Restless Nights

Posted on Fri Oct 2nd, 2026 @ 8:32am by Ambassador Natsuko Akayama [ADMIN NPC] & Kyle Cragen [Reece]

Mission: Back Home
Location: Galaxy Station, Ambassadorial Suites
Timeline: MD 1 / 0211 hours
2105 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been a little over a year now since the Elysium had vanished. In that time, enough evidence had been gathered to determine that the Elysium had not been destroyed, but instead had been thrown to the far distant Circinus Galaxy. Unfortunately, there was no way to ascertain the current state of the ship and her brave crew. Many in Starfleet had simply written them all off, suggesting that their status be changed from missing to killed in action.

It was only due to a few loud voices, both in Starfleet Command, and the Federation Senate, that kept those wolves at bay.

Since they had first learned about the Elysium's disappearence, Kyle Cragen had been working side by side with the X-Borg twins, who had finally stopped going by their Borg designations and had started using their birth names again. Unfortunately, while Kyle and his allies had been able to keep the Elysium still on the board, they could not fight the gods of Starfleet BUPERS. The twins had been reassigned during the last personnel shuffling that Command had been doing since the Dominion War had ended. There was a concern that it was better to keep moving highly experienced personnel to other commands, training that crew with what they knew, as opposed to crews staying together for years, only to be lost, if the ship was destroyed.

So, he had kept up the work, researching a way to communicate with a ship, located in a galaxy so far away, the light that the current telescopes could detect, was over 150 million years old. Even with Borg transwarp engines, Tholian inter-dimensional transport and the knowledge of "Underspace" conduits, discovered by the USS Voyager...they were still nowhere closer to coming up with a solution to their problem.

So, Kyle had taken to burying himself in his work, neglecting everything else, even his own self-care. He had pushed off his much-needed rastalla, the three-day span of time where his body creates a silken cocoon and breaks down to its subatomic building blocks to heal him. Normally, an El Aurisn could push off their rastalla for normally no more than a week. To do so longer put the individual in danger of serious permanent injury.

Kyle had pushed his off for a month now.

He was looking more and more exhausted. His skin was pale and his face was looking hollow. There was a growing frantic look in his eyes as he poured over the computer simulations, one after the next, over and over again.

"Simulation completed, status negative," the bland, feminine voice of the computer said again, for possibly the thousandth time.

"Dammit!" He cursed as he threw the PADD he was reading against the far bulkhead, shattering the device.

"Will you stop destroying PADD's" a soft voice came from the doorway. "It wont help you, and you know it."

He spun on his heel, crazed eyes locking on the one person who currently had any sway in guiding his actions. "It another damn failure!! I've failed them again!!"

He collapsed tp his knees, completely spent and so far beyond exhausted, there wasn't a word for his current state.

"No" She stated. "You have not failed them. Somethings are not solvable and you know that. After all these centuries you know things are not always fixable."

The wild energy in his bloodshot eyes drained when he looked up at her. "I'm so tired, Natsuko. I just...i can feel that Josephine is still alive...it's distant, but there is still the sensation that I can feel her energy."

"Thats a good thing. Means she is alive, which means the Elysium or its crew remains in the living. But you need to be logical about this, wherever they are, we may not be able to assist them."

He continued to crumble in front of her, his hands hitting g the ground in front of him as he fought to keep himself upright. "If anything happens to Liberty..."

"You trust Josephine correct?" Natsuko stated firmly.

Kyle nodded as he looked up at Natsuko, as she remained standing in the doorway. "Like you, I trust her with my life," he said honestly.

"Then trust her to protect her child no matter what."

Kyle's head sank as he realized that Natsuko was right. After a few beats, he asked in a soft voice, "Would you help me? I can't put off my rastalla any longer." He started to sag again, as if being pulled down by very strong gravity.

"I figured" She replied softly. "Come, let us prepare you."

Slowly, with Natsuko's kindness, Cragen was able to get back inside to were they had set a room aside for their rastallas. He struggled to remove his clothing, as he first knelt down, then laid on the device.

Natsuko moved around preparing the room more. She lit the candles and incense.

Once everything was ready, he looked up at her and said in a weak voice, "Thank you...for everything. I...I wouldn't be...be where I am now....if not for....for you."

"You may have changed your path on your own, I am just here to help." She stepped back. "Sleep."

Turning his head to the side, he spoke the command. "Daltrotta," and the device activated. In a few beats. Hid body was levitating, and a cocoon was forming around his entire body. However, due to how poorly he had let himself get, instead of the golden hue of his cocoon as it hardened, it looked more gray, almost sickly yellow.

Natsuko studied it concerned. She knew it was not good. She prepared for his awakening and lit more candles. If this didn't regenerate him properly, it would be disastrous.

For two days and three nights, Kyle's cocoon floated there, suspended by the energy field that was being generated by the mat. There were gentle swooshing sounds from inside, which hopefully indicated that his rejuvenation cycle was proceeding as normal. Only time would tell.

