[Book Four] Chapter 28: A snag in the family dynamics

Chapter 28: A snag in the family dynamics

“We got a message from the Milky Way.” Traynor said to Rick as he was reading the results of his experiments on the nanomachines from a datapad in his hands.
“What do they want?” he replied, looking at her.
“To tell us that the Mass Relay to Andromeda is operational and that in a month a ship will arrive. Councilor Tevos will be on board.”
“Gorgeous? Now that’s interesting. They wished to get more involved with diplomacy, regarding the Jardaan. Were there any instructions? Like not tell the Jardaan that she was coming?”
“Actually, yes. She wished to familiarize herself with Andromeda and them before a diplomatic meeting.”

"Noted. Anything else?"

"Depends, do you have half an hour or not?" She answered with a chess board in her hands.

"I do. Come on, sit down. Time to own up to my promise."

"After twenty three years it’s more than time. In fact I should ask for interest and get a few more wins."

"Ha! Not going to happen! Would a bit of advice on how to play chess be enough?"

"Shoot."

"How many chess pieces does a game have?"

"Thirty two, sixteen for each player."

"That’s where you’re wrong. Chess has thirty four pieces, seventeen on each side. A guess at what the seventeenth piece is?"

"...The players?"

"Correct. Players have a personality, from that personality the way they play is influenced. You know your opponent's personality, you know what kind of strategy or moves they are going to make. Exemple, you are a sneaky one, if you make a bold move it means you’re ready to hit hard with something else that your opponent didn’t see coming. That you’re careful in placing your pieces first before attacking."

"...I see."

"Chess is a game, games are made to have fun. Players won’t go with a strategy that they don’t like most of the time because it wouldn’t be fun for them. From that it’s easy to reduce the possibilities of a move. Of course it’s not science and doesn’t work 100% of the time because some players are aware of their habits and correct them but it can be enough.”
“Is that why you’re not playing against EDI anymore? Because you can’t read her.”
“No, because she can read me and she can calculate my succession of moves farther than I can do hers. We’ve moved on to actual strategy games long ago because of the random factor. Way more fun and equitable. Though we haven't played since her servers’ upgrade, I’m pretty sure she would trash me without even trying.”
“I would.” EDI said in his head thanks to the nanomachines.

“Since I can’t not read you, I have a one second and a half limit for all my moves and I won’t go further than reading 10 moves ahead. Good enough?”
“How many do you usually read?”
“I don’t know, never bothered to count. EDI was the only one who pushed me farther than ever and I was way too busy not getting lost in my head. Now, are you ready to get that win or not?”
“You’re going down this time!”
“That’s the spirit.”

____________________________________________________________

Forty five minutes later and the crew could witness Traynor celebrating at the bar. It was a close call but she had won and for the occasion Rick had opened a century old bottle of Champagne. The old Samantha would have balked at that since it wouldn't have been cheap, but the Samantha in her early forties couldn’t care less. She even took a commemorative picture that she intended to frame and that Rick promised to sign.

As lunch was approaching he went back to his family’s quarters to have dinner with everyone present. It was a bit of a tradition, to at least have lunch twice a week all together. It was the occasion to catch up with what was going on in each other's life, especially the ones who were not always on the Cassiopeia. It was a pleasant experience and family time and no one ever missed it except if there was an emergency. Not even JJ, TK, AJ and Leeha, who were all dating, missed the occasion for their girlfriends or boyfriends. It was like an unwritten rule or law and it was fine with everyone. Everything was going as usual until dessert when Siobhan went to the kitchen and came back with a small cake with a candle lit on it, a smile on her cute nine years old face.

“Happy birthday, dad!”

The reaction was instantaneous. Silence fell at the dining table and you could hear a pin drop. The children were confused as never did the family celebrate their father’s birthday; it didn’t even register to them and only now did they realize it. The adults were shocked frozen, except Arianna who was choking on the water she had been drinking. They all looked at Rick waiting for his reaction.

