Lusac did follow Yrqw’s advice to clean up a little, though all that meant was stopping at the nearest restroom to clean off the dust and debris. He attempted to wipe up the few drops of blood that had accumulated on his calf from Avil’s teeth, but he didn’t have time to worry about the noticeable holes in his uniform.

Walking back out of the bathroom, Lus wondered why he was being called up. Most likely it was just to go back over the details of the recent mission, but somewhere in the back of his mind he remained nervous that they had caught onto his arrangement with Leviathan. Captain Tave was not a man he wanted to end up on the wrong side of.

The briefing room was just off of Command, which stood at the front of the ship and was where most of the main ship functions happened. The Command Crew represented the highest-ranking members of each respective division. It took a lot of ladders to get there from the bottom floor where Systems Control was.

Lusac relaxed a little as he entered the room, seeing that Captain Tave was engaged in a casual chat with Cewi-Bano while Wsr and Vlqtrn sat at the rectangular table that took up much of the space. It was designed to be able to hold large meetings of ten people, making it feel a little empty with only half the chairs taken. One large oval window looked out of the ship, deep into the void of space. They were traveling in the Highway now based on the green swirls blurring past. Unlike most areas of the ship, this room had a rug and a few decorations from Captain Tave’s travels that made it far more distinctive. Supposedly the Captain’s personal quarters were like a mini art museum with all the pieces he kept in there, but Lus doubted it was something he would ever see in his lifetime.

“Arten, about time,” Captain Tave acknowledged him as he walked near the table. Lusac disliked being referred to by his last name, something that was distinctly Human. All other species almost exclusively used first names since Kremel just listed five generations of lineage and Nemarians used their birthplace as secondary identifiers. Yet Captain Tave kept up with the ancient Human practice.

“Sorry, sir. I was handling some other business when the call came in,” Lus explained in simple terms as he took in the tall man before him. The captain's blond hair held its usual cut, a classic style where it was all cut fairly short with a little extra length on top, though a few streaks of gray were starting to show. He also kept a neatly trimmed beard that made him look mature and dignified, especially compared to some of the rougher members of the crew.

The Captain motioned his half salute away and gestured to a chair. “We have a lot to discuss and not as much time as I would like.”

Lusac quickly sat, leaning forward to seem as engaged as he could. Normally he didn’t care much for others' perception of him, but Tave was the one who allowed him on to the crew even when most of the top-level crew advised against it, so Lus wanted to show he wasn’t a complete idiot all the time at least.

“Cewi-Bano.” Captain Tave then nodded to his third-in-command.

The Nemarian used a remote to dim the lights even further while a holoimage popped up in the middle of the table. It was one Lus had seen before during the briefing before his last off-ship mission to the warehouse. He recognized the strange puzzle piece with a slight curve to it as the same thing Cewi-Bano carried off the planet the day before. He was mildly surprised someone of his rank was being brought into the secret of what it was or why it mattered. Typically those kinds of things were reserved for people who needed to know, not fslyan crawlers like him.

“Wsr, Lus, I trust you both recognize this image,” Cewi started.

“Yeah. It’s that thing we nearly got shot over. Tell me it's something important,” Wsr cut in.

“It’s a piece of something important. One of many,” Cewi said.

Upon her saying that, Lus did notice that this one wasn’t quite like the one he saw back on the planet. The edges were shaped differently, more jagged and convex than the one he helped retrieve.

“So it's one big puzzle,” he replied.

Cewi nodded, a small smile on her wide mouth.

“But what does it do?” Vlqtrn asked.

“That’s not our concern. Our client is paying us to collect the pieces, not study it,” Captain Tave said brusquely. “What happens once they have a complete set isn’t something we get paid to worry about.”

“Just curious,” the Kremel apologized, his oversized ears drooping a bit.

Lus was careful to keep a neutral face, even if he did think that was overly harsh. Still, Vlqtrn should have known better. Captain Tave wasn’t known for his patience.

“What does matter,” Cewi drew the room back to the holoimage, “is that we’ve located another piece. The one shown here. It’s on Vipor, in the Southern Reach Museum of Lesser Known Galactic History.”

The image changed to be a 3D map of the planet that slowly zoomed into the location she described.

“Vipor. That’s a Corporate planet,” Lus pointed out.

“Yes. But there’s some heavy fighting in the center of Artemis that has drawn most of the fleet in that sector. This will be a quick mission, in and out within a couple of days. We’ll be long gone before any of the military ships start their usual patrols again,” Cewi assured the crew, though she was mainly looking at Lusac, trying to address his worries. No one wanted a run in with the Corporate Military, but Lus ran a lot more risk if his deserter status was discovered.

