Drawing LOTS

She couldn't help staggering slightly as she walked to her quarters, the slight variations in artificial gravity created the sensation of the ground rising and falling beneath her feet. Finally the nameplate 'Mira Androveka' came into view, marking her destination. Briefly, she took note of the nameplate resting above it, 'Goila Eckert', before opening the door and staggering inside the dark room.

The dim glow of various pilot lights kept the room from being pitch black, but still it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. There were two sleeping racks on either side of the room, one was already pilled high with blankets and eliciting the sounds of steady breathing. Goila, she presumed, as she slid her duffel underneath the empty rack and practically fell onto to rack hoping to relieve herself of the unsteady ground. Too late she realized her mistake as the up and down motion spread to her entire body.

A few hours later.

She couldn't help still feeling a little queasy as she sat in the mess hall watching her new roommate eat. The cause was now in some debate though, she wasn't sure if it was the movement of the ship or the way the blonde girl was tucking away her food like it was going to be her last meal.

"You going to eat that?" The young blonde asked, grinning wide.

"No thanks, I'm not so hungry at the moment."

"Cheers!" It took only moments for the first dish of the newly appropriated rations to disappear. "Must be your first time in FTL travel. Works the same on everyone, you get over it eventually. So where ya from?"

"Etegria, this is my first time off planet." She forced herself to give a mild smile, though it was less than a second before her grimace returned.

"Galactic fissure, huh. Yeah, I guess you probably don't get many ships headed that ways anyway. Me, I'm a Navy brat, used to have to run all over the galaxy chasing my dad." The girl looked a bit sad, then brightened and turned back. "You must be a big fan of the former empress though, getting your face done up to look just like her and all that. My dad was in the Koyobi when it went down protecting her. He even got the Imperial Medal of Valor despite being just a regular gunnery sarge."

Mira gave an awkward smile, "actually I haven't changed my face at all, I've always looked like this."

The girl paused for a moment then gave her a serious look, "you ain't a Unionist are you?"

The awkward smile was now permanently imprinted on Mira's face, "actually we don't hear much of outside politics on Etegria, so I don't really know what you're talking about."

The girl gave a heavy sigh and leaned back in her chair, "you're wandering out into space without even knowing this much. You'll get yourself killed like that, y'know. Listen, after the civil war eighteen years ago a bunch of the reformer fleet just upped and retired. Since the new government didn't have the military to hold the peace on it's own they had to reinstate almost half of the Imperial fleet right then and there, and while they may have disbanded the nobies on paper, most of them kept all their military and economic power as well as most of their lands. So right now the political factions in the empire are roughly divided between the Unionists who want the nobies to give their armies over to the cabinet, and the loyalists who are generally in favor of the nobies staying right where they are, thank you shittin' much."

"Ahh, I'll try to keep that in mind then, thank you." I don't really get it, she thought.

"So where you headed, your highness?"

"Your highness?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, with your face like that, it totally suits you. Although, given your home planet you might have to settle for empress of the sheep!" The blonde girl guffawed over her own joke for awhile before catching her breath and continuing, "but seriously, what brings you this far from the homestead?"

Mira rolled her eyes and started absentmindedly playing with a lock of her black hair. "I've been enrolled in military academy on Orpheus."

"Wouldn't happen to be Luphi Officer Training School would it?" Goila gave a mischievous half smile at that.

"Yeah, that's it exactly. Are you going there too?" For the first time in the conversation felt herself give a real smile.

"And that's a direct hit! I know dad was always talking about me being some kind of intellectual, but I just can't imagine nothing but Navy life, so I thought, for him at least, I could try and make officer. At least do that much to make sure he can be proud from the other side, ya'know." Mira couldn't help but admire how the girl was able to put so much earnestness into the last bit only to finish with a completely mischievous grin.

"Well, I don't have any great reasoning like that, I just wanted to get out and see the galaxy, you know. Mom, just happened to have an old buddy who could get me in, so I decided to go. Besides, my mother went there when she was younger but she doesn't talk much about stuff like that so I was curious."

Goila laughed, "I hear ya, but careful there sheep empress, Navy life ain't to be underestimated. Still, you never know, it may turn out better than you think, gonna be a lot of hard times 'fore that though, I guarantee it."

"Well then I'll just have to make some friends to ride out those bad times with." The two girls laughed together a while longer.