Question Everything

Posted on Sun Dec 1st, 2024 @ 2:01am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen

Mission: Character Development
Location: Bajor

They say that when you start a family everything changes. For a long time Captain Kaylen Rhenora dismissed that notion with as much care as she could get away with not giving. Usually her attention was firmly focussed on whatever mission the Sunfire had embarked on, and more importantly, keeping her crew safe. That was the energy she thrived on. This energy, was different.

In the days following the departure of Jenna, Zio and Dr Wilson she had felt a feeling of loss, yet a different feeling of purpose. Her days were filled with caring for their newborn, something she took joy in, but also felt her former life slipping away by the day. Was it the constant disrupted sleep? The living life in 3-4 hour increments? Was there any hope of standing on the bridge of her ship again in full glorious exploration, dealing with whatever the universe threw at them?

She fed Patina and tucked her down for a nap, heading down to the beach and the solace of the waves, trying to make sense of her inner conflict. Could she be happy here on Bajor, raising a family in the relatively quiet village their cottage was located in? Remal had mentioned the Prophets had shown him a second child in their future, was that now her purpose? Was it wrong to feel the pull of the stars so soon as their recent experience?

If she were brutally honest, she felt used by the Prophets she used to hold so dear. Like a puppet on a string being manipulated from somewhere far above. She had felt a connection when the Prophet inhabited her body during the Reckoning, but as she died, it had left her as some discarded clothing, returning back to the temple without a second thought. They had considered her expendable, a worthy pawn in their grand plan for Bajor. A plan that heavily revolved around their daughter. Again, not something she had a choice in.

It was a crisis of faith and identity, something that would take a long time to grapple and pull apart to find what it all meant. Would the Prophets continue to use her as their tool, or worse still would they manipulate Patina? Using their visions to influence decisions in their favour. Staring out into the waves she wished for the brutal honesty of Patin. Patin would have told her quite simply to sort herself out and get on it with, not wallow in her own personal crisis, floundering in a sea of emotion and guilt.

The sun began it journey across the sky, peeking intermittently behind clouds and casting shadows across the landscape. She felt as though she had been discarded by the Prophets now she had completed the task of birthing the next Emissary. Perhaps now her usefulness had come to an end they would leave her and Remal alone. Her gut told her otherwise. They'd been meddling in her life as long as she could remember, and now there was this strange protein marker in her bloodstream that hadn't been there before. What did it all mean?

A long sigh escaped, a symptom of a defeated woman who no longer knew her purpose in life. It would take some time to feel that again.