Chapter 10: Stuck in the damn crossfire

Authors note: Hi again guys! Sorry for the long update (if you call two weeks long), I've just been rather busy and this chapter took me soooooo long to write! Just to clarify, since one of my reviewers thought this, the point of the last chapter was NOT to get anyone to side with Zellah because she's 'the new kickass female'. Nor was it my intention to get anyone to pick sides. Do as you will by all means, but that was not the message I was putting across. All of her actions are justified, as are Gantu's. And any questions you may have about the last chapter will, hopefully, be cleared up in this chapter. The conflict between Gantu and Zellah is intentional for these current events, but it will not be a very long thing. In a couple more chapters, everything will change... anyway! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

The journey back to the ship was pretty unbearable. Reuben hadn't recalled anything so awkward and tense in his whole life. Well... there was that drunken brawl Gantu had almost gotten himself into that one time, when arresting a guy at a bar on the planet Rethsur, but that was totally irrelevant to their current situation. Gantu looked like he wanted to murder Zellah, and the feeling was mutual from her side, as well as it was his. Of course the security crew were still completely oblivious to what had actually happened down on Meltrok, but none of them saw it fit to enquire about it. Reuben felt like he was stuck in the middle of it all. Literally! He was sat between Gantu and Zellah on the ship, while the remaining security crew were all sat in the main cargo bay in the other area of the small craft. Many of the security Officers had volunteered to fly in the other ship with the two convicts Chief Zettar had taken down. So now, only a few were sat in the small red cruiser. The little Galley Officer couldn't deny that he felt so darn small sat between the two Shaeleks. Well who wouldn't, when you were 2 and a half foot tall compared to two 20 foot tall people? Poor Reuben crossed his tiny arms and gazed over to Gantu, the pilot of the ship. He was scowling and grasping onto the steering wheel extremely tightly with both hands. He then dared to gaze over in the direction of Zellah, her eyes were also squinted angrily. However, she crossed her arms and fixed her gaze out of the window, watching as they made their way out of the planet's dusty atmosphere. Throughout the entire time, Reuben kept his wits about him. They could suddenly brawl it out at any given moment. And he would be at the centre of it all. It did not give him comfort that he was indestructible, and could take it. For he would still feel the pain. And he for one, had no problem with either of them. It was their stubbornness which kept them mad at one another. That and the hatred.

Reuben could tell that Zellah hated Gantu with a passion, but he could not fathom it out if Gantu hated her in return. Sure, she had probably offended him to the brink of him never wanting to see her again. But Reuben knew his friend. No matter how much anyone could hurt him, he could never truly hate them. Not unless they were criminals of course. But there was something in Gantu's eye and mannerisms which Reuben could not make clear at all. He saw it when they first met, and despite today's events, he still saw it now. Gantu would be lying if he said he hated Zellah, because, deep down, Reuben knew that he didn't. He looked more hurt by what she had said, than angry. And by all rights, he should be hurt! She had said many things which would have put all of those encouragements Reuben had given him, down the drain. But Reuben knew that he probably wouldn't have to comfort Gantu with all of this. The poor sucker would be too consumed with trying to be better than her. So much so, that he would start trying to compete with her. Here goes the constant gym hours and plasma battles in the training facilities! He had seen it all before, and it seemed that he was about to see it all again. Reuben certainly knew this would be what would happen between them. The competition for dominance was now on! This was the start of a new life.

Until Chief Zellah Zettar's contract with the Galactic Alliance was over, Captain Gantu would not quit until he showed himself superior to her. Or tried to in the very least.

And he was right! Gantu would be doing that very thing! Not long after returning to the ship, both Gantu and Zellah had suddenly disappeared and gone their separate ways. To start off with, Reuben decided it best to stay out of Gantu's way and let him vent it out on the wall structure or the machinery. At least that could be fixed. Another thing could be said for himself. He was perfectly fine in his normal shape and size. He did not need a large Shaelekean fist swung in his general direction to spread his body in all different and wonderful ways across the floor.

He saw it best that he sat in the Galley and made sandwiches. The chefs were now off duty, and that Herigun alien chef he always argued with was not in sight. Therefore Reuben would not have any reasons to cause an argument himself. He had seen enough brawling today to last him a lifetime. As he thought about it more and more, he actually came to an astonishing conclusion. Zellah Zettar had swung her fists more in one fight, than Gantu had in a whole month. Gantu was too trigger happy. That was his problem. With every battle he had with any previous criminals, he always held his blaster like it was his trophy. Take that away and what was he left with? Oh, he was a fighter. Reuben could not deny that. But take his gun away and proceed to put him in the fighting ring with Chief Zettar and... Well… Reuben knew who he'd place his bets for. And it certainly wouldn't be Gantu.

"La, la, la. Baloney and butter, is better than clutter," he sang in a harmonically sort of tune as he used the last of his baloney slices to make another sandwich. He was all alone in the peaceful silence. All that could be heard was the air vent above his head. It sounded rather drone-like, but it did not affect him at all. Reuben continued to hum a small tune to himself as he placed his final made sandwich on the stack he had piled up on the counter. He smiled rather proudly, surveying his hard work. Reuben then proceeded to take a sandwich from the pile of his newly made creations and started to eat it casually. Then suddenly, without warning, he almost choked when a rather loud male voice broke through the speakers directly above his head.

"Attention all personnel," the voice spoke through the speakers, Reuben let out a small yell and jumped in surprise as the voice continued. "All crew members are to be cautioned not to go near the holding cells in the security bay on Deck C, unless authorized by either Captain Gantu or Chief Zettar. That is all."

"Jeez, Louise," Reuben muttered, slowly tearing his tiny yellow paws from his ears "I think we all knew that useless piece of information already." He then shook his head and looked up in the direction of the speaker. He lowly scowled and held a fist up as he whispered the words "idiot."

He sighed and placed the remaining stack of sandwiches on a large plate before stepping down off of the counter slowly. He balanced the plate in between his hands as he did this, taking extra caution not to fall over or cause his precious sandwiches to splatter everywhere. The last thing he wanted was for all of his hard work and precious (and also limited) Earth sandwich supplies to go to waste. Reuben held his breath as his first foot slowly touched the floor. It was soon followed carefully by the other. Upon stepping down, he let his breath go and smiled at averting any known disasters with his sandwiches. However, that was only the one crisis averted. He was about to go face the fires of the star Sirius itself. He felt rather daring. So daring in fact, that he saw it time to try and talk to his best buddy. He hadn't seen Gantu for almost two hours and he figured that he would have calmed down, (even just) a little by now. Heck, there is only so much about all of that to rant about right? And he should have covered it by now… right? WRONG!

Reuben carried his large plate of sandwiches throughout the corridors of the BRB 11,000 decks. Of course, as previously cautioned, he avoided the security bay at all costs. The last thing he needed was to even think of provoking the criminals they had just captured. Though, he felt confident enough that they wouldn't have to re-live the crisis of Zellious Glornack's escape. Not with Zellah on board. Not even the armies of 10,000 Bolopian troopers could get through her. He hobbled along merrily, and occasionally said 'hi' to any passing crew members who returned his friendly gesture. He tried to be cheerful about all of this. One person had to be cheerful at least.

