Growing Pains

Posted on Fri Oct 24th, 2025 @ 10:09am by Captain Rogue "Ro" Kudo {Meji Master} {Flt. Cpt.} & Yui Kudo {Little Fox} {YuiFox}

Mission: The Inner Flame
Location: S.S. Harbinger
Timeline: Current

ON:

Manny sat on the Bridge of the SS Harbinger, in the pilot's seat as he sipped from a pint of unsweetened iced tea. His eyes were looking out the forward window, watching the battle proceed. He so wanted to get involved but, with a boatload of evacuees on board, he dare not engage and risk their lives over his own bruised ego for not participating. His own Starfleet past, and his current involvement with Federation Intelligence (unbeknownst to those on M-69) as a "minder". He had been put in place to keep an eye on M-69, sure, but more for keeping an eye on Taavis, and then eventually, Kara. The FBI (Federation Bureau of Intelligence) had suspected that Taavis was involved in some way with the Cabal. However, they were never able to prove it. Seeing who Taavis was, and seeing what she did for others, Manny may have skipped a few reports to let her continue to do what she did with the privateers. Eventually, a bond had formed between himself and Taavis, and after that, he reported that she showed no signs of criminal activity. Instead, the FBI switched from watching Taavis to watching her twin, Taavin. Manny was okay with that.

While musing over the memories, Manny heard the Bridge entry hiss open so he spun his chair halfway to look over, seeing his floor manager Katie coming in quickly. As she came in, and before the door closed behind her, Manny could hear the wailing of a child who was either terrified or in pain. He set his glass in the holder and stood up. "What's going on, Katie?"

"We don't know, Manny." Katie answered honestly. Katerina Nazarov, daughter of a prominent civilian physician and geneticist by the name of Alex Nazarov, looked worried. "Yui is running a fever, so bad that she's sweating bullets and..." Her voice trailed off as she met his gaze, not sure how to tell him.

"And? And, what?" Manny's eyes narrowed in anger as he looked at her. "Where's your father?"

Katie stood her ground even though she was afraid of finally seeing this giant of a man lose his cool. She could tell he was right at the boiling point. "He's in the infirmary with Yui running some scans. She, uhmm..well..she got bigger."

"Bigger?" Looking really confused, and feeling his anger subsiding, Manny was now going into worry mode over the little tike he had become quite attached to over the past few days. The little one was a day short of being a week old and now this. If things went south he had a feeling that Ro would never forgive him. "Bigger how?"

"Well, she doesn't fit in the eggpod anymore," Katie started off, trying to explain. "I...it was gross to watch. But, when she first started crying I picked her up to check her diaper and that's when I noticed that her left arm was a few inches longer than her right. So, playing it off I took her to the infirmary to change her as my excuse, then changed her. As I changed her I watched one of her legs actually stretch and grow along her calf. Muscle and bone were undulating beneath the flesh and then the leg stretched out another couple of inches. Of course, this brought out another series of crying in pain. That's when I called my father from the bunk room and had him come in. He says he needs to talk to you urgently."

That was all Manny needed to hear, walking passed Katie and going through the common area to the infirmary with Katie on his heels. All the others aboard were looking nervous. Not at the situation, but all of them worried over what was wrong with the child. Manny assured them he would find out what was wrong and get back to them as he passed through the room and entered the infirmary. As the door slid open the sounds of a whining child in pain could be heard, with intermittent sobs as he stepped within. The door closed behind them as Manny's eyes caught sight of a young girl laying on the lone biobed, covered in a blanket, as she clutched it around herself and shivered despite the fact that she was covered in a sheen of sweat, her hair matted to her scalp with it, with more drops forming even as the others ran down her face in rivulets. She had a full head of hair, long and raven black, but the newborn she had been was gone. Her eyes were closed as she clutched the blanket to herself, her face wincing sporadically as another round of body aches ran through her. Doctor Alex Nazarov walked over and gave Manny a nod. "Is that Yui?" Manny asked, knowing the answer, but wanting to confirm it to his brain that what he was seeing was real.

"Yes, that is the girl." Nazarov confirmed, even though it was obvious since Yui was the only child on board. "I scanned her and took a blood sample. I'm waiting for the computer to run through the data and give me an idea as to where to start. Suffice it to say, Manny, but the girl is suffering from an extremely accelerated growth rate. Not unlike the Jem'Hadar. I know them well since I was a genetic consultant during the Dominion war. This girl..." Nazarov went to say but, one word interrupted a moment.

