National Lampoon's Hyperspace Vacation

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

It all sounded good on the surface, and T'yeellaa wanted nothing more than to own that suggestion and relish it as much as she was looking forward to doing so when he'd shown her all of this. But she felt awful and there was the high probability that Samus in all of his good intentions would just make it worse.

"Pleasse don't take thjiss the wrrong wajy, but can jit jusst be a bath forr one tonjight?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

She looked like a drowned womprat, and he took pity on her sad state of affairs.

Delivering a final kiss to her cheek, he gave a nod before stepping back to return her personal space to her.

"If that's what you want, then that's what my Kitten will have. Don't you worry about me; I'll grab a sonic later, after you're done."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

She felt awful, but she was still left in amazement of Samus Dage once again.

"jI don't desserrve jyou, gai'tou. Thank jyou. Forr everrjythjing."

T'yeellaa sighed.

"jI'll be jin a betterr mood ssoon. jI hope."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then disappeared into the refresher.

[Q. Samus Dage]

He watched the door shut, giving her backside a long last look before the latch clicked, cutting him off.

A sigh, and he turned on his heel to head for the cockpit once more. Hopefully Gradoona hadn't eaten all of the ronto claws.

Stepping through the threshold, he let himself fall into the co-pilot's seat without any amount of ceremony, and reaching over to liberate the box from his Herglic friend's lap, began to dig through what was left.

"Never figured you for knowing about that old festival back home. Hell," he lifted up the last ronto claw in triumph, "... even some of the natives don't know about it."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ooh well I keep taabs aan my loocal fishing buddies baack hoome."

A donut with pink frosting and sprinkles was disappeared in the time it took to wait a beat.

"Yaknoo, naat just Giju, but gooin to aall the good spaats. Deep sea fishing aan Dac. Pond spelunking aan Naboo. Ice hoolin' aan Oorto Plutoonia, yaknoo? They doo a whoole circuit. Said this oone waas a real chunky penguin! And yaknoo since we're pert near and aan the right side aaf the liine, I figured heck! Why naat goo mudhoolin'?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

Tearing into his prize, Samus chewed eagerly, swallowing with barely enough time to recover before he'd taken another bite.

"You've got yourself a hell of a network, then."

The ronto claw was dispatched in record time for a human, and he was already eye-balling the contents of the box once more. A namana fritter was chosen as his next victim.

"Anywhere you haven't been that you wanna go to?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"I mean...with infinite credits and unlimited time aaff, wouldn't mind swinging Taakoodaana oor Glee Anselm. I hear ice-hoolin aan Haath is a pretty good to-do."

The Herglic surrendered the donut box for the time being, content to simply cruise along with the conversation.

"Soo, how'd youu aand the K'oohta'rrouu, yaknoo? I mean, asiide from the aabviouus."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He was in the middle of a bite, but when that question came, he froze for a moment. Trying to think of what T'yeellaa would be comfortable with, Samus brought the fritter back down, holding it just over the box.

"Oh you know," he started with a cough, "... the normal way, really. I was looking for a good place to eat, and she volunteered to help me out."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Bwaha I bet she did!"

When the baudy punchline wasn't shared, Gradoona got quiet for a moment. She shifted in her seat, puffing from her blow hole.

"Er, I mean, that's soo sweet."

A bit of an awkward pause happened as she course corrected, and Gradoona continued conversing.

"Soo is it truue abouut her, what everyone says?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

This was new to him, and Samus blinked in slight surprise as he turned his head to look at Gradoona.

"What does everyone say about her?"

Not exactly sure, he tried to explain further.

"I don't really spend too much time on the station, since we only really use it as a stopover for restocking. Not to mention, the only person on the command staff that I know is Commander Akiena, and that's only because he's one of the old fellows like myself."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well...yaknoo..."

Gradoona squirmed a bit. She cast a wary glance towards the closed refresher door, then leaned closer to Samus.

"...that she's rich. Naat just rich, but Rich-rich. Richer than Gunray. The goolden penguin and aall. Thaat she's just dooin aall this aas a hobby oor somethin."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Ah, that.

"Well, ehm... "

If T'yeellaa had not put such talk to rest by now, he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to spill the periberries.

"She hasn't talked about it much. I think there's some credits, but I don't know exactly how much."

He returned his attentions to his fritter, tearing off another chunk with his teeth.

"I know that she's in the service because she wants to be, though. It's not really a hobby, since she likes where she is. She also likes the uniform, near as I can tell."

And, well, so did he. Gods she always looked so tempting when she walked through the door in that crisp uniform of hers, each line hugging her form and accenting her body just right.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"I mean, I'm naat saying youu're some kiinda goold digger oor anything Commaander, I'm just saying thaats a heck of a benefit yaknoo?"

