Ghosts Of Our Fathers

Posted on Fri Mar 27th, 2020 @ 8:51am by Death & Ensign Briaar Gavarus & Ensign Fiona O'Dell
Edited on on Fri Mar 27th, 2020 @ 10:51am

Mission: Back Down the Long Ladder
Location: Planet Mariposa, the O'Dell Estate
Timeline: 2397

The journey to Mariposa had been a bittersweet homecoming for Fiona O'Dell. The Captain had interceded on her behalf and redirected the Hera to mariposa, whereupon the crew of the Hera had uncovered the murder plot enacted by Kathryn O'Dell, wife of Fi's eldest brother Duncan. While he had been cleared of murder charges (although he was still being charged with the lesser aiding and abetting charges), his wife was standing trial for two counts of first-degree murder. Control of the clan and the manor was given over to Wallace, the second born, and the monies had been split between the other six children.

For herself, Fiona had refused her share, requesting only that Minnie's inheritance (which the Captain had offered to double) be invested and held for her until she was an adult, so that the behest of her father to see the Minotaur daughter of his youngest be embraced by the clan, and cared for after his death.

His death... Fiona was still having some difficulty wrapping her head around the fact that her parents were both dead, murdered by a Bringloidian social climber who had done so merely to claim what was theirs as her own, and likely would have murdered Duncan next had her perfidity not been uncovered.

Now that the crime had been solved, the will found by her clever daughter who had a knack for mazes, and order restored to the O'Dell household once more, a day and night of drinking had ensued. With the ebullient O'Dell leading the crew and the locals in rousing pub songs, telling stories of her father and his exploits (while Briaar told a few of Fiona's the certainly got laughs), she had gotten as drunk as possible for her, and eventually had to be literally carried home by her considerably larger and stronger mate, the tall Tellarite who had started out as a friend, whom Fiona still had some hesitation admitting that she loved. Although only when sober.

With Fiona tucked into her old bed, with which was far too small for the paunchy porcine, Briaar had chosen to lay flat on the floor instead, as Fiona's childhood bed was still a child's size. With Minnie sprawled atop her prodigious belly, Gavarus had passed out to begin snoring when Fiona had clambered out of bed to curl up next to her partner, folding herself up in a fetal position in the crook of Briaar's arm, like a small ginger feline.

As she slept, the littlest O'Dell dreamed. It was there that her father came to her door- hale, hearty and whole, in the prime of his life, and beckoned for her to come out into the hall. As this was a dream, she did not question the turn of events- instead, ever the dutiful daughter, she followed her father downstairs to his study, where she found him in his comfortable red leather armchair, smoking his briarwood pipe, waiting for her.

The last time Fiona had seen William Angus Joseph Campbell O'Dell in her holocall to him, her father was gaunt and pale, his hair white and wispy. At the time, she didn't know he had been a victim of months of systematic, gradual poisoning. He just looked like a frail old man. But sitting in that large, plush chair setting his pipe down on the small, ornate wooden end table, was a much younger man. His face was full and his cheeks pink. His hair was still a wavy, thick auburn mass of curled locks and his deep, green eyes sat below thick, bushy brows. A broad, warm, welcoming smile was on his face.

"Come closer, Fiona. Sit, sit. I'm glad ya' could come. I've missed seein' you. But ye look troubled." Angus said, leaning forward and crossing his hands between his legs. His hands were as big and strong as Fiona remembered them, knuckles dirty from working in the family fields. The fields he loved tending to, despite the lack of need with replication technology. But he kept the old ways alive, as had his father before him, and his father before him. "Ye know I don' like t' ee that face lookin' s'sad. Now tell me what's botherin' ye, daaarlin'?"

Searching her feelings, Fiona realized she was carrying a great sadness, and in that moment she realized that her father was dead, so this had to be a dream, Smiling through tears, she reached out to stroke her father's face. "Because yuir gone, Da. I was gone s'long, and then we talked and Briaar and me were excited aboot comin ta see ya, then... we got the call from Duncan, and..."

It had been less than a week since she lad learned of her father's death, and only today had she walked the grounds, seen her childhood home once more and paid her respects as the murder plot was uncovered. The grief and the wound were still both fresh for her, and she began to weep freely.

"I'm sad because yuir all dead now, Da, ye and Mum, and I'll nivvir get the chance to tell ye how much I love ye, how much ye mean to me, how so much of who I am I learned from you and Mum... where's Mum, innyways? If this is some cockamamie dream, isnae Mum supposed to be here too?" Sniffling and chuckling as tears rolled down her cheeks, the midget Miradonian shook her head. "Ye nivvir got to hold Minnie for real, nivvir got to meet Briaar and understand why she's wi' me. And noow... now ye nivvir will, and every time I think of it me heart breaks all over agin."

