Episode 8: *Flashback Arc* Academy Days, Part 3

Janice Rand stood in front of Starfleet Academy, feeling a mixture of excitement and awkward. She was delighted that she was accepted into the Academy but then again, how many people go up into space and serve under a captain and then go to the Academy?

As she walked into the main lobby, she saw a variety of creatures and people walking around, some hurrying, students going slowly with lunches in their hands, or others just standing around. It looked like any other university.

Rand walked up to the receptionist who was wearing a headset with a microphone attached, and her head down typing into a keypad. "Hello, I'm Janice Rand, here to check in for my dorm key."

The receptionist, who had hair that was blood red, looked up. "Greetings, Ms. Rand. Allow me a moment to look you up in our database."

As the receptionist went to work, Rand allowed her eyes to wander towards one of the newsfeeds. The reporter was discussing the latest mission of the Enterprise, whom had just sent in their reports about the historical figure of Khan Noonien Singh, whom had been considered missing ever since the 1990s after the Eugenics Wars. Now he was alive, and doing well, or at least as well as his exile on Ceti V would allow. Kirk was being praised a hero by the majority of the people; yet a few rouge analysts accused him of not giving Khan a proper chance to adjust to the 22nd century and to starship life. Khan was the most benign of the supermen; he could have been made benign again with the proper reasoning and education on the centuries that had past. Rand sighed. She was sure that James Kirk did the right thing, and she was doubly sure that politics and starship life shouldn't intermingle.

"Impossible, isn't it?" the receptionist commented, snapping Rand out of her thoughts. "That the Enterprise always finds the impossible things, and the exciting. Kirk ought to save the fun for other ships."

"I don't think Kirk went out seeking Khan just for glory." Rand said. "That sounds almost Klingon."

"Well, I suppose we should just be thankful that the crew is okay." the receptionist said. "Here you go, Ms. Rand, your dorm key. You'll be sharing your room, but that person hasn't arrived yet."

"Thank you." Rand said, and she took her single suitcase and headed to her dorm room.

Rand sat in Starfleet Library, trying to study for her astro-history test. I just don't understand how this is called a library. There are very few books, at least when compared to the one back home. This is more like a computer laboratory!

Sitting across from her was her roommate, a rouge Orion girl whom decided she no longer agreed with the Orion Syndicate. Rand couldn't bring herself to trust the girl. She was too young. She could have easily been a spy for the Syndicate.

But then, another thought occurred to Rand. Had times changed so drastically that she couldn't trust anyone anymore? After what Kirk did… After how she scratched him so hard… Yes, she learned the truth of what happened, but Rand now felt she couldn't trust anyone fully. Not even herself.

The Orion girl was in her cadet uniform, which was a strange sight to behold on its own. Rand never saw an Orion girl so fully covered before. When they first laid eyes on each other, a month ago, the Orion girl was in a sweater and jeans.

The girl looked up from her holotext, clearly sensing Rand watching her. "Everything okay, Janice?" the girl whispered.

"I think so. I just can't bring myself to focus." Rand replied softly.

"Something is on your mind. I can tell. The males back home act the same way after they, er… Are you sensitive to these type of things? …Oh, no of course you aren't… after they abuse and rape the females. Especially the ones who are committed to each other."

Rand felt herself go pale. The Orion girl laughed. "Don't worry, this is commonplace within the Syndicate." she then stopped laughing. "It's part of why I left. I didn't want to become a slave girl to my committed."

This caused Rand to think. The girl was innocent but aware. Something Rand could relate too. Rand smiled and both went back to their respective holotexts.

Rand soon learned that the Orion girls name was translated to Hope in Human English. What a fitting name. Rand thought. She and Hope had become good friends, and they both were taking similar classes. Hope talked a lot about her life in the Syndicate and how the females were mostly slaves, but a fair number were high within the power structure, but she mostly enjoyed hearing the adventures of the Enterprise.

One morning, Rand woke up to find Hope staring at her. "What's the matter?"

Hope walked over to Rand's stomach and rubbed along it with her green hands and long fingernails. "You may want to go see the doctor. There's something there."

"There is?" Rand put her hand on her stomach but felt nothing, apart from feeling very hungry. "How can you tell?"

"Orion females release certain pheromones without meaning to sometimes. I did last night, and your stomach gave a reaction I wasn't expecting. I'm worried about you, Janice." Hope said, looking worried.

