The light coming from Beta Romol was almost unbearable, even with the solar filters. As Endira Vas looked at the red super giant, she couldn't help but think about how deadly this star truly was.
The radiation pouring from it could cook her in an instant if not for the spaceport's shielding. Of course, the fact that the star would go supernova in just a few short centuries didn't ease her mind either. Vas couldn't figure out why this station was in orbit around such an unstable stellar body, and no one could give her a satisfactory answer.
Vas looked at her wrist chronometer. Her ride would be there any moment, and then she would be returning to her home planet, Muldax Prime. Vas had been part of a cultural exchange between her world and the planet Dorrin on the galactic fringe. She had spent the better part of three years among a people who had just recently achieved faster than light travel.
She still remembered her first encounter with the Dorrinites. They had never seen a female before; the Dorrinites are a unisex race, and Vas's curvy figure and prominent breasts made her stand out more than her purple skin, pointed ears, and dark black hair did.
Vas had grown very fond of the Dorrinites. They were a young people in terms of technological development, and Vas found the childlike wonder with which they saw the cosmos to be very refreshing. But it was good to be returning home.
A Dorrinite transport had brought her to the Starlane Spaceport in orbit around Beta Romol, and an Earth cargo transport called the Arrowhead would take her back to Muldaxian space. The fact that an Earth ship had been charted to take her home instead of a Muldaxian star cruiser bothered her; nothing against the humans, they were long time allies of the Muldaxian Commonwealth, but human technology was only a few centuries ahead of the Dorrinites. Why ask them for transport?
"Attention Endira Vas," a voice speaking Interlingual, the so called interstellar language, said over the loud speakers in the viewing area. "The Arrowhead has docked at bay 42 and is ready to be boarded. Repeat, the Arrowhead has docked at bay 42 and is ready to be boarded."
When Vas arrived at bay 42, she wasn't so much disappointed when she saw the Arrowhead as she was profoundly unimpressed. It was an older civilian transport; a small, triangular shaped vessel that lived up to its name in regards to its shape.
The crew compartment was in the forward bow, and it had a pair of sublight engines jutting out of the aft section. The Arrowhead didn't seem to have much in the way of armaments; two plasma pulse emitters in each wing a torpedo tube under the nose, and one between the sublight engines. The ship was so small that it looked like there was hardly enough room for one person, let alone a whole crew.
She was met at the airlock by a human male with closely cropped brown hair; much shorter than Vas's own. He was the same height as she was, but had much broader shoulders. His blue eyes caught her off guard; her people generally only had gold eyes, or silver eyes like her own. Vas had never seen that eye color before, nor had she seen a skin tone that pale. The Dorrinites were a pale blue, but the human's skin tone seemed truly alien to her.
"I'm Captain James Barret of the Arrowhead, Miss Endira" he said in flawless Muldaxian. "If you'll come aboard, we'll get underway."
Vas was quite pleasantly surprised by this. She could see why he was sent to take her home. "Thank you, Captain James," she replied in Interlingual.
The captain chuckled. "It's Captain Barret, ma'am. My people put the individual's name before the family name."
Vas's eyes grew wide with embarrassment. "I am so sorry, Captain, I meant no offense!"
Captain Barret just smiled. "None taken. Come on, let's get you settled in so we can lift off."
The Arrowhead's crew compartment was bigger than the exterior would suggest. There were two chairs facing the exterior view ports. The seat to the left, the pilot's seat, was surrounded by a bank of navigation controls. There were buttons and switches as opposed to touch screens. It seemed that Captain Barret seemed more comfortable working physical controls than holograms and lights on a panel. "Arrowhead to Starlane Control," Barret said into the communicator. "Preflight prep is complete and we are awaiting launch clearance."
"Copy that, Arrowhead," came the reply. "Dock is depressurized, the doors are open, and you are cleared for launch. Have a good flight, James."
"Thanks, Control, Arrowhead out." Barret turned to his passenger. "Ready to go?" Vas nodded in the affirmative. Barret's hands deftly worked the controls and, seemingly without effort, the aging Earth ship lifted off from the ground, performed a flawless one hundred and eighty degree turn, and exited the spaceport. Within seconds, Beta Romol was retreating in the rear view monitors. "Course set for interstellar space," the onboard computer said in a monotone voice. "Faster than light drive will be engaged upon reaching gravitational boundary. Estimated flight time to Muldax Prime is five galactic standard days."
Vas groaned at that. A Commonwealth ship would have made the trip in half that time.
"Can't be helped, Miss Endira," Barret said in a matter of fact tone. "A lot's been going on since you've been on Dorrin. Once we're FTL and you're all settled, I'll tell you all about it."
When Vas had assumed that the Arrowhead wasn't big enough for a crew, she was right. Most of the ship's interior space was taken up by an antiquated antimatter/ion drive and a rather spacious cargo hold. There was only enough room for a small mess hall and two rooms that served as crew quarters. Captain Barret flew alone. The guest quarters Vas had been provided with were smaller than any accommodations she had ever seen. It had a single bed, a night stand, and a small desk. There was no room for a chair, so she had to sit on the bed in order to actually use the desk. On the plus side, it did have its own bathroom.
The so called mess hall wasn't that much bigger; a small table, two chairs, and a food replicator built into the bulkhead. Even though it was replicated Muldaxian food and not the genuine article, Vas relished her meal; after three years of dried food and Dorrinite cuisine, a replicated meal was almost as good as the real thing.
Barret gave her an amused look. He knew what it was like to sample home cooking after so long a time. "I was asked to bring you home by High Chancellor Dismer," he said. "The Commonwealth is in a border dispute with the Verokk Imperium."
"That's impossible," Vas said. She had insisted on speaking Interlingual since she was on an Earth ship and she didn't know Terran. It was only polite. "The Imperium is five thousand light years away. Our borders are nowhere near each other. Besides, I would have been told about this in my weekly communiques with home!"
"And how regular have these weekly communiques been?"
