A Long Overdue Reunion - Part Four

Posted on Thu Mar 19th, 2020 @ 3:08am by Division Admiral Thomas Lasky & Fleet Captain Racheal Yamaguchi & Colonel Lee Antilles & Fleet Captain Coral 'Icecrown' Yamaguchi-Antilles

Mission: Mission 101: The Restless Shades of the Past
Location: Various Locations - Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: 1400Hrs - July 7th, 2393

Division Admiral Tom Lasky regarded the perosn before him with a measure of trepidation. "Ahh, Rachael. I was hoping to catch you before you went out on patrol. Could I ask you to not go out for a few hours?" he inquired of her.

Rachael Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow. "That's a rather oddly specific request of you. Mind if I ask why?" the older female inquired, even if she didn't look old.

"Partly because I don't need you to go out on patrol and because I have two other skippers that can go out in your place." Lasky paused. "You see, its because the USS Pegasus has returned. Your daughter is back."

"I recall reading of the events that caused Coral and her ship to be lost in the first place," Yamaguchi answered with a soft nod of her head. "I had access to those reports after I became a Borg Queen. But I knew the Federation had a major presence so I couldn't send a Cube to look into it without causing a major panic attack in this area." she paused. "It would have served no purpose."

Lasky nodded his head. "Fair enough," he answered. "Coral's crew are starting to reconnect with family and friends they left behind. Coral is here, so is her husband."

"I wasn't informed," Yamaguchi commented quietly. "Very well Tom, I will cancel my patrol," she commented in a quiet tone of voice.

"Thanks. I'll send out Captains Von Hipper and Drakken in your place." Lasky smiled. "Your crew will appreciate the extra time off."

"My crew had performed well in the two weeks we've been together," Yamaguchi explained. "I'll head back to the Fugazi and inform my guys that the week-long patrol has been canceled."

"Thank you, Captain," Lasky answered. "Why don't you head on back and handle things?" he added.

"Yeah. I'll do that." and with that, Rachael Yamaguchi turned and went out of Lasky's office, her next stop was her command, the USS Fugazi. The next hour saw Rachael Yamaguchi deal with various issues facing her, the very first action she took was the stand her crew down and inform them that their patrol was canceled. She then returned to her quarters to change into civilian clothing rather than her duty uniform.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Starbase. Coral Antilles smiled as she regarded her husband. "Autumn seems to be settled down well, doesn't she?" as Lee walked beside her, the two were in civilian clothing, a pair of blue jeans and a shirt for him and a pair of black jeans with a grey blouse for her. What they didn't know was that Rachael Yamaguchi was also present on the Starbase. The two were heading to the flag lounge where senior officers of the base. As a point of reference, anyone was welcome to sit and join them, officers and junior alike. More often than not, if a junior officer did wander into the flag officers mess, he was greeted with darting eyes, as if to say..."Is this the place you're looking for?" They would then speak their business and leave.

For senior officers, it was slightly different, if they opted to stay among the officers, the person's time would usually get the better of them before they needed to depart. Captains who were assigned to the base and just visiting and flag officers of all kinds were welcome here. Coral Antilles was welcome here only because she was the commander of the USS Pegasus that had more or less fallen apart while getting her crew home. Her fate was undecided but she was clearly not worth saving, so Coral had resigned herself to the knowledge that her ship would be scrapped and her crew would be scattered across a thousand assignments.

"You know I can hear you thinking... Right?" Lee commented to his wife.

"Yeah, just thinking on the Pegasus." Coral sighed softly. "I can't help but wonder if I should have done anything differently," she admitted.

"Don't worry about her, you'll get a new ship.," Lee reassured her.

"Pegasus was less than five years old when I lost her. That was in 2387 Lee. Starfleet will need to convene a board of inquiry to find out what happened, what went wrong and the like." Coral regarded her husband as the two went over to the replicators, intending only to get a simple meal, he got himself a large pizza with a pitcher of soda while she got a second pitcher of soda, the two lifted all of their food and went over to a table.

The two sat down as they began to eat, while nearby the doors opened and in walked a female wearing a pair of blue jeans and a light grey sweatshirt with a hoodie. Lee spotted her first. "Coral. Look, off to your left, the lady who just entered... Is that...?"

"Oh my god," Coral commented softly. "That can't be her..." she paused a moment. "Can it?" she asked as a whisper.

Lee regarded the other female before him as he answered his wife. "She could very well be..." he paused. "But she looks very young, way too young to be your mother, she looks like Autumn, except she has a darker skin tone and black hair rather than Autumn's blonde tresses." he shifted his attention back to his spouse.

