Chapter 22: Travel To Dentra

I woke up some time later. Koluna was there beside me, watching me.

“Good morning Bri-an. How are you feeling?” she asked.

“A little tired. I was on watch last night, and the freighter finished their repairs and left. I had Ship resume course for Dentra. Then on my way to get some sleep, the princess wanted to see me,” I said.

“What did she want this time?” asked Koluna.

“I had Ship restrict her to her cabin while we were helping the freighter. She was frustrated with the confinement and the lack of social contact. I took her to the main dining lounge, and we drank coffee and talked for a while. Eventually she got tired, so I escorted her back to her cabin,” I replied.

“You poor being. It seems everyone has demands of your time,” said Koluna.

“The captain of the freighter and his crew were extremely glad of our help. They were in the middle of nowhere, and we came along just in time and saved them. It reminds me of when Jem and Ship saved us from that escape pod,” I said. Koluna thought for a moment.

“It was similar. So you think we passed it on?” asked Koluna.

“Passed it on?” I was unclear what she meant.

“In Ori customs, when someone helps you and you help another in the same way, you are passing it on,” she explained.

“Ahh. That makes sense. Yes, we could only help that freighter, because we ourselves were once helped in the same way. And after all the freighters and their crews that died at the hands of the pirates, it was good to save one. That freighter and their crew get to make it home. No one dies this time,” I said strongly.

Koluna kissed me on the cheek. “Yes. We passed it on.”

I got up later and did my morning ritual and took a coffee and left for the main bridge. When I got there, Jem, Koluna and Laine were seated talking.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello Brian. How are you?” asked Jem.

“My head is feeling clearer. Anything new happen?” I asked.

“No. No more distress calls. No calls from the princess for you. We were just relaxing and talking,” said Jem, smiling. I was glad she now had friends to talk with. She lived alone for a long time before we turned up.

I got a coffee from the food dispenser, took a seat and smiled. “What do we have on the calendar for today?”

“Our rest and recovery was interrupted by the freighter. I think we need to extend that,” said Koluna.

“Agreed. Today is a day of rest. Try to relax,” said Jem.

I wondered about spending some time with Ship, but I figured now I was here, it would be unlikely I could get away that easy. I took a sip of coffee and looked each one in the eye. Were they waiting on me to pick something to do? I took another sip.

“I suppose we could hang out in the main dining lounge and watch some entertainment on the display there?” I asked.

“Sure, let’s do that,” said Koluna.

“Yes!” said Laine.

We all got up and left for the main dining lounge. We piled onto the sofa and Koluna picked another movie we had not seen yet. We spent the rest of the day like that, watching and talking.

The princess did not bother me that day, or the next day. I asked Ship to confirm she was well, and she was. Since she was well, I saw no reason to intrude on her privacy. I spent my time sleeping and hanging out with my crewmates.

I did not have some problems to solve from our recent encounters, so I did not have a reason to hang out with Ship. I was pleased we could help the freighter without putting our vessel at risk. Our destination was a system that Ship had been to before and reported it as friendly to Baglogi. I did not need to come up with a solution when there was no problem to solve.

The first sign of an issue was when Jem approached me when we were alone.

“Brian, I need to talk with you,” she said.

“Yes captain?” I replied.

“You have not spent time with Ship recently?” asked Jem.

“No. I do not have a pressing issue to work out with Ship. Is Ship missing my company?” I asked.

“No. Laine is. You’ve taken her with you when you spend time with Ship. Then something happened, and you stopped taking her with you to work on issues with Ship. She feels you have shut her out,” said Jem.

“I have no problems to find solutions for. I was just relaxing for the last few days and hanging out with everyone,” I said.

“But you did not spend time with her alone. She needs some of your individual attention,” said Jem.

“She has not approached me about it. When I have looked her way recently, she has frowned at me with a kind of ‘go away’ look,” I said.

“That might be differences in her culture. See what you can do to spend time with her today.”

“I will do that,” I said.

I found Laine in her cabin. The door was open, so I knocked at the entrance.

“May I enter?” I asked. She looked up and smiled.

“Come in,” she said. I sat beside her on the bed.

“Sorry I have not spent time with you individually recently,” I said. I was not sorry, but I’d learned contriteness worked with her in most cases. I sat and waited.

“What do you have in mind?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We normally spend time with Ship when there is a problem that needs a solution. Right now I can’t think of anything to fix,” I said. She looked sad at this.

I thought for a moment. “Would you like to go for a walk?”

“A walk?” she asked.

“Yes. We just walk around, visit levels and walk along corridors together. Perhaps we would get an idea for some improvements as we explored,” I said. She thought for a moment. I waited.

“Yes! Lets do that,” she replied. Her enthusiasm was back again.

We got up and left her cabin. I held her hand and we walked to the elevator. We went down to the lowest level and started there. We walked around for a couple of hours, holding hands and talking. It seemed to do the trick. I was glad she got so much out of it. For me it was mostly the exercise.

Later that evening I got another summons from the princess. I went to her cabin and pressed the chime. The door opened.

“Commander Brian, it is kind of you to visit us,” she said. Visit?? She summoned me.

“Your royal highness. It is a pleasure to visit,” I said. I could not figure out what was going on, so I played dumb.

“We wish some time away from our cabin. Kindly escort our royal person to the dining lounge,” she said.

“Your royal highness, please come this way,” I said. We went to the main dining lounge. She sat at her usual table. I gestured at the food dispenser and she nodded. I fetched two cups of coffee. I placed them on the table, and after a brief nod, I sat down beside her.

“You have our permission to speak freely commander.”

“Thank you, your royal highness. What would you like to talk about this evening?” I asked.

“We should like to learn more about you, commander,” she replied.

“Yes, your royal highness. I was born on Tian Prime. My mother was of a species known as Human. She died when I was young. I never knew my father. When I reached the age of maturity, I left Tian Prime on an Ori freighter. Eventually I ended up here,” I said. I took a sip of coffee.

She looked at me for a few moments. “You have had a busy life commander.”

“I did not plan to be so busy. I was working on a freighter and happy. Then one day pirates destroyed the freighter, and I was fortunate enough to escape in an escape pod,” I said. I’d forgot to use her title, but she ignored it.

“That is fortunate. Then what happened?” she asked.

“I was rescued. Now I serve aboard the vessel that rescued me. I rescue others, as I once was. I recently learned from my Ori crew member, to do so is to ‘pass it on’,” I said.

“An interesting idea commander. You saved the crew of that freighter, and you saved our royal person, all because you were saved...”

“Precisely, your royal highness. And if you later save others, you too will have passed it on,” I said.

“I will keep that in mind commander,” she said. I smiled.

We talked for about another hour before the princess said she was feeling tired. I escorted her back to her cabin and then returned to mine.

After about eleven days, not including our stop for the freighter, the hyper drive went offline and Ship decelerated to sub-light speed as we approached the Dentra system.

We sat in the main bridge watching the tactical display. The system was active with vessels travelling within the system.