Dramatis Personae: The Kuromoto-Soterede Family
The Kuromoto-Soterede Family
The Kuromotos are a well-known naval family within the Earth Republic, particularly in the Star Navy.
Admiral Soren Kuromoto: Formerly Captain Kuromoto of the ERS Hydra, Soren was promoted to admiral in 2151. After the Hydra’s 2150 first-contact event with the Praezorians and subsequent disappearance, Soren reappeared six months later with severe hyperspace injuries that made it impossible for him to serve aboard naval vessels. He served as an admiral from 2151 to 2156, commanding the Star Navy Intelligence Black Ops Division. In 2156, after the end of the war with the violent ichthoid species (the so-called “Z”), Soren and his middle daughter Eles were involved in a scientific plot to poison the waters of a Z colony world (Cygnus, in the Machine Sector) with a highly toxic red algae, known as Crimson Tide. In disgrace, Soren retired as an admiral in the summer of 2156.
Heti Soterede, Sci. D: Soren Kuromoto and his wife, Dr. Heti Soterede, both served aboard the ERS Hydra for many years, back when it was one of the first Star Destroyers. They married when Soren was a young junior officer and Heti was a venerated and intelligent young scientist. Heti Soterede is of European descent and was born and raised a Marser. Soren is of Japanese and white North American descent, born and raised on Earth, and a devoted Shinsekai Buddhist. (Shinsekai was a sect formed after the discovery of humanoid aliens like the Cetians.) They are fifteen years apart in age, with Soren the elder partner. They chose to have three children—Sora, Eles, and Teli—and sent them to live with their paternal grandparents on Earth, who are roving anthropologists.
The Children: Sora and Teli subsequently attended military boarding schools and then Star Navy Academy, while Eles, who was gifted, attended a run of specialized STEM academies right up into university. Teli left school often to travel with her paternal grandparents on anthropology field missions, due to bullying problems and other psychological issues. Sora excelled in military schools right up to earning her commission, and she was very close to a pair of twins from another “military royalty” family, twins Cassidy and Hayden Barca. Their grandfather, Hamilton Barca, was captain of the first Star Destroyer, the Daimajin. Sora was also friends with the sons of her father’s friends, Geras Vantage and Jaesan “Jase” Novak, eldest children of Captain (then Admiral) Nyx Vantage and Captain (then Admiral) Misha Novak, respectively. Teli, subsequently, spent a lot of time with Nyx’s younger son Oizys “Zak” Vantage, and Misha’s younger son Kaehan “Kae” Novak. Both Misha Novak and Nyx Vantage served with Soren on the Daimajin in the early days.
First Contact, ERS Hydra: In the first action of the Praezorian War, when the Praezorians attacked the Republic installation at Omicron Eridani, Soren’s ship (the ERS Hydra) went missing in hyperspace while Heti was on Earth for Sora’s graduation from Star Navy Academy. The Hydra was missing for six months. When it returned from hyperspace, its crew were found largely in stasis and mostly safe, but the bridge had been exposed to space before the jump, and the officers had therefore been exposed to hyperspace. Soren endured extreme and traumatic injuries which could not be cured unless he agreed to amputate his legs, which he refused, and was forced to give up his ship. For years, he could only attain mobility with the aid of painkillers and a wheelchair. His personality twisted and underwent a change for the worse. He entered the admiralty and quickly moved up the ranks as an admiral in Star Navy Intelligence, ultimately taking over its Black Ops division, for a tenure that could only be called “fragrant.”
Sora and Teli have both had careers in the Star Navy since their respective graduations. Sora fought in the First Praezorian War and ultimately entered Black Ops under her father’s leadership; she subsequently went undercover on the mafia-infested Sirius Base for over a year, before she transferred around to various taskforces, and finally landed back in the normal Star Navy aboard the ERS Fenris with her friend Hayden Barca. Teli served aboard the ERS Reginleif and then the ERS Odyssey as a commissioned officer, where she became an uncommonly young captain in 2154 due to a series of accidents, and thereafter led the Odyssey to victory in the Pyramid War to protect a potential ally, the humanoid Skelow. Notably, she is in a relationship with a Skelow man who works on her bridge. In October of 2156, the Odyssey is still two-hundred lightyears away, forming relationships and making deals in the Skelow Trade Federation, and Commander Teli Kuromoto is both famous there and infamous in the Star Navy, for fighting to protect the Skelow instead of returning home to aid in the Z Conflict.
For the moment, never being a close-knit group, the traumatic incidents of the 2150s have largely ripped the family apart. Teli is far away, Heti and Soren’s marriage has ended over the Crimson Tide incident and Soren's extreme changes to his personality, and Eles has been transferred to Tau Ceti for advanced psychological counseling, and Sora barely speaks to anyone except her mother.
Thus we begin our story….
BEGIN: What Remains, Chapter 1