Bridge

The turbolift doors parted and the senior staff walked onto the bridge of the USS North Carolina for the first time.

Hammond released a low whistle. “Very nice.” he said. 

“Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed our time aboard the Sausalito but this is really nice.” added Evens.

Captain Krolo stood to the side and smiled as his crew took in their new home. He felt the same way when he was first brought aboard and told that they would be getting a new ship. He felt like the proud parent and his crew were his children that had worked hard and earned all of this. He watched as they walked around and took in all the stations. 

Yeon-Jen turned away from the Helm and grinned. “I get to sit up front alone?” she asked.

“It’s all yours.” answered the CO.

The commanding officer made his way to the front and stood before his crew.

“Our run in with the Borg played a big part in us getting this new ship. Command wanted to make sure we could take care of ourselves if we needed to.” he informed the crew. “I believe with this new ship will come many opportunities for us. And many challenges as well. I want all of you to enjoy the next couple of days on the base for some much deserved R & R. We launch in three days.”

They all nodded and chatted for a few more moments before reentering the lift and heading out. They were all gung ho and ready for their next adventure.

Xifel found himself humming as he made his way down the corridor. They had a new ship, new quarters and now they were getting new crew members. He was pretty excited. The doors to the quarters that he shared with his twin brother parted as he approached and he entered to find Xifer sitting at the console.

“So? Did you find out anything about them?” Xifel asked.

“About who?” inquired Xifer as he looked up from his screen.

Xifel released an exaggerated sigh. “The two new crew members. Are they a couple? Are they siblings? It would be cool to have another set of siblings on board.” he said.

“Ohhh.” Xifer replied as he began to laugh. “You were way off on that one little brother.” he teased, knowing that there was only two minutes between their births and that Xifel hated being called “little brother”.

“Turns out it’s not Mary and Chris Mass. It’s Merry Christmas. It’s a greeting for an old Earth holiday.” Xifer informed him.

Xifel’s eyes widened.

“Another holiday? How many damn holidays to humans need?” he retorted. “It seems they have one every….., what do they call them?……Month. That’s it. Every month.”

Xifer sat down in the open chair and huffed. “I really thought we were getting new people.”

“Well. We may not get new people but according to their traditions, we could get a new gift.” Xifer told him.

“Whatever.” said Xifel as he stood and left their quarters once again. His mood only soured more as he heard Xifer’s laugh as the doors closed.

Alen stood once everyone had arrived and took their seats.

“Afternoon all. Thank you for joining me. I spent this morning with the brass here on the base and after some back and forth, I was granted permission to make some important changes before we launch in a few days.” he informed everyone.

The First Officer looked at the Captain. 

“What sort of changes, Sir?” she inquired.

He placed his hand into his pocket and brought it out still balled up into a fist.

“Some that I feel are well over due.” he said as he opened his hand and allowed several rank pips to slide onto the table.

The others began looking around and wondering who was getting the new, shiny, little pieces of gold.

“First.” the Commanding Officer began, “I’d like to start with my First Officer.” He retrieved a pip and walked over to her.

Lorilen stood as he approached. “Really?” she asked with legit surprise in her voice. 

“Without a doubt. This is way past due in my opinion.” Alen said as he placed the new rank onto her collar. “Congratulations.” he added with a handshake.

As he turned and headed back to the end of the table, the XO tossed a glance over at the Chief Medical Officer. He understood it immediately. It said, “I outrank you now.”

“Next up.” began Alen as he reached his seat and picked up another pip. “I’d like to congratulate our esteemed doctor. Lieutenant Commander Declan O’Conner.”

It was now the CMO’s turn to toss a childish look of his own over the briefing table before he stood as the Captain came around.

Once again, Alen placed the pip where it belonged. “Congratulations, Doctor. Next step will be to get you into some command training.” Alen teased.

“Thank you, Sir. But I’m perfectly happy in teal and in Sickbay.” replied Declan.

“We’ll see.” Alen said with a wink.

The Captain returned to his end of the table. 

“With those done, I’d like to have the rest of you step up here. And if you wouldn’t mind assisting Commander Tod?”

The three remaining officers and the XO rose and joined their commanding officer who had gathered up the last three pips from the table.

“Lieutenants Junior grade Yeon-Joo, Hammonds and T’Shan. Each of you have shown much promise and have excelled at your positions. It is with great honor that each of you be promoted to the rank of full lieutenant. Congratulations to all three of you.”

Alen and Lorilen placed the pips on the young officers collars. They all smiled and shook hands with congrats all around.

As Captain Krolo dismissed the meeting and everyone began leaving, Declan approached Lorilen. 

“Congratulations Commander.” he said.

“You too, Commander.” she said in return.

“Lorilen. Listen. Do you think we could have dinner? I’d really like to talk.” he asked.

The newly minted Commander allowed herself just the smallest of a smile. Her and Declan had a passed and it wasn’t an awful one.

