Good Morning
Posted on Sat Feb 13th, 2021 @ 11:31pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Mon Feb 15th, 2021 @ 2:49pm
1,211 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 11 - Family Matters
Location: Marine CO's quarters
Timeline: MD002 0500 hrs
Neil’s eyes snapped open as the comm system chirped out, “Captain Tremble, you have an incoming transmission.”
Rubbing the back of his neck and swinging his legs from beneath the sheet as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, the marine asked,
“Priority, source and who the clot is it at,” and after checking the clock said with more than a bit of irritation in his voice, “At 0500 hours?”
“Priority low,” the computer intoned, “Source, Mars…Sol system. Caller is listed as one Aldolphus Tremble.”
“Drahk, fine put him through,” Neil said, half tempted to have the call dropped. But, his father would know….
As the link established with his contact, Neil scooted back on the bed and put his back against the padded headboard and stifled a yawn.
The HUD told him it was about the same time on Mars, give or take as his father’s burly features popped into existence, seemingly floating above the foot of his bed.
“Morning dad, to what do I owe the pleasure of…”
“Waking your arse up? Mornin Boy!” his elder Tremble boomed causing Neil to wince and his HUD to automatically readjust the volume.
“You could call it that,” Neil said. “Crow’s haven’t even pee’d yet around here.”
“What? The Romulans? They’re always pissin about,” the old marine guffawed. “What are you still doing in your rack? Being an officer making you soft?”
Neil bristled slightly but let it go. It was obvious that the old man was in a good mood and it wouldn’t do to break it by busting balls back.
He could do that any time before the call ended.
“That’s right sir,” Neil responded. “You always told me the officers slept in to get their beauty sleep and left it to the crusty old non-coms to get up and get drahk done.
Adolphus snorted at that and cast an appraising look over his son, then looked about the frame that he could see of Neil’s quarters. “Where’s the head shrinker?”
Neil sighed slightly and said, “Bailed. Either was ordered or got herself reassigned off ship. Out of system and maybe out of the quadrant. Left without saying as much as bye. It appears I take after you in more ways than I thought.”
The last slipped out before his mind could get control of his mouth, but Neil kept his gaze even with his fathers.
The old man pursed his lips at him then snorted and said, “Well, that’s probably true enough. I’ve had more fine pieces of tail have their way with me then hit the next transport out than I can think of. It goes with the territory sometimes. Your mother said it might be serious but…”
“Yeah, I think we all read it wrong,” Neil down played. “But you didn’t call me out of the blue wondering about my relationships. We don’t do that…”
“True enough,” Adolphus acknowledged. “Mainly, I wanted to reach out for a couple of reasons. One, I may be getting hitched.”
“What?” Neil asked, blinking slightly, “Again? I thought you told me that after Andria, never again. It was, what did you say? Cheaper in the long run to rent than buy?”
“True,” the older man said thoughtfully. “It’s not a bad policy but yeah, I think I’ve made up my mind and she said yes. I’m getting older and it wouldn’t hurt for a bit more stability.”
“Or even a little, yeah,” Neil agreed, still taking the news in. He blinked as his father swiveled his video pickup to show a very nude female with blonde hair laying in a bed, face down.
“That’s Renae,” Adolphus said admiringly and Neil closed his eyes for a moment, opening them a few beats later as his father’s grinning face again filled the feed.
“Nice, right” the retired marine asked?
“Yeah. Sure,” Neil replied, still trying to process things. “Though glimpsing my future mother in law in the raw was no-where near what I thought this conversation was going to be.”
“Bah, don’t worry. She’s a friendly girl,” Adolphus grinned. “But part two of why I called is that we might be out that way in a month or three: in all likelihood passing through Sirius and thought we could catch up for a couple of nights.”
Blinking again, Neil finally got out. “Really? Sure, if it works out. “What’s brining you out this way?”
“Hired on as a consultant for the Federation, Planetary Defense review group. They wanted an actual fire eating ground pounder to weigh in on a few things,” Adolphus said proudly.
“May their gods have mercy on their souls,” Neil said, grinning at his father.
“Because the Marines won’t!” The older man half bellowed, drawing a sleepy protest from behind him. “Yeah those planetary types sometimes just don’t get that war isn’t all huggy feely, computer games.”
“I was thinking more about the Fed-o-crats you’d be traveling with,” Neil replied, shaking his head at the thought of his old man being diplomatic.
Now his father did laugh his deep bellow, drawing a Klingon curse from off screen and the old man turned his head and said, “Calm down, Renae. I’m on the horn with my son. He likes your ass by the way.”
Neil heard another Klingon curse and snickered, “She’s aware, I hope that what she just said is entirely impossible for even a Klingon with two of those organs?”
His father’s eyes danced as he said, “What can I say. She’s feisty!” A pillow clipped him and he began laughing as he said, “Oops, she’s awake. We’ll talk later, boy….go get that beauty sleep. Sorry to hear about the head shrinker. Call your mother for fate sakes..”
Then the feed cut as Neil caught sight of the blonde, still nude, grabbing his father by the beard.
Neil leaned his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes. They were burning slightly in protest of having his sleep interrupted and he considered his father’s news. Mostly he wasn’t surprised. His father didn’t do well alone and there was a respectable list of mostly un-respectable women left in his wake.
The man was incorrigible.
Scrubbing at his head, Neil decided he wasn’t going to get any more sleep. If he tried, he’d be thinking of Talida and sleep would never come. Better to chase it away with caffeine.
Standing, he headed for the French press he’d been monkeying around with lately and after grinding the beans fresh and adding water, put it on the heater plate and headed for the fresher.
Between the sonic shower and the coffee, he should be about ready to face the day. As he stripped and applied the eye covers his mind strayed to his father’s fiancé.
“Dirty, lucky old man,” he mumbled as he closed the door to the shower.
A solo post by;
Captain Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
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