SEASON 2: EPISODE 01

NO REST FOR THE WICKED: Part Two

  David Tiki opened his eyes as he heard the front door open.

  “Now be careful not to drop those,” said his wife as she walked in not noticing him on the couch.

  Following her was his youngest child.  She was carrying two bags and watching where she put her feet.  She then looked up and spotted him.  Her jaw dropped and she immediately dropped the bags.

  “DADDY!” she yelled and ran towards him.

  He stook up and she jumped into his arms.  He picked her clean off the ground and they hugged.

  “Hello, sweetie,” he said and then placed her back on the ground.

  He looked over to his wife who just smiled at him.  She casually walked over to him.

  “Welcome home,” she said and she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  Tiki hugged her back, but with only one arm.  His daughter had a firm grip on his other hand.

  “Good to be back,” he said.

  “Didn’t think you’d be here until tonight.  We were just out buying some fresh groceries to make dinner with.”

  She turned and walked back to the spilt bags his daughter had dropped.

  “I thought you’d be at work,” commented Tiki.

  “The resort can manage a day without me and Sam doesn’t mind missing a day of school, especially when it involves getting the place ready for you.”

  Tiki’s wife was a manager of a large resort on a small island off Viti Levu, the main Island in Fiji.  Their home was however in Suva, almost on the other side of the island from the resort but given the transport options on Earth they could live on the other side of the planet if they wanted to.  Suva was the capital of Fiji and as such was the largest population centre and home of the seat of government for the island nation.  It was also where Tiki had been born and grew up.

  “Are you back for my birthday, it’s next month!” said Samantha, or Sam as she liked to be called, excitedly.

  “Sorry, darling.  I’ll be back on my spaceship by then.”  Sam looked forlorn.  “That doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate it early.  I’m sure your mother doesn’t mind.”

  He looked over to his wife who had picked up the food and placed it on a counter.

  “Depends, who is going to be organising this?”

  He smiled his most charming smile.  “Both of us.”

  She gave him an unconvinced look and went back to packing away the food.

  He turned his attention back to his daughter.  “So how old will that make you?  Four?”

  Sam let go of his hand and crossed her arms, giving him an angry look.  “I’m not a baby!  I’ll be six!”

  Tiki shook his head in mock shock.  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!” she said with indignity.

  “Okay, then.  How about you go and think what you’d like for your birthday and let me have a moment with mummy.”

  “You’re going to kiss, aren’t you?” she said, crinkling up her nose in disgust.

  Tiki could not help but think about how sweet and cute she was.  His little Samantha was his little princess and he only wanted to please her and keep her happy and sweet.

  He stroked her hair.  “Maybe.”

  “Gross!” she said and ran into her bedroom.

  Tiki walked over to his wife.  “I’ve missed you Aashi.”

  He stepped in close behind her and wrapped his arms around her.  His wife was significantly shorter then he was, though that was because Tiki was very tall by human standards.

  “I’ve missed you too, David.”

  “Do you know what I want to do right now?” he said as he kissed her neck.

  “I have a fair idea.”  She gently nudged him.  “But not now.”

  Tiki’s strong hands caressed her soft skin, which due to her Indian heritage was golden, as he continued to kiss her neck.  “How about we go for another kid?”

  “Unless you’re giving birth to the next one, then three is more then enough for me and my lower half.”

  “Have I told you how much I admire your lower half?”

  “You Marines are such sweet talkers,” she said wistfully as he nuzzled her neck and his hands snaked their way down her body.  She then gently pushed him back and turned around.  “Now stop that and put this in the cupboard behind you.”

  Tiki put on his saddest face but his wife’s light brown eyes did not waver.  He took the items out of her hands and went to place them in the cupboard as instructed.  Once he put them away he lent back on the counter behind him, facing his wife’s back as she sorted out the groceries.  He just quietly admired the view.

  “Have you been home long?” she asked him.

  “No.  We got in a few hours ago and the Captain let the Marines disembark first.”

