My Meddling Mother
Posted on Tue Jan 30th, 2024 @ 2:48pm by Lieutenant JG Deezell Vox & Colonel Ezekiel Bagwell & Lieutenant Commander Anna Bagwell
Edited on on Sun Feb 4th, 2024 @ 7:22pm
4,277 words; about a 21 minute read
Mission:
Episode 118 - "It's About Family"
Location: Starbase 400 / USS Saratoga
Timeline: Current
"So, let me get this straight, my mother has once again stuck her nose into local government affairs and in doing so, is costing the local council time and money in dealing with her meddling? Have I got this right?" Dee asked her cousin, who was now on her communications screen.
"That's pretty much it in a nutshell. A group of people, plus your mother, are against the redevelopment of the Satha Quarry into a local travel hub. The nearest one to us, in the province, as you know is some 30 km away. Even though most people in the province are in favour of the idea, your mother's little group is enough to cause issues for the council and as a result, issues for our family and business. " Dee's cousin, Lenrik, explained.
"I thought, as a family we dealt with her meddling before and she promised not to do it again. Looks like I am going to have to come deal with this again. I will let you know as soon as I am en route home. " Dee replied.
"I know how busy you are, Dee, so we all appreciate this. " Lenrik replied. The coms channel closed.
She sighed. She sent a message to McWIre requesting a temporary leave of absence, which she hoped she would get. She then tapped her combadge.
=^= Vox to Bagwell. Sorry to bother you Colonel but have you got a minute to talk? I am in my office in Main Engineering. I kind of need your help and a favour. =^=
Ezekiel was in his office on the station. He was just getting settled in. The reality was finally starting to hit him. He was no longer in the Starfleet Navy. He was now a Marine. A position he had wanted, ever since the position came open.
With the new role, came a promotion that he felt was long overdue. But he understood that there was no room for advancement in the special operations field. Well to be clear, there was no room for advancement at Starbase 400. They had a good leadership team of Vice Admiral James K'Temoc Bremer and Captain Alexandra Harrison. Both officers were top-notch, and he knew it.
Ezekiel felt he could take on the mantle of responsibilities for the 1st Marine Division. He had been studying up for the past year, preparing himself. He went over military strategies, deployments and training requirements.
He was surprised to hear from Lieutenant Vox. They had some interactions in the past, but nothing recent. He was intrigued by the suggestion that he should head to main engineering. He simply tapped on his combadge and started to walk out the door. "I am on my way, Lieutenant." It did not take him long to arrive in main engineering. As he did he looked around the bay.
Vox noticed Ezekiel through the windows of her office and came out to greet him.
"Hey, there Colonel. Thanks for coming. Can we talk in my office?" She asked. Pointing to her office doors.
Ezekiel is still surprised by the sudden invite, he had never been to the Engineering Bay, and with a smile on his face, he said. "In the past 6 years, I have not been to this bay once." He said as he started to head towards the office of Lieutenant Vox.
"I appreciate the invite, now tell me Lieutenant what can I do for you?" Ezekiel asked as they entered the office. Ezekiel's curiosity was peaked.
"I have some trouble going on back home and my cousin has asked me to come home and help deal with....." she sighed "My mother.". She paused to think how best to explain the situation. "She has gotten involved in local council matters with a group of other people and has become somewhat of a thorn in the council's side. My cousin feels that she will listen to me and perhaps, now that I am joined, I may have additional experience in dealing with this situation. So, I wondered whether you could help me get to Trill. "
"Well, you're in luck. I had requested to have a ship send me to Trill, so I can go on my honeymoon with my wife." Ezekiel still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had finally married the woman of his dreams, and it was well overdue. He was looking forward to spending time on Trill. Ever since he was aboard the USA truck he had heard how wonderful Trill was, and he couldn't think of a better place to go. Verizon was nice but he wanted somewhere that was less tourist-like.
