The Flaw In the Plan

Posted on Sun Mar 1st, 2020 @ 7:26am by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Elsewhere
Location: Phados Colony - Starfleet / Klingon Border
Timeline: April 2390
1360 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Ona paced back and forth in the cave. Zee should be back any minute and what the hell was she going to tell him? She had screwed up big time. This was not in the plan, not in the plan at all. She took a deep breath, willed herself to calm down and turned around just as he entered the cavern. "There you are," she said somewhat relieved. "Sit down, I need to tell you something."

The man raised an eyebrow at her greeting. This wasn't his usual greeting at all, normally he got at the least a hello before he got bossed around. "Hello to you to On." He murmured looking around at the old cave complex they called home at the moment. They had decided to stop to earn there keep on a colony world at the edge of the neutral zone, it was easy work for the pair of them. He got to bring some of the most basic equipment to life and she got to do what she loved, work on old Bajoran sub impulse raiders and test fly them.

"Sorry, but will you please sit down and listen, I'm nervous and I don't know exactly how to tell you this so I'm just going to come out and say it." She sucked in a deep breath. "I'm pregnant." Ona was afraid to look at him. Not that she thought he would be that upset about being a father, he had always seemed to like kids. But they were not in a position to be raising a child where they were at, nor where they were going.

There were lots of emotions that went through the man, shock, panic and then all of sudden a protectiveness around the woman. "I see. Well okay." He stood up taking her chin roughly to make her look at him. "Why are you scared?" He asked feeling the feelings around her easily. He did not use his abilities often from his Betazoid heritage finding it made him slightly wilder than he appreciated.

She blinked up at him, her eyes were dry though. She thought that would be obvious but maybe not. "Because this isn't exactly the perfect time to be having a baby. Because of where we are, what we're thinking of doing. It puts us in danger and that's okay with me because it's you and I. But I don't want to bring a baby into the middle of it." She waved her hand to quiet any fears he might have. "I'm having this baby, I'm just . . . not sure after that. We might have to put her somewhere."

It made sense what she was feeling but they had time to think through options, think through how to keep the baby safe especially if they carried on with there quest. "Her?" Of all the things he could have grabbed onto and think about it was the fact that the woman had given there growing child sex.

"Or him. Oh I don't know for sure. I just hate calling it . . . .it." he hadn't released her chin. "How do you feel about all of this?" The only emotion he ever portrayed clearly was amusement. He could smirk like no one she'd ever met but the other emotions didn't translate as well, at least not to her.

The man looked at her sideways. "We should have possibly been more careful but what is done is done. The goddesses obviously want this to happen." He said for the first time in a long time mentioning something religious. It was his way normally of hiding his spiritual side.

"You're not mad?" It took her a moment to realize he'd used the term. "Goddesses?" She sighed, calming down quite a bit since he'd come through the door.

"I had a moment of spiritually come to the surface." He said shaking his head changing the subject quickly. "Why would I be mad?" He demanded softly stroking her long hair out of her face. She was so beautiful when she worried the way she did.

"I didn't think this was exactly the way you'd planned on becoming a father," Ona explained deflating from her earlier agitation. She loved it when he touched her hair. "And tell me about these goddesses, I don't think I've ever heard you say anything spiritual."

"I am telling you nothing about them," ZaZa said with a pressed kiss to her forehead. No one knew what was in his head that made him utter curses or prayers once in a while. "I have never considered becoming a father before in my 35 years."

That wasn't exactly the response she'd been expecting. He'd always been pretty open with her, even when she wasn't with him, not at first anyway. This clamming up surprised her. "Really? Strange, I always thought you wanted to be one for some reason." She shrugged and let out a long breath. "So . . ." there were so many things she wanted to ask, but she didn't know where to start.

"Sure but I have never really had someone before to consider it." Zaza was all about family. His mother had ingrained that in him from the moment he was born, it was the only way for telepaths to survive but he had not had that closeness since his mother had died. "So..." He repeated looking around the cave absently.

"Do you have any family still living?" She asked leading him to a spot to sit down.

The man easily followed the woman as he had with many other women throughout his life. "I do indeed. I have aunts and cousins. What are you thinking?" He wondered wanting to hear her say it aloud instead of finding it his own way.

"Any of them you trust with the life of your child? If we continue down this path she might be in danger . . . just wondering if there was a place we could put her." Ona shrugged. "I won't worry about it right now. We have some time obviously."

"My aunts. What about you?" He asked looking down at her for a moment. It would be a crucial point in the future. Would he be able to give up his child and just carry on like nothing had happened?

"My brother. But, your aunts might be a better option. Not quite as close of a relative. So far I'm just fretting about nothing. Let's talk about something else."

"What did you get up to at work today?" He asked thinking that would be a better subject than the baby who was nine months away in coming. It would be pointless to worry at this stage. Life could change completely tomorrow.

"The usual. Lots of dusty cockpits, the occasional spider. Got one I'm almost ready to test out. She's all nice and shiny inside now. Looks almost new. I think they'll be really pleased with her." Ona snuggled against him, putting her head on his chest. "What about you?"

"Water system works again." He sighed happily as she snuggled closer. It was just nice to be able to have intimacy with her without the structure or chain of command in Starfleet.

"Well that's good. A bath sounds completely heavenly! It's the one thing I miss about the Federation." Ona yawned. His warmth was lulling her to sleep.

The man smiled as she relaxed against him. One second he was happily relaxing and the next he was wincing as something pinched at his side. He pulled away feeling strange as he grabbed up his shirt to see what had happened.

Ona was startled back into the waking world by his twitch. "What's wrong?" She asked groggily, sitting up so that he could move around a bit more.

Zaza stood up as she let him go and saw the cause of what was wrong trying to escape across the floor. He pulled up his shirt to reveal the insect bite as his vision started to spin.

"Zee!" Ona grabbed him as he started to fall, she helped him lower to the floor and then ran for help.

OFF::

Zazkeal 'ZaZa' Elms
Engineer
(PNPC Gregnol)

Ona Silang
Flight
(PNPC Bowers)