Letters I've Written, Never Meaning To Send

Posted on Thu Feb 28th, 2019 @ 12:49pm by Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Recovery Trek
Location: USS Hera, Deck 2, Commander Paris' Office
Timeline: 2396

Dear Kodria,

It will still be ninety-six years until you will be able to read this, assuming we do not somehow negatively alter the timeline and somehow cause you to never come into being. But I am an optimist, so I will write you letters as I march through the decades, and I will assume that any changes that we make to the timeline will not negatively impact your existence.

I guess we’ll find out when you wake up, eh?

Life on the Hera is life on the Hera- never dull, always exciting. The universe that Sonak and I came from was wiped out in paradox by the actions of the Captain since apparently my trouble with transporters hit an epic level and I might have inadvertently destroyed both universes by stubbornly refusing to be beamed back to my home dimension so it could reclaim me. I know, it is selfish, but I was convinced that reality was doomed to collapse anyway as it was an unstable splinter reality of a finite duration.

Never, ever dull.

We are still gearing up for the captain’s tribunal, and you will be glad to know that your Aunt Mnhei’sahe and I have been plotting and scheming to save your grandmother from herself, and from your great-grandmother. We are not positive that we can avert tragedy, but I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure that the outcome is… better. I won’t say any more than that, but I will write you again when it is all over with, and with a little luck your warning will have changed things for the better.

Time will tell, in a very literal sense.

Sending letters to a niece I won’t meet for another 84 years is an interesting experience even for me, but when you wake up, I will let you have these letters so that you’ll know what happened while you were sleeping. Part of your story occurred before it began, after all, and you have touched lives and made bonds in the past, that will hopefully survive into the future.

For now, know that you are missed and that putting you to sleep and sending you back to the future was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, in a lifetime of hard choices. We would have loved for you to have stayed and become part of the crew, and shared our adventures with us. But every moment you spent among us, every word you spoke, every memory you revealed, endangered your very existence. As much as it broke my heart to have to send you away, it would have been a thousand times worse had I been selfish and kept you close, only to have you wipe yourself out of existence with paradox. It will be hard to wait most of my lifetime to see you again, but I will see you again, so that means the world to me.

The world. I am so provincial in these days of galactic exploration. You can take the girl off Earth, but you can’t take the Earth out of the girl, it seems.

I hope that when you woke you were surrounded by smiling faces, of loved ones you left behind and perhaps even new faces. Whatever the outcome, I hope for the best for you, in all things. I will write to keep you up to date, so I suspect that in 96 years time, there will be quite a few of these. You don’t have to read them all, you know, since I tend to ramble. But know that Doc Asa, Miss Dox, Sonak, myself and your grandmamma are all safe and doing well, and that we think of you often and hope for all the best for you.

Now I have to go get ready for Thex and Tathaa’s wedding, so you be safe, be brave and never forget, you are very special and unique in all the universe.

Love,

Auntie Rita