Sher, opening the containers with medications, felt like a person who had found a treasure and was sorting through precious crystals, admiring their facets... She wanted to take upstairs both this and that, and the fifth... And these injections might still be useful, but without these solutions, it's impossible... In the end, it amounted to a couple of bulky boxes. "Haa-att," she moaned, remembering that she had completely forgotten the grav-lift. "Blonde! – she had reason to curse herself. – What were you even thinking?!"
However, the question was rhetorical, and she didn't want to go back. After all, she was a woman, wasn't she? And the packages weren't as heavy as they were bulky. Peeking out from behind the boxes so as not to fall, Sher reached the elevator. She still had time to think that she was turning their and Nick's living space into a branch of the medical bay, and then... The elevator door opened on the middle deck, hitting her with a thickened sense of tension and threat. Nick and Les... It was a combat stance and Nick's hand...
"Nii-i-ick, Les!" she shouted with a breaking heart. "Help me quickly... please! I'll drop them..." she exhaled more quietly. And it was almost true. Inside, everything trembled like a taut bowstring.
Everything happened at once: Sher's first cry, Les's shifted gaze of lilac eyes, distracted by her, the navigator's lightning-fast lunge...
Ryno slid down the bulkhead, holding his stomach and gasping for air, while Nick flowed in his movement, instantly appearing next to the doctor and catching her load.
"Just don't tell me it's all Mukha..."
The boxes were already falling.
Sher stood, freezing as if all the blood had drained from her heart, unable to believe her eyes... Nick... This boy... It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. A long look from purple eyes, Nick's slow movement, a blow stretching for hundreds of years, a slowly slumping body, a slow flow of thought, her gaze at Nick, unseeing, uncomprehending... Seconds. Seconds of pain tearing her heart in two. The boy, curled up on the floor...
"Les, my dear... Where does it hurt?" she rushed to him anxiously, taking out a sensor and remembering that her medications wouldn't work on him.
The navigator gave her a bewildered look, put the boxes on the floor, and followed her – to the door. Les rushed to intercept, twisting out of the doctor's hands:
"No!"
Nick didn't bother anymore – he grabbed him by the jacket on his chest, lifted him up, pressing him against the bulkhead.
"You want to set her up because she's not one of yours, right?!" Les exhaled into the navigator's stony face.
"What?" Nick blinked in surprise, almost dropping the boy. "Idiot."
Les flew to the side.
"I'll go!" he shouted at the navigator's back, who had stepped towards the cabin door again. "What needs to be done?"
Sher, who couldn't manage to push one away from the other, couldn't stand it.
"Stop! You... How can you be ashamed!" she shouted with bitterness. "What has it come to... Wait, Nick, please," she said more quietly. "Les, you don't know what you're talking about! It was Nick who saved her from pirates, putting our ship at risk. And you're not going anywhere, Les!"
She tried to speak calmly and slowly so that her voice wouldn't betray her tension.
"I'll explain why... Nick, I'll go. The bandits saw me anyway. I'll orient myself faster than Day. I know how to shoot," she said firmly. "And no one has carried the boxes for me yet..."
Neither of them seemed to hear the shout.
"I like this idea..." the navigator squinted at Ryno lying on the floor with angry green eyes.
"I can shoot too," Les stubbornly got to his feet. "And it's harder to catch me than a woman... Unless, of course, they're as fast as you."
"I wouldn't count on that if I were you," Nick nodded to him. "Let's go. It's faster than putting your brains back in place. Sher, we have a droid. Let him help you carry everything to the medbay. We'll talk later."
Wincing, Ryno got up and stepped towards him. Making sure Les could walk, Nick turned away and quickly headed for the elevator.
She wasn't heard... Who cares! Sher took a deep breath and rushed after the navigator.
"Nick!" she intercepted him at the elevator. "What are you doing? He's still a teenager! A teenager!" Her eyes were desperate as she looked at Nick. "His parents are waiting for him, you understand? He's too hot! I was seen with Day! I'm a crew member, it's my business! Les, you need a cold compress on your stomach and rest. I won't let you go, Les Rayno!" she declared heatedly.
"Sher..." The icy green slowly melted under her gaze. "It has to be done. Just trust me, okay? There's not much time..."
Sher glanced at Nick, her gray eyes filled with sadness.
"I can't understand this, Nick... I'm sorry," Sher turned away so no one would notice her overly glistening eyes and walked towards her boxes.
"She has children waiting," Les's voice reached her back. "Did you protect them like that too, ma'am?"
The elevator door hissed shut.
"...and remember: if you open your mouth and bark at the woman who stood up for you one more time, you'll lose your teeth. Got it?"
"Got it," Les grumbled, following the navigator out of the elevator. He looked disheveled, gloomy, but determined. He rubbed his stomach when he thought Nick wasn't looking, belatedly realizing how easily he had gotten off. They could have broken his jaw, for example...
"What do I need to do?"
"For starters, head to the airlock. You'll take them out one by one and send them to the station. Only untie their hands before they exit. Keep your blaster ready, shoot with stun on the slightest attempt at resistance."
