Rewriting a rewritten history

Posted on Fri Feb 10, 2017 @ 11:43pm by Ensign Nawaji White Hawk

Mission: History
Location: Martin, South Dakota
Timeline: Prior to Launch

"So this is real buffalo?"

The disgust in Warren's voice was both obvious and amusing to Nawaji, who drawled, "Well, technically it's bison, but..."

"Nawaji!" a voice from behind Nawaji reprimanded her. An older, shorter version of Nawaji stepped into the room, carrying a tray with bowls of a thick berry sauce, wild rice flat bread, roasted mushrooms and a salad of wild greens. "You'll have to forgive my daughter, Warren. She has an irregular sense of humor," Nawaji's mother added, giving her daughter the umpteenth warning glare of the weekend. "The buffalo is, of course, replicated, though these botanical dishes were grown in the Project's greenhouses."

Warren laughed nervously as he continued eating the plate of replicated 'grilled buffalo steak.' "Oh, yes, of course, Dr. White Hawk, yes, it all looks delicious." Warren's girlfriend glared at Nawaji before she continued eating from her own plate.

This weekend had really started six months ago, during Nawaji's final year at the Academy. Nawaji's best friend (and one of her suite mates), Tara Barnes, had met a diplomatic officer assigned to temporary duty at the Academy. To Tara, it was love at first sight, true love, fireworks and falling star.s The diplomatic officer in question, however, one Warren Lisbon from the colony world of New Boston, considered Tara a passing fancy and nothing more. In the normal course of events, Warren would have grown bored with Tara and, as soon as he was scheduled to return to his normal duties, left her without a second thought. Nawaji would have been left with consoling a heartbroken Tara.

Except Nawaji had the misfortune of meeting Warren.

Nawaji found Warren to be a boorish pseudo-intellectual possessing the sheerest veneer of faux sophistication. Nawaji was quite willing to leave Warren to Tara, until such time as Warren made it necessary for Nawaji to swoop in and try to piece together her friend's broken heart.

Warren, on the other hand, became instantly obsessed with Nawaji. The first thing Warren told Nawaji was that he himself had ancestors who were among the original indigenous peoples of North America. Unfortunately, Warren's enthusiasm on that branch of his family's genealogy easily surpassed his actual knowledge of the First Nations. This included Warren stating that he was descended from the 'Cheroware' tribe.

Nawaji kept her distance from Warren as much as she could which, considering the fact it was her senior year at the Academy, wasn't that difficult. Unfortunately, it didn't seem possible to avoid him all together, a fact which annoyed Nawaji and which fueled Tara's growing jealousy. Nawaji didn't believe Warren's intentions were romantic in nature, but he did display an ever growing obessession with her and their 'shared' heritage.

It all came to a head when Nawaji, hoping to renew her friendship with Tara, invited her friend to join her after graduation when Nawaji went home to visit her family, before reporting for her first assignment.

Unfortunately, Tara told Warren of her plans, and Warren invited himself along. Tara must have at least subconsciously realized she was going to lose Warren and so, desperate to hang on to him, allowed Warren to accompany her.

So Nawaji decided to spend the extended weekend embarrassing Warren at every turn.

Nawaji's parents had been working at the northern headquarters of the Grand Restoration Project when Nawaji went to visit them. There were a number of disciplines represented at the facility, including a historian and a geneticist.

The historian spent an afternoon gently disabusing Warren of his near infinite misconceptions of Native American history, including the fact that there had never been any tribe or nation known as the 'Cheroware.' The final blow had been when the Project's geneticist definitively proved that Warren had no Native American genetic heritage.

And still Warren kept coming back for more, which only increased Tara's anger at the world in general and Nawaji in specific. The weekend ended with Warren unceremoniously 'dumping' Tara and Tara severing her ties with Nawaji.

As for Nawaji, she held on to the faint hope that at some point she would be able to renew her friendship with Tara. But otherwise, the entire 'Warren incident' made Nawaji renew her vow to focus on her career and leave romance to others, at least for the foreseeable future.

With that self-promise made, Nawaji put aside the drama she had been forced into, and enjoyed her time with her family once more.