Highland Games I: The High Road, The Low Road

Posted on Sat Jul 28th, 2018 @ 6:51pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Fiona McCray
Edited on on Sat Jul 28th, 2018 @ 7:29pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Future Tense
Location: San Francisco, Eilean Donan
Timeline: 2285
Tags: Scotland

"So uniforms or plain clothes?" Char asked. "Transporters or shuttle? I tried to pick out a gift, but I'm just going to bring flowers if they have any at the station..."

Fiona chuckled slightly, "Uniforms cut through tha red tape for traveling" she said " Boot... it might be like wavin' a red flag in front oov a bull. Mum's nae too happy with Star Fleet at tha moment." She gave a little shrug " Well... Loch Duich is a no fly zone so no shuttle. We can transporter in tae Dornie then take the land route to Eilean Donan."

"Dinna worry aboot a gift. Flowers are always appropriate."

The 'Vulcan vixen' smiled wryly. "So was that 'uniforms yes or no, Fi? I'm easy either way, and if your mother is going to yell at me I'd rather she get it out of the way up front..."

Fiona smoothed the jacket of her new uniform "Aye... uniforms for tha trip boot bring some civvies tae change intae."

"Wait... I'm an idiot. The question is academic," Char realized as she put her face in her palm. "We don't have any civilian clothes, remember? We left them on a starship twenty years ago. And aside from perhaps sniffing some panties I suspect the commander didn't go out of his way to insure that Starfleet held onto them for us..."

It was then that she realized that some of her belongings left behind in the timestream might have actually held value to Fiona, and Charybdis realized that she was being insensitive. "But... uhm, maybe they archived our stuff, or passed it off to next of kin or something...?"

Fiona was already chuckling. "Mum sent me some new togs. She's compulsive. One oov tha farst things oot oov her mouth was 'Do you have nice underwear?' " She shook her head, "We do have back pay, and there is shopping here if ye want tae pick oop a few things, Char."

For a moment her face saddened. "Damn... Teague. I wonder whutever happened tae him and me plants. The coffee beans were aboot ripe," she sighed, "I ken it's strange tae be unhappy when things could be so mooch worse boot I'm goin tae miss that stupid damned cat," Fi gave a sniffle.

"Awwww... well, he... he probably wandered back to the galley and found himself another soft touch to take care of him. But I'll bet he never got over you," the curvaceous captain swept her friend into a gentle headlock and smooshed her head against her bosom briefly. "So should we wait for the morning or just head out now? We're on our own recognizance... and it's your family, so it's your call. What time is it there right now... 2000 hours here means... 0400 there."

Fiona returned the hug for a moment, then poked her friend in the ribs to get her to let go. "Poor old Teaguey... did you joost say that our former... 'boss'... did nefarious things with our lost undergarments?" she giggled then sobered. "Still mad at him huh? Laird, it was joost a couple oov days ago boot 20 years... the distortion messes with me head somethin' ferocious." she shook her head, "Lets joost g'head. By tha time we get through the transporters an customs twill be well after sunoop."

"I'm not still mad at him, I'm... I'm just... let's just go," Char snapped.

"Aye. Get it over with like rippin' off a bandage," Fiona squared her shoulders and snagged her PDD and the shiny new duffle that contained her new clothing. Char simply tugged on her uniform jacket... she was still trying to adjust to the new uniforms and the way that they fit and felt, and she held her PDD awkwardly. She was accustomed to it having considerably more mass and size, and she couldn't just set in on her hip anymore or cradle it in front of her, so her hands seemed to be having difficulty determining just what to do with themselves.

Other than her old uniform Charybdis didn't own anything else, so she had nothing to carry. She'd left her old uniform in a locker in the officer's lounge where she had changed. She has sighed wistfully when she'd had to part with it... it was like an old friend to her, and she would miss it quite a bit. Everything else she owned was currently on her back or in her hand... unless you considered it all Starfleet property, in which case she owned nothing at all.

The monorail to the worldwide transporter bay was practically empty this time of night, save for a few plainclothesed cadets making their way out for some sort of hijinks, which made Char smile as she recalled her own Academy days and her many excursions across the planet. She realized that the cadets were staring, so she raised an eyebrow at them and they suddenly found somewhere else to be interested in looking.

Whether it was because she was a smiling Vulcan or a lady Vulcan with captain's rank that intrigued them she wasn't certain, but she would let it ride. They would have an unbelievable tale to tell when they got back from the night's adventures she supposed. Fiona spent most of the short ride staring out the window and fidgeting with the metal Starfleet badge on her new uniform jacket, while Char buried herself in reading entire personnel files at a frighteningly high speed.

An hour or so worth of red tape later the duo materialized into the chilly dawn light of Dornie. After the bustle and crowds of San Francisco, even in the stillness was almost startling. The mountains swelled around the village lush with greenery. There was a distinctly salty tang to the air from the lochs, and the village looked like a painting off of a chocolate box. The houses were in tight rambling rows, many sporting thatched roofs and bright colorful paint jobs. A breeze stirred Fiona's wild mane of crimson curls as she looked around.

"It nivver changes," she said with soft satisfaction.

"Is one of these your parent's home?" Char asked, looking across the quaint and charming cottages of the cultural center. This was somewhat typical for this region of Earth as she recalled, though she had always encountered difficulty telling the Irish and the Scottish apart, and it would definitely be critical this weekend. Fiona was a Scot, and that she could remember, and this was her home, ergo. Easy.

Fiona chuckled, "Ah... no... Eilean Donan is a bit further oot. We..." a horse and cart clopped into the parking area for the transporter station. "Ah...there's our ride now." She gave Char a grin closer to normal than the Captain had seen since the powers that be had allowed them back together.

