The past pays a visit

Posted on Fri Mar 4th, 2011 @ 4:37pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Shore Leave 1: Pacifica
Location: Beach Side Resort, Western Sea, Pacifica
Timeline: Sometime after 'The Arrival to Pacifica'

The waves ebbed and flowed before the shores of the beach on which the small reclined chair that was the current home to the form of Captain Nathan Cowell. Garbed in his swim trunks, a pair of dark sun glasses gracing his face, the man was currently enjoying a peaceful and serene moment. It had been a long time since Nathan had bothered to spend any 'me' time doing anything that could be considered unproductive. Even his reading of books while putting on the appearance of having nothing to do was somewhat constructive as it did have a tendency to stimulate the old man's mind... or at least his memories. Long gone were the days that Nathan bothered to pick up the latest edition of any author, most of them abhorring the idea of printed word on the pages of a book. The technological age had stifled, in many ways, the creativity and composition of an author's work. No longer were books a painstaking endeavor, a long labored dream made reality. One simply had to dictate to a computer and it did everything for you, from typesetting to grammar and punctuation adjustments to even filling in the blanks when your mind went to shit.

Doc Cowell sighed, even surrounded by the splendor of the Western Sea, his mind wouldn't let him relax fully. Errant thoughts invaded his silence, random images from centuries past assaulted the picturesque view before the El-Aurian's mind's eye. It was frustrating that after six hundred years, Nathan had forgotten how to relax!

"Well look who it is..." the voice of a man Nathan knew he hadn't seen in probably two decades broke the turmoil that was his inner thoughts.

Nathan looked over to the side in which the voice had come from and took in the sight of a much older version of the man he'd always associated that voice with. The man in question was, at the time he and Nathan had been acquainted, a young physician under his employ back on Earth when he was Chief Instructor for General Medicine at Starfleet Medical. He had been a Lieutenant Junior Grade, fresh out of residency, when they last spoke.

"Henry Tillman... I'll be damned... when'd they let you out of the hospital?" Nathan asked, pushing himself up onto his elbows.

"I should ask you the same thing, there Captain... or is it Admiral by now?" Henry said with a smirk.

"Nope, still a Captain and damn happy about it," Nathan corrected him.

"Well, there's something we have in common then," Tillman chuckled, "Never thought I'd see the day I could officially call you Nathan. Better take advantage of it, shouldn't I?"

"Hell, you've been calling me that for years, even before it was legal. Let's not go telling stories out of school," the elder Captain said, pushing himself fully off the lounge chair to offer his friend a hand.

Henry took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake, "So what are you here for? Retirement spot for the old man?"

"Hell, I tried that retirement shit for about two years, didn't like it. Decided I'd come back and command boats. Been doing it since '73," Nathan explained.

"Really? I didn't see any hospital ships outside of my own..." Capt. Tillman said in a confused voice.

"Shit, haven't had one of those since the war. Just got stuck with that Prometheus out there, the Arizona. Wouldn't be a bad boat if I had all my crew... which I still don't..." Nathan began.

"Fucking Tuesday," the men said in unison before they both started laughing.

"You've heard that one then?" Nathan teased.

"Any time you start complaining about Starfleet," Henry chuckled.

"Can't be all that common..." the El-Aurian mumbled.

"Oh heavens no... I mean, I can only count a handful of weeks back at Starfleet Medical that you had anything nice to say about the bureaucrats back home," Henry winked.

"See, there were a few breaks in it... You make it sound like I did nothing but complain!" Nathan said in mock hurt.

It was about that time that Nathan let his eyes wonder to the figure standing just behind Tillman, looking exquisite in her bathing attire. The fact that Nathan wore the nearly pitch black glasses helped to hide his wandering eyes as they surveyed her less than appropriate regions first.

"Who's your friend that is looking at you with such obvious affection?" Nathan asked.

"Oh... where is my head?" Henry said, opening himself up for Nathan's retort.

"Up your ass, apparently," Nathan said, moving past his friend to Tillman's lady friend, "Nice to meet you. I'm Nathan Cowell, and I swear I taught this lard ass better than to ignore such a beautiful girl like yourself."

The woman laughed, "I'm used to it. I've been married to him long enough that I think he forgets I'm even here sometimes."

"Married?! You?!" Nathan said, shooting a look that was lost on Henry thanks to the glasses.

"Yes, Doc... me. We met a few years before I got my first Command. Fell in love over a glass of Romulan Ale and a broken leg... her's, not mine."

Nathan laughed, "Prying on the limp and lame ones... Good strategy for you since you're not exactly a catch to begin with. Guess she didn't run from your boring ass because she couldn't," Nathan teased.

"Henry is actually pretty interesting when you get to know him," the woman said, putting her arm around her husband's waist.

"So does your wife have a name or will she have to be known as Tillman's lame duck?" Nathan inquired.

"Ashley," came the reply from Mrs. Tillman, "Commander Ashley Tillman, his Chief Engineer."

"Oh... no wonder you had a fucked up leg. You were a tunnel rat!" Nathan chuckled, "Well, at least one of you knows how to work."

"This is true, I do tend to have to poke and prod him to do his paperwork..." Ashley giggled.

"Hey now! When did you two suddenly start ganging up like you're old friends?" Henry complained.

"Stuff it, Henry, you're just outclassed. Now take that chubby ass of yours on out of here, no need to waste your vacation talking to an old Captain. Shoo, go be lovey dovey somewhere else. But is was good to see you," Doc Cowell said to Henry before turning to Ashley to give her hand a shake, "And it was good to meet you. You two keep one another straight."

"Will do, Doc," Henry nodded, "Take care of yourself as well."

"Hell, if I don't, no one else is going to," Nathan joked.

The three of them waved goodbye and the couple walked away, going further in toward the resort. Nathan watched them go for a while before he sighed aloud. He hadn't expected Henry of all people to get hitched, and to as fetching a young woman as the one he'd landed. It was sad, when Nathan thought about it, he'd spent countless decades since his last wife looking for Miss Right. Then many more decades just looking for Miss Right Now. By the time he'd reached his 300th birthday, he'd long given up on that thing called love. But to see it running rampant right in front of him... needless to say it brought some pretty painful memories back, not the least of them being his visit to his wife's grave 316 years after she had died.

Nathan did his best to shake the gloom that had settled over him off, found that it would not relent so easily, and resigned himself to the fact that his heritage would not allow for such an easy release from his past. Another sigh later and Nathan was off to the ocean. At least if he took a swim, he wouldn't have the luxury of thinking about anything but swimming...