Father and Daughter

Posted on Mon Dec 28, 2015 @ 4:22pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Civilian Aleczandra Naqiis-Ryan

1,660 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Security Office
Timeline: MD 6/1130

Caleb sat at his desk. The wood and glass box he kept on his desk, the one in which he kept the pearl-handled pair of ancient Colt .45 Peacemakers was open and he held one of the silvered, ancient weapons in his hand, staring at it. Of course, he didn’t have any ammunition for the piece – though that wouldn’t take much to replicate – nor would he ever want to fire the weapons passed down in his family from some ancestor that served on the Texas frontier as a ranger. He kept his ancestor’s Winchester rifle on the wall back in his quarters. But Caleb felt if he had the ancient weapon in his hand he wouldn’t be as tempted to pull out his phaser again.

Caleb looked up as his door chime sounded. “Your daughter’s here, sir,” Jessica said, poking her head in.

Caleb nodded. “Send her in,” he told his desk attendant, sitting up straight and turning back to his desk. He was just putting the Peacemaker back into the display case when Aleczandra flounced in wearing her blue minidress school uniform.

“Uh-oh!” Aleczandra grinned impishly, pushing a stray strand of rainbow hair back behind her ear. “Last time I saw you playing with Grampy’s old guns was when Bobby Mitchell kissed me out behind the barn.”

Zandra flopped down into the chair across the desk. “What did you want? I’m totally missing lunch right now,” she pointed out. “Thanks for getting me out of lit early, though. I can only take so much classical Bolian epic poetry!”

Caleb didn’t say anything, simply locked up the case. Zandra read the tension in her father’s body. “What?” she asked, growing more serious.

“Why didn’t ya tell me what happened on the Ferengi ship, Zandy?” Caleb asked, his dark eyes looking up at her.

Oh, shit, Zandra thought. She took a breath. “Look, Daddy, it was…nothing. Nothing happened…”

“NOTHING HAPPENED!” Caleb roared, rearing out of his seat, towering over his teenage daughter.

Aleczandra instinctively cowered back. “I mean…”

“Under-Ambassador Nazl takes advantage of you an’ ya say it’s nothing?”

Zandra bristled and stood up. She couldn’t match her father’s height, but she wouldn’t place herself at a disadvantage by remaining seated.

“It was nothing! Nothing happened!” Aleczandra insisted. “It was just some oo-max.”

“Just…just some oo-max!” Caleb spluttered, aghast. “Just…where did ya even learn oo-max!”

Aleczandra looked sheepish. “Kinony,” she admitted reluctantly. She didn’t want to explain what had really happened.

“Kinony…” Caleb rubbed his face tiredly. The day wasn’t even half over and he wanted it done. His leg throbbed with pain. “Right…” Caleb knew of his wife’s past lives, one of which, Kinony, had been a high class escort, running a black book pleasure service for the rich and influential on Trill, as well as foreign dignitaries. More than a prostitute, Kinony was a back-room dealmaker, smoothing negotiations over business mergers and diplomatic squabbles, and more than once helping secure Trill’s place in the galactic community. On Earth, Caleb knew, in the ancient past, she might have been a geisha.

While Kinony had definitely made Caleb’s married life more…interesting, she had also been one of the biggest hurdles when he tried to reassert his relationship with Mika after her Joining. Before, Mika had been a quiet, even shy, science nerd. When she returned from Trill, she was much more flirtatious and overly friendly, a totally different person. It had let to more than one incident of fisticuffs from the jealous Caleb until they’d had to have a frank discussion. They had even broken up for a time.

Caleb took a breath and forced himself to remain calm. “Tell me what happened, Zandy-bear,” he said, pushing his chair into his desk and pacing his office.

Aleczandra scowled at the childish nickname but let it slide, glad her father was calm again. She pushed back her rainbow hair and said, “The station was shaking apart. I was with my class, trying to get everyone from the school safely off. The life rafts in the school section were full. We put most of the little kids and the teachers on board with them and the rest of my class headed to the docks. Ships were filling up fast with civilians I thought we would have better luck if we bypassed the public docks and went to the restricted area. Security was stretched thin, and with the evacuation order they just wanted to get us off the station. The Ferengi ship was the only one available. I know Ferengi. I knew I didn’t have any money to offer, but I did know oo-mox, so I made a deal.”

Caleb stared out his window at the new planet below them as he listened, his heart aching. His little girl was growing up too fast!

