It was quiet when Sabine woke up the second time, though she seriously doubted she'd been left alone again. Since her first escape had failed so quickly, she decided to keep her eyes closed and listen.
"I know you're awake."
Or not. Sabine recognized Hera's voice as the Twi-lek from the hall.
Sabine opened her eyes to the same room. She turned her head and saw Hera leaning against the wall. The astromech was beside her. Otherwise, they were alone. Sabine's armor and blasters were missing, too.
"Care to tell me why you almost shot me?" Hera asked blandly.
"I wouldn't have fired," Sabine said defensively.
The astromech gave a disbelieving sputter of noises. Sabine blinked, startled.
"I… wouldn't have," Sabine said, unsure if she was supposed to address Hera or the astromech. She narrowed her eyes and said more firmly, "I didn't want to get shot first."
Hera's brows rose. "You're just a kid. I wouldn't have shot you."
"I don't know that," Sabine said. "Who are you, anyway?"
"We're the Spectres," Hera said. "I'm Spectre-2, and this is Spectre-3."
Spindly manipulators emerged from Spectre-3's dome to wave. Sabine rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I can play that game. I'm SS36," Sabine said.
To her surprise, "Spectre-2" smiled. "You can't have hit your head too hard if you're being sarcastic."
"I have a hard head," Sabine said. Everyone told her that.
Hera sobered. "How does it feel?"
"Fine," Sabine said, even though the headache still hadn't gone away.
Another slew of disbelieving noises from Spectre-3.
"You've got a chatty astromech," Sabine commented.
Spectre-3 beeped out that it didn't want to be left out of the conversation.
"I doubt that ever happens," Sabine said, smiling despite herself.
Spectre-3 gave a metallic raspberry.
"You understand him?" Hera asked.
"No," Sabine said on reflex, frowning.
Another raspberry.
"I don't." Her Academy nickname, "Metalhead," wasn't just because of her Mandalorian armor.
"Spectre-3 can be disagreeable, whether or not you can understand him," Hera said with a smile, prompting a few offended beeps.
Sabine resisted the urge to smile back. She couldn't let herself get caught off guard again. Her best bet would be to convince the Spectres that she wasn't a cause of concern and get away. She hoped the planet on which she'd crashed was habitable.
"Alright," Hera said when Sabine remained silent. "Next question: where are you headed?"
"I don't know," Sabine said, then inwardly winced.
"I get that you're afraid to trust-"
"I'm not afraid!" Sabine snapped, cutting Hera off.
She would have said more, except a cough interrupted her. She winced and grabbed her stomach, trying in vain to stop another cough from escaping. She doubled over, clenching her eyes against the pain each jerking cough caused.
"Woah, woah, easy," came Hera's voice.
Gentle hands took Sabine's shoulders, helping her sit up. Sabine tried to push herself away, hating the tears squeezing between her eyelids as the pain only got worse.
By the time the coughing fit ended, Sabine was light-headed. She wavered uncertainly, then realized she'd been holding her breath. Forcing herself to inhale, Sabine felt her senses return.
Hera was still holding her upright, one hand rubbing Sabine's back. Sabine's head hurt more, but it wasn't unbearable.
"Here," Hera said, her hand leaving Sabine's shoulder.
Sabine blinked her eyes open and saw Hera was offering her a cup. Sabine's hands were shaky when she took the cup, but Hera didn't comment on the water that spilled down her chin.
Sabine took a shallow breath, and was relieved when her lungs didn't clench up again. She handed the cup back to Hera, eyeing the Twi-lek warily. She hadn't intended to show such weakness to strangers, but it was too late now.
Hera set the cup aside, then turned back to Sabine. She blinked, seeming startled by Sabine's stare. Surprisingly, her gaze softened a moment later.
"It's okay," Hera said calmly. "You're safe here."
Sabine averted her gaze. Safe? Right. She'd learned her lesson back at the Academy.
Nowhere was safe, and she couldn't trust anyone but herself.