Chapter 32

Jack took a long drink of coffee as he looked over the onboard systems at the watch officer station. Kejeh had just turned the bridge over to him and he was not looking forward to his first full night watch. A few moments later, Kazlaena joined him with an enthusiastic look.

“So um, we stay up all sa night?” She asked.

“We will,” Jack gave her a nod.” You think it’s gonna be fun, huh?”

“Yes,” she looked at him curiously. “Is it not going to be fun?”

“This is your first all-nighter,” Jack grinned. “Let’s see how well you hold up by 04:00, and that’s only halfway through.”

“Oh, you sink so, ‘uh?” Kazlaena set her hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side. “Make sa bet?”

“A bet, hmm...” Jack thought about that. “Ok, what’s the condition?”

“Um,” Kazlaena was silent as she went into thought. “If I make it, you ‘ave to convince sa captain to let us go for a daytrip or somesing so we can do some sopping.”

“Some shopping, huh?” Jack broke out into laughter when she took a few fast paces to him and pretended to punch him around the waistline. “Ok, ok, but if I win, you have to write a song for me, and sing it in front of the entire crew.”

“Ahhh!” Kazlaena jumped back. “Sat’s not fair. No!”

“Deal?” Jack gave her a comically wicked grin.

“Jack, don’t do sat,” Kazlaena covered her face with her hands for a moment. “I cannot risk ‘aving to do somesing like sat.”

“No? Well, alright then,” he smiled at her.

“Errrr, ok, sa deal,” Kazlaena said, reluctantly. “Now I definitely ‘ave to stay up. I am not good wis sa song singing. Sis is really not fair!”

“You’ll do fine,” Jack gave her a wink and looked at the clock. “Now, to stay awake through seven hours and fifty minutes, that is the challenge.”

“I can do it,” Kazlaena looked at him confidently. “I will make it.”

01:00

The first hour had been routine with Jack going over some extended responsibilities of the deck department while in port. Once Kazlaena had absorbed most of that, they had fallen to small talk.

“So, um, is it ‘ard to fly sa small spacesip?” Kazlaena asked as they stood by the external viewscreen.

“There’s more to it than flying a larger one, in some respects,” Jack said. “But nothing you couldn’t handle. If the craft is atmosphere capable, then there is a great deal more to learn.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You have to have atmospheric flight knowledge. That takes quite a bit of time to learn.”

“So sa Scapa of yours is sa atmosphere capable?” Kazlaena asked.

“Yeah. You interested in learning flight I presume?” Jack asked.

“Um, yes,” Kazlaena replied.

“What makes you interested?”

“I um, I like sa look and feel of it. I like to see out, all around and be in sa little flying craft. It feels like I could go off and explore all of sa space forever.”

“Well, don’t make a nav mistake or you might literally do that,” Jack patted her back.

“Um, if you sow me, I sould be ok, yes?”

“If that’s what you want lil Sprocket, we can do,” Jack felt her lean into him and he pulled her in close.

“I really do,” she said.

“We can add it to the list of the ‘to dos.”

“So long as you are sa instructor, right?”

“Of course,” Jack smiled down at her as she grinned back. “Why? You worried the Proc-nado would be your teacher?”

“Um...” Kazlaena was silent for a moment. “I would not care if ‘e was not so mean about sings. I feel ‘e treats me like many treat sa Vandean stereotype, sat we are slow and silly and maybe a bit stupid.”

“Any extracurricular learning projects will be done through me, or whoever you choose if you want another. He would have no reason to teach you anyway, he doesn’t have a license for small craft.” Jack tried to sound re-assuring where it was needed. “And I’ve seen that attitude in him too, it’s why I like to mess with him.”

“Please stop sat,” Kazlaena looked up at him. “I do not want you in trouble for looking out for me. ‘e may act poorly but I can ignore most of sat stuff.”

“No,” Jack shook his head and saw her lower her ears a bit as if she was scorned. “Just because you can take it, doesn’t mean you should have to. Just because you don’t want me in trouble or to stick up for you all the time, doesn’t mean I won’t when I see bad behavior. It ain’t right to stand idle and let it happen because it allows someone to continue acting that way. They may still act poorly, but at least they’ll always have that concern that someone may stand up to them and it might make them hesitate, if not straighten out their attitude, even just a little.”