The expression on the alien girl's face was genuinely priceless as she looked past the domesticated animal and the primitive conveyance that it was pulling as a beast of burden, looking for their ride before she realized that this was it. "Oh... well... okay then, I guess... right, our ride. So how do we...?"

Fiona snickered slightly. "Mind yer step," she said as she tossed her bag up in the back of the cart then said something in Gaelic to the old man seated right behind the horses. He grinned down at them and responded in kind. "Char... meet Fergus. He's the caretaker et Eilean Donan." The old man bobbed his head at the Vulcan and grated out a somewhat rusty sounding, "Miss."

"Hello Fergus! Nice to meet you!" Out of her element to be certain, but she was still determined to be cheerful and polite. When Fiona swung herself into the rear of the cart to land amongst the hay, Char followed suit, dropping herself lightly amongst the straw with a giggle.

"Well this definitely is not on the shuttle tours, for sure!" The vivacious Vulcan bounced up and down slightly, and laughed at how the cart bounced and the soft hay gave way when they shifted.

"No... it's not," Fiona chuckled "Dornie is a preservation area." Fergus clucked to the horses and said, "Aye... we likes things simple hyar."

"Cultural preservation... it's a good thing. If all of Earth looked like San Francisco then the diversity that makes this planet so wonderful would be lost... you're all so fiercely proud of your regions and your heritages... it's actually very special and different than most everywhere else in the galaxy."

"Oh... we're goin tae diverse yer socks off, greenie," Fiona laughed again, "Joost you wait!"

The cart lurched into motion, the horse's hooves clattering loudly on the cobblestone streets. As they rode through the center of the village Char noted that even at this predawn hour the place was actually beginning to bustle. There were hints of modern life here and there, but on the whole they seemed to work hard at keeping things picturesque and traditional. Apparently the simple life began before the sun rose.

Fergus didn't seem to be one for making idle chatter. He muttered and clucked to the horse but didn't provide any other commentary, so Fiona enjoyed watching Char's expressions. Nothing escaped her eye, and she seemed genuinely charmed by the rustic nature of the village. Even as the bumps and stones occasionally encountered in the road jostled them, she giggled and laughed at it, taking the experience for what it was worth. Far from being too good for the hayride or too dignified to travel in such a manner, she appeared for all intents and purposes to be taking a childlike glee in the novel experience and enjoying it as something different.

The cart went straight through the village and out the other side where the loch spread itself, calm and placid and deep. There was a winding strip of road that lead to a turreted and reinforced stonework bridge, which in turn led to a looming stone castle that jutted out onto a spit of land that projected towards the center of the loch.





"Eilean Donan," Fiona said with a fond smile, "Clan seat oov tha McCrays."

"Your family actually lives in a castle...?" Charybdis asked somewhat dubiously, despite the fact that they were pulling up toward it and Fiona had just plainly stated it to be so.

"Aye... Eilean Donan it's called."

"Soooo... you really are a wee bit of a little princess aren't you...?" the alien girl tried to keep from smiling as she said it, but she couldn't help herself, and by the time she was finished forming the sentence she was laughing uncontrollably. "Self-rescuing princesses indeed... hoo hoo hoo!"

Fiona rolled her eyes at her friend and snorted. "Wait til ye meet tha Dragon."

She continued, "Da is Laird of tha McCrays... oor Angus may be by now if Da's stepped duin. Boot aye, we have that big ol stone heep... been in our family noow fer over six hundred years."

Fergus turned the cart down the land bridge towards the castle, and the heavy iron gates opened automatically.

Some of the research that Char had been doing, in between studying the personnel files of the Victory crew was to research the unclassified material on Fiona's family. While she had been looking forward to meeting them before, now she was mildly intimidated. According to all reports, Bonnie McCray was less of a woman and more of a force of nature, and there was a distinct possibility that she would blame Charybdis for her daughter having been displaced twenty years in time.

Fiona had asked her to come, so of course she had, and if her friend needed her support she would have it unconditionally... but she definitely had reservations about this, and the looming edifice of an ancient castle wasn't putting her at ease.

She really wished that she had stopped to buy some civilian clothes, and she tugged at the turtleneck of her uniform a bit unconsciously.

Fergus brought the cart to a stop just inside the gate and Fi scrambled off of it, dragging her duffle with her. "Come on... joost think oov it as goin tae meet suimthin nice and friendly... like a firing squad!" She couldn't resist teasing a little bit.

"For this I gave up a court martial for treason?" she muttered as she vaulted out of the back of the cart. "Well, if all else fails I suppose I could swim for it..."

Fiona marched briskly up to the main gate of the outer bailey, which was standing open revealing an inner courtyard. A large arch was off to their right, where Fi paused a moment and stared at it.

"What is it...?" Char asked. This was probably a religious or superstitious thing... these regions were famous for local legends that the natives believed to be true. She was hoping to make it through the weekend without offending anyone by violating a taboo in that arena as well.

"The wall oov tha fallen..." Fiona said quietly and headed over to it. There were several large metal plaques, green with age. "We are tha dead," she quoted softly from memory, "Short days ago, we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset's glow." she ran a hand down the newest of the plaques until her fingers found the name Lt.Cmdr Fiona Mary McCray. "Loved and were loved..."

Beneath her name were two others- Charybdis and Selune had their place on the wall as well. Char put her hand on her friend's shoulder... it had to be hard to see one's own grave marker, and it startled her to see that she and Selune had been included... it had never occurred to her that anyone would mourn her passing, let alone the close-knit clan.

"And now we lie in Flander's Fields," A rich husky alto intoned clearly right behind them. "We Scots are ridiculously sentimental sots."

 

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