Chapter 24: Chapter 24 - Lacking A Touchstone To Identify Gold

Naia strapped herself into one of the limited seats in the cargo hold. The transport wasn't designed for carrying people and it certainly wasn't designed for comfort. Which was something she sorely needed with what was coming.

"I'm sorry. I thought I could help more here."

"We can wrap up here soon enough. We've gotten a significant amount of the available fluid we needed."

She smiled weakly and nodded at the man. Poros had been the only one to join her when she'd boarded. The others were engaged in the field. She was glad he'd come, even if it was just to deliver the contents of his next container of volatile Dynamis Plasma.

"Are you going to be okay?"

She knew he meant going through warp transit without 'assistance'. The answer was... complicated. She was capable of it, but it really terrified her. It was embarrassing to be catatonic for a minute in the way she likely would be after arrival. Without someone to hold on to, it was usually what happened.

Ev was always there when they left and returned together. Poros had talked to her the entire way through one. And then Theia... the Navigator remembered she had done a little of both. She offered her hand and tried to use her voice to assure. Her hands tightened in what Poros thought was nervousness, but was actually a bit of the anger she felt about all the cover-up.

"I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've had to do it."

She said the words stubbornly. Her friend could only offer a smile and nod.

"Then I'll get back to the field. Hopefully we'll be finished before you're sent back alone, too."

Naia's eyes widened when she saw the Shift Walker begin to turn away. Saying she would be fine was one thing, but doing it was another.

"Wait! I-I... um..."

Poros turned back with a curious expression.

"Thank you. For earlier. For what you said after I neutralized that enemy... and for now."

"Oh. It's nothing."

She shook her head firmly, black hair waving side to side.

"No. It's not. I never tell you, but... I really appreciate you."

"You tell me that all the time, Naia."

The woman smiled at the tease in his voice. Her friend was trying to ease the tension in her. It was very welcomed.

"I mean it all the time, then. You're the best friend a girl like me could have, Poros. I just wanted you to know. Again, I guess."

He looked surprised for a moment, but then the Shift Walker smiled in return.

"Then I'm glad you think so. If I'm such a great friend, then I should be able to do something for you right now."

"Like what?"

"Tell you a story."

The woman blinked, not expecting that response. She was even more surprised when the man sat down in the seat beside her, as he wasn't ever any less professional than Evander when they were on mission. He leaned forward with intense eyes.

"Did you know about the story of ghosts from the other universes? That's where the name of the Dead Zone really comes from. A place where time and space are in flux. A place where the supernatural can turn real."

Naia wasn't sure if he was just telling her a tale to distract her... or if it was actually true. She'd learned in training that the name came about because the area, despite its chaotic activity, was essentially 'dead' to the previous reality. It was a 'corpse that couldn't be revived'.

However, she also remembered the feeling of him passing through her body with that power of his. Her uncertain eyes bore into his sincere *seeming* ones. But there was a hint of something about him that-

"AGH!"

The woman jumped with a shriek when a thin proboscis tickled the back of her neck. Poros held up his right hand, showing the attachment that had been behind her. It was his sleight of hand that she'd been distracted by. A prank to make her think about something else for a minute.

"Sorry. Just a joke."

Her hand rubbed the back of her neck fiercely.

"I changed my opinion. You are the worst friend."

"Probably. But I got you to stop thinking about it for a second. Relax and prepare for warping, Naia. You'll do fine."

He stood and gave her a playful wink before his helmet visor darkened. The fact that he tried to distract her, only to bring it up again when he ran off only reinforced her opinion.

"...You are the *best* worst friend."

The cargo transport hummed to life and Naia's hand instinctively went to her pocket. She felt for the small, smooth stone she assumed would be there. Her fingers traced its familiar contours… and she found herself thinking back to her first day with Squad 373.

She had been nervous and fumbled with her gear in the locker room when she noticed something had fallen from the open locker beside hers. It had been this polished stone the size of a thumb with intricate patterns etched into its surface.

She'd picked it up at the time and examined it curiously before being startled by an olive skinned man *running* through the walls. He was stocky with black curly hair streaked with less premature gray than now. As he'd seen her holding it, relief was evident in his eyes.

Naia introduced herself, her explanation tumbling out about being new to the squad. He accepted the stone with a grateful smile before explaining that it was his father's lucky charm. Then he pointed to the tattoos covering his forearms that used the same kind of patterning.

He promised to look after her, just for picking something up off the floor he would have found on his own if she hadn't. True to his word… Poros had been there ever since. Such a steady presence in her life.

Naia smiled at the memory. Her anxiety ebbed. She may be warping alone, but she wasn't truly alone. She had people who cared about her and who believed in her. One of them, enough to hide a sentimentally treasured heirloom in her pocket just to make her more comfortable.