Warchild - Part One

Posted on Fri Sep 10th, 2021 @ 1:32pm by Commander Ennis Cullen & Lieutenant JG Rachael "Ripcord" Yamaguchi-Cullen & Saki Yamaguchi-Cullen & Sarah Yamaguchi-Cullen

Mission: Mission 106: Restitutions and Resolutions
Location: Various Locations - USS Heart of the Tiger
Timeline: 1630Hrs - October 24th, 2393

Doctor Ennis Cullen walked through the doors to his quarters, he was tired and wanted a shower before he tended to his evening's concerns. He noticed Sarah sitting at the kitchen table,. Working on her homework as was her routine, Saki was sitting next to her but before them was a rather large bottle of wine. "Girls... What's this?" Cullen inquired.

"Oh." Saki paused a moment. "That... I found it outside our quarters while Sarah and I brought in the twins and Daniel," she explained. "I had no idea who owned it so I placed it there," she commented. "I was going to let you and mom look after it..." she frowned. "I didn't think either ytou or mom liked wine..." she admitted.

"You didn't get this from a replicator.?" Cullen inquired, he wanted to be sure of things before he said his piece.

Saki regarded the man she had come to call father in silence for a moment. Rather than say something asininely stupid or something snarky. "No Dad. I learned my lesson the last time I tried that. Besides... The replicator does not serve to minors."

Cullen recalled the words he had said. He sighed softly as he thought he had been overly hard on Saki at the time. While he did have his regrets about the event in question, he did not regret making it clear that she did need to alter her habits and behaviours. Not everyone would find her amusing. What she could call amusing. Others might call intolerable and some might find downright absurd. Not everyone had the same sense of scale on humour.

Saki regarded him. "You're not convinced..." and with that, the ten-year-old girl let out a long dragged out sigh. She had been expecting this as it was nothing new to her.

Sarah picked that moment to speak up, she was older than Saki by almost four years and she was larger than Saki. She was half a foot taller and massed in at another forty pounds larger than her adopted sibling. "Saki speaks the truth dad. She had nothing to do with it... Besides, it came with a card." she indicated the bottle before the two girls as she spoke.

"A card.?" Cullen paused before he picked up the wite bottle in his hands. It was a twenty-three sixty-eight bottle of Armand Rousseau, by all accou8nts a very good year but Cullen wasn't a wine drinker, and he knew Rachael almost hated booze. He looked down and there, under the bottle of wine had indeed been a card. He placed the bottle down as he gave Saki a look, while he picked up the PADD. He activated it and it was a simple text note.

Cullen cleared his throat. "Thank you for the effort you did on my shoulder. You saved my career had that issue gotten out into the public eye. I wanted to give you a thank you and a bottle of wine as a token of my appreciation. Signed Lieutenant Ijhoraon Zh'koth." Cullen read from the PADD aloud.

Saki frowned. "Sounds... Andorian." she paused. "I know it's not Bolian."

"It is," Cullen answered quietly. "She had an old injury that was preventing her from doing her job and I presented her with a choice... Either remove the old wound... or let Lt Commander Ivan Chung kick her out of the security department." he let out a soft sigh. "Not exactly what I would call my finest hour."

Saki regarded him while Sarah went back to her homework. "How so Dad... It's not like..." she stopped, which was something new for her. She sighed a second time, as she was already too late to walk away from this one.

"Not like what Saki." Cullen inquired. "Go on?" he wanted to hear it, but he had a feeling it would be something that only Saki would finmd funny.

"It's not like you are sleeping with her." Saki finished as she wished she could disappear into the floor or cast a magical spell and make herself invisible.

Cullen sighed softly. He knew that encouraging Saki was like walking a minefield at times. But he also knew that the ten-year-old he shared no DNA whatsoever with was still as much his child as Olivia or Sarah. "Saki. Can you do me a little favour?" Cullen asked of her.

"Reign it in?" Saki inquired. She knew what he wanted so she would start there.

"Please, dear. I know you are used to speaking your mind and I know you are afforded a certain amount of leeway when you do. Because of your unusual upbringing." Cullen sighed, he was making a bigger ass of himself than anything else. "But not everyone appreciates your directness or bluntness... It's just that you can be a lot all at once and many people are more subtle or they just plain lack your preferred approach."

Saki sighed. It seemed that everyone was so sensitive to her brand of humour that she had at times, considered throwing up her hands and quitting in general. Now was one of those times.

It was at that moment when the doors to their quarters opened and in walked Rachael Yamaguchi-Cullen. She could sense the unease and concerns brewing from down the hallway and she walked into her home. She stopped at the door as she slid off her boots with a soft moan. "Uhh... Starfleet can't design decent footwear to save their lives," she commented, in an effort to dislodge the issue, however she could tell instantly that she had failed.

Yamaguchi-Cullen regarded her first child as she glared darkly at the man she had come to call her father. She let out a soft sigh as she saw this going sideways fast.