The boys were in the mess late after their last shift, getting nice and tanked off Orelliean shimmer-hooch since they had the next two shifts free. The night shifts were sparsely populating the mess, grabbing breakfast or dinner depending on where they were in their day cycles. Out of deference to the worker bees who were still abuzz, Malloy and LaMarr sipped their liquor from the same mugs the mess served coffee in. Anyone who didn't know them better might think they were just tired instead of tipsy.

Everyone on board knew them better than that.

And nobody on board would be surprised to find them speculating on the lives of their crew-mates, trading gossip and making bets about who was (or ought to be) sleeping with who. John was lamenting the lack of diversity he saw in the crew's sexual hi-jinks.

"All I'm sayin' is, someone around here needs to get some alien strange. Expand their sexual repertoire beyond the species on board this ship." LaMarr yawned, then brought his mug up to drain the last drops. from it "The captain is going to be too busy hooking up with Grayson to get the job done."

Malloy scoffed and poured another round for them both. "Captain ain't sitting around pining after his ex wife."

"I dunno, man. Lot of tension there. Lot of history." LaMarr said. Grayson was pretty hot in that basic bitch kind of way. She had to be looking to get Mercer back; why else would she willingly choose to work under the dude she had cheated on? Its career suicide.

"Yeah, a lot of history." Malloy acknowledged, but he was clearly opposed to the idea. "A lot of bullshit between them. They work together okay cuz they have to and they're professionals. But they aren't making goo-goo eyes at each other when our backs are turned."

"At least Mercer isn't." Was all Lamarr had to say.

Malloy let that one go. Ed was his best friend and he wouldn't let him make the same mistake twice. Luckily he was right. Ed wasn't pining for Kelly.

"Alara said the two were about to kill each other when she found them on Calivon. Left alone for a few hours with nothing to do and they choose to fight?" Malloy said, shaking his head. "Nah, I don't see them hooking up again. Besides, Mercer already banged that time-traveler chick, right? She even wanted him to go back to the future with her. She was human but that's gotta count for something."

"Now there's one I'd like to place a few bets on." Lamarr mused.

Malloy shot him a look of confusion, having lost his friend's train of thought. Bet on what? That future chick didn't exist anymore, or yet, or will not exist, or wouldn't have existed. Or something. Time travel was confusing enough when he was sober.

"Alara." Lamarr elaborated. "What do you think its like to make it with a woman that strong? How would you even go about that?"

"I haven't heard of any Xelayan/Human relationships, but my guess would be: very carefully." Malloy said. He didn't want to think about Alara's super-strong vice-like grip anywhere near his person. He liked his squishy bits unsquished.

"That doesn't leave her a lot of options on board. Girl's gonna have quite a dry spell. Unless she takes Isaac up on his offer." LaMarr joked.

The two laughed at the idea of their robot crew-mate as a robo-dildo, doing impressions of Isaac making stilted, monotone dirty talk. After the chuckles died down, they regarded each other in silent contemplation for a split second.

Then began to making bets on the likelihood of a Xelayan/Kaylon rendezvous.