<USS Avalon> Once and Future Headaches by Sussanna McEntire and Andy Maluhia

 
Combing through forty year old Fleet records...oh yeah, this is fun, but  
such was the job of the company commander, Andy muttered to himself.  It was a 
chore but there was no way he would even entertain the idea of  boarding the 
Avalon B without knowing its deck plan or without knowing what help  his 
Marines 
could expect from Avalon's Security forces and her  Marines. 
He  hated dealing with anything temporal.  It always gave him a  headache.  
He pinched the bridge of his nose.  Sure as hell, there it was--right between 
the eyes.  Without looking, he reached to his right and hit the open comm  
button. 
"Dr. McEntire, do you make house calls?   Your  favorite Marine's got a 
temporal headache again."

"Excuse me?"  came the curt reply.  "We have no Marines on this vessel and I 
am very  busy, I don't have time for practical jokes.  Who is  this?"
 
Andy froze.  The voice  sounded the same but...he looked up and wished he'd 
just stayed with the  headache.  The woman on screen was not his sweet, tiny 
little red  head.  He'd met her a few times but she'd never looked that young 
and her  hair definitely wasn't that screaming platinum color.  
 
"Ah...you're not the right Dr.  McEntire..." he said slowly.  He pinched the 
bridge of his nose  again.  Temporal stuff really gave him headaches.

"What do you mean,  not the right Dr McEntire?  As far as I'm aware, I'm the 
only one  aboard."  Anna raised one of her eyebrows.  "And I am the CMO, so I 
should know.  And you  still haven't answered my question, Mr 'I think I'm a 
Marine even though we  don't have any Marines on  board'?"
 
Oh man...you stuck your foot in it big time, Marine.  Eh, why lie  now.  In 
for a penny, in for a pound.  "Begging the doctor's pardon,  ma'am, but I am a 
Marine, just...not one of yours."

Anna blinked at  the large faced man.  "O-k-a-y.  That would mean that you're 
either a  Maquis spy and thus below contempt, or there's another ship out 
there.  If  there's another fucking ship out there, why the fuck didn't you 
help  
us?"
 
Andy blinked.  Of the few  times he'd met the Mrs. Mc Entire he knew, the 
woman was as upright and clean  spoken as her daughter.  I think a trip through 
a 
minefield might be good  about now, he thought with a sigh.  "That's not my 
decision to make,  ma'am," he said carefully.  He tapped the collar of a 
uniform so markedly  different from hers.  "Marines follow the captain's orders 
and 
we are still  ready to provide aid, despite our stand down order."

"Tell your captain  where to stick their fucking orders," Anna growled.  
"Now, since you  called, what do you  want?"
 
"Ma'am, I'd only do that if I liked sitting in the brig," Andy said with  a 
snort of amusement.  James, you are your mother's son I think.  "I  think I got 
the wrong Sick Bay," he muttered, not meant for her ears.   "Temporal stuff 
is a pain..."

Just as she was about to open her mouth to  make another caustic comment, his 
muttered words drifted over the link.   "Temporal?"  Anna sat back, her face 
draining of what little colour had  been there before.  "You asked for Dr 
McEntire.... is there a McEntire on  your ship?  What's the date on your 
computers?"  She fixed him with  her stormy grey eyes.  "Who are you?  What's 
your 
name?  The  McEntire... how old are they?  Who are they?  Are they...  healthy? 
 
normal?  mine?"  Her questions got wilder as she felt  one of her hands moved 
to where she knew five lives were already taking  form.  "You're not going to 
answer me, are  you?"
 
"Analu Maluhia, Marine Captain,  KEG977882," Andy replied.  Well, that was 
the easy part.  Any Marine  knew to answer with name, rank, and serial number 
and he knew he had no kin on  that ship.  As to the rest of her questions, it 
would have been easier to  cut the comm right there but it didn't seem right.  
The minefield was  looking so much better, though.  What's the easiest bit?  
"They're  younger than me, ma'am."

"My children..."  Sitting back, Anna placed  her other hand over her stomach 
as well.  "Can you tell me anything about  them?  Did me and Mac fuck them up  
completely?"
 
Li Nalas was still in Sick Bay helping out even though he wanted to  return 
to see his daughter and his new grandson. He couldn't help but overhear  Anna's 
conversation nor could he quite smother a slight snicker.  Well, his  not 
being dead any longer had made Captain Ketchum faint.  Certain people  not 
being 
born yet seemed to be rather amusing to  him.
 
Andy saw the older man walk by and had to smile.  The Z-Man's  grandpa.  He 
remembered the old man fondly.  I definitely have to tell  him.  He pondered 
Anna's questions, though.  Yeah, he was still more  than a bit peeved at their 
engineer but..."If you mean are any of them in jail  or on the most wanted 
lists, no--they're fine."

"Victoria and James, "  Anna said.  Seeing the moment of recognition in his 
eyes, she smiled and  nodded.  "And the other three, what are they called?  
Tell me about  them?"
 
"Our Dr. McEntire, the one I was  looking for," Andy replied.  He started to 
grin, knowing now how much  Victoria cared for him, but had to try and erase 
it.  Even if the woman was  still younger than her daughter, this was 
Victoria's mother.  "and our  engineer.  We have Counselor Moria, Security man 
JM, and 
PJ the Tac  lady."  Alright, that can't be wrong to say names.  Even Auntie 
T'Aris knew Anela's name before he was born.

