Treb hesitated, then took a large bite of food to stall for time. He honestly had no idea what to do next, now that they had a guest on board. "Well," he said finally. "I guess the first thing to do is take Effy home. Or at least, take her somewhere safe. Then we can start charting out an expedition to the Fringes like we were planning." He glanced at Effy. "Where do you want us to take you? What was your home planet again?"
(again, don't worry, they'll be thwarted before they try to drop off Effy anywhere XD)
Effy looked away and sighed. "I come from Planet Margaret. As to where I'm going, that is something…it's hard to explain," she quietly set aside her dish and spork. After a moment, she curled up in one of the beds and seemed to go into a deep sleep.
Treb stared at her, blinking a couple of times. He glanced at Ba'al blankly. "Okay, well….I guess I'll set us on an overnight course for Margaret, then. No idea where that is, by the way. Aaaand we can hash out the details in the morning. Sound good?"
"Sure," Ba'al said, trying to figure out why Margaret sounded so familiar. Her tired mind couldn't place it and she let it drop for the night. If she couldn't remember it, it couldn't be that important.
Once the other two were settled, Treb returned to the pilot's seat and adjusted the ship's flight so that they'd reach Margaret without incident. Then he retired to his own cot, ready for the day ahead to go smoothly and predictably. He could use a bit of relaxation after the events of the evening, that was for sure.
Ba'al woke up with a feeling of urgency. It took her a minute to place, and she was left to cast about in the recesses of her mind before she finally remembered what had been concerning her in the back of her head last night.
She shot up so fast that she slammed her head into the top of her cubby. She barely registered the pain, panic sending her flying out the door to try and track down her captain.
Treb was still sleeping peacefully just outside the flight deck, buried in a mess of blankets. He didn't hear Ba'al crashing around, busy as he was dreaming about Effie singing opera while Ba'al did a drum solo in the background.
Ba'al panic mounted as she realized she had no idea where he slept.
It's like the tiniest ship in the world how have I not stepped on him by now? she thought frantically. She then barged down a door and stepped on him.
"Oh, hi," she said, hastily retreating. "So, how close are we?"
"WHGUH?" Treb flailed both arms, trying to get some air back into his lungs. "Whathe heck're you talkin'bout? Who are you??" He threw aside his blankets and scrabbled to grasp the situation. "Close to where?"
"MARGARET!" she almost shouted. "How close are we?!"
"I DON'T FRIGGIN' KNOW!" Treb was quite annoyed by this time. "How dare you address your captain that way! What's the big deal, anyway?"
"We can't go there," she said urgently."Sir," she added as courtesy. "Look, it'd be really bad to go there."
"Why? Is the weather nasty or something?" Treb grudgingly climbed to his feet, realizing that he wouldn't get back to sleep after this. "You act like we're gonna get shot down by the Star Hammer Imperial Army or something."
"Funny you should mention that," she said a little hysterically. "Look, can we just set different course, and then we'll talk about it?"
Treb paused, his eyes slowly narrowing as her words sunk in. "Hoooold on just a minute. We're not actually…..You don't really mean….." His eyes widened again and he bolted for the pilot's seat. "Yeah, sure let's talk! Any suggestions for a different destination real quick?"
"Oh! Well! You know! Just about anywhere outside of the Falzer Planetary system would be amazing!" she said, going weak with relief. "Thanks!"
"Hey team!" Effy stood in the doorway with a enormous tray loaded down with steaming bowls of food and a humorous glint in her eyes. "How about some breakfast? I…hope I haven't missed anything important…"
"No no, nothing at all, ma'am. Everything's going perfectly….." Treb manually turned the ship around so that it was going in the opposite direction, then locked the wheel in a somewhat random direction. "Now, uh….." he leaned back and peeked through the doorway at Ba'al with a frazzled expression. "Explain? Please?"
Effy sat comfortably on the floor with the tray of food, and delicately devoured most of it. She watched the other two with a quiet smile. Looking at Ba'al, she wondered about her fur and about the way she seemed to lack a nose. "I wonder how that works," she thought. "I like her, but she is definitely an odd one. Well, I shouldn't talk, I suppose, once I left Margaret, I've gotten my share of strange looks. And this dude… he seems to have a bit of a hard-luck aura…hopefully that isn't chronic, since I seem to have joined forces with him…" Her internal chatter came to an abrupt halt when the other two picked up their disconversation.
((oh, I think I love that word))
Ba'al gave Treb a :I
"Are you content with 'it's a long story?'" she asked hopefully.
Trep gave her a B|
"No," he replied flatly.
"Okay," she said meekly.
"So, that long story way shorter, I got in some trouble on my home planet, and they sent the interspace security after me. Is that good nough?"
Treb stared at her. "You mean you got in so much trouble that they sent the imperial-fricking-army after you? What the heck did you do!? How have I not heard about you—oh jeez, I HIRED you!" He buried his face in his hands. "Please give me some hope that I didn't just ruin my own career for good," he moaned.
"No, no, no!" Ba'al rushed to assure him. "It'll be fine, we just need to uh…vacate this area! That's about all. I know it sounds bad, but I didn't do anything that wasn't self defense."
She folded her arms as if that solved the entire problem.
Treb did not seem reassured in the least, turning to Effie with a dark, despairing expression. "Well, uh…..sorry, Effie…..looks like we can't drop you off at your planet any time soon…."
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