Deep Space, En route to Dis System
06:00 December 25, 2735 Earth Standard Meridian Date/Time
DSC-078 Avalon, Captain’s Quarters
While Castle’s rotation was close enough to Earth’s twenty-four-hour day that there was little date discrepancy between the Earth Standard Meridian Date/Time used aboard starships, Corona City was roughly six hours ahead of Great Britain on Earth.
That meant Kyle was unsurprised to wake up on Christmas morning to a notification on his implant that he had a video message from Castle. Up well before his watch, he took his time cleaning up, noting that the floor level lighting had taken on cheerfully festive shades of green and red.
Once showered and dressed with a fresh cup of coffee, Kyle turned off the cheerful lights and made a note to let Solace know that he found that piece of Navy tradition utterly trite. If they were going to decorate the ship, they could pick up real garland on a planet somewhere. The ship might have dozens of kilometers of corridors, but it also had hundreds of often-bored Spacers and Specialists.
Shaking his head at his own wool-gathering, he settled down at his desk with his coffee and flipped the message to his wallscreen. The familiar, though time-fogged, image of Christmas in his mother’s house lit up the screen, with Lisa Kerensky waving at the camera in the foreground.
“Merry Christmas Kyle,” she told him with a grin. “Your mom is taking Jacob out to visit his grandparents for breakfast in a few minutes, they’ll be down in a moment. You can see the aftermath of the gifts behind me.”
She gestured at the strewn chaos of boxes and wrapping paper, the inevitable leftover of centuries of tradition. Sitting in pride of place on top of a pile of paper was a massive 1:1000 scale model of the old Avalon.
“I’m not even going to guess at who bought Jacob the meter-long starship model,” Lisa said repressively. “I think whoever it was should realize he didn’t have space in his room for it.”
She heaved a long-suffering sigh, but there was a twinkle in her eye. A moment later, the thundering cavalcade of a single eleven year old boy rushed down the stairs and tackle-hugged her.
“Say Merry Christmas to your father, Jacob,” Lisa instructed.
The redheaded boy, already reaching Lisa’s shoulder and starting to look like he’d equal Kyle’s own height, turned to face the camera with a bright smile.
“Merry Christmas Dad!” he half-shouted. “I got the ship! It’s soo cool!”
Kyle smiled helplessly as his son carried on in that vein for half a minute while his own mother came quietly down the stairs. Mrs. Roberts looked as spry and healthy as ever, but her careful steps always sent a twinge of guilt through him. When he’d stepped out of Lisa’s and Jacob’s lives for over a decade, his mother had filled the gap. He hadn’t seen much of her either.
“Come now, Jacob,” she finally interrupted. “We need to get to your grandparents. You can tell them all about it.”
The video paused, then cut to an emptier home with just Lisa in it.
“I’ll confess I’m glad for the time difference today,” she told him, and her voice was quieter. Almost sad. “I have… good news, I think, but its awkward.
“You remember introducing me to Daniel Kellers?” she asked. He nodded, though he knew she couldn’t see him.
Kyle had convinced Lisa to accompany him to a few affairs where it had been strongly implied he was not to show up without a guest. Since his love life had been nonexistent since he’d left her to join the military, he had a shortage of alternatives.
At one party, thrown by the Senator for Tuatha, they’d run into Member of the Federation Assembly Daniel Kellers, a local businessman of his and Lisa’s age. While Kyle had been being shown off by the Senator, Kellers had kept Lisa company.
“We’ve… well, we’ve been seeing each other since then,” Lisa admitted. “He helped me write my application for the position I just got at Corona City Hospital. And, well…” she paused, a smile flitting across her lips.
“It’s pretty serious, Kyle,” she told him. “Not expecting dresses and wedding bells, mind you, but…” She trailed off. “Jacob likes him.”
“I know neither of us really felt there was anything – or should be anything – between us now, but I still feel like I’m telling you something you may not want to hear,” Lisa continued. “He’s never going to come between you and Jacob, but he’s good for me.”
The video was silent for a long moment.
