Starchildren Options

[Kane]

Two stories at once is a lot for me, so these updates may not be as frequent. I also did not plan on this but a certain young woman in my head refused to be quiet.

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Prologue (May 7th, 2330)
Ebbside, Neon City, Volii Alpha


Andromeda awoke with a start. Somebody was pounding frantically on the door to her sleep crate and had ruined a perfectly deep slumber after a long day of work and even longer night of partying to celebrate her birthday. There was no way in hell it was daylight already which meant she probably left her slate at Euphorika. Again.

The bleary-eyed young woman fumbled in the dark for her glasses while the pounding on her door continued. If whomever it was out there kept it up much longer, she felt like her head would start pounding, too. Having finally fished her glasses off of the cold floor Andromeda slid them on and then clicked her bedside lamp to life. Most of her clothes were strewn about the floor of her metal box, which also explained why she was now so cold.

Two minutes or so later, she was half-dressed, and her nearly decrepit Solstice was clutched tightly in her left hand. Please don’t fizzle out on me now old girl, she thought. Looking down at the worn laser pistol in her hand, she sighed and silently chided herself for never spending any credits on a decent gun. The little pistol had been thrown out for good reason, yet Andromeda had fished out of the garbage anyway and fixed it up in the most half-assed way possible. Each time she squeezed the trigger was just another gamble on whether or not the damned thing would even fire.

This time she prayed to gods she didn’t give a [censored] about that it wouldn’t let her down. And then she finally opened the door.

Andre burst into her sleep crate and slammed the door shut behind him.

“It’s about goddamn time you answered! What the hell took you so long, Dro?”

Andromeda blinked in surprise at the urgency in his voice. She’d known Andre for over six months now, and the man was usually as cool as a cucumber. Even when he drunkenly tried to flirt with her. Andre had taken a courier job for HopeTech on Valo and was reassigned here to Neon City, much to his initial dismay, but they had grown close in the time since. The man was of average height with dark skin and kind brown eyes that sometimes hid behind a mop of unkempt blue hair.

“Slow down, Andre,” she said. “What’s the big deal?”

“No time to slow down. The ‘big deal’ is that your [censored], Dro. Absolutely [censored].”

“Wha -”

“Gather up what you care about the most and stuff it in your bag. Security thugs are closing in already �" I set up a prox alert for when they get within twenty meters.” Andre saw her bag sitting on the floor near the door, grabbed it, and handed it to Andromeda. “Pack! Now!”

“Andre, I am not going to move another goddamn muscle until you tell me what the [censored] is going on!”

“[censored]. Fine. Start packing and I’ll explain while you go.” He waited until a few things had been shoved unceremoniously in her bag before continuing: “Those Ryujin files you hacked yesterday for your anonymous buyer? They were tagged for Bayu’s personal records. Dunno how he tracked you down so quick but if you wanna live to see your twenty-sixth birthday then we need to get you the hell out of this city.”

Her blood froze. Benjamin Bayu. The Administrator of Neon City and possibly the most corrupt man in the settled systems. His fingers crept into every business venture on the planet and the security force was at his beck and call. No one did business in Neon without giving him a cut, and his ruthlessness against would-be competitors was legendary. Everyone who lived in Neon lived comfortably by skirting his brutality.

If she was on his radar at long last, then she had definitely taken the wrong job, pile of credits notwithstanding. Being a Cyber Runner in Neon always ran the risk that Andromeda would one day cross paths with that monster, but she had always been careful about her choice of contracts in the hope of avoiding Bayu. Her luck had finally run out and yet she still was uncertain about leaving the only home she ever knew.

“I can’t just up and leave!” stammered Andromeda, freezing midway through emptying the contents of her wall safe. “My whole life is here! It’s all I’ve ever known!”

“Doesn’t matter. Bayu will have you killed just to make an example - “ Andre ceased talking abruptly at the sound of rapid beeping emanating from his slate. His face took on an unhealthy pallor and he nervously ran his hand through his hair. “Time to go. They got there sooner than I expected.” Andre pulled another slate out of his jacket pocket and gave it to Andromeda. “Here, take this and give it to Doc Manning at the clinic. He’ll give you a short makeover to fool security at the spaceport.”

