Chapter 8

Opal was terrified.

She had never been more scared in her life. Her life up till this point had been simple, quiet and safe.

Growing up on Mirial had been peaceful, her family were comfortable, and she had nothing to worry about.

When her farther had been offered a job on another planet her family had decided to accept and soon after they were on a passenger ship travelling through the stars to their new home. She didn't know what planet they were going to as her parents hadn't told her yet, only saying that it would be a surprise.

They had been half way through their journey when it had happened, the big circular ship had trapped them in a tractor beam then the pirates had swarmed onto the passenger ship.

Her parents had hidden her in a closet and told her to keep quite and that they would be hiding somewhere else, she never saw them again.

She hid in the closet for what seemed like hours listening to the screams of the passengers and the laughs of the pirates. She had prayed and hoped that her parents were safe and that nobody would find her but her prayers seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Two pirates had been searching the room when one had opened the closet to see what was inside and discovered her. She had screamed and then cried silently as the two discussed her fate, they finally settled on capturing her to sell into slavery.

She was dragged roughly through the destroyed remains of the ship and into the pirate ship where she was thrown into a small and dark cell.

She wept in the dark confines of the cell, the door only opening once a day when a pirate would throw a small piece of food at her and sometimes laugh while describing some of the horrors that might be instore for her.

She had tried to escape once by charging past the pirate who brought her food but was caught almost immediately and only gained a beating before being thrown back into the cell. They had stopped bringing her food after that leaving her alone in the darkness, praying for someone to save her.

Every day her fear of the future increased, then one day the ship had been shook by load explosions. She didn't know what was happening, she could hear screams and shouts of confusion over the alarms before they were taken over by sounds of fighting and shouts of panic and terror.

After a while the sounds of fighting had stopped, and the ship had been filled with an eerie quiet. Opal became nervous not sure what would happen now, she then heard the muffled sounds of a conversation through the door to the cell but couldn't make out the words.

Terrified she waited wondering who or what would come through the door and into her cell.

She didn't have to wait long before the door opened revealing an small armoured figure followed by three large scary looking droids. It wasn't what Opal had been expecting and the armoured figure removing his helmet to reveal a boy who looked around her age was another big surprise.

The armoured boy then raised a hand into the air and proceeded to wave at her while smiling.

"Hi"

-

Renn's smile was becoming strained as he began feeling more and more awkward. It had been almost a minute and all the little Mirialan girl had done was stare in what seemed like confusion at him.

Unsure of what to do Renn turned back to the droids and began a whispered conversation with them which quickly turned into a huddle as they tried to figure out what to do.

"What do I do now" Renn asked.

"…unclear…" Scythe responded before falling silent again.

"She seems confused" Alpha said after observing the girl.

"Maybe she doesn't understand galactic basic" Spark offered what he thought might be a reasonable suggestion.

"Unlikely most Mirialans understand basic" Alpha said disproving Sparks theory.

"But there is still a chance" Spark argued.

"I think she can understands us" Renn gave his verdict after looking over his shoulder and realising that the girl while still staring at him seemed to be following the conversation

"Well maybe she can't talk then" Spark came up with a new theory.

Renn and Spark then began a discussion/argument covering a variety of topics starting with Spark suggesting she might not be able to speak because organics weren't as smart as machines and continuing when Renn suggested Spark couldn't outsmart an automated door, so he didn't really see sparks point.

Alpha would occasionally weigh in with arguments to support Renn but mostly left them to it while Scythe watched the argument like it was an exciting holo-show, his head snapping left and right following the conversation.

The argument came to a sudden holt when they heard giggling coming from behind them slowly turning Renn and the droids looked at the small girl that they may or may not have forgotten about.

This prompted the girls giggles to turn into laughter as she watched Renn and the droids look at each other and her in confusion.

"That little organic is weird" Spark whispered to Scythe earning a disapproving glance from Alpha.

Renn took breath then stepped forward to try and talk to the girl again.

"Ugh...Hi my names Renn" he said slightly nervously.

"Hi, I'm Opal" the girl answered him between laughs.