The Reunion

“It’s ugly,” Sooli proclaimed.  She scowled and twisted so her back was to the shuttle’s window.

“Sit properly, Sooli.”  Liasa Tarnic slipped a thin arm around Tametri and pulled him into a tight hug.  “What about you little man?  Do you think SRX-14 is ugly?”

Tam squirmed away from his mother and pressed up against the window, flattening his nose against the perspex.  Outside, the space station revolved slowly to its own orbit.  A giant black and white ring, speckled with lights and the tiny satellites of docking yachts and the shuttles of enormous freighters.   

“It’s huge,” he whispered.  He ran a finger through the condensation he had just breathed onto the window.  “Bigger than L’dun Dome, isn’t it?”

Liasa gave a faint chuckle; watery compared to the woman she'd been eight months ago, but it was something.  She clung to it; perhaps this move was going to work after all.

“Much bigger, darling.  London Dome is only a fraction of London City and the military there don’t even use the full dome.  Here the Corps own nearly the entire station.”

“That’s wha’ the X means, right?”  Tam craned his neck long enough to stare up at his mother.  “'S'military?”  He reached out and fingered a faded epaulette on Liasa’s shoulder.  “When will Daddy get here?”

Whatever light may have been forming in Liasa’s eyes died.  He’s only a little boy, she told herself.  It will just take time for him to understand.  To adjust.

“Dad’s not coming.”  Sooli flopped back in her seat, arms folded, blue eyes hostile.  A tiny indent in her bottom lip showed Liasa where she was biting the inside of her mouth.  Sooli hugged herself tighter, drawing her knees up to her chest, long blond hair hanging down.  She stared at the base of Tametri’s chair, fixing her gaze on where it bolted to the floor. Hiding behind her hair to avoid me, Liasa guessed.

She sighed.



There was a slight shudder as the shuttle docked, a dulling of the engines and then silence.  Precious silence.  Make the most of it, Laisa thought.  After six weeks flight it felt odd not having the floor rumble underfoot.  Shooing the children in front of her, Laisa stepped into Space Station SRX-14,

“Captain Tarnic?”  A stocky young man in Corps uniform stepped up to her.  He gestured to Sooli and Tam.  “Your children?”

“No, trooper.  They’re a pair of Franti refugees I picked up on the trip.”  Liasa flicked her eyes over him and sighed.  She had been sighing a lot lately, she realised.  “Yes, they’re mine.  Yes, they’re staying.  Yes, my brother knows.  Tametri, don’t wonder off!”  She waved the trooper on and snatched Tam’s collar as he trotted past.  “Speaking of, where is my brother?  Kym – Colonel Boydell – said he’d be here to meet me.”

The trooper grimaced.  “Colonel’s caught up in a meeting with General Esterhazy, sir.  Ma’am.”

“Sir will do; I’m not one of those type female officers.”  Despite the sick feeling in her stomach, Liasa forced herself to wink at the trooper.  Fitting in with the troops, that’s what Tracey used to call it.  He’d always laugh and say it was her strong point. Dammit Trace.  I need you here.  She motioned to Sooli to hold on to Tametri whilst she sorted through the electronics to release their luggage from the shuttle.  A few taps and the flight steward would forward it to Kym's apartment. 

The stocky trooper – Rhysson proclaimed his breast pocket – stood at parade rest until she was done and then invited her to follow him to her brother’s apartment.

“Colonel Boydell lives just outside the main compound.  Works on the main bubble-line mean we’re going to have to detour a little.  But perhaps a quick tour of the station will suit you ma’am.  Sir.”

Liasa raised an eyebrow; can’t Kym requisition us a private car?  Oh well, she resigned herself to another couple of hours travelling with a sulking Sooli and what was turning out to be a very hyper Tametri.  Rhysson shepherded them along the docks and towards the bubble-car platform; where Tam promptly ran along the entire length, and ploughed into an elderly couple disembarking from a bubble-car.

