Sara loved her job. She was a proud Starfleet officer, and a proud ship captain. But her job drained her energy just by its very nature. It had been a tired kind of day. She got home to her quarters and traded her uniform for leggings and a Starfleet Academy sweatshirt. She had big plans with a couch and a novel. Instead of that, she heard an incoming transmission. She sat down at her desk, sighed, put her best Diplomatic Captain expression on and accepted the call.

“At ease Captain.” The screen held an image of her family. Her father, mother, and brother were all smiling at her.
“I outrank you, dad.” Sara relaxed and smiled.
“You can pull rank all you want. Parent still wins”
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from you guys today.”
Her mom chimed in. “We haven’t talked to you in almost three months. And since Jared is here on leave, it seemed like a good time.”
Sara straightened up and put on a mock command persona “You’re on leave, Lieutenant Kiernan?”
“Yes ma’am.” He responded, trying to stay completely sincere.
“Giving your family trouble?”
“That’s the plan, Captain.”
“As you were, Lieutenant.” Sara’s face cracked into a smile and her posture relaxed again. Her younger brother had the same smile spreading across his face.
“Good to see you, Sara.”
“You too.”
“Big chair fitting you okay?” Her father asked. Commander Philip Kiernan held a position as an engineering instructor at Starfleet Academy, and had given up on ‘the big chair’ in signing up for that to have a stable, safe life for his family.
“Like I was born for it.”
“You were. Prime officer in the making your whole life.”
Jared acted upset. “What about me?”
“You’ll be a fine Captain someday too.”
“Can you all talk shop some other time?” Sara’s mother, Charlotte, was the only one in the immediate family with no time in Starfleet. She was accomplished in her own field, working for the Federation Council as a senior aide to one of the Council members. Her work was important, but she felt on the outside of her own family. Phillip, Sara, and Jared all apologized with smiles and tried to shift the topic.
“It’s been a while since we all sat down together like this.” Sara said, not knowing the door she had opened.
“Why didn’t you call us, sweetie?”
“What do you mean, mom?” Sara knew what she meant.
“You came back from- we thought something awful had happened. And you came back and…”
“We’ve talked since then.”
“But you haven’t told us anything that happened. You didn’t call when you came back, we called you.”
“I couldn’t tell you anything. I can’t tell you anything. All charges were groundless and dropped from record. The whole crew were presented with Tri-Star Cluster medals for their service. That is the limit of what I can tell anyone.”
“Why couldn’t you call and tell us that then?”
“Because I wouldn’t have had the restraint to keep to that answer. I would’ve spilled my guts. About everything. So it was better for all of us if I kept my mouth shut.”
“How noble.” Jared suddenly spat out.
“Jared-“
“You don’t get to decide what’s best for everyone.”
“In this case, yeah, I do.”
“Why?”
Sara’s eyes went cold and she became her CO self. “There is no information I can give you.”
“Why?” Jared pressed.
“There is no answer I can give.”
“Don’t go all ‘Commanding Officer’ on me- on us.”
“You keep pushing where there’s no information for you. What should matter to you-“ the mask cracked “What should matter to you is that I’m here. I’m alive. I’m the person you thought I was. There’s always going to be a part of my life I can’t talk about. I can’t change that now.”

Everything went silent.

“Sara?” Her dad spoke up after a minute.
“Yeah?”
“We all love you. That’s why we’ve been so worried.”
“I love you guys too.”

They talked a while longer, but the air is never clear right after the fight. It wasn’t quite comfortable, it wasn’t what she wanted time with her family to be. They all signed off and she saluted her father and brother, as had become customary. They saluted back and the screen went dark. She moved back toward the couch but the novel she had made her plans with seemed deeply unappealing. She slipped on some running shoes and went down to 6 forward.

-To Be Continued-

-Sara