Things just got weird.

Posted on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 @ 1:26am by Commodore Jane Saulitis & Hak

Mission: For Whom The Bell Tolls
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD 04 06:40 Hours
740 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Hak was used to getting up before Jane. During the entire stay aboard the Majestic, he managed to keep his usual routine from home: up at 0500 hours, dress, and steathily slip out for an eight mile run on the holodeck without waking his bride. This morning went exactly as planned.

Except this time he burst into a room almost an hour and a half later, perspiration still matting his hair across his forehead and a PADD tucked securely into the crook of his arm. "Jane! Dear, gods. You are not going to believe this."

Jane had woken up, showered and gotten dressed and was just sitting down at the table for some coffee and breakfast when Hak burst into the room. She nearly spilled the coffee down the front of herself and set the cup down to stand up. She didn't think she'd ever seen Hak like this. "What's the matter?"

"Mom left me a message last night that she wanted to have breakfast with us today, so I thought I would see if she's up yet," he said, then handed her a PADD with a gridded view of the deck around her guest quarters. "Do you see the issue?"

She blinked and looked down at what he was showing her. A slow smile spread across her face. "Looks like your mom might have had a little fun last night. Maybe had a little too much to drink, brought a friend home with her. Your dad's been gone a long time. It was bound to happen eventually."

Hak frowned for a moment. His mother was a very open, gregarious person -- that wasn't his issue at all. "Uh, no, Jas, did you see who she's with?"

Jane raised her eyebrows, took a sip of her coffee and looked at the the image again. She coughed, spraying Hak and then gasped for air. She looked at him mortified. "God, I'm sorry Hak. That can't be him. My dad and your mom?" She seemed to lose her voice.

"How does that even..." Hak crossed his arms and shook his head, clearly disturbed by the mental imagery the speculation was bringing about. "Can't we just send them all home yet yet?"

"There aren't any other starships in range to pick them up easily and the only other alternative is some freighter. Can you see your mother traveling that way? Besides, we'd have to put them all on the same ship and I don't think that solves the problem." Jane reached for him. "It might be some kind of misunderstanding, there could be a perfectly innocent explanation." She knew she was grasping at straws as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'll make you a deal. You go talk to my dad and I'll handle your mom?"

"Deal. And you know I got the better arrangement out of that," Hak kissed her on the cheek as he pulled her closer in the embrace. "We can absolutely put her on that freighter, but that may trigger an intergalactic incident."

"True, and I don't need any of those on my hands. See, I think I got the better deal. Your mom likes me and she'll probably be perfectly bluntly honest about things, as is her custom. But at least I won't have to hear about it from my dad."

Hak gave a nod as he pulled away a bit. "I suppose. Just remember that whatever we learn, we can't unhear. There's no putting Pandora back in her box. We may come out of this changed people."

Jane giggled. It was most un-Jane like but she'd never worried about being herself around Hak, he knew when she was pretending and she had found his comment rather amusing. "I think we'll survive, no matter what is thrown at us. We'll endeavor to struggle on in this cruel world. I'll put on a brave face and casually bring it up in conversation with your mother. She'll see me coming a mile away though."

"I'm sure she already knows," Hak whispered conspiratorially and rolled his eyes before heading toward the restroom. "Okay. Shower and then I need to figure out where I'm going to ambush your dad."

"Good luck," she gave him a kiss and let him move away. This was certainly a weird development but she thought for now that things were still going to be okay.

Hak
Traumatized Manchild

Captain Jane Sualitis
Commanding Officer