"I produced a counselor?"   Anna started to giggle, which turned into a 
laugh, which became a guffaw.   "Holy fuck, who'd have thought it.  And they're 
all 
on that ship?   Wow, the McEntire invasion."  Her face was glowing, total 
relief flooding  through her.  "You've got a soft spot for the Doc, don't you?" 
she said,  showing the possible source for Moria's perceptive observations, 
though being  the middle of the five Macs probably had a lot more to do with  
it.
 
At that, Andy flushed slightly, even it was barely visible under his  tan.  
He grinned.  "Yeah, I do." Alright so it was half of dinner and  a few kisses 
but he was feeling awfully good about it.  "I shouldn't even  be telling you 
any of this.  My captain's going to have my head but.. I  think the older 
gentleman who just walked by might know our Science  officer."

At that, Anna's brows raised.  "Li Nalas?  Not  another Avalon kid... it's 
not the one currently asleep in his mother's arms, is  it?"
 
 
Andy outright grinned, recalling the birthday wishes he'd given his hyper  
auburn haired friend and recalling the captain's remarks about only he could 
get 
 born in the middle of an invasion.  "Yes, ma'am.  Somehow, Zachan  neglected 
to mention that invasion thing.  Or maybe his folks never told  him.  This 
ship's a temporal nightmare right  now."


"And we're not  making it any better, Captain Maluhia," Anna said with 
regret.  "My  Captain's going to have me court martialed for this.  Or worse... 
set  
Commander Skyler on me," to which she laughed loudly.  "Please don't tell  me 
she's had kids, that's a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my worst  enemies."
 
"I don't know, ma'am.  I'd have to ask the Z-Man since he's known  ...well, 
your kids and JD since they were all babies.  I only met the  others after we 
came aboard this ship," Andy explained.

"JD?" Anna asked  innocently.
 
"Joshua Daniel Garrity.   JD's a bit younger than the six pack but he's one 
of our engineers..."  Oh  smart, Maluhia, real smart.  Now she's going to ask 
the obvious.   Captain's not going to be happy about this at all.

"Garrity as in our  Josh Garrity?" Anna sighed with relief.  "That means Josh 
is coming home  safe."
 
Andy tapped his rather large fingers on the desk. That wasn't how it  
happened.  JD's dad was lost before he was born.  Do I want to tell  her that?  
I'm 
sure the captain's working on something with that shuttle  they brought in.  
"That would be a good thing," he said carefully.  

"What do you mean, that would be  a good thing?  He is coming home, isn't 
he?"  Anna's thoughts flew  instantly to Annabelle.  Nonononono....  Sport's 
gotta come home , she thought, he's just got to.  "If JD is younger than the 
others, Josh has to come  home, right?"
 
 
Yeah, there was the headache--still there and getting bigger with every  word 
out of his mouth.  Next time just get up and go to Sick Bay.   "Well, as 
Zachan once explained it to me, JD's mother had him put in stasis for  fifteen 
years because she couldn't bear the idea of having a son without his  father.  
I 
don't know Mr. Garrity, you see, but I've met you and Mr.  Mac."

"Sport..."  The loss, inevitable and crushing, triggered a  memory inside 
Anna's mind.  It was a dream, that's what it had felt like at  the time...


The Covert Ops team was to go in, get the Romulan and  get out.  Quick, easy, 
clean.... not so clean.  Something had gone  wrong, really terribly wrong.  
They lost a team member, someone young and  special: Sport - Yeoman John 
Forester.  And now...

"But that  was just a dream," she muttered, her eyes lost for a moment.  "We 
need him  back, Captain Maluhia.  Please, is there any other information you 
can give  me?"
 
 
Andy  sighed.  He hated hurting this woman's feelings.  It wasn't just  
because she was Victoria's mother and he'd always thought the quints' parents  
were 
great people but also because she seemed to be decent even at this  age.  
Decent people shouldn't get hurt.  "I can't tell you too much  about the Ops 
right now and that's mostly because I'm not privy to that.   About Zachan, the 
MacPack, and JD...that I know a bit more  of."


"Fuck  this," Anna growled.  "We need him back, he's got to come back."   
Shaking her head hard, she fixed him with steely eyes that greater men than  
Captain Maluhia had cringed away from.  "Tell me how to get on your  ship."
 
"I can't do that, ma'am.   Anyone who tries boarding or docking gets met with 
forcible resistance," Andy  said firmly.

"Know this now, Captain, anyone who keeps our crewmen from  us will be 
treated to the same courtesies as those who boarded our vessel and  tried to 
take it 
by force."  There was no doubting the absolutely sincerity  of her words but 
they were not cruelly said, a mere statement of the absolute  truth of the 
situation.  "I will see you again."  With that, Anna  clicked off the comm-link 
and sat back, her mind already working on tactics and  scenarios for getting 
Josh home.
 
Andy sat back in his chair with a groan that was no longer just headache  
induced.  "Kanapapiki.  I hate this temporal 'Ai  Kae."

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