Stardate 43416.21 - An Early Birthday Call
Posted on 02 Jun 2023 @ 11:48pm by Lieutenant JG Joseph Harper
The tall helmsman was pacing slowly around his quarters as he waited for T’Pora to pick up the comm back on Mars. He knew he was calling her ahead of the usual time and he assumed she was busy. Thor barked at the noise outside in the corridor of deck nine. With the ship carrying almost five thousand evacuees, the decks had some extra traffic.
Harper sat down at his desk with a heavy sigh and decided to call again. She finally answered and the face of a brown skinned, short haired, Human-Vulcan hybrid woman appeared.
Her expression was neutral and a pointed eyebrow was slightly raised.
“Joseph…I wasn’t expecting a call at this time.” The tone of her voice gave Joe the feeling that she was annoyed.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah sorry ‘bout that Peaches, did I uh interrupt anything?”
The woman let out a soft sigh. “No, in fact you saved me from a debate with my mother. You look tired.”
“It’s…been a weird month.” He said as he looked down at his desk. “You already know about me and some of the crew getting kidnapped by a Ferengi in one of our shuttles.Then having to escape death by a black hole in said shuttle.”
“I do remember that, what other marvelous adventures has Boston been on since then?” She smiled at that.
Harper chuckled and looked at her, he studied her on the small screen before responding.
“Well let’s see…we discovered an ancient structure on an asteroid, had a Romulan encounter, then a Freaky Friday incident. Now we have almost five thousand evacuees from a planet inside the black hole.”
T’Pora let out a soft giggle then stopped after clearing her throat. “Your encounter with the Romulans intrigues me. But a Freaky Friday incident…like that ancient movie?”
“You're right on the nose there darlin’.” He smirked. “As for our encounter with the Romulans…they were surprisingly cooperative. Hell they even helped us get the swapped six back from that planet, along with the evacuees. Boston’s crew has been performing admirably even through the ups and downs we’ve had.recently.”
As T’Pora was about to speak she stopped upon hearing a voice in the background then glanced up to another person in the room. Joe recognized the voice belonging to T’Pora’s father, Dr. Fujima Rush. The pilot smiled as he saw his wife reaching for an almost twelve month old Jack Harper.
He laughed. “Our boy has gotten bigger.” Joe said as T’Pora set the child down in her lap and adjusted the camera.
“He certainly has, Jack is in good health and…he managed to pull himself up last week. Don’t worry, I have it recorded so I’ll send it to you.”
The pilot nodded. “Ain’t Jack’s birthday in a couple days? You plan on doing anything?” He folded his arms and chuckled as the soon to be toddler cooed in T’Pora’s arms.
“I am currently in Okinawa, visiting my parents. Your step-mother and grandparents should be here tomorrow evening. Zyvia and Tiv arrived last night. Of course given Tozia’s assignment she will miss out, like you, unfortunately.”
She handed the child a small toy plushie version of a type six shuttle to fiddle with before Joe responded. “Nice to know my side of the family will be there. What about your brother Ishido?”
T’Pora sighed. “He’ll be late. You know how he is with last minute things.”
“Indeed.” Was all he could say.He sat there watching T’Pora interact with Jack. He smiled slightly, it was clear he missed them and everyone else back home. But they both knew and understood the risks of a relationship like this. Ever since the wedding and the birth of his son, Joe had deeply considered transferring to a vessel that operated close to the core worlds.
Even if he did that, a part of him would regret that choice. He knew it would be a boring assignment but he’d be closer to family. The pilot also knew that he’d miss out on all the missions a ship like Boston took part in. Exploring the unknown was one of the few reasons why he signed onto Starfleet in the first place and T’Pora knew that.
He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. T’Pora looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey hon, if you don’t hear from me on Jack’s birthday tell everyone I said “hi” for me eh? I suspect we’re gonna be busy the next few days as we start droppin’ these folks off.” He chuckled softly.
The woman nodded and picked up Jack to have him sit on her knee facing Joe.
“I will, and you, continue doing what you do best. We will be here waiting for you the next time Boston returns to Sol.” She gently waved Jack’s arm at the camera with a smile.
Joe smiled back and waved goodbye then reached over to end the call. He leaned back with a sigh. An old late 23rd century combadge on his desk caught his attention. He grabbed hold of it and studied it. Memories of the U.S.S. Aladdin incident flooded his mind. He shook his head to stop them and set the badge down. The month of June now not only contained the death of his genetic mother, twenty-one years ago. But also the birth of a new light in the galaxy, his son.
