The sleep Garren was wishing for never came; his thoughts were filled with memories of the past, leaving him restless, forced to stare up at the ceiling of his small apartment as he lay in bed, joined only by the familiar hum of ships entering and exiting the nearby spaceport and the soft light of dawn beginning to pierce through the blinds of the room's only window.
?
With all attempts at sleep having failed, Garren dragged himself out of bed, reaching to grab a glass that was resting on his bedside table. He accidentally knocked it over, causing the glass to roll under the bed. Groaning to himself, he got down on his stomach, reaching under to grab it, only to see a box he had ignored for months, having intentionally pushed it from his mind. Dragging the box and the glass out from under the bed, he picked them up and placed them next to himself as he sat on the bed's edge, brushing away the dust and unlatching the lid.
?
Inside was a familiar sight: his old flight helmet. Federation helmets had always themed themselves after knightly helmets of old, though their visor featured a bright tint of green with tubing running along the bottom edge of the helmet, which would have been attached to the emergency air in the flight suit. At least pilots were not forced to wear the plume that other Federation infantry were forced to wear.
?
Beyond the standard flair of Federation uniforms, the helmet was also covered in the orange and yellow markings of Comet Flight, along with a single comet emblazoned on its left side. Looking at the emblem brought back some of the few fond memories he had of the war. Looking further inside the boxes, he saw another item he had forgotten, a single faded photograph. On it were five figures standing in a row, all fitted in their flight suits; it was the original members of Comet Flight back in the early days.
?
On the far left was Varle Vosel, a green-skinned woman with raven-black hair. She was the oldest member of the flight and always did her best to look out for everyone. She was from the lush world of Cikas, and Garren could still remember how Varle would beam when she talked about her home of the never-ending trees and crystal waters. Now though? Those forests were replaced by molten slag; their oceans turned to glass.
?
Next to Varle was Tay Barwill, a human girl with curly brown hair that fell far behind her back and comically large, rounded glasses. She was the youngest and shyest of the group and had also been the one to convince them all to take the photo in the first place; she said having it as a physical memento would make it more meaningful and all that.
?
On the far right of the photo was Lolusk Jal, looking grumpy as ever. The squid-like Jothin might be some of the engineers in the galaxy, but they have a temper to match, and to say Lolusk fits the stereotype would be an understatement. As the flight's acting mechanic, sometimes it seemed he liked their fighters more than the squad, though he did still care for the flight in his own special way.
?
Standing by Lolusk was Rolan Coal, resident hotshot pilot. Coal had enough confidence for the entire flight and some to spare; he was also the pilot Garren had been closest to. Both of them had been tied at the hip from their youth, both of them having grown up on Iralaa, calling its fast cityscapes home. Reaching the stars together had always been their dream, a chance to see the full breadth of the galaxy beyond the cold steel and artificial lights of their home. They had gotten their wish, though not in the way either of them had wanted.
?
Finally, in the center of them all was Garren himself; he was younger and paler, his brow hair cut short, a stark contrast to the long mop that it was today; he also lacked the beard. The Garren in the photo had a long smile on his face as his arms wrapped around the shoulders of Rolan and Tay; those days were long gone, however, and all that was left were the memories.
?
Before his thoughts had time to wander, Garren heard a loud banging on his door, shaking away the memories. He closed the box and began walking towards the door as the banging continued.
“Alright! Alright! I'm coming!”
?
Opening up the door, he saw Kailyn standing there wearing the same outfit from the night before. "It's rude to keep a lady waiting, y'know.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
?
Before Garren could respond, Kailyn began chuckling, heaving over and grabbing at her stomach. She seemed like she was desperately holding back a fit of laughter as she pointed at him. Looking down at himself, he realized he was still in his pajamas. “Really, Poka Pyjamas, are you twelve?”
?
Poka, being a popular character from an old children's cartoon, grumbled to himself. Garren stepped aside from the door to leave a path for Kailyn to enter. “They're comfortable; now if you're done, come inside. We have more important things to worry about.”
?
