Of the mother, Comes forth the child Pt 1

Dear readers, Its time to meet little Mara. I hope you love her as much as I do writing about her and her mother Taya.
- Ashlie Long

                                                      5 years after the events of Past Lives....
The little red headed child toddled around her home on Pator III, the only home she had known for 5 years. As the little girl built with her space cubes and chattered with her great aunt the thin gold chain around her neck clinked against her blocks. On the chain lay a tiny purple heart-shaped chip the child could push when she wanted and see a picture of her mother, and she pushed it often, just to hear the voice of a woman she had never met. As the girl played, her guardian sat in the shadows to allow her free time, secretly recording everything for her niece, in the hope they'd wake her soon. 5 years in a cryopod, so many memories lost with her only child, a surprise, a miracle even for pod pilots to have children. "Little one, Its time to go outside." the older woman said, taking the child's hand. The little girl followed, green eyes twinkling with ideas and plots for her adventure today.

"She's so much like her mother, that fiery red hair, but your eyes. Her attitude is Taya through and through, How's our girl doing? Have they figured her out?" The woman asked.

"No, and with this new war going on I doubt they'll ever figure her out, Do you realize how many hospitals are swarmed with re-clones going on all day, at least 6 or 7 times a day this one guy comes through. But I still visit her, floating in her Cryopod. She's still as beautiful as ever, and still a fire ball. She keeps irritating the doctors since every time they take a look at her Code its changed on em" the man laughed softly as he recalled his spit fire friend and sometimes lover. This was not the purpose of his call though, to rehash old wounds, no he wanted to find out the status of his daughter and do his best to keep her out of the mess that her parents were in. "How's My little Mara? You know, I told Tay we should'a named her Moon 6 Belt 5, but she didn't find it funny. In fact she punched me for it...." Krennel laughed as the comm was turned so he could watch his little girl play "Still taking vid feeds and photos for Taya? You know she'd kick herself if she had a choice in this matter. They're still trying to figure out how she's matari born, yet carries DNA from the ancients. That threw everyone for a loop. The originators, the beginnings, before Jove even and our girl holds it." He watched his little girl run and play and chase the local bugs for a while before his alarms went off to tell him he was needed elsewhere "Gotta Go, Thanks Alenna" he said before hanging up the call.

                                                              15 years later...
"Mara Darius Get your wanna be pod pilot, half blood ass in my office right now" the older woman yelled, It was her first chance at being a pilot and already she fucked it up by tripping and busting her nose... right into her training officer earlier that week so she dared not keep her superior waiting. She had no real idea why she wanted to fly, except to be like her parents. She reached her hand up to rub the heart shaped chip between her fingers as she ran, her boots thudding on the metal grating. It was her 20th birthday, and a week after her graduation. Only time would tell what this little one would bring to the field of flight and fight...

To be Continued....

Of the mother, Comes forth the child pt. 2

Mara marched into the office trying not to show her reddened face at the crack about her parentage, soon she stood before the woman who had called for her "Yes Ma'am?" she asked softly, dipping her head as a sign of respect. The woman just scoffed at her "Little girl, You are only hear because of your mother. Otherwise I'd not have hired you, Hell I'd rather have your mother. Full blood Matari woman like her, in the pilot seat, pure magic. But I got you... So here's how it works half blood. I hire you, You do what I say to do. You get cleared to fly solo got it?" The woman said, though Mara paid little attention to her hurtful words, the words of work hit her ears. "Yes ma'am, Certainly ma'am. I was wondering..." she paused a moment kicking her boot against the metal floor of the space station's office. She wondered if the woman would even answer her questions, as she looked up, tears in her eyes the woman's face said all she needed to know. She was at least interested to know what the young woman wanted. "My mother, You knew her right? Can you... can you tell me more about her? I heard they are keeping her at a deep space station, out of reach of the wars." the red head finally continued looking hopeful.

"Your mother.. Yes I knew her. we flew together at one point, she had an unfailing optimism that seemed to help no matter what job we took. We had a few 'get the pirate bring his tag back' type missions she seemed to love the most. You've got her hair, her mouth, that little smirk she had, and you are like her... but also like your father, another good pilot should you fly past him one day. Don't doubt you will. Sit..." the older woman started pointing to a chair in her office for the girl to sit in, Mara did as she was told and listened, anything to bring her closer to her mother. "Once, fresh out of school. Your mom came across me mining, Some asshole was in system popping miner's ships so she loaded up in her Thrasher, that's a Minmatar destroyer you'll be flying in a few weeks, and sat in the belt with me. At first I felt nervous, then she hailed me. though I could tell she had A LOT of chatter feeds going on, you could always hear them, the little chirps from the channels. And her music choices, oh lord her music choices, she blared stuff from before the eve gate. Quite a character your mother. Protect the weak, kill those who dare harm the ones she cared about. No one knew she was sick you know... not till you. Not till she disappeared and all we heard was she had a baby girl. Listen Darius, I don't hate you.. contrary to what you might think. You make me miss your mother. You've got huge boots to fill and I don't think you can do it. Half my crew knows your mom, and they keep holding their breath waiting for you to be just as amazing." The woman finished her story before paging for someone to bring her a folder of applications for other pilots as well.

