Jai grabbed her tray off the counter and turned to find a place to sit, stalling for a time by collecting a drink and silverware from the self-serve. She'd scoped the place on her way in, but none of today's seating options looked great. The breakneck pace at which the Iron Raven had been traveling over the last two weeks had left little time for socializing and frankly that had never been her strong suit to start with. So, every time she came into a canteen without empty tables it was a struggle to make the right choice of seating.
Dr. Torren and Dr. Siven were sitting at the table nearest the door, locked in another pointless debate about Velari trivia, still here despite clearly having finished eating quite some time ago. A safe enough choice, but if they pulled her into their argument she ran the risk of offending one or both of them. Even if she agreed, unless she phrased it just right, they'd take it as disagreement. That table would work if nothing else was available.
Aiyo was sitting at the middle table on her own, headphones in and lost in her own world. She was pleasant enough usually, but the last time Jai had disturbed her while she was listening to music was a bad enough experience to avoid the table even though there were plenty of seats left.
Finally, the quartermaster Niv was sitting at the table closest to the kitchen with supply officer Vren and Nox from engineering. All nice, stable people. She wasn't a huge fan of Niv, his smooth, blemishless skin gave her the creeps but he was easy to talk to. More importantly, she was pretty sure Vren actually knew what their mission would be, or at least where they were going. Given that Captain Ventralis hadn't reprimanded Tess' "slip up" earlier, they might be close enough to the mission site that she could pump some information out of the supply officer.
"I'm seeing a lot of takers on the bolognese, should I be worried?" Forcing herself to be confident, Jai plopped down in the free seat next to Niv.
"Very." Nox said, halfway through a portion of his own food. "Expect your stomach to cramp."
"He is embellishing, as usual." Niv said, tray conspicuously absent of any color. "I heard what Janto claimed and while the meat was significantly discounted, yes, it was well within acceptable shelf life. For the record, this time it was not food fed solely for the incarcerated."
"Fed?" Vrel asked, emphasizing deliberately, "Interesting word choice. Not eaten. Fed."
Niv smiled but didn't answer, focusing on his mashed potatoes.
"On the subject of culinary torture, I think my body is starting to shut down from lack of nutrition. Does anyone know how close we are to wherever we're going?" Jai struck as soon as she had an opening. "The starmaps I have access to aren't showing much worth visiting past this system. Just a bunch of truly backwater colonies."
"Nice try, Pilot Urlik but that's outside either of our scopes. If it weren't, we would have been told."
Vren said those words with such sincerity that Jai could almost believe she was sincere if not for the use of her last name.Pilot Urlik. Once she heard those words, Jai could tell that the person saying them knew more than she did.
"They don't consider me worthy of being told either." Niv threw a smug smile at Vren, "Buuut, the supply requisition I received earlier suggests the captain intends to complete the operation and return within a month."
"I trust you are capable of deducing which systems fall within that radius." Vren scowled when Niv shot Jai a wink but didn't say anything else.
"Any chance there's a hint about what we'll be up to hiding in the details of that supply order?" Jai now sported a smug grin just as insufferable as Niv's.
"I don't need any hints to know what's going to happen." Nox snorted. "It's the same every time. Quan will have the boots kill some people, the labrats will mess around old rocks and rusty scrap, and, if I'm lucky, no one will break anything particularly annoying to fix."
Within seconds the conversation devolved into Niv receiving a lecture from Vren on the importance of setting a good example as the head of logistics. A conversation Jai tuned out, already focused on calculating which systems were in range given different mission durations, trying to see if any of them meant anything to her. However, as the meal went on, Jai found herself having to focus more and more energy on forcing herself to keep going.
*'Good food whenever you want it? The ability to have whatever you want?' That recruiter was full of shit. No matter how generous the pay is, it can't erase the taste of this trash.*
As always happened whenever she started cursing that recruiter, Jai thought of the meal she'd had while being headhunted, just the memory of which made the bolognese easier to stomach. A steak cooked by a real chef, with real beef! From Earth no less! It had been such a good meal. It had also been the last good meal she'd had.
Remembering how long it had been since she'd had good food ruined her good mood. How long she'd put up with eating whatever was cheapest in bulk and cooked by a literal retired prison cook. She quickened her pace, determined to get the meal behind her so she could go to bed.
Nox finished first and left without saying anything, followed by Niv and Vren who left together. A few minutes later, Jai decided to just dump the rest of her food. These last few weeks had been great for her figure in that regard.
Jai dragged herself across the ship, taking a lift to the upper level where officers and above had their quarters. Hers was right next to the elevator so she quickly reached it, opening the door with a swipe of her keycard.
A smile tugged at Jai's mouth. At least in this regard she'd been given the treatment she deserved. A solo room all to herself. One that even the captain couldn't enter without permission. Or at least wouldn't.
Inside was a narrow but complete room. On one side a bed was set into a nook in the wall, and across from it was a built-in wardrobe. At the end of the room was a small bolted down desk and a simulated window. It wasn't much but Jai hadn't gotten this much private space since she was. Well. Ever actually.
Sitting at the desk, she pulled out a notepad, careful to make sure the anti-tampering system she'd left on it hadn't been disturbed. Once she was sure the journal hadn't been compromised, she recorded her experiences for the day, careful to note down all five potential systems she'd identified as being potential leads. Using the ship's onboard internet backup would be too obviously suspicious, but once they reached the waystation she could use their intranet to look up more information.
"RAVN, estimated time to dock?"
A speaker above the bed crackled to life with a response.
"Estimated time to reach the Halo Waystation from current coordinates is approximately four hours. Clearance to approach remains pending. The duration of the delay cannot be determined at this time."
"Thanks RAVN." Jai said, shutting the book and resetting its security measures "Have many waystaions named Halo have we passed now? Five? Six? It's like every other system has one, why is that?"
"Six. Multiple stations constructed during the Federation era were designated 'Halo.' A significant number continue to retain that designation. The origin is presumed to reference First Generation cultural material; however, the precise context is no longer recoverable."
"Not like modern naming conventions are any better I suppose." Jai walked over to the bed and laid down on top of the covers, leaving her shoes on. "I guess people never change."
This time RAVN stayed silent. Sometimes the ship VI acted human enough that she forgot it wasn't one. That or the social isolation during school had caused more damage than she'd realized.
"Hey, RAVN. Wake me up when we reach Halo, I need sleep."
"Of course, Pilot Urlik. Please sleep well."
Jai closed her eyes as the mechanical voice echoed in her ears. She didn't even remember falling asleep.