Shore Leave 16.5
Jun 22, 2007 21:23:05 GMT
Post by Scott McLean on Jun 22, 2007 21:23:05 GMT
“Is that it Daddy?” Vanessa asked with excitement in her voice for the first time since McLean arrival back on Earth.
“No honey,” McLean said giving her a second to be let down, “That’s it.” He finished with a outstretched arm pointing to the Intrepid Class Starship.
“Woooooooow!”
McLean smiled and kissed his daughter on the top of her head. Sitting back in the seat on the transport craft, McLean took this time to reflect on the last couple of days.
The Chief Engineers life had been turned up side down, his wife and oldest child had been taken away form him in a freak shuttle crash on Earth, and the worst part about the entire situation was that on top of all that, McLean had been struggling with a drinking problem.
He had considered resigning from Starfleet for the second time in his career but ultimately decided against it. It didn’t hurt that Vanessa wanted nothing more than to travel the stars with her father rather than stay back on Earth with her grandparents and the painful memories that remained there. If there was one person he could pin the salvation of his career and ultimately his life as he knew it, he would give all the credit to his daughter.
In his hand was a copy of the shuttle crash report, and a systems analysis of the shuttle’s computer records. He had to pull in some serious favors back on Earth to get these records from Starfleet Command. He didn’t know why they didn’t want him to look over the data himself; they just didn’t. McLean tried to look over the report several times but each time he looked into the report he found it harder and harder to focus on the work and kept losing control of his emotions and bursting into uncontrollable tears.
“Sir, we are starting our docking sequence.” Reported the pilot.
“Thank you,” McLean said before grabbing Vanessa by the waist to her onto her while they docked.
After a few minutes the transport craft had docked with the Raven. McLean took Vanessa by the hand and walked through the ship toward their quarters. McLean had to changes quarters since his were a simple one-bedroom design and now he needed two. It also allowed him to leave those old dark quarters behind and focus on his new life.
Vanessa watched with big eyes as McLean greeted several people as they walked, “Daddy you sure know a lot of people.” She said.
McLean chucked and picked up his daughter, “Yes I do.”
“Where are we going?” Vanessa curiously asked.
“Well, I need to report in with the Admiral but before I do that I need to drop you off at school.” McLean said.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes you do,” McLean replied, “every day.”
“Every day?!”
“Every day, while I’m at work.” McLean said.
“Ooohkay.”
“That’s my girl.”
The two finally made their way to the small school onboard the Raven. They walked in and the teacher greeted McLean. She gave the engineer a quick tour of the ship while Vanessa sat quietly in the back of the room. As he listened her saw Vanessa sitting by herself and hoped that she was going to be able to make friends quickly on the ship.
“So when should I come by to pick her up?” McLean asked.
“We have all our classes scheduled around the parents duty schedule, so right after you get off.” The teacher replied.
“Very good.” McLean replied and then moved pass the teacher over to Vanessa. She looked sad and McLean knew that she didn’t want him to go, “Honey, I need to go to work now.”
“Ooohkay.”
“Don’t be that way sweetie. I want you to make friends, OK?” McLean said.
Vanessa sheepishly shook her head but kept her eyes to the floor. McLean leaned in and kissed her on the forehead before getting back to his feet. He knew that she would get used to the schedule of coming to school, she was just the new girl in class and that always took some time to adjust to.
“Thank you.” McLean said as he walked out of the room. He didn’t have anything to put into his quarters; he had gotten a message letting him know that everything had been moved from his old quarters to the new one. Vanessa’s belongings were onboard the transport craft and were being beamed into the front room of their quarters for McLean to arrange after his day was over.
Walking quickly he made his way down to Engineering. He could feel his heart beating rapidly as he walked through the main doors into Main Engineering. He knew that everybody now knew that he was no longer the Chief Engineer and that Chet was in charge now. Near the Warp Core he spotted Chet going over some data on the console just in front of the core.
“How you doin’ Chet?” McLean asked.
Benson turned around, surprised to see McLean, “Scott, it’s good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back, what can I do?” McLean said.
“Well, we are just going through our pre-launch check list right now. I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow, but if you want to get started early early here’s the other half of my ‘to-do’ list.” Benson said as he held out a data padd for McLean to take.
McLean smiled and took the padd from Benson’s hands. Benson had a thing with making ‘to-do’ lists that actually always said ‘To-Do’ on the top of the padd’s pages, “I’ll get right on it.” McLean said.
