'Neath the Raptor's Wing I

Posted on Tue Feb 2nd, 2016 @ 8:07am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Captain Patrick O'Connor

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Taking Chances
Location: USS Bonne Chance, Deck Five, Captain O'Conner's Quarters
Timeline: 2265
Tags: Patrick,1stlove,flashback

It was no challenge for her to sleep anymore, and she did so easily and without reservation, wrapped in the arms of her noble knight. He exhausted her body, and her spirit was content and secure. So secure, in fact, that she reached out with her mind and relayed to him a tale of her childhood- of when she was innocent, and pure. She trusted him, so much so that her subconscious mind was too riddled with guilt over the truth to lie to him, even through omission. For somewhere in her mind she felt that he needed to know that there had been such a child, before she told him of what she truly was today...


It was spring again, so that meant the rainy season, but the air was warm and humid and she was splashing through the puddles all the way home. Momma would be home today, her father had said, so she was very excited. She ran and skipped and slap-fought with Vruska, her neighbor as they made their way home from Astrophysical Academy.

She was soaked when she arrived home, her short hair plastered to her head in the bowlcut worn by all children. She squeezed the excess water from her hair and her skin, dried herself with a sparse yet colorful towel then ran into the house, her bare feet slapping the polished stone as she did so.

She paused before the statues of the house gods, skidding to a stop to pay homage to Janus, the God of Duality, who sat betwee D'era and Alth'Indor, one face to each. He had been their family's patron for centuries, for as long as there had been a House Charvanek, and with Momma returning today she gave extra special thanks to both faces of the God of Duality. Some saw him as a god of duplicity, but that was not how her mother had patiently explained it to her.

"Janus is two who are one, my daughter. The face that is seen and the face unseen, for that is how he looks down upon us, with one face shown and one face hidden... because both faces hide the other's secrets." Janus was one of the moons in the sky above, and she made wishes on him regularly when he rose in the southwestern hemisphere at night.

Of course she wished for a life of adventure like Momma, serving the Empire and traveling the stars. She promised to Janus to make him proud of her if he granted her wish, and bring honor to the household that worshiped him.

Skipping through the house to the kitchen, she paused before the dining hall, because she could hear Momma and Poppa, and they were arguing. They did not argue when she was present- everything happened in meaningful glances and silent communication of which she did not understand the nuances, being only in her eighth year. But this was a chance to hear a secret, so she stayed in the shadows and breathed as softly as she could lest someone hear her, and she listened.

"...because she is too young, that is why! And because she should strive for something better than simply being a pawn of the Tal Shiar! Look at you, you are a commander, with your own star vessel under construction! You will be the point of incursion beyond the Neutral Zone, expanding the Empire, bringing glory!"

"Yes, this is all true," her mother retorted. "And meanwhile what are you doing while I am in spacedock week after week? Dallying with our fortunes here in Ra'tleihfi, consorting with your ministers and politicians and civilian advisors. What do you accomplish but a game of intrigue that serves none but itself! I want more for her! I want the Empire to know her greatness one day and sing her praises I want her to make a difference!"

"You honestly believe she will make a difference with the Tal Shiar?" her father spat, and she could hear the rage in her father's tone, barely restrained.

Calmly, her mother replied. "Claudius... General Rakal wants her. The Tal Shiar have an espionage wing that they are reactivating, and she is the right age... she is our daughter, the heart of my heart, but she is frivolous and self-indulgent and she lacks discipline. If we do not set a course for her, the gods only know what will become of her later. And one does not refuse the Tal Shiar without good reason, and we have none."

It got quiet then, and she risked peeking around the door to see her parents hugging one another tenderly, and she felt better. She didn't understand what they were talking about, but she knew that the argument was over. Her mother spotted her and motioned for her to come to them, and as she and her father left one another's arms, she crouched beside the child and smiled at her.

Her mother's smile was the most beautiful thing in the world to her, and it in turn made her beam happily.

"You heard, little wolfling?" her father asked, and she nodded at him, her smile diminishing a bit.

"We want what is best for you, and for our house, daughter. So in a few moments you will meet General Rakal, and she will see if you are what she is looking for. And then your life may change, my child.... if she takes you, then I fear you are at childhood's end." Her father looked sad, and that made her sad as well. She turned to her mother, her beautiful and proud hero, who was everything that she wanted to grow up to be.

"Is it time to grow up now, momma?" the child asked simply, the large violet eyes that mirrored her mother's seeking one another.

Her mother hugged her suddenly, fiercely, desperately, and her father knelt down to encircle them both within his arms. She did not understand what all of this meant, but it upset her parents, which made her start to cry.

"Yes, Scylla... my daughter, my one. I fear it may be time for you to grow up."



In her sleep, Lieutenant Charybdis sniffled and made a keening noise, as a tear rolled down her cheek. The sorrow of loss rolled from her in waves, remembering the last family moment she had shared with those who had brought her into the world, and the last time she had seen her mother's eyes. It disturbed Patrick O'Conner, and he woke to her distress... and the dream that she had shared with him stayed with him quite clearly.

Which would in turn cause him no small degree of distress...

 

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