  Aashi turned and handed him more items to put away.  “If I were him I’ve have kicked you off my ship as soon as possible too.”

  “Ha ha,” said Tiki with mock laughter as he accepted the items.

  “So how are Pranav and Chrissy?” he asked.

  “They’re fine.  Chrissy is in a class play playing one of the lead characters.  She really wants you to see it.  It’s next week.”

  Their middle child, Christine, or Chrissy as she preferred to be called, was the arty one of the family.  She could dance, sing, paint, act and could play several musical instruments.  Tiki knew that it had to be from his wife’s side of the family.

  “What about my young man?”

  Aashi again turned to face him with a less then pleased look on her face.  “You need to talk to him.  He’s grades from last term were appalling.  He spends too much time chasing girls…”

  “That’s my boy!”

  “I doubt that would be your reaction if I told you Chrissy was dating,” said Aashi.

  He gave her a look of displeasure.  “There is no way a snot nosed little punk is getting close to my daughter.  I think we should consider locking her in the basement until she’s 35.”

  Aashi gave him a look that said, I told you so.  “I thought that would be your reaction.  Just make sure you have a word with him.”

  Tiki nodded.  “I will.  Though if he was like me when I was his age it was the girls after me, trying to corrupt my innocence.”

  Aashi rolled her eyes at the self satisfied look that Tiki put on.  “Really, that’s not how I remember it.”

  Tiki and Aashi had gone to school together in Suva.  She was in fact his high school sweetheart and it had been him that had chased after her back in those days.  Back then it was not because of anything as romantic as true love, it was just she was an attractive girl and he was a teenager with raging hormones.  Memories of those days flooded back to him, their first date, their first kiss, their first night together.  With those memories it added to his will that his daughter should not be allowed around boy her age.  He knew he was probably being over protective, Chrissy was smart and life was about making your own choice, no matter what your parents thought.

  “Maybe I’ll ship Pranav to boot camp,” he jokingly suggested.  “That’ll keep him out of trouble.”

  “Really?  In my experience you can find trouble anywhere,” said Aashi before turning back to her shopping.  Tiki cringed and did his best to mask it.  “So how are your Marines?  Major Stevens well?”

  “They’re well.  Happy to get a break of course,” he replied cautiously trying to hide the discomfort from his voice.

  It seemed to be an innocent enough question; it was just her specific mention of his second-in-command that put him off. 

  Aashi turned to face him and smiled a smile that seemed to radiate fake warmth.  “That’s nice.”

  While his wife had never explicitly said anything Tiki had always got the impression that she did not like his second in command.  Stevens was an attractive and strong woman that Tiki spent more time with then he did his own wife.  It seemed to be a silly reason for her to dislike the Major but Tiki had in the past shown less then perfect judgement.

  Principally from an incident back before he knew Stevens, when he was at the Starfleet Marine Corps Academy.  The Academy was located in Quantico and he had lived there during his four years of officer training while Aashi had remained in Fiji continuing her education here.  In his fourth and final year he had cheated on Aashi with a first year recruit.  Aashi eventually found out and she left him.  It took him a long time and a lot of work to convince her to even talk to him, let alone for them to get back together but they did.  Two years after he graduated they conceived Pranav and then were married.

  That indiscretion was not forgotten.  She had forgiven him since they now had a happy family but Tiki believed that there would always be an element of doubt in her mind about his faithfulness.  He could not blame her, he would go away for long periods of time and it was hard to have a really passionate relationship through subspace.  Their relationship was more about physical absence and trust was not eternal.  At least that is how he felt about the whole thing; Aashi had never said anything about it.  Tiki wondered if he was shifting his own insecurities onto his wife, whether it was not her that held doubts about whether he would be faithful but him instead.

  Tiki tried to shake these thoughts away.  They were not relevant right now, what was important was that he was here with his wife and their children.  That for the next three weeks he would spend as much time with them as he could.

  Aashi finished what she was doing and washed her hands.  She lent back on the counter facing him and dried her hands with a tea towel.