When he finally reached the corridor where Gantu's cabin was situated, Reuben suddenly slowed his pace and his ears went from up to down in a split second. He knew he'd have to be cautious with the way he approached his best friend. For he was not fully aware of his current mental state. As he stepped closer to Gantu's door, his eyes widened in surprise. He could hear voices. A male and a female to be precise. 'Oh Blitznak' he thought 'they aren't at it again are they?!' Reuben cautiously placed his plate on the cold metallic floorboards and slowly peered his head around his friend's door. It was open to its fullest capacity. He observed his surroundings carefully, making sure he was not visible. That was an advantage of being his size, he was hardly noticeable when it came to people Gantu's height. In the room, everything looked in place. 'Good' he inwardly breathed relief 'that means they aren't throwing anything at each other'. When his eyes fell onto the area where Gantu's bed was situated, he noticed his larger companion sitting there. He was sat at the end of his bed facing forward. Reuben followed Gantu's gaze. It was situated above a monitor screen hanging from the ceiling. The monitor was pretty much like a TV and computer built into one. You could watch many alien channels on there as well as access the Galactic Federation's database. Heck, even many of the Earth channels could be accessed on it, depending on the quadrants the ship was in of course. Any further than the Omak Nebula, and no Earth stations would be picked up. Reuben quickly locked his eyes around the room. No one else was in the room but Gantu. So this meant the voices he had heard were coming from the monitor. There were now no longer any male voices, just a single female. And from what Reuben could gather it sounded much like... a news reporter?

"Today marked the day of a shocking turn of events in the city of Shelthur this morning," the female spoke with a rather alerted but professional sounding tone on the monitor. Reuben positioned his head so he could see who it was that was speaking. His eyes widened when he saw (from a distance) a female Shaelekean, who looked nothing like Zellah, on the screen. She wore a bright and frilly dress and was heavily covered in makeup. Certainly nothing like Zellah. And what also gave it away, was the fact that she had the standard Shaelekean blue eyes with similarly curved tusks like Gantu's. Definitely nothing like Zellah! At the side of the female reporter, a picture of three different Shaeleks were displayed, all looking proud and respectable. The one was an older male, in a very smart and what looked to be, a high ranking uniform, while the other two were much younger. One of the two was a male, and the other was a female. Each of them dressed very respectably also. From what Reuben could gather by sight alone was that they almost looked like... his children perhaps?

The female continued to speak and Reuben listened in very carefully. "What started out as the yearly annual Shaelekean warrior parade in the capital city of Shaelekar this morning, almost ended in tragedy for the whole planet. Today, an assassination attempt on our very own Emperor, Emperor Egthor the Third, and his children, the Duke of Shelthur and the Princess of Termarth, was foiled by the Shaelekean police force this morning. It is believed that the failed assassinator was an extremist, working for the banished descendent of Nulmerok. He was immediately apprehended on site after being taken down by one of the Officers at the scene."

Reuben scratched his head in confusion at all of these strange names mentioned. Who the hell were all of these people? Obviously they were all people Gantu recognized, since they were from his home planet, but since his friend hadn't mentioned anything about the royal family on Shaelekar, he did not know anything about it. He briefly shifted his gaze to Gantu. He was scowling, as per usual. He was still sat at the edge of the bed, glaring up at the screen with his ever-squinting eyes. Reuben was still in confusion as to why Gantu was watching this report, but he would soon find out. For when he turned his head back to the monitor, Reuben almost let out a large yell of surprise. Though before he could do such a thing, he covered his mouth to prevent this from happening. His eyes almost popped out of his tiny skull when a picture of a familiar female appeared at the side of the reporter, replacing that of the royal Shaelekean family (as previously mentioned). Was that...? Could that be...? Zellah? The female looked slightly younger, but then again... everything else looked the same!

"The royal family have a certain Officer to thank for thwarting this severe and treasonous attack on the planet. Major Zellah Zettar. The first female Shaelekean to reach the rank of Lieutenant, and exceed it to Major. As shown in this video footage, captured by a local from within the crowd of on-looking civilians, the Major intervened in the deadly attack by grabbing the criminal's weapon before it could be fired on its target. That target being, the carriage in which the Emperor and his children were sat, waving at the crowds." The footage did show this very clearly. Reuben's mouth began to fall in awe as he saw what the reporter had just stated while the clip played. That female was Zellah! And she had just saved the Emperor and his family from being shot. She tackled the criminal down singlehandedly before binding him with wrist binders. After she did this, several other male Officers appeared on the scene, all armed and pointing their weapons directly at the attempted-assassinator. "It is thanks to Major Zettar's detective skills, that the Emperor is alive and well. It is also rumoured that Commander Turak and the Emperor are currently in talks for Major Zettar's promotion to Chief of security, since that role has been vacant since the retirement of Chief Upol last autumn. And though these are still rumours, the public have taken a very strong liking to Miss Zellah Zettar. Therefore, we can all agree that she stands a good chance at being Shaelekar's very first female Chief. As for the assassinator however, he will be awaiting trial. Though his sentence is looking quite grim. For all who commit treason on Shaelekar, must face the death penalty by law." The female reporter briefly looked very sincere before her direct stare turned into a bright and cheery smile within a split second. She then smiled directly at the camera in front of her and the pictures all began to disappear. "Back to you Curthu, with the weather."

The monitor quickly went blank and everything in the room went deathly silent. Reuben could briefly hear Gantu grumble very low and mutter something briefly under his breath. He still looked rather ticked off. And Reuben knew that this report would certainly make Gantu even more jealous of Zellah than he already was before. But... wow... he had never heard that before! Out of all the things that Commander Turak paraded around about Zellah back on Shaelekar, why did he never mention this? Thwarting an assassination attempt on planetary leaders, on any planet for that matter, was considered a HUGE honour! Surely that smug and self-conceited man would have had a whale of a time bragging about that! So why didn't he?

Reuben could not help himself. He tried to be quiet and slowly/cautiously make his presence known to his friend. But this could not be helped. His mind was completely blown by what he had just seen. And before he could stop himself, he accidentally did something which caught Gantu's undivided attention instantly.

"Whoa!"

Gantu immediately shot his head towards the door where Reuben was stood, mouth agape, still staring at the monitor. He grumbled again, this time a lot louder. Reuben then shot his eyes towards Gantu and quickly changed his shocked and awe-inspiring expression to a casual one. He then waved, smiling widely, much to Gantu's annoyance, as he made his presence known to him.

"Well," he began, trying to think of the right words to say. "It looks like she... had a blast in the past..." He then paused and gave himself a funny expression wondering what he had just said. "That report was dated 5 years ago wasn't it? I saw the time thing about the bottom of the screen and... Well, yeah." He continued to speak, his tone going rather awkward and quiet as he noticed his friend continue to grumble from the other end of the room. Gantu merely watched him from afar as the little experiment casually bent behind the doorframe and proceeded to carry his plate of sandwiches into the room. He stopped when he stood on the floor at the bottom of Gantu's bed and beamed up at the very unfriendly Captain. "Sandwich?"

