Private The HoloNet: Where Friends are Made from Across the Stars

[Nova Casamyr]

Nova sat alone at her desk in her room. Oasis was parked at a spacedock in orbit around Abregado-Rae. The haul had been another long slog. So many of her jobs had been like that lately. And while she would never admit it, the three astromechs that made up her primary crew only kept her company so well. Several jobs had come and gone since she'd last had Thea and Jerek and BB as well. And her attempts to find other regular crew members had been unsuccessful. She'd always dreamed of her ship being a lively place, full of people and family and noise and conversation and laughter. Lately, space had never felt so empty.

Barefoot, donned in pyjamas, and hair down and mussed in big waves around her shoulders, the Captain was sifting through ad after ad on the HoloNet, hoping to find a crewmate or a new job or... or anything really. Her desk had a terminal set into the countertop, slightly depressed and tilted to make it comfortable to touch, type, and view. A steamy cup of sleepytime, herbal tea rested on the desk next to her.

She didn't realize that she was sighing over and over as her browsing turned up fruitless results. One ad stuck out and piqued her interest. She read the ad over. Then again. Finding an extra sliver of energy, she took a sip of her tea as a holographic keyboard popped into existence just above the plasteel surface of the desk. As the mug hit the desk again, Nova got to typing.

Hi!
Oh my gosh, it's been ages since I've done this.
When I first left home and was all on my own I wrote to my cousin a lot.
Oops, I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.
My name is Nova. I'm a spacer.
I spend a lot of time fixing my family's ship, fixing my droids, and making little gadgets.
My best friends are my three droid companions: Reeve, Blind, and Fifi.
Well, mostly Reeve and Blind. Fifi can be pretty rude.
But she means well.
Ok, she's one of my best friends, too.
Anyway, I think that having someone to write to would be really fun!
Looking forward to hearing back from you,
...Nova...

Reading the little introductory letter over, Nova smiled to herself and hit send.

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras sat at her desk, fiddling with her glasses once again, trying to find ways to improve the shape or preferably, make it so she could where the lens like contacts, though she's still a long way away from that reality. For now though, her latest tinker was almost complete. "One... More... Wire and... There!" She places her glasses on her desk and powered them back up. It looked like the module was working this time, maybe the filter won't catch fire..... Again...

After another few seconds, the filter did in fact catch fire, though she managed to throw her glass of water over it before it could damage the glasses or harm her eyes. "Dad! The filters blown again! Can you get a couple of em this time?" She called down the hall to her father who was just leaving, and he promptly agreed before shutting the door behind him. Ceras turned to her desk and turned the computer on, thankfully it was equipped with the same kind of filter in her glasses so it could be used without them.

The monitor flicked to life as she loaded up the holonet, maybe someone had responded to her request to chat by now. And lo and behold, someone had, by the name of Nova it seems. Despite sending this request out, Ceras became quite nervous as she wondered what kind of conversation the two might have, the excitement rushed over her and she immediately set out to reply as fast as she could.

"Hey Nova! How's life in the stars? I've always wanted to travel off world but my Dad seems to think it's too dangerous, we've never had a droid either so having three of them must be fun! Or atleast I assume it's fun, a little help around the ship can't hurt can it? Sorry I'm prattling a bit. I'm Ceras, and I'm probably the biggest computer nerd you'll ever know of, seeing as I don't get out of the house much it's pretty much the only thing I have to keep myself entertained. Yeah that's it for the introductions..... Uhhmm I can't wait to hear back from you! Love Ceras <3"

She hit send and the message was sent across the galaxy, though she started to wonder if she had come on too strong... Only time will tell now.

Nova Casamyr​

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Nova awoke the next morning. No alarm had been set as she had nowhere immediately to go, no job pending, no people to see. She wasn't really even sure what time it was and didn't bother looking at the chrono. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the spacer captain padded clumsily down to the galley, yawning the whole way. Just based on reflexive memory, she managed to fumble her way through making some caf. She sat and worked her way through her first cup, not really doing much of anything as she let the stimulant do its job.

From down the hallway, she could hear the astromechs chuffing and shuffling and cavorting in the droid bay, where their recharging stations were. They knew better than to try and start up a conversation with her before she'd had at least two cups of caf. As she poured her second, she yanked some bread out of the pantry, a knife out of a drawer, and some bantha butter and goja berry jam out of the fridge. Hands full but slightly more alert, Nova returned to her room and sat at her desk once more.

