I pushed Yadek out of my mind and turned to head back to my ship. That’s when I noticed two human guards looking at me. I cursed and tried to make it seem as if I didn’t notice them. As I pushed past them they followed.

There wasn’t a chance they wouldn’t stop and question me. My stopping Yadek probably warranted suspicion all its own. It had been a dumb move on my part. I could still make it out if I played it cool. With nothing on me to hide and no contraband on my ship there was nothing they could do to me anyways. Relaxing I slowed my pace to approach a food vendor line hoping it would give them enough reason to pass me by.

It did no such thing.

“Sir, I’m going to need you to stop.”

Though I knew he was speaking to me I ignored him. The more I played oblivious the better. There were hundreds in the crowd. The more I pretended to be surprised when they physically addressed me the easier time I’d have.

“Sir, please stop before I am forced to get physical.”

His voice was almost pleading this time. I felt bad for him. We both had jobs to do, and mine was to make his difficult. It wasn’t personal. Just business.

“Alright sir. If you’re going to play hard of hearing,” he said just before grabbing my arm above the elbow.

His grip was loose enough I could have pulled away from it and run. As much as I knew he was trying to be polite I also knew it was equal parts trap. If I pulled away and ran I’d be announcing my guilt of something. They’d go through the security foot, easily pick out the pasty white figures of Yadek and myself in the crowd and then hound Yadek. That wasn’t going to happen if I could help it. So instead I stopped and turned to speak with him forcing surprise into my voice. “Can I help you?”

The one who held my arm looked nonplussed. His friend annoyed.

“I’m going to need you to come with us for questioning sir,” said the guard holding my arm. His eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip. “Now.”

Genuine shock showed on my face. I’d been stopped plenty of times for questioning in the past. It’s fairly routine on stations across the galaxy. Earth wasn’t notorious for it though. Especially not the tree filled wastelands of Canada. Being taken in for questioning though? Now that was almost unheard of.

“What seems to be the problem?” My voice cracked.

“We received an anonymous tip,” the first guard said.

The second guard put a hand on his shoulder cutting him off. “Not here.” He turned to me. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably a false alarm but we need to search and question you.”

Search and question me? This was worse than I thought. I didn’t bother hiding the abject horror from my face. The reaction would likely be similar enough between an innocent and a guilty party that they wouldn’t know the difference.

“I’m not comfortable with this,” I said. Which was the truth. Human searches were notoriously invasive.

The first guard seemed to read my mind. “Not that kind of search.” He turned to number two. “I don’t think he’s the right guy.”

The second seemed to agree. “The reaction’s all wrong. Orders are orders though.”

My hopes rose and crashed in moments. I raised a hand to protest but before I could speak he continued.

“Do you consent to a quick private search and a few questions about any objects on your person?”

“I do not,” I said before I had even processed what he had said. “Wait what? Objects on my person? I don’t have anything on me aside from my identification and finance chips.”

“Then there’s no reason to protest is there?” Guard two frowned at me with suspicion.

His coworker gave me an apologetic look and let go of my arm.

“I suppose not,” I said. I didn’t like this. Cooperating seemed the better option at the moment. They had thrown me off kilter and I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to not comply without getting myself detained. I raised my arms and spread my legs. “Make it quick. I’ve got work to get done.”

“You and everyone else,” said the second guard acquiescing to my compromise without verbally acknowledging it. He watched as the other guard patted me down and took inventory of the approximately nothing I had on me.

Above the din of the crowd came a muffled thump. It was just on that frequency where you could feel it more than hear it. It was soon followed by two familiar pressure waves that accompanied louder, closer thumps. I looked at the guards confused. The color drained from their faces as they looked from me to the direction of the noise, to each other and back to me. That’s when it clicked.

An explosion ripped from the spartan concrete hallway leading toward the docks that held my ship. The pressure wave nearly knocked me over. For a moment powered flickered and in that instant debris, smoke, and other fine particles filled the air.

A numb feeling socked me in my gut, ripped out my heart, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it without mercy. My knees quaked. Those explosions came from the direction of my ship. My crew. Sure there were many things in that general direction, and a lot of ground between here and the ship, but I didn’t know if my crew were injured by the other explosions and that was what mattered. I wanted to take off running through the smoke and chaos toward them. I wanted it enough that I nearly bolted over the injured and dead. Almost.

There was a duty I owed to my crew to ensure their safety. That was a top priority of any captain. I had no way of knowing if they were fine. Yet the nearest explosion to myself was far from them. Even though I have no love for humans they were the ones in visible need. The crew could wait. If there were problems, they could handle them. These backwater primitives likely couldn’t. With a last longing look toward my crew as the smoke cleared I bent down to help the guard who had been searching me up. I could only raise him up to a sitting position, but it was something. With that show of good faith we took care of the wounded until help arrived.