Lost & Found

Posted on Thu Aug 6th, 2026 @ 8:06am by Penelope Haskell & Captain Wolfe Sean

1,984 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Various

It was lonely in the back of the shuttle. No one had told her anything, just a couple of Marines had come and nearly wordlessly informed her that they had been ordered to put her on the next shuttle up to Dreadnought and that it was leaving as soon as she was aboard. She wasn’t even allowed to pack the bare couple of outfits she’d brought down with her due to quarantine protocols. That had bothered her less than the activity in the command post, although the stances of the officers told her that something had happened, that the operation the Major had launched had borne fruit of some sort.

That was what made the ride nearly unbearable, the not knowing, the fear that what no one was telling her was exactly what she thought and that she was being sent back to the ship so she could find out the bad news in a safe, contained place with a grief counselor. She drew her knees up in the loadmaster’s jumpseat and hugged them to her chest as she rocked back and forth, holding back fresh tears.

It was over a half hour of stewing in her own thoughts before she felt the shuttle set down gently on the deck and the disembodied voice of the pilot sealed into his cockpit came over the speaker, “Ma’am, when you leave the cargo bay, there will be someone to guide you.”

Silently, Penelope unfolded herself as the rear of the shuttle whined downwards into a ramp, an unsmiling MP in a biological contamination uniform beckoning her towards herself, “This way, Miss Haskell.” She gestured for the reporter to walk towards a small reception area where a corpsman took over the escort and to a table.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but with the ship under quarantine, we have to put you through a quick test. At least we’re on this side, not the other.” This one’s face was clearly smiling like a true medical professional, under a simpler mask. Her arm was gently turned as a hypo was placed against the vein in her arm, “It’s a blood test to verify that you haven’t been infected.” The moment the sample was withdrawn, she removed the vial and placed it in a receptacle on the PADD sitting upright on the table. Several seconds passed before the screen flickered green and the corpsman removed the vial before scribbling Penny’s name on it. “I do apologize, ma’am, but while your test shows clean, protocol is that we keep you in quarantine for a week before we can release you to the general population, just to be safe.” Another person, male this time, had shown up at the table, “Orderly, Room 117, please.” She said, reading from the screen.

“Why… Why am I here?” Penny stammered out as she automatically stood to follow.

“Ma’am, I’m not at liberty to say, ma’am.” The corpsman still smiled, “If you’ll follow the orderly?”

Room 117 was just another room with a couch, a chair, just a waiting area with a guard outside to keep occupants, her only, from wandering. It felt like an eternity before another corpsman finally showed up and with a minimum of words beckoned her to follow, which Penny blindly did, lost in her own despair. This was it. This was when they would finally tell her…

The shuttle barely registered to Captain Wolfe Sean as anything more than a collection of muffled sounds and blurred movement.

He knew he was aboard one. He remembered being lifted onto the anti-grav stretcher. He vaguely recalled protesting that others should go before him, only to have a corpsman politely ignore him while informing him that company commanders didn't get to make medical decisions once they became patients.

After that...Everything blurred together.

The rhythmic hum of the shuttle's engines faded in and out beneath the persistent ringing in his ears. Every jolt of turbulence sent another wave of agony through his battered body despite the steady stream of analgesics flowing through the intravenous line secured to his arm. The combat medic kneeling beside him glanced repeatedly between Wolfe and the biobed monitor hovering above the stretcher.

Blood pressure unstable. Heart rate elevated. Blood oxygen falling.

Another hypospray hissed softly against Wolfe's neck. "Stay with me, sir."

Wolfe managed to open one eye. "I wasn't..." His voice came out little more than a rasp. "...planning on going anywhere."

The medic offered a tired smile. "I'd appreciate it if you kept that promise."

Wolfe tried to chuckle. Instead, he winced. Even laughing hurt. His chest felt impossibly heavy, every breath shallow beneath tightly wrapped compression bandages. Somewhere beneath them, damaged ribs protested every movement while the deep stab wound in his side continued demanding attention despite repeated treatment.

He closed his eyes again. Not to sleep. Simply because keeping them open required more effort than he cared to admit.

* * * USS Dreadnought * * *

Penny had been lead to the observation section, a room the orderly had taken her to that would allow Penny to see the shuttles coming back and forth. "That one." The orderly pointed out to the shuttle. "That door, first left, second right." Pointing to the door beside them that would lead her out there.

Penelope shuddered as she followed the direction, the orderly following her, but not too closely now, just because of orders. Her arms were wrapped around herself in a self-hug. It was a small stream of shuttles that was incoming, the first one landing and a quartet of gurneys being rushed out with wounded Marines, the one landing next to it opening in less of a rush as gurneys with body bags were wheeled off.