“Um, I just don’t want you in trouble all sa time,” Kazlaena replied.

“It’s ok,” Jack patted her back. “I won’t be, I promise.”

“Um, ok sen,” Kazlaena accepted his response. “So um, when can we start sa training for sa small sips?”

“When do you want to?”

“Now...” Kazlaena grinned.

“Uh, maybe give it a couple days, ok? I gotta get some info together for you to start reading over,” Jack said. “There’s a few League-wide net sites that have some good fundamentals to read up on.”

“Um, ok, I look forward to it!” Kazlaena spoke gleefully.

“Lucky too, that my Scapa has that second seat.” Jack said. “Though I’m gonna need to reintegrate the user interface for proper space flight in the buddy seat.”

“Is sat um, sa big ‘assle for you?” Kazlaena asked.

“No assle.” Jack replied.

“Ok, my name is Jack, I smoke and swear and make fun of my friend’s way of not saying sa certain sounds.” Kazlaena said in a goofy voice.

Jack reached for her to get her in a tickle hold, but she avoided him and moved away, then he held up his hands in surrender.

“Sa ‘eartswear no tickle?” She asked.

“Heart swear no tickle.” Jack replied and she came back over, looking up at him with a grin before focusing on the external viewscreen.

For a while they stood in silence, looking out over the view of the space station, watching traffic moving back and forth as it disappeared out of sight. The blue/green sphere of Pranza Secundus sat in the background, mostly obscured from view by the station, but made a pretty backdrop all the same.

02:00

Jack sat on the floor of the bridge, holding several playing cards while Kazlaena lay on her stomach directly across from him, looking over her own cards.

“Um, I um, go fis.” Kazlaena replied as she looked over the massive cluster of cards in her hand.

“Ach,” Jack grunted as he picked one of the spread-out cards in the ‘pond’ that was between them.

“Sa bad card?”

“Sa bad card,” Jack answered.

“Oh, bad word, oh angry swear,” Kazlaena joked back, pretending to be a little over dramatic.

“Oh shit is right,” Jack provoked her and saw her set her deck down, staring at him with an open mouth in shock.

“Jack!”

“Sorry Kiddo,” Jack laughed as he gave his hand the stink eye. “Just not having dat luck here.”

“Sa luck?” Kazlaena looked at the several books of cards he had lain down against a single book of fours on her side. The ‘pond’ was almost empty of fishing cards, meaning the game was getting close to ending. “‘ow about sis luck?” She motioned to more than a dozen cards she had in her hand.

“It’s anyone’s game,” Jack remarked in a goofy manner. “Anything can happen.”

“Um, ok, well, sa sevens?” Kazlaena asked.

“One,” Jack handed her his card.

“Yay!” Kazlaena dropped another book. “Um, sa nines?”

“Err,” Jack made a bit of a silly noise as he handed over a nine and she dropped another book. “What the frick!”

“Ok, ‘ow about sa, um, sa twos?”

“Hmmm,” Jack looked at her suspiciously. “You got see through vision or something?”

“Um, no,” She replied quickly.

Jack passed her over his two and she dropped her twos as well.

“Ok, sa kings?”

“Go fish,” Jack said with some relief.

Kazlaena reached down and hovered over a card for a moment, then suddenly chose another. “Sis one, Oh! Um...” She dropped her kings and held up five cards in her hand.

Jack looked over his situation. He had four cards in hand, two of them matched. She had five unknowns. She had five books before her, making them on equal terms. It all came down to him trying to drop his pair of ten cards.

“Tens, you got tens?” He asked.

She handed over a single card to which he said. “Uh oh.”

“Oh, no?” She asked.

“Pretty much,” Jack back handed his cards lightly. “Was hoping you had two.”

“Oh? Um, got sa queens?” Kazlaena asked and Jack handed over a card. “Eee!” Jack watched her set down another book and he bit his lip.

“Asked for the wrong damned cards,” he said to himself. “Unreal. Alright, sixes?”

“Sa last card,” Kazlaena handed him over her six and he shook his head.

“You keep plastering me on these card games, what gives?”

“I don’t know,” Kazlaena shrugged. “You are not sa lucky!”

“That rightly so, you figure? Maybe you got cards hidin in that there fur on them arms, Pardner!”

