Alone at last

When Dustin arrived at the counselling suite later that day, he entered to find Trea’k pacing back and forward. “Ah Captain, please come in” she said, her eyes lighting up as she saw him. “I debated the best way for us to dine; after consideration I thought that we could have a less formal meal. I trust that is acceptable.” With that, she gestured to where she had set up a pair of low tables next to large soft looking chairs. Dustin nodded, walking over to the automat and gesturing for her to sit first. “Would you like a drink?” he asked, ordering himself a can of something fizzy and fruit-flavoured. If Trea’k was going for informal, he could manage that quite well. For her part the insect woman requested just plain water, and it was with a jug in one hand and his can sitting in a glass in the other that he sank into the chair next to her.

Setting the jug and glass down and retrieving his can, he popped the tab and took a sip before smiling across at the unsure looking Vex’ess. “Relax, Trea’k. Don’t try too hard - be yourself, let’s talk and have some food and get to know each other a bit better.” Then, thinking for a moment Dustin grinned. “Has Meli or Rye given you the ‘we’re all weirdos here so don’t worry about it’ speech yet?” Trea’k shook her head, shifting slightly as she did so. “Not yet, Captain. What exactly does that entail?”

Dustin sighed. “They’re probably better at giving it than me, but here goes. I got the impression from Yril’k that you are not exactly the most normal of Vex’ess in your attitude to… having offspring. That’s fine. All of us - Me, Meli, Rye, Emely - we’re all weird for our species. You’ll find that out soon enough - every one of us has a whole barrel of issues and didn’t really fit in on our home worlds as far as relationships go; we all fit together however and don’t judge each other through the notions of our individual species. So whatever other Vex’ess might think of you, don’t worry about us having the same hang-ups.”

Trea’k nodded slowly as she processed his words. “I understand captain” she said at last, before climbing out of her seat. “I will give the matter some thought, but first, this is dinner - so let us eat. I spent some time today finding a dish we would both enjoy and after some discussion with the chief science officer I decided we should have a human food called pizza.” Dustin nodded approvingly. “The pizza from the automat’s not the best I’ve ever had, but it’s pretty good. And it’s impossible to be too serious when eating anything with stringy cheese so it’s a good fit for you wanting to just have a cozy meal to get to know each other more.”

The pair then spent some time arguing over toppings before Dustin pointed out they could just order two separate pizzas instead of trying to agree on what to put on one. “Rye demanded we have a pizza night our first day out from Tealioss station; I should have learned from that experience to just automatically suggest everyone get their own” Dustin chuckled as they carried their meals back to the seats. “Anchovies and pineapple individually I can understand even if some people don’t like them, but both at the same time? It’s just wrong.” Trea’k shook her head. “The small fishes provide a level of scent and salt that compliments the sweetness of the fruit. Ideally, I would use” and here the translator broke down as she let out a run of chittering sounds before cutting back into English with “but they are only really nice when freshly caught. If we have a hydro-organic facility aboard I could see about getting a small group of them so that we could have fresh fish in the future.”

Dustin shrugged at that. “I don’t think we’ve got a dedicated facility yet, but like the garden we’ve been working on it’s a good idea. I’ll have a chat with Rye later - maybe we can repurpose one of the swimming pools. I don’t think we actually need all three of them to be honest - even with a full crew, people can just take a slightly longer lift journey if they want to go for a swim.” That earned a chuckle from the Vex’ess, before discussion paused to allow the pair to wolf down their pizza while it was still hot.

When the last strand of cheese had been finished, Trea’k eyed Dustin nervously. “Yril’k did speak the truth about me; I feel you should know that captain. I am an oddity of sorts. I had suspected when I was younger that I might have some recessive handmaiden genetics, but when it was tested there are none. To put it bluntly - the amount I care for my” at this point the translator broke down in a hiss of chittering sounds, and Trea’k shook her head before trying again. “Apologies, I should have known that wouldn’t translate. Neither offspring nor employees but both is the word I was using, there isn’t one in the human language.”

Dustin waited as Trea’k regained her train of thought following the translator glitch. “As I was saying, the amount I care for them is far higher than is normal for a queen or envoy. In contrast, the amount of need I have to immediately create life is far lower. When a queen is sent into space we are normally given academy graduates - those that have trained on the homeworld to be pioneers, with the understanding that we will start growing our hive through our own clutches of eggs while we are underway. The graduates can then train the youngsters and a hive grows from there. But I wanted to wait until we had arrived at our destination and begun settling so that my children would be safe.”

She trailed off at that point, seemingly unsure of what Dustin’s reaction to her declaration that she was weird would be. He smiled at her before reaching out to take her hand. “Trea’k, I don’t think any of what you told me should be an issue. To be honest, although I’m not sure we’ve ever all officially talked about it the reason for that med spray all you ladies have taken is because of that desire for safety you mentioned. None of us were really sure what this mission would be like, and the more time goes on - things like those ships that attacked you, and the saboteur we ran into before meeting you - the more I’m confident we’ve made the right decision. There’s a time and a place for everything, and an understaffed vessel going here there and everywhere with no backup to call on is not really it.”

From there the conversation drifted to less sensitive topics. Trea’k told Dustin about her childhood, growing up on a hive city as one of a clutch of hundreds of grubs. “Once a hive is strong enough to survive, grubs are born instead of specialists; the grub phenotype acquires information faster and thus when promoted produces better workers” she had explained when he queried why she had not simply been born a queen. For his part, he talked about life back on Earth, his friends, and the bustle of Contact city - which despite it’s teeming population apparently sounded like a quaint village to the insect woman.

The conversation after that veered into hobbies; Trea’k asked if she should learn an instrument when Dustin told her about the quartet that he and the other girls formed. “If you want to we’ll gladly play with you, but don’t feel you have to.” He’d replied to that question, and although the Vex’ess indicated that she was going to think on the matter he internally made a note to discuss it with Meli and Vril’k. Just in case Trea’k was trying too hard to match her predetermined ideas of what he as ambassador and she as envoy should be getting up to.

Finally, after the pair realized they had been talking so long that they had failed to get desert they paused their conversation to share a large bowl of fruit salad topped off with slices of melon. The melon was juicy and Dustin found it hard to avoid having some drip down his chin; before he could do anything however one of Trea’k’s hands was moving forward with a napkin, gently wiping the liquid from his face before setting the cloth back on the table. Only at that point did Trea’k seem to realise what she’d done, her skin flushing the same colour as her chitin. “Apologies, Captain; that was too forward of me.”

He sighed and stood, moving closer to her and resting his hand on her cheek. “Trea’k, you don’t have to be so skittish. I’ll tell you if we’re rushing things, so relax. And please, if we’re off duty call me Dustin. I’d thought the captain thing was a bit the others had put you up to…” he trailed off then shook his head before continuing “…any way, if we’re rushing I’ll tell you, and if there’s anything you’d like you’ll ask me, ok?” The insect woman looked up at him, all four eyes wide and she nodded. “Yes, ca.. Dustin. In that case, if I may make a request?”

He gestured for her to go ahead. “This has been our first date, and my understanding is that when you have food as a date the end of the meal is the beginning of closing the mating ritual for that day. With that in mind, I have read that human dates if they go well often end with a kiss. Would you…” Dustin didn’t wait to hear the end of the request. Trea’k’s quiet demeanour and caring nature had been working on his mind almost as much as her massive chest had been working on his baser instincts, and given how their relationship was intended to go the answer to her request was simple. Leaning down, he moved his hand from resting to caressing her cheek and gently kissed the insect woman’s soft lips.