A warm smile spread on her face seeing a message waiting to be opened. Eagerly, she read through the letter sent by Ceras and set to type a response but was interrupted by her rumbling tummy. Tearing a piece off of the loaf, the bread received butter and jam and was shoved not-gracefully in her face and she went back and forth between typing and eating.

Lovely to make your acquaintance, Ceras!
I love the stars!!
Being able to go wherever whenever in any direction you choose...
It's so free and adventurous!
Well most of the time.
Your Dad is right, it can get pretty dangerous.
From freak accidents to marauders, the list of things that could go wrong is very long.
But no adventure is without risk!

And yes! I love my droids.
They're like family to me.
Reeve and Blind are older than I am, they've been with my family for generations and know the ins and outs of the ship better than anyone else.
Fifi I restored after finding her in a junkheap.
I felt so bad seeing her like that, I just had to do something about it.
Not that she's very thankful!
If anything, she makes fun of me more than anything.
But I know she cares, she just doesn't say so.

That's awesome!
Computers are a ton of fun.
I've never been very good at using them but I definitely have spent a lot of time building them.
A ship is kind of like a giant computer, after all and I think I've rewired the whole thing a few times over!
So are you, like, some super amazing slicer who can dig up dirt on all the holostars out there?
Or do you use your powers for good? Haha.

Sorry if it's too personal but, why don't you get out much?
You don't have to answer that if you don't want.
We all have things that we keep to ourselves.
If it makes you more comfortable, you can ask me anything you want in return!

Anyway, that's all for now!
...Nova...​

Nova grabbed a stylus and drew a bunch of stars all over the script and then hit send. Feeling better about herself than she did yesterday, she got up and went about her daily chores.

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras was sat napping at her desk with all the grace of a proper troll lady, with her head leant back and drool dripping from her lips, as her dad knocked on her door to bring the sleeping girl those filters... And another little treat. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the knocks and hurried to clean herself up, tripping over whatever tools and components she left on the ground after her last tinker. She creaked the door open to let as little light in as possible. Her father handed over the parts and a bag filled with one of Ceras' favorite candies, and in return for the nice gesture, Ceras handed over some of her dirty dishes. An even trade right?

Ceras returned to her desk and set about collecting her things again, ready to tinker once more. until a ping came from her desktop and caused the thing to light up slightly. She looked up to it and noticed a new message from Nova, and set about reading it. She read through it until finally coming to the end and took to replying.

Hey Nova!
So let's just get the big question out of the way with
My eyes are ridiculously sensitive to light, so much so that I live in almost constant darkness
I have a pair of glasses that "filter" the light
Or atleast that's what they say atleast
They actually work by reducing the amount of light entering my retina though because of this certain colours appear as either black or white

As for the computers
I'm not exactly a wizard but I can find a decent amount of stuff out there
I bet I could find a bit about you if given enough time
I built this computer myself so it has a unique signature and I've bounced the signal off world to Coruscant and fed it through every system I could find
In a way it's completely untraceable
Y'know sometimes just for a bit of fun
I hack into some cctv around my neighborhood to see if there's anything fun happening
I'm not really supposed to but I can't help myself sometimes!

I don't know why we've never gotten a droid to be honest
It would certainly help my dad out a bit
Probably keep him company too
If you don't mind
Did you name your droids and if you did then where'd the names come from?

Someday I want to leave my world and go explore the galaxy
I've heard that Naboo is amazing and from the look of what I've seen online it's truly incredible
Have you ever been?

Wow I've just read back through all that, I'm sorry if I prattled on a bit.
Much love <3
Ceras

Nova Casamyr​

 

[Nova Casamyr]

The daily chores went quickly for the first time in awhile. Lately, everything had been a drag to get done. Even things that Nova found fun ended up seeming droll. Having no real prospects, made her ideal future seem further and further away, even though she knew time was ticking ever forward. Just having a little conversation, even at a distance, made all the difference to the freighter captain.

Lunchtime came around and she found her way back to the galley. Fixing herself up a salad with shipgrown, hydroponic greens, and veggies she'd picked up at the spaceport market on the station above Abregado, Nova made back for her bedroom and was elated to find another letter waiting. She devoured her salad as she read through Ceras' words and then typed her own in response.