"Fantastic. Wait, you're going to Trill for your honeymoon? Interesting. If you fancy a visit to the Caves of Mak'ala, where symbionts are born, and nurtured before being joined to a host, let me know. You need to be with a joined Trill to visit if you are not from Trill yourself. One of the guardians will give you a tour as I am sure another will pull me to one side for a quick check-up." Dee advised.
Ezekiel was very pleased with the offer, cuz he honestly wanted to visit the caves of Mak'ala. And he had heard that outsiders were not permitted to attend. "I would personally love to see these caves, of course, I have to talk to Anna." He knew he could always go into a holodeck recreation, but deep in his heart he knew that wouldn't be the same thing as going there in person.
"Well, talk to Anna about it. I will make some enquiries when we arrive and see what I can do. I will have to pack my ceremonial robes in case they want me in one of the pools. " She replied.
"Thank you in advance if you can and thank you for trying if you can't."' Ezekiel said it appreciating the effort that the lieutenant was going to put into this. Even though the lieutenant was asking for a ride, Ezekiel felt that he was getting the deal in this arrangement.
"I'm sure I can get you in with me. Hopefully, a guardian called Tavel will be on duty. We have known each other for a long time. The last time I saw him I was Jorran. Only a few months later, Jorran was badly injuring an accident and died and then Raekwon took over. " Dee explained.
"First let me say I'm sorry for the loss, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I know I probably sound like a broken record." He said thanking the man again for something you just thought of for a few minutes ago. After taking a quick breath he continued. " Getting a chance to go to Trill, has always been on my bucket list. I've had many friends from Trill, and they have told me that is the place to go if you want to have the best honeymoon experience. I apologize to Kenny here I am rambling on talking in circles. I can arrange transportation for you on the Saratoga. When were you planning on leaving?"
"Well, as soon as I can really. I'd like to get this matter dealt with and get back to Starbase 400. But I will of course offer myself as a tour guide to you and Anna whilst you are on my homeworld. Most of my family haven't seen me since before I was joined to Vox so I guess I will be very different to what they remember." Dee replied.
"Will you be ready by 1900 hours tonight?" Ezekiel asked, hoping that she would be ready to leave. 1900 hours is when he wanted to originally leave.
"Absolutely" Dee replied.
Location: Starbase 400: Bagwell residence
"That's a lot of luggage," Ezekiel claimed as he walked into the room and saw if he had suitcases. He had packed a single duffel bag full of clothes that you would need, you know everything else could be replicated.
“It’s our honeymoon,” Anna said with a smile. “I want it to be perfect and you know how I am about shoes matching my clothes.” She looked at her bags. “I can shrink to have that if you want me to.”
"Think you're going to give my Marine to work out." Ezekiel said with a nervous smile on his face, he could only imagine going up to the quarter Master and looking at the quartermaster's face to drop with all the luggage that they're going to have to send to his room." if you feel you need all this stuff then so be it."
“I can cut back.” Anna conceded it. “I’ll go through it and keep half.” She smiled at him. “It is kind of an addiction, I don’t need it all.”
"Are you going to be able to do that before 1900 hours tonight?"'Ezekiel asked hoping that she was giving herself enough time to do that. He walked over to her and pulled her clothes, reaching out to embrace her warm infection. He knew if stayed in this room he would be a distraction to her. At the moment though there was no other place you'd rather be.
“Did you forget you are talking about me?” Anna replied. “I’ll set my mind and only keep the clothes I like and narrow myself down to a dozen pairs of shoes.” Some would think that was a lot but they didn’t know Anna.
"I know who I'm talking about, and sometimes you like to challenge yourself and increase the challenge every single time there's going to come to a point though or Sunday you're not going to be able to meet that expectation," Ezekiel said trying to warn her. He also knew how meticulous she was, any how hard it would be for her. But it's also the reason why he loved her.
“You are right,” Anna admitted. “One day I won’t be able to complete something but today it is a matter of shrinking my wardrobe. I am certain I can handle that.” She knew it would be hard for her, she liked having lots of clothes to choose from.
