New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

The bar was darker, smokier, and far bigger than Apollonia expected.  Hundreds of people thronged in and out, up stairs and lifts and into smaller partitioned areas, separated from the main area with elegant curved walls.

Mostly it was humans, but she also saw a number of Dessei on the right side, their feathered cloaks closed about them, staring almost aggressively at everyone who came near, along with gaggles of Sepht off to the left, packed in tightly around their tables and laughing loudly.  A handful of heavily-armed Greggans lounged in a corner, their toothy maws and large bulbous eyes watching in different directions at once while they grunted loudly, and at many tables she saw numerous Hev, hissing and barking to each other in high-pitched voices.

She counted seven floors, going up into increasing darkness – and privacy.  With Gohhi being the hub of neutral commerce, she had a feeling that the discussions happening up on the top floors were probably pretty damn private.

“Are you sure this is where we should get a drink?” she said loudly to Jaya.  The throngs of voices would make it impossible for them to otherwise hear each other.

“Yes,” Jaya said, smiling.  “I’ve been here before.”

That really surprised Apollonia, who looked at Jaya with new eyes.  This place was not at all up to military code, and she had always taken Jaya as the type to want everything neat and by the rules.

“Over this way,” Jaya said.

The woman took her arm and led her into one of the smaller side areas – which was still not small, as it was about the size of the bars Apollonia had seen on New Vitriol.

As they stepped through the door, the sounds from outside seemed to diminish significantly, enough that she could hear Jaya speaking easily.

“This area is for starmen,” the woman said.

“Spacers,” Apollonia corrected automatically.

“That’s what engineers use for separating things,” Jaya said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, I’m a spacer and it’s what I prefer to be called!” Apollonia replied, though Jaya seemed to ignore her.  Really, Apollonia didn’t feel like it was a hill worth dying on.

Most of the clientele in the sub-bar had the uniforms of shipping companies – little more than space suits with names and logos stuck on.

Years of just below too much radiation had left most balding, their skin like scraps of old leather, and their eyes glinting with augments to fix their cataracts.

Others had more official uniforms on, though recognizing them in the gloom was difficult.  She stared a moment, and realized with a start that some were from the Craton.

The smells of all kinds of smoke from burning sticks made her lungs tickle, but she suppressed a cough.  Smoking had never been popular in New Vitriol – some kind of religious cultural hangover.  But she’d heard how certain plants on various alien worlds had become as popular if not more so than tobacco or marijuana, and she found herself staring at the strange methods people were using to take in their drug of choice.

Jaya led her to the bar, and Apollonia sat down on a stool, feeling like an awkward, out-of-place kid.

The bar itself was composed of some sort of clear metal that could be pressure-hosed down.  Despite that, the surface had scratches and marks gouged in it that made her wonder just what kind of trouble took place here.

Above the bar were screens, showing various games like freeball or chase, or news shows from various places in Gohhi or beyond.

There was a human bartender, a man who looked grizzled himself, his face set in a lazy sort of sneer, and he gave her a look before pointedly holding up a scanner.

“Approve the age check,” he grumbled.

Fumbling with her tablet, she tapped to approve his request, seeing about a dozen other pings from people she didn’t know.  She hadn’t gone to a bar in a long time, she was too widely known and disliked on New Vitriol, but she remebered that.  All of the requests were men who had set up their systems to automatically query any woman who entered.  She ignored them all, plus the ad from the service offering to automatically screen her pings for a monthly fee.

Jaya’s scan went smoother, and she ordered tharra for both of them.

Apollonia hadn’t had that before, but was surprised at not just how sweet it was – but how strong.

“Gah, this stuff could clean a sewer pipe,” she said.

Jaya smiled.  “I don’t drink often, but when I do it is something strong.”

“If you don’t drink much, how can you handle it?”

“Synthetic liver lobe,” Jaya said.  “And kidneys.  As you lack that, I suppose this means you should be careful.”

Which Apollonia had already decided she’d do.  She’d never been much of a drinker, only having hard seltzers when she managed to get anything.

Jaya was on her left, and she looked up and down the bar, seeing two spacers to her right a stool down, who were deep in a loud conversation.

“. . . fucked the place right to hell . . .” she heard one man said, then tuned him out.

“So what do people do when they go drinking besides drink?” Apollonia asked Jaya.  “I’ve never done this with anybody.”

“I typically drink alone as well.  But we can simply talk.”

