Lannister dressed and looked at himself in the mirror. It had been a gift from the station, welcoming him as their new captain. He wasn't sure what to make of it. It was blue, patterned after uniforms their captains wore, the shirt almost long enough to be a kurtini tunic but not quite, the pants almost tight fitting enough to be leggings. At least the shirt goes down far enough so as to hide how tight the pants are. On the top they had added the American flag, embroidered on the left chest over his heart and on the arms, rank bars announcing his military rank. It was a fair compromise as uniforms went and he'd get used to it.
He stepped outside of his room into...his other room, one of them anyway. He'd spent so many years onboard ships, living in cramped quarters. The quarters on the Corelean were bigger, but only by a small factor. His captains quarters onboard this station were mammoth by comparison.
The main living area was one long open area. One side had a huge view screen with a low couch in front of it. The center had a long table and chairs, the far side had a substantial kitchen. The near wall had several doors, leading to his master bedroom, a huge bathroom and his guest rooms, four in all. The far wall was against the edge of the station and that wall had large windows that could be adjusted to be clear or shielded as the situation dictated.
His parents were currently sitting at the table. His seventy-six year old father still looked fit and firm despite the pure white hair and wrinkles. His seventy two year old mother was in a sari styled dress she'd picked up at the market; she loved to "go native" wherever the two traveled.
In the kitchen a skinny young man was working. Peeta was wearing a red and silver top and his dark hair had been dyed to contain red and silver highlights.
Lannister went to the table and sat across from his father. Peeta came over bearing a half of grapefruit and a small bowl of some sweetener. He sat the plate in front of Lannister's mother.
"Looks divine," she cooed. "Thank you, Peeta."
To Lannister Peeta said, "Sir, can I get you coffee, tea, juice?"
"Coffee please, and thank you."
"Your mother has described this, hash browns, sausage and eggs your father prefers for his morning meal. I believe I can provide a fair facsimile. Would you care?"
"It's not necessary," Lannister said.
"It is my service, and no problem," Peeta responded.
"In that case," Lannister said, "onboard the Corelean they had this fried potato and vegetable dish..."
The word rolled off Peeta's tongue. It was then that Lannister noticed Peeta had ditched the translator collar and was speaking near perfect English. Kid's damn smart.
"I'd take some coffee, too," Frank, Lannister's least favorite brother in law, said as he came in, still in lounge pants and faded T-shirt. "And hash browns and sausage." He turned. "Anyone know how to make that thing work?" he gestured at the view screen. "I like to see the morning news."
"I'll take care of that," Lannister said to Peeta, "you work on food."
"Sir," Peeta replied.
Once he had the news up for Frank, Lannister returned to find his coffee waiting.
"Damn it, Sherman," his father exploded suddenly, looking around and slapping the table. "When you said you had big news at the banquet... I thought you meant the medal of accommodation. And I'm damn proud of you for that. You do know that?" he reached across the table and gripped Lannister's hand for emphasis.
"Yes, dad," Lannister replied. He felt a blush. He was too old be blushing, but the man gave out his praise sparingly, most of the time.
He let go of Lannister's arms and slapped the table again. "My son, a space captain! Who'd have thought?"
Lannister's nephew pelted across the floor, still in his pajamas, interrupting the conversation. "Can I go down the shoot?"
"Not until after breakfast," his mother, Lannister's sister, Linda, replied as she came over and sat beside Lannister.
"Aww, mom," he protested.
The chute. He meant the zero gravity lift that led to the lower level of Lannister's new quarters. He felt overwhelmed at the thought. Not only did he have such spacious accommodation here to have his entire family stay with a guest room to spare, he had a second level. It was, in Peeta's words, "more workaday" containing a private den and a semi private conference room that had a spectacular view of the earth below them.
"And you must sit on this side," Peeta commanded, gesturing the boy to sit next to his mother. "The view out this window at dawn is not to be missed." Peeta went to the window and did something to reduce their opacity, making the view startling and clear.
The captain's quarters by tradition straddled "the ones," the top half was one above, the level directly above the solar panels and the bottom half was one below, directly beneath them. The solar panels stretched away in front of them, like a sheet of black ice under a frozen starry sky. The view made Lannister shiver.
