A Girl from Scorpia

The twelve worlds. Each one colonized by man, blessed by their patron Gods to provide for one another. Caprica, the capital of the twelve worlds, the home of modern politics, science, and art; Virgon, the proud and final monarchy of the twelve worlds, birthplace to the universal language and culture of the twelve colonies; Leonis, home to education, industry, and culinary arts, industrious and progressive; Aerilon, the bread basket of the twelve worlds, the people proud; Libran, home to the colonial courts that mete out justice; Sagittaron, the lone colony, home to the colony’s best chocolate plantations and the legendary Acheron river.

Scorpia, the playground of the colonies, its beautiful beaches envied by the other twelve worlds; Canceron, oh democratic Canceron with its earth full of minerals and rich for crops; Aquaria, your frigid oceans giving way to the colonials seeking summer jovial glee; Gemenon, the first colony, where man first stepped foot lead forth by the Lords of Kobol; Picon, the true oceanic colony, home to the colonial fleet headquarters and progressive political agendas; Tauron, proud and strong Tauron holding fast to true colonial values and protecting the colonial way of life.

Each colony giving what it can to the greater good. But even in the twelve worlds there is pain, suffering, a need for aid. Every colony has its own economy that they are responsible for, and each colony has its own troubles. Everywhere there are poor and needy and everywhere there are those affected by storms and natural catastrophies.

The goal of this particular team was to outreach those in need on the tropical planet of Scorpia. Even though we are based to help those immediately around Celeste, the little we do is something compared to the nothing that most people do. The past months have been hard on the capital city with typhoons and tsunami’s battering the coastal cities.

The first few days was rough. We were all being hit constantly with culture shock and were lagging behind because of our jetlag and growing fatigue. We never imagined that people could live in these conditions and could live without the medicine and social aid that we were all used to. I took part in a few patrols to survey the local areas to see how bad it really was. Even though we were busy with helping these people there were many people within our team that still found time to complain, but they were the minority.

We were busy, almost prohibitively so. But here and there, her and I had a few moments together on site to chit chat a little bit, tied together with the SMS messages we would send to each other at night when we would part. Through our little conversations I had begun to see why my heart had been pointing me towards her. I began to notice that I was attracted to her for more than the way she looks, just the way she is the way she carries herself, the way she speaks, I began to think that we could be a possible match. So, I did what any love struck man would do. I told her. I told her how I felt and she was shocked. She couldn’t believe that I was attracted to her, but I was. 

I had told her that I liked her. She had asked if I was sure that I liked her, which seemed odd to me. I had said yes I was sure, but I couldn’t explain why yet because I couldn’t put my finger on the reason just yet. I told her I follow my heart and my heart told me that there’s something special about her, not to let her go no matter what hardships I may face. She continued on to ask if it’s that easy for me to just like a girl, she was worried that I say this to just anyone. And I answered her truthfully, no. It takes a lot for me to trust someone to be that close to me and after my past experiences in relationships I carefully pick and choose who I “like”. I carefully protect my emotions from getting out of control but when it came to her it’s as if she disarms my barriers and causes chaos within me sending my emotions into a swirling mess of confusion, but oddly and inexplicably, in a good way. 

The days went on and we would continue to get to know each other. Just as any other courting couple we had our first obstacle, competition and jealousy. There was one “other” for each of us. I was not usually the type to get jealous unless I had a very good reason to be, but jealously seeped into me because of one other person trying to get close to her. On the contrary, there was one other that was getting close to me which she didn’t appreciate. This is when I knew that our first challenge as a pair had been handed to us and that was to find out how worthy we were to each other. 

She said that jealousy was unusual for her, but everytime I would speak with my other she had said it infuriated her. What would irritate me and make me feel she was not interested was when she would speak to her other and shrug me off as if we were strangers. It was a circle of frustration between us and it soon became a downward spiral. 