"Gone... pah. That's a bunch a' bunk, me Fiona. Ah'm right here, right now. N' I see you, Briaar and th' wee one every day." Angus said, scoffing and rolling his eyes as if Fiona were still a child trying to put one over on him. "Ah'm here because I'm meant t' be here. Ah'm here b'cause you need t' see me an' talk t'me, but it could only be me, aye? Yuir Ma thought it would be best if t'were me. I c'n say, you've made some pretty impressive friends out there on that staaarship a'yourn."

"So, talk t' me, Fiona, me wee darlin. I've missed that smilin' face'a yours. I'm here, an' yuir here. Tell me what ye' want t' tell me. Git it offa yuir chest, sweetheart." Angus said, sitting back and patting his knee like old times.

Climbing up onto her father's lap, which she'd not been able to do for years with his bad back ans sciatica, Fiona wrapped her arms around her father's neck and rested her head against his chest, even as he brought his arms in to hold her, making her feel as safe as she did with Briaar Gavarus. "I'm sorry I wasnae there, Da. I'm sorry I couldnae be the daughter ye wanted. I learned all me lessons and I practiced- I still do, ye know, and Briaar and Minnie are pretty good aboot it. But oot amongst the stars, I found where I belonged, for true."

"Even though I left, I want ye to know twas nivvir aboot gettin away from ye. Me brothers a bit maybe, and that wretched cocksucker of a horse's ass Father Donald, fuir sure. maybe some of the small-mindedness of the folk... I had to punch Tommy McKinney in the throat tonight because he wouldna stop taintin' Briaar wi' piggy jokes. But... I want ye to know, twas nivvir because I dinna love ye, Da." Pulling back, the little lass of the heather eyed her father, those eyes she had inherited from him. "E'en oot amongst the stars, I wear me O'Dell tartan. On the wall of me quarters is hung our coat of arms, and when she's old enow, Minnie'll know it and be able to speak to alla the heraldry of the clan. I'm nae on Mariposa... well, I am tonight, aye? But Clan O'Dell is proudly represented in the far reaches o'space, Da. Because I'm proud of where I come from... and who."

At that, Fiona's eye filled with tears and her face scrunched up, and she buried her face in her father's chest, weeping for the loss she'd suffered. Knowing this dream was likely the last conversation she would have with her father, if only imaginary. Yet she smelled his pipe tobacco, she could smell the peat on his shoes he hadn't scraped off before coming in, as he often did when she was young. She could feel the sofdt flannel of his work shirt, the green plaid shot through with red and gold and black.

A dream it may have been, but it felt like her father, so that was enough for her to cry like a lost child in his arms for a few moments, the pain still coming in waves of grief that crashed over her, sumberging her for a moment or two... like this one.

"Shhh... Shhh... just let it out, m'dear. Shhh..." Angus said as she stroked his daughter's curly red hair and held her tight to him. "Fiona, m'dear. I may not have allays said it right, n' I may not have always understood or been what ye' needed me to be, but all ah've ever wanted was fer you t' be happy. So, tell me true and look me in the eyes, sweetheart."

"Are you happy?"

It still took a few moments for Fiona's grief to run it's course, because her father's words made her cry that much harder for a moment or two. But slowly she managed to compose herself, wiping her snot on the back of her hand and using the palms of her hands to mop at her eyes. Taking a few deep centering breaths, she straightened up, almost regally, but most certainly like a lady, and looked her father in the eye, a small smile gracing her thin lips.

"Aye, Da. I fly... well, I fly experimental spacecraft, and I'm the dog's bollocks at it. Briaar's me mechanic, and we work good together, y'ken? And we drink together and make jokes an' harrass people, and... tis good. I get to fly the big starship... Cap'n said I did good, and I fought in a space battle... well, two now, coom ta think of it. I'm good at me joab and they like me doin' it, Da. I work with me partner, and we do somme amazing shite for that chicken and giraffe, and they show us some pretty amazing technology."

"Briaar and me were happy enough, but then came Minnie, and... wahhhl, y'ken. One look in them big broown eyes and we was sunk. Truly, she's a wonderful little tyke, and a good girl. She listens, she behaves, and she's joost got the sunniest disposition, Da... she's honestly such a joyful creature ye canna help but love her. I dinna tellye, but... there's a very old Greek goddess that lives on the ship... aye, shite ye not. Because of her bein' there, sometimes babies are born... special."

"Like our wee Minerva?" Angus filled in the blank, and Fiona nodded.

"Aye, like our Minnie. She's more'n six months old, Da, but she's getting stronger every day... like, strong enough to start yankin Briaar around. And heavy for her size... last weigh-in she was more'n five stone," Fiona explained, trying to give her father an idea of just how magical her daughter truly was. "I'm too spindly an' weak, I canna carry her n'more. We're workin' on a personal inertial dampener so's it'll slow her doown and make things harder for her until she kin develop some control of her own. I mean, she's six months old, Da. And she found yuir secret passage, found the will, brought her grammy to it and brought both of 'em back oot, like she was makin' a potty, pretty as ye please."

