Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Mess Hall- After the Hangovers

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Eulailia Dacascos (Chief Operations Officer) in Mess Hall- After the Hangovers

(snip)

There it was. Laila felt it with Patrick and now with Shara. There was some kind of disassocition between these two. She wasn’t particularly interested in it at the moment but made a mental note to revisit it later with Shara. “Well let me first say I heard that you and Pikelsimer were married. So congratulations there…I guess.” She wasn’t too fond of the man and wasn’t looking forward to anymore encounters with him although she knew they were imminent. “I don’t want to seem like I am prying, but I gathered from our last meeting that there were some traumatic periods in your past. You don’t have to tell me about them if you don’t want to, but I don’t want to be the next McMillan in your eyes.”

A tiny frown touched Shara’s lips.

A hint the Laila noticed there was friction there. “So first I wanted to apologize about that day in the conference room, during the mission briefing. You should know that I am committed to focusing on being more understanding than judging.”

She wanted to say there was no need to apologize again but Shara also understood that sometimes people just needed to get stuff off their chest.

She clasped her hands together in front of her forming a ball. “However, think I need to understand you better so I can successfully avoid judging you. So tell me one thing you absolutely hate more than anything?”

Dacascos, COO

Surprise touched Shara’s features and she sat back. What did she hate? Hate was a strong word, one that she had learned to be more judicious in the use of. Hate was reserved for the ones that set foot on her colony while she was tens of thousands of lightyears away and left scores of bodies in their wake. Hate was reserved for the ones they were currently seeking on this gods-forsaken mission, the ones who had caused such harm to her second-born daughter. But that kind of hate was not what Laila was talking about. Answering her question was harder than it might otherwise seem. Everyone knew the things they couldn’t stand, but the problem with living a life like Shara had for as long as she had had was that you lived within and saw the murky grey areas of life more. You might not like something, but to hate something?

But Laila was asking her to dig deep here and there was an answer. She sighed. “I hate feeling helpless. I will go to great lengths to not to feel that way. Which is why this mission is so hard for me. It triggers the same feelings I had in other circumstances where I was helpless and I did not come out of it okay.”

~Shara Calloway, CNS

“I am sorry.” she said softly, “I am aware, to some extent, that your life has not been … ideal.”
She carefully thought about her next words, “It makes sense. You hating feeling vulnerable and helpless. The only time I truly felt like that is when I almost lost my father.” She smiled and said, “You are the strongest woman I have ever met.” She laughed, shook her head and said, “I used to think my mother was strong, but now…I guess I have matured and grown up. I admire your strength Shara and I hope that one day, despite my advantageous beginnings I can somehow get that same strength.”

Dacascos, COO