Agozi fumbled in the darkness, searching for the light switch with her right hand. She eventually found it and turned it on, lighting up her living quarters. Agozi surveyed her new accommodations, her face revealing unmistakable disappointment.

She hadn't expected a manor, but this bare-bones setup fell short of her swanky pad back on Mevik. The place felt less like a home and more like a dilapidated shoebox.

At least they’d already brought her stuff.

Her gear filled the tiny space to the brim. It squeezed in, but just barely. If she'd known her digs were going to be this cramped, she would've packed lighter.

Get real Agozi! This is a Union ship, not a luxury pad! she told herself, trying to shake off the disappointment.

Agozi felt thirsty and started looking for the fridge. She found one in the kitchen, if you could even call it that. When she saw how tiny the fridge was, she groaned in frustration. She opened it up and searched for something to drink.

Booze didn't tempt her, unlike Kaz. Her impulsiveness didn't need the added kick of alcohol. She grabbed a bottle of fruit juice and a ready-to-eat meal instead.

Ravenously hungry, she tore the plastic film off and placed the packet inside the microwave. Her finger lingered over the start button, withdrawing at the last moment. Agozi let out another frustrated sigh.

Probably by accident, the microwave provided used the wrong alphabet.

Having a multicultural crew had its downsides, linguistic inconsistencies being one of them. Her personal translator couldn't translate symbols or text, just verbal speech, so it wasn't any help in this case.

Agozi gave the controls a nervous glance.

I'll figure it out somehow. She awkwardly messed with the microwave controls before pressing the Start button.

The microwave turned on.

Got it! A grin appeared on her face as she stepped away from the microwave.

But her smirk vanished when the microwave didn't shut off when it was supposed to.

Agozi frantically interacted with the controls again in an attempt to turn it off. Instead of shutting down, the plate inside the microwave began to spin faster and faster. Eventually, her meal exploded violently.

"No!" she exclaimed in surprise, her eyes widening in shock and disappointment as she reflexively covered her face with her hands. This was just a reflexive reaction. The exploding meal posed no danger.

She slowly stepped back from the microwave, her ears drooping in disappointment and disbelief.

"Well, this is just great…”

She stared at the carcass of her meal for a while longer.

“This is what life on a Union ship is like, huh?" She sighed. Might as well hit the sack now.

She undressed and attempted to settle into her bed.

The crummy mattress didn’t exactly feel up to par with what she was used to back home. It felt stiff and uncomfortable. A far cry from the plush bed she enjoyed back home.

“Wow! Even the bed is poo!” Agozi lamented out loud. She rolled over, burying her face into the mattress with her back towards the ceiling. “Ugh, definitely not like at home.”

Agozi attempted to remind herself why she was there. Why she had joined.

She rolled back onto her back again.

As she lay there, staring at the ceiling, doubts about her decision to sign up started to creep in. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now those nagging doubts wouldn't let her be.

Agozi had always stuck out like a sore thumb in her family. She had brains and a silver spoon in her mouth, a combo you didn't see often in a Mevik. Joining the Union navy just made her stick out even more. She could've ridden her family's wealth to any cushy job she wanted. But no, she had to pick the crappiest gig in the galaxy.

Standing out wasn't always a win.

Sure, people noticed her smarts, but her act-first-think-later attitude made her the odd one out in the family. When she announced her intentions about joining the Union fleet academy to her family, her dad nearly blew a fuse.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Union work is for the desperate and the raw! Her father had decried at the time.

After some back-and-forth, Agozi finally got her dad to see things her way and accept that she'd made the right choice. This is our chance to shake things up! I'll bring honor to our house! she’d argued.

Her dad wasn't thrilled, but he eventually caved—kind of. He admitted she had a point or two, even if he thought she was just blowing smoke. In the end, he still coughed up the cash for her academy fees.

It was there where she’d met Kaz.

He didn't come from a fancy family. He’d only gotten his chance at the Academy because he aced his tests. Union rules said, much to the annoyance of some, that anyone who aced their tests got an automatic in, no matter where they ranked on the social ladder.

It didn't take them long to notice each other.

Agozi had brains without the arrogance, and Kaz had guts without being a jerk. It had only been a matter of time before they hit it off and hooked up.

Her eyes started to droop, and before she knew it, she’d dozed off.

*****

Kaz grunted in annoyance when he saw how little was left in the bottle.

Barely enough for two drinks, he mused.

