Lonely Vortex

Posted on Mon Nov 24th, 2025 @ 4:50pm by Lieutenant JG Camryn Shepard & Cadet Freshman Grade Gracelyn Shepard
Edited on on Tue Nov 25th, 2025 @ 4:57am

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Deep in the edge of the Universe near the Romulan Neutral Zone
Timeline: 02.09.2397
2536 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

| Two months ago
| Firefly I listening post
| Somewhere deep in the other side of the galaxy near the Romulan Neutral Zone orbiting a moon

Deep in the edge of the universe laid a single listening station, one of the smaller ones. It was comprised of two smaller pieces interconnected by a single energy vortex that appeared to be holding the station together. The top was a single rectangular facility, approximately 15 meters long and 5 meters wide, with a single access port at one end to connect with any ships equipped with an airlock. The second facility was a sphere, with two blades rotating around it in an elliptical orbit, passing the single energy vortex in a muted hum in the silence of space.

It was a listening station, with her signal always connected to the edge of the beta quadrant. Always listening for any signals as it had been for ten years.

For Camryn Sheppard, it felt like an eternity. Ever since she had been assigned to the station, she had been spending the remainder of ten years in isolation away from human contact. The last time she had been in contact was two years ago. After that, everything went silent. She meant to fix the communications array, as it probably rusted in the frigid space.

Starfleet meant to rotate her five years ago, but sent no one. She felt they had forgotten she existed.

Dressed in a gray tunic and a band around her blond hair that was loosened in a knot, Cam ran a mile around the inside of the rotating sphere listening to loud music in the background. Knowing she would be in the post for years, the only things she brought were a small bag with her spare clothing, headphones, a selection of her favorite music, and holonovels.

In the midst of the loud music, a constant tone from one of her consoles beeped. She received a message from one of the listening posts weeks away from her, a bit closer to Sabrik. She stopped running and grabbed a glass of water. After drinking a huge gulp, she turned down the music and activated the comm, recognizing the audio message from one of her long-time friends. After listening, she proceeded to respond,

In the midst of the loud music was a constant tone of one of her console. She received a message from one of the listening posts weeks away from her, a bit closer to Sabrik. She stopped running and grabbed a glass of water. After drinking a huge gulp, she turned down the music and activated the comm, recognizing the audio message from one of her long time friends.

"Cam, how you've been? Umm, don't answer that, cause I feel the same. The loneliness and the isolation. We feel like prisoners assigned to a specific prison somewhere, safe away from people. Feels like we have been out of touch with human contact. Going crazy in the middle of the night, although in our cases, the night would be the longest. No sunrise, no feeling of the sun rays on your back and giving you sunburn..."

Somewhere in the message, the speaker heaved a sigh and signed off,

"This is Kentra Ali-Omra wishing you a happy birthday and signing off at 0001."

Cam smiled. Her friend was getting crazier by the minute, and she had only been there for two months already. She touched the console and made her 100th message in the five years she had been in the post...

"Ali, it's been a long time since I've heard from you. Things haven't changed a bit over here. I still need to repair that faulty communications array. Have you had a chance to speak with the Admiral about my request for a transfer? It's been two years since they responded to my request, and I feel like they forgot about me.

Message sent, time 1205 hours. This is Camryn Sheppard signing off."

The console beeped with confirmation that the message was sent, and Cam plopped down on the chair with a sigh. The computer beeped again, reminding her that she had to go outside and repair the communications array.

Cam groaned, lying back and rubbing her eyes. She felt like she was getting too old for this...



| A month and three weeks ago
| Outside Firefly I

Two weeks passed, and still no response from her friend. Cam floated outside the station where the comm array was, and she listened to the music in her headphones connected to an MP3 player, back when technology was young and simple. She had a console open and rewired a few things on the array. It was old and needed replacing. She ordered spare ones from Starfleet, but they have yet to send one. She grew irritated and tired of waiting, but she also had to remind herself that she had all year to wait, because for El-Aurians, eternity was two hundred years or more.

