This Is My Family

 Episode Name:  This is my Family
   Written By:  Starfleet
         Cast:  Casya, Edwards, Ghorev, Minos and Starfleet.
  Produced By:  Starfleet
  Directed By:  Starfleet
     Aired On:  Sun Sep 08 03:37:15 2002
     Stardate:  52617.5

Time: Sun Sep 08 16:16:38 2002

Stardate: 52618.7

Ghorev and Edwards are still prisoner of Minos, the Orion Pirate. They are being held against their will on board the Prince's Gambit, Minos' flagship. The rescue of Bela has gone horribly wrong. The first and second officers of Station 419 are sitting on the couch talking when in walks the subject of their discussion: Edwards' mother. She is wearing a dark brown dress that runs to the floor, with long dark blue sleeves. Her hair is white and cut relatively short in ringlets. She wears no slave collar.

Edwards doesn't take this well. At all. Sheer panic courses through him and he moves, trying to put himself on the opposite side of the room from the door. "That's not her! It's a trick! A trick!" he shouts, "Akeen!"

Ghorev says, "What?" He looks confused. After all, nobody's USED the word 'mother'. He looks around to 'the Mistress', then back to Edwards, then back to the woman. "Everyone stay where they are and *someone* explain this situation to me, for Borva's sake!"

Janice frowns a bit at his reaction and moves toward the middle of the room, near the brazier. "Mikey?" she asks. "Is it... Is it really you?" It is indeed the voice from his childhood.

Edwards, bordering on being hysterical, doesn't really seem able to explain what's going on. He just presses himself against the far wall, which really isn't the far wall after Janice moves into the middle of the room, and clamps his eyes shut. "It's a trick, a trick, a trick..." he mutters to himself, over and over.

Janice continues to frown and looks from Edwards to Ghorev. Since Edwards has gone off the deep end, she concentrates her attention on the Andorian. "Who are you?" she asks the enslaved second officer.

Ghorev says, "Lieutenant Akeen Ghorev, Madame." He pulls his glance away from Edwards, towards the woman, as he tries walking *towards* Edwards. "I'm *supposed* to be what you humans call the cavalry, but I think now I'm about to play medical corpsman."

Edwards doesn't appear to have a problem with Ghorev walking toward him. And, after a moment, he quits muttering to himself. He opens his eyes and focuses on the Andorian, once he's close enough, "This is another trick."

Janice moves with Ghorev to Edwards' side. "I'm not a trick. If this is Michael Edwards, born October 12, 2344, in Ontario, Canada, then I am his mother." She pulls a locket from under the collar of her dress and opens it to show it to Ghorev. Inside is a photograph of Mikey at 10, smiling from ear to ear. She snaps it shut and tucks it back into her dress. She looks back down to her son. Janice appears concerned for Edwards, but doesn't kneel down to him. She doesn't want him to flip out any more than he is already.

Ghorev says, "His mother?" Light dawns over blue brow. "Oh. Nice short-pants." But, I mean, really, what more can be said than that? He steps in closer, lightly jabbing Edwards in the chest with a fingertip, prodding him a bit. "Can you focus?"

Edwards keeps his gaze centered on Ghorev, but doesn't refute actively try to deny Janice's presence, or her words. Mostly, he concentrates on not losing it anymore. "Ow." he grumbles at the jabbing. "This... this isn't right..." Not so much conviction there.

Ghorev says, "And since everything else is so picture-perfect, this rather stands out in bas-relief, I'm sure," but the dry murmur is then immedately followed by, "Talk to her, will you? We can't figure things out until you do."

Janice moves to the couch and sits down now that Edwards is getting ahold of himself. She smiles. "It is really you," she says. "Mercy, son, you are thirty now."

Edwards frowns severely. It's all a bit much for him. But, since the only alternative is likely a complete nervous breakdown, he swallows and attempts to be somewhat useful. "What happened?" he asks, glancing toward the woman for only a second.

Ghorev says, "Indeed," as a second opinion, "I am fairly bursting with curiosity myself." The fatigue overtakes him for a moment and he leans against the wall, falling into a crouching slump, resting on his haunches. "Please, go on."

The matronly woman looks at Edwards intently. "To your father and I? We were captured, enslaved. They sold me about five months later to cover a debt, and Minos Evanginor bought me. I haven't seen your father since..." she says. Her eyes get misty for a moment but she pulls herself together. "I bought my way out of slavery five years ago," she says. She stands up, moving toward Edwards again. "I thought you were dead, Mikey, I'm so glad to see you.." She extends her arms to him.

Edwards isn't quite ready for that, yet, and shies away. "You work for him." he replies, "You work for Evanginor." Anger bubbles up momentarily when he says that name.

Ghorev interjects to the woman, "I should herein explain, before Michael says anything unfilial, that Minos Envanginor has a calling as a pain-in-the-antennae to the crew of our station, in addition to his professional vocation."

Janice drops her arms when she won't hug her. She sighs softly and nods several times. "I do," she says quietly. "Minos has treated me well over the years, and I didn't know I had anyone to go back home to, so I stayed here to help raise the children, and take care of the lodubyaln." She says, "If I had known you were alive, Mikey, I would have come home."

Edwards retorts, "We were informed that you punish half-naked women who are displeasing." Mostly, he sounds tired, instead of morally outraged. The heavy emotions have taken their toll on him. Briefly, he glances toward his haggard companion, then back toward the woman, "He kidnapped my wife. And now he has us."

Ghorev nods. "Right, there's that, too. I felt it was best that your mother hear from *you* that you're married, though. It's not right for a stranger to break that news." And then, the oddness of the situation breaking through his own exhaustion, the Andorian just starts laughing, crouched there against the wall, holding his own knees lightly.

"My baby is married?" Janice asks at this news. "Do I have grandchildren?" she asks. She seems clearly pleased by this prospect. She doesn't respond to Edwards' comment on punishment.

Edwards fixes Ghorev with a look, for daring to laugh at his ultra-serious moment. He reaches over, so he can shove the Andorian onto his side, and manages a momentary smirk. The question about grandchildren keeps him from catching the often contagious laughter, though. "She's pregnant." he states flatly, "And that leads to a whole can of worms that... well, isn't important right now. The point is, your boss has enslaved her."

Ghorev falls onto his side, and then stops laughing, after a moment. "Sorry," he mutters, "a bit overtired." He slowly pushes himself up the wall to his feet. And listens.

Janice beams proudly. "A mother again and a grandmother all in one day." She grins at him. "Mikey this changes everything." She moves toward the door. "I will see what I can do to get you freed," she says. "And we will leave, together. With your wife and my grandchild."

Edwards fails to look overjoyed. "You don't really think he's just going to let us all walk out of here, do you?" he inquires.

Janice pauses at the door. "I'm going to buy you and your wife. What is her name?"

Edwards blinks at that. "You're going to buy us?" he says slowly. He came to do some fancy rescuing, and now he'll leave as a commodity. "Her name is Bela. But I think escaping is more in order."

Ghorev says, "Well, *I'll* still have to escape, not being an Edwards. You can help me, if it means that much to you."

Janice smiles. "I'll see what I can do, my son. For both of you." She turns to the door and walks out.

Edwards slumps further against the wall. "I think I'm going to repress my memory of this entire fiasco." he mutters.

Ghorev says, "Right, because repression has worked so well for all of us up until now."

Edwards shakes his head and rubs at his temple, "Can you blame me? It's not even been a week and my wife has been kidnapped, I learned that an alcoholic half-Orion engineer who hates me is my daughter from the future and a spy for Sinclaire, and my mother is a dominatrix working for the same man who did the aforementioned kidnapping and let me know about the daughter."

Ghorev says, "Your daughter sounds like Zeel." And then he stops. "Oh." And then, after another pause. "She *what*?"

Edwards nods and glances sidelong at Ghorev, "Did I forget to mention that?"

Ghorev's jaw sets in a line. "A *spy*." The rest seems not to matter so much.

Edwards shrugs a little, "This is my family. My father's probably a contract killer for the Orion Syndicate or something."

Ghorev says, "And yet, you seem so normal." He pushes away from the wall and begins pacing again, though much more slowly than before. "Michael, there's a very real chance that she's putting her life at risk asking to buy us. We should be prepared. And I mean *prepared*."

Edwards pushes himself up to his feet and nods a bit, "I know. You're right. I'm prepared." Sorta. "If it does work, we'll have to leave everyone else here..."

Ghorev says, "I'm ready for that if you are."

Edwards frowns, "I don't want to leave anyone here. But getting killed won't rescue them, either." Such are the dilemmas of Starfleet officers. "We'll see what happens."

After what seems like an eternity, the door finally opens again. An Orion woman, her face obscured by a veil, steps into the room. From her size and body structure, it appears to be Casya. She is carrying another tray larger than the previous, this time it is covered. The Klingon can be glimpsed through the door beyond until it hisses shut.

Edwards glances toward the girl that appears to be Casya and raises an eyebrow, inquiring, "We're being served again?"

Ghorev says, "It does seem so."

The woman sets the tray down on a shelf of the couch and uncovers it. Stacked on it is more fruit. She moves a melon aside and reveals an electronic device. She moves silently to Edwards and holds the device up to his slave collar. It pops open with a click. She moves to Ghorev and does the same for him. "Your things are buried under the fruit," she whispers. "The madame has been forbidden to see you and has been locked in the lodubyaln wing." She lifts her veil and it is indeed Casya, her own collar gone.

Ghorev says, "Success with a price, then."

Edwards removes his collar and tosses it onto the floor. "Indeed. There's gonna be fruit all over our stuff." he remarks. "Now let's show Minos why you don't mess with a Starfleet officer's family." That said, he moves to retrieve his equipment.