Natsuko had dragged in a beanbag chair and was sitting on it reading reports waiting for the cocoon to do its job.

Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, the sloshing sounds inside the cocoon finally stopped, and the system beeped softly, as the cocoon was lowered back down to the mat, the beams deactivated and the four wires retreated I to the mat. Then, the cocoon started to evaporate, revealing Kyle Cragen's body, inside.

For several seconds, his slicked form was motionless. Then suddenly, he sat upright, took in a deep breath and started to cough heavily, as his lungs fought to both inflate and excise the fluid that filled them.

Natsuko stood, grabbed a robe and walked to him. She placed it over his shoulders.

Kyle wrapped the thick fabric around himself. "Water..." he croaked.

Natsuko moved swiftly and brought him over the water she had kept cool on a bench. She helped him drink it slowly.

Once he had drained the glass, he thanked Natsuko softly, then said, "I need to get cleaned off, would you help me up?"

Natsuko nodded and gently helped him stand. "You left it too long" she reminded him. She helped him to the bathroom.

He didn't argue with her. As they walked, he responded. "I'm sorry. I still need to work on my obsessive personality." When they reached the tub, which was already filled with warm water and had all of the soaps he required, he carefully lowered his body into the water, sliding all the way under briefly, before his head reemerged, and he started to wash the residue off of his skin.

Natsuko lit two candles and then headed out to give him privacy. She moved around resetting the rastalla room.

A short time later, Kyle emerged, dressed in some comfortable sweats. He stepped out onto the back balcony, which overlooked a vast open space near the center of the station. "Thank you, again," he spoke gently to Natsuko as he saw her sitting in a lounger.

Natsuko looked up and nodded. "You're welcome. Do you feel more centred now?"

He nodded as he lowered himself into the other lounger on the balcony. "I do." He let out a tired sigh. "I feel so helpless, Natsuko. I know that Liberty is alive, because I can feel it through our genetic bond. However, I have no way of ensuring that she is safe, or where exactly she is." He shook his head sadly, his chest deflating slightly. "I know I have no right to see her, because of my past actions, however, I am still her father, and I am pulled to protect her! It is a drive that cannot be denied."

Natsuko nodded. "Maybe one day when she is old enough to know everything you will see her and speak with her. Josephine never struck me as one to hold a full grudge."

Hearing Josephine's name quieted Kyle. He shook his head as he replied. "She is a far better person than I ever will be. If there is anything negative about Josephine's character, then I am to blame." He frowned heavily as he continued. "I did things to her that I don't ever expect, or deserve, to be forgiven for." A single tear fell down his right cheek. "I would never think less of her if she chose to never allow me any contact with our daughter. Nor would I contest her wishes." He looked out over the open space past the balcony and added, more to himself than anyone else, "I don't deserve any kindness."

"Everyone does." She replied as she sat there not going to his side. "It's how you handle it that matters. If you wallow then you will get no where.,"

Looking over at Natsuko, Cragen sighed. "It's not wallowing, if what was done is reprehensible and disgusting by the standards of polite society." He shook his head and let out another breath. "I know you don't look at me that way, and I cannot thank you enough. I know that I am here only because you feel that I may, somehow, some day, find redemption. Your faith and trust in me has been a balm for my tortured soul. One day, I will find a way to repay you."

"I know exactly you have done. It does not change the fact that you are working on changing it." Natsuko said "Maybe you should chase something else to take your mind off of Liberty."

Cragen stared off into the middle distance when Natsuko mentioned his daughter's name. "What did you have in mind for me to chase?" He glanced over at her and chuckled softly, "You?"

Natsuko looked up startled and for a second her brain didn't work. "Uh.. I was actually going to suggest that you start chasing down .. Bishop was it?"

Kyle considered this idea, then frowned slightly. "That would be difficult. And I dont just mean the act of finding him itself." He sat up and put his feet on the floor, as he sat on the side of the lounger, looking at Natsuko. "Yes, as my right hand, he did horrible things. Most of them in my name. However, he also did something good. In the end, after I was captured, he had kept Josephine safe, slowly got her off of the drugs that I had pumped into her to brainwash her. He made sure she stayed healthy and safe, all because I asked him do to do so. Then, when the time in her recovery was right, he returned her to Galaxy Station, where she was able to continue her journey of healing and finding herself again."

He was quiet for amonrnt, then asked, "How can I condemn a man, who performed such a generous act? He could have totally kept everything that I left behind, but he didn't. And what few contacts I had on the inside, all told me that he had abandoned the way of life we had been living and had simply disappeared."

Natsuko nodded. "Very well, there are others of course. And there is the Erisian delegation who keeps lurking around Earth," She sighed. "I have a meeting with them next week,"

The mere mention of the Erisians caused Cragen to curl his upper lip in disgust. "I can't believe that I was actually in business with those fools once." He sighed and shook his head in dismay. "My past deeds as so heinous, that i will never be able to wash the stain away, will I?"

"Only the Gods know" She replied calmly. "Only the Gods know."