Among Stars

Interruption

Naina sighed deeply as she was washing the rest of the washing liquids out of her hair in the showers. She glanced towards the bubble bath once more with longing in her eyes. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Nah, I need to get a move on. I need to get the stupid converter and get out of here before my luck runs out," she mumbled and grabbed a towel. As she was using it to dry herself, the door suddenly creaked slightly open. A person quickly ran inside and closed the door behind them, without even noticing that Naina was there.

A sudden yelp left Naina's lips, and she jumped backwards, back to the showers and almost fell on the floor, the towel flying straight into the bathtub in the process.

The person turned around, and instantly Naina noticed her pupilless purple eyes. Another elf. Based on her eyes, this time from a neighboring planet in the next sector, Nellaya. She was young, probably much younger than Naina. She had a terrified expression, and she looked like she would fall apart the second someone talked to her.

The new person almost screamed, but caught herself in time and pressed both of her hands on her mouth and just made a muffled sound. She shook her head furiously and looked like she would have a panic attack right there and then.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." she said and kept repeating it over and over again. She fell to her knees on the floor and started sobbing.

Naina wasn't afraid anymore, and walked slowly towards her, speaking in a soft, hushed tone, "Shh. I'm not angry, you just surprised me. Are you in trouble? What are you doing here? Why are you so afraid?"

The newcomer looked straight into Naina's eyes and tears formed in her eyes. "They're going to kill me!" she blurted out. "They're going to send me back to the Blackjoints. They're going to send me back to... back to..." she said, but apparently couldn't finish her sentence.

"Blackjoints?" Naina said quietly. "This is a Valkyrie station. The last thing you should be afraid of here, are Blackjoints. And aren't you a Nellayan? Why are the Blackjoints after a Nellayan?"

Somehow it seemed like the newcomer saw Naina properly for the first time, and her eyes flew wide open. "You're an elf too!" she said, surprised. "Quenstarian! How...?" was all she managed.

"I just came here to fix my ship," Naina answered gently. "Now, can you explain to me why you ran here and why the Blackjoints are after you? And who are you hiding from here? Surely not Blackjoints in a Valkyrie station?"

"They're posing as a father and son, and they say I'm the boy's mother. They're actually mercenaries and the boy is actually a Zheng," she said and took a deep breath.

"Daew! A Zheng!" Naina swore. "I saw those people earlier! They did say they were looking for the boy's mother," she said and scratched her left ear tip. "Quera. Start the Peepers. Run a silent scan on the lowest frequency and modulate the polarity to look like a normal hyperdrive," Naina said.

"Yes, Captain Melcey," Quera answered immediately. "Running scan."