beep, beep, beep
Where am I, though Marida as she struggle to clear her mind. The whole world seemed foggy as she tried to open her eyes. The last thing she remembered was the Kshatriya's warning lights blaring, and the sickening feeling of overwhelming G-forces. Everything, after that seemed soo fuzzy.
"Marida-san, you're awake." shouted Banagher, who by the looks of his un-changed pilot suit had been sitting there for a while.
"Oww, quiet voice please," she said " I feel like i have a bad hangover"
"Sorry," he replied, lowering his voice to a regular level. " Zinner is running some test on the Kshatriya, though damage seems to be minimal."
"I see" Marida replied, leaning back into her pillows " Where is the Cpt. ?"
"Oh, he's been here the whole time," said Banahger "He pulled you out of the cockpit, and was by you ever since." Smirking a bit, he asked. " Is there anything between you two?"
"What? No, No, there's nothing like that, she replied, slightly taken back by Banagher blunt question "I mean, he's a nice guy and good looking but..."
"But what, you've known each other for a couple months now" he interjected " I think that he genuinely cares for you, maybe he doesn't even realize it yet. Still, i think i might be good for you guys to talk, and see if there is something."
Leaning back even deeper, Marida let out a chuckle. That was Banagher for you, intuitive, caring and always willing to help.
"Maybe," she said, " I'll see what he looks like when he comes back"
As if on cue, the doors slid open, and Yosef came storming into the room. Tossing the clip board he was holding onto Marida's lap, he folded his arms and coldly growed " explain to me, Cruz, why the frack you thought it was a good idea to be on combat stims and alcohol at the same time."
Almost as if something within her had been building up, Marida snapped back at him. " I had $#ht going on and i dealt with it. I needed those to keep me in the pilot seat."
"Marida-san what are you..."
" Banagher, leave, that's an order " barked Yosef, sending him skittering from the room.
" D nm it, Lt. what the frack is going on with you? Let me help, let us help."
"It's none of your business." she said coldly.
Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Yosef gave one final directive as he left the room. "Those substances and your attitude just cost you your position. You're off the flight line and demoted to Warrant Officer until further notice." As much as Yosef wanted to be friends with his team, he knew that protocol needed to be followed. As he left her room, he thought he might have heard a muffled sob, but thought nothing of it.
The next days for the Argama crew were awkward to say the least. the atmosphere was tense, if not down right, cold war hostile. Marida walked around doing her punitive tasks with robot like efficiency. However, if anyone attempted to talk to her, they were only met with silence and glares. Her heart and mind were completely sealed. The Lt.(well currently WO) avoided any of her fellow officers, especially Banagher, Zinner and Yosef. Not even Mineva, who she considered to be the salvation of her people was able to get her to talk. So it continued, the slow wearing of nerves, the awkward hallway silences and the silence, until one late night.
"I don't think I can take this crap anymore" said Yosef, dropping to the locker room floor after a particularly brutal hand to hand training session. His whole body ached but his arms burned from a hammer fist Marida had dropped on it using a very unusual counter attack.
" Just you?" asked Zinner, stowing his mouth guard before plopping down across from him. " Don't think that Banagher and I are feeling any better than you. Marida has completely shut us out."
"It's sad isn't it" Banagher said, joining them on the floor. " Marida is a good person but something inside is hurting her."
"Well as her friends we can't just sit here and do nothing." grunted Yosef. " Zinner, you're like her father can't you talk to her?"
" Belive me, I tried. However, I think now is when we need a mothers touch. I wish that she had someone like that right now." said Zinner, resting his face in his hands.
"Mother" mumbled Yosef " that might just work." As he righted himself, The Cpt. said " I think I know someone who could help" And with those words, he set out to do the thing he had kept avoiding.
Thousand of miles away, on earth, in the city of Galilee, Israel, a phone rang in a small inn. The owner, an average looking, well built Israeli woman was busy closing the kitchen when she picked up the receiver.
"Thank You for calling Azuri. Sarai speaking." She chimed. Her cheerful aditude was one of the things that had helped her run the business for almost 10 years now.
" Hi mom" said Yosef sitting in the com room of the N. Argama.
"Yosef!" she exclaimed, loud enough to hurt his ears, even over the phone. " why haven't you called me recently? "
"Well... Cause last time I did you tried to set me up with one of your lady friends daughters... It's been kinda hectic lately" he replied.
" Is this becuase I tried to introduce you to Esters daughter?" 'Crap, she's onto me' he thought. " look, if your not interested in women I won't...".
" I'm not gay mom" he interrupted as he facepalmed. " I just had some trouble.."
"Trouble?!" She yelled again, " did you get injured? What happened? Was it mustard gas?"
Double facepalm. As much as he loved his mom, Yosef hated that she was extreamly overreactive to anything invoving him. Motherly love he guessed.
" Mom, calm down for a bit. I'm fine. They don't even make that stuff anymore." He said in him most reassuring voice. " I'm calling because I'm having some problems with a member if my team. I thought as a mother you could give me some advice about her."
" Her? Yosef, did you ..." before she could finish Yosef had read where this one was going.
" No mom! She is not pregnant!" He shouted. " I'll explain it all but it's a long story."
" I'm hear to help." She sweetly said. For all of her overreaction and eccentricity, when it came time to talk, she had always been there for Yosef and his father. Over the next half hour Sarai patiently listened to Yosef and Marida's story, only speaking when she needed to ask for clarification.
After listening and a few minutes of processing, she finally spoke.
" I think the best thing you and your friends can do is just be there for her. And when I mean there I mean present at any time you can be."
To Yosef this was all new territory. Comforting and sympathy were not his strong points. " what am I even supposed to say?" He asked, desperate for more concrete ideas.
"As little as you can" his mother replied.
"What? How does tha help? "
" do you remember how you felt when Abah passed?"
"How could I forget?" He said. Just thinking about he days when his grandfather succumbed to cancer brought tears to his eyes.
" I sat I the old simulator for days."
" and when you would I would come next to you and sit there for as long as I could. I didn't say anything, but just being there made you feel better didn't it?"
Thinking back it was true. All Sarai had done during Yosef's darkest time was sit with him. That was all that had mattered. That someone else was there with him.
" I think I get it. " he said, now with a new confidence that he knew what to do. " Thanks for being there Mom. "
" Always will be" she replied " and one more thing, Yosef. This Marida, she seems like a really nice girl. You've know her for a couple months now and you seem to care about her. I don't think you've ever gone this far or deep to help someone before. Just a mothers intuition but, there might be something there, dear."
" Haha, no" he laughed " listen, I need to go now so, I love you mom"
" love you too, Yosef" she said as the line cut. 'Nothing?' she thought ' righhhht'
And as Yosef left the comm room to talk to Zinner and the others, in the back of him mind there was a 'maybe' to his moms last comment.
Next time...
"Enemy contacts, closing in at at high speeds."
"How the frack did they get a Carl Gustave?"
"Where did you go?"