  “You’ve gone very quiet,” she pointed out.

  “Just thinking about what I should get Sam for her birthday,” he lied.  Bringing up what he was truly thinking about would send them down an unpleasant road.

  “Do you know what I was thinking about?”

  Tiki shook his head.

  Aashi threw the tea towel on the counter and walked up to him, she gestured with a finger for him to lean towards her and he did.  She then leant into his ear and whispered her thoughts to him.  She then stepped back to the counter with a seductively playful look on her face.

  Tiki smiled, “I like the way you think.”

  Masters looked out the Dreamtime’s windows as the shuttle piloted towards his destination.  He did not need to pilot the craft as the computer flew it on a predetermined path, so he could just enjoy the view and relax.  It had taken him over eight hours after the ship docked at Spacedock before he had done all he needed to do so he could leave, most of it paper work.  He was tired and looking forward to his time off.

  The shuttle had just hit the east coast of the continent of Australia after crossing the large (in planetary terms) body of water known as the Pacific Ocean.  The coast of Australia was beautiful, with the blue sea hitting the golden sands of the continent and then going up into the green coastal areas of the country and the artificial colours of civilisation.  He was travelling at a very modest speed so that he could take in the scenery of Australia, it was a unique and in his opinion the most beautiful part of Earth.  Like centuries before the coastal area of the continent was the main area of population, though in this trip he would not pass over any significantly large population areas.

  His shuttle continued to travel inland.  The shuttle came over a large river and followed it.  Masters watched as the familiar bends of the river as the shuttle continued on its path.  The shuttle came to a point where on the east bank of the river was a hill and the other side was low, flat field.  The shuttle slowed down and turned towards the field, which went for a few hundred metres before it became another small hill.  Almost at the top was a large house, which had an equally large shuttle pad.

  Masters took control of the shuttle and landed it on the pad, next to a small private impulse shuttle, which was the only other craft on the pad.  He powered down the shuttle, picked up his bags and stepped outside.

  He looked over to the house.  He thought of it as home, which was odd as he had not actually lived in the house since before he graduated from the academy.  At one point he had his own apartment further north, in the city of Brisbane.  He had given it up after he was given command of the Swiftfire eight months ago.  By default it seemed that this house was once again his home.

  He walked towards the large veranda that ran around the house.  As he got close the front door opened and out stepped a woman.  The woman just smiled at him and waited by the door.  When Masters was in arms reach she spread out her arms and gave him a hug.

  “It’s so good to see you, Jonathan!” said the woman.

  “You too, mum,” he replied as he hugged her back.

  After a while she stopped hugging him and took a step back taking a good look at him.  “You’ve changed so much since I last talked to you.  I swear you’re getting taller.”

  Masters smiled.  “That was only a few weeks ago, I can’t have changed that much.  You’re look very well.  Being back teaching must agree with you,” he said.

  His mother, Claire Masters, was in her late-seventies but he thought she seemed much younger, despite the fact her blonde hair had turned grey and the few extra lines on her face.

  Claire had a long history of service in Starfleet.  Her service was mostly on starbases and outposts rather then starships but she made her mark.  She had risen through the ranks quickly and had had reached the rank of Rear Admiral just before he was born.  She had also accepted a position at Starfleet Academy and moved back to Earth.  He was born not long after that.  She had continued to teach at the Academy for many years until she decided to retire from Starfleet a few years before the start of the Dominion War.  After the war started she returned to the Academy to teach, however she did not return to Starfleet.

  “Where’s dad?  Is he home?” he asked.

  Claire rolled her eyes and sighed.  “In the house driving me crazy!”

  He could not help but laugh.

  “Don’t laugh young man!  You’ll have to put up with him too now you’re back.  Come on, go say hello.  You’re also lucky, lunch is just about ready.”

  Claire ushered him into the house and towards the lounge room.  In the lounge sitting on a couch reading a novel was his father.  He turned as he heard them enter.  When he saw Jonathan he got up excitedly and went over and shook his hand firmly.

