Butterflies of the Dark Star

26 (REVISED)

I don't have time.

Nova tasted its haunting refrain when Neo's communicator beeped a station-wide message from the senior research team. But maybe this is it. Maybe this is the change I needed. Nova followed him off the bench after their momentary silence, but she never needed to ask what prompted him into action.

"I need to head to central command." Neo shuffled with his datascroll, picking up several infodrives from his terminal to stuff them in his pockets. "I need to get my findings to them."

Nova left him to gather his things to grab her own, opening the defense cabinet with her keypass. Two defense blasters sat in safety locks, and she grabbed them both into each hand. Rejoining Neo in the main area, she held out the extra to him. "Here."

"Here... what?" He turned.

"Take it." Nova indicated to the blaster. "We don't know what's out there." Not that these things do anything to it... but it'll make me feel better.

Neo twisted around to keep his back to her, rubbing his fingers against the edges of his datascroll. "I don't know, Nova. I have atrocious aim and I'm infamously clumsy." His scroll closed with his twisting click. "I'm more likely to hurt myself with that than do any real damage."

"That's not what I'm concerned about."

"Let me pretend that it is. Also, you never know with me!" He waved his hands up and down to indicate his body. "It might go off in the holster if I'm not careful — which we both know I have a habit of not doing." He gave her a forced smile. "You trust me with a blaster? You don't even trust me with scheduling."

Nova checked the safety dock. "It's not going to go off in its holster, Neo." One last time, for comfort, she held it out to him with the grip towards him.

"We've come so far with tech." He huffed. "I'm a lover, not a fighter."

"Well, can you 'lover' your way into defending yourself?" Nova questioned. "That's why I want you to hold onto it, not for any other reason. I'm not expecting you to turn around and use it — I don't want you to have to use it. I want to have peace of mind if—" The truth almost slipped past her lips, but there was so much she had left to measure and plan around, and what threats waited for them. "It's for if something happens."

The longer they stood there in a stretched staredown, the less time wrapped around her fingers.

Ready to give in to get moving, she lowered her hand.

"You really want me to have it?"

"I'm not going to force you to take it." Nova checked the settings on her defensive blaster before holstering it. "I just want us to be ready to defend ourselves after what we saw. We aren't trained personnel. We're barely out of our last quad in college. We're in internships. I was supposed to be learning hands-on applications while you finish your thesis, but that's out the window." Because I don't even know... if we'll get out of here to do those things... but we're just college students... Nova sighed. "I know you don't like it. You were never..." It melted into her heart. "You'd choose everything but defending yourself even if you were in danger."

He protected her in the stupidity of a human error, and died in her arms. Nova sucked in her lips and went to leave.

"Wait." Neo twiddled his fingers, then sidled to her. "If it'll make you feel better, I can keep it on me." He brushed one hand through his black hair and took it from her. "I-I can't promise I'll have the ability to pull the trigger if my hands start shaking too much."

"I also have one." Nova patted the grip. "Hopefully, you won't be put in that position." He holstered the blaster with a heavy, furrowed brow. "You don't need to think of it like a weapon of mass destruction, Neo. We can both name plenty of things that fit that bill." Fists clenched, she guided him through the darkness swallowing the eastern facility, which ran on auxiliary power to give the central area more reach to stabilise the space station where it needed it the most.