"Please take him," the man sounded desperate. "Please, I beg of you! Take him or he'll die."
The noise of ships firing could be heard in the background. A gruff looking man stood with his arms crossed in front of a well dressed man and woman. The trio was on a ship and the woman was holding a baby. She cooed softly to it as she wrapped it in nice, white, silk blankets.
"Please," she said softly as she held out her child to the stranger.
Surprisingly, the man took it, "And what exactly am I suppose ta do with 'em? I'm justa trader, ya know."
"Give him to a family that will love him and raise him as their own," the other man said.
"What's the 'lil tyke's name?" the trader asked.
The woman smiled with sad satisfaction before replying, "His name is—"
Harper awoke with a start and slammed his left temple on the ceiling of the Maru. His eyes rolled back as white dots danced before them.
'I wonder if it's normal to see stars when there's no viewport nearby…' He thought to himself.
Harper gave his head a slight shake in an attempt to clear his vision but it only made the pain in his head worse. He put a hand up to his temple and wasn't surprised to feel a layer of gauze encompassing his forehead.
"Ouch," he whispered when the tips of his probing fingers hit a tender area.
The throbbing in his head, however, was nothing compared to the intense, shooting pain he felt whenever he moved his neck. It originated from his port and seemed to radiate down his neck and spinal cord to all his limbs.
Harper slowly laid his head back on the pillow and tried to keep his neck in one spot while doing so. He succeeded for the most part, but his body was still soaked in sweat from his dream. He could vaguely remember it. He'd been having dreams just like it since he could remember. In the most common one there was a man, a woman, a trader, and a baby and they were on a ship. The dream itself wasn't too unpleasant but the fact that he didn't know any of the people in it had always disturbed him. Now, though, he was too tired to think about it and he fell back to sleep listening to Beka's soft snores, like he had done so many times.