Can't Hardly Wait

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 4:01am by Emilie Temple
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 7:22am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: USS Palatine

Sitting in the spacious guest quarters of the USS Palatine, Emilie gazed out the window as the stars flashed by with incredible speed. She had never been on a ship with a slipstream drive before and while she appreciated the rapidity in which they would catch the USS Pandora, and reunite herself and her daughter with Nyx, it still caused her stomach to turn in knots. To go from living several years on a stable, solid, slow-moving planet to now zooming through the galaxy in an impromptu race to catch another vessel, was a particularly sudden change of pace. Emilie just wanted to get onboard the Pandora already.

On the floor in front of where Emilie sat, four year old Katrine played a carefree game of make-believe, crashing a miniature toy starship into a pillow-planet and mounting a rescue mission with a variety of small, stuffed animals. The monkey was the Captain, of course.

The resilience of her child astounded Emilie, as she wondered how they managed to raise such an adventurous, easy-going young lady. She had worried that her anxieties and fears over leaving Earth would have caused Katrine to be as overly cautious as herself. Nyx was always warning, gently as he did, to let the girl play in the mud and scrape her knees. But Emilie wanted to protect her daughter as much as possible, never wanting her to come to harm or experience the pain she had felt. But that only lead to further concerns that maybe she was raising a child ill-equipped to handle the rigours of modern life. What if Emilie's fears of leaving Earth transferred to Katrine and this stopped her from ever joining Starfleet, or going on holiday to another world? Her worries only lead to more worries in a self-serving cycle of worry.

But that wasn't to be. Katrine was curious and yet laid-back, taking after her father. She loved adventure and travel, constantly telling anyone who cared to listen that one day she would explore the stars like her Daddy does. She didn't know all the dangers that were out amongst those stars, of course, or all the monsters that were actually real. But that spirit of discovery and boundless joy still warmed Emilie's heart.

"Captain says we have to go to warp!" Katrine cried, piling the toys onto the ship and launching it off the floor - though immediately several of the animals fell off again. "Crew overboard! We have to go back!"

Emilie smiled to her daughter, wondering how she could be so calm with all the chaos of their departure from Earth, and this frantic race to the Carnwennan Station. Even though she had gathered the necessary bravery to make the move and start this race, Emilie was still frightfully anxious over the decision and began to doubt whether it was actually a good idea. But seeing her little girl's face light up when she was told she was going to see her father again had given Emilie just enough encouragement.

Suddenly Katrine jumped onto lounge, holding the monkey in her hand.

"It's Daddy!" She proclaimed, making the stuffed toy dance on her mother's lap.

Emilie smiled, bopping the monkey on the nose, "He's just as silly as daddy!"

Katrine nodded seriously, "Hairy too."

Her mother laughed, giving a knowing nod. She reached open her arms and Katrine launched herself into her mother's embrace, resting her head on Emilie's shoulder.

"How much longer, min mor?" Katrine asked with a sigh.

Emilie kissed her daughter's head and sighed as well. "Not too much longer."

No sooner had she said the words then she realised the Palatine was slowing down, those flashing stars becoming streaks and then in another moment stationary shining objects in the distance. Emilie craned her neck to look out the window, hoping to see something outside as the Palatine banked around to the right.

"Look, I can see the station!" She excitedly said to Katrine, starting to feel the butterflies of elation.

Finally they had arrived at Carnwennan Station and would soon be onboard the Pandora.

"Where?!" Katrine cried, jumping up on the couch and looking out the window as well.

The Palatine cruised slowly around and the impressively large, bright facility came into view - the Presidium class station buzzing with small craft coming and going. Emilie continued to look around the station and the vessels orbiting her, trying to see if she could see the Pandora. But Nyx's ship was nowhere to be seen and slowly there came another sinking feeling inside her, that soon replaced the excitement she felt moments before.

The Pandora was gone.

"He's not here." She whispered quietly, starting to feel devastated.

