Green eyes read the words over and over as excited determination settled into her muscles. Adriana had been accepted into the Alliance. She had studied and prepared herself for the application process for so long, she couldn’t quite fathom what would happen afterward.
But here she was. She had crawled up the shaft between decks to get to her mother’s quarters. Adriana never did like elevators. Too slow. She paused just before the door to her mother’s, Captain Hannah Shepard’s, cabin. Adriana somehow felt smaller than her 5’10” height; the door loomed and her chest tightened. She started to pace nervously; reasoning with herself that it wasn’t going to be a bother. This is good news.
Adriana was 5 when her father was stationed on another ship; forcing him to leave her and her mother’s sides. No more bedtime stories, no more riding on his shoulders, and no more watching the ways his hands moved when he cleaned his guns.
It started with a message every day before he went to bed. They’d be the usual report about how his day went and the standard promise to come visit whenever he got the chance. There was more promise in those earlier messages. After a few months, the messages came slower and slower until they stopped all together. When Adriana turned 12 she stopped believing he’d ever come back and Hannah had willfully buried herself in her work.
Adriana blinked and shook herself. She was standing at her mother’s door again. The past can’t be changed. Sometimes they may not actually talk or see each other, even though they’re on the same ship, but she deserved to hear this news from her daughter. Though she probably already knew anyway.
Adriana ran her hands nervously through her hair and straightened her clothes; taking a breath before knocking. Nothing. The muscle in Adriana’s jaw twitched. She pressed the door panel and walked in.
“What do you need, Adriana?” Her mother sounded annoyed.
Adriana caught her bottom lip in her teeth and swallowed. Her mother was reading over a datapad as an officer stood hovering near her desk. He glanced at her briefly and offered an encouraging nod. Wesley was one of the few people she talked to on occasion on this ship. He was nice enough, but having him here now made the muscles along her spine cramp up.
A breath and another step further in; her mother handed the datapad back to the officer and summarily dismissed him. Adriana cleared her throat softly as the door hissed shut behind him. “I… I got accepted.” A pause; her mother’s attention fixed on her terminal. “Into the Alliance.” Adriana held her breath and tried to offer a confident smile.
Without looking up, Hannah waved a hand almost dismissively. “That’s nice, dear.”
The pit of her stomach twisted and sank. Adriana went almost rigid as she said evenly, “I’ll be getting off at the next station.” You don’t have to worry about me getting in your way anymore. She turned and left, tears biting around her eyes, but she ignored them. Adriana wasn’t sure what she should have expected, but it should have been exactly that.
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