Starlight on steel

The Galaxy is huge, unknown, chaotic and full of horror. Yet, as she sits into a ship's hold, Olida Robilant feels she can sum it up with little more than her senses: the smooth, warm skin of the alien baby sleeping against her chest, the sound of breathing through the vocoder of a helmet, the memory of a smile as bright as the streaks of starlight she sees reflecting on the hull.