"What do you want?" Gantu snapped harshly, using his hand to shove Reuben's sandwiches away rudely. Reuben placed his plate down again and simply sat on the floor and began to eat it casually. Too casually for Gantu's liking.

"I came to see how you were doing," Reuben explained, taking a bite out of a salami sandwich he had just made. "You ok?"

"Do I look like I'm ok?!" He stood up and stormed over to the other side of the room. Reuben did not follow, he just stepped back slightly and now remained more cautious. Obviously his presence was bothering Gantu. The Captain just stood, his hands now behind his back, staring out of the window into the depths of space. Reuben now dared to step forward and approach him, making sure that he kept his distance to some degree. If Gantu tried to kick or punch him, he would have a chance to react, if kept at a certain distance.

So..." Reuben scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He opened his mouth to speak again, but no words came out. Instead, he looked like a simpleton just standing there trying to make the tense situation less tense. However, his presence was only increasing the tension around them.

"Fucking stupid arrogant bitch," he heard Gantu mutter from above. Reuben's head shot up to see Gantu's teeth tightly clenched together as his eyes remained fixed on a certain star cluster noticeable from the window.

"Come again?" Reuben coughed, not quite hearing Gantu's cursing from where he was situated. To him, it was just a slight murmur. But to Gantu, it was a quiet but deadly rage.

"Who in Blitznak does she think she is?!" Gantu swiftly turned away from the window and began pacing about the room rather sporadically. Reuben stayed put near the window and observed as Gantu was having yet another rant about his new Chief of security. "Seriously? Disobeying my orders like that! Never before have I seen such reckless and abrupt behaviour! How the hell did she even get promoted to the rank of Major? Let alone Chief! And the Grand Councilwoman thinks this female is my ideal partner? Well, she'll have another thing coming if she thinks I am working with that thing they call a female! I don't care if she's saved 20 royal family members on countless planets! Or if she saved the whole fucking universe for that matter! I am not putting up with that... that... THING any longer!"

Reuben leant himself against the window casually and smirked as he observed his friend pace about the room ranting to himself. It was obvious to him that he had been doing this for quite some time. This was probably the tenth time he had gone over these exact same points, just worded differently. It amused Reuben greatly to see him act like this. His jealousy was shining off of him brighter than a damn Supernova from 20 light-years away! He wondered if Zellah would be this cocky... nah, she had a side to her that would not keep bringing the subject up. She kept things short and to the point. Gantu however, needed to constantly assure himself that he was right. Therefore he repeated himself many times to make sure of this.

"I hear ya G," Reuben commented casually. Gantu stopped and turned to face Reuben who was now smirking to himself and gazing at his outstretched hand with ease. "She has quite a rep, does Zellah. But being jealous of her, does not make the fact that she is better than you, go away."

Gantu outwardly fumed and grabbed Reuben by the foot and dragged him 17 feet in the air, hanging upside down as Gantu snarled in his general direction. Reuben almost let out a yell but his astonishment got the better of him. "I AM NOT JEALOUS OF HER!" Gantu raged furiously "She's a stupid excuse for a member of my species! Her rash actions and past record has no impact on what I have achieved. I myself have a superb record! Nothing she does can surpass mine! And what makes everyone think she is so special anyway? She may be considered attractive by many, but I don't see anything like that in her!"

"Yeah," Reuben's face dropped and a smirk made its way onto his features once more. He extended a hand out and patted it against Gantu's face "keep telling yourself that."

Gantu pretty much threw Reuben across the room and he whacked his poor body off of the metallic wall. Reuben let out a loud cry and it took moments before he could recover from that. Gantu meanwhile just inwardly fumed and grabbed a stress relief ball he had placed on his bedside table. He squeezed it so hard, that the liquid inside the ball almost squirted out under the pressure of his fist. Gantu sat back down on the side of his bed and continuously squeezed the ball in his right hand tightly as he vented out his anger in such a way that Reuben almost had to laugh. And he would have, if it didn't hurt to.

"HEY!" Reuben marched across the room angrily rubbing his head with a hand while he held his small cap with the other "I was not designed to be thrown like that!"

"Just shut up for once, will you?!" Gantu shot his head over to Reuben before turning back to what he was doing.

"Fine, jeez!" Reuben yelled back then marching over to his plate of sandwiches before picking it up off of the floor. "I'm going to leave you alone, before you start shooting me with that blaster you apprehended today. I'd rather not have blue radioactive glowing marks on my nice clean uniform, thank you very much!"

"Just go away!" Gantu told him angrily, causing Reuben to frown.

Reuben quickly stormed out of the room carrying his plate of sandwiches as he went. "Fine! Perhaps Zellah will be better company than you! At least she isn't as much of a grump!"

"You go near her, and talk shit about me behind my back, and I will kill you!" Gantu retorted threateningly.

"Yeah, yeah," Reuben mocked him sarcastically as he walked, or should we say, stormed out of the room. Now finding it the perfect time to use an old phrase which used to be associated with Gantu by a certain little girl they were once enemies with. "Whatever... dummy head!"

Meanwhile Gantu just sat there on his bed and dropped his stress relief ball on the floor without a care. He was too angry to care about anything. Well, angry and rather... well, dare he say the word jealous? He thought about it long and hard, and the more he thought about it, the more he dreaded the very idea of it. Oh, to hell with it! Reuben was right again! Though, he did not care to admit it aloud. That report he had just watched only confirmed his fears. She had a superb record. Flawless, sublime, pristine... you name the fancy word, and it would surpass it! Gantu himself had a decent record, for a Captain of the Galactic Alliance that is. But what was his biggest achievement? Leading a rebel Armada on a hostile planet? Yeah, it would have surpassed Zellah's achievement if it wasn't for a very small thing... that rebel Armada lost. They lost the battle and the war! And not only that! Their chosen leader's head was put on public display when their enemy got too slice-happy and chopped it off! Oh, who was he kidding? She was right! He couldn't even keep his job in check without screwing something up. He thought he was doing the right thing. But his recent judgements had proved to be his weakness. And Chief Zettar was exploiting his weaknesses and ridiculing them by taking her own extreme actions. She was more of a fighter than he ever was. And she was a woman! This did not just make him look bad, but perhaps even the entire Shaelekean police force also. If there were more females like her, the male population would be overrun with aggressive females kicking their buttookies out of the atmosphere! But luckily enough for them, they only had to deal with one. Unfortunately for Gantu though, HE was the one stuck with her. But Gantu was determined to prove to her that he could handle it all. He was not going to let his inner demons torture him this time! Oh no! She wanted a war? Well, he was about to give her one, and then some!

