Heaven's Nova

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Tra seemed nervous, that was all Almeria could figure with the odd way he was acting. She wondered if it had anything to do with the friend for dinner or the surprise. She would find out eventually and since there wasn't any reason to worry she just acted like she didn't notice anything amidst for now. If later things hadn't changed she'd bring up his behavior.

When they came to the docking bay she noticed the unusual shape of the ship and more importantly in her mind the art. The owner or captain of this vessel had strong opinions about what they were doing. If they were indeed doing good she was glad of that. She needed all the examples of people striving for a better tomorrow that she could get.

Almeria smiled at Tra's friends. They were well armed, but seemed a bit different than the pirates. Almeria could not put her finger on how though. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."
 
The two rebels smiled at one another, then nodded at Almeria.

"Pleased to meet you, Almeria," Tailor said, then turned her attention to Tra. "Well, I suppose we should show you the Saint, huh?"

Tra raised one eyebrow, then chuckled. "Interesting name for a ship."

"She's a good ship. As soon as we have the money, I'll hand over her codes." Tailor strode up the ramp, Brody on her heels.

Tra lingered behind, smiling softly at Almeria. "She's ours, Almeria. Or, she will be. A ship of our own, so that we can go where we need to, when we need to." He waited anxiously. This had all seemed like such a good idea at the time, but what if she misinterpreted or shied away at the offer of the pretty little blackgrey vespid ship?
 
Almeria's eyes went wide. This was more then she had ever hoped for. She looked at the small ship then looked at Tra in complete astonishment. "I... Oh thank you!" Almeria couldn't imagine how he acquired this, despite seeming to be friends with the woman selling the ship to him, but the fact that he was doing everything he could think of to propell her agenda. She looked at the ship with a sense of wonder and hope. "I always felt like things were taking too long, I was taking too long, and I figured there would be more waiting still to come." Unshed tears were in her eyes as she looked again at Tra.

The only thing keeping her from flinging her arms around Tra's difficult to reach neck was that they were in public and she fought with herself for some decorum. "The name is a good omen," she whispered as she started to walk towards the ship. It seemed every time she turned around Tra was attempting to make her world a better place. She felt blessed that Gohdem had sent him to her. It was the only thing that made sense, if any other had been in his position they would have been kind perhaps. Willing to help maybe even, but could another have had the capacity, will & desire that Tra had for her cause, her lonely crusade? She thought not.
 
He watched her, smiling and starting up the ramp himself. "Come see the inside. These ships might be small, but they're tough and quick." Honestly, he was amazed at their luck. This ship looked to be just what they needed. He'd expected something limping along on its last legs, but this ship was a thing of beauty.

Inside was just as nice as out, and Tra made his way to the engine room, looking around before checking crew quarters and the bridge. Everything certainly looked nice, and if it had been anyone else he was trading with, he would have brought his own mechanic to look it over, but he knew enough to know that Tailor would not sell him something that would fail on him. She might be devious, but she was still... he shook the thought off, walking over to the captain's chair and gesturing to it. "Have a seat, Almeria."
 
"Oh, um, right," she hesitated only a moment. It made sense after all, she was going to be the one dictating how things went, but it was still a bit startling. "This is quite the promotion from this morning," she said with a grin. The seat was comfortable she had to admit. The consul on the armrest she would need to learn first.

"Will we be able to handle this, just the two of us?" It wasn't a matter of being alone with Tra. She never even considered that a problem, her question was pure logistics. She tried to have a well rounded education, but space ships were not something she had a whole lot of knowledge of. How would they get others to help them? It wasn't like they could pay a crew, it wasn't that sort of mission after all.
 
"I'm a fairly decent navigator, and the autopilot should take us most of where we need to go. As long as we avoid dogfights, we should be fine. If you want a pilot and a gunner, I can try to get them for us, but I highly doubt we want to draw the attention of anyone by firing weapons." He smiled at her, dropping down in the astrogator's chair.

"That and this ship can be flown with a skeleton crew of one if necessary," Tailor said, striding in. "Everything is slaved to your chair." She strode over, putting a hand on Tra's shoulder and leaning over to look at the console. "Astrogation can be tricky from the chair, but Deleshanda really does know it, so don't worry." There was something strange about the way Tra and Tailor interacted. A wary familiarity that went beyond that of coworkers of business contacts.

"Ah, yes, well. I think we can take a look at the rest of the ship after we have dinner," Tra said, rising from the chair and brushing past Tailor, going to Almeria's side.

"I suppose that will work. I want my pay, after all." Tailor's lips curved downward slightly.
 
