Chapter Two
Berini and Myrrna led their guests to the Queen Valkyrie's topmost deck, which was Berini's suite. It consisted of two rooms - a lounge and a bedroom. The lounge was comfortable without being overly lavish. Large viewports on either side offered excellent views out both sides of the Corellian Corvette. The slow movement of the stars indicated they were still traveling at sublight velocity.
A couple of couches ran along the walls of the lounge with a holo-projector communications station positioned next to one of them. In the center of the lounge was a rectangular table with five places set for dining.
Standing at the far end of the table was a human girl younger than any of the others Soraa and Ja'Ina have seen on the ship thus far. Ja'Ina sensed an air of innocence and timidity about her. She was dressed in a plain, but nice everyday full-length dress and wore her straight blonde hair in a nondescript fashion. The teen was petite in stature like Ja'Ina but was considerably thinner, to the point of being a little underweight.
Berini spoke up. "Everyone, please sit."
The Captain sat at the head of the table, with Soraa and Ja'Ina on one side and Myrrna on the other. The young girl sat down in the remaining place setting next to Myrrna. Berini took a long inhale of the steam rising from the bowl of food in front of her.
Berini smiled at the teen. "My dear Aurelia, as always you make a wonderful kruchette stew!"
Aurelia replied with a delicate voice, "I'm glad you like it, Berini."
"Aurelia, these are our new guests – Soraa and Ja'Ina. They're from Galathu, the world we just visited."
Aurelia looked at Soraa and Ja'Ina with her head slightly down in a submissive manner. "Nice to meet you."
Soraa and Ja'Ina looked at the bowls in front of them. The stew didn't look like anything special but smelled delicious. Berini bade everyone to eat. Soraa and Ja'Ina were a little hesitant, but once they saw the others enjoying their food, they joined in.
There was little discussion during the meal. Once everyone was finished, Aurelia cleared the table and left the lounge. Berini asked Soraa and Ja'Ina to tell her about how they came to leave Galathu.
Over the next couple of hours, Soraa and Ja'Ina each took turns telling parts of their story. The whole time Berini intently and silently listened, very impressed by their story. Myrrna's permanent scowl didn't show it, but she too was impressed.
Berini leaned forward over the table towards the friends. "At the risk of sounding like a malfunctioning audio encoding, I will say again, you are full of surprises!"
Soraa and Ja'Ina looked at each other, confused.
Berini stood up and slowly walked around the table while she talked. "Let's see if I got this straight… You both were orphaned under unusual circumstances. You both wanted to leave your perfectly safe homeworld to venture out into the big, mysterious galaxy. You Soraa, mastered the use of blasters, while you Ja'Ina, studied swordsmanship and hand-to-hand defense. You killed a fool who crossed you more than once and killed an Imperial Stormtrooper who tried to capture you. You barely escaped becoming slaves, and then tried your hand at being bounty hunters only to fail miserably at it. I must say, you've lived quite the interesting life on your little backwater world!" She turned to her first officer. "Maybe they'll do just fine out here after all, eh Myrrna?"
The purple Twi'lek agreed. "They're definitely more than meets the eyes."
"While you two have exhibited some real skills and talents, you've also had luck on your side since day one!"
"Maybe a little," answered Ja'Ina. "But I feel it was always meant to work out in the end."
"Well, I think luck played a more significant role than you do. What do you think, Soraa?"
"I guess so," Soraa sheepishly answered.
The Captain leaned over the table on her hands, looking right at the young women. "Alright then, I'm going to offer you a proposition. Join us and become part of my crew. You have much to learn about many things, but I think we could use your talents as well. You'll live with us on board the ship and participate in the work we get. You'll have everything you need, food, clothes, shelter, community, security… What do you think?"
Ja'Ina was once again hesitant, wanting to feel things out more. "Well, I'm not so sure that would be the best thing for us. We just wanted to go out on our own, right Soraa?"
Soraa nodded in agreement.
Berini looked at her first officer. "They're quite ignorant, hmm?"
"Yes," Myrrna hissed with cynicism.
The Captain turned back to face her guests. "You may not see it, but this is the best opportunity you could ever have in your young lives! Believe me, you may have made it this far, but Lady Luck can turn her loyalty as quickly as a roll on a chance cube. I insist that you join us and live a fruitful life. You won't last long on your own."
Soraa and Ja'Ina sat there stone-faced.
Berini became frustrated with their stubbornness. "You came here with nothing. I offer you everything!"
Ja'Ina still was not convinced. "We don't want to get into the line of work you do."
"What, do we violate your rigid code of ethics? Quite honestly, my dear, yours hasn't been all that rigid thus far."
"Look, we didn't mean to kill anyone," Soraa added. "Things just happened that way!"
"Who's to say that they didn't deserve it, given what they did to you?" Berini let out a heavy sigh. "The Empire's known for committing atrocities in the name of maintaining order. Most of us in the lowest ranks weren't privy to such acts, probably to avoid any conflicts of conscience. I know what the troopers would have done with you had they caught you."
Ja'Ina wasn't swayed. "I'm sorry, but we're not going to get ourselves deeper into the moral quagmire than we already are. We just want to make an honest living. Please let us go, you have no reason to keep us here."
"This moral quagmire you talk about fills the entire galaxy. There's always something that someone would consider immoral. It all boils down to points of view. But, I see I haven't convinced you otherwise." Berini turned to Soraa. "Is that what you think too?"
"Yeah, it is." Soraa herself was unsure, but she didn't want to leave Ja'Ina's side.
Berini sighed again. "How disappointing. I thought that since you've already had a miniscule taste of the dangers out here that you would jump at my offer. But you have decided and I can say no more about it. Let's go."
Ja'Ina noticed that Myrrna flashed a slight, enigmatic smile at her – the first time the Twi'lek's expression changed since they arrived. The young woman's blood ran cold and she heightened her awareness just in case.
Berini and Myrrna led Soraa and Ja'Ina back down to the main deck. As they walked back towards the hangar bay, they were suddenly greeted from behind by three more crew women, each of them armed with blasters. The pirates jabbed Soraa and Ja'Ina in the back with their weapons.
"Come with us," one of the pirates commanded. She was a Mirialan with a light-olive hue to her skin; her face detailed with small geometric tattoos.
Without warning, Ja'Ina spun around to grab the Mirialan's arm, but the pirate managed to barely step back out of reach. As the Mirialan raised her blaster towards her, Ja'Ina kicked the weapon out of the pirate's grasp. The human pirate then grabbed Ja'Ina's arm from behind, but the would-be captor quickly found herself tossed over Ja'Ina's shoulder.
Soraa's hand-to-hand skills were very limited so Myrrna grabbed her and held her tightly in a strong embrace with ease. Myrrna may have been shorter than Soraa, but the muscular Twi'lek was considerably the stronger. Berini merely watched the whole spectacle from where she stood with a smile of satisfaction.
The third pirate was the Togruta from before. She raised her blaster at Ja'Ina. "Stop right there, Pretty!"
Ja'Ina dropped to the floor just as the pirate fired, narrowly avoiding the stun blast. At least they don't want to kill us, she thought when she realized what kind of shot it was.
Ja'Ina sprang back up just as the Mirialan leapt towards her. She easily side-stepped her assailant, but she forgot about the Togruta in that instant.
In a panic, Soraa cried out, "Ina! Look out!"
Ja'Ina spun around towards Soraa's voice and never saw the Togruta take another shot at her from behind. The stun blast hit Ja'Ina between her shoulder blades and she fell to the deck, unconscious.
