The Espurna was travelling to one of the leisure planets.
After the whole thing with the Mind Flayer team and the Colossus - which Jordi had to feign he had no idea about - he had his interview with Dr. Vann’hra, his assigned psychologist, who notified him that he was on holiday for the next six months. No complaints or excuses would be accepted and Jordi knew this.
They had booked a room for him in a luxurious hotel in one of the most coveted places. He could have attempted to change his destination if he so desired but he thought doing that would be a futile attempt to avoid the inevitable, he would have to take this vacation.
—---
Jordi woke up and followed his routine. Having a good breakfast in the leisure room while watching some news and chatting with Friday with Ryoshi on his lap.
After a while, he went to the gym and exercised for a good hour, took a shower and then… he usually would be checking his next target and prepare the drones, set up the flying path and start writing his report.
But now he was on holidays so he just went back to the leisure room and sat back on the sofa, not really knowing what to do.
“Ei Friday, how long until we reach that leisure planet?” - he asked the ship.
“We still have about twelve hours until we reach the system. Then it will take us a good three more hours to reach the planet. Since we’re back to civilization and this is a highly travelled system we have to follow the proper flight lanes and procedures” - Friday answered - “Why, feeling idler, aren’t we?” - she said tongue-in-cheek.
“Of course I am! The past few years we’ve had them all planned. Go to the X system, do our scans and discover stuff, prepare the reports and then jump to the next” - he replied - “Is only logical that I find myself without anything to do! And these are my very first holidays so I really have no idea.” - he continued.
“Well, lucky for you, you have me. I have sent to your data-pad a list of activities that might interest you, things you might want to see and places you might like to go” - Friday explained.
Jordi looked into his data-pad and started browsing.
“Heh, you know me so well, whatever would I do without you” - he said in a soft voice.
There were restaurants with food to try, landscapes to explore and do some sightseeing and all kinds of activities, from squirrel suit flying to underground exploration.
“What will you do with Ryoshi?” - Friday asked - “While the apartment where you will be staying is pet friendly I think it’ll be better for her to stay here in the ship, in a familiar environment”
“Come on Friday, you can say you would miss her if she wasn’t here” - he answered with a smile on his face.
“Well that should be taken for granted, I have no problem admitting it, but I’m also worried about her well-being” - she replied, almost offended.
“Ok! No need to take that so seriously!” - Jordi laughed - “Fine, she will stay here with you and I’ll do my best to come visit you every week or so”
“You don’t have to worry about us, we’ll be ok. You go and enjoy yourself” - was Friday reply.
“You know, I’m going to miss you a lot” - he said with a bit of sadness in his voice.
They kept chatting for a while, about the list of things to do and see. He was so used to having his days and months planned in advance that he couldn’t help but try the same for his holidays, despite Friday’s comments about trying to improvise and just enjoy.
—---
Jordi was sitting on the bridge when they entered the Dirg’tel system and the view was a shock for him, unaccustomed as he was to seeing the traffic on highly travelled systems.
Thousands of ships were right in front of him. Friday quickly left the jump point - as all highly travelled systems had a mandatory point to avoid accidents - and joined the lane assigned to the Espurna.
He couldn’t even see the end of the line of ships in front of them. Cruisers, big transport ships probably delivering goods and other materials, a few frigates outside the lanes watching that everyone behaved and nothing was out of order. Still, they were moving quite fast.
“Welcome back to the Empire!” - said Friday with what sounded like a smile on her face - “As you can see we still have a bit of time before landing or even seeing our destination, so if you want to take a nap this will be the best time for it”
“You know what, I’ll follow your advice. Is going to be the last time I sleep in the Espurna for a while after all” - he replied, and left the bridge to go to his room, Ryoshi following him closely behind.
Once laying in bed though he realised he was a bit restless. The bed was as comfortable as ever and he felt like he was abandoning his home, the only home he had known as an adult.
And this was his room, to abandon it so quickly brought memories back from when he left to the galactic college and now he felt as he did back then, a kid leaving to an unfamiliar place. For an introvert like himself this looked like the beginning of an awful nightmare.
Ryoshi jumped to the bed and moved over him, looked at him and started to knead on his belly, purring while doing it.
He just laid down and breathed, Ryoshi nails were sharp and he had forgotten to put on a thick sweater before the kneading started so he had to endure the pain while it lasted; cat affection is sometimes painful.
—---
Jordi woke up with Friday voice softly whispering.
“We have arrived. We are about to enter the atmosphere and proceed to our designated hangar”
He realised he was a bit confused, he might have fallen asleep while breathing to control the pain of Ryoshi’s painful kneading. She was still over his belly but his movements woke her up.
Jordi stood up from the bed and went to wash his face, feeling the ship trembling a bit due to the atmosphere entrance. Afterwards he picked up the backpack he had prepared as luggage and walked towards the ship’s bridge, where he just stood without sitting.
The view of the planet was astounding. Straight from there he could already tell this planet was way bigger than Earth, it just felt that way.
They were descending at the beginning of a new day and the skies had a combination of pink and orange with the massive yellow star rising from the horizon.