Mara looked at the woman, standing slowly to brush her hair behind her ears "Frankly ma'am... I'm not my mama, I don't even know my mom. So if you guys are all waiting for me to be her, cut it out. I'm me its all I'll ever be and frankly I don't wanna fill her boots, Follow her steps maybe, but I'd rather fill my own boots" she said nodding before she left the office. The older woman just shook her head and laughed as the girl left "Like Mother like daughter. little spit fire"

A quick update!

Hello,
If you are reading this you've been reading Taya's Travels. I haven't updated in a while due to life being a pain. I received an email that Taya's travels has 23 new readers! I got this from a reader site called Feedspot! So if you are one of my new readers welcome! I will be continueing this story soon with our next character. Mara Darius.

Questions comments and the like can go to me at taya.dentano@gmail.com

Thank you. I love you all

Past lives and Odd beginnings pt. 1

Ba-Thump... Ba-Thump... Ba-Thump...

I shot straight up in bed, my breathing rapid and irregular. I choked and gasped for air as the feeling of drowning slowly subsided. The screams kept ringing in my ears though. Who was screaming? I couldn't think straight so I hopped out of my plush comfortable bed and padded barefoot to my refrigerator. The screams kept ringing, I needed tequila and I needed it fast. I quickly yanked open the door to my little refrigerator, the cool air hitting my bare skin at my belly, legs and arms, making me jump, shivering as I snatched the almost empty bottle of Jose off the top shelf. I slammed the door shut, glass tinkling as jars shook and bumped each other from the force. I walked back to my bed and tucked myself in underneath the soft cotton sheets and thick black comforter. I propped myself up against the headboard enough so that I could down the last few gulps of alcohol. As I set the bottle down on my ebony night stand I shimmed under the blankets until only my eyes showed. as the alcohol reached my gut and started making me feel fuzzy I carelessly dozed off. I had a job in the morning. A very important job for some very important people.

Taya Dentano does not disappoint, and I wasn't going to start now.

The next morning I awoke in a haze. I took a quick look at my clock and realized I was running late. "shitshitshit" I swore loudly jumping out of my bed and running quickly to my hangar. As I boarded my Rifter I quickly plugged in the neuron receptor cables into the ports on my back so I could more fully control my ship. I quickly sat in my captain chair and closed my eyes, the sharp pain as my consciousness loaded into the ship's mainframe. When I opened my eyes my Rifter was waking up. it loaded all the feeds I tracked onto screen 1, my tactical screen loaded on screen 2, and 3 had my list of work for the day. I had many a pilot ask me how the hell I managed all the feeds I tracked, 52 feeds including corp, alliance, and local, and how I could stand to have my screens the way they where. They blamed it on me being a woman, I just said it worked.

"Play Music, Random, Early 21st Century" I said out loud, my ship knew what to do and did it. Tiesto started playing in my cabin, the song was feel it in my bones, I sang along as it played while Scotty the docking manager opened the bay for me to undock. As the doors opened I heard his voice in one of my feeds go "Taya don't you dare" before I punched the throttle and blasted out like a bat out of hell. I laughed as he cursed at me, before laughing again as all of pilots leaving the station that I was started screaming and cursing. I let out a loud "yeeeehaw" onto the local feed as they started calling me curse words as I warped off.

As I caught my breath from laughing I quickly looked at my list of things for today. I started with the job for the very important people. One was a merc contract. I was needed to kill a pilot who resided out in Mara. As a rookie pilot this was a great job, so I took it. I quickly opened up my corp feed "Guys, going pew wanna join?" I said sweetly. A few jumped on the opportunity and out we went. My Rifter, a Drake, and a few other ships. We hunted Mara's asteroid belts, shot the target, and a few others and had quiet a few laughs. Krennel was used for bait like usual, and my little Rifter was a great little tackle boat. The guys told me when I got the giant stack of books in my quarters read that I could have a bigger ship. I couldn't wait, I wanted that beautiful Maelstrom, and even a Typhoon. The Matari in corp always bragged about the 'phoon. even some of our Caldari pilots bragged about it. For a rookie, life was great.

To Be Continued...

Past lives and Odd beginnings pt. 2

 2 Months Later


Ba-thump... Ba-thump... Ba-thump "NO PLEASE NO!"


