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Vetra had expected Ryder to laugh. Sara was normally so cheerful, bouncing around the Tempest (sometimes literally, with her biotics), meeting any sort of pessimism from her crew with cheesy speeches that were somehow inspirational for their unironic sincerity. That cheerfulness had been gone since the Salarian Ark. Since then, Vetra had only see Sara smile if it was to comfort one of the other crew members. But it was a strained sort of smile, one trying to hide pain instead of express joy. And that just wasn’t Sara.
Vetra could tell her girlfriend blamed herself for what happened, that she thought it was her job to support everyone else through her own failing, but that just wasn’t true. Not that Vetra could figure out how to convince Sara of that. (Not that Drack was helping. Stubborn old ass. It should be plain to anyone with sensory organs how much Sara mourned the Krogan scouts.)
So Vetra had found Sara a box of berry-flavored levo Blast-Os (less risky than steak), and tried to cheer her up by telling her about Sid’s latest antics. “Of all the things my little sister could do by using my name, she gets ahold of the genome for--what was it?” She flicked her mandibles once, trying to remember, while Sara crunched on a handful of cereal. “Cats.” In hindsight, she should have noticed how the sound of crunching cereal stopped. “She had it pulled from storage. One, there’s no place to grow anything right now. Two, it seems they aren’t even a food!” She waved her hands a bit, making her annoyance seem more exaggerated than it was, trying to watch Sara out of the corner of her eye, hoping to see her crack a smile.
“What happened? Did she get them out of storage?” Vetra should have noticed how wide Sara’s eyes were, how she’d set down the cereal box (Sara never relinquished unfinished Blast-Os, especially the berry-flavored kind), how she was leaning forward slightly. Sure, Vetra was far from being an expert on human body language, but still, she had been with Ryder long enough that she should have known what Ryder was signalling wasn’t amusement.
It was hope.
“Of course not,” she had said bluntly, stupidly, why hadn’t she noticed? “Luckily, I caught her before the genome got to cloning. What I still don’t understand is why.”
She noticed then, once the damage was done, of course. The slumped shoulders, looking away, fiddling with the end of her scarf. And the biggest, most obvious, even-a-child-could-notice tell of all, the water gathered in the corners of Sara’s eyes. It was only then that Vetra realized she’d screwed up.
“Lots of people love cats,” Sara said, voice wavering slightly, not meeting Vetra’s eyes and blinking rapidly. “They make them happy.” And there was that smile, that pained smile, that smile that was supposed to be for everyone else. She wasn’t supposed to need it with Vetra.
“Sara…” Vetra didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t know how to fix this, she didn’t even know what went wrong .
“Sam just reminded me I’m supposed to go see Lexi for another check-up.” How was she such a good Pathfinder and such a bad liar? “I should go.” She was gone, and she’d left the cereal.
After pacing for a while, swearing at herself, and giving one of the storage boxes a good kick (luckily, it was one containing food packets and not grenades), Vetra decided that if she was to fix this the first thing she needed to do was figure out where she went wrong. And that meant researching cats.
She started with a basic extranet search, but most of what she got back was just biological info--how the strange creature fit into Earth's ecosystems, how it evolved, care information, diagrams of teeth and digestive systems. She couldn’t find any particular cultural significance, aside from the weird factoid that a pre-Industrial human civilization had once worshiped them. She considered briefly that maybe her mentioning eating them was offensive, but it seemed unlikely. Vetra knew Sara grew up on the Citadel with more asari and salarian friends than human, and she had been trained for a team whose duties included making first contact with new alien races. She wouldn’t get that offended over some unintentional cultural faux pas.
Vetra dug a little more and found a wealth of pictures involving the odd creatures in various strange positions, including midair, often with incomprehensible captions, probably requiring context Vetra didn’t have. There were so many videos she didn’t know where to start, all with titles like “Funny Cats” and “Adorable Cats.” Okay, so cats were entertaining. That still didn’t explain Sara’s tears or why Sid had wanted them out of storage over animals that served an actual purpose.
She was getting nowhere. Time to bite the bullet, as Sara would say.
As the comm request processed through the Tempest’s network and then the Nexus’, Vetra considered hanging up. There was no guarantee this would get her any accurate information. But she’d made Sara cry. This was her best lead on finding out why, and how to fix it, and how to never, ever , do it again.
