Chapter 3

“All done with orientation and medical.” Jack sent a message off to Kaz.

“Yay!” A whole pile of emoji faces followed.

“Me on D deck now.”

Jack stood in front of the door to her quarters, bracing for what was about to come next. He set down the duffel he was carrying and was about to knock. As the door opened, he saw her looking at him with a giant happy expression. Her body was covered in the front by short, light grey fur with brown fur down her backside. She had shoulder length brown hair that ran in between her large ears and down the back of her angular shaped head. Two lengths of beads ran down her hair on either side of her face with what Jack recognized as one of Pri Zoaks’ feathers tied to one bead chain. Sezars often gave a feather to a special friend that they shared a close bond with. Jack also had one secured away with his more personal effects. Kazlaena’s whiskered snout ended in a beaming smile that showed her left fang was missing, knocked out in her childhood from an injury. She wore an arable, white, short sleeved shirt and light blue shorts that revealed her small, athletic build. The Vandean walked on plantigrade feet, hidden inside grey shoes with a brown and white tail swishing frantically behind her, barely avoiding the ground.

“Jaaackkk!!!” She cried. “Yay! You’re back!” She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, eliciting an “oomph” from him as she clung to him in a vicelike grip.

“Hey, lil Sprocket.” He wrapped one arm around her back and the other under her backside, feeling her tail flashing rapidly to and fro around him.

“I’m ‘appy, I’m so ‘appy you’re back.” Her speech hastened. “I missed you so much. Seres a bunchofsingsIwannasowyouandtellyouand...” She clung to him, growing silent before he could hear her making a Vandean happy noise like a bit of a short, repetitive whine.

“Oh, kiddo, how I missed you,” He whispered as she pulled her head back so they could look eye to eye.

“Are you ok? Did you, um, is everysing ok?” He saw a touch of sadness in her eyes.

“Hey sweetie. I’m better, more to go but it’s ok. Don’t worry about that, alright?”

“I ‘ave to sough,” She ran her tongue up the side of his cheek. “You are my friend. One of my bests. You mean a lot to me.”

“I know,” He replied. “I feel it. I can see it.” He tapped her chin, letting the pleasant tone of her trilling accent act like kindling for so many good memories they had shared together. “I thought about you a lot. You’re my special girl, you know. My kid sister. My fire team partner and my backup prankster. The stuff we get up to, that we’re gonna get up to in the days and weeks to come...”

“EEekkkk!!!!!” She exclaimed in overwhelming excitement and pressed her head against his. “So so ‘appy Jack. So ‘appy to see you again.”

After a few moments of silence, she slid off him and did a little dance in place.

“Still loaded with energy I see,” He grinned. “That’s always good.”

She stuck her tongue out and put her thumbs in her ears, wiggling her fingers at him in a mocking manner for a sec, then frowned.

“You stink.” She said plainly.

“What?”

“Sat funny smell, what is sat?”

“Fuel on my leg,” Jack replied and showed her the suspicious stain.

“Did you pee-pee yourself?”

“Yeah...” He replied seriously.

“Jaaackkkk!!!!” She brushed her clothing and looked at him disgusted. “Eeeww, I even ‘ugged you.”

“Gonna get you,” Jack said as he went monkey mode, chasing her a bit down the hall.

She was very fast though, one of the fastest of the crew. Only Pri was faster in a sprint. Kazlaena ran down the hall to a junction and looked at him from around a corner for a moment.

“Stay sere, smelly...” She said to him.

“Ok, ok.” He waved in surrender.

“You promise?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded.

“Ok, well ey, I ‘avta switch my laundry over, can you wait until I get back? Only take sa moment. I got somesing for you. Don’t go anywhere kay? I, ‘avta, ‘avta do sis laundry before my duty tonight.”

“I’ll stay put.” He motioned for her to go ahead. “Oh hey, if you’re doing laundry, can I throw my socks in to dry? They’re really wet and sweaty.” He acted like he was going to take his boots off. “From the flight in, y’know”

“Wat? Nooooo. Groossssoo.”

“Heh,” He smiled as he saw her race off in a hurry to the amenities room at the end of the hall.

Kazlaena re-appeared from the junction after just a few moments in the laundry room and came charging at speed down the hall. Jack could not help but break into a smile at her antics. She was well known for her pleasant disposition. Even the usually coarse Lithoid, a mechanical engineer named Kyzran, had what could be considered a soft spot for her.

“When I ‘eard you were coming back, I got to work making somesing straight away.” She said in a single breath, taking a deep gasp to recover as she grasped his wrist and pulled him into her quarters.

All the crew were allotted a 12 foot by 8-foot room and Kazlaena made precious use of every available space. Her bed was unique among the crew in that it was a bunk bed left over from when the ship quarters housed multiple crew members in its navy days. The lower bed was covered in opened cases for entertainment chips while the upper bed was covered in plushies and throw pillows. Being Vandean and hailing from a world where many dwellings were below ground level, Kazlaena’s actual bed was under her lower bunk. A thick, brown blanket hung off her lower bunk to create a wall of sorts, making her hidden retreat much like a den. A desk with a music box and hundreds of music chip cases sat between her bed and the wall with the entry. A wardrobe sat at the back wall between her bed and a shelving unit on the opposite side of the room from her bed. She could sit on her bed and watch the monitor across her room or play one of several media game systems she had acquired over her time on the vessel.

