Rachael's Signpost - Part One

Posted on Sun Aug 31st, 2025 @ 11:07am by Commander Ennis Cullen & Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen & Saki Yamaguchi-Cullen

Mission: Mission 121: The Mobius Loop
Location: Various Locations - Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: 1600Hrs - February 6th, 2394

The door opened and in walked Lieutenant JG Rachael Yamaguchi. She sighed softly as she slipped off her uniform shoes at the door as she always did. Saki was sitting at the kitchen table. She turned her head. "Oh, hey mom." she greeted her mother with a wide smile. "I was just working on homework," she explained why she was sitting at her usual spot at the kitchen table. "Dad's in the bedroom, getting changed and Sarah's taking a shower. Daniel is nearby and the twins are asleep." Saki quickly rattled everything off for her mother's information.

Rachael came over before she took a seat next to her daughter at the kitchen table. She inhaled a deep breath before exhaling it just as slowly.
She then turned her attention to Saki, who looked back at her with a contemplative look in her eye. "Sounds like you've had an eventful time, Mom," Saki commented. What's going on?" the young child asked of her mother as she approached the kitchen table.

"The mission to Starbase Six Eighteen is what's on my mind. What I got was nothing compared to what I was expecting." Rachael explained. "I was expecting to go with Mom to drop off a pile of stuff, pick up some thanks from some Captain, and them come back here while hanging out with Mom for a week." she paused. "What I got was a lot more intresting for various reasons." Rachael gently touched her daughter mind while she shared an image of the older Saki from the future. "I ran into a version of you from twenty years from now." Rachael sighed. "There was a major temporal event at the time. Mom ran into her own parents, and she also ran into a couple of extended relatives who won't be born for another fifty years or so." Rachael added. She then sighed softly as she relaxed. "I ran into you." she stopped as she mentally corrected herself. "Well, an older version of you."

The bedroom door opened, and out came Ennis. He noticed his spouse was home. However, he noticed she was having a sensitive moment. With Saki. So he went over and took a seat across from Rachale at the table.

Saki looked at Ennis while he approached. She then turned back to her mother. "So what happened.?" she inquired with a curious expression on her face.

"She asked me to reconsider why I was on Starbase Six Eighteen," Rachael explained. She turned to her husband as she nodded to him. He nodded back. "So, how did things go between you and Paul Harrison?" Ennis inquired with a gentle smile.

"They did not," Rachael explained with a soft sigh. "As Saki. The older Saki I encountered, had all but begged me to not do so," she explained. "Saki explained that I came back from that encounter pregnant. You, that is the original Ennis took that detail poorly." she paused. "So poorly that he took the children, including Saki and left." Rachael regarded Ennis with a gentle smile. "So I decided to listen to Saki, the adult version when she asked me not to seek him out." Rachael paused. "She explained what happened to me afterwards and that she had lost touch with her mother because of her family situation." she slowly smiled. "She had no contact with me and had none for almost twenty years." Rachael sighed softly. "So I decided that I would do as she asked."

"So, how did all of this come about?" Ennis inquired of his spouse.

"Because Paul Harrison and I had sex, which resulted in me becoming pregnant. None of it mattered in the end, however. It was all for nothing. The pregnancy was actually a phantom pregnancy." Rachael sighed. "Saki shared her memories with me so that I would come home and then share these memories with Saki." Rachael looked unhappy for a moment. "She knew that she and I would meet. Because I told you we would meet." Rachael added. "We will still meet Saki," she added. "As it happened before. It will happen again." Rachael explained.

Saki regarded Ennis with her let hand before she spoke. "So, dad's goign to leave you then. Well thats wonderful." she commented. "I just got used to living here, now I gotta leave again. Seriously. Can you two please work out your issues?" Saki sighed. "I am getting tired of being in the crossfire of other peoples disputes." the preeteen explained herself without losing her temper.

Ennis raised an eyebrow. "Leave. I'm not leaving anywhere. I like the chair I'm sitting on sweetie." sa he regharded his spouse. He had no interest in leaving her but he did have many questions. Rachael diud not take her attention away from Saki as her eyes sought out those of her husbands. She indicated the bedroom with her head.

Saki looked at her mother. "I should be done here in about twenty minutes. Then I'll get dinner started, why don't you go unpack and settle in, Mom," she added.

Rachael was about to make a graceful exit but Saki beat her to it. "Okay." as she smiled, she rose to her feet and departed. Cullen followed his wife in silence.