The Children of Cragen Part 2

Posted on Thu Aug 5th, 2021 @ 6:42am by Captain Mattias Richardson [Reece] & Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Commander Malakai Starr [Taylor] & Sasha Stone [Whavi] & Lieutenant Clara Lawson & 1st Lieutenant Joshua Young [Taylor] & Lieutenant Commander Kara Starr {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Darkness Rising - A Phoenix Lalor Sub Plot
Location: Rigel X Base Library
Timeline: MD23 - Mid Morning
2643 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

{ON}

Kara had sat digesting what she had learned debating on whether she should tell everyone or keep it to herself. Deciding honesty was the best policy she hit her comm badge and summoned everyone to the library.

Kate entered the room. "Hello Kara, have you found something?"

Kara nodded. "You could say that Kate."

Lily entered in silence and stood off to the side, this was Kara's party.

Mattias was right behind. As soon as he saw Kara, his brothetly instincts kicked into overdrive. "Kara, what's wrong?!"

Once everyone had arrived Kara stood, holding onto Malakai's hand for support and looked at them all. "I'm sorry to call you all so early, there's something I need to show you, and tell you." She'd already laid out several PADDs from the pile of belongings of Kyle Cragen, she placed her hand on each watching as each scanned her DNA and activated.

Kate looked at the PADD's... "No....."

Lily looked at Kate. "Ok...?"

Mattias was starting to get a bad feeling. "Little Girl?"

Kara looked at Mattias then hung her head. "It seems that I'm a descendant of Kyle Cragen. A whole lot of generations ago he married my grandmother."

Kate walked up and spoke, Giving Kara a hug. "Kara.... Kyle Cragen's crimes are not yours. Let's be clear on that. I hold only Kyle Cragen responsible for what he did to me and Josie."

Kara smiled. "Thank you Kate, it seems I can be of some use getting you access to his files. They're coded to his descendants."

"Kate's right Kara. I already told you that privately but now I'm saying it publicly so everyone know how I feel. I love you Kara. That will never change. So no more feeling sorry for yourself. You didn't do this and it doesn't change how I feel about you one little bit."

Kara squeezed Malakai's hand. "I love you too, you know I do." She smiled. "I want to try and put this to some use, whatever I can do to help I'll do. There is something I found though, it seems Kyle Cragen was a happy, kind man at one point. Over the years he's changed becoming the man he is today."

Kate picked up one of the PADD's and started reading it... "He believed I had kidnapped Josephine out of petty desire.... That is incorrect. I had to lead a team to maintain the Prime Directive."

Lily listened. "It doesn't change a thing Kara" She stated firmly. "You are not his and I doubt he would claim you. If he had been going to claim a family line over the years, he would have done so."

"I agree Lily..." She handed Lily one of the PADD's. "His writings over time grow more erratic, Lily. A possible mental breakdown over his inability to find Josephine. He scoured public records endlessly looking for Josephine Carlyle or even myself." Arri noted. "He later learned who I was about two years ago, and who Josie was, and he realized that a predestination paradox was in effect. If he tampered with either myself or Josephine, he would have never had knowledge of Josie. He had to let her get lost in the VOID, and let me retrieve her in the past." Arri mentioned. "He was infatuated with her... And over the centuries, her absence from his life took its toll.." Kate noted. "I'm beginning to know what that feels like."

Mattias spoke up. "Head-splitting temporal mechanics aside, please, what exactly does this mean, for the here and now? Do we try and capture and rehabilitate him, capture and inprison, or track down and kill for what he's done to Kate, Josie and uncounted others? I mean, do we even know how many he's enslaved during his decent into madness?"

"I agree, Mattias. I'm afraid any semblance of reason nor sanity has long evaporated form this man in nearly seven hundred years he has obsessed over Josephine. Over time, what moral compass he had was completely destroyed, what's left is pure control." Kate mentioned. "He's still of the seventeenth century mindset that women should be subserviently to men. His sheer desire for Josephine has driven his impatience and lust to phenomenal levels. To the point he considers women to be property, and he doesn't trust women without a collar on their necks." Kate noted. "He doesn't trust anyone without a collar. I'm afraid we will have to put him down. His mind is no longer capable of reason. Just pride, desire, and lust.