“Andre, I...” Andromeda was at a loss for words. The sudden shock of what was happening and the thought of fleeing her life �" Neon, Andre, the friends and people she’d grown up around �" was too much. Hot tears fell down her pale cheeks and splashed on the floor of her crate. She raised a hand to brush them away, and then shoulder her bag. “This isn’t over,” she finally said with a firmer resolve than what she felt inside. “Bayu isn’t chasing me out of my [censored] home forever. I’ll come back for all of you, I promise.” Andromeda stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Andre’s cheek. “I promise.”

“We’ll do what we can to clear your name. You need to go. Now. They’ll be here any second. I can keep them occupied for a few minutes but they’ll tell me to get lost before long. Go!”

Andromeda pulled her hood up to hide her vibrant fuchsia hair and fled into the night without another word. The garbled chatter of Neon Security radios echoed up from the alleyway to her right, so she moved silently away from them and ducked into a dark alcove that was still within view of her crate. It was hard to much of anything, but she recognized the dim form of Andre now standing back outside of her door and soon heard him pounding on it once again.

“Yo! Open up, Jen!” Andre’s voice rang out. “Open up!”

Flashlights illuminated and three security goons stood at the ready, their guns trained on her friend. Andre’s hands flew skyward while the nearest guard began to pat him down.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” demanded another guard.

“Damn, take it easy, bud,” said Andre. “My friend lives here and she’s gonna be late for her shift at Generdyne again. Just trying to get her ass on the move!”

“Jen, huh? Yeah, sure pal.” The guard shoved him aside and addressed one of his partners. “What do you got, Reg?”

“Andre Mitarn, known associate of one Andromeda Renault. Courier for HopeTech.”

“Did ya hear that you lying piece of [censored]?” laughed the first guard. “Jen my ass. Where’s the girl?”

“If I knew where Jen was I wouldn’t be here, officer.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, punk. Reg, you know the drill �" get him out of here.”

Andre lowered his hands to leave while Andromeda released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Her friend turned to walk away but Andre only made it a few paces before two sharp cracks rang out through Ebbside. He fell to the ground in a pool of blood while Andromeda watched in silent horror. She shoved her hand in her mouth in a desperate bid to stop herself from crying out.

“Dump that sack of [censored] over the side. The chasmbass will get rid of the evidence for us.”

Two of the security goons forced open the door to her sleep crate and disappeared inside while the third dragged off Andre’s lifeless body and heaved it over the railing and into the churning waters far below. Andromeda slipped away unseen and headed silently for the Neon Core, wiping away the tears as she went. The nearest door to Bayu Plaza wasn’t far, and within five minutes she had stepped through it and darkened her glasses against the garish light that gave Neon City its name.

Every type of store and service imaginable spanned the length of the Core, brilliant neon signs and lights shining down upon everyone who walked the expansive length from Ryujin Tower to the Trade Tower. Even late at night (or early in the morning, as it was now), the walkways were teeming with citizens, tourists, guards, scumbags, and dregs.

Andromeda’s destination was Reliant Medical and thankfully it was only a short distance away. Doc Manning seemed to never sleep and with her life crumbling around her, Andromeda was grateful to see him sitting at his counter.

“Ah, there you are, Dro! Andre warned me you were coming �" c’mon around back and we’ll get you fixed up.” He paused at the signs of grief that had stricken her normally carefree face. “What’s happened? Wait… where is Andre?”

It took everything Andromeda had to not scream in frustration and anger. She settled for kicking helplessly at the front of his counter which only resulted in a stab of pan shooting through her foot. “They [censored] killed him, Joe! Bayu’s security goons iced him without a second thought and threw him over the rails of Ebbside!”

“Bastards,” sighed the Doc. “I keep hoping this city will change some day but I don’t think I’ll ever live to see it. Despite younguns like you fighting back, Bayu’s grip never seems to relent. All the more reason to get you out of here, I guess.” Doc Manning waved her towards the back again and dismounted from his stool. “Go on, I just have to lock up real quick.”

The back room had a small biological modification chair that the doc had somehow procured from one of the Enhance! stores that were peppered throughout the local galaxy. It must have cost a small fortune, but she once again found herself thanking gods she didn’t care about for its existence in the back of the clinic. Doc Manning followed her in a few seconds later and instructed her to take a seat in the chair.

“Okay, so Andre...” Joe trailed off and made a gesture that Andromeda had never seen before. His hand moved across his face in the shape of a ‘T’.

“What was that for?” she asked him.

