A Fertile Theory

Posted on Wed Apr 23rd, 2025 @ 6:46am by Ensign Madelyn 'Madi' Moore & Captain Bethsabée Leroux & Ensign Duncan McManus

Mission: Remnant
Location: Campfire, Planet X
Timeline: Evening of Day 409
3505 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

When it came right down to it, Madelyn was mildly concerned she wasn't cut out for adventures.

To date, several of the situations the crew had faced had been extreme enough that it seemed reasonable to classify them as too adventurous for anyone to really come out of the other side unscathed, but there was something about tumbling into the ruins of an alien temple that sounded like just the right amount of adrenaline provocation to count as fun. When the danger had passed and it was clear she was not going to spend the rest of her life inside a damp, dark hole, there had definitely been an element of intrigue, but that had been hampered by the frustration of misjudging the difference between climbing down a pile of masonry and the skill and, frankly, leg-length required to climb back up it. Being forced to accept that she'd rendered herself stuck and unable to reach Mercy to report a successful mission had not put Madi in the mood to investigate much, though with plenty of time for it she had at least tried to make sense of hieroglyphs making a mockery of her sense of decency.

Of course, that had just set her up for further embarrassment once help arrived, but she wasn't thinking about that right now.

Instead, she felt a tiny stab of guilt at being grateful that Mercy was receiving the bulk of everyone's attention. Since that was mostly because she was injured, it seemed a little mean-spirited to seek respite in the fact, but as far as Madi could tell, Mercy seemed positively jovial about her predicament and certainly hadn't needed any assistance in holding down her end of a decently one-sided conversation about the jolliness of alien pornography. Slinking out to wrap herself in a blanket and stand by the fire seemed not only permissible, but advisable given it was only a matter of time before someone asked her to explain what the hell Mercy was rambling on about.

She honestly had no idea.

Once Beth was assured that Mercy was okay or at least as well as she was going to be rambling on in a way that made her thankful she was speaking standard and not any other language. It meant that the Captain could wander off and and leave her to the more prepared and medically trained of her crew. She smiled a little as she shook off the ramblings and watched Madi stood by the fire.

“How are you doing, Ensign? Would you like some tea? Maybe some hot chocolate? I am sure I could rustle something up.” She wondered if anyone had properly checked in the young woman other than checking on her injuries.

Try as she might, Madi couldn't recall the last time she'd spoken directly to the Captain. This wasn't really a surprise, there wasn't a lot of circumstance that would lead to a conversation with Atlantis' Commanding Officer, which had been part of the perplexing problem posed by Mercy's insistence that Madelyn seek out the older woman. Somehow, Madi didn't think her friend had quite envisaged the current scenario when offering that advice but at least the blanket covered the worst of the damage until the wait for fresh laundry was over. Anxious to avoid further burden, Madi shook her head quickly. "You don't have to do that, Captain, I'll be okay."

Beth smiled patiently but still looked at her expectantly wanting an answer to her question. “I know I do not need to do that but I would like to. I think you would like something warm after being damp and I know I want something in me to settle my nausea.” Being pregnant was a lot harder than she had ever thought possible especially with a hybrid baby.

"Oh."

It was a woefully inadequate response that left Madi wincing the moment the sound had escaped. Closer scrutiny did hint at an element of tension in Leroux's expression but it wasn't obvious and, without explanation, probably would have passed as normal for someone in the Captain's position. A little belatedly, Madi rose and turned a full circle looking for the portable kettle.

"If you're not feeling well, I can put something on." It didn't seem right to be waited on by someone feeling arguably worse than she did.

Not feeling well was arguably her current state of mind but it was not like she could change it yet so she had to adapt and move forward. “Morning sickness that lasts all day does that to you.” Beth laughed a little and shook the woman away. “I can do it I promise, ensign. Are you warm enough?” The younger woman looked back at her as she found the kettle and set it on the stove. “Some of my clothes might fit.” She suggested thinking she was not that different in sizing to her especially when it came to flight suits for female crew members.

