Falling

Chapter V

Nima woke up to the sound of beeping.

The noirette groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she glanced around. She was surprised her back didn't ache, surprised to see not walls of red rock and metal bars but a nice small bedroom. Her brows furrowed.

Oh, right. She was on Ordo Eris fighting a stupid bounty hunter, but she had left—or escaped, however you'd like to put it—by boarding a ship. A luxury ship, in fact. She had done all of that alongside...

Cal.

Cal Kestis was alive. Well, she knew that already, of course, but still, she couldn't have helped doubting it. She never thought she would see him again.

A trill of sound caught her attention.

She glanced at the floor to see a small bipedal droid with white plating and black sensors. He tilted his head at her, focusing his large global and scope eye as he whirred.

She mirrored the droid. "Hi to you, too. You're a BD-1 unit, right?"

He booped, shifting between his feet.

"Yeah? What makes you say that?"

He answered with a proud set of chirps.

She let her feet hang off the mattress. "Bogano, huh? Never heard of it."

The droid hopped up onto the bed, breedling.

Nima smirked. "I wouldn't trust him so much. He steals memory databases."

A questioning blip.

"Yeah. He keeps trying to hook 'em up to his head. Thinks it'll help him get smarter," she added in a whisper.

BD-1 let out a sound similar to a giggle.

"What're you doin' in here anyway?"

The little droid twittered and crouched. Something small shot up into the air and Nima snatched it as it came back down to examine it in her palm. It was a small canister about two inches high with a tiny needle at one end. The whole thing let off an intense but comforting green light.

Nima grinned at BD-1 incredulously. "A healing stim?"

He chirped in affirmation.

She glanced down at it again, shifting it to hold it between her fingers. Then she chuckled. "I'm good. But thanks, little guy."

He canted his head to the side in confusion as she tried to hand it back to him.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the concern. I'm just okay with healing on my own, that's all."

He beeped and nudged her hand toward her insistently.

Her heart melted. She sighed. "Alright, fine. Just this once though."

He hopped up and down happily, watching her wince as she pricked the stim near the left of her sternum.

Instantly, a rush coursed through her system, and a soothing wave washed over her, reaching every part of her, all the way down to the soles of her feet. All soreness left her body and was replaced with a boost of energy. She felt more awake than she had in a while.

A scoff of a laugh left her lips as she dropped the vial. "Wow. That really does wonders, huh?"

BD-1 whistled and jumped down, scurrying out the already open door. After a few seconds, his head popped out of the corner, and he let out an encouraging trill before running off.

The scrapper grinned in amusement and stood, chuckling when she heard the little droid call to her again. "Slow your roll, little guy, I'm comin'."