Our Stars

This is so good, Hank thought as he took another bite of greasy food. Not that he had been lacking in food on the ship, but it was all standard military food, full of nutrients and vitamins, basically it was boring and tasteless. Hank took another big bite of his fried meat, letting the salt and meaty juices fill his mouth and resisted to urge to moan his pleasure of street food. I have to smuggle some of this stuff into the ship, Hank promised.

"Leave me alone," The voice cut in. Hank turned to the sound as saw a group of kids bullying a little girl.

Hank frowned. "So much for a quiet meal," he sighed as he stood up from the table.

"Hey, you lot, what are you doing?" He confronted the boys. They paused in their teasing and looked at the bespectacled twenty two year old and started laughing.

"Ah, unison, that's impressive," Hank replied sarcastically.

"What is to you, four eyes?" A boy with dyed orange hair teased, looking Hank over.

"That's rich considering you have six," Hank

"Of course he has six, that's normal, weirdo," the smallest one said.

And the leader shows.

"Oh, right, well you still better back off." Hank felt his argument slipping away from him and with it his patience as his anger rose.

He had endured more than his fair share of bullying and recognized the signs. There was almost always more than one of them and their favorite choice of prey would be someone smaller and more vulnerable. Hank could see three boys in their pre-teens hovering over a boy half their age.

"Leave him alone," Hank warned, stepping closer.

The boys started laughing harder.

"Are you blind? I'm not a 'him', you idiot. I'm a girl!" the victim insisted, glaring at the engineer.

Hank blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered by frowning. "That makes your bullying even worse. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves as men. What kind of men will you be when you grow up, picking on girls. Do you have any idea how weak that makes you look?"

"I reckon that we could take you," the tallest one challenged.

Hank only smiled. "You think so, do you? Go ahead, take your best shot." Hank opened his arms, inviting them to take the first hit. "I'll give you one chance. But I'm warning you, if you don't take me down on the first try, you're not going to."

The boys looked unease by the confrontation.

The boy with the dye red orange hair sucked on his teeth. "You ain't worth it, old man," he said and turned his back on Hank.

True to form for lackeys the other two bullies turned and followed after their leader.

"Old man? I'm in my twenties," Hank placed his hands on his hips in indignation.

"You didn't have to do that," the rescued girl said. "I could have handled it."

Hank looked down at her. He could see the pride in her expression. "I have no doubt you could, but they ruined my meal and I couldn't let them get away with that." Hank explained, gesturing to his table. "And now my food's gone cold and gross."

To Hank's surprise the girl laughed and followed him back to his chair.

"Thank you," she said, sitting in the wire chair next to him. "Not many people would have stepped in. I'm an orphan you see, and most think I'm a drain on society."

"Where did you learn a word like society?"

"In school, before my parents…disappeared."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Hank said, and he really was sorry.

"It's okay; it's the darker part of life. I mean I miss them, but I manage okay on my own." She explained, helping herself to Hank's abandoned fried potatoes.

Hank watched her eat his food, but didn't say anything. Instead he pushed his sandwich in her direction and raised his hand to order another meal.

"If you're hungry, you should have said something."

"Why, when actions say it better?"

It was Hank's turn to laugh as the girl helped herself to the food. The girl made a noisy munching sound in reply which made Hank smile and he Hank was content to watch her eat her fill. When the second order came Hank pushed it towards the girl with a welcoming gesture.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, dig in."

"Don't think I won't remember this," she said though a mouthful of meat. "I promise I'll repay you someday."

"Don't mention it." Hank said, waving her promise. "No, really don't. I probably made things worse for you; I'm only planet side for a few hours when I am gone the boys will be back."

"You're from a ship?" the girl asked, missing the important part of Hank's statement.

"Yes, I'm a military engineer." Hank stated with self-satisfaction.

The girl shrugged. "That's cool, I guess. It sounds kind of nerdy."

Hank chuckled. "My friend Alex would agree with you."

Suddenly she reached out and grabbed his arm. Hank tried not to flinch at the foreign contact. "If you don't want me to repay you, could you take me with you?" She reasoned, squeezing his arm.

"I can't, it's not allowed." Hank held back the wince at the pressure and shook his head. "All you are doing is running away from your problem and that's no way to solve it."

"So what do I do?"

"Learn to defend yourself."

"Do you mean I have to beat them up?"

"No, not exactly," Hank clarified. "But it is one way of doings things, though I wouldn't' recommend it."

She frowned, confused. "Why not? Those jerks deserve whatever they get."

"That may be true," Hank lightly scolded, wagging a finger at her. "But if you did it, give them their punishment, how would that make you any different from them?"

"I'd pummel them so hard that they wouldn't dream of hurting another kid again." She explained, holding up her tiny fists.

Hank laughed and covered his hands over hers. "I meant, how would beating them up not turn you into them? Wouldn't you become just like them? Why not try to think of a way to become a better person?"

She thought for a moment, her face scrunching up as she thought about the ramifications of violence. "Okay," she said and hopped out of her seat.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hank asked.

"To become a better person!" the strange girl replied and disappeared into the masses.

Hank sat there with a smile, replaying the oddest conversation he'd ever had. He was well aware that he sounded a lot like Captain Xavier and smiled at the thought. "Perhaps when my time in the military is up I'll turn my talents to politics."

It wasn't until he started on his way to the starship that Hank realized that she never told him her name.

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