Why one should always be wary of participating in local culture

[Mu Satach]

The YT-1930 freighter flew along the deep space trade route. Inside Mu stared at a spot on the ceiling of her sleeping berth. It took all of her energy to focus on the hum of the Starry Nights engines as TC-18 in the cockpit monitored the course she plotted to get them home. Nothing fancy, nothing near any known skirmishes, a nice and slow boring journey... she hoped.

She held her arms and legs extended as far away from her body as possible. If she could have levitated herself she would have, the less that touched her skin the better. Shifting slightly, fire shot through her veins with a visible red glowing pluse.

A gasp of air sucked in quickly through clenched teeth, she forced herself to return again to staring at the spot. A few new blisters formed. She fought down the panic rising in her mind, the desire to rip her flesh off, to run screaming through the ship like a lunatic.

The thought of TC-18's reaction to the last mental image caused her lip to smirk. She breathed in and out. Closed her eyes and began drifting through the corridors of her mind.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." said the medical officer.
"What?" Mu resisted the urge to slam the Dr. up against the bulkhead. Physical exertion only spread the fire in her veins.
"The poison has been engineered to react with all known treatments. Anything we do, will only complicate the healing process and could result in dementia, loss of limbs, or even death."
Mu looked at the trails of red forming across her body.
He continued, "If you can manage to stay calm and immobile while the body naturally works the toxins out of your system... you should be fine."

Her eyes opened and fixed on the spot again, but one phrase ricocheted through her brain.
you *should* be fine...
you *should* be fine...
you *should* be fine...

[Mu Satach]

TC-18 sat in the co-pilot's chair and monitored the comm channels. If anything sounded too troublesome a slight course change would be needed to avoid any complications, well - any more complications. The droid would have sighed, but lacked the proper motor functions. Instead it fiddled with the comm frequencies and continued scanning.

Back in her berth, Mu closed her eyes again and tried to disconnect herself from the invisible burning vines that seemed to be slowly engulfing her body.

"This is ridiculous." Mu threw the flight plan back at Smitty.

"Hey," Smitty caught the panel before it fell down a maintenance shaft. "no need to get snippy!" He turned and quickly jumped down a few levels and popped out right in front of her; effectively blocking her path. A tilt of the head with his most charming smile asked, "What's not to like about the job anyway?"

Mu snatched the panel, "15 different destinations, each one at an exotic pleasure resort with layovers just long enough to get completely snackered before the next run." She rapped him on the head with the panel. "It's a candy run and you know it."

"So a little candy now and then never hurt nobody." he shrugged.

"Smitty. I'm busy." She pushed past him leaving the data panel in his hands, "I have these things called responsibilities. Maybe you've heard of them? This joy ride of yours is a complete waste of my time."

"Hey I have responsibilities too you know." Smitty chased after her, "Like making sure these fine clients get their merchandise on time." He struck a dignified pose, "Clients SmittyCo. cares about," he then continued chasing after her, "so I want the best to deliver it to them. Is that too much to a-"

Mu spun around and shoved a finger in his chest, "Don't feed me that sincere line of dren. I'm not one of your clients NOR am I one of the girls at Cloud 9. This is one of your personal pleasure runs and now for some reason you don't want to do it. Which means you owe somebody money and they're out for blood. I won't be played Smitty." She stared him down. "I'm not one of your frackin marks!"

Smitty blinked as he watched her retreat away from him.

"You know," Mu paused and turned around. "the thing is, I thought after all we've been through..." they locked eyes for a moment. An unspoken bond of friendship passing between them. Smitty the first to look away.

TC-18 had taken extra care with the comm traffic and all seemed to be going according to plan. The silver droid left the cockpit to begin making a systems check around the freighter. Outside the stars shimmered as the Starry Night continued on it's sublight journey.

A few parsecs behind a small transport ship followed.

Mu exhaled as Smitty looked away. Silence clung to them. Turning and walking away Mu muttered under her breath, "nevermind."

"You're right." Smitty called out to her as he scratched the back of his head.

Mu slowed her steps a bit.

"I never should have tried to bamboozle ya." Smitty caught up to her, all charm and bravado gone. "It is a run for fun in the sun... but I made it for you." He tapped the pad and brought up the flight plan again, "Here, take a closer look at the ports." Mu had stopped walking but didn't take the panel. Smitty reached around and held it in front of her face. "No self respecting man of my talents would be caught dead in most of these joints." His eyes twinkled a bit as he leaned his head around to look Mu in the eyes.

Mu's hand reached up and took the pad and began scrolling through the itinerary.