Cal's War Pt 1: The Morning Rain

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2026 @ 4:10pm by Lieutenant Callum Cowan

1,345 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Flashbacks
Location: RF Wayfarer
Timeline: Early 2381

The pip on Ensign Callum Cowan's collar felt unusually heavy. When it had been placed there mere months earlier by a particular favourite professor at the academy it had represented excitement and the millions of possibilities that had, for a moment, lined his road ahead.

But things changed quickly.

Two entire world populations had been eradicated in moments. More would fall in the weeks following and suddenly a whole planned career seemed relatively immaterial.

The Rescue Freighter Wayfarer was not quite what any newly commissioned Starfleet officer would have imagined as a first posting.

Even from the outside she had looked old, weather beaten and long overdue to be scrapped.

She was nobody's idea of an ideal assignment, let alone a first one and mere weeks ago Starfleet wouldn't have entertained the idea of putting her into service, but much had changed in that time and times were certainly less than ideal now.

As the shuttle carrying Cal and half a dozen other, newly commissioned pilot officers slowed to a halt a few feet above Wayfarer's hastily repurposed flight deck before setting down with a gentle thud, he could feel his heart thumping in his chest.

Wayfarer did not look any better from the inside.

Various scuffs marked her decks and bulkheads, old cargo manifests – oddly charming in a strange kind of way – still adorned the walls throughout her old cargo bays, all now converted for use in other ways. They were crew lounges now, and mess halls, bunk rooms. The larger spaces had been cut open, had space doors installed and were now in use as launch bays.

It was nobody's idea of an ideal assignment, let alone a first one.

Slinging his single duffle bag over his shoulder, Cal followed the other pilots off the shuttle and onto Wayfarer. He'd expected some kind of formal greeting but all any of them were welcomed with was an officer with a PADD reading off names and offering directions.

“Cowan” The man called without so much as looking up.

“Uh,” Cal hesitated. He wasn't sure why but he did eventually raise his hand, “Yes, sir.”

“That way. Out the door, third left. Alpha flight.”

Another moment of hesitation before Cal nodded, “Okay.”

The officer offered a raised eyebrow and a glance toward Cal at his informality before shaking his head and continuing to reel off names.

Cal headed to the corridor beyond the shuttlebay. Narrow, dark and with clear scrapes where the deck met the bulkhead – likely from years of cargo beyond transported through her on some kind of trolley, bumping the walls along the way – Cal moved slowly, counting each turn he passed, squeezing by those moving opposite to him. The ship was busy - alive even but it was a long way from what he had expected.

There were few bright coloured uniforms. Almost everyone wore dark green flight suits or engineering overalls, most carrying plates, trays of food or coffee cups with them. Somewhere above them the sound of departing craft groaned through the ageing hull plating. It would've been fascinating to take in, any other time.

Eventually Cal found the doorway to which he'd been directed. The door groaned open and there he stood.

The room was larger than he had expected. A small seating area consisting mostly of converted sandbags around an old cargo container used as a table sat in the far corner, an unfinished coffee cup resting atop. Several cots surrounded by curtains for privacy ran along the walls on either side of the room, several uniform items hanging from the rail and in the corner nearest the door, a display screen had been set up as an impromptu briefing area, someone else's flight jacket hanging off its corner.

Three bodies occupied the space.

The taller man looked up first. Olive skin and dark hair and a manner about him that in the moment, terrified Cal.

He didn't smile.

Didn't greet him.

Just assessed him.

The sort of look Cal imagined shuttlecraft received before somebody decided whether they were airworthy.

“Ensign Cowan, correct?” The man finally spoke, his face remaining stern.

“Apparently,” Cal responded with a forced smile, his eyeline shifting across the room. A long silence filled the space before the woman – dark hair tied into a neat ponytail that fell just beyond her shoulders smirked.

“Oh good!,” She said, just about loud enough for Cal to hear, “Another one.”

His sight shifted to her, “Uh,” He tried once more to smile but failed, “Sorry?”

“Don't be,” She spoke louder, “Just be ready.”

“Yes Ma'am,” The now comfortably terrified young ensign responded, gripping the strap to his bag a little firmer.

“Oh absolutely not,”

“Sam...” The first man spoke, clearly now amused.

“No. Don't you start all that ma'am stuff with me!”
“Sam...”

“We don't have time for all that!”

A sudden bout of laughter filled the room as the third body peeked out from behind the other two before standing up and moving toward Cal.

“Ignore them,” The young woman approaching him spoke, her blonde hair falling just short of her shoulders, her bright blue eyes displaying a warmth and her wide smile complimenting them, “They're just old and grumpy,” She insisted before stretching out an arm, “I'm Emily. Welcome to Alpha Flight!”

Beyond her, the other two who had been stifling their amusement gave up and more laughter could be heard.

“Come on, let me show you where you'll be staying,” Without a moment of hesitation she reached out and took Cal's hand, dragging him out of the doorway and toward the lone remaining free bunk, “Those two aren't scary really. Mateo takes his job really seriously but he's honestly lovely, and Sam is the best people person I know!”

“Have you been here long?” Cal asked, making an extra effort to muster some depth to his voice but still largely failing.

“Not really,” Emily responded, glancing over her shoulder with a smile, “But they're good people, honestly!”

Cal swallowed and nodded, stepping over a fallen over chair as they reached the bunk after what had felt like an age although in reality, only minutes had passed.

“So,” Emily said as she pulled back the curtain to reveal a single cot covered in belongings, a large container sitting where the pillow ought to have been, “I've been using this space as storage since it wasn't being used, but...” She paused and started to gather the things that had been left behind, “It won't take me a minute to grab them and then it's all yours!”

“Thank you,” Cal said more dryly than he'd intended as he finally let his duffle slide off his shoulder and onto the floor.

Having finally gathered her bits, Emily gestured for Cal to sit on his new bed which he did, “I'll give you a minute to get comfortable. We should all go and have dinner together later, it'll be fun!”

“Okay,” Cal spoke, looking up at the Scottish accented girl, utterly overwhelmed.

“The container will fit underneath for anything you don't need often, and people usually hang their uniforms on the curtain rail. Makes a bit more space that way.”

“Thank you,” Cal said, genuinely meaning it.

“Okay! I'll see you in a minute then,” Emily-Grace Aitken spoke with a wide grin before pulling the curtain shut as she departed.

Cal took in another deep breath, overwhelmed, nervous and a little bit baffled although he was given no time to address any of those things before another face appeared at the curtain – the woman from earlier.

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“Scared?”

Cal paused for a moment, wondering if it might be some kind of trick question before shrugging a little, “Terrified actually.”

“Good,” Sam said with a smile - a genuine one, “You'd be stupid if you weren't. But you'll be okay.”

“I hope so,” Cal returned the smile that did nothing to convince Samantha Vance of much.

“You'll be fine. Briefing in ten.”

“But I just got here,” Cal protested half-heartedly.

“Welcome!” Sam responded cheerfully.

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