"With my promotion, we get bigger quarters. But seriously you need 12 pairs of shoes?" Ezekiel asked with a big smile on his face. She did not have to trim down her wardrobe at home, but for the trip, it would be helpful. He loved her and all of her clothing, but the amount she wanted to take was a bit much.
Anna smiled at him. “Three pairs of shoes and one bag.” It would be hard for her but Zeke was right. “You drive a hard bargain but that is the best I can do.”
Ezekiel was not fooled, that seemed to easy of a compromise. "What is your angle, my dear?" He asked with a playful smile on his face.
“I will be going shopping before we come back,” Anna said with a smile. “So be ready to buy me some things. I want a new pair of boots.” Anna knew how much he liked to shop.
"Don't you already own like 20 pairs of boots?" Ezekiel asked in a joking manner, he knew I wasn't that high but he was just trying to point out to her that she had a lot of shoes and boots already. However, she wanted to buy a new pair of boots from Trill he wasn't going to stop her.
“I don’t have any Trill boots,” Anna explained with a smile. “I will need to be in fashion.” She smiled then. “I will probably get rid of some when we get back, I need to clean out some room anyway.”
Ezekiel smiled, he knew she was teasing. " You know I love for who you are." He knew she would get a new pair. He was okay with her getting another pair of boots.
Anna laughed. "You know I am way too frugal to have that amount of things lying around. I will do some shopping but I'll keep the limited space in mind." She smiled at him. "I am so proud of you, I don't know if I said that before but you've moved along in your career. One day it will be General Bagwell."
"A general? I haven't thought about that but I suppose it's possible possible maybe in another 6 years." Ezekiel suggested to her. Who hadn't considered the possibility of becoming a general.
“Zeke.” Anna looked into his eyes, seriously. “You were born for great things. I am so happy to be alongside you every step of the way.”
"Don't forget yourself. You are bound to greatness." Zeke said he knew that Anna would make captain someday.
"I appreciate your confidence in me." Anna smiled. "We will see when that day comes if that is the path that serves our family best."
"You have your command too you doing pretty good for yourself. I see you getting Captain, before too long." Ezekiel planted out to her, that the USS Mercy was a good ship.
"I am looking forward to becoming a captain," Anna assured him. "But that is down the road and honestly, Zeke, I may not feel that way when it happens."
"Why would you say that? It's not a bad thing to get promoted to Captain you can still be a doctor, are you afraid that being a commanding officer of a starship is going to somehow take you away from the operating table?" Ezekiel asked trying to get a full understanding of what she was afraid of.
“I don’t want us separated,” Anna explained. She took his hand and led him over to their bed. “I have something I want to tell you.”
"We won't be separated, I have no plans of leaving Starbase 400 anytime soon," Ezekiel said as he wondered what she wanted to talk about. He could tell she had something on her mind so then he looked into her eyes and asked. "What's on your mind?"
Anna smiled at him for a moment. "I am glad to hear you say that." She paused as she looked into his eyes. "I want us to raise our baby together."
It took a moment for the worst to sink in what she had said, cuz she brought it up so smoothly in conversation that it almost went right by him. He had a slight smile on his face, as he was looking into her eyes. "A baby." He's softly said as that smile on his face started to grow.
“Yes!” Anna smiled widely. “I found out last week and it’s been all I could do to keep it to myself until we were married.”
Ezekiel just compassionately embraces her with a kiss as the scene starts to fade away.
Anna leaned into him, her arms going around him as she kissed him back and thought this was a good start to their honeymoon.
Location: USS Saratoga, Airlock
A short time had passed by, now it was 19:00 hours. Ezekiel has been working with the quartermaster to get his gear sent to his room. You didn't want Anna or him to drag all the luggage through the shift especially when they're on their honeymoon, plus he doubted his Marines would even allow that.
