| Date & Time: | Day 04, 0944 |
| Location: | James & Paige Cohen’s Quarters |
| Written By: | Paige Cohen Hayden Logan |
| Post Date: | 02/22/2026 |
| Episode: | Ep. 1 – Fool’s Errand |
Paige had met Hayden Logan while she was on Earth with her father visiting her grandparents. It was right after she’d made plans to meet up with Ashley when the other girl was on Earth, about three months before her father had taken command of the Nor Class starbase Stelvik Station. Paige couldn’t quite remember. The twelve-year-old bumped into him at the mall while there with her grandmother Ellen Cohen.
Paige felt a slight pang as she thought about her grandmother, the woman had died shortly after that, though Paige didn’t know quite why. She just remembered going to the funeral around a month later after Ellen’s health deteriorated rapidly. The twelve-year-old had been looking out the window thinking about Hayden and when they met as she watched the Cardassian warship docking.
Paige hadn’t had the chance to use the communications network to call Hayden, who was probably back on Terra Nova by now, because the network had been in and out. Then, her father had been around her at every waking moment too. The young girl knew the moment she saw the warship that her father was about to be very busy.
This was the moment she’d been waiting for, and she hopped over to the small computer panel that occupied a portion of her shared quarters. Paige called Hayden while looking over her shoulder, and as soon as his face materialized she smiled warmly, “Hello.” She said with a weak wave of her hand.
=/\=Hayden looked at Paige from the other end of the call with a warm smile on his face, “Nice timing,” The fourteen-year-old said, “We just got back yesterday. I did wonder when you were going to call me.”=/\=
Paige looked over her shoulder again, “Sorry if I have to end the call suddenly, my father is dealing with something. I might have to end the call,” She’d been listening to some of her father’s conversations. Paige had also not told Hayden that her father didn’t know she’d been talking to Hayden over the past three months.
“How was your trip back to Terra Nova?” She asked him.
=/\=Hayden did wonder why Paige kept looking over her shoulder, but he didn’t dare ask what her father was dealing with. Instead he focused on her question, “It was okay. Mom’s been busy for the past week, not just preparing for the trip back to Terra Nova, but also some science convention that was happening on Earth.
“I was glad we got to spend so much time together back on Earth before you ended up on the station. How’s that going by the way?” He asked her.=/\=
Paige shrugged, “The station was a mess for the first three days we were here,” She said. “My Dad’s been kind of busy dealing with that. We only just got communications back online, sorry I didn’t tell you we’d made it. I didn’t have much time between packing my belongings from the trip.” She’d left much of her things scattered about on the ship.
“It’s still kind of a mess,” Paige told him, “But communications are working. And my Dad said other civilians will start coming aboard soon. Maybe you can convince your Mom to come and visit me?” She asked. The twelve-year-old didn’t know how she’d explain that one to her father, but she’d think of something.
=/\=Hayden grinned, “Maybe,” He answered her. “At least we got to hang out while we were both back on Earth though,” He told her. The fourteen-year-old looked at her for a moment through the screen, “Why was the station a mess?” He asked.=/\=
Paige shrugged, “I really don’t know. I thought the engineers would have the station ready for us to get here, but it wasn’t quite there yet. My Dad wanted me to stay in our quarters as much as possible, but I did manage to get around a little bit. That one girl I told you about is here, Ashley.” She answered him.
==The space entity had moved from one set of quarters to a new set of quarters as it continued to watch the mortals. That was when it had entered the quarters belonging to one of the small mortals who was in the middle of a conversation with someone on the computer screen. The entity paid little attention to the conversation. The part that got it’s attention was the emotional feelings of the small mortal in question.
The space entity remembered the same emotions and feelings dripping from the two bigger mortals, that were older than this mortal. That was enough to pique its interest in the young mortal. The space entity could hardly believe that such a small creature could inhibit such emotions and feelings as the bigger ones. It could detect her heart rate that seemed to increase, and it couldn’t quite explain the thoughts it was sensing from the girl.
The entity couldn’t detect what the person on the other end of the computer was thinking or feeling, but a closer examination told the entity that the mortal on the other side was approximately the same age. It decided to examine and remain through the course of the conversation. It seemed that all mortals were capable of this, not just the larger ones but the smaller ones too.==
Paige had told Hayden about Ashley the second time they’d had any time together in person. She also talked about Ashley quite frequently whenever she could use the communications system on board the ship to talk to him. It was rare that she had a moment, and keeping Hayden a secret from her father over the past three months was a challenge.
“She’s doing okay,” Paige said and frowned, “Did I tell you what happened?”
=/\=Hayden shook his head, “You didn’t,” He answered her.=/\=
Paige figured she’d not mentioned it, the event was rather recent and Paige couldn’t remember if she’d really spoken to Hayden since then. “Her parents died in a shuttle accident on Earth recently. Her sister is one of the officers on board, that’s how Ashley ended up here.” Paige felt a pang of sorrow filling her up as she thought about it.
=/\=Hayden sighed and shook his head slowly, “Tell her I’m sorry to hear that.” He told Paige. Hayden hadn’t met Ashley in person before, but as much as Paige had spoken about the other girl over the past three months he could tell they were friendly. He then heard a voice from behind him, “Coming Mom,” He rolled his eyes and looked at Paige again. “Sorry my Mom needs something.”=/\=
“Oh it’s okay,” Paige answered him. “I probably should get off here anyway,” She said and waved, “Goodbye Hayden.” She then watched the screen change to the standard Federation logo before she’d reached up and turned it off completely. Paige turned around and took a deep breath, thankful that her father was busy. Now she needed to go find Ashley and check up on her friend.