The line clicked as the call connected. “Heeeey Vet, sorry again about the borrowing your name thing, I know I said I wouldn’t do that anymore but it was really important--”
“It’s fine, Sid,” Vetra said, more harshly than she meant to. “Sorry,” she started again, more gently. Conversational. “Why was it so important, anyway?”
“I, well…” Vetra could almost see her sister shifting from foot to foot. “You actually want to know? For real?”
“Of course I want to know,” said Vetra, unable to suppress a note of hurt from her subvocals. She knew there had been growing pains in her and Sid’s relationship, but she couldn’t stand the thought of her baby sister not trusting her.
“Alright, then,” said Sid quietly after a pause, apparently having picked up on Vetra’s subvocals. “Don’t get mad, but, I have this friend where I work? Her name’s Stacey. She lived on Earth with a big family before she came to Andromeda. She was talking about how hard it is for her to go back to her apartment after work, because it just feels so lonely? I asked her if she’d never been away from her family before, and she said she had, but she’d always had Muffins--her cat, I mean--with her. I said that sounded kind of weird--don’t huff at me, I know it was rude, I wasn’t thinking--but she just laughed and said it kind of was, but having some other living being to take care of made her feel less lonely.”
“So you decided to bring a useless animal out of storage to impress a girl?” Vetra said, trying to keep her amusement out of her tone.
“No! I mean, kind of? Look, I talked to a bunch of other humans I know, and some asari who have human dads, and they were all saying the same thing about pets--that they know they’re not very useful but they make them really happy anyways. I know it sounds stupid, but it’s hard to explain how they sounded when they talked about their pets, Vetra. They all looked so happy , but sad at the same time because we can’t take them out of storage. A bunch of them pulled up pictures on their omnitools. They weren’t all cats, some of them were other animals, but a lot of them were because apparently cats do comparatively well on spaceships.”
Thinking about how Ryder reacted, maybe it wasn’t so unbelievable. Ryder had never mentioned a pet before, but she had kept that weird rodent thing she found in the hold, and let that scientist stick the pyjak in the Tempest. She’d said both of those were for research purposes, but what if that wasn’t the whole story? There was certainly no research-related reason for keeping the rodent in her cabin and letting the pyjak ride around on her shoulder when it felt like it.
“So, yeah, I asked to get the cat genome out of storage early. Not to make a lot, just one or two litters. Everyone’s so down here after the news of what happened with the Salarians, and I thought this could be one way I can make someone happier.” Her voice grew bitter, defensive. “Sorry if that was inconvenient for you, sis.”
“No, Sid, it’s--I get it. It was still stupid, and you should never do it again, but I get it.”
The line was silent for a moment.
“Seriously?” said Sid hesitantly. “No lecture?”
“No lecture.”
“Um...thanks, Vet. So, what were you calling about?”
Vetra chuckled. “Nothing, Sid. Just checking in.”
“Uh...right,” said Sid, obviously not buying it but not pressing the issue. “Stay safe, sis.”
“You too.”
Vetra felt she was on the right track with Sid, but she needed more information. She loved Sid, but her sister was prone to jumping to conclusions and occasional overdramatics. Vetra needed a second opinion.
After checking with Sam that Ryder was no longer in the medbay (if she had actually went there to begin with), Vetra decided to speak with Lexi. Asking an actual human would be more ideal, but she didn’t trust Gil and Liam not to talk to Sara about it, Cora was meditating (Gil had learned the hard way not to interrupt Cora while she was meditating), and if she went to the bridge to talk to Suvi, Kallo would make sure the whole ship knew about their conversation within the hour. Lexi may not be human, but she was an expert in their physiology and had spent years working with them. She had to have some sort of insight.
Lexi smiled warmly at Vetra when she came into the med bay. “Vetra! How are you doing? Do you need me for something?”
Vetra resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot. “I’m fine, Lexi. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Of course,” Lexi said, offering her desk chair. “Please sit.”
Vetra could see the subtle shift in Lexi’s demeanor from crewmate to medical professional as she perched on a stool, body language carefully open and non threatening. Vetra wondered if the head tilt was something Lexi did purposefully because it signaled attentiveness to Turians, or if it was something she had unconsciously inherited from her father. Not knowing which it was made Vetra uneasy, but she pushed past it with a slight shake of her head as she sat down. The chair was a bit low for her, so she shifted her legs to the side slightly to accommodate her spurs. “I have some questions about humans.”