There were a lot of Junior officers and a lieutenant colonel by his side talking with him when Anna appeared to be bored in the background. He nervously smiled in her direction, looking for strength to get through this awkward meeting with the ship's senior staff and the quartermaster.
"You're just in time Lieutenant. Can one of my Marines take your bags for you?" Ezekiel said as he handed back a data pad to another Junior officer on the Saratoga. He then proceeded on, "Make sure the lieutenant has the same quarters and I don't mean a bunk room." He called out as one of the junior officers carried out his orders and then scurried away.
"If you insist, Colonel. " Dee replied handing over her bags to a junior officer before they were taken away to her quarters. Turning back to Ezekiel. "Colonel, I have advised my family of my arrival and the Caves of Mak'ala who have granted both of you visitor passes so long as I accompany you."
"I have no issues with that, I think the three of us will make a good team in the caves," Ezekiel said, as he looked over to Anna and back over to Dee.
"I am sure we will. I may have to go with one of the Guardians if they want me to have a quick check-up, but you will still have another one as a guide till I return.;" Dee advised.
Anna gave Zeke a look that told him she had confidence in him. He got her from his strength and fortitude. She was so proud of him and what he had accomplished.
"This is the first time on board, my first time. I know that the colonel wants to give me a tour of the shift later on but I told him maybe, I prefer to spend most of my time with you. I even got us a 3-hour reservation on the holodeck." Ezekiel said with a big grin on his face.
“I will be honest, I want to you to myself,” Anna said with a smile. “But the tour is important so when it is time, I will understand.” In his position, she had a feeling she would have a lot of times he had to leave.”
"You don't want to accompany me for the tour?" Ezekiel asked knowing darn well that she was a commanding officer in her own right. She commanded the USS Mercy there was nothing on this shift that should be off limits to her cuz she had alpha level 10 clearance.
“I would love to,” Anna replied. “Out of respect for your new position and honesty, I wasn’t certain that was acceptable within your department.”
"I love how considerate you are, but in this case, you are welcome to join us. Ezekiel said noticing that the young Lieutenant was being quiet. Was Vox afraid to say anything?
"If I might add to this conversation. The Caves are not a tourist attraction so you need special permission to be there, even as an inhabitant of Trill and especially as an outsider. I would recommend you join us, Anna. Not many non-Trill get to visit the caves. " Dee advised.
Ezekiel waited to hear her response, he was interested in going to the caves he was not sure if his wife was. She wanted to go to Risa for the honeymoon but he convinced her to go to Trill.
“I would like to see them,” Anna said with a smile. It was true she was disappointed about not going to Risa. It was somewhere she had always wanted to go but this was important to Zeke and if she were honest she was looking forward to this trip as well.
"You are both welcome to meet my family if you have time of course," Dee commented.
"I know it's not normal interest attraction, but given my unique situation I'm always interested in learning new ways about genetic bonding or in my particular case artificial genetic bonding.
"I can understand that, but I assume you are aware that the joining between host and symbiont is through a neurotransmitter called Isoboramine that is produced by both host and symbiont and allows for telepathic communication between both, in such a way, the minds of both are one. "
Dee pauses a moment.
"I suspect I will be asked to have a check-up based on my situation. I am, what is referred to by the Symbiosis Commission, an EJT, Emergency Joined Trill. Someone who was never an initiate or had even considered applying to be joined, but ends up joined through an emergency where they are the only host available to ensure the survival of the symbiont. Another example of this is Captain Ezri Dax. "
"In both cases the procedure was successful, and the results I believe speak for themselves," Ezekiel said as he waited for Dee to contradict him or to agree with him. He had no idea what it was like to be joined with the Trill, but he knew what it was like to be part of a micro-community, especially when Jasmine and T'Vol prayed in proximity to each other. He kind of wished that he had this kind of bond with his wife, but sadly it was only between the three of them.
