Across the Stars I: Severance Pay

Junior Lead Safety Inspector and Solutions Analyst Nathanyal Carda had made a big decision. A risky one. A crazy one. But there was no turning back now.

Lugging a packed-full folder under his arm, Nathan walked past several of his coworkers on his way to the overseer's office. All of them Ugnaughts.

"Hey Bullis, I got your time-off approved," he said in passing. "Yeah, I sent yours in, Bleb. You should know by the end of the week. Take care, guys."

Nathan entered the admin office, where he was greeted by his boss's assistant; a friendly man named Albee Toffle, who had an enormous mustache and a high, humorous voice.

"Well, howdy there, Nate!"

"Hey, Albee," Nathan greeted.

"Excited for the team lunch tomorrow?"

"Well, I would be, but...is Barthur in?"

Albee grimaced. "Nah, he's in meetings. What else is new."

"Figures," Nathan sighed. "I'll get straight to the point." He peeked inside the mass of documents inside his folder to extract a singular page. He set this on Albee's desk.

The man peered at the paper.

"What's this then?" he asked.

"It's my resignation."

Albee gasped and looked up at the young inspector. "No..."

"Sadly, yeah. But these-" he set down the folder, causing the desk to creak- "Are all my cases, requests, and all the documentation I'd been assigned."

"Bloody hell," said Albee, looking at the massive folder as though it were a beached whale. "What'd you do, slip a few new days into the calendar?”

“I know this is really short notice, so I also found a few options for who you could hire as my replacement. That’s in there under the...uh, red tab.”

Albee gaped. “This is...pretty good work, Nate!"

"Well, I didn't want to leave anyone in the lurch."

"Admirable! And exactly why I don't want your resignation on my desk. You're a hard worker, and a good guy. Even the maintenance guys like you, and you're a bloody Safety Inspector!”

“Well, not all the maintenance guys. Let's be fair.”

“All the ones that still work here. We fired Ozz for a reason.” Albee sighed. “It'll be tough to lose you. Can’t say I saw this coming. What brought all this on?"

Nathan scratched uncomfortably at his collar. "Well, it's all in the note...but I'll save you the reading. The short of it is: I met a girl a few weeks back, before that Imperial raid, and I let slip some protected information, about that unshielded reactor vent...and she may have turned out to be an Imperial forward spy."

Albee frowned. "Aw, kid. That's...but...we drove those bucketheads off! They never even tried to hit any of the couplings."

"Yeah, I don't know why, but nothing happened with the info I told her. And once I realized what I had done, I had Jep help me fix the vulnerability in the reactor vent. But I still, just...I broke confidentiality. There could've been consequences. I don't feel right keeping the job knowing that."

The expression on Albee's face was sympathetic--fond, even. "I get it, mate. But, you know, we could smooth things over..."

Nathan shook his head. "I appreciate it, but no, there's no need."

Albee sighed. He had expected that answer, but he wanted to give it a shot. He tabbed through the huge folder as though afraid to wake it up. "What will you do next, then?"

"I think I've got a plan. I, uh, took a bounty. I want to find the...well, the girl."

"A bounty?" Albee chuckled. "You? Hah! That's a career change if I ever saw one. Well, not my place to judge, I suppose. But at least tell me this," he said, leaning forward. He looked at the boy with concern. "Is this about justice, or revenge?"

"Well, uh, neither, actually. I, uh...stang, how to say this..."

Albee raised an eyebrow.

Nathan struggled through. "...I think--well, I'm pretty sure--and I know this sounds crazy, but..."

"For geet's sake, mate: spit it out, will you?"

"Alright, alright!” he said, bracing for the inevitable mocking he was about to receive. “…I might be in love?"

Albee stared at him like they'd never met. "With who?"

"What?" Nate frowned. "...The girl."

"...What girl?"

"The spy!"

"I thought you fell in love with a girl?"

"The girl was the--the spy was the girl! I'm in love with the spy girl. And I want to go find her."

"But...she's an Imperial! A crazy, right?"

"Well, for now. But we talked for a long time, and--I see that look--I do feel like I...know her. We had a connection. And she never used the info I gave her! Maybe that means she has some doubts. I think...I think that if I find her, I can get her to leave the Empire."

Albee's stare nose-dived into a look of pity. "Awww, mate....now..."

"Hey, I know it's crazy, but I've made up my mind," he said, undeterred. "You can wish me good luck, if you want."

Albee clucked his tongue, but saw the determination in the kid's face. There was nothing for it. He smiled.

"Like I said, you're a good guy. I can't believe you're really leaving! But...I really hope it all works out for you, Nate."

Nathan smiled too, and nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Albee. I’m going to go do my nightly rounds, make sure everything’s good before I take off."

The man cleared his throat and returned to business. "Well, get a move on, then. I'll get all this to Barthur. Take care of yourself, eh, kid?"

"You too."

"Send me a holo of your little stormtrooper kids, one day."

Nathan laughed and waved him away. "Bye, Albee."

___________________

Someone crept around the Reactor substations, someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. The man looked around for witnesses, then checked the pressure status on one of the runoff consoles. There was a vulnerability here, he knew it. Even if the girl wouldn’t say.

“Hey!” he heard someone yell, and he spun to face them. One of the Ugnaughts. Filthy things.

“You’re not supposed to be here!” it accused.

He drew a blaster from his coveralls...