After the Drift

Chapter Six: The Connection

2023

The following week after personally meeting Chuck Hansen was... interesting.

Lucie and I barely talked, drifting wasn't easy.

We lost our connection a handful of times, leading to us being reprimanded hard by Pentecost.

We were usually back up to the alpha teams, offering cover fire, leverage, or whatever general support they needed. Our lack of connection was picked up immediately by Ivan, our CO at the academy.

Thus, Pentecost throwing our asses into team therapy and "drift compatibility" reassessment.

Our parents were ticked, their precious daughters not being the best when given so much wiggle room to get to this position - not going to fly.

And here we were, getting our butts chewed.

"You are supposed to be leaders! Role models during such a trying time!" Dad was fuming.

He ran his hands through his mostly dark brown hair. He was still quite handsome into his forties.

Our parents had us pretty young, so both had adoring fan groups. Fans of my dad were the Brad Blackwell Beauts, hence his annoying catchphrase, "You're all beautiful." He used it every time he signed off.  Be it comms, a tv program or even an after battle interview. He was such a dork.

Mom stood behind him, leaning on the wall of our shared room, with her lips in a thin line.

Dad always said she looked like a moon goddess, with her wavy silver blonde hair and gray eyes. The name Selene was all too perfect for her.

Mom and Dad were exact opposites. Dad was all fiery and passionate. Mom was calm and thoughtful.

Right now, Dad was acting exactly as Chuck had joked about.

Like a kettle whistling, he vented his aggravation loudly, most likely the neighbors we had were also feeling the disappointment.

Mom usually waited until he ran out of steam to give us a little pep talk and assure us we could do better.

"How in the Hell can your connection be deteriorating? You are sisters! No one knows you better than the one staring back at you now!"

He gestured to us with his hands, then scrubbed his face roughly.

Pfft, I didn't want to know a damn thing about the witch sitting across from me.

Lucie didn't even look up at him, she just sat on her bed, biting her nails. Her bad habit for as long as I could remember.

Her choice words after the confrontation in the hallway still floated around in my head.

The weird feeling of jealousy was making me feel sick. If it were possible I had pulled myself more into my studies, now going through Jaeger specs to know the machines inside and out. Seems my fledgling pilot career may be over before it even started.

Dad yelled at us for a few more minutes before Mom spoke up, "Okay honey, I think they understand the severity of the situation. You both are exceedingly smart young women. You have so many opportunities at your finger tips right now. Please think long and hard about how you can remedy this. I have all the faith in the world that you can. Your father and I have some Kwoon training to attend to with some new recruits. Don't we, honey?"

She lightly grabbed his elbow, causing him to look at her. Not understanding she was giving us a break.

He began to speak when she put a finger on his lips. "Can't be late, my love. We are role models, remember?" She poked him affectionately in the side, winking at us as she led him out the door.