Jacqueline "Jackal" Egret (
major_egret_msfsod) wrote in
ten_fwd2016-03-25 09:25 am
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Shipside and Planetside for Father's Day - OTA
Father's Day aboard ship:
Jackal had not had a good morning. Apparently, it was Father's Day, here--and apparently, this Q being of theirs had decided to be "helpful" by providing Jackal with two-way communications with her father. Unfortunately, they were like oil and water, so Q's "help" was pretty much exactly as helpful as those who knew him might expect; particularly since she wasn't allowed to just hang up.
The rest of the day, as a result, is spent in a decidedly foul mood--which, contrary to what some might believe, is not actually her usual state of being. Serious, demanding, and unrelenting, perhaps; but some people might get to see how she is on a bad day, trying to blow off steam, whether pushing herself in the gym, taking out aggression in a holodeck program, or being irascible and solitary in Ten Forward.
After Father's Day on the planet:
Following the Father's Day debacle
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With the last engine of his batch up and running, he was wiping his hands on a rag when he spotted Jackal. She stood out more than he did in his civvies.
He wasn't one for avoiding people who didn't want company, so he came round to see her, smiling. "Guess you're not a keen gardener."
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"Hardly. Spent a week on a farm, once, in school. Everyone did, vocational introductions. Apparently I've got none of that 'nurturing instinct' I've heard about."
She went quiet for a moment, working with a wrench.
"Same for you? Or just desperate to get your hands on an engine?"
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He was happy to take a break, though, and he put his dirty rag on a nearby engine, then leaned against it. "I didn't know gardening needed nurturing. I thought it was just digging."
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"...you might think so. Something I had to learn. Turns out gardening's 'just digging' the way maintenance's just wrench-turning."
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She turned her attention back to her work before answering.
"You mean the vocational introductions? ...not that much I didn't already know. Already had my eye on the Space Force, and I'd been doing repair work on a LEV since I was eleven."
A pause as she tightens a bolt down.
"Besides that, learned I don't sync well with civilians. Grew up around a lot of officers. Didn't really feel that different until secondary school."
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He raised his eyebrows at her doing repair work at eleven. At that age he'd still been in the mainly taking things apart stage.
"There are a whole lot of civilians on the Enterprise." They were pretty hard to miss. "How do you get on with them?"
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Jackal glanced at him, but made no fuss about the assistance, continuing once the next bolt was set.
"Professionally. ...or avoid them. 'course it's harder to take the professional approach without a serious job."
She bristled a little as she said that last part, tightening down another bolt.
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"That's the trouble with being away from home," he said, as he tightened a bolt himself. "I don't blame them for not trusting us. We'd have been the same if people had started turning up on Enterprise." Although with a lot less space to put them, they'd have had bigger problems than the trustworthiness of the visitors.
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"Honestly, I'm certain we'd be a lot less... welcoming, at home. But the MSF's absolutely a military organization, and has no qualms about it. I'm frankly surprised we haven't had more incidents, with so many uninvited guests running around unsecured."
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"I'm not so sure 'too much disruption' is a concept that thing has. More likely a lack of imagination than any sort of restraint."
Well, someone had apparently had a Q Episode.
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"What has he done now?" His tone was a mixture of worry and weariness over Q's antics.
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Although it was probably meant as reassurance (it would after all have been perfectly reasonable to suspect Q had done something with wide-reaching consequences), it's still said angrily. Perhaps even more so at the thought of trying to explain. She pauses a long few seconds before she continues, obviously intensely irritated.
"...apparently, it's Father's Day, here. At least, according to 'Q,' it is."
A brief pause as though she'd hoped that would explain the whole thing but deep down she knows it really couldn't.
"......I don't... get along with my old man."
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Since Trip got along well with his father, he considered Q's Father's Day to be a good thing. He'd been glad of the chance to speak to his father. But he understood not everyone did. He hadn't been Malcolm's friend all these years for nothing.
"Sorry to hear that." He could put two and two together and guess that Q had forced them to talk when she didn't want to. "Not even when you're a whole universe apart?" he smiled a little, trying to lighten her mood.
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"I'd say 'only when he's not talking,' but I'm sure he'd still find a way to be a pain in the ass with his mouth sewn shut."
She shook her head, more disgruntled than angry, really.
"...he's a deservedly legendary combat pilot, but he's the type who never really grows up. It's a full-time job for his aides just trying to keep him from embarrassing the Space Force."
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"But he must be serious when it's important otherwise he wouldn't be in the Space Force." He couldn't imagine anyone who acted like that all the time getting far in Starfleet.
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She makes a face at that--then tilts her head slightly.
"...although I guess I was a weird kid."
Only fair to acknowledge that point, after all.
"And he wouldn't have got so far except he's..."
Jackal trails off again, raising a hand to rub her forehead, scowling distastefully.
"......as much as I hate to say it.. he's sort of like the Washington of Mars. Not necessary a great flag officer, but personable, a famous war hero. He can get away with a lot no one else could."
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He'd never met any famous war heroes, but he'd read plenty about some. As much as he admired them he wasn't sure he'd like one to be his old man. "Your conversation didn't go well, huh?"
newest thesis revision finally in my advisor's hands so I can breathe again x.x
"I'll take that as a compliment. To be honest, I was a very weird kid. And no, about as well as usual. He likes getting a rise out of people. I've been sick of it since I was about nine."
Woohoo!
He shook his head. "It's sad. He's your dad, he should be looking out for you, not annoying you so much you don't want to talk to him." He couldn't imagine acting like that to his daughter, should he have another one in the future.
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Jackal rolled her eyes, finishing up with fastening down the bolts she was working on, and sat up, pensive for a moment as she wiped her hands off on a rag.
"...to be fair, at least he's not useless, or worse. I've known plenty of people who grew up with deadbeats or vicious, screwed up bastards. And I learned a lot from him--by the time I got into the Academy I was a better pilot than a lot of graduates. He's just totally insufferable, also."
She paused, glancing over at Trip.
"Then again, you'd probably like him."
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This machine was finished, and he patted it as he stood back up.
"You can get promoted so much you don't do anything any more, except sit in interminable meetings. And chew your subordinates out." Trip did some of that now anyway, not that he really enjoyed it. "I'd hate to be a Starfleet Admiral."
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She tossed the rag over to him, shaking her head.
"I'd wonder if that might be what happened to my old man, but the way my mother tells it, he was always like that."
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"There aren't may openings for starship captains in Starfleet in my time, so it'll be a long time before I have to worry about becoming an Admiral."
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"It's true enough, there really wasn't anyone who could compete with him, for a first MSF Marshal. A few other war heroes, but the only one with anywhere near his stature was from Earth, and there was no way the first top military commander of a newly independent Mars was going to be from Earth."
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