“Feller’s casting sa weak accusations wisout sinkin ‘ard bout ‘is own namesake, Bad Luck Jack.” Kazlaena replied.

“I’ll fix yer wagon yet, Sherriff!” Jack took in all the cards and began shuffling them.

“I got sa eye on you...” Kazlaena started laughing and tried to muffle it. “Me and sa deputy are rightly watchin yer game.”

“Oh, speaking of...” Jack looked at his watch and sighed. “Ah, damn, Pri’s probably asleep now.”

“Um?” Kazlaena raised a brow. “What was sa intent?”

“Prank calls to medical.”

“Oh.” Kazlaena hid her face for a moment, mumbling soemthing under her breath as she shook her head.

“I won’t antagonize the deputy.” Jack assured her, then started dealing out cards for their next game. “Besides, I reckon I gots a win to secure.”

“Yer on,” Kazlaena remarked as she began collecting her cards. “Best get to steppin right wis sem sere cards in ‘and.”

Jack smiled at her before asking for sixes.

“Um, go fis.”

03:00

Jack held out a pepperoni stick and Kazlaena went to grab it with a thankful nod, but he suddenly held the stick up, out of her reach.

“Ack! ‘ey, sat’s not fair,” She said as she jumped up for the stick but missed as he moved it away. She could jump high enough but he was quick enough to avoid her grasp.

Kazlaena tried jumping a few times, but each time he moved the stick away. She resorted a couple of times to pretending not to care but he was just frustratingly quick. She stood before him finally, staring at him with a blank expression. He looked back equally so, then caught the briefest glimmer of a grin from her before both her hands patted him quickly on the belly. The sudden action made him bend over slightly and her hand swooped up, taking the stick from his grasp, leaving him laughing uncontrollably as she bit a chunk of pepperoni off.

“Sat’s ‘ow you ‘andle sat,” she said as she looked over the info panel on the Watch Station.

A few moments later, they were playing a clapping game of sorts, where they clapped their hands, then each other’s hands in a predetermined manner.

“Alright, truth or dare time?” Jack asked and Kazlaena held her hands firm, pausing the game as she thought of his suggestion.

“Um, ok, truse,” Kazlaena started clapping hands again.

“Hmm, have you ever been in a relationship?”

“You mean like sa dating,” She saw Jack nod. “Um, no...”

“Didn’t find the right one?” Jack asked politely.

“Um, no,” Kazlaena thought for a moment. “Sa Vandeans take relationsips pretty serious Jack. We make sure we find sa right one first. Not many sared my ensusiasm wis sa space.”

“Oh,” Jack paused for a moment. “Sorry for that. I could imagine it must’ve been complicated.”

“Sa ok sough,” Kazlaena smiled at him. “We will see ‘ow sings go. Ok, my turn, um, pick,”

“Truth,” Jack replied.

“Um, ok, ‘ow about, uhhh, if you ‘ad to do anoser line of work, what would it be?”

“Hmm,” Jack thought. “There are a few. Pilot maybe. I like cultural stuff too. Working with other races is pretty interesting.”

“Is sat like diplomacy stuff?”

“I suppose,” Jack answered. “My parents had a thing set up where people moving to Artema could stay with us for a couple of months. That gave them time to get established while living with a local family and getting used to everything involved with moving to a new world.”

“Oh, sat’s pretty neat. Pretty kind sing to do!” Kazlaena cheerfully replied.

“Yeah, it gave me a chance to understand a lot of the races. Also showed me what many of them go through, how they get passed over for things and accused of things that aren’t true. I gained several friends from that program though, some who I’m still in contact with today.”

“Um, not all?” Kazlaena asked, then paused in their clapping game as she thought on something.

“Not all,” Jack spoke quietly. “Not everyone made it through the bad times...”

“I’m sorry,” Kazlaena saw him shake his head at her.

“No, it’s ok Kaz...” He let out a sigh. “That stuff is a part of history, and it shouldn’t be forgotten so that we can learn from it and be better. For their part, I keep their memory close to heart and even talk with their surviving family members from time to time.”

She nodded, then continued the clapping game when he motioned for them to keep going.

“Don’t worry about that stuff though, ok?” Jack saw her nod but he could tell she was growing unhappy with his continued dismissal of it. “Wounds heal, physical and emotional.”

She deserved a proper answer, but he just had no idea how to break the ice on such a difficult topic, especially in a way she could understand.