A question plagued his mind further still. Why on the planet Turo, did he not fight back harder, during their little spat on Meltrok? Gantu certainly had the guts to do it, as well as the brawn. For he was twice Zellah's size in muscle mass and physique. Though, it was certainly clear to him that it was a very simple thing which made him unable to find a suitable reason to retaliate. His ego. He already knew that he couldn't fight back with physical strength, because it was against his species culture and laws to do such a thing to the opposite sex. However, he could have retaliated with words! So why didn't he? The truth was, Chief Zettar insulted him. Badly! She had struck a major nerve at the centre of his core no one, not even Hämsterviel, had touched. Actually, as he had recalled, the only person who ever touched that nerve was his... his father. He remembered his father well. Authoritarian, aggressive, without emotion, selfish, hard going... many things he was on Gantu, growing up. And the more Gantu thought of it, the more he realized. Zellah was a lot like him. All that mattered to her, it would seem, was her job. Rozcor had warned him about her overly-dedicated commitment, and he had seen it in full swing on their first mission. Gantu even wondered to himself 'does she even have feelings or emotions?' She was so cold hearted around everyone (especially him), that he even wondered if she had a soul within her. Sure, his species were known for their stern nature, but she had crossed the line with the way she behaved. And to think, the female Shaelekeans were meant to be more gentile and kinder than the males. Neither of which matched Zellah Zettar's description at all. Gantu knew he would have to change her ways if the Grand Council refused the case he would put forward to them to have her dismissed from his service. And that option seemed likely to fail, due to the complexity of this entire affair with this criminal gang. Zellah knew more than she was willing to say. Yet another thing she was 'perfect' at. But despite all of this, Gantu knew that deep down, Zellah would have a weakness for something. Everyone/everything in the universe has a weakness with something. Right? Captain Gantu was determined to find her weakness and exploit it, just as she had with his.

"I'll show him!" Gantu stood up and paced over to the window dramatically as he muttered to himself determinedly "I'll show her! No one messes with Gantu and gets away with it. Not even a female like her!" His eyes then softened, only slightly as he picked up his Galactic holopad which contained all of the known information of his existing crew members. Not personal information, just professional only. He then flipped it on and had the option to choose any crew member on board his ship via a picture of them in uniform. Gantu immediately selected the one at his far right corner on the top row, since it went via ranks. His finger only had to press down once and a picture of Zellah Zettar appeared on his holopad. She was neither smiling, nor scowling. Just stood upright, rather boldly, with her hands placed by her sides. Her purple eyes were staring directly at him. Gantu's lips pressed together as he studied the picture. She was very beautiful. No matter how mad he had gotten with her, he could never deny it! But his judgements on beauty were of little consequence, for her actions today had put him off of her for life. His softened features then turned into a small scowl again as he pressed his hand tightly on the holopad and raised it up closer to his face. "I will show you who has the authority, Chief Zettar!"

Reuben carried his sandwich plate through corridor after corridor in search of Zellah, but she was nowhere to be seen. He had asked several crew members, including some of the security staff, but no one knew of her location. He even wondered if she was still on the ship. She could have easily taken a police cruiser and blasted off back to Shaelekar, if she was THAT desperate to get away from Gantu. Though he could hardly blame her if she was. Gantu was a very difficult guy to handle at times, as Reuben himself knew all too well. However, Reuben knew she hadn't exited the ship. Nothing was reported from the bridge. And if she had gone 'bye-bye'. Captain Gantu would be the first to know of it.

He had chosen to make his way to the bridge. His friends there would be able to pin-point her location via the many cameras situated around the ship. He had lost count how many times he had to rely on the crew on the bridge to locate Gantu before now. Especially while he was busy in the gym. Reuben could never tell where Gantu would be. He was a very unpredictable character. Just like Zellah! Entering the bridge casually, Reuben tipped his hat to the Officers situated nearby the door after he placed his plate sandwiches out of sight. He had to do this, or else he would be accosted by many different alien crew members all asking for sandwiches, like they were at a restaurant and Reuben was the head chef. Reuben took off his hat and marched up towards Officer Hermi and Officer Armilia at the front of the ship. The pair of them were talking rather casually as they worked on a computer together. Reuben grinned and shouted towards the pair as he approached them.

"Yo, Hermi!"

Both technical Officers turned around to face Reuben as he strolled up to them and stopped about half a metre away. Both of them smiled and beamed at the little Galley Officer. Officer Armilia blushed a little when Reuben winked in her general direction. The pair were well-known for their flirtatious confrontations from time to time. Some had gotten the impression they liked each other. Officer Hermi however was one of the many Officers who got on with Reuben like a house on fire. The pair, along with some of the other crew members who weren't situated on the bridge, often had game nights where they sat and had fun little activities on their nights off. Gantu of course, never got involved. He was either too busy filling out paperwork, letting off some steam in the gym or training facilities, or watching TV in his room. He wasn't one to be known to be social with all of his crew members. But he was civil, just the same.

"Reuben, my main man!" Hermi grinned and shot a finger at Reuben slyly as Reuben did the same. "High-five!"

The two exchanged a high five and gave each other a quick friendly hug. Reuben then leant on the desk where the two were stationed and smirked at the Armadillo-looking alien as she gazed down and blushed.

"Hello Armilia," Reuben cooed slowly and flirtatiously. She chuckled rather girlishly in response to this.

"Hello Reuben."

Reuben then turned his head back to Hermi and his flirtatious expression was all but gone, and soon got replaced with a rather curious one. He turned his head slightly and then spoke again. His tone now matching his facial expression. "Say, Hermi, have you seen Zellah?"

"Chief Zettar?" He questioned, then shrugging his shoulders as he exchanged a quick glance with Armilia "no, she hasn't came up here. Why do you ask?"

"I wanna talk to her," Reuben explained as he stood upright again and placed his hat on his head "can you locate her for me?"

"Sure thing," Officer Hermi then pressed down on his computer screen which then flipped up with all of the known cameras located around the ship. As he flipped through each individual camera, Officer Hermi came across one of the security holding cell Zellious Glornack was situated in, the security Officers guarding him were making sure he was secure, though it was safe to say he was secure enough with the amount of electrically charged binders attached to his legs and arms. Reuben shifted his feet a moment as he awaited the location of Zellah Zettar to be shown on the camera feed. Officer Hermi continued to skip through each camera feed in order to pin-point her location. Within a minute or so of doing this, Reuben's attention was immediately caught.

"Got her!" Officer Hermi grinned pointing at the small screen with a hazy camera feed on it. He then looked at the screen closely and his eyes shifted awkwardly. "You may wanna be careful when you approach her though, Reuben."

Reuben's brow arose in confusion. She could not possibly be doing something dangerous... could she? Gantu was merely having a grumpy sulk as he usually did. But since none of the crew really knew Chief Zellah Zettar that well, they were not really aware on how or what she took her anger out upon. Reuben immediately took this as an opportunity to immediately get a response to his ever growing question in his mind. "Why?"

"Well..." Officer Hermi rubbed the back of his green neck and turned the screen off before continuing "she's in the weapons training facility. Looks like she's blasting her way through the self-defence drones."

Reuben smirked and folded his arms "knew I should have checked there first," he then patted his friends shoulder twice and grinned "thanks Hermi! I owe ya one!"

Officer Hermi grinned in return as Reuben turned to walk away "you still up for that game of Virtual Quasar Bowling tonight?"

"Yeah!" Reuben called back "you're on buddy! Same time, same place, same game!"