The skies were filled with ships following clearly designated lanes and there were a couple ships outside those lanes marked with blue strides that were clearly there to monitor and regulate traffic if needed.
As they were descending he started to see the city and it was big. Isles and isles of houses, perfectly ordered with the occasional not so very tall building. A few lanes of mag-lev trains could be seen around them, and there was a lot of green and parks and few streets with vehicles. Everyone seemed to move around just by calmly walking but it didn’t look crowded.
The designated lane had them fly over the city to reach a massive spaceport located at the western edge, it looked like it had hundreds of hangars for ships bigger than the Espurna.
They landed a few minutes later in their hangar, which closed after they came in. It was a circular space with enough room to fit two Espurnas comfortably.
Jordi squeezed the backpack handle and started walking towards the ship’s door.
“Don’t be like that, it’ll be fine!” - Friday said.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“You know I don’t like to socialise” - he answered, grumpiness growing within.
“I don’t really know, you’ve always been open-minded and talkative with me. Just do the same and it’ll be ok” - Friday replied, a smile coming from her voice.
Jordi thought about that for a second. It was true that he never had a problem talking with Friday, or with Ryoshi. People, no matter the species, were different, but he couldn’t say why.
The Espurna’s door opened and he walked down the ramp, turning for a quick view and goodbye to the ship. He had hoped Ryoshi would be there to say goodbye but cats will be cats, she was probably eating or sleeping on his bed.
A message appeared on his data-pad just as the door was closing.
“Just have fun! We’ll be here waiting for you :)” - said the message, obviously sent by Friday.
—---
Jordi managed to find the Starport exit after minutes of walking, following arrows painted on the walls and other signs.
When he finally saw the exit door he also saw three beings waiting near it, a human woman and a couple male drewells, all wearing a white uniform with an orange band on the side.
“Hi and welcome to K’urlhan! It’s an honour to be selected as your first holiday place and we’ll do our best to make this next couple of weeks so enjoyable you cannot wait to come back!” - said the human with that gleeful tone he had seen stewardesses use on old Earth movies.
“If you’ll allow us, these two gentle beings will carry your luggage. If you prefer not, we still have to scan it, no one wants anything dangerous coming our way” - she continued with a smile.
Jordi put the backpack on the floor in front of them and was stopped when he was about to open it.
“No need for that” - said one of the drewells with a serious tone, which one he couldn’t say, honestly they could have been twins, but there was a special ring in the drewells voices that was most definitely not human.
One of them just scanned his backpack with a handheld device and he could see the device bleeping an ok sound and turning green.
“And now that this is done, please follow me! I’ll walk you to your room!” - continued the human female with the same gleeful tone. Jordi wasn’t sure how much of that he could handle.
They left the star-port and he followed the human while she was gleefully explaining all he could do. The restaurants, the museums, the natural parks, expeditions, and all the other stuff he had already reviewed with Friday. She was walking by his side with the two drewell behind, behaving like bodyguards.
They all got into a train with the human explaining the different lanes and routes and the best destinations. After a few minutes they got down following the gleeful guide and they reached the Hotel, it was one of those ‘not so very tall buildings’ and despite being only seven or nine floors tops it was impressive.
She guided him to the third floor and up to his room where she delivered the key and the three of them left him as he entered the room.
And the room was spacious. As he entered and put the card in the holder the lights went up and he could see a big bed, a wardrobe, a nice wooden desk with a fridge underneath and a computer on it, a huge television set and a big balcony at the end. There was a door with a big bathroom behind it, with a nice bathtub and everything else he could ask for.
As the lights went up everything started as well and on the computer screen there was a big alert “message waiting for you” and the Emperor sign behind. He approached and played it.
“Welcome Jordi. This is your Emperor speaking, unfortunately humans are not yet ready to see me so I voice message will have to suffice. I hope you enjoy these holidays. If you are wondering why you got this coveted room and services the answer lies on Friday’s awakening.You know what I’m talking about.
So please, have fun, relax and enjoy yourself. I can tell your next years are going to be even more exciting.”
“Well… fuck” - said Jordi at the end of the message.
The cat was out of the bag, as if there was any chance that it was still in it. But he kept the message brief and without saying much so that might meant the Emperor didn’t want that to be known yet.
He decided to quickly unpack and watch some things on the television set, curious as to what channels and stuff were on it.
A few hours later, after binge watching a documentary about asteroid mining, with ads showing the hotel’s restaurant with its cocktail bar and all the posh-ness every twenty minutes or so, he decided to dress up and give it a try.
And the restaurant was everything shown in the ads and more. There was lots of space between tables, a cocktail bar by its side with a big television set on the news channel. The waiter or waitress - he couldn’t tell at the moment - was a Ki’rlenn, it made sense with their four arms able to serve or prepare drinks.
The moment he sat down he was brought a drink without even asking.
“The first one is always on the house for you mister Explorer” - said the Ki’rlenn amicably.
He tasted it and it was glorious, sweet but with a definite touch of alcohol at the end. He recognized it, hydromel. And just the way he liked it.
