Moment in the Woods

Posted on 27 Jul 2015 @ 9:58pm by Commander Andreus Kohl

533 words; about a 3 minute read

Timeline: Late MD 01



[ON]

Andreus Kohl's Personal Log, supplemental entry.

As I record this on the only operable piece of equipment in my office, I'm staring intently at the percentage of power that remains. Fourteen percent. No... thirteen percent now. This stupid PADD won't connect to the EPS grid, which means I'm relying on its portable charge. I find myself tethered to a PADD, because every companel in my office is toast. That means I'm going to have to find somewhere else to work. I know that. I know that well, but I'm not ready to face it yet. I'm not ready to face Galileo when she's hurting like this. (I wonder if Oren would mind if I moved back into my old office...)

I shouldn't even be recording this now, but I have something on my mind, and I need to get it out. If I put it into words, I should be able to forget about it - for now - forget about it for now and move on. Move on back to the latest repair reports, or the flimsy sensor readings we've been able to gather from the asteroid belt. I should be thinking about those reports, but I can't concentrate. My eyes won't focus.

My mind is wandering. I remember there was a moment. There was a moment on the Nautilus during her darkest hour in the NIMBUS war-games. We had taken such severe damage and I thought Nautilus had been reduced to simulated scrap. Mind you, we hadn't been. We would prove we still had fight left in us, but I didn't know it then. I didn't know it in that moment.

The Operations officer told me I had an incoming subspace communique. She told me the communique originated from Argelius Two; I was being contacted by Hamidah Romar. Hamidah. My mother. Not the one who raised me, but the one who gave me life. ...Hamidah has never cared for video communication. I don't know if it's a generation gap or a segment of her belief system. Maybe she interpreted a sign among the stars that told her video communication was bad for her health, or just a fad. I don't know, but she prefers face-to-face communication. That means I haven't spoken with her in years. Sometimes she sends messengers to speak with me by proxy, like on Vega Colony and the last starbase.

This time, she felt suitably motivated to reach for me by subspace, and I refused the contact. There was something so terribly important, she made the effort to contact me for the first time in years. I told the Operations officer to ignore the communique. Of course I refused it. I had my duty to serve; I had my ship.

But Hamidah didn't try to reach me again. She didn't even record a message - not in video, nor audio, nor text. I had planned to contact her later, but... it's later now, and I don't have full access to the communications systems. I won't be able to speak with her until we make repairs.

I really can't imagine why she would call.


[OFF]

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