Hello again, Ceras!
I've never met anyone with that particular condition.
But I have known some nonhuman species with different ocular obstacles.
Miraluka for one, have you heard of them?
They need to use other senses to see anything at all because their entire species is born blind!
The galaxy is full of unique evolutions of life.
That makes you one of those unique people

I wonder. Have you ever been in space?
Light is different up here.
In fact, there's not much natural light at all.
I regularly go through chunks of space that have little or no light at all.
Do you know how your eyes would react up here?

It sounds like you're a wizard to me!
Building a computer? No problem.
Working one? I leave that to my droid friends.
I don't even know how much out there on the HoloNet about me there is to find!
How did you get started with computers?
I've always grown up on a ship so I always just thought that it was natural for me to be curious about how a ship worked.
Now that I'm the Captain, I like to know every component in and out.
Which means taking everything apart, and putting it back together.
And then learning about different models of the same part to better understand how something could be modified and improved.
I always find it odd when someone doesn't have that kind of curiosity at least about some interest.

Droids are definitely very helpful!
They have such a huge range of capabilities, more even than sentients sometimes realize.
And I'm quite certain, having grown up with them, that they feel things no differently than a living, breathing person does.
Reeve was named before I was born.
He's been with my family the longest.
He's always rolling around and saluting me, so adorable!
Blind I apparently named when I was a toddler.
He had another name at first, but no one remembers it.
See, Reeve is an R3 unit and they have a single big eye.
Blind is an R8 and they lack that, even though they can get around just fine without it.
But as a toddler, I was always leading Blind everywhere because I didn't know he could "see" on his own.
And I would call him "Blind Droid."
After a little while he rejected the other names he had stored and only started answering to Blind.
And Fifi is an R5.
I named her too, though maybe a little less originally.
Her designation is R5-F1 and I was a little tired.
5 = Five and F1 looked like 'Fi' so she became Fifi.

I'm talking so much about my family, I haven't asked about yours!
Your Dad sounds like a good guy.
What's his name?
Being a parent is no easy task.
I know I wasn't an easy kid to raise! Haha

I've only ever been to Naboo once and it's been awhile.
My parents were delivering some tiny, aquatic-based amphibian species from a world where they were going extinct to a nursery on Naboo.
But you're right, it's beautiful there.
I definitely hope to go back someday.
These days, Naboo is deep in Confederacy space.
Their borders are mostly closed.
They allow travelers, but the restrictions are high and that makes it difficult for a hard-on-her-luck starship captain like me.
Someday, though, I hope that they will ease up and allow passage freely again.
Then you and I both will be able to visit without issue!

No worries about a long letter.
I could talk all day!
Hope your day is going well!
...Nova...​

She drew some stars on the message again before hitting send. She felt a little like a teenager again, writing a friend from a distance. That thought made her wonder how her cousin was doing. She would have to send Thea a letter too and find out.

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras plugged in her newest component for her desktop, before booting the thing up again and waiting for the parts to kick in. The screen flickered to life and the loading sequence began, she started a timer on her phone ad watched as the seconds passed by until she signed in to the computer and waited again. 12.001 seconds... She was mildly infuriated by the number. But you can't argue with results, especially considering everything she had running on her "Super computer" as she sometimes liked to refer to it. She had fitted a new CPU into the tower underneath her desk and hard wired it to use both the old and new one as a sort of buddy system. The old one was fast by most standards, but this new one was ludicrous.

As she loaded back onto her websites and checked her inbox, she noticed a notification in the corner of her screen and noticed why it was there. Nova had finally replied! She felt some kind of joy run through her, it felt strange, after not having felt it for so long. She opened the message and read through, chuckling over the thought of Nova dragging round her 'blind droid'.

Hey Nova!
I've actually never heard of the Miraluka
I guess all of my snooping only goes so far
Completely blind? Must be a tough way to live early on
Even with this condition I never learned to walk around with my eyes closed
I can't even imagine having to do that everyday all day
And as for being one of the unique ones...
Thank you
I'm sure you're uniquely gorgeous!
That makes us even right

No I've never been in space
I've heard that it's freezing up there though
But no I don't know how my eyes would react
They seem to just be burnt by everything
When I was younger the doctor tried to get me to look at a UV light
And It hurt like hell needless to say

Well computers have been my thing for about 7 years now
I think
And I've built myself a nice 'little' setup
I've got just about everything I need to
I don't know
Topple a galactic empire from the inside out
But I won't be doing that
Not yet atleast

Well the names seem pretty nice
I can't get over blind though
How long did it take you before you realized he wasn't blind?