“A museum is a much more difficult target than a dusty old warehouse, and we ran into a lot of resistance there. This seems like a rather small team if we actually want to pull this off,” Wsr noted.

Captain Tave nodded. He was always fair about things he deemed genuine concerns. “Our warehouse grab had limited surveillance and study beforehand. We’re going to change that this time.”

“We’re going to take a full day to do recon in and around the museum. We’ll also be leaning on a local contact for a secret landing pad so we can bring whatever gear we might need,” Cewi filled in. “Most importantly, stealth is our highest priority. We messed up with the warehouse, thinking that it wasn’t under guard. We’re not making any kind of assumptions here.”

“I’d like to believe this will be the hardest piece to get,” Captain Tave added. “We chose you three to join Cewi-Bano because you all have necessary skills. Vlqtrn, the tech expert, Wsr will be our strength, and Arten will handle the actual recovery with his adept stealth skills. Cewi-Bano will cover everyone with her sniper and make sure you all make it home in one piece.”

Lus was more than a little proud the Captain considered his stealth skills “adept.” Take that Leviathan and his stupid system.

They went over a more detailed plan of the upcoming mission, ranging from the place they would stay while on planet to the team’s cover story. Eventually they were all dismissed, and Lus left holding a holodrive full of information he was supposed to study and memorize over the next day and a half before they reached Vipor. The only good news is that he got the rest of the day off, at least from his maintenance duties. Cooking dinner was still a necessary evil in his day, but it seemed a little less horrible of a thought when he considered that he gained [XP] from it at least.

Stolen novel; please report.

When he got back to his quarters, he was greeted by an excited Avil who rubbed against his legs the moment he entered.

“Hiya Avil. Did you miss me, buddy?” Lus said as he bent down to pick up the purring furball. As he pet the cyclops cat, he realized that he would need to get clearance to keep the pet at some point and, more importantly, he would need a sitter for this upcoming mission.

There was only one person he trusted for that kind of job. Going to the comm near the door, he rang Becky’s room, hoping she was still lounging around reading.

“I don’t care how much help you think you need, Lusac. I’m off today, and I’m going to enjoy that without any interference from you,” she replied curtly.

“I’m off the rest of the day too. I’m on the upcoming mission, which is actually what I want to talk to you about. Can you come by my quarters for a few minutes?”

“Hmmm. I did just get to a really interesting part in my book.”

“Please, Becks. It’ll be fast,” he pleaded.

“On my way, Lus,” she responded, a hint of laughter in her voice.

It was only a moment later his doorbell was beeping, and he opened it up to welcome Becky into his place.

“What’s this abo-” She stopped speaking as Avil ran up to her, meowing in its strange pitchy squawk, rubbing as hard against her as it had ever done with Lus. “A mutant cat? Where’d you get him, Lus?” Becky questioned as she bent down to rub the creature’s head.

Lus chuckled and filled her in on the vermin problem, telling her everything except the whole Leviathan essence part. She’d flip if she knew there was a Demon onboard. Everyone would.

“Well he’s a cute lil guy,” Becky said as she rubbed Avil’s belly.

“I’m actually not sure if it is a guy. I’m thinking that it’s some genderless species,” Lus mentioned.

Becky made a face. “Unfortunately, I’m rather positive he has the proper, um, equipment for ‘guy’ to apply.”

“Oh,” Lus murmured, wondering why he hadn’t thought to check such things himself. The monster version of Avil didn’t really have anything, so he sort of assumed the same applied to the cat form.

While Becky continued to coo over Avil, Lus realized that he hadn’t cleaned his room in a very long time, and it was rather obvious. Embarrassed by the state things, he subtly kicked a few stray articles under his bed while Becky was busy with the cat.

“So what’s this mission? Another retrieval?” she asked as she settled onto the couch with Avil in her lap.

“Yep. But it’s at a museum on a Corporate planet this time so we’re going to spend a couple of days there to do proper reconnaissance,” Lus said, taking the seat on the other side and wondering if any strange smells from yesterday were lingering.

“Ah. So you need someone to watch Avil for you?” Becky guessed.

Lusac smiled. “Yeah. It wouldn’t be much. Just checking in on it–him–a couple of times throughout the day and making sure he has enough food and water.”

“What about a litterbox?” Becky asked, craning her neck to check the corners of the room.

“A litterbox… I guess I would need one of those.” Lus tried to think of something he had on hand that would fulfill that rather important need.

