Embracing The Wild

Posted on 15 Dec 2021 @ 9:57pm by Lieutenant JG Harper Matthews & Captain Jonathan Reynolds

Mission: Picking up the pieces
Location: Mathews quarters
Timeline: Night before enforced dreamland
1701 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Leaving the counselor Jon hoped that Harper would have calmed down. Yes the birth had been quick in terms of things but she had had enough time to stew out her anger he hoped and be willing to listen to reason now.

Also his grandmother always used to say, never go to bed angry.

Pressing the chime on her door, he did brace his emotional defences in case a further slap was forth coming.

Harper had been left a little rattled from her 'dream' experience. Flying through what seemed like space and time naked tended to leave a mark on a person. She had been sitting on her sofa for a while now, trying to make sense of it all but it had been a struggle. Fortunately she was broken from her thoughts by the door chime going off.

"I come in peace," he said gently. "Can I come in?"

As the doors slid open to reveal Jon her heart did skip a beat a little. She remembered slightly what had happened earlier on, the woman's name but it seemed all so long ago. "You can go anywhere you like, Captain. It is your ship." she said standing to the side and inviting him in.

"I'll remember that," Jon said. "But this is your personal space and I prefer to ask. Especially and more so as you slapped me earlier."

Crap. She'd forgotten about that.

Harper cringed a little as the flashback of that particular event ran through her mind. "Sorry sir... I can be a little... emotional at time. Mum said I should have been a redhead as I have a bit of a temper..."

"We are in your quarters so Jon is fine," he told her. "I have an angry ex wife remember. So I tell you that earlier was nothing to be concerned about. It was however a misunderstanding. If you would let me clear it up?"

Truthfully she was just calling him sir, and Captain, to show her mood as still being one of annoyance. That had began to soften though, his green eyes and the blackness of the iris' drew her in and had done since the moment she met him. "I don't want to be your angry what ever I am at all Jon." she said with a sigh offering his a seat on the sofa as she sat down. "I suppose I overreacted... I'm sorry."

"New girlfriend?" Jon tossed out to see how she would take that idea. "If your still open to that idea? As please believe me there is no one else."

"Trial boyfriend." Harper teased. "See if you behave long enough to be made permanent... now tell me what you've came to say."

"Methalina is a goddess. Look I need to show you some Betazoid stuff," he said fishing in his pockets. He pulled out four beautiful figures and placed them into her hands one by one. Their hair colours stood out stunningly.

A brunette - "Malifik" he told her. "She's the mischievous one, - red head "Astraea, she brings relationships, romance, friendships. I think she has a hand in what's happening with us right now." He handed her the blond, "Kali - Death, rebirth, the darkness and the light and " he handed her the last visually a lot older - "Gaea. The great mother. We can get into a dream state. Meditation sometimes and if they bless us with their wisdom commune kind of. Its hard to explain if your not a my species.

This is our religion. But what happened in my dream, oh Harper there's another and she was reaching out and asking for help," he told her. "And now I believe she's on the ship but our new chief counsellor thinks I'm bonkers."

Even before Jon placed the last figure on her hand, Gaea, there was a rush of feeling, almost a recognition but she didn't understand why. He handled them with great care and affection and as he spoke she felt his connection to them, the importance of them to him. This last figure though...

He placed in in her hand and it sat there for a moment. Harper cradled it trying to understand why she felt what she did about it. For a moment it felt like a trance, like it was trying to connect but there was was a pinching feeling, almost like a static shock. At that moment the veins in her hand and up to her elbow lit up like a Christmas tree and she threw the figure back at Jon.

Jon caught Gaea but looked concerned. "What just happened? Your arm flashed?" he asked wondering. "Are you hurt?"

Liam his twin when he had called him before setting off to sickbay had informed him he was on route to a unacknowledged secret Cardassian station further out from the briar patch in another direction. But he had had a flash of the goddess too. There was some weird coincidence's afoot. He wasn't supposed to be anywhere near his twin. When he had took this assignment he knew it could have been years before he was in a position to see his brother in person again but it was strange .. there was a feeling that events were aligning themselves. Up to something and what?

If Xu could have an accelerated pregnancy and birth a goddess in less than a week then what in the universe was happening to Harper now?

The word Methalina whispered in her ear and Harper rose from the sofa to look out the window. The playback of looking into open space, her eyes fixed on the dreamscape war in open space. The beings of light against the devils of darkness... spider vessels. "Spiders..." she muttered quietly.

"I'm fine." she said rubbing her arm. "That has never happened before..." she added before thinking if she should tell him of her dream, but he most likely felt her emotions clear as day by now, she wasn't even visibly hiding much.

"You're pretty freaked out Harper. Hit me like a door as soon as I came in. Something else's happened before that right?" he said simply. He knew what was going on, she was having trouble shutting off the rank thing when it was just the two of them in their personal life.

"I had a weird dream, that's all." Harper admitted. "I mean, really intense." she started to get goosebumps as she remembered parts. "I don't usually remember dreams but it felt so real. One minute I'm in the shower and the next I'm on a different planet surrounded by people I don't recognise and only what I can describe as 'ethereal' women looking over worlds like Gods, fighting and weird spider looking ships... and I swear I didn't drink anything after our fight."

"You saw her too didn't you?" he said. "This is huge. Usually our ... well they don't tend to show themselves to non betaziods but this one. She's really needing people to know she's there. Wow. Hang on ..... " his brain was suddenly working through memories. "Spiders. Darkness ... invasion?" he asked.

"I'm still trying to sort through it, but it's already starting to fade." Harper replied honestly. "I just don't understand why I am seeing something like this. I have never had anything like it happen to me before."

"I had something similar when we encountered the first obelisk. But it was nightmares we got," he finished. "Did they win?" he asked.

"I remember feeling happy at the end. It look like the evil spider devil people were retreating. I felt a strong feeling of hatred, of annoyance at having to retreat. Then images of a transformation, like a caterpillar before becoming a butterfly. The darkness went to sleep, but I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that they are not going to be for much longer." she said rubbing the back of her neck in a nervous motion. "The last thing I remember before being back in the shower was a world full of life and this woman feeling sad, she was almost like a a shadow and she tried to say something but I couldn't make it out..."

"This is going somewhere. Its a bigger picture. I believe she's on the ship now. Oliver and Xu's baby. She's here and still accelerating in growth," Jon told her.

"So, you expect me to believe the woman from my dreams is a real person, or was. That she is now coming on board in the form of Xu's baby, growing super fast... you make this sound like science fiction Jon..." she protested.

"Well I guess your on our new counselor's side there then," Jon said. He had hoped his girlfriend would have more faith in his beliefs. "But need I point out we live in a spaceship and see impossible things nearly every day."

"I don't not believe you. I have my own faith and I respect those that have different beliefs." she said cradling his face. She didn't have to be any sort of telepath/empath to see his face, know his feelings. That and the fact his last comment made her feel like he was explaining the concept to a child. "But you have to admit this is a pretty wild one all things considered."

"Well life would be boring without a little wild," Jon said grinning. "Lets see how it pans out."

"I don't think I have much of a choice." She smiled back at him, relaxing a little. "I'll embrace the wild."

He kissed her. "That's good to know."

His kisses made her toes curl and all she could add was an "Mhm." in reply to his comment as she came down from it.

"Right then I think its time you met Eddie," Jon said after a moment coming up for air.

"Y-your son? I mean of course he's your son, are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure. Its time. If we both want to explore this, he is a big factor of my life," Jon said softly.

"Let's do it." she smiled.

OFF:

Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda

Ensign Harper Matthews
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Andromeda