Sher was pulled out of her semi-consciousness, though not very deep, by the comlink signal. Her hand impulsively reached for her belt, and she answered first, then woke up.
"Listening," she sighed, trying to open her eye and see the number from which the call came.
"Sher, where are you now?" the captain's voice was cheerful, with some notes of displeasure.
"Ah... Cap, glad to hear you," the girl grinned, finally waking up. "We're in some service room, waiting for everything to end."
"Find out exactly where, I'm coming for you now," the guy replied immediately.
"Oh, really?" it seemed everything was really over, and she allowed herself a little sarcasm. Just a little. The slightest bit. "I thought we were going to put down roots here."
But at the same time, Sher rushed to the door, winking at Day on the way:
"It's the cap, he's coming for us!"
True, with the polite man at the door, the conversation went calmly and clearly. Rick heard where to find them.
Finally... A little more, and they'll be home...
"Well, home is home then," Day muttered, getting up from the sofa and straightening her dress. The Hapan synthsilk was famous for not wrinkling and almost not getting dirty. "Cap is cap then," she said louder, "Shall we go?"
And she picked up the bouquets and bags.
"Give it here!" Sher snatched the jacket, not yet cleaned through, from the offended droid who was sniffling, and took some of the bags from Day. "Did we forget anything?"
Leaving anything here would be a bad omen. She didn't want to come back. At least, not in the foreseeable future...
And not to delay either. Thank you for this... home, but... The women walked out to meet Rick.
The counter drove as fast as he could, parked the car, and got out. His right hand casually rested near his blaster: he couldn't rule out an attack. Leaning his back against the side of the car, the guy put on his glasses and adopted the appearance of someone dozing, simultaneously immersing himself in the Force and habitually searching for threats.
Instead, he found the missing crew.
"Oh, cap," Day smiled openly and sincerely, "Glad to see you."
She no longer felt like being sarcastic. She wanted to go home. Very much...
Sher just nodded. They had seen each other.
"Ladies, in the car," the guy smiled wearily, opening the rear passenger door, "our stay on this planet is coming to an end."
Day silently got in, rightly believing that all conversations were best postponed until later. When they were back in space.
"When we get away from it, then I'll probably believe it," Sher thought grimly, getting into the car next to Day.
"Hello," she greeted, noticing Bus and Veymi in the depths of the car, she wanted to say something, but only added one word, "...everyone..."
In the car, besides the Lethan and Bus, sat her strange morning patient with purple eyes.
As soon as the girls were inside the car, Rick got back behind the wheel and started towards the ship. He wanted to get into hyperspace as quickly as possible and finally get some sleep, and somehow return to his normal daily routine. The turmoil of the last few days had worn him out considerably.
They were met by an honorary blue-eyed convoy at the ship. An impenetrable face could deceive the un gifted. All the gifted in the vicinity of "Happy Chance" felt the far from cheerful mood of the security officer. Jenaro felt a strong desire to slow down the departing ones indefinitely, but he controlled himself. Waving his hand at the car, he stepped aside, clearing the way.
Sher's big eyes, which had been quiet in the car, spotted a familiar figure against the backdrop of "Chance." She quickly lowered the window blister and saluted the security officer, giving a military salute. As Lieutenant Carrada – to the impeccable officer Jenaro, as Sher Lonely – to a good person who had saved their lives. And she kept her hand at the visor of an imaginary cap, and her gaze level with Jenaro, as long as she could see him.
Rick drove the car into the hangar, then got out and walked directly to Jenaro, trying to find a place for his hands. This needed to be sorted out.
"How did it go?" the captain inquired of the security officer. "No more surprises?"
"No," Jenaro replied. "And that doesn't upset me at all. Captain Monroe, have you thought about dragging this tail with you further? It's unlikely that those who had the means to hire more than two dozen thugs will stop there. As a resident of this planet, I will only be glad if it's not so noisy here anymore. As a person... you are endangering your crew and yourself. Maybe you should stay and try to find out at least who is pursuing you and why?"
"If they found me here, they'll find me next time," the guy smiled, lowering his eyes slightly. When he looked at Jenaro again, there was an unaddressed promise of trouble in his gaze, "And then they'll be in for an unpleasant surprise. Besides, I think you'll write me a few lines when you get some information, and I won't be in debt either. Well, and... Bakrana is a peaceful planet, let it remain so. No need for wild territory style showdowns here."
Jenaro raised his hands in surrender.
"If there's information I can give you, you'll get it. Clear skies and calm stars."
Turning away, the security officer headed for his swoop. A trail of deeply hidden melancholy followed him.
Rick looked at the security officer for a while, then turned and headed for the ship. What did he care what happened to a man wasting away in his position? Or that something in his life didn't suit him... If you want a thrill, go and get it, the galaxy is huge. And melancholy... Melancholy is a sign of a prosperous society, to which he never belonged. The hydraulics slowly raised the ramp, the blast doors slowly moved towards each other, cutting off physical contact with this world. Approaching the nearest intercom, he contacted the cockpit:
"Taking off when ready," and headed for the elevator doors. Once inside the cockpit, he glanced at the closed blast doors.
