A Dear John letter....

Posted on Tue May 14th, 2024 @ 6:51pm by Captain Mackenzie Lowe

802 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 0: In the beginning....
Location: The Ready room
Timeline: MD 0 1955hrs

On:

Mackenzie had been sitting at his desk for the last hour, the open bottle of whiskey with a long glass on his desk was the only decoration at the moment. He'd finally found a moment to stop and take in things going on around him, the Tecumseh was his ship and it was a big ship indeed. It was about it, earlier in the day he'd gotten the letter from his wife wanting to finalize the divorce, after twelve years they'd spent the better part of the last year fighting, first when he'd taken a short term reassignment back to earth to oversee the completion of the Tecumseh then taking command of it. He'd spent days at a time commuting back and forth too the shipyard, when he'd gotten word he was going to be taking command of the Tecumseh the news was overshadowed by the ensuing fight about the assignment was the breaking point for both of them.

He had packed his few belongings, found an apartment for the few weeks he was going to spend at Starfleet HQ before leaving earth again. He'd contacted a former squadron-mate who'd become a lawyer in civilian life letting him know what was happening and to expedite the paperwork if possible. He'd made it clear he didn't want to fight any of it, he did want to see the kids now and then when assignments permitted, he also wanted to keep the portion of the family property he'd inherit when it was passed to him, not that she was entitled to it, he wanted to keep it for the boys even if he never built on it.

He looked out the viewport a workbee was pulling cargo pods from a nearby freighter into the massive main shuttle bay that had been pulling double duty as a cargo receiving area while the ship was being outfitted and loaded for her missions ahead. He closed the bottle and stood too leave. The first day aboard ship was coming to and end, and he wanted to spend some down time in his quarters, he stepped on the the bridge, the watch officer acknowledged him as he walked by. He noted that the majority of the stations were in standby mode and ready for the launch of the ship in the next ten plus days, he was also very excited to be taking out the new Odysseus class runabout's when the first chance presented itself.

The low hum of the moving through the ship filled the moment, as it slowed he looked up when the door slid open, the empty corridors of deck two were almost ominous, his quarters were roughly five meters from the turbolift, he unlocked the door for the first time, it was fairly generic looking, a queen sized bed, a large oversized desk, a small table and a private washroom with a shower. it also had a small sitting area that had been set up with couch and a single lounge chair, on the floor next too the desk was the two footlockers he'd had brought over when he officially taken command. He opened the top trunk, it was a holographic photo of his kids. He'd made the effort to get one made for his desk, but he'd decided to keep it in his quarters for now. The Yeoman had placed his flight helmet on the desk next to his pilots bag that contained his flight suit and gloves, along with his sidearm. He'd been a pilot longer than he'd been a command officer, but those days were largely behind him, he'd flown a few times in the last year, especially since the fiasco of Frontier day, he'd openly opposed the fleet formation technology to the point he'd almost been chased out of Starfleet, following that fateful day many who'd been excited by the technology now were grudgingly realizing their mistakes, while others had resigned.

He pulled out another frame, it was from the squadron ready room of the squadron he'd served with during the war two plus decades ago, it was their unit emblem, after all this time he was the last one serving and one of the few still alive, he paused he remembering what someone had said about being the last one, he realized how few there were.

==Personal log entry stardate: 78952.92===
Day one is just about done aboard ship for me, the new Chief medical officer has already made an impression on me, I hope that that intensity I saw from her people during the Dominion war the crew would be in the best hands possible, it felt good to be landing on a carrier, especially in a fighter today, I hope Admiral Wallace doesn't call on us too soon for one of his 'special' missions."

End

 

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