Reuben exited the bridge rather quickly, not forgetting his sandwich stack of course. He did not wish to wait around for Zellah to leave the facility and disappear once more. Not before he talked to her first at least. He couldn't deny he was really eager to speak to her face to face. Neither of them had said much to one another since their meeting. Well, she had referred to him as a "mutant teddy bear" and mocked him for claiming he was 'indestructible'. But hey, that was all water under the bridge, so-to-speak. He was willing to overlook that, in the hopes that she would be nice to him. Sure, she was being a bit bitchy towards Gantu, but then again, what was he doing to her? He could simply say that the pair were acting as bad as one another and put an end to the argument right there and then. But like most things, it wasn't that simple. Gantu would not give this up easily, and it was obvious that she wouldn't either. Therefore Reuben would have to be the peacekeeper. A job no one really wants when dealing with two disagreeing Shaeleks of the opposite sex.

As Reuben approached the weapons training facility, he stopped walking on the shiny metal surface, because with every step he took, his small claws on his feet made clanking sounds against the metal. He stopped breathing for a split second. 'Don't tell me I'm going mad?' He thought to himself 'I swear I just heard a yell'. But it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Nor was it him going mad. For after a split second after he mentally questioned this, yet another yell could be heard from behind the two metal doors leading into the training facility. And not only was there a yell, but also a rather large clanging sound which soon followed. Reuben stepped forward and typed in the code on the door lock in order for it to allow him access into the facility. Behind that door was Chief Zettar, and he wanted to talk to her.

"Authorisation code accepted," the computer spoke after Reuben typed it in "Access granted to Officer Reuben. Officer number, 6-2-5. Have a nice day!"

The door automatically opened and Reuben picked up his plate of sandwiches and proceeded to carry them into the weapons facility. It was a large area, often used for the training of new security crew members, or as practise for existing Officers. Gantu in particular had a habit of being a persistent goer in this facility. Reuben already described him as a trigger happy guy. And as he could recall, Gantu had the highest record on the simulation database. The room itself was a huge open arena. Above the arena in the far corner was a separate smaller room with a glass exterior where the manual operators were able to control simulations or watch them from a distance where they would be out of harm's way. Not every simulation had a need for manual operators. For the computer was voice activated and did as a crew member in charge of the simulation commanded. That was alien technology for you! But the Captain or any other crew members often used this side room to observe a simulation instead of being a part of the crossfire. This room could be accessed via a different floor on the upper decks of the ship. However, Reuben did not wish to go in this room, since he wanted to speak to Zellah face to face. So he would go in via the other ways of getting into this large open training bay. At either end of the facility were two doors that posed as the main access to the facility from two different ends of the ship. Reuben had entered it via the main corridor on the left hand side of the ship. The other end was dangerously close to the high security bay, and only the Captain, the Chief of security and the security crew themselves were allowed there. Yes, even Galley Officers had limits to where they could go around the ship. Though, he had become all too familiar with it from personal experience over the past 5 years.

He entered the weapons facility with ease. Something that would prove in vain for him. Reuben hummed a little tune as he stepped through the double doors that had just automatically opened for him, as he balanced his plate of remaining sandwiches between his hands and on his uniform. The little genetic experiment was grinning and beaming with enthusiasm... that was until something shifted his change of mood faster than light speed.

"GAAAAAH!" Reuben yelped as he noticed a greenish glow headed straight for him. He managed to jump out of the way within a split second of a giant plasma blast zooming past him at a rate his eyes struggled to match. His ears almost went mute as the green plasma collided with the metal wall interior of the facility which resulted in a rather large and deafening clang. Reuben's eyes then fell to the floor as he had lost one of his precious sandwiches as a result of his quick manoeuvre. But it provided him with some comfort that he wasn't that tuna sandwich which was now splattered messily on the floor before him. His eyes were still popping out of his skull as he gazed at the floor at the sandwich in some sort of alarm. Then he focussed his attentions on the part of the metallic wall which has just been blasted with green plasma. There was a tiny mark from what he could gather. But the metal used to structure the training facility was laser and plasma proof. It had to be for a facility such as this. Reuben's vision would remain frozen on the small mark on the wall for several more moments, until a sudden yell would grab his undivided attention.

"PULL!"

Reuben swiftly turned around at the sound of a very booming echo which came from a female voice nearby. Reuben tilted his head upward and his widened eyes rearranged themselves to something quite less bulging with horror. His mind was now a little less alert as it was moments before, and now, a slightly curious and awe-inspiring gaze took hold. There now stood the person he was looking for. Chief Zellah Zettar herself. And as soon as she ordered the word, the drones near the ceiling of the facility illuminated with all sorts of colours. Reuben watched with an eager curiosity as she was under fire from the weapon drones. She dodged and swerved gracefully with each beam of light which headed in her general direction. The occasional grunting sound from physical exertion escaping her lips. Zellah then proceeded to perform a counter strike on the drones by shooting two standard Galactic Armada blasters which she was holding in each of her sturdy hands. Each shot taken by the police Chief did not miss its target. Reuben was astounded by her precision and not missing a single drone she aimed at. How in the Andromeda Galaxy did she do it? Comparing her to Gantu, there was a lot of competition. Gantu himself was an excellent marksman. Over the years, Reuben had observed that Gantu's aim was becoming more and more precise. He used his blaster in every mission. This is why Reuben was left rather confused when Gantu told Zellah to leave hers on the shuttle on Meltrok. He had never done that before! However, he guessed it was for 'precaution purposes' because he was afraid of Zellah, after what his friend Rozcor had told him. Though, Reuben knew depriving her of her weapon wouldn't change anything. And just look at how it turned out! Now, as a result of all of that fiasco, Zellah and Gantu would refuse to speak to each other, and all eyes would turn on Reuben to be the peacekeeper. Oh, it was good to be him! Not...

Reuben stepped to the side and sat down in the corner of the facility against the wall. He placed his plate of remaining sandwiches beside him as he merely watched Zellah from afar. There were so many questions running through his mind regarding her. So many in fact, that he didn't know where to begin. He barely knew anything about her, or why she hated Gantu so much. He could understand her points to some degree, but Gantu was a nice guy in general. So why was she being such a bitch to him? Was it something to do with their culture? Reuben hadn't a clue. He was still rather baffled about anything to do with Gantu's home planet, since the big blubber butt rarely spoke of his home world or anything to do with it. Reuben had listened to Gantu blabber on about his childhood once or twice, but nothing remained in his mind for long. All he could recall from that conversation was the fact that Gantu had no family due to his parents being dead and that he left his home planet at a young age to join the Galactic Alliance. But he had only recently found out that Gantu was the only member of his species to do this. Never before had he even considered the thought of the Galactic Council having a thing against Shaelekar's population. But, then again, after the time he had spent there... he was glad to be away.

But what was Zellah's story? Who was she really? Reuben knew Gantu's story. He could practically read him like a book. But Zellah was a female of his species, the only one who he was now able to talk to. Gantu had already told him that the females of his species were a lot different to the males, but then again, that really referred to Cynta and the rest of her sort. Zellah was one on her own. So did this mean that she was just like Gantu, but a little bit tougher? That was what he was aiming to find out.

