The Princess and the Bounty Hunter
I knew the only way out was off-world, and I knew that I'd have to stowaway on a ship to do it. With shaking hands, I managed to secure a spot on a freighter and set off on an interstellar adventure.
Cautiously, I stepped off the ship and into the bustle of the space station's alien marketplace.
I sat at the bar, my back against the wall, my eyes scanning the crowd. The patrons were a mix of humans and aliens' faces, all mingling and chatting merrily.
It was a place where anyone could feel welcome, no matter their race or creed. That was what the bar owner, Mr.Galtion, had wanted when he opened the establishment. And it was what his wife, the lovely and graceful Mrs. Galtion had believed in the start", as she put it.
"How did you get here?" A burly man with a mustache so large it could give our Colonel a run for his money asked me.
"I took a ship," I said, my voice cracking as tears forced themselves into my eyes. "I didn't want to go home. My fiance is ill, you see. It would be better for me to stay here in this foreign land than to return home to a future kingdom without a king." It's better for me to stay here and pretend I'm a normal girl than to go home and have to pretend I'm a princess."
I surveyed the bar and noticed a tall, pale-skinned woman with a shock of brown hair. She was chattering away on her comm-link, and judging by the two blasters on her hips, I guessed that this was someone that had seen action. The bar was unclear and dingy, smelled of cheap whiskey and smoke. The commotion caught my eye, two shady-looking individuals surrounding a woman in the corner.
As I got closer, I could see that they were tampering with her drink while she faced away from them. My heart skipped a beat as I approached the men, ready to figure out what they were up to. The air grew tense as I stepped forward towards the two men who had been silently watching the woman. Even armed with nothing more than a steely gaze, my courage was unconquerable. Refusing to cower under their malicious leers, I demanded they answer my question: what were they doing here? The duo mumbled something incomprehensible before quickly scurrying off.
Turning back around to face her, she seemed oddly impressed by my bravery. She introduced herself as Shara and began telling me her story; she had been a pilot for many years, but her last copilot had died in a catastrophic crash some months ago and now she needed someone to help man the flight deck. Her gaze met mine and I could tell what she was asking… Did I want to be her new copilot? My heart raced with both fear and excitement. She said nothing more about their final mission together or how it ended, leaving me wondering what I would be getting myself into. I couldn't believe that I had been mistaken for a seasoned pilot. Her blunt offer caught me off guard. Not only did I have limited flight experience, but the starship she spoke of wasn't even something you'd find on the commercial market!
Nonetheless, she seemed to think my qualifications were sufficient to take on the challenge of navigating interstellar space in her starship; little did she know what adventure we were about to embark on together.
Quickly preparing myself to face the unknown, I ran through the list of items that I'd need before meeting Shara. Wrench, check. Ocular scanner, check. Anti-radiation field generator; that one was difficult to find but, thankfully, is still in stock at an old tech shop. I grabbed it and all my other belongings and headed off towards Docking Bay 3 with an hour to spare until our scheduled time of departure. I stared at the clock, anxiously counting down until my meeting with Shara in docking bay 3.
Shara stepped through the dimly lit hallway, trying to remember why she had come this way. Her hands were clammy and she could feel her heart racing in anticipation of what was behind that mysterious door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked twice on the door. After a few tense moments, it slowly opened up to reveal two bug-like aliens staring at her with curious expressions on their faces. She quickly pulled out her blaster and fired two quick shots at the aliens. The bugs went down, their antennae no longer twitching in alarm. She walked over to them and stowed away their antennae so they wouldn't cause any more trouble. With the aliens neutralized, she felt a wave of relief wash over her and looked around cautiously before heading back down the hallway. She made it to docking bay 3 without any hitch and found me standing there just as planned.
She grinned when she saw me and said playfully "Come on, get on the ship before anyone sees!" I eagerly followed her inside, preparing myself for whatever adventure we were about to have.