“Good.” Benson said with a smile.
off: FYI the mission thread on the Raven is locked and i didn't want to lose this post.
“No honey,” McLean said giving her a second to be let down, “That’s it.” He finished with a outstretched arm pointing to the Intrepid Class Starship.
“Woooooooow!”
McLean smiled and kissed his daughter on the top of her head. Sitting back in the seat on the transport craft, McLean took this time to reflect on the last couple of days.
The Chief Engineers life had been turned up side down, his wife and oldest child had been taken away form him in a freak shuttle crash on Earth, and the worst part about the entire situation was that on top of all that, McLean had been struggling with a drinking problem.
He had considered resigning from Starfleet for the second time in his career but ultimately decided against it. It didn’t hurt that Vanessa wanted nothing more than to travel the stars with her father rather than stay back on Earth with her grandparents and the painful memories that remained there. If there was one person he could pin the salvation of his career and ultimately his life as he knew it, he would give all the credit to his daughter.
In his hand was a copy of the shuttle crash report, and a systems analysis of the shuttle’s computer records. He had to pull in some serious favors back on Earth to get these records from Starfleet Command. He didn’t know why they didn’t want him to look over the data himself; they just didn’t. McLean tried to look over the report several times but each time he looked into the report he found it harder and harder to focus on the work and kept losing control of his emotions and bursting into uncontrollable tears.
“Sir, we are starting our docking sequence.” Reported the pilot.
“Thank you,” McLean said before grabbing Vanessa by the waist to her onto her while they docked.
After a few minutes the transport craft had docked with the Raven. McLean took Vanessa by the hand and walked through the ship toward their quarters. McLean had to changes quarters since his were a simple one-bedroom design and now he needed two. It also allowed him to leave those old dark quarters behind and focus on his new life.
Vanessa watched with big eyes as McLean greeted several people as they walked, “Daddy you sure know a lot of people.” She said.
McLean chucked and picked up his daughter, “Yes I do.”
“Where are we going?” Vanessa curiously asked.
“Well, I need to report in with the Admiral but before I do that I need to drop you off at school.” McLean said.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes you do,” McLean replied, “every day.”
“Every day?!”
“Every day, while I’m at work.” McLean said.
“Ooohkay.”
“That’s my girl.”
The two finally made their way to the small school onboard the Raven. They walked in and the teacher greeted McLean. She gave the engineer a quick tour of the ship while Vanessa sat quietly in the back of the room. As he listened her saw Vanessa sitting by herself and hoped that she was going to be able to make friends quickly on the ship.
“So when should I come by to pick her up?” McLean asked.
“We have all our classes scheduled around the parents duty schedule, so right after you get off.” The teacher replied.
“Very good.” McLean replied and then moved pass the teacher over to Vanessa. She looked sad and McLean knew that she didn’t want him to go, “Honey, I need to go to work now.”
“Ooohkay.”
“Don’t be that way sweetie. I want you to make friends, OK?” McLean said.
Vanessa sheepishly shook her head but kept her eyes to the floor. McLean leaned in and kissed her on the forehead before getting back to his feet. He knew that she would get used to the schedule of coming to school, she was just the new girl in class and that always took some time to adjust to.
“Thank you.” McLean said as he walked out of the room. He didn’t have anything to put into his quarters; he had gotten a message letting him know that everything had been moved from his old quarters to the new one. Vanessa’s belongings were onboard the transport craft and were being beamed into the front room of their quarters for McLean to arrange after his day was over.
Walking quickly he made his way down to Engineering. He could feel his heart beating rapidly as he walked through the main doors into Main Engineering. He knew that everybody now knew that he was no longer the Chief Engineer and that Chet was in charge now. Near the Warp Core he spotted Chet going over some data on the console just in front of the core.
“How you doin’ Chet?” McLean asked.
Benson turned around, surprised to see McLean, “Scott, it’s good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back, what can I do?” McLean said.
“Well, we are just going through our pre-launch check list right now. I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow, but if you want to get started early early here’s the other half of my ‘to-do’ list.” Benson said as he held out a data padd for McLean to take.
McLean smiled and took the padd from Benson’s hands. Benson had a thing with making ‘to-do’ lists that actually always said ‘To-Do’ on the top of the padd’s pages, “I’ll get right on it.” McLean said.
“Good.” Benson said with a smile.
off: FYI the mission thread on the Raven is locked and i didn't want to lose this post.