Page 24

Garnet

O kay, maybe a surprise party for a group of hardened former-criminals wasn’t a great idea.

Garnet and Goldie wanted to thank the guys for helping them the other day. And every day after. Garnet now knew the meaning of the phrase ‘circle the wagons’.

It had always been Garnet and Goldie against the world. Though their parents blatantly and unapologetically preferred Goldie, that hadn’t spoiled Goldie against Garnet. Whenever they started their bullshit, Goldie always stood up for Garnet. Even if Garnet wouldn’t stand for herself, Goldie never failed to do so.

But they didn’t have a village. They didn’t have a community to rally around them. It was two against many no matter what. And Garnet certainly didn’t regret that, nor had she ever wished for more. It simply wasn’t something she had, and she just accepted that.

Until now.

After the attack, the guys reacted like another might come at any time, from any angle, and they had to be ready to throw down at any moment. Garnet and Goldie stayed on the ship while they remained docked at Rin-Kal. At all times, the ship remained on lockdown. Alred scanned everyone before they came in – even if it was one of the guys. Alred had ultimate control over the doors, no one inside or out could open them if he didn’t let it happen. Rok never strayed from their sides. He slept in the hall outside of their bedroom and wouldn’t go even if they insisted. Trove stayed in the weapons room, while Vytln remained outside, guarding the door that wouldn’t open. Tanin and the twins, meanwhile, worked to figure out who attacked them.

Garnet and Goldie were sequestered safely in a nest made of spikes, all pointed outward, daring anyone to come closer. They didn’t stay docked at Rin-Kal even a second longer than necessary either. Once the twins finished gathering all the information they could, Vytln returned inside and they disconnected, going right back into the black.

They had another delivery to make, but they had to pick it up at their next stop. It was a safe delivery, Garnet was told, because no one would be coming after it. However, it was a biohazard that no one else was willing to risk transporting. Tanin made a lot of credz off delivering things like that because he could charge more for the extra precautions they needed to take.

It was also far from Rin-Kal and the guy who attacked them. The twins weren’t able to come up with any information except that the ship he was likely on had detached the same day he attacked them and vanished into the black. They couldn’t identify who he was or where he came from or what he wanted, only that he was gone. For now, that was enough for her. She was just happy he was gone.

It wasn’t until they left Rin-Kal that the guys all calmed down again. Rok finally left them alone, and Vytln went right back to skulking around his workroom as usual. The danger was definitely behind them, so they could return to normal.

It was right around then that Ikvar commed, checking in on them again . He was dedicated, but annoying about it. Neither Garnet nor Goldie told him about what happened. They just gave token answers to his questions and ended the comms as soon as they could.

Maybe it was because the guys didn’t like the peacekeepers, but Garnet was starting to get bothered by his intrusion into their lives. She didn’t want to talk to him any more than she had to and instead focused back on the guys.

Garnet and Goldie thought that they needed to do something to show their appreciation. For saving them, for protecting them, for everything they had done thus far.

During their Rin-Kal shopping trip, before everything got fucked, Garnet had bought a datastick that included a bunch of recipes to put into the food synthesizer. There were a lot of yummy treats included. The one that caught her attention was the large cake that was too big for the synthesizer to create all at once. She had to do it in layers, then add the fruit, then the jammy style icing. The berries were native to Tanin’s homeworld, so she thought it would be a great surprise.

A couple days after leaving Rin-Kal, while they were cruising around, waiting for the generators to finish recharging, she and Goldie took turns having the synthesizer make them different parts of the cake that they transported to and hid in their room for assembly. While Goldie was putting the cake together, Garnet snuck out to their rec room and got to work.

She had to move fast because Alred, no doubt, was already seeing what she was doing. She didn’t want him to blab to the others, ruining the surprise, so she had to make sure she moved quickly, but not franticly so he didn’t become curious. She didn’t want to draw his attention if she could help it because she wanted to surprise him too. He might not be able to eat the cake, but they wanted to thank him as well, so they wanted him to enjoy the surprise as much as possible.