There had been an odd phenomenon throughout Madelyn's life whereby people, from family and friends, to colleagues and even complete strangers, had a tendency to speak to her as if she knew more than she actually did. She'd never quite figured out why that was the case, it wasn't as if she thought herself to be an immediate choice for village gossip, or even a very likely candidate for chief confidant, but it had always been accompanied by the inability to actually confess to her ignorance. What resulted was a mad scramble to use context to fill in massive blanks whilst also not drawing attention to the fact she had no idea what the other person was talking about.

This was definitely one of those times.

Morning sickness? The implication behind those words bounced around inside Madi's head without stopping long enough for her to completely grasp the graveness of the Captain's situation. Stumbling for a moment for an adequate response, Madi defaulted to feigned understanding and focused instead of the other woman's offer. "Nish is bringing something from the shuttle," she quietly assured, flustered enough to refer to the pilot by first name. "The fire's helping for now."

“Good.” Beth said still showing the patient smile she had for the woman who she was starting to feel glad she had stopped to check on. She was starting to think she might be suffering shock. Beth stood up and picked up one of the camping chairs and shifted it closer. “Take a seat. Tea or hot chocolate?” She asked firmly not giving a choice in a hot drink.

Despite everything, thinking under pressure had often been something Madi had surprised herself at being quite decent at. It took her a split second to realise Leroux had backed her into a corner, and another to calculate the response that would be most beneficial to the other woman without creating extra work. "Tea is fine. Thank you," Madi added after an awkward pause.

Beth smiled and potted around sorting out 2 large cups of tea for them both. She soon returned with 2 insulated mugs and sat down on another chair she brought over. “It'll be a little sweeter but I think you might need that to warm up.” She explained holding her hands out to the fire to warm them a little. “How are your feeling?” She wondered.

For a single, exposed moment, Madi found the question impossible to answer. It wasn't because she felt any considerable discomfort aside from dampness, she had emerged from recent events relatively unscathed through no skill of her own. There was simply the pressure of honesty, left to clash against the obligation of good manners, all eventually brought under the yoke of professional hierarchy. Was it permissible to lie to your Commanding Officer if the truth was more a matter of private existential dread than any actual problem? Accepting the hot drink with a smile of gratitude, the young ensign settled for a response she figured Leroux was actually seeking. "Everything's intact except my pride. The doctor gave us antibiotics just in case," she added, a slightly unnecessary detail but it felt important to eliminate the Captain's concern. "I just need to look where I'm going in future."

"Ah well, pride is the deepest thing to heal," Beth said quietly. "My first ever away mission ended up with me in a very similar circumstance apart from instead of water it was ... goo for lack of a better term." Beth could even now if she thought hard enough smell the goo and hear the laughter of Captain Morgan nearly wetting herself when Beth was pulled out of the pit looking worst for wear.

The mental picture was enough to provoke a wince of sympathy. Given the rather overt nature of the ruins she and Mercy had tumbled into, Madi realised that falling into water had probably been the kindest of all other possibilities. Shuddering at the visceral response to the possibility of goo, she pulled the blanket tighter and took a sip of scalding hot tea. "It was worth it," Madi admitted, "Or at least, it would have been if Mercy wasn't hurt."

She hesitated then, unsure of how to continue. Whilst she didn't think it would aid their primary concern, namely securing a replacement fuel reserve, Madelyn was still hopeful that a more purposeful investigation of the ruins would provide insight into who the original inhabitants had been. "It's quite different down there," Madi tentatively continued. "The amount of workmanship is far more aesthetically-driven than the other buildings we found. Even the fact that it's so far underground is strange."

"I have a theory about it all. I think this species just faded how from a low birth rate and that is why they built their temples the way they did. Closer to Mother Earth the only way they knew how, deep inside her." Beth said almost sadly. It was her head canon and no one else had to accept it but it would explain a lot.

Madi perked up, her expressive features finding it difficult as always to mask her surprise. In truth, it mattered less what the Captain's theory was, only that she had one and that she was so open to sharing it with a junior officer. After the initial moment of stunned admiration, the young ensign considered Leroux's actual thoughts and frowned thoughtfully. "It would fit with the absence of destruction," she eventually agreed. So far, the only signs of decay and disrepair could be attributed to the passage of time and exposure to the elements without intervention. As far as Madi was aware, they'd found no signs of conflict or violence.

