The formaldehyde and ammonia haze of the Hacetion nebula dominated the view. The observation deck filled with tones of hushed violet. The Neimun cast a growing shadow. Karen folded her camera before pushing it into her purse. Destiny sat hunched over on one of the seats nearby.

The floor shuddered with a groan. Emergency lights activated, the hushed violet became a threatening red. An odor of molten sulfur slithered from burst pipes along the ceiling. Blue powder forced itself from underneath the entrance hatch. It billowed in fungi shaped clouds. Karen opened a hatch just before the gravitational system failed. A wave of powder laden air blew her against the polymer ceiling, though she caught herself and jumped back easily, right into the blue cloud. The powder stuck fast to skin, hair and clothing. Both woman were soon covered with it. They moved through the fog slowly as the hall’s warmth faded.

“Is this your first time in zero gravity?” Karen asked.

“This is worse than the take-off. I kind of feel like I’m going to throw up.”

Karen turned her around and stared with a scolding face. Destiny smiled lightly and laughed, but it quickly became a sick sigh.

“Don’t you dare do anything stupid like that, or you’ll end up getting us both killed,” Karen pulled Destiny by her shirt sleeve. “Now let’s get to the bridge. I need to know what happened, and you’re coming with me.”

An odor of molten sulfur complimented by a hint of smoke stung their nasal passages. Destiny coughed. The powder refused to settle as the concentration of hydrogen in the air increased. They were near asphyxiating when an atmospherics pipe screeched before bursting above them; a trail of clear fresh air hissed briefly, and the respite gave them the ability to find the stair case to the Imminent Destruction’s mess hall. Another air recycling pipe burst as they reached the sealed hatch at the bottom of the steps; unfortunately, the hatch was locked.

“Was that a gas line?” asked Destiny, the air from the pipe was making her light headed and a little jittery.

“Almost as bad, pure oxygen. The life support systems must be failing.”

“Let’s bash through the hatch. I saw that done on a movie once,” Destiny coughed blue dust.

“Are you crazy. We’d only end up with bruises or broken bones. I thought you were supposed to some sort of genius or something.”

“Lack of good air, I guess. At least the air is clearing because of that pipe.”

“Some help that is. Don’t you realize we’re trapped in here?”

Destiny banged the hatch, but Karen discouraged her from wasting air, noting that nobody on the other side would ever hear them anyway. They both languished, floating against the walls.

“I wonder where all this blue stuff came from.”

“I read about something like this once in a training manual. I think it neutralizes a poison released when the fusion engines overload and the gasses escape from their pipes. It also serves some kind of cooling function.”

“When I was little, I ate sawdust once. Breathing this stuff is sort of reminds me of that.”

“You did what!? Why are you telling me this? Everyone has been saying you’re smart. Have I been lied to?”

Destiny laughed, giddy with oxygen overload, “My dad was building a storage shed and he had a pile of saw dust in the corner, it was kind of gluey once it got in your mouth, just like this blue stuff.”

Karen banged the hatch against her own advice, “Help, I don’t want to die with a loon who eats saw dust!”

“I was only two.” Destiny growled as the oxygen high began to fade.

They floated calmly for a few minutes. Meditation prevailed. Karen wiped a finger across Destiny’s cheek, revealing a patch of healthy skin, she sighed in relief.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“For a second I imagined this stuff could color permanently.”

“My mom used to call me her little berry. Does this mean I’d be a blueberry?”

“That is so ignorantly sentimental I won’t even bother to comment.”

“I was only attempting to be lighthearted. You should try it sometime.”

“Lighthearted! I don’t want to die before I reach the peak of my career. And you’re trying to be lighthearted?”

“Fade will do whatever it takes to find us. I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“How naïve. Do you think you can trust that murderous mercenary and his pathetic little monkey?”

“Monkey?”

“His flunky, the hormonal idiot with the speech impediment. The mercenary must have found him under another rock, right after he crawled out from under his own. What sickens me is that a born killing machine would pretend to have ideals, some code of honor that puts him above everyone. He’s nothing more than a hired thug who works for whoever throws the most cash his way.”

