Reassignment, Part II

Posted on Fri Jun 15th, 2012 @ 4:46pm by Lieutenant Hamish MacGregor & Ensign Jeanette MacGregor

906 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Subjugation
Location: USS Starseeker

ON

"Now that we know, at least, where we're going, don't you think it's time to tell Leanne?" Jeanette asked Hamish.

He had feared that question. He knew that, of course, the answer wasn't, and couldn't be, anything but "yes". They were only a week away from Typhon, and they could hardly just confront her with it the day they got there. Hamish just silently nodded, and attempted to change the subject:

"I don't understand why we're being mothballed anyway, frankly." he commented. "Yes, the Starseeker is Ambassador-class, but so is the Jefferson, and I hear that just got commissioned a short while ago."

"Don't ask me, honey. I'm an alien specialist, not command staff. My best guess would be that this ship is more battered than the Jefferson, and it's more useful to scrap it for parts than to keep it running. You know how much Engineering's been complaining, they've never run out of major things to fix since the day we got here!"

"Maybe it's our fault. We're a curse." Hamish said with a laugh. Jeannette didn't quite appreciate that joke, for whatever reason.

They walked into the turbolift, and got out a few decks below. "Speak of the devil." Hamish said in a joking tone as they walked past an enlisted engineer who was welding a bulkhead in the corridor.

Silently walking, they soon arrived in their quarters. Sitting there, in their quarters, apart from the fast asleep cat of course, was Leanne. Not too much of a surprise, they had expected her to be out of school, but usually at this time she would be playing with her friends, not sitting alone and seemingly melancholic in their quarters.

"Anything the matter, sweetie-pie?" Jeanette asked her daughter, crouching down in order to be at a face level with her.

"Is it true what my friends at school are saying?" Leanne asked her mother, who just stared blankly at the question.

"Well, what are they saying?" asked Hamish, also slowly crouching down.

"We have to move, don't we. From the Starseeker." Leanne responded with the sad puppy-eyed face Hamish couldn't bear seeing.

"I'm not going to lie to you. We are, but -" Jeanette was interrupted by Leanne.

"Then why, for heaven's sake, did you not tell me?! All the other parents obviously did, just you didn't! Why?!" she shouted.

"We've been over this, you don't shout at us, Leanne." Hamish told his daughter. "Calm down, and we'll explain."

Leanne made a start for the door into the corridor, but Hamish gently but forcefully grabbed her arm. "No you don't, Missy. Calming down is not the same thing as running across the ship throwing a tantrum. Sit back down!" Hamish didn't raise his voice, but his tone was a clear message to Leanne that he wasn't just giving in to her. Instead, she looked puppy-eyed at her mother.

"No, Leanne, your father is right. We can either discuss this peacefully, and like grown-ups, or you can go to bed right now. Your choice." Jeanette told her daughter.

"Fine, maman. Go ahead and explain." She was still visibly and audibly annoyed at her parents' behaviour, but at least she wasn't in an enraged state of tantrum, which was a start.

"We heard about the mothballing of the Starseeker ourselves just three days ago. At the time, we decided we weren't going to tell you about it," - Leanne tutted - "let me finish, sweetie - we weren't going to tell you about it until we knew where we were going. And we were just told."

"What dump are we going to, then?"

"Not a dump, sweetie, now be reasonable. The USS Calypso, it's a Galaxy-class vessel, which means it's larger, friendlier, and probably has more children. You'll make plenty of new friends." Hamish explained.

"How do you know I'll like those kids? Or they'll like me? And I don't even want to make new friends, I want to keep my old ones!"

"And you can. What do you think the subspace network is for?" Hamish asked with a smile, trying to get her to cheer up.

"But what if they forget about me?"

"They won't. And if they will, it means they've made new friends, which means you'll make new friends too. Wo Schatten ist, da ist auch Licht."

"Where there is shadow, there is light? Explain, dad?"

"It's an old German saying. You can't have shadow without there being light, because otherwise it's just...well, it's nothing, you have nothing to distinguish it from. It means that whenever something bad happens, there's a silver lining, a light at the horizon that you can hold on to."

"Makes sense...I think."

"It does, doesn't it? You're overthinking things far too much. Just see how it goes on the Calypso before you make hasty judgments." There it was, she smiled. That's all he wanted to accomplish. "Now what do you say, ladies, Sauerbraten or Spaghetti alla Ammatriciana?"

"Sauerbraten." they responded in unison.

"Sauerbraten it is." He took out his cooking equipment, replicated the ingredients and began making the dish. He was genuinely certain that his daughter would love the Calypso, and didn't worry about it further.

OFF

Lt. Hamish MacGregor
Assistant Chief Operations Officer (outgoing)
USS Starseeker (to be mothballed)

&

Ens. Jeanette MacGregor
Science Officer (outgoing)
USS Starseeker (to be mothballed)
[portrayed by MacGregor]

&

Leanne MacGregor
Civilian/Dependent
USS Starseeker (to be mothballed)
[portrayed by MacGregor]

 

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