"We've good shipmates, good friends, family and jobs we like that are challengin' and rewardin. Aye, Da... the only thing missing in me life is ye and Mum." At that, Fiona's smile tried to crinkle into a frown, but she refused to let it- instead pressing on. "But she'll know ye- she'll know ye both, and I'll tell her stories, and teach her all ye and Mum taught me, and I'll keep our traditions alive in her. So that... in that way, ye'll allays be with me, aye?"

By the time she made it to the end of her little speech, Fiona had broken down to cry again, and once more she took advantage of the dream, and hugged herself to her father. It was an odd experience to take comfort in a visit with the ghost of her father. But Irish folktales were filled with accounts of such things, and Fiona knew well those tales and legends. Because they had been handed down from generation to generation, and even carried by colonists to distant stars.

To faraway worlds, light-years from Ireland, where redheaded little girls who had lost their fathers, might not be at all surprised to be visited in the night, and comforted by their ghosts.

Rubbing his daughter's back, Angus beamed a warm, calming smile as he looked down at his wee Fiona. It was an expression the tiny test pilot had seen a thousand times, and generally it did help calm her down a bit. "Aye. Yuir mum and I will never be far from ye, heart of me heart. We'll be keeping an eye on all three of ye', so's ye know. We'll allays be there for alla ye', in spirit at least. Ye carry us with ye in yuir heart, and ye'll ne'er be alone. Anytime ye' feel like ye' don't know what yer doin', jus think of us. Think about what we woulda doon. Or think about what we mucked, up an' do th' opposite."

"But ye' got Briaar, an' it's clear even from here that she loves ye' an' will do inythin' for you and our little one. Yuir nae alone, my darlin. Ye' never were, and ye never will be." Angus declared said, running his fingers through Fiona's red, curly locks.

"I knoow I dinna live the life ye wanted fuir me, Da. But..." Fiona paiused, hating herself for wanting to ask the question, but asking it all the same. "Did... did I make ye proud? I know tis unfair to ask, but sure'n I've allays tried to be a true daughter of clan O'Dell, to carry us to the stars and... well, to make sure that when people speak the name of our clan, they do so wi' respect, for all our forbears who got us here. To be a respectable representative of our people, and to do Mariposa... and Bringoidi... proud."

Looking down at Fiona, Angus' eyes teared up as he pulled her closer and held on to her just a little tighter. There was a tremble to his voice that cut through the heart of the young woman as he spoke, "Oh, my darlin'. Oh, If only I could tell ye' every day how proud I am of ye. On... on my most stubborn day when I raged and griped like a child, there was always pride. Even when I wanted somethin' different for ye', I was proud that ye' stood on yuir own an' tol' alla us t' pess oaff. Yuir yer own woman, Fiona. But yuir an O'Dell, through and through. And yuir my girl. An' you make me so proud. Yuir mum, too. I swear it to ye."

Then, as he held her tight, there was a light from the door to the hall, and a gentle breeze that seemed to drift in with a smell of lavender and pine. It was like the first breath of spring as Angus looked up, wiping his eyes and pursing his lips as he nodded sharply. "It's me time now, little one."

"Thankye, Da," Fiona whispered, hugging her father tightly one last time, knowing that whether this was a drunken dream or a ghostly visitation, it mattered not to her. What mattered was that she got to say all she needed to say to her dear father, even after he'd passed from this world to the next. "I'll miss ye, Da. I'll miss ye every day, ye and Mum both. I'll keep makin ye proud, and Minnie, she'll make ye proud too. She'll be the next O'Dell amongst the stars, and she'll know her kin, and who got her there. Me and Briaar, we'll raise her up right and teach her all she needs to know to be proud to be an O'Dell, I promise ye."

Squeezing her father tightly one more time, Fiona slid off his lep, then she braced her elbows by her side and turned to help her father stand, out of reflexive habit. Taking her hand in his own, he rose effortlessly- a man still vital and in his prime, at least in this dream. Holding his hand until the reached the door, Fiona's face contorted in a smile marred by tears.

"Goodbye, Da. Up the long ladder, aye?"

"And down the short rope, m'dove," Angus replied as he stepped through the doorway into the light, and the dream faded into white light.

In the morning, Fiona O'Dell would not recall the dream, for such was the nature of such things. But that morning, and from that day forth, she would proceed about her life with a sense of pride... somehow secure in the knowledge that she made her ancestors proud with her deeds and words.

True to her promise, Fiona and Briaar Gavarus would raise Minerva Moo Mary Margret Mona O'Dell to know well of her heritage, and to be proud of it as she carried the traditions of her people to the stars.