Hello "Mother and Father"

Posted on 14 Nov 2012 @ 6:14am by Lieutenant Lucas Mason

1,376 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: M9: Rest, Recovery, and Reflection
Location: Guest Quarters, Starbase 80

Lucas stepped into his assigned quarters on Starbase 80. With the Achilles undergoing repairs quarters were made available to all the crew for the duration of their stay. Once the door closed he set down his bag and let out a sigh. He could safely let his guard down. There were no expectations of him and he wouldn't be called to duty on a moments notice. He could just be Lucas for a bit, he didn't have to be dutiful, at least for a little while. He compose himself and walked into the quarters a bit further, it was a full suite with separate sleeping and living accommodations. He walked over to the replicator order a chilled glass of water. A moment later his request appeared and he grabbed the glass and downed the quenching liquid. Returning the glass to the conduit to be recycled he went, picked up his bag and walked to the bedroom. He deposited the bag on the over-sized bed and loosened his tunic. The room had no windows and for once he was glad that he couldn't see the stars, he didn't want anyone to see him in such a vulnerable state. He sat down on the bed, push his face in his hands and exhaled. He hadn't realized the extent to which the Kzinti mission had affected him. The danger, the excitement, the adrenalin rush, the devotion to duty, and his skills as a pilot had eclipsed his emotions. They had remained buried. Now was the time to let the rise to the surface. At another time in his life he would have left them buried, but he had learned how destructive that had been and so now he let himself feel the fear, the shame over feeling scared, the disgust over so many lives lost. Suddenly he noticed his hands shaking, so he stood up and noticed the dampness around his eyes. He had been crying. He took a deep breath, composed himself and walked to the bathroom. He discarded his uniform on the floor and stepped into the sonic shower and let the water and sound waves envelop him. He stood there for 15 minutes letting the water and waves symbolically wash away all the emotions that were tearing at his insides. Starting to feel himself again he deactivated the shower and grabbed a towel. Having dried himself off, he walked, sans clothing into the bedroom. Once again he was grateful for no windows in his quarters. There was no off chance that some alien on a passing ship could glance his way and see his nude body. He knew it was actually an absurd through, but he valued his privacy and so it sometimes caused him to take inordinate precautions. He grabbed the bag he brought with him and dug through it and found a change of casual clothes. Once appropriately clad he entered the main living area and decided that it was a good time as any to give his parents a call.

Opening the terminal he was surprised to find a message waiting for him. It must have come in while he was in the shower. He opened the message to find a text message from Matthew Hawke, the man who raised him for 3 years before he entered Starfleet Academy. As he read the message he broke out into a smile. It looked like Matthew was keeping an eye on his career. He had heard about his promotion and being awarded the Flying Cross and wanted to offer his congratulations. It meant a lot to him that Matthew had taken the time to write to him. Sometime he felt closer to the man then he did his own parents. He decided to compose a short response to Matthew.

To: Rear Admiral Matthew Hawke, Assistant Director of Starfleet Intelligence
From: Lieutenant Lucas Mason, Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Achilles

Stardate 67468.3

Dear Matthew,

I wanted to thank you for your little missive. I really appreciated the though.

Lucas

With the message sent, he turned his attention to his final task. "Computer, open a channel to Earth, John and Heather Mason." The computer cross referenced his personnel file, identified the proper individuals and opened a channel. Suddenly his father was on the screen and he got a response he did not expect.

"Lucas," his father replied, a bit surprised and even more delighted at the sight of his son.

"Hello, sir," Lucas replied, in a more formal tone he had become accustomed to when dealing with his parents.

"Just one moment, I'll get your mother." The flashed to a UFP symbol indicating that we was on hold. As promised a moment later the screen shifted to a view of both his parents. Both grinning from ear to ear.

This is odd, thought Lucas. Before he had a chance to respond his father interjected, "We just received news from Matthew about your promotion and being awarded the Flying Cross. We can't tell you how proud we are of you."

Not exactly sure what was going on and not sure how to respond Lucas said, "Thank you, sir. It means a lot to hear you say that."

With that statement, the ground has been laid for the truth to emerge. It was his mother who began, "Lucas...Lucas I just want to tell you that I love you. I don't think I ever told you that enough when you were growing up, and I know your father and I had expectation that most adults could never meet let alone a child of your age. I want to say I am sorry for that."

Waves of emotions were overtaking Lucas right now and he didn't know what to do or say, so he just sat there silently. He also began to feel his eyes misting up a bit. His father broke the silence, "Lucas, I want to echo everything that you mother said. We wanted to tell you this for a long time but we didn't know how. I am afraid that at time we failed as your parents, especially when we agreed to send you away to live with Matthew. At the time is seemed the best things to do, and the results were all the we hoped for, but that doesn't absolve us of abdicating our responsibilities to you. You are our son. There can be no apology that your mother and I can offer that could ever make up for what we did or to show how sorry we are, but I hope that sometime you will be able to forgive us."

Lucas just sat their staring at his parent, but now there were tears running down his cheeks. He made no attempt to wipe them away. We was overwhelmed at what he was hearing. He had longed to hear those words for so long, and now his dream was becoming a reality. His father continued, "When we heard about the commencement of hostilities with the Kizinti and that the Achilles was involved we were worried. We contacted every member of the family in Starfleet Command, and finally Nathan was able to tell us some news. It left us a bit relieved, but then when Starbase 60 was destroyed and no one knew the status of the Achilles because she was order to maintain radio silence, we feared the worst. That day your mother and I did something we hadn't done in ages, we prayed and we promised that if you were alive we would finally tell you what we wanted to for so long."

With quivering lips and chocking back tears, Lucas replied, "Thank you so much mom and dad. I love both of you so much. I've wanted to tell you that for so long but I was scared I couldn't. I don't know what else to say."

"It's okay son," his father replied, "we understand. I know you must feel overwhelmed right now and there really isn't anything left to say. So we'll give you the time and space you need." Then his mother added, "We love you Lucas, and we'll talk to you very soon." The channeled closed and safe in the privacy of his quarters, Lucas leaned over, put his face in his palms and wept,

 

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