Jevor slammed shut the panel he'd opened to record his log entry. "I don't know why I'm defending myself to a damned machine," he swore to himself. "Perhaps I'm preparing for my arrival."
As it was, Jevor did not have long to prepare; within an hour he arrived in the solar system containing his home planet of Andor. He took the shuttle out of warp for in system travel, and engaged full impulse as he hailed Andor space control. "Andor control, this is Commander Jevor entering the system," he said, opening a channel.
"We read you Commander; have a nice trip?" a female voice replied.
"Four days in a cramped shuttle isn't my idea of pleasant, but then again it beats some places I've been," Jevor replied familiarly.
"What is your ETA?"
"I show twenty-seven minutes Control," Jevor responded.
"Advise on entering orbit; you're presently registered to land on pad 23D, main bay," the same voice informed the Bristol's Chief Engineer.
"Acknowledged," Jevor replied, closing the channel. The half hour went by quickly and Jevor found himself piloting his shuttle down to the appropriate pad. He had only brought with him a small bag of personal effects, and this was flung over his shoulder as he exited the craft.
The complex was huge and had been around in various forms for hundreds of years; understandably since Andorians had had the benefit of space travel for quite some time, longer than even that of the Terrans and Vulcans. In traditional Andorian style, the place was an architectural masterpiece; efficient and solid, with all the right aesthetic touches to make a person feel like they had just arrived at a place of importance. The stonework was mixture of hues of gray; the fixtures varied at times wildly in color and design, picking up on carefully chosen lighting schemes, presenting an aura of dazzling images without crossing the line to gaudy.
All of this was familiar to the native Andorian however; Jevor did not pause to admire the surroundings as he made his way down the corridor, eventually passing others as the corridor from his landing pad began to intersect with other corridors and the outer areas. As he exited into a waiting area, he heard familiar shouts which focused his attention on a small cluster of people across the floor; some of his family had turned out to greet him.
As Jevor passed through the throngs of people he smiled at his family; his matrarran, or 'God-mother' in Human terms, was there, along with a brother and two sisters. It was his brother that had been enthusiastically calling out to him, joined now by his older sister. Though both were the children of his matrarran, he felt as close to them as if they'd shared a blood kinship; the feeling was certainly mutual. His matrarran beamed warmly at him, waiting patiently with outstretched arms as Jevor made his way over to them. Jevor's little sister, who was the only one present born of the same parents as Jevor, stood out by barely paying her older brother any attention as he hugged and greeted his family.
"How is my matra?" Jevor asked of his matrarran Elka as he embraced her tightly.
"As expected dear, though she is a strong woman. I understand her loss; what she needs now is time," Elka replied.
A pang of guilt passed through Jevor as he left her embrace and hugged his brother. His siblings, though feeling this loss of a family member, were very happy to see a beloved brother that they had not seen in years. "My brother Garat," Jevor said. "How have you fared? Keeping your sister out of trouble?"
"More like the other way around, I think," the older sister Mina replied with a smile, as she joined the embrace, giving Garat a playful shove.
"Where are the twins?" Jevor inquired, referring to his other two younger brothers, both sons of his matrarran and patrarran.
"They're with your matra and some family friends," Garat told him.
"My favorite younger sister is here though," Jevor said, smiling at his sibling Illiasha.
"Brother," she said simply, not smiling or meeting his eye as she barely embraced Jevor. "It was honorable of you to take the trouble to come back at such a time."
"It wasn't any trouble Illy," he said good-naturedly as he stood back from his sister; the look on her face quickly told him that there was much more trouble behind her innocent remark than he had initially picked up on.
The mood became more somber as Elka touched Jevor on the shoulder, "We should be going. The funeral is soon."
"You mean the funeral hasn't been held yet?" Jevor asked incredulously. "It is custom to hold it within forty-eight hours of death."
