TAKEN: Journey to a New Home (11 page)

  “Yeah, we found some for steal of a price and Dezek authorized the buy. A lot of clothing is made on our home world but we know you ladies love variety. So when Ax and I stumbled across them while looking for seeds and soil conditioners and some of his mechanical needs, we were able to get a good price on them,” Moz told Wendy from his end of the table. He grinned then, “I intend to collect payment for my good deed in work.”

  “But you didn’t know we’d be the ones using them,” Natalie protested in good nature. Everyone had enjoyed their day in the gardens even while doing the tedious seed project.

  “I know I just consider that my good fortune!”

  “Why did you get such a bargain on them?” Tabitha wanted to know.

  “The guy who bought them at salvage didn’t know they were for bi-peds. You should’ve seen the look his mate was giving him. She was not amused,” he said laughing.

  “How many legs did she have?”

  “Three!”

  “Shoes must be a bitch to shop for,” Natalie quipped.

The rest of the day passed on the bridge quietly. It had been a long twenty four hours and Dezek was ready to spend some time alone with Sienna. He and Fazon had completed the scheduling for the next week and the plan for the next planetary stop. In three weeks they would be at Saneera, a giant of a world with beautiful lush forests and stunning beaches in a dual star system it was a popular tourist destination. The planet never experienced a full night at any time. Saneera was stationary at an exact distance between the two stars as it turned on its axis and as a point on the surface reached the exact moment of half way between each star it experienced a sunset and sunrise simultaneously. The effect was breathtaking and romantic. He hoped to share it with Sienna. But until then he was going to see if she would have dinner with him.

  “Fazon, did you and Axon manage to find one of the other crates of clothing?” he asked.

  “We did. We put it in the lounge again since we have Blanca locked up. I let Rose know. She indicated that she and the others were taking on tomorrow’s meal. Apparently Sienna and the ladies spent time with Moz testing and tasting herbs in gardens after they helped him sort his seeds today. They’re intending to pull something from the freeze and cook for us. I personally am looking forward to it. Tek and his crew can stay out of the kitchen forever as far as I’m concerned after the last ‘meal’ he was responsible for,” Fazon responded. Everyone on the bridge laughed and agreed. The second shift pilot definitely could not cook despite what he thought.

  “You seem to be communicating well with Rose.”

  “Her mind is strong. If someone told me she’d been ‘talking’ less than twenty four hours I don’t know if I’d believe them. She’s been able to reach all twenty five of us. Vax said the only person she has trouble getting a message through to is Gval. He heard her but her message evidently wasn’t clear. He only understood that she was trying to reach him and sought her out. That head injury he suffered as child sometimes plagues him still I think. I told her not to worry too much over it since unless he’s in my line of sight my messages to him are garbled as well,” Fazon elaborated.

  Dezek sometimes worried about his third being isolated. Attacked as a child by a Twariak beast, while he and his family were visiting his mother’s home planet he had nearly died from the brain injury. One of the animal’s tusks had penetrated his skull and it had taken four healers nearly a full day to repair him but it turned out to be incomplete. A quiet individual with not many friends, Gval always took the night shift so as not to deal with as many people. His inability to camouflage prevented him from leaving the ship at any time during voyages though that was not common knowledge. His difficulty in ‘talking’ made others uncomfortable around him but he was reliable and steady. Dezek knew that some were surprised by his confidence in the other man but Gval had never once disappointed and frequently saw things that others missed since his limitations had forced an increase in his observation skills. Even Fazon had come around after working with Gval on several voyages and Fazon was tough to impress. Dezek had always been able to reach him so perhaps Rose would eventually manage it too since it appeared she was growing to be a very powerful telepath in a very short span of time. The man in question exited the lift shaking his head but smiling wide.

  “Something you want to share?” Dezek asked.

  “Rose. She’s spent the last two hours poking me. It’s driving her crazy that her messages are garbled,” he laughed. “She’s refusing to admit she might only be able to summon me and not ‘talk’. I actually think someone else is finally more annoyed by my limitation than I am.” He smiled again. “Anything pressing for the night?”

  “No. I’m hoping we have a quiet night. Watch your sensors though. My intuition is still grabbing at me about that Trusky.”