And still, what did he care about one individual person?
The landing field of Bakrana swayed and floated down beneath the ship.
In Sher's opinion, the elevator crawled upwards like a Naboo snail. But this thought did not evoke any indignation or impatience in her soul, as if all the emotions for the day had been burned out without a trace. She wasn't even surprised by Les's presence on the ship. She simply took note of it.
They say people return from journeys with new feelings, new thoughts... But even such a walk on an unfamiliar planet didn't feel like a journey. But... Sher remained detachedly silent in the car, in the elevator, and when they went their separate ways to their cabins.
However, she didn't go into her own cabin, shaking off the bags right behind the door panel. She was the ship's doctor, not... Not a special services officer. She needed to sort out the received medications, visit Shai, and check if Mr. Fly had been forgotten, and... But not now.
A few meters from the cabin to the bridge – and Sher silently pressed herself against the panel separating the compartments, and pressed her cheek against it.
"Nik..."
His long fingers on the control panel, his focused gaze reflected in the blister... Nik was lifting the ship above the inhospitable planet.
"Hello, hello, I'm back..." her lips whispered the words of an old song that appeared from nowhere. "Here is the blue constellation, here we are, you and I..."
Sher stood, leaning against the bulkhead, and looked at the gray-haired navigator with a quiet smile.
The navigator couldn't tear himself away from controlling the ship. No matter how much he wanted to. But he could let her feel this desire – if only for a moment. The Force touched Sher, embraced her like a wave of the surf – gently, but powerfully, drawing her into the depths... To a dark shadow, gliding where sunlight cannot be seen.
The contact was immediately broken, leaving behind the fear of possible loss, and the joy of meeting, and somewhere very deep – anger and guilt.
Again, as in the speeder over Nar Shaddaa, she surprisingly felt herself being embraced... Almost tangibly... Irresistibly... The sensation quickly passed, and Sher opened her eyes. But now, anxiety was growing in them. The feelings that arose, even for her, the un gifted, could not be mistaken for her own, although it was she who considered herself guilty and feared more than anything not to see her navigator. But why was he guilty?
"My good one, what's wrong with you?" she thought worriedly, took a few steps towards the chair, and the same words were now ready to burst into a cry... On Nik's swollen neck, even in the dim light of the cockpit, bluish, with a reddish tint, marks were visible...
Sher instinctively covered her mouth with her hand. A wave of piercing pain echoed, it seemed, in every cell of her body.
"I'm fine," Nik warned her in a hoarse voice. "Are you alright?"
The feeling of intense attention, as if someone was looking through her, assessing her condition, was new and unfamiliar. But it quickly disappeared.
"I was very... worried."
"Are you alright?" Sher repeated in a completely fallen voice. "I can see..."
With an effort, she averted her gaze from the terrible imprints on Nik's neck.
"Can you free yourself or will you let me treat you here?"
Oh, how she wanted to hug him and never let go! So that nothing bad would happen to him. Never again. Some corner of her subconscious latched onto the strange feeling she experienced, but all of that receded into the background. All her thoughts and feelings were exclusively occupied by Nik... And he asked her something.
"I'm perfectly fine, Nik," Sher reassured him, suddenly noticing that words were no longer so important to them.
"We'll jump, and I'm all yours," the navigator promised. "It's quick... A few minutes."
"Okay, I'll wait," Sher said seriously and stepped uncertainly towards the door. It was not allowed by the instructions to interfere with the pilot during takeoff with all sorts of questions. And Sher, as an officer, generally respected instructions. But not to such an extent... She turned around in one second, and her lips almost imperceptibly touched her cropped gray hair, leaving a feeling of a light breeze.
Footsteps were heard on the deck, and Sher pretended she wasn't there.
On the ship, Rick could afford to relax. The spring that kept him tense suddenly disappeared, and he could finally allow himself to feel the fatigue that had accumulated in him in such a short period of time. He wanted to collapse and sleep, right here and right now, but the realization that too much depended on him prevented him from doing so. He could go to the cockpit and there, in the chair, restore his strength to last a couple of hours, that was enough.
There he collapsed into his chair, took a deep breath, and finally looked at the navigator:
"How are things here?" his voice whispered quietly.
The sky was rapidly filling with deep blue beyond the transparisteel – the ship was ascending into the upper layers of the atmosphere. The navigator glanced at the captain, then returned his gaze to the instruments.
"The crew is alive, the ship is saved, the cargo is in place. Prisoners in the hold."
"Are you not in the mood? Or just unhappy that your neck was lathered?" the guy said in the same semi-sleepy voice. "Will you remove the marks yourself, or should I do it?"
Meanwhile, the captain analyzed the situation and found it quite pleasant.
"Well, you strongly recommended not to use the Force," Nik reminded him. "And about the neck... I'm getting old. And I'm not catching mice anymore. It's good that it was only the neck."
