Chapter 4

Kazlaena hopped the steps three at a time and waited on the first landing for Jack to catch up.

“Not sure where you get that energy level from there lil sprocfluff.” He joked.

“Sa energy just is sere.” She stuck her tongue out and headed up the second flight of stairs, catching her toe on the third step with a bit of a stumble “eeek.”

“Hey, you ok?”

“Yes,” She stood at the second landing, waiting for him to catch up. “A little too excited. We’re ‘aving Urkute dogs and sa fried potato slices for dinner tonight.”

“Still your favorite meal?”

“Yes,” she nodded quickly. “Along wis sa sicken nuggets. We gonna be early, only gonna be sef Norres sere I sink.”

“You gonna eat all the dogs before anyone else gets a chance?”

“Try to.” She giggled and took off, leaving him to try to catch up.

“Hey, wait up.” Jack grinned as he heard her go through the stairwell door. “Don’t eat all the urkidogs.”

He assumed she had rushed off to the galley when he proceeded through the door himself, but she was waiting on the other side, hidden from view.

“Scaredya,” She said as she jumped at him, making him flinch slightly, before jumping back with a disappointed look on her face “Aw.”

“Kinda,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m kinda hard to scare though.”

“You are.” She concurred and ran around behind him, pushing on his lower back to encourage him to move faster.

They passed the first door on their right labeled Fitness Room and could hear some music emanating from a hidden source. Jack thought to stop to see who occupied it and dwelt on that only briefly. Hard, fast music with aggressive lyrics, that had to be Proculus Scaro, Lucinia’s brother and the First Officer of the vessel.

Eh, maybe later. Jack brushed the notion aside and continued to the first door on their left, labelled Galley.

Beyond the galley on the left was a large rec room with a pool table, dedicated poker table, VR projector with headsets and a large screen, table tennis, dart board and beverage bar. Next was a small library and past that was a media/games room for a quieter setting than the rec room was prone to have. Beyond that was a private comms room with several booths to allow private conversation with distant family or other sources via superlum communication. On the right side, after the fitness room sat the aquatics room, a good-sized room with heated tubs and sauna booths. Past the aquatic room there was a hygiene center with a barber, sun tanning beds and stalls with tools to handle the comforts of the different races on board. Next was a lounge for alcoholic beverages and other, more alien drinks. This was followed by the large medical center he had visited earlier. Behind them was the topmost entrance to the aft cargo hold while the more commonly used prow cargo hold upper entrance sat some 250 feet down the hall. An emergency station and lifeboat berth sat at each end of the hall, as they did on each consecutive deck.

Kazlaena pulled Jack through the open doors and into the pleasing smell of the galley. To the right were placed several wooden tables with foam padded steel stools. The kind that was comfortable for about the time it takes to down a meal and not much longer. There were enough tables to seat the entire crew, though an occasion like that was held sparingly. Beyond the tables, at the back of the galley, were several appliances on a steel counter that offered a variety of beverages including coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks. There were also cooled dispensers for the mental boosting drinks the Lexocanus favored, and the high protein drinks the ex-military crew consumed.

Jack followed Kazlaena to the left of the galley where a rack of plastic trays sat, taking one as she offered it.

“So ‘ungry.” Kazlaena set her tray on the counter that ran the length of the serving station before them.

“Who is there?” Jack heard the melodic accent of the voice from the preparation area and saw a bronze skinned woman in cooking attire emerge. “Jack?”

“Hey Miss Norres.” Jack reached over the counter and shook her hand.

“Please, Jack, call me Delilah. No need to be so formal.” She said with a warm smile.

“Ok, how bout Deli?”

“Cause I work in the galley, huh?” She smirked.

“Deli-catessen?”

“Old coffee for you,” She pointed at him with a smile, and he laughed.

“Aw...” Jack pretend pouted.

“At least your humor came back with you.” She reached back into the prep area and brought forth a plastic plate with a half dozen cooked Urkute sausages. “Everything went ok?”

“It did, to the best it could,” Jack nodded. “Everything go good here?”

“Was a little less comedic,” Delilah said. “But there was nothing of any note. Nothing you probably haven’t heard already, at least.”

“Only that Kaz here was causing all kinds of trouble.” Jack saw Kazlaena’s jaw drop as she looked at him with a mix of shock and humor.

“Someone’s gotta pick up your slack.” Delilah said.

