Raeka stopped in front of a stream, her brother Griffin skidded to a halt beside her. Raeka took of her riding gloves and ran a hand through her short spiked blond hair. She looked over at her brother leaning on the handles of his bike. His body was covered in sweat and grime from their day of mountain biking.
"Are you ready for a swim?" Raeka asked Griffin.
He smiled at her. "A dip in some cold water would be great right about now."
"Race you to the pool." Raeka took off along the stream with Griffin following closely behind.
At the pool they stripped down to their underwear and jumped in. The water was little more than ice cold, just the way Raeka liked it. As they splashed around washing the sweat and grime from their bodies they discussed the route they would take next. They were interrupted when a loud sound erupted in the quiet forest. Raeka looked up in time to see a large object race by overhead.
"Did you see that?" she asked Griffin.
He just nodded and looked at her, his blue eyes nearly bursting from his sockets.
"That was no plane," he said. "At least no plane that I've ever seen before."
"Yeah. Let's go find out what it is."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"Head in the direction it was going."
He looked at her skeptically but followed her anyway as she donned her clothing and took off on her bike.
As they were riding he said from behind her. "You know in all those scary movies the people get killed for investigating curious objects or activities." Raeka just laughed at him.
They biked for almost an hour before Raeka started to hear strange noises. It sounded like people talking. She quickly stopped and motioned for Griffin to be quiet. They slowly crept up on a clearing that the noises were coming from. They crouched down behind some bushes. She then reached out to one of the branches blocking her vision and slowly pulled it back. Beside her Griffin gasped and her own mouth hung open.
In the middle of the clearing was a large object. It was roughly circular and somewhat flat with thin . . . legs coming from the bottom. It reminded her of a puck with legs. But it was much larger. The dimensions were a thousand times larger. A short ramp extended from the bottom of the object. At the top was a dark whole leading into the object.
Raeka turned to Griffin. "That looks like a spaceship," she whispered to him.
He looked incredulous. "It can't be. I mean what are they doing here?"
Raeka smiled mischievously. "Why don't we go ask them." She got up to enter the clearing. But Griffin grabbed onto her arm preventing her from advancing and pulling her back down into a crouch.
"Don't be stupid. You don't know how hostile they might be. The might blow your head off or worse." She saw the wisdom in what he was saying and reluctantly agreed to wait until they found out more about the mysterious visitors.
As they continued to watch the clearing they heard voices again. The sound grew louder and louder until two figures were seen at the top of the ramp. Raeka and Griffin still could not here their conversation except for a few words of Basic. " . . . backwater . . . parts . . . impossible . . . natives . . . stranded . . ." The two eavesdroppers study the offworlders carefully. One was a tall thin man with black hair. He was wearing some type of fatigues and strapped at his waist was some type of gun. The other was a woman slightly shorter than the man with long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, she also had a fatigues and a blaster. And by the way Griffin's eyes were wide open Raeka could confirm that she was indeed very beautiful.
The two descended the ramp and looked around. As they moved farther away from the ship Raeka was able to make out their conversation.
"Do you have any idea which way to head for the nearest town?" the man asked of the woman.
"The last one we flew over was off to the east, but there is no telling weather they will have the parts we need," she answered.
The man snorted. "Judging from what we've seen so far we'll be lucky if we find anything that we can even jury-rig from the stuff the natives will have available."
"We have to try. Oh, and that brings up another question. How will we communicate with them? It's too much to hope that they know Basic."
The man sighed. "We'll just have to use gestures."
"Great."
Just then another figure came down the ramp. It was another man as tall if not taller than the first but much broader across the shoulders. He had short dark hair and carried a much larger gun than the other two.
"Keeya has the passive scanners and other security measures set and Ryall has the rest of the ship shut down to avoid detection," he reported, "although I don't think even that measure is needed. I doubt these backwaters don't have the technology to detect us. Sir."
"Alright," the first man said, obviously he was the leader. "You, Cragg, Meg, and I will head into the nearest settlement and see if we can find the required parts."
"Yes, sir," The larger man said.
"Oh, and you'll have to leave the big gun behind."
The big guy looked surprised. "Sir?"
"We don't want to be scaring off people that can help us, but do bring something smaller we don't want to walk into a potentially harmful situation unarmed."
"Yes, sir," The big man said less perplexed but just as reluctantly. He then turned and headed back into the ship.
