It took Grom all of five minutes to regain control of his ship. After leaving his bedchambers and witnessing the mania that had infected his crew, Grom headed straight to the control room where the main intercom system was located.

“Everyone, this is your captain speaking.” His voice boomed throughout the entire ship, causing everyone to pause their respective bouts of fighting, fucking, and free-for-alling. “I don’t know what has gotten into all of you, and I don’t care. You are commanded to stop this madness, clean up the damn ship, and return to your assigned chambers. You have one minute to get yourselves in order, and after that, anyone who I witness still misbehaving, I will launch immediately into space. No questions asked.”

Most of the crewmembers were already roaming the halls, picking up garbage or mopping up beer by the time Grom left the control room. They each straightened up and saluted him as he passed, though he paid them no mind. The chaos of the ship had distracted him for a moment, but now that things were back in order, his mind was free to wander back to the evenings events. He thought of Sarah, the way her naked body looked sprawled across his sheets. He thought of the way she smelled, the feeling of her breath caressing his ear as she moaned. He felt a pang of anticipation in his groin.

Shaking his head he tried to think about something less enticing. He forced himself to list all the ways she infuriated him. She’s stubborn, pompous, sarcastic, not to mention she’s human. The red hot desire in his belly began to cool. This is good, what else, she’s too talkative, her nose is turned up so she looks like one of those fat, pink, earthly animals, and speaking of noses! She’s the nosiest creature I’ve ever met. His mind raced, counting all the times she had asked too many questions and inquired too deeply into his life. But as he remembered each of these moments, he did not feel the intense anger he was expecting; rather, he began to feel an overwhelming gratitude for this newfound connection he had unknowingly made with another living being.

Grom waited almost an hour before returning to his chambers, ensuring there was no chance Sarah would still be there. Upon opening the door and realizing the room was in fact empty, he felt both relieved and disappointed. He made his way over to the large, dark wood desk and pulled a fancy bottle of Hexa-Juice out from one of its drawers. Using his large water glass, he poured himself a triple and walked over to the window. The stars speckled the sky and reminded Grom of the brown spots that speckled Sarah’s face. There was a large reddish-orange planet off in the distance, and Grom couldn’t quite think of the name, though he knew he’d passed it before. His wife, Arra, had always been the smart one. She knew the names of dozens of planets and hundreds of constellations. He used to love lying outside at night, watching the night sky with her. She would fire off name after name, pointing eagerly with each new discovery. And Grom would just smile and nod, knowing he would never remember any of the names and that she might as well be speaking a different language.

Grom reached for the bottle, but instead of pouring more into his glass, he poured a bit out onto the floor. “For you, my darling Arra.”

Although Grom had been with other women since his wife’s passing, this was the first time he had been with someone whom he had feelings for. What those feelings were exactly, he wasn’t sure, but something was stirring inside of him, and for that, he felt he had to spend a moment remembering the woman he once thought he would spend the rest of his life with.

The Slipsteam powered on towards the brilliant, fiery planet and suddenly Grom remembered.

“Kinichi!” he said. “That’s your name.” He pointed out the window at the planet. It was one of his wife’s favorites. She always had a thing for color, and the brightest planets were always her favorites. Fueled by his excitement of things to come, Grom rushed over to the intercom system by the door and called over to the pilots quarters.

“It’s Grom.”

“Don’t worry, sir, I have cleaned up my mess and I am headed off to bed. Alone. Completely alone.”

“Well, that’s uh, that’s great. But I was actually wondering what our next stop is.”

“Um, let me check.” There was a brief pause. “My logs show that we will be stopping in five days to refuel on a planet called Kinachi?”

“Kinichi.”

“Yes, that’s right, Kinichi.”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

There was another, longer pause. Grom spoke again. “Is something the matter?”

“No, it’s just…well, I don’t think you’ve ever said thank you to me before.”

“I haven’t? Oh that’s ridiculous, I’m sure I have.”

“Nope, I don’t think so.”

“Oh. Well, I’m, uh, really tired. Don’t think anything of it.”

“Roger that, Captain. Goodnight.”