"Yui!" Manny glared at him even as his heart felt for Yui and what she must be going through. He could only assume that with the accelerated growth came a bit of delirium as her body fought the pain and all the changes.

"My apologies, Manny. I did not mean to insult." Nazarov said. "Yui is suffering because her body is not designed for this. She is not Jem'Hadar, but the way she is reacting is very, very similar."

"Okay," Manny said, beginning to move near to Yui quietly and slowly so as not to startle the girl if, and when, she might realize he is here. "So, what does that mean? Her mother is an Augment, is this perhaps a side affect of having Augment children?"

Nazarov's face came up from his PADD. "Her mother is an Augment? Is she registered with the proper authorities?"

Again, Manny turned his face to the Doctor, his eyes showing that what he was going to say better stick, and only need be said once. "Her mother is Captain Ro Kudo. Fleet Captain Ro Kudo. I suggest you alter course before I decide to make you walk the airlock." He raised his eyebrows in an expression of; capiche? He got a nod from the Doctor, and saw the older Russian gentleman swallow hard. "Good. I need the skinny on her condition, Doctor. The rest can wait, please." As he was looking at the Doctor, Manny noted that Alex and Katie had switched their gaze from him to Yui, both sets of eyes widening a bit. Manny's own eyes went back to Yui and he now knew why the other two looked slightly horrified. Yui cried out even as both her hands covered her face, while between the digits they could see the bone, muscle, and flesh all changing and morphing right before their eyes. Yui rolled onto her back and began to strain as she gripped each side of the biobed with white-knuckle determination. The blanket had slipped free of her torso, and since she had grown so fast she had no clothes on, the blanket her only defense against nudity. Her body bucked, twisted and turned as she held on, the three observers watching as her ribs, along with all the other bones in her body, began to flex, stretch like a woman possessed and settle into their new appearance and age category. As the changes began to settle Yui gave one last grunting, clenched teeth cry of pain, her spine arched off the bed, before she collapsed and stopped moving, blacking out from the pain and strain.

Manny reached out and adjusted the blanket to cover Yui properly even as Alex and Katie stepped over to the other side of the bed. Yui's hair had grown again, a jumbled mess around her head and on the pillow. She was no longer grunting or wincing in pain, her body now dead tired, her breathing coming in the long, heavy breathing of someone sleeping. Doctor Nazarov was running scans. "Is she...is she going to be okay, Doctor?"

Alex gave a positive nod, a slight grin on his face. "Yes, Manny. She is doing fine now. The biobed recorded everything as it occurred. It appears that whatever mutagenic process was taking place has run its course. How long before the next one, I cannot say at this time. You said the mother was an Augment. What about her father?" Nazarov did not dare ask if the man was even in Yui's life, not wanting to stoke Manny's wrath for the third time in less than an hour.

"No," Manny answered. "Just a normal bloke like you and I. Why?"

Alex was looking at his readings, seeing an anomaly. He was about to voice his findings when a voice cut into the chat.

"Manny!" Yui had come back to consciousness as the others stood over her, feeling someone adjusting her blanket back over her body. As her body regrouped and she felt her strength returning, Yui continued to lay still and see what the others were talking about. Her mother and father were far away, the base was being attacked, and all she had to rely on was Manny. ~Uncle Manny~ She remembered her mother calling him that. They were not related but she understood how and why he would be called that. As she had said his name, Yui moved the blanket away from herself and hopped up and into Manny's strong arms quick as could be, hugging him close and crying on his shoulder.

"Oh, geez!" Manny said as it happened, surprised by the sudden show of affection. That, and holding a little girl while they were naked, not being her father, made him feel uneasy for all the right reasons. "Hey...hey." He got her to lean back in his arms so he could look at her face. If he had to guess, Manny equated her appearance to a child of roughly 5-8 years old. She was Japanese, so she was slight of build which made his age guess on the body format a bit off. "I'm not going anywhere, so please stand on the bed." Yui did as he asked, and once she was standing, he gathered the blanket and wrapped it around her again before he looked into her eyes. "How are you feeling, Yui? Wait. Can you even understand what I'm saying?"

