Revenant Slaves Chapter 50: Chapter 49: Luna and a funeral among stars

Read chapter 50 of Revenant Slaves by Zee on NovelPedia.

Chapter 49: Luna and a funeral among stars Luna sighed and returned her attention to the call. Lady Azarea was finishing the briefing. As soon as she finished what she intended to say, she exited the call without ceremony. The rest of the Inquisitors followed. Only Zuri and Luna remained. As decorum demanded, neither disconnected until all their superiors had left first. Luna was just about to end the call when Zuri spoke. “Yelena. That was a very good fight.” Luna blinked in surprise. She had not expected a conversation at all. “Thank you,” she said awkwardly. “You fought well, too.” It sounded clumsy the moment she said it, but Zuri did not seem to mind. “If you have a quiet moment before we reach Mortrum,” Zuri said, “I would be glad to get to know you a little better. We will be sisters in red soon enough. We are both preparing for the Red Mandate. It would be good to know another apprentice, especially one as talented as you.” Again, Luna was caught off guard. She had not expected Zuri to be the sort to fraternize. Still, Luna was too curious and too eager for connection to refuse. “I would like that as well,” she replied. “When my work shift ends, if we can, perhaps we could have lunch in the mess hall.” “Splendid,” Zuri said, and disconnected. Luna turned off the call and sat with her thoughts for a moment before another message appeared. It was from Avraham. [Yelena. We must make our way to the rear docking bay.] [Understood, Master] Luna typed back. With some hesitation, she unbuckled herself from the flight couch and stood. Parts of her body still ached, but not nearly as badly as she had expected. The flight couches were truly a marvel of human engineering. As she stood, Avraham rose from his own couch as well. Niko and Brandon remained at their stations. As Luna and Avraham exited the bridge, Luna caught sight of Archie rushing down the corridor toward them. He bowed briefly to both of them, then hurried past and onto the bridge. She caught up with Avraham in the hallway and opened the visor of her helmet. As they walked, she noticed that several sections of the ship were in disarray. Maintenance crews were still working to patch the damage left by the railgun shot that had breached the hull. Luna shuddered at the thought of how easily that shot could have struck her instead. Or the reactor. If it had pierced the reactor, none of them would have even had time for final thoughts before the ship was consumed in the resulting explosion. “Why are we heading to the rear docking bay, Master?” Luna asked. “To pay our respects,” Avraham said simply. Luna understood at once and said nothing more. Everywhere they passed, people stepped aside and bowed slightly. The whole mood of the ship had changed. It was quieter. More subdued. When they finally arrived at the rear docking bay, Adam was already there. In front of him lay three body bags. It was hard to tell from the compressed and uneven shapes exactly how badly the bodies had been damaged, but Luna could tell enough. The damage had been severe. Adam stood silently to one side as Avraham and Luna approached. Luna had never really attended anything like this before. ‘A funeral,’ she thought. Not knowing what else to do, she simply copied Avraham. He stood in silence before the three bodies for maybe half a minute. So she stood beside him, bowed her head, and remained silent as well. After a minute or two, Avraham turned and walked out. Luna stayed a moment longer. A small line had already begun to form behind them. Others had come to pay their respects, too. ‘Maybe I will remember the pilot for the rest of my life,’ Luna thought. Then she corrected herself. ‘Parker.’ That was his name. He had died in the line of duty, serving her master and serving her. The least she could do was remember his name. She was glad that the passing of these three had not been reduced to a mere statistic. Avraham, the commander of the ship, had personally come to see them off. Luna found herself