Home Sweet Home

Posted on Fri Apr 6th, 2018 @ 4:10pm by Captain Henry Crow & Commander Edra Crow

Mission: The Voyage Home
Location: Starfleet HQ
Timeline: TBD

“Well Captain that is one hell of a story.”

Henry watched the older man who he’d spent the last three hours with detailing their recent trials and tribulations. “Yes Sir, we lost some good people but we’re happy to be home now.”

“Well as you know our R&D guys are stripping your ship systems and transferring that technology for study.”

“Where does that leave us Sir?”

“It’ll be as if your ship just rolled out of the shipyards. But we can’t afford to have this…alien technology fall into the hands of any hostile, or frankly friendly governments in this galaxy.”

“I understand Sir.”

“Before you go, and please extend a two week shore leave to your crew, I do have news for you.”

Henry straightened his posture. “What’s that Sir?”

“We’re assigning you to Task Force 72 and your first orders will be to head to Cestus III. There have been reports of Gorn ships interrupting the trade routes. When your ship is ready and your crew had the chance to stretch their legs, we want you to go see what they’re up to.”

“Gorn? We haven’t had much trouble with them.”

“That’s our concern. Why are they choosing now to prod a Federation colony which has been long settled?”

We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

The older man stood and stuck out his hand which Henry shook. “Welcome home Captain.”

Henry thanked him and exited the office, meeting up with his wife who’d patiently been waiting for him in the outside hallway. When she saw him, she stood and smiled. "So, what did they have to say?" She slipped her arm through his as the walked.

"Standard but let's forget about it for now. We have two weeks leave before we head out again and I want to spend every minute of it at our real home and soak it in."

Their real home. Indeed, there had been times they weren't sure they'd ever see it again. She hadn't been sure they'd ever see anything familiar again. So, having been surrounded by home territory for the last week had been almost overwhelming at times. She wanted to be excited, but instead she felt closer to numb. She didn't know why either, so she'd kept it to herself. She didn't want to bring everyone else down, certainly not her husband. So she kept the smile on her face and nodded. "I can't wait!" she said with enthusiasm.

He slipped his arm around her as they walked. "We're going to have a big spread, food as far as the eye can see and they're going to have to re-enforce the ship for all the weight everyone gains after I'm done."

She laughed. "Another crew picnic in the works?" She tried really hard not to think of the last two, and how they'd turned out.

"Honey this ain't a picnic. It's gonna be the biggest barbecue in the history of Texas."

She shook her head, smiling. He was cute when he got all excited about these kind of things. "Well, just let me know what you want me to do."

"Just be you. I'll organize the rest."

She nodded. "I can do that. So, I guess we go get the kids now? Are we cleared?"

"Yes, we're on leave for two weeks now."

"Sounds great." Perhaps that would give her time to get herself straightened out.

"Caressa had asked me about meeting up with Gavin and Galena. I told her that I thought it'd be nice if they came to the shin-dig and got to play with the other kids and all." He knew he should have broached that earlier but never had the right moment to do so.

Edra stopped and looked at him. She had wanted him to be able to have a relationship with the twins, and the kids should know their half-siblings. "Yes, absolutely! But you should also find time for just you. I think she probably meant for you to have one-on-one time with them."

"Absolutely. I want them to have some real memories."

She smiled. "Good. Whenever you want to, I don't want to ever get between you and them."

He nodded as they walked to the shuttle pad that would take them back to the ship to collect belongings. He couldn't help think that this was a new beginning for them all, or at least hope so.