Kindred Souls

Chapter 4

After that declaration, Mitri was gone in a flash. A thousand horrible thoughts coursed through his head. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anything happened to Nina. He busted through the door, ready to defend or comfort. He wasn't prepared to see Nina huddled in a little ball in the corner of the room, surrounded by a red shield of metallic energy.

There were several of his crew mates in the room, including Cyril sitting at a careful distance from her.

"Who is this child, Jaron?" Gareth, of the field exploration team, asked accusingly. He was a towering eight feet tall with fiery red skin. His beady black eyes glared at Mitri. "She shouldn't be on the ship."

"If you have any complaints, address the Captain. Now tell me exactly what happened here? Who did this to her?"

"Of course you think she's the victim," Gareth snarled, "She cut off a Lenny's hand just for trying to touch her. Even Cyril had some part of him sliced off, except unlike Lenny, they can regenerate on command. Who exactly is this child and why isn't she locked up somewhere she can't hurt anyone?"

Mitri repeated coolly, "If you have any complaints, address the Captain. Now get out of my office."

"Jaron-"

"Gareth," Mitri gave him an icy glare, "Your presence is no longer necessary. Get out."

The bigger man seemed poised to push further and argue louder but Mitri's jaw clenched and he suddenly thought better of it. "I will be taking my complaints to the Captain," Gareth announced as he stalked off, "Hopefully, she'll have the sense to drop that child on the nearest planet."

Mitri glared at his back until he was gone. Then he looked at the rest of the people in his room, "Get out."

The rest of them weren't nearly as hard to convince and scurried out the room.

The only ones left was him, Nina and Cyril. Mitri decided Cyril could stay, seeing as they were the only one actually summoned. He bent down in front of Nina and said softly, "Hey, Nina, I'm back."

Her hunched over figure was covering her ears and she showed no indication of noticing his presence.

"Nina," he called louder. "Come on, kid, look at me."

She twitched, hands lowering slightly, as if she heard something vaguely familiar.

"There you go. You're safe now. It's just you and me. And Cyril. But you like Cyril, right? They fed you."

The hands lowered and she finally looked at him, tears in her eyes.

He smiled and waved, "Look at that, you're back with me."

She dived for him, the shield absorbing into her skin as she moved, and hugged him tightly, stuffing her face into his chest. "Everything's going to be alright," he lifted her small body and cradled it against his chest. "I promise. Things are going to get better."

Mitri had to once again promise Cyril visitation rights before they left but once they were gone, Mitri put Nina back on his shoulders and continued his duties. There was a general discomfort among the crew whenever they were near. Mitri made sure to be extra caustic to remind them of who they should be fearing. He wanted to scoff at their cowardice. Nina was still the tiny, traumatized girl they had to save.

Later in the day, the Captain summoned Mitri to the deck. He wasn't surprised when he arrived to find Gareth already there, glaring daggers at him and Nina. The Captain was the very picture of impassive boredom while Lieutenant Asim sent him a sympathetic frown.

"Mitri, Gareth is concerned," The Captain drawled. "Say something reassuring."

Mitri looked at Gareth and deadpanned, "You look very pretty today."