Station 27 (A Starweaver's Tapestry Novella) - ONC '24

Chapter 1: Rainfall

It was supposed to be a simple job: six scholars, seven soldiers and a run-down mining station in the Avirian outskirts. The brains just needed to investigate the mystery crystal and maybe get a sample or two while the brawn sat around and chucked space rocks at each other. In. Out. Easy. As the blood splattered across Javina Hollingsly's helmet, she knew there was no "easy" anymore.

***

If there was one thing to know about Javina "Halls" Hollingsly, it was that she hated flying with every fiber of her being. A ten-minute trip from the fractured moon of Millik to one of the planet's many orbiting stations would send her stomach into a tizzy for at least a week, but the three-day trek to the outer world of Avir was the embodiment of a living nightmare.

Javina regretted all the times she could've jumped ship: when they stopped for supplies at Tovarro Station or for that amazing Chyl liquor on Vensha. Hell, she probably could have pulled some strings to wing a stay on Flightline Omega like all the other UIFH - United Itinerant Forces of Humanity - soldiers wanting a change of pace after the war was over. The Atania galaxy had a lot of great places she could hide away if she really wanted to. Instead, she was clamped into one of the many oversized harnesses on the Durrigan, listening to the sounds of debris dinging the thinly sheeted hull. The occasional thunk turned into what sounded like a heavy downpour as the shuttle bobbed through the asteroid field hanging in Avir's orbit. Her stomach churned.

The roar of the asteroid rain continued to pick up as Javina closed her eyes and thought back to when she had actually seen rain falling from the sky. It seemed like years ago at least. Life as a soldier meant seeing planets in every corner of Atania - some for the better, many for the worst. Something as trivial as rainfall was an experience to her. She yearned to feel the cold splash of droplets roll down her face and smell the humidity in the air. Something about the sensation made her feel more alive. Suddenly, the Durrigan dropped and thoughts of rain became images of crashing waves.

Javina shuddered and her eyes snapped open to the crimson light of the emergency beacon filling the hull. Sweat beaded her almond skin. The shuttle shook violently and she dug her nails into her palms as a distraction. Sprigs of her brown corkscrew curls jumped out of the bun she had pulled them into. As she reached up to fight with her harness, a familiar hand clasped down on her arm. "Don't worry, it happens all the time."

"If it wasn't for you, Jat, I wouldn't be in this hell hole," Javina snarked. The lights flickered back to their usual dim yellow.

Jat laughed, his normally soft beige tone reddened by the action, and his thin frame vibrated slightly with the shuttle. "You owed me for saving your ass back on Sivit. Those locals were really upset that you burned down their shrine."

The cold gray of Javina's eyes locked onto the warm hazel of Jat's. It was times like this that she just wanted to punch him as hard as she could. He was a good friend though, her best, and she knew that his smarmy charm was just to distract her from the raging debris storm outside.

"One," She responded sternly with a raised finger. "I was just trying to show their customs some respect. How was I supposed to know I lit the wrong torch? Two, why would they keep a bucket of fuel right next to open flames? That's just asinine."

Jat failed to hold back a smile and scratched the ash brown stubble on his chin to try and cover it. "Just try not to burn this station down too, yeah?"

He looked around briefly and pointed his thumb towards the opposite end of the hull, where a woman with porcelain skin, copper-colored hair and a white dress that hugged her body just a little too tightly was sitting.

"Speaking of open flames," He muttered to Javina. "I'm going to try my chances with that science girl down there."

In the midst of her rainy thoughts and intellectually stimulating conversation with Jat, Javina had completely forgotten about the other nine people around her. The rest of her team stayed seated to her left. Zec was passed out with a flask in his hand and trails of liquor running down his salt-and-peppered beard. Vhaz stared at her knives as she hastily sharpened them into fine points. Cragin and Roxli bickered about what species was the best lay.