"If you do not feel well, I can scan you and make sure that you are operating at top parameters."
She chuckled. "I am sure I am not operating at top parameters, but I'll be fine. Some food. Water. Rest. I'll be just fine. This is not my first time dealing with trauma."
"I am here to assist you in any way possible. If you are traumatized, I will do whatever is necessary to help you work through it."
She smiled. "I appreciate that. But I will be all right."
"Only if you are sure." He came down off the ship and held out the survival bag.
"I am." She stretched her arms and even attempted to straighten out her crooked fingers, though it didn't do much good. "Though I would really love someplace where I can get out of all these robes."
He nodded. "Let me show you."
He led her out of the bay and down a hallway.
The hallway, like the rest of the place, was eerily quiet. "What is this place?"
"It is a mining facility."
She figured that much. "What do you mine?"
"Citritite crystals. There is a strong supply of them here."
"I didn't know citritite was available this far out in the galaxy. Most supplies are closer to the galactic center, aren't they?" It made them harder to come by this far out on the galactic spiral. Also made them all the more expensive.
"That is correct, which is why we were so surprised to find it when we were initially mining here."
"Do you sell it?"
"We are building our reserves for it to begin sales. Much of our tech use citritite as a power source, so we utilize what we have. Though Master System has, in the last few years, had us start holding some back for reserves."
Interesting. That will prove very important in the negotiations. Not that she wanted to take it, but it will give the Rhimodians some powerful positions on certain things in the negotiations for peace.
She stopped. "Wait. If the Emperor knew there was citritite here, he wouldn't stop to get this system out of your control." The crystal was hard to acquire, but also highly in demand as it helped power more advanced modes of transportation and technology.
"I do not know if it is common knowledge."
"It would certainly be motivational." Because, of course, her father would want the system if it had resources he could exploit to his own needs. She rubbed her temples. What else did the Rhimodians have that her father would want?
There must be more. He'd been fighting so hard to take this system away from the cyborgs. His excuse was that they were a danger. A threat against the Terran Empire.
Based on Jedriek, she would not consider them a threat. So far he seemed more loyal than the guards she'd grown up around. At least, he didn't turn on her. He could have told those Charro who she was and left her there to be captured or die. But he didn't. He fought to protect her.
She trusted that.
Admired it.
They walked a little further in silence, the only soundwas their feet echoing on the hard floor. They came to a door, and he palmed it open. Inside, there was a flat table with panels over the head of it. More than one, she realized. Large, long flat tables, each one attached to the wall with panels all around them.
She glanced around. "This is a medical treatment room."
He nodded.
She turned back to him. "I told you, I'm fine."
"I know. I thought you might like it better than the quarters here."
She raised her eyebrow. "What is the difference?"