I was on the precipice of abandoning what little feelings I had left for her. But my heart kept me on the line, keeping me balanced on the border of insanity and jealousy. My heart, blind to her actions, kept egging me on. My mind nagging me, telling me that this endeavor would just cause me needless suffering. But my heart kept me trying, somehow. If I were any other person I would have given up and moved onto another person, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.

—End Part 7—

There she was, seeing her walk from the dormitories with her sister had caught me off guard. We had smiled at each other and her and her sister seemed excited to see me again, we were waving at each other as they walked from the dormitories. A million things rushed through my mind as they made their way over. What would I say? Do I look presentable? Do I have to speak in the native language here? Does my breath smell? How should I greet her since we are here to be professional and we are here to work? 

We spoke and we were shy, mostly because we didn’t know how to act in front of everyone. We greeted each other with a hug and cheek to cheek kiss and I had given her and her sister their bags of Sagittaron chocolate. However before I had given her chocolate I reminded her about our exchange. Before I had left for Sagittaron she asked if there was anything that I wanted in return for the chocolates, I had told her that all I wanted was a hug, a big one. This perplexed her, she couldn’t understand why all I wanted was a hug, but bringing Sagittaron chocolates was not really a big deal. She did hug me though, and my heart fluttered, and I felt a spark which lead to my head swirling with why this could be. 

The team leader pulled her and her sister away to introduce them to the other team members, she looked back at me and smiled. I found a nice quiet place to sit and pull myself together. My Gods, she was just as beautiful as I remembered, she had gotten a haircut and her hair was trimmed short, just below her face; and that smile, oh my Gods her smile was beautiful. Her smile has this strange power over me to make me weak to make me feel vulnerable. But instead of interpreting it as a bad thing I felt enamoured by it, I felt that this was more than an acceptable weakness, I felt that I had to get to know her. There was a tugging at my heart that was as relentless as an inconsolable child. Something about her had intrigued me through all of our late night and early morning chats, something my brain couldn’t comprehend yet my heart was over eager to discover more about her. 

Several hours later after we had sorted our donations and goods donated to us by benefactors from around the worlds. We had packed everything away and began to leave for the accomodations at a hotel prepared for us. However, there was something that I hadn’t anticipated. She couldn’t stay at the hotel that the rest of the team was staying in due to financial restraints. This was a massive blow to the plans we had made. We had talked about late night walks to unwind the day, chit chatting while sipping on coffee from the nearby provinces, and just chances to get to know each other. I had hoped to find out why my heart was so intent on me seeing her again. So that meant that the only time we could see each other was when we were on our job sites and the rare occasion when a donator would host our dinner. Otherwise we still had our mobile phones, which I was happy that I was able to configure for the local networks, to keep in touch with. 

And so thats what we were left with. While I was staying in a hotel she was staying at the base camp dormitories. We would send messages using the short message system that was so popular on Scorpia and I’ll openly admit that I was very slow compared to how fast the average person there could complete an entire message. There were forseeable complications with keeping in touch like this, especially since the original plan we had was to actually see each other face to face. Using our mobile devices for voice calls would be difficult due to the spotty coverage my particular device had. My mobile phone did have the ability to operate using the mobile bands available in Scorpia, but only to a limited degree. Even though we were presented with a new obstacle I was hell-bent on discovering why I was enamored by her and I was ready to attack any obstacle that lay in my way. What I had not expected was the types of obstacles that I would have to face.

—End Part 6—

As predicted it took me 6 days in total with the stop in the law capital of the colonies, Libran. There were some students from Caprica on a field trip to Libran and they were all dressed prim and proper in their sailor uniforms chit chatting away at their gate. Then you would hear the clacking of the polished dress shoes of Colonial Officers heading to their transports to whatever Battlestar was waiting in orbit. I saw the patch on one of the uniforms and it read “BSG-92 Columbia” and another that read “BSG-75 Galactica”. There was always something appealing with the double breasted navy blue jacked of a colonial officer. 

