You'll hear her out. No promises.

"Personal matter? I'm thrilled. What do you want me to do, be your date to some Imperial ball?" You ask gleefully. "Show you how men of the galaxy make love?"

"There's no ball, and really, I'd rather fuck a boltspine than you, Halloway." Marion counters. You later learned that a boltspine was an indigenous non-sentient life form on one of the Empire's worlds known for it's prickliness. In recent years it'd gone the way of the Veumazek.

"It's my sister." Colombe admits. "I need some help with her."

Sister?, you think , mouth curling into a subtle smile. There's another Imperial like Marion? This is gonna be good...

"Whatever could be the problem?" You wonder, growing more intrigued by the minute.

Marion is silent for a few moments. Either she doesn't like telling you this, or she can't think how best to say it. Or both.

"My sister has a problem. Most her life, she's held the belief she's not actually a woman, but a man. I don't know where these thoughts have from, but until recently, I could just about convince her not to tell anyone or act too unusual." Marion recounts. The story is obviously difficult for her. "But that changed when she turned 18. I just can't control her now.

"The Empire takes a pretty dim view on... deviants." You can tell Marion dislikes using the word about her sister, but her culture knows no other for people like her. "Those who try to deny their femininity, something that brings them closer to the divine, get the worst of it. I won't see my Floranne sent to a re-education camp, no matter what." Marion states defiantly.

Despite Imperial society seemingly having a word for Florianne's "deviation", it seems pretty simple to you that she's transgender. You're also not surprised the Empire aren't the most progressive civilization around. They were medieval in so much else, after all.

"I'm stowing her away in my cabin. I need you to take my sister and get her out of the system. Maybe she'll fare better elsewhere." Marion says. You're sure you detected a twinge of sadness in her voice. Funny, so she does have emotions.

"Gotta say, I'm surprised you're doing this. You always seemed like the toe-the-line, love the Empire type." You muse.

"I am, and I do, but this is my sister we're talking about." Marion insists. "So, will you help me here?"