My dad's amazing
He has to have been to have put up with me for all these years
Especially since my mum isn't around any longer
Uhh, anyway
His name's Nico, though he had a nickname between his friends that was 'acorn'
I can't figure out why exactly but I'm sure they had their reasons

Wow you were a spacer from a young age then?
How many planets have you been to in total?
I would assume that spending so much time on your ship you would've been around the galaxy a few times

That's all for now
Until next time...
Nova Casamyr

Told you I could find something about you
Before you ask
No you didn't tell me your last name
I'll keep it even though

Love Ceras Reiss <3

She pondered for a moment on her last few sentences but just decided to send it, she had made it even and as long as she doesn't poke around where she's not wanted, what harm could it do?
Nova Casamyr​

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Nova decided to splurge a little for dinner and a bite out to eat from a spot not too far from where she was docked. Pick me ups always helped her mood. The pressure of being a successful captain, and even more, a successful heiress to her family's ship, was high. Having things to look forward to spurred her on past the roadblocks that she felt were in her way. And she felt all the better when those little pick me up things to look forward to were spontaneous. She knew there were bright things in her future, she just didn't know what. So she would treat herself in random spots along the way to make sure she remembered that better days were ahead.

She sat by herself on a stool at the bar of a little noodle cart. With a pair of chopsticks, she ungracefully slurped up some noodles from the brothy, hearty noodle soup she had ordered. Chunks of veggies and meat floated in the broth as well and it was absolutely delicious. She'd brought her datapad with her and, once she got herself situated, immediately checked her inbox. The ship captain found herself skipping her typical browse of the local ads in favor of just chatting with her new friend. The letters were just too fun!

Aww, thank you!
If you can figure out my last name I'm sure you can find a holorecording of me somewhere!
I've been all over the galaxy.
Honestly, I couldn't hope to hive you an accurate number of planets and moons and space stations and other places in space that I've been.
I was born up here and I'll probably spend my whole life up among the stars.
And I wouldn't have it any other way!
But... if I had to try. I'd say the number would be somewhere in the thousands.
Just last week alone I went from Contruum where my second to last job ended to Roche where I picked up cargo for my last run and now I'm in orbit above Abregado-Rae.
All in one week!

Space itself is definitely freezing.
But you rarely notice that.
At least you shouldn't if your ship is working right!
Mine is particularly cozy.
And spacious and homey.
Sometimes it's easy to forget I'm in space until I look out a viewport.

I definitely think that space would be an interesting place for you to go someday.
Mostly, there isn't much light up here.
And there's so much shielding on everything that creating a place where you could go to shield yourself if you needed would actually be pretty easy.
Ships want to have dark rooms.
They're natural to how a ship is built.
It's only human fear of the dark that makes us stick windows everywhere.

Aside from ruling the galaxy from your computer, what do you aspire to be?

I don't know when I realized Blind could get around on his own without my help.
Probably too long because he seemed to like letting me lead him around everywhere.
I'm sure that I saw him fixing something one day after leading him somewhere and realized that he would need to see in order to fix whatever that was.
But everyone else thought it was so adorable that no one wanted to tell me otherwise, haha.

We all definitely need someone looking out for us.
I'm glad to hear that you and your Dad get along well.
I lost my parents almost a year ago now and it has been really hard moving on.
My droid family has kept me sane.
But that's not always enough, you know?

... Sorry, I don't want to leave this on a sad note but I don't know what else to say at the moment.
That's rare for me, haha.

Oh! Uhh, what planet are you from/on?
I bet I've been there before!
I have a pretty good memory too so I can tell you all about the jobs I've done there.

Take care, Ceras Reiss
...Nova Casamyr...​

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras sat with her father at the kitchen table, playing a few rounds of chess while discussing another one of her little projects. "So if I can get those parts I reckon I could put it all together in a week or so. Checkmate" Her father, Nico, smirked in response to her self proclaimed checkmate, seeing multiple ways to get out of it. "Actually, that's only a check, cause I can do this." He moved a piece across the board to take to take Ceras' piece and put her in a checkmate, one she couldn't escape from.

They moth smirked at each other before Ceras piped up "Oh my god, I hate playing against you!" She closed her eyes to remove her glasses before rubbing her eyelids. Nico spoke as she rubbed her eyes "I bet if you got those parts, this would make this whole experience worth it right?" Ceras opened her eyes again and to her discomfort, forgot to equip her glasses again, they weren't even open for a second and yet she still felt the sting. Her dad picked up her glasses and put them back on her head for her. "It'll take a month to get the credits for it, but I shouldn't put that big of a hole in my wallet." Ceras smiled after opening her eyes again... Though her father continued. "But... I'll only get them for you, if and when you beat me."

