Chapter 39 - You Ask an Awkward Question,

As you stand, redressed, in the room, you clip your helmet to your belt and look over to where Zoraida is standing. Her hair is smooth, and her attire is back to its usual elegant state. You wouldn't have been able to tell she'd just been ridden hard and fucked full of cum. She did have a bit of a glow to her, and you feel some measure of pride that she blushes as she makes eye contact with you. 

Still, something is nagging at you.

"Zoraida?" You speak up and she looks to you.

"Yes, Sol?"

"This... is kinda, totally, out of the blue, but um." You pause, but it's been a thought that's been in the back of your head for a while. "Your modifications... do they allow you to have children?" You phrase the question in that way because it seems the least crass way to bring up the subject of fertility with someone whose already explained that most of her body has been replaced by tech. 

Zoraida stiffens and her pupils narrow. Her smile is gone and she focuses on your as she remains quiet for an ironically pregnant pause. You realize full on that you've asked something a bit private, intimate, but considering how close she was to you, and how she was the only person you had of your old life, for the moment-

"I can't." She says bluntly, and with a chill to her voice.

"I see. It's just you never-" You verbally backpedal as you remain rooted in place, digging the hole just a little deeper.

"Sol." She interrupts you, stepping forward and reaching up with a graceful, powerful, arm.

"I'm sorry." You say earnestly, but she reaches out and lightly presses her palm to your cheek. 

"Let's get something to eat." She changes the subject, and you nod your head. She brushes past you, and you see Anagryros get up from the table and stretch before the silver biomechanical creature climbs up your side and perches on your shoulder. It rests a tiny paw on the top of your head and harrumphs beside you.

"Yeah." You whisper under the sound of the heavy metal door opening. 

"Ah, Miss-"

"Warrant Officer Zoraida Nejem," Zoraida introduces herself. "Corporal Davim. Captain Eclipse and I are feeling a bit peckish and the MREs on our vessel aren't exactly fine dining. I realize Vedari have a particular diet, but would there be a dining hall for guests like ourselves?" She's cool and calm as she asks the Corporal, and you step up behind her with something of a smile.

"Of course," the shorter of the two Vedari marines nods. "Not all the crew is Vedari, and some are half-human anyway so they need a bit of meat and veg to go with the red." He points down the hall, about where you came. "It's this way, we'll show you." He starts off, Zoraida walking beside him. You follow, and Corporal Hurz walks beside you.

It's a quiet walk, and you feel Zoraida pointedly ignoring you as your gaze traces over the back of her head, hoping to glance her face at each turn to get some hint of how she's feeling. Your connection to her feels narrow and limited. You can tell she's thinking, a lot, but not about what or the emotional attachments to it.

"The Captain's meeting is running long." Hurz breaks you out of your thoughts as you round the corner and hear the sounds of plates and people talking. "We got a call earlier," He explains, "Knocked on the door but you two were," He smiles, "Busy." You try and grin but there's a pit in your stomach. 

You enter the mess hall after Zoraida and Davim and get a look at what's around you. Rows of tables with men and women in uniforms sitting at them at eating various meals. Some had tall glasses of a red fluid and were slowly drinking them up, others were eating at food that fit more with what you would consider normal. On either side there's a food line and Zoraida and Davim head to one, but Hurz leads you toward another. "You'll find more to your taste on this side." He explains.

Indeed, there's a spread of grilled meats, and other breakfast foods, all laid out in a buffet style. You pick up a tray and start to plate up a dish. The chef on the other side hands Hurz a red can. It has writing on it, you guess Verdari native, and Hurz thanks the chef. You likewise thank him and look for a cashier or some kind of check out till.

"It's open to crew and guests, don't worry." He slaps you on the shoulder with a free hand. "So what did you say?" He asks, and leans in.

"I....what?"

"Golden girl was all smiles at your side, coming in, and by how you were carrying on, she certainly wasn't disappointed."

"You were listening?" You whisper quietly.

"Just a quick check to make sure you were okay, you are an 'alien' who had trouble on his tail, after all." He leads you away from the line and you see Davim pointing out various dishes to Zoraida on the other line.

"I asked.. if she... I mean we don't use..." Damn it where were the words for this kind of conversation?