The trip from Libran to Scorpia was carried by the Olympic Carrier fleet. Even though the OC fleet had the largest capacity star ships in the entire colonies my flight was packed. There were loud tourists, mostly teenagers on their vernal breaks but there were quite a lot of Colonial Officers heading to the Scorpia Shipyards out in orbit around the planet. The officers would occasionally look up from their paperwork or open their eyes to see the teenagers climbing over the seats to their friends and making quite a lot of noise doing so. I was fortunate to be seated next to a greatly fatigued miner heading home to Scorpia from Troy from a 3 month work contract.

The flight itself was uninteresting and boring. All I did was sleep until I arose to the flight attendant’s announcement that we were approaching the Scorpia shipyards. I woke up just in time to something that I always look forward to when I fly to Scorpia. We were approaching Scorpia on it’s night side and growing in the distance were the shipyards. 

Illuminated by artificial light you could see the various military vessels docked in orbit. From battlestars to frigates to Valkyrie class Carriers it was a true treat to see such powerful and yet majestic vessels docked on the interlinking platform. You could see a few Colonial assault craft called “Vipers” doing their patrols and training runs and soon enough we were being escorted by the newer MK. VII Vipers as we approached the shipyards. As we got closer you would begin to see the details on the planet. The huge megalopoli of Naga and Celeste and all the cities scattered about the planet. You could see where the water would meet the land because the lights would just stop on the shores. Then over the horizon, farther out, you would see the crescent asteroid belt wrapping around the planet, ice particles glistening in the distant sun. 

We unloaded the Fleet personel and we began our descent into the planets atmosphere. The lowering of the heat shields over the windows followed by the minor bumps and shakes of the craft always sent shivers down my spine and made me push my head into my headrest. A constant rumble for two minutes followed by free fall as gravity began to pull on the craft would signal that we have passed into the planets atmosphere. As the heat shield rose we were treated to a beautiful sight as we flew over the turqoiuse blue waters of Scorpia. As we continued our descent I thought more and more about what would happen if we were to meet again. There was a certain tension now that was driving me to see her and a counter force of apprehension and fear that was driving me away. 

There’s a special trick that you have to keep in mind when passing through customs and immigration in Celeste. Once you pass Colonial Immigration and collecte your luggage you would slip in 5 cubits into your passport and as they checked your credentials at customs they would slyly take the cubits and give you your pass to exit the airport, no questions asked. Every colony had this little sleight of hand but it was more prevailant on Scorpia. The heat was almost overwhelming, it felt like walking into a wall of humidity and heat. It took me quite some time to find my uncle in the mob of screaming people at the waiting area but thanks to an older lady who was trying to sell me a hotel room I made a phone call to find where he was. The so called kind lady had charged me 10 cubits to use her mobile phone, but it didn’t matter. I was with my relatives and a step closer to meeting with her.

There’s a certain charm about living in Scorpia that you can’t find anywhere else in the twelve worlds. The people are so nice and so accomodating. Staying with my relatives is always an experience especially with my two year old niece. She’s grown so much since I last saw her. You couldn’t exactly call my relatives rich or poor because the division between the upper and lower class in Scorpia was so great. However, they live a reasonably comfortable life. I had spent a few days living with them, I really missed them especially my cousins but most of my time there was to help me adjust to the time zone, there would be time to catch up after I finished the work that had to be done.

So the days flew by and I had adjusted to the time difference, my uncle was driving me to where I would rendevous with the team… and her. My nerves were on edge and my years of being able to stay calm and cool seemed to be failing me. Then there it was, an small complex with a parking lot and a meeting room, this would serve as our home base for the next few days. 

I arrived early and only the local regular support staff was there to greet me and help me with my luggage and equipment. I took a walk around the complex and saw many things that I remembered from the last trip I was on. The dormitories, the classrooms, the little bamboo shack, not many big things changed, just small improvements. The locals began to come in and so did many of the support staff that I had met on the previous trip. It was a small reunion to see how much we’ve grown, then the inter-colonial team started arriving VIA bus. Representatives from all the twelve colonies began to pour into the meeting hall and I saw the bunch that I was grouped with last time. I was looking around nervously for her but I didn’t see her, or her sister. My hands were jittery as if I had taken a shot of Tauron espresso and my I was struggling to keep my heart calm but she was nowhere to be found.

