Among Stars

Essentials

"C-428," the elevator announced, and Naina stepped out. She walked to what seemed like a reception of some sorts. The room was filled with tables and cubicles and partial walls, and every inch of every surface seemed to be filled with some kind of communication equipment. There were more screens in this one room than Naina had probably ever seen in her life.

Behind the reception table, a lone man was sitting, chewing something and reading a tablet in his hands. When he saw Naina closing in, he put the tablet down and sat up properly.

"Good day, young lady," he said in a somewhat lilting accent. "What can I do for you today?" he asked.

"Good day, sir," Naina said and looked around. "You seem to have an excellent selection of comms equipment, but do you have reach? Can you reach the Empire from here? Or better yet, can you reach Sector Twelve?" she said.

The man seemed to ponder this for a second before he answered, "Empire, yes, at least the rim. But I'm afraid we don't have enough power to reach Sector Twelve," he said and then continued, "That's on the other side of the galaxy, right?"

Naina nodded. "Yeah, it is," she said and shook her head. "No matter, that can wait. It has waited for ten years, it can wait a few more weeks or months. Anyway, I'd like to send an encrypted message to the Empire's network," she said.

The man nodded and pointed towards his left. "That way, miss. You'll need the credentials, of course, but the red line is capable of long-distance communication with encryption," he said and smiled.

Naina smiled back, nodded, and walked towards the red line of communicators. She sat down, lifted her left wrist and opened her comm. "Quera," she said, "Highest encryption, this equipment can handle, address it to the department head at the Academy, and lock it with her credentials."

"Of course, Captain Melcey," Quera answered.

Naina nodded, started typing something and muttered under her breath, "I hope you're still there, Yeria, otherwise this might get difficult. " She finished typing, glanced through the message once again, and sent it away.

She took a deep breath, rose up, and walked back to the elevators. Once there, she grinned internally at her ability to finally read what they said and selected a new destination. These station-long elevators were convenient, but they took their sweet time between the far ends of the station. Naina leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, waiting for the elevator to arrive.

"Floor A-11," the elevator announced after a while, and Naina opened her eyes. She stretched and walked out of the elevator. She looked around and glanced at the habitats themselves and sighed.

"I'm not saying the Travelstar is uncomfortable, but it's been years since I slept in a bed that's actually soft..." she said and sighed quietly, "Nah, I don't have time for that. But, I do have time for a proper bath," she added and grinned. The Travelstar had adequate living quarters, and a decent enough shower. But it had no bath. At this very moment, Naina craved for a good bath. Suddenly, she felt like she hadn't washed for years, and felt dirty.

She walked towards the section that the signs told her was the cleaning section. Once there, she walked to the desk in front and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," she said, looking around, trying to catch someone's eye.

A short, older woman seemed to appear out of absolutely nowhere and sat down in front of Naina. She looked up and smiled at her with a very sweet smile.

"Hello darling," she said. "What can we do for you today?" She asked.

"Ah, do you have private baths available?" Naina asked.

"Of course," the olden woman answered. "They're down that line there. Say, you aren't a resident, right? Or are you part of the Valkyries?"

"No, I'm just a traveller," Naina answered truthfully. "I'm just here for a little shopping, but I absolutely need a bath right about now," she said, and grinned.

The olden woman laughed and nodded at her. "I know the feeling, darling," she said. "I'll have to ask you for a fee then, though, as the baths are only accessible, for residents without pay."

"Of course," Naina said and offered her left wrist towards the woman. A transparent display popped up and displayed some information to the woman. She noted it down and smiled at her.

"ISS Travelstar? It says here the crew of that ship has been granted full resident rights until it leaves, or until one standard galactic week, whichever is shorter," the older woman says, somewhat surprised.

"What!?" Naina said, trying to hide her surprise and failing miserably.

"So it does say here," the older woman said, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, it seems to be your lucky day, young woman. The baths are just down the line. I'll reserve you room 34N. Have a pleasant time!" She said and smiled warmly at Naina.

Naina's smile grew wider and wider as she realized she's going to get a free bath in a proper bathtub, for the first time in years. She walked towards the baths like in a trance. Finding 34N, she walked inside, closed the door and sighed contently. There was a normal bathtub, and even a bubble bath. Both were running, and the hot steam could already be felt in the air.

Eyes half closed, she stripped down, dropped her clothes on the benches in the front part of the room, walked into the baths and sunk down to the bubbling water down to her ears. "I've missed this," she said among the bubbles and leaned back, letting her hair get wet in its entirety. She took a deep breath and let it slowly out, and smiled again. "The next time I'm getting a new ship, I'll definitely choose one with proper bath facilities," she said and tried to relax as much as she could.