Is this goodbye?

Posted on 24 Mar 2016 @ 10:29pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius

1,352 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Sarek/USS Galileo
Timeline: MD95 - 1420 hrs

ON:

It took some time before the connection finally was established and Talla watched from her own ready room as the Galileo was slowly leaving it's berth. It looked like she was just in time with her call, and she waited for Lamar to answer.

In his quarters, the small LCARS terminal sitting on the desk chirped to signal an incoming subspace message. Lamar had just finished his afternoon workout and was about to hop in the sonic shower, but quickly walked over to the table to check the comms. A single press on the green button at the bottom of the device initiated the channel, and suddenly he saw a familiar blue face looking back at him. "Oh. Hey," he said with a small grin.

Talla regarded the sweaty figure for a moment, then smiled. "Hi," she said, leaning a little closer to her monitor. "Did I interupt something?"

"No, just got back to my quarters from the gym. We're getting ready to leave Jupiter Station tonight in a few hours...was gonna take a quick shower and shave to look presentable for the occasion." He rolled his eyes and let out a light chuckle to show her he wasn't too fond of all the pomp and circumstance. "What's new with you?" he then asked.

"I'm watching the Galileo leave," the Andorian woman replied sadly, "and we're not going anywhere for a while. Our port strut has shown a weakness in scans so the Sarek is grounded for a while longer."

He felt a twinge of pain when he realized he wouldn't be seeing his new lover for possibly a long time. Their encounter had been brief, yet fulfilling, and he couldn't help but feel a longing for her and an underlying attachment. "So," he began with a nod to acknowledge her plight, "will we see each other again? When is your next shore leave?"

"I don't know, but I'll be sure to let you know when we're in port again," Talla promised, "I'm going to miss you."

"Yeah me too. Seems like all the good things I find in the universe don't really last too long," he solemnly joked.

"Well...." The Andorian seemed to hesitate. "I think this will leave something permanent Lamar...."

He agreed -- she wasn't a woman he would forget anytime soon and in the short time that he had known her, he had developed deep feelings for her. "I'll always be thinking about you," he smiled, "permanently."

Her antennae seemed to droop a little as she reached to send him a file. "A little more permanent than that Lamar," she whispered as she sent him the image of her first ultrasound. "I'm pregnant..."

The attached file opened and displayed on his screen, and in conjunction with her revelation, he sat up straighter and inhaled. "Oh." He tried to make sense of the ultrasound image but couldn't really identify anything that looked like a baby. He was terribly inefficient at anything medical related.

He didn't speak for a long moment while the reality of the situation set in. Apparently she had another lover who she was about to have a child with, and that would mean there wouldn't be any chance for the two of them to rekindle their relationship in the future. "Who's the father?" he asked, wondering who the lucky man was.

"You." The answer was short and simple as she stared at him expecting an answer. "I'm almost three months pregnant....my CMO put me at ten weeks and 2 days."

The news washed over him like a gentle wave, at first. As if the motion of the water flowed seamlessly over his body and then back out into the sea without any impact. He kept looking at her and blinked a few times. Then the wave reversed course and crashed into his back with extreme force. His heart skipped a beat and his mouth suddenly dried up. He opened it to begin to reply but couldn't find any words to relay.

"..." His eyes darted down towards the carpet then around in circles while he processed this new life-changing information. "..." he tried again, with no avail. "...Wait," he finally managed, "I got you pregnant? And you're carrying our baby?"

After a few seconds of silence, Talla nodded. "I don't understand it either...somewhere...the shots must've failed...this wasn't supposed to happen."

Failed, not supposed to happen, etc., it was all trivial to Lamar now. As unexpected as it was, he suddenly felt elated and looked into the screen at her with a big smile. "So I'm gonna be a dad?" He fistpumped the air outside of her view. For the past few years he had been searching for something more in life apart from Marine or Fleet service, but he had never known what he really desired. He had grown up with brothers, of course, and knew the importance of family values, but that had become lost on him throughout 20+ years of Marine Corps service on hostile worlds and in shitty combat conditions. Now, to finally learn that he had a family of his own...

"I'm a dad!" he yelled, beaming from ear to ear. "Is it a boy or a girl?" he then asked impatiently.

"I don't know yet, they won't be able to tell until I'm further along." She searched his face, looking for the clues that he might reject it, but so far she saw none. Instead, she saw him beaming back at her, this happiness that she didn't really seem to share. "What are we going to do Lamar? How or where would we even raise him or her? I don't even know how viable it is...half Human, half Andorian...I know it's been done before...but there will be...complications..." She paused. "I'm scared."

"Well..we have to get married," he smiled once again, flashing his white teeth. "And don't worry about all that mixed-species complication stuff, I bet our Starfleet docs can make all that go away." Hell, he'd seen some of the most improbably Human hybrids throughout his years of service, and if some of them could have children, so could he and Talla. "I can talk to my medical chief, Lieutenant Commander Warraquim, if you want? Maybe she can give us some advice?"

"yes, please do....and I'll enlist mine." She nodded in agreement though pretended not to have heard the 'M' word. "It'll be a while before we can talk again but I'll be sure to keep you updated," she promised.

He quickly grabbed a PADD from his desk's drawer in order to jot down some notes. "Can you send me your medical files so I can forward them to her? I'll send you mine also." He looked back up at her and tried his best to give her reassurance. "Don't worry, Talla, everything will be okay. You and the baby. And we can keep in contact over the subspace comms."

Making a few adjustments, Talla sent her medical file over and all the scans her CMO had taken. "CMO's eyes only," she reminded Lamar, "I don't want other medics involved...I don't want this all over the ship just yet. It's too early."

"I get it," he nodded with understanding, then transmitted his own files to her in return. "I...I don't want us to be separated for too long," he then said. "I guess we need to figure out all the details sometime soon."

"Soon," the Andorian promised. "I have to get back to the bridge."

With that, the screen went blank and the transmission ended. Lamar leaned back in his seat to begin some long and heavy soul-searching, for his life had just changed. The prospect of marriage and a child on the horizon meant his routine life aboard Galileo might soon be different in a drastic way. But in the meantime, he had to hit the shower and prepare for the Nova-class' departure.

OFF:

Commodore Talla H'Rhar
Commanding Officer
USS Sarek-A
[PNPC Tyrion]

CWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC Saalm]

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