[USS Vanguard] Also On the Way
- From: Kent Kavan <tonykavan@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:26:58 -0700 (PDT)
Craig Kavan
North of Hyannis, Nebraska, North American Continent
Morning
"So then Kelly dropped this chocolate cake that she had spent hours making from
scratch."
Craig was sitting on the back deck of his ranch enjoying breakfast with his
daughter Arwen and her new husband Malcolm. He was telling stories about his
late wife Kelly.
"So this cake hits the ground and basically explodes across the floor." Craig
said, pausing briefly to take a sip of orange juice.
Laughing, Kelly said, "And if I know you Dad, you were able to keep from
laughing out loud." She was laying the sarcasm on pretty thick.
"Absolutely," Craig said, trying to keep a straight face. "For all of two
seconds I was able to hold it in and then I nearly fell over."
Craig remembered the incident well. He had come home after teaching at the
academy when the cake dropping incident had occured. Arwen had been a baby.
Craig continued, "Then the next thing I know your mom had scooped up a big gob
of chocolate and chucked it at me. It smacked me right in the chest. The
worst part was I hadn't changed yet and was still in uniform!"
"Awesome! That's what you get Dad," Kelly said. "What happened after that?"
Craig leaned back in his chair and let his eyes drift out onto the wild prarie
grass that surrounded his small ranch home for what seemed like miles in every
direction. A warm summer wind created waves in the grass as some of Craig's
horses raced each other under a blue, cloudless morning.
"Well Arwen,lets just say that the tickle fight that ensued was epic in scope
and ended in..."
Arwen choked down the food in her mouth and held up her hand, "Dad! I don't
need to hear the rest of that!"
Craig raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "I was going to say that it ended in
us both covered in chocolate but no hanky panky occured because a certain six
month old brat started crying, thank you very much."
"Oh. Sorry," Arwen grinned.
"Uh, Craig when were you supposed to leave for your reunion?" Malcom asked.
Craig checked his chrono and realized that he needed to get a move on.
Excusing himself from the table Craig made his way back inside through the
sliding glass door and into the stone ranch house. As he passed the Native
American artwork in the dining room he reflected just how good the last few
years had been. After retiring as a Lt. Commander (who'd have ever thought
that would have been possible) Craig had returned home with no idea what he
wanted to do with the rest of his life. Only 60, he had several good years
ahead of him and he wanted to try his hand at something different.
His native Nebraska had farming in the east and ranching in the west and while
looking for a place to live he came across the property he now lived and
worked. An elderly lady had wanted to give up the ranching life and move to
Risa to be closer to her daughter. Craig had never even ridden a horse, let
alone raised one and wasn't sure if he was up to it, but with some coaxing from
his daughter he decided to give it a try. In the end it was the best idea he'd
ever had. First he'd retained the head cowboy, a young man in his late
twenties named Malcolm Ozumbwa.
Malcolm had grown up on another ranch not far away and had a gift for breeding
and raising horses. He'd trained his first horse as an 11 year old and was
known far and wide as the best of his profession. Craig had been instantly
impressed with him and Malcolm had taken pity on the new owner of the Big Red
Ranch and agreed to continue working there despite the change of ownership,
with a handsome raise of course.
Now Craig's ranch had a full breeding program for purebread Quarter Horses and
had a free range herd of wild Mustangs that roamed the five thousand acre
spread.
More importantly, Arwen had come home to visit on leave from Starfleet and fell
in love with both the ranch and Malcolm. She resigned her commission after
their engagement and now lived in a new house on the other side of the property
with Malcolm. Craig had never wanted her to follow him to Starfleet, he'd
lived in constant terror of what might happen to her but her short career had
been boring as she put it... Which was more than fine with Craig. Now she was
close to him and things had never been better.
So it was odd that Craig had found himself thinking back to his time with the
crew of the Vanguard. Even more than his short time commanding his own ship,
Craig looked back fondly on those days. Now he was going to make his yearly
pilgrimmage to Nick's new space station. It seemed strange to think of him
sitting at a desk and not flying around the galaxy getting into trouble. Of
course, Nick wasn't exactly a spring chicken either. Craig wondered for a
moment if he could talk his old boss into retiring and moving to Nebraska, he
could always use another set of hands on the ranch.
Craig Kavan
Lt. Commander (Ret.)
OOC: Craig is on the way! I'll let Andy post the joyus reunion.
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