"Poor Sel," the woman said smiling, "he barely ever goes anywhere without his little baby."
The man sighed. "I know, but if the natives aren't hostile and panic easily the sight of a big gun might set them off."
She patted him on the back still smiling and shaking her head a little. "Don't worry, Captain, he'll be okay especially since you let him keep some sort of lethal weapon."
The man finally smiled. "I knew that would appease him."
The two turned back to go into the ship.
Raeka couldn't stand it any longer. She jumped up and yelled, "Wait."
The two in the clearing spun around guns leveled at the bushes at the same time as Griffin grabbed her and pulled her back into cover.
"Are you insane?" he hissed.
"Come on they can't be that evil with the way they're acting."
"Still . . . "
They were interrupted by a shout from the clearing. "Who's there? Show yourself."
Raeka slowly rose and cautiously entered the clearing, Griffin right behind her. The two in the clearing looked at them in shock.
"You look like us," the woman said.
"We could say the same about you," replied Raeka.
"You must be a colony, a lost colony," the man said.
"You could say that. See here the people don't like outsiders messing with their business. So they shut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy. We only have one communication device capable of connecting to the outside, and we didn't even have that until my friends and I fixed it."
The looked at her silently and then their gazes shifted to Griffin then back to her. "We have some damage to our ship and need repairs. We were planning to go into town to get parts but with your help it would be much easier. Will you help us?" The leader asked.
"Of course, it would be our pleasure."
They again looked at Griffin. "Does he talk?" asked the woman.
Raeka chuckled and Griffin looked insulted. "Of course he does, but he's not fluent in Basic so left the talking up to me."
"Oh."
"Wait here we will be back shortly," said the man.
"Aye, aye, Captain." He looked at Raeka perplexedly then turned and walked up the ramp. The woman smiled once more then followed him.
"Okay, I knew you were crazy but this takes it," Griffin said, "And now they think I'm a complete dolt because I can't even answer for myself."
She turned to him and put a hand on his arm, her expression one you would give a small child. "Aww, poor Griffin, he got embarrassed in front of a beautiful woman."
He shrugged her off. "Quit it."
Raeka smiled.
*
Meg came down the ramp and saw the boy glaring at the girl. They were quite the pair. They were both definitely athletes. The girl was bold and outspoken. Her hair was bright yellow that matched her personality well and her blue eyes were full of mischief. Her face was quite beautiful though more on the cute side with her small nose and large eyes and thin lips that looked they could never hold a frown. The scar that ran from the middle of her left cheekbone back to her temple and the streak of white where it extended into her hair didn't mar her features at all but lent a uniqueness to her instead.
The boy on the other hand was much more quiet. His hair was a close cropped brown and his eyes were a quiet gray blue. He was in fact quite handsome. And with his athletic build he was quite appealing. No don't go there, he's a native, she thought. She was prevented from further inspection by Belden as he chose that moment to reappear from inside the ship.
"Okay, lets head out," he said.
When the girl whipped around at the sound of his voice Meg noticed blood on her arm. "Oh, what happened to your arm?"
*
Raeka looked down at her arms and discovered that one was bleeding profusely.
She shrugged. "It must have happened when I went off the trail."
The woman looked at her puzzled. "We should have Tanna look at her arm."
Raeka shook her head. "No, really I'm fine. I wouldn't even have noticed if you hadn't of pointed it out to me."
"Yeah, she is always doing this to herself," Griffin finally spoke. "We have things with our . . . bikes that will help her."
"Still, we'll just have Tanna look at it to make sure," she argued. "If that's all right with you, Captain?"
"Fine, go get her."
The woman disappeared back into the ship and returned a few moments later with another. This one was different form the other though. She wasn't human, but she was obviously a female. This female had greenish skin and instead of hair she had two extra appendages on her head. Raeka and Griffin stood there with mouths and eyes open wide.
The creature got to work on Raeka's arm. "I'm sorry to seem rude, this is my first time seeing a non-human, what are you?"
She smiled. "I am a Twi'lek."
"Oh." That really didn't mean much to Raeka but at least it gave her a name to call her. Wait what am I thinking I already have a name to call her, Tanna. Griffin must have been thinking similar things for he said, "It is nice meeting you, Tanna. And the rest of you also. My name is Griffin." He started to reach out his hand to shake hers then thought better of it. He didn't know what the greeting ritual was. But Tanna wouldn't let him retract the offer and took his hand in her firm grasp. She smiled at him and he smiled back.