Apollonia blinked and stared.  She could think of nothing to say – which was extra annoying as she often had thoughts on things that seemed trivial that she would love to ask someone.  It was the perfect moment, and yet . . .

Jaya seemed to feel none of her awkwardness, instead draining her glass and signalling for another.  The surly bartender filled it, then wandered away.

He was slower than any drone, Apollonia thought, and markedly less pleasant.

“I’m surprised there’s actually a human bartender,” she muttered.

“Starmen utilize drones in fewer interpersonal tasks than we do, generally,” Jaya said.

“Because of the sparkling personalities?”

Surprise, then amusement went over Jaya’s face, and she flashed a bright smile.  “I can only presume so.”

A silence fell, and only one thought came to Apollonia.

“So . . . you know Brooks pretty well, right?”

“As well as anyone aside from Urle,” Jaya said.  “Which is to say barely at all.  He is a very private individual.”

“So you and he . . . you’ve never . . . ?”

“. . . Ours is purely a professional relationship,” Jaya replied dryly.

“Oh.  Well, okay.  What about you and Urle?”

Jaya rolled her eyes.  “Do you truly think that the command staff are living some kind of . . . soap opera story?”

“Well, hey,” Apollonia said defensively, “Most of my view of the universe comes from watching really bad entertainment.  And you’re all highly effective people under high stress.  I thought maybe you’d be going at it like – I mean . . .  Um . . .”

“Sex drive is the first thing to decrease under stress,” Jaya noted.

“I mean, yeah, I know that,” Apollonia said.  “Is it really that stressful for the officers all the time, though?”

“It probably isn’t comparable to your life,” Jaya said.  “But I am not really interested in discussing my love life,” she added, arching an eyebrow, though not seeming truly annoyed or offended, merely exasperated.

“So you do have a love life.  In some form.”

Jaya made an annoyed sound.  “I think I am done with this portion of the conversation, Apollonia.”

Apollonia laughed and realized she’d finished half of her drink.  Perhaps she should slow down.

“But what hobbies do you have?” Jaya asked, steering the conversation in a new direction.

“Well, the crappy entertainment was a big one,” Apollonia said.  “I liked stories about disasters and monsters . . . but the big military ones were probably the most popular overall.  I saw a lot of those just because they were everywhere all the time.  Like Military Inspection Service – that was hella popular.  That main boss guy was pretty bad ass, not gonna lie.”

“MIS?  Oh, that show is drivel,” Jaya said, shaking her head.  “And every episode is the same!  Some alien terrorist plot to disrupt the peaceful operation of the Glorian Republic.”

“Sometimes they were human terrorists,” Apollonia said.

“It was just crude propaganda.  Every show they make is about security forces or military forces or ex-military forces who are now in the security forces.  And at the end of every episode you are shown just why they need to maintain a brutal police state.”

Jaya’s eyes flickered over Apollonia’s shoulder, and the sound of someone shifting was barely audible, along with a break in the conversation she’d been tuning out.

“Did he hear you?” Apollonia asked quietly.

“Yes,” Jaya said.

“Was he annoyed?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t care,” Jaya replied, knocking back the rest of her current glass and signalling to the bartender for another refill.

Apollonia continued.  “There was also . . . uh . . . Fighting Force Seven, about some space fleet always battling pirates or whatever.  Some endless fictional war – that one was probably the most popular.  Probably saw the whole series about three times, and I didn’t even like it that much.”

“Actually, I’ve seen some of those,” Jaya said.  “Absolutely atrocious – not even just from a story point of view, but how they depict space combat.  Their secret weapon in season three, the giant laser?  That wouldn’t even scratch the paint on the Craton at missile distances!”

“Preaching to the converted, even I didn’t like it.  But Gerard was a pretty cool character.”

“Wait, wasn’t he the one who had a relationship with like every other character on the command crew?”

“. . . yeah.”

Jaya sighed.  “Naturally.  Now, have you seen The Guard Fleet or The Geese Have Not Returned?” Jaya asked her.

“Uhh . . .”  Apollonia wracked her memory, the latter being somewhat familiar.  She had maybe seen it once, but it had been really boring.

“I think I know the Geese one.”

“Those are films that show what military action is like.  It’s not a fun time, and people don’t come home.”

“I know,” Apollonia agreed.

Jaya nodded soberly, taking her new glass from the bartender and staring down into it.  “But let’s not dwell on that,” she said, and took another drink.

---

< Ep 7 Part 17 | Ep 7 Part 19 >