A Father's Pride, Part 2
Posted on Sun Mar 28th, 2021 @ 6:53pm by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Sublieutenant Miles Lynn & Major Ashley Rogers
3,005 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: The Lynn Residence, Kozan, Cera
Timeline: 238702.14
It had been a busy day on the Ourainavassa. Now that the repairs to the ship's computer core, which had taken considerable damage during the Battle at the Faraday Nebula, were complete, she had begun to recompile and decrypt the data copied from the enemy Bird-of-Prey. So far, she had not learned much beyond ordinary details of the vessel's daily operation, but she was convinced she would discover more, in time. Miles, meanwhile, had been working closely with his girlfriend, the Orion engineer Sari, in restoring full helm controls, even incorporating some minor upgrades intended to improve the ship's response time to helm input. The day's work, however, was completed, and it was time to honour their father's invitation.
As he had promised, Professor Lynn had arranged for Munin to have one-time clearance to land on the surface, and so the twins were waiting in the hangar bay for Ash to arrive. They had both decided to dress up a little for the occasion. Miles had donned some black slacks, and even wore a black tie with his by now trademark Starfleet jacket. Mila, on the other hand, had gone all-out on the CDF uniform, with a black skirt, leather boots, white blouse and black necktie complimenting her mother's uniform jacket. She had removed the CDF insignia from the blazer's left breast pocket, and replaced it with her rank insignia from the Ourainavassa, so as to not be found to be impersonating an officer of the Ceran military.
She looked at her brother and smiled. "It's been good to see dad again, hasn't it?" Miles nodded. "Yes, it has. We never really thought about what we were doing to them, did we. And mama... I wish we had said goodbye properly." Mila put her hand on her brother's shoulder. "She would be so proud of you, you know that. We will ask dad to take us to her grave." She gave a sad smile, and showed him what she had held in her closed hand the whole time. It was her mother's CDF badge. "I want to give this back to her."
Sensing that her brother was still struggling with the news of their mother's passing, Mila decided to switch the subject. "You know, we never asked him if Laika is still around," she said, hoping that mentioning the family dog might cheer him up. And, indeed, Miles smiled. "Who knows, I mean, she always has been ancient, hasn't she. I wouldn't be surprised if her old age finally caught up to her. Still, it would be great to see her again."
Ash made the effort to change out of her usual tactical attire and wore a nice button up shirt with slacks. She even threw on a simple black blazer to up her usual dress code a bit. Of course, it was also better to hide her sidearm and the knife she always kept in her boot. Intellectually, she knew it was dinner with the twins' father, but old habits die hard. She walked into the shuttlebay and into a conversation hopefully about a pet... "I take it Laika was a pet right? You guys ready to go?" She smiled at the two, "Miles, you can drive. I know you want to."
Mila nodded. "Hey Ash. Yeah, Laika is the family dog. Our dad named her, after the first animal sent into space from Earth, back in the 20th century."
Miles, meanwhile, had a wide grin on is face. "Nice way of saying 'you take the helm, since you know where we are going'. Right then, all aboard."
The home of the Lynn family was located on the outskirts of the city of Kozan, the administrative centre of the planet's smallest continent, and home to the Sunrider Institute, the highest-rated research establishment on the planet in the fields of bioengineeing and medical sciences. It was a fairly plain building from the outside, a simple, two-story house surrounded by a small garden, with a landing pad next to it.
Carefully, Miles set Munin down next to his father's personal hovercar. "Would you believe it, we're actually here," he remarked, as he opened the canopy of the small fighter.
Mila nodded. "Never thought I'd see this place again." She climbed out of the ship, followed by her brother. "Well, this is it. Nothing special, but it's always been home. Feels strange to be here again, I'm not going to lie."
The front door opened, and a cheerful-looking Professor Lynn beckoned his guests to enter. "Welcome home, Mila, Miles. And Major Rogers, welcome to our home." As he was speaking, the greying nose, and then the rest of a truly old-looking labrador appeared.
"Laika!," Miles almost screamed, as the dog began wagging her tail.
The Professor chuckled. "Every morning, she runs to your old bedrooms, hoping you'd be back. Looks like her wish has finally come true. Please, come in."
Ash had a wistful smile on her face as she watched the twins and their dog. While she was happy for Mila and Miles and their homecoming, Ash idly wondered what her's would be like if she ever found her way home. She turned her attention to the Professor, "Thank you for inviting me to your home. It's quite lovely."
The professor held up his hands. "Please, Major. This is just a humble house, nothing special. I could afford something far grander, but why would I? I live alone now, and even this house is too big for just me. Besides, it's my home."
