Estra sat on a pedestrian overpass that spanned across Navarro Boulevard, which ran almost the full length of Calhoun City’s north western quarter. She sat on the cold hard concrete of the structure and dangled her legs over the edge, which she swung back and forth in the open air as she leaned forward with her chin on the lower railing and watched the slow movements of the late afternoon pedestrian traffic. Every now and then she heard the hurried footsteps as people crossed the overpass behind her. Apart from that she had it to herself, and the local enforcers were nowhere to be seen. Estra decided that she would have another good half an hour to meditate at this spot before the enforcers would force her to move along.
Estra closed her eyes and cast her mind back to the events of the past twenty four hours. The flight out to the ruined, overgrown, reclamation zone, the trek through the forest, the fight against the Gellec, then the incident in the medical bay with Whillem. At that point Estra’s train of thought came crashing to a halt, and a lingering pulse of deep embarrassment welled up from within her.
Whillem’s creamy orange fur, in that moment had brought back a memory that had long since faded into the murk of her deep memory back into sharp relief in that moment. The feeling of Whillem’s fur in her hands, it had the exact same texture and colour of a stuffed toy that her parents had gifted her as a juvenile. She had slept with it every night until the beginning of her second decade, at which point it remained on the shelf and only came down at moments of great emotional distress to act as a source of comfort, and after the annexation of Estra’s homeworld there were many nights where that comfort was required.
Her mother and father were followers of Vralu, a major fertility deity within the Precursor pantheon. They had forsworn most high technology and instead opted for a life of simple pastoralism on the small colony world of Berslae that other followers of Vralu had first colonised centuries ago. She had been a difficult child; while her parents were devoted followers of Vralu, Estra had always been curious and inquisitive about the high technology of both her race and the wider galaxy, which put her at odds with her community. Breslae lay on the Precursor - K’Erin frontier and had been the subject of much K’Erin sabre rattling for generations, citing ancient treaties and survey claims. Eventually all of this boiled over into a short war of annexation, and as pacifists, the colonists of Breslae didn’t resist and surrendered to the K’Erin without a fight.
The K’Erin mostly left the followers of Vralu alone, aside from enforcing a modest tithe of the colonists' agricultural produce. Over the years the K’Erin built up a small fleet base and colony on the world. This meant that Estra had found herself with a fascinating source of high technology, the occupying K’Erin and their colonists.
Estra began to sneak into depots and stockpiles; she used bootlegged technical manuals to learn how to bypass locks and disable security systems. The K’Erin eventually caught her and deported her to a prison colony for twenty long years as punishment for her crimes. Those years broke and remade Estra, she endured the tournaments of her fellow inmates, and draconian punishments of her jailers. When the K’Erin finally released Estra, she knew she had been permanently changed by the experience.
Where Esta was once a curious and young precursor, barely out of her family’s household, there was now a jittery, damaged, and deranged woman; a shadow of the graceful being she once was. She couldn’t bear the thought of going home and letting her parents see her like this, so she drifted up and down the fringes for a hundred years, stealing, trading, and tinkering to support herself. For all she knew, her parents still made their home on Breslae and had kept that soft toy up on the shelf to this day.
Estra looked over her shoulder as she heard someone approaching from behind her. One hand drifted to the grip of the sawn off shotgun buried in the fold of her robes, but that impulse faded the moment she recognised the scraggly faced skulker that had approached her.
“Ah, so that was you, Estra. I knew I’d recognise that mound of rags anywhere.” the Skulker said.
“Azdel, I’m happy to see you,” Estra said with a smile as she leaned over and patted the concrete next to her.
“Care to sit a while and contemplate the view?” she asked.
“Of course, always a delight,” Azdel said as he shimmied over and slipped his legs over the side.
