The Sins Of The Fathers

Posted on 16 Mar 2012 @ 6:42am by Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,285 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: USS Galileo - XO's Quarters
Timeline: MD05 - 2100 hrs

Sleep was not coming easily to the Commander; it seemed that every time he managed to distract his mind from one subject, it immediately latched onto another. Tossing and turning in his bunk, every facet of the last few days flashed through his subconscious, his thoughts on his fellow crew, his orders, his experience with Command earlier on, nothing seemed to be capable of settling him.

Finally with an indignant sigh, John opened his eyes and lifted himself from his bed, rubbing his eyes as he slowly padded barefoot across the bedroom, heading back towards the living space. The sight of a planet out of the window of a starship still felt slightly unusual to John as he looked out and across the small segment of San Francisco visible from this point. Every so often, a small shuttle would fly overhead, ferrying workers to and from the dry-dock, shifts being set up around the clock to make sure that in a few hours time, the launch would go successfully.

As he watched, a slight bleeping noise caught his attention, at first he ignored it, then decided that it must have been coming from one of the repair teams, or their equipment, before his brain finally caught up and realised that it was being generated by the access terminal on his table. Heading towards it, he looked down at the display, which indicated an incoming communication.

For a moment, he studied the data, reading through the numbers and figures, before identifying its point of origin - the colonies on Mars. This wasn't going to be good. Settling into the chair beside him, he tapped in his access code, and the channel opened. The sight that greeted him was not one that he had wanted to see any time now.

An older human male, his face wizened with years of experience, looked through the depths of subspace with an icy glare and an unimpressed disposition. John took a moment to study the details in front of him, noting that same penetrating stare from the man's deep green eyes that he had encountered so many times in his past, before he finally found his voice once again.

"Father"

He spoke only a single word, not wanting to do anything more than acknowledge the presence of a man who for the past decade, had done nothing more than belittle his son's career aspirations, and permanently resent him for choosing a lift in Starfleet. Their last encounter before he had abandoned Mars had not gone well, in fact he remembered having to control his rage, and fight the urge to use his fists to knock the old man to the floor after the way he had spoken to him previously.

"Still running around playing soldier are we John?"

The reply from his father was no warmer than he had expected, in fact, the ice of Andoria would have trouble being any colder than this. John knew that his father had never appreciated him for his own achievements, having groomed him from a young age to take his father's place in the scientific community; instead, John had followed his own path, and leapt into the world of Starfleet without a second thought.

"Still spending your days finding other people's shortcomings to make up for your own old man?"

John had given up on formalities, the respect that he once had for his father had quickly eroded over the torrent of abuse and disappointment that he had been subjected to, John had no regrets though, he had lived his life the way that he wanted, free of the control of his parents, and free to make his own choices, his own mistakes, his own successes.

"Perhaps...but you know I'll never admit to that...or any of the other insults you deem suitable to throw at your own father...hell I'm only on this channel because your mother insisted on it"

John's mother, the saint that she was, had been the driving force behind their family dynamic for years, the only person who John really felt he could trust, and the only thing that had stopped him from hiding his existence from his father, or disappearing off on some deep space mission that would make him nigh-on impossible to track down with any great amount of ease.

"Don't bring mother into this Dad...you know how I feel about you, and it's none of her concern"

"Dammit John...I'm not here to talk about your mother. I'm here to talk about you and me"

John had heard this all before, his father making sure that he got his own way on everything, it didn't matter if you were his son, or a research assistant on one of his projects...you were still there to obey his every whim, and not a lot else.

"Here we go again Dad. All about you right? Let me guess, you're giving me one last chance to move back to Mars, join you in a laboratory, and all my past mistakes will be forgiven?"

"Not quite son...besides, by the time you see through your own arrogance, I'll probably be pushing up daisies out in the temperate zones on the equator"

"What are you talking about? What trick are you playing this time?"

"I'm dying son...no jokes...no tricks...here; I'm transmitting you a copy of my medical records...if you don't believe me you can look them over yourself"

As his father spoke, John saw a small indicator light appear on his monitor, giving away the existence of a file transfer. Half with shock, and half still not believing what he was being told, John touched the screen, and watched as the emblem of Starfleet medical, followed by patient logs began to develop before his eyes

"Sharat syndrome...terminal...looks like you're going to get your wish at last John, no more of me hounding after you any longer"

A look of sadness appeared in the once strong eyes that belonged to his father, in his entire life, John had never seen the old man before him looking as weak as he did now, and he had never been one to allow others to see his pain, his suffering, until now.

"Are you serious...I...I can get back to Mars tonight, just give me a few hours to..."

"No"

His father hit back with the tone of authority that would have petrified the XO in his younger days, stopping his sentences in his tracks before he could even come up with another thought.

"You have a mission to complete, I might be dying but I still have a few friends in the scientific community, not to mention Starfleet Command...plus I'm sure your CO would never forgive me if I took you off the ship right before launch...no son...I won't be going anywhere for a while...docs here have given me a few months at least. Your mother wanted you to swing past on your way back to Earth next time"

"I...I...yes father...but I want Starfleet medical to send me regular updates...I'll be back as soon as I can..."

John could not deny his father's logic, as he had so often tried to do in his youth. It was true that the Commander was needed here, and leaving now would be a dereliction of duty in both his, and his father's eyes.

"I'll make it happen...I'll see you soon...Son."

And with that, the channel closed, his father's aged face being replaced by a simply Starfleet logo, and a stardate, before fading into nothing, leaving John alone with nothing more than his thoughts, and his now-emerging regrets.....

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