The Mobius Loop - Part Fourteen

Posted on Mon Jun 30th, 2025 @ 1:19am by Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 121: The Mobius Loop
Location: Various Locations - USS Grey Wolf
Timeline: 1800Hrs - February 4th, 2394

Lieutenant Rachael Yamaguchi-Cullen was not living with her mother while she had been travelling on the USS Grey Wolf. While the ship and her crew were scheduled to return home to Vanguard the following morning. Yamaguchi-Cullen was walking down the hallway toward the Captain's quarters.

Upon reaching her destination, she tapped the door chime. She was then permitted access to her mother's home aboard the ship. Yamaguchi-Cullen found it looking rather spartan, but then she knew her mother's tastes well.

Yamaguchi-Cullen regarded her mother who was standing over by the replicator. "Hey, honey. Got anything in mind that you want to eat?" she asked.

"Well, that depends on if you wish to spend time eating dinner or talking about recent events." Yamaguchi-Cullen smiled at her mother. "I can sense this almost burning need to speak of your experiences."

"Am I that obvious?" Yamaguchi inquired, more of herself than of her daughter.

"No. I can just hear you thinking it." Yamaguchi-Cullen commented. "I'll just have some vegetable soup. We can discuss matters over a light meal. When we finish chatting, then we can eat a real meal." she added.

"I see you've not forgotten your list of priorities," Yamaguchi commented with a smile on her lips.

"Nope. Survival of the fattest." Yamaguchi-Cullen suddenly grinned at her mother, while Yamaguchi replicated two large bowls of vegetable soup. Yamaguchi knew her daughter's preferences so she tended to the matter at hand. Same as she knew all of the preferences for everyone directly related to her. Be they children or grandchildren. She could almost pick out their meals for them as she knew all of their preferences as well as she knew her own and her spouses. Yamaguchi also knew her daughter's brand of humour quite well too.

Yamaguchi placed both bowls onto the tabletop in silence. She then sat down and she let her mind go blank. "I sometimes hate temporal anomalies," she commented before huffing a sigh at her daughter. Yamaguchi-Cullen sat down across from her mother. "I take it you ran into someone you did not expect?" she inquired. "I know I did." as a smile graced her lips.

Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow as she regarded her daughter. "Who did you run into?"

Yamaguchi-Cullen knew what her mother wanted, so she dropped the hammer on her in no uncertain terms whatever. "Saki. Except Saki was ten years older than me, wearing the rank of Lieutenant Commander, serving in Starfleet and this close to getting an executive officer posting on some ship somewhere." Yamaguchi-Cullen held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart to illustrate her point.

"Saki, serving in Starfleet.?" Yamaguchi asked. "Who would have thought..."

"Thats because her home life was an utter disaster, it was the same with her childhood after age twelve." Yamaguchi-Cullen then gave her mother a look. "I should have listened to you, sooner," she added. "As it turned out that you were right, all along."

Torilla paused. This was a revelation she had not been expecting. She also sensed that the fuse was lit and was now counting down to detonation. "Wait, what?" she paused "Rachael. What happened?"

"You were right," Yamaguchi-Cullen answered directly. "I should have sorted out my issue with Ennis before I went to see Paul Harrison. Fortunately though. Your granddaughter got to me first." Yamaguchi-Cullen explained. "She explained to me what happened after I went to see Paul Harrison. Only things went sideways and Ennis and I parted. He decided that he would take the kids. All of them, even Saki."

Yamaguchi frowned. "Wait. Saki has no DNA in common with him. He has no claim to her!."

"Maybe so, but familial law says otherwise. Saki did claim Ennis as her father. She also took his last name as her own. She wears both of our names. Sarah only wears her dad's name whereas all the others wear both of ours. Daniel wanted to wear only my name because Saki took both names. I asked him not to do it, it would hurt his dad."

Yamaguchi regarded her daughter. "Were things ever resolved.?"

"No," Yamaguchi-Cullen answered quietly. "Saki never saw or heard from me for years afterwards," she then let out a soft sigh but it was profound in its impact. "Oh, she explained all of this to me at length because in her mind that her past could not be changed but my future could. I could avoid the issue if I am quick enough."

Yamaguchi regarded her daughter. "Did you see Paul Harrison?"

"No. I decided to listen to what Saki told me. So I came back to the ship after I was finished talking to her. I then wrote it all down, every word she and I shared. Along with a few things that were shared but left unsaid." she paused. "I still have no idea how to explain any of this. Do you?"