12-28-2024, 04:31 PM
Mara had noticed that Ju wasn’t comfortable with the answer to her question, but she wasn’t going to let on. It wasn’t an unusual reaction and it was the main reason she was often evasive about her past and just what it was like for her growing up. It did make the Bandaran wish for a minute that she’d sugar-coated things a little.
I’m just not capable of that though. It ain’t me. You ask me a question, and if I’m gonna answer it, it’s gonna be a straight answer. Don’t mean you’re gonna like it. That ain’t part of the whole social contract.
The steak was good, and it meant Ju had a chance to follow up.
“Well, I mean, you said the Federation takes care of your family, does that mean you get to see them often?”
The day they introduce transwarp shuttle routes out to the arse end of nowhere…
“My parents are Federation. They had my brothers and I but didn’t want to raise us. Weird right? So we were all shipped off to my Halmoni, that’s grandmother in Korean, shortly after birth. She raised all three of us. She really was our mom. I haven’t seen my parents in.. well.. I can’t even remember. They’re alive, I think, out there somewhere. But, I never felt any connection to them. Mother and father are just their biological relationship to me and the boys. I never thought of anyone being my mom besides my Halmoni. She died not long before I entered the academy so... it’s just my brothers and me now.”
Mara ended up cleaning her plate whilst Ju was talking. The Bandaran’s appetite was just as oversized as the rest of her, and she took a moment to have a sip of her drink before she answered.
“I’m glad to hear you got family around you,” she said. “This crew though, if you’re not a c**t the whole time, it can feel like a family. I get it, you’re gonna have to give us a while whilst you bed in and whilst we get used to you. But once you’re in, you’re gold. Makes up for the fact I’m not that close to my actual family any more.”
She shrugged.
“We just live in different galaxies it feels like. The trip back to Bandar takes literal weeks, even from the main transport hubs. And I’ll be honest, I just don’t wanna go. That place carries so memories for me and most of ‘em I don’t like and don’t wanna relive. We send messages back and forth. The distance is too great for live comms. So I know what’s goin’ on with them. I got many more cousins now than I did when I was last there 3 years ago. They know what’s goin’ on with me, the bits I can tell ‘em. Damn, the response I got when they found out I made Chief.”
An actual smile creased Calleja’s face. It was the first one since the conversation moved onto her.
“That was kind of a big deal back home. The last Bandaran to make Chief ended up President, and she was the big reformer. So them finding out there’s another one out here on the same path, even though it’s me and I am absolutely not cut from that same cloth… Yeah. They keep reelin’ off my rank and job title at the start of every message now. It’s not got old yet.”
She looked up at Ju again.
“You got that to come. Even in a Fed family, I reckon you’re gonna be up there on that pedestal in no time,” Mara said with the same smile on her lips. "Crawford don't let you in here unless she thinks you got somethin' about you."
== Back to you! ==
I’m just not capable of that though. It ain’t me. You ask me a question, and if I’m gonna answer it, it’s gonna be a straight answer. Don’t mean you’re gonna like it. That ain’t part of the whole social contract.
The steak was good, and it meant Ju had a chance to follow up.
“Well, I mean, you said the Federation takes care of your family, does that mean you get to see them often?”
The day they introduce transwarp shuttle routes out to the arse end of nowhere…
“My parents are Federation. They had my brothers and I but didn’t want to raise us. Weird right? So we were all shipped off to my Halmoni, that’s grandmother in Korean, shortly after birth. She raised all three of us. She really was our mom. I haven’t seen my parents in.. well.. I can’t even remember. They’re alive, I think, out there somewhere. But, I never felt any connection to them. Mother and father are just their biological relationship to me and the boys. I never thought of anyone being my mom besides my Halmoni. She died not long before I entered the academy so... it’s just my brothers and me now.”
Mara ended up cleaning her plate whilst Ju was talking. The Bandaran’s appetite was just as oversized as the rest of her, and she took a moment to have a sip of her drink before she answered.
“I’m glad to hear you got family around you,” she said. “This crew though, if you’re not a c**t the whole time, it can feel like a family. I get it, you’re gonna have to give us a while whilst you bed in and whilst we get used to you. But once you’re in, you’re gold. Makes up for the fact I’m not that close to my actual family any more.”
She shrugged.
“We just live in different galaxies it feels like. The trip back to Bandar takes literal weeks, even from the main transport hubs. And I’ll be honest, I just don’t wanna go. That place carries so memories for me and most of ‘em I don’t like and don’t wanna relive. We send messages back and forth. The distance is too great for live comms. So I know what’s goin’ on with them. I got many more cousins now than I did when I was last there 3 years ago. They know what’s goin’ on with me, the bits I can tell ‘em. Damn, the response I got when they found out I made Chief.”
An actual smile creased Calleja’s face. It was the first one since the conversation moved onto her.
“That was kind of a big deal back home. The last Bandaran to make Chief ended up President, and she was the big reformer. So them finding out there’s another one out here on the same path, even though it’s me and I am absolutely not cut from that same cloth… Yeah. They keep reelin’ off my rank and job title at the start of every message now. It’s not got old yet.”
She looked up at Ju again.
“You got that to come. Even in a Fed family, I reckon you’re gonna be up there on that pedestal in no time,” Mara said with the same smile on her lips. "Crawford don't let you in here unless she thinks you got somethin' about you."
== Back to you! ==