Galactic Dawn: Running Story of the Starcraft&Metroid Campaign, 2005.

Interlude: Long Goodbyes
A verdant field spread out before her eyes, lit on all sides by the setting sun, setting her hair ablaze against the blues of shadow and reds of ambient light in the tall grasses. Yuki ran through the grasses, barely feeling the dull whipping of the blades against her flanks and even up to the shoulders. She saw dad in the distance, sitting by the shore of the lake in that same spot he always sat in, with a wide-brimmed straw hat covering his face as he sat. Yuki ran until she was winded, and met her father at the shore.

-Hello sweetie.
-How did you know I was here? I was extra quiet and you were s'posed to be sleeping.
-Heh heh, you know I never really sleep while I'm fishing, and you only started sneaking up on me after you ran yourself tired. I could hear you panting.

Orson Elric turned and tilted his hat up to regard his daughter through thin spectacles.

-What brings you to the lake?
-I wanna play.
-Oh, Danny left already, did he?
-Yeah.
-Well I think you've had plenty of playtime today. Now is time to sit and watch.
-Watch what?
-The sunset, silly. Come on, have a seat. Listen to the lake and the little fishes, and look out over the hillside.

Yuki sat and took in the whole massive natural scene with a sense of wonder and delight. It was not often that she got to spend time in the lakeside house, and she kept forgetting how wonderful just sitting and watching the sunset could be.

-Daddy?
-Yes, sweetheart.
-I like it here. It's pretty.
-I like it too, that's why I come to this place when I can. Its my secret little place. I think if I ever retire, I will always want to come back here. Some people call it a curse to always want to return to a place, but with this place...with this place, I can't see it that way. I love it here. My secret place. Look, way up in the sky, do you see that little twinkling dot?
-Yeah.
-That's a star called Deneb, just like your mother. It always hangs high above this place.

Yuki looked at the twinkling of the only star in the sky. It seemed so bright now that the sun had set. Yuki was filled with wonder once more for a little while, and then became curious.

-Daddy?

Orson had this time really fallen asleep. His fishing line had fallen into the lake unattended, and Yuki could hear his breathing taking on a snore. She asked her question anyway:

-Where's mommy now?

With a sudden rush, Yuki felt confusion setting in; she felt numb all over her body. The first sensation she felt was a thick and persistent pain in her forehead, the ache of a severe impact. Gradually she remembered her hand slipping off of the wrench and hitting her head. She could see Guay standing over her, and calling for coreman. Once Yuki could hear again, she muttered that she was alright, and sat up to let the wind wash back into her.
Just a dream, she thought, a thin fragment of her past. She had remembered her father having a special private house where he spent most of what little leave he got. Yuki gritted her teeth both for the ache in her forehead and the ways of military organizations. If only her father had a different lifestyle, she could be like any other seventeen-year-old, worrying about school and boys and braces, mundane and banal affairs of a happy, day-to-day lifestyle. Yuki could not fully remember what had brought her this far, only that she had been trained to fight and collect and go on living. Her worries were about her new friends, running afoul of galactic civil authorities, unpaid parking tickets on harsh worlds, dying in a thousand ways that she could imagine and many million more that she couldn't, and most of all, she worried about her father, whom she knew to be alive somewhere. He would be in that special place...which world has Deneb overhead. And what had happened to mom.
Fully together, Yuki picked the wrench back up and continued to loosen a sticky bolt that would become part of a new airlock for the team's vehicle. Yuki liked the name "Optimus," but couldn't get the entire team to agree. Guay had brought up a fine point earlier; a ship without a name is bad luck, and they should choose one. Back when the team had been working for BSL, Guay told her, it didn't matter because it wasn't their ship.
Yuki was glad to have simple manual labor to occupy her for the next few days at least. Too much ruminating in what little quarters the team provided would only serve to slow time down to a crawl and drive her nuts. Keep working, she would tell herself. Keep working.
When the day was done, Yuki had spent as much time in the bay as all her co-workers together. Guay and Maddocks were uneasy about her. Jargenduv was pleased with her work-ethic, and generally didn't notice her mood.
Yuki lay on her bunk, which she had crafted from spare parts around the storage compartment of the ship, and looked at the hull. There had been a single possession with her in the stasis cell that she now clutched to her side: a small and ragged looking stuffed animal made to resemble a Ragnasaur of Char. Its ugly face and bright eyes seemed to cheer her up a little as she sat sleepless in her bed.
After hours of staring and thinking, Yuki slept.

