The comms tent was dark, but warm with the heat from the old communications equipment. The sweating comms manager showed her to a screen that blinked on to show her family already waiting.
“Hey, Mama, hey, Daddy, Celeste, Sasha! How is everyone doing?” she asked, smiling at her family.
“We’re getting by, sweetheart,” her mother said.
Sam looked at the grainy picture. “You eating, Mama? You’re getting thinner every time I see you.” She frowned in concern.
“You know how it is, sweetheart. I’d rather my children eat my share than go hungry. Your father and I have been halving our rations and giving them to the girls.”
“We tried to stop them from doing it, Sammy,” Sasha said, needlessly trying to defend herself.
“But you know how they can be.” Celeste sighed.
“Yes, very stubborn,” Samantha said, smirking. “Listen, you two just do as you’re told, okay? Let Mama and Daddy worry about things.” She sat back in her chair as the picture fuzzed and went black for a moment before coming back on and clearing up.
“We must get getting some atmospheric interference out here,” Sam said.
“There’s been a bit of ship activity in orbit, so maybe that’s what it is,” her father said.
“Yeah, you could see one of the big Trenin warships in orbit. It must have been massive!” Celeste said with excitement. In Sam’s mind, Celeste was the excitable twin, the risk taker. She wanted to be a pilot in the UEM.
“There were a few Earth Military ships attacking them, and you could see the flashes of explosions,” Sasha said softly. Sam saw her as the quiet one, the thinker, more than happy to be settled down with an old book or fixing some gadget or doohickey.
“It was the rebels!” Sasha said excitedly.
“That’s just rumor, dear,” her father admonished.
“Then the next day it was gone, so I don’t know what was going on up there, but we got other things to worry about than rebel spaceships.” Her mother sighed.
“Well, that might change soon,” Sam said with a little smile.
“Why, what’s happened, Samantha?” her father asked.
“I’m being transferred. I’m going to a military base that needs a nurse, and one of the sweeteners for the deal is that I can get a push for a migration pass, for my family,” Sam said, keeping out of the conversation all the the top-secret information she had. She didn’t want to ruin the family’s chances of getting a transfer to one of the new colonies.
Her mother’s face lit up with hope. “Darling, that’s wonderful! Maybe you might meet some handsome soldier who will take care of you like you deserve, and maybe give me some grandbabies?” Her mother grinned and winked.
“Mama, you know I love you, but you haven’t got an empty nest just yet, so you’ll have to be patient for grandbabies. Besides, I haven’t even had time to go on a date, let alone meet the man who will be the father of my children.”
Her mother smiled. “I know darling, but when the time is right, you’ll find him.”
The comms manager tapped her on the shoulder. “One minute left, Sam.”
“Thanks, Ken,” she said, before turning back to her family. “Well, we got about a minute left, so I’ll hopefully be able to schedule more comms time when I’m settled at the base. I’ll be leaving as soon as I finish our call. But I will be in touch. Girls, look after Mama and Daddy. Do what they say and be careful. Mama, Daddy, I love you guys so much. Be safe, please, and I’ll let you know how we go with getting that migration pass pushed through.”
The girls both kissed their hands and blew their kisses at the screen, and Sam blew two back to the seventeen-year-olds. She missed her family, and it was hard to be apart from them. She wanted to be able to take care of them, but in this world, it was hard enough just trying to keep yourself out of trouble.
The comms unit blinked off, and Sam left the tent, heading back to her own to collect her things and meet the military transport that would take her to the base.
End of sample chapter
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The Best Man (Romance on the Go Book 0) Page 6