“I know Christmas is a bad time for this,” she finished, “but I needed to tell you sooner rather than later. If nothing else, to help you get your head back up and realize that you should be dating. Michael told me about that Phoenix officer!”
Kyle laughed, and the spell of him staring shocked at the screen was broken. He hadn’t forgotten about the officer who’d propositioned him after his wing had beaten hers in exercises, but he also hadn’t realized Stanford had told Lisa about it.
“Write me back when you get a minute, okay?” she asked. “I… well, I need to know you’re okay with this.”
The video ended, and Kyle let the positive bubble from the memory of Sub-Colonel Jenaveve LaCroix carry him for a few moments before letting it fade and considering Lisa’s news. He poked at it mentally, like a sore tooth.
He was a little surprised to find he was okay with it. While any spark between them had faded, if someone had asked him yesterday, he’d have said Lisa dating would have bothered him.
Turned out he’d have been wrong. It… made him feel better.
13:00 December 25, 2735 ESMDT
DSC-078 Avalon, Captain’s Office
Christmas Day was generally a day for light duty unless the ship was likely to see action. Since Battle Group Seventeen wasn’t scheduled to arrive in the Dis system until late on the twenty-sixth, Kyle had seen no reason to change that tradition.
He wasn’t surprised that it took until after lunch for Solace to poke her head into his office. Since the ship was in FTL anyway, there was little that was likely to happen to need his attention. Another tradition was that the Captain wasn’t out and about on Christmas – there tended to be a bit more drunkenness than the Commanding Officer wanted to take official notice of.
“Merry Christmas, sir,” Solace greeted him.
“Merry Christmas, Commander Solace,” Kyle replied. “Everything staying quiet?”
“So far so good, sir,” she replied, taking the chair opposite him. “I am specifically not aware that there is a large party taking place on the Atrium with punch that is most definitely spiked with engineering’s vodka.”
“Then I shall also remain unaware,” the Captain agreed cheerfully. “Drink, Commander? Since we specifically do not know our crew is getting drunk, I don’t think anyone will begrudge us a beer.”
She shook her head.
“I don’t drink alcohol, sir,” she reminded him. “Tea?”
Kyle grabbed a beer from the mini-fridge for himself and ran a tea out of the hot beverage dispenser for Solace.
It was a strangely awkward meeting, both of them trying to have the personal conversations normally allowed on Christmas while not really having that connection.
“Any news from home?” he asked as he passed her the tea.
“Cliath is a few hours behind Standard Meridian today,” she told him. “My sister is probably only just now chivvying her kids out of bed.”
Cliath was the capital city of Tuatha, one of the Federation’s main member systems. The planet had a twenty-two and a half hour day, so its alignment with the Earth Standard Meridian Time used on starships shifted.
“Yourself, sir?”
“Got a video from my son and his mother,” Kyle replied. “Someone gave the boy a meter-long replica of the old Avalon. He’s ecstatic, and his mother is… tolerant.” He shrugged. “She also apparently has a new boyfriend, which she seemed to think she was ‘Dear John’ing me by telling me.”
Solace seemed taken aback.
“Your son’s mother…?”
“We dated in high school and she had an implant glitch resulting in an unplanned pregnancy,” Kyle said quietly. “I ran off and joined the Navy, my mom helped take care of Lisa and Jacob. We’re on good terms, but we’re not together. Honestly happy for her – he’s a good man.”
“I didn’t realize you had a son, sir,” Solace admitted. “Your reputation is, well…”
“Chaste?” Kyle observed with a chuckle. “Celibate? Trust me, Commander, it only takes completely messing up one relationship to figure you aren’t cut out for them. Besides, once I started ending up in command, the options got a lot more complicated.”
“I see,” his XO said. She was still stiff. Opening up about his family wasn’t breaking down barriers, and Kyle mentally sighed. At this point, it was up to her to sort out her issues – so long as she kept doing her job.
“In any case,” he said, realizing that they would both be more comfortable if he brought the conversation back to work, “I had some thoughts on exercises once we get to Dis…”