Warrant, Call Home

Posted on Thu Jun 15th, 2023 @ 9:52am by Warrant Officer Samual Johnson

2,049 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - Like a Thunderbolt
Location: Temporary Enlisted Quarters
Timeline: MD 04, late afternoon

Rook just finished shrugging into the shirt as the chime rang on the holoscreen. His short, cropped hair was still damp but he managed to quickly shape it into something respectable. He got back to his room later than he thought and had just returned from the shower to quickly dress while he waited for the call to come through to him. He was afraid he'd get caught while still just wearing a towel and didn't feel that would be appropriate. Well, not so much because of Jim. He'd shared quarters with Jim before, and at - he felt the wide, foolishly happy grin take over his face at thinking this - their parent's house. Sure, Katherine was Jim's adopted mother but only Rook's stepmother, it didn't change that he now had a big family and...he was still grinning but also so infused with happiness that he felt the tears well in his eyes...he had a dad.

He pushed the 'receive call' on the screen as the second chime started. He wasn't wearing shoes or socks, but that wouldn't matter. He was caught between standing or sitting on the bed.

"Hey there, Rook," Jim said the first to appear on the screen. His elder brother - in in strict chronological sense he was the elder brother to them all, even older than his parents by a bit more than a century - was sitting at his desk, but his uniform loosened as if he were off-duty. The plasteel viewport behind him showed the doppler shift of stars when a ship was at low warp. "You still on the slow boat to Timbuktu?"

Rook never understood that phrase. Mainly because he still couldn't find the Timbuktu system or planet or colony. "No, I arrived at the station earlier today. The captain was given permission to increase cruising warp because of the needs of the station. So we arrived -" The view of Jim in his office automatically shrunk and slid to the left as the second comm line came in.

"Jim Barnes," Katherine started immediately, "How many times have I told you to police your room before you return from leave?" Her dark eyes were intense, but there was also the crinkle of humor around it. "You're going to encourange ants or, worse, bears into the house by leaving bowls under the bed!"

"What? Mom, no, that wasn't me! Those bowls were clearly under Rook's bed!" Jim protested. If it weren't that Jim was six foot four, broad shoulders and muscular with a strong jaw, the type of lean, square face that was the comic book superhero ideal, it wouldn't seem as comical to see him almost immediately cowed by a woman almost a full foot shorter and weighing but a fraction of his own bulk. Her wavy brown hair - with streaks of gray finally - pulled into a loose ponytail. To look at her would be to underestimate the force of her.

"And how would you know they were under Samual's bed then?" she countered. "Because I know Samual cleaned up after himself before he left home."

"I uh..." Jim sputtered, his eyes shifting from the screen showing his parents to Rook then back. "Because the little monkeybutt-"

"James!" Kathering said in a low, warning growl of a voice.

"-Rook," Jim corrected on the fly, "He only said he cleaned up after himself. You know how the baby brothers are!" Here Jim gave Rook a smile and a wink.

"You just better get it through your thick skull to clean up after yourself before you come home for leave again. Or I might have to slap that sense into that thick skull of yours! How are you Samual?" She turned away from Jim and to Rook so suddenly and smoothly that for a moment Rook didn't realize she was talking to him now. He was trying to keep from smiling as Jim, once again, found himself the center of his mother's attention. If Jim caught him enjoying it, he would become doubly annoying.

"I'm good, Mom," Rook said, trying out the feel of the word in his mouth. "Dad, you look good."

"Mom?" Katherine asked. "Samual," she almost always used full names of her kids. Jim was something of a departure. Rook figured it was because she was using his full name so much that there were times she lost the energy to utter his full name. "You dont'have to call me that."

"No, I want to and I talked to Ma and she said it would be fine and..." Rook said realizing that Jim must be enjoying his discomfiture as much as he'd just been enjoying Jim's. "And, well, you've been since Ma and I have come to Earth."

"Did we hear that you arrived early?" Glenn asked, his hand placed on his wife's back in silent support as she went momentarily quiet.

"Yes, sir," Rook said, old habits died hard, "almost a day and a half early." He wasn't going to waste time on this call griping about the problems that caused him personally.

"And you Jim?" Glenn asked, "Have you arrived yet?"

"Not yet," Jim said, "We've got some time yet." He'd already informed them he couldn't be too specific with details of his current assignment due to it being 'classified'. But he would say what he could. In fact they were scheduled to have at least two more family comm calls based around his schedule. They were, for the most part, to reassure the family that he was still safe.

"Lead investigator," Glenn said, turning back to Rook. "I never made detective," he continued, his blue eyes appeared clear and his face more vibrant than Rook had seen since his birthday when Glenn officially became his adopted father. "But then I wanted to work for my living so..." he winked as he smiled. It was an old joke. It was sad that Glenn would still be young enough to be working now if not for contracting Pah Norani syndrome. It flared up worse in the last five or six years and forced him into 'retirement'. But he'd worked long enough to inspire Jim into a security/law enforcement career and then the two of them to insipre Rook to do the same. "You got any big cases yet?"

