"First Flower"

Inara had never seen land in her four years of life. She'd been born on the starship, and lived there ever since, but now, on the eve of her fourth birthday, the ship was finally returning to it's home planet. On the day of her birth Inara was finally going to set foot on real land, feel the earth beneath her toes and the wind in her hair. She was so excited she could not even sleep.

"Mommy, is it tomorrow yet?" She would call from her bedroom to her mother, who was packing their things for the trip.

"Not yet honey." Her mother would reply. "Tomorrow will come much faster if you sleep."

"I know mommy. How much longer?"

"Go to sleep honey."

Finally Inara slept. When she awoke they were on the shuttle bound for the planets surface. Looking out the window she was greeted with the sight of a fluffy white blanket, getting closer and closer and then they were enveloped in gray mist, condensation building on the windows, then, suddenly, they were through the cloud barrier. The ground rose to meet them, patches of colored land as far as she could see.

"Mommy look! It looks just like the blanket you made me last year!" She crammed her little nose against the window.

"I know honey, I made it from what I could remember of this view. This is what I saw when I was pregnant with you and we were first joining the starship. I wanted to be sure you would always know what home looked like." Her mother smiled over her head at her father, both nostalgic at the memory.

"Are we staying her forever mommy?" The little girl asked, her nose still firmly pressed against the window.

"Not this time sweetie, this is just a today visit. But we will be coming here to live soon." Her father gave her mother's hand a hopeful squeeze. Inara kept her nose pressed firmly against the window for the rest of the flight.

When the shuttle landed, Inara did her very best to remain calm and walk slowly beside her parents, a habit she had had to learn on board the starship due to limited space and patience with children, until they reach the visitor's park. The park was bursting with flowers in full bloom, the grass was lush and there were childrens toys galore. Families played on the open green, couples lounged on blankets in the shade of the trees, and joggers ran through the bountiful flower gardens.

Inara danced impatiently, running back and forth between her parents until her father laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Go play Inara! You're driving me crazy! You're mother and I will set our blanket out over there."

Inara squeeled and clapped her hands with delight, and then tore her shoes off and ran onto the grass where she promptly dove face first into the ground.

"Inara!" her father called, "Are you alright?"

She giggled and rolled around on the grass.

"What is it daddy?! It's prickly and tickles! It smells funny!" She rolled onto her stomache and grabbed fistfuls of grass, burying her nose and breathing deeply. "I like it! Can we take some back with us?"

Her father laughed uproariously. "No, no grass Inara, but perhaps we shall bring back a flower to grow. Would you like to have a flower Inara? You would have to take are of it, it's a big resposibility for a little girl."

"Oh daddy YES PLEASE, PLEASE can I have a flower, PLEASE can I daddy? I promise I'll take care of it and be good and it will never ever die! PLEASE mommy, PLEASE daddy?"

They laughed, "We'll see Inara."

She rolled over onto her back and lay in the grass for a long time, content to let the smells and sounds soak in, feeling the coolness of the earth on her back. Suddenly she sat bolt upright.

"Mommy... What's a flower?" She asked inquisitively.

"Well Inara, do you see those plants with the bright colors over there?" The little girl nodded. "Those are flowers."

Inara's little face scrunched up as she contemplated this, and then her eyes grew wide and she broke into a radiant grin.

"I get to have one of THOSE?!" She cried, clapping her hands to her face in an expression of utter delight. She jumped up and raced over to the flower beds, carefully scrutinizing each flower, her brow furrowing in concentration.

"I'm going to pick the VERY BEST flower mommy, so you'll know what one to get me!" She started to wander into the garden.

"Alright darling, but don't go far, we will be having supper soon." Inara's mother began unpacking the picnic basket as her father settled in to a comfortable spot on the grass to read. Inara soon returned, clutching a beautiful snow white flower with hundreds of petals in her hand.

"Inara," Her mother scolded, "You are not supposed to take things without permission!"

"But I didn't mommy! Honest! There was a nice lady pulling ugly plants out of the ground and I told her that I was getting one for my birthday and I asked her to please watch the flower for me so it didn't go away while I went and got mommay and daddy to show them and she just cut it off and gave to to me. Honest!" Inara relayed this message with such intense sincerity that it was almost comical.

Her parent's hid their grins. "That was very kind of her. Did you remember to thank her?"

"Yes mommy."

"Well, sit down and eat then so we can play before it's time to head back."

So they ate and played and when the time came to head back to the ship Inara's father went to go purchase a plant while her mother securely stowed their luggage. Then she tucked the cut flower into her daughter's hands.

"Now, make sure you hold on to this and take good care of it, don't lose it or smush it and when we get back I'll show you how to dry it."

She smiled at her daughter and gently squeezed her shoulders.

"Your first flower."

--------------------------------------- Happy ending (Warning, do not read further if you prefer happy endings.)

On board the shuttle Inara's mother showed her how to place a label on the flower.

"You see this tag Inara?"

"Yes Mommy, that's the paper Daddy puts on the clothes... right?"

"Yes Inara, these are cargo tags, but for right now we are going to label your flower. Do you remember your letters?"

"Yes Mommy."

"Well then, let's get this labeled. My..... First.... Flower. There, all do- AH!"

Inara's mother cried out as the shuttle shook with sudden violence, nearly throwing her out her her seat. She righted herself, it was turbulance, just turbulance. The craft shuddered again. Maybe it was just really bad turbulance.... Then the emergency light came on and the pilot's voice came over the com.

"Attention passengers, we are having some slight difficulty with the shuttlecraft. Please fasten your restraints and hold tight, we will have it under control momentarily."

The tension in the shuttle mounted exponentially and the ship once again quaked with great force as passengers scurried to fasten themselves in. Inara was the only child aboard this flight and she was very very frightened, but her daddy was calm and so she would be too. Her father reached over and fastened her seatbelt.

"Daddy," she whimpered quietly, "What's going on?"

"It's ok sweetheart. Everything will be ok, it's a little rough outside right now, but the pilot is a professional and he'll make it all right again." He wrapped his arms around his daughter for a moment, and then sat back in his seat.

The shuttle went dark and silent as the power completely failed, and then was filled with screams as it began to plummet from the sky.

Hours later the salvage crew was picking through the twisted wreckage of the shuttle. It had broken almost cleanly in half, spilling the front half of the passengers along the ground, intermingled with smoking debris. Parts of the hull were still on fire so the rescue team had to move slowly. A seperate medical team was preforming the futile task of emercengy medical procedures and checking for vitals signs. There were none.

The second half the shuttle was still intact, wedged against a rock face, the door to the rear passenger compartment blocked with rubble that had to be removed before the door could be pryed open to allow the rescue and medical teams through. As they forced the doors opened hundreds of snow white petals tumbled onto the ground. They were everywhere, little splashes of white in the dark.

After the rescue team had ascertained the relative safety of the interior the medical team stepped in and began to examine the bodies inside. The carnage was sickening. One of the medical officers noticed the small, ragged body, half hidden beneath a twisted pile of what used to be passenger seating and he began to dig her out.

"Sally, over here, a little girl, she looks like she might have been 3 or 4 years old."

Sally helped unbury the body and gently they turned her over. The still, lifeless body of Inara clutched a headless flower stem to her chest her small hands coiled tightly around it. There was a cargo tag dangling from the stem and Sally turned it over to read it. She and the other medical officer looked at each other, tears welling in their eyes. They dripped unashamedly onto the childs cold, lifeless face.

"It was her first flower."

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