Cragen v. Quinn

Posted on Wed Nov 2nd, 2022 @ 5:31am by Quinn [ADMIN NPC] & Kyle Cragen [Reece]

Mission: Season 5: Time Warp
Location: Starfleet Maximum Security Prison, (location?)
Timeline: 31/08/2397 / 1750 Hours (local)
1789 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Quinn, as a Q, found it child’s play to walk into the Prison and find her way to the cell of the Prisoner she was looking for. Using her powers, she cloaked them and opened the cell door and stepped in. A tall thin redhead in a command uniform with Commanders Pips.

Cragen felt the creature approaching. "Q," he growled softly. His people had had numerous run-ins with these non corporeal beings for nearly five hundred thousand years.

“Quinn” She said as she moved into his cell. “I go by Commander Quinn Henderson in the fleet, as like you, I am a former Starfleet officer.”

"Is that so?" He replied, leaning back on his bunk. "Did you attend the Academy and graduate, or did you just flash yourself in their minds?" His tone, while not overly hostile, was not friendly either. There was too much bad blood between their species for there to be any serious peace. Some of his countrymen even suspected that the Q had pointed the Borg towards the El Aurian people, as their powers of illusion had no effect on the ancient species. "What do you want, demon?"

Quinn smirked "Class of 2389, Operations and Communications Major. Did all four years. And I am here to discuss your wife."

"Ex-wife, you mean," he sad softly. "She is free of me, in every way. I cannot undo the pain I have caused her. I can only…." He stopped himself. "Not sure why I'm telling you this. Get to the point of your visit."

Quinn waved a hand and a chair appeared and she sat. "I have a history with the crew of the USS Elysium, I consider them ... not family but under my protection. Had I not been hindered in my watching of them, then the events would not have happened. But I am here to see how I can help you. I have been helping Arrianna cope and I am not needed to help Josephine. But you, you I can help."

He chortled at that comment. "Help me? You mean like your kind helped my kind before, by unleashing the Borg upon us?!" He stood suddenly, towering over Quinn. "All your kind does is torment the younger races for your own amusement!"

"We never directed the Borg to your race," she replied without flinching. "And if I wanted to torture you," here her lips quirked almost evilly she waved a hand blase like. "I would make you feel every lash, every cut you put her through. Your mind broke, you suffered and you have survived by following the dark. Josephine does not know it yet, but you are redeemable Kyle Cragen."

She examined her nails. "There are many different realities where you are different. One where you have many children with a wife and run a shipping empire, one where you marry Arrianna even, and yes, one where you marry Josephine in the 1660's and return to her time with her. All it takes to change is one thing."

He shook his head. "You must be young, if you don't know that your abilities can do nothing to me." He turned away and poured himself a glass of water, drinking it down. Hearing the rest of her speech, he sighed and shook his head slowly. "I have caused her too much pain. All because of my own pain of loosing her in the beginning. The only good that has come of it, is our unborn child. She is pure. If I am to have any form of redemption, it will be by her hand and heart."

"Your child, she will be special, and is a beacon. A beacon that has brought her mother much joy. But she alone cannot redeem you Kyle Cragen. You have to work for it." Quinn watched him. "I know the paths that lie before you. Would you like to know them?" She ignored his quip about her age.

He was silent for several beats. Then, Sighing heavily, he replied, his back still to her. "So long as these paths do not cause Me to hurt Josephine again, or our child in any way, sure. What does your mental crystal ball tell you?"

“You got an interesting note a day or so ago. That is one path you can take, and for many of your paths, it starts there.” Quinn said. “I know it would hurt your child if you took the path where you died a useless death.” She blinked and several crystal orbs appeared spinning around in a circle between them. “You could meet that wife I mentioned, she lives in this time, or you could rejoin the fleet and regain your commission. Just do not expect warm welcomes from some in the fleet.”

He shook his head slowly. "I relinquished my parental rights. Liberty," his voice choked slightly. "She's better off, without me in her life." He placed his hands on either side of the basin and hung his head in silence.