"Your matra insisted we wait once she learned you were coming. How she misses you so, Belan," she said to Jevor. Elka took Jevor's hand as the group made their way out of the terminal to their waiting ground transport; a hover car of sorts, running on electricity and used primarily for travel from their home outside of town to the city. Elka and Garat sat in the front, while Mina, Illiasha, and Jevor sat the back. Illiasha was in the middle of the three in the rear seat and immediately proceeded to scoot herself so close to Mina that she was practically in her lap, in her attempt to get away from Jevor.
Jevor regarded his younger sister with an openly pained expression before glancing up and catching his older sister's eye; the daughter of his matrarran clearly felt uncomfortable with a look of worry on her face, but said nothing as she hesitantly put one arm around Illy.
"So, Jevor, you managed to get some time off here, I see?" Elka noted, breaking the moment's uncomfortable silence as she piloted the car toward their destination.
"Yes, matrarran," Jevor replied somewhat eagerly; anything to distract him from Illy's worrisome behavior. "We were experiencing some problems on board ship, but Captain Freeman was kind enough to let me leave anyway."
"How good of you to take time away from your very important job to join us in this hour. You're a real humanitarian," Illy blurted out without looking at Jevor, her voice thick with sarcasm. Jevor made a face.
"He sounds like a good man, your Captain Freeman," Garat inserted, attempting to quickly move past Illy's comment. "You're lucky to have a compassionate commanding officer. I've heard some can be pretty demanding."
"Captain Freeman is just as demanding as anyone else; believe me, if he wants something done, you'll know it, and you'll do it for him by when he needs it," Jevor told him.
Garat turned in his seat and smiled at Jevor, "I could never handle that. It must be awful having people tell you what to do all the time. I prefer to be my own person."
"Good to see adulthood hasn't spoiled your personality," Jevor teased. "You're right about one thing though; my captain is a little more easy going than some captains, though just as disciplined and just as dedicated. His mannerisms, his way of commanding, make him easy to work for though."
"Sounds like it is a much happier place for you than your last posting," Mina added.
"It is, that's for sure," Jevor replied. Silence followed as though his family was leaving the moment open for him to elaborate, but Jevor opted not to seize the opening, and so silence again filled the car like a fog. "So, how is home?" Jevor asked, referring to the large tract of land which had been owned by his family for two dozen generations. His family grew a variety of products, mostly for sale; despite the age of the replicator, many people still continued to ask for 'naturally grown' foods. In a way, a common vegetable had become a sort of luxury item.
Garat turned in his seat to partially face the back of the car, an expression of serious concern on his face. Before he could answer however, Illy sat up in her seat and turned to shoot Jevor a look of pure disgust. "Come on, now," the twelve year old chastised. "You can't be that interested. When was the last time you bothered to see how we were? When our patrarran died, the best you could manage was a note, all text, and I quote, 'Please give my condolences to Elka and the rest. Wish I could be with you. With love, Jevor.' Really, dear brother, that was too touching." Elka and Garat exchanged glances, while Mina covered her face with one hand.
"Illy, that doesn't help, alright?" Mina scolded, squeezing her sister hard on the arm with her free hand. "Belan would have come if he could have."
Undaunted Illy wrenched free and seethed at Jevor before sitting back in her seat and sliding over on to Mina again. Mina made a face and somewhat reluctantly put her arm around her recalcitrant sibling. She patted the angry Illy lightly on the head while Garat went ahead and answered Jevor's original question.
"Things around home are a little difficult these days, Belan. With the passing of our fathers, running the land has become much more tasking. The rest of us aren't familiar with the business angle of it; and once the traditional two weeks of mourning pass, that will become an immediate and pressing issue. One that potentially could cause us serious problems," he explained.
"Now don't you worry about us, Belan, we'll manage just fine. It's not really as bad as all that," Elka inserted, turning to smile quickly at Jevor while patting Garat gently on the shoulder as the latter turned back around in his seat to face front. "Being around those men for as long as your matra and I have, you can be sure we've picked up a few things along the way."
Jevor glanced quickly at his sister Mina; her look indicated that Garat's assessment was indeed the correct version. He sighed, almost inaudibly, and looked out a window for the remainder of the trip.
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