When Worlds Collide

Posted on Sat Oct 11th, 2014 @ 4:54am by Lieutenant Colonel Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan

2,702 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Mission 86 - Discovery
Location: Siaxx's Quaters - Starbase 400

"When Worlds Collide"

Major Jillian "Phoenix" Sullivan
Lieutenant Siaxx Dvald
Rachael Yamaguchi
Aryssa Sullivan
Blake Sullivan
Dorothy Sullivan

Halo 3 Soundtrack: Wake me when you need me.

***** Siaxx's Quarters *****

Rachael Yamaguchi was wearing something similar to what her mother would wear to a friends place for dinner as she had been approached by Siaxx and the Bolian had invited her to dine this evening with Phoenix and her family, feeling some trepidation, she had accepted and now a few hours later, here she was wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a grey sweatshirt as she approached Siaxx's quarters.

She knew the Major by reputation and they said she was lean and very mean to everyone within range so it was somewhat intimidating to actually spend time with her.

She paused just outside the door to Siaxx's quarters as she could already smell the food being cooked within.

Meanwhile inside the Quarters was Siaxx who was busy humming a tune she had been listening to earlier that day as she was finishing the last touches on the food they were having as the door beeped.

"Its Open!" Siaxx called, and obediently the door opened and in came Rachael Yamaguchi. "Hey Siaxx... am I late?"

"No. you're early... come on in."

Rachael moved into Siaxx's quarters. "Do you need any help?"

"Sure... would you mind setting the table for me please.... the others should be along shortly."

"Remember... Be nice," Dorothy told Phoenix, more than Aryssa. "You don't have to scare every kid you come across."

"She's a telepath," Phoenix reminded the family as they stopped at Siaxx's door.

"She's a kid," Blake countered, even though he too was against their kind.

All were in comfortable clothes, though Aryssa looked like she had just gotten out of the dryer's tumble cycle with the wrinkled look she had.

"So was I when I made my first kill... Don' make her innocent," Phoenix countered as she began to fold her arms in front of her.

"She aint that bad, Sis." Aryssa had fierce eyes as she looked up at Phoenix. "Just chill an' she wont bother ya."

Skeptic as ever, Phoenix hit the chime nonetheless.

Siaxx smiled. "Its Open!" she called out as Rachael placed cutlery on the table as she raised an eyebrow as she regarded the new arrivals.

"Mom insisted on grillin' us," Aryssa began with a roll of her eyes. "What's up Rache?" the teen greeted as the adults came in after her.

"Oh not a heck of a lot." Rachael responded with a smile. "Quite a crowd." she added as she finished setting the table.

"Oh that's my mom Dorothy, my dad Blake. An' Jill you already know," Aryssa spoke easily enough as she pointed to each in turn.

"Dinner smells good, Goddess," Phoenix opened as she seated her folks in the lounge area until the table was ready.

"Anything new this time, Siaxx Dear?" Dorothy asked with eagerness, despite her gaunt-looking face.

Rachael smiled as she greeted the newcomers. "Hi, I'm pleased to meet you." she explained to Blake as she smiled at Dorothy. "Its good to meet you guys, Aryssa never speaks of anything outside of school." she admitted. "and well... Jill and I met.... at a wedding party " she paused only a moment. "which is a story for another time." she added.

Siaxx smiled as she chuckled softly. "Nice save Rachael." she commented as she turned to Phoenix. "I wasn't sure of what to make so I went with Bolian style Lasagna with extra meat and cheese." she paused. "Its as close to the human recipe that I could get except Bolian's tend to favor stronger spices in their cooking.... so it might be a tad stronger then you're used to."

"So I am told you are dating an older boy?" Blake asked Rachael. "One close to Aryssa's age."

Rachael nodded. "Indeed... his name is Paul." she then smiled as she clearly was happy with talking about him. "I met him almost by accident... I was having lunch and he came over and introduced himself..."

"Aryssa tells us you want to go to the Academy," Dorothy smiled back at the young girl. "How do you manage a boy and school work at the same time?"

"Very carefully." Rachael smiled at the older woman. "Paul is also heading off to the academy..." she then paused. "he's waiting to hear back from the application review board and he's fighting with his classes..."

Dorothy nodded in approval to that, but it was Phoenix that asked, "And where are you with your pre academy courses?"

"At present I'm still sorting those out... I was looking at the starfighter courses that are being set up on base but I've not gotten a chance to look into it yet, I was going to do that tomorrow.... " she paused. "I don't think the simulations properly simulate the gravitational effects of a neutron star.." she paused. "I tried a patrol around neutron star One Alpha Seven Quebec." as Rachael again paused.