“The cross? It’s from an old-Earth religion that most have forgotten about. I’ll explain some other time. Anyway… so Andre most have been tipped off pretty early and with a good bit of info. Bayu has your name, financial history, work records, and physiological profile; but not your DNA records. We lucked out there. A few cosmetic changes will get you past the spaceport sniffers.”

“Joe, I can’t pay for any of this,” said Andromeda. “All my accounts are probably seized and I have less than two-hundred credits in my bag.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Dro. You’ve already done so much for the hard working people of this city that your friends are lining up behind me to get you safely out of this place.”

Andromeda sniffled and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue from the box Doc Manning held up to her. She knew it would be a long time until she saw those friends again, and the thought of that hurt more than anything else. Then she laid back in the chair and closed her eyes while the doctor powered up the alteration arms. She knew it would take thirty seconds to a minute for the machine to fully boot, so Andromeda pressed her friend on what would happen next.

“I have another slate from Andre,” he said. “It will transfer enough credits to get you on an outbound freighter, and provide a new identity. But the tricky part will be getting you to the port with perfect timing. We need to have you at the gates just as the ship’s thrusters begin to burn, so that the guards will hopefully rush you through without looking to closely at your records.”

There was lot that could go wrong with that. However, she trusted her friends implicitly and so she closed her eyes again and let the doctor go to work. The procedure was relatively painless, but she did flinch from the occasional needle or sharp prod. Some calibrations to the machine were in order when she returned. If I can return, she thought. Benjamin Bayu had a long memory, and she doubted he would forget about her anytime soon.

Ten minutes elapsed before Doc Manning leaned back on his stool and powered down the alteration arms. He grabbed a mirror from a side table and handed it to Andromeda. The same brown eyes stared back at her, but Joe had completely changed her hairstyle and its color: the long ponytail she had entered the clinic with was gone, and only a small knot was tied up in the back. Instead of fuchsia, her locks were now dyed an incredible opalescent prism of stunning colors, and the strands on the right side of her face fell down past her cheeks while being tucked back tightly on the left side.

She noticed the bare skin of her neck and left cheek and inhaled sharply. “Did you get rid of my tattoos?! Those were really personal to me, Doc!”
“Relax, I just covered them up with some foundation. Keep your hood up a the spaceport or the rain will wash it away and give up the goose. They’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Oh, and leave your piercings here. Those are easily replaceable.”

Andromeda frowned but did as advised. She popped the studs out of her ears and nose, removed the loop from her septum, and slid the barbell out from her nose bridge. Doc Manning collected them all in a small steel pan and then dropped them into a medical waste bin. Andromeda slid out of the modification chair and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for everything, Doc. I’ll be back to repay you some day.”

“I already told you your credit is good, Dro. Just promise me you’ll be careful out there.”

“I’ll try. But you should know better than most that the trouble usually finds me first.”

“That I do!” laughed Doc Manning. “Damn, almost forgot �" lose the glasses, too. I have some lenses for you instead.”

She removed her glasses and chucked them in the bin with her piercings. The good doctor handed her a set of icy blue colored contact lenses and after a couple minutes of struggling, she managed to pop them in to obscure her natural eye color. Another hug for the Doc Manning. Then he tapped a slate to hers and ushered Andromeda out the back door of Reliant Medical. Syndal, her best friend from university and one-time lover waited somberly in the trash ridden alley running behind the shops.

“Time to go, doll,” said her diminutive cohort. “Ship leaves in six minutes.” Syndal was tiny even compared to the slight 1.6 meters Andromeda rose to. The top of her head just barely made it to Andromeda’s nose. She put a hand on the back of Andromeda’s head and pulled her down to a reasonable level, kissing her very briefly on the lips. “For luck,” she explained to Andromeda’s quizzical stare. “Don’t think we’re ever getting back together or anything.”

“Fair enough,” said Andromeda. “Are we taking the main elevator down?”

“Have to. It’s all you have time for. “Let’s go, and try to keep up. Security is swarming the Core for you.”

Andromeda nodded and followed along in Syndal’s speedy wake. It was easy to unobtrusively hang a few steps back and still keep tabs on the impressive length of platinum hair falling past her friend’s hips. It swayed to and fro in the constant gentle breeze flowing through Neon City. The draft was one of many effects of living on massive platform built high above the roiling seas of a water world. A world that Andromeda had never left. Or had ever planned to leave. Those idle thoughts helped keep her features neutral when they stepped back onto the main thoroughfare and snaked their way towards the spaceport elevator.

