Redemption Initiated.
A small Keldon girl carefully snuck through a back entrance of the Edmial Food Bank, where the entire planet’s food surplus is kept. Another young male Keldon followed after her. They deftly dodged through the square inner corridors. Food was the only thought on their minds.
“How much longer do we have to walk?” the young male Keldon asked. Low flying freighters drowned out most of his question.
“What? Oh, about a couple more meters Yuronuz. We should have enough to survive a couple months.” The young girl answered when they reached a docking bay. The young Keldons both stopped to avoid running into opposition. “Let’s check this out.”
The docking bay was very large, lined with silver valves and switches, and was empty except for a giant brown Behemoth being filled with huge crates marked “food” by robots. There didn’t seem to be any other life form there except for the two young Keldons.
“Jackpot!” The young Keldon girl jumped off the platform and went straight for the Loader’s Log to see when the owners would be back.
Yuronuz instead went to go explore the ship. He was fascinated by all vessels and the pilots that fly them. He was hoping to save enough credits to get into flight school when he was old enough. But for now, he would have to settle on gawking at the giant Behemoth. He noticed the name on the side of the Behemoth. “Hey, Armesia, the name of this ship is the Delta Salvation. I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess with alliances. And Delta is one of the ruling alliances in our sector right?”
“Yup, this ship belongs to a Count Mobo. Sounds like a pompous Imperial jerk person. But don’t worry. He won’t be back for another five hours.” Armesia half-skipped to one of the robots carrying a crate. “Besides, he probably is at a brothel like all other pilots that come through here. Alliance my ass. Why do you want to be a pilot again?” Armesia pulled a wire from the robot causing it to stop.
“I hate this planet.” Yuronuz entered the Behemoth where the robots were loading crates. “Count doesn’t sound pleasant. He could probably have us put to death.” Yuronuz disappeared from sight.
“Oh Yuronuz.” Sighed Armesia, “We just can’t get caught. Now let’s get our food and get out of here.” Armesia pulled out a dirty grey bag from her blue pants pocket and began throwing the contents of the crate that the now dysfunctional robot was carrying.
“Hey Armesia!” Yuronoz called from the inside of the Behemoth. “They left the cockpit door open! Come check it out!”
“Wow, how dumb can they be.” Armesia quickly jogged inside the ship. Metal tubes and funky dials hung everywhere around the inside. Armesia had to be careful not to hit her head. “Hey, where are you Yuronu… ooff.”
Armesia awoke to two people talking in another room. There was a dull pain on her forehead as she tried to get up. She found herself tied to a seat facing a lot of buttons in the cockpit. Her mouth wasn’t gagged as she expected, but didn’t dare let out a peep. Luckily, the chair could pivot around, and Armesia looked around the room to find Yuronuz awake but also tied to the captain’s chair.
Yuronuz whispered “good morning” to his friend. The voices in the other room stopped, and footsteps headed towards their room. Armesia just rolled her eyes at Yuronuz. She really hoped they wouldn’t get killed for this.
The cockpit door slid open and a fairly short but thin human glided towards them. “Glad to see my trespassers awake.” The human had a light, mocking voice. “So, what brings you to steal from my ship?”
Yuronuz was the first to answer. “We are truly sorry Count Mobo. We promise not to do it again. We are just hungry orphans. Right Armesia?” Yuronuz turned towards his friend.
“Right, we are just very hungry.” Armesia didn’t think that Count Mobo would be human, or a woman for that matter.  Armesia’s picture of Imperials as hooked-nosed misogynists was changing. “Can we just give the food back and get on our way?”
“I don’t think so.” The human began to pace while she talked. “First of all, you need a proper punishment or else you will try to steal again. Hold on a sec while I discuss your punishment with my First Mate.” The human turned quickly and left through the door.
“We are royally screwed.” Yuronuz said looking down at his ropes. “I’m sorry I got us into this. If we don’t die, I promise to give you the money I’ve been saving up for flight school.”
Armesia threw a dirty look at Yuronuz. “I don’t think she will do anything to us. She doesn’t seem evil to me.” Armesia began to wiggle a bit to see if she can loosen the ropes. “Besides, she is a Count. She won’t want to get her hands dirty right?”
“Uh, we are in the NZ. Remember? Factions don’t care about NZ folk.” Yuronuz said matter-of-factly.
“Don’t worry, I do.” The human said while walking in again. “Good news orphans. I’ve decided to offer you jobs on my ship!” She let out a big, inviting smile. “What do you say?”
Immediately, Yuronuz and Armesia let out a loud “YES!!!”