Azdel was in many ways like her, a misfit in his own way, but Skulkers tended to have a better time of it than other races. While Estra had a fascination with technology, Azdel had a fascination with religion and philosophy, and collected them as one a more mundane hobbyist would collect rare coins. Azdel’s neck and wrists were laden with necklaces and bracelets that hung with the icons of a hundred different religions from all of the races of the galaxy. The old skulker now looked at Estra out of the corner of his eye and smiled.
“How long has it been since you were last on Harlen’s World? You don’t appear to have aged one bit.” Azdel said.
“Twenty years, and I see that time has not ravaged you as much as I thought it would’ve,” Estra replied.
“I’m young in spirit, how have you fared since our last meeting?” Azdel asked.
“I’m doing better. A friend of mine, Midori, got me a spot on a crew. I’m going to see how long this lasts, but so far it has worked out okay. How about you, Az?”
“I’m now matching buyers to sellers in the agricultural trades business. I’ve pulled out of the antiquities business, there are too many forgeries floating around, it was tanking the market value for legitimate finds. The agricultural commissions are decent, but trade is slowing down, and the corps are starting to muscle in directly. I’m going to have to find something else soon. I ran with an independent crew, back in my youth. It can be lucrative, but it can just as easily kill you while you’re young. No, this life suits me now. Adventure is for the young ones.” Azdel said as he shivered a little bit and pulled his jacket tighter around his body to keep out the wind chill.
“I think I’ve been going it alone for too long, I’m going to try to make the most of this opportunity, I don’t think I have scared them off yet, I hope,” Estra said with less conviction than she felt.
“I also have a nice cabin, it is small but it is warm and cosy. I thought I got used to never sleeping in the same spot two decades ago, but this has reminded me of how much I miss a nice, safe place where I can sleep without worry that I’m going to get robbed, or murdered.” Estra realised that she was beginning to ramble.
Azdel smiled and reached over and clapped Estra on the shoulder.
“I’m happy for you, last time we met you really weren’t all there. But you seem to be doing well now, I like this change.” Azdel said.
Estra looked away from Azdel and studied the toes of her boots. A trace of anxiety began to gnaw at her, the fear of going back to that time welled up in her again.
“Listen, Az. Do you still have your side business?” Estra asked as a terrible feeling of want rose up from deep within her psyche.
Azdel blinked, then looked away. The old skulker had contacts on Harlen’s World and could barely break even on the assorted schemes and enterprises that he had up in the air. Azdel’s real source of income was his connection with smugglers and all of the wildly illegal narcotics that they brought in from labs hidden beyond the reach of Unity.
“You appear to be in a good place right now, I’d rather not ruin that for you,” Azdel replied in a cautious tone.
“I know, but listen. I’ve been clean for years, but if I have a bad time and need to take the edge off it I would like to have a little stash that I can draw on.” Estra said.
This was Estra’s secret shame, the prison colony that she had been sent was awash with narcotics. The first time she had broken the colony’s rules she was sentenced to a caning. A human inmate took pity on her and gave her half a gram of Blue Willow Sap to ease the pain of the punishment. Blue Willow Sap was an excellent pain killer, a powerful euphoric agent, and tremendously addictive. Soon enough, Estra found that she couldn’t live without it, as the intense feelings that the drug brought on made the misery of the prison colony more tolerable, and even after she had been released she had never quite managed to kick the habit, and not for lack of trying. The last few years she had stayed away from the stuff, but often as she tried to meditate or lay awake at night, in those quiet moments of thought and contemplation, the carvings came back. At another time Azdel had enabled her addiction, she must have fenced hundreds of credits of stolen, salvaged, and repaired technology to him in exchange for a steady supply of the Sap.
Azdel sighed in a very human manner and turned to look her in the eyes.
“Can you pay?” Azdel asked.
Estra took a credit chit out of a pocket and was about to hand it over. She held a good chunk of her remaining sign on bonus in her hand and was about to drop it in Azdel’s paw. Before she could Azdel shook his head, withdrew and stood up.
“No, I can’t do this to you. I won’t. Get help, Estra, and whatever gods you keep, may they guide you through this safely.” Azdel said, then turned and walked away.
