=/\= Vulcan, Healing Monastery =/\=
The monk had set Brent up in a quiet out of the way room with a communications node. He hadn't touched it though, not in the ten minutes since Brent had been left alone had he made a move to touch it. Truth be told he didn't get along well with his parents. The last time he had talked with them was right after the last Dominion conflict, and that he had reenlisted in the Corps. His father was none too pleased with that and by the end of the call, his mother was in tears that she wouldn't see her baby again for a long time.
Brent began to make the call though, knowing that only waiting would make it worse than it really had to be. The call went out through subspace while Brent waited for his parents on the other line to pick up the call. Eventually the line clicked it, and when the static had settled down Brent saw that it actually wasn't either of his parents that he was talking to.
"Brent! You're still alive? Some of the townsfolk have been gossiping that you were dead! I think dad's getting ready to go break something of theirs if they keep it up though," the 21 year old girl spoke up, leaning towards the image a bright smile on her face.
"Hey Jamie," Brent replied with a smirk at his youngest sister. "Yeah still alive and kicking. It would take more than a Romulan crazy admiral to kill me. How was graduation for you? Sorry I couldn't make it. You know how it is though. Did you get my gift? Did you put those paints and eezles to good use," he asked, referencing the art supplies that he had sent her from Earth. She had grown since he had last seen her. She was probably almost as tall as he was gauging her height based on the objects in the house that he knew all too well. Well probably two inches shorter.
"Oh it was amazing! We had the best party! We took over the barn and built his great fire, tossed some bottles into it afterwords. Dad even said we made less of a mess than you and your friends did when you graduated," she said winking at him with a little bit of a tease. "I am almost out of them now actually! I made a huge mess out in the barn and dad nearly threw a few, until I reminded him that it was either there or in the house. He muttered a lot before he left me alone though."
Brent laughed at that. Jamie always could get their dad to leave her alone. Wrapped around her little finger, the others used to say. Benefits of being the baby in the family they all figured. It was probably why they let her still live in the house and commute to the city. "Say you're almost done with your nurses training aren't you?" he asked. "What do you plan on doing after that? Gonna go work in the city?"
"Gods yes. This place is nice and no rent, plus good home cooked food. But dad is getting on my nerves. Much like he got on all of our.." her thought was cut off from an apparent ruckus in the house off of the view screen. It didn't take but a few words for Brent to realize that his parents had come home from somewhere. "Mom! Dad! Brent's on the line, and he's even alive!"
The noise level increased a great deal as whatever his parents were carrying was disregarded onto the table before the viewscreen was suddenly very crowded. "Well! I see that whatever happened on Vulcan wasn't enough to put you down for the count son," his father started off with a slightly sarcastic tone. Nope. Hadn't changed one bit. Maybe a few more gray hairs on the top of his head. But Waldmer Warren still looked like a older grayer Brent. One of Waldmer's best friends used to tease him that Brent was the only child of his that Lydia had managed to have, since the rest of them looked more or less like her side of the family. Jamie threw a wrench into that idea as well, looking a great deal like Waldmer's mother when she was younger.
"Waldmer hush. Brent! Oh we have been so worried about you! After you stopped sending us messages like that we didn't know what to think! Then we heard that your ship was suddenly over Vulcan? How did you managed to do that now?" his mother asked, apparently so overjoyed to see that her son was alive that she was nearly moved to tears.
In the background Brent could see his brother, James. He waved from the back but immediately knew better than to try and get a word in edgewise when his mother was in that frame of mind. Brent smirked and waved back before turning his attention to his mother, scratching the back of his head as he tried to come up with the best of explanations. "Some sort of experimental weapon thing that the Vulcan Science Council came up with. Some Romulan with a pissed off agenda set up an attack. We stopped his initial attack, which was to use a bio weapon on Vulcan. That's how we got so far so quickly."
"You're only a little while away on a shuttle son if your on Vulcan. New reports said that your ship is being worked on, and that you and your ship and men have been given a great deal of leave time," he said leaving the thought open for Lydia to respond. "Yes! If you're so close you're going to come and visit us right." his mother finished the sentence before Brent could respond.
"I don't know mom. I mean I might have to come back early and I don't want to leave Sakarra right now. I'm nursing my own injury as well dad. I won't be able to help with the harvest if that's what you're wanting," he said before he remembered that he had only just barely introduced them to the idea of Sakarra before they lost all communications. He looked between the two of them but didn't have time to wonder what they were thinking about before Brent's father responded.
"You're still seeing that Vulcan girl?" he asked. There it was. The frown. Disapproval. Well if anything else at least Brent got that out in the open before anything else could be said. "Is it getting serious," he asked.
"Yeah. I love her," Brent replied straightening up at the idea that it could be anything else. "We were just made Companions and.."
The word Companion probably had too many different meanings to rightfully assign one to it. However being a people that were used to bad news Brent's parents automatically assumed the worst. "You did what," his mother asked. Normally Brent was only used to his father being very upset and angry, the loud voices, the yelling across the fields. When his mother got angry, he voice dropped to a near whisper. And those three words that she had just uttered were probably the quietest that Brent had ever heard his mother talk.
"Dumbass," Waldmer spoke up and began to work the console near the viewscreen. "I'm running a traceroute on you right now son, so that when your mother explodes with rage at missing -another- one of her children's weddings, she knows where to find you and doesn't take it out on me."
"Whoa whoa. Mom. Wait. It's not like that I swear. That's bondmate to them... I think anyways. And we aren't at that level yet," he said bringing his hands up as if the little woman countless light years away could reach through the viewscreen to enact her revenge. "I'm thinking about that. Yes, but it hasn't happened yet and you know that I would tell you as soon as it happened ok?!?!"
"Oh!" she said that smile back on her face. "Why don't you just find a nice girl back home son. This way we can all have holidays together and everything." She looked concerned almost. "Nevermind that. When you get here we can discuss it more," she said before she looked back onto the table in the kitchen. "We have to go put the food away now. Tell us in a week or two when you are going to come visit us alright. We love you dear!"
As the screen turned black Brent brought both of his hands up and covered his eyes with them. Apparently he had to make a trip home now.
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First Lieutenant Brent Warren
Marine Commander
USS-Charon