Neon Security had fallen for the gambit. None of them paid her any mind, despite having her former appearance projected on the inside of their helmet visors. Syndal led her right past squad after squad of the corrupt officers until they reached their destination.

“You’re on your own from here,” said Syndal. “Take the lift down to the port and make a show of rushing, but don’t outright sprint. Play the part of the late departee who is trying to make their flight. The guards down there are a different detachment than the Core goons and generally skew towards being less of an asshole than the ones chasing you up here.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Never was much of an actor but I can do this. I have to do this.”

Syndal slapped her on the ass. “Quit stalling. You’ve got less than two minutes.”

“Right. Bye, Syn. And thank you.”

The elevator doors opened and Andromeda rode the lift down to the docking port. Two guards flanked the it at the bottom but the alterations Doc Manning made to her appearance seemed to have fooled their scanners. She showed them her slate and they told her to get moving else she miss the freighter. Settling for a speedy trot, Andromeda sighed gratefully and flitted down the long catwalk spanning over the ocean below, squeezing her hood tightly to her face. The warm, wind-driven rain splattered against her while she half ran to the ship waiting for its final passenger.

It was an ancient Deimos model that took up most of the landing pad. Bright lights illuminated faded letters above the ramp: The Gryphon. A crew member ushered Andromeda inside with little patience and directed her to a jump seat in the main cabin. Unsure of how the seat worked, her fingers trembled while she tried to strap herself in.

“First time in space, dearie?” A middle-aged woman next to her smiled gently at Andromeda.

“Yeah. I’m scared shitless if I’m being honest.”

“There’s nothing to it.” The kind woman reached over and showed her which buckles went where, and pointed out the safety pouch under the cushion. “Mouth guards in there if you’re worried about biting your tongue off. Once we take off, just keep your mouth closed and you won’t need them.”

Andromeda thanked her, and the woman went back to humming an off-tune key. Voices rang out over the loudspeaker and warning signs began to light up all around them. The entire ship rattled and shook, and the message on the flight console on the wall across from her changed from ‘docked’ to ‘achieving thrust’. Seconds later the engines roared into life and the sudden g’s from massive acceleration pressed Andromeda back into her seat. Unable to move so much as a finger, she closed her eyes and whimpered slightly as the ship gained altitude.

And then the pressure was gone. She opened her eyes and the porthole in the ceiling above revealed the deep black of space, dotted with innumerable points of light blinking back at her from incomprehensible distances. For the second time in as many minutes, her breath had been taken away for very different reasons.

She had done it. She had escaped Neon City and the closing grasp of Benjaim Bayu.

The tears came again anyway. Her life as she knew it was over and she had no idea where things went from here. She didn’t even know where this ship was bound. She was alone among the stars. And then the engines powered down while the grav drive engaged, folded space around the ship, and leapt from the Volii System in a blazing show of cosmic light and energy, carrying Andromeda far way from danger with a dumbfounded expression on her face..

This post has been edited by Kane: Jun 20 2025, 12:59 PM

[Kane]

Seventeen �" Pieces of the Past

The Eye, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System

The docking tunnel locked in with the station’s mooring clamps and the airlock panel lit up green confirming that everything pressurized properly. Andromeda peered hesitantly through the porthole with a nervousness concerning whom she would bump into on the other side. Andreja had assured her over and over that Vladimir would not hold her decision to step away from Constellation against her and that he’d gladly offer them the work they sought. Her placating only helped so much.

Andreja made the choice for Andromeda by mashing her fist against the airlock release button and cycling the chamber to force them through it and onto The Eye. Barrett awaited them just inside.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in!” he said, greeting them with a warm smile and kind eyes. “How you doing, Dro? Did the recovery go okay?”

“Um. Hi, Barrett. Yeah, Andreja helped me.”

“Glad to hear it! So, what brings you two to our humble home in the sky?”

“We are here to see Vladimir,” said Andreja. “Credits are hard to come by honestly but I know that he always has survey work accumulating on his plate. What brings you here, Barrett?”

“Ol’ Vlad needed help parsing a few petabytes of deep scan data. Been a long few nights already.” He gestured towards the central hab and they followed him in towards the control room. “Can I get you ladies anything? Food? Drink?”

“No, thank you,” said Andreja.