A few beats later, he started to speak again. "I allowed my heartbreak over losing Josephine, the first time, to start bringing darkness into my soul. I have done too many hurtful and illegal things to ever deserve a second chance." Straightening up and looking about his small cell, he continued. "This is all I deserve now, until the end of my life."

Looking over at Quinn, he shook his head again. "All you offer are illusions. No matter what you reality you were to send me to, I would always know the pain that I've caused others. The pain I caused Arrianna…..The pain I've caused Josephine."

He lowered his powerful frame down onto his small bunk. Looking up at the Q, he sighed. "The only way any of this could be fixed…cannot be done."

“Okay I am not talking illusions. I am talking about reality. There is a life for you, here in this universe, one that will give you a chance to at least see Liberty, if not face to face then at least from a distance.”

His eyes grew moist at the thought of seeing his and Josephine's daughter. He shook his head fiercely, as if to clear out some bad thoughts, as he stood and moved back to the basin. After putting his hands on the sides again, he simply stared at his reflection for several tense beats.

Finally, in a low voice, he said, "I will do anything for my daughter." He turned to face Quinn. "Even if I must give my life for hers."

“I doubt that will be needed.” She smiled and one of the orbs shifted into a young girl, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Cragen's face started to glow with love as he gazed upon the image. "She…" a tear fell down his right cheek. "She's beautiful!" He reached out to touch the image.

“I am sure she will be a force to be reckoned with when she is older.” Quinn said.

Cragen was nearly hypnotized by the angel he was looking at. He then blinked his eyes several times, trying to focus them. "What do you want me to do?" He was so smitten with the image of Liberty, that he went against his ingrained distrust of the Q, and waited to hear what the demon would say next.

“Pay attention to what they want you to do. Keep your wits about you. Do not throw yourself into the fire. She will need you when she gets older.” Quinn said and created a small holo of the child and placed it on the bed for him. “Starfleet’s demons are being culled. But they need to remember that the dark hides more than what they see.”

"You mean Highlaw…or something worse?" He sat back down and picked up the holo, gazing again, at his daughter.

“There is always going to be a Highlaw Mr Cragen.” Quinn stood and her chair vanished.

"And there should always be someone to stand up against them? Is that what you're telling me?"

“You won’t be alone. I believe that has always been the problem with you Mr Cragen, you think you are alone.”

"You're wrong there," he said with a shake of his head. "I've been alone since my mother's throat was slit and her dying body was burned at the stake, back in England of the 1400s. Sure, I've had those that have loved me and I've loved since, but, I have never seen another of my kind since, not had the ability to discuss the overpowering grief that I carry with me every single day." He shook his head again. "I'm alone, and I will die alone. Only my deeds will be remembered."

“There are numerous El Aurians out there. But you have a chance to change your narrative. I suggest you take that chance.”

“And what if it's my narrative to remain in this cell for the rest of my natural life? I certainly have committed enough crimes to deserve it. Why offer me this chance? What makes me different?"

Here Quinn smiled. “Who said I am doing this for you?” she asked softly. “I see many different paths. I see redemption in yours.”

Cragen frowned slightly. "Well, if there is any way that I can redeem myself in the eyes of those I've hurt, I'd be stupid not to take it." He sighed softly. "Go ahead, do what you came to do."

She waved a hand and a PADD appeared. “Once they release you, you will be kept close to them. Starfleet Intelligence is not going to let you wander about. But this might help you.”

Cragen reached out and took the offered PADD. "What's in it?"

“Well seeing you signed everything away, you might need a bolt hole or two.”

"If I'm supposed to be redeeming myself, why would I need bolt holes?"

“In this life, you never know.”

He considered this for a moment, then nodded. "I'm ready. When does this new path begin?”

“It began days ago when you spoke with your wife.” Quinn smiled at him. “Just stick with it Kyle Cragen.”

"So," he replied with a soft chuckle. "Just stay here and wait for them to come get me?"

“I am sure you will be able to wait that long, it will not be much longer” Quinn said and vanished from sight.

Cragen sighed heavily and shook his head. "Damn Q," he said to himself. Then, as he had nothing else he could do, he picked up the holo of Liberty, then laid down on his bunk, and just stared at how beautiful she was going to be. "Just like your mother," he whispered softly.

~OFF~