Friday 17th December, 2128

Ayr, Scotland, United Kingdom, Earth

“Oliver Harris Campbell, get yourself down here straight away!”

The thick Scottish accent from his father bellowed through the house like a thunderstorm roaring across the North Sea. Harris Campbell had just walked into the Campbell residence that lived close to Ayr beach. It had been raining for most of the day, so it only added to the anger in his father’s voice.

“Ollie, you’re in trouble,” Robert called after his younger brother from where they were sitting in the family room. The two teenagers were sitting on the long black sofa. Robert with his head in a book while Oliver had a headset over his ears while playing with his handheld game console.

Pushing his headset down after he briefly heard his older brother say something in his direction, the two brothers were sitting across from each other. “What did you say, Robbie?” He asked.

“Dad! You’re in trouble!” His brother whispered loudly as their father walked into the back family room.

Wincing at hearing that and seeing his dad entering the room, Oliver looked up at his dad. “Sorry, dad.”

“Is that all I’m getting, is ‘sorry’?” His father asked, looking annoyed. “I got a call from your headteacher to tell me that my son hit another child during a football match and all I get is ‘sorry’?”

Monday 25th April, 2157

Endeavour NX-06, en-route to Earth

Starring out of the oval window, Captain Oliver Campbell was not focussing on anything particular. It was late in the night, he had not been able to sleep so instead he had tried to use the passing bright lights of stars while Endeavour was at warp to somehow hypnotise him into sleep.

It wasn’t working.

Instead, he had poured himself a glass of Scottish whiskey and was sitting in the armchair near his bed, feet raised on the nearby table, trying to use any other means of falling asleep.

It wasn’t working.

Though it had been almost a week since they left Risa and so far the ship had not encountered any enemy vessels, it wasn’t going out of its way to find any either. The ship’s original mandate of exploration had gone out of the nearest airlock after the Battle of Sol and this ship was now bred for war. If it wasn’t that then it was flying the flag for Earth, rushing to gain his homeworld another ally that would help stand up against the Romulan war machine. These had become the normal mandate for the ship since Oliver had assumed command almost eighteen months ago. Reflecting on his time on Risa, he had been wondering again and again if he had made the right call in basically refusing to bring the Risians into the war effort on their side. Had he made the right call? Could he actually sleep at night knowing that the Romulans could conquer them and all he did in his power was to leave behind two extremely experienced officers to help the Risians come up with some sort of half-hearted defence? Had he made the right call?

The darkness of his room, with the slight low-level lights around the edge that were set on a faint dim which reflected against the wall in a dull turquoise, helped somehow for him to think about his actions and decisions.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he started to recall the conversation he had with Rear Admiral Paulsen. She had listened to his update about his meeting with the Risian leadership, but her reaction was not like her. Normally she was ever so supportive, always on his side, but she didn’t appear to care too much nor did she appear happy to catch up with him. Instead, she had just ordered Endeavour to head home for resupply and minor maintenance. He had been expecting her to order them to Starbase 1, however, that was not the case. Should he have pushed harder with his meeting and prevailed with the great news that while he was on vacation he grabbed another ally for United Earth Commonwealth? He thought he was doing the right thing, trying to be more pragmatic in his encounters with other civilisations. Did he have the right to bring them into their war effort?

Now as the ship hurtled towards Earth, he pondered if he was heading home for a showdown with the top brass. It was for that reason he was starting to get a knot in his stomach. Had Starfleet had enough of his escapades and were they preparing to replace him as Endeavour’s commanding officer with someone more experienced? Was he about to be given the biggest rollicking he had ever had since joining Starfleet? Thinking back to his childhood he still could remember the tone his father would take with him anytime a call home from his school happened for anything he did wrong. He should have been used to it by now. That said there was always that something in the back of his mind that made him feel anxious about it all.

That anxiety started to slip away the moment he felt a pair of two very warm muscular arms slowly slip around his shoulder followed by a chin gently pressing against his neck.

“Babe, it’s like three in the morning. Come back to bed.” Fynn mumbled into his left ear.

“I can’t sleep.” Oliver admitted.

“Come back to bed and I’ll help you with that.” Fynn said, sounding more seductive than sleepy.

Sniggering at how easily Fynn could take something and turn it into something related to their love life, Oliver never knew where his husband found his strength. “I just want to sleep,” Oliver stated before turning around and pecking his husband’s cheek. “Thanks for the offer though.”

“Don’t be up for too long, I’m missing my extra source of warmth.” Fynn stated as he returned the sign of affection to his other half and kissed him for longer before returning to their bed.

Not wanting to keep Fynn up half the night, Oliver decided to head over to their shared wardrobe (almost a double locker) and took out a black hoodie with the ship’s emblem on it along with a pair of similar coloured sweat shorts. Pulling the clothes over just his boxers, he looked at himself in the mirror. The dark reflection showed his hair either all fluffy in some areas or sticking up in others. Lifting the hood up over his head, he decided that would do as he made his way towards the exit.

“Ollie,” mumbled Fynn from their bed. He pushed the king size duvet off his body to reveal his bare chest, “come to bed.” He insisted.

Shaking his head, Oliver pulled the duvet back over his partner. “I’m going for a run, I’ll be back soon.”

“We could do exercise here, in bed,” Fynn suggested one more time with a cheeky-half-asleep wink. “Come to bed.” He repeated.

“I’m fine, let me go for a run and I’ll be back before you know it.” Oliver replied. However, he wasn’t telling the whole truth as he wasn’t feeling like a run. Rather than a run, he was considering stopping off at the gym to give the punch bag a good pummelling.

“Okay,” Fynn said, giving out with a sigh and returning back to sleep, “but when you come back to bed make sure you’re not all smelly and sweaty.”

“I’ll take a shower.” Oliver said as he headed for the door. He walked out, he was certain he heard another crude comment from his husband about joining him in the shower or something, but he ignored it as he made his way out of their shared quarters and towards the mess hall.

A midnight snack sounded good about right now. Something with chocolate in it tickled his taste buds.

Walking towards the mess hall, Oliver did realise, as normal, how lucky he was and wondered just how many other Starfleet captains were fortunate to have their other halves serving with them. He suspected there weren’t many. At that point, as he took a junction down the corridor he had a slight panic about why they were going home. Had Starfleet wanted to review his situation with Fynn on board?

Knowing he needed to stop asking these questions to himself, he hurried along towards his destination.