Old World Blues

[ImmortalRedshirt]

 

As soon as she saw the shuttle leave without her, Rebekah knew she had a major problem on her hands.

 

Her time on Biesel didn’t start out like this, though. In fact, it had gone great up until this point. Ever since she had left her home way out in the Coalition, she had rarely ever set foot upon a planet in her time here, with the notable exception of Mars, but one could hardly consider fighting a group of bandits on a planet that was just set on fire a good time. And so, the days went by, with Rebekah waking up in a tiny apartment on the Odin, being flown over to the Aurora, spending a few hours working there, then being flown back to the Odin so she could repeat all this the very next day. With each passing day, the desire to go down to the surface of any habitable planet became greater until she decided that there was no more time to wait and made plans to go down to Biesel.

 

The plan was simple. Book a place to stay for the night, go for a hike the next day, then drive back to the shuttleport and be back on the Odin before her next shift. As soon as she was outside Mendell City, she immediately knew that this was not a decision to regret, even more so once she got to the point where the trail started. When the day was done, Rebekah rode back to Mendell, satisfied with everything that happened that day, and for the first time since Mars, felt truly happy. There was only one thing she failed to consider on the way back to the shuttleport: the traffic. Thus, the current situation.

 

And so, standing at the gates to an empty landing pad on a cool, rainy night in a city far larger than anything she had ever imagined, Rebekah was lost on what to do. Her first instinct, after trying to process what had just happened, was to run to the nearest terminal and see what else she could get on. Too bad every shuttle leaving tonight in her price range was already full. She paid for and reserved a spot on a shuttle for the next morning and then began to leave the port. Pulling the hood of her Ceres University hoodie over her head, Rebekah walked out into the night, trying to find somewhere to stay. Or at least somewhere to eat, she thought as her stomach growled.

 

As she shuffled forward in the rain, Rebekah took in the sight of the city surrounding her. No matter where she looked, there were buildings all around. She looked up and into the distance and saw skyscrapers towering over the city. It was truly inescapable. Her mind drifted towards a small town on Vysoka, numbering little more than about a thousand residents. This mental image gave her comfort, but as with all thoughts about Vysoka, the spectre of those last few days at home loomed over this moment, too. The silent animosity between her and her parents over the decision to accept that offer to attend a Solarian university had been palpable.

 

The last conversation Rebekah had with them had not faded a bit in the years since her departure. That day, the sun shone brightly over their farm, and she had been repairing some equipment, trying to put her mind off things. Her father walked in, and just watched for a while. Knowing what he was going to say, she looked up and said to him, “You’ve tried to convince me otherwise every day to confine myself here for the rest of my life, what makes you think it’ll work this time?” She quickly realized that she may have been exaggerating, but by then, he responded with his argument, and so the conversation went as it had gone so many times before. They went on like that, arguing over the same points over and over until Rebekah decided to storm off. That night, she packed up everything she had and drove on to the nearest shuttleport.

 

The memory played out in her head until she found herself standing before a convenience store. Whatever was in there probably wasn’t the best choice, but it was probably the most affordable to her. In a strange contrast to the rest of the city, the store was eerily quiet and devoid of any appreciable amount of people. Rebekah grabbed something off the shelf without much thought and paid for it at the counter. She walked outside once again and found a secluded spot to eat. Afterwards, she leaned back against a wall, letting the rain fall down on her. It was a light yet noticeable shower, and she could feel the drops as fell down on her. The only place she couldn’t feel their impact was on her right arm, replaced after an unfortunate and painful accident.

 

Eventually, Rebekah decided that it was probably a good time to find somewhere to spend the rest of the night. Knowing not to bring her ID with her to pay for everything, she had withdrawn a certain amount before coming down to Biesel and placed it on a temporary card. There should be enough on here for something cheap, she thought as she got up. She looked around and noticed that the streets were almost empty. Everyone must’ve gone inside. All of a sudden, someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her into an alley. An intimidating blade flashed into her vision and she heard a voice whisper “Your credits. Now.” There wasn’t much of a choice here. Rebekah had never received much in the way of training for a fight, so there was only one way to get out of this. With a defeated sigh, she reached slowly into her pocket and pulled out the card. The card was quickly snatched up and Rebekah was shoved away. She turned around, only to find no one there.

 

And so, with nothing on her to pay for anything, she wandered, looking for any shelter. Despite the risks she was all-too familiar with now, Rebekah eventually found an alley with a few sheets of scrap she could take shelter under, away from any prying eyes. Just like how it was during those days where she was stuck on the Aurora. As she tried to get comfortable on the cold, hard ground, her thoughts once again drifted towards Vysoka. When she had arrived at Ceres all those years ago, her excitement was immeasurable. Finally, a chance to see the wonders of the Spur! No longer would she be chained to a planet with nothing significant to speak of, far away from where all the action was! And then, after all that had happened, the attacks on the station, the war that broke out, and the horrors of the ravaged Red Planet, she found a small part of her, wishing that she could go home again, hoping that she would be accepted once again. But thanks to the phoron shortages, it’s possible that she might never go home, ever again.

 

The sound of the rain hitting the makeshift roof relaxed her, and not too soon after, she found herself drifting to sleep, hoping for no trouble as the night went on. She knew that soon, her alarm would wake her up, and she would head back to the port and back to the Odin. Her life would continue on as if this never happened, this infinitely minor event in a galaxy where major events happened all the time.

Edited January 4, 2021 by ImmortalRedshirt
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[Camellia]

I love how thematic it is.