1. The first rule about...
2. "I don't want to talk about it."
3. She was known for her...
4. You can't have your way all the time.
We were put to sleep for 10 years of the journey. Kepler-425b was one of the closest exoplanets in the Milky Way Galaxy. We were experimenting with some alien hyper drive technology that was found on Gliese 581g buried underground, a secret that the Chinese and Russians were trying to figure out. Since we had such people on board the Rubicon was exempt from getting such modifications. After a decade of sleeping in space we were awoken. After that it would take us a year to complete our journey to Kepler.
The first rule about surviving a trip to another planet with your estranged mother is to keep contact at a minimum. Only contact each other when you really have to. Being that I was the crew's head zoologist and Elena the captain of a military squadron we didn't have to interact much. The only thing unavoidable were the meal times.
Elena's Lieutenant, Yuri who made the snide remarks about the Rubicon was the most annoying out of all the Russians and Chinese put together. He was a bit young to be a lieutenant. He was about 33. I was only 29. He was lean with a cleft chin and pale blue eyes. Those sharp eyes would follow me around, leering at me until Elena appeared then he would cast them down quickly. I had to admit I enjoyed that part. She was known for her low tolerance. Elena was one of the few women that led her own unit. I would hear some of the soldiers on both sides of the ship say that maybe my mother wasn't really a woman but had a set of balls and a large dick hiding in there somewhere.
I was in my lab checking on the vitals of the animals that we had brought from Earth. Mostly livestock such as sheep, cows, and a few horses. We wanted to see how they adapted on Kepler. Other specimans were plant life that were from the planet itself. I heard someone come in and thought it was Reyes, my assistant, but instead of a petite Latina I was greeted with a rough voice in my ear, "Hello."
Yuri's breath smelled like vodka. I jumped back a good distance. He had no concept of personal space. He might as well have stuck his tongue in my ear canal.
"What the hell?" I fumed. "Don't sneak up on people!"
"So sorry," he smiled pretending to be apologetic which only made me even more angry.
"The rules are you're to be accompanied by an NC soldier at all times when wandering the Rubicon," I reminded him. I went back to my notes.
"But I am with you so it counts doesn't it?"
"I'm not a soldier," I glared.
"Good I don't like soldiers," Yuri leaned on the table beside me. He took out an apple and presented it to me as some peace offering.
"I did not see you in mess hall so..."
"No thank you, not hungry," I didn't even bother to look at him. Yuri shrugged and took a bite of the apple. "And you're not allowed to have food in here. You might contaminate a sample."
"You mean these plants?" Yuri pointed his slim finger at the purple flower growing inside its small bio-dome that created it's own unique environment. "Very beautiful," he marveled. I suddenly noticed the back of Yuri's neck which was rigid. Density bone implants most like. Different levels of gravity effects the body in many ways. Many cosmonauts had implants put in so that they could live longer in space on their space stations. Yuri caught me looking and smiled.
"Gruesome, huh?" he grinned and pulled off his shirt so that I could see his whole rigid spine. "It hurt for a few months on Artemis but it went away after a while as my body adjusted to gravity."
"How old were you?"
"15."
"And your parents let them open you up and put parts in you?" I cried incredulously.
"I wanted to," Yuri explained plainly. "I was serving my country."
"Pfff," I miffed. "That's exactly the kind of Iron Soviet Sheep mentality that I'm glad I never got. What kind of monster would let someone experiment on their child? You know that half of those trials were a failure and many kids died or worse were left crippled for the rest of their lives..."
Yuri didn't frown or say anything. He just let me continue while he watched me intently. Until I stopped and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You are cute when you are angry," Yuri smiled. He moved a piece of my blond hair away to reveal my neck and came a bit too close for comfort as if trying to kiss me. I swatted his hand away then pushed him.
"Get away from me you pervert!" my face flushed and turned hot. How dare he compare me to that woman! I turned in a huff not caring that I broke protocol.
* * * *
"I don't want to talk about it," I steamed as Daniel watched me his arms crossed his face pensive.
"You need to report him," he scolded me.
"He wouldn't be the first soldier to hit on me," I reminded him. Daniel failed to see the humor in that.
