Ramia now stood very close to the edge of the mezzanine, her neck craned over the edge, glaring at Stephen. She looked Stephen up and down, and Stephen made an audible gulping sound. Stephen Kano was sweating buckets when Ramia spoke.
"You like catcalling women do you? Think it's cute eh?" She said, her voice had a soft, sultry sound to it, and her volume belied her size. "Well? Are you waiting for permission to speak, or haven't you found your balls yet?" Those words were not quite what Ramia had wanted to say, but her last couple of years going through the rigorous Marine training had left her with a crass and short manner.
Stephen began to stammer his response, not expecting her to be so, blunt. Words had just begun to form on the tip of his tongue when Soren stepped in front of him.
"He didn't mean anything by it, miss," Soren drawled, "He just can't keep it to himself when he sees a beautiful woman." Soren's tone was low, and soft, his smile was disarming and genuine. Ramia was taken aback, and she blushed a little. She wasn't used to being complimented like that. Soren spoke once more, "We apologize if we offended you, so we'll just be on our way…"
Soren began to lead the flabbergasted Stephen away when he heard the woman start to choke out a response.
"No, it's ok. You don't have to leave," Ramia began to say, though she wasn't really sure why. She had been furious with the man's friend for catcalling at her just moments ago, but now she was calm and apologetic. Her heart began to race as she got a good look at him when he turned around at her response. She thought that he was rather handsome, in a rugged sort of way, he wasn't pretty like the men she had seen in magazines, but he wasn't average looking either.
Soren had turned to face the giant woman after she had spoken up. He glanced at Stephen, whose face had regained some of its color, and he had stopped stammering. He'd just been nose to nose with an angry giant, and he was understandably a bit shaken by it.
Soren walked over to where Ramia stood, and introduced himself. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, I'm Soren, and my friend over there is Stephen. He's a bit of a bonehead sometimes, but he means well. I didn't catch your name miss…?" Soren bowed slightly.
Ramia blushed a bit and responded, "Mia, Mia Dosel." She returned his bow, and smiled, "Pleased to meet you…"
Soren smiled, "Pleased to meet you too Mia." Soren turned to walk away, but stopped, and turned back to Mia. "We were just about to go get something to eat, would you care to join us?" Soren blurted out. Mia nodded, and replied that she'd like that. Stephen perked up almost immediately at the mention of food, and the prospect of dining with a lovely lady. They quickly decided on the Nian Nian restaurant down the way.
Mia had to visit a micloning station, as most of the restaurants on the promenade couldn't cater to full size zentradi. In fact while most of the fleet was designed to accommodate full size zentradi, restaurants, living quarters and most of the amenities in the fleet were miclone size, given the space constraints, and micloning chambers were provided as a public service.
Soren greeted Mia as she exited the station, and the three of them walked down the promenade to the Nian Nian several hundred meters away. Soren was searching of a way to really strike up a conversation with her, when he noticed a large gathering of people.
He began to notice the throng of people were mostly zentradi. They were milling about holding signs, some were passing out flyers, and they began to chant. Soren, Stephen, and Mia stayed a fair distance from the gathering, but were still close enough to hear. A man stood up on the edge of the fountain, and began to speak loudly. He called for his zentrana and meltran kin to hold their heads up, and be proud of their heritage, that the humans were repressing them, and keeping them from doing what they were born to do. He called for them to throw off their chains and fight for their right to be who they were supposed to be. He held up the human race as the example of hypocrisy, and that for all of the human talk of peace and understanding was just lies, and meant nothing as humanity still embraced war. He said humanity was afraid of the zentradi race. His rhetoric went on like that for a good while, and Soren led Mia and Stephen away, before they got swept up in the crowd's fervor. Mia put it out of her mind, while Soren and Stephen put it to the back for the time being. They knew this might be the start of something nasty for the fleet.
The happy mood returned to the three as they settled into their table at the Nian Nian. They sat at a round table in the corner, each facing the others. Soren was the first to break the silence. He started with the easy questions, since he got the feeling that she was bit on the shy side. He found out that she had just graduated from the Starlight Academy, the top military academy in the fleet. Soren himself had gone to the Kukaku University, and while he had received his military training there, it was through the reserve commissioning program, and he had majored in physics, while Mia had just gone through 4 years of rigorous military training and received multiple engineering degrees during her tenure there. Mia disclosed that she had just been assigned as a squad leader in one of the Marine Amphibious Battalion's battlesuit platoons. Soren, a bit shy of his new posting with Special Warfare, simply stated that he was a fighter pilot. Stephen shot him a surreptitious glance, he knew that Soren was modest, and didn't want to overshadow Mia's accomplishment.
Soren was incredibly impressed, she was not only beautiful but smart as well. Slowly the conversation took a more personal turn, and they began to talk about films and books, and entertainment. They both shared a passion for mid to late 20th century film, and 20th century fiction. They both shared a passion for history, and began discussing it at length. Stephen could actually follow this conversation, as he had studied history and political science during his time in university. However, once the conversation turned to science and technology he was lost again.
They sat there at that table for hours, talking and getting to know each other. They swapped stories and jokes, until the management politely asked them to leave so they could close up.
"It was really nice to meet you both," Mia said as they left the Nian Nian, "But I have an early morning tomorrow, and I need to get back to the BOQ." Soren nodded and offered to walk her to her barracks. Mia graciously accepted, but Stephen declined, stating that he was headed back to the team quad. Soren said he'd meet him there after a bit, and they departed.
Soren and Mia continued to talk as they walked to her barracks, but Soren had a strange feeling, though he didn't show it. He felt as though he were being watched, hunted almost. He was sure they would be safe, crime was almost unheard of on the Starlight, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being stalked…