Calls Near and Far

Posted on Sun Sep 30th, 2018 @ 7:46am by

1,746 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Emerald Road
Location: U.S.S. Indefatigable, Personal Quarters
Tags: Yashui, Patrovski

Tara returned to her quarters after meeting with Commodore Hood. It was later in the day than she had realized. She had a family and understood, now, the importance of drawing a line between family and duty. You needed to make time for both. The XO and CMO deserved that, but she really needed to check in with them. They deserved an "out" as well so Tara had provided a way to provide one.

"Computer send the following memo to Commander Yashui, at both the Commander's office and personal quarters."

=/\= Begin memo. =/\=

"To Commander Yashui. From Lt. Tara Lithbeth. Commander my name is Lt. Tara Lithbeth and was recently assigned as the Chief Counselor of this vessel. I have met with the Commodore but also wanted to meet with you as well. Due to the late hour I wanted to contact you in this manner. Please feel free to contact me with a meeting time and I will make myself available. I look forward to meeting you." Tara ended. "Computer save memo and send. Alert me should the Commander reply."

=/\= Acknowledged. =/\=

"Computer send the following memo to Lieutenant Commander Dr. Patrovski, at both the Doctor's office and personal quarters."

=/\= Begin memo. =/\=

"To Lieutenant Commander Patrovski. From Lt. Tara Lithbeth. Lieutenant Commander my name is Lt. Tara Lithbeth and was recently assigned as the Chief Counselor of this vessel. I have met with the Commodore but also wanted to meet with you as well. Due to the late hour I wanted to contact you in this manner. Please feel free to contact me with a meeting time and I will make myself available. I look forward to meeting you." Tara ended. "Computer save memo and send. Alert me should the Lieutenant Commander reply."

=/\= Acknowledged. =/\=

"Food." Tara thought to herself as she gave into the pangs of hunger. She removed her lab coat and hung it up on the way to the replicator. "Chicken noodle soup. Hot. In a coffee mug." she ordered and in seconds the coffee mug filled with the nourishment appeared. She lifted the mug a cradled it, blowing softly on it, as she made her way back to the sofa. She took a small sip before sipping some. She began blowing again as she lowered herself down, signifying that the soup was still to hot to comfortably drink. This continued for the next two to three minutes and Tara quickly found herself in her happy place. She was completely relaxed. She thought about giving the computer instructions that would make the room even more relaxing but was interpreted before she had the change to do so.

=/\= Counselor, you have an incoming transmission. =/\= the computer alerted.

The Betazoid contemplated ignoring the computer's announcement but she knew it would only repeat itself every 90 seconds or so.

"From?" she asked.

=/\= Vulcan. The... =/\=

"Send the message to the view screen in these quarters." she ordered as she jumped up from the sofa and ran for the screen like a teenager running for a ringing telephone. She round the corner of her desk just in time to see the face of her husband, Jayson Walker, appear on the screen. Slightly shaggy brown hair, steel grey eyes, slightly pale complexion, and Trill spots that appeared slightly faded.

"Hello darlin'." Jayson said greeting his wife with an accent that was the perfect mixture of proper British and a United States southern gentlemen. "You arrived safe and sound?"

"Yes..." Tara answered dreamily.

"Are you sure?" Jayson asked with a sly grin.

"Yes!" Tara responded with a bit of a giggle." I'm just missing my husband, and it feels amazing to see him again."

"The feelings mutual." Jayson responded back.

"Good. What are you doing calling from the Vulcan Ambassadorial Complex?" Tara questioned.

"Well apparently it had something to do with spoiling the grandchildren..." Jayson began.

"Oh god, what did your father do this time?" she asked with laughter.

"Oh wait! You're going to love this one. Nothing. Not his idea. It was your step mother's idea. All her idea. " Walker explained.

"That makes no sense. My step mother is a Vulcan to the core. Logical. There is no reason for such luxury. " Lithbeth pointed out.

"Agreed." Jayson replied and then explained. "Apparently our fathers have been explaining to her the fine art of spoiling the grandchildren and the logic in doing so when a parent is absent. Apparently the child's emotional stability is paramount for the child to absorb all the nuances of a new culture their mood must be kept as positive as possible. A young child separated from a care giver, such as their mother, at such a young age and for the first time could be plunged into a deep depression which could cause their ability to learn from such a unique cultural experience to be severely hampered." Jayson explained doing his best impression of his mother in law.