The woman looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, we never did introduce each other. I'm Meg Sundiv, I'm the mechanic on this ship. You've met Tanna our medic. The guy to my right is Captain Cabe Belden our pilot and illustrious leader. The big burly guy is Triag Sel and the smaller burly guy next to him is Brian Cragg their our . . . weapons specialists."
Raeka responded in kind. "I'm Raeka Daniels and this is my brother Griffin, no titles or specialties."
Tanna finished bandaging her arm and they all shook hands.
"Now, are we ready to go?" Captain Belden asked. There were no objections. "All right lets head out." He motioned to Raeka. "Lead the way." She did and Belden, Meg, Sel, and Cragg followed her and Griffin out of the clearing.
***
After collecting their bikes Raeka and Griffin lead the quartet of offworlders on a short hike through the woods. At the edge of the woods lay their vehicle parked by the side of the road. Griffin loaded the bikes onto the back of the mud spattered SUV while Raeka made room for herself and another to sit in the far back.
"Sorry about the clutter and the mud," she apologized. "We like to play hard and our equipment shows it."
Meg nodded and smiled. The others just looked on stoically. Raeka like Meg immediately.
When Raeka and Griffin were finished they all piled into the vehicle.
"We won't be able to get anywhere helpful before night so I think it best if we just head to my house today and start looking for the stuff you need tomorrow," Raeka spoke up from the back.
Belden turned around in his seat. "Are you sure we can't start tonight, I'd really like to be off this planet as soon as possible."
Raeka glanced at Meg. She shrugged apologetically. "I'm positive."
He grunted then turned around.
"What's his problem?" she whispered to Meg.
"Beats me," she said. "I guess he doesn't like being grounded that much."
They rode the rest of the trip in silence. Well, except for the music blaring from the speakers. Belden didn't like that much but Raeka was still feeling miffed by his earlier comment.
Darkness had descended and the stars had come out by the time they turned into Raeka's driveway. Lights blazed in the house and the outside light came on as they excited the vehicle. A figure stepped through the door.
"Raeka, Griff, how was the riding?" the figure cried.
"Great, Sarah. How'd everything go here?" she asked.
"Fine. No major problems. Just the usual," she replied.
Raeka nodded.
Belden walked up to her looking suspicious. "What did she say?"
"Oh, I forgot. You only speak Basic," Raeka answered. "Our native tongue isn't Basic, we learn it in school."
"Well, what did she say?"
Griffin spoke up, "She just asked us how our day went."
By that time Sarah had reached the group.
"So who're your new friends?" Sarah asked.
"These," Raeka said in Basic, "are some people we met on the trail. This is Cabe Belden, Meg Sundiv, Triag Sel, and Brian Cragg." She pointed to each in turn.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Sarah" Sarah said in Basic taking the hint from Raeka.
"It's nice to meet you too, Sarah," Meg said for all of them.
Raeka leaned in to speak to Meg. "You're not only the mechanic but also the diplomat." Meg grinned. She straightened. "Come on, let's get everything inside."
Just before they entered the house there was a loud crash from within followed by raised voices. Sarah turned to Raeka and grinned. "See, just like usual."
Raeka laughed. At the sound all noise within the house ceased. A few whispers in the native tongue came from within.
"Uh-oh."
"She's back."
"Now your in trouble."
"She won't throw me out will she."
"Of course not."
"But she will make you pay for that."
"I can't afford that."
"You should have thought of that before you broke it."
"But it wasn't my fault."
"You're the one who knocked it over."
"Yeah, but she's the one that was chasing me."
"Well, than that means your both in trouble."
"Hey, I didn't—"
"Is something wrong here?" Raeka asked as she entered the living room of her house. In the middle of the room stood four people. They were in their teens, two girls and two boys. The tall boy with black hair and blue eyes looked around innocently. The shorter boy with brown hair and eyes refused to look her in the eye. The tall, and beautiful blonde girl with green eyes had her arms crossed over her chest and looked smugly at the others. The girl with short brown hair and brown eyes furtively glanced in the corner. There, laying shattered on the floor, was the glass from a picture frame.
Raeka looked at the glass then looked up at the four in the room. "Okay, who wants to do the explaining?"
