Be With Me

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:29am by Captain Nycolas Temple
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 6:01am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Senior Crew Quarters, Deck 2
Timeline: After "Be Prepared"

Nyx returned to his quarters after his chat with Cailus, still a little confused and apprehensive about the meeting. He could sense the Security officer's restraint and discomfort, especially when Nyx had tried to be informal with the man. It was to be expected, of course, given how little they really knew each other, and the vast distance between their backgrounds. But Nyx really just wanted to be at that friendly stage already, where arms weren't crossed behind backs.

He rolled into bed and sighed, staring blankly at the ceiling. The Captain's mind started wondering to Griffin's history, and how he himself would cope being in that situation. What if he lost Emilie and Katrine? Just the thought of it sent a guttural sadness throughout his body, like all the air had suddenly left his lungs. He took in a sharp breath, trying to push the thought out of his mind again; it was too much to bare.

"Computer, what time is it in Copenhagen?" He asked, realizing he'd been so busy during the day that he hadn't had a chance to talk to his family yet. And he felt a very pressing need to now.

The computer chirped, "Central European Time is currently seven PM, twelve minutes, and thirty two seconds."

He smiled, and rolled over to the LCARS screen by his bed. "Computer, establish a link with my home residence on Earth."

The computer acknowledged and soon the screen was filled with a "Connecting" message. After a few anxious minutes, suddenly Emilie appeared, sitting in their apartment back home in Copenhagen.

"Nycolas, hej honey, I was just putting Katrine to bed," She began, looking a little tired.

"Hej, sorry to interrupt." Nyx replied with a cheeky smile.

"No, it's okay. I could wake her up if you'd like, she's only just gone down." She added, though clearly didn't like the idea.

"No, you'll be dealing with a cranky young lady all day tomorrow." Nyx smiled, "I will record a message for her, or try to call at breakfast."

Emilie nodded in appreciation, rubbing her tired face, "That would be better. I tried to get through earlier but you were in meetings."

Nyx nodded back, "I tried too, but the time difference was out of sync. We're moving at a different orbital speed up here, so trying to lock down a good time to speak is hard."

She raised her eyebrows and sighed, "We knew it would be, darling, don't beat yourself up over it. It'll be even harder once you're in the Expanse."

"Yeah...." Came Nyx's reply, having already beaten himself up over it. He decided to change the subject and put on a gritted smile, "Has my mother being helping?"

Emilie looked at the screen, her eyes clearly saying a million things. "Well..."

"Where is she?" Nyx sighed, shaking his head knowingly.

He had asked his mother to check in on Emilie and help out with Katrine's care so that Emilie didn't feel too much like a single parent while he was gone. Naturally, his mother had found something more important to do.

The matriarch of the Temple family, Brigitte, was a hard-working, former (sometimes current) politican on Earth. She was always involved in some project or cause, traveling between the Danish and European parliaments, or Federation HQ. Career had always come first, even when Nyx and his brother were children, so the fact that she had dashed off to some important meeting was no surprise to him. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Emilie looked down, then back at the screen again. "She's gone to Marienborg."

Nyx almost laughed out loud. Marienborg was the official residence of the Statesminister of Denmark, a restored historical mansion in the quaint countryside out of Copenhagen. Nyx had spent many summers and weekends at Marienborg, when his mother held the office title, often just him and his brother running through the hallowed halls together as a nanny tried to catch them.

"Don't tell me she is moving on Statesminister," Nyx asked, loudly groaning as he did, "My mother cannot be looking at a return to the leadership!"

Emilie laughed too, knowing that it was all too likely. "No, she's working on a project known as the Movement to restore Danish culture. Turns out, the Danes have become increasingly frustrated that their individual identity has become just part of a collective European, or Terran identity. So they're wanting to promote unique Danish heritage and character, trying to gain more recognition on a European and Federation level."

Nyx nodded, "Makes sense, the Danes' still celebrate a war they lost in 1864. But what does that have to do with my mother?"

