Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were

Posted by Civilian Micah Pikelsimer (Federation Security Agent) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Side Sim - Portland - Family Reunion… Or ‘Pre-Union’, As It Were
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Wouldn’t try and draw that comparison. Most Traffic Control operators don’t have the maturity of ten or eleven year olds.” he said without looking away from the window in front of them.

Nadine laughed. “People would be surprised how wise kids can be. They just see through all the crap that people toss up. They may not have the context for a lot of it, but they tend to know what’s real or not. I like this age. You couldn’t pay me blocks of latinum to teach high school.” She shuddered.

After a few minutes, he set the controls to auto and swiveled around to look at Nadine. “Ok… my name is Micah Pikelsimer. I am a FedSec agent. Technically, I’m one of fifty Special Agents In Charge. I met Sha… Shara… when I was called to the Delta Quadrant to assist in an operation by a certain ship’s Captain who I owe so many favors to it actually pisses me off. Anyway… Shara had her own reasons for being there. So thats how we met. Prior to FedSec, I was a detective, a cop. Prior to that, I was a Star Fleet officer. Prior to that, a Marine.” He rapped the metal arm. “Thats where I got this. If you wanna hear the story, I’ll tell you. But you will need a drink in hand. And those are are with Shara.”

Micah

“Fair enough,” she said with a nod. “But I don’t really drink. I mean, a little here and there, but… well, I just don’t. But I do want to hear that story, so either wy I can wait if you want to.”

Looking out the viewer, Nadine shook her head. “You know I’ve never been off Earth. Not since we moved here. I keep thinking it would be nice to go somewhere and I almost did after the divorce. But that would have been running away and I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again. The months after Josh died were hard enough. I took off at once point. Cottage on the ocean, by myself. I just needed a place where I could breathe. It was like I was suffocating in that house. I couldn’t be there another minute.”

~Nadine

Micah nodded. “So did you do the paintings I saw in your place? And I get needing space. I’ve never had children of my own, well… not until now…” and he smiled, “… but I can’t imagine how that would feel. And I’m sorry that you had to go through that.” He paused for a minute and then said “How old were you when you came to Earth?”

Micah

As he peppered her with questions, Nadine couldn’t help but smile. Some of the topics were hard and sad, but it was interesting to talk to someone like him who she knew full well had been through his own hard times. The metal arm was only the tip of the iceberg- of that she felt certain. “It was just after my sixth birthday. I remember that amazing feeling of transitioning through the atmosphere into space. I know all the technology makes it mostly seamless, but it just felt different. And that feeling has always stayed with me.”

“And yes, the paintings are mine. How’d you know?” Nadine asked, gazing at him curiously.

~Nadine

Micah smiled and turned and tapped at the controls. As he did, he said “Creepy secret agent guy, remember?” and he chuckled. “Naw, pretty easy to figure out. The decor of your place is more seaside beach house than city apartment. The paintings were seascapes. You needed comfort and serenity, so you went to the sea side. I put one and one together and got you’re a painter. Pretty good one, too. Now… hang on.”

Well, now that he spelled it all out like that, sure, she could how he could draw those conclusions.

Vanessa made a roll and then they shot upwards at a truly incredible rate of speed. Clouds brushed by the transparent aluminum window in front of them until they were so high above them there were no more. Still climbing, Micah said “We are making good time, so I thought we’d take a quick detour.” and suddenly…

Her fingers splayed over the edge of the console as her eyes watched the view shift and change as they drew farther and farther away from the ground.

They crossed the line between Earth and space.

Micah kept the impulse engines going for a moment and then rolled Vanessa over and pointed her at the planet below and shut them off so they floated there above the world. “There… now you’ve been back to the stars.” and he looked at Nadine and smiled. “Your mom loves space. She loves the open country and sky and sun, too… but she has lived out here far longer than she’s lived down there. Her and I both.”

Micah

Nadine was transfixed with the sight of her world below her, seemingly as if she could reach out and brush the visible clouds. So strange! And beautiful. “I figured it must have some appeal. From what I was able to gather, at least when she was younger, she moved about a bunch. Never stayed long anywhere.” She gazed long at hard at Micah before she spoke again. “You would do anything for her, wouldn’t you. Cross the galaxy, steal the stars. That kind mushy stuff, huh?”

~Nadine

Micah smiled slightly as he looked at the planet below. “Kinda. I’m not the ‘steal the stars’ kinda guy. But I would do anything… yeah. I mean…” and he looked at her. “I went and found you, didn’t I? And she only just told me about you yesterday. So yeah… I’d do anything.” He looked back at the view and thought about his words for a moment, and then said “And don’t think she was hiding you from me. She’s never been ashamed of you. She’s been ashamed of herself. Besides…” and he chuckled softly, “… we just got married night before last. Not like we’ve been married for decades or something.”

Micah