Filling in the Blanks

Posted on Thu Mar 10th, 2022 @ 12:20am by Lieutenant Commander Rin

Mission: Season 5: Interlude: Darkness Abounds
Location: Rin's Quarters, Deck 16
Timeline: Before mission, After "Second Chance for a First Impression"
777 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

“I have a question about the London.”

Rin was curled up in her desk chair with a mug of hot cocoa. On the screen was Captain James Addison of USS Endurance, her former husband and now friend.

The London was not something he liked to talk about. Rin and he had tried discussing it early on in an attempt to trip memories, but when it was clear it wasn’t working, he had been more than happy to let the topic vanish into obscurity.

Rin knew that, and James knew Rin knew that. Rin didn’t particularly like the topic either. So, this clearly was not a casual question.

“Do you remember Felicia and Heinrich Battonsburg?”

James leaned forward in his seat, his expression one part wonder and another part worried. “Have you remembered something?”

Rin shook her head. “The names came up in conversation. I was asked if I knew them. I must have, right?”

James uncomfortably rubbed the 5 o’clock shadow on his chin. “You did. We were friends, the four of us. She had been posted to the London a year before we were. They welcomed us aboard.”

“So…we were close?”

“Not sure I’d say that. Where is this coming from?”

Rin sipped her drink, winning herself a few extra moments of silence, a few moments to steel herself for what came next in the conversation.

“They had twins.”

“Yes.” James wasn’t sure what else to say as he studied her face, trying to glimpse at what was going on inside her head. It didn’t do either of them good to dwell upon the number of children the Borg had destroyed.

“They’re alive.” Rin’s voice was almost a whisper.

James was practically out of his seat now. “What?”

“I don’t have the whole story, but several years ago they escaped the Collective. They’re in Federation space.”

James expression deflated. Clearly, there was some kind of misidentification involved, and he was going to have to break it to her. “Rin, the twins were just babies.”

“Which the Borg would have put into maturation chambers to accelerate development into adult drones. Standard procedure,” Rin explained. “Genetic tests were run. They are unquestionably Felicia and Heinrich’s children.”

James dropped back heavily in his seat, eyes turned away from the screen while he tried to process what he had just been told. For 25 years, he had lived with grief and survivor’s guilt. Then, Rin had miraculously returned, albeit radically different. In some ways the woman he had mourned was still gone, even though she was right in front of him. Over the years, he had seen bits of his wife’s personality creep to the surface, which was perhaps more confusing than comforting. They didn’t talk about that much. People wishing Rin would act more like her old self upset her. He could understand where she was coming from, but that didn’t make it any less hard.

And now, was it about to happen again?

Granted, he could go into things with less expectations. The children had been infants. Of course they would be unrecognizable 34 years later. But he would know the changes would not just be from growing up as children are supposed to do.

“I’ve been told they want to meet people who knew their parents. I’m planning on speaking with them, but I really don’t have anything to share. I thought maybe you would be interested.”

“Of course, of course,” James agreed almost mechanically.

Rin gave a soft sigh. “I can make apologies if you aren’t. I know this is painful. But I couldn’t just not tell you.”

“No, no, I appreciate you telling me. Rin, how many of the crew are likely still out there?”

“I can’t answer that, and you don’t want to go down that rabbit hole,” Rin cautioned. She had always warned people not to think of drones as survivors. xBs yes, but not drones. Drones were something else, and holding onto the hope of loved ones emerging as xBs was not healthy. They were such an infinitesimally tiny group of people in comparison to the Borg, surviving as one was very much akin to winning the lottery.

Which is to say, don’t bet on it.

James nodded. “I will speak to them. They deserve that.”

Rin had never so badly wanted to reach out a hand and touch his shoulder in comfort. This was wrecking him. All she could do was nod in acknowledgement. “I’ll let you know when we coordinate a time.”

“Until then, be well.”

“You too.”