The Cold Winds of Icecrown - Part One

Posted on Tue Mar 17th, 2020 @ 2:50am by Division Admiral Celeste Yamaguchi-Hobbs & Fleet Captain Jessica Yamaguchi & Colonel Brianna Hobbs

Mission: Mission 98: Building Our New Home
Location: Various Locations - Starbase Vanguard (47)
Timeline: 1730Hrs - June 8th, 2393

The sounds of angry females yelling and shouting could be heard for quite a distance down the hallways of the Starbase, people would stop and turn their heads as if to listen to some hidden message in the screaming match. Inside Celeste Yamaguchi's Quarters which she shared with her spouse and her children, stood the two women that were the center of the disturbance.

"You never gave me a chance!" Celeste screamed at her mother, at the top of her lungs. "You denied me a chance to prove Rob right!" she added, carrying on in her angry, strident tone.

"You were not ready Celeste. What would you have done?. Asked me for help. Demand I raise your child for you!" Jessica Yamaguchi screamed back.

"NO." Yamaguchi-Hobbs at the top of her lungs. "I Never wanted you involved, It was not your right to demand it!" Yamaguchi-Hobbs screamed right back at her mother. "You were fucking heartless!" she roared at the top of her lungs.

"You did that yourself!" Yamaguchi yelled at the top of her lungs, at her daughter.

"You broke Rob's fucking heart!" Yamaguchi-Hobbs snarled back, angrily at her mother.

Neither woman had heard the door open or close with their screaming match in full swing as Colonel Brianna Hobbs came into the quarters she shared with Celeste. "Okay, what is going on?" Bri calmly asked Celeste.

Jessica snarled something in a foreign language as Yamaguchi-Hobbs stood there, she glared at her mother with smoke coming out of her ears. "My mother was just leaving."

"What, you think you can run away so easily.?" the older Yamaguchui growled.

"I'm the second officer on the Starbase. I can do whatever the fuck I want. Mother." Yamaguchi-Hobbs answered in a quiet but clipped tone, there was no mistaking how angry she was. "So.. Either get out, or I'll have security beat you while they throw you out." as she slowly smiled, it was rather unpleasant to look at.

"Typical. You always were a coward Celeste-" was as far as she got before Yamaguchi-Hobbs snatched up a pot and threw it at her mother. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear... Mother... Be gone.." the pot missed her mother and landed on the floor, it was metallic which meant that it bounced rather than shattered. It was also one of the pots that Celeste had made in her forge.

Brianna looked at Jessica. "Please go." She asked the older woman politely. "Right now your not helping," Brianna said, taking the side of her spouse.

Jessica Yamaguchi turned and departed but not before adding. "This... Isn't over!"

"I'll be waiting" Yamaguchi-Hobbs roared angrily, she watched the doors closed as she stood there, seething in her own hatred and rage.

"What happened?" Brianna softly asked her wife.

Yamaguchi-Hobbs closed her eyes as she fought off her old demons who had settled into her life since she had been a teenager. This was an old fight but one Yamaguchi-Hobbs had become highly skilled at waging. "Mom thinks I'm being unreasonable," Yamaguchi-Hobbs said after a few moments of silence as she fought to calm herself, she paused. "She isn't wrong, but not for the reasons you'd think." she breathed in and then back out again. "It's been almost twenty-three years to the day and she's never atoned for what she did, but then, she could never atone for what she did to me." Yamaguchi-Hobbs only then turned to face her wife. "It's not something I like to talk about, or even think about. Dad knows what happened but my siblings and cousins don't. Most know enough to leave this demon alone to sleep. But mom thinks that she was right." she sucked in a lungful of air. "Its time you knew the truth of what happened." Yamaguchi-Hobbs knew that she had to tell this story now, too much had been said for her to bury it, it would also cause issues between her and Brianna, which was not something Celeste wished to consider at this point.

"Alright, if you are ready." She told her. "Tell me at your own pace."

"This is a tale of a young girl who grew up a happy child." Yamaguchi-Hobbs's eyes seemed to almost cloud over, as she stared not into her wife's face but into the pasts of her own life. "She grew up with a friend of hers named Rob." Yamaguchi-Hobbs tried to smile but she failed rather dismally. "Celeste and Rob were the best of friends, they did everything together, they even had to tolerate those stupid songs," Yamaguchi-Hobbs explained. "Celeste and Rob, hand in hand, down by the creek bed kissing in the sand," she explained. "They even attended the same schools and were in many of the same classes. It was natural these two would start dating and they did." Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused a moment as she breathed out and then back in again. "I was never a really good storyteller..." Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused before she sighed softly, she then breathed in and then resumed her storytelling. "They did the usual explorations and games that led to sex. On the night of her fifteenth birthday. Celeste became pregnant. She had no idea and at the time, nor did she care." Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused before letting out a rather deep sigh. "Had she known what was coming, she would have cared a great deal." as her right hand gently rested over her abdomen.

