Later in the day.
Farraday had finally convinced them to stop the car to stretch her legs. They were about a half an hour from the monument that Luna wanted to see, and Ayat had been grumbling about being hungry. They pulled into a small settlement that consisted of a fueling station, a small cluster of hab blocks, and a cafeteria of some kind. Ayat and Farraday had insisted on eating before they went any further on this little expedition, and Luna had bowed to their desires.
They entered the eatery, a place called Joe’s...Luna hadn’t been able to make out the rest of the name from the faded paint. The Laborer caste waitress, was the word that came to Luna’s mind looked them up and down and smiled softly.
“Will it just be the three of you today?”
“Aff.” Farraday barked, still trying to get the feeling back in her knees and ankles. The other two nodded their agreement.
“Excellent,” The young woman frowned for a moment, “I am not sure i have a table large enough for you and your tall friend to sit comfortably, would you mind if i seated you at the counter?”
“That will be fine.” Luna said with a smile. Brikai had taken them all to a place like this closer to their base, and it had been a pleasant experience. The laborer took them to their seats, and Luna and Ayat used the small riser to put their feet on. Farraday was having a pleasant experience, spinning the metal seat slowly. They both knew it wasn’t built for a person of Farraday’s size, but they were hoping it wouldn’t break before they had their meal and continued their journey.
“I can actually sit here, and my feet touch the floor without me having to bend my knees backwards like a Warhawk.”
“Excuse me,” Luna said quietly to the laborer. “What do you reccomend?”
“Have you had an Anywhere milkshake before?” Ayat’s eyebrows rose in confusion, and Farraday’s ears perked up.
“No, where precisely do you get the milk?” Luna asked with a hint of puzzlement. The planet was well below the temperature threshold to sustain Cows and other herd mammals.
“Anywhere has a thriving Aquaculture society and there are large herds of aquatic mammals like whales, have you heard of whales?”
Ayat nodded slowly, trying to figure out what precisely this laborer was prattling on about.
“Well, there are milking facilities in the oceans where the milk from these sort of whales is collected and shipped all over the planet. We use it to make all kinds of Dairy products, milk, cream, sour cream, heavy cream, ice cream…”
“We get the idea.” Luna cut her off, fearing she would have stolen the rest of the day from them if they let her.
“You mentioned a Milkshake?” Ayat brought her attention back to focus.
“Oh right, we have six different flavors, chocolate, strawberry, vanillia, a cream cheese one made from local Sea Milk, caramel, and Seaberry. Seaberry and the Cream cheese ones use all natural flavors, the others we have to import in flavor packets from offworld.”
They ordered their milkshakes and eventually settled on something to eat. The young laborer stared at Farraday incredulously as she ordered five different things off the menu, including a meal for two. She headed towards the kitchen and the cook gave her a bewildered look and let out a low whistle as he looked up at Farraday from the kitchen.
Ayat and Luna looked at Farraday quietly. “What, I’m hungry and it’s cold outside. I don’t exactly have a lot of body fat to keep me warm.” That was very true, Elementals in general maintained a superhuman physique, but Farraday prided herself on her body, and took great pains to keep in peak shape for an Elemental.
“These Seaberries are extremely tart.” Ayat’s mouth puckered as she sipped the frozen concoction.
“Here, try the Cream cheese.” Luna offered her fellow officer a sip of hers.
“This caramel flavor was delicious.” Farraday pushed her glass back across the counter and started to sip the offered cup of coffee.
They bantered with each other, happy to have a moment’s peace between battles and trials. That was something that was very different from the homeworlds. There were no clans to trial against, no one to test their warrior skill against. There were rumors or remnants of the planetary militia and some of the 2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs who hadn’t made it offworld lurking somewhere on the planet, but they would not meet the Falcons in honorable combat, they were Dezgra...without honor, and Chalcas, not of the way of the clans. Their order arriving broke their individual thoughts and they were pleasantly surprised by the abundance of food.
“This looks wonderful.” Luna said with a smile. She studied the combination of sea greens and the root vegetables that went with the steak she ordered. Ayat reluctantly nodded. She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of tuber went into the fries, but they smelled perfect and the sandwich was magnificent. It took two trips to bring everything that Farraday had ordered, and her food stretched across the counter two seats adjacent to her. The cook stood there for a moment, staring at Farraday.
“Something wrong, Merchant?” Farraday’s face creased into a frown.
“Nothing at all, Warrior, i just haven’t seen an Elemental in almost twenty years. You’re much more attractive than the last one that passed through here.” The cook was soft spoken, and clean shaven. Farraday blushed gently.
“When was the last time you saw an Elemental pass through here?” Luna asked quietly. That didn’t make sense, there weren’t Elementals operating in the Inner Sphere that she knew of.
“Oh...back in the winter of ‘29...there were three of them, and a couple of mechwarriors. They came to see the prison, and were full of information about what it had been during the heyday of the Rim Worlds Republic. They were here for a month, investigating the facility and i think two of them investigated the old spooky Mech Factory. The last day they were here, they went to the Star League Monument, and spent all day up there. They came back here, ate a massive dinner, and gave me enough money as a tip to pay off the place.”
“That beggars the imagination…” Luna said quietly.
“The only thing they asked, was that if more of their people came through, to offer them the same hospitality we showed them.”
“Nonsense!” Ayat exclaimed.
“Here, look at this.” The merchant reached up over the window and pulled the picture down. He sat it on the counter between Luna and Ayat. “They had me take this picture for them on that last night.” They stared at the collection of men and women, three obvious elementals, all of whom were probably sibkin, they had similar features and hair colors. The two Mechwarriors were different from other, but Luna could swear she had seen one of them somewhere before.
“Do you mind if i take a picture of this?” Luna asked the cook.
“By all means, and ladies, your lunch is on the house, as is traditional for the Clans.” He smiled softly and disappeared into the back to finish cooking more meals.
“Ayat, do you recognize any of these people?”
“I don’t think so, but i will think on it further after i eat lunch.”
Luna nodded slowly, tasting the wonderful seasonings in the steak. Something unusual was going on...
Oooh, a mystery! I love these! I look forward to the next one!
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