The cool embrace of the ebon void was a welcome change to the sterile bustle of her enclosure. Here, out in the raw expanse that this vessel and her home-world hung, she felt a shred of peace despite the millions of gleaming metal constructs that constantly bombarded one another in an effort to simultaneously cause and stave off annihilation.
Her environmental suit, a second skin she'd known since her adolescence, suddenly felt confining when she tugged her foot free from the surface of the Alliance Cruiser. It was just so different walking across the hull of a warship rather than the Liveships she once helped to maintain in her youth.
The tech she salvaged, from human-designed magboots, were vastly different from the hand-me-downs she'd normally receive back on the Flotilla. The magnets were too new, too strong and the extra effort she'd put into every step felt like it'd tear open not only her suit but the flesh from her bones. The thought of watching her own blood freeze and fly out into space from such a wound sent a shiver down her spine.
"Shayla'Rae?"
A familiar flange blared over the comm breaking her morbid train of thought.
"Yeah?"
She received silence as a reply.
"Yeah- yes, Augur?"
"Have the hull repairs been completed?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Do not dawdle, Shayla'Rae, we've received orders to take another Firebase. Andreis, out."
With a sigh she once again tugged her foot from the hull and continued her trek back to the airlock.
