SIM:Lieutenant JG Aresee Ventu - "Mummy Dearest"

Lieutenant JG Aresee Ventu - "Mummy Dearest"

238305.03 (May 3, 2006)

(( Ventu's Quarters ))

:: Aresee had taken herself off duty. She knew that Ryan was more than capable of handling anything that came into the counseling office, but now that she wasn't in her office, she couldn't hide under the pretense of doing work.

She kept sitting down on the edge of her bed, going over the Celipenthia mission in her head. Could she have done anything different leading up to it? Could she have kept her mother with her? Once back on the ship, could she have kept constant watch over her mother? Finally, in the mess hall...what could she have done? Should she have pulled her phaser on her mother? Better stunned than disappeared...or dead.

When she came around to this thought, she invariably started pacing around the room, going through the entire sequence again before sitting back on the bed and doing it all over again.

This had been going on for quite a while when her comm badge chirped. She had left it over on her night table, but she grabbed it quickly anyway - maybe it was something to take her mind off her mother. ::

PHOENIX: =/\= Bridge to Counselor Ventu. =/\=

VENTU: =/\= Go ahead, Commander. =/\=

PHOENIX: =/\= There is someone wanting to speak with you, Aresee...your mother is hailing. =/\=

:: Days, weeks, and even months later, Aresee would try and fail to describe the burst of emotions she felt at that moment: joy, excitement, anger, nervousness...more than she could describe, all rolled into five seconds of silence. ::

VENTU: =/\= Is she... Is she okay? =/\=

PHOENIX: =/\= She is fine, I will patch her through to your quarters. =/\=

:: The comm line went dead just as Aresee's computer interface activated. There was her mother, large as life...but not exactly. She was older, much older...her red hair had faded mostly to white, and her face was full of lines that hadn't been there before. ::

MATILDA: Aresee...

:: Neither of them said anything for a minute. Aresee didn't know what *to* say...what could she say to a person she'd thought was dead? To a mother she'd thought was dead? ::

VENTU: Mother...how...?

MATILDA: Time travel. I've been taken to the future, opposing the faction in the Temporal Cold War that was responsible for destroying Celipenthia Station.

VENTU: Temporal Cold War?

MATILDA (quickly): It doesn't matter. (Normal) Aresee, are you all right? I remember what it was like just after I left for you...

VENTU: You remember? How?

MATILDA: It's been eleven years since I left, darling. From my perspective, of course.

VENTU: But then...you said...

MATILDA: Yes. I'll visit you, talk to you, from time to time...

VENTU: Mother...

MATILDA: Aresee, my time's running out. Tell your father that I love him and I miss him, and that I'll see him soon, too. And darling...

VENTU: Yes?

MATILDA: Don't worry. You'll do fine...

:: With this cryptic remark, Matilda's face began to fade from the screen. ::

VENTU: Mother! Wait! I want to know...

MATILDA: I'll see you soon. Goodbye!

:: And Matilda was gone...

Aresee sat back down on her bed with a thump. Her mother wasn't dead; she'd gone to the future! She was alive. She was alive!

Without even realizing it, Aresee fell back onto her bed and into a deep sleep... ::

(( Time Warp - Several Minutes ))

::Aresee was walking onto the bridge, but it was different somehow...darker, and more colorful, full of reds and deep greens. There were things missing, too: a palm tree grew where ops should have been, and a stream ran through the middle of the bridge. Meanwhile, Commander Phoenix and her mother waltzed around the room, each dressed in an elaborate, frilly dress; in the corner, a mustachioed Julia was keeping time on a pair of bongos.

Phoenix and Matilda waltzed toward Aresee, drawing her along with them, though she didn't want to go. They waltzed closer and closer to the stream, though Aresee tried to resist. Alarms began to ring in the background, and the bridge turned bright blue as the red alert alarm went off. Aresee pushed desperately back from the stream, and the alarms were suddenly reduced to one chiming sound. Aresee pushed, and pushed, and pushed...

And flew up out of the dream and off her bed.

The door chime rang once more, and Aresee hastily climbed to her feet. ::

VENTU: Come in!

:: The doors swooshed open, and Commander Phoenix walked in. With the dream still vivid in her mind, Aresee looked nervously around for a stream... ::

PHOENIX: ::as the doors swooshed shut.:: Sorry to come at a bad time, but I was wondering how your conversation with your mother went. You did talk, right?

VENTU: Yes, we did. She told me...she's in the future now, but she'll still see me. (pause) It's nice...knowing that she's doing something useful, you know? She seemed so unhappy here...

PHOENIX: Unhappy?

VENTU: Well, she expresses it by being a busybody.

PHOENIX: I can imagine it is good to know your mother is still alive and doing well for herself. (pause.) You must be very relieved

VENTU: I needed closure. It's the hardest thing to overcome...I'm sure you remember, learning that in grief counseling...an MIA is much harder to deal with than a true body. Is she alive? Is she dead? At what point do we stop wishing that she'll come home... But she came back. She's alive!...And I'm okay now.

PHOENIX: I am happy you're doing well again... you had me worried for a while. If you feel up to it…

VENTU: (quickly) Yes, ma'am. I'm ready to go back on duty. What did you have in mind?

PHOENIX: Report to Gosport Galley when you're ready. There is going to be a formal meeting and you need to be there.

VENTU: A formal meeting? Commander, somehow that's not what I expected you to say... ...but I'll be ready.

PHOENIX: Good.

:: The doors hissed open, and halfway out the door Robin turned around and smiled at the counselor.::

PHOENIX: Aresee, do me a favor... the next time your mother is within a 100 lightyear radius of the Victory... give me a heads-up. ::smile.::

VENTU: (returned smile) That and more, Captain. That and more.

Lieutenant JG Aresee Ventu
Counselor
U.S.S. Victory