When we rose to get our pamphlets and our assignments I saw her sister in another line but she didn’t see me. She was still nowhere to be found and I began to worry that she wouldn’t be joining us. So the orientation went on, we would be traveling to many familiar locations. From a small local prison on the outskirt hills of Celeste to a farther dust town called Batgor this year had a lot of destinations planned. 

The locals had planned a lunch for us but I lagged behind as usual just to let the others get their plates first. A part of me didn’t want her to be there, the anticipation of us seeing each other again even through all the online chit chats was starting to overwhelm me and for the first time in a long time I felt apprehensive to meet someone. I was nervous and I didn’t know what to do. I was fidgety and my attention span was that of a mouse. I would be looking around at every motion around me and search for every voice that seemed different to see who was speaking. I was getting ready to hide in the meeting room.

But then there she was…

The Sagittaron summers were starting to roll in and you can feel the heat and humidity rolling in even in Tawa, my colony’s capital. There would be days where you would walk out of the shower and sweat would start to bead right next to the remaining droplets of water on your skin. It was times like this that I’m glad that I live away from Tawa and in the cooler city of Union. 

The weather was no different right now in her part of Scorpia. Whereas Tawaexperienced a four season climate, Naga and Vintais experienced an almost permanent and tropical summer all year round. The only true seasons Naga and Vintais had were hot, rainy, or dry. But throughout the year it is always hot with temperatures rarely dropping below 26.6C around a thick belt across the planet’s equator. 

The tradeoff to the intense heat and humidity however are Scorpia’s beautiful beaches. Argentum Bay is the main popular beach that tourists from all around the twelve colonies go to but there is always Nagsuba Cove and Alvais Harbor. But there was one place she had told me that she wanted to take someone special to her heart. A mountain village farther north called Baigyou. The cooler weather incites closeness, and I couldn’t help but smile at her being coy by suggesting we go there someday. 

My business in Tawa was short thankfully. I had bought a few gifts for her and her sister as well as a few things for my relatives. Amoung the gifts are some Sagittaron specialty chocolates. Sweet and just a little bit of bitterness and soft to the touch. Such chocolates won’t last long in the tropical weather that reigns in Scorpia, so such treats are returned with huge smiles and hugs as warm as the weather itself. I thought it would fit nicely after our work was over and we had time to unwind at the retreat campus that comes with volunteering with this particular group.

So the days ticked by, and all of my arrangements had been made, I found myself in Tawa again. But this time at the spaceport waiting on the long lines. I wassurrounded by dignitaries from other colonies in their traditional garb, screaming children bored and irritated, and impatient businessmen rushing to Virgon or Leonis or wherever they are needed. You had no choice but to take it all in stride, long lines are inevitable especially since Tawa was the only public spaceport on Sagittaron. I kept to myself mostly but I couldn’t help but befriend a few people on my way. I had met a young lady heading to Virgon for a heritage and culture vacation, and I had met an older lady traveling towards Gemenon to partake in some sort of monotheistic retreat. 

The travel time was long but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything interesting to see. The takeoff from a planets atmosphere is really incredible. It’s one of those things we take for granted now since hyperspace travel is so commonplace. Watching the sky go from a brilliant blue to slowly fade to navy then darkness. Then a quick rush of white as you pass through cloud cover then you see blackness dotted by stars or even a distant moon. But, then you look back and over the horizon you see the curvature of the planet you just came from and as you look back on the patches of land and you wonder, “We’re capable of this?” We’ve shown our domination over the natural order of the twelve worlds we’ve colonized and now we slowly tame and exhibit our control over the vastness of space. We have limitless potential to do whatever we can as long as we set our minds to it. In the end, life seeks life, and life seeks to be closer to others. And what are we but two travelers on this road called life if not travelers bound by fate to have our paths intertwined. Well, at least that’s what I had hoped for. I still had to find out if what it was about her that I couldn’t put my finger on.