“Well, humans are an exceptionally diverse species, both biologically and culturally, so I feel it’s only fair to warn you your questions may not simply have one answer.” Lexi smiled knowingly, breaking her professional demeanor slightly. “Unless, of course, you are asking about a specific human.”
Vetra shook her head again. “In this case I think I need to know more about humans in general in order to understand a specific human.”
“Fair enough,” said Lexi, gesturing for Vetra to continue.
Vetra took a deep breath, then said, very seriously, “I need to know about cats.”
There was the head tilt again, confused this time, and Lexi’s voice was startled enough that Vetra was now reasonably sure Lexi was emulating Turian body language unintentionally and not for her benefit. Vetra filed this information away, feeling slightly more in control of the situation.
“Cats? You’re sure that’s what you wanted to ask me about?”
“Yes.” Vetra nodded firmly.
Lexi looked down, inputting a few commands into her omnitool, until a picture of one of the furry, big-eyed creatures came up. “This is what you’re asking about? The domesticated animal native to Earth?”
“Yes,” Vetra repeated, impatience tinging her subvocals.
Lexi lowered her omnitool, her cheeks slightly purple. “Sorry, I just wanted to check--sometimes translators aren’t very accurate when it comes to synonyms.”
“What did you think I was asking about?”
“Never mind,” said Lexi briskly, her professional manner falling back into place. “‘Cat’ can actually refer to a large group of species, but colloquially usually refers to the domestic house cat. They’re carnivorous and live anywhere from--”
“Lexi, I’ve done an extranet search myself. I’m asking you because I still can’t understand why humans are so…” What was a nicer word than "obsessed?" “...fond of them.”
Lexi nodded, folding her hands in her lap as she took a moment to reformulate her answer. “The short answer is that it’s in their evolution.” She glanced tentatively at Vetra. “Would you like the long answer?”
Vetra nodded reluctantly, thinking about to the hundreds-page long thesis on Krogan mating behavior Lexi had forwarded her after the barest hint of interest. The things she did for Sara.
“Of course! It’s really quite fascinating. Most sentient species in the Milky-Way, Turians and Asari included, developed social structures as we developed sentience and the beginnings of civilization. Communities and societies grew out of our newfound ability for complex language and ability to recognize each other as self aware beings, or so conventional asari wisdom would hold, anyway. It may be a bit idealistic, but I do believe the core of that idea is true. But for humans, it’s the opposite. They were able to evolve sentience because they had complex social structures and the ability to work together for group survival.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with--”
“I’m getting there!” Lexi waved her hands at Vetra’s protest, continuing with enthusiasm. “Humans evolved as pack hunters. Individually, they are quite weak compared to other apex predators on their home planet. They could not have succeeded as a species without the ability to work together. For humans, emotional bonding with others is ingrained deeply in their biology. The really interesting thing is, this isn’t limited to other humans. Humans have had symbiotic relationships with cats since they developed agriculture, and with dogs thousands of years before that. It’s my personal opinion that this is part of why humans were able to enter the galactic community so quickly--they don’t show the same aversion to forming relationships outside their species that most other sentients have shown directly after first contact, and--”
“Lexi.”
“Right, cats, of course.” Lexi took a breath, refocusing herself. “This isn’t true of all humans, of course, but many find it beneficial to live with some sort of animal companion, a pet. Cats are, to my knowledge, the most common example, with dogs close behind. Numerous studies have shown that humans who have at least one pet are likely to have lower levels of anxiety and stress related illnesses. Specially trained animals are sometimes used to treat conditions like generalized anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder.” Lexi took a breath as though she was going to continue, but stopped herself, smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Vetra, does that answer your question?”
“Yes, Lexi, that was very helpful,” Vetra said, standing. She strode to the door, but stopped before leaving. “Would you mind, ah, not mentioning this to Ryder?”
Lexi smiled knowingly. “I won’t say a word.”
It was well into the Tempest’s night cycle, but Vetra was still awake. Huddled at her desk in the hold, she stared at several datapads strewn across the surface, punching calculations into her omnitool. Food and oxygen intake and space necessary--the shedding was the real problem, she would have convince Kallo (not to mention Kesh) to upgrade the filters. She had no idea how to deal with the issue of demand--for all she knew, Ryder and Sid’s human would be the only ones who wanted the absurd creatures. Alternatively, if Lexi hadn’t exaggerated, nearly every human on the Nexus might want one. Either scenario would cause problems--maybe a lottery? It would be easier if the cloning process was precise enough that she could have an exact number, but it was designed for creating large populations of livestock, back when they thought that they would have plenty of habitable, non-hostile planets to ship animals to.