“I do not do all sat,” Kazlaena gave Jack a scolding look. “I didn’t cause any trouble.”

“I’m only kidding love.” Delilah set the plate down on the counter before them and pulled out a package of long buns. “Just teasing the runaway here.”

“Might have to run away again...” Jack reached for the plate “ ... with all these sausages.” Delilah’s hand grasped his wrist as Kazlaena wrapped her arms around his waist in a restrictive hold.

“Ill-advised chump.” Delilah looked at Kazlaena. “You might make an enemy of your most treasured friend there.”

Jack looked down at Kazlaena, looking back up at him with the dopiest expression she could and a bit of a head shake, causing him to start laughing. “Alright, alright, let’s eat.”

“Yes! Let us do so now,” Kazlaena said.

Delilah brought forth several condiments from a cooler behind her and set them on the serving counter. Next, she fetched a small metal pan with a bunch of fried potato wedges, allowing them to split the contents before putting the pan back into the prep area.

“Anything else either of you need?”

“Good here.” Jack thanked her and set his tray down on the nearest table, heading off to fill his cup with coffee.

Kazlaena followed suit but preferred a carbonated, mixed berry fizz drink that was heavy with sugar.

“Gonna rot your teeth out you know.” Jack playfully mocked.

“Um, coffee is no better, no?” Kazlaena looked at his drink and bit her lip. “Lots of indigestion from sat, yes?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“And sugar too.”

“Some.” Jack took a sip. “Not enough.”

“Ow bout I pour some of my drink in sere?” Kazlaena moved her cup towards his coffee.

“Just a little, ok?” He sounded hopeful.

She laughed and pulled her cup back to her mouth, taking a long drink.

Jack took a big mouthful of food and grinned at Kazlaena.

“Foob goob, youb?”

“Um?” She gave him a grin.

“Dis dog be goob.” He took another big mouthful.

“You are going to cough and soke.”

“Soke? Nebber,” He stuffed the rest of the urkute dog in his mouth.

“Savor sa meal, Jack!” Kazlaena gave him a bit of a stern look combined with a smile. “We don’t always get sese because sey are expensive,”

“Ok, ok,” Jack submitted. “I won’t mess around with my meal...” He gave her a coy look “ ... Just yours,” He reached for her plate, but she was swift, pulling her treasured meal back sharply with a bit of a shocked expression.

“Sa buster better stay back...” She kept a close guard on her meal and looked at him as he winked.

They ate the remainder of their meals in silence, focused more on consuming the Urkute sausages and fried potato wedges, savoring the sweet flavor. No other cultivated meat in the federation had the sweet flavor of the Urkute, a grazing two-meter-tall ungulate from the superhabitable world of Sheywa Prime. Mass animal husbandry efforts had seen most of that world dedicated to producing enough meat to satisfy the high demand across the many hundreds of colonized locations across League space and beyond.

As they finished up their meal, Jack downed the pills he had been given earlier by Charm and reclined slightly on his stool, clearing his throat. “How’s the training going?”

“Going good, I sink.” Kazlaena finished off her drink and leaned forward on the table. “Aaa, sat’s a good meal.”

“Stuffed.” Jack patted his belly, and she mimicked his action.

“Is ‘ard sometimes Jack. Lots to learn wis sa starsip.”

“Take your time with it. It’s mostly protocol and procedure. Do it enough and you make it routine.”

“I know, it is just, sometimes...” Kazlaena was silent for a moment “ ... controlling a starsip can be, scary.” She looked down at the table and spoke quietly, in a tone more serious than she was used to speaking “My people are not used to sese sings Jack. My grandparent’s timeline, sey were afraid of sa sky and what might come from it. Wen sa Terrans landed, sey ‘ad sa ‘ard time dealing wis somesing like sat. My parents were better, but still did not understand sa idea of a galactic community and oser races, cultures, worlds and oser people. My generation is trying. We are learning, we are understanding, so we can one day go ‘ome wis sat experience and ‘elp our people be more san sa tribal ‘unter gaserers we used to be.”

Jack reached across the table and set his left hand over hers, giving her a reassuring smile.

“No-one is sure of themselves without the training, Kazlaena. With continued instruction however, you’ll understand what you need to do and what to do in an emergency. It just takes time and training, practice and consistency. I’m sure I’ll be helping more in that role in the future.”

“I know, it is just sat, sometimes...”