It was a cool Sagittaron spring when we first began messaging each other again. It had started out as an innocent check-in to see how I was doing, then as the days went on we began to speak more often. I remember that day because it was when the Sagittaron Archers had just won an upset victory against the Caprican Buccaneers in a championship series game. 

We had started with small-talk then onto our families and how they were doing. I had told her about one of my best friends that had moved to Sagittaron from Leonis and she had told me of her friends on Scorpia. We would talk on and off, occasionally there would be days and even weeks where we would be out of communication. Whether it would be due to heavy rainstorms, heavy clouds, celestial events such as a passing asteroid field, solar winds, even things within our worlds such as family and work we would always pick up where we had left off as if nothing had happened.

So there we were, two citizens of different worlds finding things to talk about despite distance and time. Slowly I began to have feelings for her through these little conversations and bit by bit I wanted to see her to see if there was anything behind these feelings. Besides, I’m a Sagittaron, we always follow our hearts even into the pit of despair and somehow make the best of it.

As the days went on I was being invited on another tour of work in Scorpia. I had no intention of participating on this trip until I had discovered that she was going to be there. I had many reasons not to participate but the major hindering factor was how long it would take to travel from Sagittaron to Scorpia. I would have to take a hyperspace jump to Libran then wait for another ship to board to make the final jump to Scorpia. All in all the distance is about ~33SU (~72,000,000KM) mostly because it’s impossible to safely jump directly from Sagittaron to Scorpia due to the central sun of Helios Gamma and the Acheron asteroid belt. The time spent in transit is about 5 days, mostly on board a cramped civilian transport. Then there’s the cost, it would cost me 1,500 Cubits to travel such a short distance in-system. The cost from Sagittaron to Virgon would only cost me 900 Cubits, but that was only because most of the travel time is spent in the white nothingness of hyperspace, a short trip of only 3 days despite Virgon being ~11,120SU (~24,000,000,000KM) away in another star-system.

So there were many factors that were pushing me away. But something inside of me was urging me to go. So I did what I had to do, cancelled and rescheduled my running projects and somehow managed to scrounge up the funds to go (with the assistance from all my friends from different cities from across the twelve worlds). And a few weeks later I had my round trip tickets. I had made plans to stay with my extended family living in Celeste, the capital city of Scorpia, just so I could adjust and overcome and travelers illness that is frequently tied to hyperspace travel. Besides, I was excited to see my niece and it has been a while since I’ve seen my family there.

I had to find out if what my heart was telling me is true. It often is, but this situation of ours is different in many ways. I needed to verify if the feelings that I had were true. I needed to find out if she really was interested in me as I was in her, and I was bound to find out regardless of the distance.

I may be selfish and a little possesive but I wanted her for myself and I knew then that I didn’t want to be with anyone else. Being with her is dangerous for me though. She has a way of disarming me, a way of piercing my defenses and throwing my normal calm and balanced self… well, off balance. Through the years I’ve accumulated quite the score of painful reminders why relationships 

aren’t meant for men like me. But to have her just waltz into my life and mow down the defenses I have to keep people away was actually an irritation that I couldn’t avoid. 

We had first met several years ago on. I was assigned with an expeditionary team to provide medical aid when a natural calamity had struck the coastal cities nearby the city of Trent far away from Naga and Vintais. She was there as a local liason to aid in translation and local customs. During our downtime we spoke but nothing had started yet. It wasn’t until two or three years later that we began to talk. Through simple text messages sent over the networked worlds we had begun an exchange. Even then we were divided by time and distance but we still kept communication and we began to learn about each other little by little. When it was day in my part of Saggittaron it would be night on her part of Scorpia. So just as I would wake, she would be settling in for bed.

Several months later I had been assigned again but this time for a smaller shorter term on Scorpia. I still remember when we saw each other again for the second time. It was awkward because we had been speaking to each other for a few years, but now something was different. We had a connection and I actually began to pay more attention to her. Thats when I noticed her personality traits, habits and (for the lack of a better term) assets. 