“Exactly.” Beth stated glad that someone else was seeing it too. “It makes perfect sense. For once we have found something that is just sad and not evil or twisted.” Beth said smiling at the younger woman’s surprised look. “What has you so stunned, Ensign?” She wondered. Had she said something wrong? Or slipped out of standard? She was known to do that when tired.

Startled, it took only a split second for Madi to fervently hope that the warmth from the fire was enough to take the blame for the colour of her cheeks. "It's been a while since there was any reason to speculate about ancient cultures," the young woman admitted. "Opportunities to explore ruins like this would be considered the pinnacle of most of my professors' careers." Scrunching herself into a huddle beneath her blanket, Madi smiled ruefully at Leroux. "It's nice to be able to talk about things I feel like I actually know something about. Kind of," she added for humility's sake.

“Well I am sure, Ensign, that you know much more than I do.” Beth said with a smile as she sipped on her drink and just relaxed looking up at the sky. “What else have you thought about with this planet?” She asked dragging her gaze back to terra firma so she did not get lost in trying to track Earth and thinking of the last time she was stargazing with Michael.

It wasn't a claim Madelyn would have made and, confronted with it even as a kindly-meant compliment, left her feeling awkward. More perplexing was the invitation to speculate further, which had once been a sure-fire way to draw the studious girl out of herself. There had been a time when talking about people and their histories had animated Madi in a way that made it very clear where her passions lie; now she felt trapped in a corner where the only tangible piece of evidence she had involved disclosing to her Captain that the former inhabitants were obsessed with carnal acts.

"A lot of the original buildings we saw were pretty structurally sound, all things considered," she started hesitantly. "But they lack any kind of architectural embellishments, which would suggest these were a people more concerned with function than form." Madi wriggled underneath her blanket. "Where Mercy and I wound up is very different. The location is too close to the other settlement to be another species, I would think anyway, and without the data to know for sure, they seem to have been built roughly the same time." The ensign frowned, distracted by a thought long enough to forget her timidness. "And if what you've said about their birthrate is true, it might explain the temple's purpose."

Looking up, Madi met Beth's gaze and squirmed, willing herself not to blush.

"It's, um, very heavily decorated with... The artwork and the statues are in keeping with a theme of reproduction."

"I am pregnant, Ensign, you can say those words," Beth said, grinning a little as she winked at the younger girl, trying to make her less embarrassed and smile. She had seen below, and it was making her theory join up with Madelyn's ideas a lot more tangible. "Certainly makes the theories a lot more realistic, doesn't it? They struggled with reproduction, so they turned to praying and ceremony but unfortunately did not work." It was a sad way to end a species just fading away like mist.

As much as she'd already started to suspect it, Madi hadn't anticipated the Captain's blatant disclosure. What was she meant to say? Congratulations? Once again, the ensign found herself in the unenviable position of feeling like this was information she was expected to already know, and somehow any response that indicated she didn't seemed more awkward than just going with the flow. Her hesitation was obvious, however, and the eventual recovery wasn't enough to mask her surprise entirely.

"Low fertility rates are often environmental." Madi cast her gaze towards the line of trees. "Or at least, there's an environmental catalyst. Disease or natural disaster reducing the fertile population. Socio-political impact through conflict, though we've not seen any signs of that." She screwed up her nose. "Once they hit a danger point where inbreeding was a risk, that might have just compounded the problem. Of course," the brunette added, turning her attention back to the older woman, "There's no guarantee they produced an even amount of equivalent male and female offspring, some species delegate reproduction to a single matriarch." From what she had made out of the artwork, Madelyn wasn't sure that theory would hold much water, though there was some evidence that there was gender imbalance to an extent. Either that, or they just preferred making statues with giant erections.