Needless to say, Ceras accepted that challenge and immediately tried to rematch her father... Who proceeded to checkmate Ceras in six moves. Another rematch was requested. And another loss followed. and another... Until eventually the number of losses was greater than the number years she'd been alive. She finally caved in and retreated to her room, making sure to make it clear that she would beat him next time, while knowing full well that she said that last time. Upon returning to her room, she noticed her computer flashing with a notification and went straight to her inbox and started to read.

Wow!
Thousands... That's like... a lot
I want to go to as many as you
I wish I could be exactly like you
A spacer with their own ship flying around the galaxy hauling...
Actually what cargo do you haul? Like food? Weapons? Slaves?

I hope any ship I ever get onto is well insulated
I can't stand the cold
Then again I can't deal with the heat either
I burn quite easily in the sun
I guess that's what I get for being a shut in huh?

I am going to get into space one day
I guess we'll find out then how my eyes would react
I expect I'd be able to look out the windows of the ships
Considering the fact that it's mostly empty and the stars are so far away

What would I want to do?
Live a normal life I guess
Y'know
Go to school
walk home with the wind blowing in my face
Meet someone special
I don't really aspire to be well known or the biggest threat to the universe since the thought of a black hole bomb
I just wanna be a normal girl
Would you have been anything different if you were given the choice?

I don't know what I'd do without my family
My dad's all I have left
My parents we're both an only child and they're parents died before and after my birth
So if I lose him then I lose everything I guess
It's good that you managed to move on
And even better that you found a new family
I'm sure they were both amazing people
Where else would you have inherited it from?

I'm from Carida
In one of those bubbles outside of any factions territory
Though we're surrounded by The Silver Jedi Concord ,The Galactic Alliance And the New Imperial Order
So I guess one of them will rule over us soon enough
I should really go learn about them

Until next time
Ceras...

Ceras finalized the letter and sent it off before proceeding to load a chess board and begin practicing.

Nova Casamyr​

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Once again, Nova settled in to get ready for bed. She'd spent all day excited about having a conversation with Ceras, hoping that this would be the start of a long-lasting friendship. She was pretty sure her hope was well-founded. She donned her pyjamas again, let down her hair from its tight ponytail, brushed her teeth and replaced the patch attached to her shoulder. Just in time, her tea was done steeping so she removed the pouch on threw it into the waste slot designated for compost. Finally, Nova sat back at her desk and checked her messages, delighting at the letter waiting for her.

Oh my stars!
Weapons and slaves?
You've been listening to too many holodramas.
Well, I suppose there are spacers who do that sort of thing out there...
But they aren't usually the nicest people.

I do haul food sometimes.
Oasis, the family ship, is a specialty cargo transport.
I've hauled everything from food to electrical components to live animals!
You name it, and it's legal, we've moved it.

I would hope any ship you get on is well insulated too!
Being cold is the least of your worries.
Even a tiny pinhole can get you sucked out of the ship and into space.
And it doesn't get much colder than that.
Ships are pretty well built, though.
So unless your ship gets damaged, you'll be alright.

The sun doesn't do wonders for me either.
But then, I don't get much tanning done in space!

I believe you'll make it to space one day!
It's something that everyone should get a chance to do.
At least once.
But I bet you'll love it up here.
It's always an adventure!
Is Naboo the first place you'd want to go?
Or would you prefer to let yourself be carried like spacedust on starwind?

I guess my motivations are the same.
Meet someone, have a family, fill my ship with noise and fun and laughter.
But this is definitely the life for me!
I can't imagine doing anything else.

My parents were my everything.
If I'm half as good of a person as they were then I've accomplished something.
It hasn't been easy to live without them.
Taking over the ship, the family business, the family itself, it's a lot.
But we'll both get there one day, right?

I've been through Carida so many times!
My favorite run was a job my parents did; I was a teenager at the time.
We were contracted by a Mon Calamari to transport some highly delicate aquatic species from their homeworld to their new residence on Carida.
We had to convert one of our swimming pools into a salt water coral reef and keep all of the water locked into the pool using tiny gravity well generators.
It was so tricky to get the gain on the gravity right to make sure that the water stayed in place while we were moving.
That was a fun trip!

