Star Trek: Excursion

Bound in Chains

The Captain stared at the small screen in front of her. She had a fake smile plastered on her face. She was talking with a friend, a friend that had just gotten married almost a year ago and was having her first child in about a month. The friend was talking about what color her and her husband painted the nursery. The Captain was smiling, but she was close to tears, not that her friend noticed. There was a buzz at the Captain's door.
"Oh, I'm sorry, should I call you back?" The Captain's friend asked.
"Yes, please," The Captain said smiling her fake smile just a little wider.
"Goodbye Brenda," The friend said smiling. "I hope you have a great rest of the day."
"You too," The Captain said.
The small screen went blank.
"Come in."
Bennya walked in. She was smiling. "You won't guess what's happened," she said. She looked so happy. The Captain was having a hard time keeping up her act. She was so close to breaking down and crying.
The Captain smiled at her; it was a horrible fake smile. "What happened?" She asked.
"My sister is gonna meet up with us when we stop on Starbase 19," Bennya said.
The Captain stood up. "That's wonderful," She said trying to sound genuine.
"Is something wrong, Brenda?" Bennya asked noticing how forced her smiled seemed.
"No, nothing really," The Captain said.
Bennya walked closer. She looked at her. "No, something's wrong," She said. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"No, I... I can't talk about it," The Captain said looking back at her. Her smile had faded. "Please go..." Her voice cracked slightly. She hated it. She didn't want to look weak in front of anyone.
Bennya nodded and left her quarters. She looked at the door and worried about the Captain a little before walking away towards engineering. Something was really bothering the Captain.
The Captain ran her fingers through her hair. It was down. Her hand made its way to her stomach. She held it there. She felt tears pull at the corners of her eyes. She knew she shouldn't be crying and she knew she shouldn't be so jealous, but she couldn't stop the burning tears or jealousy she felt.
There was a buzz at the Captain's quarters. She still hurt. She hurt all over, to the core of her being. She couldn't stop the tears.
"Go away," She shouted.
"Brenda?" Rothel's voice said through the door.
"Go away," She repeated.
"No, talk to me about it," Rothel said through the door. "You need to talk about it."
"Leave me alone," She shouted still.
"Brenda, talk to me. Brenda, please," Rothel said.
The Captain couldn't stop the tears. "Come in," She said still crying.
Rothel ran through the door. He went to her. She laid her head on his shoulder and cried.
He shushed her quietly. "Talk about it," He urged.
"She's having a baby," The Captain wept. "I..."
"I understand," Rothel said squeezing her slightly. "It doesn't hurt me. I've never cared."
"I care though. I care a lot," The Captain cried.
Rothel kissed her hair. "I know," He said.
"Why was I born like this?" The Captain asked still crying. "Why me?"
Rothel held her closer. "I don't know," He said. He ran his fingers through her hair.
"Science is so advanced now, but it still can't fix me," The Captain said.
Rothel held her hand and kissed her hair. "You're not broken," He said. He was starting to get close to tears himself.
"Then why?" The Captain cried.
"I don't know," Rothel said. He looked up at the roof for a little while.
"I don't know..." He repeated slowly.
The Captain cried for a long while before pushing away from Rothel and going to wash her face. She hid her tears so it looked like she had never been crying. Rothel was worried. She was still very upset, but she wasn't crying anymore.
The Captain left her quarters and went to the bridge. She needed something to get her mind off her heartache. The bridge was her only hope.
Aage saw the Captain enter the bridge. He smiled at her and stood up. "Captain on the bridge!" He exclaimed.
The Captain took her seat. "I'm a little early," She said simply.
Aage smiled. "I was going to call you in a moment. We've been getting traces of a transmission of some kind. The sensors picked it up, but it was impossible to make out what was on it," He said. "What should we do, Captain?"
The Captain smiled slightly at the prospect of a mystery. "We are going to track the transmission down. Ensign, initiate the sensor array."