Some time later the shuttle came to our location to collect us from our day trip. It had been a tiring but also very fruitful day. Gunny having been able to rebalance himself made every single piece of effort worth it and he was incredibly grateful in return too, to Ellie especially, since it had been because of her that he could have a laugh at my expense.

  As for me, I forgave Ellie for setting up that little trap for us as it was just some plain old fun.

  After our foray we spent another couple of days finishing off our business before we had to leave. As for the course that we would be setting, the officers, together with the help of Ellie, had decided to set out for a month’s journey towards one of the nearest marked planets that we had seen on the starmap in the bunker below. We would be mapping out the space in between while also looking for signs of the empire.

  While I personally thought the course we would be setting held the increased possibility of danger, it was also clear to me that the benefit it could bring was enormous. If the precursor race truly had dotted gaia-worlds, with potentially snippets of useful technology, throughout the galaxy, getting our hands on it before any other unknown faction would be the best course of action. Those planets had been out there for way longer than humanity, of course, and the possibility of them already being discovered was there as well, given the aggressive nature of the Empire… I’d rather attempt to reach for a gun that could kill a serial murder rather than let it get snooped away from in front of our eyes.

  Before we left we called down to the planet one last time. “Jacky, if anything comes up, do use the comms arrays to contact us immediately. We will also be setting them out all the way where we are going.”

  “We will be able to hold off on our own for quite a while thanks to the aid you have provided to us, Commander. But if something comes up, we will definitely send a message right away.”

  “Thank you, take care, my friend.”

  “Same goes to you, Commander, and to your entire crew of course. I hope your travels will continue smoothly and that the Empire might get trumped by you every single step of the way. Crush them beneath that metal fist of yours.”

  I chuckled. “I would rather crush them under my boot so I don’t have to get my hands dirty, but thank you for the wellwishes.”

  We both saluted each other after which I cut off the communication feed and ordered the ship to leave the planet’s orbit so we could prepare for our FTL jump. Behind us we left a planet which was considerably more heavily defended than when we arrived. Orbital canons keeping a vigilant watch of the space around, commanded from the planet below and, at least according to Ellie, also somewhat protected thanks to the unique atmospheric conditions this planet had to thank its precursor bunker for.

  We left the system shortly after and set on our journey towards the planet we had, for now, dubbed P3X-989. The first week was spent getting back into the routine of setting out communication satellites and prospecting mineral rich sites before heading out again and repeating it over and over while we FTL-hopped from co?rdinate to co?rdinate. The monotony of it all was being remedied by my nights together with Luna, but sadly, to both of our dismay, we sadly had to put that on the shelf for a while. The Lieutenant-Commander who normally took up the other shift fell in with a bad case of space flu and as such Luna had to rotate over to the other shift for a while. This meant that we had very little time to see each other and it wasn’t doing my mood any good. We did try to at least eat our dinner on the bridge to see each other for a bit, but it provided little solace. My bed especially was feeling incredibly empty when it was time for rest. Around a week of this forced solitude was already enough to make me mentally crack a little as I sat alone in the officer’s lounge with a non-alcoholic drink in my hands, just staring at the wall in front of me.

  A tap on my shoulder brought me back to earth, figuratively speaking of course. “Commander? Did you not hear me?” It was Yuki who had apparently come to sit next to me, she had a drink sitting in front of her so she must have been there for at least a couple of moments already.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Ah, Yuki…. Sorry, my mind is not completely present at the moment…” I apologized as I rubbed my hands in my eyes. “Have you been calling out to me.”

  Yui smiled and nodded slowly. “Only a couple of times.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, my apologies.”

  “Don’t worry, Lauren.” She smiled calmly again. “Is it Luna that’s on your mind?”

  “Yeah, sadly enough it is. You heard about the situation on the bridge?”

  She nodded. “I heard about it from Eva.”

  “Pathetic, isn’t it?”

  Yuki tilted her head ever so slightly. "Pathetic? Why do you think so? I think it’s normal. You two have been two hands on one belly for almost as long as I’m part of this crew. You just miss your half that’s completing you.”

  “Hmmm.” I grumbled. Yuki did word it quite nicely. “I suppose. But if you contrast that with how I was before I met her… I’ve been alone for so long that it really hammers home how much I’ve changed.”

  “You mean the contrast with how much you didn’t mind being alone?”

  I nodded and took a sip of my drink. “Exactly.”

  Yuki nodded back and stayed silent for a moment while she looked at the wall as well, deep in thought. “This might be a bit of a weird comparison. But maybe you were once a person who didn’t eat anything but bland food. Then one day you got served a dish full of flavor and that lasted for quite a while until now, a period in which you, by necessity, need to eat bland food again… If you look at it that way, it’s not weird that you feel empty, no?”

  I scratched my cheek as I thought Yuki’s reply through.

  “Maybe it wasn’t the best comparison.” She nervously chuckled and took a sip of her own drink too.

  “No, no, it’s actually quite good.” I agreed. “Continuing that thought, I would love for at least some spices during this bland time then… At least more than just a little whiff of it from the kitchen.”

  Yuki chuckled again, this time a lot less nervous. “That’s actually a pretty fun way of saying that.”

  “I know, I’m a comedian on my off-hours when I’m not commanding.”

  “Other than a photo model and a guinea pig for the scientists?”

  “Ha ha ha.” I fake laughed. “Sounds like you have been hanging out with Gunny a little bit too much lately.”

  “On occasion.” Yuki replied.

  “Bad influence, better steer clear of him.” I laughed.

  “Haha, but he can be so funny though.”

  “Yeah, he is my sidekick comedian after all.” I smirked and then bottomed my drink. “I’m having another, do you already need another glass too, Yuki?”

  “Sure thing.” She smiled.

  I returned with the drinks and a pot of snacks and together we sat at the bar, discussing nothing much except holding each other company. At least until I cut into a more sensitive subject matter.

  “How is it going with your romantic situation by the way, if I’m not overstepping. You were up to something with one of the officers in the hangar crew, right?”

  Yuki puffed her cheeks a little. It didn’t look like a good sign.

  “Oh, sorry, I clearly encroached…”

  “Not at all.” Yuki was quick to correct me. “We talked about your love-life as well. It’s a fine subject. It’s just that we both decided that, while we did like each other, we didn’t want to get into that kind of relationship after all. So we split and decided to stay friends.”

  “Ah, I see. And are you managing that?”

  “Definitely.” Yuki smiled. “We work really well together on projects and we talk to each other a lot when we run into some issues, both work related and not. It’s just… sometimes I wish that things would have gone differently. But in the end we both made the right decision. If something is rubbing the wrong way in the relationship, it’s sometimes just better to stop it rather than stay together till the point someone gets really hurt.”

  “That’s a healthy way to handle relationships.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled.

  “Where have you learned to be such a love-guru, Yuki?”

  “Don’t pull me up to such a level, Commander.” Yuki laughed. “I’ve just had a couple of really good people in my life who held up great values. I must have gotten it from them. So you should probably thank them, but that would also mean you would need to thank yourself a little as well.”

  I paused as that last part of her sentence stunned me. “Oh, wow, you are talking about putting you on a level, and then you put me on a pedestal…”

  “It’s not a very high one if that helps.” Yuki grinned.

  I snorted. “Wow. Where is that shy Yuki kid I met on Lunar Base Delta, huh? Might have to file a missing person report. Cheeky bugger.” I drank half my drink in one fell swoop.