Mila groaned. "Dad, can we please drop the formality already? If you keep doing it to Ash, you'll have to address me and Miles by our ranks, too."
Her dad chuckled. "Aye, Lieutenant," he replied, the last word steeped in sarcasm. "You are right though." He held out his hand towards Rogers. "Let's try this again. I'm Harald."
Ash smiled and shook the man's hand, "My friends call me Ash." She signed to Mila, Thanks, I don't think I could deal with being a proper official representative of the Ourainavassa any longer...
The Professor smiled. "Ash it is. And you were never here as an official representative of your crew, you are here as a friend to the family." An alert went off from within the house. "Ah, dinner is ready. Please, do come in before it gets cold. I hope you like seafood." He turned and went into the house.
Miles immediately followed him, and Mila looked at Ash. "Told you he understands sign. Now, let's go eat. I smell my dad's fish stew. If it is, you are in for a treat."
"I love seafood!" Ash called after Harald as he went into the house. She then looked at Mila with a smile, "So you did... guess I wanted to make a good impression with him."
She walked into the home and took in the decor. It was a modest home but well cared for. And the food smelled fantastic. "Harald, it smells amazing. I have to admit, being a friend of the family isn't usually a status I hold... you'll have to bear with me as I get used that that."
When Mila and Ash finally reached the combined kitchen and dining room, Miles and his father were already there, setting up the table. Once his guests had taken their seats, Harald retrieved a bottle of a light blue liquid from a small unit on the counter top, and poured for glasses. The drink was giving off wisps of steam. "This is ice mead," he explained. "A traditional beverage from Nygard, the planet I grew up on. It is said that when the original colonists arrived, they found a native species of bees that were mostly active in the winter. Their honey, when processed in the traditional way, produces a mead that, interestingly, feels colder the warmer it is served. Not an easy thing to come by out here, as it is only produced on that one planet, and Nygardians traditionally are not a very open people to off-world traders."
He handed a glass to each of his guests, and raised his own for a toast. "Let us drink to family, and to finally coming home. Major, sorry, Ash, thank you. Thank you for keeping my children safe and bringing them home. You will always be welcome in this house."
Ash raised her glass to the toast, "And thank you for your hospitality. I give you my word, on my life, that I will keep your children safe and that they will always be able to return home to you." She shot Mila a subtle look, hoping she'll never try to pull what she tried to on the boarding party ever again. "So... what were the twins like as kids? I'm dying to hear some embarrassing stories I can hold over them..."
"No way," Miles exclaimed, laughing. "At least, not before we've eaten."
The Professor nodded. "You make a good point, as you always have done. Especially when it comes to not waiting for food." He opened the lid of the pot in the centre of the table, and began to ladle stew onto the bowls before handing them out to everyone at the table. "I hope you enjoy. It was what I had planned to cook on the day you left. I am glad we finally get to have it."
After dinner, Harald and his guests moved to the lounge, a comfortable room with large windows on two sides, allowing generous view of the lush Ceran countryside around them. There was also a large bookcase in the room, full of old-fashioned paper books, and the other wall was lined with certificates and awards. In the centre of the room was a low table, surrounded by four comfortable, leather armchairs.
"So, Ash, I hope you enjoyed your taste of traditional Nygardian cuisine. And the ice mead, of course." Harald had brought another bottle, which was sat on the table, surrounded by four glasses. "So, you wanted to hear some stories? How about the first time our Miles here was at the helm of a hovercar? Which him and Mila decided to steal from the pad and go for a joyride in, if I might add."
Mila laughed. "Okay, yes, that's a good one." Miles, meanwhile, tried to make himself as small as possible and hide in his chair. "We were nine, okay? I didn't really know what I was doing," he said, in a defensive tone.
Ash partook in another glass of the ice mead and laughed and then looked at Miles with a raised eyebrow, "So... what happened during the joyride? I can see it... little nine year old Miles speeding a hover car around. Did you just have a need for speed... or were you trying to impress a girl?"
Mila burst out laughing as her brother turned bright red and sunk even deeper into the chair. "Little Miles, trying to impress a girl? His sister maybe, I was the only girl he would even talk to!"
The professor chuckled. "Well, yes, he was rather shy when he was young. No, he had been watching a lot of racing and reading about it and, well, Mila being the little genius she was then went and hacked into the hovercar's locks. But of course, nobody had told him about speed limits, or the laws of the road. They'd gotten about 80 kilometres away when they crashed and totalled the car."