He was so absorbed watching the news and enjoying his drink to a point that he really didn’t pay attention to the content of the news, until a sweet female voice spoke to him.
“I heard that one is on you” - said the sweet voice.
He looked back, thrown out of his lost-in-thought status and saw a young female Epsilon, with short wavy silver hair and deep purple eyes looking at him with a smile.
He turned to watch the news and saw the moon he had found that might have been a good fit for the Jui’kk. Already hundreds of ships were in orbit and a base was being organised, they had found a world where they could live.
He turned to her feminine guest trying hard to remember about the Epsilons, he obviously had read about them but they weren’t that many, to encounter one… or was she looking for him? His paranoia implied.
“And how would you know that? The explorer records are usually kept sealed for a while.” - he asked the Epsilon young woman.
She laughed softly and approached him to whisper very closely.
“You see, my work is to be the gate, an arbiter of sorts, between guilds. Who do you think organised all of that and won a place here?” - she asked playfully and moved away putting the index finger over her lips, the universal sign of “shh, be quiet”.
“My name is Er’anie, a pleasure to finally meet you Jordi '' - she said with a smile while extending her arm with an open hand, obviously waiting for a human handshake.
He shook her hand and smiled back.
“You have me at a disadvantage here, I can see you know about me but I can’t say the same” - he replied attempting to smile and trying very hard not to look at the rest of her after a glimpse, cause she was wearing a cocktail dress and by the Emperor she was hot.
She moved her seat closer to his.
“You know, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. Those drones you left were a lifesaver! Usually explorers do a quick check and maybe mark a thing or two but you had a feeling, printed specific drones, perfectly tasked them so our jobs would be all that easier. I was honestly impressed” - she explained looking at him
He was taken aback by that and recoiled a bit, his anxiety firing like fireworks, but a voice inside him told him “come on man! Don’t turn back and look at that! Don’t you fail me now”
“Well, I just did what I was trained to do, I didn’t know other explorers don’t do as much” - he humbly said.
“In my experience not everyone puts in the extra effort. Sure every now and then someone will do their job properly, but more often than not my department needs to invest way too much time reviewing marked planetoids” - she answered, dismissing his explanation.
“You did an amazing job there, you should be proud” - she continued - “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, what are you having? It smells really sweet, can I try it?” - she said and took his drink without waiting for an answer.
“By the Emperor this is good! What is it?” - she said after a sip and took a big gulp.
“It’s hydromel, comes from… err… old Earth” - he answered, trying to mask his discomfort for knowing what humans had done to epsilons.
“Oh! I’ve read about it! Never expected it to taste like this” - she said back and suddenly she was on her feet over the seat - “Gon’ra! Pour me one of these and refill him, would you please?” - she demanded of the waitress.
The Ki’rlenn raise her head and moved towards them, smiling. You could tell she was smiling by the movement on her antennas.
“Girl you need to be careful with this shit” - she said while pouring both drinks moving her antennas in a gleeful manner, it was obvious they two knew each other, and then left to attend to someone else.
To say they chatted for a while would be a stretch. Basically Er’anie spoke and he attempted to follow.
During the conversation he caught glimpses of her. The short black cocktail dress showing her incredible figure, the high-heeled shoes tied at the ankles, the smoothness of her milky skin, and there was something else, something about her smell that felt just right. Her voice was soft as silk and her face could only be defined as symmetrical and perfect, she was incredibly beautiful.
A couple drinks later he realised that the hydromel was way stronger than he thought and he was already tipsy, and she was probably feeling it as well by the redness of her cheeks.
“Say, want to go to your room to continue our conversation” - Er’anie had said at one point, and there was no way he would have refused.
—---
Friday had been spying on Jordi since he left the ship.
She had installed a few self developed applications to monitor his health status, in case she needed to intervene, but luckily everything had been boring as expected.
Later on that first day she saw a rush of adrenaline and elevated heartbeat. But he was in the bar and the local stations weren’t announcing anything happening so Friday was puzzled.
The elevated heartbeat had continued and although the adrenaline had diminished there were some other chemical changes, like glutamate, noradrenaline, dopamine, and hypocretin being generated, plus they were traces of alcohol as well.
After a while he was back to his room, but the breathing and heartbeat were truly elevated and testosterone was being produced so Friday decided to turn the data-pad microphone on, maybe he was fighting or something.
It took her all of three seconds from hearing the sounds to process what was happening.
“This is… Oh! Good for you Jordi” - she thought.
—---
The next morning Jordi woke up with a bit of a hangover, he looked around not recognizing the room at first but then he remembered where he was and what had happened.
There was no one by his side but there was a card on the pillow with a couple strands of silver hair tied around it. He picked it up and noticed it was heavier than it looked and had a small circuit embedded on it.
“Thank you for a fun night. I’ll be really busy the next three days or so but you can contact me after if you want to. This card contains my contact details, I look forward to hearing from you!”
He put the card on the desk and went to take a shower, a smile on his face while remembering the events of the previous night. It hadn’t been a dream, it had really happened.
Not a bad way at all to start these holidays.