"Ah, well... that's usually a sensitive topic for ladies... and if she's more metal inside than not, might be a tender one more so, for her." He states what you realize now. "Well, just let her be. Probably not mad at you." He shrugs before leading you to a unoccupied stretch of table. You both sit down and as you set down your tray, you see Zoraida sit down, her food is a bit more raw looking, a bloody steak for starters. 

"Looks good." You say to her and smile. She meets you gaze. You don't flinch or look away, and she smiles back at you, and the two of you eat. Your guards exchange smiles and after a while, light chatter starts to unfold and you get to know the marines a little better.

Davim was a varsity Zero-Disc player when he was at school and a rated expert in void boarding operations. Hurz had come from a family of Miners, which for Vedari meant they were incredibly well off, and he could have gone into the academies to be a naval officer. However he wanted to keep his feet on the ground whenever possible, and the Vedari Army fought bugs more than it did defend borders, so he joined the Marines.

You are in the middle of discussing Vedari rank structures when Hurz's uniform lets out a squawk, a small back circle on his collar let out a short sound. He holds up a hand and the talking stops. He listens and gestures for you and Zoraida to stand and explains a moment later you're being summoned to something important. 

You toss the remainder of your food down a recycling chute and stack the crockery, silverware, and trays before leaving the mess. Hurz has a professional frown on his face as he leads you and Zoraida, once again at your side, through the maze of corridors, down a flight of security stairs, and then to an elevator that takes you down several levels. Eventually he leads you out into what can only be an engineering and servicing deck. Mechanics and Engineers are all around, their orange and black jumpsuits and sealed helmets clear indicators of their role. They all seem to be working around a massive piece of scrapped debris, you recognize by the flat plane of part of it, that it's part of one of the attacking craft. 

It's nearly a quarter of the size of Golden Dancer and this is just a piece of the it. You also notice that, along the walkways and from the ceiling, security turrets trace their sights over the scrap.

"You brought it aboard?" You ask aloud. Nobody replies, but you see Captain Nuvair standing with several officers and several Engineers, their discussion animated and intense. Hurz brings you up to them, and both he and Dalim snap to salutes as Captain Nuvair turns to face your group. You also give a respectful salute. You might not be one of her officers, but again, it's her ship.

"At ease." She grants and then looks at you in particular. "Captain Eclipse, I'd hoped our next conversation would be about how we'd go about fixing Golden Dancer, but this takes priority." She holds up a hand. "May I introduce my Chief Engineering Officer, Lieutenant Turvis Arvo." A tall male Vedari, smooth all over, nods at the introduction and you greet him pleasantly.

"Thank you, Captain." He nods to his Captain. "Captain Eclipse, if I may be blunt. What were you doing before you came to our system?"

"Pardon, Lieutenant?" You blink at the question. "I was... recovering from injuries, and preparing to reunite my crew..." That was enough for him, surely.

"Because this thing," He pointed at the massive piece of machinery, "had some very interesting files in it, once we cracked it open." He pointed to portable computer, connected to a battery powered generator. A long cable connected the computer to an tear in the black metal of the machine's hull.

"You broke through its programming?" Zoraida blinked and wondered, "This quickly?" She looks at Arvo and he looks at Captain Nuvair, who nods.

"Some of the benefits of our 'research leasing' is that we get a lot of cutting edge tech. AFTER it's been safety tested and debugged, we get first dibs. Code breaking software is a major industry," He turns to look at you, "Especially Imperial Code Breaking." He says directly.

Oh, Shit. you think and look at the computer. You step between the Lieutenant and Captain Nuvair and look at the screen.

IVORI NETWORK CONSTRUCT: PURSUIT UNIT <Five of Twelve over Nine>: STATUS: Offline. ALERT: Self Destruct System Error, Detonation Failed. Awaiting Recovery. MESSAGE: I WILL FIND YOU, 'CAPTAIN' ECLIPSE. THE PERFECT DONOR WILL SERVE THE EMPIRE. THE MALFUNCTIONING CONSTRUCT WILL BE DISMANTLED.

You feel your blood run cold as you read the words. "Captain Eclipse." Captain Nuvair's tone is calm, but insistent. "What exactly happened?" You feel a hand take yours, and look to your side to see Zoraida staring at the screen, then at you. Fear is on her face, even as you feel her reach out to you for comfort.

What do you say, exactly? 