A Memory Stirred...

Posted on Thu Jun 23rd, 2011 @ 2:49pm by Lieutenant JG Dylan Tyler
Edited on on Wed Jul 6th, 2011 @ 7:07pm

Mission: Kingdom Come
Location: Dylan Tyler's Quarters
Timeline: Just after being promoted to Lieutenant

"Remember, Son, it's not about taking out the defenses its about taking out the heart. Playing chess is like fighting a hydra. Cutting off a head just makes it grow back with another to spare," James Tyler told his 5 year old son while they played chess. Dylan looked at his father with a quizzical look. Dylan was winning, as far as he knew. His father only had his king and a few pawns on the field while he still had two rooks and his king safe and sound and it was just a matter of time before he would place his father in check mate. Dylan moved his rook one square, putting it right on target to take out the pawn that protected the king's right flank. His other rook was already in position to prevent the king from killing his rook, the game would be over in two turns. James made his move, while his king was still safe for the moment, by moving his pawn up one square to the other side of the board. Dylan had lost track of it. The pawn became a queen placing his king into check. Dylan scrambled to protect his king.

But something's wrong, the queen is moving on her own and has taken a different shape. It looks like a snake with three heads moving toward one of his rooks ready to devour it. Then the snake began to grow fading everything in the room to black except he and his father. James seemed unsurprised as the hydra rose up and devoured him. Dylan screamed as one of the heads came at him. The face of the head morphed into Dylan's face...

Dylan woke in a cold sweat in his quarters. The lights in his quarters were on, and they shouldn't be. "Computer, who turned the lights in my quarters on?" Dylan asked. "Source Unknown." Dylan hit his comm badge, "Tyler to Engineering, the lights in my quarters came on by themselves."

"Sorry, sir. We are still running into a few kinks in the basic controls on the ship. It was probably random, sir," the engineer was young, like most of his fellow crew here.

"Not a problem, Ensign. Like to get an early start anyway," Dylan said as he looked at the clock next to his bed. 0423 hours. He would not need to be up for another three hours, but once Dylan was awake it would take a hypospray tranquilizer to put him out again, especially after that dream.

Dylan took off the blanket and walked out of his bedroom into his living room. One nice thing about a promotion, a better set of quarters. He walked to the replicator. "Coffee, with cream, sugar, and cinnamon." The computer replicated the cup of coffee and he walked to his desk. The letter that his mother had sent him was still on his computer, unread. She had sent it to him when she heard about his promotion. Dylan sat behind his desk and opened the transmission.

Dylan's mother, Adrianna, was beautiful for a middle aged human. Her curled black hair that Dylan had inherited hung long past her shoulders. The image brought a smile to his face, she had had it short the last time he saw her and he liked it better this way.

"Dylan, I am so proud of you. I knew you would do well in Starfleet, you always did have your father's ambition. I can't wait to see you, I wish you had had the time to visit while you were awaiting for the Endeavor to pick you up. But I know you were busy," his mother's voice was always filled with a little disappointment when she spoke about him not seeing her. They have only been in the same room three times in the last year.

"Anyway, I also wanted to let you know that I found something that I thought you might want. I know you don't have a lot of things for your quarters for decoration but I thought it would be a nice touch," the screen showed the camera moving over to the table where a chess set was placed. The chess set that Dylan and his father always played with, the one in his dream. "I thought at the very least it could be a nice conversation piece, maybe you'll find someone who enjoys playing it as much as you do. Let me know where I can send it and when or you can come and pick it up the next time you have a chance. I miss you, sweet heart. I love you." The screen was filled with the Federation emblem.

Dylan made a mental note to respond back at some point, but at this point he wasn't sure how he would respond. Dylan kept his quarters sparse for a reason. It was more efficient and less cluttered. He wasn't sure how or even if he could get out of not accepting his mother's gift. The only items in Dylan's room that were his personal belongings were his books and his book case. He walked over to it and grabbed the last gift his father ever gave him for his ninth birthday. It was a book about chess. His father liked books and despised reading data pads unless it came to a diagnostic or computer necessity. His books were leather bound "like they're supposed to be" his father would say. Dylan opened the front cover where he saw his father's familiar handwriting.

Remember that in order to stop the hydra, you have to take out its heart. Happy Birthday, Son.

The words settled over Dylan making him a little uneasy. The fact that his dream had occurred before listening to his mother's message frankly. Dylan took another drink of his copy as he replaced the book on the case. He reached for another, Vulcan Meditations for the Non-Vulcan Mind, and took it to his easy chair and began reading it. Maybe his recent edition to his library might help him get some more sleep. It would certainly be unwelcome to be dozing off when meeting the Nevarrans.