Love, Against All Odds

I - Chapter 1

From the pilot's seat, Becca continued singing one of her favorite songs and carefully navigated the spaceship, Pacifica, closer to the broken moon, Lerto. The rocky, split sphere orbited an uninhabitable gaseous planet in a nearly forgotten solar system at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. As the Pacifica slowed, the dark moon's artificial gravity hugged the ship's hull.

Behind the captain's chair, Becca sensed one of her crewmembers standing over her shoulder, but nothing had to be said about their current location. Shortly, the ship's flight systems were put on standby now that they were settled into orbit for the next several hours.

In the co-pilot's seat, Raakor, the second crewmember, was busy tapping the flight control's touch panel a few times before he touched a visible piece of bionic tech imbedded in his neck. The tech in his purple skin flashed a soft red, indicating he was connected with the ship's system.

After a glance at the screen, Becca confirmed the artificial handshake between Raakor and the ship before she shut down the flight and navigation modules.

From behind the captain's chair, Starr folded her arms and said, 'I hope we're going down for drinks.'

Becca smirked and turned down the music from the control panel, then spun the seat around to face Starr. 'Yes, considering tomorrow's meeting on Kander.'

'How far are we from Kander?'

'Almost three hours from Kander. We just hop over one solar system.' Becca carefully studied Starr, who was keeping it together despite tomorrow's pending meeting at a nearby planet. 'Thanks for doing this, Starr.'

After a low grunt, Starr glared out the front window at the broken moon. 'Stills are stills. We need the money. Gods know the Pacifica could use an overhaul.' Raakor's huff brought her attention to him.

Becca scanned the interior of the ship and agreed that it needed maintenance now that wiring was exposed, peeling paint, squeaking doors, and glitchy touch panels. And similar to Starr, she was struggling with going back to Kander after so long and tried to keep her emotions in check. If nothing else, a few good beers on Lerto would settle her nerves. 'Wanna jettison in ten?'

'Sure.' Starr canted her head and tapped Raakor's chair. 'You coming with us?'

Raakor was silent and seemed to be considering his options.

Becca knew he wasn't usually the one to join them for drinks, but this time she wanted him to come with them. 'We should talk more about this mission.'

Raakor gave a soft sigh but nodded and stood up from the co-pilot seat. 'See you in ten.'

He slipped past Starr without another word and vanished deeper in the ship.

Starr folded her arms, revealing her thick biceps highlighted by her short-sleeve shirt. 'Raakor already knows about the Kalmar people.'