Garren watched as Kailyn entered the room, still chuckling, fighting off the last bit of her laugh; she seemed to take in the entire room before taking the only available seat, a small metal chair, as she kicked up her feet on the table. “Nice place you got here, real cozy; the plain grey walls really help bring out the plain grey floor and ceiling. I mean, seriously, couldn't you add like a potted plant to this place or something?”
?
Closing the door, Garren walked towards Kailyn, stopping just in front of her and crossing his arms. “Thanks for the advice; I’ll buy a plant. Could you hurry up to the part where you tell me why you need my help?”
?
Rolling her eyes, Kailyn let out an annoyed grunt. “Fine, take all the fun out of this. I’ll keep it short and sweet for you. I need you to fly me through the two-asteroid field. I'm sure you're familiar.”
Of course he was familiar with it; the last great space battle of the war had been fought there. Even now he could still recall the battle vividly: a thousand ships clashing against one another through rock and debris. The entire area had shined, illuminated by a million lasers and the explosion of ships. Entire vessels would burn as they crashed into the asteroids that littered the field. It had been the largest single battle of the war. Imperium and Federation both had taken irreparable losses, but at the end of the day, the Federation had lost. Now the Dos Asteroid Field was one of the most dangerous places you could try to traverse. Not only having to avoid the many asteroids but also untold amounts of random debris where one unlucky hit could end you if your ship wasn't built tough enough.
?
Garren's grip tightened; if he had his wish, he’d have never thought of the Dos Asteroids again.
“That place is a graveyard of ghosts and better off forgotten. We have no business going there.”
?
Kailyn leaned forward, placing her arms on her legs. “And if the people I'm looking for held the same sensibilities, I'd agree with you, but here we are.”
Letting out a long sigh, Garren raised a hand to rub his eye. This was becoming sketchier by the second, and Garren wanted nothing to do with it. “Look, why don't you tell me where you need to get to in Dos, and maybe I can help you find a pilot willing to make the trip?"
Kailyn’s face shifted to that of a child caught stealing cookies, scratching at her cheek with a finger. “See, now that's kind of the problem; I don’t know.”
?
All Garren could do was stare. “What do you mean you don't know?”
?
She shrugged, a nervous smile creeping up her lips. “Ah, don't be like that. Somewhere in the Dos Asteroid Field is a base that I need to get to.”
Garren couldn't believe what he was hearing. This kid was really asking him to fly through one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy, if not the most dangerous, all so she could look for some mystery base she didn't even know the location of. “Hate to break it to you, kid, but even if I agreed, we could fly through Dos for weeks and still not find your mystery base.”
?
Kailyn smiled at that.
?
“That's where your little problem with Murcin comes into play; your friend there has upgraded himself from gang boss to full-on drug lord, selling whatever he can get to the folks here on Morras and beyond. While Murcin there might say otherwise, he couldn't have expanded so fast without a little help. He’s working with someone with a lot more influence than himself and who has contacts in the local Imperial garrison. Once we find out who that is, they can help lead us to the big prize.”
?
Garren wanted to say no, to send her off, and to forget this meeting had ever happened. Unfortunately, Murcin needed to be dealt with, whether or not he ended up following Kailyn's plan. “So I help you find your man who will supposedly lead you to this base. How exactly does that help my problem with Murcin?”
?
Kailyn was beaming. “The info I need from Murin isn't going to be easy to find, so we go about this the direct way, either getting it from him or from his hideout. Nothing to say. Murcin needs to still be kicking when we're done.”
?
This so-called plan was downright asinine. She really expected the two of them to take on Murcin’s entire gang by themselves. A sane man would have turned her down without question. Too bad Garren was out of options, so the insane would have to do. “Fine, I’ll help you with Murcin, but then I'm out, whatever it is you're planning. I don't want anything to do with it; I'm content staying retired.”
?
Kailyn had a smug look on her face. “Oh, I'm sure. Meet me downstairs.”
Kailyn proceeded to hop out of the chair and walk towards the door once again, opening it up and taking a step out before turning her head back. “Despite how entertaining it would be to watch you run around the city in pajamas, do change into something more appropriate.”
?
With that, she walked out, slamming the door behind her, leaving Garren alone once again.
