Bad news...

Posted on 20 Sep 2015 @ 7:27pm by EBH Mark I "Raven"
Edited on on 21 Sep 2015 @ 12:29am

865 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: Starbase 84
Timeline: MD1, 0900 hours

[ON]

As the Mercy's arrived at the childcare center, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, Raven was all over them. "Delon! Revan, Laura!" she exclaimed, rushing towards the door, trying to hide the look of concern on her face. She knew this wouldn't be easy.

While she might not be able to hide the look, she had to have known Revan wouldn't be able to get any kind of read on her since she was a hologram. "What's going on?" the oldest of the Mercy children asked, as he held Laura by the hand. "Why are we wakened in the middle of the night?" Revan yawned openly.

Delon just growled as he fiercely rubbed his eyes. "I was just dreaming of this great challenge," he grumbled. "THere were rocks, and animals and we had to survive for a while....." He'd heard of the Vulcan ritual Kahswan, and dreamed of participating, to prove that he was a man and not a boy.

"I... have something I need to tell you..." started Raven. But as she looked into Revan's and Delon's eyes, her composure melted. She couldn't tell them now, she figured. "But first, let's get a little breakfast."

"What time is it?" Revan complained, "I'm not hungry yet, it must be too early for breakfast." He yawned openly. "Come on Raven, what's wrong...."

"I... I..." Raven paused for a moment, trying to hold back the tears. "Breakfast first. I'll make crêpes, okay? With lingonberry filling, and whipped cream..." She trailed off and offered the kids a faint smile; this was proving harder than she imagined.

"but it's too early," Revan protested, still studying the hologram. Something was definitely wrong and though he couldn't read her, he just knew something wasn't right. "Raven....have you heard anything from dad?"

"Smoothies!" exclaimed Raven. "And fresh made smoothies! Well, fresh replicated..."

"Raven!" the boy insisted, grabbing her arm. "You're avoiding answering my question. Have you heard from dad? When is he coming for us? It's been six days now...the games were only to be three days."

The hologram took a deep breath. She couldn't delay this any longer. "The Galileo... your father's ship..." Raven held Revan's hand in hers. "It's missing."

"W-what?" Tears welled up in the boy's eyes as he looked up at her.

Delon's expression tightened and he was visibly trying to be brave and not cry as well. "When?" he asked, "where?"

Being too young to understand, Laura looked up at her brothers, then at Raven? "What is missing?"

Raven held her arms out and gathered the three children in front of her for one big hug. "They disappeared three days ago. They hadn't reported in, and aren't being seen on long-range sensors. But they haven't detected any wreckage either. I know your father and the crew of the Galileo... they're some of the most resourceful people in Starfleet."

Trying to choke back tears, Raven released the three children from the hug. "I can't say for sure that your father will be back. But I know he loves you and he'll do everything he can to come back for you."

"But what happens to us then?" Delon asked, his voice breaking. He was the only one who remembered being adopted; Revan and Laura had both been a baby, but he was older. He was three, when he joined the Mercy family. "Who will take care of us? Are we going to be sent to our grandparents on Earth? Or foster homes? Are we going to be split up?"

"I don't know..." Raven tried as hard as she could to stop herself from crying as well, but it was no use. She wiped a tear from her holographic eye. "I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do, but I promise, I'll do everything I can to make sure you don't get split up."

"I want to stay with you." Delon wrapped his arms around the hologram's waist. "I don't want to go to anyone else, we have noone else. Our grandparents can't travel...they can't leave Earth and I don't want to leave here. What if somehow he gets back, and he can't find us?"

Raven patted Delon on the head trying to comfort him. "You can stay with me as long as you want. And if I know anything about your father, I know he won't rest until he finds you again."

"Do you promise?" Delon whimpered, his voice muffled as his face was buried against Raven's stomach. Revan stood watching, tears streaking down his face as he was holding his sister. He felt his brother's distress as keenly as his own, and though he couldn't read Raven, he could see that she wasn't well either.

"I want to go home," the oldest Mercy child whispered. But, where was home now?

"I promise," said Raven, looking down at Delon and patting him on the head. "You're safe with me. Wherever you are, you're home so long as you're with your brother and sister and me."

[OFF]

EBH Mark I "Raven"
Emergency Babysitting Hologram
USS Galileo

Revan, Delon & Laura Mercy
Naois & Eva's children
USS Galileo
pnpc's Tyrion

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