Andromeda followed them into the control room and returned a nod from Vladimir. The old man must’ve recognized the look on her face that practically shouted ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ because he jumped right into a hearty exchange of pleasantries with Andreja instead, while Barrett sat back down and resumed his data trawl. Taking a seat at a small table along the outer wall, she sat and waited until she was needed. That turned out to be sooner than she expected, and Vladimir joined her only a few minutes later with three slates bundled together by an elastic band.

“So, Andreja tells me she whipped your body back into shape,” he began. “But I always have to preach wellness of the mind to the rooks. How are you holding up in the head, Andromeda?”

That didn’t take long, thought Andromeda. With a weary sigh, she reached out empathically and probed at the fringes of Vladimir’s mind only to be met with genuine concern. At least he’s honest.

“I’m not holding up, Vladimir. I don’t even - “

“You don’t owe me an explanation, rook. I can tell it’s nothing you wish to speak of, and so we won’t. Just be careful out there, yes? And look after Andreja for me. She needs to catch a smile more often and I see her do so in your company.”

The old man made to leave, but Andromeda wanted to ask him something first. “Vladimir?”

“Yes?”

“You always speak of ‘rooks’ and whatnot. Isn’t that pirate talk?”

“Aye, it is indeed. Used to run with the Crimson Fleet until Mistress Time caught up with me. Retired many years ago and lucked into helping Constellation to stave off the boredom.”

“The Crimson Fleet? Seriously? I didn’t know you could retire from them.”

“Most don’t; but that’s only because they are reckless and end up pushing daisies. The smart ones hide their credits until they get out.”

“Interesting,” said Andromeda. “Well, I’m glad you get to enjoy retirement, Vladimir. And thank you for being cool about us coming here for work. Maybe don’t mention it to Sarah, though? She wasn’t exactly thrilled with me the last time we saw each other.”

“My lips are sealed. Can’t say the same for Barrett, though.”

* * *

The Verity of Fate, Alpha Centauri System

With opportunity in-hand, Andromeda and Andreja departed The Eye and fired up the engines with the latter at the helm. Andromeda took the navigator’s chair for this jump and had begun inputting the coordinates to Vega II-a: an icy moon in the Vega system near the edge of charted space. It seemed odd to survey a lifeless ball of snow and rock, but she was still new to realms of science and exploration. Still…

“What’s the point of gathering data on a moon like this, Andreja?”

“I am not entirely certain. Typically it it just to gather information on geophysical features so that they can be added to a database and compared against other such moons and planets. Vladimir says it also helps him weed out false positives in his deep space scans, but that is analysis at a level far above my comprehension.”

“So, we land the ship and walk around with our scanners out until we freeze our asses off? Sounds great.”

“That was sarcasm again, yes?”

“Big time.”

“I thought so. In that case, it is why we are going there first. I have researched our first two destinations and our follow-up visit to Eridani II will be much more pleasant. Teeming with life, wonderfully temperate, safe water, and a robust magnetosphere. That is a place where we shall truly be explorers.”

“Always knew you were a romantic at heart,” giggled Andromeda. “Although I have to admit… that does sound lovely. Whaddya say we get this iceball out of the way?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

The grav drive spooled up while they spoke and Andreja punched the button to initiate it.

* * *

Frozen Hills, Vega II-a, Vega System

Vega II-a was indeed bone biting cold, just as Andromeda predicted. Their spacesuits mainly kept it bay, but no amount of protection was ever complete, and despite the built in radiant heat, she still felt her teeth chattering on occasion while hiking up and down slippery, craggy slopes in the name of science.

Walking about with her homebrewed scanner at the ready, Andromeda crested a rise and surveyed the moonscape. Ice. Rocks. And over there? More ice and more rocks. Occasionally the readout would denote a mineral of significance, such as copper, or the oddly sporadic pocket of frozen water-ice. But mostly it was just rock. And ice. It was pretty to look at, but Andromeda’s enjoyment of the survey mission stopped there. Had Andreja been closer at hand, she would have surveyed her instead, but they stayed about fifty meters apart to cover more ground between them.

Andromeda paused for a moment to smack the side of her scanner. Damn thing had been twitchy since they arrived, and she had plans to overhaul more to her liking before they made it to Eridani II. Even if that meant staying put for the rest of the day. At least the ship will be warm…

Static crackled in her ear, followed by the voice of Andreja: “Do you have a fix on my location, Annie?”