She was everything that I didn’t want in a potential partner, but I didn’t want her to change. I had fallen in love with the traits that I didn’t want and I didn’t want to change that. Yes there are a few small things that I would like for her to change but you can’t force change on a person, especially someone from Scorpia. 

Let me tell you a story. It’s one where a man and a woman despite atrocious odds and circumstances were able to come together. Whether or not they succeed as two in romance and two in love I will not say. But through this story you will learn something new, that people from two distant colonies can come together despite what distances separate them. Whether or not this story is true, I cannot say, but join me as I share with you this story. 

We had come from very different worlds. She’s from a colony called Scorpia and I from Saggitaron. But even if she comes from such a plentiful colony, her hometown is very humble. A small seaside village called Vintais just south of the bustling space-port city of Naga. She was raised to be Gemenese, simple and obedient to their gods. But she was a true citizen of Scorpia, quick to defend herself and not willing to lower her guard and just to earn her trust is a large thing, for trust with a citizen of Scorpia is worth its weight in diamonds.

I on the other hand am the opposite. I come from one the poorer colonies called Sagitaron, from the economic center of the planet called Union. Despite my colony of origin I was raised to be Caprican. Always hungry for knowledge, open to the exploration of the worlds and the universe around me and with the question forever in my mind “why”. As for my personality, well, I’m your typical Saggitaron. Quick to find a resolution so we can get on with new adventures and always one to socialize and surround myself with people.

So as you can see we come from two different worlds. But we still found each other. A strange fire and water combination that isn’t supposed to work but it does. We’ve grown stronger over the last few weeks despite a few of our setbacks. The more we learn about each other, the more right this relationship of ours feels, despite being literally worlds apart.I find myself carelessly attracted to her. I feel as if I’m chasing after something as mythical and as majestic as the Pegasus itself. A feat that seems impossible but every fleeting glimpse of possible hope eggs me on. Every ounce of my head tells me that this chase will be fruitless, but, my heart is eager to find out what is at the end of this road. I really don’t understand my attraction to her. Aside from her beauty she represents all that I did not want in a partner but I can’t bring myself to look away and leave. I just can’t help but be hypnotized by her alluring and silent spell.

There is some rhyme to the reason as to why I’m attracted to her. She is beautiful, there’s no one or two ways about it. Her beautiful eyes like the deep, deep oceans on Aquaria sparkling under the moons and stars. Her voice, so serene and calming, when you hear her sing it’s as if I’ve fallen asleep amidst the treetop canopies of the deep forests of Virgon, relaxing and calming. 

There are many impalpable reasons why I’m attracted to her. But the one main thing that hypnotizes and enchants me is her smile. Oh, that smile she has, a warm and hope inspiring smile. Her smile reminds me of the time I had spent on Gemenon. I had spent some time with a team in the colony’s most frigid and dangerous regions. Here, for most of the year, the skies are either deep black or a deep azul but most of the time you couldn’t see the skies at all because of the relentless snow. This region in the colony’s farthest northern tundras experiences a winter unlike others found in any of the twelve worlds. The winters in northern Gemenon were ten months long and we had spent less than two weeks yet we had lost all of our supplies and equipment. All hope seemed to be lost until, one day, light began to peer through the clouds and the thick snow, slowly coloring the skies, and then the clouds, and finally the landscape. Hope began to fill our hearts because we would finally be able to find our way back home. Then, the ultimate shining moment. When a bright, beaming light broke through the clouds behind one of the many ragged ice capped peaks. The sun had come and even though we were low on supplies, just seeing the sun had filled us with enough warmth and hope so that we could survive. 

The same feeling I had felt when I saw that sun rise over the peaks; the feeling of hope, the feeling that I can live on despite my hardships, the feeling of raw warmth filling my body and heart. That is what I feel when I see her smile, a never ending beam of hope and warmth. I knew then that all I wanted to do was to make her happy and keep her safe just to make sure that she would continue smiling just for me.