  “Good to have you home, son.  You mother has been driving me crazy, with you here maybe she’ll fuss after you instead of me,” his father let out a loud booming laugh.

  He laughed along with his father, Dalton.  Jonathan still had trouble with seeing his father in civilian clothes rather then Starfleet uniform.  It had been months since Dalton had retired after the loss of the USS Ambassador, an advanced prototype at the Battle of Guyra, but he had spent his entire life seeing his father in uniform almost every time he saw him and now it just seemed unnatural.

  “Your mother was preparing lunch,” said Dalton.  “Let’s go and sit around the table and catch up.”

  The Masters family gathered around the dinning table as they enjoyed their lunch.

  “I was surprised to hear that you would be visiting,” said Dalton as he chewed on some pasta.  “Is this just a standard rotation?”

  Masters shook his head.  “No, we took some serious damage in our last battle.  The ship is getting patched up at Spacedock.”

  “What happened?”

  “We were involved in a mission to destroy a Dominion super carrier.  It got a bit hairy and I threw a warp core at them.”

  “You threw a warp core at them?” repeated his mother.

  He nodded.  “It destroyed the target and we successfully completed the mission.”

  “Interesting tactics.  You could probably teach your mother a few tricks for her classes,” said his father with his mouth half full of food.

  “Actually, Jonathan, I’ve got a class at the Academy in a few days time, I’d like you to come and speak to the cadets,” said Claire.

  “Me!” said Jonathan in disbelief.  “Why me?”

  “You’re a current captain fighting on the front.  You’re a hero.”  Jonathan made a face at his mother.  “No, you are a hero and you’ve got the Medal of Valour to prove it.  It would be a valuable experience for the cadets and for you.”

  He did not like the idea at all.  “Okay, I’ll do it.”  But this was his mother asking him to help, he could not refuse.

  “Great,” said Claire and patted Jonathan on the shoulder.

  “Where will it be, at the San Francisco campus?”

  “No, the Canberra Campus.”

  Jonathan nodded.  He felt some relief that he was not going to be speaking at the main campus of the academy on Earth.  Starfleet Academy had grown immensely over the last few decades.  Starfleet Academy had always had several campuses, though most were on some of the bigger member worlds that were not very close to Earth.  The Earth campus had seen a huge growth and there were several separate smaller campuses spread over the planet.  With technology like transporters this was not a problem and the campuses were very much linked together.  The Canberra campus was also the one his mother had the tightest links to as she had spent most of her teaching career at that campus.

  “Talking about talking to people you should visit your great-granny,” said Dalton.  “I heard you undertook a mission with the Enterprise, she’d love to hear about that.”

  Jonathan nodded.  His great-grandmother, Charlene Masters, had served on the USS Enterprise in the 23rd century.  She had only undertaken one five year mission with the ship but she had fond memories of some of the unbelievable adventures that ship had undertaken.  With her age she did enjoy to reflect back on her days on that vessel and the several decades of service she had given to Starfleet not retiring until well into the 24th century.

  “What about granddad?” he asked.

  “He’s still in Sydney.  He sends his love and said you are welcome to visit him anytime.”

  “What is he up to these days?”

  “Campaigning for something or other.  The man doesn’t know what retirement means,” moaned his mother.

  His grandfather, on his father’s side, John Masters had also served in Starfleet though unlike them he did not make it his entire career.  He did spent two decades in service and left to start a political career.  Among his accomplishments were becoming Lord Mayor of Sydney and then serving in the United Earth government.  He had retired years ago but he seemed to get himself involved in some sort of political movement every few months.

  “So when do I get to meet you young lady friend?” asked his mother.

  Jonathan shifted in his seat uncomfortably.  “Probably not anytime soon.  We’re no longer together.”

  A sad look came to his mother’s face but it was his father that spoke first.  “That’s a shame; she seemed like a nice woman when I met her on Guyra IV.”

