There were four chairs across from the door and two to either side. To the left and right there were sliding doors, and a staircase right in the middle wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Frost and Grace walked into the left door. “Some place, huh?” said Grace with a wink and a smile towards Ashley.
“I guess they didn't assign me to the wrong quarters,” Ashley supposed quietly.
“Funny, I thought the same thing when I saw the night Captain's quarters.” Alice replied.
“There are night Captain's quarters?” Stephanie asked.
“Aye, but it's just three big rooms and a bathroom.”
“I thought the shower was trying to drown me. It was set to use water.” Agameg put in.
Stephanie suppressed a giggle.
Ashley pinched her arm. “Don't start or I'll start.”
The Captain's Mess was actually down a short hallway that had doors leading to a bathroom on one side and another room that was closed off to the other. The dining room itself featured a solid oak table for fourteen, six on either side and one at each end. Captain Valance already sat at one end and the chair had been removed from the other.
Ashley smiled at the Captain who smiled back. “I'm starting to see why millions apply for immigration to Earth every year.”
Liam Grady came out of an attached room with two bottles of red wine. “More like every week my dear. Earth is a dream few people can afford.”
“I thought they didn't take bribes.”
“I'm speaking more spiritually. The level of purity, intelligence and advanced thinking you have to demonstrate is so high I'm still amazed they let me near the home world. They're snobs and unashamed of it.”
“That they are, an' they can have their mossy rock fer all I care. This ship is more'n enough.” Frost looked to the Captain, who was in his regular black vacsuit and corrected himself. “Serving on this ship, I mean.”
“Here here,” Agreed Deck Chief Angelo Vercelli, raising his already full wine glass. “I spent enough time diggin' through dirt after being born on Allidus.” He looked around the table to see if anyone recognized the name and went on. “It's an agricultural colony. Nothing but farmers and people who govern them and their crops.”
Everyone took a seat then. Liam and Agameg were furthest from the Captain sitting across from each other, Ashley sat across from Grace, Stephanie was across from Frost — a fact she didn't realize until she was already in her chair — Alice faced Angelo and was at the Captain's right side.
“Speaking of digging, I figured the materializers out for this room.” Captain Valance said as he pressed a button under the table.
A menu appeared in front of each seat. It felt like real paper when they picked it up, a rarity, most paper was actually textured plastic or some other imitation material, but when they touched the menu they could scroll between thousands of dishes. When they pressed on one dish in particular a video of it on a rotating plate appeared and a focused puff of air sent a matching fragrance to the users nose. The smell completely dissipated after a few seconds, as to not interfere with whoever was sitting next to them.
“Um, I've seen this kind of thing in restaurants I couldn't afford to breathe in,” Alice said as she looked at her menu.
“This ship was made to be away from home for a century or more. I took a tour of an observation vessel that was a little like this, but less cramped. They design everything to make life easier, more enjoyable since most of the jobs aboard can be repetitive, dangerous, or very high stress, like the position of Captain, for example.” Liam explained.
“I've been wondering something,” Ashley started as she accepted a full wine glass from Liam. “What would the Earthers do if they found us?” she asked the question lightly, but the room fell utterly silent as all attention shifted to Liam.
The Chief Engineer was the only one standing, filling everyone's wine glasses in turn. He smiled a little at Ashley, who was a little surprised at the weight of her query. “You're not the first to ask,” he said, handing a full glass to Stephanie. “With the Captain's permission, I'd like to air my thoughts on this.”
“I've been meaning to ask myself, so you may as well answer while we're all here,” Captain Valance invited with seemingly mild interest.
Liam nodded; “Well, to be honest I think the Triton has been written off for twenty years. The attitude in the Sol System has changed since this ship was built about fifty years ago, and from what I understand they don't have many close combat carriers left. Those ships were built for a war they predicted a long time ago, but it never came.”
“Aye, I heard about that. Some coreward outfit lookin' ta take the Sol system back,” Frost nodded. When he realized he was the center of attention he shrugged. “What? I went ta school like everyone else.”
“Primary school,” Stephanie teased.
“Rest o' my school came from military, boots, bullets an' ball bustin'. A lot like your degree, only without the bullets,” he muttered back.
To his surprise Stephanie only quietly chuckled and shook her head. “You have no idea,” she said under her breath.
Frost caught it and couldn't help but look at her wide eyed for a moment before turning his attention back to his menu.
“Like I was saying,” Liam continued; “The war never happened, and from what I understand the Sol System has enough firepower to send several fleets towards the core and take whatever they like while defending themselves more than adequately. They dedicate a great deal of that force to exploration, but I'm sure they're kept ready for a fight just the same.”
“I've never heard of anyone running across a Sol ship before,” Alice said as she accepted a glass of wine from the Chief Engineer, hers was the second last to be filled. “Thank you.”
“You've seen the cloaking systems on this ship. There are constant redundancies and even if we shut everything down the outer hull would hide us from older sensor suites.”
“You have a point.”
“Anyway, as we are I doubt that Sol Defence would send anything after us, we're on the fringe, after all. If we ran across a Sol Fleet we'd have to surrender the ship or trade for her, I'd imagine.”
“Trade for her? That's a very open minded solution,” Price commented.
“Well, as a rule the Sol System is a peaceful region. That comes from deep philosophy and a dedication to pacifism. It's one of the main reasons why they're so far ahead scientifically, technologically. Anyone not in the military is pretty free to pursue their interests, and their social climate doesn't just encourage one to be useful, it inspires people to be great, no matter what their calling is. There's art, entertainment, architecture and food that no one outside the Sol System could imagine, and that's outside of the Athenian Enclave where most of the artisans study. The attitudes on Earth are largely bent towards wanting that which is useful for the long term, and a conflict that might cost them for a ship that would require a massive overhaul to put back into proper service isn't very practical. We might want to keep our eyes open for something of equal value.”
“Something of equal value? For a whole Combat Carrier?” asked Grace in disbelief.
“Yes, like information, a discovery, maybe even a relic from Earth if we're lucky enough to run across one. Anything we can propose as a fair trade. If we manage to form a good relationship with a government or organization out here we might even be able to make an introduction.”
“But the Sol System doesn't look for alliances,” Grace countered.
“Not true, you might know something about that Agameg,” Liam gestured to the thin issyrian, who was busy studying his menu, he had found several varieties of cabbage rolls and was testing them by smell.
He nodded and smiled. “Our central government has relations with the Sol System, no one knows much about it, but there is a system in place for my people to apply for study on Earth or Mars.”
“I had no idea,” Alice said quietly. “Is it easy for your people to visit the home system?”
“No, it is very rare, but possible.”
“The Sol System is very selective in who it trusts, but they're not xenophobic. I think that even if they caught sight of this ship from a distance we'd be left alone as long as we mark the ship as being completely separate from the Sol System. If we were to represent them in some way, to try and pass ourselves off as a Sol Defence ship then they'd have to send a task force after us.”