Almeria narrowed her eyes for a moment as Tailor put her arm over Tra's shoulder. It was the tension in her own neck that made her realize what she was doing and she leaned back in the captain's chair before either of them turned to look at her. She examined the panel on her armrest. She was going to be busy learning that. While knowing that Tra was skilled, she knew it was better to know all aspects of the ship just in case. They were not on a pleasure cruise after all.

As Tra came over Almeria stood up so she could walk with him. She didn't miss the frown on Tailor's face before turning to walk out of the ship. It bothered her, and it worried her that she was bothered by this woman. No, she wasn't going to be goaded by lesser instincts, but they still tugged at her thoughts even as she had her hand in Tra's and they lead Brody and Tailor to dinner.
 
Tra led them back to the suite. He hummed to himself, heading into the kitchen and coming back with an envelope, which he tossed to Tailor. She looked at it, confirming the contents before taking out a handcomp and entering a series of commands. Tra entered another series of commands and then broke into a smile.

"She's all yours," Tailor said, dropping down on the couch, arms extended across the back of the piece of furniture.

"Wonderful!" Tra said. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go start on dinner. I decided that we should probably eat in." Mostly due to the fact that my funds are so low now. He walked into the kitchen, starting to cook. Before long, Brody joined him. The two talked for a time, mostly of inconsequential things, getting caught up and joking. Meanwhile, Tailor was watching Almeria.

"So, how long have you been with Tra'eve?" she asked, crossing one leg over the other and slouching in a practiced way. Her face revealed very little feeling, though the skin around her eyes was tight and her mouth set in a soft frown.
 
Almeria had curled up on the other couch so she could watch everything that was going on. While the situation wasn't exactly relaxing, there was at least no extra people and distractions then had already been put into place. The last few days had not been relaxing and with the ship, Almeria was excited as well. She was also leery of Tailor. She tried not to make any judgements about the woman, but she couldn't help feeling slightly uneasy.

"How long?" Almeria asked in surprise. She then looked up at the ceiling and started counting. The number surprised her. That couldn't be right! A week and half that was actually on the Dove! "Not long enough," she said with a small giggle brought on by how ridiculous it all seemed to her. Too much had happened in such a short space of time.

"He's an absolute wonderful friend, as I'm sure you know." Almeria did not want this woman asking her more questions. She would much rather have to suffer Dr. Travers observations. "You two must be old friends indeed." After all if he had been out of communication for long enough for the mild comment when they first went to the docking bay... "Will you be on the base for very long?"
 
Tailor smiled, leaning forward and looking across the table at Almeria. "Oh, I know just how wonderful a friend he can be. He and I were very close." She paused for a second, giggling. "Why, I remember how he used to dote on me. Oh, I've always been able to take care of myself, but I wasn't really a social butterfly. In fact, I was scared of my own shadow. We ran a couple missions together, then a couple more, back in the day. But enough of that. Has he kissed you yet?" She looked stern, as though this was the most important question in the world.

In the kitchen, the food prep was progressing slowly.

"Tra, if you drop another spoon, I'm going to glue it to your hand. What's wrong with you, anyway?"

Tra made a soft grumbling sound and rinsed the spoon off, setting it aside and beginning to plate up the food. "There's nothing wrong, really."

"Uh huh. Last time I saw you like this was the day after your first date with Tailor. Y'know, back when you two thought no one knew you were sneaking off together. You still got a thing for her?"

"What? No. It... it isn't Tailor."

There was silence, then realization. "Oh heavens, you're in love with that Almeria girl!"

Tra reached out to clamp his hand over Brody's mouth, hoping the others hadn't heard. They shouldn't have; the conversation had been hushed. There was always a chance, though.

"Hush, Brody. I... I'm not in love." He took his hand away, turning to grab a couple plates. "Get the other two, would you?"
 
Almeria frowned at Tailor. "I think you misunderstand Ms. Merriwether," Almeria's words were cold and the cheerful if slightly standoffish behavior slipped away like water off a duck's back. Where she might have taken that question from Rebecca, Naidin or a few others from the Dove in a more confussed and embarrassed way, she had not found any sort of connection with this woman and moreover did not feel this question was asked in kindness or friendship.

"Perhaps," she continued, no longer comfortable curled up on the couch but instead sitting with her feet on the ground and her head tilted slightly. "You should rethink your own definition of friendship." Tra had been so supportive of her since she lost everything, being there for her so she could stand and face the world on her terms. Granted Tailor did not know Almeria or her history, but for the woman that had known him so briefly it sounded like him taking advantage of the role he'd given himself. It gave the impression to Almeria of a rude and uncaring individual.

