"Where do you think she came from, Chief?", Krebs asked, "I ain't ever seen anything like her."  Looking at the stowaway, Booker replied, "beats me, but by the looks of her, she's had a rough time."  Still staring at the mysterious woman, Krebs spoke again, "what are we going to do with her?"  "That's for Aria to decide," Booker said, "she should be here soon, we'll find out then."

As I entered the cargo bay, I called out, "where are you,Chief... what's going on?"  "Over here, boss," he yelled back.  Making my way through the aisles of stored crates and containers, I found him and Krebs.  Chief was standing there, hands on hips.  Getting closer, he lifted his arm and pointed over his shoulder, "this," he responded in an irritated tone.   Unable to see what was behind the large man's frame, I stepped around to find what had perturbed him, sitting on a crate was a woman with blue skin, wearing a filthy, tattered tunic.  Stepping closer to the woman, I realized she was the one mentioned on the Feds profile broadcast I'd seen a few days earlier.

"I'm sorry, I promise to be good," the woman said, tears in her eyes, "I won't give you any more trouble, I'll do anything you tell me to... just please don't hurt me any more."  Looking at the woman then back at me me, Chief said, "that's all she's been saying since we found her... 'please don't hurt me'.  Tried telling her we wouldn't, but she still keeps saying that.  What kind of hell has she been through lately?"  Knowing Booker had not seen the profile yet, I replied, "after things settle down, come to my quarters and I'll show you."  Turning to the woman, I said, "no one's going to hurt you, you're safe here.  Will you tell me your name?"  Still crying in fear, the woman replied, "S'dira, my name is S'dira, please don't hurt me... I'm sorry I ran away.  I promise I won't do it again, please don't punish me.  I'll be good from now on, I promise."  With her pleas almost bringing a tear to my eyes, I looked into her eyes and responded, "It's OK S'dira, I promise you're safe here, but I need you to come with me," then turning to the Chief, "Tyrell, you and Krebs finish securing the cargo, get Lenny down here to help you.  Luci says we'll be out of the belt and going hyper in about two hours.  I'll be back to help, too, after I take care of this."  "Yes ma'am," Booker replied, "it'll be tight, but we'll get it done."  "Thanks Chief, I'll be back soon," then turning to S'dira, " all right, come with me, S'dira."

Walking down the corridor, S'dira spoke, "he's angry with me, isn't he?  I'm sorry, please don't let him punish me."  "What are you talking about?", I asked.  "The large dark man, I made him mad," S'dira replied timidly, "I did something wrong and he's going to punish me."  S'dira's words almost made me me want to cry as I replied, "we call him Chief Booker, and he is not angry and he won't punish you.  He's an old military veteran and he can be a little gruff at times... but S'dira, he will not hurt you.  Nobody on this ship will hurt you ever again."  My words seem to calm her down a bit when she spoke again, "are you taking me to the holding cell?"  "No," I replied, "I'm taking you to see a friend, I ask that you stay with her for awhile.  Will you do this?"  "I don't want to be any more trouble," S'dira responded, I'll do as you order."  Stopping for a moment, I faced the still frightened woman, "S'dira, this is not an order, it's a request.  This is a cargo ship and we have a schedule to keep.  Your appearance has thrown us off that schedule, but it's all right... and nobody is mad, and nobody is going to punish or hurt you.  The person I'm taking you to is very kind, you will like her.  She is going to take care of you until we can get everything back in order and figure out what we're going to do with you."  Still looking distraught, S'dira meekly replied, "I'll do as you ask, I don't want to be punished."  Wanting to scream in frustration, I instead checked myself and calmly said, "thank you S'dira, you'll be all right, I promise.  Now, let's go, everything will be OK."

Arriving at the galley, I opened the doorway to see Janice putting away supplies.  Entering with S'dira in tow, I said to her, "Janice, I need your help"  With her back still turned toward us, Janice replied gleefully, "Hi Aria, sure thing, honey.  Just finishing up here, by the way, you wouldn't believe what I found on Triton... fresh chicken!  I'm going to fix us all a special supper later."   Responding to her news, I said, "sounds great, I'm sure everybody will enjoy it."  As Janice began to turn around, she continued, "now, what can I do for you?" Completing her turn, Janice was taken a little by surprise when she saw me and S'dira standing there and said, "well, what do we have here?"

To be continued...

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