Figuring out how to use the ship's food synthesizer had taken some getting used to.
More than a year into his assignment, the agent discovered the unit was finicky when it came to accepting certain types of raw materials. Protein cubes, small or chopped plant analogs and flavouring gels tended to work best. Any powders or grains clogged the processing tubes.
He had tired of the various field ration incarnations.
Before Fellis's ship touched down on Voss he'd have a taste of what he called "The Butcher's Special".
The Chiss patriot last made his signature flash heated stew for Agent Temple after Hoth to thaw her from the cold and warm her disposition towards him.
The unsophisticated, tasty dish was made with every single foodstuff currently available in the synthesizer, using excessively generous protein cube servings. Today, it was bantha, ginx, nerf and an unknown eel.
It was the closest thing he'd get to the comfort of Chiss food any time soon.
If he was lucky, topping the stew with boiled egg slices was delicious. He hadn't been lucky since well before Hoth.
After stirring in some hot pepper oil Fellis retrieved a bag of moss chips from under the counter.
With bowl in hand he turned to walk around the bulkhead separating the modest kitchenette from the lounge area, stopping dead in his tracks.
Kaliyo was sitting on the curved sectional lounge seating. She hadn't been there when he'd first entered the common area.
In the moment, the agent was thankful most humanoids had difficulty reading his eyes. Another Chiss would have recognized the mixed look of surprise, annoyance, and disappointment.
He'd been looking forward to quietly eating his meal alone.
"Have a seat, agent," Kaliyo said, patting the cushion next to her. "Let's talk."
"Heading to my quarters, thank you."
"C'mon, lover. I promise I'll be good company," she flirtatiously softened her voice.
"I'd prefer not," Fellis replied.
The last thing he wanted to do was endure her blithe attitude.
In the recent past - before she'd brought her male conquest about his ship this week - he'd found the woman's boorish behaviour arousing.
Flaunting her sexual exploits in his face aboard the X-70 Phantom was his limit.
He hadn't spoken to her since the incident.
In reviewing the entirety of their relationship Fellis couldn't help feeling Kaliyo had been a colossal false advertising campaign.
During their Dromund Kaas missions she'd led him on, claiming sexual shamelessness when he came on to her. Thereafter, she'd blocked his every attempt at seduction and strung him along for weeks. She conveniently softened just in time to exploit his sexual needs to make him a stooge on her personal crusade to eliminate her former partners.
Still, he'd believed they had a future together … until Dibbon.
He'd no longer allow her to pull him around by his tan'er.
"Still sore about Devon?" Kaliyo asked. Fellis sensed the schadenfreude in her voice.
"Dibbon," he corrected her, then enjoyed a spoonful of stew.
"So you are still upset about it," she outrightly smirked. "I mean, really, agent. Be an adult about this, will you."
"You did it on my ship," Fellis replied. His home, his workplace, his sanctuary.
"Your ship, his place, a cantina stock room … what does it matter where I had sex with him? I don't have to ask your permission." She was indignant.
He let her wait for his response while he ate one, two … three mouthfuls of The Butcher's Special.
"You could've fucked him anywhere in the galaxy. But you had to do it here," Fellis seethed. "My one sacred space in the universe. I don't care that you sleep with other people … as long as it's not here."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," she retorted. "Let's just forget all about this, lover? Things were going so well."
Kaliyo stood up and walked to him and put her hands around his neck; she pressed her pelvis into his.
"Don't call me 'lover'. And, no," he said, shrugging her off and stepping away to set his unfinished meal on the counter.
"You can't be serious," Kaliyo sarcastically replied.
"How would you feel, Kaliyo, if I brought someone back to the ship?" Fellis asked.
"I'd definitely be offended-"
"My point exactly."
"-if … you didn't ask me to join," she said.
Fellis sighed and looked downward, shaking his head.
"I'm afraid there's no coming back from this one," he said, savoring the taste of the stew still clinging to his lips. "Let's just call it quits, shall we?"
It was long overdue for the agent to cut his losses.
"You're a real class act, you know that? Completely skipping the 'let's take a break' phase," she exhaled sharply, nodding her head in suspicion. "I see what's going on here. You're fucking the ensign; looking to cut me loose. Well, I'm not going to make it easy for you." She raised her voice.
"I'm not with Temple … and this has nothing to do with her."
"Liar! This has everything to do with her," Kaliyo's voice escalated to a shout and she got threateningly close to Fellis. Wherever the rest of the crew were they'd surely heard.
"Now look who's being ridiculous."
"You think I don't see the way you look at her?" Kaliyo continued ranting. Within a split second her anger simmered. "Consider your next move very carefully. Play it right and I'll let you have your flatcake and eat it too. But you let me drive. Understand?"
"I'm not one of your former partners, Kaliyo. This isn't the part where I cow to your bluster and beg you to come back. It's over."
Fellis picked up his bowl, walked swiftly into his quarters and closed the door.
Sitting down at his desk he paused and lowered his head before returning to his meal.
The stew had gotten cold.
Flash heating always did that; made things piping hot, only for them to cool too quickly.
GLOSSARY OF NON-BASIC WORDS
tan'er: (Cheunh) penis