Good Morning, Scharnhorst. The Earth Says Goodbye.

Posted on Fri Oct 3rd, 2025 @ 6:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Robert Brant & Lieutenant Darla Kennings
Edited on on Tue Mar 24th, 2026 @ 1:26pm

1,930 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: Shadows of Diplomacy
Location: Abilene, Kansas, Earth.
Timeline: 09/29/2404 @ 1930 hrs

Two brown, two green and four violet eyes all stared at Robert expectantly. He'd put himself in this position, and he understood that his entire future was on the line with his next move. He took a deep breath, found he couldn't, and instead took two shallow ones, hoping no one would notice. With an air of finality and triumph, he swept his fork expertly along the plate, scooping up the final piece of chocolate cake and brought it to his mouth, chewing happily and swallowing it down, his plate now, finally, clean.

Darla and her mother, Cassandra, gave polite golf claps at his accomplishment. Darla's father, Richard, sat back and watched Robert expectantly.

Robert let out a small burp, rubbed his stomach and tried to hold strong. Reality, however, struck him hard and he admitted defeat, undoing his belt and relaxing his pants, sitting back in his chair. Richard gave an amused chuckle in response and held his plate out for a second piece of cake, his prize for winning the bet that Robert couldn't avoid "the belt adjustment" all men who overate resorted to.

"I...-hic-....am full," Robert declared.

"I should think so," Darla said, shaking her head. "You hate half the pot roast and vegetables, not to mention the mashed potatoes, and then decided you needed two pieces of cake. It's a wonder you haven't exploded."

Robert smiled lazily at her. "Can you blame me?" he said. "This is our last home-cooked meal that we know of for the foreseeable future. And even if it isn't, there's no way whatever we have is going to be as good as your mom's cooking."

"Thank you, Robert," Cassandra said, proudly, putting a slice of cake on her husband's plate. It was considerably thinner than he'd been hoping for and she smiled lovingly at his disappointed scowl.

A sound like, "Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch," came from a large, green, ocelot-like feline in Darla's lap, as Granger expressed his own amusement at the situation. Darla shushed him and plucked a piece of pot roast from the platter, handing it to him to enjoy. He purred as he ate and she stroked his back.

"When do you two ship out?" Richard said.

"Tomorrow, but we're going to be up and out before the roosters," Robert said. "Darla wants a head start on putting Sickbay together before we check in with the Captain."

"And what's your plan for..." Cassandra rubbed her fingers together, sending off violet sparks.

Darla sighed and looked at Robert. "I think it'll be easier if we keep it under wraps for now."

"Can you?" Richard said. "When you bottle things up, that's when everyone starts dancing around you."

"I'll find some outlets," Darla said. "My quarters will be soundproofed and I can let loose. Plus, I'll have Robert there."

"And we know how much I love to dance," Robert said, yawning, a food coma coming on strong.

Cassandra swirled her hand gently in front of her, a ball of violet energy manifesting underneath as she thought. She finally stopped and waved her hand, the energy dissipating. "Well then," she said, "I suppose we should go for a walk while the evening is still warm, and then it's early to bed for the both of you."

"I um...I think I'll stay here and digest a bit," Robert said, burping gently again.

"I'll hang back as well," Richard said, indicting his still-unfinished plate.

The ladies stood, Granger climbing up Darla to wrap around her shoulders, his preferred perch. Cassandra walked over and kissed Richard's cheek as Darla did the same to Robert. As they left the dining room, Cassandra suddenly turned back, catching Richard eyeing the cake in the center of the table. She waved her hands, and the cake and stand disappeared in a swirl of violet smoke. Richard gave her a look of betrayal as Cassandra smiled, winked and walked out.

---

"The time is 0500," Darla's combadge said from her nightstand. She yawned and rolled over, nudging Robert. "Robby....Robby!" She got a slight snore in response. "Robert..." Darla said louder, then sighed and sat up, feigning a cheerful voice. "Hi, Daddy!" she said, loud enough for him to hear.

Robert sat up in a panic, looking around and rolling out of bed onto the floor, scrambling for his pants. He stood up as his brain caught up with his body and blinked. "That was mean," he said.

Darla grinned at him and pulled him back into bed and kissed him. "I know. Forgive me?"

Robert grumbled but kissed her back and pulled her close, attempting to lie back down.

"Hey, hey, hold on there," Darla said in between kisses, giggling. "Robert, we have to get to the ship."

"We could be a few minutes late," Robert said, his voice teasing.

Darla kissed him again and ran her fingers through his hair. "Robby, we can do this the easy way or..." she hummed a few notes.

Robert immediately surrendered. He gave her one more kiss and pulled away. "Relax, sweetheart. Our things got transported last night and our go-bags are packed. All we need is a shower, breakfast, and to grab our go-bags and, well, go. So, do you want to shower first?"

Darla grinned. "Who said anything about first?"