It suddenly occurred to Madelyn that, not only was that the most she'd ever said to the Captain about any topic, it was also the first time she'd really been able to demonstrate any kind of in depth understanding to the woman. It left her awkward and immediately apologetic. "You know that already though."

“I do but it is nice to hear someone approach it with different words and phrases. No matter how far I have come in the command structure of Earth Starfleet I am still a student of languages.” Beth said brushing it all away with a shake of her hand. “But this planet is intriguing to say the least. The herbs all of the planet have plenty of medicinal properties and qualities.” Beth decided on a safer conversation from the fertility temples which was making the woman embarrassed.

"Actually, Captain, about that..."

The minute the words left her mouth, Madi regretted the choice to speak up. She had meant to broach the issue with Avira but the Andorian doctor made the young xenologist major ridiculously bashful and trapped by the ongoing paranoia that she'd say something offensive to the actual bona fide alien she was serving alongside. Had she been any good at lying, Madelyn might have tried to quickly invent something other than her original intention but wound up stuck in a corner of her own devising.

"I'm sure it's nothing," she attempted to apply damage control. "After Mercy hurt herself, she took some of one of the plants she'd assessed for pain-killing properties and... Well, when they brought her back, she seemed..." Madi squirmed. "It just might be worth documenting potential side-effects."

"High... She was high, Ensign. Let's be honest about it. But I am sure the doctor will look her over and work out if it was useful." Beth smiled kindly. "Lieutenant Darru had an adventure getting her out of the temple. Why I came to check on you, Madi." Beth said gently. "Someone needed to keep an eye on the quiet one."

"I'm okay." Though she sounded tired to the point of defeat, Madi's smile was sincere enough. "Almost managed to climb out, but..." A moment's awkwardness brought with it flashbacks of standing precariously on a weathered stone appendage when rescue had appeared overhead. "I'll be fine," she repeated, opting not to continue. "Just a bit cold and tired."

"You better be." Beth started. She knew cold and tired well and opened her mouth to suggest bed but it fell silent when she saw how damp the woman still looked.

"She'll be fine, Captain." A deep voice called out, and McManus appeared carrying more firewood for the fire. He offered a smile. "Thought we might need a bigger fire to dry you off." He offered.

It made more sense to go get changed, of course, but it was difficult to tempt herself away from the warmth. Duncan's appearance immediately provoked a furtive fascination with the flames, if only because she wasn't sure how much she trusted the guy not to share with the Captain exactly where he'd found her in her efforts to climb out on her own. Perched atop a rampant depiction of geological arousal wasn't the best impression she could have imagined. "At least we're not surrounded by snow this time," she joked quietly, allowing her gaze to flit between both faces before returning to the fire.

The man smiled as he turned from chucking wood on the fire to glance at her. “Well if Ensign McManus is going to stay here with you, I am going to head towards bed.” Beth announced rising to her feet offering her seat to the man.

Trying her best not to look too relieved, Madi smiled her thanks at the older woman. "Thank you for checking on me, Captain." It had been sweet of the woman, even if it felt entirely unnecessary. Of course, being intentionally left alone with Duncan might ordinarily have flustered the young ensign had the engineer not already had countless opportunities to mortify her already that day.

Duncan offered a salute to the captain who smiled at pair before escaping to her bed. The engineer turned to the woman and looked her over. “Want to talk or sit in silence?” He offered giving the choice to her.

It was gradually occurring to Madelyn, at a pace that was picking up speed, that she probably looked terrible. It had mattered less when it was just the Captain, and not so much when it was all three of them, but with just Duncan to contend with, not appearing like the last remains of a drowned rat seemed very important. She knew what she wanted her answer to be, but took a moment to concede she'd have to risk giving him the impression she was avoiding him again if she wanted to stand any chance of being able to relax.

"I want to sit and talk," she replied softly, with a sincerity that she hoped was reassuring. "But is it okay if I go change first?" The look he gave her made her laugh. "Okay, fine, I'm going to change. Don't move."

Try as she might, Madi couldn't contain the dimple that emerged, nor the flush of pink to her cheeks, as she dumped to blanket on his head. If nothing else, it hid the fact he was saluting like an idiot.