Emissary
Chapter 6 - The Motherwill

The fennec man who had spoken in her defense, the one they had been calling "Ryn," tightly gripped Stel's upper arm and guided her through the building at a swift pace, heading towards the hangar bays. He didn't say much and his tail repeatedly batted Stel in the leg as he rushed her along. When they reached one last elevator and headed for an upper floor, he finally let go and gave her some room.

The silence in the swiftly-moving elevator was more than awkward. Stel kept sneaking glances out of the side of her eye at him but he seemed content to stare at the doors of the elevator.

"Thank you." Stel said simply and quietly, hoping to start off on the right foot.

He sighed and broke his staring contest with the inanimate doors to pinch the bridge of his nose and tilt his head down. "Don't mention it, kid. You were my best excuse to get out of here."

"W-what do you mean? Isn't this an important mission? Get help? Save the colony?" Stel asked with a confused tone.

Ryn grunted and exhaled. "Sure. It might be for you. For me? I'm just burning lines until this little dust ball is long gone behind me. They've never done me any favors, I owe them none. If you're smart, you'll realize you don't owe them any either." He finally turned and faced Stel, looking her up and down before resuming his original position. "Ratty jacket, smudged face, old boots. I'd guess worker, but the lack of insignia tells me you're even lower than that. Got a home? Got a family?"

Stel bit back her immediate response of yelling at him, but she definitely felt a spike of rage. She wanted to be civil with her "rescuer" since it was him or prison and Stel didn't fancy bars. "No..." She whispered, trying to remain calm.

Ryn just grunted again. "That makes two of us. The colony takes everything from you and gives nothing back. Remember that, you owe nobody anything."

Stel lifted her eyes and stared at him. "Does that include you? Must mean I don't owe you anything either."

Ryn turned slightly and smirked at her, baring some teeth on the side of his triangular fox-like face, "You're learning."

The elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened. Ryn started walking swiftly and Stel had to trot to keep up with his longer strides; he was a little taller than her. Ryn guided Stel through an antechamber and into a noisy hangar bay, sparks flew from every which way as repair crews fixed ships and patched the walls. All except for one ship, that seemed otherwise ignored. Ryn beelined it for that lonely ship.

Stel followed behind, admiring the unusual design of the vessel with its triple thruster array, outrigger stabilizers, and elegantly pointed nose. The aft of the ship was notably larger as the ship tapered to its bow point but as they approached, Stel noticed the underside of the nose was opened and she could see the mech she had flown, the Emissary, being loaded into the ship.

Ryn slowed enough to let Stel catch up and gestured to the workers, "Seems they were genuine about giving us the mech. You know how to fly that thing proper? You were shaky out there before."

Stel shook her head slowly, still fascinated by the ship and enamored by the mech, "No... I just... kinda jumped in. I had to help, nobody else could. The real pilot was... k-"

"Died. Got it. So you inherited the thing and you have no clue how to run it. Any clue how to fix it? Rearm it?" Ryn asked as the two neared the ship. Once close enough, a boarding ramp lowered itself for Ryn and Stel, she assumed he had a controller in a pocket.

"No... I'll have to... read some manuals, I guess?" Stel said timidly. She felt unprepared for his questions. As he chuckled and walked up the ramp, she realized she felt unprepared for far more than his questions. She realized she had volunteered to leave the colony, something she had never done, and go far away in search of help for the colony, something she had never done, and all while working together with this gruff fennec, something she wasn't excited for.

With a brimming heart, Stel took a deep breath and boarded the ramp, the soft hissing of pneumatics closing it behind her and sealing her fate. Stel was officially on a mission. The fate of the colony in her hands.