  “Acknowledged. Tek and I will keep a full sensor sweep going. If your gut is still talking, I’m listening,” Gval told him as he took the chair.

  Dezek headed for the lift. The door opened and produced Tek and the other two members of the night crew. Dezek nodded to them and he and Nyman entered the lift. Dezek got out on Eighteen and Nyman said goodnight and went on to the crew quarters on Sixteen. The other half of crew quarters was on Fifteen. He headed for the lounge looking for Sienna. He found Wendy, Natalie and Tabitha instead. The women had a tablet and a stylus and piles of clothing on every flat surface.

  He leaned against the jamb of door, “Not prepping for another bonfire, I hope.”

  “No,” they said as one laughing.

  “We’re inventorying the crate and making a list of what’s here and the approximate sizes,” Wendy told him. “Sienna and the others are cooking and we were banned from the kitchen.” The last was said with a cheeky smile. “I can burn water, Natalie is all thumbs and Tabitha says she’d rather do
anything
than cook. We volunteered to go through the crate of clothes. We’ve got another ten minutes or so here and then we’re headed to taste test.”

  “Then I’ll see you downstairs.” He nodded to the ladies and headed back to the lift. As he passed Blanca’s door he shook his head. He was hoping that he’d be able to make some progress with her after she had time to think and he had time to calm down. He had a bad feeling that she might make the next few months a trial but he wasn’t going to cut the supply run short for one spoilt girl. He’d keep her locked in that room the whole trip first. He exited the lift on Seventeen and walked to the Dining hall and pulled up short.

  About half of the off duty crew appeared to be in the room and it was filled with mouth-watering smells. He nodded to crew as he headed to the kitchen but none of them spoke to him. They couldn’t, they were too busy stuffing themselves with whatever smelled so good. He entered the kitchen and smiled.

Sienna was in her element here. She was stirring a pot and giving instructions to Rose, who had a tablet in hand, that sounded like a recipe in the making. Holly and Jasmine were filling plates for crew members following their noses to the kitchen. Samantha was kneading and cutting some type of dough at a work table. Taylor was removing pans of small baked bread forms from the ovens. It was organized chaos.

  “You’re going to spoil them. You know that, right?” he asked with a wide smile. She looked beautiful. She was smiling and slightly flushed with excitement. The smile was glowing out of her eyes. He could feel her energy filling the kitchen.

  “That’s okay. We just wanted to use the equipment and test some of the herbs Moz and Taylor provided. The smells brought in volunteers from the rec rooms for taste testing,” she laughed. “We’re taking over dinner tomorrow from Tek and his crew so we wanted a little hands-on. We’ve already been offered bribes if we keep him out the kitchen permanently.”

  “You know you didn’t have to jump in so soon,” he said in a soft tone.

  “We know but we’re all used to being useful and working. Sitting around just isn’t for us,” she replied to him. “We had nearly a month of doing nothing, but thank you for thinking of us. Now, would you like to eat?”

  “Definitely. If it tastes anywhere close to how it smells, I’ll tie Tek up and dump him in Cargo myself.”

  “Go find a seat. I’ll bring you something.”

  Following her instructions he turned back to the hall and saw Wendy and her group entering followed by Rev and Ashaa. He sat and Rev took a seat next to him while the ladies headed for the kitchen.

  “How is Ashaa?” he looked at Rev.

  “She seems to have completely recovered. Vax gave her the all clear a few minutes ago.”

  “That’s good. I was really worried for a while.”

  “So was I.”

  “Have you talked with her about her other potential capabilities yet?”

  “No,” Rev shook his head. “I wanted an all clear from Vax first and he wants her well rested before she attempts a shift. She’s ‘talking’ though.”

  The women reappeared and put a stop to the conversation. Sienna placed a plate in front of Dezek and sat next to him with her own. Ashaa placed one in front of Rev and sat with them. He saw Wendy and several of the others reappear with plates and find seats among his crew. Wendy he noticed had made straight for Fazon who’d come in while he was in the kitchen. He looked down at the plate and breathed in the delicious scent. The first mouthful didn’t disappoint. He groaned, “Damn, that’s good.”

  “I’ll second that,” Rev added. “I’ll volunteer to wash if you cook,” he told Sienna.

  “I’m glad you like it. Did Blanca need anything else?” she answered.

