It wasn't easy being the cheerful friend all the time. The party planner, the mood lifter, the ship clown… it wasn't that Pyrondi didn't enjoy these roles. The problem was that she couldn't always fulfill them on top of her regular duties as a weapons officer.
Shore leave was a rare treat for officers in the Seventh Fleet. Their frequent trips into the Unknown Regions on short notice often ruined travel plans. That week, her shore leave had gotten denied. Pyrondi wanted to see her cousin's university graduation. To visit her uncle's family and their pet Tookas, whom she affectionately thought of as hers. Pyrondi didn't blame Thrawn for the position their ship was in, but it was hard to look at him when he told her shore leave wouldn't be possible for the next month.
Pyrondi tried not to let it get to her in front of the other officers. It was concerning how easy it was to fake cheer around them. No one noticed when her smiles were forced.
The cracks in her facade appeared when she canceled a session of their roleplaying campaign. Pyrondi said she felt ill, but really, all she wanted was a night alone. She laid in her room and stared at her picture-covered walls. Right above her bedframe was a picture of her hugging her young cousin. Bean the Tooka sat on the table behind them, one paw on Pyrondi's back as if begging to share the love.
The knock on her door was soft at first. If Pyrondi hadn't been zoned out, she might have heard it soone. It wasn't until Hammerly called out that her eyes came back into focus. "Kana? You in there?"
She sat up at the sound of her first name. It wasn't every day someone said it on this ship. Even off shift, Pyrondi's friends tended to address each other by last name. Not bothering to put her shoes back on, Pyrondi shuffled over to the door, keying it open to let her friend in.
Hammerly was still in her full uniform. Having already changed into her nightwear, Pyrondi felt underdressed. Hammerly stayed by the door while Pyrondi sat back down on the edge of her cot. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything from the medbay?"
"It's not that serious," Pyrondi said. "I'm mostly just tired."
"Are you sure? You've seemed a bit off lately."
So her fellow officers had noticed. Pyrondi was surprised they hadn't thought to say anything to her sooner. She would have asked if she knew they were down. "It's nothing we aren't used to. My shore leave got pushed back because of our new mission. I'm missing family events."
Hammerly's face fell at the news. She rushed forward to sit next to her friend. "I'm sorry, Kana. I know how it feels. You do so much to make this assignment a great one, but there are drawbacks none of us can control." She tried to laugh. "It's what we get for not landing cushy assignments in the Core or Mid Rim. We see the action, but at the cost of our shore leaves."
"I don't understand how people have spouses on this ship," Pyrondi confessed. "Did you know Commander Woldar is married? Skerris has four kids."
"First of all, both of them are men," Hammerly countered. "They don't have to worry about taking time off for pregnancy or keeping a household running. I don't know about your planet, but mine expects women to do almost all the domestic work. You can have a husband or an officer position in the Imperial navy. Not both."
"I know. And I've made my peace with that. But even for other family, like my cousin. They doesn't have to be my kid for me to love them and want to celebrate their milestones. Why is it the best I can do is a holomessage and a gift delivery?"
Hammerly grimaced. "You might have to wait on those too. I heard from Faro we might be navigating through a comm's dead zone for the next few cycles.
"We give up a lot for the Empire. I'm not gonna go all recruiting officer on you and tell you why it's all gonna be worth it in the end. Just because you made your choice doesn't mean it can't be hard sometimes."
Pyrondi snorted at the mention of a recruiting officer. She straightened up to give an exaggerated impression of one. "'Provide peace and security for all your loved ones! Let them grow up never knowing the scourge of galactic war. Did I mention how great our remittance program is?'"
Hammerly smiled, but didn't laugh. "You don't have to joke around if you don't feel like it. Your friends care about you for who you are, not just who you like to be. Or your voice impressions in our roleplaying sessions. We know what it's like to miss family. It's why we built a second family here."
Pyrondi felt a tear forming at the corner of her eye. She wiped it away before Hammerly could notice. "Thanks, Lida. And thanks for checking on me, too."
The conversation stopped after that. Pyrondi leaned her head on Hammerly's shoulder, just relaxing in her fellow officer's presence. As much as she loved being the Chimaera's cheerleader, it was nice to get a day off sometimes. To know her fellow officers still had her back.
After all, they were her siblings at arms.
A/N's: I wasn't sure how to end this little ficlet/drabble series, so I took it in a bit of a different direction than prior chapters. Where they were mostly fluff, this one is a little more hurt/comfort. Minor angst with a happy ending.
Thank you to everyone who read these little one-offs about Pyrondi. I hope I brought more appreciation to this minor character.
