Expectations
04 May 2020Belexticus
4th June 3306"Life is full of expectations. Expectations of what we can achieve and of what we ought to achieve, what we should and shouldn't do, or what is right and what is wrong. Is it not unusual that most of the expectations that devolve upon ourselves are made by other people? My mother always expected me to enter high society, mixing with the powerful peoples of the Empire and batting my eyelids as an ingenue, hoping to catch the gaze of a rich son of a Senator. Society expects us to outwardly show our wealth by adorning ourselves like Capitoline peacocks with fire opals with the added fear that anyone who has one credit more than you is somehow superior.
"I was always more like my father; academic, stoic, purposeful. He never placed any expectations upon me, save only for two instructions; to listen to the universe and to do the right, even if difficult, thing. And what expectations did I place upon myself? I wanted to learn, to achieve and I wanted to gain some recognition, not for show but to know I had done my best. I find it difficult to explain how obsessional I can become over things that appear to others as trivial, pointless, monotonous or solitary, but it is often these activities I derive most pleasure from. Right now, I'm getting this.
"I've been working for the Artemis Corporation for months now and I'm still trying to piece together how I ended up here. But it's funny; with dreams of scientific greatness and life as an academic, I find a quiet contentment and strange satisfaction in hauling freight from system to system, and in engaging in combat with the company's rivals. I've taken a job with the Hermes Squadron and I'm guilty of giving in to my own preconceived expectations. I expected to be met by a bunch of lowlife mercenaries and disorganised space-truckers who would treat me as an outsider. Instead, I have been welcomed into the fold. I've always struggled with socialising but for the first time in my life, I feel comfortable. Working together for the common good in helping Artemis Corporation grow and develop has given me more fulfilment than I could have ever hoped. The work has a strange dichotomy; it's a lonesome task out there, lugging this huge freighter along the shipping lanes and yet I never feel far away from a friendly message over comms or some welcome support from my wingmen. The Corporation's motto is "Stand Together". I'm inclined to agree with that.
"I expect Father would have laughed if he could see me in my Remlok suit. But then again, I've learned to expect the unexpected."
~ Belexticus