"No, Dad," Rook, making sure to use that term instead of "sir". The need to consciously use the word was only because of the habit he'd developed as a teen and it was a habit he'd carried with him until a few months prior. "I just got here and haven't really started working yet."

"Isn't that the station we've heard about, on the news?" Katherine asked. "That had a terrorist attack on it?"

Jim's face remained neutral to anybody that didn't know him well. But the set of his eyes, the downturn of the corners of his mouth and the slight angle of his head warned Rook about saying anything that would cause them worry. Rook took a breath. He wasn't going to lie to them - just as he didn't lie to his mother, exactly, about getting shot. He just failed to mention it.

"No," he said, swallowing hard. "This station isn't even fully constructed yet. That must have happened somewhere else," he finally said. Each word was the truth but he still felt as if he'd sinned because it wasn't the full truth and he knew all to well what they meant by the question. Still. What he said was true. But still a lie. "Have you," he asked, frowning, "Has Ma asked about that?"

"No," Glenn said. "I don't think she knows exactly where you are. Not that way."

"Oh. Okay," Rook said, giving a smile that he didn't feel. "I just don't want her to worry."

"Samual," Glenn said, then with a twinkle in his eye, "Rook, she's always going to worry."

Jim whooped on his side to hear his dad use the nickname he gave the kid. Rook, for his part, looked to his dad.

"What? Like I didn't know about that? Like I don't listen to all my children? I hear what he calls you, and I hear the reason why." Glenn eyed Rook directly, it seemed like they weren't light years apart, talking over holoviewers but in the same room. "None of us are going to give your mother any more cause to worry than she already does. She always will. You choose a dangerous profession, Samual," Glenn said. "If you want to protect her from worrying about you, then you need to resign from Starfleet, come home and find a boring job in an office somewhere."

Rook sighed. "I don't think the danger is that bad, though. We're not even around the planet where the incident happened."

"Yeah, well," Jim said, "that doesn't mean there isn't dange out there. But don't listen to Dad, working in an office would be like dying a thousand times a day. You weren't built for that. You come from protector lineage. You get it from both your dads."

"I know, Jim," Rook said. "I just don't like the idea of Ma worrying."

"Young man," Glenn said, putting on his Stern Father So You'd Better Listen Voice, "she's not the only one that worries. Katherine and I also worry. About both of you," Glenn said, turning his attention to Jim. "And our other children, even the ones 'dying a thousand times a day' in their professional office jobs." Glenn gave a smile to take the stink out of the rebuke. "And the grandchildren. You're both very young still, but one day you'll have kids and you'll understand that a parent's natural state is to worry about the kids."

"And my your children be just like you," Katherine deadpanned. "You'll be very proud of them, Samual. And you, James Ramses Barnes, will finally learn how thickheaded you are!" She laughed softly. "And we will get to sit back and enjoy every minute of your misery."

"Yeah, well, Mom, I'll be in Starfleet, so guess who'll be doing a lot of babysitting? Then I can just go ahead and keep blaming the two of you for their behavior."

"It's always the mother, isn't it?" Katherine deadpanned. "Now Samual, why don't you show us your quarters. Do you finally get to have a room to yourself?"

"No, Mom," Rook said, finding the term was growing on him. "I'm still too junior an officer for that. But," he sighed as he explained his situation. Jim and his parents howled with laughter as he relayed his encounter with Ensign L'Nari and though he found their mirth offputting, he, too, was laughing by the end of it. Jim, true to his nature, made several comments about his brother, the "ladies man".

"Hey, Dad," Rook said as he spied the indicator that his time for the call was ending, "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Only if you promise the same," Glenn said, as Katherine wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "The both of you. And none of this false bravado crap. I can spot that a light year away, having spewed enough of that fertilizer myself."

"Yes, sir," Jim said, serious for once. "I'll call as often as I can, not just the two scheduled calls. You keep in touch, also, Rook. Don't make me have to come out there and pull your head out of your-"

"James!" Katherine cut in quickly. "Little ears in this house!"

Rook laughed. "Yes, Dad, I'll take that deal. I take care of myself and you do the same. We'll both just hope that someone somewhere knocks some sense into lunkhead over there."

"We've been waiting for that to happen for a long time now," Glenn answered. "We love you both."

"Love you too, Dad," Rook said and heard Jim echo the sentiment several seconds before his call ended. However, he sat on the bed and realized it was the first time in his life he ever got to say that. Taking a deep breath, he stood and went to putting the small room in order. He wished he had some work to focus on so that he didn't feel so far away from his family.

 

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