“So it’s true, that she bailed you out of imperial corrections?” Juli’s voice was soft and gentle, but the question and the subject itself made Regina’s stomach knot. They were side-by-side in Regina’s quarters, warm bodies pressed together beneath thin sheets.

Regina nodded solemnly. “It’s been a few years now, but when I was still a teenager, I was in the SPSC Cadet program.” Juli tried to mask her surprise, but Regina caught her and chuckled. “I know, right? But this wasn’t exactly my choice of a career.”

Juli frowned, and her hand gently coaxed Regina’s head to rest on her shoulder. Regina gave in gladly, shutting her eyes and beginning to remember.

“I was sixteen when I enrolled in the academy. My parents were, uh, from money, you know? So I had a lot of opportunities to get involved with financial garbage, but I wanted to fly. Mom hated it, but she went along with it and got me lessons when I was young. Turns out I was pretty good.”

Juli grinned and ruffled Regina’s hair. “No shit you’re ‘pretty good’. There’s a good reason you’re Ruby’s favorite flygirl.” Regina blushed. Hearing praise from Rubina always felt empty, but when it was Juli, she felt warm and comfortable, like she was wrapped in her voice.

“Well.. to make a long story short, I was really good when I got to the academy, too. My instructors loved me, because I guess they were grooming the next big ace in local law enforcement. But because my parents were rich, my classmates...” Regina frowned for a moment. “They all figured I was only there because of Mom's money. I wasn’t very popular at the academy.”

She leaned back again, head against her pillow, as Juli watched and listened, yellow eyes stayed fixated as her pale blue fingertips brushed through Regina’s hair in an effort to comfort her.

“Three years later, I was ready for an advancement examination. A field exercise involving flight and mock combat in SPSC Enforcers. The most important test of my entire life.” She sighed, gazing up at the ceiling, vision occasionally obscured by Juli’s fingers. “My craft took off, flew, and then began to veer wildly off course. I had completely lost control of the vehicle, and my flight path got completely fucked as a result.”

She clutched at the sheets for a moment, brimming with a remembered anger. “The auto-pilot of the ship was being remotely activated and deactivated, or something... by a device I found attached to the underside of the console. When I removed it, my ship was locked into a landing sequence and a group of people came to help me disembark in case I was hurt. I lost the beacon in the process... and when the proctors arrived I was failed on the spot.”

Juli’s bright eyes squinted in disbelief. “So you mean someone in your class...?”

“That’s right. My test craft was sabotaged by three of my classmates - the three classmates directly behind me in the class ranking. After the test was finished, all three of them cornered me and confessed. One of them even had the beacon - I guess she was one of the ‘rescue team’ at the landing pad... But without any kind of evidence, I couldn’t prove anything to the proctors, and...”

Regina was stopped suddenly by Juli’s embrace. Regina’s eyes were hot with tears, her face buried into Juli’s shoulder, and she let herself give in to frustration and just cry. After a few minutes, soothed by Juli’s calming voice, Regina finally managed to continue her story.

“So... later that night... I stole a ship. I stole an SPSC Enforcer, and I flew the course around the Academy. I flew it twice. Both runs, my times were better than any of those three who’d worked so hard to ruin my life.”

Regina got quiet again, contemplative in Juli’s arms.

“I was sentenced to ten years for theft of Imperial property. My family never even came to visit me. And that’s... that’s when Rubina and the cartel came into the picture...”

Juli and Regina lay in a solemn silence under the weight of Regina’s story. Juli could infer the rest, and soon Regina was asleep. Juli glanced at the ship’s chronometer, and settled in to join her.

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