For several more minutes he remained silent and seated, out of the way as he watched the simulation continue on. Chief Zettar was formidable in the arena! She had obviously been one to practise a lot. For no one could pull off movements like that, without some serious hardcore training. Reuben merely sat aside and grabbed a sandwich from the centre of his stack and chewed on it heartily as he watched her from afar. She had not noticed him. Nor had the computer's sensors managed to pick him up. Strange, for a highly advanced computer simulation program... but fortunate nonetheless. He didn't wish her to know of his presence until she was finished at least. For he was having way too much fun just sitting back and watching her. Reuben then suddenly sat upright after he heard a familiar sound which signalled to him that this dramatic display was now over.

"Simulation status: complete!"

Zellah Zettar lowered her weapons and let out deep breaths of air as the computer system slowly shut itself down. She merely brushed herself off and stretched her arms, before proceeding to take a drink of water from a bottle on the floor at the other side of the arena. She still hadn't noticed Reuben, but he had noticed her. In a matter of speaking of course. He was thrilled by her display, so much so... that he couldn't help but do something rather stupid. Something which inevitably caught the female Shaelek's attentions almost instantly. He clapped.

"Woah! That was amazing!" He blurted out as his tiny paws clasped together eagerly. Zellah's attentions immediately fell to the floor area where Reuben was situated, and a small frown appeared on her features. Reuben also noticed this and slowly (and awkwardly) stopped clapping. She let out, what sounded to be like a grunt, and turned around fully as she took another drink from her bottle. She then placed the bottle down and crossed her arms, her eyes not leaving Reuben for a second.

"Don't tell me. Let me guess..." she began, her tone almost expecting. Reuben's brow shifted upright in confusion at this "the big guy sent you to apologise?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he sat there shaking his head profusely like a simpleton as a low whine escaped his large agape mouth. She too shook her head, but now proceeded to walk over towards the wall where stacks of weapons were held and proceeded to place both blasters she had used back in their rightful place. And as she did this, she continued to speak, her tone now a lot more serious than before.

"Well, he's gonna have to try a little harder, than sending his little yellow messenger to apologise to me," she grasped one of the blasters and checked it carefully before placing it back. "I say, let him do it himself. If he thinks himself brave enough that is."

"Actually, he didn't send me here to apologise," Reuben finally spoke up as he arose from his seated position and began strolling over in her general direction. "As a matter of fact, he warned me to stay away from you."

The female Shaelek paused wither what she was doing and let out a hearty laugh before turning around to the approaching experiment and crouched down so that her head was now level to his height. "So you disobeyed him," She commented, her features softening and a smile forming on her face. She pointed at Reuben and grinned, much to his ease. "I like you."

"Why thank you," Reuben tilted his head slightly and beamed back at her "I like you too."

Zellah smiled down at the tiny genetic experiment with a very unusual facial expression Reuben himself had never seen her express before, until now. Sure, she had a similar look about her when he saw her speaking to the Major Jaarl back on the police port on Shaelekar, but that wasn't necessarily a smile. It seemed more forced for his sake rather than her own. Now, it seemed more, dare he say, genuine. But the smile was rather short lived, for it changed swiftly as she got up from her crouched position and proceeded to step away from the weapons stack. Reuben did not follow her by moving his body, but his eyes remained locked onto her for the entire time.

"So..." she continued, now changing the subject "what do you want?"

Reuben now stepped forward. He noticed her tone of voice as she asked him this question. It was neither harsh nor commanding. Actually, she seemed rather at ease with his presence. He guessed that she knew of his connections to Gantu, but it didn't seem to affect her in the slightest. And unlike Gantu, she wasn't moody or snappy... a little on-edge perhaps, but nowhere near as bad as Gantu. Hey, perhaps Chief Zellah Zettar was a very misunderstood individual. She seemed a lot less hostile than Reuben had imagined her to be. Then again, she was a lot more casual than Gantu when in the right company. He had seen this on Shaelekar, and it seemed that he was seeing it again at this present moment in time.

Reuben cleared his throat a little and stepped forward awkwardly, Zellah turned around and gazed down at him once more, much to the embarrassment of the tiny experiment. "W-well," he began before pausing a moment to think of how he should word the rest of that sentence. "I wanted to talk with you... no one has really said much to you since you came aboard and I... well I hoped that you would be willing to talk to me."

Her face looked surprised by his kind, yet awkward, response to her question. She obviously wasn't expecting that sort of reply. Zellah had assumed after that spat with Gantu on Meltrok, that everyone would take his side because, well, he was the Captain. It would also be an even bigger shock since Reuben was known to be the closest friend Gantu had. So the very question as to why he wanted to talk to her was obviously on her mind. But her surprised expression looked almost, admirable and endearing. The very thought of someone actually wanting to talk to her, brought out something rather strange from within her. Could it be, inside that rough outer shell, there was some element of feeling?

"Well," she breathed, surprise clearly evident in her tone. "I never expected that to arise."

"It's just," Reuben rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "I've never actually spoken to a female Shaelek before. And you seem really nice to talk to."

"Pffffft, hahaha!" Zellah laughed suddenly, causing Reuben to be rather bewildered yet again. "Me? Nice? Never heard anyone say that about me before now."

"Errrrrm," Reuben tried but failed to come up with a decent response to this. She was right, after all. Gantu could come up with every alien curse word under the Fupaku Nebula to call her, and he hadn't heard anyone else speak highly of her (other than the Officers on Shaelekar of course). But Reuben wanted to be nice to her. He still wasn't clear on her true character, but he was starting to break the ice with her. And if he could be successful with this, then perhaps he could find a way of getting her and Gantu to reconcile on their previous fight. He could try at the very least!

"Relax," she eased, now crouching, yet again, to his level. She gazed directly at him and poked him gently with one of her sturdy fingers. "I'm just not used to this whole 'being social' kind of thing. My job doesn't really require me to make friends. Actually," she then paused and smirked slightly before continuing "I've made a lot more enemies than friends, through the course of my career. But hey, someone's gotta do it."

"Oh, you're telling me!" Reuben added, his tone now a lot more at ease. "If I were to count the amount of bad guys who have threatened to kill us after we've arrested them... well, it would probably equate to the size of Gantu's ego." He then slyly looked at Zellah as he noted "which is apparently 'the size of the Whirlpool Galaxy' as I heard from a certain someone..."

"Oh," she chuckled, now rather nervously. Obviously recalling where he was coming from. "You heard me say that?"

"Yeah," Reuben said rather heartily "but don't worry, I agree with you one hundred percent! He does have an ego the size of the Whirlpool Galaxy! Especially when he's trying to be something he's not."

"So," she smirked, a curious tint now sparkling in her purple eyes "what ever brought on such an unusual paring?" She noticed Reuben's brow shift up rather erratically after she said this. So she felt like she should elaborate further on the subject. "I mean, it's not every day I see a male Shaelekean all 'buddy-buddy' with a tiny genetic experiment. Especially one so close in similarity, and even creator, to the one who cost him his job several years ago!"

"Wait," Reuben paused, sticking a finger up in confusion "you know of my cuz? You know of Stitch?"