"We need to get life crystals, you'll stop getting old," the guy chuckled, "I don't see the point in the navigator walking around with such a neck. I can fix you up after I'm done with myself, it's not costly."
"I can do myself..." Nik shook his head. "Now a microjump, where next?"
"I don't know this part of the galaxy well..." a sector hologram lit up before the former smuggler. "Let's go to Nexus Ortai first, it's about three hours away."
The navigator nodded, and immediately from the edge of the grav-field sent "Happy Chance" into a microjump beyond the system. Entering coordinates for a new jump didn't take long.
"Rest," Nik advised when a rainbow haze of hyperspace unfolded beyond the cockpit's viewport. "Larius will be on watch."
"We need to deal with the problems," Rick waved his hand, "but she really will have to be on watch. I'll sit here for about fifteen minutes."
And without waiting for a reply, the guy closed his eyes and relaxed as much as possible, allowing the Force to flow freely through him, washing away the dirt of the last hours on Bakrana.
The navigator silently left the cockpit. A few minutes later, equally silently, the mercenary took his place.
Rick woke up ten minutes later, opened his eyes, looked at the combatant, and smiled:
"We can't do without adventures," he said with a smile, stretching his limbs.
"We can," the woman replied imperturbably. "But for that, you'll have to lie down in carbonite."
"We'll also solve the aging problem," the guy said thoughtfully, then remembered that he had already been in carbonite once, "No, after thawing, the sensations are really bad."
Larius nodded silently.
"Has Bus been yelling at me lately?" Rick suddenly asked.
"No. Should he have been?" Larius looked at him in surprise. "I haven't seen him much since we landed."
"So, it seemed so," Rick concluded, "Alright, I'll go and find out how the others are doing."
The mercenary nodded and immersed herself in contemplating the hyperspace corridor.
Sher hadn't managed to change. But she managed to slip into her cabin before Rick could notice her. All conversations with the cap about the replicator and the report on the medications could wait. The bags were picked up from the threshold and unpacked, everything unnecessary was put away, and everything necessary was snatched from the opened case. She ran to the galley several times, passionately regretting that she was not gifted and could not use Acceleration. It would have been very useful for her now...
On a napkin, which she got at the supermarket with a flatbread bought at the last minute, appeared plates with cheese, fruits.
In the semi-darkness of the cabin, an aromatic candle connected to the deck glowed softly, above which hung a hologram of a blooming valley, rippling in the wind. And it smelled of grass and rain.
Sher ran to the galley again, for a hot flatbread, which she filled with cheese, herbs, and juicy dark red vegetables that were still left from the crew's feast on the cruise yacht.
It was there that the navigator caught her. Caught her literally – in his arms, hiding almost entirely in his embrace, burying his face in her tousled hair.
"I was so scared..." he exhaled. "Scared that Rick wouldn't make it..."
"Oh, Nick..." she could only manage, forgetting everything in the circle of his arms and hugging him as fiercely as if someone intended to tear them apart.
"No, no, it's alright... I couldn't not keep my promise to you," she whispered, trying to smile and shedding tears at the same time. "Rick arrived in time, just don't worry... But you..." she whispered with pain, touching her lips to the blue marks on his neck, "I almost lost you... Who did this?"
"Someone decided to take a ride without a ticket," the navigator joked, squinting from the touch. "Hylan and I punished them. I stole your sleeping pills, now they're sleeping soundly and waiting until we have time to deal with them. What smells so delicious?"
"It's a flatbread... Hot. While it's hot," Sher added guiltily, glancing at the table. She'd forgotten. Completely forgotten. "But it'll get cold if you don't let me go... because I can't tear myself away..." burying her face in his chest, she sighed.
"Not a chance," his embrace turned into a trap for a moment, but the grip immediately loosened. "Let's do this. You take the flatbread, I'll take you, before someone else comes running at the smell, and we'll hide from everyone, alone with the flatbread."
"And will I put the hot coffee on one of our heads?" Sher finally laughed, her warm grey eyes shining on the navigator. "And I don't want to go back for it anymore, leaving you alone... Better save the flatbread, and I'll bring the coffee," she concluded with a smile, not moving from her spot.
"A difficult problem..." Nick thought for a second, whether to lift both the flatbread and the coffee with the Force, since the newcomer was holed up in his room... but decided not to risk it. Explaining why objects without engines were flying through the ship's corridors was not part of his plan. "Alright, but I'll hold your hand."
Sher stood on tiptoe to reach his eye with her lips and kissed him, holding her breath. She was uncontrollably experiencing her happiness - they were both alive, they were finally together, they would have dinner together in their cabin... And how hard it had been to get here... Sher found Nick's hand and squeezed it in her palm.
"Shall we run?" she asked with a smile, offering him the hot flatbread on a plate and grabbing the steaming coffee pot from the table.
"Let's run," the navigator agreed, and winked at her in a completely boyish manner.