Sayeeda stared blankly for several seconds, her mind as blank as the white heart of a star. The information she had been given was so alien and unexpected she couldn't assimilate it. Something bumped her from behind and she spun, embracing the long ingraned maxium that any action was preferable to none.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Taya squeaked as Sayeeda's arm pinned her too the bulkhead. Sayeeda's eyes suddenly focused and she stepped back with a gasp. Taya rubbed her throat and glanced up and down at the naked mercenary.

"Is this a sex thing?" Taya asked with a quick backward step. 

"There was a problem in the R.I.P," Sayeeda replied "I came right from bed."

"You sleep with your boots on?" Taya asked.

"Don't you?" Junebug replied. Taya looked momentarily non plused as Junebug vanished back down the corridor.


Ten minutes later, showered and wearing a pair of fatigue pants and a tan PT shirt, Junebug reappeared on the bridge. Taya and Neil had both settled into their stations and the Highlander was on course for the distant white spot that represented one of the systems planets.

"Is this really your home planet?" Taya asked as Sayeeda came in, her terminal already glowing with information on the planet.

"Celandine," Junebug confirmed. There was a brief awkward silence which impelled Junebug to speak further.

"I grew up here, till I was 19 and shipped for the Academy on Blakely," she confirmed.

The world below had an slightly alpine aspect, though the equatorial belt was relatively warm. Dozens of small cities dotted the globe, linked by high speed monorails. Shuttle craft decended from a circle of orbital stations, taking engineers or researchers from station jobs to the ground.

"You haven't been here since you were 19?" Taya asked. Junebug shock her head.

"I came back here on leave after five years with the Armored," she admitted, "It didn't go well."

"You have family here though right?" Neil asked.

"My parents, my sister and brother," Junebug admitted.

"Awesome, are we going to go visit?" Taya asked. Junebug sighed and punched in landing cooridinates for one of the larger cities.

"I suppose so.."