"It's passed dawn, isn't it?" father asked, turning to look.
"The sun is up beneath the panels," Peeta answered. "It will bridge the panels in a few minutes. Just watch." He took the other's breakfast order and returned to the kitchen.
"Now just who is that again?" his sister whispered.
"Umm," Lannister began, glancing back at Peeta. "Umm, the word doesn't have an exact translation, near as I can tell," he lied.
"Of course it does," his mom contradicted. "He's Lannister's new page. You're a space captain now, boy. You need help. Whose going to launder your shirts? Make your meals? See to this place?"
Lannister didn't respond. She was right, page was the closest approximation for Peeta's position and duties. Peeta had his own small apartment adjoining these quarters. His job was to see to all of Lannister's personal needs.
Lannister had done just fine with laundering his own clothes, finding his own meals and seeing to his own place for years. But he was in a whole new world and he was lost. He'd decided maybe it was better to accept the help offered, at least until he found his feet and found some polite way to tell them he didn't need a personal servant.
Frank joined them as the food was set out. They ate and watched the black ice outside the window. Peeta was right about the view. As the first light of the sun came skittering across the surface, it danced and made patterns on the panels. One by one, they received enough light to activate and flared into light. The light grew brighter and brighter until the sun broke the surface. Then for one second it shone too bright, nearly blinding them and the ship's shielding cut in and the windows went dark.
"Whoa," Frank junior whispered in awe. Then moment's later. "Brooke would have loved that."
The comment broke the spell. Frank senior snorted and rose. He took his coffee and stomped back towards the view screen. Dad's lips pursed tightly but he didn't speak. Mom looked away.
Lannister looked over at his sister. She was pale, lost in thought. "Any word?" he asked.
She shook her head no.
He placed a hand on her arm. "I'm sure she'll show up, sooner or later."
Linda looked on the edge of tears. "I don't know. World's a dangerous place. What if she falls into some sex slave ring or something?"
Their father snorted, fighting back a laugh. "They'd have a struggle with that one," he muttered.
Lannister was inclined to agree. There were lots of dangers that his seventeen year old niece faced as a runaway, but he didn't think that outcome was the likely one by far. Besides, he knew she was safe, living at a friend's house. He'd seen it on Facebook. He'd seen something else, too. "I hear she's going by a different name now," he said, watching his sister to gauge her response. She flinched.
"Adam is not a girl's name," Frank junior sneered. No doubt senior had said that.
"It's a sin," his sister whispered. "Can't..."
"When I was a captain," his father said. "I drummed dozen's of homosexuals out of the service. Now my men, they went on shore leave and got up to all sorts of perverted stuff with whores..."
"Father, really!" his sister said.
"Came back with diseases, got rolled and robbed in ports." He barreled on over her protest. "I had to bail men out of local jails after a drunk more time then I can remember. And yet, could I ever get command to worry about that? No. It was always the homosexuals we drummed out. Stayed on the ship, did their jobs but damn it, we drummed them out anyway."
Lannister thought of Klempke and Green. He thought of Dan and Bakala. He gave his dad a thin smile. Dad wasn't exactly liberal, not by any stretch of the imagination. That was probably as close to acceptance as he would hear coming from of his father's mouth. Lannister thought of himself as a modern man. He knew the old bias about gay people were unfounded, that they were simply born that way. But Dad's generation...
"Anyway," Lannister said, rising and helping Peeta carry the dishes over to the sink. "I'm sure she'll turn up okay."
He did not mention that he was still on her Facebook list, for the same reason he didn't contact Adam directly. He was afraid. The whole issue was so tender within the family that one false move would send either side bolting and he'd be completely out of the loop. Better to let her come to him. And she would, he knew.
Her recent pictures showed her with short hair, and one long braid running down one side of her face. A male name probably indicated his niece was transgender, planning a transition. But the braid was a Kurgara thing. He'd see her on the station, sooner or later. He knew it.
He came back over to the table. "Now," he looked at Frank Junior. "Who would like to see my home office? It's right down the chute."