Red and Skinny had squashed onto one of the benches, watching him like a pair of liraas snakes for food. T’Raal took a seat next to Talent.
“Food’s up. You gannets can wait,” he ordered, slapping Red and Skinny’s hands as they reached for pancakes. “Eris and Lizzie eat first. So behave.”
They grumbled good-naturedly and sat back, waiting their turn. Zero waited by the table as Eris selected a pancake. Then he realized…
“Fuck! The ice cream.”
The room went silent as he hit up the freezer unit, digging out a tub of his stash.
“Fuuuuck me,” Red whistled as he put it down in front of Eris. “It must be love. Zero never lets any of us anywhere near his triple-choc-caramel fudge.”
Zero flipped her the bird, watching as Eris dug in. She popped a spoonful of pancake and ice cream into her mouth and then moaned.
“Oh my god, that is so good.” She opened her eyes to smile up at him. “Where did you learn to cook like that? This is amazing.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he mumbled, a flush on his cheeks as he returned to the hotplate to work on the biggest stack of pancakes the Sprite had ever seen. He’d need to since everyone had decided to join them for breakfast. Soon the room was filled with the scrape of cutlery on plates and small sounds of pleasure.
“Pancakes? Did I miss pancakes?” Sparky appeared in the doorway, his dirty blond hair mused into bedhead spikes.
“Nope, you’re just in time,” Zero replied, sliding yet another plate loaded with a stack onto the table.
“Cool… smells good. Budge over, beautiful.” He dropped into the seat next to Eris and grabbed a plate. Reaching for the top pancake, his fork clashed with Fin’s both men looking up.
“Well hello, handsome. What’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?” he quipped with a rakish grin.
Fin blinked, obviously not used to being hit on over breakfast, and pulled his fork back. “How do you know I’m a nice guy?”
Sparky claimed the pancake triumphantly. “Well, here’s hoping.”
“I got better shit to do than listen to this,” Red growled.
She shoved her half-finished plate away and pushed herself to her feet. Before anyone could say anything, she was gone, the door sliding shut behind her. Without a pause, Skinny scooped her leftovers onto his plate. All was fair in love and food on the Sprite.
Taking advantage of the break in the conversation, Zero slid into the seat on the other side of Eris to eat his own breakfast.
“Woah, was it something I said?” Sparky looked all innocent, until Eris clipped him around the ear.
“Shut the fuck up and eat your food before these good folks decide you’re an asshole and throw us off their ship,” she ordered.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s entirely Fin’s fault. It usually is where Red is concerned.” T’Raal chuckled, pushing his plate away with a sigh of contentment. “That was good. Thank you, Zero. Now…”
He focused on Eris. “Zero brought us up to speed. Any idea why your own people turned on you?”
Her plate finished, Eris cradled a mug of coffee in her delicate little hands and looked the large Warborne leader directly in the eye. “None whatsoever. I’m just an outer systems security chief, nothing special. They must have me mixed up with someone else.”
“Do your people do that often?” T’Raal’s question was valid, and one Zero very much wanted answered as well. But before Eris could answer, Sparky waved his fork.
“Nope. SO13 doesn’t make mistakes like that. If they tried to kill you,” he motioned toward Eris. “Then they really meant to kill you.”
T’Raal looked between the two humans. “Who are SO13?”
“Special Operations Thirteen.” Sparky scraped the last bits of syrup off his plate and licked the fork. “Highly secretive black ops unit. Professional killers basically. Ones that actually like killing. There’s a rumor that they surgically remove all morals and your soul when you join the unit.”
“Oh? How’d you know so much about them?” Fin demanded, leaning across the table. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the tall human since he’d walked in the room.
“Yeah, Allen, how do you know so much about a special operations unit so secretive most people think they’re a myth?” Eris asked pointedly.
“Was one. Then the assholes tried to kill me. It didn’t take,” he grinned. “So they threw me in Mirax. But, one thing I do know for sure. If they’ve got a target on your back, they absolutely will not