Some Form Of Peace

Posted on 23 Oct 2021 @ 6:35pm by Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens & Captain Jonathan Reynolds

Mission: Picking up the pieces
Location: Sickbay
1768 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The sickbay was finally quiet after the chaos of the last few hours. C'Tora and Syvar had gone to get some rest, both having been mentally and physically drained and Lieutenant Hawkins has taken Lieutenant Stevens back to his quarters and with luck he would get some rest. Cassy however had opted to stay on duty, one to look after the baby and two, so she could clean up Lieutenant Lau after her ordeal. The baby was sleeping, and she was sure the last time she took a peek at her in the crib she had grown. Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks, she was tired after all.

She was just clearing away a wheeled work table with a pitcher of water and a cloth, having given the unfortunate women a bed bath while things were quiet and no one was watching. She was in her own thoughts, mostly about Xu and what she had been through and to now be in the position she was, it was heart breaking for Xu, Oliver and the baby that may never get a chance to know her mother. The sound of the doors made her look up and spotted a figure moving through the shadows of sickbay towards the corner biobed where Xu had been located.
"Captain... You made me jump!"

"Sorry but Ive been watching you," he said simply. "Sorry thats not as sinister as it sounds. I worked out that you have a commodity that the Andromeda dearly needs right now. Lets have a chat shall we?"

"Of course Captain" the tool tray left standing near Lieutenant Lau but before she moved to the Captain she stopped by the crib that was holding the baby. She had woken up and was playing with the blanket, cooing gently to herself. "Although this little one may need a feed... Would you mind holding her while I replicate her some formula!"

Cassy had scooped the infant from the crib, the blanket falling away as the excitement of being lifted jubilated the child that she squealed with joy. Cassy wagged a finger allowing the baby to grab hold before smoothly sliding her across to the Captain.
"I won't be a moment!"

"Why is she not with Oliver?" Jon asked perplexed why his friend wasn't with his newborn daughter.

"Given what he has been through and with a newborn on top of this I suggested that I look after her for tonight so he can get some rest" she called from the replicator.

Only moments passed before Cassy returned with a warm bottle of formula for the infant but instead of retrieving the child, noticing how comfortable she was with the Captain, she handed the bottle to him instead.

"If you don't mind feeding and talking... She seems to have taken a liking to you sir!"

"Most babies do," Jon mused. Tickling the bottle teat over her lips, she opened up and latched on supping fast. "Theres something about you though. The timing of your arrival isn't random I believe."

The baby of course could not answer him, so he turned his attention back to the petite officer. "So your background is in fact also counselling. As well as nursing?" he commented.

"I'm a Counselor first and foremost... There just wasn't any deep space assignments available for Counselors at the time I was looking so I fell back on my nursing degree's and qualifications!"

She said placing a small towel over the Captains shoulder before perching herself on a biobed opposite the Captain, watching him feed the infant.

"Right well two things. One Oliver needs to look after her as he needs to bond with his daughter. He's more resilient than you give him credit for there and most of the most important bonding is in the first 24 hours. Its bad enough Xu is unconscious and she's missing out, he's not going too. Two there's a posting for a deep space assignment for a counselor now. Onboard the Andromeda. Consider yourself hired now in that role," Jon said firmly.

"I appreciate your position sir however Lieutenant Stevens has had to deal with watching someone he loves go through an unbelievable ordeal, watched her loose a fight to stay with us and now the Doctor's are at a loss as to why she isn't awake. I suggested he go and get a few hours sleep to fortify himself for what he has coming... The paternal bond will still have time to take... besides..." and now Cassandra was look directly at the infant in the Captains arms. "With Lieutenant Stevens leaving her in our care for a short time it has given us chance to run a few scans and observe... Look at her captain. Does she look to you as if she was born only four hours ago!"

Defending herself to the hilt and not allowing the captain to put her on the backfoot.

"No she doesn't and she's hungrier than she should be also. She's completely drained that bottle already and she's lahhing. She needs more formula. Lahhing means a baby is hungry.

