This is Chrysalis.

Part 7

Time in warp was a time for reflection.

The time spent and transition.

And that ephemeral threshold between different worlds, different cultures, places, and moments that defined my life.

I was now sitting in a small, cold, multipurpose room that I guess would normally serve as a canteen or gathering area.

The austere steel tables and chairs folded into the walls, clearing an empty space in which to meet and play whatever games there's an variant ship cruise played to pass the time.

I wish there was a window in the room.

Nothing fancy, just a small porthole from which to see the great beyond.

But I knew there wasn't anything to see when in warp, just a dark, endless expanse.

Not even Starlight could reach the ship inside this bubble of distorted space.

Although this contemplative time in warp was an important, it surely was necessary.

This was the interroom.

A time after one thing had ended, but before the next had begun, the missing page between chapters.

A time to take stock of your life thus far.

Let go of regrets learned from mistakes and prepare for the inevitable.

The unknown would be awaiting me when I returned to normal space.

The last time I had this much to reflect on was when I left my home world of Sanxia to report to my new post at the edge of the galaxy.

Under the orders of one ambassador, Nuckstani.

I had been enraged, spending most of my travel time pounding in my cabin,

steering in a destructive combination of resentment and self-pity.

Fitting that it was this chapter now coming to an end.

...