“You been playing games all day?” Jack set his bag down by the door and grabbed an empty chip case from her bed to inspect it.

“Um ... Nooo...” she looked at him meekly. “ ... Mostly.” He saw her intent stare. “I um, was just trying to pass sa time fast.”

“Oh,” He nodded. “What’s this one...” He turned the case so he could read the title properly. “Dragon Gunner.”

“Ya I just got it sa couple of weeks ago, almost beat it on sa ‘ard mode.” She took a controller in her hand and un-paused the game “See, it is very, very cool how you fly around as sa dragon, fighting sa bad guys wis sa gun on your back and you can pick up sa guns too, blasting bad robot sings in lotsa directions at once.” Jack watched her play for a few moments before she paused the game.

“You ever get past that part on that one game, oh what was it...” He was thinking back to just before he had left the crew “ ... you know, that really busy looking game with all the fighting robots ... and there was this flying robotic box looking thing that came in that kept defeating you...”

“Ummm, err I did, yes. Bad Bots.”

“That’s the one, yeah.” Jack set the empty case down and watched her run over to her stack of game chip cases.

“It was ‘ard but I got it. I loooved sat game. Still my fav. A bunch of anti-’ero robots fighting sa massive army of really bad bots.”

“Job well done.”

“Yes,” She held up the case in a triumphant pose “Anoser victory for good, anoser loss for sa baddos.” They high fived and Kazlaena put the case back.

“How many games have you gone through since I left?”

“Um, I don’t know, maybe like about seventeen or somsing.” Kazlaena ran a finger down the stack of data chip cases. “Watched some media series too.”

“Good ones?”

“Yes,” She nodded “sey were all good.”

“Got lots of music chips too, I presume?”

“A couple new ones, yes.” She turned to face him. “We stopped on Vark’ame Secundus.”

“Good place for tech,” Jack put a hand to his chin as he nodded. “Decent prices too. Seacrest trade hall?”

“Yes.” She looked at him meekly.

“Blew most of your monthly budget in a single afternoon?”

She hesitated. “Y-es.”

“Most of your savings?”

“Uuummm, yuuussssss.”

“Many good deals?”

“Ummm, I don’t sink so.” She shied away. “Nosing was marked down or anysing.”

“Heh, well, you fit right in on this crew then.” Jack chuckled.

“I broke sa bank.” Kaz pointed to a shelf covered in blinking and whirling gizmos, several were encased in glass domes to protect them as they spun about.

“What the?” Jack walked over to look at the gadgets.

“Um,” Kazlaena looked at him sheepishly as he looked over her impulse buy.

“Well, they are pretty neat.”

“And I’m sa Vandean.”

“You are a Vandean,” He stated boldly. “The perfect target for gadget sellers.”

“I know...” Kazlaena seemed a little self-conscious about her spending.

“Hey,” Jack smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you spent your money on something like that. At least you have something to show right?”

“Um, yes,” Kazlaena nodded. “Before I forget, sa gift I ‘ave for you.” She rushed to her bed, retrieving something off the top bunk, making Jack laugh as her tail swished back and forth excitedly.

She presented the box with a bit of cute shyness. He took it and removed the lid, revealing a woven bracelet with a little pink bow on top.

“Heh,” Jack pulled the bracelet out and grinned. “That’s pretty cute, thanks Kazzie.”

“I made sa sing.” She said a little meekly. “Is it ok? I tried my best to make as you Terrans call, sa friendsip bracelet.”

“Oh sweetie, it’s perfect,” Jack smiled. “ ... thank you for this. It means a lot to me.”

“Um, you are welcome.” She shot in close and gave him a quick hug. “Sere’s somesing else too.”

“Oh?” Jack was intrigued.

“Um...” Kazlaena reached under her bed and pulled out a marshmallow plush pillow.

Jack had to lean against the wall as he was overcome with laughter.

“I um, found sa place sat allows you to make sa stuffed sings. I um, well, you know, me calling you Mr. Marsmallow and all...” She grinned as she said her nickname for him on account of his ‘soft’ personality.

Jack took the plushie and gave it a bit of a hug, then pretended to punch it a few times.

“Nooo!” Kazlaena ran in to grab his arm. “Stop sat!” She giggled.

“Thanks for these, Sprocket.” Jack smiled. “It means a lot.”

“You mean sa lot.” Kazlaena looked up at him. “Now c’mon. We need to get you all squared away so you can come eat wis me.” She took hold of his duffel bag strap and tried to lift it. “Ooofff. What sa? You got sa body in sere?”

“A couple, yeah.” He laughed.

Kazlaena tried to lift the duffel, but it was too awkward against her shorter stature. “Sorry, guess I will need to lift more battle tanks or somesing to get stronger.”