As she finished the repairs, the array fluttered to life for a moment and went out. Cam banged the side, and the listening array flickered on, keeping a communications signal alive. Sighing again, she slowly pulled on her lifeline and headed towards an airlock on the side of the rectangular facility. As she reached there, she caught herself looking out into the black sea of stars and the nebulae clashing among each other to create the brilliance of colors she's always seen. In her aquamarine eyes was a feeling of longing to go out there once again and explore. Forget fighting, forget death. All she wants to do is get on a ship and run away from it all.

She dreamed of returning to her people's homeworld, which would take a long time to reach. But she knew, as her boots interconnected with the floor of the airlock, that it was nearly impossible to back. Once they left their home, they knew they weren't going back, so they are trapped for all eternity in a galaxy full of blood, war, and violence.

As the airlock hissed, Cam removed her helmet, letting her hair loose on her flight suit. A comm beeped. Cam turned the message on, the computer's voice responding, "You have one message from Starfleet."

Good, as she thought to herself, maybe I will be able to talk directly to them.

She removed her flight suit, packed it with the helmet in the storage container, and walked to the nearest console. Pulling her hair back and putting a band around it to keep her hair away from her face, she pressed a few buttons on the console. She opened the message and listened to the heavy-accented male with a commanding tone, whom she assumed was a commanding officer,

"Lieutenant Sheppard, Starfleet has reviewed your request and decided to send a replacement for you. The USS Seabrook will be on its way to your station from Earth and will arrive in a month.

Commander Jay Gashck out at 2309 hours."

She looked at the time stamp; it was sent a week ago. He should be here soon. Now that the array was fixed, she opened hailing frequencies, hoping that he was in range. He was in range.

"Commander Gashck, this is Lieutenant Sheppard. Respond, please."

She waited for a good five minutes until his face appeared in the monitor. He nodded in affirmation, "Lieutenant Sheppard. It is good to see you. I apologize for being late."

Cam smiled and waved his apology with a hand, "No need. As long as you have someone, I will be expecting soon. Did you get my new assignment?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, it would be the Starbase Seven. The Seabrook will be docking there to switch crew. Your replacement is on board there, so we will be picking him up."

"Him? Who's he?"

"I don't know, Lieutenant, but I read his profile. He is a Vulcan by the name of Lieutenant Junior Grade Selbov."

Cam nodded, "Thank you, Commander. I won't bother you anymore and look forward to seeing you soon. Sheppard out at 1409."

Gashck nodded, and the monitor went off. Cam hummed to herself as she took out her MP3 player again and placed her earplugs in to listen as she walked to another airlock, where her pod was located. It was time for her to go back to her bed chamber and get ready. It will be a long day for her...



| Two weeks ago
| Hydroponics bay

With the soft, soothing music in the background, Cam always thought it was therapeutic for the plants to grow better while listening to music. Then again, being isolated for six years was probably enough to drive her nuts. Now that she knows it will be a Vulcan this time, she wonders what will happen if he is left isolated for the next three years. She never thought Vulcans would "go nuts" over long periods, but there were a few cases where they did. Spock or T'Pol to name a few.

She hummed softly, tending to her plants and cutting a few leaves for spices. Contrary to the fact that she likes to take apart technology and put it back together, she prefers the easy and simple way Earth used to do back then. And she never put too much faith in replicators replicating her food. It's easy to poison a replicator. Anyone with a basic entry-level engineering skill could potentially mess up a replicator. She preferred to cook her own meals without a replicator.

Taking out a small bag, she put in leaves she had cut and seeds she wanted to keep from the plants. She would miss them, and she didn't know if the Vulcan would care much for plants. He could potentially destroy them, or maybe he would actually take care of them for her. Cam figured he would probably do as most of them seem to enjoy growing plants in their own time. It takes a lot of patience to tend to them and a lot of love to grow them for food.

She left, keeping the music on, hoping the new replacement won't mind the music while he tends to her plants. She took a quick look outside through the viewscreen and watched as a ship approached the station in hyperspeed and then slowed. A tell-tale chime beeped, making Cam smile. She was excited about leaving, but at the same time, sad to leave. It confused her. Complicated. But then, her feelings were complicated.

