A Morning Interrupted

Posted on Sat Sep 20th, 2025 @ 11:28pm by Captain Violet Bluegarden
Edited on on Tue Oct 7th, 2025 @ 8:27pm

1,113 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What's Past is Present

Captain's log, Stardate redacted.

Following a successful shakedown cruise, The Sullivans has received the first assignment of our second commissioning: Deliver desperately-needed supplies to the 16th Fleet, currently under siege by Dominion forces. The only problem is that our convoy's current route would mean we wouldn't arrive before the 16th Fleet's estimate of how long they can hold out before they need to cut a retreat:

To solve this problem, Lieutenant Onuei has suggested that we take a shortcut- our route will take us through the Rhydonian Nebula, effectively sidestepping the Dominion lines. Unfortunately, there's a good reason the Vorta aren't expecting the nebula to be a factor; for the Rhydonian Nebula is a dangerous place for navigation. As it is, we're already risking one ship for this shortcut, so an entire convoy is out of the question.

As of recording this log, when I awake tomorrow morning, we will already have entered the Nebula. I'm recording this log in advance on the off chance that we don't make it, and the hope that this log can help shed light onto what happened to us.

End of log.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Violet stretched as she once again found herself on the right side of the captain's bed. She was normally a left side sleeper, but it seemed like her great grand mamaw was too: It was bad enough having to sit in the small crater in the captain's chair on the bridge, but with the bed, Violet could feel it sloping on the left side, and as a result, she often found herself rolling onto the right side where the bed was considerably less worn.

Rising into an upright position, most of the liquids that Violet had drank the night before sloshed in her bladder, reminding her that she needed to go first and foremost. Standing up, Violet left her driving gloves on the other nightstand where she had left them and made her way towards the bathroom.

As the half awake captain made her way to the bathroom, Violet failed to notice something that was out of place: An old-fashioned newspaper that wasn't there the night before: Its front page headline was on the decommissioning of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A, and the black and white photograph to compliment the headline was that of Captain James Kirk and his crew posing for a group photo on the bridge of the Enterprise.

After emptying her bladder, Violet decided next to brush her teeth. Grabbing her toothbrush, Violet applied some toothpaste and began to rub it into her teeth. After nearly two minutes of vigorous scrubbing, Violet took a swig of water from a cup she had pre-filled before brushing, sloshing the water around in her mouth before spitting the mixture of toothpaste and water into the sink.

As Violet looked back up at her reflection, the bathroom door swooshed open behind her, and in the mirror, Violet saw an older woman standing in the doorway. One second, the other woman was as half awake as Violet, the next, her facial features snapped to an expression of shock and let out an audible "erp-!" as the shock literally took her breath away.

Naturally, both women let out a scream, as one had found a stranger in her bathroom, and the other had been walked in on during her morning routine.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my quarters??" The older woman demanded once the screaming had stopped.

"I was about to ask the same thing:" Violet responded as she had a closer look at the other woman. There was something about her that seemed... Familiar. She even had a southern drawl just like Violet: Could it be...?

"Wait a minute..." Violet trailed off. "Great grand mamaw?"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" The other woman asked, placing her right hand on her hip, evidently still highly suspicious of the stranger in her bathroom.

"...You might want to sit down for this one..."

[A few minutes later]

After allowing for captain old lady bladder to empty out, the two women sat down at the table in the quarters, and Violet explained how she knew Captain Rebecca Bluegarden, and that she was Violet's great great grandmother, but because that was a mouthful to say, Violet used the term great grand mamaw.

"So, let me get this straight:" Rebecca said. "Jessie just had a baby with that Korean boy from the Ark Royal, and he's your-?"

"Grandfather." Violet nodded.

"Man, I'm only just at the grandmother step, so great grandkids still feel a long way off..." Rebecca sighed. She had already feeling old ever since Jessica had given birth, but now she felt just about ready to crumble into dust. "So... Do I...?"

Violet shook her head sadly.

"Unfortunately, your life ends long before mine begins." She said. "Growin' up, I always wanted to get to know you- grand mamaw Jessie always told wonderful stories about you until she died. I thought getting your ship would be enough, but... Never in a million years would I thought this would happen."

"Neither did I..." Rebecca replied, her eyes fixating on Violet's still-exposed prosthetic hands. "So... Are you some kind of war hero? Or..."

Violet laughed.

"No, racing accident:" She explained simply. "I'm sure you've been there?"

"Oh boy, have I." Rebecca said, a mischievous smirk spreading on her wrinkled face. "It's what put me in Starfleet to begin with. My daddy saw that wreck, and thought he had lost me too."

Before Violet could ask for further information, her combadge went off. At the same time, Rebecca's communicator did the same.

"Bridge to Captain Bluegarden:" A different voice came over each device.

Violet reached up to tap her combadge, while Rebecca reached into her pocket and pulled out her communicator, flicking it open with the flick of her wrist:

"Bluegarden here:" Violet and Rebecca spoke at the same time. "Go ahead, bridge:"

"Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but you're going to want to come up here:" The voice over Rebecca's communicator explained.

"We've got a bit of a situation here:" The voice over Violet's combadge elaborated.

"Understood:" Violet and Rebecca replied. "I'm on my way."

As Rebecca closed her communicator and put it back into her pocket, she turned to Violet, who was grabbing her gloves off the nightstand and sliding them onto her prosthetic hands.

"Well, I guess we're going to have to catch up later:" Rebecca sighed. "Duty calls for both of us..."

Posting by

Captain Violet Bluegarden
Commanding Officer (2373)

Captain Rebecca Bluegarden
Commanding Officer (2293)

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