She thought about it some more, growing uncharacteristically quiet.

"I guess if thaat's truue thouugh...whew! Ya miight make this next trip in youur own staar cruuiser!"

Gradoona shrugged, as if to say "forget it".

"She doesn't act rich thouugh. I guess thaat's something. If youu didn't knoow her laast name, ya miight think she was one aaf us."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"To be honest, sometimes I think she wishes that she was like everyone else."

He gave an answering shrug to her, to acknowledge her unsaid 'forget it'.

"Me though, I'm just some hayseed from Myomar who decided to join the Rebellion and got lucky to live long enough to find someone that is willing to put up with me."

He reached into the box one last time, pulling out a plain glazed donut before hefting the box back to Gradoona.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"And I'm just a gaal with waanderlust who gaat aaff Giju at the right time."

Gradoona accepted the box, hucking a chocolate frosted & creme-filled donut down the pipe.

"Its a laat better now thaan it was, but yaknoo, it's naat the Alliance. I caan't ever reaally goo baack. Naat now, anyhoo."

There was something almost wistful in the Herglic's expression at that point, but she simply hauumed it away with a puff from her blowhole.

"At least there's a laat aaf us ouut there, eh? Noo shoortage aaf Herglics in the Alliance. Just waitin foor that ooone Herglic beau to come knaackin at my dooor."

She shrugged.

"Naat thaat there aaren't plenty aaf eligible bacheloors aaf the alien soort, buut I'm paarticulaar."

[Q. Samus Dage]

There was something in her voice, and the way she seemed to let the air out of her blowhole.

Chewing thoughtfully, Samus swallowed before leaning back in his seat, getting as comfortable as possible. There was still a fair bit of hyperlane to cover, and they were all in it for the long-haul. T'yeellaa in her bath, and Samus, Gradoona, and the donuts in the cockpit.

"Can't go back... ?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

She'd just assumed he knew, and the look on his face seemed like he'd run with something cryptic and assumed the worst.

"Yaknoo, becaause its aan the other siide aaf the liine."

Gradoona gave an approxiate shrug.

"It is whaat it is, eh. I'm naat maad oor anything, yaknoo, just kiinda wish the penguin swaam a little different."

That was enough melancholy. The Herglic gave Dage a friendly shoulder punch.

"Sooo, yaa meet the paarents yet??"

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

T'yeellaa sat perched on the edge of the tub, having succeeded only in submerging one leg up to the knee. The jiin'arrauu petals and iiyarro oil were normally aromatically pleasant, but now they seemed oppressive, so she had left them out. Even the water felt too hot to the touch, and it had taken a little intent for her to slip this far into the bath.

She'd let her hair down, letting her straight platinum locks fall over her shoulders. A glance at the windowed cubby fridge revealed a bottle of Pai Leeha, for which she had no desire. What was her problem, anyway? The thought fell heavy on the felinoid's shoulders as she tried to diagnose her own stormy mood. Invariably it came down to too much of everything. Gradoona was too loud, the lights were too bright, the bath was too hot, and she couldn't take a breath without catching Samus on the air.

T'yeellaa caught herself in reflection on the full-length mirror adjacent to the door. Maybe it was an unflattering pose, but had she put on weight? She pushed against crease at her belly. That had to be her imagination. She eased her second foot into the tub, then paused, looking back. Adjacent to the counter and tucked into a recharger cubby sat a compact KB-6 first aid droid.

"Drrojid."

A three-toned affirmative beep sounded as three blue oculars lit up. The KB-6 unit rolled out of its bay, coming to a stop next to the bathtub.

"Can jyou rrun bassjic medjical sscanss?"

An affirmative beep again.

"jI need jyourr help."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"The Line. Right."

How had he forgotten? Had T'yeellaa's bout of illness distracted him so much that he ignored the obvious so terribly? A sigh, and he gave a shake of his head.

"Here's hoping the Line becomes a bit more fuzzy in the future," he got out. Rising to stand, Samus stretched as he gave his Herglic friend a pat on her bulky shoulder.

"I'm going to go check on T'yeellaa."

[T'yeellaa Meorrrei]

"Sshjit." she spoke breathlessly, staring at the diagnostic information displayed on the first aid droid's display. T'yeellaa played with her hair for lack of a better thing to do with her hands and the sudden restless energy that needed out somehow. Then the gentle knock on the door came.

"Sshjit." A look of panic creased T'yeellaa's face, and she forced herself to get fully into the tub. It felt slightly too hot for comfort, but she nevertheless gave her head a quick dunk and out beneath the surface.

"Drrojid, delete all data of lasst djiagnosstjic."

An affirmative beep chimed, leaving T'yeellaa a moment to get her game face on. She took three measured breaths.

"That jyou, Gai'tou?"