Fisticuffs Part I
Posted on Fri May 22nd, 2026 @ 2:15pm by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Major Edmund Merrick
Edited on on Fri May 22nd, 2026 @ 3:06pm
1,264 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: Hawke's Bay - New Zealand - Earth
Timeline: MD024 0800 hrs
Arriving at Earth, Edmund had watched as the planet came into view from the observation deck. Home, he was going to go see family. That will be important, there was one other important matter he intended on doing. He stared at his image against the darkness of space a slight frown. Go see his former father in law. For years he had tried to make peace with the man whom he had great respect for, the father of Vivian. Jacob Dean Gray,
The only way Edmund felt he could move forward, was to make one more try in bridging that chasm. The events that he'd gone through made his mortality come to the forefront. The Silence, before that Maleficent taking over several people and spirting away department heads to a pocket dimension.
The ship docked, Edmund left the ship, clad in civilian clothing, beat up hat he loved to wear, jeans, boots long sleeved shirt.
It was eight am New Zealand time, subtle hints of Autumn already present. He stopped at his parents home letting them know that he had an errand to run but would be back. They asked him where he was going, he let them know. They just listened, they understood.
A single grip on his shoulder from his dad, conveyed a silent good luck. Edmund headed out.
A long walk, Edmund nearing the gate which led into Jacob Gray's property. The fields which once were covered in barley were bare, laying fallow after the harvest was taken in.
It was strange traveling this road after being gone for so long. Where would Jacob be? Probably out working the land, Edmund didn't know.
Routine ordered Jacob’s life. That was the best thing for the farm. He’d been up before the sun, checking on the ewes that would be rotating out to pasture in a few days. Next was cleaning the pens and stalls for the nutrient rich manure that went into pile where the black soldier flies, and more specifically their larvae were processing manure into fertilizer.
The benefits of that fertilizer were many, including organically controlling the army worm infestation that was threatening to take hold on land nearby. Jacob had dumped the last barrow full of muck into the pile out back of the barn, then used the hose pipe to clean up the fork and barrow before putting them back in their designated places. On his way back through the barn, he checked to make sure the horses had water and gave them their oats.
Whistling slightly through his teeth, Jacob ran through his chores for the day as he headed for the coffee pot. Milo, his mostly black with black patches over the eye and left hind quarter stood as Jacob neared him, having given the hose pipe a suspicious look as usual when Jacob had charged it.
Bending, Jacob wiped the residual dampness from his hands onto Milo’s fur, playfully ruffling the inquisitive ears and muzzle, to which the terrier playfully tried to bite at his hands and began bouncing on his paws as Jacob headed deeper into the barn, toward the living quarters. “Ready for some breakfast there Dog?” he asked as he they slipped through the sliding panel door and Jacob paused to fill a bowl with kibble, checked the water dish then went to kick off his wellies and remove the still slightly damp bib and bracers. Milo paused in his noisy eating stared at one of the walls, whining. Then the dog glanced at Jacob significantly, then turned his dark eyes back toward the wall, on the other side of which lay the main track.
“You hear someone, there Dog?” he asked, stepping to a window. It took him a moment and Jacob could feel his mood. And well, his heart darken when he recognized the intruder. Milo had given up his breakfast to stand next to Jacob, still whining. “Thought I’d washed off the shit outside, and look what comes dripping down my lane, hey Dog? And even before there was time to put the kettle on.”
Reaching down to ruffle the dog’s ears once more, Jacob straightened, went and pulled on his boots and walked out the door, at the last minute grabbing a crook that he kept by the door as Milo brushed past and the two exited the barn through the wide open double doors, heading for the track.
He heard the bark from Milo, knowing that Jacob had been alerted as to the arrival of someone. He loved that dog, and so did Vivian. Edmund drew in a breath, things were going to be hard, he already knew it. And from the way Jacob came from the barn, his body language screamed out that fact.
"Hey Jacob" Edmund swallowed hard. He still loved the man like a second father. Which is one of the reasons why he had to try, this one last time.
" Look I know that you didn't want me to come back here, but we've got to settle this. Vivian would be wanting that. She wouldn't want to be the cause of us being at odds."
Grounding the crook and leaning on the stout oak, Jacob eyed his widower son in law and said, "She's not the cause. Vi's only guilty of poor choices and trusting the wrong man to look out for her."
"Huh, I thought that as well. I couldn't do anything to stop her, unless it was my pulling out a phaser and stunning her." Edmund remarked quietly.
"There were many times that I wished I could have traded places with her, wished that I died instead of her." Edmunds voice thick with emotion.
"Vivian was the only one which stood between life or death. She chose to save the rest of us.She was the only one who could get inside, to turn on the fire extinguishing system."
He gave out a sob as it was gut wrenching to tell this tale. "I had asked her why she was willing to be my wife. why she wanted to be with me. Vivian's answer was that she felt she could be herself, not be a fake person. She loved me, for who I was.
Edmund taking a step towards Jacob. "I loved her for who she was. A vibrant, strong woman, my equal or in some cases I felt her far more superior than I. I felt that we were perfect for each other. Balancing each other. We weren't perfect, not by any means. Just that we did balance each other out."
Jacob bit back a sneer. Least he thought it was a sneer. He'd served in the planetary defense and rescue service for two terms and had seen a few Fleet marines. He'd never seen one cry. His...son in law...was nearly bawling over the death of HIS daughter.
He'd sort of expected...a major no less...to be in control of himself. Unable to control himself, he lashed out with the crook's butt end, aiming for Edmund's solar plexus.
Edmund saw the strike coming, he allowed it to hit, the end of the shepherd's crook hitting his stomach. The wind whooshing from his mouth, it leaving him breathless.
A joint post by:
Jacob Gray
Edmund's Father In Law
written by Tremble.
Major Edmund Merrick
Company Commanding Officer Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
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