I shot up in bed in my new quarters. The same familiar nightmare haunted me night after night, getting worse with each night. Could it have been the sudden change? I had left my old corp, moved all my shit out to N-DQ0D. I had finally had enough of some of the males in corp telling me I wasn't as good or that I couldn't do something because I was a woman. I had moved up into my first battle cruiser, and upon my moving out to N-DQ I was gifted a beautiful Hurricane. Oh how I loved the ship, I refused to take it out for anything thought. I stuck to my Thrasher for my missions and the occasional asteroid belt pirate looking for an easy kill. I hadn't gotten a new target since I left, I hadn't wanted a new one. I was also not feeling up to killing another person lately. I always told myself "Today I will visit the doctor in station" but I never did. 


As I padded off to my new refrigerator the nightmare replayed in my head. I couldn't stop it except by drinking it away. I quickly yanked open the door so that I could grab the bottle of Tequila. I padded back to my bed as I downed the remaining amber liquid. As soon as I emptied the bottle into my gut I threw it at a wall and screamed out of frustration. "What the fuck is wrong with me?!?" I growled and threw myself into my bed, I was still unpacking so all I had was the bottom sheet and a blanket on it. As the alcohol worked its way through my system I started feeling sleepy again. I slowly fell back into an alcohol induced sleep.


I awoke the next morning and slowly climbed out of bed regretting last night as soon as I had to sit back down because the room spun. Once I had caught my bearings, I padded off to my shower, but before I could even step into the nice hot shower I stepped on a piece of the bottle from last night.


"SON OF A..." I screamed as I fell on my ass and landed on another piece of glass. A string of curse words left my mouth as I laid down away from the rest of the glass and called for a friend to come save me from the mess I had just made in my room. "Door, Unlock" I said to my room hearing the door click signifying it had listened and unlocked. I burst into tears as Nykitah ran into my room and carefully carted me off to the doctor to get fixed.... again.


To Be Continued...

Past lives and Odd Beginnings pt 3

Ba-thump... Ba-thump... Ba-thump "No please no!" Cha-chick... BOOM

I shot up in bed, startled, not realizing where I was at first. A few minutes passed before I realized I was in a hospital bed. I tried to remember why I was here, but my mind drew a blank. I silently slid out of the bed and padded barefoot over to the mirror. It had been months since I had the time to look at myself, since I had time to do something with my appearance. "Mirror Light, ON" I said, the light flickering on above the full length mirror. My face was pale from not enough sun-deck tanning, as were my arms and the rest of my body. My whole body looked skeletal from running more missions and killing rats instead of eating. "I look horrible, its no wonder they kept me." I said to no one in particular. My red hair was stringy, I wondered why it would never stay clipped up, but now I knew. My months of barely eating was thinning out my hair, my whole body ached as I stood there and a tear slowly trailed down my face. What had I done to myself?

When the doctors stepped into the room I was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room crying, my blood red hair covering my too thin face. The doctors kneeled next to me, calling for Nykitah to come in. As Nyk sat next to me, brushing my hair out of my face the doctors told me something was wrong with me. I wasn't gaunt because I wasn't eating right. I was gaunt because there was something wrong in my genetics, had been for a few years as far as they could tell. but it slowly ate away at me. They wanted to re-clone me, and see if it cured it. So I signed the papers and laid on the bed, they would wheel me to the med bay, put me to sleep and do a manual re-clone. I begged Nyk, as they wheeled me back, to call my daughter. I hadn't spoken of or to my daughter for a few years now. I had been doing so much, sending all my ISK home to raise her. My aunt had taken her in so she could grow up happy.

As they put the mask on my face and slowly put me to sleep I began to remember how Mara had become part of my life...

6 years ago...

I was flying another turn as tackler, Krennel was playing bait in his drake, and the others where around in their ships. I was sitting with Krennel in an asteroid belt in Mara, just one jump gate away from Piekura waiting for my shields to heal before I went back out. Then the Fleet Commander called it quits. the system cleared out, they had seen us in local and had all left. Krennel and I stayed behind just because we could. We sat there in fleet channel, we kept talking, and soon it was just the two of us. Eventually I got bored and parked my Rifter next to his Drake and podded over. We ended up having a little roll in the roids, and left after that. That was that we thought. Pod Pilots can't usually have children so we didn't worry.

2 Months After...

I wasn't sure what to do or what to say. I hadn't felt well for 2 months so I went to the doctors. Surprise, baby! I cried for the first few days. Then took the vitamins the doctors gave me, took a break from shooting people, ran useless missions. I  found I wanted my surprise child. Here I was almost 3 months along and I had yet to tell Krennel. As I walked to his quarters I felt the need to vomit getting stronger. Before I even knocked on his door, even before I got to his hallway, I ended up running. I ran straight to the bar, and lo-and-behold right smack dab into Krennel.

