Personal Log 121: 25th April - 1st May, 3302
18 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
25th April - 1st May, 3302 It was impossible for me to feel anything but happiness now. A weight seemed to have been lifted from my shoulders. In the cockpit of The Last Thing, I scanned the bulletin board for jobs with refreshed enthusiasm. My energy was boundless, which was just as well, judging by the amount of work I got through in one day. deliveries of meat, liquor, tea, hydrogen fuel, fruit, coffee and biowaste took me to Wolf 359, Groombridge 1618, Duamta, Procyon amd Deneb Algedi, passing through another fifteen or so systems on the way.
I was interdicted several times; a Cobra III unwisely chose to ram me, reducing his shields to zero in the process. My lasers finished him off. Then a Cobra IV, later followed by an Imperial Courier and an Eagle. I dealt with them all comfortably, though the bounties amounted to only 35,000CR all together. The astrocartography I had gathered fetched another 67,000CR, and the payments from the various courier jobs netted me 230,000CR. The Gracious Lady Gaia was certainly smiling on me!
As I was checking the boards at Abraham Lincoln for the next job, my comms panel beeped an incoming message. It was from my father, my real father, Edward Harvard!
"Hello, Jemine," began the message. "I have something I'd like you to see. Can you come to meet me in Turir?"
My curiosity was piqued, and I went to our room to show the message to Sam. He was laid up in bed, distinctly unwell, and was in no fit state to go with me to Turir.
"It's sweet of you to want to come with me," I told him, "but I'd much rather you stayed in bed to get rid of that shocking bug you've picked up. Get plenty of rest and take lots of liquid. I'll see you soon, my darling."
The trip to Turir meant venturing deep into Imperial space, which made me rather uneasy. When I reached Brooks Terminal it was the middle of the night, local time, so I decided to leave contacting my father until the next day. I messaged Sam to tell him I'd arrived safely.
"High hoop, Sam!" I said over the k-cast link. "It feels awfully strange being in Imperial space again. I'm going to look terribly conspicuous tomorrow, wearing my Federation-style clothes."
My dataslate told me that the system was ruled by Turir Patron's Principles, which was enjoying a boom state with massive influence. Turir itself, a K-class yellow star 100LY from Sol, was the centre of a system supporting a population of over 19 million people, under the overall control of Denton Patreus. I felt a long way from home.
*****
When I called on father at his jewellery shop early the next day, he greeted me warmly with a big hug.
"Jemine!" he said. "I'm really glad you came. I have something to show you. Come through."
After locking the door of the shop, my father ushered me into the back room in which was a compact storage area and workshop. Jewels, gems and gold glittered everywhere.
Father took a small package out of a drawer. "I'd like your opinion on what's in here," he said.
Inside the package was a small box, and inside the small box was a diamond ring.
"Oh!" I said, "It's absolutely gorgeous!"
My father nodded. He could see I was puzzled. "Jemine, I've... well, I've met someone! She's the most wonderful woman in the galaxy, and I love her. I want to ask her to marry me. And... and I'd like your blessing. It would mean a great deal to me."
Of course I gave it in a heartbeat. Then we hugged each other, shedding a few tears of happiness.
"Her name is Diadem Palama," he told me. "I'd be delighted if you could stay to meet her. That's why I asked you to come. Perhaps a meal? We have a favourite restaurant here, 'The Paragon Princess'. Very swanky. You, er... might need to buy some new clothes. Ahem!"
And so, just a few hours later, I was doing something I never thought I would; I was wearing an Imperial dress, sitting in an Imperial restaurant, eating Imperial food and drinking Imperial wine. And meeting my future step-mother...?
Diadem wasn't quite what I expected! For a start, she was only a few years older than me. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd have said she was about 35.
She was quite tall and slim, with dark-brown skin, and masses of jet-black frizzy hair. She wore lots of gold jewellery, including dangly hoopy earrings and several bracelets on each wrist. Her makeup was immaculate, and her taste in clothes was typically Imperial in its ostentatiousness.
She was, however, very pleasant to talk to, and the two of us got on really well. And she seemed to be genuinely in love with my father. It was easy to see why he'd fallen for her. She had certain obvious charms which I was sure Sam would have appreciated!
They had met in father's jewellery shop, in early March. Diadem had taken in a bracelet to be mended, and they got chatting. They quickly found that, despite the fifty-year age difference, they had a lot in common, and started seeing each other regularly. Father said he was too embarrassed to tell me about Diadem in his k-cast messages.
After the meal (which was lovely, if a little spicy), father escorted Diadem back to her rooms on the station.
"Well?" he said later, as we sat in his own rooms behind the jewellery shop. "What do you think of her?"
I told him that I thought Diadem was a very beautiful woman, and that I hoped they would be very happy together.
"Thank you," he said, with moistening eyes. "That means a lot. I'm going to propose to her on the 30th, her birthday. Wish me luck!"
I remained on Brookes Terminal for the rest of the week, even growing a little more accustomed to Imperial life and manners. I learned something of their class system, though the idea of patrons and senators was still completely foreign to me. I had to admit one thing, though; everything about the Empire was glamorous, glorious, and aesthetically beautiful. Even the slaves were well dressed. I began to feel an ever so slight touch of envy.
*****
Father couldn't wait to tell me the good news on May 1st. Diadem had accepted his proposal of marriage. She had seemed surprised, he said, but very happy. The wedding would probably take place later in the year. Father said that he and Diadem had decided to go exploring first, just as soon as he had done some work on his Adder.
"You will come to the wedding, won't you?" he asked me. I smiled.
"Try and stop me!" I replied.
After spending several days in Empire space, it was nice to be home at Beta Hydri again. I had brought the Imperial clothes back with me, and put them into storage. Just in case I ever needed them again.
During the return trip I had received two friend requests. The first was from a commander Boneyard. We had crossed Arangorii at the same time and had exchanged a few words of greeting.
The second request was from Divorahk Tarin. I remembered seeing his face on a screen in the New Albion Women's Prison, when I had been checking my Pilot's Federation social media account. I also recalled the caustic comments I had received from the prison bully, Roxanne Kelly.
"Now, ain't he a looker?" she had said, adding, "You better forget any ideas of letting him into your pants. He ain't gonna be interested in a jailbird like you!"
I shrugged off the recollection, and tapped the 'accept friend' button for both requests.