Doctor Nazarov spoke up even as Katie went to the replicator. "Manny. Jem'Hadar, Within the first day of maturation, already have advanced language skills and cognitive reasoning. If Yui's own transformation follows that example I would hazard a guess that she knows exactly what you're saying." Alex caught Yui giving him the side-eye, her chin dipped down as if she was embarrassed by all this, but there was no hint of that feeling in her eyes. Nazarov chose to play along with the girl even as her eyes glanced at Manny and then back at him. He gave her a warm smile. "Well, Miss Yui, do you understand him or am I wrong?"

"Mm-hmm." Yui gave that affirmation before her left hand came up and she began to play with her teeth with her thumb nail, eyes dancing to the other three as she remained silent after that.

"Here ya go, girl." Katie came in and had a stack of folded clothing. "Can you two boys go stand over there with your backs to the girls. Yui needs to get dressed." Both men nodded and walked over to the far corner to confer while Yui got herself arranged with the help of Katie. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Yui. But, do you need help getting dressed? I mean, an hour ago you were wearing a onesie and a diaper. Here." Katie grabbed the edges of the blanket, ready to pull it free of the girl.

Yui, having heard all that was said, ran it all through her mind as tendrils of memory began to flow through her mind while Katie was speaking. When the woman finished speaking and stepped in to take the blanket, Yui shot her own right hand out and grabbed Katie by the wrist and stopped her hand from reaching the blanket. Yui squeezed the woman's wrist and felt the pressure she could apply, hearing Katie gasp in pain which caused the two men to look their way. She saw the look of surprise on Manny's face, immediately realizing what she was doing and released. Katie stepped back and clutched her forearm, flexing her fingers and testing her wrist to make sure it was not damaged too badly. It had hurt but it had not been enough to cause any bruising.

Manny walked over and stood by the bed, face to face with Yui. "Katie was just trying to help, Yui." By the way Katie had reacted it was apparent that Yui had the Augment strength of her mother and had used it accordingly. That gave Manny a mental pause for a moment. A week old, accelerated growth, and willing to harm others to defend herself. And, cognitive enough to not overdo it, and to stop when her point was made. "You need to apologize, please."

Now in the spotlight, Yui had her mouth covered with handfuls of blanket pulled up around her chin, as if trying to hide from what she had done. Her eyes showed that she had no idea what was going on and that there was a genuine fear in her heart as to what was happening to her. She really, really needed her mama to come to the rescue. Her eyes danced back and forth from Manny to Katie several times before they settled on Katie and she lowered the blanket enough to speak. In a quiet, shameful tone she spoke. "I apologize, Katie. I'm just..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm just scared."

What hell was it about girls crying, Manny mentally asked himself as Katie, seeing the tears welling in Yui's eyes, and hearing that sad tone, immediately forgot about her own arm and stepped in closer to Yui. "It's okay, Yui." Katie said. "I don't doubt you're scared. I would be too. We'll contact your mother and let her know we need her here as soon as she can get here, okay?"

"Okay," Yui responded, still all wrapped up in her blanket with chin tucked, her hair an absolute fright as it stuck out everywhere. That was hard to do on a Japanese girl, what with their normally straight, black locks. But, Yui was a champ and had pulled it off quite well without even trying. "Will you...will you hold the blanket up like a curtain to block the view while I get dressed? Please?"

Katie gave her a nod and smile, this time not getting her wrist in a vice for trying. Manny stepped back so he could not see anything over or around the blanket. Yui took up the folded clothing and looked at them, seeing tags and what not. She did not know how she knew, but she just knew how they were to be worn, which side was which, and how to adjust them correctly. Within a couple of minutes she was dressed in a little girls track suit, black with white stripes, with a pair of white booty socks and some slip on sneakers. "Okay," Yui said. "I'm done." Katie dropped the blanket back down, then laid it on the bed in a heap.

"Well, look at you," Manny said with a smile as he and the Doctor stepped back over. "Big and tall..." He stopped talking as Yui jumped down off the bed and went directly to the replicator, her eyes dancing over the control panel even as her mind began to 'remember' how it worked. She had not intentionally ignored Manny but, she was hungry. Like, starving hungry, her belly aching it felt so empty. Despite the mutagenic process she had gone through, and with all these unknown memories to rely on, Yui was unaware of her own stunted emotional development when it came to dealing with other people. Like now, basically ignoring Manny simply because she was hungry, instead of waiting a few minutes to let them all know she was doing fine. Her social skills were untried.