“...Thank you Schoobie-doo.” he said with a genuine smile and blew the candle.
“Dad! You didn’t make any wish!”
“I already have everything I possibly can, so it’s wasted on me. Why don’t you take it?”
“But… It’s your birthday! I can’t have your wish.”
“Then I wish for you to have my wish.”
“That’s not fair!”

Rick chuckled good naturedly but anyone who knew him well was under no illusion of how he was feeling right now.

“Now that I think about it, we never celebrated your birthday, dad.” JJ said.
“JJ!” exclaimed his mother.

“I always forget about it and because your mothers, aunts and grandmothers got tired of finding some gift for me. Just like I don’t need any wishes,I don’t need any gifts either. You’re all more than I could possibly hope to be happy.”
“You don’t want my gift then?” replied a sad Siobhan who was holding a thin small wrapped something.
“Of course I want it.”

He took the box delicately from her hands  and delicately unwrapped it. Inside was a small painting of him with Siobhan on his shoulder smiling stupidly. It wasn’t a masterpiece but it was definitely good enough to easily recognize who was in the painting and where.

“That’s beautiful. Did you make it?”
“HmmHmm.” the little girl replied, proud of herself.

“That’s amazing.” he replied as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “ Come, let’s find a good frame for it and somewhere to put it so I can see it often.” he added as he took her hand in his and led her away.

The silence was very heavy still in the dining room and it was too much for TK.

“Okay. What just happened? Why isn’t dad celebrating his birthday? That’s like, the best day of the year for everyone.”
“Yeah! And I don’t believe for a minute the reasons he told us.” AJ added in support.
“Your father… didn’t lie one bit.” said Ashley.
“I know dad can be scatterbrained sometimes but forgetting his own birthday? I find that hard to believe.” thought aloud Leeha.

The adults were disconcerted and didn’t know what to do or what to say until Arianna spoke up.

“It’s alright, I’ll tell them.”
“Arianna…”
“Mom, I was Matt’s age when I found out.”
“You never should have found out in the first place.”
“Well, I did and here we are.”
“Something bad happened, didn't it?” inquired Matthew, though he was almost certain.
“Yes. Daddy… lost his pregnant wife on his birthday.” revealed the eldest of the brood shocking out of their minds her siblings.
“““““What?!”””””
“What do you mean by pregnant wife? Wasn’t dad always married to mom?” asked JJ in confusion, the possibility of his mother not being married to his father was inconceivable.
“No. I’m his second wife. In fact it was his first wife that introduced me to your father in the first place. They were married very young. Well… your father at least, he was twenty one. I married him a few years later when he was 29.”
“Holy…”
“Language!” Arianna corrected AJ.
“What happened?” questioned Leeha.

“Eden Prime was attacked and… she was killed.” answered a saddened Ashley.

“Do we… Do we have one or more older…”
“No.” was the cut and dry answer JJ got from his eldest sister.

“Siobhan really ffff… up didn’t she?” said TK.
“I don’t think she did. She’s nine and it was more than twenty five years ago.” Liara replied.
“And yet he’s still not celebrating his birthday.” remarked AJ.
“That’s because… There is a lot more to what happened that day. No, we will not tell you. It’s your father’s private life. From a time none of you were even born. Please respect that.”
“Mom, there is always…”
“They are too young to watch it, Arianna.”
““Watch what?”” TK and AJ asked in sync.

Jane to her daughter with a look in her eyes saying ‘See what you did?’.

“Look, that’s not an appropriate conversation for a meal so drop it. I’m warning you though, you don’t want to know. I wanted to know, I did my research, I got the answers I was looking for and I wished I didn’t want to know in the first place.”

Her younger siblings relented but she knew they would not heed her warning. If there was one thing all of Rick’s children shared, it was their curiosity.

____________________________________________________________

Rick didn’t breakdown that day but felt quite sullen. He did his best to not show it to his youngest and thankfully at the full height of her nine years old, saw nothing of it. When they came back everyone gave him space but he knew by the look of his children that they had asked questions and did not get all the answers. As he went to bed all his lovers were present for once to offer him comfort. They didn’t talk or do anything; they just had a massive cuddling session.