Grom didn’t reply. Instead he rushed back to his desk and started rifling through his drawers. In the one where the Hexa-Juice had been, he found an old bottle of wine he had acquired during his pillaging of a fancy tourist ship six months back. He paired that with an expensive cocoa-bean bar that had been gifted to him by a very satisfied client. The label on the bar was in a language Grom didn’t recognize, but he could recall the client raving about it being the most delicious treat in the galaxy.

With his goodies in tow, Grom did a quick check in the mirror and slipped out of his room, his whole body tingling.

A beer bottle narrowly missed Sarah’s head and shattered against the wall next to Grom’s door. She had waited only a minute or two after Grom left to depart, and she was subsequently thrown right into the middle of the crew’s craze. Keeping her head down and her pace speedy, Sarah darted through the crowd, not stopping to entertain any of the many crew members who were calling out to her.

She was less than fifty feet from her own chambers when a door opened directly in front of her. In order to avoid running head on into the heavy steel, Sarah hopped quickly to the side and crashed right into the person who exited the room. Even though Reema had a good hundred pounds on Sarah, the Haraldie woman was pretty drunk and Sarah had been walking with a purpose, so the impact was enough to take them both down. Reema grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her off with shocking ease. The whole thing happened so quickly, Sarah wasn’t able to brace herself. Her limp body slammed against the wall with a hard thunk. My tailbone is never going to heal, Sarah thought sarcastically. The entire night had been so insane, Sarah almost felt as if she was a part of some intricate practical joke. The only coping method she had left was humour, so she decided to just lean into the ridiculousness of her situation.

Sarah watched from the ground as Reema struggled to stand up. She faltered once, clasping her hand over her mouth as if she were about to vomit, but the sickness passed and the Haraldie was able to establish a somewhat steady position.

“Get up,” Reema barked.

“Ugh.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Are we still doing this?” She slowly pulled herself off the floor. “I get it, you’re big and scary, I’m tiny and weak, you could kill me with just your pinky finger, blah blah blah.”

“Are you mocking me?” Just as Sarah got to her feet, Reema shoved her back to the ground. “Get up,” she repeated.

“What a clever game you’ve cooked up here.” Sarah winced as she stood, the pain from her tailbone had begun radiating through her butt and lower back. “But you and I both know you can’t kill me. Grom’s orders.”

Reema didn’t push Sarah this time. Instead, she drew her trusty knife and brought it against Sarah’s throat. “And who exactly is here to witness it was me who opened that beautiful, freckled neck of yours?”

“Grom would figure it out.” Sarah’s back was against the wall now.

“Ha!” Reema moved her mouth right next to Sarah’s ear, close enough to bite it. “I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but Grom’s not exactly the brightest star in the galaxy. Now, don’t get me wrong, he’s a good captain, brutal and effective. But he’s not the putting two and two together type.”

“Brutal and effective, that’s a fair assessment,” Sarah agreed. “I wouldn’t put it past that brutal and effective Kylen to punish everyone involved in this house party once he found me dead.”

“Well, I think you’re overplaying your hand.” Reema pressed the knife a bit harder against Sarah’s skin. “You’re not his friend, you’re not his business colleague, you’re his pet. And pets die all the time. Sure, he’ll be sad for a day or two, but then we’ll pillage another ship and he’ll pick himself up a peppy new puppy and you’ll be old news.”

“I…I…” Sarah’s lip trembled. She realized that the time she spent with Grom had colored her perspective, and she had allowed herself, even for a second, to forget her position on the ship. For a moment, she forgot she was a prisoner and had made the mistake of seeing herself as important. As a person.

She did her best to mentally prepare herself for the pain to come and the eternal darkness that would follow. She was contemplating the afterlife when a voice erupted from the intercom speaker right next to her head. At first, Sarah thought the deed had already been done and this was a voice from the beyond, but the stern cadence with which the voice said, “no questions asked,” was all too familiar, and she realized she was still amongst the living.

Crewmembers came bursting out of bedchambers, many half dressed and holding half empty bottles. There were too many witnesses now. Reema screamed in aggravation and sheathed her knife. Sarah didn’t wait around to hear whatever Reema’s final, threatening words were going to be. She ducked under the arm the Haraldie was using to lean against the wall and ran to her chambers, looking back only once to see that Reema was not following her.