"I don't have a blaster," Les grumbled.
"Bus will give you one. Did you tie up these two?"
"How do you know?" His eyes flashed through his tousled hair.
"Different knots," Nick opened the door to the airlock. "Look..."
Five minutes later, the navigator had replaced Larius in the pilot's seat, nodding to her for a free spot to help with docking. He could have managed alone... if not for that mercenary in a trance. He could have entrusted him to Sher, but what if a dangerous psychopath or a crazed animal came out of the trance? He couldn't risk it...
The docking went smoothly. Leaving the mercenary in the cockpit to arrange for the ship's refueling, the navigator ran to the airlock. He had already made a mistake once, underestimating the boy. How could he not overestimate him now...
Les was already there. Three mercenaries with their eyes tied stood before the door, waiting to be released. Rayno kept to the rear, blaster at the ready. Nick glanced at the weapon – the pistol was in stun mode. At the light sound of footsteps, Les turned around. Nick nodded towards the hatch, and the guy slipped past the prisoners to the exit.
The mercenaries listened, but didn't risk removing their blindfolds. They had already realized they weren't alone and didn't particularly want to test the patience of the Empire's agents.
The hatch opened with a quiet hiss. Les returned to his place, trying not to block the navigator's firing sector.
"Go," he commanded. "You can take off your blindfolds when the hatch closes."
Hesitating slightly, the mercenaries moved forward.
"Was it worth the trouble?" Nick asked tiredly when the hatch was closed and no one could see or hear them. "Would Day have risked so much in your place?"
Les shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. He already understood what a fool he had made of himself, but saw no need to repeat the definition given to him by the navigator.
"You're free," Nick sighed and headed for the bridge. He needed to arrange for Muha to be sent to Bothawui.
Les glanced after him through his long hair, put his blaster on safety, and holstered it.
And went to find Sher.
The words Les Rayno had thrown at her back only added the finishing touch to the picture unfolding in her soul, but they could no longer affect her, not even slightly. Just don't think, don't ask questions, don't remember. A serene water surface? But a slight ripple – and the wrecks of crashed ships would be exposed? Sher gave a wry smile. Quiet, quiet... No crash. Tiny reefs just...
"Why do we need a medroid?" Sher said, almost singing, listening to her own voice, which was also strangely superficial, as if on an inhale. "No, we don't need a medroid. We can manage ourselves," she sighed, picking up the boxes, slowly, as if afraid of spilling the bitterness that had just settled at the bottom of her soul. But she couldn't, not at all. Not even this sediment. She had Nick. And Darkness watched his every moment, even when he slept. Sher felt it. And now she felt something more.
And then – incomprehension. For the first time – incomprehension. It was okay, they would figure this out too. If only everything would turn out alright. If only no one would get hurt. Otherwise... She didn't even want to think about it. Sher sighed and began to pack the first-aid kit for the Toydarian.
This task, as well as the conversation with Muha, which consisted entirely of recommendations and urgent requests to take care of herself, and perhaps the picky tone of Mr. Carvo, almost restored her balance. And she didn't need the dim sky of Coruscant, or a mad speeder race, which she had desperately dreamed of in the first minutes after the elevator had taken Nick and Les away.
After docking, it was quiet, and Sher had almost calmed down. Was it over?
When she came out of Muha's cabin, she saw a sullen Les leaning against the bulkhead opposite. Rayno shifted from foot to foot, sighed, and, as if about to jump into cold water, blurted out:
"Ma'am, I'm sorry... I was wrong."
"Les," Sher brightened, "is everything alright? Did they leave the ship?"
Now her heart felt completely at ease. Almost.
"I have nothing to forgive you for, Les," she smiled gently. "I'm not so far removed in age that I don't remember what we were doing then. I remember it too well, Les. That's why I was afraid for you."
Les shook his head.
"There was nothing to worry about at all," he grumbled. "All it took was to escort them out with their eyes tied through the airlock and close the hatch. Even a child could have done it. But I thought... what the hell..."
"Did you really think Nick would risk anyone?" Sher looked at the boy in surprise. "Especially Day? What gave you reason to think so, Les? And... Let's not stand here, okay? Come on, let's talk in my room, and I'll check you out at the same time. Don't you mind a frozen chicken for a bruise?" she asked jokingly. "Come on, I've stood around enough while talking to the fighters."
"I'm fine," Les shook his head again. "He didn't hit me hard, but it was very unexpected. I thought he would turn around... You see, ma'am, his eyes are like... As if he'd already had to... More than once."
"I also thought he would turn around, that's why I shouted," Sher glanced guiltily at the boy's purple eyes and opened the cabin door. "I'm sorry, I put you in the line of his strike... And the navigator is a wonderful person, it's just that he's responsible for the safety of people and the ship. That makes him stern and distrustful, you understand?"
The tension that had held her suddenly eased, as if clenched fists, aching with pain, had relaxed. She could take a deep breath, if only... If only she could talk to Nick again... She had parted with him rather badly. Aloofly. And that made her uneasy.
