Oh Canada - Part I
Posted on Thu Dec 25th, 2025 @ 2:56pm by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Lieutenant Mira Jayna
Edited on on Sun Dec 28th, 2025 @ 7:34am
1,767 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador, Terra.
Timeline: MD025 0730 hrs
Neil came awake as sunlight crept around the heavy curtains in an upper room at Sun Flower House the guest room was more ornate than he’d have thought, but his mother did have time on her hands. And it was ensuite, so they had their own private fresher. His HUD activated briefly, giving him a look at the message queue and current time. It was near to mid-morning, local. He wasn’t surprised, really, but it felt like a luxury given that his Red Team was standing up for a mission.
Well. It felt odd that he was letting Ed handle the drills while he sat around a bonfire eating lobsters with Jayna and his mother and drank too much beer. Which reminded him, he opened an eye and the hangover poked at him. It was light, but the dark beer he’d been consuming wanted to remind him of his transgressions.
Grunting, he shut the eye and took stock. His HUD indicated that the room temperature was hovering right around 13 degrees Celsius. Apparently his mother had programmed the rooms environmental unit based on his preferences.
And that did have something to say as he realized Jayna was awake and waiting on him….
Jayna had been up for a while and was curled up in a chair, reading. At the sound of his grunt, she set her PADD down and silently padded over to the bed to kiss Neil. "Morning."
He returned her kiss. "Bed got cold...thought maybe we'd scared you off," he teased admonishingly.
"Not a chance." She slipped under the covers and ran a hand across his chest. "I didn't want to disturb you before you got your beauty sleep," she teased. "Now...well...that depends on when your mom is expecting us." Which was probably now.
"And here I thought you knew me," Neil joked as he wrapped an arm around her and tangled his legs...leg with hers. "Most people would say I was disturbed enough already. And there isn't enough sleep in even an El-Aurian's life to make me pretty." The sun was pushing harder at the blackouts and he stretched against her. "This could be a busy day, if we let it," he said. "I think my brother.."
He was interrupted by a hammering at the door and a light baritone sounding out, "Wakey wakey. Then the door was opened about a half and the same voice, clearer now because the inch and a half solid wood door was open, "Sick'em."
Baying was heard as two mottled brown, tan and white basset hounds bounded into the room, ears flopping and drool cascading into the air. The baying was incredibly loud as the voice cheerfully said, "Hey Neil. Sorry Ms. Mira, but I only get to see my brother every half decade or so. Time to get up!!"
There was a clang as Neil's artificial leg, which he'd stood up near the foot of the bed (pun intended) was knocked over by the romping hounds who were trying to figure a way up onto the bed. The noise startled them the canines, one who let out a startled yelp and the female first nosed at the leg, which tumbled slightly.
With a delighted growl, the female basset had it in her teeth and went bounding out of the room, followed by her brother, after a brief bottle neck at the door. A surprised human yelp from the other side of the door sounded as the hounds chased after one another and from below them Gwen's voice called out.
"What was that."
From beyond the door, there was a pause before Hugo called out, "Mom. Neil kicked me!!"
"Neil???" Gwen's voice questioned.
In the room, Neil sighed and pulled the covers up over his and Jayna's head. "You sure you want to subject yourself to this," he asked.
"You better believe it. Not even your brother can scare me away. But can I pin him to the wall?" Jayna was only half joking. "Or I could just announce that I was naked and coming after the leg, so he'd better get out of my way." She wasn't, but only because they'd been interrupted by Neil's brother before they could get that far.
Neil debated for a moment, then stuck his head out and called out, Hugh, thragg off. We're awake. Shut the door. Find my leg and leave it outside. We'll be down when we're good to go. I'm convalescing, thragg-off."
Snickering, Hugo shut the door and Neil turned back to Jayna, pulling the covers back over their heads. "Now. What was that about pinning someone? Hugo can wait..."
Jayna chuckled softly, then kissed him.
