Cmdr. Genkos Adea - Father

[Kali Nicholotti]

(Genkos & Kalianna’s Quarters, USS Excalibur-A))

 

Genkos frowned; there was something off about his uniform - it was hanging a little looser than it normally did. He pulled at the top, trying to get it go taut - had he lost weight? There wasn’t that much of him to begin with, so to have lost enough weight to be noticeable was a little bit a cause for concern. He leaned into the mirror and pulled at his face - his cheekbones normally stood out a little bit stark, but they almost made his face look like a modernist painting.

 

He shook his shaggy head, before attempting to run a comb through the knotty mess atop of his head, swearing a little as it caught on several knots and attempted to pull them, follicle and all, out of his scalp. He placed the comb down with a sigh and pushed his hair back with a hand where it sort of stayed, although the grey forelock flopped forward.

 

Adea: Gods damn it.

 

Then the console in his room rang. He frowned - he wasn’t expecting a call. Stepping out of the bathroom, he limped over to the desk. It was probably for Kalianna, he could forward it to her Ready Room. He sat down and turned the screen towards him.

 

Blink.

 

No.

 

Blink. Blink.

 

Adea: … Dad?

 

Sure enough, on the screen there was the logo of the Betazoid penal colony that Tilull was currently imprisoned at. He pressed his palm into his forehead as he considered what to do - let it ring, or answer it. It was possible that it was actually the Warden was calling him; that she wanted to update him on his father’s rehabilitation. Maybe that was it… 

 

No… That would be too much to ask.

 

Genkos pressed the key to answer the call, and settled back in his chair. The logo disappeared and was replaced by the image of his father. He looked older than Genkos remembered, and instead of the usual brightly coloured clothing that he wore (a trait Genkos had inherited), he was dressed in what looked like a drab, beige jumpsuit.

 

T.Sim: Genkos?

 

The warmth with which his father uttered his name took Genkos back - it had been remarkably easy to demonise the man when he didn’t have to see him. The images and footage he’d seen on newscasts had been worlds apart from the father that he knew - the petaQ that had murdered his first wife and crippled Genkos’ mind was the one he’d seen on his consoles in the past. The one he saw now was the father that had taught Genkos to swim, the one who had taken him camping every year in the woods, the one in whose veterinary surgery Genkos had spent most of his childhood. Swallowing that wave of emotion, his esophageal prominence bobbed, before he parted his lips to speak.

 

Adea: Tillul.

 

Tillul looked stung - but what else could he expect?

 

T.Sim: Am I no longer your father?

 

Genkos crossed his arms and forced himself to push out the feeling that longed to embrace the man on the other side of the galaxy.

 

Adea: You stopped being my father the day you pushed Fumiko down those stairs. I just didn’t realise it yet.

 

T.Sim: You weren’t even born then, Genkos.

 

Adea: No, but the man I consider to be my father died that day.

 

Tillul looked grave for a moment and then, when Genkos assumed he would scold him, nodded instead.

 

T.Sim: The man I thought I was died that day too.

Genkos scoffed.

 

Adea: So did a woman you professed to love, and your child. What do you want, ::and then, dripping with contempt:: Dad?

 

T.Sim: I… I wanted to apologise.

 

Adea: Mum said you apologised to her over a year ago. Why wait that long to apologise to me, eh? Run out of subspace time?

 

Genkos could feel his rage building, his fury at the betrayal that this man had wrought. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but Toto looked up - clearly the anger the doctor was feeling was not contained to his own mind.

 

The dangers of being a telepath.

 

T.Sim: I know. But I didn’t have the words for what I wanted to say to you. I didn’t have the courage. I didn’t have the will.

Genkos raised an eyebrow.

Adea: But now you do?

 

T.Sim: No, I don’t think I do. But my rehabilitation officer said that to progress, we had to speak.

 

Adea: Oh, so you’re doing it because you have to. Bye, Tillul.

 

Genkos reached over to end the call, but a frantic waving from his dad stayed his hand.

 

T.Sim: I am sorry Genkos. I am sorry that I killed Fumiko, I am sorry I killed our child, I am sorry I invaded your mind and took away your powers. But most of all, I am sorry that by doing all of that, I destroyed your image of me. The loss of your love is the worst pain imaginable. I have spent every day since it all came out wishing that I could have one more moment in the woods with you, just sitting around a fire and sharing medical stories. 

 

Adea: That’s gone, Tillul. That’s never coming back. Your apology might make you feel better, but it doesn’t undo any of the things you did. Fumiko doesn’t miraculously come back to life, my sibling isn’t here, my telepathy doesn’t magically reappear and undo all that bullying, all that humiliation that I went through.

 

Being a full blooded Betazoid with empathic powers was seen as a disability on Betazed; or at least it had been when he was a child. And he had suffered for it. Oh, how he had suffered. Children were cruel. Children who could beam their words into your mind, knowing you couldn’t block them, crueller.

 

Adea: In fact, the fact that you sat there and cradled me, comforted me for my lack of telepathy knowing that it was your fault, that you could take away all that pain with a moment’s work, that’s unbearable. You were never the man I thought you were. That man never existed. That man I loved. The man I see right here? I don’t know who you are, but I know for a fact that I want nothing to do with you.

 

T.Sim: Genkos -

 

Adea: I hate you.

 

And he ended the call before the hot stream of tears started to flood from his eyes…

 

 

Tags/TBC

 

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Commander Genkos Adea MD

Second Officer & Chief Medical Officer

USS Excalibur-A

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