#ott1k

“That’s the only way out,” Terra panicked, “We’re trapped!”

“We’re not trapped,” Captain Linell rested her palm gently on the child’s small face. “There is always an alternative.” She ran back into the holding room.

Everyone followed her.

“What happened to an alternative to kidnapping us?” Li argued.

“That was the alternative,” she snapped back.

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He’d put two-and-two together before she’d finished her explanation, “So we’re stuck here.”  

She paused the report, “The Regents have this planet locked down tighter than an o’alli noble’s chastity belt.”

He snerked. “You’ve been hanging around me too long.”

“Probably. I need more friends. So do you.”

He loosely folded his arms, wincing at the pain in his ribs. “I guess we lay low for a while. The datapad Benan got a five finger discount on said ‘Project Nexus.’ Maybe we can find out where they’re taking all the prisoners. My gut tells me it’s not a theme park.”

She leaned back in the chair, glancing up at him, “Well, I know one thing we can do to pass the time.”

He hesitated for a second before voicing his first guess with a hint of excitement. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Her impish smirk as she rocked slightly back and forth in the chair confirmed it. 

He blinked, “Wait… You are? You’re serious?”

“Mmhmm.”

“...Now?”

“Why not now? It’s as good a time as any. And we have a lot of it." Even with her empathic skill dulled to a mere fraction of her former strength, she could detect a minute amount of joy from him, which meant he felt extremely happy about this. She knew this would be the perfect activity to take the edge off after everything he’d been put through. 

She stood and walked out of the cockpit. 

His excitement bubbled up into a triumphant fist pump, “Yes! – ow. Bad idea,” he hissed in a breath from pain in his broken ribs at the jolting motion. 

Pain meant very little at this moment. Any discomfort he incurred from the promised pleasure would be worth it. 

Several minutes later…

“Yes! Now this is how you repay me! I cannot believe you’re letting me do this.” 

“You got the ever-lovin’ shit beat out of you to an inch of your life to save them,” she used the terran word for ‘scak.’ It had a certain satisfying ring to it, “It’s the least I can do.”

Yune walked down the ramp of the Horizon into the clearing on the southern ridge with his worn-in all-purpose tool in hand, and a smile as bright as the sun on his face, “Getting to poke around in an Adakorian class five hyperdrive is a dream! You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to get up-close-and-personal with one of those beauties.”

“Oh, yes I do.” Selka had known him for five years. One of the reasons she paid a hefty price for that rare, coveted drive unit was because she knew he would drool at the chance to get his hands dirty in one.

“I’ve seen a class three - it was beat up and gorgeous - but a class five… The spectacular craftsmanship, the detail, the nuance,... And you’re just letting me have it?”  

“The Horizon could use an upgrade.” Selka gestured toward the wreckage of her ship. “It’s not like there’s much left of her. If it survived, it’s all yours.”

He walked backwards, “Now… I have your full permission, right? No backsies?”

“Yes,” she sighed, though he was so endearing with that kid-like glee that she had to laugh, “Now shut up and get out of my face. I don’t want to see you for a while.”

“I love you, you know that?”

“I know.” 

He flipped the tool in the air, caught it, turned on his heel, and headed toward the wreckage of the Tapheila with a bounce in his step - well, as much bounce as his damaged body would allow.

Will and Terra joined her at the top of the ramp.

“Why’s he so happy?” Will stuffed his hands in his pockets. This clearing gave him the creeps. One of the worst moments of his life occurred here.

“He’s a … what’s the terran word you like to call him?”

“A dork?”

“No, not that one.”

“Buttmunch?”

“That’s a new one, but no; someone who gets excited about a specific subject?”

“... Nerd?”

“Yes. That’s it. He’s a ‘Nerd.’” she used it as a term of endearment.

He might be a kid, but both he and his twin picked up the oddness in her tone that reminded them that Selka Kelnaris - the felorian - only looked like a human with spots on her forehead. “Yeah, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

 “He rarely gets to see Adakorian tech. For someone like him, he’ll be lost in the sauce for hours.” 