Stepping up into the ship, Stel found herself in a hallway. Directly in front of her was a stamped plaque with the name "Motherwill" in bold letters. Looking left and right from the boarding ramp, Stel didn't see Ryn. To the right seemed to be aft-wards and from here, a short hallway leading to two closed bulkheads and two open ones, she couldn't see much. She went right, eager to explore the ship, and found that the closed door on this end would slide open at the press of a button and led to another hallway that ran laterally across the ship's spine with another door at the far end. Stel assumed the ship's interior layout was roughly rectangular, with the access hatch on the port side of the ship and who knew what else on the starboard side. Turning and moving through the already open aft doorway, Stel heard the gentle thrum of the engine in idle mode, likely to assist in loading the Emissary. The aft hallway was a fair bit shorter and ended with a diagnostic panel and a door to the left with "Engine Bay" painted on it. The paint was old and weathered but legible. Stel decided that running in there probably wasn't the best idea, so she turned around and headed for the nose instead. Going past the entry ramp again, she headed through the other originally open doorway and found a lounge with a door directly to starboard, roughly in the spine of the ship, and a door towards the bow, also towards the spine. Stel peeked through the starboard door and found a narrow hallway between the lounge and a couple closed doors, as well as a small elevator in the middle of the floor and a door towards the aft again. Peeking in there, she found a cargo bay that seemed to hug the underside of the ship, as she stood on a viewing platform and the cargo room extended underneath her.

"A request for permission to explore the ship would have been respectful, but since it's both of our homes for a while, I can't fault you."

Stel spun as Ryn's sardonic tone came from behind her. She saw him leaning in the lounge doorway and staring her down. He jerked his head towards the two closed doors. "Aft bunk is yours, there's only the two so don't get picky about room choice. Refresher is in there, so clean yourself up, pick a jumpsuit from the closet, and we'll get going soon. They've almost loaded the Emissary in the launch bay." He started to turn and, almost as an after thought, pointed to the small elevator in the hallway floor Stel had found earlier, just forward of her right now, "That's the launch bay access hatch. Ride that down and clamber into your mech. The whole thing is detachable, by the way, the launch bay and cargo bay are separated by a blast-proof bulkhead but both are detachable from the ship in case something goes wrong. Dad always had backup plans."

Stel nodded quietly as she listened and looked at the door to her right. "Just... in here? My bunk?"

Ryn nodded and started walking through the hallway, stepping over the access elevator, and passed through a door at the end of the hall.

Stel turned and touched the access button for her bunk and stepped inside. It was neat and tidy but empty. The room was roughly rectangular with a little taper in the starboard-bow corner as the nose of the ship began to taper towards its front there. Most enjoyable was the window on the starboard wall. Even though it only showed the business of the hangar bay, Stel felt far less claustrophobic with an open viewport. On the aft wall was a sturdy bunk and a metal wall cabinet. Opening that, Stel found the mentioned jumpsuits and picked one that looked like it would fit her. She found the refresher station tucked in the tapering corner with a standing shower, sink, and toilet all contained behind a holographic privacy screen that activated once inside the perimeter of its protection. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Peeling off her sweaty, dirty clothes, Stel tossed them through the holographic field and lavished in the warmth of the shower water. It was rare that she'd gotten a chance for a controlled shower like this while living on the streets. The occasional times she'd found a bunkhouse to live in temporarily had been nice and this beat all of those times combined.

Stel quickly finished her shower and dried off, slipping into the simple jumpsuit and pulling her hair back with a headband before heading towards the door Ryn had gone through. It led directly into the bridge, with a door to the lounge just beside the living quarter door. Ryn was tapping away at a console and occasionally looking out through the forward viewport.

Stel herself was looking out through the viewport, over the nose of the ship, past the workers finishing their loading of the Emissary, and out through the hangar doors to the setting star of her home. The sky was lit with orange light and clouded by remnant smoke. Most of the fires were out, but damage control and body recovery would likely take weeks. Stel felt her hands grip into fists.

Ryn looked up at her briefly before huffing and looking back to his console. "There. Better?"

Stel approached and stood behind him, watching him tap through diagnostic menus, "Yup. Much better. T-thanks..."

Ryn threw her a sideways glance before grinning and standing upright, facing her and gesturing through the viewport towards the horizon. "Good. Ready to go save the galaxy then?"

Stel looked to where he pointed and took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

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