"Captain."

"Ok Orion come on back." I closed my eyes taking a small breath in as I moved my arms to take off the glasses. I kept my eyes closed and waited for everything to return to normal. Using my ability was great for navigating but for long amounts of time, it was like floating. Every time I came back to my body it felt like gravity weighed me down so much I felt as if I could fall through the floor. Slowly however I could feel my fingers again and I relaxed opening my eyes. The captain knew I was useless until I was back around. The lights were on now and I turned to the captain backing away from his chair. He sat down and leaned forward putting his hands on his chin. The situation was bad but either way, we had to make a decision. 

"Orion, these are the only paths?" He asked looking at me seriously.

"Yes, captain," I responded. He sighed and looked at the crew. They stared at the captain and waited for orders. The room was silent and patient.

I looked at the crew. It would almost seem like an ordinary crew of people. But like me, this crew was anything but ordinary. Same with her captain, I knew the captain's order before he could breathe it out.

”If we time it right we can slip past them. By the time they see our ship, we will be able to engage in light travel and be on our way.” He turned to me and with a wave of his hand the crew returned to work.

”Orion if you will continue monitoring the condition of that sun. We shouldn’t have to try and get past it but if we can’t get the alignments correctly we may have to.” 
His dark brown eyes bore into my own and I stayed quiet giving a nod for understanding.

”Gunny, escort Orion to the gally then back to the observatory.” The captain commanded, there was a different guard now his suit was similar to the last but instead of one plasma pistol he had two. Bowing to the captain he looked at me ready to leave.

”Orion I want six-hour updated on that planet. I’ll send gunny to you with that report.” I nodded copying the bow and turning to take my leave. 

“Anything else captain?” I said, turning around to look at him.

He shook his head and waved me off. I nodded and walked over to get the gunny who was waiting for me. Before I left the deck I bowed again then proceeded to make my exit. It was very rare for me to go to the gally and I wasn't too happy about it.

My eyes burned as we walked down the hallway they wouldn't go back to normal until I got out of the gally I was certain of that. The gally was two floors down and exceptionally large. At the end of the hallway, I had walked earlier, there was a lift that would take us down. I remained quiet going over what I saw as we stepped onto the lift. I leaned against the back wall and pinched my brow. There was a lot of stress in that room and my head ached as a result. I looked at the back of the gunny as the lift started its descent. My mind raced a little more as I thought about the gally. I would be able to pick my own food. The only problem with that would be the other people in the room. I internally sighed and felt the lift stop. We stepped out silently and I could feel my nerves go up as we neared the archway into the gally. This was a much shorter hallway with two doors. One that said janitorial and the other that said kitchen. I had been inside the kitchen and that was my first time here. I was of no use there, as I had set the place on fire my first day. The moment the flames were extinguished I was kicked out of the kitchen. 

The head chief deemed me a-

"Fire Hazard," and "An absolute useless woman." Not to mention the whole eye thing I was considered a freak or a curse amongst the crew. Which made walking into this room a nightmare for me. Before we crossed the archway I spoke up.

"Gunny, you probably shouldn't be seen with me." He stopped and looked over his shoulder meeting my gaze.

"Captains orders are to see that you get fed. But not only that, you need protection. As our one source of navigation, I can't let a jealous slave come attack you because you get to eat with us." He glared and added,

"It's not nice to leave a lady alone." My concerns were slightly relieved but I felt a little hurt like I couldn’t protect myself? To his knowledge, I could be capable of bringing this whole ship to a stop. That wasn’t the case but still. I thought about it a little longer and he might have been trying to be nice, but it was a very direct way of doing it.

The gally was loud and slightly overwhelming. It had been a very long time since I had been around a large number of people. The noise was surprising. I walked to the left wall and followed the people grabbing the tray. The tables around us got silent and I could feel stares on me. I held no rank yet I was being escorted by the captain's gunny. It made me stand out. Not to mention I'm sure my eyes are that strange color still.

I grabbed a tray walking down the line. Breakfast was a good meal for me and I enjoyed most of the food they cooked beside the Elema berries, which weren't actually berries but a worm-like creature that was served alive. They were meant for people of the Elgrine species. It was strange for them to co-inhabit space with humanoids. With the nose of a reptile and the skin of a wrinkled old man, they were a water-based creature with two horns on the top of their head and fin-like flares on their neck. A large gem was shoved into the heads of their children to depict which job they would have in their colonies. With large black eyes that had no whites, they were almost cute if not for their enormous bodies. I looked around and saw one spying at me from across the gally. I looked into black eyes and they gazed at me with an enormous amount of hatred and fear. I stared down that creature knew something. Narrowing my eyes I turned to the line and picked out my food. Feeling its eyes on my back.

