel, you won't be abandoning a child.”  Quinna hated
herself but she was not willing to be selfish.

Michael walked up behind Quinna, “That’s the second time you’ve tried to
get rid of me in the last five minutes.  If I didn’t know better I’d think
you didn’t like me anymore.”  Before she could protest he said, “Good thing
I know better.  I know I said I didn’t want anyone to throw away their
career on this, but I was hoping to convince you to run away with it if it
came to that.  Being a little selfish.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, “Nothing has changed between us.
We’ll figure this out.  Although I must admit I feel like I’m lost in a
mid-twentieth-century style holonovel where a character has been abducted
by aliens and impregnated by them.”

“Michael, I love you, and things have moved very quickly.  I hate myself
for feeling the need and knowing that letting you go…”  Quinna paused.  “I
have fallen in love with you,”  Quinna closed her eyes.  She leaned her
head against Michael. “Thank you.”

Michael turned her around and put his hand gently on her cheek. “You’re not
alone. And the way I feel right now, don’t plan on being alone for a while.”

He kissed her gently on the lips. “Whatever is going on in here,” he poked
her belly, “the three of us are in this together.”

Quinna felt better knowing that Michael is standing next to her, but she
was still nervous about what would happen.  “I don’t know what to do
anymore.  Maybe I should ‘consult the prophets’  I do have the orb piece in
the locket.”

Michael still did not understand anything about the orbs or the prophets or
any of the pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo that they represent. But he knew
that Quinna had some kind of belief in something to do with it.

“You do whatever you need to do,” he said. “I love you, and I’m with you,
no matter what.”

“Yeah hold that thought.”  Quinna pulled out of Michael’s hold and jets
back to the bathroom.

(Reply none)

(post by Kris B and Al M)
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