It's always good to see some short character pieces... and you've inspired me to do one of my own in reply. Since your story appears to be complete, and mine is a reply to part of yours, I trust you don't mind me piggy-backing on your post. This one's set in February 2024, a few months after yours.
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Quote:Everyone aboard Ultima was short on sleep - at least, the people who needed sleep were short on it. And the people who didn't were just as anxious and concerned as the others.--
Noah Scott was aboard.
Everyone knew that he wanted to watch Eyrie fly past Ultima on its one-way trip to Zeta Tucanae, but nobody expected him to stay after the event - especially not for an entire week. And he wasn't saying why he was ignoring his responsibilities as the president of Stellvia Corporation.
And now he was at the door of the Security Chief's office. "Thank you for showing me the way, Mr. Landvik. I think I can make my way back to the hotel once I've finished my business here."
"That's quite all right, Mr. Scott. I was due to report to the security desk next door anyway. If you'll excuse me ...?"
Noah nodded. "Don't let me keep you from your job." As the young security specialist started his work day, Noah turned to the door in front of him and reached for the doorbell - but the door opened before he could press the button.
"Come in, please." The office's occupant almost made his request sound like an order.
Noah did so, silently approving of the tone of the invitation, and settled into the guest chair. "I trust I'm not distracting you from anything more important, Mr. Ikari."
Shinji shook his head. "With you aboard the station, I have nothing more important to worry about."
Noah sighed. "Shinji, you will always have something more important that work to worry about."
"Sir?"
"I know that my granddaughter has no desire to ever get married, but that doesn't mean you aren't her partner anyway. Family comes first, Shinji. Never forget that."
Shinji blinked in surprise. "From what I've heard of your conversations with the other section chiefs over the week, I wasn't expecting you to say anything like that."
"So, everyone thinks I'm conducting a surprise inspection?" Noah smiled at Shinji's nod. "Good. If anyone asks, we discussed how things were going in Security. And just so that isn't a lie, are you having any problems in your section?"
"Nothing that we can't solve with a couple of days' of thinking about them, sir."
"Perhaps I could be of some assistance. What issues are you having?"
"Well... Stigr Landvik says he misses the thrill of racing across the Lunar landscape."
"Has he tried asteroid racing? There's enough clutter out her in the Kuiper Belt that we could put together a decent course. And if we did that, we could promote it as a new stop on the circuit, increasing business at the hotel."
"We never thought of that, sir. But that isn't something Security should be in charge of." He thought for a moment, wondering whether this was another test. "Is it?"
"You're right; this is something that would affect the entire station, so Miyuri would need to take charge of it. But it's part of your job to suggest ideas like this at staff meetings."
"It isn't something that affects Security, though."
"Isn't it? An unhappy security guard is a potential problem - better to spend some money and keep people happy. Better still to spend that money in a way that makes more money."
Shinji thought about that for a moment. "I'm beginning to understand why the VVS doesn't like you, sir."
"Meh. We do the same sort of things, just in different ways."
Shinji very carefully did not reply to that - he wasn't sure whether he even understood what Noah was saying. But he made a note to talk with Yuu and Miyuri about the comment, later.
"Now," Noah went on, "I want to talk to you about why I'm really here. You have every right to know, and you're the best person to ask about it."
Shinji didn't expect Noah to say that. "I do? I mean, I am? Why?"
"Because you're Yuu's partner."
"You've been here for a week, ignoring the rest of the company, because you're worried about Yuu?"
"I already told you - family comes first. Besides, I've been using Halcyon to stay in touch with the head office, and Yayoi's become a very good Vice-President over the last few years. Which is part of the problem, actually."
That left Shinji completely confused. "How is Ms. Fujisawa becoming a good vice-president a problem?"
"It isn't. Neither is Kohran becoming a scriptwriter as well as an actress and explosives specialist, or Miyuri becoming a station administrator as well as an astronomer and traffic-controller, or you yourself taking an interest in fast cars. But Yuu ..."
"What about Yuu?"
"You know Yuu better than anyone else. Do you know the story she came from?"
"No. We agreed that we wouldn't watch each other's shows."
"The fictional Inagawa-san was a college student who was preparing to take over her family's country inn, who drew doujinshi as a hobby. Our Yuu presents herself as a college-aged girl, she's just started running her family's country inn, and she draws doujinshi as a hobby."
Shinji thought about that for a moment. "You're worried that she's not trying to become more than her template."
"Exactly."
"She doesn't want to change. She's worried that she might ... well, she told me about the first Cosmic Party."
Noah groaned. "Damn. I was afraid of that." They were both quiet for a moment. "Shinji, I need your help. Yuu's a good kid, but if she refuses to grow, she'll remain a child forever. I'm not saying she needs to make a complete break with her past and redesign herself, the way Sora did. That's too big a change." Shinji noticed the disapproval in Noah's voice, but said nothing; that was a part of the StellviaCorp inner circle that he wanted no part of. "But she needs to grow, and I need you to help her grow."
"And if she doesn't want to grow?"
"Then she leaves herself open to Agatha using her again."
Shinji thought carefully for a long moment ... then decided to take the chance. "Sir, with all due respect, that's bullshit. Yuu is happy and well-adjusted. She and Miyuri have both told me that A.C. Peters got all the overrides out of her programming. And Yuu doesn't like Ms. Clay - as far as Yuu's concerned, she's the same as any other child who was put up for adoption by a parent who didn't care about her."
It was Noah's turn to blink in surprise. "Oh."
"And that's part of why she doesn't want to form any strong relationships, too. She doesn't want to do to somebody else what Ms. Clay did to her."
"Yuu couldn't do that, not without ... Oh. I see."
"And she may be your granddaughter, but that doesn't give you any right to dictate her life. Sir."
Noah winced at Shinji's words. "Of course you're right, Shinji. But Stellvia takes care of our own ..."
He'd come this far. He mustn't run away from the truth. "You can take care of her best by not forcing her down a path she shouldn't take. Yuu is happy doing what she's doing now."
"But she could be so much more."
"And she could be so much less. Don't push her away from us... from you."
Noah smiled. "You were right the first time, Shinji. You're part of the family, even if you're never invited to the shareholders' meetings. We're going to have to do something about that, by the way."
Before Noah could continue, Shinji quickly said, "I'd prefer to earn the money to buy a share, sir."
Noah nodded. "All right. I understand that. But even I had some seed capital when I started Stellvia Trading. What do you have to build your fortune upon?"
Shinji knew exactly how to answer that question. "I have my family, sir."
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012