After safely transporting the Transcendents to the star in the Winth System, Tejeda called for a team meeting. When everyone was seated at the table, he stopped spinning with his chair and coughed to catch everyone’s attention.

“First of all, I want to congratulate you all for not dying during your first month on this ship. Under my command, that’s quite the feat. E00, do we have some applause sounds to insert now?”

The silence that followed was an answer in itself.

"I take that as a no. Okay. Moving on. Before starting the actual meeting, I want you guys to tell me who made that wonderful pie. I ate all of it."

"I made the pie." C1313 tilted her head in a sign she didn’t understand the praise. "I can take into account the nutritional needs of each individual and prepare something accordingly. But when it comes to taste, well, I don’t have any. My dishes can be bland, I can’t tell."

"Well, I must say, your cooking is exquisite." Tejeda winked. "Congratulations on acquiring a new role on this ship. You’re now the cook."

"But... I'm afraid I can't... What if I add too much or too little spices? There are several variables I am unable to verify."

"No worries," Tejeda replied. "I’ll taste it for you. My taste receptors change during each shift, and it’s one of my neverending pleasures to explore the flavors with each new body. Everything changes when your senses are altered. That’s why I like food." He laughed. "Once, a Globonian told me a chef who doesn’t taste the food makes it even more delicious. Maybe he was right. Who knows? Globonians eat even dirt, so that’s that."

Okay, his speech sounded great at first, until he destroyed it with irrelevant details that tossed everything out the window. Tejeda applied an overly compensating smile. "Do you have any other issues, or may I start with the major item on my list today?"

“We’re listening,” Cato said, excited.

She seemed to be the only one. C1313’s eyes dashed left and right, probably trying to compute the implications of her new role. Shayla leaned over the backrest with her arms crossed over her chest. Hanga tinkered at a miniature contraption, possibly not hearing a word. With his head resting on his fist, Jackeye seemed lost in boredom. What a crew he had!

"E00, do the honors." A transparent screen appeared, hovering above the table. It was big enough for everyone to see the list. "This is our mission board. From here, we get the tasks available to us directly from the Interplanetary Police’s data stream. I’ll be picking them according to our proximity to the target and its rating on the OMG scale."

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“The OMG scale?” Shayla shrugged. “What’s that?”

“My personal scale from boring to ‘Oh my God, we’re all gonna die!’”

Silence followed his words once more. Hanga raised his head, his screwdriver hanging over the contraption, and furrowed his brow. Jackeye raised a single eyebrow while C1313 blinked a few times. Cato’s ears flickered as if she was trying to see if her hearing was off. A click of the tongue came from Shayla’s direction.

Tejeda waved dismissively, puffing heavily. “Nevermind. You’ll understand when I pick a mission.”

Using the keyboard that appeared on the table’s surface in front of him, Tejeda added some filters. The list narrowed down, only the missions within three days of travel were still displayed. An index in the bottom right corner indicated five options remaining.

As he skimmed over the titles, his gaze caught Shayla’s expression. Furrowed, almost joining eyebrows, hands clenched into fists, her jaw visible through the cheek showing how much she gritted her teeth.

At first, Tejeda thought the expression was for him. That frightened him a bit. But then he remembered the list was floating in the air right between them. He realized her fury was aimed solely at a mission there. But which one? He had to take them one by one and see when she would react.

""Kirian, a remarkable scientist, created a bacteria that can eat any organic compounds. His most recent known location was Aunald, Valeria's moon.""

After he finished reading, Tejeda looked at Shayla. No reaction.

There was a mission about a hacker transmitting false data to incite riots across various planets. He could get in and out undetected through the CCC, short for Cosmic Complete Circuit, the Universe’s network. Shayla had no connection with such things as far as he knew. So he moved on.

Two of the next three missions on the list had negative OMG values. His mind translated them as bla, bla, bla, political, bla. The other one sounded intriguing.

"King Astin, leader of the southern hemisphere of Beridian, has initiated a hunt for his wife, who has been missing for five years. Details are provided after the acceptance of the mission."

Tejeda’s eyes darted at Shayla. She gulped, and her arms resting over her chest moved up and down because of her rapid breathing. This was it.

“This sounds like fun. Should we take this mission?” Tejeda tried his luck to see her opinion and maybe fish for more information.

“No,” she said, all too fast with a broken voice. Her fingers circled over the table, a tell on her part. Then she regained some of her assertiveness. “Why should we scour the world for a woman?”

Fevered questions swarmed Tejeda’s mind. Should he pick that mission or not? How could this mission affect Shayla? Was there something wrong with her? Did this planet have any significance for her? Or was it the man, King Astin? How would she react if he picked it up?

Shayla had a blank expression, something he had never seen on her. She was cautious. Tejeda suspected she was hiding her discomfort from the others. Her gaze lowered and pinned the floor. Her fingers nervously continued to draw circles on the table. Her self-assurance waned.

Tejeda decided to give her a pass. For now. “Ok. We go after Kirian. Who doesn’t love mad scientists?” He smirked, thinking how could he find out the truth about her reaction.