"I and Ezri had a few hiccups in the early days after joining as we both lacked the training an initiate would normally receive. But all is well on both counts. EJTs often keep in contact to share experiences and insights. " Dee replied.
"You have met Captain Dax?" Ezekiel asked he knew of her exploits as Captain of the USS Aventine. The ship was pretty impressive.
"I have met Captain Dax but I have yet to have a good look at the Aventine," Dee commented. "Vox and Dax have a bit of a history but that's a story for another time," she added.
Anna listened to them talk and she was glad to see Zeke seemed to have made a friendship here. It was good to have some outside your command. When on the Falcon there had been only a select few outside of it.
"The story I wouldn't mind hearing sometime down the road, but we should probably get situated on the ship. Is this your first time on board an Akira class carrier?" Ezekiel asked, knowing that it was more of an escort carrier or semi-referred to as a light carrier the 36 fighters that it held in its base technically classified it as such.
"It is. I was hoping to get aboard my friend's ship when it next visited the station but that has been delayed. He is the Captain of the USS Bushido. "
"I am not familiar with that ship," Ezekiel said hoping she would share more information. He found Lieutenant Vox to be pleasant to talk to.
"USS Bushido is also an Akira Class Carrier. She has 40 Banzai Class Fighters onboard. Beautiful fighters I must say. " Dee replied
"Forty fighters, that's impressive," Ezekiel said, he wanted to see that. His ship only had 36 fighters.
"They rigged a system which allowed for some of the fighters to be stored on racks above others. 36 are active but the other 4 are spares. The Banzai Class Fighter is a small compact design. " Dee commented.
"I think it would be good to check that out," Anna suggested to Ezekiel. "It may be something useful to you." She had a feeling Zeke might already be thinking that but she wanted to be supportive.
"We have the standard Valkyrie class fighters, I wonder if Admiral Bremer would be open to the idea of the banzai class fighters," Ezekiel said he started to think about how that would look in the bay, but then again it was hard to imagine what it would look like in the base since he had never been into the shuttle Bay on the classifier, he was still sitting outside the airlock waiting to board for the first time.
“The admiral is always open to new ideas.” Anna nodded. “I mean the worst he could say is he isn’t for it. I think you should ask if you want them.”
"I will look into it when we get back. We have more important things to deal with. Namely a troublesome mother and a honeymoon. " Dee commented.
"How can we help?" Ezekiel asked, hoping they could help her.
"Zeke is right," Anna added with a smile. "I am more than happy to help in any way I can."
"With what? My mother? No no, I don't want to get you involved in that mess. " Dee replied. "I am grateful for the offer but I think this is something I need to sort out myself." She added.
“Just remember,” Anna said sincerely. “We are here should you need a friend.” She hated that Dee seemed to feel so alone.
"You are supposed to be enjoying your honeymoon on Trill not solving other people's family problems. I feel this is something I have to do on my own. Well, it probably will be as my cousin's family can't seem to get through to my mother. " Dee replied.
"You're right of course, if a friend needs help for more than willing to help even if it's our honeymoon now if you're able to solve it without our help that's fine too. Like Anna said we're here if you need us."
"Let's chat about it on route. My other worry is most of my family haven't met me since I was joined and I am a very different person, now that I have the experiences and memories of 5 lifetimes. That is still something I am learning to deal with myself. " Dee replied.
"Which is why it might be helpful to have us along," Anna spoke up. "We are your friends and you would have support."
Dee sighed with deep relief at knowing she had real friends. Not the fake ones who only hang around to get what they want but bonafide friends. "Ok. Sort my mother out and then show you the beauty of my homeworld. " She said smiling.
END OF PART 1
Colonel Ezekiel Bagwell
1st Marine Division Commanding Officer
Starbase 400
Lieutenant Commander Anna Bagwell
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase 400
Lieutenant JG Deezell Vox
Assistant Chief Engineer
Starbase 400
Lieutenant JG Jaxon Ruveer
Flight Control Officer
Starbase 400
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