So, going over next to Yui, Manny dropped to one knee beside her and watched as she scrolled through the menu items. Her eyes would see something, he noted, and then she would stop and think on it a moment as her eyes showed him that she seemed confused every time she did it. Leaning in close to her to keep their little huddle more private, Manny quietly spoke about it. "Every time you stop on a picture you seem confused. That's natural, Yui. As far as I know you've never had solid food, yet."

Yui sidestepped closer to Manny, lightly leaning against his left side-shoulder, putting her right arm over his shoulders as she leaned in close to his ear, not wanting the Doctor and Katie to hear what she had to say. "Look," she said, pointing to the current pic on the screen, of a plate of traditional Japanese sushi. "I have not eaten that. Not in my whole life." Manny had to stifle a chuckle at that even as she kept going with whatever she had to say. Kid, you've been in the world a week, he thought. "If I never ate that then why, Uncle Manny, do I know what it tastes like?" Her eyes met his as he turned his head to look at her directly, the askance expression on her face a testament to her honesty about it.

***

While all this was happening on SS Harbinger, Captain Kudo and her wingmates were playing hell with the Reman vessels and trying to keep them busy while Peel and the other starships could advance and continue to bludgeon the enemy. With the amount of damage the Reman ships had taken they were beginning to maneuver in a way that would afford them a possible chance at retreat. Ro let them have that chance with the fighters, but when it came to the capital ships, that was up to each commanding officer. Then, out of nowhere, Ro sensed Yui's pain and anguish, the intensity of which caused the Captain to inhale sharply. "Angel Two, Angel Three, Yui's in trouble. I have to go, now. Continue to harass the Remans and aid in getting them to retreat or be destroyed. I'm not losing another child because I didn't act. Leaving the field now." Turning sharply to the right, Ro whipped her X-wing around and began to head for the base, which was not looking good but was still holding stable. Reaching out with the Force and searching for Yui, Ro was surprised to find her daughter was not on the station, but rather, sitting in space several thousand kilometers from M-69. She was pushing her X-wing as fast as it would go, and as she reached the area of Yui's presence she reduced speed, seeing nothing out here. Harbinger, she thought. Cosmo dialed up Manny's personal comm at Ro's request.

***

Still looking at Yui, Manny heard his comm chime. Pulling it from his pocket he gave it a look, not surprised to see who was calling. "Stay quiet, Yui. It's your mother. Let's not freak her out with the new you before she can actually see the new you, okay?"

Yui was now bouncing on the balls of her feet with a big smile, her belly forgotten for now, as Manny told her mom was just outside the ship. "Okay! Hurry, please! I want to see her."

"Katie," Manny said. "Take Yui and fix her hair. Two pigtails on her head is how her mother does it. I gotta answer this before she fires on us while cloaked to wake us up." He turned his back on the trio as he hit the activate key and spoke into the device as he held it to his ear. "Captain Kudo, how nice of you to call." He left the infirmary, making sure the door closed behind him, making his way to the two-person transporter.

"Manny, where's Yui?" Ro asked. "I felt her pain. What happened?"

Now in the transporter corner of the cargo hold, Manny felt bad for what he had to say next. "Ro, her pain was not caused by any outside means. I won't explain over a comm channel. I'll beam you aboard and we can talk. Trust me, Ro, Yui is fine and in good health. You have my word."

Over in her fighter, Ro could hear the inflections in his voice and could feel he was hiding something for now. Her daughter is in good health, yet she felt her pain. What the hell was going on over there? "I have no reason to not trust your word, Manny. Please, don't ruin that trust. Lock onto me and beam me over in two minutes. Kudo, out." She clicked the comm off and relayed orders to Cosmo to maintain position at all stop and keep scanning the area with passive sensors. In exactly two minutes she felt the grip of the transporter envelop her and the next thing she knew she was sitting on her butt on a transporter pad. Manny reached a hand out and helped her to her feet. "I'm here now. Talk." Ro blurted out.

Manny could tell Ro was not impressed in the slightest by this little cloak and dagger maneuver he was pulling on her, and could not blame her for that. After all, it was in regards to her daughter. "Only if you promise to hold your mud and not get uppity. If not, I press one key," his hand moved to the console. "And you go back to X-wing land. Deal?" He gave her a friendly grin, his eyes full of mirth as much as they were full of defiance, daring her to test his resolve.