Aleczandra shifted in her seat. “If we’re going to get mad about something, how about you sending in an all-out assault?” she demanded.

Caleb winced.

“Part of the reason for the oo-mox was so the Ferengi would keep the rescue fee reasonable!” Zandra said. “I kept it as low as possible, a strip of latinum each. Every one of our parents could have afforded that! Hell, Starfleet could have paid that out of petty cash! Instead, you send in a bunch of thugs with phasers blasting!”

“Zandy, Ah—“

“Don’t call me Zandy!” she snapped. She took a breath to calm herself. “Look, you’re lucky Ambassador Qinee is reasonable – for a Ferengi. A hell of a lot more reasonable than any Ferengi I’ve dealt with before.”

Caleb turned and arched an eyebrow at his daughter. Zandra waved it off. “Kinony…” she explained. “If rubbing some alien’s earlobes is the price to get everyone home safe, it was worth it.” She didn’t explain that it had gone a bit beyond that when Kinony took over. “I made sure Nazl was satisfied.”

She realized that was the wrong thing to say by the look on her father’s face and she raised a hand placatingly. “I didn’t mean it that way,” she sighed. “Bargain was struck, contract was kept. You taught me to keep my word,” she reminded him.

“Ah did,” he said, “but also not ta give your word lightly.”

“It wasn’t given lightly,” Zandra said seriously. “I knew full well what I was doing. I was getting those kids to safety.”

Caleb came around his desk and pulled his daughter into a hug. “Ah’m so sorry this happened, Zandy-bear,” he said. “You’re growin’ up too fast…”

Aleczandra squeezed her eyes shut, her body relaxing into her father’s embrace as she buried her face into his chest, shaking very slightly. “I stopped being a child the moment mom died, Daddy,” she sniffed.

Caleb’s voice choked. “An’ that was mah fault, too,” he said, guilty.

Zandra shook her head. “You didn’t know. You did what you had to. I know that.” She slid her arms around him, returning his embrace, feeling her mother inside of her, the familiarity of his arms around her. She turned her head up and cupped his cheek, gazing into his anguished dark eyes.

Caleb stared back into those eyes, so familiar, just like her mother’s. He was taken aback when Aleczandra’s lips brushed over his. They both stepped away, flustered. Caleb rattled some padds on his desk and Zandra smoothed her dress and pushed her rainbow hair behind her ear.

“Ah still intend ta make a complaint with Ambassador Qinee,” Caleb said. “Ah’ll try not to throw Nazl out an airlock.”

Aleczandra gave a wry laugh. “Good luck,” she said. “Qinee is pissed as hell about you assaulting her people.”

Caleb scowled. “That was the Captain’s call,” he said. “Not mine. Ah wasn’t even given the assignment,” he said with annoyance.

“But you’re the security chief,” Zandra pointed out. “It’s your head that is likely to roll.”

“She was holdin’ ya’ll hostage!”

“For a very cheap price!” Aleczandra reminded. “A situation that could have been resolved without violence for petty cash! I’m no diplomat, but I know enough from Kinony that you essentially instigated an act of war by assaulting foreign diplomatic soil,” Aleczandra reminded. “You press this issue, Daddy, you could just end up making things work. Let the diplomatic corps smooth this over,” she advised.

Zandra watched her father’s jaw work. He was stubborn, but he wasn’t unreasonable.

“We were in the wrong,” Caleb admitted. “Ah should have spoken out more against the assault plan. That’s on me. We were all overwhelmed.” He rubbed his face again. “Ah should have countermanded that order.”

Aleczandra nodded. “And I want to keep my name out of this as much as possible, daddy,” she said. “I mean, if you press this, then there might be questions, and people might discover my…condition.”

Caleb scowled. “Yes,” he had to agree. Ah’ll try ta be…discreet.”

Aleczandra gave a wry smile. “Not a term I’d use to describe you,” she teased him.

Caleb returned the wry smile. “All Ah can do is mah best.”

Zandra laughed and picked up her bag. “We cool, then, Daddy?” she asked. “Because I really want to grab something from the replimat and don’t want to be late for quantum physics.”

Caleb waved her away. “Go,” he said. “Ah’ll see ya tonight. What do ya want for dinner?”

“Tacos,” Zandra said, turning for the door.

“An’ get that lit grade up!” he told her as she left.

FIN

Lt. Cmdr. Caleb Ryan
Chief of Security

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

Aleczandra Naqiis-Ryan
Civilian
NPC Caleb Ryan

 

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