Drew

by on March 23, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Fighter cybers usually shut down when their pilot died back then, but Drew Keawe’s refused to. Drew had made her promise to try to live if she died, and I jumped in to help with bells on. Jasmine became a best friend, an inspired coconspirator, and an amazing troublemaker. Oh, we got into so much trouble. We still do in fact. What she never was, was MY cyber. We never developed the classic fighter-pilot amalgam that I did with Betty, though she has always done an amazing job of mimicking it in combat. I always assumed she never took the final step because she was born to be with Drew, and just didn’t want that kind of relationship again. I was right, and I was wrong. The fact is that Drew was still alive. Or more accurately, she came back, after Jasmine latched onto me. That made all of our lives rather more complicated than any of us expected.

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Drew

by on March 22, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Drew Keawe knew firing gravitic cannons in hyperspace was a Bad Idea. We all did. But they were the most powerful weapons we had when we chased down that Chinese squadron. Most of us were damaged in one way or another when the backlash came for us, but we killed our targets. We didn’t know how bad our damage was until we returned to the fleet. Her cyber had flown their fighter all the way home without telling us what happened to Drew, but it was impossible to miss once we got into visual range. Her cockpit was just gone, torn apart by the unrelenting vengeance of an angry hyperspace. She didn’t even have time to realize she was dead. We had a long time to think about it. She was one of us. She was everything the rest of us were. Faster. Stronger. Able to dodge danger with a single step. Her death shook us all far more than we wanted to admit. Even to ourselves.

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Cancer

by on March 21, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The last week has been a long and tiring journey. Tests on Monday showed us that the old enemy is back in greater strength than we expected. But we found it quicker this time than last, and treatments have begun once more. The old cancer drugs have been brought back into action, though at reduced strength to keep the toxicity they bring to her heard at bay. And radiation treatments have been added to the mix as well, performed by one of the top radiation specialists in the world. New tests, new meetings, and new treatments have been the order of the last week, and mom is getting the best care and the best treatments on the planet. She has already noticeably improved over her condition last week, and I hope to see that trend continue in the days ahead.

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Drew

by on March 20, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Drew Keawe was a native of Hawaii. She was also blonde-haired and blue-eyed. I kid you not. I can’t tell you if she was born that way or if she had some work done. There’s some things you just don’t ask a lady, doncha know. The point is that she was my kind of pretty and I was a free agent back then. I was totally interested, and I’m pretty certain I totally fanboyed myself all over her. Then our trainers put her under me in the table of organization. I do not know how our original commanders picked our ranks and positions, though I suspect they may have been testing us. I wanted a completely different position with her, you understand, but the military regs were pretty clear on what positions were allowed with subordinates. So we didn’t. I don’t know if we would have, but that ended any question right there. A part of me will always wonder how things could have turned out if we had. But we didn’t, The War progressed, and I pushed those thoughts and ideas out of my mind.

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Drew

by on March 19, 2022 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Drew Keawe flew off Jesse’s wing when she served with us. A hula dancer from Hawaii and a farmer from Kansas were from different worlds for all practical matters, but they stuck together like glue from the beginning. It said good things about both of them that I never had a complaint from either about the other. I know there’s a record somewhere, but I can’t tell you how many battles they fought in as we sparred with the Chinese and the Shang around Earth. It was a lot. And it was before we started deploying drone fighters, so it was all her and him, protecting each other’s back. And the rest of us trying to protect them when they needed it. Drew was… I don’t know… I think she might have turned into a group mascot in time. She was the sister I think any of us would have died to protect.

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