Siaxx raised an eyebrow. "Rachael.. you once told me you could hear the star almost... sing to you."

"Yes.." Rachael admitted as she nodded softly. "I know it had something to do with the gravimetric field from the Pulsar warping local space time.." she sighed. "now you think I'm crazy."

"Nah. But Space is often hard to simulate because of the orbital drift patterns. That is why pilots are not trained to rely on a computer, but their own math when navigatin'," Phoenix explained. "Still... Starfighters aint like fightin' anythin' else. Ya gotta fly on nerve and heart, knowin' you may never make it ta retirement."

"My father introduced me to flying several years ago... I've been using an old training program for flight training...and I generaly hit what I shoot at.." she commented

Siaxx listened with interest as she placed all of the food around the table as she listened to the teenager speak about something she clearly greatly enjoyed. "life is meant to be relished and enjoyed... death comes to us all at some point." she shrugged. "if I die then I want my family and friends to celebrate the fact that I was around long enough to give a damn and do something worthwhile, not mourn my death."

"That's how Irish folk mourn," Aryssa confirmed.

"Flying to me.... its like nothing else.... the trouble is... I don't know where to go or who to see for the information on your program."

"You can always ask me," Phoenix shrugged as if it was obvious. "What simulator programs you do?"

"Uhh." she rattled off a string of letters and numbers which indicated the program was at least four years out of date. "I fly Peregrines... and Valkyries but that's about all.... these newer fighters came out after the program was in use aboard the Courageous."

"I'll have to go back through the holodeck program data and upload your scores then," Phoenix spoke, impressed. "How many hours you got?"

Siaxx interrupted. "Guys... dinner's ready.." she looked at Rachael. "you were saying?"

The teenager nodded. "Thank you aunt Siaxx." she said with a smile. "I have about fourteen hundred hours in peregrines and another four hundred in Valkyries... though I'm sure the Valkyrie presently in service is a newer model then the one I'm used to flying."

"It is largely different in speed and manoverability," Phoenix confirmed, for she still flew them.

Siaxx raised an eyebrow as she regarded Rachael, it wasn't often she saw the teenager emerge out of her shell so to speak and speak as if she were speaking to an equal rather then a teenager to an adult, a possible trainee to a combat veteran. "Rachael... do you think you could fly the real thing?"

To her credit, the teen did not hesitate. "Yes.. I do."

"So tell me about this neutron star," Phoenix prodded with interest.

"Guys... come sit at the table and dig in... hopefully nobody has an allergic reactions... " Siaxx commented with a smile as she pulled out a chair for Phoenix.

Moments later, once everyone was seated, she began dishing out food. "Rachael you tell this story better then I do.... considering your mom almost killed me for it.."

Rachael nodded her head. "Well... I was on my way back from the Starbase 45 but since the USS Courageous was on assignment, she couldn't come collect me so I was forced to take public transport to meet with a shuttle from the Courageous which Dad had sent to meet up with the transport." she paused a moment. "The transports pilot got his math wrong on the destination solution for his warp drive and we ended up coming out of warp near the mass shadow of this pulsar."

Rachael paused. "The effects managed to do some damage to our warp drive so we were in effect floating above the Neutron Star.... I looked out the viewport as honestly had no idea of what it was.... but I could hear it screaming at me..." she sighed. "blinding, searing... I never felt pain like that.."

"Space Sirens," Phoenix nodded. "Mostly telepaths feels it, but it's been known that non-telepaths have occasionally felt that too."

Rachael regarded the Major as she looked surprised. "So... that's the term for them..." she paused. "I thought I was alone in how that felt..."

"It's a call a death to most pilots... Once you hear it, it means you're too close to the gravimetric field. Wicked hard to pull out," Phoenix explained. "...And you pulled out of that?"

"Only twice in training... and I did it ten times.... the last eight times were deliberate." Rachael paused. "I could feel... the stars rage, if you want to...." she stopped as she regarded the Major. "the screaming from the star was.... incredible each time.... and the last time... I could feel its grip...." as she looked at the Major. "Have you....ever faced something ... like that?" she seemed really nervous suddenly.

Phoenix was impassive outwardly as she thought on that. Sentient life? No. But Rage was something she felt on a daily basis. The exchange of hormones through sex was really the only release she got from her anger. And... well... She was still rather angry with Siaxx from the night before and decided she was too hurt to join Siaxx.

It was rare that Phoenix went back to her own quarters too. Try as she might to harness that feeling of betrayal from Siaxx talking to who-knows-how-many folks about their issues?

The older pilot shook her head in understanding Rachael. "Often, yes."

