Sasha sucked in a breath. To say that she was afraid was an understatement; there was only so much her skull could do to deflect a phaser blast. After that, well, she’d be quite unlucky. Fortunately for her, Cresta came to her rescue.
“Emna! Don’t shoot Ludrien’s wife!”
The girl in front of her, Emna, lowered her phaser, still suspicious, and studied Sasha like she was a specimen under a microscope. Sasha tried to ignore the crawling feeling she felt under such scrutiny.
“Ludrien’s... wife?”
“I’m not his wife.”
“Sure. Nice jacket by the way.”
“Um, thanks.”
Emna swept her platinum blonde hair behind her shoulder and turned to the little girl.
“Cresta, why’re you lying? Didn’t your mom tell you that lying is wrong?”
“They were together when we found Sash’s ship, so that means they’re married!”
“That doesn’t exactly prove anything, does it?” she said absently.
“It proves everything!”
“Sure.”
She turned back to Sasha with narrowed eyes. Sasha stared back. She theorized that if she looked away, Emna would be able to sense her fear, much like a predator would its prey.
Emna had the audacity to smirk. Sasha felt her jaw tense.
“Hey, Ludrien. I’m surprised you’re not dead,” she said.
“So am I. I’m glad Sasha found me when she did.”
She gave him a crushing hug, which contrasted sharply from her aloof personality.
“Glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“Likewise,” he replied. “And please don’t harass my friend.”
“I thought she was your wife.”
“She’s not my wife,” he said a little forcefully. Sasha felt her heart sink, though she didn’t know why.
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Sasha felt a small hand grab hers.
“Don’t be sad,” Cresta said softly.
Sasha had the resist the urge to ‘aww’. She wasn’t one to deny the request of a cute child, so she just replied, “Okay,” and gave a soft smile.
“Perhaps we should show you to your quarters,” Leytiri said.
“Quarters?” Sasha asked.
“Yes, you may be staying awhile.”
Sasha let go of Cresta’s hand, a feeling of uneasiness rising. This wasn’t part of the deal. She was just going to help Ludrien find some of his allies, and then they would part ways. He would be safer with Leytiri and Emna, anyways. But maybe Leytiri didn’t know about their deal and Sasha silently scolded herself for jumping to conclusions.
“I would be happy to stay, but I had agreed that I would take Ludrien to somewhere he’d be safe from whoever’s chasing him. And since I’ve upheld my side of the bargain, I think I should go-”
“Go back to wandering endlessly in interstellar space?” Leytiri asked with a slight tilt of her head.
She tried not to let her emotions get the best of her (like that had ever worked before), but she still felt her hands shake and tears form in her eyes.
“I do believe it’s in your best interests to stay,” Ludrien said softly. She’d forgotten he was there.
“No. I’m leaving.”
“It’s not safe..”
"What isn’t safe?”
“It’s possible that those guys that are so adamant on killing me know who you are.”
Great. She was stuck here and may or may not have been in complete danger. She took a few deep breaths; she felt a little bad for overreacting.
“Whatever you say.”
“Yes. Would you like to be shown to your quarters now?”
“Yeah.”
I wonder if Dad’s called, Sasha thought as she was led to her room, wherever that was. They’d been walking for at least twenty minutes. Just how big was this ship?
Cresta had latched onto her hand yet again and was rambling on about something. She wasn’t reallypaying attention. She was thinking of the earful she would get later for not calling Dad. Instead, she nodded her head absently, thinking about Earth and that stray cat that she occasionally fed and how it would find food now that she was gone.
“Hey, pay attention to me!”
Cresta was pulling on her arm with a pout.
“Don’t tear her arm off. Psycho,” Emna said and Sasha was surprised that she came to her aid when, just a half hour ago, she was pointing a gun to her head.
“I’m not a psycho!”
“You are a little bit psycho,” Ludrien added with a smirk.
“Mama, tell them to stop!”
“I would, my sweet child, but we’re at our destination.”
They had stopped in front of a dark door that seemed quite thick, and there was no doorknob in sight. How were they going to open it?
“May you lend a hand Sasha?” Leytiri asked.
Sasha complied, allowing her to place get palm on the wall next to the giant door, which seemed to serve has a touchpad. They waited a few seconds until a low beep could be heard.
“That should do it. Only you and select few are able to unlock this door,” Leytiri said.
“You say that like I’m going to be here for a while.”
“Well, you never know...”
Sasha cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Thanks,” she said.
Leytiri left in a flourish of robes and a nod of her head, Emna right behind get. Cresta followed after a lot of persuasion.
“Call if you need anything,” Ludrien said.
“But, how do I call you though?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll know.”
“Okay,” Sasha replied, deciding that she’d probably never know what he was talking about.
“And,” he added. “I hope you understand why you need to stay here for a while.”
“Are you ever going to tell me who’s after you?”
“It’s better if you didn’t know.”
She sighed.
“Don’t worry about it.”
He smiled and patted her shoulder, then went back the way they came.
Sasha pressed her hand to the spot on the wall and watched as the seemingly immovable door slid open as smoothly as butter.
The room also had a high ceiling, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise since the ship took to heart the phrase, “bigger is better”. Yet, she found herself marveling at the walls which were slightly glowing with some kind of mineral.
As for furniture, the room was sparsely decorated except for a large bed in the center of the room and a pool of what looked like water in the back corner.
Sasha jumped onto the bed and was almost afraid that she’d fall through. Not bad at all.
She felt her eyes begin to droop, even though she’d only woken up about an hour ago. Yet, she couldn’t help but close her eyes for just a few minutes...
She couldn’t quite remember the dreams that followed. All she could remember was fire, and a man shrouded in shadow.
She woke up with a piercing scream and blood running down her shaking hands.
ns 15.158.61.42da2
