The Red Rocks Of Home

Posted on 19 Feb 2014 @ 3:59am by Captain Jonathan Holliday

2,365 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Confederated Martian Colonies - Mars - Sol System
Timeline: MD44 - 1400hrs

[ON]

Sighing with relief as he brought the shuttlecraft in for it's final approach, Captain Holliday contemplated his last few days in the Sol system. Galileo's refit was almost complete, and an almost brand new starship would be returning to the void between the stars with him in the centre chair. The refit had not gone smoothly for the newly-minted CO, and he had found himself butting heads with more than a few engineers and requisition officers during the past two months.

From the moment Galileo had touched down in San Francisco, John had promised to himself that he would make time to go home, that he would make time to be just a man, and not a starship captain. It had taken a little longer than he had expected for that time to become available, but now he was free from the shackles of his duties, and on his way home.

A few minutes later the shuttle touched down on the docking pad, and Holliday dutifully cut the engines and began powering down the core and other shipboard systems. It took mere seconds for the ship to enter it's "sleep" mode, and the entry ramp at the rear of the vessel to begin it's descent to permit departure. Signing off from the console and grabbing his standard issue duffel bag, John stepped down from the shuttle, slapping the locking mechanism as he did so, returning the ramp to it's original sealed position.

Mars was different to Earth in a lot of ways. Whilst the intense terraforming of the 21st and 22nd centuries had changed the planet from Class K to Class M, there was still the issue of intense ultra-violet radiation from the sun that required a little more forethought before stepping out onto the planet's surface. Water was equally an issue, with less than 10% of the planet having water coverage, and of that 10% most was reserved for use by the inhabitants, with very little remaining for anything other than a few lakes used by some as holiday destinations to get out of the cities.

Since his posting to Starfleet Academy as a Civillian Instructor, John's father had moved with his wife to the capital city of Mars - Ares City. A large metropolis (by Martian standards), it was home to a large population of the Martians, but was still not much larger than San Francisco or a similarly sized city on Earth. With the red hue from the atmosphere, the buildings almost appeared to be made of clay in the right light, contrasting with the duranium and other 24th century materials that in truth made up the structures.

A brief walk to a nearby transporter station quickly had the Captain a short suburban walk from his parent's property, the door code to which he soon found had not changed since he had been a teenager. As the doors slid open in front of him, John stepped inside and picked up the unmistakeable aroma of his mother's cooking.

Never one for replicators, Mrs Holliday had always prided herself on having a real stove to cook from, growing her own produce where possible and obtaining "real" ingredients if she could. Of course her son did not have the same culinary expertise has she did, and was just as satisfied with the produce from the replicator than from his mother's kitchen. Apparently there was a difference in quality, but for a man who actually enjoyed combat rations, the point was well and truly missed.

Rounding the corner, he moved towards the heart of the aroma and found the kitchen. A good size, with a separate dining area on the other side of the room, there were various pots and pans bubbling away on the stove, and something in the oven that looked decidedly non-Terran. His mother had been going through a phase where she was looking at more exotic ingredients, and John's father had made no qualms about mentioning that Plomeek soup or Romulan Viinerine didn't generally meet with his approval.

As he peered through the window in the oven door during a vain attempt to ascertain exactly what was in there, he was interrupted by the familiar voice of his mother.

"Ratamba stew dear. Mrs O'Reilly was kind enough to lend me a PADD with some Bajoran recipes on. The spice balance is a little tricky so I have no idea how it is going to turn out."

John nearly leapt out of the room in shock, his mother had always had the skill to sneak up on people, so much so that he had often joked she was employed by the Tal Shiar or the Obsidian Order. Standing back up, he looked around to greet her, and extended his arms for a hug.

"Romulan, Vulcan, now Bajoran food? You're getting adventurous again mom."

The captain chuckled as he thought back on his father's opinions of previous meals and secretly hoped that perhaps Bajoran food would be a little more palatable. The replicator on the Galileo had a variety of Bajoran dishes but the Captain had never taken the time to get to know them.

"Now Jonathan let me have some fun in my old age. With your father away on Earth so often these days I need something to keep me busy you know!"

"Sorry mom - just promise me we aren't having tube grubs to start and I will be more than happy to keep further comments to a minimum."

Claire prepared her next comment, and half opened her mouth before stopping short of making a sound, and stepping forward towards her son and examining the collar of his uniform, her eyes transfixed on the pips that were displayed there.

"John, that wasn't there last time? What happened?"

The younger Holliday almost burst out laughing at his mother's observations of the fourth pip on his uniform. Last time she had seen him he had been a simple Commander, but now he had attained the rank that most officers struggled to reach, and all before he had turned 40 - young for a CO, but old compared to his recently promoted former CO, now a commodore in only her thirtieth year of life. He had no idea of how long Orions lived, but made a mental note to cunningly figure out how old she was by her own standards. For all he knew, she could be a toddler or a grandmother.

"They gave me the Galileo. I was promoted a few weeks ago when I returned to Earth."

Raising her hand, the matriarch of the Holliday family slapped her son across the arm, obviously annoyed that he had been a flag officer for so long without having ever told his own parents. It was not surprising that her son had forgotten something so obvious, but it still was grounds for a good slap.

"And you didn't bother to tell me? Jonathan what have I told you about keeping your father and I out of the loop!"