“You still feel like you’re out of place...” He spoke quietly “ ... like your feet need to be on solid ground, like you need to get out and feel fresh air on your face...”

“Yes,” Kazlaena let out a long exhale. “I wonder sometimes, why am I aboard? Why did I leave ‘ome. I miss my family. I miss my parents. But my people need ‘elp to understand ‘ow we can travel sa stars. I am just um, scared to fail.”

“You, fail?” Jack patted her hand, speaking next in a bit of a lyrical tone “Who was the one that beat bad bots?”

“Me”

“Who was the first one that got Pri to laugh, like, really genuinely laugh?”

“Ummm, me.” She replied after a moment.

“Who made a friend of Kyzran when no-one else could?”

“...”

“Who pranked Proculus with a soundtrack of love music in place of his normally very angry workout music?”

“...” She was starting to grin now.

He spoke seriously now. “When you put your mind to it, you succeed kiddo. Think of that instead of failing, ok?”

“I will.” Kazlaena said it as if it was some promise to herself.

“Who did I promise to take care of way back when we first met? When she had a fear of stepping out into the unknown with so much to learn?”

“Me.” Her smile faded. “But you left Jack. Nosing bad ‘appened but still...”

“I know. I understand that I left suddenly, and I wasn’t there for you to come to when you needed my guidance or direction. I’m sorry about that. Sorry that I had to leave.” Jack looked away with a bit of a guilty expression. “I just had to ... deal with a few things.”

“Sat’s ok,” Kazlaena said quietly. “I um, just sat, I almost never ‘ave a bad day when you’re ‘ere. I know you ‘ave sings you ‘ave to do. Sorry if I am making you feel bad. I don’t mean to. I um, it’s just sat ... arrgggg...” She let out an emotional breath. “You mean sa lot to me.”

“And you to me.” Jack replied. “I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll work on your doubts and troubles. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in your shoes. Your race is new to all of this, and it can be understandably overwhelming. Just don’t let it get to be too much before you speak to me or Pri or the Captain, ok?”

She got off her stool and came over to take him in a strong hug. “ I won’t. I um, I promise sat.”

They shared a smile and returned to their meals.

After he parted ways with Kazlaena outside the galley, Jack returned to stowing the rest of his gear, before heading to the recreation room. He eyed the crew inside as he walked in, hearing a commotion around a large vidscreen on the wall opposite the doorway. He saw several crew members focused intently on the images onscreen. Kazlaena and the Lexocanus, Rusu, were using the VR headsets, playing an adventure game where the player had to duck, dodge and weave through some spots. They would then have to pick up items in their environment and manipulate them in various ways, fit a key in here, repair a damaged part of a boat there. Most of the crew loved it. Delilah and Charm sat on a large brown couch, while Cardox Incurus and Sita Kildahl sat watching the game from a pair of brown recliners to the right of the screen. Jack eyed them but noticed they were keeping from looking at him directly, grinning at each other subtly.

“Yeah, you fuckers...” He whispered, then saw the tall form of Nyka approaching from the left of the room.

“Est ko va, pa nesti?” She paused momentarily. “er, forgive ‘Allo, Jack” She gave him a short wave and a kind smile. “Is happy for very, you back.”

“Hi Nyka.” He saw her open her arms for a hug and followed suit. “I’m glad to be back too, missed you a lot.”

The Lexocanian was tall, the tallest member of the crew with large fuzzy red and white ears that made her even taller. Much like her brother Rusu, she had reddish brown fur over most of her body, a modest black mane from the top of her head, down her back to below the intelliweave, digital patterned, green shirt that she wore. Forearms and hands bore short, black fur while a long, whiskered muzzle and a black nose finished her facial features save for the presence of a small pair of dark markings beneath her left, slightly illuminated golden eye. She had a tail, but it was coiled up and hidden away in a pouch attached to a brown belt worn around her waist. She leaned down and they embraced momentarily, then he ran his cheek along hers followed by her brushing his shoulder with the bottom of her muzzle in the traditional manner which Lexocanians greeted family or close friends.

“Have you made any progress on your GalCom [Galactic common] language skills?” Jack asked as he stepped over to the beverage bar an pulled out a coffee mug.

“Is slowly, is improving, by bit by.” Nyka looked at him expectantly.

“You were starting lessons when I left, you could hardly speak a word of Terran.”

“Understand you do, Ka pevi?”