The Achilles and Sanctuary return to Centrian controlled space. The jouney takes the best part of a day due to the Sanctuary's lower-class drive, and damage sustained. Justina winces as she limps to the observation deck, her left leg in a brace, and right arm in a sling from the sustained backlash of the Astral Projection. <"Captain, incoming call from the Achilles."> announced Minerva.

    The young half-elf opens the door to the observation lounge, "Put it through down here."

    The AI pings, then a holographic form of a much smaller elf appears in the lounge. "Hi, mom..."

    The elfwoman steps forward, and reaches to touch the half-elf, though the avatar's hand passes through without interacting. "Hello, dear... how are you?"

    "I've been better." replies Justina, slumping down in a chair, to look out at the swirling vortex of Linespace beyond the viewports. "First J'Alt'ak... now Demeter; how many more are we going to lose?" asks the younger woman.

    Blossom walks over, kneels beside the chair, and shakes her head. "When you live as long as we do, dear, you'll find out just how fragile life really is." she looks up at the younger woman. "You're thinking about your father, aren't you?"
    "No..."
    "Justina Appleblossom Leaves of Thyme, do not lie to me."
    "I... I hoped... I prayed, that distress call was..." Justina's eyes close, tears trickling out of the corners before she gathers herself. "It's possible, however unlikely, that he's still out there."

    "I understand, dear. I do. I miss him too, but it has been ten years. The sensor logs show a critical overload in the Primus core of his ship. Even if the ship did survive it would have been dead in space, or lost in Linespace... I know it's hard to accept but, we need to move on."

    Justina looks at the hologram, as if about to say something.
    "I miss him too, and I hope, every single day, that he'll contact me... just because I accept he may never come back, doesn't mean I don't hope with every fiber of my being that he'll come back to me... somehow."

    The pair sit in shared sadness for a few moments; then proceed to debrief the past week.