Derberus had greeted Deidra forty-eight hours before with grit and stink. It was far from visually pleasing, and in many parts was downright offensive to the nose, but she'd reminded herself repeatedly: [i]It's only a couple days I'm staying on this dump of a cosmic rock. Then I'll be free again, sailing the stars in pursuit of some real jackass.[/i] This frame of mind may have been the only thing to get her through her short stay on Derberus, which she'd decided the moment she'd stepped on its surface that she hated. 

Now, anxious to get to the police station and hobbling just a little from the heavy set of tools she'd lugged along, she hurried along a grimy street and ignored the various scenes of violence sprinkled around. Seeing this type of stuff was probably the most important factor that made Derberus what she thought of as the "dirty rock" of this star system. For the millionth time she checked her map at the same time she walked, and nearly tripped into a slug-like tail. 

"Watch where you're going," chirped a cheerful-sounding eight-legged beast, "or I'll salt you." 

"Mhm," muttered Deidra in a tone that wasn't exactly apologetic, and kept walking until the police station came into view. Her pacemaker moved more slowly, and her whole chest felt looser than before as a sigh of relief came out. She paused at the door, scraped a small hunk of dirt from between her neck plates, and entered. Her enhanced eye sensed infrared signatures in what she assumed to be a meeting room and cautiously she made her way in that direction. 

She waited at the doorway to be let in, because although she was fairly sure that this was where she was supposed to be, she didn't want to barge in, especially if she happened to be mistaken.