Beginning to settle down, Ro tilted her head as she placed her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes as she did so. There was no way anything too serious had gone on, otherwise this calm and casual Yeti would not be grinning. She grinned in return. "Alright, we have established that. What happened, Manny?"

In answer to that, Manny spoke slowly, trying to find the right words without giving too much away. He was sure Yui was bouncing off the walls by now wanting to see mom, so he just decided to come out and say it as easily as he could. "Let's just say that you won't need the eggpod anymore. Yui went through...a change."

Okay, that was not what Ro expected to hear, all her previous alarms now sounding off in her mind again. "You told me to hold my mud, and then you feed me BS and cryptic statements? What change, Manny!? Yui isn't my first child, and if I lose her like I lost them it would gut me for the rest of my life. Don't play games, Manny!"

That was the first time Manny had ever heard about Ro having previous children, and they had obviously passed away at some point. Now Manny felt like total crap for trying to be cute about this new revelation. "I'm so sorry, Ro. I didn't know that about other kids." She could hear it in his voice that he was truly sorry. But, what she had said, had admitted, jarred him into spitting out the newest issue involving her family. "The easiest way to put it, Ro, is to say that Yui grew up over the past few hours. I mean every word of that. She grew up." He held his right hand out and down by his thigh, a little lower than waist height, his hand held in a manner denoting the height of someone next to him. "Wait," he said, grinning again as he looked at his hand and where it was, then lowered it a bit more before looking at Ro. "She's that tall now, right about."

"Wait...what!?" Ro's expression was one of disbelief. The twins had grown quickly, but not THAT quickly. Hell, Yui was only a week old. "What was all the pain I felt? Her body going through years of growth in a couple of hours?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Manny replied. "Like I said, she's perfectly healthy as far as Doctor Nazarov can tell..."

"Doctor Nazarov? THE Doctor Nazarov? The geneticist?" She asked.

"Yeah. Katie, the floor manager, is his daughter Katerina. He was visiting his daughter and then the base got attacked. So, all the staff and their loved ones are aboard Harbinger. Least I could do for my employees since we are one big family." This time Manny beamed with pride. "I would never lie to you, Ro, especially in regards to your family. When I said she was fine and healthy, I meant it. She's in the infirmary. Try not to let your jaw hit the floor when you see her, it might make her self-conscious."

Still stunned by what she had heard, Ro simply responded, "Right." Giving a nod of understanding even as they got moving. What would Yui even look like now? Manny was not freaked out over anything, so she must at least look normal, or be normal, aside from accelerated growth. Ro had a PhD in emergency medicine, and as of now, still had the medical skills of a Nurse Practitioner, so all her own medical knowledge was running through her mind as they got to the door of the infirmary. As they had passed through the common room, all the staff that knew Ro gave her nods and smiles, having been told by Katie what had transpired so that they would not freak out over the now upright, walking, and grown child they had seen in an eggpod when they first boarded. Manny stepped in first, then side-stepped and motioned Ro inside.

"Mama!" Yui squealed this out and ran towards mom, leaping into the air like a chimpanzee as she wrapped her arms and legs around her mother and hugged her tightly, immediately going into sobs and crying after all she had been through today.

"Yui!" Ro said with relief, dropping to her knees as she held her now crying daughter. After they hugged and rubbed backs for about a minute, with Yui getting herself under control, Ro had her daughter release her and stand before her. "Look at you, Little Fox! Your so big." Ro could not help but giggle and hug her daughter again, leaning back after and cupping Yui's face in her hands. "Wow, you look a lot more like your dad than I thought you would."

"Where is dada?" Yui asked. She saw her mom's eyes open wider as she spoke, a look of surprise. "Yes, mama, I can speak. Doctor Nazarov," She turned her body a bit to motion towards the physician, but her body language was all child. Fidgety, a pigeon-toe stance as she stood in front of everyone as if she were on display. It made her uncomfortable to be seen like some kind of science project. "Says that I have developed very much like the Jem'Hadar, just far slower than their own process. Or, something like that, anyway."

"Hey," Ro said softly, clasping Yui's hands in her own as she looked her in the eye. "You developed like you. It might be similar to Jem'Hadar, but it isn't, okay?" Ro got to her feet and scooped Yui up and placed her butt on the edge of the bed, standing next to Little Fox.