"Ow! Mom, come on there's no need to resort to physical violence. I am a tactical officer after all remember?"

"And I'm your mother! A dozen Klingons wouldn't dare get in my way with a dishcloth in hand!"

John had to give in to her point there. Although usually a calm and reserved woman, Claire Holliday had a reputation for being fiercely defensive of her children. He could still remember a time when he was a boy and had gotten into a scrap with another child, his mother had intervened and nearly thrown the pair of them to opposite sides of the planet.

"Alright! I'm sorry! Now can you please stop wrinkling the uniform?"

Smiling, she lowered her hand, and acquiesced to her son's wishes. She was proud of him in truth, his father had never approved of John's career choice, but over the past few months the two had come to a mutual understanding. If it had gotten her husband teaching at the Academy, then it must have been for the betterment of their relationship.

"So what happened to that lady friend of yours? The green lady you were serving with?"

Had the Captain not been the stalwart officer that he was, there was a very good chance he would have blushed. When his mother had queried his fellow officers, John had given her basic access to Galileo's personnel records, for the senior staff at least. She obviously hadn't gotten as far as reading through their service records.

"That green lady as you call her is Commodore Saalm - up until a few weeks ago she was my Captain."

"Oh." Claire replied, thinking on the matter for a moment. "Well...that's a shame - she had a very nice photograph in her biography. She would have been good for you."

"Mom!! No matchmaking with the Admiralty!" John wanted the Martian ground to open up and swallow him whole. As an only child, his mother had always expected him to bring her grandchildren at some point, but the family option had never rung particularly true with the Captain, and he had stayed clear of relationships in general, much to Claire's disappointment. She had often tried to "set him up" with the children of her friends in the past, and usually John had managed to find a red alert, or some other important task to keep him free from any long-term commitments.

"I thought you just said she was a Commodore?"

"Mom....don't get picky. She's a high ranking officer in Starfleet, my ex-CO, and an Orion - she would eat me for breakfast."

"Oh so you are interested then?"

"No! When...what.....why would you say something like that??"

"Alright Jonny keep your pants on. It was only a question. Perhaps I should have a chat with this Commodore Saalm?" She replied, smirking and overemphasising the Orion's rank this time around.

John didn't even bother with a response, he could only hope that his mother was not serious and wouldn't be using her now even more likely to exist Tal Shiar contacts to get her hands on a secure comm line to Command.

"Right..enough chit-chat. Your father is in his study - you should probably go and say hello, he'll only get annoyed if you don't."

Nodding in agreement, John followed the direction of his mother's pointing hand towards the large pair of double doors at the end of the hallway from the kitchen. Taking a breath he placed his hands on the door panel and tapped the release, waiting for the doors to slide open before taking a look at his father's new study.

Suffice to say it was well, big! Compared to his previous study which had been more like a closet, this was a beast of a room, in fact it had to be at least three to five times larger than it's predecessor. One wall was entirely devoted to windows looking out across the city and the Martian mountains beyond, the other side was a library of books that looked like something out of the 21st century. His father had always been a man who enjoyed the tactile sense of a "real" book as opposed to the PADDs which had become the norm as time had marched ever onwards.

The furthest wall played host to an enormous desk - something that had swamped even his own during his stint as Galileo's XO. There were at least a dozen different LCARS interfaces dedicated to a variety of different subjects, and at the desk itself sat the older Holliday.

"Ahh my boy! I thought I heard you having a tete a tete with your mother in the kitchen! Something about a promotion I hear?"

John was still surprised that his father had changed his opinion on Starfleet officers so quickly after a lifetime of despising the service. Not that the son minded, it was refreshing to be able to speak about his life rather than having to live with the constant ire of his parent.

"Hey dad....yep, it's Captain now."

"Jolly good! About time they gave you your own ship! I took the liberty of forwarding the fleet press release to a few of the Instructors at the Academy - I even snuck a copy onto the Commandant's desk on your behalf."

John couldn't stop himself from laughing. There were certainly a few academics who had thought that the Captain would never get past Lieutenant before being bounced out of the fleet. He was seriously tempted to pay a visit to San Francisco and pull rank on some of those Lieutenant Commanders and Commanders who had decided he was below them. The look on their faces (except for the Vulcan one of course) would have been priceless.

"Thanks dad. It needed to be done. Is the Academy treating you well?"

"Very well indeed Jonathan! A few of my compatriots had some reservations when they saw the name 'Holliday' appear on the faculty list but I think we're over that now. These cadets coming in nowadays don't seem to be half bad. One of them even managed to sequence tribble DNA accurately last week! Mighty impressive work."

"Well, if there's ever a tribble invasion dad, the whole universe might rely on you and your cadets. Good to know we have our ace in the hole."

"Less of the lip young man or I'll get your mother in here. Have you seen what she's cooking this time?"

John thought back to the strange concoction he had seen bubbling away in the oven just minutes ago. His hopes of an edible meal were warmed by the enticing aromas he had picked up, but his mother's past performance with 'alien' food dampened the mood a little.

"Something Bajoran - fingers crossed it works."

John's father nodded in agreement before powering down his console and standing up from his desk.

"Well as long as she doesn't try live Gagh again that's fine by me. You know I found some more of that stuff living in one of the air ducts the other day? Come on...let's eat."


TBC......


[OFF]


CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

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