Alright, your turn for a story! Haha
Until next time... Nova​

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras finished up her last game and stood up to stretch and go grab a drink, who would've known that not moving for a few hours could make you feel so stiff? While in the kitchen, she noticed her dad sat asleep on the couch while his tablet was still on and on his screen, Ceras noticed that he was looking at the parts she wanted, which put a smile on her face. She didn't want to wake him, so she grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a note saying "Next time, go to bed" and left him to nap. Upon finishing up her usual routine before lights out, noticed her inbox flashing again.

She returned to her computer again and read through

Damn
It would've been nice to hear about some illegal stories
But then again, you've more than likely got some fascinating stories right?
Speaking of which

Do you know what creatures you were transporting?
I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet but I love animals
I'm not allowed a dog cause my dad seems to think it'd chew my glasses
Hurting the dog and his wallet
And my dad's allergic to cat's

Way to make space sound safe haha
Even the smallest hole?
Remind me never to get on a hastily repaired ship

I guess I could go to Naboo first
I'm not too sure though
I wanna go to all of them one day
Naboo, Coruscant, Tatooine, Ryloth
I'll have to think about it

I haven't really thought about my future
I've just been fixated on getting myself back to normal for so long
Now that I think about it
I want to be of some use to the galaxy
Like either some kind of scientist or maybe an informant for a military
I know this contradicts what I said last time but this the first I've really thought about it

Yeah we'll have to come to terms with them being gone eventually
My mother died almost a decade ago and I'm still struggling to let go so that's a pain
And I try not to think about the time that will my dad will go as well.
If you don't mind me asking
How did your parents go?

Right so my turn for a story
I don't really have many
Though there was something that happened earlier on this year
Actually last month
I was just browsing around the open connections in my city
And found one called "Recall"
I followed it back to the source and it turns out it was a scamming site
They'd post pop-ups and use them to make the user think their system was corrupted
And then trick them into buying some kind of "Protection software"
Though in truth it didn't do anything
Turns out they'd been running the scam for six years and had amassed nine million credits from it
It was only five people doing this so you can just imagine how convincing they were
Anyway, Long story made short
I managed to find the people and just wire their money back
And once I had done that I dropped an anonymous tip to the authorities
The next day the five of them were arrested

In fact, this was the reason I set my computer up to appear as though I'm on Coruscant
To ensure the connection couldn't be traced here.

Yeah I rambled on for a bit
Unfortunately that's probably the most exciting thing I've ever done.

Until next time
Ceras <3

Ceras sent the message off and then climbed into bed, more than ready for her slumber

Nova Casamyr​

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Waking up the next morning was easier. Having an improved mood always gave Nova more energy throughout the day. There was no doubt that happiness was good for her health. Still, she went through her morning routine without much deviation. A cup of caf, followed by another with food that she brought back to her quarters. Although, she did go a bit healthier on the food. She had some granola and yogurt and fruit in a homemade parfait. Delicious and nutritious!

The freighter captain cozied into her desk chair and flipped on the display. Sure enough, there was another message... Wait, there were two messages! She opened the one she expected first: a letter from Ceras. She read through and her face lit with a smile as she did. Out of curiosity, she opened the other before replying...

Good galactic morning, Ceras!
Isn't space funny like that?
It could be any time across a planet, as two people communicate, but they share a common timecycle.
Across the distances of space, though, Carida could have done several more rotations than Abregado.
Days may have gone by for me when only one or two have passed for you.
I'll have to sync my chronos so I know when I'm actually sending these letters to you.

Well, I have sadly gotten involved in some illegal things over my time in space.
It's inevitable.
Some planets have different laws than others.
Transporting cargo can be far more of a complicated procedure than just hauling something from one place to another.
The scary thing about the tech that you dabble with is that legality is pretty subjective.
At least it's scary to me.
But yeah I definitely have some exciting stories all the same!
Space is always an adventure.

When we transported that Mon Cal's aquarium we had eels, corals, fish, seaweeds and kelps.
I've also transported bantha, nerf, and lots of other animals.
The livestock can get pretty smelly.
But the real challenge comes in keeping them all calm while taking off and landing and keep weight evenly distributed so we don't drift.

I've been thinking of getting a pet myself but I'm not sure.
Sometimes I have stretches where things get really busy and I would feel bad if I had to leave a pet alone for too long...