And Oliver - I want him woken up and at her side," Jon informed her. He wasn't backing down. "More so if she's still aging faster than she should be. I don't wish him to miss out on anything. You know the CO of the Merlin had a daughter who aged faster than normal. I met her husband and one of his biggest regrets is how much of that precious tiny childhood he got to be part of. And he only got to be part of it via subspace. Oliver is my best friend and I'm sorry if I'm making this personal but as a father myself .... he needs to be with her. So no arguments. You have run your scans. Get him awoken and down here now before he awakes and she's 18 already.

"Wait... Did you just offer me a job?" Cassy only just catching what the Captain had said before.

"Well if your going to argue with me every time I make an order I may have to rethink it Lieutenant. But yes I'm in the market for a chief counselor," Jon stated.

"I thought a ships Counsellor was supposed to argue with her Captain and try to make him see all aspects of a situation... How will it help Oliver or this little darling if the father is emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted which still trying to balance his grief at loosing his loved one, although she isn't dead he has lost her... and yes I would greatly accept the position. I would ask that I am able to give Oliver another hour. He would have had at least four hours downtime then."

Cassy returned with another bottle of formula and handed it over to the Captain before again perching herself back in the same spot.

"One more hour but I will not have him turn into Ricardo Draxx forever regretting missing an accelerated childhood. If that is happening. So my new chief counselor," he stressed the position. "You did scans. What's it told you?"

"You won't like the answer sir... They have told us nothing. There is some kind of... I don't know what to call it. The scanners are not able to detect her!"

She slipped off the biobed to the main systems display wall screen and punched in a few commands. The display switched to a medical readout but showed nothing. A void of data in every instance that they had tried to scan the infant.

"No I don't like that one bit. But it backs up my suspicion that there's more going on with this kid. I mean come on a baby with 2 human parents does not age that quickly and be birthed in what less than a week? That's a medical anomaly. And we have this other goddess suddenly asking to be remembered. There has to be a connection," Jon said simply.

"It gets more complicated sir... I took a sample of her skin to run a genetic comparison..." Cassy looked ashen with the next bit of news. "The system was able to read this but only six percent of her DNA matches to that of Lieutenant Lau... The rest is not Human and there is not trace of genetic data from the father!"

Again she manipulated the controls on the display to bring up the comparison. A strand of DNA appeared on screen and started to rotate. Several of the base pairs matched that of Lieutenant Lau but the rest was unclassified by the computer.
"Doctor C'Tora is unaware of this information presently... I was letting him rest as well!"

"Im thinking perhaps in terms of that information you need to get the CMO back here Counselor," Jon stated. "Im wondering if somehow your that goddess?" he said simply as she continued to gurgle.

He could swear the smile the infant gave him after spitting up on his chest was an affirmative. Well for an infant.

"I was intending to call on him once I had cleaned up Lieutenant Lau sir... And if I may suggest sir, it is late. You should be trying to get some rest as well.!"

The second bottle finished as well, Cassy took it from the Captain and placed it on a nearby surface before taking the baby from him. "I'd best get her down again, finish my analysis and get the Doctor and Ollie back here!"

"I would agree with you there but Oliver is my friend and if your going to have to tell him that news he needs someone to support him," Jon said. He knew Harper would likely want him to see her but she would understand. Well he hoped. If they were going to be anything more she had to be flexible with other friends in his personal life. Hell he didn't have a lot of them.

"In that case Captain, if you can watch this little angel for a short time I can finish up and call them both down" without waiting for an answer she passed the infant back to the Captain having a feeling she could have quite a good working relationship with this man.

She moved away to continue clearing up the equipment around Xu, wanting her to appear serene and restful when Oliver returned knowing that would have at least some impact on his psychology. Next on her list was to finalise the analysis reports ready for C'Tora.

OFF:

Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda

Lieutenant JG Cassandra Higgins
Ships Counsellor, USS Andromeda