That same awful notion she had when she arrived at the Luna Ship Yards returned, like a saddening yawn throughout her body. She felt equal parts foolish for having made the journey, angry for making it too late, and frustrated that it wasn't working out as she planned. It took all her strength to get herself off Earth, only to be disappointed by being too late to catch the Pandora the first time. Now here they were at the supposed rendezvous point and once again, she was left looking at empty space. If she believed in fate and higher powers she would start to think they were both against her.

Katrine was looking with total amazement at the station, her first time seeing something like this after a life lived exclusively on Earth.

"Mummy?" the young girl turned her baby blue eyes to Emilie, but she was still trying to find the Pandora. Not getting the attention she wanted, Katrine cried out, "MUM!"

"Katrine my love, do not shout at mummy," Emilie scolded, though not too harshly. She didn't want to let out the anger and confusion she was feeling onto her daughter. "What did you want darling?"

"Sorry," Katrine pouted sullenly, "I just wanted to know how it stayed up there."

Emilie shook her head, "What do you mean?"

"The station." Katrine shrugged, "How does it stay there and not fall." She turned back to look at the stuffed animals on the floor, "Why doesn't it fall down?"

The mother held her daughter close again, wrapping her arms Katrine and picking her up. Emilie stood and carried Katrine over to her computer console, using a free hand to scroll through the ship's public communications. She was trying to find some reason as to why the Pandora wasn't there.

After a few moments, Katrine whispered, "Muuu-mmy."

Emilie looked down to her daughter and smiled, "Sorry darling. Out there is different to inside here, or on Earth. Here we have something called gravity that pulls objects to the ground. Out there, there is no gravity to make things fall down."

It was a simple explanation, and not entirely scientific, but she knew Katrine just wanted a response, even if she didn't understand it, and would likely continue to ask questions either way.

"But why?" Katrine asked immediately.

"Not now, darling," Emilie sighed, "I'm trying to find out something."

There was an unexpected chime at the door and Emilie grew with hope that maybe it was Captain Rao. Or even better, her missing husband. She placed Katrine back on the floor and asked her to go play again, before making her way to the door and opening it.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Said the young looking gold-shirt, standing at attention. "Captain Rao sent me to talk to you. My name is Ensign Peters. May I come in?"

Emilie nodded and stepped aside as the crewman walked in. Katrine looked at him with curious eyes, holding the toy monkey close to her.

"I hope you can explain why I don't see the Pandora out there." Emilie replied, getting straight to the point.

"The Pandora was called away to an urgent transport mission," The crewman replied, "They're taking an important Ambassador back to his ship on the Talarian border."

Emilie laughed out loud, shaking her head as she did, "That little bugger!"

"Ma'am?" The Ensign asked uncomfortably.

"I tried to plan this big surprise, tried to be the sneaky one for a change and actually bamboozle Nyx," Emilie replied, "For once I was going to surprise him. But no! No! He had to go and play the hero taking some Ambassador somewhere and my surprise is ruined."

Ensign Peters looked awkwardly around the room, not quite knowing what to say, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but the Captain has said we will be following the Pandora and joining their mission. He intends to speak with you himself after the Palatine gets underway."

She smiled, "Please, I don't wish to be a burden to him. He's been so kind to us already."

The Ensign nodded, "Captain Rao's generosity is legendary, I'm sure you can see why."

Emilie smiled, "Indeed, we are both indebted to his service. Thank you, Ensign, I appreciate the information. Can we get into contact with the Pandora at least, let them know we're coming?"

Ensign Peters frowned, "I will ask for you, ma'am, but civilian affairs are not our priority at the moment."

Emilie Temple nodded in reply, "I understand."

The Ensign left and all Emilie could do was sigh once more. She watched as the door closed again and she turned around, deciding to join Katrine on the floor. She picked up the space ship and held it out for her daughter.

"Now where is that monkey?" Emilie asked with a smile.

OFF