A Brief Leave

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

ENSIGN JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(continued from Log 12)

 

 

John sat at his computer terminal onboard Challenger; he was

really looking forward to talking to his mother. He had really been too

busy over the past couple of weeks to think about his family; now he

realized it had been almost 3 months since he started duty aboard

ship, and he wondered where the time had went. Now, he realized how

much he missed his family, and sat waiting for the communication from

Centaurus to come through.

 

The terminal beeped, and, a few seconds later, his mother's face

swam into view. John, surprisingly, felt his eyes sting a little; he hadn't

realized how much he had missed his mother. Her eyes widened, and a

hand went up to cover her mouth; John realized his mother had just seen

him on the monitor, and he smiled tenatively. "Johnny?", came a loud

whisper through the speakers, and Randall smiled a little more. "Is it

really you, sweetie?", asked Denise Randall. "Hi, Mom," he said, and

his mother's eyes got even brighter. "It's really me, and it's so good to

hear your voice."

 

"Yours, too, my angel," said his mother. "Where are you, honey?

At a starbase?" John nodded. "We're at Starbase 32, currently on leave

in-between missions." Denise nodded. "How are you holding up, son?

Are you taking care of yourself?" "Yes, Mom, I'm fine," said John, trying

to reassure his mother. "The ship has a gym, and everything you need

to stay in shape. Plus, I'm putting in the hours in engineering; I'm pacing

myself."

 

Denise nodded her approval. "All right then. John, I have some sad

news for you, dear. Your uncle Jason passed away last week." John closed

his eyes briefly, and lowered his head, then looked back up. "The Rigellian

flu finally got him, huh?" "Yes, he was in bad shape before that, as you well

know, son, " replied his mother, and he nodded. "When was the funeral,

Mom?", he asked. "Three days ago Centaurus time, " said Denise. "I'm not

sure about the starship conversion rate on that."

 

"About the same," replied John. "Did uncle Cole show up?" His mother

nodded. "Yes, he actually did. I think they patched things up between them,

son, so you don't have to worry about that any more." John nodded. "That's

good to hear, Mom; I'm very pleased. How are you doing? Are you letting the

doctor treat you for your arthritis? And osteoporosis?" His mother grimaced.

"I'm doing fairly well, son. Good days and bad days. And, yes, I'm taking my

medicine. Rick is seeing to that."

 

John nodded. "Good. I'm really glad to hear that, Mom. That takes a load

off my mind. I worry about you, you know." "Yes, and you worry too much,

darling, " chastised his mother. "It's going to make you old before your time.

We're all doing all right here. You concentrate on your tour of duty; you worked

too hard to get there." "All right, Mom, I will, " said John. "I have just one more

question. Have you heard anything from Starfleet about Dad?" His mother

closed her eyes resignedly. "John, son, I wish you would let that go," she begged.

"I can't do that, Mom, and you know it, " he replied.

 

An announcement then came over the 'comm that Challenger was preparing

to leave, and John said, "I have to go, Mom; we're being ordered into duty. I'll call

again as soon as I can. I love you." Denise's eyes filled as she said, "All right, my

son. I love you, too. Be safe, and be careful. I can't wait to hear from you again.

All my love, my darling." "Me, too, Mom," said the ensign, and his mother's face

disappeared from the monitor. He dropped his head for a few seconds, then

called up the duty roster. He looked at it for a few seconds, didn't see his name,

and walked into the bedroom to get some much-needed sleep.

 

He awoke about 6 hours later, and went to take a shower; in the end, he

took the sonic and the water both, and felt much more like himself. He put on

his duty uniform, and left his cabin. He considered eating breakfast (for him

anyway), but decided he wasn't really hungry, and walked down the corridor

to the turbolift. "Deck 12," he intoned, and the lift whisked him away.

 

He arrived at his destination, and exited the lift; walking along the corridor

until he reached engineering. He walked in, and began making the trip to his

duty panel, nodding at several of the crew along the way. Just before he sat

down, he caught the eye of the acting chief of engineering, Lieutenant Eddie

Freeman, who nodded at him. John lifted a hand to Freeman, and then turned

to his monitor.

 

Randall had been working on a program to better monitor the intermix

rate of the matter/antimatter convertors. This morning, he was putting the

finishing touches on the program, which he had already cleared with the

computer as being techincally sound and feasible. In the background, he

heard Freeman get a call from the bridge, and kept glancing over at the chief

to see if anything big was going on. He finished his program work, and saved

and shut it down; intending to show Freeman the program and get the chief's

thoughts on it.

 

He watched Freeman a few seconds more, then his own panel beeped.

He looked at the message, and read that the new ensign who had come aboard

at Starbase 32, Susan Maloney, was having trouble, and needed some help.

He got up from his terminal, and went to assist the young lady, who was very

pretty, and greeted him with relief when she saw who he was. They got busy,

and, after a few minutes, John saw Freeman grab a chair, and go to the sensors.

The chief wasn't showing any signs of stress, so the ensign thought, Well, he'll

call me if he needs me. He turned back to the pretty ensign, and continued

to help her.

 

 

 

END LOG