Rachael nodded. "Last time I tried... I couldn't pull out... I thought I could but... the neutron star tore my fighter apart..." she paused as she lifted her knife and fork. "This... looks great." she commented.

"Trick is to know where the gravity field bows. If ya wanna break free, almost always, you go all-in with as much power to the engines and punch the warp drive the moment you hit that spot on the bow," Phoenix explained, using the salt shaker on the table as the example, for going around the plate. "Shoots past it... Only problem is, you might bust the main engines once you're clear. Inertia is your friend in cases like that though."

Racheal nodded. "I'll try it in the sim tonight... see if I can't break out of a gravity well... if it works on a neutron star, I can use it anywhere." she explained, clearly she loved the subject.

Siaxx smiled as she looked around the table, expecting Dorothy and Blake to want time talking to Rachael as well as she ate a bite of her food.

"So what do you do when you aren't studying, or dating?" Dorothy asked politely.

"I help Tressa Brislan with babysitting her two kids." she admitted. "I also walk Earl the Tiger on a nightly basis.." Rachael then smiled. "Yes he's a fully grown tiger..." she paused. "other times I train with mom who's teaching me various martial arts... she expects me to be able to kick her ass before I go to the academy."

"Well I'm glad you got some goals," Dorothy spoke with relief. "Good head on your shoulders, Miss Rachael."

"Thank you... but I honestly have no choice." she sighed softly. "Its because of my abilities and I'll show you why." she turned her gaze to a nearby object which out of nowhere moved and then slid across the room in silence to her hand., it was a simple knickknack of Siaxx's that she had picked up from some planet she had forgotten about.

Siaxx had seen Rachael do this before many times and every time, it never ceased to amaze her. "Rachael... do you use your abilities for fighting?"

Rachael had not expected the question. "Oh god no. if I'm in a fight.. then I'm going to keep the playing field level, he or she is in it to mash my face in... least I can do is give them a worthy enemy instead of mashing them into walls, floors and doors.."

"That's... a bit creepy," Aryssa shivered, and made a note not to piss the girl off.

"I know." Rachael commented. "You should see my siblings fight... they throw things at each other..." she smiled. "it gets... ugly."

"Jill an' I don' fight like that. We just yell a lot," Aryssa spoke oddly thankfully.

"Hey if it works.." Rachael smiled at the larger woman. "Beth and Gabriel seldom fight... I can't recall the last time someone in my family had a serious issue with another member of the family, even cousins, aunts and uncles..." she paused. "Beth is a formidable telepath... she could blend into a crowd and make everyone think she's disappeared where as Gabriel will just pick up something and throw it at his target..." she explained. "in my branch of the family... Responsibility and Respect were hammered into us at a young age." she paused as she looked at Phoenix. "Watching my mom loose it several years ago was a frightening sight.... she demolished our quarters.... quite literally."

"Mastering one's rage aint easy to do," Phoenix both answered and evaded.

"I know..." Rachael answered. "I've known people who've fought with it for years...." she raised an eyebrow.

"Are you prying?" Phoenix asked gently with the girl's visual reaction.

"I'm a telepath but... I'm not very strong..." Rachael admitted. "I don't want to pry but...I can't help but be curious."

"Humans like to think our thoughts and feelin's are personal," Phoenix pointed out as nicely as she could to Racheal. Though in all reality, it only added to the anger she was suppressin'. "Best ta play dumb on stuff ya pick up from us, rather than ask personal stuff like that out in the open with others 'round."

Rachael regarded Phoenix as a Volcano that was ready to explode rather then a person, the look on her face said as much. "A good idea." she answered quietly, lest the wrong response detonated this Volcano in human form.

"Stop scaring the girl," Dorothy chided, then smacked Phoenix's arm like most disappointed moms did with rowdy children. "Well I like you, Miss Rachael and I hope you turn out to be a good influence on both my daughters."

"She aint my school buddy," Phoenix countered as she rubbed her sore arm.

"True. But she is Aryssa's and it's always a good thing to get to know your sister's friends, long before they ask for a weekend off-station unchaperoned or some other crazy idea that might come our way," Dorothy explained with a huge grin.

"I don' see myself gettin' in on something that stupid," Aryssa countered.

Rachael raised an eyebrow as she regarded the Major, much the same as her mother would regard an unruly subject she was dealing with. "Major... I'm considered one of the more laid back people in that entire school. There are others far worse.." she looked at Aryssa. "Tell her."

"She beat up a guy that wa bullin' us," Aryssa explained.

"If Mom approves then I'm good," Phoenix shrugged, giving in.

Rachael nodded her head. "Fair enough." she answered.

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