To The Stars

Chapter 2: Space Mall

~Bang Bang~

Krolia groaned, rubbing her index and middle fingers in a circular motion against the temples on either side of her head.

~Bang Bang~

6 quintants. It had been a total of 6 quintants since they had left Prorok's fleet and she was already in dire need of a way station – if only to restock their supply of painkillers. But she knew they couldn't afford a time delay, so she pressed on.

Their transport pod was still too close to Empire territory to risk connecting with Kolivan directly, but she had tried Ulaz a few more times. Krolia sent out a number of messages to various communicators but nothing went through. Keith was in the secondary personnel room, or 'toy room' as it had been dubbed. He was playing with his purple kitty and some empty containers from the rations they had already consumed. It wasn't much, but he was an imaginative little guy. There was an internal communications system in the pod that allowed for video chats. When Keith was in the toy room the video feed was turned on so she could monitor him. It was actually a really effective system.

Currently, or at least the last time she checked, he had one of the boxes riding the kitty and was flying it around the room as if it were a spaceship. Vaguely it reminded her of the Blue Lion, which reminded her of Kolt, which made her sad.

She picked up her communicator and tapped his connection, sending him a quick message to say they were still ok and headed for the Blades and that she loved him. His steady dot was still located inside the Blue Lion's cave which meant either those Garrison people had killed him and left him there, or he had hidden the communicator in the cave. She desperately hoped for the latter.

~Bang Bang~

Looking up at the screen she saw Keith once again banging on the doors trying to get out. Taking her connection off 'mute' she called to him over the video message, startling him slightly. "Keith, that's enough. Sit down and play with your toys."

"Mommy I'm bored. Can I come sit with you? Pleeeeeeeaaaaaase?" His long drawn out plea wasn't enough to convince her, she had fallen for it several times on that first day. Not again. She did not need a repeat of last time.

Keith had been quietly playing in the cockpit, and in retrospect that should have been suspicious in and of itself, but she had merely gushed internally about what a good boy he was. She had been wrong, she had been so incredibly wrong. After a strange alarm started sounding she turned to find him pulling out wires in the emergency backup console. Panic set in and she lunged from her seat, forgetting to set the autopilot, and yanked him away from the wires. His immediate cries were drowned out by the much louder proximity and stability alerts, which were sounding at the steady approach of a nearby asteroid and their uncontrolled spiralling. Krolia had scooped up her troublesome kit in one hand, grabbed the controls with the other, and plunged herself into the pilot's seat to avoid disaster. After the 'incident' there was no way that little terror was allowed back inside the cockpit for at least 20 deca-phoebs!

~Bang Bang~ "Mommmmyy!!!!"

"No Keith. You were a bad boy the last time Mommy let you out."

"I'll be a good boy! Promise! Please Mommy? Please?"

"No Keith. Play with your kitty and your other toys."

"They ain't toys." He said with a huff, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest and turning his lip in a pout as he kicked one of the boxes. It was adorable; it was also very naughty! Though she did have to admit that he was right, they weren't toys, and while he had been incredibly good the past few quintants, he did need actual toys. The base they were headed to, The Blade of Marmora's main head quarters, was not designed for children and certainly wouldn't have any toys for him to play with.