When Brody showed up, neither Almeria's body language nor voice had changed. "Dinner?" she asked, already standing. The last topic was over!
 
"Uh, yeah, dinner," Brody said, setting down the plates and moving to sit next to Tailor, who was smirking again.

"Tra moved to sit next to Almeria, smiling at her, but looking tense. "How's the conversation going?" Tra handed Almeria a plate, keeping one for himself and picking at his food. Damn that Brody, what was wrong with him? They hadn't seen one another in years and right now, Tra was wishing he hadn't tagged along at all. Surely he would have done better without the rebel. Then he noticed the smirk on Tailor's face. Even when she'd been shy, he'd seen that expression before. In fact, the last time he'd seen it was when she had gone on a drinking binge and told a good friend of his a great deal of personal information. Tra tried to shake off the feeling that something bad was happening and took a bite of his food.

"I was just telling Almeria about how you used to help me," Tailor said, the smirk widening.
 
Almeria took the plate and moved over, glad to have a buffer away from Tailor. As she took a few bites of food she tried to get ahold of something a little more civil, but she didn't want to be civil to this, this, oh Almeria couldn't even think of a good insulting description. She also couldn't taste her food.

"Excuse me," she whispered, as she sat the plate down, stood and headed to the bedroom into the bathroom, the door softly hissing softly behind her. Perhaps part of her problem was she was struggling with the fact that this was Tra's friend. Well no, Almeria knew what this woman was, she was once involved with Tra. She was his ex!

There it was!

Almeria looked at herself in the mirror.

"Time to be honest Mera, does it bother you? Meeting Tra's ex?"

"Yes, it bothers me, but that alone isn't enough."

"Then what is it about her that bothers you?"

"It's her, her assumption!"

"That's it?"

"Isn't that enough?"

"She's not the first person to say something. Tra even warned you there could be talk!"

"I didn't think it would bother me."

"Because it wasn't true, but now you wish it was?"

"That still doesn't excuse that woman! Who does she think she is? It was purposely rude!"

"Probably, why would she do that?"

"To upset me? But why would she care ... She cares? She's his ex and whatever feelings she has or had...."

"Are challenged just by your presence, no matter what the truth is, was, or could be."

Almeria took her hair down and rand a hand through it. Was she right? Maybe? Could she get through the rest of dinner? Probably.

"Besides, you've got a great opertunity on your hands." Mera said to herself with a grin. She didn't have to like Tailor, but Tailor DID know Tra. Walking back into the sitting room a few moments after she left, Almeria was more herself. She wasn't quick with her smile, but she was at least relaxed.

"Sorry about that. So you were about to reminisce about old times, right?" Sitting she took her plate back up and enjoyed the aroma from the food.
 
Tra stood as Almeria left, looking after her in concern.

"Sit down, Tra. She'll be fine." Tailor laughed and then started to eat, completely ignoring the fact that there were only three of them in the room now. Tra, however, couldn't dismiss the matter so easily. Something was wrong, and judging from Tailor's attitude, it was her fault. Tra gave her a stern look, keeping his gaze upon her without flinching. Slowly, the cocky woman started to lose her attitude, shoulders starting to slump.

"Tra, look, she needed to know the truth."

"And just what truth," he asked with a strange calm, "would that be?" He tilted his head slightly, blue eyes still upon her.

"You know what truth. I saw the two of you holding hands!"

"Tailor, Almeria is a dear friend. I would never do a thing to hurt her. Trust me. I learned my lesson." He sighed. It was the truth. So much of his hesitation not only stemmed from common sense but from the fact that his last relationship had ended with someone he had loved hating him, hurt by him. It didn't matter that she'd left him, it was the fact that he'd started helping others that hurt her. And she was hurt now. She had to still be. Tra's gaze softened. "I'm so sorry, Tailor. I never meant to hurt you. You were my first love, my first heartbreak. But you have to understand that I will have other friends. And eventually, I will love again."

The woman seemed disarmed, and she was still wearing a confused expression when Almeria returned. She blinked a few times at the other woman's question.

"Just... just to tell you. Tra was a wonderful friend to me. And a wonderful love. We worked together for a time. Until I left." Something had changed about her, or perhaps it was that Tra was giving her a heartbreakingly soft look. "You are very lucky to have him in your life. Excuse us, we have to be on our way. We're done eating, anyway." She stood, turning to go.

"But I'm not done eating!"