Though not the pinnacle of professionalism, Kaz found solace in alcohol to combat the boredom inherent in administrative tasks.

As fate would have it, an abundance of such tedious work awaited him.

Every new Captain inheriting the helm of a vessel triggered this standard protocol. Kaz understood the reasoning behind this, but it hardly lessened the task's tiresome nature.

I'll make the most of it, he thought to himself whilst reaching for the last bottle in the liquor cabinet.

Agozi had chastised him for his alcohol consumption on many occasions. He paid scant attention to her words. His indulgence hadn't escalated to the point of damaging his professional standing or personal relationships. His loyal Lieutenant and partner, thus far, had chosen to overlook this minor transgression.

At least most of the time.

He poured himself a drink and settled at his workstation comfortably.

With most of Minboa's crew already resting, his professional duties denied him the same luxury. This reality stirred minor frustration within him. His Mevik endurance sustained his alertness and concentration, but only for a limited duration. His preference for late-night alcohol added no benefits.

His four-fingered hands worked the keyboard with professional levels of consistency.

As the night wore on, Kaz felt an increasing sense of relief over his depleted alcohol stock. He could only speculate about the severity of his lethargy if he had kept drinking.

That's not to say he couldn't carry on. He had persevered through many similar grueling nights in the past.

His focused hazel colored predator eyes scanned each line of text while he operated the keyboard, making sure to miss nothing important.

The dominant portion of the workload involved assessing the new recruits to confirm their status as fully competent members of the team.

Agozi hadn’t been wrong about them.

Despite the Union's initial examinations successfully eliminating most unqualified applicants, a select few always slipped through the gaps. The responsibility of identifying these outliers fell upon Kaz. His paramount concern was to avoid any potential threats to the mission and crew safety from unqualified pranksters.

Such cases remained remarkably rare.

Most aspirants drawn to Union work, particularly the notorious Exploration Division, swiftly found their dreams shattered upon comprehending the true responsibilities involved. However, this harsh reality failed to dissuade an insignificant number of uninformed individuals from enlisting, lured by the prospect of a lucrative payout.

Indeed, the remuneration was attractive. The social credit allocated per mission dwarfed that of most other Union assignments and most of it was unexpirable. The workers had the privilege of accumulating their credits while on duty, allowing for expenditure upon their return home.

Kaz eventually reached Xeno-Psychiatrist Zelana’s profile page.

As he scrutinized the page, memories of their initial awkward encounter surged back. Upon reflection, delaying the visit until he had familiarized himself with the necessary social etiquette for smooth interaction with such a sensitive species as the Langa might have been a wiser choice.

But such contemplation held no relevance at this juncture. The past remained unchangeable.

In all honesty, Kaz didn’t particularly cherish the idea of interspecies socialization. Despite the Mevik's official inclusion in the esteemed 'Big Four' along with the Prol, Langa, and Pretenti, most perceived them as mere reinforcements, their lack of refinement compensated for only by raw resilience. Nobody wanted the Mevik around until they suddenly needed them. The irony of this, not to mention hypocrisy, didn't go unnoticed by the Mevik.

This hierarchy had manifested as the Union’s unofficial class system. The Pretenti supervised, the Langa fostered, the Prol maintained, and the Mevik shouldered the undesirable tasks that other species deemed beneath them.

Kaz’s whiskers jerked in annoyance at the notion.

Tasks they lack either the courage to undertake or simply the capability to accomplish, he mused irately.

While perusing Zelana's page, he noted her lack of fulfillment of the standard prerequisites for service. Fleet Command had made an exception for her. He already knew this, but the fact remained a sore point. Regardless of her brilliance, those incapable of withstanding the mental pressure of service posed a potential risk.

He finished reviewing her page and moved on.

He eventually reached Agozi’s page.

He found little new information to review. As her mate, he already had an intimate knowledge of everything required.

A hint of smugness crept into his thoughts as memories of their initial interaction resurfaced.

Her initial assumption of him being a training instructor due to his towering stature and serious demeanor sparked amusement at the time. Despite the divergence in their temperaments, or possibly as a result of it, they’d bonded quickly.

Or perhaps she just had an intense admiration for his performance within their intimate quarters.

Regardless of the reason, their bond had endured.

Kaz finally completed his work after what felt like an eternity. He rose from the chair, switched off the holo-display, and glanced at his watch. The night was already halfway through.