Mattias considered Kate's words for a few beats, then, nodded. "Okay, so fry the prick. Next question, though. Anyone knkw how to fully kill an El Aurian? I knew a guy once, said that when his people suffer severe injury, their body generates a cocoon like structure around them, protecting them. Then, a few days later, they re-emerge, all wounds healed. He said it was one of the reasons that the Borg Queen feared and tried to compleyely annihilate the El Aurian race. They are an example of resistance in this galaxy."

"We cut him down, shoot him, then we take his so-called cocoon, and dump it into the corona of a sun!!!" Kate ot a little angry. "That is how we'll kill Kyle Cragen!!! I will make sure that miserable bastard never harms my Josie again. Even if I have to beam him into the center of a gas giant." Kate closed her eyes and spoke again. "We need to increase our efforts to find her.. I have a feeling that he may severely injure her if she shows any resistance to him, no matter how small. It may cost her life." Kate noted. "I need to continue work on the Nano-serum."

Kara looked towards Kate. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you Kate, it seems my dna will unlock anything that’s encrypted which’ll give us a helping hand. I just...” She paused. “I’m not sure how I feel about what has to be done to Cragen, he’s my grandfather!... granted a whole host of generations removed but he’s still family.”

"No Kara, I'm sorry but you are wrong. Cragen is a cancer and must be eliminated. You can't feel guilty about what has to be done. Think of the lives he's not only ruined but taken. Look at what he's done to Arri er Kate and Josie." Malakai replied calmly but firmly.

Kara nodded. “I know, I saw how he was treating Josie when I met with him.” She sighed. “Ohh... no one try accessing any of Cragen’s PADDs or coded items! The PADD I unlocked contained a neurotoxin as a security measure, it’s designed not to harm Cragen’s descendants but it would kill any of you. I’ve deactivated it with help from Carolyn...” She saw a few blank looks. “She’s the PADDs A.I. based on Cragen’s first wife, my grandmother.”

"Charming just proves what a rat bastard he is." Malakai replied. "If there was any doubt on what needs to be done with Cragen this should remove it."

“I wouldn’t jump in headlong to save him” Kara offered her husband a brief smile. “I’d like a chance to have a whole host of questions answered though, not that I know that’ll happen.”

Malakai returned Kara's smile. "The only question that I'd ask him is why? Why did you do what you did? Then I'd kill him." He replied.

“Perhaps you’ll get chance to ask him sometime.” Kara sat back down in her seat. “He knows who I am, he’s been keeping track of all his progeny over the years.”

"Fucking wonderful Kara. Some nutcase knows who you are." Malakai observed. "Even more of a reason for you not to be out searching for him."

Kara squeezed Malakai’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere, I have no plans to go looking for Cragen. I’ve got a job to do here, and I’m going to do it.”

Malakai smiled, "That makes me feel much better. I'm glad to hear you say that Kara." He replied, giving her hand a gentle squeeze in return.

"Kara, listen to me. He is a manipulative psychopath who injected my mate with drugs, and turned her into someone she is not." She noted. "He'll do the same to you. We do not know how deep his treacheries lay. Whatever end result he had planned when he encoded his files for his descendants, I am relatively certain it is the cornerstone of a lie." Arri mentioned. "He'll use people until they are of no further use to him, then discard and sell them. Right now Arrianna Salannis an Vantar is a memory like Josephine Carlyle, and she'll only exist again when Cragen is dead." Kate noted. "Kate Daniels will become every slaver's worst nightmare."

Kara nodded. “The only people I trust are in this room and on this base, I’m not going to go running off to Kyle Cragen just because he’s related. If I was important he’d have contacted me a long time ago!” Kara looked to Kate. “I’m going to help you get Josie back.”

Mattias finally spoke up. "Okay, so....what exactly did this AI tell you about Cragen? Any clues on how to find him?"

Kara shook her head. “He’s not that stupid, the information is more of a memory dump for his progeny, so we can get to know our ancestors. It’s weird, I barely know my parents and now I know more about my past relatives instead. Matt’s parents rescued me when I was just little, they took me in and eventually adopted me.” She smiled at Mattias. “They’ve been all the family I’ve ever needed until you..” She looked at Malakai.

Mattias smiled warmly at Kara, thinking of their years together.