Her screen cut out and came back on after a hearty thump. “Yeah, I read you at fifty-seven meters west by southwest.”

“Excellent. Come join me. I believe I have found what we are looking for.”

“Thank [censored]. I don’t know how much longer this piece of [censored] scanner Noel gave me will hold up.”

“Noel?” Andreja trailed off for a couple of seconds. “Flip it over. Is there a horned creature scratched into the case on the back?”

“Er, yeah, actually. How’d you know?”

“Jinan’s pants. That is my old scanner and I threw it in the recycler months ago. Noel must have fished it out and tried to repair it. Toss it away and leave it to die in the ice. We will get you a better scanner the next time we go to a settled world.”

Andromeda wanted to focus on the strange colloquialism Andreja had just used so casually, but her mind dwelt on the scanner instead. It was a piece of her friend’s past that she knew so little about. Another connection to the tall woman she continuously became more and more smitten with.

Disregarding Andreja’s advice, she powered it down and hung it from her utility belt to tinker with later. “On my way.”

A fairly tall hill covered in what else but ice and snow stood between the two of them. It spanned far more than fifty-seven meters in each direction, so it looked like Andromeda would be hiking over it to regroup with Andreja. She made her way to the base of it and called up the backlit suit functions display on her left arm and selected climbing mode. Spiked cleats sprung from the bottom of her boots. She grabbed the climbing picks from her belt just in case she slipped, and began her ascent up the slippery slope. The going was slow for the first few steps until Andromeda settled into a routine and became more confident that she wouldn’t misstep and tumble painfully towards the bottom. Before long, she came to the top and the what she saw left her breathless.

The star of Vega had just begun to rise over the far horizon, its brilliant blue-white rays nearly blinding her as they cascaded over the atmosphere-less moon her and Andreja stood upon. The ice and hard-packed snow glistened and sparkled in the morning sunlight as if a field of diamonds had suddenly sprouted from the bedrock beneath.

“Andreja… are you seeing this?”

“I am. Magnificent, is it not? There is untold beauty in every corner of the universe, Annie.”

“I think I’m starting to believe that.” Andromeda took a seat on the ground and continued to watch the sunrise while hoping her ass wouldn’t freeze solid. The view was utterly captivating. “Andreja, do you mind scanning whatever you found without me? I’d like to sit here for a bit.”

“Of course. Meet me back at the ship when you are done.”

“Thanks. You’re the best. Dunno what I would do without you in my life.”

There was a brief pause, and then: “I think we need to have a conversation when we return to the ship. I will begin scanning this outcropping.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yes,” said Andreja. “I did not mean to worry you. Take your time, Annie �" I know you have a lot on your mind.”

The helmet mics cutout with a clip of static leaving Andromeda alone with her thoughts atop the hillock. Vega rose slowly into prominence as light washed over the once dark landscape of the moon’s surface while she sat there staring blankly off into space. She looked at her hand, and then held it forward to release another anti-gravity push that rocketed a scree of ice and stone out over the ground below.

Wish I knew why this had to happen to me, she thought. Hm… maybe it can be useful in a fight…

She hoped there wouldn’t many more fights but Andromeda saw the naivety of that ideal. It felt to her that Pirates, Spacers, Ecliptic, and who knows what else lurked behind every star, every planet, and every moon; all waiting to take advantage of the weak. She hated it. Hated the constant feelings of danger every time she’d set foot somewhere those dreadful miscreants had staked a claim, or decided to raid for parts and supplies. Hated pointing her gun at them and feeling the panic set in their minds in those final seconds.

Andromeda also wanted to hate her empathic abilities, but couldn’t bring herself to do so. They offered too much insight with those around her that mattered. A window into the soul that allowed her to help her friends. And it felt like a warm blanket that smothered her fears when she felt how staunchly Andreja fought to protect her, or when she bandaged her up the way she had in the Mantis’ Lair.

Then her mind snapped back to reality and she glanced at her watch. “[censored]!” Nearly two hours had passed since she sat down, and the star of Vega had risen high above her. “Andreja, I’m sorry; I’m coming!” she said into her mic. “I lost track of time.”

“It is fine, Andromeda. I fixed us some lunch. Come join me.”

