- CHAPTER 1 -

"No."

Without even glancing up from her dinner plate, and in the most neutral yet conclusive way she can muster, she remains unchanged with her answer. She refuses to spend any more time on her daughter's outrageous request.

"Oh c'mon mom. You're being ridiculous!" her daughter protests.

Hannah peers up from her food and repeats herself, once more, a bit more firm than before.

"I said no, kiddo. I won't have you going off gallivanting off world like that. It's not safe."

Irritated and not satisfied with that dismissive answer, her daughter stands up abruptly from her chair and slams her fists on the table – albeit with a little more force than she intended.

"What's so bad about wanting to join the Alliance military? For fuck's sake, most people my age have probably gone off to figure out their lives by now. I haven't even gone as far as to see my own home planet!"

Hannah remains sitting at her seat and continues to eat, all while saying nothing. She will listen to her daughter, but her mind is already made up. They both know it. Mindoir is safe, and much less cluttered than Earth mega metropolises. Hannah knew that military life would be extremely dangerous, and would result in possibly never seeing her daughter again. It was selfish, but she couldn't help it. She already lost contact with her partner. She wasn't about to lose her own child too.

"I'm sixteen!" she points out as the frustration in her voice grows increasingly difficult to suppress, "I am almost old enough to -"

"You may nearly be old enough to enlist but that doesn't mean that you're old enough to not get yourself killed!" Hannah snapped, cutting off her daughter mid-sentence.

Startled by the sudden burst of emotion, her daughter takes a step back, wide-eyed.

"The stuff the Alliance had to deal with…" Hannah continued, while trying her best not to let her voice break in front of her child "... With those… turians during the First contact war…"

"Mom... Please…" her daughter responds, as calmly as she could, while reaching over to her in an effort to convince her that things will be ok.

"No," Hannah snaps back emotionally while swatting the hand - the attempt as reassurance – away, "you have a good life here; you're far from ready to leave. With things being as shaky as they are out there, and with who-knows-what else flying around in the galaxy, I can't risk losing you."

"You won't lose me. I'm capable of more than you know."

Hannah looks up at her daughter, frustrated at her daughter for being so hard-headed.

"And you need to give the aliens a chance. Just because they're different doesn't mean they are bad."

Hannah slides her dinner plate forward and stands up from her chair. She sighs and slowly walks over towards her daughter.

"You've always been an optimist, kiddo" Hannah says softly as she pulls her daughter in for a brief hug. She then pulls away and continues "but you need to be realistic. You're not ready for what this galaxy is capable of. I've seen and heard more than enough to know that."

Hannah feigns a smile only for it to disappear all too quickly once she glances up at her daughter's somewhat appalled face.

"Are you serious?" her daughter pushes her away, visibly upset at the lack of faith her own mother has in regards to her potential. "The turians and humans have been cooperating with the rest of the alien council. Peace is more than possible. I want to be a part of it. I want to learn more about what's out there. Why do you insist that I'm not ready?" she cries out in exasperation.

"It's for your own good", Hannah retorts, firm in her stance.

As it was becoming increasingly obvious that the conversation wasn't going to get anywhere productive, and that both their emotions were currently running high, her daughter looks for a means of escape. She can't be around her mother at the moment. Not when she feels like she has so much doubt for what she can do.

She is tired of feeling trapped on the same old farmland living an incredibly tame life all while knowing there was so much more out there to explore. Clearly bringing up the idea of joining the Alliance once she becomes of age was a terrible idea. Terrible idea or not, she would have had to go through with that talk sooner or later. She always tells her mother everything. They may have their differences of opinions, but they are near inseparable nonetheless. Being so close only made the feelings of not being good enough or ready enough to go off world hurt that much more.

"I should go." she states coldly as she storms out the front door, leaving Hannah alone in the house.

A/N: Well that was... interesting. I'm still getting used to this. Hoping to update soon! :)