"A Family Dinner"

[Aedan Song 0]

He had been sitting in sickbay for the last 8 hours pouring over patient records and medical logs. Aedan had spent his entire trip here trying to familiarize himself with the ship as best he could. Needless to say Excalibur had a ‘colorful’ history. In some ways he thought to himself his mother might have been right. He may have been over his head….

 

**2 days earlier**

 

His mother had been begging him to come home and see her for the last few years and now that he was about to be gone for who knows how long he wanted to make sure he was able to schedule a trip there before he was scheduled to ship out to the gamma quadrant.

 

Ktaris never ceased to astound Aedan. The beauty that he had grown up around was still just as stunning to him today as it was 20 years ago. His mother lived on the northern side of the Arpasian Mountain’s. He made his way into the small village of Tanoris which luckily was away from the bad weather that normally plagued the mountain range. As he walked into the town he saw people that he had known from his youth and smiled and waved at each one as he passed. He walked up to the familiar house and walked up to the door and knocked.

 

“Be right there.” The door opened and a Ktarian woman answered, and Aedan was quickly embraced in a hug.

 

“Hi mom.” He said as he was being smothered, “It’s good to see you too.”

 

The woman let go of her embrace and backed away, a huge grin on her face. She stood there and looked Aedan over, “Look at my son. All grown up and looking quite handsome in his uniform.”

 

Aedan blushed, “Mom… “

 

She motioned from him to come in, “Come in and sit down. I have a surprise for you in the kitchen.”

 

“Mom. You didn’t tell half the village I was coming home did you?” he said as he made his way to the kitchen, “You know I asked you not to.”

 

“Well what about me,” a man’s voice echoed from the kitchen, “Are you upset she told me?”

 

“Dad!” he said as he rounded the corner, “I had no idea you were going to be here. I thought you were still on a cargo run.”

 

“Your mother told me you were coming home before you shipped out and I pulled some strings in order to be here.” Cameron hugged his son while they talked, “I mean who knows the next time all 3 of us will be able to sit down and have dinner again.”

 

Aedan glanced down at the table and noticed that his mother had made a huge meal for them. His mother had pulled out all the stops. Ktarian eggs, fresh bread, and of course she had made a Ktarian chocolate puff which had always been his favorite growing up. His mother and father had sat down at the table. Aedan joined them and they started eating. They played catch up having small talk. Aedan’s mother of course wanted to hear all about the academy. His father wanted to know all about what he was going to be doing and where he was going now that he had graduated. When he told them about the Excalibur and where he would mostly be working both his mother and Father got quiet.

 

“Did I say something wrong?” Aedan said

 

“Its not that son.” Cameron said, “It’s just we’ve all heard stories about the Gamma quadrant and well were worried.”

 

Aedan sighed knowing something like this was coming. “I understand you are both worried about but this is what I’ve trained for. I’ve studied all these years to be ready to tackle this assignment. “

 

“Aedan,” his mother spoke with tenderness in her voice, “We know you’ve worked so very hard for this but we don’t know why you have to go the Gamma quadrant to do what you want to do. What happened to that teaching position you were offered?”

 

“I turned them down,” he said in a low tone, “It’s not what I want to do. “

 

“You turned them down?” Cameron said starting to raise his voice, “What’s wrong with teaching. You would rather be out in the middle of a violent area of space just to do what exactly?”

 

“Do you have any idea how much new life is out there Dad? There are thousands of new alien life forms we know nothing about. Do you know how exciting that is? I want to go out there and find them and learn everything I can about every new life I find.”

 

Silence gripped the room for a few moments before Aedans mother stood up and hugged her son, “Son I love you more than anything. It makes your mother proud to see you so passionate about this. I want you to go out there and show the gamma quadrant some of that Ktarian resolve. Just know that you’ll have a mother and father who will worry about you no matter what.”

 

Hugs were exchanged and they all finished eating dinner. Aedan helped his father clean the dishes while his mother relaxed. They then sat down in the living room and talked and reminisced for the rest of the evening. Aedan left the next day and headed off to his new home off in the distant Gamma Quadrant and the Excalibur.