There's always a first time..!

Dublin (Ireland), Earth, Sol System

Because of her reputation as a Xeno-anthropologist, my mother, Jania, had been to Earth a few times.  She even made it to Dublin, once, where she was making a presentation at Trinity College about the Kralien Zeal (what she calls the Ks equivalent to religious faith).  Of course, she made is farther south of the Liffey to meet my father's parents.  The Colgans had never met her, and only had the occasional news about me, but were more than welcoming.  They treated her like a daughter, even though my parents had only dated briefly before my father died.  I guess they saw in Jania an extension of their relationship with him.  From her perspective, it was obvious that the relationship was silly, and wouldn't have lasted more than a few weeks after my father was stationed elsewhere.  But, out of respect, she never told the Colgans.

So there I was, 8 years old, sitting at the dinner table, watching my mother contact a bunch of friends to try to arrange a trip to Earth.  It took only a few calls to find a transport that would take me on board: the Majanta.  It was captained by an old romantic interest of my mother's, Captain Kurell Manx.  Cpt. Manx was (and still is) a fun-loving, ex-navy slacker who did cargo jobs for universities and research centers.  He specialized in the transport of ancient and alien relics and had acquired pretty much every forcefield available on the market.  An honest man, with a good heart, and an ever better thirst.

I was given a place, provided I could handled dishes.  Hahaha.  Dishes.  I think, to this day, I still dream of dishes.  I was 8 then, and by the time I was 9, I knew everything there was to know about dishes.  But then, I also knew everything there was to know about flying a spaceship.  I knew the terrible secret of spaceship bridges: Helm, Tactics and Command got all the credit (and the paycheck), but once they were launched, Science and Comms did the only work on board while the rest of the crew drank and gambled in the airlock.  I also learned another secret about flying spaceships: it isn't that hard.  It's mostly about making decisions, and letting the computers execute them.