She picked up her MP3 player, an isolinear chip containing a list of all her songs, and stuck it into the player. She put the player on her small belt and placed the earphones into her ears. Adjusting the setting, she listened to the rhythmic beat of the song and picked up her pack containing all of her supplies, including plant seeds, leaves, and some fruits and vegetables.

Moving her hair away from her eyes, she pushed it behind her shoulders and walked to her pod and activated it. She moved it away from the rotating sphere, skillfully dodged the blades, and docked into the pod airlock. The hatch hissed open, and Cam climbed out, walked towards the other airlock, and unlocked it. She backed up as she watched a Vulcan, about her size, walk towards her with a cold, emotionless expression while controlling a cart by remote. The cart contained all the things he needed.

Cam raised her eyebrow at his cart, and the Vulcan copied her expression, “Lieutenant Junior Grade Selkov. Lieutenant Junior Grade Camryn Sheppard, I presume? I will be your replacement.”

Cam couldn't repress a giggle as she remarked on his cart while taking her earphones off, “What is all this stuff, Lieutenant?”

Selkov appeared offended, but quickly masked it and responded, “This is my stuff I will be needing for my time here.”

The young blonde shook her head, “Pfft. All I needed was my headphones, several music, holonovels, and a set of clothing items for six years. Don't offend me with your personal items. You'll only be here for like three years, and that's if Starfleet hasn't forgotten about you.”

Selkov ignored her crude comment and responded, “Ah, I had heard about that. You know how they 'mis-place” orders. It was an unfortunate accident that yours ended up at the bottom of the pile. Will that be all, Lieutenant?”

“One more thing,” Cam couldn't resist adding, pointing, “Make sure you take care of my plants. I know how you Vulcans love to make time by tending to your greens. Will you do me this one favor?”

Selkov only nodded once, “I shall endeavor to do so, Lieutenant,” and with that, he left, still controlling his cart full of personal items.

Cam rolled her eyes and muttered only to herself, “Vulcans...”


The door to the facility hissed closed as the airlock to the shuttle hissed open. Cam walked through, and a young Ensign spoke, “Welcome aboard Lieu...”

Somewhere in mid-sentence, the Ensign froze as the figure before him was not of Camryn Sheppard, but of a beautiful angel there to pluck him from his misery of serving onboard the vessel. While Cam called him Ensign a couple of times, wondering why he was frozen in awe of her figure, the young man's fantasy was elsewhere as he fantasized about her glowing in the light from the airlock. In his fantasy, time slowed as romantic music swelled. Cam's hair flowed in the recycled air as she shook her hair a couple of times. She stared at him with sexiness and winked at him. The ensign visualized them in a canal boat in the canals of Venice, going under a bridge and listening to god-awful Italian romantic music. In his fantasy, Cam made a few movements with her lips, saying, “I love you,” in slow motion, and blew him a kiss.

Meanwhile, in reality, the comm beside the ensign beeped rather impatiently as Cam continued to call him by his rank, “Ensign? Ensign? Eeeensign?”

The young man stared at her, apparently still in fantasy land. Cam rolled her eyes and blew a sigh, still giving him “the looks,” giving him a playful wink while saying she was available. Pressing the door control, the bachelorette gave him a playful gaze. She was, after all, beautiful. Looking back at the Ensign, she blew him a kiss. While he was watching her, she approached him and squeezed the round muscle of his arm and gave him one quick smack on his hefty hiney.

[i]Nice ass...[/i] she thought to herself as the ensign finally got his senses back and shook his head. He muttered as Cam turned back at the shuttle door. It opened as a young dark blonde woman in her gold cadet uniform stopped her in their tracks. Cam gasped softly, recognizing her as the young dark blonde woman who stared back. She murmured, "Grace?"

Grace stared back at her, keeping her anger at its usual place. They hadn't spoken in years as a rift slowly formed between them and festered for a long time. She had a fiery look in her eyes, feeling perturbed. Nostalgia simmered for a few moments when she replied, "Mother. Long time no see."

TBC