Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tennessee, Earth - Home Sweet Home
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

She hadn’t known before this morning that she’d tell him this huge secret of hers, but a part of her had known on the Manhattan when he’d invited her to Tennessee to share coffee on his land and unburden her soul that all her secrets were safe with him. She was safe with him.

Shifting her position so she was sitting more comfortably on the rock, Shara reached for her guitar, the zipper gliding around the circumference of the case. Pulling out the guitar she had had for almost twenty years, that had survived the Delta Quadrant, she began to tune. “I always knew I could be at peace with it all if I knew she’d been okay. If Lila had had a good life.” Shara turned her gaze on Micah, tuning by ear and memory. “That’s been the hardest part. Watching Faye struggle I’ve always felt like I’d done wrong by my girls somehow. It’s not rational or even based in reality, but I hated seeing her go through all that. And to think even for a second that my other girl had had just as rough a go at it, well, it tore me up on the regular.” A secret burden she couldn’t share with anyone until now.

“So… okay. Look for me. Don’t tell me when or anything like that. Find out if she wanted to know who I was and I guess we’ll take it from there.” And thus she began to pick out a tune, an old one that she had first started to hum in her head that first terribly difficult month with Lila, a song she’d created just for her. She had made one for Faye too, later, songs she hummed that had no name other than the child she associated it with. That they might not even recognize except for long held memories from the cradle.

~Shara

Micah listened, felt her leaning against him… this was where he was happy. Here, under the sun and sky, listening to his wife play her guitar and hum a song he didn’t know as the wind blew softly against them… home. Love. Family. All of those words took on a whole new meaning for him at that moment.

The rest of the day passed slowly. They spent hours on the mountain drinking coffee, talking, eating sandwiches, and ‘other things’ newlyweds tend to do when left alone with no one around for miles.. It was near dusk when they finally walked back into the cabin. Micah made dinner out of leftover stew and bread, along with some bacon and eggs. After dinner, they listened to a few more records before heading upstairs; both of them exhausted from the emotions and exertions of the day. As they lay down to sleep, Micah looked at Sha and smiled. “I love you, wife-of-mine.”

Gazing deeply at him, Shara once again noted the slight striations radiation from his pupils, details of a person’s iris that you had to get up close to to really see. “I love you too, Husband. And if I keep saying that it might become pretty natural. Kinda bene out of practice,” she said with a grin as she snuggled in close. She’d stay there for the first bit but inevitably roll over onto her side, needing space. The nightmares seemed to be lessened right now too. She still had them, but could maybe call them just ‘bad dreams’ and sleep through them better.

It was in the wee hours of the morning when Micah finally moved out of bed. He was silent… years of training had made that almost second nature. He went downstairs and took a PaDD from the desk and then went outside and sat on a chair on the porch. As the light from the display lit up his face, a look of deep concentration took hold. Entering in his FedSec credentials, he had access to almost every record in the Federation… “Perks ‘a the job…” he mumbled to himself. He began inputting search parameters.

=/\= Search: Federation Colonial Birth Database: Location <all> Parents: Mother: Shara Costa Father: None Listed Child: Female DOB: Unknown Current Age: 47-49: Execute Search Outside Specific Parameters If NoResults: Allowed margin of error: 10%: Begin Search =/\=

Micah leaned back and waited. It took several minutes, but finally there was a soft chirp. Twenty-seven potential results returned. Micah nodded, that was a good sign if you consider the trillions of beings in the Federation. He began cross referencing what he knew of Shara’s travels with the records, and an alert popped up of a records request for ‘Shara from Voyager’ by one of the twenty-seven results. Micah thought Well, that can’t just be a coincidence, now can it? and pulled the request and the record of the person requesting it; one Nadine Wells, adopted daughter of Kennedy and Preston Wells formerly of Alpha Centauri, now residing on Earth, North America, Oregon, Portland. Divorced, no living children. One son, killed in MVA, age 7.

