After an uncomfortably long period of staring at the wall, Nick opened the door in front of them to find the ohma who'd lifted Jacq into the ship waiting for them. Jacq watched her with a level brow as the ohma removed a tray and cutlery from a cabinet on the wall, then set about placing ingredients onto it from a series of adjacent drawers.
They followed her in, standing near a large, round table in the center of the room while waiting their turn at the cabinets. Jarett walked in wearing a loose-fitting, unzipped jumpsuit with the top half tied around his waist, and made his way to the cabinets while Jacq ignored Nick's explanation of how they worked. Jarett was not something she particularly enjoyed looking at, but something about the way his hairy pudge shone in the ship's LED's caught her attention. He followed Leru as he fixed himself a tray, unscrewing the attached cup to fill it from a spout in one of the cabinets. Hep entered as well, and finished loading his tray after Jarett while Leru sat at the end of the table nearest the door, waiting politely without eating.
Finally Jacq took her turn, removing colorless, freeze-dried shapes from one drawer and steaming them along with the tray in the next, then seating herself opposite Jarett -- the table had six rail-bound chairs set equidistant around it, and everybody had put at least one empty seat between themselves and their neighbor.
What passed for food on the ship had actually seemed more appetizing before being "cooked": What was once a handful of thin, frozen strands was now a loose pile of soggy, opaque orange noodles. There had been a formless clump that had melted down into a watery glop of mashed... something that she could only assume was starch-based, and finally a small light brown protein bar that had maintained its shape, but now glimmered a pearlescent green when the light hit it just right.
"Eat it quickly," Nick suggested as he rolled out the seat next to her. "It tastes better the less you have to taste it." He began digging in with purpose before his butt touched his chair.
She weighed her options -- the protein would be the most substantial and would keep her full the longest, but the mushy glop would be easier to swallow since it wouldn't require chewing.
She decided the orange noodles seemed a good compromise between nutrition and a new term she was dubbing "stomachability". Most of them broke under their own weight as she scooped them from the pile, flop-splatting back onto the tray. It took a concentrated, tactical approach, but she finally managed to get a sporkful into her mouth.
She grimaced, swallowing without chewing as the noodles turned to mildly sweet mush, leaving an oily film on her tongue that her metallic-tasting water couldn't wash away. She decided to try the protein bar, reasoning that the more substantial foodstuff might be able to scour the oil from her tongue.
The prongs of her steelware reluctantly sank into the thick rectangle -- it had the consistency of clay despite being fibrous like redsteak. She managed to fork off one of the corners and lifted it to her mouth: it smelled musky through her interface, a concerning choice for a program designed to make things more appetizing .
Biting into it released a taste of copper and mud that quickly filled her mouth and permeated her nostrils from inside with a thick stench she did her best not to identify. She tried to chew the thing into a swallowable consistency but her tastebuds revolted, demanding to taste anything else. In an act of pure desperation, she spooned a small puddle of the glop into her mouth.
She coughed throatily around her "food", barely keeping it in her mouth as her stomach threatened to join her tongue's revolution, then forced the mouthful down with the remainder of her water as tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She panted, bringing the cup back down to the table with a bang as she realized the rest of the crew were by this point either finished eating or nearly there -- and staring at her.
Jarett finished chewing the last of his protein with a look of practiced determination. "I feel you, sister." He gulped down the last of it and reached for his own water cup, quickly standing and walking back to the spout with wide eyes. He downed an entire cup and let out a long breath. "Better," He growled. "Not good, but better." He nodded at Jacq, "refill?"
"Uh, yeah." Jacq handed him her cup. "Thanks."
He filled both their cups, returned Jacq's, and took his seat.
Nick screwed his own cup into its slot on the tray and rose, dropping it into a heretofore unused drawer with a muted rattle and sliding it closed with his hip. "So," He took a breath as he returned to his seat. "It's time to commence part two of 'operation rob the orphanage.'"