Manny threw out a query. "Katie, did she eat yet?"

"No. Once she knew mom was here she lost all interest in food."

"Not anymore," Yui replied. "I'm so hungry now my tummy is making weird noises." All the adults got a chuckle out of that.

"Yui, come on," Manny said, waving the girl in to rejoin him at the replicator. "I have some ideas for some dishes you might like."

"Yay!" Yui clapped her hands excitedly and hopped to the floor, joining Manny. This gave Ro a chance to consult with Doctor Alex Nazarov. She got the entire lowdown on what had transpired with Yui, feeling better now that she knew that it was just another odd circumstance with this particular pregnancy and child.

Nazarov continued to talk pleasantly with Ro, relaying what he knew so far. "She is definitely an interesting case study, from a scientific perspective." He brought up a PADD for Ro to lean in and see, tapping keys and scrolling to get to what he wanted. As he scrolled, Ro paying attention casually to the screen, he did the common brief pause as the thumb returned for the next scroll. Two words popped out at Ro, both listed on some kind of file in this man's database; PENNI and Grezhok. She knew who they both were. One an automaton/droid/cyborg, the other a Reman god who had, at one time, been looking forward to using Ro as a snack. If not for Qeritas, Ro would not be here to catch this tidbit of juicy knowledge. Nazarov would need to be watched. She locked it away in her mind and let the man continue.

"Ah, here we are." Nazarov opened the file he wanted. "This is my DNA strand, that is Manny, this is Katie. All normal Humans have 40 memo groups within their DNA, as I just showed you. This one," he switched to another. "This is you. As an Augment you are impressive with 150 memo groups. Now, brace yourself. This is Yui." Alex then showed the strand, pointing out variables as he spoke. "Her DNA has over 20,000 memo groups, all packed tightly together, with infinite genetic knowledge. If I had not seen her grow before my eyes I would think she was some form of synthetic, engineered Human being even more superior than Augments."

Ro took in that information. She did not like what she was hearing. First, her own Augmentation happened as a result of some religious ritual by the Reman cult Gr'zh'n. If not for the Q, she would have ended there. Second, the god that was supposed to consume her flesh was named Grezhok, and Ro had killed the entire sect present at the ritual, including their Viceroy Malikh, and then left them to rot. This Nazarov had files on Grezhok. Third, whatever they had done to enhance Ro as a meal had also changed her into the Augment, and then Q had granted her the use of the Force to destroy evil such as this in the galaxy. However, with Yui being far more unusual than her twins had been Ro could not help but wonder if what Yui was experiencing was some kind of side affect since she was a single child and not growing alongside a twin taking half the nourishment. As for Penni, Kara would be greatly interested in knowing that that being was known by others, with possible locations should an Intel agent feel the need for an interview/interrogation. "Well, at least I know she's healthy," Ro said, playing the relieved mother card and remaining perfectly casual. "If you'll pardon me, I'd like to actually talk to my daughter. Thank you for everything, Doctor Nazarov. I have always found your work fascinating and in-depth." She shook his hand and walked away, leaving the infirmary for the main hold common area.

The common area was full of laughing, talking people, all with a beverage and a small plate of food. Sitting at the small dining table together while the others sat around in chairs and on the sofa, Yui and Manny were engaged in examining his and her plates of food, their drinks on the table as Yui was pointing to certain things and making obvious inquiries to Manny about each food item. Walking over to them and bringing a chair around, Ro sat down on the other side of Yui, who leaned into mama and gave her a lean-hug so she could still eat from her own plate. Ro looked at the plate, which was down to a few morsels, but then noted there were two other dirty, used plates on the table. "Did you eat all that?"

Yui gave a very proud and prominent nod of her head. "I sure did. It was sooooo good, mama. Your milk was yummy mama, but I prefer food."

Manny spewed iced tea from his mouth and then covered his mouth as he began to swipe away the moisture he had released, hacking and coughing as he found an extra cloth napkin and wiped his face and the table around his seat. "Wow. Kids say the darndest things, don't they?"