"Sit down, Les, wherever you like. And I have sweets and fruits, I can't seem to get them to the galley," Sher complained. The simple treat was laid out on the table, and she finally sat down. "Come on, let's sweeten our lives, Les? Dig in," she commanded, laughing, and was the first to grab a colorful ice pop from the table.
The young man entered Sher's cabin as if entering the lair of a dangerous predator – almost on tiptoe and looking around. He sat down so he could see the door and kept shooting glances towards the entrance. But Nick didn't appear, and he gradually relaxed, pulled an orange from the table and began to peel it, occasionally eating pieces of the peel.
"You eat citrus fruits very correctly, Les," Sher remarked with a smile, biting into a sour-sweet ice pop. "There are more vitamins in the peel, I'm telling you as a doctor. Oh..." she blushed, "excuse me... Or should we switch to 'you'?"
"I'm not an adult," Rayno explained. "So you can use 'you' with me. However, with women, 'you' is only with their permission..."
"And with your peers too?" Sher asked in surprise. "And with your sisters?"
"With peers – no," Les shook his head. "In the corps, everyone is on equal footing. Although, I don't have many sisters... But those who do – that's family, everyone uses 'you' there."
"Corps... It sounds almost like an Academy," Sher chuckled. "You're not cadets there, by any chance?"
"We are wards there," Les replied seriously, carefully separating the orange into segments. "It's more like a boarding school by your standards. There are no cadets at eight years old."
"I'm sorry... and parents?" Sher asked quietly. The word 'boarding school' evoked in her a persistent feeling of rootlessness and loneliness, among a whole crowd of people like herself.
"I already told Day," Les placed half the segments in front of her. "It's a tradition for us: children are in families until eight years old, then eight years in the corps, then specialized training, work... Then adult status. If you're a good specialist, of course. I think that upset her."
"So, you have parents," Sher rejoiced. "So, you are loved and always expected home... And it's so great to know that you are remembered, that your holographic images are kept, where you were still a baby, where you were one year old, three... Where your favorite toys are kept. And they wait, they wait... Of course, Day is right, because children need their parents, not boarding schools. And not just children..." she added, taking a segment and looking gratefully at the long bangs covering her eyes.
"You know, I never had a little brother either... I was an only child," Sher tried to smile. It came out weakly. "But here I have brothers and sisters. For me, family is the crew of the 'Chance'," this smile turned out completely different.
The purple eyes darted somewhere to the corner of the cabin, and then returned to the table.
"We rarely have two children in a family," Les explained. "And three is already an event that is remembered for a long time. So we have a tradition of sworn brotherhood."
Sher followed his gaze and was ready to sink into the maw of a sarlacc from embarrassment. There, very neatly and hosporely, lay Nick's folded uniform... There was no sarlacc maw nearby, but there was juice from a bitten orange segment, which, inconveniently or, conversely, conveniently, went down the wrong throat. Sher coughed so desperately that tears sprang to her eyes.
Les stood up, swiftly and silently, went to the sanitary block, and brought her a glass of water.
"Here... You need to rinse your throat, it will pass."
"...Thank you..." she managed to say after all the water in the glass was gone. "Thank you, Les," she repeated, wiping her tears, trying not to meet his gaze. "So, what's this interesting tradition?"
"Well, if relationships have developed in the corps with someone like blood brothers or sisters, then families arrange a ceremony, and then they are considered relatives, so to speak," Les explained, finishing the crust. "But it's a very responsible step, because you can't renounce a sworn brotherhood. If you call someone a brother or sister, it's for life..."
It sounded unexpectedly solemn, as if eternity was implied.
"You know, I really like that," Sher admitted. "It happens that you become attached to a person with your heart and soul, and such an inexplicable kinship arises that it can only be called sister, brother. And sometimes, such a person is closer to you than your own blood..."
Sher noted with belated surprise that she was sitting and chatting with him as if she were also sixteen, and this was one of those conversations that took place in swoops parked on the roof of a Coruscant skyscraper, among the clouds. About life, about friendship, about loyalty...
"...And it's very wise that there is such a ceremony, although, you know, no one prevents us from carrying the feeling of brotherly love through our whole lives, once we call someone brother or sister," Sher smiled, "even if most people mention these words in vain... You know, I consider our captain my brother, he has saved me so many times, the last time – just yesterday – on Bakran... Come on, eat more, Les," Sher solicitously pushed the fruits towards him, plucking a transparent golden fruit from a branch. "Perhaps he seems stern, scolds for discipline, but he's the captain, he has a whole ship with all sorts of different personalities, pirates on his tail, purely material concerns – where to get credits? And some took and spent three times more than planned on medicines and equipment," Sher sighed penitently. "True, I took the device against my debt, but he decided to pay for it himself, can you imagine? I'm telling you, he will always come to the rescue and will not leave you in trouble. But he's the captain, Les, it's his ship, his word on the ship is law. Just like the navigator's word. When the captain is absent, Nick is in his place, you understand?"