Dressed in well-worn boots, equally worn flannel-lined jeans and an older sage-colored Irish knit fisherman's sweater, Neil was taking his own turn reading, waiting on Jayna, who had kicked him out of the fresher after their second shower. His leg had been found, guarded by an upside down female basset hound, tongue and ears akimbo, snoring. Bess, the basset had woken when he retrieved it, but was too comfortable to be moved at that point, so Neil had been left in relative peace to fit the leg into the boot and square that away.
Jayna joined him, dressed in a pair of faded black jeans, a chunky sweater in shades of green and black, and a pair of comfortable black boots. She gave him an appreciative once-over. "I like this look on you. It's very sexy. But we should go see your family."
Then, turning to the open door, she added, "Is the dog to keep us in or your brother out?"
Casting a lingering eye over Jayna, Neil spared a glance toward Bess and said, "These were bought for me by Hugo's wife, Renae. Gifts, though the boots are mine," he said. "Hazards of spending a life in uniform...at least for me. You don't know what else to wear. I like your outfit better..." He stood and stepped over to her, his tendency to drag the artificial leg happening all anew with the sun coming up.
Kissing her, he slipped a hand into one of her back pockets and he grinned, "One thing civilian clothing has over uniforms is more pockets, I suppose. As to Bess, she's probably trying to figure out why I have her stick."
"I approve of the clothes." She looked him over again. "But, as much as I would like to take you and your stick back to bed, we really should go see your family."
Sighing dramatically, Neil nodded and said, "Aye, though now I'm thinking we should have just taken off someplace and gone native till shore patrol came to drag us away. You can save me today though by telling me more about this whole stick business." Opening the door fully, he snapped his fingers above Bess, who cast a baleful look up at him, then rolled onto her feet as he said, "Bess. Let's go."
The basset trotted to the head of the stairs, then woofed once and began to warily work her way down as Neil and Jayna came up behind and Neil led the way. They emerged in the landing and turned back into the sitting room, Bess in the lead as she trotted over to her brother and promptly threw herself against him, making him give way as she settled onto the warm place in front of the fire. Her brother huffed and rolled over, play bit at her ear as Neil and Jayna entered through the open pocket door.
Hugo was seated with a thin, dark haired woman who was dressed in shiny ski pants and turtleneck sweater of a ruby hue, her socked feet up on another chair as she sipped at a glass of water while she watched a man as broad as Neil but not as tall helping a pair of children work at a three dimensional fairy tale castle puzzle that was being constructed on a slightly massive coffee table.
The sitting room was furnished in hard wood and old looking, heavy furnishings that were upholstered in ivory cloth. Gwen was helping the children as well, the boy slightly older bore a distinct resemblance to his mother though had eyes that matched both Neil and Hugo's. The girl might be a year younger and had pale jade eyes of her mother. They all looked up as the two entered and Neil moved to one side and said, "Ok. Getting this out of the way. Jayna, you know Mom. Hugo, the lug over there is my older brother who is married to the fashion mogul Renae. And the four trouble makers are all theirs. Bess and Bob I think are the kids and the hounds are named Hecate and Hugh."
A squall of protest came up from the kids as they chimed in to try and correct Neil over the adult banter, both waiving toys in the air.
Hugo, dressed in white jeans and heavy looking gold sweater, stepped up offering his hand to Jayna, his laced boots scuffing on the heavy carpet. "Nice to meet you Jayna," he said. "How in the fates did Corny swing so high above his game? You're beautiful. Welcome to St. Johns and Sunflower house." Unlike Neil, Hugo was bald, but sported a well-trimmed three quarters beard. A jolly toboggan hat, hand knitted out of white and forest green dropped from his back pocket as he moved.
Jayna took his hand and smiled. "What can I say? I find your brother incredibly sexy." While it was true, she wanted to discomfit Hugo a bit after he let the dogs into their room earlier. "And he's a good man."
Grinning, Hugo eyed his brother speculatively and told her, "Well. As his brother I can hardly call him sexy. Not if I want to be able to eat later. But I'll agree he's likely a good man now. Not the snot nosed little brother that used to glue my shoes to the floor."
"Deck," Neil corrected amiably. "You know we're always supposed to call it a deck. What are you. Some kind of savage?"
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
Lieutenant Mira Jayna
Intelligence Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
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