"Maybe I was just hungry." Rand laughed. "I know I am right now."

Still, Rand decided to go to the doctor because she never saw Hope seem so nervous and upset before. And Rand decided to allow herself to trust Hope. After all, if something was there, she would owe a debt to Hope.

Rand was soon in the Academy Medical Services Office, where all of the student interns would eagerly get permission to poke and prod her with all of their new gadgets. None would remember the person who was there for most likely unhappy reasons, like Dr. McCoy or Nurse Chapel would have.

A man with short red hair came in. He was clearly a professional, and not a student who was still green. "My name is Doctor Howard, it's an honor to meet you Ms. Rand. I heard about some of your adventures on the Enterprise."

"Thank you, doctor. I'm afraid there wasn't much action for me though."

Doctor Howard laughed. "That's fine, I pay attention to the newsfeeds Starfleet puts out. Kirk is a natural reporter." Rand laughed and Howard began to perform his physical. "I'll need you to lie down for a moment. Let me feel your stomach." He pressed various points on her stomach and then listened to her bowel sounds. "The good news is, there is no mass or tumors, and your bowel sounds are normal. The bad news is, I'm going to have to recommend you to the gynecologist, because it could be something related to that. Have you had any intercourse over the past few weeks?"

In fact, Rand had. About a month ago, which she told Howard. Howard frowned upon the news, and went to go get the gynecologist.

Rand thought about that one time Kirk's evil half had forced her into having sex with him. He had whispered his thoughts of how he lusted for her on a daily basis, how he wanted to take her away and keep her for himself, and how he needed her right then and there. Rand attempted to fight back, but she was too weak compared to the muscular Kirk. His words sounded laced with lust and poison, and he made no effort to be gentle towards her.

It was a month ago, but the image was still vivid in Rand's mind. And she never thought that she would be pregnant because the Kirk was not complete.

The gynecologist came in, and began to prepare the ultrasound…

"Ms. Rand, I have the results of your ultrasound and other tests. I would like to speak to you in person about this." the gynecologist said through the viewscreen in Rand's room.

"Is the news that bad?" Rand asked, feeling nervous.

"Well, it's good and bad, depending on your viewpoint. You may come whenever you are available, but the sooner the better."

The screen went dark with the Federation symbol before turning black. Rand slumped in her chair. Great. This was not a simple "you are pregnant" result, this was something horrible.

Hope walked into the room, having returned from a class. When she saw Rand with her head in her hands, she dropped her books and a container of food onto the floor and put her arm around her. "Is everything okay Janice?"

"No. I don't think I have good news. The doctor wants to see me right away about the test results. I don't feel good…" Rand complained, before she started sniffing. "Ugh! What do you have with you that stinks?"

"I only brought fries with me from the cafeteria." Hope sniffed at her container. "They smell okay to me."

"Well, they stink to me. That's enough to motivate me to go to the doctor again. I'll see you later, Hope." Rand said, stomping out of the room. Of course, as the door slid shut behind her, Rand felt a twinge of regret about snapping at Hope. Hope was doing her best and was concerned for Rand. She deserved to be treated better than that.

Rand sat down across from the gynecologist, separated by an oak table. Rand still felt woozy and sick but she did her best to cover it up in front of the doctor; she didn't want to make the situation worse than it probably already was.
"Ms. Rand, I will start off by congratulating you! You are indeed pregnant as you may have already suspected, and you are going to have a girl."
Rand gave a warm smile. "Oh, that's wonderful! I've always wanted to have a little girl. Er, under better circumstances of course."

"Yes, I can understand that." the doctor said, making notes on her computer. "And that's what brings me into the bad news. Ms. Rand, was there anything abnormal about the father of this child? Was it someone from another planet? An alien?"

"No… Certainly not an alien." Rand said slowly. How could she explain about the evil half of Kirk? No one else knew, save for Kirk himself. Hope didn't know. Rand wasn't sure how Hope would handle hearing this, since she escaped the Orion Syndicate for similar reasons.

The gynecologist didn't say anything for a few moments. She was just about to speak when Rand started talking again.

"I know you will think this is strange. But Captain Kirk is the father."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing too strange about that, rules and regulations aside. His records show him to be overall healthy."

"The strange part, doctor, is that there was a transporter malfunction. And I didn't know at the time, but it was his evil half. His good half was in Sickbay at the time." Rand said. She almost didn't believe her own words.