It was now her turn to look at him in a baffled manner. "What's a 'Stitch'?"

"My cousin, 626," Reuben explained further, now relieving her of the momentary perplexity. Obviously she was unaware of Lilo's naming of his cousin. But in all fairness, he could understand why. She was, after all, an alien from a planet where Earth's news and culture was not well known. "You know, the experiment that escaped Gantu's custody all those years ago and made him look like a right blubber-bun!"

"I remember," she turned away a moment before repositioning her knelt position "many people didn't know how to react to it on Shaelekar, as I recall..."

"How so?" Reuben queried rather eagerly. She shrugged her shoulders and placed a hand on the cold floor as she leant her full body weight against it casually.

"He's probably told you tons about Shaelekar, so I'll keep it short," she then paused for a brief moment before continuing. "We have a very tough system on our home world, and if a prisoner escapes custody, the person who was in charge of that convict is often ridiculed and put on public display as being the biggest doodoo-head in the Creblock quadrant. Until they either quit, or another guy screws up and takes the attention away. It's a pain, I know, I don't agree with it at all, really. But that's how things work there, so we have to roll with it."

"First off," Reuben began in response, pointing a finger up "Gantu has scarcely told me anything about Shaelekar, so I did not know that." He then breathed in and dared say something else in his reply "And secondly, many people, including Gantu, are under the impression that you would probably love doing that. Since you like beating guys up and all that..."

"What makes you think that?" She lifted herself up slightly, astonishment now evident in her features. Reuben shrugged again and her facial features soon softened into a slight smirk/grimace. "Oh, I see..." she then decided to stand up and pace about slightly as she explained herself a little clearer to the genetic mutation sat before her. "Let me make myself clear here," She soon paused and her face looked rather puzzled, she raised a finger to try and figure something out. "Ru-? Reub? Reuby?"

"Reuben!" He corrected her, smirking slightly. She chuckled at this and gazed down at him with a small mischievous glint in her eyes and a grin plastered on her smooth grey face.

"Oh... I liked Reuby better."

"Reuby, is considered a girl's name on countless planets!" He added, a hint of defence in his tone. "Reuben is a boy's name, and happens to be the name of one of my all-time favourite sandwiches." After he said this, he mentally scolded himself and shook his head quickly. He wanted to know more about her, not explain his chosen name to her! Moments after he last spoke, Reuben decided to try and get her attentions back onto what she was about to say, before she briefly forgot his name. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Ah, yes," she smiled and then continued to speak, her tone now more sincere than compared to before "you all think I love beating the Blitznak out of guys..." she then paused and looked down at him as he was hesitantly nodding slightly. She simply shrugged and shook her head before responding again. "Understandable. But that is not entirely true. I only fight any of those who are willing to take me on. I never fight my own crew, and I certainly NEVER fight a criminal unless they have it coming, or if it is completely necessary. But as luck would have it on Shaelekar, most of the criminals are just as stubborn as both me and Captain Gantu, therefore I have no choice but to fight them in order to take them down."

"You know," Reuben interjected as he joined her in her pacing "Gantu is like that too. But he's more lethal with his blasters rather than his fists. Though, his temper and his fists often have issues with anyone or anything that gets in his path."

"Welcome to my species!" She cheered rather sarcastically. "We're all temperamental and have SERIOUS attitude problems. Which also matches us in our brawn and toughness. Captain Gantu is the typical male Shaelek in my eyes. Cocky, got a humongous ego, thinks himself superior to me, thinks everything is competition and most of all, doesn't know what he's actually doing!"

"Really?" Reuben questioned using a very sly tone of voice. "So Gantu is just your typical male on Shaelekar?"

"In terms of personality, yes," she replied calmly "but on a toughness level, he's a little watered down. He wouldn't manage with many of the Officers I work with on a day-to-day basis. Heck," she laughed out loud "some of them are worse than me! With the way they treat their convicts, I'm surprised someone hasn't died under their charge!" Reuben did not respond to this, instead his tiny eyes widened beyond their normal limits and his two buck teeth stuck out of his unhinged mouth rather unnaturally. Zellah noticed his slightly worried and horrified stance and decided to crouch down to his level once again, she nudged him teasingly and beamed in his general direction "Tell ya what," she continued "I'll give you an explanation about why you think I am 'so tough'". Reuben merely nodded to this and she began to make it all clear to him. Perhaps some of his questions about her and Gantu's home world would finally be answered.

"You see Reuben, I come from a male dominant planet. Throughout my career, I was treated as inferior, because I was a female. On Shaelekar, the males have their own job roles and so do the females. Each are completely separate and different." She then paused and gazed directly at him "getting me so far?" He nodded almost instantly upon hearing this. Content with his rapid response, Zellah decided to continue with her tale about her home planet. She was finally explaining something completely new which Gantu had not mentioned previously, since he was so secretive about it all for some bizarre reason. "The females on Shaelekar do not fight. It is not in our nature. Surprising since one of our highly worshipped Goddess' is a female, but that is irrelevant. Us women are expected to do our education, take cooking, sewing, manufacturing or any other basic task as a course in our final year of college, graduate and get a job before we go off and find a mate to marry and have children with. Before initially becoming stay at home mothers. Meanwhile, the males are usually forced to work for the Shaelekean army or, the most popular choice, the Shaelek police force, by their pushy parents upon the completion of their education. Both are easy to get in, but not so easy to stay..."

"Wow," Reuben commented, his head looking at the floor in surprise. "Your planet sounds so..."

"Dominant? Controlling? Authoritarian?" Zellah added questioningly. Reuben gazed back up at Zellah and briefly nodded. He noticed that she was smiling again, this time rather (in some ways) sadly, and Reuben could now understand why. No wonder why Gantu was hesitant to go back there... when he said they were authoritarian, Reuben could never imagine that they were so darn serious. Like that, anyway! Heck, it sounded like their whole system was ran by a bunch of sexist control freaks! It made Reuben thankful that he and Gantu worked for the Galactic Alliance, where all genders and species were treated as equals. In some ways, he pitied Zellah, but in others he did not. She had obviously defied their system and gained the respect the rest of her gender could not. That was the unique point about her. She acted like a male, but deep down, she was still a female.

"So that's why we barely saw any females on the police port!" Reuben remarked, only to receive a nod from the female Shaelekean.

"Yes," she responded bluntly, her face now showing a more disappointed and glum side which Reuben had never seen before. "Sadly the vast majority of my gender have put us all down to a very limited level. The men all expect us to serve them, and only them. And our parents are just as bad. The fathers mainly focus on their son's future, whilst the mothers usually focuses on their daughter's. I myself was not very fortunate to have a decent and understanding mother..."

"Why?" Reuben edged forward slightly, now extremely curious to hear more.

"She made me take a subject I detested," Zellah explained dully. But then a strange glint appeared in her eyes and a very small smirk appeared on her lips. Reuben questioned himself at this point. Was she in amusement at this? "But I showed her, that I was not a child to be meddled with."

"Why?" He questioned again.

"Well," she turned back to him and used a single finger to stroke the top of his head teasingly "let's just say, I... defied her wishes into taking a sewing degree, and took advanced weaponry instead. I mean, come on! Can you even imagine me sewing police uniforms for the rest of my miserable life?"