"Wait...you were pregnant?" Bri was very surprised. "How did you not know and what happened to the baby?"

"I was young and rash," Yamaguchi-Hobbs answered. "Celeste had missed a cycle and she wasn't sure so the young woman in question obtained a home pregnancy test, it tested positive and I guess the surprise and shock were written all over her face when her mother encountered her a few moments later, her mother gently pulled Celeste into her bedroom and had demanded when the first day of her last cycle was, first words out of her mouth."

Brianna was a little confused by Celeste's use of herself in the third person but continued to listen. "So what happened?"

Yamaguchi-Hobbs regarded her spouse. "Well. At first, all seemed to go well and Celeste calmed quickly, especially once she learned that Rob was behind her all the way, he knew she was scared but he resolved to make the best of this issue. I mean, after all, they had each other." as she suddenly shivered. "Two weeks after Celeste learned that she was expecting, disaster struck when she miscarried, it was sudden and unexpected." Yamaguchi-Hobbs's voice had taken on a flat and dull tone as if she was trying to keep her emotions out of it.

"Rob was devastated. This was the first real trial of their relationship, this one he handled admirably." Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused as she wiped at her eyes, fighting off her tears that even now, threatened to drown Yamaguchi-Hobbs in her own sorrows. "Mmm Ahmm. Right." she paused. "The next day, word got out and within hours, the whole school knew. Celeste was overwhelmed with all the support but everyone knew her rage and her fears were made manifest."

"You miscarried. That happens a lot and can't be helped." Brianna tried to comfort Celeste.

Yamaguchi-Hobbs's eyes suddenly cleared of the sadness that was suddenly replaced by anger. "If only it were so simple, if only it were so true," she answered. "The school guidance counselor was one of those old-school types, she was suspicious of what had taken place and so she asked the school nurse to call Celeste in for a full medical workup. The school nurse was a former Starfleet officer, she knew what this was about." she paused as Celeste considered the details before her. "Since Celeste was, at the time, still a minor, they needed her parents consent so they went to her father. John Yamaguchi who gave his blessing as he too, was worried about Celeste." Yamaguchi-Hobbs sighed softly.

Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused a moment. "Dad tried to help Celeste as best as he could but she was too consumed by her own grief, her own anger. Was it something she did? was it something she missed?. She didn't know and Rob was no help, he too, was devastated." Yamaguchi-Hobbs paused. "Celeste didn't know what had happened to her, so she opted to proceed regardless. So she went in and it was quick and painless." she paused. "Celeste had to wait five days. Not knowing, that that was the hardest part," she explained. "By the end of the first day, she was afraid, but by the end of the fifth day, Celeste had given into her terror."

"Given in how? What did Celeste do?" She asked.

"Nothing. Which was the best move that Celeste made, when the time came, she was called out of class by the guidance counselor, in the middle of class and word exploded around the school that something was up." Yamaguchi-Hobbs simply shrugged. "Anyway, Celeste went to see the counselor, who came prepared so she sat Celeste down and she laid it all out for Celeste to hear. Celeste, for her part really wasn't in any shape to hear it so she requested it in writing." she paused. "It turned out that Celeste didn't miscarry." as she gave her wife a dark look. "She had been poisoned by a Starfleet issue, emergency abort pill which tends to last in someone's body for about a week or so." she paused. "only two people at that point, had access to that sort of tech... The school nurse or her mother." Yamaguchi-Hobbs suddenly grinned at her spouse, it was not a pretty sight, all tooth and no joy whatsoever. "She took the paperwork and went to confront the nurse."

"The nurse poisoned you? How awful!" Brianna reacted.

"Oh. No, It wasn't the nurse." Yamaguchi-Hobbs answered. "She asked the nurse a few questions but it didn't take much for the nurse to put it together, she was horrified. Celeste realized that it couldn't have been her. This left Celeste's mother so she went home that evening and confronted her mother. It all came out in the laundry, as the saying goes." Yamaguchi-Hobbs sighed. "That's when things got really fucking stupid. The argument turned into a screaming match which destroyed Celeste's relationship with her mother but it didn't end there. Celeste was keeping Rob informed but when he found out she had been poisoned, he turned on her. He wanted nothing to do with Celeste. Celeste took this very poorly. So did everyone else in the school, All his friends turned on him and so did all of her friends too. Celeste had help but Rob did not. He suddenly departed one day and from that day to this day, I do not know what happened to him." Yamaguchi-Hobbs explained. "I then submitted my request to join Starfleet Academy, to my shock, I was accepted and so at age sixteen, I left home and I never looked back."