  Jonathan had never been terribly comfortable with discussing his romantic life with his parents.  In fact he could not remember a time when he did so with his father, mainly due to their mostly distant relationship through most of his life.

  “She was…she is a very nice woman.  In the end we decided to end the relationship as we realised that nothing more would come of it,” he explained.  It was a very basic representation of the full story.

  “So it ended amicably?” asked his mother.

  He half nodded.  “As amicably as you could expect a break up to be.  Though it was far from my worse break up.”

  His mother reached over and put her hand on his.  “Your father told me about Melissa’s death.  I’m sorry.”

  He squeezed her hand back.  “Thanks, mum.”

  There was a loud tone indicating an incoming communication.

  “Computer, who is the call for?” asked his mother.

  “Incoming transmission is for Claire Masters,” responded their home’s computer system.

  His mother excused herself from the table and headed for the next room to take the call, leaving Jonathan and his father alone at the table.

  “While you’re here I’d like to introduce you to a few people,” said his father.

  “Who?”

  “Some of my friends and contacts in Starfleet and in various other departments.”

  “Contacts?” said Jonathan uneasily.

  “Yes, believe me son, you can’t get anywhere is this universe without contacts.  People you can turn to when you need help or something you can’t get or do though official channels.  I’ve collected more then a few in my career, with me sidelined now you might as well benefit from them.”

  Jonathan nodded, still uneasy.  He had no doubt that having contacts around the place would be useful but nothing was ever free.  The relationships would have to be two way, if he wanted something done he would need to be prepared to return the favour.

  “One thing I still don’t understand is why you left Starfleet,” he said.  “The investigating panel didn’t rule anything inappropriate about the loss of the Ambassador.  You and the entire crew were awarded commendations for what you did in trying to save the remaining colonists on that planet.”

  Then he saw something he had never seen before, a crack in the image of Dalton Masters.  Growing up he was sure that most of what he knew and saw of his father was through the news services and the eyes of others.  Admiral Dalton Masters was the image of what a Starfleet flag officer should be, he was tall, commanding, confident, honourable, unflinching and a stalwart defender of peace and justice…at least that’s how he was portrayed.  Maybe he did not really know who Dalton Masters was as a man?  That was the tragedy of their relationship, that after nearly forty years he still did not really know his father.

  “Posthumously, the crew were awarded them posthumously.  I lost the entire crew of the Ambassador that day.  They died following my orders, yet I was rescued.”

  It sounded like survivor’s guilt.  It was something Jonathan knew all too familiarly; just two years ago the entire crew of the USS Swiftfire were killed while he was recovering from injuries on Deep Space 9.   That event had forced him into re-evaluating his life and he had come close to giving up his Starfleet career.

  “It isn’t easy to lose colleagues, dad.  But giving up…was it the right thing to do?”

  “Do you know how many people I have lost under many command in my career?”  Jonathan shook his head.  “The tragic thing is neither do I.  It’s not that I’m gun shy now; I feel I could still order off the young men and women of the Federation to their deaths but I no longer want to do it.  Luckily I’d earned the right to leave on my terms.”

  “Do you think you’ll return to Starfleet?”

  His father shrugged.  “If the war goes for long enough or starts going pear shaped then I’ll most likely get pulled back in.  However, right now I think I’ve deserved a break even if it is a crappy time to take one.”

  Jonathan could not deny that.  His father had given decades of his life to Starfleet.  Years he could have spent with his wife and his child had been spent on the fringes of the Federation or battling its enemies.  If anyone had earned the right to leave when they wanted to it was him.

  Footsteps diverted his attention as his mother walked back into the room.

  “That was just Academy trying to rope me into more work,” said Claire.  “I also confirmed with them you appearing for one of my classes next week.”

  Jonathan smiled and tried to look happy.  So far during lunch he had agreed to help out in a class and to be dragged around the place meeting with ‘contacts’.  As he continued to eat his meal he could not help but think that was no such thing as a free lunch.