Rhea lay on the old cot in the corner of Seli's bay, trying to rest her eyes for a few minutes at least. Zhao's ship had just docked at the service bay a while ago. Ash had slipped out to meet him. She didn't like letting him go alone in this situation, but he assured her he'd be fine and that he could sneak around much better than her right now.
Well, yeah. He was a big boy. He could handle himself. And for the time being she was exhausted, too drained to move around much. Her body had been running on adrenaline for hours, but now it was all catching up at once.
She tried to sleep, but she couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes, that blinding light from the orb and the shockwave filled her mind again. After a while she ditched the idea of sleeping and tried to go over the events that had happened.
When they set out for scavenging, she expected it to be a routine run, maybe with some minor interference from the Hounds. She never would've expected things to go the way they did.
The Hounds led by Jackal had tried to attack them directly and seemed to know exactly what they had taken from the ship. Now that she thought about it, why had they come back again and demanded the cargo like they already knew what was in there? It didn't add up. There was something else in play here. The ship itself was trouble. Probably smuggling goods, and Rhea could only hope it wouldn't trace back to them. Still, it had been too expensive to just leave it behind.
What was even more puzzling was the other ship. It was rare to come across multiple ships during a scavenging run, and this one didn't belong here. You never saw shuttles with that kind of quality out here. And how it ended up here with a dead pilot was something she didn't even want to think about.
According to Ash, it was tied to one of the noble families. And it was never a good idea to get involved in their business.
And the orb.
It sent shivers through her when she saw it. Like it was looking back at her. And to make it worse, Ash just had to touch it.
Well… not that it was entirely worse. It somehow awakened the core inside him, and it was probably the only reason they'd escaped from there.
Ironic.
Rhea opened her palm and let the pulse surge. Blue threads started flickering, and all the metals around her, including Luna, responded at the same time, much stronger than they used to.
She stared at her hand for a long moment.