It took almost two weeks for his mood to pick up but it wasn’t for long as Jane was departing Andromeda back to the Milky Way. Her mission was to catched up to the Andromeda Initiative from their galaxy of origin. Rick wanted to be part of the journey but couldn’t as in a week Tevos would arrive in Andromeda.

Jane wasn’t going alone, she had with her members of every species of Project Eden with the exception of the Geths. It has been decided that since the people of the Andromeda Initiative left before the geths could be seen as non-hostile towards organics they may be hostile themselves towards the synthetics. It was a subject that has been talked about with the Geths, to not make them feel excluded. They all agreed that the logic was sound and that it would be better if none of them would go with Jane.

In the meantime Rick warned the people on Cassiopeia and the colonies about Tevos’ arrival and to prepare some accommodation for her and the crew of her ship. It wouldn’t have any difficulty to dock on Cassiopeia unless she came with a really big ship, like the Destiny Ascension. It was improbable so Rick didn’t pay it any mind more than he already had.

Saying goodbye to Jane, Tali, Liara, Arianna and EDI, he looked on with his children from the command room, the Normandy using Cassiopeia’s Mass Relay. Once done, the children went back to their activities which for all of them was school. They all grumbled to that except Siobhan who had art class that day. It still baffled Dorothea and Rick on how their daughter was an artist when Rick had not much of an artistic sense. He could draw blueprints and schematics but an actual painting representing things was beyond his capabilities. They had been worried at first with Dorothea’s gene passing on to Siobhan, notably her super strength but so far she hasn’t demonstrated any ability that Dorothea’s body possesses. That was fine by them after all, a nine year old with that kind of power was… dangerous. He couldn’t imagine sweet and a bit pampered Siobhan being violent but he knew that children could be rowdy and sometimes emotionally unstable.

Tevos had finally arrived and, defeating Rick’s expectation, with the Destiny Ascension. That wasn’t that big of a deal, the ship could connect and dock onto Cassiopeia thanks to a bridge but it couldn’t enter its ship hangar to dock entirely. Rick gave some instructions and left his lab to join Hannah to the dock where the arriving ship would be. Security was present, discreetly but massively, just in case. It proved unnecessary when Tevos herself was the first to come out of the ship.

“Councilor Tevos, welcome on the Cassiopeia and Andromeda.”
“Admiral, Shepard, Wald. Thank you for receiving me.”
“Gorgeous, looking good as always.”
“Really?” Hannah said in a flat tone, her eyes set on her son.
“I call it as I see it.” he replied to his mother then turned to the asari who had a small amused smile. She never quite understood the relationship between the two but it always amused her how they interacted together. “ How was your journey?”
“Longest in my whole life. Thankfully, we upgraded the Ascension with multiple gyms and no one got crazy. It really does wonder for the mind.”
“Should we give you a tour of the ship or go straight to business?”
“A small tour first would be appreciated, I will live here for the coming months after all.”
“You’re staying that long? Is your seat vacant or do you have someone picking up the slack?” asked Risk, as he made a gesture indicating the woman to follow him.
“I do have someone filling up for me, my potential successor. She’s monitored by the matriarchs of course but it’s a test for her to see if she’s ready.”
“Thinking of retirement?” questioned the redhead.
“Yes. I’ve been a councilor for more than four hundred years. Things are going well for my people and the galaxy as a whole. I think it’s time for me to hand the job to someone else and live my life for me.”
“Nesting?” asked the man and got a nod of affirmation for an answer. “Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
“If you still want to work, we always need more competent and skilled people in the people department. Not as exciting and glamorous as backstabbing political allies and opponents but there is plenty to do.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.”

Security helped Ascension’s crew settle while Hannah and Rick gave a tour of the Cassiopeia to Tevos. She was particularly interested in the big pools available. Apparently the Asari had been an avid swimmer in her youth. A hobby that she rarely had the time to partake in with her job on the Citadel. She was quite pleased with how luxurious her quarters were. Simple but well designed with everything she would ever need.

