Behind the Warspite - Part Two

Posted on Mon Jul 31st, 2023 @ 12:44pm by Admiral Jake Yamaguchi & Fleet Captain Racheal Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 120: All Along the Watchtowers - Part Two
Location: Various Locations - USS Warspite / Starbase Vanguard
Timeline: 1805Hrs, January 15th, 2394

Rachael sat back in her chair and sighed softly. She knew that this was all still far too raw to her, she needed time to process it. "I don't know what to do, Jake... Your dad was such a massive part of my life. He was always there and now in the blink of an eye. He's gone and has been gone for over a decade." she commented. "All you guys processed it and moved on. For me, it's still raw and fresh."

"I know," Jake answered quietly. He understood his mother on a level that few others did. Mostly because he was until recently, his mother's only son. Then Lee came along because of a transporter accident. Years later. Ian came, from another reality and had been stranded in this one. Both men had families and children of their own. For Rachael, this was a major novelty for her, as she didn't know about either man until a few months ago. She had met both at the same time.

While both men were her children. They were also strangers to her. However, they did chat often. Both men had been helping her with her issues and concerns. Lee was in the same boat as Jake and Ian had lost everything and everyone he had ever known at the hands of the Borg from his own reality. He and his family were all thats left of a doomed existence.

Jake regarded his mother in silence. He knew what she was thinking about. "Mom. I don't think would have wanted you to be miserable like this."

"I know... I also know what your dad would have said. If he had been here." Rachael replied. "But Jake, tell me... Is it true.?"

Jake regarded his other before he sat back in his chair. He knew that this was about to get really stupid, really fast. "What do you mean? Mom, you need to be more specific?" He inquired, he also knew not to be too demanding of her as she would simply clam up. But Jake also knew that he would not need to wait long. Considering he had grown up in a household of women, then his academy quad had also been all women. Except for him and he had several female children. One could assume that Jake knew his way around women. Torilla had reassured him that he simply had excellent taste in women.

"I mean about your dad. In his last days after the end of the war with the Dominion. After everyone had taken their children back... He flogged our home and left. No word, no explanation, no nothing?" she inquired with a soft growl.

"Yep. It's all true. Dad carved up everything and divvied up everything between us. We all got a rather sizeable care package each. Dad emptied the house. Then he sold it. He never said anything to any of us on the matter at hand. So none of us were ever told. It was because Dad knew that one of us would have axed our career to come home and claim it." Jake sighed. "He didn't want that for us. Or that was the conclusion that we all mutually came to later on." he paused a moment. "I know April was considering leaving Starfleet, due to what she had been through but I figured he would have told us, and then let us sort it out among ourselves." Jake then shrugged. "But, no. No word, no nothing." Jake then huffed a long sigh at his mother. "It was Torilla who figured it out, she had a fair if somewhat uncomfortable point."

"Go on.?" Rachael asked of her son.

"Dad was facing a broken heart. He wasn't needed anymore." Jake explained. "April, Talon and I were able to raise our kids properly, in our own households again." Jake sighed softly "Suddenly, almost overnight. Dad was now bereft of purpose. For over a decade, he had spent that time, raising us, and then helping us to raise our kids too." Jake paused.
"Everything for which he had fought and suffered. Was in the service of us." Jake paused a moment. "Then suddenly, nobody needed him anymore. He even said that now. He could advance his own career again."

Rachael sighed softly. He knew her son had spent all this time blaming himself. Because human nature is what it always was. "except he had no idea of where to go or what to do." she supplied the rest.

"Yep," Jake answered softly. "After leaving the house for good. Dad signed onto the first deep space mission he could find." Jake then sighed. "When the ship he was on, went missing... the USS Valhalla and the USS Yarra both began an extensive search of the surrounding sector. To the point that the entire region was charted." Jake paused. He then let out a deep sigh of sadness.