Choice to Play Ball

Posted on Fri Jan 8th, 2021 @ 2:04pm by Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Bajoran Village
Timeline: Remal - Day 1

"All it takes is a willingness to let go. Let the Prophets guide you." Before Remal could respond he was being dunked once more.

This time was different. As the waters rushed in he was thrust deep into a pit, hands grabbing at him as he fell. An oubliette. His hands could not catch him, only slow his descent As he crashed down to the bottom of the pit, however, everything went white, pure like new fallen snow on the mounts of Andoria. Yet he was not cold, the chill of the water was gone leaving only the still of the white.

A voice spoke, deep and authoritative from behind him. "Why are you here?" Remal turned to see a bald man, medium height and build sporting a manly goatee and wearing a Starfleet Captain's uniform. He repeated himself, "Why are you here?"

Remal knelt down, arms crossed and tucked in tight to his chest. "Emissary." He spoke simply while keeping his eyes down.

"Get up." Sisko commanded. When Remal hesitated Sisko offered his hand.

Bewildered, Remal took the offered hand and stood on his own two feet, towering almost a foot over Sisko. Remal looked around then back at the Emissary who was waiting for an answer. "I have come to seek answers. My path has apparently deviated from the Prophets design."

Sisko grew rigid as he replied again, "So why are you, here?"

Remal was confused and so replied, "I don't understand. I have done everything they asked of me. I have followed the design, built a life and found my love. I have obeyed the will of the Prophets to the letter. I… I don't know why I am here." A single tear fell from his eye. In his contusion he failed to grasp where he truly was both in the white void and in his everyday life.

Sisko caught this and gestured at the void. "This is the place lost souls travel when their path is clouded as I'm guessing yours is now. It is a part of my penance to assist those who are lost. So why are you here?"

"I still do not know, truly." Remal answered, lost for words.

"I can tell you this. The answer you seek is in the questions you ask of yourself. The Prophets once told me they are of Bajor but they also didn't interfere in corporeal matters. They, like the path you choose to walk, are linear. There is no going back, no do overs. So now your question should be why you and why are you here with me in this place?"

Remal thought hard before responding. "Because I was told I needed to correct my path so that it aligns with hers in order to meet the coming challenge. I chose to come here thinking this was the right place to be."

"Choice is a wonderful thing.” He paused and gave a large grin. “Sometimes amazing things happen because of choice, sometimes not. But if we dont step up to that plate and choose to swing that bat, we will never know where our path may lead." He tossed a baseball at Remal who caught it straight away. "You must choose and be confident in that choice. Only then will you round the bases and find your way home." He smiled his quick understanding smile before adding, "we will chat again soon."

Remal was left with so many questions, more than he arrived with, as he was pulled, yanked, back out of the void. He found himself on dry ground looking up at Hops. "Welcome back Brother. You were gone quite some time. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Remal slowly made his way to his feet, noting that the stars were already dotting the sky. "I found; something. What I require now is time to meditate and reflect. But first, sleep."

Guided to his hut, a familiar place despite its smaller size, Remal could not focus much on his surroundings or his attire. Hops had long since left him to his own devices as he subconsciously moved through the paces of preparing his body for rest. The nighttime gong rang out and he lay his head down as he once did as a child. And as he closed his eyes all that he could see was her, crying out in laborious pain. Pain he could not take from her. Pain he felt he had inflicted upon her in some way. Pain enough for her to shed tears. Her pain was beyond his control as sleep finally took him.