Thirty more minutes saw the dawn, and Yuki arose tired and sore, unable to return to the uneasy sleep from which she had risen. Guay approached, looking wide awake.

-Mornin', kiddo. How was your night? That's great. I have need of a Manipulator to continue work on some of Jargenduv's parts, and he and Maddocks need me in the shop this morning. You look like you could use somewhere to go as well.
-Okay.
-Not much of a talker this mornin' eh? Don't bug yourself with worry about it. Things will get better now that we have a home.

Guay leaned in and whispered.

-And I've ordered some pots and soil and seeds, too. I'll have a little garden. My own secret place right here at home.

Yuki fought back tears as she observed Guay become dreamy and pleased. She could not remember the last time she had felt at home, and these tall walls of steel and concrete weren't doing the trick either. The closest she had felt to home recently had been while she was fighting, and that realization only served to further her depression. Yuki did feel that some Morian air might do her better than spending another sixteen hour day attaching and removing things from a ship that acted routinely as if it did not wish to be altered.

Yuki put on a clean jumpsuit, and took Guay's request, written on a notecard, in pocket. A Manipulator should not be too difficult to find around the shops of Moria, with as much mining and refining went on around, surely a milling machine should be easy to find.
Finding the Manipulator was no problem at all, and every company seemed to have reasonable prices for the psionically-powered, fast working, computer-numerically-controlled milling machine. The difficulty was finding a supplier who would be willing to transport the rather hefty device to the team's bay with their own grippers that same day. Even the rather exorbitant sounding prices for this service sounded acceptable, but none seemed to offer the "same day" option. Yuki entered the busy city streets of Magtheridan from one of the unacceptable supply outlets slightly frustrated.
A vaguely familiar face approached, and when he spoke, Yuki could feel a rush of warmth.

-Yuki, Yuki Elric? Izzat you!
-Danny?
-No way! Wow, its been years. This is great. Where have you been, what do you do now?
-I'm working in a machine shop...they sent me to get a device, but I need it today and its too big for anyone to deliver same-day.
-What is this thing exactly?
-A Manipulator, its a big milling machine.
-Gotcha. I think I know a place, comeon.

Yuki didn't like lying to her old friend, but she somehow knew that he didn't care where she had been or what she was doing. His happiness was like hers: the happiness of collecting a piece of a precious sentiment once lost.

-Here we are.
-What? I can't read the sign. Is this a supply depot?
-Of a sort, the owners call them "reliquaries," and they use Chinese characters because they prefer human languages with pictograms.
-Wait, this is a Protoss-owned shop?
-And run. They'll be able to warp your machine in, no grippers needed!
-Danny, this is great, how can I thank you?
-Thank me? Hmm...cheer up. You shouldn't have to feel down all the time.

Yuki was overcome, and couldn't find the words. Her actions spoke admirably.
Danny joined her in the shop. Yuki negotiated the purchase of a swanky-looking Manipulator, and instructed Jargenduv over the comm how to arrange a spot in the bay for warping in the machine. The salesman, named Rala'kai, told her that a company probe would stop by in a few hours to initiate the warp, which would take a few minutes to substantiate fully. He cautioned her to keep people and objects away from the device while warping.
Yuki turned around to thank Danny once more, and saw that he had gone. She asked Rala'kai:

-Did you see where my friend went?
-I do not understand what you mean...when you entered, you were alone.
-I...thank you. Good-day.

When she heard Rala'kai speak the words, she seemed to know the truth as he told it: she had imagined the whole thing. Danny hadn't come back at all, but the idea seemed to be valid, as she had the receipt of purchase in her hand.

Yuki walked home whistling. Even if he hadn't been real, Danny's point had been: she shouldn't stay gloomy all the time. Step after step, note after poorly-whistled note, a long, friendly goodbye.

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