"Oh she's the ringleader!" Emilie laughed, "She's the organiser and promoter of the movement. Brigitte has been all over the European news services pushing for this, so the Danish Statesminister had to do something. He's basically invited her to Marienborg to beg her to stop pestering him and just run the program. It's now official Danish policy because of her."

"Åh min Gud!" Nyx scoffed loudly, his eyes firmly rolled.

"Well it's your fault," Emilie shot back, "Every interview she is doing, she's mentioning her son, the Danish born Captain of a brand new deep-space explorer. You're the reason she's pushing for more recognition of Danish culture on Earth and the Federation. You're her poster child."

His jaw firmly dropped at that revelation, "You're kidding me?"

Emilie tapped on her screen and suddenly a image popped up, "It's a literal poster. Of you."

Indeed, somehow his mother had made an image of Nyx standing in front of the USS Pandora, a large Danish flag imposed across her hull.

"That's a joke, right?" Nyx asked, equally amused and terrified. "Please tell me that's a joke."

"Your brother laughed for a good ten minutes when I showed him," Emilie shrugged.

Nyx buried his face into his hands but then burst into raucous laughter, and Emilie did the same.

For her faults as an absentee parent, the missed mornings and late evenings, all the time he was left in someone else's care - Nyx always knew it was because his mother was doing incredible work. When Brigitte Temple stuck her mind to something, when she cared passionately about a cause; it usually got done. She could move the Alps if she wanted to.

But this only reminded Nyx of all the times he just wanted his mother there. He just wanted a parent, not a crusader of other causes. Of course she was still doing it even now instead of helping her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

Then again, the only reason he needed to ask for his mother's help was because he was now abandoning his own family to pursue his career. He had his ship and his mission so off he went, leaving Emilie a single parent and Katrine missing her father. He was repeating the exact mistakes his mother had made.

He looked back at the image of Emilie, now suddenly very serious and earnest. "Come onboard the Pandora."

Emilie's eyes widened, taken aback by the sudden proposition, "What.... I... Nyx, honey, you know I can't."

"That's just fear talking." Nyx insisted, "We can't let the past run our lives, there has to come a point where we move on from what happened on Lucis."

"But I lost my home." Emilie replied, her eyes softened with emotion.

"So did I." Nyx said, "But we made a new home together, when we had Katrine. Wherever we are in the galaxy, we make that our home."

Emilie shook her head, "It's not that simple."

"I met some crew members today who have been through terrible events in their lives." Temple wasn't giving up. "One saw the destruction of his ship, all of his friends and crewmates murdered, then spent almost a hundred years in stasis. He was woken to find both his wife and daughter have died, he has no family and he's a century out of place. And yet he's here, serving onboard another ship, ready to put his life on the line again."

"Nyx..." Emilie sighed.

"Another lost her fiance on a routine medical service." He continued, "I couldn't imagine losing you, it would devastate me more than I can comprehend but again, she's back in service, on another ship again. You know what she told me? Facing old scars is a part of living."

Emilie was quiet, but she was now trying hard to fight back tears. She wanted to listen to him, believe what he was saying, but the thought of leaving her solid ground terrified her still.

"Be with me, Emilie," Nyx whispered, "The Pandora will be our home, we can face our fears and do it together as a family. Please, think about it. I don't want to do Katrine what my mother did to me."

Emilie nodded, wiping her eyes, "I will think about it. You have a lot of strong crew members up there, I'm sorry I might not be able just give up my fears so easily."

Nyx smiled, "You're the strongest person I know. That's why I love you, Emilie. Believe that you can be brave, and that I will help you through it. You won't have to be a single parent on your own either. We'll be together, as we should be."

A while later, after the conversation with Emilie had ended and she promised finally to consider his suggestion, Nyx rolled back over and stared at the ceiling again. In a couple of days the Pandora would be warping into the Inconnu Expanse and he knew that if his family were not part of the ship, he would be leaving a large part of himself and his happiness back on Earth.