Sisters

Posted on Wed Jan 14th, 2026 @ 3:39am by Warrant Officer Loren Baro & Technical Sergeant Josi Baro

1,648 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A New Dawn
Location: Quarks

From the second level of Quark's bar, the main level stretched out below like a living tapestry: voices rising and falling, laughter spilling over the clatter of glasses, the spin of games punctuated by cheers and groans. The view offered no single point of focus at first, only the chaos of Quark’s in full motion.

Down at the center of a dabo table, a young woman stood with effortless poise; dark hair braided back, a black dress catching the amber light, her subtle smile drawing players in like a current too strong to resist. The game was chance, but she was certainty, a quiet axis around which the wheel and the crowd seemed to turn.

Loren came downstairs to Quarks main level. Her mind full of the information she had been told and what all it may mean. Half distracted she nearly missed her sister sitting near a dabo table. A pleased smile crossed her face as she changed direction. "Josie," relief and joy coloring that one word.

Josi turned her head, and her gaze landed on Loren. Her expression softened with a mix of love and anticipation. As her focus shifted, her eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of seeing someone special to her after several months apart. For a moment, she forgot about the Dabo table and the players who were curious about her departure as she made her way toward her sister.

Loren threw her arms around her younger sister in a brief but fierce hug, "About time, you take the long way?" She joked but concern and worry colored her tone.

Josi stepped back, her smile warm but tinged with a hint of fatigue. "Took the scenic route," she replied with a small laugh, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Seems like you," She quipped back, an awareness in her eyes, "Care to fill me in? Have our parents seen you yet? Do they know?" She started then glanced at her outfit and the Dabo table, "If you're free?" She ended with a question of a different type.

Josi’s smile softened, the flicker of humor fading into something quieter. "Already did," she said, her voice low but steady. "Saw them last night. They’re… better than I expected, considering." She let out a breath, glancing toward the crowd as if to gather herself. "I came straight here after. Figured you’d find me eventually."

Her gaze returned to Loren, warm, a little uncertain, but undeniably glad. "Didn’t mean to just vanish like that," she added, rubbing at the back of her neck. "After the fighting stopped, everything scattered so fast. My crew went underground, then I lost contact. By the time I thought about reaching out…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "It felt too late."

The noise of Quark’s filled the space between them: laughter, the spin of the dabo wheel, the hum of a station that had seen its share of ghosts.

"I heard the Ada Lovelace just came in," she said finally, a hint of hope breaking through. "Didn’t think I’d catch you so soon. Guess the odds are finally with me for once."

Loren blinked, "You're still a doof." She said latching on to the most important, to her, part. And pulled her into another hug, "Late is for classes not family." She pulled away after a moment. "I tried to find you." Her voice complex with emotions including a hint of apology, because she failed?

Josi was right when the bulk of the Maquis was broken in that final battle, it collapsed so swiftly it amazed even the planners who had made the Maquis worst case contingency plans. People, equipment, entire commands, those who survived, rode the wind into whatever dark corners they could find.

Josi’s expression softened at Loren’s words, something fragile flickering in her eyes; affection, guilt, and a quiet understanding that didn’t need translation. “You couldn’t have,” she said gently. “None of us could.”

Her gaze then wandered toward the spinning lights of the Dabo wheel again. “It all went sideways so fast. One moment we were holding lines, the next… we were just trying to stay alive long enough to find a place that wasn’t burning.” Her voice carried no self-pity, only the even tone of someone who had told herself the story too many times already.

“I lost three of my crew before we even cleared the border. After that, it was just moving from one rock to another, trying not to get noticed. By the time Starfleet stopped hunting ghosts, there weren’t many of us left to be found.” She drew a slow breath, meeting Loren’s eyes again. “I wanted to reach out. I just... didn’t know what was left to reach for.”

The hum of Quark’s filled the quiet between them, a comfort of ordinary noise against the heaviness of memory. Josi’s mouth quirked upward in a small, weary smile. “But I’m here now,” she said. “And that’s got to count for something.”