Acting calm and casual, she cleaned the room and set up a table for the cake and food. She used some of Goldie’s ribbons to tie pretty bows on the lights, giving it just a pop of festive cheer, before she went to the food synthesizer and had it make dinner for everyone. That recipe was a familiar one since the datastick she bought only included sweets and treats – she’d have to remember to get something else next time. Though, maybe not, because the food synthesizer was already groaning and moving slower now with more of its memory taken up.

Still, she did eventually get the ten platters of food she requested and, as she brought them back to the rec room, she asked Alred to tell Goldie to come over. And, once Goldie was on her way, cake in hand, she asked him to call everyone else down.

All of that went well. Nothing untoward. Alred was curious, but she told him she’d tell him why they were doing this once everyone had gathered and that seemed to placate him.

And to her surprise, everyone did come when she called. She was only expecting half, certain that Vytln wouldn’t want to leave his room and that Sway definitely wouldn’t leave the bridge and the twins probably wouldn’t come just because.

However, to her surprise, they all showed up.

And, to their surprise, she and Goldie were waiting there with dinner and a cake and ribbons on the walls.

Then, they yelled, ‘Surprise!’ like they would on Earth.

Only to round out the surprises by Trove reacting by pulling out a big ass knife. At the same time, Vytln raised his fists, accidentally knocking Rok in the nose. The big guy then came back and shoved Vytln, who fell into the twins. They grunted under his weight, but one punched him in the kidney and the other grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm up and back like he was trying to break it. Only for Vytln to kick back, striking one of them in the shins, making them both cry out in pain, before moving to punch Rok again.

It all happened so quickly, Garnet and Goldie couldn’t do more than stand there in shock as it played out before them.

Trove lowered his weapon first, realizing that nothing was wrong. Sway stepped over Rok and Vytln – who were now grunting and wrestling, ham fists flying and landing with loud thuds that echoed in Garnet’s bones.

“What’s this?” Tanin asked, following after Trove, ignoring the two fighting males and the twins standing over them, watching with disturbingly wide, eager grins, like they might take on the winner next.

Goldie grimaced guiltily as Garnet flinched at a particularly hard hit.

“We just wanted to thank you guys,” Garnet said, gesturing weakly to the cake. “We made you this. To say thanks for taking care of us and saving us.”

“You made this?” Trove beamed excitedly, looking over the cake.

“Well, we synthesized it,” Garnet admitted with a sheepish laugh. “But it looks good, right?”

“Is that made of wheat?” Trove pointed at the cake layers clearly visible underneath the jammy fruit toppings.

“Yeah! It’s a rarberry cake. It’s a berry native to Tanin’s home planet.” She smiled at him. “I thought you might enjoy a taste of home.

Tanin cocked his head. “I’ve never been to Tella’za. Never had a rarberry either.”

“Oh?” Garnet deflated a bit. Right. Because he was born and raised on Rik-Vane. She didn’t know why she assumed he’d, at least, have eaten food from his home planet. Or maybe somehow just had a natural taste for those things.

“And I can’t eat cake like this,” Trove smiled at them. “I’m domini, lovelies. Domini can’t really eat wheats and grains.”

Garnet slumped over, disappointment, hot and twisting, pooling in her guts. “Oh…”

“But it looks great!” Trove said quickly. “I can still eat the fruit! And cap can try a rarberry for the first time. That will be nice too, right?”

That was so obviously an attempt to pacify her feelings, she couldn’t even pretend to let it work. She made a cake for a guy who was sensitive to gluten, picked a familiar flavor for a guy who’d never tried it before, and their attempt at a surprise had led to two fights – the twins finally joined in without waiting to see who won the first fight.

“I’m sorry,” she grimaced, sharing a look with Goldie. Maybe they should have just been upfront about it and not tried to keep it a secret. Then, at least, they could have made something that all of them would enjoy. Her sister looked just as disappointed about their lack of success.

“This is good.”

Garnet and Goldie turned at the same moment to see that Sway, while the others talked and fought, had already cut himself a slice of cake and was eating it with all apparent enjoyment.

Alred popped up, his light form shimmering with joy as he stood beside them. “ You don’t have to thank us for protecting you. We agreed to do it. But we appreciate this anyway. It’s very nice of you. Thank you both. ”

Garnet smiled at him weakly. “You don’t have to lie to make us feel better. We couldn’t even think of anything to do for you .”

“And we did try,” Goldie said quickly, like she felt she had to make sure he knew that he hadn’t been forgotten. It was just hard to get something for someone whose body was a spaceship and who didn’t need anything and couldn’t even enjoy something simple like food.

This was the worst surprise party ever.

And even as Garnet had that thought, one of the twins went flying. Thrown by Vytln, who had the other twin clinging to his back, while Rok was getting up, shaking his head as if to try to clear it, sending blood from his lip flying. Vytln was bleeding from his nose, and the twin who went flying had a cut over his eye.

“Will you eejits stop?” Trove snapped at them. “You’re disturbing the females.”

The twin who went flying – Tebros, judging by the side of his head that was shaved – hit the wall and bounced right off. But when he would have charged back into the fray, Tanin caught him by the neck and jerked, throwing him to the ground with surprising ease. Tebros hit with a grunt and immediately scrambled to right himself but, before he could get up, Tanin put a foot on his chest, trapping him.

“Calm down,” he ordered firmly but not loudly, looking at the other three.

“He started it,” Rok grumbled, pointing at Vytln even as Sorbet was climbing off him.

“ Thank you for thinking of me, ” Alred was saying to Goldie, ignoring the others completely. “ I like the ribbons on my walls best. Those are very nice. ”

Goldie smiled back at him, grateful for the kind words, if nothing else, while Garnet approached Tanin who was staring balefully down at Tebros. She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” she said with a wince. “I just assumed you’d like berries from your home planet. Y-Your species, home planet, I mean. Not your home obviously. I just meant-”

“Hey, these are good,” Trove said, drawing her attention to where he had just taken one of the maroon red rarberries from Sway’s plate – earning a dull glare in return.

Tanin took his foot off of Tebros’ chest, allowing him to stand, as the two big guys approached the cake with curious looks. Sorbet seemed to magically appear at his twin’s side. All four of them were now focused on the cake that Goldie was cutting for them, offering everyone a nice, thick slice. Tebros was bleeding brown-red colored blood that he wiped away without looking. The others didn’t even mind them bumping into each other now. Like the fight hadn’t even happened.

Was it an alien thing, a product of their upbringing, or were all males just like this?

Goldie divvied out the cake, Tanin taking a piece last. Garnet already had hers in hand, watching the others anxiously. The cake had been her idea, and if it went as badly as the surprise part of this party, then she really messed up today badly.

But everyone was eating with all apparent enjoyment. Even Trove, who couldn’t eat the cake itself, was happily licking up the jammy filling from his fingers. She looked at Tanin last, eyes darting down to his cake, then back to his face.

He picked up the less than subtle hint and proceeded to use the spork-like utensil to cut off a nice, big bite and bring it to his lips. He chewed and swallowed without a single change in expression while her gut tore itself into pieces. It seemed to take forever for that one bite to go down. He cut off another piece and gave her a gentle smile.

“It’s good,” was all he said before pushing the next bite past his lips.

But she thought her heart was going to burst from her chest, it soared so high at those simple words. He wasn’t one to lie to spare her feelings, so if he said it was good, it must be.

Finally, she took a bite of the cake for herself and made a low moan of delight. It was good. It still had that slightly artificial taste she’d come to associate with anything produced by their cheap food synthesizer, but that didn’t ruin the flavor. For what she had to work with, it was practically gourmet!

At least, that hadn’t gone horribly.