"I heard about that actually." the doctor said, her voice getting excited. "So that's when this happened… Okay, the reason I asked is because there seems to be a lot of things… missing within the child."

"Missing things?" Rand asked, incredulously.

"It's a miracle the baby is even alive still, actually. But she is missing things, such as chromosomes, a kidney and possibly her spleen. The baby does not have a high hope of surviving the nine months. If she does, she will probably die within a year."

Rand let it all sink in. The child would suffer if it was alive. A person can function only at moderate levels with one kidney. A spleen loss isn't too bad if she didn't bleed. But missing chromosomes would be very bad. It reduced the chances to almost nothing. Why put the child through all of this?

But at the same time, Rand was considering the life she would take away. This child was clearly brought into Rand's life for a reason.

"If I monitor you closely, the child has a chance." the doctor continued. "But the baby's life is at risk. I do not think you are at risk, so the choice is yours, Ms. Rand."

"Annie… I'm going to call the baby Annie. And I think it's best that I do my best to bring her into this world and raise her for as long as I can." Rand said, tears in her eyes. The doctor walked over and embraced Rand.

"I promise… I will do everything in my power to do that."

The months past. Rand went every week to the gynecologist to be checked and for an update on Annie's health. Hope was very supportive and helped Rand out with her classes and studying with anything she may have missed due to the appointments. Rand began to wonder how people viewed her and Hope. She also started to wonder about her own feelings towards the Orion girl. How things have changed over the past seven months.

Soon, the anticipated delivery date for Annie arrived. Thankfully, the semester was over, and Janice had a month off. She had succeeded in her courses (thanks to Hope) and was set to return home to the nature preserve in California.

Rand and Hope sat in the maternity ward. Rand let her feet dangle, in an almost school-girl manner. There was an awkward silence. Rand sighed and decided to break it. "So, what are your plans, Hope? Where are you going to go for the next month?"

"Nowhere. I have no place to stay on Earth, so I will stay at Starfleet and take some courses over the winter." Hope said, her disappointment obvious. Then she looked up and her orange eyes met with Rand. They were serious. "But what about you, Janice? You cannot return to Starfleet with Annie. Annie will require your full attention, more than a normal baby."

"I already dropped out." Rand said. Hope gasped. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but I must dedicate every moment that Annie is alive to her. If I should return… you will already gone, I suppose."

Hope looked away. "No, I understand Janice. I should have anticipated you making that choice. It was selfish of me to think otherwise."

"It's not selfish… Hope, do you really want to take more classes, at least for the winter? Would you like to come back with me to the nature preserve?" Rand gave a smile. "I'm sure Annie wouldn't mind having a green aunt."

Hope finally relaxed and smiled. "It sounds better than trying to take a Romulan Linguistics class."

Two months later

"Janice Rand, personal log. I am a truly lucky, in every single way. Annie has done more than survive; she has started growing, and crawling. Hope has gone back to the Academy, and plans to focus her studies on becoming a doctor, meaning she will have a more rigorous program than what we had before. I will miss having her, but I cannot just leave the nature preserve. Annie, for the moment, is strong. But I know it won't be much longer before she can show pain."

One year after Annie's birth

"Janice Rand, personal log. Annie's physical growth is within normal limits for her age, but her mental growth has slowed to almost a standstill… Or at least, that is what the doctor tells me. I no longer believe the doctor fully understands any of what Annie is going through. She looks at me and knows who I am. She knows her Auntie Hope on sight and waddles towards her as best she can. Annie is smart, but she is also in pain. I want to find a way to ease the pain.

"We're going to the zoo tomorrow. I am curious what Annie's favorite animal will be… Maybe she will cry and beg for a toy, like other children would…"

Two years after Annie's birth

"Janice Rand, personal log. I… am lost…

"Annie died today… She died at the doctor's office. This morning she had more trouble than usual breathing. I rushed her to the doctor, who said Annie was dying. Hope was there, at my side. I am not sure what is left to feel. Heartbreak, hopelessness for the future… Anger that it happened to Annie… But at the same time, I do not have any regrets with Annie. She did something we were told would not happen. She lived two full years. She liked the giraffes, and her favorite color was green. She had an interest in the night sky, filled with stars.

"So, despite my empty, lost feelings, I know now what I must do.

"I must return to Starfleet and return to the sky so Annie's dreams can come true."