"It counts for everything." Loren said confidently, "Let's have a seat we've a lot to catch up on." Loren had been part of the ships that were a sort of home fleet, such as it was, for the colonists. Getting them to safety and protected took everything they had left but she still tried to find her sister, she supposed she was happy Josi had been so good at hiding from the hunters. Still she was here now, that was what mattered.

Josi’s smile widened at Loren’s words: warm, real, and touched with that old spark. But as she glanced back toward the other end of the bar, her eyes caught the bartender’s stare: calculating, annoyed, and more than a little possessive of the employee who’d just walked away mid-game.

Her expression didn’t flinch. If anything, it settled.

"Actually,” Josi said evenly, turning back to Loren, ”let’s talk somewhere else.” She lifted her chin, unapologetic. ”I’m pretty sure I just quit.”

Before Loren could respond, Josi raised a hand in a casual little wave toward the bartender; a bright, breezy farewell that was just shy of smug. His scowl deepened. She didn’t bother hiding her satisfaction. "Come on," she murmured, linking her arm with her sister’s. "There’s a table by the upper viewport that’s quieter. And I’d rather not spend the next hour pretending I care if Quark’s profit margins dip for the night."

As they stepped away from the noise of the dabo table, Josi let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She wasn’t intimidated; not by the bartender, not by the job, not by any of it. But the decision felt right, clean in a way few things had been since the war. "Besides," she added softly, glancing at Loren with a small, genuine smile, "I didn’t come back to Deep Space Nine to spin wheels for strangers. I came back for family."

Loren nodded in completely agreement, everything she'd done had been for her people, her faith, her family. It was the foundation that enabled her to meet the tests of the universe. "Can't fault the priorities." She replied out loud as they headed up and oddly enough back at the same table she'd just been at with their Shadow Master. Today was the day for revelations in dark corners, it seemed.

Josi’s gaze flicked briefly to the table Loren indicated, a faint huff of amusement escaping her. "Figures," she murmured. "Dark corners always did have a way of finding us, didn’t they?" She slid into the seat with easy confidence, her posture relaxed but alert, a habit of old survival instincts that never quite went away. For a moment, she let herself simply be: present, grounded, no alarms screaming in the back of her mind.

"I used to think disappearing meant freedom," she said quietly, eyes drifting toward the promenade lights beyond the viewport. "Turns out it just means carrying everything alone." She looked back to Loren then, her expression open and steady. "I’m done doing that."

Her mouth curved into a small, sincere smile. "So. Shadow Masters, revelations, and inconvenient timing aside… I’m here. Wherever this goes next, I’m not vanishing again." She rested her forearms lightly on the table. "Tell me what I missed."

Loren nodded as she took a seat next to her sister, oddly enough, both automatically choosing to put their backs to the wall. She grinned at Josi's last works, "You better not or else." She mock-threatened, relieved, Loren had skills, but Josi had a knack for blending in shadows that made any search a pain. She gestured to a waiter, "Best get a drink, I've got a lot to report." She said easily, leaning on the table.

Josi snorted softly, the corner of her mouth lifting. “That sounded suspiciously like a promise,” she said. “I’ll behave. Mostly.”

She had mirrored Loren’s posture without thinking, back to the wall, eyes tracking the room out of habit rather than fear. When the waiter approached, she gave a brief nod. "Whatever she’s having," she added, then paused. "Make it something that doesn’t taste like regret."

Her attention shifted back to Loren, her expression becoming slightly more serious. "Alright," she said after the waiter left, "let’s start with the important things; the kinds of topics that make people choose dark corners and sit with their backs against the wall." She smiled faintly. "Then fill me in on what I missed."

The waiter returned and placed their drinks before leaving, then Loren leaned forward, "Once Upon a Journey..." She began with a grin in the way their mother used to when telling them stories.

 

RSS Feed