“Sure. We’ll wee you at seven.” she answered

Lorilen looked back at the table and, for the one millionth time, wondered if it was right. She was really nervous about tonight. First off, she and her daughter, Leana, hadn’t had a family dinner together in quite some time. It had also been a while since they had had a guest over to eat with them and tonight Doctor O’Conner was joining them. She paused for a few minutes and began reminiscing about the day she had met Declan back in the Academy. He had been two years her senior and very irresistible when he had asked her out. It had been a short romance that had ended when he graduated and ship off and had briefly reignited when she had gotten assigned to the USS Valkyrie and was surprised to find Declan there as well. It was that brief affair that had led to the birth of their daughter. Declan had tried to do what he thought was the right thing and proposed to her but she had turned him down. Despite a shared child, marriage just wasn’t something that she had been ready for. She had also never come across the right time, in her mind, to tell her daughter who here father was. Now, twelve years later, they were going to share their secret with Leana. 

The First Officer was brought back to the present by the sound of the doors to her quarters parting ways. She turned to see her daughter walking in from school.

“What’s going on?” Leana asked when she noticed the table.

 “We’re having dinner with Doctor O’Conner. Remember?” replied Lorilen.

“Oh. I thought that was next week.”

“Nope. So go ahead and start your homework and he’ll be here in about an hour.” 

Leana went to her room to do as her mother had said and Lorilen finished getting things ready for their dinner.

As Lorilen sat the lasagna on the table, the door chimed, announcing the arrival of Declan. She spun her head around to look at the chronometer/ She couldn’t believe the hour had gone by so quickly.

Leana came out of her room and went straight to the door to welcome their guest. Lorilen was surprised to see her daughter hug the doctor when he entered. She hadn’t realized that the two of them had grown so close.

“These are for each of you.” Declan said as he handed each lady a small bouquet of flowers.

“Thank you.” came the simultaneous replies.

“Leana. Would you take these and put them in some water please?” asked her mother. She watched as the young girl left and went to collect a vase.

“What was that hug about?” she asked the Doctor. “You haven’t said…..”

“No. No. Of course not. I’ve stuck to our agreement.” he interrupted. “It isn’t that huge of a ship. She’s made friends here. I’m not the only one she does that to.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just a little nervous. Please. Come have a drink before we eat.” The XO said as she walked over to the replicator. She ordered each of them a glass of Jamison Irish Whiskey.

“You still drink it as well.” he commented. “Should I be flattered?”

“What can I say. You introduced me to a wonderful drink.” she answered.

“So I guess you could say that I left you with two good impressions, huh?” he teased.

She quickly gave him an evil eye look followed by a grin and a wink.

“Flowers are done, Mom. Can we eat now? I’m starving.” said the twelve year old.

“Sure. Let’s eat.” said her mother.

The Doctor, ever being the gentleman, pulled out the seats for each of them before taking his own.

“This looks wonderful. I hope you didn’t go through a lot of trouble just for me.” he said. Deep down, he was secretly excited that she had made one of his favorite dishes. Maybe things were starting to look up between them.

“It was no trouble.” began Lorilen. “It’s actually one of Leana’s favorite meals.” she said while smiling, as if she were reading his mind.

“Well then. If I may do the honors?” he asked. After Lorilen nodded, he began slicing and serving the lasagna and they started to eat.

Leana began to notice the silence within a few minutes. She also caught the glances that the two adults were throwing back and forth at each other, across the table.

“Is something wrong?” she asked after another moment or two.

“Wh…what? No. Why?” stammered her mother.

“You just seem anxious about something and the two of you keep glancing back and forth like you’re trying to hide something or figure out a way to say something.”

“No Honey. We’re just having a nice dinner with our friend. We’re….” Lorilen released a heavy sigh.

“Okay. Listen.” Lorilen said. She paused when she heard Declan lay down his silverware. “We just wanted all of us to be together when we told you something very important.” 

The intense moment was suddenly broken by a loud outburst of laughter. The grown ups exchanged very confusing looks. It took Leana almost two whole minutes to calm down and catch her breath. Then she smiled as she looked between her parents.

“Is this the all important talk where you tell me that Doctor O’Conner is my father?” she asked calmly.

“Wha…how….when did you know?” her mother finally said as she glanced over at Declan and saw him grinning. He also held up his hands with his palms out as if to surrender and say, It wasn’t me.

“Mom. I figured it out a few months ago, back on the Sausalito when I saw how you guys acted around one another. I only suspected it at first after looking up your public records and saw that you both served together on the Valkyrie. Then, after a while, I was able to get a DNA sample from Doctor O’Conner and ran standard ancestry tests on it and it came back positive.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Declan asked.

“I figured you guys would tell me when you were ready.”

“She definitely got your smarts.” Declan said to his former lover.

“Can we eat like a normal family now?” asked Leana. “I’m still starving.”

With any luck, here will be more Tod/O’Conner family adventures to come in the near future

“What do you mean you’re not going?” asked Xifel.

“Exactly what I said. Not going.” replied Xifer

“But he was our father.”

“He was an ass. You didn’t see it as much as I did. Apparently, you being two whole minutes younger meant you got to be shielded from the abuse that mom and I endured.” 

“I’m not listening to this again. Our father never laid a hand on any of us. He was the most peaceful man we knew.”

“Peaceful. What a joke. Did you really think I had broken all those bones while playing Blastball? Please. That man was as violent as they come.”

“Then you could at least go for mom. She needs us both right now.” said Xifel.

Xifer huffed and shook his head. “I was wondering when you’d play that card. Listen. I’ve already spoken to mom. She completely understands why I’m not coming.”

“Fine.” stated Xifel as he picked up his bag. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

Without another word, he turned and exited the quarters that he shared with his twin brother.