Fairytale of New Sydney

Posted on 27 Feb 2019 @ 2:30pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater

700 words; about a 4 minute read

Nothing from Farla in weeks. Sofie hoped that everything was alright with her friend - she seemed like she was being ignored. As she booted up the terminal in her quarters she hoped again to see something reassuring from her old friend but nothing was there.

In its place though was something truly unexpected - a message from Natálie her youngest sister. Last time she had spoken to Natálie had been at the wedding. That had been a couple of months before Sofie had graduated from Starfleet Academy. She'd never been particularly close with her younger sister so she was rather intrigued to see a message from her. She shuffled around, getting comfortable in her seat, before hitting the key to play the message.

"Heya Sofe, its been a while but I thought I'd get in touch and let you know how things are going here. I'm sure Mum is sending you constant updates but I thought you might like a different perspective.

"Me and Jan have decided to move into the old house much to Mum's delight. We had a great honeymoon, found ourselves the best, by which I mean least polluted, sand and sun that New Sydney has to offer. Now I hope we can settle into some sort of routine though. I'm still studying and Jan is too - I don't know if you remember but he is a law student and Mum gave him an internship at the company starting next month. I don't know if he really wants to work for the law section of a mining company but I guess in this family that's what you get.

"Speaking of which Mum tried to get Klement to warm to the idea of the family business again but he is absolutely dead set against it. Doesn't matter too much though because Světlana is undoubtedly going to be the on that takes over one day. She already does quite a bit of the day to day running on the floor. Mum's still in charge of course and don't think that is ever really going to change.

"We had a great Christmas by the way! You missed out... or at least I missed you. I hope things are going well out there in space. Mum and Dad organised a division of labour for the Štědrý den meal again which meant this year I was in charge of the Vánočka which is good because sometimes I feel like I'm the only person living here that can bake. I remember when we were younger and the parents got you to do it and it was so bad that Granny threw it out out made them promise never to put you in control again.

"Unfortunately fell to Klement to make the salad. By which I of course mean that Světlana made the salad and Klement chopped some vegetables. It tasted great though and the fish was great as ever. I can't imagine how that must be - living on a ship where there is no fresh fish. Do you even have Christmas there?

"Anyway after dinner we all went out to chapel for the midnight service. I suppose that was where you were most missed the DoM talked about how he wished you were there as long as a bunch of others. We all did our best to sing loudly enough to make up for the lack of you.

"So then comes Christmas day and a bunch of Ullswaters had come all the way from Earth to celebrate with us. Uncle Marcy along with the cousins and Aunt Mabel, Auntie Amy and Uncle Tom, even Daisy showed up which I don't think anyone was expecting.

"Now, let me tell you about the meal we had with them..."

The message went on for a very long time. The density of detail included was what Sofie had come to expect from her meticulous younger sister but it still left her wondering what had prompted this. Natálie had always been so strong and independent. Maybe Sofie had just been missed by her family over Christmas.

One thing was for certain though - she had missed them.

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