My parents died in a shielding accident.
Their starcharts weren't properly updated when they made a jump into a system and the ship's shields weren't up yet.
They, along with a crewmember, received a lethal dose of radiation.
It's not a good way to go.
But it's slow.
They managed to jump the ship to a spot where they knew one of their old crew would find it.
By the time the ship was found, everyone was long gone...
Since then I've inherited the ship and tried to do my best to carry on the Casamyr legacy.
It's my Mom's last name.
Passing down the maternal name is always the way the Casamyr family has done things.
Someday I look forward to passing it down to my own kids.
Though I hope I never pressure them to go down a path they aren't ready to follow.

On a brighter note!
I just got a new job.
Apparently a shipwright company just got a big contract in Hapan space.
My skills as a ship engineer must have floated around a little because they reached out!
Isn't that exciting?!
I feel like I'm finally getting places.
The whole job revolves around making Hapan tech compatible with more conventional tech.
Should be a really interesting.

Also, normal isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
I've been there, so I understand.
Maybe I'll tell you about that sometime.
Like there's this driving feeling that something is wrong and that if you just had a fix for it then everything would be ok again.
But it doesn't work that way.
Sure, we need to find the things that make us happy and satisfied and wanting to move forward.
But "normal" isn't a part of that.
What's normal for you isn't the same as normal for me or for anyone.
That's the beautiful and terrifying thing about being unique.

But it's good to hear that you're thinking of the future and that you have a passion for doing good!
I share that sentiment.
I hope I can look back someday and know that the things I've done have amounted to something.
Remember that things change and that's ok!
Follow your heart and your head and you can't go wrong.

I think that's all for now.
I need to get prepped and on my way.
The next time you hear from me, I'll be on a hyperroute towards a new world!
Your friend,
Nova​

Ceras Reiss​

 

[Ceras Reiss]

Ceras awoke with the sun shining through her shutters, just barely avoiding her face. She thought about investing in some real shaders for the windows. Though that wasn't exactly top on her to do list today, she had a decent bit to do, and first among them was none other than... Tidying her room... Yay! After what felt like an hour but was probably closer to ten minutes, Ceras decided that it could wait for a bit longer. She put on her glasses and went to meet her father before he left for work. She caught him while he was packing a case of blueprints "More weapons? When are you gonna make something you're happy with?" Her father turned to her with a smile "You know full well it doesn't matter whether I'm happy with them, the employers are the one's with the final say."

They exchanged a few more words before Nico left Ceras to go about the rest of her day, which she was absolutely going to make the most off... Probably. Ceras retrieved a pack of eggs from the fridge and fried a few up before grabbing some toast and retreating back to her room again. She wandered over to her computer to see her inbox flashing away. She sat down and began to eat while reading through.

Hey Nova!
I actually don't know what an Abergadoe day is relative to a Caridan day
I'll probably search it up at some point
Either way, it doesn't matter what time we send each other these letters
I don't really sleep that much...
Well, not at night atleast
And I know that you'll have to fit this around your spacer life anyway

So is there anything that's like galactically illegal that you've transported?
Like endangered animals?
Maybe some spices?
Or maybe helping one of those rebellion groups infiltrate their 'evil' occupation's stronghold?
Anything along those lines?
Regardless of yes or no, I'd still love to hear any of your tales.

I can only imagine how much of a pain that would've been
I mean the gravity of the planet and the artificial gravity must've affected the way they moved in the water

If you don't have much time to spare
But you can provide a comfortable place for it to stay
Then maybe a snake?
Provided of course you don't get yourself into too much rough flight
The vibrations will make it a bit hostile
Then again it'll be a useful deterrent for any kind of trespassers

Damn, I'm sorry to hear that's how they went
Thankfully I still have my dad but my mom...
She burned to death inside her own car
I distracted her from the lane and we hit someone
I managed to get out with a shattered leg but my mom was still in the car when it went up in flames
The last thing I remember seeing was that look of fear on her face when she saw the other car

Sorry, I got a bit emotional

You're new job is a happy note though!
Is it tech as in ship workings?
Like the engines and... The.... Shields?
I don't know much about ships
Hapan tech can't be that different can it?

That's actually one of the best things I've read in a long while
Like some of those inspirational quotes people post all over spacebook
But y'know
This time it actually means something

Good luck with the job
I'll be waiting to hear about it
See you around space cowgirl
Ceras <3

Nova Casamyr