Calling Home

Posted on 18 Dec 2023 @ 8:31am by Lieutenant JG Lisald Vaat

1,404 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Shoreleave

ON:

Lisald hung his uniform up next to the others in his closet, making sure to evenly space the hanger between its neighbors before stepping back and looking at them. Once upon a time, he only kept seven in there, one for each day. However, there were now two extra in there. One of them was teal like most of the rest, except it had only one pip on it. It was his uniform from when he was an Ensign. The other was yellow and held the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade, his current rank. That uniform was from his time when he was Chief Operations Officer, a reminder of a bad decision, a decision that nearly cost him his life.

He slid the closet door shut softly, then made his way over to his desk and computer terminal. Sitting down, he started to call up the computer screen, but instead stood back up and went over to the replicator. "Water, eight degrees celcius," he ordered, not with reluctance to make the call, but because he was genuinely thirsty, and simply forgot it. The replicator lit up and whirred for a moment before materializing his request. Taking the glass, he made his way back over to his desk and sat down, taking a sip as he did so.

A few moments later, the call was ringing. He waited with a bit of excitement, as well as apprehension. Not that this call was ever anxiety-inducing, nor that he ever had cause for this call to feel apprehensive, yet here he was, and he knew why. The screen changed, his mothers face filling the screen.

"My sweet Vaat! What a lovely surprise," she beamed at him, her smile radiant and infectious.

"Hello, Mom. Sorry it's been a while. How have you been?"

The Matriarch smiled at her son. "Always the considerate one, you have been, Vaat. I've been fine. Your father and I were out in the garden just shortly ago planting the Tala Reed bushes. You know how much I love the smell of those when they bloom in the spring." Lisald nodded in response. She continued, unabated. "You really did just call at the right time. We had just come in to get some tea. Your dad is in the other room, but will be back in a moment." She switched topics as quickly and deftly as any female of any sentient species was able to do. "How are things going on your ship? Have you made Captain, yet," she teased.

Vaat rolled his eyes with exaggeration. This was a game they now played. At first, she was serious, but once she learned that wasn't exactly how Starfleet worked, she had backed off. "Actually, I made Commodore just last week, but I gave it up and turned command back over to Captain Bane and Lieutenant Commander Bast," he retorted back. He was rewarded with a chuckled and a smile, his mother clasping her hands in glee under her busom. Then confusion supplanted the smile.

"Who is Lieutenant Commander Bast?"

Lisald told her of Lieutenant Commander Larsen being reassigned to a facility as Executive Officer, some far off and distant outpost that Lisald had never heard of, would likely never visit, and probably would not be able to name, even if a Nausicaan held a phaser rifle to his head. He went on to tell her that Lieutenant Bast had been the officer that replaced him as Chief Operations Officer after Vaat had been seriously wounded, and had since been promoted to command.

"Does that mean if you had stayed in that position, that you would be in command now? Like, literally?"

Vaat laughed. "Not a chance!"

His mother smiled with his laugh. She so loved to hear it. It was literally music to her ears, but she was still curious. "Why not? Weren't you on the command track or some such?"

She knew exactly what she was saying, and how to say it, and Vaat knew she knew. "Yeeess," he said, slowly, drawing out the word, formulating his next words carefully. "I am only a Lieutenant, junior grade. Technically a junior officer still." He saw that she was about to speak up, but he continued over her, not out of disrespect, but to answer the questions he knew she was about to ask. "Yes, I know I was Chief of Science, and then Chief of Operations, but in both of those cases, it was an unusual move by Captain Stafford." He saw her confused look. "Er, that was the Captain before Captain Bane. There were personnel shortages, and I was only acting in those positions until a senior-ranking officer came aboard. I likely would have been shunted back to Science anyways had I not been hurt when Lieutenant Commander Bast came aboard."

She nodded, then continued. "You know your Captain Bane was Executive Officer at your rank, right?" Clearly she had been doing research on some of the key people onboard his ship.

Lisald leaned back heavily in his chair. "Bless the Prophets, mom...oh, hey Dad," he said, his dad just coming into the view of the screen. The elder Lisald smiled and nodded once at him. "Mom, those were very different times, and the Dominion War was raging. Officers of his quality were needed in command positions, and I am nowhere near his quality."

"Don't sell yourself short. I'd bet an entire case of Riguellian Cigars that you are every bit as good as he is," Vaat's Dad, the elder Lisald, interjected.

The junior Lisald leaned forward, his elbows on the desk, and pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed. Removing his hand and opening his eyes, he responded, "Oh no. I can tell you unequivocally that I am not the quality officer that Captain Bane is, Dad, Mom. For one, he has decades of experience under his belt. I have two years. Secondly, he served with distinction in the Dominion War and fought to free Bajor from the Occupation. He is head and shoulders above the quality that I am. I am only, and ever only want to be, an Archaeologist. I am not interested in commanding starships, or leading people. I want to play in the dirt," he said, a twinkle in his eye, denoting he was teasing about minimizing the level of work that an Anthropologist did.

The elder Lisald started to protest, but the Matriarch put her hand gently on his shoulder, staving off a rebuttal. "Well, Captain Bane seems to be an outstanding officer, and an excellent Bajoran. And you are without a doubt the best Anthropologist on your ship," she said.

Vaat smiled big at that. Yes, yes he was the best on this ship. Nobody, not even Vaat himself, could argue that. This gave the opening that Lisald was looking for. "The ship is at Deep Space 9 for crew rotation and resupply. The Captain and First Officer have granted shoreleave for the next several days to most of the crew. I'd like to come visit, if that is ok by you two," he said. Both of his parents' faces lit up and exclaimed their absolute delight in having Vaat come visit for a day or two. Vaat smiled at their happiness, and suddenly had a powerful pang of homesickness. He was glad to be going home, even for a day or two. Then he dropped the other part of the reason for the call, the part that was giving him a bit of apprehension. "Mom, Dad, I've met someone."

His mother gasped, his father smiled, both of them clearly pleased. "That is great, honey! What is her name? Where is she from? Does she serve on your ship?"

Vaat had to smile at the rapid-fire of questions. "Her name is Raviran, but she goes by Ravi. She is from Bajor, and yes, she serves on this ship. She was recently promoted to Full Lieutenant and made Chief Medical Officer. You guys remember Dr. Elodin Devan, right? She took over for him."

"Oooh, a physician! I am excited to meet her," his mother said, rubbing shoulders with her husband, a look that only a parent has on their face when meeting their child's love interest for the first time. "Are you planning on bringing her along so we can meet her?"


OFF

Lieutenant junior grade Lisald Vaat
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Cygnus

 

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