Tags

“There’s one more thing...” Kara looked at the PADD in front of her. “I had to smash this PADD. There was a homing beacon in it, designed to lead Cragen to his progeny. I just hope I smashed it in time!”

Mattias's smile dropped. "What the hell?! Why didn't youbstart with that?!" He jumped from his seat and bolted to the weapons station in the Equinox.

Kara sighed. “I’m sorry! On the bright side if he comes for me then we can be ready for him! It’ll be a trap of his own making.”

Kate spoke. "I doubt Cragen, given his current situation, woudl be amendable to following this beacon even if he did receive it." She pointed out. "One thing Flossi was fully aware of... Cragen trusted no one, and Flossi never asked for his trust. Right now, I believe his main objective is whore he made my mate into. If anything... he might be more interested in me rather than you, Kara." Kate picked up the broken PADD. I'm going to work on this transmitter, it may open up an opportunity for us. For now Kara, do not mess around with any more of Cragen's possessions. I haven't had a chance to scan any of this, and some of them might be a bomb."

“I don’t intend to, but I’m the only one who can unlock anything here and the only one his neurotoxin won’t kill. I suggest you be extremely cautious Kate!” Kara gave Kate a concerned look.

"KARA!!!" Kate lost her cool. "Please don't make me watch someone I consider a daughter get enslaved by him. Please don't put me through that. You have a husband, Kara. You have a child, You have a brother. Do not throw away these precious gifts. HE WILL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU, KARA!!!" Kate shouted and looked in Kara's eyes then left. Going to find a place to cool off. "Malakai... keep her away from this stuff." Kate said in a low voice.

Sasha opened her mouth to speak but was cut off when Kate began shouting, the interaction between the two females giving her pause. She cast Kara a sympathetic look but proceeded with her own question. "Are we positive none of these other PADD's have secret homing devices? Ones that activated once the equipment left Cragen's hold?"

Malakai nodded at Kate has she left the room. "Consider it done Kate." He replied quietly offsetting her anger. He then turned and looked at Kara, shaking his head slowly to stop any protests she may have.

Kara was more taken aback at Kate’s sudden angry outburst than she was anything else. “If you’ll all excuse me” She left the table, and the room visually upset by it all. Right now she needed time alone and she headed off into the complex to find somewhere she could be alone.

Malakai looked at the others. "I uh think I better talk to Kara. Excuse me as he left the room to find her.

===

Meanwhile Kara had simply picked a direction and had kept going. The complex was impressive to say the least, if Malakai wanted to find her all he had to do was concentrate on the bond between them. He’d know if she was alright or not. Right now she felt confused and upset. She paused as she found a room, given it’s size it looked like a large dining room or ballroom but it had the most picturesque window that just grabbed her attention. She walked across to it and simply stood looking out at the snowy landscape outside.

After leaving the others, Malakai stopped and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and concentrated on Kara and the bond they shared. He felt her anger but she seemed alright. He followed it through the complex until he found her looking out a large picturesque window. Coming up behind her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "You okay Kara?"

Kara shook her head. “Why does Kate treat me like I’m a child? She speaks to me like I don’t know what I’m doing!” She lay her head back against Malakai’s chest. “I was just worried about Kate getting hurt! Not only do I find out I’m part of some massive family tree of Cragen’s but also that I have El Aurian dna as Part of my genetic makeup! I don’t even know what that means in the long term!”

"She cares a great deal for you Kara and I don't believe she actually realizes how it sounds when she talks. She's worried Cragen could get his hands on you and you could end up like Josie and she doesn't want that. So, in her concern for you it comes out hard and placating. Which you take as her talking down to you. I don't believe it's deliberate Kara." Malakai told his wife.

“I know, it’s just me being over sensitive.” A few tears ran down her cheeks.

Malakai turned her around to face him. He wiped the tears away from her face. "No, it's you being the caring and compassionate person you are and trying to help." He corrected.

Offering a brief smile Kara leant forward and kissed her husband’s cheek. “Thank you.” She looked back at the window, “Stay and watch the snow with me for s little while?”

He smiled at her. "You are welcome Kara." he looked out at the snow and then at the face he loved so much. "I'll stay here with you for as long as you like. How does that sound?" He finished with a smile.

“It sounds perfect” Kara smiled in return. Holding onto Malakai she watched the snow falling outside, marvelling at the beauty and serenity.

{OFF}