As the record came up, Micah’s eyes widened and then he sat back heavily. “No… it really can’t be that easy, can it? Decades of hurt and I type for ten minutes and there you go?” The face on the file looked like Sha. Almost the spitting image of her. He looked out at the stars and shook his head. “Universe, you have a really crappy sense of humor sometimes.” and he began to read the file in depth, running every conceivable search to ensure the person was not only the Sha’a long lost daughter… but also that she was safe. As in… not a weapon set up to lure Sha into a trap. After two hours, and even calling in favor from a Fleet Medical officer that owed him a favor to run a genetic comparison, Micah knew three things: First, this person wasn’t a threat to anyone except the local school board where she was a teacher and an outspoken supporter of the students and faculty. Two, that she was without a doubt Sha’s daughter… Faye’s half-sister… Daggum’s soon-to-be sister-in-law… and Micah’s step-daughter. And three, that this woman had spent almost thirty years looking for Sha, and she started on her twentieth birthday.He leaned back and looked at the sky, the very faintest glimmer of light starting to appear on the horizon. Micah stared for a long time, and then sent a message to an associate at FedSec, sent the file to Vanessa, and wiped the PaDD before putting it back in the desk drawer. He then went upstairs and went back to bed.

A few hours later, there was the beeping of a comm station. Micah groaned and rolled over and said =/\=Computer, answer the damn comms already! =/\= and there was a chirp and a voice came over the house speakers. =/\= Pik, you forget the briefing today? =/\= Micah cursed loudly and said =/\= I’m on vacation! =/\= There was a chuckle and the voice said =/\= Vacation is secondary to Federation security. Get your ass in here so you can brief these people on the Shadow Syndicate. =/\= =/\= Fine. But you’re adding three days to my down time! =/\= There was a lugh and the voice said =/\= See you in two hours. =/\= and the comm disconnected. Micah looked over at Sha and said “Can I just retire? We can stay here in bed. I promise to make sure you stay tired. =/\= and he grinned.

Micah

Shara chuckled. “You could retire, but I’m not yet and then what would you do with yourself, huh?” She was teasing but also not. She knew them both well enough that their work, whatever it was, formed a large part of their life and that wasn’t bound to change just yet.

“I’m going to call into Knoxville and see about getting a piano delivered up here. I told you I would,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Going right in the great room kiddy-corner to the window, though I’ll have to watch the light for a few days to see if that’s the best placement.

~Shara

“Tell ya what. You get the one you want, have them send it to the freight yard for pickup. I’ll bring it with me on my return trip. There’s a cargo sled in Vanessa that’ll carry it, I’m sure. Less people up here, the better.” and he winked and then kissed her. He stood up, naked body cast in the morning light, and he grinned at her. “Need anything else while I’m out, honey?” and he started to slowly get dressed, eyeing her as he did so, the smile never leaving his face.

Micah

She rolled onto her side, watching him with genuine appreciation. “Hmm, well, this is nice but if you keep doing that you may not make your meeting. We are newlyweds though. But I can fend for myself. I promise not to do anything more than boil water, which I can actually do. Might go for a walk. Anywhere I shouldn’t traipse about on my own out there?” Not that she couldn’t handle herself if she came across a wild animal, but as always, she was gathering information.

~Shara

Micah shook his head. “Nope, you have free reign. But if you run into a group of two girls and a guy that all look kinda alike, that’s the Morgan family. Two sisters and a brother… Cloris, Mabel, and Billy Jack. Billy Jack has some developmental issues. Good kids… well… not kids anymore, in their thirties… but they have the property next to us. They may startle ya, but they’ll ask who you are and what you’re doing before they shoot. At least one will… other two’ll be hidden. And yeah, you’re good… but they live in these woods. You won’t see ‘em unless they want you to. Just tell ‘em your my wife.” and he laughed. “Oh, that’ll get ‘em confused for sure!” and he laughed again. “Naw, but seriously… you tell’em Micah said its fine and that I still owe them three jars of shine. And I’ll take it to ‘em when I get back today. That’ll let ‘em know you are ok.” He pulled on his boots. He walked over, kissed his wife, and said “I’ll be back before evening, ok? Comm me if you need me. I love you, Sha. Everything I do from here on? I do for us.” and he kissed her again, softly pinched her in a sensitive part he always enjoyed, and turned and went down stairs. “I’ll put the coffee on before I leave! Now find you a piano! And have the rest of your stuff sent to the Knoxville frieght yard! I’ll get it all when I get the piano!” A few minutes later, the front door opened and closed, and soon the sound of Vanessa powering up and taking off was heard.

Micah