I felt myself starting to rely more and more on Luna over the next couple of days. And to my surprise, I didn’t hate it at all. It was as if it had lifted this enormous weight off my shoulders. Eva had noticed as well during our after-work meetings in the lounge. According to her, I’d become a lot calmer. Not in the way I acted, but how it felt to be around me. As if a storm that had been raging for ages had finally calmed down. I can’t say I disagree with that analogy. My anxiety had lessened dramatically, and I didn’t even feel the need anymore to touch alcohol at all. Although, I guess you could say I’d become a bit addicted to Luna’s presence. So much so that when the door to my cabin had finally been repaired, I didn’t even want to go back…

As for how work itself went. When I returned to active duty as Commander of the Roald Amundsen, we were still hidden away on the small planetoid McAllister had spotted. As we still had a job to do, we sadly had to leave it behind and continue jumping around from system to system.

It was not much after that when we finally received word from back home. The further we had gotten away from Earth, the longer it took for communication to go back and forwards. In our last report, we’d told them about the Dokazuuk and how we’d rescued them. The answer was… mixed about this. A part of the government had expressed their congratulations and support for our actions. Elated that we’d found alien life and had made peaceful first contact, although nervousness about the bugs did also shine through quite clearly. The admiralty however was less than happy about us risking a mission for such a ‘triviality’ but if they didn’t want me to do it my way, they shouldn’t have given me the command over this vessel. In conclusion, they told us to proceed with due caution and send back more information about new planets and resource clusters, while also keeping a close eye on our new guests. On their end they told us they were not immediately going to release information about our first contact, which was understandable, although it did give me a panging feeling in my gut.

“Commander, Jaqzic Jidaqzod would like to have a word with you.” Luna relayed a message she’d gotten on her holostick.

“Oh, tell Jacky he can come up.” I gave her a nod.

“Jacky?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah, I asked if I could call him like that because it’s easier for me. He agreed because he had noticed I always had many difficulties trying to pronounce it.”

“I didn’t know you were on such friendly terms with him.”

“Are you jealous?” I teased her a little.

“N-no.” She shyly shook her head. “I-I was just curious.”

“Well, we’ve been discussing what he and his people want to do now. He’s been debating with them for quite a while. Letting them stay on the ship isn’t optimal for both parties, so it’s important we get this decided sooner or later. And since we’ve been talking a lot, it’s become pretty amicable.”

“Huh.”

“You can take some credit for that too. It’s mostly thanks to you that I’ve had the spoons to deal with it.”

“Spoons…?” She whispered to herself, but decided not to ask about it further and just sent a message back to Jacky.

It didn’t take too long after Luna had sent the message for Jacky to appear on the bridge. He greeted me with the Dokazuuk greeting, which resembled a human wave, just slightly shorter. I did the same. Luna greeted Jacky as well.

“What did you want to talk to me about, Jacky? Have your people decided on what they want to do?” I still had to use the translation program to communicate, although I had already picked up on a couple of words. “Yes, Commander Lauren.” He said. “Is it okay if we speak here, or do you want to discuss it in private?”

“The bridge should be fine.” I nodded.

“We have reached an understanding with everyone, and if it’s alright with you and your crew, we would like to stay here until you’ve found a planet suitable to our needs.” That was the most obvious of paths, so it wasn’t too unexpected. I’d heard there were a couple of other voices that wanted to get off the ship sooner and some even wanted to stay here indefinitely, but I think this option was probably the best for both of us.

“Okay.” I gave him another nod. “It might be a while before we do find a planet like that, which is also a safe distance away from the bugs.”

“We realize this.” Jacky said. “And until you do, we will help out this ship in any way we can.”

“That’s great.” I replied. “But I do wonder, what are you planning on doing once we get to such a planet. There’s so little of you left. Do you think that will work out in the long run?”

Jacky made a low humming sound that I’d come to known as a response to something agreeable and expected. “That was also something I’d like to talk about. If you allow me.”

“Go ahead.” I nodded once again.

“Since our number is not big enough in the long term to provide safety for a colony. We’d like to cooperate with you humans to do a joint-colony project.” Jacky said. “We heard that you humans used some sort of habitats to live in inhospitable places as your first colonies.”

“Mars and the moon.” Luna nodded as well.

“I believe that’s what they called it, yes.” Jacky replied. “So we’d like to propose that we settle a planet together where we will do all the outside labor and you humans can use those habitats for research and trade.”

“That’s definitely an interesting proposal.” I scratched my cheek. “But I will need to talk this through with my superiors before I can give you a definite answer. We are sadly not in charge of the colonization effort.”

“I understand. We will await the decision of your superiors.”

Jacky then left, without saying much else. But that was how their culture was. Not a lot of formalities or small talk, just to the point.

“We should probably make a report and get it sent back to Earth.” I looked at my XO.

She nodded.

After we’d done the report, it was already pretty late in our shift. When we both headed off, Luna asked if we could meet up in the lounge for a bit. Obviously I obliged.

When we arrived, I got her and myself a drink and sat down in one of the corners, away from the other couple of officers who’d found their way to the lounge this evening.

“Did you want to talk to me about something in particular?” I asked after taking a sip of my drink.

“Hmm… well…”

“Hmm?” I tilted my head slightly.

Luna blushed a little. “I was wondering… if you wanted to continue rooming with me for a bit longer… I noticed you weren’t really happy when you had to go back to your own cabin…”

“Ah… you did?” I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. “I can’t deny that. I’ve not felt better since having roomed with you, so I definitely wouldn’t mind… Although we should probably do it in my cabin as it’s a bit bigger. If you want to, of course.”

Luna nodded. “I would like that… Can I…”

“Take your shark? Of course, you can, you don’t even need to ask. You can even decide on the wallpaper color if you want.”

Luna nodded, smiled with a slight blush and drank a bit of her soda.

“Oh, what are you two doing here in the corner all by yourself?” Eva came from behind me, with a glass of whiskey in her hand.

“We were just discussing something.” I turned around towards her and offered her the seat next to me.

She thanked me and sat down.

“Luna is going to start staying over in my room for the time being.”

“Is that so?” She smiled and looked at Luna. “Got a bit too used to bunking together?”

“Pretty much.” I smiled.

“You should always do what makes you the most comfortable.” After she said that, she took a big swig from her whiskey. It looked like she needed it.

“Rough day?”

“Well…” Our lovely doctor then went on an entire rant about how a small system error sent their entire system in disarray for a bit and apart from that how she accidentally dropped a couple of boxes of medicine right after having sorted them. Meaning she’d have to re-sort them all, all over again.

“Ouch, that does sound like a pain in the but.”

“It’s my own fault but that makes it even worse.”

“Eh, don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Both Luna and the Doctor looked at me strangely after I said that.

“Lauren, you are really not the one to talk…”

“....Fair…” I decided to shut up and take another sip as well.