“That’s not true!” Destiny yelled, actually tearing up, “Don’t you say another thing about him. You’re the one who has no right! I’ve known him long enough to know better.”

“You’re so provincial.”

“At least I’m not a spoiled snob who looks down on people.”

“Fine, what makes you think you understand that mercenary?”

“His name is Fade,” Destiny snapped, “Well his nick name anyway. And he has more compassion than you could ever care to imagine! The first thing he did when he came to my village was save my family from the thugs who killed my mother. Fade made sure they never bothered us again. I thought he had just killed them all off after the first incident, but I found out that he had actually paid off the entire debt my dad accumulated. He did that without ever saying a word, just because my father poured out his heart to him. All the discount drinks and homecooked meals we could offer never near paid him back.”

“Touching, but I’m sure there’s more to it. He probably bought you from your father or something like that.”

Destiny put her head down and made a fist, “Dad never asked for the favor, so he considered it a gift. Besides, Fade never asked for anything like that in return. You’re just a cynical snob. My father wouldn’t lie to me!”

Karen sighed, “Are you trying to make him out to be something special, he’s not, he’s just a mercenary. If you don’t realize he’s only out for himself then you are more naïve than I ever thought. Know your worth, you’re prime genetic material with minimal restructuring at peak development. You could into almost any of the high families if you sought to.”

“His line of work has nothing to do with it. You ought to appreciate us, we’re doing something you couldn’t even try in a million years. We’re saving the empire!”

“Don’t talk like you’re one of them. For someone who is good at math you are unbelievably daft. I’d be speechless if that were possible.”

“I’m a mercenary now. I can talk any way I like.”

“You’re no mercenary,” Karen scoffed, smiling wickedly, “you’re just having a crush on one because you’re too young to know better.”

“Am not!” Destiny yelled as she turned bright red, “I wanted my chance to help the Harn Empire, that’s why I signed up where my skills could be put to good use.”

“You’d be cute if you weren’t so dense. You didn’t sign anything. You’re a stowaway who was never wanted here in the first place. And, if you wanted to serve the empire so badly, you could’ve joined the regular forces any time. So why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t want to be stifled by formality, okay.”

“You’re ostensibly a smart girl. Go to the academy and take fleet training, you’ll be on a cruiser within a year.”

“And how many actual cruisers are in the imperial fleet? How patient do I have to be to wait for a new fleet to get built?”

A dim resignation filled Karen’s voice, “Yet you have the patience of a spirit guild martyr when it concerns a particular mercenary. So, stop lying to me. I may be shallow, but I can still recognize a fool’s devotion when I see it. It’s one of those things that’s so rare you can’t help but notice, even when it’s trying to hide.”

“Fade and I, have a mutual understanding,” Destiny explained, feeling flush, “That’s all.”

Wet lines cut through the blue powder as Destiny whimpered. She smeared them by wiping her face.

“You’re far too weak to work as mercenary. Fade knows it too, but he wants you for some reason, so he won’t force you out, at least until he gets what he wants from you. Whether he cares to admit it or not, that’s the situation. You’re going to end up broken hearted. If he really loved you, he’d do everything in his power to leave you somewhere safe.”

“That’s not true! He could care less, he barely ever knew I existed. I had to sneak aboard to even become a part of his crew. But it’s not like I don’t have the talent to make myself useful, even Horace knows I’m capable!”

“Well, he did care enough to risk everything and everyone else to keep you alive. I don’t know anyone who’d do that for me, for any reason. So that’s something.”

“He did?”

“I can’t explain what, why, or how it happened. I wasn’t there, I heard it from the pilot.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“That would be the second time. Someday, I’ll have to return the favor, don’t you think?”

“How so?” Karen smirked.

"Not like you’re probably thinking! He might get into trouble, and then I’ll have to bail him out. That’s how things work with mercenary comrades.”

“You are such a dope,” Karen ran her hands through her hair and wiped her face, “We better not chat anymore, we’re wasting air.”

“Fine,” Destiny snapped.