“Right. ‘Cause he’s a scavenger,” Will said.

“That’s part of it.” She nudged him, “Come on, you two. I paid too much to let anything salvageable rust out here. If you’re going to live on a spaceship, you need to learn how they work. Consider it your first lesson.” She would let her former ship’s final act be a teaching moment for the two young terrans, and a stress reliever for her best friend.

“I don’t know anything about mechanics,” Terra worried.

“You’ll learn,” Selka assured her. 

The small girl lingered behind. 

The other part of it had to belong to about Yune’s past as an orphan. That horrible monster could have been lying, but Selka’s reaction at the time didn’t give her that feeling.

Raindrops began to patter against the metal of both ships.

“Terra, come on!” Will called back.

She hurried to catch up to her twin.

The tech in question glistened like a star in a clear night sky among he burnt and warped metal. Yune thanked the Light, or the Source Field, or whatever, that it survived the explosion. “Oh, baby. Come to papa.”

Selka paused around a bent bulkhead, watching him caress the drive unit with the gentleness of handling a nathakitten, “Do you need me to leave you two alone?”

He didn’t even look up as he drew his fingers along the smooth, cool, streamlined metal, “Please.”

She shook her head with a grin and left to get to work. He deserved to be happy.

“Sparky! Squeaker!” Yune’s voice carried up from the wreckage, “Get in here you need to see how cool this is before I take it apart!”

Will answered with a loud, obnoxious, “NERD!”

Word Count: 121,991

Will walked by at that moment. He lingered in the darkened doorway, frowned in the pursed-lipped way someone does to keep words they'd regret from escaping, tucked his hands in the pockets of Yune’s jacket, and walked away to rejoin his twin. He’d had his wounds treated, but refused to take it off. He felt safe in it, protected as if by a living force residing in the fabric itself. It was a silly thought, but one his imagination ran with, because it brought him comfort.

To add details or not.

To make them kiss or not.

For a felorian to lose their 6th sense - their empathic connection to the world - is akin to someone else losing or partially losing one of their five.

(from Out There: The 1K)

He didn’t need empathic powers to know how deeply this upset her, “Are you ok?”

She smiled reassuringly, though her facade broke. If she asked him to be honest with her, she needed to do the same, “No. I’m not ok. The world feels gray, and hollow, like I’m surrounded by holograms or bots. I can see you, touch you,” she brushed her fingers against his cheek, her voice trembling, “But I can barely feel you - not like how I’m used to. It's like you're not even there. You might as well be across a chasm and I can only hear you when you shout. I miss your whisper.” she voice wobbled, “I miss you.”

“You sure you won that fight?”

“I walked away - sort of. They didn’t.” If it wasn’t for Will and Terra, he wouldn’t have made it back. “You did give us permission to beat each other senseless.” 

“That was when I thought you two would have boundaries - and before…”

The rest of that sentence lingered in the air between them like a traumatic memory.

“They'd better hope they never get out of that holding cell,” her fingers rested feather light on his chest close to the regenerator surrounded by a massive black and blue bruise spanning half of his torso. Her voice wavered, “if only for this.”

He flinched slightly, but when she pulled away apologetically, he took her hand to stop her. It was smaller than his, but her slim fingers could fire a weapon with deadly accuracy, and handle the most delicate objects with gentle care. Right now, she trembled - an Ai Hiri sen, a warrior of the mind and peace - openly trusting him with a vulnerability she'd trained to have control over.

He rubbed his thumb along her hand, trying to reassure her.

Thinking of that monster burned his blood while simultaneously sent a chill through him. Scarin elicited a primal fear locked in his source to run at all costs, or he'd face an unknown fate worse than death. He had tried to kill him with a force he couldn’t fight against.

However, The mixture of anger and apprehension for Them swirled with a more visceral reaction. They had betrayed and disabled his best friend, abused Will and Terra, and nearly did kill him. If it wasn’t for the kids and - he hated to admit it - the bacitin tank, They would have succeeded. He was afraid to fight them again, but knew if he did, he wouldn't hesitate to abandon his morals.