“There’s something there that wasn’t there before.”  Doctor Jordan Reid stood beside Sadie Fowler, explaining what the examination had found.  Captain Dread had ordered it as a precaution.

Fowler blinked, her lips frozen in a surprised smile, “What does that even mean?”

Jordan wasn’t sure.  “Your DNA profile and spectrum analytics show additional…modifiers.  You can see here, and here…that was what it’s been showing since your medical dossier started with Starfleet.  Now, it’s showing these additional markers and modifiers….here and here.”  She walked the science chief through the report, adding, “There’s something else.”

Sadie glowered, ignoring Vocast’s voice in her head as much as she could. “I don’t like where this is going, Jord.”

Reid pursed her lips, “We ran your new DNA profile through the system.  You and Vocast have similarities – not enough to suggest a close relation, but enough to correlate a connection.”  She slid a screen over and tabbed to Fowler’s dossier, “The records of your parents are spotty at best, but we managed to get someone in Shelter Island who’s been keeping meticulous records for a long time.  They pulled your parent’s files.”

Fowler felt her face flush, “I was told those files didn’t exist.  They’d…been removed or lost or something.”

Jordan put her hand gently on her friend and coworker’s shoulder, “They probably were – from what little this person would tell me, they were the ones that removed them in the early 2380s.”  She steeled herself for the next revelation, “Something happened in and around Shelter Island, New York in the 2370s and 80’s…and not just to you.  I think it somehow relates to Vocast, at least…related somehow.”  The unsettled glance from Fowler pushed Reid to continue, “The woman I spoke with is El Aurien, and she was drawn to that part of the state for a reason she couldn’t articulate.  She worked at a few neighborhood preschools and noticed families going missing and children being abandoned.  One died.  That’s when she started investigating on her own.  It was about one every year.  You were in 2382, at four years old.”

Sadie sat back in the chair, shocked.  “How many were abandoned?”

Reid tapped at the PADD, “Eight, including the one that didn’t make it.”

“So there are six others like me…what are we?”  She wasn’t sure what to think.

“You’re human. Your parents…were not.”  She tapped at the display. As far as the records and DNA samples that our El Aurien stole, they were an unknown humanoid race.  Her list includes eight couples that abandoned children over ten years.  She’s been unable to trace the parents.  The children, she’s having more luck.  Four of the six are in Starfleet, one works as a merchant operator, and the last…that’s another thing.”

Fowler stared at her, “Is he the devil incarnate?  Is he on a mission to kill the rest of us? At this point, I don’t know what to think.”  She put her head in her hands for a moment of relief, eventually looking back up, asking, “What is the other thing?”

Reid replied, “He’s your brother.”

Sadie was as confused as ever, “Blood-related?  As in…actual brother?”  Reid nodded.  “How…if my parents weren’t my parents…what is he then?”

Jordan spelled it out, “He’s human as well.  Talking with our new friend, Geraldine…she thinks the parents were tasked with hiding you and the others like you – hiding you in plain sight must have worked for a short time.  Then something went wrong over ten years as either they left…or were taken…something happened to them. Somehow, the seven of you were spared.  The Sisters of Mercy took you in – that may have afforded you protection.  The others were similarly placed in safe places – how each of you ended up where you were remains a mystery to Geraldine.”  She shifted in her chair closer to Fowler, “This is a lot.”

“Your goddamned right it is.”  She worked on breathing as her mind processed at least the surface revelations about her past.  “What if a hunter was hunting these parents?  Working their way through Shelter Island and the surrounding area to find these…protectors of us?”

Jordan shook her head in shock, “It’s a possibility.  The people you all knew as your parents took great care to keep you safe and alive.  You meeting Vocast…that shared connection is more than just emotions.”

Sadie was still working through the pieces of her life puzzle, “But…we’re human, but share DNA markers with Vocast…but why?  Why protect us?  What do we offer?  What can we do?”

Jordan moved the screen away, “Geraldine’s answers only go so far.  She’s contacted the others, and they’ve agreed to meet and travel to Montana Station.  She thinks we’re going to find some answers out here.”

Fowler’s eyes stared at the floor, “I have a brother.  An orphan…with a brother.”  She pulled herself together and asked Jordan, “Do you think she’s right?  That we’ll find some answers out here?”

Reid replied, “In a universe of impossibilities, anything is possible.  Whatever is out there…I hope it brings you answers.”

“Me too, Jord.  Me too.”