EXETERRPG: (1 - 1545) CFO Lt(sg) Trinity Frost and Chief Miner Gawain Frost

[Mark Howard]

Mission: Space was cool before it mattered

Day: 1

Stardate: 2446.04.25



(Cheron - Cockpit - CFO Lt(sg) Trinity Frost and Chief miner Gawain Frost -
1545)



With no small amount of trepidation Gawain approached the cockpit of the
vessel that had rescued him and his crew. It wasn’t himself that he was
worried about, of course, but an eye for an eye.



Tapping the frame of the door slightly, he refrained from entering the
cockpit prior to invitation. It had been a while since he’d been around
pilots, and even then it had been drunken crop dusters flying craft a
couple of centuries old.

“Knock knock? Permission to come aboard?” Even back on the colonies, you
never just stepped onto a pilot’s rig without asking. Manners ran deep.

Turning slightly in her seat, surrounded with beyond state of the art
instruments, Trin waved her father to the co-chair. “Sit. Listen. If I give
you an order, you  perform it immediately, Headset.”

Taking the offered seat he put on the headset shifting in the seat before
finding the controls at his side.

“Thank you.” He said, to a nod from his daughter who’s attention was
consumed by all the multitude of screens that illuminated her face; a face
that he had once known, but didn’t recognise the focus on until now. He saw
her manner, correcting their course minutely, even at warp, keeping one eye
on local traffic, a second on the deep range trackers, and seemingly a
third on the warp field, heading, speed, and looking at the screens around
Trinity, who knows how much information.


“Please, speak.” Trinity said, not yet forgiving her father, but still
wanting him to speak.



“Look…Trinity…Lieutenant…”

“Trin smiled. Trin is fine.”



The aging man looked at his daughter. “I was wrong. Okay? Look, I see a lot
of my sister in you. Proud, forthright.” He sighed, worried about his next
sentence.


“Just say it?” Trin interjected.



Smiling at his daughters irritation, he spoke openly. "I saw so much of her
in you. Your aunt was an able pilot, not to your level but able
nonetheless. She was loved by everyone. After her death I saw more and more
of her in you. I was stupid, blind even, but I vowed not to let the same
thing happen to you."

Trinity heard her fathers voice crack with emotion as he continued to open
up about his sister.  For the first time in her life she thought about
people's actions towards her with a different eye. Where she had only seen
people holding her back, she realised that they'd been trying to keep her
safe.

"I guess I never understood." She replied "I only ever saw it as being held
back."

"I know. And that's on me. I never talked to you. When you flew into that
storm I knew. Knew how wrong I'd been, but I couldn’t let go. The arguments
that we had…”

Trinity winced, remembering the things that she’d called her dad. ‘Uncaring
and loathsome’ was about the kindest. She could only just begin to imagine
the hurt that it had caused. “For what it’s worth I am sorry.” She managed,
her eyes flicking over the screens. “For all of it.”



Gawain waved a hand, watching his daughter’s look of fierce concentration.
“No need. The failure was all my own. It…killed me and your mum when we
woke up that morning and you’d gone,  It came home to me then how bad a
father I’d been. Look, I’ll leave you be, I don’t ask or expect
forgiveness; just to see you safe and know that you’re happy, that’s all I
need. You’re working. I’ll leave you be.”



Trinity opened her mouth to object and tell him that it was okay for him to
stay, but no sound came out as she did so.



“It’s an amazing ship.” Patting his hands on the door frame as he left she
turned and looked at her. “I saw your approach to the maintenance bay.
Seriously good flying. I’m proud of you Trin, I know that I don’t have that
right anymore after I hurt you so badly, but I am. Be well baby girl.”
Leaving the cockpit he went back to join the others, leaving Trinity with
so many words that she wanted to say, so much in her heart that she’d found
she’d been bottling up. The pain from her actions from the nanite infection
were still raw in her heart, but the pain that ran deeper was that despite
her bad feeling toward her father, she still loved him deeply, her mother
and baby sister too.



A tear ran down her cheek, uncharacteristically emotional, she looked
toward the door, and yearned for him to walk back through it. “Daddy?” She
whispered, finally fully understanding the deep chasm deep pain that she
had herself caused when she had simply walked out. Her father wasn’t
blameless, but he also wasn’t the monster that she had always taken him for.



(Reply none needed)

(Posted by Mark)
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