“Tam!  Come back here.”  Liasa bit back a furious retort.  She offered the couple an apologetic smile.  No need to take it out on him, he’s just a little over-excited from the trip.  She glanced at her daughter; nor on Sooli, she reminded herself. She’ll settle in quick enough; just give her time. Liasa took hold of Tametri’s hand and ushered Sooli into a waiting car.  And hoped she was right about Sooli fitting in.  Her hopes of a smooth emigration were dropping; Kym hadn't been around small children since, well since he was a small child himself.

Rhysson tapped in the co-ordinates for Kym’s apartment and the bubble-car rose smoothly to join the traffic lines.

“You’ll love it here,” he confided.  “SRX-14 has several leisure complexes, and seven parks – four of them open to the general public, and one of them even has a botanical garden!”  He tried smiling, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

I’m making him nervous, Liasa thought. And Sooli isn’t helping either. She nudged her daughter.  Please make an effort, she begged silently.  Kym's going to struggle with us moving in as it is.  I don't need you all surly on top of everything else.  She smiled brightly;

“A zoo, Sooli.  Perhaps we can ask Uncle Kym to take us there once we’ve settled in.”

“Zoo, Soo.  Soo, Zoo,” Tam sang.  “Zooy-Sooy-Soo.”  He beamed up at Sooli and the adults, obviously pleased with his new rhyme.  “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.  Soo, Soo, Soo you come too, too, too.”

Despite herself, Sooli’s face lightened and she knuckle-rubbed Tam’s thick black hair.

“Silly-billy, Tammy-lamby,” she whispered into his ear.  The little boy giggled, squirming in Sooli’s grasp.  She scooped him onto her lap and hugged him as Tam nuzzled into her.

But she still pointedly avoided looking at Liasa.

My two babies; my golden-haired lady and my mid-night boy.  Could any children be more different? Liasa flicked her gaze away from the children, and stared out of the bubble-car’s canopy.  Rhysson ducked his head and remained quiet for the rest of the journey.



Kym’s apartment was smaller than Liasa expected.  She looked round in mute despair as Rhysson took charge of their just-arriving luggage.  To be sure, Colonel Boydell’s quarters weren’t really small for a senior officer, it was just…. just….

“We’re living here?”  Sooli stood in the middle of what Liasa guessed was Kym’s living room.  Hand on hips, head thrown back as only a defiant twelve-year-old could manage, raw hatred radiating off her and sparking from her pale eyes.

Liasa swallowed.  Oh Trace, look at our little girl.  She’s the narkin’ spit of you.  Wasn’t that what first attracted Liasa Boydell to Tracey Tarnic?  The passion?  The way Tracey’s blue eyes went wild with rage one moment and sparkling with delight the next?

“Yes,” she replied firmly, stalking past Sooli before her daughter could launch a tirade of pubescent outrage.  “Tam-dear, come and see the room Uncle Kym has made up for you.”  She scooted Tametri out of the living room, leaving Sooli to bellow out in fury; “I am not staying here.  I’m not.  I want to go home!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.”  A soft voice floated into the apartment.  A slender man with Liasa’s dusky skin and black eyes slipped into the quarters.  Only a few inches taller than Sooli herself, her height being another of Trace’s gifts, Kym Boydell cocked his head and met her gaze.  He flicked his eyes over her and brush an invisible speck of dust from his immaculate uniform.

A brilliant flush flew to Sooli’s cheeks, but before she could respond Liasa tore back into the room.

“Kymi?”  In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, Liasa threw her arms around her brother and hugged him tight.

With obvious unease, Boydell returned the hug, his eyes flitting from Sooli to Tametri and resting on Rhysson.  A sharp nod at the trooper dismissed him.

“Soo, Tammy, this is your Uncle Kym.  Mummy’s brother.”  Liasa released Boydell and gestured for her children to come forward.  “Uncle Kym, this is Sooli-Ann and Tametri Jarl.”

The flush still fresh in Sooli’s cheeks, she lifted her head and bit out a ‘hello.’  Tam, his eyes bright from racing through the apartment, learning all the nooks and crannies of his new home, ducked towards his mother and grabbed her legs.  Tipping his head to one side, he looked up at Boydell through her knees and offered him a quizzical once-over. 