Robert grinned as Darla jumped into his arms and he kissed her again as he carried her to the bathroom.

---

As the runabout left Earth's atmosphere and headed for Starbase One, Robert let out a sigh and stretched. There was absolutely no difference in the size of the shuttle from when they took off to now, but he always felt less confined once he got into space.

Darla sat in the copilot's chair, Granger in her lap, watching the station grow in front of them. They flew in through an auxiliary entrance, heading towards Bay 16. "Is that her?" she said, sitting up.

"That's her," Robert said, grinning.

"She looks fierce," Darla said, sounding unsure.

"She looks fast," Robert said, sounding thrilled. He brought the runabout around towards the bay and signaled for permission to land. The ship responded immediately and signaled their arrival course. Robert brought the runabout in through the open bay doors and settled it gently on the deck.

Darla stood up as Robert powered down the engines, Granger perching on her shoulders, and picked up her bag. "All right, shall we find my quarters, drop off Granger, then we'll look at yours?"

"Sounds good," Robert said, slinging his duffel over his shoulder, following her out of the runabout and into the shuttlebay.

They walked through the bustling bay, accessing the computer to find Darla's quarters. They walked slowly through the corridor, hand-in-hand and into a turbolift. "Deck four," Darla said, stroking Granger idly. She glanced at Robert, smiling at her, and blushed, smiling back. "What?"

"Nothing," Robert said, looking away, pretending to be interested in the panel by the door.

Darla's eyes narrowed. "Robert, you have something on your mind. What is it?"

Robert glanced at her but held his tongue until the turbolift doors opened. He stepped out, Darla hot on his heels. He counted the sections as the walked until he reached the correct door, standing in front of the nameplate. "All right, here we are," he said. "Ladies first."

Darla gave him a weird look and walked by him, giving her voice authorization to the computer. The doors opened and she stepped inside, then paused in surprise. Granger leaped off her shoulders and patrolled the room, examining everything, and there was quite a lot to examine.

"They're huge," Darla said, looking at the living room, dining nook and even modest kitchen area. Storage bins with her belongings were already sitting in the living room, but there was still plenty of space. There were two doors off to the side of the living room and Darla walked over to them. One led to a large master bathroom, with a second door in there as well. Both that door and the other one in the living room led to a good-sized secondary bedroom. Darla couldn't believe her eyes. All this for a senior officer? She knew the ship had just been refit, but she didn't think they'd put this much thought into her comfort.

She turned around to comment on things to Robert, but stopped cold, letting out a small shriek before her breath caught in her throat, her hands flying to her mouth. Robert was in the middle of the living room, down on one knee, a small, black box in his hand.

Robert opened the ring box and a braided-silver ring with a heart-shaped emerald set in the fitting glinted in the ship's lighting. "Darla Amber Kennings," Robert said, "I still love you as much as the day I met you, in fact, more. Nothing in time or space will ever change that, and I want us to raise a daughter as wonderful as you. Will you marry me?"

Darla was frozen in place. She'd known this day was coming, known it from the moment she first kissed him. Still, to have it finally happening without any warning...when did he get so good at being sneaky?

When no response was forthcoming Granger let out a squawk, which shook Darla out of her silence. She grinned, tears coming and nodded. "Yes!" she finally said.

Robert let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He stood up, took the ring and put it on her left hand. He grinned and kissed her, holding her against him the same way their first kiss had been, albeit this time without her being soaking wet from the rain.

When the finally parted, Darla sniffed and wiped her eyes. "How...how did you pull this off? My father's going to be upset you sprang this on me without him knowing."

Robert grinned. "Well, it required a lot of careful planning," he said. "And as for your father, well that was taken care of last night."

Darla's eyes got wide. "When Mom and I left the house...you and Dad staying behind...you planned that?"

"We had it all worked out," he said, proudly. "The bet I couldn't handle dinner without adjusting my belt, him winning so he could stay behind. He knew I wanted to talk to him alone, but we knew you two wouldn't be able to resist listening in. So we needed a reason for your mother not to kibitz. I'd already asked her a week ago."

Darla laughed, sobbed, laughed again. "I....Robert Brant, you never cease to amaze me."

"That's the plan," Robert said, grinning.

"Well...we should find your quarters and get settled in. If they're as nice as these, you're going to be spoiled," Darla said.

"Oh they definitely are," Robert said, grinning.

Darla paused. "How do you know? We haven't seen them yet." She looked at him, confused. He just stared and smiled until it dawned on her, her violet eyes going wide. "Really?" she said, excitedly.

"Really, really," Robert said. "These are our quarters. Welcome home, sweetheart."

While Darla leaned up to kiss The Stupid Boy, Granger let out a snort of annoyance and turned to leap onto the ledge behind their sofa, curling up and watching out the window at the activity in the starbase. Putting up with the human in the short term was bad enough. Knowing that now he'd never leave.... Granger growled under his breath and twitched his tail agitatedly.

 

RSS Feed