Daughter Like Father

Posted on Wed Mar 5th, 2025 by Lieutenant Commander Samuel Bancroft & Katelynn Bancroft

1,091 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: M01 - The Hooke
Location: Bancroft Quarters, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present

Katelynn looked into the subspace screen while talking to her friend Rebecca. This had become somewhat the norm over the past two days, she would call her friend almost immediately after classes each day. Their conversation had almost ended when she heard the door to the family quarters open and close. "All right I have to go," She told Rebecca. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

=/\="Okay, see ya!" Rebecca answered with a grin.=/\=

Katelynn switched the screen off and was just getting ready to start working on her homework when she heard the footsteps stopping right at the entryway to her part of the quarters. She looked over and saw her father standing there watching her, "Hi Dad!" She said with a slight grin on her face.

Sam had a warm smile on his face, "What are you in here doing?" He asked his daughter, "I figured after school you'd want to hang out with the other girls on the ship." His daughter isolating herself wasn't really all that surprising to him, he just assumed it was par for the course after being the only kid on their last ship.

"I," Katelynn frowned, "I don't really know if they like me or not. They've not really asked to hang out after school, but I suppose I haven't asked them either." She rolled over and sat straight up on the edge of the bed and thought about the question for a quick moment. "I like talking to Becca anyway."

"I know you do," Sam told her as he leaned against the door frame, "And you're allowed to talk to Becca, I just want you to be more social with people who are around you now." He took a few steps into her room and sat onto the bed next to her, "Have you asked them if they like you?"

Katelynn shrugged, "Not really," She said. The more she thought about what he was trying to hint at the more nervous she became. "I don't really want to make new friends right now either," She bit her lip and looked at him for a moment while considering what she'd just said. "Is that okay if I just don't know about making new friends right now?"

The expression on Sam's face adjusted slightly, "Yeah that's okay." He told her and gave her a slight side hug. Sam ignored her sudden gasp from the slight pressure change he'd caused. "Ensign Roma mentioned you three have to do a science fair project. Have you thought about what you wanted to do yet?"

Kate shook her head, "Not really," She breathed a slight sigh of relief at the subject change. Kate then pulled herself back so that she was seated in the corner of her bed with her legs out in front of her. "What do you think I should do?" She asked her father while crossing her arms over her chest.

Sam looked over his shoulder just before rotating so that he was facing his young daughter, "Of course I know what you should do, but you should pick something that interests you," He told her somewhat playfully. "If I just told you to study the wacky world of microbes you may not find that interesting and then struggle."

Kate didn't like that her father was right, she didn't fuss or pout about that part though. "I mean, I guess microbes are pretty interesting." She replied, "I know what your point is Dad." She added so as to not get a lecture about how this was simply an example. "But, what do you think would be interesting to me?"

Sam began to wonder if he was going to get out of this parenting thing with his sanity intact. His daughter had a bit of a sarcasm streak in her sometimes, he already knew she'd picked it up from him. It was pointless to fight it now, but there probably should be some controls put into place. Sam shook the thought out of his head, "This is your first science fair project, there will be many after this one." He told her.

Kate lowered her shoulders, he really wasn't helping her with this. She wanted to protest, however, she'd learned not to after trial and error. "Well, I did like that section in Ancient Earth history where we learned about combustion engines, I could do a science fair project on how one worked."

Sam thought that was an interesting idea and nodded, thankful that his daughter came up with an idea on her own. "There should be some archival data in the computer buried somewhere, and if not I'm sure we can dig up the information. You should get to work on it after we've eaten, your Mom wants to try to make something new."

Kate tilted her head slightly, "That sounds sketchy," She answered. "Can't we just go eat something in the crew mess or something?" She asked then immediately looked around as if expecting to see her mother pop out of nowhere or something and surprise them both.

"Now now," Sam said while moving his hands up and down slightly. "Be nice to your Mom, she's going to try and cook something. I guess Ensign Roma showed her a new recipe and your mom wants to try and make it for us. Be nice okay?" He asked.

"Yes Dad," Kate said then she scooped her small pile of pads that had books on them. "I have a metric ton of math homework that I need to finish for tomorrow. I probably should get to doing that," She told him.

"A metric ton?" Sam said and shook his head, "That's a lot of homework," His voice was once again playful. "I'll be in the other room working on something for about an hour or so. If you need anything from me come let me know okay?"

"I will," Kate said while adjusting herself across her bed. She considered sticking her tongue out at him, but chose against doing that. Instead she activated her pad and started working on the assignment she needed to get done.

Sam got up and went back toward the door frame, he turned and looked at her for a moment, and smiled. After that Sam left his daughter to work on her assignment. "She's going to be trouble," He muttered under his breath with a sly grin on his face. Sam sat down at his desk and began working on a crew report he needed to get done.

 

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