She sprinted back to the ship, dashed up the ramp and raised it, bobbing impatiently on her feet while waiting for the air to cycle back in. The pressure seal lamp turned from red to green and she pulled off her suit and hung it on a hook next to Andreja’s. A touch of cold from the airless moon beyond the ship clung to their landing bay causing goosepimples to rise on her exposed skin. She climbed the ladder in a hurry and breathed a sigh of relief when the warm air of the main hab washed over her.

Still shivering slightly, Andromeda headed over to her bed and pulled on pants, and slipped a jacket over her shoulders. She debated wearing a shirt, but decided the form-fitting top of her undersuit was good enough for now, despite its habit of not hiding the contours of her body.

She headed into the next hab and found Andreja waiting for her at the dining table with two patty melts and glass of red wine for each of them.

“Mm, smells great! When did you learn how to cook that?”

“It was not hard,” Andreja waved idly. “Watching you last time was instruction enough.” Andreja sipped from her glass and glanced at her friend briefly before looking away. “Must you always dress so indecently?”

“You’re adorable when you blush, Andreja,” winked Andromeda. “I can’t help myself.” She probed Andreja’s feeling just in case and was relieved to detect nothing more than a touch of appetency. And a heavy dose of confusion, which did concern Andromeda somewhat. I shouldn’t keep teasing her like this. It’s not fair. Setting her burger down, she got up and excused herself. “Be right back!”

“Everything alright, Annie?” Andreja called after her.

“Yup!” She yanked the jacket off and instead put on a loose-fitting sweater that fell halfway down her thighs. Seconds later, she sat back down at the table and took another bit of her lunch. “Mmph. Sorry. I was still feeling a little chilly.”

Andreja raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh really?” She grinned. “And here I thought you just enjoyed showing off.”

Taking a drink from her glass, Andromeda winked at her. “There is that. So, what did you wanna talk about?”

Andreja set down her lunch and stared pensively out of the porthole by their table. There was much she wanted to share, but a lot of things about her past gave her pause. Very few people in the Settled Systems knew who she really was and from where she came. She kept that information tight to her chest in fear of becoming an outcast. A pariah. But with how close she and Andromeda were becoming, the idea of keeping secrets appalled her, especially since her friend was such an open book.

She silently wrestled with the idea of baring all for a handful of minutes, until it occurred to her that she worried more about what Andromeda’s reaction would be, rather than the idea of telling her at all. That realization shined a light on the dark nook where the courage she sought lay hidden.

“I have told you am I not one to discuss my past, and yet… I find myself increasingly compelled to do so, to make sense of myself.”

“Andreja, You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to.”

“Thank you. I appreciate the reassurance, but I would like to try.” She thought for a second about exactly how much should be divulged, and quickly decided there would be no secrets with Andromeda. “I… I am from House Va’ruun.”

There it was. There was no going back now. Everyone in the Settled Systems lived in fear of her people and another recurrence of the Serpent’s Crusade. Few events in galactic history had ever been so dark, and so bloody. Would the idea of sharing a meal, let alone a ship �" or her own home �" with someone like Andreja frighten off Andromeda? Would this be the end of their friendship, knowing now who the woman with the mysterious past she befriended truly was.

To her surprise, Andreja’s fears had been for naught, and she’d underestimated her friend once again.

Andromeda swallowed a mouthful of food and smiled at her. “Yeah, no [censored].” She dabbed at a bit of frisco sauce on her lip with a napkin and chuckled. “That’s what you were so worked up about?”

“I… well… yes. Yes, it was. And yet I do not know why I surprised by this reaction.”

“Probably because it’s weighed on you for a long time,” observed Andromeda. “Can you pass the salt?”

“Pass the salt?” asked Andreja blankly. “Just like that, you are ready to move on? I share something that would frighten most people �" make them run for the hills, even. And you say ‘pass the salt’ without a care in the world?”

“You’re still you, Andreja. Knowing that doesn’t change what I think or feel about you, nor does it make me worry about being murdered in my sleep. You are someone I care for deeply and I love that you also care enough about me to have shared that. So, you’re from House Va’ruun? Big whoop. I’m a hacker from Neon with a criminal record who’s on Benjamin Bayu’s shortlist of people to [censored] over with extreme prejudice. Just don’t try to convert me and nothing about our relationship needs to change.”

Andreja passed her the salt. “You never cease to amaze me, Andromeda. Truly, you are a special person.”

“No, I’m a weirdo with superpowers and altered DNA. But I’ll take it.”