Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Black Rock- A Reunion of Friends

(snip)

“I haven’t considered raising children to be very compatible with my career,” he said plainly. “I don’t think I’d want to have them unless I’ve already been shoveled dirtside or put on a staff someplace. Or if I retire.”

Well that sounded pretty resolute to her.

He had considered retiring from Star-Fleet a number of times in his career. The first was after he made the mistake of taking an assignment at a research facility on Upsilon Mu X. The second time was when he lost his natural vision. The third time… well…

“I’m not really planning to retire yet, though every once in a while I get tired of certain aspects of this job. Ones that I really go out of my way not to complain about. I think about entering the dreaded private sector. I know some people who’d be interested in things I could do for them, so I wouldn’t have to worry about just loafing about at home all day.”

“I can’t imagine you ever being happy with an idle life. Maybe a more relaxed one, but certainly not idle,” she said with a grin.

“Yeah, I’m saying ‘retire’ here, but I only mean from this particular career,” he said just to be absolutely clear.

“Thankfully the magic of modern medicine means we don’t have to even think about the timing of children very seriously… I mean, barring the other issues. Do you want to be the mother of one or more of my children?”

— Johann Dvorak, CO

Inhaling slowly, Vora didn’t answer right away, though she wasn’t intentionally trying to be dramatic. “I’m open to it, yes,” she said softly.

Reaching out, she took Johann’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “For most of my adult life I either assumed I would be a terrible mother, or poured all my energy into creating a life that would make the one child I did have maybe be proud of me someday. I never thought about what I wanted, but I think we can both agree that was standard operating procedure for me for a long time.”

He nodded and returned the squeeze.

“Having another child, or even more than one is something I gave up, unwillingly. And I’ve been so focused on the here and now and not making future plans too far that I guess I never really thought about whether I wanted more children. I missed so much with Jerrin, and while I can’t make up for that, there’s a part of me that always wants to make sure that others get a better life, and childhood, than I had. So… I guess that’s a complicated way of saying that, yes, I would like to. It’s not a deal breaker if we don’t, but I don’t have the same limitations in my mind that you do. From my perspective, anything better than the situation I grew up in is a perfectly reasonable place to raise children. Starships included.”

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences

“Well, that’s certainly true,” he said.

“I’m not actually as closed to it as I might have sounded. It just hasn’t seemed like a very real possibility for me until… well… now, actually. Though for totally different reasons. We should figure out how possible it actually is.”

— Johann Dvorak, CO

She nodded slowly. “Resume lift,” Vora called out so they could continue on. She offered him a smile. “We have time to work this all out now that I’ve calmed down and talked myself out of elopement,” she said with a bit of a grin.

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences