as asked in the comments we are getting proofreading done to achieve a quality goal in our fanfic, the release is going to get slow as I am dedicating time to rewrite and making this as enjoyable as I imagined it, the gist is, visha meet Dr. catherine and grew up together, stuff happens Tanya is born and then get stuck into the spartan program, and yes the first Tanya is the real one she is her own grand grandma.
****part 2 (if I could reach your star) is out, this one is darker and heavy so if you do not like this one that one will hit you.*****
Chapter 1
If I could soar through the stars
A wishful thing, on one of my first Xmas or birthday presents, I drew what I wanted over a piece of paper; I was back then naive and innocent.
I wanted a spaceship to visit distant stars and planets, be the captain of my ship, and soar from place to place to adventures.
However, my father taught me I didn't qualify for a toy car, so I needed something less complex.
When I saw the neighborhood kids, I wished for a ball to take outside as a means of making friends.
What did they say? I couldn't because I was not like the other kids.
To that rebuttal, I got on my feet and told them," I was not a mascot or dog"! I was my own person and not a bird in a cage! Their first reaction was for me to be grounded in my room without access to food or water and unable to use the bathroom.
After two days, I was made to comply and abide by their rule; I was no longer that same person; I hadn't had a dream about a distant past in a long time.
I woke up in this familiar captain cabin, getting up off my favorite gel bed, seeing a familiar personal computer over a desk and a piano aside of it, yes!, back then, I wanted to play piano after seeing that groovy funny dude, the one with brilliant colorful suits and strange glasses, the same one that played the lion king song, I never got into music classes, after my parents did their scornful glare and said no to music.
Until years later when they took me into guitar out of a gist, of all things ten years fucking later, too late to matter and too late to properly teach me, what I did after my first formal job was to get myself a YAMAHA digital piano on my rented apartment one that carried I myself from Chicago back to Tokyo, and in this life got a KORG one,
I have to admit. I have a thing for Japanese craftsmanship their instrument is simply good cute, reliable, and above all stupidly good for the price, even after learning to read sheet music I got pretty easy on track to play guitar again, but not on an acoustic one with awful steel strings, no! a more classical nylon Spanish one a proper one,
now on the topic, I got hear the clock alarm on my holo-screen illuminating my decorated and absurd big cabin that even have a fish thank of the size of the entire wall, I got my coffee out of my espresso machine and tidied myself put a ponytail and make me look presentable.
We are about to exit out of slip-space and having a dream about anything is a good sight this day has got to be a lucky one, long gone are the lives of a salaryman or a war child,
Now I am a colonist captain doing the last out of my 25 missions and by that, you could guess, I have over that quantity of worlds developed over my career earning myself an early retirement, now is the time to end this track.
2467 epsilon indi star system -CE-309-8- THE CMA blue phoenix- captain Tanya degurechaff.
A big gray ship could appear exiting out of the blue hue of the slip space conjunction, making it pop out from a bubble of space-time; the distortion made a halo of blue light engulf the ship in a sparkling hue, giving the vessel a silver unique tone, the ship is a notable and absurdly big one, the first phoenix class ship made and the last of the kind the CMA will exchange to the UNSC as the administration of their role will require the CMA function more on commercial and transport while the UNCS warfare.
At the same time, the UNCS will manage the fleets and Navy, and the deal made the ship expected to be passed from captain to captain as the old lady commanding it would reach her deserved retirement.
She is mature and old but not enough to have a face full of wrinkles; she had a composed demeanor and experience to make her visage glare resolute and firm, but in contrast to that, she carried a meticulous touch while following her orders as her a special spark, making everyone follow her willingly.
The captain a blond lady from European ascendance, porting a ponytail that made her cap fit in place has a unique contrast between her position and the image at first glance, and the years over her back made people mistake her for a bakery lady than the captain she was,
but even so, people who know her respected all the trouble she has been in and the excellent work that she has done, that same person the personification of adorable took a sip out of her coffee to watch at the hologram over the bridge.
The display of a lady shining in green hue with shoulder loose hair porting a parasol wearing a Victorian dress adorned in ivory embroidery, making her look more like a porcelain doll than an IA, and an older one past the reglementary 7 years,
at which topic she avoided answering commentary about the subject making her go into a defensive stance, more akin to an offended person than a IA, after a few mishaps the crew learned to never question certain red flags to their special assistant, more to their own good,
to avoid incidents like having tea switched for coffee, cold water in the shower instead of hot, or stuff like wrinkled clothes, making her pranks the response to her apparent displeasure until the person in question apologizes. She will lift the grounded person out of her harassing, making the nave she is not rampant only spiled.
surprisingly as the captain's personal IA "sierra" always made sure to serve Tanya extra chocolate in the kind of cake, bars, or moka to accompany her sweet tooth.
¨Sier, can you tell me more about the composition of this rare jewel, a charming surprise for my last voyage¨
The people at the bridge that mere moments ago were surprised by how cheerful Tanya was, now in their posts working their asses since being appointed in the ship, never expected that melodious pitch out of their captain,
Not believing how the inaugural flight from the ship whose crew was still in training scored such a prize after being made to orbit in deep space from a synchronous orbit for an entire three weeks reluctantly against their will, under the pretense of training under simulation, which had paid off unexpectantly.
The entire bridge's eyes are on the captain and the IA, who are waiting to confirm the information the sensors are sending out.
-yes, captain, we are 12 light years from Earth; the second planet exhibits composition and electromagnetic field; the planet is orbiting an orange dwarf star of category K5V; there are some mountainous regions and rolling hills,
-but they are not as prominent as the extensive plains that compose the majority of the planet, it also seems to have large bodies of water not salted, but probes may verify its usability,
-The composition of the atmosphere could be done through spectrometry. Still, even from here, it seems like a garden-type planet.
-You can expect a warm temperate climate and some climate variation, but nothing major. The star system features a gas giant, moons, and the asteroid belt, but only something notable with exploring further. From here, it seems a promising star system.
The deck on the bridge got pumped up with cheers, making the captain smile as she took a sip out of her cup of Dark Choco moka coffee, making the moment sweet and taste like a holiday.
¨any real numbers that you can tell me to make me happier about Sier ¨
-yes captain-
-diameter:4,012 kilometres (2493MI)
-gravity: 0.998g
-Length of day: 17.5 hours
-surface temperature: -19C to 42C (-2F to 108F)
At that point, astrograph Lawrance Lawford whistled loudly, filling the bridge with happiness and loud cheers. As she proudly said, Tanya stood up from her seat and revealed her trump card.
¨and sheer for Lawrance, who got a total of 12 hours work shift scanning stars at my order during our drift in deep space, which was paid out of my pocket by triple per hour¨
a young master chief, Luise Violette, entered the deck and said,
¨beer hall ready, and waking up the architectural civil planning team, mam¨
The crew froze that instant and did not hesitate to shut up and glimpsed at their captain with her sight-showing cat eyes, not believing it caught preying eyes out of her as she expected them.
The crew realized how good of an old lady they misinterpreted her actions to be; she drifted them from a path, and she trained them to the bone. They were very roundabout in their destination, but she could not have used their time more effectively.
It was unconventional, but the effort following their captain's orders was compensated tenfold. They could be working their asses as of now, jumping in and out.
Still, her technique was swift and effortless compared to the long journeys other vessels made exploring from system to system, and after their training, she got them lead to score right in the second chance, making her image glorified.
At that hopeful glance, Tanya said.
¨do you believe all that effort was because I was an old and witty old lady who wanted to torture you? How dare you! It was for your true future! I am retiring but will surely leave a well-trained and functional ship. "
"That is why the brass chose me, and I hand-picked each of you; now relax and celebrate with the development team and tell them all your ideas for this settlement; remember, we are building the future, but each stone will be there forever. ¨
Tasha Desjani, second in command, was seated on the balcony in front of her captain at the table for officers. She oversaw how good chemistry the crew evolved into, even seeing pairs forming between the ranks.
Everyone was tagging joyfully and playing. She was a freshman when assigned to her captain, not different from the crew, only knowing Tanya a little bit longer than the average crew but not by much, and being her pupil means she was personally tutored by the sea fox how to hunt and be cunning so she remembered the last interview where her captain revealed all of her past to her after answering and knew each other.
"So, you are truly from the same moon academy as mine. Picking you up from among the bunch was a good choice. The application does conceal some info, but I did not want the best, only the right one. I hope to leave the work in good hands."
"Mam, I am honored, but how did you get to do amazing stuff time and time again_? You are fast pacing and rushing in quickly at everything you touch. At this point, I will not marvel if you have the top records of the entire fleet."
"Well, I am not at the top, but I have two or more scores on the tap, so I have earned a demotion and been promoted repeatedly. It was a fair and tried process, so I needed to teach people my every trick; a sea fox needs to teach its cubs how to hunt, don't you think?"
"That is also my concern; I may have heard as much scary and good stuff that I was more confused than afraid, and I think the entire new crew was like that the entire trip; who is the true Tanya? Who is our captain? Are you a legend or a force of nature?"
"It is hard to believe such a caring person could have a temple of steel in times of need and know archaic stuff like the diesel on machines to substitute the freezer on the excavator. Even if we are in spaceships and not sea vessels, things do not match up; sometimes, you sound like a granny. At times, you go by the flow."
¨I know, I know, I was, well, very foolish when I was young , I wanted to prove myself in everything, I thought back then that the value of people was in their merits and results, but when faced with the harsh reality, well my world was upside down, the script that was my life was tossed out of the window, away never to return,"
"and that is why I was searching to lose myself in deep space, but doing this job, developing the colony effort filled my heart with joy, you know being out here with much more time by yourself with the same people is not for everyone, too many free time, too many solace"
"but that is why I made hobbies and time worth it, I was never a good musician, but after one year was not much of a difference, then I simply went on and in ten years was an expert, then I picked one instrument after another, even got into the navy philharmonic on performances and well the rest is history"
"I may not be famous for what I wanted but I made merrier people out there, and that is what I believe is why I want to be back with my family, and why I wanted to leave some meaning in this harsh reality¨
¨I never thought you had a harsh past. Did you lose a husband before joining the Navy or lose a child¨
At this point, Tasha saw her captain's eyes drop a tear and her demeanor change to a meeker one, something she never expected to see in her.
¨yeah I lost my entire family at fourteen; I was the only relative left, and I was destitute and underaged, not able to rerceive my inheritance, and decided to go to a navy board school, ¨
Tanya remembered her second life as a child soldier, married at only eighteen, and miscarried a child. Then, after seven years of marriage, he thought about separating, something like him being too old, ten years apart, saying she was never open up to him, or that she lost her edge, saying that if he ever wanted a young wife at home, he would not choose her that loved her with all her smarts and wits that did not want her to be meek and shy,
After that, well they got into a car accident after which he discovered twins in her belly never able to face solace at 25, she was a single mother of twin brothers and thought about ending her life, but life traced a patch before her, by fortune someone saw her perform an anime piano suit. She performed songs from her first life and finally met the common ground with God, even doing a concert at the Vatican, but she never got an answer, only happy casualties. She did not need more; she was at peace.
¨yeah, ironically, at 25, I met with an accident in slip-space where I met my second husband. We got stranded without our cryo capsules and worked to repair the ship. Fortunately, the late captain left me all promoted and cleared with all permits, and that Erich engineer worked to restore the vessel until finding a culprit, a long out-off-phase stick of space debris which he secured by removing it from the fusion reactor using his marvelous engineering mind¨
¨ That is hard to believe, mmm, I think I saw a movie called ¨ (if I Could Soar Through the Stars). Wait, is your husband? ¨
¨yes, he was a civil engineer and writer. His name Erich Rerugen,¨
¨but you are Degurechaff not Rerugen. How come¨
¨something to do with the matrilineal genealogy of my family. The husband goes into the family, not the other way, some rule of old Europe; we were surprised at the time when we registered back on earth, and we do not understand why until today¨
Now, the second in command could not believe the drama of her superior life. The crew members greeted the guys from development, and things started to get livelier. And concerns evaporated from her mind as she asked now
¨ why me? Why choose me as second of command, and you tell me about stuff like you would fade away? ¨
At this point, Tanya realized that the details of her life sounded more like a confession grieving session than a chitchat, so she responded jokingly.
¨well, being honest, your name was the same as my late mother, and I thought to have another Tasha in my life, at least for a last goodbye; I planned to retire back home and live an early retirement as seeing I must raise my fifteen years old daughter, I have been far away from home¨
At this point, the puzzle in Tasha's head was finally fixed. Tanya was not as strong of a woman as she was making it appear. She wears a facade for the exterior and leaves the interior for the significant ones because she wants to be included.
¨As I will teach you not think everyone is one facet, and do not underestimate or downgrade people. Be ready for mistakes but be prepared not to see only black and white. The world is grey, and only that way will you triumph in being in command¨
Lawrance Lawford got on the stage and faced the balcony with a good speech that everyone applied, finalizing formalities with a suggestion from the deck crew.
¨and now, with this beautiful guitar, I ask our esteemed captain to marvel at us with her unbelievable voice¨
Tanya walked down the balcony and readied the mic and guitar, faced back at the public, singing a cover of a cover (Jeff Buckley style - hallelujah)
Luisa Violette was now seated next to Tasha as the ethereal performance commenced. She nodded softly as she watched her friend whip tears off her face.
¨so, was the chat of passing the baton a good bait? Did you make her spill the beans¨
¨ Luisa, we greatly misunderstood her (she hugged her best buddy). She even had a late husband and a home to be back to; the movie we saw together at the base was about hers and her current husband; she misses being at home and the kids¨
¨huh, what are you talking about? She has only been married once, with a daughter at home; it was at the end of the credits, it says, in the biography of Erich after his trilogy, where she says, (I only will love one and only one person Erich) the dates you are giving does not match up¨
When she realized the news, she broke up. Her tears were wasted, but she realized Tanya's expressions were genuine. Was her captain having impostor syndrome or slip-space lunacy? She did not know. The only thing for sure was that she was tying knots and leaving the Navy to raise a child, but now she has more questions and is muddled with answers.
At that moment, Tanya started playing (my sweet lord) and asked how a devout person could lie so blatantly. Or was she? And why did she choose old folk songs?
Tanya ended one song and proclaimed
¨so gentlemen, I name this planet (Harvest) in honor of festivals¨