Nobody spoke up. Then from further within the house came a high pitched giggle than a blur of clothing erupted from down the hallway and launched itself at Raeka. Her new companions reached for their guns before they noticed that the blur was a small child. Raeka glanced back at them. "Boy your jumpy."
"Wayka, Wayka," the child cried.
"What is it Aaron?" she asked lifting the child in her arms.
"I saw it, Wayka."
"You did."
"Yep."
"So what happened."
"Nikki start a tickle fight wif Jessie. He twy to wun away and wan intwo da tabwel an nock ova da pikcha." The accused ducked there heads and suddenly found the floor immensely interesting.
Raeka sighed. "Nikki, Jessie, I'll talk to you two later."
The boy and girl with brown hair nodded.
Raeka looked down at the little boy in her hands. "And as for you . . ." the boy looked at her with big eyes. "I believe it is past your bedtime." His bottom lip quivered.
"But I want to meet the new people," he pleaded.
"You can meet them in the morning. Now go on." She put him down and he trudged off unhappily.
Sarah laughed. "Thanks, Raeka. I can never get him to stay in bed. Especially when there is such a commotion out here." She eyed the culprits of the picture accident. Then followed Aaron down the hall.
Jessie spoke up, "I think I'll head to my room and do some . . . reading. Bye" She hurried out of the room.
"That sounds like fun," said Nikki and he followed her out.
"Well, are you two going to run away also?"
The blonde snorted. "Why would I run? Besides I want to meet the new additions to our little family," she said eyeing Belden in particular.
"Well, there not quite additions, there just here for a day or two."
"Well," said Griffin in Basic, "I don't know about any of you but I'm hungry. Does anybody want anything to eat or maybe drink?"
The new guests all shook their heads except for Meg. "Sure, what do you have?"
"Come this way and I'll show you." He led her down the hall, dropping the bags he was carrying into a corner.
The rest piled the remainder of the bags on top of those and arranged themselves on the furniture. The two weapons specialists took up seats that allowed them to see the front door and down the hall as well as out the bay windows that graced the wall on the opposite side of the room from the door. Belden took a seat in a chair next to them. The blonde and the other boy sat themselves on a couch. Raeka first picked up the picture frame, placing back on the shelf, and threw the broken pieces of glass into the trash. She then sat on the hearth of the fireplace that was on the fourth wall. Sarah came in and sat on the couch with the other two.
"Well, I guess I should make introductions," Raeka said interrupting the uneasy silence. "Guys this is Cade Belden, Triag Sel, and Brian Cragg. The one that went with Griff is Meg Sundiv. We met them up on the trail and I invited them to stay with us for a day or two. Cade and company, this is Josh Irons and Kasey Gild and, of course you already met Sarah."
There were nodded hellos between all.
"So what's your story?" Kasey asked.
"What do you mean?" Belden said cautiously.
"I mean Raeka takes in hard luck cases. Of course, she usually takes in only teenagers, but I guess your story was so pathetic that she picked you up."
Raeka glared at Kasey. Belden also glared at her. Meg broke the uneasy silence. "Our vehicle broke down and we needed a lift into town. Tomorrow we're going to get the parts and head back."
Kasey sniffed in derision then got up and walked down the hall. "What's her problem?" Belden asked.
Josh answered him. " She is a little bitter. Especially to strangers."
The group lapsed into silence. Finally Josh, Griffin, and Sarah headed off to their rooms leaving Raeka to find suitable sleeping arrangements for the guests. She led them down the hallway to a door that led down into the basement. The basement was divided into two compartments. One held exercise equipment and the other held a number of cots.
"This is the lodgings for temporary residence who plan on staying only a night or two," Raeka explained, "You can stay here. The bathrooms are through that door."
As she turned to leave Belden grabbed her arm, the others were busy arranging their beds. "What is this place anyway?" he asked her.
"Well, that's kind of hard to explain. After my parents died my friends really helped me out and I realized that a lot of kids my age don't always have the support they need. That's what this place is, a place for kids who are having problems to come and talk to someone their age who will understand and support them. There are places out there that say they're places where kids can go to talk about their problems but they're run by adults and so can never really understand. Here kids can talk to other kids who've gone through the same thing. Also kids can come here just to get a break from their parents."
Belden looked thoughtful and retreated back into the room. Raeka turned and left.