“Wait, come back!” Estra yelled as she scrambled to her feet and began to follow, but Azdel stepped up his pace and disappeared into the crowds.
Estra stood there for a moment and felt another fresh bout of shame wash over her. She had been doing so well, clean of her Sap problem for years and in a moment of weakness she almost had ruined it like this had done many times before. She felt the old, familiar sense of self loathing rise up as she turned around and walked away.
She climbed down from the overpass and headed north along Navarro Boulevard, she stopped at a noodle stand to buy two containers of fresh stir fry and then continued on her way. The sun had set by the time she reached the Hand of Fortune at the landing fields. She climbed up the ramp, keyed her access code, then stepped through the hatch as it slid open with a hiss.
The corridors were empty, which suited Estra just fine. She then made her way to the sick bay and made sure to take the side passages to avoid the crew lounge. There were sounds of low conversation coming from that area and Estra didn’t want to run into anyone at the moment. Estra stepped into the sick bay and spotted Midori, who rolled over and looked as Estra as she approached.
“Hey, what’s up?” Midori asked as she manoeuvred herself into a sitting position.
“Dinner is what is up, I thought you may have been getting sick of the packaged rations, and I know that no one else on this boat will cook us a fresh meal.” Estra said as she plopped one of the containers of stir fry in Midori’s lap.
Midori stared at it for a second, then scooped it up, detached the pair of disposable chopsticks from the container and then opened the lid and took a moment to savour the aroma. Estra smiled and did the same.
“You are a goddess, Estra.” Midori said, then scooped a mouthful of noodles out and stuffed them into her mouth and took a good thirty seconds to enjoy the flavour.
Estra smiled and tucked into her meal with slightly less enthusiasm.
“Listen, I wanted to express my gratitude for getting me this job,” Estra said to Midori in between mouthfuls of noodles.
“It’s all good, I’ve been hoping to get you something stable for a while now. I think it would do you good and that you will do right by us. I’m sure things will improve once the others get used to you.” Midori said.
Estra shook her head then put her noodles on the nightstand by the bed.
“Listen, I wanted to apologise to you about what happened with Whilem today, I got weird didn’t I?” Estra asked.
“Don’t worry, he thinks that you’re harmless.” Midori replied.
Estra snorted back a laugh at that news.
“I’m glad, listen. I like it on the ship, I want to make it my home as much as I can. It’s clean and warm, there is plenty of food and the pay is okay. The people are mostly pretty good as well, apart from P’Hol.” Estra said.
Midori chuckled slightly.
“I’m sure she’s fine, she just takes herself very seriously.” Midori said.
“I do like Whillem, he’s dignified and serene without being arrogant. I still feel like a creep over what happened between us today, what I said came out wrong, then there was the touching…” Estra trailed off then looked away.
“Can you tell him I’m sorry?” Estra asked.
“Estra, it’s okay. I’m sure there will be plenty of time to get used to each-other. Maybe you should tell him yourself?” Midori said.
“Maybe,” Estra said.
“Can I get you to do one more thing for me?” Estra asked.
“Sure, as long as it is not running a marathon, I don’t think I’m in shape for that yet,” Midori replied.
“If I’m making a mess of things, please pull me aside and let me know. I don’t want to ruin this opportunity.” Estra said.
“Of course, I am your friend, but I’m also the ship’s executive officer. I will make sure to keep you on course.” Midori replied.
“Thank you, Midori. I appreciate it.” Estra said.
“Well, as your commanding officer, can you do me a favour and turn on that monitor over there?” Midori asked and gestured to one of the blank video monitors that was fitted into the wall.
“Sure,” Estra said and did as instructed.
Estra found the power switch and turned it on. As the monitor hummed to life, Midori tapped a control on her nightstand and queued up several episodes from her favourite teledrama, something that involved ancient human mythology that Estra wasn’t familiar with. The two women sat back and ate in silence while the opening title of the show started to roll.
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