The steady beat of a familiar song was the only that was keeping Kail from throwing something.
Everything was bathed in an orange light at the bar, and she took momentary solace in the way it reminded her of her ship before takeoff, but the feeling was quickly replaced by anger.
Her ship.
There was no ship anymore. Just the images of guns pointing towards her and the stinging betrayal of the people who, just hours ago, she had considered friends.
The comotion around Kail seemed to only grow louder as she tried to lose herself in the song, and she clenched her hands around her cup. She tried to think of how to even leave the station, where she would go. Where could she possibly go? Everywhere she'd already been would be frequented by her old crew, who had aimed their guns at her head and warned her to stay out of their way.
It was this thought that lifted her spirits slightly - the rest of space, hers for the taking. She may not be able to go to places she knew ever again, but the galaxies beyond beckoned her to escape. Kail took of swig of her drink in celebration, though her pride was shortlived when she realized she couldn't get anywhere without a ship. Hopes dashed, she slammed her cup back onto the counter and buried her head in her arms.
"You appear too young to be drinking," a curious voice asked.
Kail only raised her head slightly. "Come tell me that after your whole crew mutinees and kicks you off of your own damn ship," she said icily.
"I was just thrown out myself, if it helps," the voice replied. Kail blinked and turned to look for the source. A tall creature was seated on the stool next to her, observing her every move. It was a woman, Kail realized, or what appeared to be a female alien. Her skin was bright yellow, peeking through slits in her dark green shirt, and she could make out a line of scales under the shoulder of it. Draped over her left shoulder was a large shawl that covered her arm, and on top of that laid a neat braid of hair. Kail noticed noticed that it wasn't hair, though, as she looked closer to make out hundreds of thin yellow tendrils flowing from the alien's head.
"I am Yana," she continued, "of Barrum." She extended her slender hand to Kail, and Kail cautiously shook it.
"I'm Kail, from E'Fien Station," she replied skeptically.
"E'Fien? That's practically the Rim!" Yana said, her face lighting up. Kail raised her eyebrows and smiled. The alien quickly jumped into a slew of questions about human life on the Rim, obviously more ecstatic than Kail at their meeting, but Kail answered them willingly, thankful for the distraction from her current state. They went on talking until Yana suddenly stopped. "So," she said simply.
"So what?"
"I was about to say, 'So, are we going to steal a ship or not?'"
Kail could only stare back for a moment, in total disbelief. The total stranger in front of her had instantly become her door to the rest of the galaxy. After the day she'd had, it didn't come as a surprise that that was the exact thing she needed to hear. She then broke into a grin. "But of course."
The flight hub was buzzing with activity, the noise drowning out the clicks of Kail's hollow-heeled boots. Yana was busy with a small glass tablet she had pickpocketed, making her way through the hub's security system.
"So where are we going, anyway?" Kail asked as they made their way up to the upper levels of the bright complex.
"To a middle-class ship. The police will be looking for something out of the ordinary, so we will be taking something a little more... normal, as a human would say." They turned a corner and Yana motioned to a brown transport with a red stripe lining the side. Yana was right, Kail thought; no one would ever expect this small and mundane of a ship to go missing.
