Some memories and small talks

Present Time

"Kat?"

[Yeah?]

"What are you doing?"

[Giving you a hug silly.]

The hug that Kat was giving while the two were sitting on Melanie's luxury couch wasn't felt physically as Kat was in her holographic form, but Dean was touched emotionally by her action. 

".....thanks."

[It's a given as I'm your little sister.]

"I never agreed to being adopted though."

[But you never said no when I asked.]

"..."

[Hehehehe]

Eventually Dean chuckled after his mind stopped working briefly and started thinking of the last time Dean had a hug which was at the end of his winter break before 2nd semester started when Granny Judy was sending him off back on Earth. His mind drifting off to their last meeting in-person.

***

5 months ago

At a ground spaceport in Los Angeles, one of the many cities that survived the nuclear war though much of the infrastructure has changed to meet the standards of the 26th century, many people were boarding or off-boarding their passenger space shuttles but mostly people were boarding as today marks the end of winter break for many students and professors.

"Deary you packed everything?"

"Yes Grandma."

A young man and an elder woman was conversing while surrounded by hundreds of other people in similar circumstances.

"Oh come on, put a little enthusiasm to that handsome voice." 

"Sorry was thinking of my career path since that talk a few days ago."

"Little Dean, you don't have to stress about it too much", said Granny Judy with a smile but her eyes showed a little worry.

"But I've decided to work in the military so I'll start looking for internships when I'm back at the academy."

"Are you sure about the military? It can be really dangerous given your ability; they'll most likely put you on a special taskforce and send you on high risk missions", Granny Judy said as her smiling expression instantly turned into a serious expression with increasing worry in her eyes.

"How do you know about this?", said Dean with a confused expression.

"Oh when these old bones were a little younger, I used to work in the Alliance Military", replied Granny Judy with a little smirk on her wrinkly face.

"How come you're telling me this now?", Dean inquired as Granny Judy rarely talks about her life before retiring in Blue Breeze, their hometown.

"Eh...uh...it's because of all this talk about joining the military, now back to my original question Dean."

"Ummm....okay, well I still don't know about working in the military but it feels right. I'm planning on taking internships for one of the military bases on Mars."

Sigh

Judy sighed hearing his answer and for a moment she made eye contact with Dean seeing only determination in it despite how unsure his answer was. For a moment she remembered how distanced Dean was 14 years ago but he grew from a cute emotionally distant little boy to the handsome young man he is though a little quiet.

"Okay...if you're serious about the internship, I'll use my connections in the military to get you the best spot with the best people on Mars", Judy proudly said. 

"Thanks", Dean answered with a slight smile though inwardly he was increasingly curious about Granny Judy's past but he brushed that aside as they didn't have time for a long conversation and he figured Judy would talk about it in due time.

They then hug for what felt like an eternity feeling the warmth in their hearts, yet reality came in and the grandmother and grandson duo have to part ways.

"Make sure to vidchat every day or better yet holochat so it feels like you're actually talking to me face-to-face. Oh oh oh, I almost forgot, here's cinnamon cookies that I baked for ya", said Judy panicking a little and handing Dean a box the size of a regular Amazon package filled with cookies.

Dean nodded and headed towards a express line for first-class passengers.

.

.

.

.

Judy stared at Dean's back then briefly at his smartwatch knowing he'll be fine in case any of the petty rich people try to hack him or attempt to defame him with fake videos or whatever kids do these days. She knows because the hire cost took a good chunk of her savings account. 

But the constant updates of cyberattacks repelled by Kat reassured Judy that the money was well worth it. Judy planned on Kat staying with Dean permanently and even reveal herself to him as her cheerful bubbly personality fits well with Dean's quiet socially awkward one funnily enough...at least in her imagination they fit well as friends or even siblings.

Anyway, Judy giggled a bit at the thought and turned back towards the hovertrain station to head back home and rest these old bones....no longer having the stress or full weight of the Special Esper Taskforce on her shoulders.

***

Present Time

[You know Dean...you're actually a really big softie for feeling this down about a girl you barely talk to, granted she's really pretty], Kat said while letting go of her 'hug'.

"For starters, Melanie started greeting me with a happy expression recently....and she likes the cookies Granny Judy baked for me, also shouldn't you be concerned about your best friend Jen?", Dean inquired.

[So you're concerned about a pretty girl who said hi to you and likes your grandma's cookies], Kat amusedly said, [also its very difficult for a paxian to get hurt or die unless if another paxian intentionally harms them].

With a raised eyebrow Dean curiously ask, "So no EMP or simply flicking the switch off?"

EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, causes harm to electronic equipment even though most modern equipment are resistant to it compared to 500 years ago. Dean knew that but for a cyber race whom he had little information of, his curiosity peaked.

[For starters, EMP only stuns us or at most knock us out while turning off a device we inhabit puts us to sleep though in a combat scenario, it'll be very difficult as we can-]

"Paxian on Paxian violence?", Dean interrupted Kat as her would-be long explanation wasn't interesting to him compared to the other part.

Kat frowned while commenting, [You know, I never interrupted whenever you go on a long tangent. so I expect you to do the same for me]

Dean flinched and muttered, "Sorry...it won't happen again."

Kat was satisfied with his apology and said, "You better be and don't rudely interrupt people even if they blab boring stuff outside of school or work."

After giving Dean a lecture on social interactions, she continued to blab on how difficult it is to kill her people as they live in the virtual space of the galactic network. Kat also mentioned that even if humans isolate paxians in a device and destroy it, it would be incredibly difficult to outsmart an AI that can process data faster.

[Now as for Paxian on Paxian violence, there has never been one but with rogue AIs that you humans keep on creating well we don't like violence but we're not naive to think peace can be achieved without some weapons to protect ourselves.....and as for the weapons we possess well....]

Kat was hesitant on telling Dean about what her race is capable of as she was afraid that he would look at her differently compared to the cute little sister personality.

"It's okay you don't have to tell me and even if you told me...it wouldn't lower my opinion of you", Dean assured with a small smile.

**********

A/N: Sorry about the flashbacks in two chapters back to back, will try to pace them better in the future as the flashbacks will contextualize characters and their relationships. 

Also first time I'm splitting a chapter because of word count heh.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.