Penny’s hand raised her hand to her mouth as she choked off a sob at the sight. That was why she was brought up here, wasn’t it? To identify him. “God… No…”

Then another shuttle landed and the urgency resumed once more, another four gurneys wheeled off, corpsmen around them and doctors rushing to meet them. Tears started to blur Penny’s vision as one was surrounded by at least two doctors, but despite that, something seemed familiar about the person on it. Then she saw it, it was a good luck charm that she knew, that she’d given him years and years ago.

It couldn’t be. It HAD to be. The hand on her arm stopped her move forward and the orderly shook his head slowly, a slight smile on his face, “He needs some work done on him, ma’am, but he’s alive and he’s going to stay that way, but the Major wanted you here to know.”

Penelope threw her arms around him in a hug that threatened the orderly’s life after Wolfe had vanished into the hanger bay medical complex, the tears running down her face those of relief, “Thank you, thank you…”

He patted her gently on the back, rubbing it gently, “Let’s get you closer to him, ma’am, then as soon as he’s able, we’ll get you in next to him. I promise.”

The orderly escorted Penny to the shuttle where Wolfe was being pushed out of, the anti-grav stretcher floating with ease regardless of any slope or step.

One of the medics tending to Wolfe saw the approaching woman and immediately knew who it was, even if she didn't, the look on her face spoke more than anything Penny could broadcast over the network. "Hey Captain, someone is here to see you." She looked at Penny. "Brief."

Wolfe opened his eyes, there was only one someone, the only one he needed.

Penny reached out to Wolfe, but couldn’t find somewhere to touch him. His hands looked like they had been put through a meat grinder, the dried blood on them certainly only covering cuts and scrapes and bruises. One arm had an IV in it, the blood-soaked bandages and uniform… God, it was a miracle he was still alive. Finally she reached out to cup his cheek as she leaned in over him, now seeing wet spots in his uniform, fresh ones, not knowing that they were tears coming from her.

“I thought I’d lost you…” Penelope sobbed, leaning down and finally brushing her lips across his, before daring for another, more meaningful kiss, still gentle, “I thought…”

Her voice was a calm in a storm of pain and agony, but hearing it made it all worth it. "I know..." It was something every marine had heard, felt or gone through themselves. "I'm sorry....I worried you." With a little difficulty with only a few decent fingers in workable condition Wolfe reached into his pocket. The chip that he'd kept all these years, letters, notes, recordings, moments stolen while he was away or deployed.

"Here."

Penny took the chip and wrapped it in the palm of her hand, “What’s this?” She tried to blink her tears away, “If this is one of those ‘if I die’ letters, I don’t want it.” She leaned down to him once more, “You’re not allowed to die, Mister, because you going to have a choice: Marry me or leave me, that’s it, no other option.”

Hearing Penny say that, an ultimatum, he at first thought he misheard her. This wasn't like her to do that but this situation wasn't exactly normal by any stretch of the imagination. His hand, as pained as it was grabbed her wrist, wounds opened again from scabs that had formed causing his blood to smear onto her skin and drip onto his uniform. His grip was perhaps a little too firm, but he didn't want her to go. "Yes." Wolfe would marry her, he had no intention of leaving.

More tears fell from her eyes as she brought his hand up to her face, oblivious of her mascara running again and the blood that smeared against her cheek. But it was relief, love and still no small bit of worry for him that caused them. She kissed the hand, getting a warning look from the medic, “Then get better, quick, before someone else tries to sweep me off my feet.”

"Yes ma'am." Wolfe spoke, a faint smile on his bruised face. He got the joke, but he meant his answer.

"We need to get moving now." The medic spoke, not wanting to break up the moment but not willing to risk Wolfe anymore for it.

"I can take you back to the room, he will be brought back there after hes treated." The same orderly that had brought her here spoke from behind her.

“I love you.” Penny told him before she gave the hand a gentle squeeze before letting it go as the medical team rushed him away. She brought her hand back up to her mouth once more, but this time, it wasn’t in horror or terror, she just… Was emotional. She didn’t resist as the orderly guided her out of the area by an elbow,

“Can you send a message and tell Major Snyder that I say Thank you and that when she’s available, I’d like to see her? Only when it’s convenient for her, I can’t take her away from what she needs to do.” Penny made eye contact with the orderly. “Please?”

"Yes ma'am, I can arrange for that." The orderly spoke as he guided her back to the room. "I'll get you some wipes to clean up, he's made a bit of a mess of you." Though given she was partner to a marine, he doubted a little blood was the worst of things.

“Thank you.” Penny grabbed the medic’s hand with her clean hand and squeezed it, “More than you could ever know.”

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