“The Commander is not on the ship?”
“She left a week ago back to the Milky Way. It’s time for the people of the Andromeda Initiative to be collected and brought back home.” replied Hannah.
“I see.”
“You need her for something?”
“Not particularly, I’m just surprised by her absence. Usually she stays by your side.”
“She doesn’t need to rein me in much anymore. I’m good, I promise.” Rick joked.
“Despite every fiber of my being screaming at me to not take that at face value… I will.”
“You should. There hasn’t been any diplomatic incident, so far and no one ever complained about his leadership despite being independant of the council.”
“Well… I don’t have a war for our survival to plan and prepare for. Nor do I have any economic or political opponents on my way to my goals. Except the human parliament, but they’re like baby Pyjaks squeaking. Lots of sound, not much they can do. What about the Milky Way? What’s happening out there?"

"Same old, same old. Oh! There is one thing new, a Turian billionaire is trying to recreate the Celeste Academy."

"...Really?" Rick replied after a pause with a brow raised.

"Yes. Your company is snatching away the best prospects in most fields thanks to the proximity. He wishes to do the same to break your monopoly on talents."

"And of course to have a monopoly himself. I wonder how he will fail."

"I knew, you wouldn’t be worried."

"Celeste Academy provides the students the best conditions to reach their potential to the fullest. Being able to travel the galaxy to provide many different experiences is reason enough for that. His only choice is to do the same with his school except he won’t be able to make it fly. Not with BLUEs. He’ll be bankrupt before it could lift from the ground."

"So there is a power source for the BLUEs. Many had the inclination to believe that, including me."

"There is. It’s not much of a secret here in Andromeda. The colonies are being powered the same way the Celeste is after all. The manufacturing process is, however and will stay that way."
“I understand.”

With the tour over, Rick brought her and his mother to his office to talk business. Honestly he wanted to do that another day but the Asari, just like Hannah, was all about work first, play later. Things didn’t go as planned for the two women when entering the office they were assaulted by confetti.

“Happy father’s day!” his children shouted.

“““...”””

The room went silent as the adults were unmoving and too shocked by what had just happened.
“I suppose… we could do the briefing in Hannah’s office.” he said to Tevos.
“It’s alright, we can postpone it tomorrow. I’ll be fully rested, which is in fact better and I don't want to intrude on your family time.”
“Who are you?” asked Siobhan as she came in front of the Asari with a pointy celebrating hat on her head.
“Siobhan, I don’t remember teaching you how to greet people like that.”
“Sorry!” she apologized sheepishly.
“That’s Gorgeous, the asari Councilor. She arrived with the Destiny Ascension an hour ago.”
“The big pretty ship?!” exclaimed Leeha with stars in her eyes. She was a ship fanatic just like her mother.
“Wait! Gorgeous?”
“Is she our new Aunt?”
“Or going to be?”
“Can we expect a cute blue baby sister soon? Siobhan is growing up and her cuteness is decreasing!”
“Hey! That’s not true! I’m cute! You take that back!” the little white haired shouted in indignation as ran towards JJ to pummel him with her little fists.
“I’m… not sure of what’s going on.” replied a confused and out of her depth asari.
“Don’t mind my sons’ words.”
“I’m pretty sure I should.”
“Children, I have a short meeting to have so we’ll celebrate later, alright? And no, she’s not your next aunt nor is there any blue baby on the way.”

JJ groaned in disappointment and Siobhan hit him harder. Back outside on the way to Hannah’s office, Tevos was aggressive with her questions and Rick dealt with them in one go.

“Apparently, I’m a ladies magnet.” he replied making his mother snort but kept his explanation going. “I’m married to Rear Admiral Williams as you know but am also the bondmate of other women. We’re just a really big family. Obviously, they don’t all have the same mother so they call each other's mother ‘auntie’ and believe you were their new auntie because well… you’re gorgeous.”
“That’s… unconventional.”
“And exhausting. Between raising the children and satisfying their mothers… Thank god I got used to it when I was in my prime.”
“That’s too much information!”
“You say that now but give it a few months and you won’t have the same speech.”
“I doubt that.”
“I don’t know what will happen but I wouldn’t bet on you for that.” Hannah said with a smirk to Tevos as they entered her office.