She tensed, ready. I waited a beat, then tossed the jerky high. Luna leapt and snagged it out of the air. She twisted around to land on her feet, then leapt again to the rail along the top of the wall. She disappeared out of the room, prize clamped between her sharp teeth.
I turned to Torran. “Do you or your team have any dietary restrictions I need to know about? Kee doesn’t eat meat, so most of our meals are vegetarian. Is that going to be a problem?”
He shook his head. “That is fine. We do not have any restrictions.”
“If you give me a list of your team’s favorite meals, I’ll put them in the rotation if we have the ingredients.”
Torran gave me an unreadable look, but he inclined his head with something like grudging respect. “I will get it to you tonight.”
“Are you okay with chopping vegetables?” When he nodded, I grabbed the small wire basket near the walk-in cooler door and gestured for him to follow me. I pulled the door open and cold air slapped me in the face. Goose bumps rose on my arms. The cooler was sized for a full ship and even with the extra food we’d bought, the shelves were more than half empty.
“Most of our vegetables are stored in here,” I said, “along with other perishables. Frozen food is through that door,” I said with a wave at the door on the back wall of the cooler. “You are welcome to eat anything we have in here, but if you finish something, add it to the list on the wall outside.”
I worked quickly, gathering the vegetables we’d need for lasagna while explaining what each one was to Torran, just in case they were unfamiliar. This recipe was vegetable heavy. Doubling it made it even heavier, and the basket’s handle dug into my palm. When I went to switch hands, Torran reached out and effortlessly plucked the basket from me.
“Allow me,” he said, oddly formal.
I glanced at him, but his face was set in its usual mask. “Thank you.” I made a mental note to do some research on Valovian food customs because something weird was going on, and he wasn’t being very forthcoming.
If Torran felt the strain of holding the heavy basket, he didn’t show it. I swiftly grabbed the last of the ingredients, then stared at the basket, trying to remember anything I’d forgotten. When nothing jumped out at me, I led Torran out of the walk-in.
“Put the basket there,” I said, pointing at the counter. I pulled out a cutting board and a chef’s knife, then placed them beside the basket. I also grabbed a big bowl.
Torran silently watched me, and his gaze missed nothing. I had no doubt that if I asked him to grab a knife, he’d know exactly which drawer to use.
“This should be enough to get you started. You’re welcome to look in any cabinet here, so if you need anything else, just dig around until you find it.” I made two stacks of vegetables. “Small cubes for the first stack and medium-thick slices for the second stack. They can all go in the same bowl.”
We worked in surprisingly comfortable silence—after I got over the fact that Torran was standing behind me armed with a knife. The rhythmic sound of the knife on the cutting board was the only thing that let me know he was there.
I made the sauces and started precooking the veggies he had already chopped. Each cube and slice was militarily precise. Once everything was ready, we layered the ingredients into two pans. I did the first while Torran copied me on the second. With his help, it’d taken less time than I’d expected, so I covered both pans and put them in the cooler. I set a reminder for an hour out.
“Thank you for your help,” I said, and I meant it.
“You are welcome.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but his head jerked to the side as if he’d heard a distant sound, and he frowned.
“We’ve got a problem,” Kee said over the comm at the same time.
Dread tightened my stomach. “What kind of problem?” I asked subvocally.
“Eli’s going to flatten Varro if you don’t get down here. We’re in the gym.”
“He’d better fucking not,” I growled, sprinting for the door. I tried to raise Eli’s comm, but he’d disabled connections. I was vaguely aware of Torran on my heels. Rather than taking the stairs, I slid down the access ladder, landing hard on the deck below. My bad knee twinged, but I ignored it.
I slammed into the gym and took in the scene in a single glance. Chira and Havil stood off to one side. Chira was scowling but not intervening. Havil winced with every blow. Kee stood on the other side, biting her lip. In the middle of the room, Eli and Varro circled each other on the sparring mats.
They were equally tall and muscular. The fight might have started as sparring, but now they looked like they were trying to beat the shit out of each other. Both had split lips and Eli’s eye was already swelling. Varro’s jaw was red, and he favored his right side.
I considered letting the stupid idiots fight it out, but I needed to get this situation under control immediately or the Valoffs would never respect my command. Without a word, I drew my plas blade, flicked the setting to nonlethal, and activated the energy blade. It came out blue, confirming its nonlethal status.
I waded into the fray and walloped Eli with the blade. He went down with a surprised shout. It might be nonlethal, but it still hurt like being struck by lightning. Varro rounded on me and threw a punch. I shifted to take it on my shoulder, but it never landed. Varro stood frozen, his eyes wide.
I turned to Torran. “Let him go,” I bit out.
Torran narrowed his eyes at me, expression tight. “No.”
All of the tentative camaraderie I’d felt for the last couple of hours evaporated. “My ship, my rules, General Fletcher. Let him go, or I’m going to shock him where he stands.”
Varro shifted back, holding up his hands. “I didn’t—”
I hit him with the blade, and he joined Eli on the mat with a pained groan.
Eli chuckled through split lips.
My rage turned incandescent and I pointed the blade at him. “Do you think this is funny, Bruck? Do you think I wanted to come down here and put you in time-out because you couldn’t act like a damned adult for two seconds?”
Eli froze and his eyes flashed to mine. Whatever he saw in my face caused him to wince, but I was too mad to care. “No, Captain.”
“I might’ve expected this from them, but I expected better from you. What happened? Why aren’t you on the bridge?”
“He insulted Kee.”
Ah, that made more sense. Eli would let insults run off him like rain, but he’d go to war for those he cared about. I deactivated the plas blade and clipped it back into place against my leg.
“I meant no insult,” Varro rasped with a cough.
Kee’s expression was bright with worry and her gaze kept flickering between the two men on the ground. “What did he say?” I asked her.
Her eyes slid away from mine. “Nothing important.”