“I went shopping during the last resupply and haven’t thrown out the bags yet. Most of them are organic based, so why don’t you find a box and I’ll bring the stuff over and we can shred it to make something up real quick?”

“Sounds good. That will do until we do another resupply and I can do some proper pet shopping,” Lus agreed.

“Assuming you get clearance to keep him.”

“Yeah. Assuming that,” Lus sighed.

Becky slid Avil onto the couch, and he squealed in protest before curling up next to Lus and starting to purr again. She left for a few minutes and then returned with the promised bags. Lusac dumped some stuff out of a random container he had lying around and then they got to work making up the temporary bathroom. They ended up chatting a lot more than working, so the final result took a lot longer than it probably should have to get to. But by the time they finished, Avil was already coming up to sniff the paper.

“Oof. I’m starving. I think we missed our lunch window,” Becky said as they both looked away to give Avil some privacy.

“Oh no. What time is it?” Lus found the clock on the wall and groaned. “Welp, I’m due in the kitchen now if I want to have dinner done in time. I guess I’ll see you at meal time. Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime. Just remember to give me temporary access before you leave tomorrow, and I’ll make sure Avil gets proper care,” Becky replied. They walked into the corridor together, but separated so Lus could head to the kitchen and Becky back to her room.

It was another long evening of cooking, and he still couldn’t quite nail down getting the pasta thin enough, but he was sure it turned out better than last time. He also made enough for sixty instead of fifty, which would hopefully satisfy the crew a little more.

After he finished setting out the large pots of soup, a small notification appeared in the corner of his vision.

[XP Gained: 50]

[Level Up: Level 1 -> Level 2]

Lus smiled at that but quickly returned to a neutral face when he realized someone might see him grinning at nothing.

Another notification appeared accompanied with the usual beep.

[Quest Complete: Movin’ On Up]

That was even better. There was so much to see from his system, but he was going to have to wait until he was back in quarters and alone. He went back into the kitchen to tidy a few things up in hopes of making it a little easier for the cleaning golem before going to get his own food once the line died down.

Nobody complimented him this time around, but there weren’t any insults either which Lus interpreted as a good sign. He actually took a chance and sat with Becky and Zer-Dasht for this meal, something he hadn’t done in weeks. Dasht was busy talking up his latest weapon acquisition, leaving little room for the others to say much, but it was still a pleasant evening all in all.

Lusac ate fast, eager to get back to his room and explore the new capabilities with his level up. Luckily Dasht was engrossed enough in his own stories, he didn’t seem to notice, and Becky was absorbed in her own world as well so it was easy enough to slip away and back to the safety of his quarters.

Inside, he pulled up the familiar blue screen. The home screen now held a visual notification about leveling up, but he frowned upon reading that the system would choose how to spend the five points based on his actions since his last level.

When he tapped the notification away, he moaned.

[Stamina: 5]

[Intelligence: 8]

[Strength: 4]

[Charm: 5]

[Health: 8]

[Speed: 8]

[Common Sense: -1]

[Luck: 8]

[Intelligence], [Speed], and [Luck] all went up by 1, but [Speed] was the only one he really cared about. And the last two points were put into [Charm] of all things, pulling it up to a 5.

He noticed that his [Cooking] skill had also leveled up at least, but he wasn’t sure that was going to do much good. And no new skills were added, leaving him a plain old [Chef] and nothing more.

“What the. How does this make sense? Ugh. This system sucks,” Lusac complained, dropping onto his couch. He ran his hands over his face. “No. This is fine. I’ll just have to tailor my daily schedule to be a little more conducive to getting the stats I want like [Strength] and [Stamina] and [Health]. The stats that are actually useful.”

He sat up and called the screen back up. “Let’s see the details of that new [Quest] at least.”

He navigated to the quest tab and went to [Active Quests] where he selected [Movin’ On Up]. His reward was [100 XP], the same as [Cook Something Edible]. Not great, but it put him closer to the [500 XP] he needed for his next level. When he received the [Reward], he got yet another notification from his system.

[New Quest Unlocked!]

[Name: Perfect Soup]

[Description: cook Beginner’s Luck Soup perfectly]

[Time limit: None]

[Reward: 50 XP]

[Reward: Recipe Book]

Now his blasted system wanted him to become a professional chef overnight just for the [Reward] of more blasted [Recipes]. There was no way he was ever going to get something useful out of it, at least not anytime soon. To drown out his misery, Lus instead turned his focus to the holodrive with all the information for the upcoming mission. If he put all his energy into that, he could forget about the horrible deal he’d made, at least for a few days.