Reuben shrugged his tiny shoulders and shook his head. "I can safely say, that thought never crossed my mind."

"Precisely my point. Advanced weaponry was something I was always interested in. It was a male dominant course, but I somehow got in," she explained, turning away again "and one of my friends in the sewing course covered for me as a favour, and I didn't tell my mother until a month after I dropped out of her chosen option. Boy, you should have seen her face!"

The tiny experiment shifted closer to her excitedly and grinned up at his new companion curiously. He needed to be humoured at this point. For he was dying to know what happened next. "How did she react?"

"Well," Zellah shifted her head to its side and made a slight grimace "she was not impressed. She did try and get me to quit, but she knew I wouldn't. She claimed I had too much of my father's spirit in me to do such a thing like that." The female Chief then let out a small soft chuckle, reminiscing on that very thought. "My father was the one who actually supported me all the way through it! It's a rare thing for a father to approve of his daughter not following the custom of marriage and childbirth. But then again, my father was not like most of the males. He truly cared, and loved me."

Reuben noticed her face drop after she said this. He gazed down at his feet awkwardly, starting to feel the tension rise up out of nowhere. He still didn't know much about this strange and unique female Chief, therefore he couldn't tell if she was emotionally hurt or just trying to keep her conversation to a minimum. Trying to avoid causing any conflict or awkward silence, Reuben then decided to speak again. This time, not as enthusiastic than compared to before.

"So," he asked, his tone rather cautious and apprehensive "where are they now?"

"Dead," she simply put, her voice now incredibly soft and her tone and expression almost distant. Reuben grimaced a little again. So much for trying to not make it any more awkward. Something instantly flashed back into Reuben's mind at that very moment. Something which he hadn't considered thinking about in years. Back during the three year period of their 'experiment hunting' days for Hämsterviel, Gantu had a small phase of being super depressed. Whilst trying to capture experiment 344, later called Dupe by Lilo, Gantu opened up to Reuben and told him all about his early life. During this time, Reuben sat and listened, and of course, mocked him for being such a "boring failure". However, there was something which stood out amongst the other jargon his friend blurted out in his moody auto-biography. His parents were also dead. His mother had a poor health and died not long after he graduated college, and his father died shortly afterwards of depression. Perhaps, a simple guess from Reuben, as a result of the loss of his wife. And though Reuben was aware of Gantu's attitude, he still wasn't sure on how he and his species handled the subject of death. Judging by everything else he had seen portrayed by the Shaelekean species, he wouldn't be surprised if they were more angry than depressed. Since anger was a lot more of a favourable emotion than hurt, in Gantu's case at least. Reuben merely rubbed the back of his neck and decided to clear his throat awkwardly before finally coming up with a decent reason to speak again.

"That is something else you and Gantu share in common," He remarked in an awkward half chuckle. Though, after he noticed Zellah's face, he almost immediately regretted saying it like that.

"Please," she shook her head and stood up "I'd rather not have anything in common with him."

"But, why?" Reuben followed as she walked over to the wall. "He ain't all that bad you know... sure he's a real stick in the mud, and he's probably even more so now that he knows that you saved the royal family on your home planet... but-"

She quickly turned around and shot him a very surprised stare as she cut him off in mid-sentence. "How did y-?" She then paused and placed a hand on her hip "let me guess... he's been watching those old reports on my past professional history?"

"Yeah," Reuben stepped closer, his pushy and curious nature kicking in once again. "But why didn't you or that Commander guy ever tell us? It must have been a huge honour to do such a thing like that! I bet you kicked that assassinator's ass when it came to the verdict at the trial, eh?" He laughed, not noticing Zellah's expression turn rather lifeless.

"Reuben," she spoke, her tone very light and on-edge "I'd rather not talk about that fiasco with Emperor Egthor the Third's attempted assassination. We don't speak of it much on Shaelekar... and we have a good reason not to." She then gazed back down to him and her facial expressions told him everything. She looked almost... ashamed? Disheartened? Sad? "That one thing made my career better, yes. But the actions I was forced to take after that event took place... well... you may not view me as such a great person."

"I'm sure I'll think no such thing!" Reuben blurted, then realizing the look on Zellah's face turn even more pale and cold. 'Shut your damn mouth before you do any more damage you silly experiment!' His mind mentally screamed at him. He raised a finger to continue speaking but couldn't form anything to say. Instead, after moments of thought and observation, Reuben decided to back down and change the subject. The tiny experiment's eyes then found themselves gazing five feet away from where he was stood. There, in the corner, was his stack of sandwiches, still sat atop the plate which was placed down where he originally sat not too long ago. Reuben smiled and then quickly ran over to pick up the plate and rush back (careful not to trip or cause any of his sandwiches to fall) to where Zellah was stood. "But hey," Reuben continued, his tone now really cheerful as he brought his sandwich tower over towards the female Shaelek. "Let's drop all of that stuff. Wanna have a sandwich?"

The Chief of security was certainly taken aback by his cheery and kind demeanour. However, she couldn't help but find it endearing. There was something about the tiny genetic mutation that she couldn't help but love. He had such a quirky nature about him. Not at all anything like his taller, gruff companion. But yet again, most superior Officers did not like to show any signs of weakness. Gantu in particular. But she also had this tendency. Heck, everyone but Reuben probably thought her the rudest and self-conceited bitch on the whole damn ship! And she would probably keep this reputation until she went back to her original job back on Shaelekar.

"You haven't got raspberry jam, have you?" She questioned, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. "It's always been my favourite. Ever since I was a child."

"Hmmm, let's see," Reuben placed the plate down and began searching through his stack of sandwiches like they were files in a filing cabinet. "Ahh!" He pulled a single sandwich with a reddish gooey interior and handed it over to Zellah.

"Thank you Reuby," she beamed, winking down at him jokingly before eating the sandwich he gave her.

"Watch it lady!" Reuben pointed up, a mischievous glare now appearing on his small face. "If you keep calling me that, I may just have to come up with a nickname for you."

"You're too late there," she told him "I already have one."

Reuben's hands fell to his sides defeated and he watched as she finished off the remains of his jammy creation. 'Who would have thought that her favourite sandwich would be raspberry jam?' He thought to himself 'this woman never seizes to amaze me!'

"Well... go on?"

"The guys on the police port used to call me 'Zelly-Zet'," she chuckled "but nowadays I rarely hear that. Probably because they're all too afraid of me to say it. Though, my friend Jaarl calls me 'Zel' a lot!"

Reuben picked up another sandwich and decided to take a bite out of it himself. He grinned up at Zellah and the pair exchanged a very friendly gesture. "Zel it is!"

Authors note: So, damn, long! Sorry this was not my intention to make this chapter so long! Actually, it was my intention to make it shorter. However, everything in this chapter was needed and necessary. Hope you guys enjoyed this and have a clearer view on Zellah's character now. There will be a lot more revealed about her throughout the course of this story, but her relationship with Reuben in this chapter was crucial for later events. Thanks for reading guys! Feedback is always appreciated, and I shall update soon!