Mila nodded. "Yeah, we'd hit speeds of about 120 metres per second, but we were on the wrong side of the road. So, when a truck came the other way, Miles hit the brakes and swerved. Right into an old temple. That was rather embarrassing."
"He blinded me with his headlights, I couldn't see a thing," Miles muttered from deep in the chair, to which Mila and their father burst out laughing. "Hey," Mila said. "I could see perfectly well were we were going, you should have too. Your bones are fucked, not your eyes."
Ash laughed and felt a little bad for the kid, but it did show the signs of the person he would grow up to be. "I did my fair share of questionable things as a child growing up too and even my time at Starfleet Academy..." she trailed off thinking about her best friend Jason and how he basically kept her out of trouble enough to graduate and she repaid him by being responsible for his death and the destruction of their ship years later.
She shook her head and continued, "I have a sister myself... I'm actually quite a bit older than her. We were close but not like you two are. She came crying one day because this older kid at school was picking on her... I may or may not have impersonated a Starfleet officer and falsely arrested the kid and scared the hell out of him by threatening to lock him in a brig for charges I made up that must have sounded scary as hell to an 8 year old. So while I didn't crash a hover car, I definitely violated some laws." Now she idly wondered if things like that was what the Section clued in on when they recruited her...
Ash then turned her attention to Mila, "Now I'm sure you've gotten yourself into trouble as a kid..."
Mila held up her hands. "Oh, no. I was the absolute picture of good behaviour. That time I helped Miles go on his little joyride was the only time."
Her brother chuckled. "Right. What about the time you reprogrammed our school's replicators so that everything they produced tasted like bananas? Or when you hacked the teacher's computer to give that girl you had a crush on better grades? Or when you made the school bells go off an hour early so we could all go home? Do you want me to continue?"
His sister went almost as red as Miles had done before. Harald shook his head. "I never knew any of this!"
"Well," Miles responded. "She is a little genius after all. She never got caught doing any of those things. Not a single time. Impressive, really."
Now Ash raised an eyebrow at Mila, "I'm not sure what that says about me or about you that none of that surprises me. And I think if you tried the banana trick on the Ourainavassa, Renee would lose her mind." She then winked and signed, We can talk about that later. Ash looked over at Harald, "Your kids are now using their skills to help people and to save lives... I think they turned out pretty well."
The professor nodded. "I should certainly hope so. And they appear to have found a good mentor in yourself. Now, I don't know much about you or your past, and I do not want to know. What I see here before me is a good, caring person, who will do all she can to protect those important to her. I know the work you do will force you to do unsavoury things from time to time, but I also know that that does not define who you are. If you were a bad person at heart, these two would not have taken to you as they obviously have."
Ash smiled at Harald, "Mila tells me the same thing all the time. But you should really know more about me.... I was a Starfleet officer and a Section 31 operative. I was an assassin and a very good one. I've spent time as a prisoner of war and also in a Federation prison, for both crimes I did commit and those I didn't. I have done a lot of unsavory things in my past and sometimes they come back to haunt me. I know you didn't need to know this, but you should know who your children are spending their time with and who you've invited into your home. And while you all seem to have faith in me... sometimes I don't."
Harald shook his head. "Ash, everyone has a past. And everyone has a present, and a future. You may regret your past, but you have to move on. Learn your lessons from what you have done and experienced, but do not let it cloud your judgements. You are good person, even if you yourself don't believe it."
He glanced up at the chronometer. "Oh dear, 9:65 already? It's getting close to midnight! I think you should get back to your ship, no?"
Mila chuckled and checked the chronometer on her wrist. "Yeah, it's about 2300 ship's time. Cera runs on decimal time," she explained. "Ten hours in the day, ten days in the week, four weeks to the month, ten months to the year. It matches its day cycle better than a 24-hour system. But it can be confusing as hell for offworlders who aren't used to it. 100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and so on."
Ash rubbed her head, "Between the Commander and now this... I am done with anything involving time...."
Miles laughed. "Don't break your head over it. But yeah, we definitely should be going. Thanks for dinner, dad. It's been good to come back here."
Harald smiled. "Yes, it has been good to see you. I don't know off the top of my head how it translates into your calendar, but Liberation Day, our main holiday, is on 9/3-9. It's not that far away. You are very much invited to come visit again then."
Mila did the math in her head. "Ninth month, third week, ninth day. That would be, 238704.21 for us. We will be there if we can, dad, but I won't make any promises."
"Of course. I understand how things are in your line of work." Harald got up. "Now, go, and remember that I am so very proud of you."
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