"Why is there a part 2 to 'operation rob the orphanage'?" Jarett leaned back in his chair and stretched. "We've already robbed the orphanage -- of an orphan, if I'm not mistaken. And technically, she was burgled. Or is it kidnapped?"
"You are indeed mistaken." Nick folded his hands. "Part two involves figuring out how to make money off of what we've stolen from the orphanage."
Jarett froze, looking at the captain with wide eyes under a furrowed brow, mouth agape.
Nick Blinked hard. "It's not the orphan."
His expression softened as he glanced around. "Then…How are we supposed to profit from this again?"
Jacq's mouth fell open as she glared at Jarett.
He winked.
Leru frowned, "this should not be so difficult."
"I don't think it will be." Nick raised his hand in a placating gesture. "Depending on what Jarett's found on the datachit I retrieved."
"Yeah, that's a no-go, Cap." His armpit hair splayed as he folded his arms behind his head.
Nick placed his hands flat on the table. "Jarett, do you like eating?"
"First of all," he slid his tray a few centimeters away from himself, "that depends on what I'm eating. Second of all, I'm saying I've checked the datachit and found nothing -- coordinates, but coordinates that lead to empty space on the galaxy map, and we just updated it on Sherrit station."
"It's not going to be as simple as finding a file marked 'blackmail.'" Nick pursed his lips. "Keep looking."
"Fine." Jarett folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. "But only because I have no faith in you to support this crew, and someone's got to keep us fed."
Leru stood, interrupting their bickering with the rolling of her chair. She dropped her tray in the same drawer as Nick and left without a word, pointedly looking at none of them.
Nick watched her go, then stood with his knuckles on the table, staring at Jarett. "Your honesty is appreciated. Get to work." He followed Leru out the door.
Jacq finished the comparatively tasteless noodles and glop out of hunger, shifting and poking the protein bar between bites until it was all that remained. She took a swig of her water, catching Jarett eyeing the remainder of her meal while she put off the inevitable.
She weighed her options, stomach rumbling quietly. "Do you want my…" She skewered her protein and gestured with it across the table.
"You're too kind," Jarett laughed, but he kept his eyes on her offering. He glanced from her food to her face, "What would you have been eating if you…" He chewed his lip. "if you hadn't been dining with us?"
Jacq's stomach grumbled audibly, "it's different most nights." She dropped the protein back on her tray, spork sticking straight up out of the dense hunk, "I think I smelled darkwhite when I was on my way out of the building."
Jarett closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, "Good, greasy darkwhite. Never thought I'd miss it quite so much."
Jacq quirked an eyebrow., "It's not exactly expensive. Or rare."
"The raw cell-matter and printing process don't cost many units, sure." Jarett wagged his finger, "but the stuff is heavy, and doesn't store long unless you, well..." He shrugged, gesturing at her tray. "it ends up costing more than plain brown. A lot more."
"Huh." How did owning something cost money? Buying something, sure, but it's not like an object could charge rent. Wasn't that the point of owning things? "So when was the last time you had darkwhite?"
"Oh, I pick some up everytime we stop." He had gone back to staring at her bar of brown. "But it's usually only one meal, maybe two, and we don't stop often." He grimaced as his stomach rumbled.
Jacq eyed the remains of her brown bar, it's corners beginning to crust over. With an effort that left her wrists burning, she forked it in half, tossing one to Jarett -- it left a grainy brown residue on her fingertips.
Jarett caught the lump on his tray with a slap that resonated through the metal surface. He took a breath and plopped the whole thing in his mouth, chewing quickly and taking large swallows from his cup. "Anyway." He slid his chair back and stood, stretching side to side then down to his toes as he finished chewing. "I've got a ship to pilot and a cube to peruse." He headed for the door. "I don't know what you plan on doing after this, but I'd appreciate at least ten minutes of solitude in the cockpit." He said over his shoulder.
"So you can take off your clothes, I know."
Jarett laughed, undoing the knotted arms of his jumpsuit beneath his muffin top. "So I can look over the datachit without any distractions." He called over his shoulder. "You seriously think it takes me ten minutes to get undressed?"