"They fed her a line of bull---" Tara said sternly but was cut off.

"Logic. She found it logical. And when the girls stepped off the ship and saw all the sand, they assumed Vulcan was a planet of beaches and oceans. Their first question was when were we going swimming. And faster than you could snap your fingers your step mother realized that there were two Ambassadors from two sides of a family present which meant that keeping these girls happy was an official diplomatic mission and here we are."

"Jayson there's spoiling the girls and then there's THIS." Tara pointed out totally forgetting her current situation for the moment.

"Agreed, again. But, the old men made this monster I'm gonna let them deal with it." Walker said with a sheepish grin.

"Let them deal with...? If those two had their way one of our girls would be crowned queen of Vulcan and the other queen of Betazed. " Tara exclaimed.

"It's really not as bad as you think. The girls aren't here that much. And when they are all they care about is swimming. They've got two aunts, a great aunt, a great uncle, two grandfathers, and a grandmother taking them on field trips all over the planet. Which isn't exactly great either but it keeps their minds busy so that the only realize you're not here once they get tired. Then they cry themselves to sleep." Jayson pointed out.

"Now I just don't know what to say. Wait only one grandmother. Are you telling me your mother refused to come, again." Tara asked.

"Yes, only this time your stepmother reported her to HQ for missing an official diplomatic event. Of course HQ did some digging saw that there was an event taking place... and reprimanded my mother." Jayson explained dropping the bomb.

"The Admiral is going to be SO pissed..." Tara said with her jaw hanging open.

"You'd think so until your step mother suggested to HQ that my mother's neglecting to attend such an important diplomatic event shows that she doesn't have the skills to interdependently handle any diplomatic missions and that she should have an Ambassador and their staff assigned to her to run all diplomatic missions and retrain her until said Ambassador feels she has gained the skills to complete the missions successfully. My father volunteered himself and his staff for the position."

"Jayson, your mother HATES your father." Tara reminded her husband. "And I mean that literally." she paused and thought for a moment. Her demeanor changed as she spoke again. "This is all one huge joke."

"Honestly... yes and no. Everything up to your step mother calling HQ on my mother is one hundred percent true. Your step mother is way to logical to take that step although my father may have tried to get her to make the call. His sense of humor and Vulcan logic." Jayson explained.

"He sees a connection between the two that most Vulcans do not." Tara added.

"Yes. However my mother was in charge of a diplomatic mission that went south and is having a diplomatic team assigned to her ship to retrain her and her crew. And my father has volunteered himself and his team. " Jayson revealed.

"And again your mother hates your father. And he has good reason to return the feelings." Tara reminded Jayson.

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know. They will need to work it out between themselves. And she just won't be able to warp to the other side of the galaxy without him, unless she leaves him somewhere. Now you've got all the family gossip, your turn. How are you? What's going on with you?" he asked his wife.

"I'm fine." Tara answered being brought back to reality. "I can't say where I am, truthfully I'm not sure where I am. I can say I finally made it on to the senior staff. Chief Counselor."

"Congratulations!" Jayson said with a smile.

"Maybe." the counselor retorted. "Let's just say if I ever say I am in need of a challenge again remind me of this day. I got here in time to settle in, got the position announcement, and have been playing catch up. Met with the CO and have messages out to the XO and CMO to meet with them too. Between me and you I am on pins and needles."

"Tara, you've cut people open and performed successful surgery, studied the genetic make up of new species, tested experimental medical procedures, and been the assistant chief counselor. You have the experience, you know what to do. You'll be fine." Jayson reassured his wife.

"Thank you. I needed to hear that."

"Look, as much as I want to stay on I've got to go. The rest of the family just got back and unless I want to share you with everyone and have you on this call for the next three days we best end it now." Jayson said with some regret in his voice.

"You're right. I love you. Tell the girls I love them. Tell everyone I love them. And I will see you all soon." Tara requested.

"I will. And I love you too. Night." and with that Jayson reached up and touched the console and the screen went blank.

Tara sat looking at her reflection in the view screen for a few moments before going back to her soup. She'd take it back to the replicator to get it reheated and pick up where she left off. Maybe even review a file or two.

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