Rachael Yamaguchi regarded the woman who was her second child by terms of birth, Coral was once her second eldest but now she was her youngest. Rachael noticed the man with her daughter was looking directly at her, as she regarded him before she started over towards the table. "Hello."

Coral looked up into her mother's eyes. "It is you.." she whispered as she indicated a chair across from her. "Join us, mom."

"A lot has happened," Rachael commented as Lee gently gave her a hug. "Its good to see you." Lee smiled.

Coral slowly grinned. "I never expected... to see you ever again." she paused. "You died at Wolf Three Five Nine."

"I know," she commented. "I'm better now, thank you." Rachael suddenly grinned as she helped herself to a slice of pizza. "Mmmm." and with that, she ate a mouthful.

Coral and Lee both shared a look. "So... What happened that day?"

"Mmm.." Rachael paused as she finished eating the mouthful in her mouth. "Well. I was on the Goodson and I tried to abandon ship with the others, but we were boarded in those last few minutes, I was grabbed and assimilated by the Borg," she explained. "I was beamed over to the cube while I was in the process of being assimilated," she explained. "April was there and she escaped."

Coral nodded. "She was on the Endeavour for her first assignment," she explained for Lee's benefit. "I cannot imagine what that was like for her, watching the Goodson fall." she paused. "I never bothered to ask... But Heather and Talon got angry over it... Jake on the other hand... Something changed with him..."

"April never really said..." Coral answered. "But then, we never really asked her," she added a moment later.

"We never expected to ever see you again Rachael," Lee commented. "How were you freed from the Borg?" Coral added a moment later.

Rachael paused as she recalled what she knew and remembered from the incident. "Well." she began. "Every so often a person will run into a question that they can't answer." she paused. "A problem they simply lack the means to deal with and process." she then smiled. "This occurred with the borg who tried to assimilate a new enemy who used weaponized cyber-warfare to a level we had never encountered before. "The first battles were a mixture of victories and defeats. They studied us and learned of our collective consciousness supported by a cyber pathway link between each Borg vessel and structure." Rachael paused a moment for breath. "Once they realized that the Borg Vinculum at the center of each Borg ship and or base, was the best way to take us on, they proceeded to do it from the outside, they hacked the Borg's systems and disrupted the collective itself. Sundering it and then they shattered it while restoring ourselves. I was then selected to become one of three Queens. The other two were slain fighting this enemy, they had no name and I don't remember the Borg designation for then... Ten zero fifty-two or something along those lines."

Coral sat mesmerized by her mother's tale, both fascinated and horrified at the same time. "What did they do to you?" she paused. "But you were restored... How?"

"That's a very long tale," Rachael admitted. "Suffice to say, that I had become the last leader of the Borg collective that they will ever have and know," she explained with a level of determination that she showed only when her children had angered her or disappointed her. "I brought a cube here... or rather to an area of unclaimed space near the Federation, needless to say, it caused quite a few issues... Torilla was part of the battlegroup that came to deal with me... The Cardassians attacked first... It was educational to see their new weapons in action." she then smiled.

"I bet that went down really well... Did you attack them back?" Coral inquired.

"No. I simply hailed the Federation commander and told them that the Borg was undone... I told them what I had and what had happened." she explained. "The Federation now has access to all that the Borg have and know. The threat of the Collective has been consigned to the dustbin of history." Rachael explained as she helped herself to another slice of pizza. "Mmm.." as she smiled. "I used to take this for granted... Sitting at a table, eating a pizza." she suddenly grinned. "Hanging out with my children who now all outrank me, some considerably."

"April is a Grand Admiral..." Coral paused. "I did not see that coming. I was expecting her to get out and focus on her family."

Lee nodded his head in agreement. "She was talking about settling down with her new husband and raise their family in peace.."

"Circumstances changed for her, she was promoted." Rachael smiled. "Jake is now an Admiral and Heather is a Rear Admiral." she shrugged. "Talon is a Division Admiral..."

Coral sighed softly. "Yeah. Heather, she raised my kids for me... They won't remember me or Lee... They will call Heather and Stephen, mom and dad."

"It'll be okay hon," Lee answered in a quiet tone as he knew that this was coming.

Rachael sighed softly. "They are the true casualties of your trip through time." she paused. "What will you do now?"

"Nothing," Coral answered. "I can't go back in time. I can't change what happened.." she then sighed and for a moment it looked like she wanted to burst into tears. Rachael felt sympathetic for her daughter. "It'll be okay sweetie, we'll work it out between us... That is what we Yamaguchi's do, after all." she paused as she turned her attention back to her pizza.