"You never looked back until now. What changed that?" Brianna asked.

"Marie," Yamaguchi-Hobbs answered. "She wanted to know what happened between me and mom. She's always been the big sister, looking out for us, me in particular. All through my time at the academy, she was always a presence in my life, always worrying about me." Yamaguchi-Hobbs explained. "Honestly, she has a special place in her heart for you."

"Me? Why me?" Brianna asked.

"Because you are the rock in my life, the one who helped me endure recent events," she answered. "Rol'cholk," she added. "You were the one, who, for weeks, made sure I got out of bed in the mornings, got dressed and showered and off to work. Karass also has a high regard for you too." Celeste explained.

"True but I only helped. Your the one who had to endure what happened. Your still here because you're strong." She told her.

Yamaguchi-Hobbs nodded her head gently, she didn't fully agree with her spouse but that was her choice to make. "I tried, I tried to cope with things. The rest of my siblings all make things look easy, they had a small army each and I'm struggling with one." she sighed softly.

"Just because they look easy doesn't mean that they are. You've accomplished quite a bit." She told her wife.

Celeste regarded her spouse. "I feel lighter than before.." she paused. "I don't like to talk about what I've been through.. I never considered looking for Rob, what happened to him?" she inquired. "is he still alive?"

"Are you looking for closure?" Bri asked. "Is that why you want to find him?"

Yamaguchi-Hobbs frowned for only a moment. "Yes," she answered after a moment. "Some closure would be nice. For a change.." she added the second statement a moment after the first. "Closure is something I never seem to find."

"Good. Now, let's find Rob." Brianna responded.

Yamaguchi-Hobbs nodded before she moved over to the workspace that she often used when she wanted to do paperwork or wanted a space to think. She slid her form into the chair as she tapped the display. "Let's see. Considering the timescale involved, this will take some time." she tapped the display as she called up her old high school records, it displayed a picture of Celeste when she was a teenager. "My, was I ever that young?" she took a moment to admire her youth. "I can see why all the guys wanted to nail me in school. Hell. I'd want to nail her." she giggled a moment later before she turned her efforts to her schoolmates. "Rob Connor, graduated with honors after moving to Alpha Centauri High School, the last residence before graduation was Alpha Centauri Three. In the city of New Reims," she explained. "Calling up his file now." Celeste tapped a few more keys. "Let's see." she raised an eyebrow. "Oh my, says that he applied to join Starfleet."

Yamaguchi-Hobbs tapped a few more buttons. "Let me see if he's in Starfleet. Oh... he is. He's still in Starfleet, even today."

"OH? Where is our mystery man now?" Bri asked.

"He holds the rank of Captain." Celeste raised an eyebrow. "Single, one child." she quickly devoured the details of his record in silence. "I wonder if he went down the same road I did. I wonder if he ever bothered to look me up." she mused aloud. "By all that you hold dear.. on this good earth... I bid you stand, men of the west..." Yamaguchi-Hobbs muttered softly. "Did you face the trials I did Rob?." she asked aloud. "Do you remember my pain?"

"Are you going to contact him?" She asked her.

"No," Yamaguchi-Hobbs answered almost instantly. "No." she whispered softly. "Not until I've at least thought about what I want to say or how I wish to say it," she responded. "I mean, there is no sense in making a problem where none exists."

"How do you know there isn't a problem?" Brianna asked her wife. "He may have suffered just as much as you have."

Yamaguchi-Hobbs regarded her spouse, in silence for a moment. "Alright. But I'll do it tomorrow. So I have time to think about what I wish to say." she responded. "I need to get out of this uniform."

"Maybe a nice drink will help you look a lot less military and more relaxed?" Brianna queried.

"After I take a shower," Celeste answered quietly. "God knows I need one. I feel dirty, after that screaming match with my mother," she added.

"Alright, Honey. Please try to relax."

"A long hot shower will help," Celeste answered as she smiled at her wife. "At least the kids are not present for this drama," she added, as she gently enfolded her arms around her wife's torso as she gave her wife a hug. "Thank you," she said in a soft and gentle tone of voice. Yamaguchi-Hobbs waited a moment before she turned and went into the master bedroom to tend to her other issues.