I burst into tears as he hugged me, asking me if he had stepped on my foot. I was a clutz, they all knew this. I sniffled and quickly spat out that I was pregnant, it was his, and then cried more. He just hugged me, apologized for putting me in this position. We walked into the bar and took our usual table, as we drank away the shock, me water and sodas and him alcohol, we discussed the predicament we had found ourselves in. We wondered how it had happened. It took us hours to come to terms with this new surprise. We had realized that the fact I hadn't re-cloned recently led to this surprise child. Pod pilots could have children apparently, but it was rare because of the re-clone rate of the average pilot. Miners had a better chance of having children then combat pilots did. We decided to leave this as it was, decide later what to do.

4 months after

I was now 4 months pregnant, my belly becoming larger with each week, the child inside my body rolling and growing. I was due to see my doctor for a routine checkup in an hour, so I was wasting time discussing the stars with Krennel. We still weren't sure what we wanted to do with the little one, but today we would find out what we were having. As the minutes passed quickly, I seemed to forget why I was needing to go to a doctor. The alarm went off on my pocket neocom loud and obnoxiously. I quickly jumped up realizing I would be late. Krennel asked if he could come along. He usualy came to these appointments just so he would know what was going on. So off we went, to see about the future child neither of us planned but both loved so much.

To Be Continued...

Past Lives and Odd Beginnings pt. 4

Authors Note: At the time I started this story I was not pregnant so I had all the time in the world to write it. I put Taya aside to be pregnant and birth my son, but this is no excuse. honestly i'm stuck.. I am getting to the end of this story of Taya's for now. Even though I've had positive reviews for this so far, more than positive I've been told it was amazing, they wanted more, as an author and the creator of this character that you have fallen in love with, I am at an impasse. How do I finish this? How do I close Taya's chapter and let you meet little Mara? or Xelina? or all the other people who make this story work? but a character cannot live forever, and Taya's spotlight must dim so you see others as well. I hope you still love Taya just as much as I do. Thank you, for sticking by me so far.


ba-thump...ba-thump...ba-thump "No please no!" cha-chick... BOOM "oh god what did I do?"

6 months along

 It was 2 months after Krennel and I found we would be having a girl. We had decided to call her Mara, since that was the system she was conceived in. My day was busy being pregnant, eating, and getting ready to take Baby Mara to my Aunt's house on Pator III. I couldn't raise her myself because of my debt to the schools and beneficiaries who paid to train me, I had to continue working after this. As it was at this point, Krennel was paying the monthly bills so that I could get little Mara into this world. As I sat there in my quarters eating random old earth sweets and soup I wondered what my daughter would look like. Would she be like me? Would she understand why I sent her to my aunts? As she rolled and kicked inside my swelling belly I began to cry. I couldn't stop crying, and had no clue why I was even crying to begin with. All these things rushed through my head, the nightmares I had, the baby, handing her over. It all just hit me so fast I had no way to prepare or even avoid crying.

The doctor had told me my hormones would do things like this to me. I never realized it would hit me so hard though. As I sobbed uncontrollably my comm link went off telling me someone was tryin to contact me. I sniffled and wiped the snot off my face with the back of my hand and answered the call...


9 months along
I had finally reached the end of my pregnancy, and in just a few hours would hold my darling daughter in my arms. I sat in the hospital on Pator III waiting to be wheeled back to the operation room, They had me in a gown, and my hair pinned up ready to go. Krennel was out on a mission but would be here soon. This day would be hard on the both of us, we would welcome a little girl and then hand her over to family. I still had debts to pay off before I was free. my military training wasn't free and my sponsor wanted his money back.

A few hours passed and the nurse came to wheel me back to the operating room. Krennel had arrived a few moments before and would stay in the waiting room per my request. They had me sit on the edge of the bed and lean forward into a nurse so they could inject medications into my spine. They took longer than expected due to the fact they saw my back ports and wondered how the hell a pod pilot had carried a child to term. Once they had the needle in they laid me down and strapped my arms down, then put the oxygen tubes into my nostrils. My feet, then legs soon became numb. The warned me I would feel pressure, but not pain and if I felt pain to shout and they'd get it figured out. All these years with science leaping so far, and medical science still did old earth cesarean sections. I suppose it was because they where safer for the child than the laser surgeries they did on everyone else. After what seemed like a few minutes I heard a tiny cry, At that point I started crying and the doctor near my head freaked out thinking I was hurt. I had to explain I was just happy, but they still eye'd me suspiciously. They wheeled me out and into recovery where they brought my daughter to me. "Mara.. my Mara" I said as Krennel walked in, we both looked at one another then to the little girl in my arms. "she has your hair" he said laughing. "yea but she has your eyes" I added. We knew we would be handing her over in just a few moments so we took a few photos as we waited for my aunt to show up.

My aunt showed up an hour later and we both cried before she took the baby with her and I fell asleep.  the next few months passed in a flash until I found myself in null sec space with Nyk and his crew.