“Your house is small’r than our one on Earth,” he confided.  “An’ there’s no animals, but Trooper Rhysson said there’s the zoo-park and you’ll take us there to see the animals.  I like it here.”  He pronounced it am-me-mols and spoke rapidly.  Boydell blinked.

“Um, yes?”  He responded, looking to Liasa for help.

“Rhysson mentioned one of the parks has animals in it, and I might have suggested we’d visit in.  Once we’re settled in,” she emphasised for Tam’s benefit.  He pouted, somehow making him look less like Sooli than ever.

Do I really look like that when I’m put out?  Liasa rubbed his head.  “Easy, boyo.  We’ll go soon.  But please remember, Uncle Kym isn't used to small people terrorising his house.”  She looked over at Boydell, trying to ignore Sooli's angry sniff.  “Any chance of a drink, Kymi?  Six weeks is a long time to go without real coffee.”  Her brother grimaced.

“You do know you are on a space station now?  Luxury commodities like coffee beans are hard to come by.  Not like those layabouts that lounge around planet-side.”  He ducked as Liasa landed a punch on his arm.  “Lucky for you, I’m a colonel and am not above abusing my position a little.”  He flashed a quick grin and ducked into the galley kitchenette. 

He’s still in there, Liasa thought in relief.  Messages between her and her brother had been limited since his transfer to the station, and several times she’d wondered if Kym was becoming more distant – either as a result of his posting or a simply genetic thing; the Boydells weren’t particularly open as a family.  Since Tracey’s death, Liasa had thought and re-thought about moving to SRX-14.  It made sense; she and Kym had both been raised on stations, only moving planet-side when the Corps posted first one and then the other of them.  But both her babies were dirt-ballers.  Used to Earth’s gravity and wide-open spaces.  And animals, a small part of her smiled.

Tametri was young enough to adapt quickly, but Sooli worried her.  And her daughter’s increased aggression as the flight out progressed was wearing Liasa down.

Kym’s not used to kids, was her other big concern.  Could she really expect her little brother just to adopt them as his own, just like that?  After all, he'd never married or made any long-term commitment, and with Liasa remaining on Earth, Kym frankly didn't have any family.  Just a career.

If it had been the other way around, if she had died, Trace’s friends and family would have begged him to stay.  But Liasa didn’t make friends the way Tracey did; oh sure, she could fit in with the rank and file in a matter of minutes, but actual friendships?  She shuddered.  No, that was one thing she and Kym shared; introverts to the bone.

No wonder Sooli was becoming difficult.  She was Tracey through and through.  Their communicators had buzzed the whole journey with Soo’s friends wishing her bon voyage and sending her missing you messages.

“There’s no reason you can’t keep in contact with them all once we get to ’14,” Liasa had reasoned on the journey out.  Sooli just stared at the ship’s wall, blocking her mother. Because that’s not how it’ll be, hung unspoken between them.  Once we’re there, communications will take days being relayed back and forth.  I might as well be dead, was how Sooli put it.  I'm never going to see any of the guys again.

“Pop the vid on, see if you can catch some local shows,” Liasa suggested brightly, plopping Tam on the sofa and gesturing Sooli to follow.  “I’m going to help Uncle Kym make us all a round of drinks.  Tammy-dear, are you getting hungry yet?  Soo?”

Tametri shook his head; attention already fixed on the vid-screen that dominated Boydell’s main wall.  Slouching into the sofa beside him, Sooli also shook her head.

Feeling exhausted from the flight, and now defeated by her own daughter’s defiance, Liasa slunk off to the kitchenette.

Boydell had already summoned up a pair of coffees for them and was deliberating over what to make the children.

“Guess they don’t drink coffee yet, huh?”

Liasa threw him a tired smile.  “No, not yet.”  She rested her forehead between his shoulder blades.  “S’good to see you, Kymi.  Comms and vid-casts don’t make up for seeing you in the flesh.”

Boydell turned, awkward in his tiny kitchen space.

“You too, Li.”  His dark eyes lightened, almost unperceivably.  He burrowed his face in her hair, muffling his words.  “It’s good to be around family again.”  She barely heard his murmur.  "I've missed that."







Word Count: 2234

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