I turned back to my food the gunny looked back at me. As if to ask 'Are you alright?' Nodding I picked up some dried minora fruits and our substitute protein package called Vicore. Mixed with essential vitamins for any creature to consume. They weren't the prettiest looking things though. They came in a dissolvable package that was completely edible. But were the color of an animal feces. They were clear and brown looking with a yellow undertone that made even the normal person squeamish. This was However, it was perfect for space travel and fairly easy to procure. But Vicore was everywhere if a planet only had food that could kill you, then this is what one would have for the substance. That being said having so many different types of food many planets found that this was one way to keep most species alive. It was a requirement for most ships to provide these. I turned to grab some silverware and walked over to Gunny who was waiting for me at the end of the food line. I followed him to a quiet row of seats next to a porthole. We were currently passing a decent-sized nebula, and it had most of my attention. Distracted I barely heard gunny when he asked a question.

”We are going to have some company soon, a couple of my friends are going to join us.” I looked at him patiently.

He wasn’t asking permission but his statement was open-ended. As if he was leaving it open for me to deny. I nodded not wanting him to feel uncomfortable with me joining him at lunch. I looked back at the window when a thought occurred to me. What if he was trying to give me allies? Seeing as so many people on the ship could be my enemy. I looked back at gunny opening my mouth to ask him why but before I could speak there was a disturbance in the food line. A group of three men laughing and joking around loudly. I turned away trying not to listen to their conversation. I’ll pose my questions at a more appropriate time. I tried blocking out the noise as I ate my food.

”Hey guys over here!” Gunny called, while I tried not to choke on my food. 

I looked out the porthole contemplating if I would die if I tried to throw myself out. Keeping my face as emotionless as possible I waited. My eyes were instantly drawn to the window.

”Hey gunny!” One of the guys called sitting down on the other side of the bench. I stayed still waiting for what would be inevitable. Two others sat across from me and one on the other side of gunny who was sitting next to me. Happy to be away from people I turned my eyes to my food and started eating. I didn’t want to make eye contact with any of them. If I stayed quiet and still they probably wouldn’t notice I was here. Maybe if I tried hard enough I could be invisible that way I could enjoy my lunch and head back to the Observatory. My luck, it seems wouldn’t have me doing that today. Before I could continue my meal in quiet gunny spoke up. 

“Noriam, Vexel, Shane, and Victor, this is Orion she works on the main deck with me.” Gunny had called me out making my presence known. I imagined strangling the guy for disturbing my peace. I turned to look at the guys and assessing who was located at the table.

From the left of gunny, there was Noriam. A man with large red horns, with glowing blue grid patterns showing through his skin. His eyes had a certain look to them. They almost glowed blue and there were distinct patterns similar to that on his skin in his eyes. When it finally clicked. He was an Algritech They were a species of humanoids that had created a type of technology to help run their bodies. As young children, they are injected with micro-bots to help them run the unimportant things. Organs and separate parts of brain function were all controlled by an AI system. This allowed them to use their brains for more important things. Be it art, construction, Mathematics, or the origins of the cosmos. The strange thing was the horns. Algritech’s weren’t known to have red horns so he was a mix of another species. Not being able to place his origin I turned and looked to the next male.

Vexel had slanted green eyes much like a feline would. His hair was pulled into a large bun behind him. Stray hairs had loosened themselves from his bun and you could see how tired he seemed. But his eyes were just as unnerving as mine were. I stained him down knowing my eyes had shifted into their abnormal self. What once was a man whose eyes were slit and calm seemed to intensify as he starred into my own. His gaze shifted and I could almost hear his internal voice calling him out for looking away. Carnigree I could tell by the way he looked at me. They were hunters and good for bounty hunting or tracking people across space. Seeing him on the ship made me wonder who was the person they wanted so badly. Breathing out through my nose I turned to the next male. 

The man sitting in between the others was apparently named Shane looking at him top to bottom I realized that he was the quiet one of the group. With his suit being different from the rest of ours. He had along the stitchings what looked like moving water. So he was an aquatic creature. The eyes gave him away too with sandy blond hair and horizontally slit eyes. The spitting image of an Avenchie, creatures known to inhabit water-type places. He seemed humanoid so probably a mixed breed. His scales were a dull yellow gold color. I’m sure they shined better in the water. He had a buzz cut going on with his hair gelled upwards to simulate spikes. As I predicted he was the quiet one, I was slightly happy I wasn’t the only one.

And last of the four was Victor he had a bright grin on him. Being the most striking of the group, Victor had two different sides. Literally, his left side was completely black-like space. The other was white like marble, I had heard of the Almarian, and their intense search for love but never imagined the rumors about their skin were true. His hair was done up like a single spike. He was chit-chatting with Gunny but his eyes stayed on me. The Almari were always searching for their perfect pair. The man or woman that looked exactly like you. Skin hair eyes everything, the culture was strange and they were typically nomads. So he was a rare person to see on this ship.

The group that gunny had picked to be his friends was an interesting one. It made me wonder how they all got upon this ship.

”You’re gonna introduce us by name but have you told her yours?” Victor spoke up glaring at gunny. His smile was there so I knew there was no hostility but it seemed more like an inside joke. I shook my head signaling that he didn’t have to. But he spoke up before I could deny him. 

“I’m Luka, now you know everyone."