Lullaby and Goodnight

Posted on Mon May 24th, 2021 @ 7:56pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Trapped in Time
Location: Aft Lounge
Timeline: Before arrival at DS9

Time had been restored, the bubble pierced, the small freighter Alla now in tow. They would breach the edge of the wormhole shortly and as such her place on the bridge had come to an end. She had informed Aurora she would be back to collect the older version of Naprem. A heavy breath escaped her lips as the concept of two Naprems being on board crossed her mind.

The situation wasn’t the first time, and it most certainly would not be the last time a duplicate was created due to a situation in time. This particular responsibility fell upon her shoulders despite the action of others. She admitted her frustration to Frey and Kaden in the hallway after the conference room meeting, but that did not make them disappear.

When she arrived at Aurora’s door, she was about to press the chime when a voice in her ear distracted her. It called her name, loudly enough that she physically turned and looked off in the direction she had heard it. The disembodied voice called her name again with a touch of sweet innocence.

Allowing her hand to fall away from the chime, she followed the voice down the hall, around the corner and all the way into the aft lounge where she had first meetup with Dean. The room was almost completely empty, aside from one half pint of a person staring out the windows into the maw of the wormhole. The Alla was clearly visible in the tractor beam light.

Bonnie moved forward quietly so as not to disturb the young girl. It did not matter however as Naprem spoke up while still looking out the window, “I knew you would save us. Ma told me and she was right.” Her voice quivered, a shaky tone as tears fell down her face.

Bonnie slipped up next to her and pulled up a seat so she could be at Naprem’s level. She wrapped an arm around the girl. “I’m here for you. I only regret that I wasn’t able to save you before you experienced the loss of your family.”

Naprem sniffled, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and looked at Bonnie, “ I know. Aurora told me the others are here now. But they aren’t the same ones I know. They are different.”

“It’s true in a simple, twisted sort of way. They are from before, before everything happened. There is even a version of you before you lost everything.” Bonnie could feel her own tears welling up, but she fought against their release.

“That’s good. Ma needs me, er, her.” She glanced out at the small freighter, then back into Bonnie’s eyes. “I don’t belong here do I?”

“What do you mean Nappie? Of course you belong here. You’re safe here.” She said in an effort to reassure herself as well as Naprem.

Naprem shook her head slowly, “No. I was supposed to be there.” She pointed at the Alla. “They said I would be safe and everything would reset. They lied to us.”

Bonnie began to understand who she was talking about, the Prophets, the wormhole aliens who didn’t understand linear time. It was they who had created the temporal bubble. In an effort to comfort Nappie, she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

“Did you know, I looked up your history. You and your family were written off as lost in space. Bajor named several schools after your intrepid crew. Like the Doge School of Comedy, which I didn’t know was a thing on Bajor.”

“And… It is because of your namesake that a woman known as Tora Naprem gave birth to a half Bajoran - half Cardassian girl named Tora Ziyal.” She could see the confused look on Naprem’s face, “I know you probably don’t understand what any of that means but please know your crew have missed out on a very dark period for your people.”

Another tear fell, “I know. They showed us. It was like torture, having to watch our people suffer. They thought they were teaching us. But they were just hurting us more.” She pushed away from Bonnie and looked out of the window where the lighting was changing as they approached the mouth of the wormhole.

“I need to go back.” She said simply.

“But, I thought…” Bonnie, confused, tried to interject.

“I have to go back!” the disturbed Nappie suddenly screamed. Then she let out an ear piercing and violent scream which rattled the glasses upon the bar.

Suddenly a bright light filled the room, enveloping everything in a blurry light. As Bonnie struggled to let her eyes adjust she noticed a figure standing in front of her. It did not speak, just looked at her.

Bonnie stood, picked up Nappie and held her close. After a moment she separated enough to look into the little girl's eyes, filled with tears. “Is this really what you want?”

Nappie nodded. Bonnie sniffled, and then sat the girl down upon her feet. Took one lock of the girls’ hair and brushed it aside. “You know, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” Bonnie recited an old Earth lullaby her papa used to sing to her before she fell asleep.

Nappie smiled, then leaned in and kissed Bonnie upon her forehead where her ridges would have been had she had them. Nappie then turned away, took the figment shaped like Bonnie’s papa’s hand and was gone. The bright light and everything about the room returning to normal, just as the mouth of the wormhole closed. They would be at DS9 soon.

After several trying minutes of sniffs and tears, Bonnie walked over to the bar, pulled out a large bottle of something green. She uncapped the bottle and took a heavy swigg. It was bitter and tasted like salty tears, and yet she continued to drink on into the night.