The whole time Manny had been dealing with his oops, Ro was leaning back in her chair so her face was out of eyeshot of Yui, silently dying laughing at his discomfort, so much so she had to dab her eyes with a napkin to clear the tears from laughing so hard. And, also working hard to keep it suppressed so her daughter did not find her mom laughing at a discussion of her boobs outside of private places. Manny had even caught her laughing, rubbing his temple casual with the middle digit in jest, and also working to not bust a gut as he saw Ro struggling. But, in retrospect, Yui only did what was right according to her ancestral culture. She honored her mother with a positive comment to offset any negative feelings that preferring food may bring. She was definitely Japanese. "After you use the rest room, Yui, you wanna cruise around space with your mama?"

"What?!" Yui's face lit up like a Christmas tree, all smiles, her eyes wide at the idea of zooming through space. But, then again, her memory was telling her she already had, seeing space from the perceptions of both mom and dad even though she herself had never even looked out a window at it. That was what made it exciting, was doing it herself and not relying on these weird memories that kept popping up. "Can I fly, too?"

Ro had to tilt her head and give a less than positive face at that, although she kept her expression lighthearted. "Not this time, Little Fox. Let's get big enough to see over the dash first, okay?"

"Awww, that's not fair, mama. Cosmo can't see over the dash so why does he get to fly?" Yui asked, her inexperience with the world around her showing through.

"Cosmo sits in the back, Yui." Ro instructed. "He sees to the engineering and mechanical needs of the ship so I can focus on piloting. You'll see when we beam back."

"Can I sit in the back with Cosmo?" Yui's face brightened up at that idea, but she saw the negative response forthcoming in her mom's eyes.

"Sorry, Little Fox. There's no cockpit, just a slot for Cosmo." Ro leaned in and kissed Yui on the side of the head. "I might...might let you use the stick to make some turns while we are out in open space. Once near the base I cannot do that. Regulations forbid it. Those are the rules, and without rules we are..."

"...No better than the animals," Yui said, echoing and finishing the last bit of that statement. Mom had gone quiet so Yui looked over, seeing her mother with her head tilted in curiosity as she looked her way. "What?"

"How did you know what I was going to say?" Ro asked, curious as to whether or not Yui was showing any signs of Force sensitivity. She could not Sense anything so she had to ask.

"You say it quite often to junior officers and friends, mama." Yui responded, then tapped her temple lightly. "It's all in here. I know I had a brother and sister, twins, named Aramis and Azara, and I know that their father's name was Dwight. Will you tell me about them some day, my siblings?"

Ro reached out and scooped up her daughter in a hug, just holding her for a minute and lovingly squeezing her. "You go use the bathroom and then we'll get going. Once out there, just the two of us, I will tell you about your brother and sister." Yui slid from mom's lap and stood on the floor, with Ro getting up and taking her hand to go to the bathroom. Here she thought potty training would be months away, yet Yui's genetic discrepancies had changed that dynamic. Not trusting this Doctor Nazarov, Ro made a mental note to take Yui to Doctor Williams once the station got back to a semblance of normal. If anyone could aid her with this puzzle she was sure Ramvek would have some ideas. And, to gather more than one opinion, she would take Yui to visit Len and Sean once Capernum crew was free to mingle while the slipstream was installed.

Finishing bathroom duty, with a very excited Yui by her side, Ro took her back to the cargo hold. Manny stood ready at the transporter controls as Ro sat down on the floor and stretched her legs out before her, patting her lap. "Come on, Yui. We need to beam in sitting down."

Yui went and got adjusted on mom's lap. "By Uncle Manny. Love you."

Manny gave Yui the sweetest smile. "I love you, too, kiddo. Look after your folks when I'm not around, okay?"

"Okay."

Ro gave Manny a wink of thanks since Yui could not see her. Whoever Manny really was, since there were no in-depth records anywhere to be found about the man, he had proven to be quite the loyal and trustworthy friend. She could see that there was now a bond between Yui and Manny, and God help anyone who messed with her. "Manny, I love you too, brother. Thank you for everything." She got a bowing nod for that. "Energize." The two females shimmered out of existence and arrived back within the X-wing cockpit. After a few minutes of adjustments, Ro had Yui strapped in against her chest and on her lap, with the X-wing having plenty of room for a small lap passenger even if it was never designed for it. Once her daughter was secure from flopping off her lap during maneuvers, Ro activated her engines and began her flight back towards the base. It was time to make a few orbits around the facility and see what was what and what was where. There were still a few transports that had been stuck here as the Remans attacked, so she figured she would meander that way as Fleet Captain and make sure they were okay.

OFF: