Amari sat on the opposite side of their small dinner table from her daughter Sadee for what seemed like the first time in a very long time. A loving, warm smile spread across her face as she listened to Sadee talk about Cai. The realization that her daughter was in the midst of her very first crush both enthralled and terrified her in equal measure. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her daughter so happy. The twinkle in her eye that she had when she was very young had reappeared and Amari was just about to tell her daughter how very grown-up and beautiful she was when suddenly…

She wasn’t quite sure what had happened. One moment her daughter was across from her and the next, it felt like something had hit her back and then darkness. Mere moments later the emergency lighting had kicked on and Amari realized she was on her back on the floor, still seated in her chair somehow, the remnants of dinner strewn about. She had one thought and one thought only. Where was her daughter. “Sadee!” she screamed in a near panic, though she new better than to scramble to her feet. She slowly gathered herself, doing a self-diagnostic as she went. No pain, no dizziness, no injuries apparently. She slowly made her way to her feet and moved toward her daughter who appeared to be unconscious on the ground.

A general call came over the comm. =/\=Commander Brooks to the bridge.=/\=

=/\=Acknowledged.=/\= she replied.

-Lt. Cmdr. Brooks, XO