"Anything could have happened to you. He could have-- You know our rule. What's our rule?" Daniel cried.
Daniel and I had a rule when we first came to Kepler-425b. We weren't dating at the time only flirting though I didn't see that for him it meant more.
"We're a team," I sighed. "Never go in alone. Ever."
Daniel kissed me tenderly on the lips.
"I'm still going to beat the shit out of him," he promised.
"Though starting a war for me is very sweet I don't think it'll be best for the NC," I admired.
"He could have an accident," Daniel winked. "People fall out of air locks all the time." I laughed out loud.
"Please don't," I begged softly. "I was hoping to avoid the woman altogether this trip and on Kepler but," I wrapped my arms around Daniel's neck, "it's better than you getting court marshaled for me."
* * * *
You can't have your way all the time. I wanted to avoid my mother altogether but I had to talk to her about Yuri. His stalking was getting annoying and I was really afraid Daniel was going to throw him out an air lock. The door slid open for me as I pressed my hand on the panel. Only NC approved Rubicon staff could access the panels making the tension between the factions even more taut.
Elena was sitting on her bed reading a newspaper. The Soviet Alliance was the only place one could get a real newspaper. Everyone else preferred news feeds from screens on buildings or on their tablets. She didn't even look up when she said, "Good evening, Ana."
"It's Anna not Ana," I sighed. "There's an extra 'n'." Elena shrugged. Already we were off to a bad start.
"Captain Petrov--"
"'Captain'? You won't even call me Mama anymore," she almost sounded wounded.
"You need to control your men, Captain," I continued.
"What's happened?" Elena kept scanning the news paper but I could tell that she wasn't really reading it. She must have read it all before I got here and now she was just doing her usual passive aggressive techniques to annoy me.
"Your man, Yuri, has been making inappropriate advances towards me."
Finally Elena put her paper down and sat up looking at me directly.
"What did he do?" she asked.
"He just... got too close that's all," I explained calmly. "He tried to kiss me. I was in the lab and he surprised me."
"I shall speak to him then," Elena promised.
That wasn't as bad as I thought.
"Um thanks," I got up and was going to leave but for some reason I had to ask. Elena smiled. One of those rare moments where one can catch her having an emotion.
"You're my daughter," she said. "You stand by family." That statement had me wondering though.
"How many of your men have bone implants?" I asked.
"All of them."
Then something within me also had to ask, "If we were living in Russia when I was growing up would you have made me go through with the implants?"
Elena stared at me for a moment then gave a frank "Yes."
"Really?" I asked. "You would have let them cut me open and stick foreign objects in me?"
"Why are you asking this?"
"Yuri told me that his parents made him under go the procedure even though it was extremely risky and he may not have even survived the ordeal."
"You would have served your country," Elena said unapologetically. "All countries make sacrifices, Ana. We must not get left behind as the Northern Coalition would have us do."
I was exasperated by my mother's lack of empathy.
"Do you know how insane that sounds?" I marveled. "You would murder an entire generation just to get ahead."
"The Northern Coalition would have gladly done the same," Elena stood up, nostrils beginning to flare a bit, "They took you from me and didn't seem remorseful about it." I stood firm.
"You were a spy who was planning on fleeing the country and taking me with you without giving any thought on how I felt," I argued.
"I wasn't going to leave without my daughter," Elena countered. "That's what mothers do for their children they protect them."
"I was dad's daughter too!" I cried. "And he was protecting me from you which I'm glad he did. I'm glad he found us before you could kidnap me and force me to do other crazy bull shit for the good of country that expected loyalty from me just because I had a mother so brain washed that she would allow her child to be butchered for some greater good of a nation."
So came the root of our problems. My father caught my mother before it was too late. She was deported and my father was granted full custody of me. I was born in the NC and was a citizen. I never forgave her for trying to split up our family. For trying to turn me into an obedient soldier like her. I was nothing like her.
"That's all I am to you, Elena," I finished. "I'm an asset." Elena didn't say anything. Frankly I didn't give a shit what her excuse was going to be. I just had to get out of there.
* * * *
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