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“We asked Delaney for some suggestions for the Tallean-human fusion food Reka 5 is so famous for,” Berus explained. “That must be one of the orders now.”
Oneof the orders? Ulrek grinned. Berus had a habit of ordering much more food than the crew could possibly eat so he could sample everything. He loved food and it showed. If he didn’t train every day, he would be fat, but as it was he was a rock-solid mountain of a male.
Ulrek didn’t mind. He loved to eat too. His crew’s palate ran far and wide, and he set aside a generous budget for acquiring local and specialty food. It was especially important on a ship like this, where the crew came from all different corners of the galaxy.
Homesickness was an inevitable condition out in the vast expanse of space, no matter how accustomed you were to traveling the galaxy. Having access to nostalgic scents and flavors helped, especially since many of his crew would never see their home worlds again. Himself included.
Even if he did make it all the way back to his planet, sneaking through the strictest of Dominion Space, he didn’t have anyone to return to, so why bother? His only family, his mother, had disowned him. She’d probably be happy to report his presence to the Dominion herself.
So all he had now were memories. The crew was the closest thing he had to family, together with Kean, the ruthless ruler of Vosthea.
Kean had offered him a piece of Vosthea, since Ulrek had been partially responsible for getting Kean’s well-produced drug to the inner planets after the Dominion outlawed it. The very secret and very illegal earnings had been crucial in his escape from the system.
But Ulrek wasn’t interested in ruling anything. He didn’t need everyone bowing to him to his face, only to conspire against him behind his back. Perhaps one day, when he was mated and ready to settle down, he’d take up the offer. Or not.
Mated. He looked at Delaney. Would she be strong enough to run a section of an outlaw planet with him? Probably. Would she want to, though? He doubted it.
Stars! How did that thought even make its way into his head? Delaney was not his mate.
As they ate, the crew asked Delaney about the food and the Earth ingredients she’d helped grow at the greenhouses.
“We have a food production lab. It’s not really being used except to raise tepins. They’re so easy to care for. So that hardly counts,” Berus said.
“I can get that set up too,” Delaney said. “It’s not hard to manage once it gets going.”
The whole crew looked excited at that, but Ulrek noticed she’d only said she’d set it up and that it was easy to manage, not that she’d be here to manage it.
While both Talleans and humans could subsist just fine on replicated food and travel rations, the real thing was always welcomed. It improved morale, and a happy crew was a loyal crew in Ulrek’s books.
“Berus, you’re getting ahead of yourself,” Gavin said. “You seem to have forgotten that none of us cook, unless you count charring pieces of tepin into a barely edible mess cooking.”
“Yeah, sorry, can’t help you there,” Delaney said with a laugh. “I only grow things. You don’t want me in the kitchen.”
“There’s the NovaChef,” Tahra suggested tentatively. “We rarely use it, but doesn’t it do everything? We can look up some simple recipes and see what we need to grow to make them.”
“You have a NovaChef?” Delaney asked. “I keep seeing ads for those everywhere. Aren’t they crazy expensive?”
“It’s the shipboard edition. It was Ulrek’s idea,” Tahra shrugged.
Delaney's eyes landed on him. “I’d have never guessed.”
Ulrek grunted. “I like food.”
There was, as he’d expected, a lot of leftovers, which was just as well. Leftovers did not last long on theRevenge, not with so many hungry mouths aboard. As the members of his crew made their way back to their quarters, Delaney stood as well. When she got to the hallway, she turned the wrong way.
“Where are you going?”
Delaney turned around and smiled at him. “To my room.” She pressed her palm to the panel of Groden’s old room, and the door slid open. “Goodnight, Captain. Sleep tight.” She winked at him, then stepped inside.
Ulrek clenched his jaw as the door slid closed. Behind him, Tahra laughed.
“Sleep tight, Captain,” Tahra mimicked Delaney’s words in a singsong voice. Then she, too, disappeared into her room.
Chapter 19
Ulrek
Ulrek waited for Delaney outside the greenroom the next morning. By the look on her face when she arrived and spotted him, he was the last person she wanted to see. He wondered if she’d spent the entire night thinking about him like he did about her, or if she’d fallen asleep easily.