“Eh, c’mon, let’s keep the game going, yeah?” Jack saw her nod. “Ok, ask me sa question.” Kazlaena requested and Jack did so. “Um, truth, dare seems sa bit silly wis just us two.”

“Maybe,” Jack said. “Dares can be done at a later time though, like dare debt. I seem to remember you having some last time we played this.”

“Um,” Kazlaena lowered her head, causing her to miss a few claps as her hands strayed.

“Ok, no more debt, just uh, take me out to dinner sometime, how’s bout that? And you pick, but no need to pay. I’ll cover it.”

“Um, I can live wis sat,” She looked up at him and grinned.

“Ok, so, your most embarrassing memory, go.”

Kazlaena froze on the clapping game and brought her hands together uncomfortably.

“I um...” She lowered her head.

“Oh no, that bad huh?” Jack asked.

“Um, is,” Kazlaena ran her hand through her hair a few times and looked away.

“Hey, we can move on, I can ask something else.”

“No,” Kazlaena looked at him intently. “I um, never talk about it so, um, somesing sat still makes me feel embarrassed and bad inside.”

“Oh?”

“Most of my um, secret stuff I do tell you because I trust you wis it.” Kazlaena took a deep breath. “ I um, remember sat oser crew I was wis? Sa one when we first met?”

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Jack scowled at their memory.

“Sa whole trip up until I met you was sa most embarrassing sing for me. Sey put my resort room on sa far side of sa resort. Sey said sat was sa only available room for me. Sey would take me on sa trips to meet clients but would say I was not smart enous to be in sa meetings. I would sit around anywhere I could, somesimes in uncomfortable situations like outside sa buildings and get confronted somesimes by people. Even sa guards would tell me not to loiter and I ‘ad to roam around until sey were done and sey would be mad at me for not being sere...” Kazlaena let out a deep, frustrated breath. “Sey said my closing bag was lost in sa luggage so I ‘ad to buy all new stuff. I um, found out most of it was sa joke. Sey made bets on ‘ow long it would take me to get from my room to meet wis sem. Sey also made bets on what I would buy for sa new wardrobe. Sey were pretty mean about sa lot of sings, but not directly. Sey were always subtle about sat.” Kazlaena wrapped her arms around herself and lowered her head. “Sat’s my most embarrassing memory. So, when people ask why I like you and being wis you, it’s because you ‘elped me get away from sat and never, ever treat me like sat...”

“Oh, Sprockie, I didn’t know it was that bad,” Jack said as he knelt in front of her.

“You saw it and did somesing about it. Sat’s what matters most.” She took him in a tight hug. “My big, sweet, soft, marsmallow.”

“Marsmallow huh?” Jack grinned. “I come from Mars?”

“No, you come from sa swearworld, sa name is all of your swears lined up in a row, one word. Main language is one swear after anoser like bleep bleep my bleeping bleep.”

“Ah, damn, always wondered where that language came from,” Jack grinned as he fought his mounting laughter.

“Um, ok, you pick, probably going to be truse, yes?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “Truth.”

“Um, ok sen, ‘ow about...” Kazlaena looked up at him intently. “Will we always be sa friends? No matter ‘ow far apart we are or live?”

“We did the friendship oath,” Jack said. “I made that promise. We will always be friends. You will always be my little sister.”

“Um,” Kazlaena looked at him gently. “Sa feeling is sa same wis me,” She clung to him tightly for a few moments. “I um, tell myself to give you at least sree ‘ugs a day, more if I can find sa opportunity.”

“Heh, well, don’t stop with that, ok?” Jack patted her back.

“I won’t,” she said. “Um, ok so, I guess it’s my turn, yes?”

“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “Truth or, well, truth,”

“Hehe,” Kazlaena giggled. “Um, truse,”

04:00

Kazlaena yawned briefly before taking a drink of Lenla tea. It was a common tea made from Lenla flower petals that grew on Vandea Secundus. Used primarily as an anti-inflammatory, it had a side effect of providing energy in limited doses, much like caffeine.

“You gonna make it?” Jack asked from over by the coffee maker.

“Um, ‘ope so,” Kazlaena grinned. “Got sa serious bet on sa line.”

“Yeah somewhat. Still...” He paused a moment. “ ... I’m the one that needs to convince the captain.”