  “No,” Ashaa shook her head, “she refused to speak to either of us. I thought for a minute she would throw it at us but Rev warned her we wouldn’t bring her anything else until morning and she would either starve or eat off the floor.”

  “The two of you fed her,” Dezek questioned.

  “Yes. Everyone else was busy so I volunteered. I don’t know how to cook or size clothing and there were no dishes to wash yet. Rev didn’t want me to go alone so he came along while I delivered her meal.”

  “That’s for the best. Ashaa, I know she probably can’t seriously injure you but it still wouldn’t surprise me if she tried. So the ‘pairs’ thing goes for everyone,” he told her.

  “Got it.” Ashaa nodded. Dezek watched as several more off duty crew followed their noses in and Sienna waved them to the kitchen where Samantha had taken over so she could eat.

  “They are definitely going to be spoiled,” he said shaking his head and returned to his own meal. They finished the meal with Rev and Dezek asking questions about how it was cooked and which protein she had pulled from the freeze unit. Once they had finished their meal, he and Rev gathered the dishes from the four and headed to the kitchen with the dishes, ready to clean. He was pleased to discover several crew members already at work washing dishes and cleaning. “Thank you for cleaning up, guys.”

  “Are you kidding, for a meal like that I’d wash dishes every day,” Nyman told him from in front of the cleaning unit he was loading.

  “Sign us up for duty,” several others joined Nyman in agreement. They were putting the kitchen to rights under direction from Samantha and Jasmine. He shook his head and turned over his stack to Nyman.

  “You seemed to have it covered in here so I’ll go help wipe down tables,” he told the pilot. “Tomorrow I’ll wash.” With that Dezek left the kitchen and he and Rev helped Axon and Ashaa finish wiping down the tables. He sat next to Sienna who was stilling smiling as she and Rose finalized tomorrow’s dinner menu. Vax entered the door and headed their way. He sat next to Rose and took her hand.

  “We’ll go with that, Rose,” Sienna smiled at the young couple, “enjoy your evening.” Rose waved and she left with Vax. It was hard to believe that a little more than twenty four hours ago it had necessary to rescue the women. They fit in with his crew with ease and most of them had an outstanding work ethic. He looked at Sienna and knew she was going to try pull back from him. He could feel her hesitation again. She smiled as she turned to him, “Did you need something?”

  “Just you for a little while.”

  “Well, I still have to go to the lounge and pick out some more clothing,” she told him.

  “So I’ll tag along,” he smiled at her, her skin prickled, and she shook her head slightly to clear it. The man was way too dangerous with that smile. And worse yet he knew it too! Something about him just spoke to her. She known him little more than a full day and yet whenever he was close she knew. She couldn’t explain it or how comfortable he felt to her. As they entered the lift he took her hand in his. They found most of the other women still in the lounge going through their options. Wendy, Samantha and Holly seemed to be in a discussion over several tops.

  “I’ll wait here for you,” Dezek told her as he leaned against the jamb. Rev clapped him on the shoulder as Ashaa passed him into the room. She too stopped at where the other women were discussing the tops.

  “Decided you were safer on this side?” Rev joked with him.

  “Undoubtedly.”

***

  “So I can easily alter this style and the other without too much trouble when you start to show,” Wendy was telling Holly and Samantha. “Axon also said he had a crate of fabric and sewing supplies he could let me dig through.”

  “You sew?” Sienna asked Wendy.

  “Like a champ. I can’t cook at all but I can sew just about anything.”

  “Great, that will help with the maternity wear while we’re out here,” Holly said.

  “We’ll be out here that long?” Natalie asked.

  “Yes, according to Ax this trip is scheduled to be several months long. Even though they weren’t planning to acquire us, they have the resources available to continue on so Dezek has elected to do that,” Holly told them.

  “The two you seemed to hit off well at dinner. And I like the nickname,” Wendy observed as Holly blushed. Her blonde hair and light complexion making her almost as easy to read as Rose.

  “He’s nice. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him at first because he kept giving me these odd looks. I thought he might be mad that I teased him about Blanca and her valet demand,” Holly smiled. “But when he wound up sitting next to me at dinner, he admitted that he keeps hearing the babies. It was startling for him. We had a laugh over it when I told him I feel the same way when they move.” She said with the infectious laugh that Sienna found she liked.