"This is a mistake. I shouldn't be here."
"Oh, really." The booking agent raised her eyebrows. "Were you or were you not involved in a barroom brawl?"
'Well, O.K. Yes, I was. But I didn't start it."
"It doesn't matter who started it. You were involved in it. So now this is what happens. The booking agent nodded to the guard. "She's been processed. You can take her away now." The guard nodded.
"No. Just where the hell are you taking me?"
"To start your sentence for participating in a brawl."
"Sentence? As in prison? For a brawl? Wait just a minute. That's way out of proportion to what I actually did.
"Perhaps where you come from but not here. This is how we do things here."
"Well, then what about a trial? I should at least have a chance to defend myself. It's only fair."
"A trial? What for? We already know you are guilty. Take her away."
The guard pulled Beka along. She couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening to her. All she had done was to try and fine a place to get a little relaxing time, to get away from it all. Because even Beka Valentine was entitled to some R and R.
But it seemed the universe did not agree. And now she was stuck on some unknown planet with no way to get to the Maru or to call the Andromeda for help. And because she hadn't exactly been specific on how long she'd be gone, who knew how long it take for them to start growing worried and start looking for her? And even if they did, how would they ever find her?
The guard had reached the cell and now unceremoniously threw her in. "Let me out! I don't belong here!" But the guard ignored her and leisurely walked back up the way he had come. Beka was stuck and she was in trouble. Bad trouble.