"Yes, you are. Come on, Brody. Move your ass."

"Heavens, woman, fine." Brody stood, still eating until Tailor took the plate from him and set it on the table.
 
Tailor seemed to have done a whole 180 while Almeria had taken herself away. She was sure that Tra had something to do with this changed behavior. As Tailor bullied Brody to leave she gave the man a sympathetic smile. "It was nice to meet both of you," she said, mostly looking at the redhead.

Once they left, Almeria curled her legs under her and looked at Tra, and felt bad. Whatever had transpired surely he wasn't joyful about it, not that either of them had any control of Tailor's behavior. "Is it going to be alright?" she asked him softly, more then content not to know the details. It didn't concern her after all, or so she had to remind herself.
 
He sighed, then pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. "It will be. She will be better now. I think she needed tonight. I think she and I needed to settle some things." He closed his eyes, putting his forehead on her shoulder.

"Almeria," he said, sitting up and looking into her eyes. "You are my friend. I will do everything I can to make certain I never hurt you." He smiled at her, then picked up his handcomp, pushing a few icons and then handing it to her. There were the ship's specs, pictures, and all the codes. "I sent those to your handcomp, too. Congratulations on your new ship, Almeria. Of course, I'm sure you'll still be wanted to fly with the Flare, but this will help us get things done."

He watched her, smiling, hoping to raise her spirits with a reminder of the little ship.
 
Almeria was glad he could feel so comfortable with her, and felt more relaxed from his hug. She didn't need to be told he wouldn't hurt her, but perhaps he needed to say it all the same. When he handed over the handcomp, her eyes went wide again. She had momentarily forgot what this had all been about. She scrolled through the information, but there was too much to take in.

"It's going to take a lot of work for me to learn everything I need to know." Almeria was excited though, this ship wasn't just a pretty piece of equipment, it was a means to an end. "I..." The tears that had threatened to pour earlier returned and this time Almeria had little reason to hold them back. "You just make everything seem more possible now! I've been trying, I've been trying so hard, but it never seemed like I was ever..." Almeria couldn't go on. She tried to whipe away her tears, wanting to let Tra know the depths of her gratitude.


The words wouldn't come out. It frustrated her because she wanted to share her struggle, namely because she never had been able to before.
 
Tra hadn't meant to make her cry, and for a moment he feared any action he took might cause more tears. Still, he took one of her hands in one of his, holding it gently. He lifted his free hand, brushing it through her hair gently.

"I believe we were sent to help on another, Almeria. I believe that with all my heart. Gohdem would not have brought us this close to fail. I know things are happening quickly, but this just means that we are close. We are strong and we can do this, Almeria." He ran his thumb over her knuckles, looking into her eyes and letting his other hand wander from her hair to her cheek. "You are the strongest soul I've ever met."

He sighed, taking his hands from cheek and hand and rising. He needed a moment, and as much as he wanted to comfort her, he felt lightheaded. He wanted to kiss her, to sooth her, to hold her. But right now was not the right time. Tra gathered the dishes, carrying them into the little kitchen. "Would you like to study up on the ship some or would you like to come help me with these? Cleaning really shouldn't take long at all, if you'd prefer to study."
 
He understood! He truly understood, though at the moment she did not feel so strong. He was right though, they could do this. They had to! Silently she thanked Gohdem and promised to be as good to Tra as he continued to be to her.

"I can help," she said, her voice clearer now. She took both hands to her eyes to clear them. She still wanted to share, but she wanted to do so when she wouldn't be so overwhelmed with her own emotions. She walked into the kitchen, thinking a little work would be a good thing.

She grabbed a towel to help with the drying and looked at him. Priest, pirate, man. He had had his life turned upside down before too, when he realized Namir was not as holy as he appeared. "What's he like?" she asked, not realizing she hadn't mentioned who. Her demeanor had changed though. One could almost think her fickle in the way she kept changing her moods that day, but really it was so many ideas and feelings warring for time and only able to express so much without just bursting.
 
Tra worked quickly, cleaning the dishes and handing them to her to dry and put away. "Hrm? What's who like? Brody? Ah, I guess you really didn't get to talk to him much. What would you like to know about him?" Tra wondered why she was asking about Brody, then shrugged and continued to scrub at one of the plates.

A few strands of his hair had escaped his hairtie over the course of the day, floating wispilly around his face. "I suppose he is a bit eccentric, but a good friend." He nudged her playfully with an elbow. "Though not as good a friend as you." He looked at her, his forehead creasing slightly. "You were... talking about someone else, weren't you?"
 
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