Vetra groaned, dropping the datapad she was holding and rubbing the back of her neck. The whole thing was ridiculous. She might have dropped the whole thing by now if it wasn’t for what Lexi had said about pets helping with post traumatic stress symptoms in humans. Vetra thought of Sara, her Sara, barely being able to manage a smile, leaving her food half finished, tossing and turning from nightmares. She wanted to help her, wanted that more than anything, but the whole endeavor just felt like--what was that phrase Sara taught her?--a wild goose chase. What if Vetra convinced Kallo and Gil to install special filters, went through the process of cloning these cats, only to find out she’d completely messed up, like she had with the steak?
If only Sara wasn’t so bad at communicating what she needed--Vetra could ask her directly, but Sara would just say there wasn’t any need to go so much trouble on her account--she was fine, she didn’t need anything, Vetra shouldn’t worry about her so much. Any mention of need to get new filters and Sara would immediately shut the idea down, even if she really did want one of these cat things. Even if she actually needed one.
Vetra didn’t know what to do. Seeing Sara in pain and not being able to help her was eating her from the inside, and she didn’t know if she could fix it.
Vetra startled at a quiet knock on her door. “Who is it?” she called, hastily stacking datapads and shoving them to one side of the desk.
“It’s Suvi. Could I come in?”
Slumping in relief, Vetra punched the order in her omnitool for the door to open. Suvi was probably just there for some requisition request or another. Maybe it would be something tricky--that would at least occupy Vetra’s mind for a while.
Suvi entered, looking a bit sheepish and clutching a datapad. “Hi, Vetra. I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Not at all. What can I help you with, Suvi?”
“Actually,” said Suvi, stepping into the room and letting the door hiss closed behind her. “I was hoping I might help you with something. I’ve heard you’ve been researching cats?”
Vetra groaned, her mandibles flaring wide. Small ship. She should have known. She hoped it wasn’t too much to ask that it at least hadn’t gotten back to Ryder. “Did Lexi tell you?”
Suvi shook her head emphatically. “No, she hasn’t said a thing to me. It was Sam, actually. Believe it or not, he was rather insistent that I should talk to you.”
Vetra hummed her surprise, quickly remembering that she should actually vocalize it so Suvi could understand. “That seems strange for him.” She knew that Sam had free will of course, but it was easy to forget sometimes, since it was so wrapped up in Ryder’s will as to be indistinguishable.
“I thought so too, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it makes. Sam knows Ryder better than anyone--it would make sense for him to ask for help if he feels like she can’t.” Suvi fiddled with her datapad for a moment. “Anyway, I have something to show you.” She moved to stand next to Vetra, holding out the datapad so they both could see the screen. “Ryder and I send each other things sometimes--usually scientific articles or scans, but sometimes vids or pictures. She knows I get homesick for Earth.” The screen started playing a vid. It was a compilation of some kind, with different clips cut together. The beginning showed various humans looking expectantly to whoever was behind the camera. Some held boxes covered in brightly patterned paper. Some of the clips had strange glowing trees in the background. “If you’ve talked to Lexi, I expect you already know the scientific side of things, and I know you’re more than capable of working out the logistics yourself.” The clips circled back, and now the various humans were ripping the paper off the boxes or holding their hands out for something off screen, their eyes widening. “But even knowing the science behind it, I know it can still seem bizarre to other species. I know Kallo thought I was a bit crazy when I told him about keeping a cat back in the Milky Way.” The clips circled back again, revealing what was off camera and in the wrapped boxes. Cats--most small and young but some fully grown, many with colored ribbons tied around their necks. And the humans were--
They were crying . The were hugging these weird furry creatures to them and crying, some saying things to the unseen camera holders but most completely incoherent.
“Sometimes it’s just easier to see,” said Suvi, smiling, and Vetra noticed with alarm that there was water at the corners of the woman’s eyes. “Ryder sent me this about a month ago, when I was having a bad day.”
“But it’s making you sad!” exclaimed Vetra, bewildered. “These humans, they’re sobbing! Are they being hurt? Is it an allergic reaction?”
Suvi shook her head, laughing, still holding up the video, which continued cycling through the humans’ reactions. Vetra noticed many of them were laughing through tears as well. “Sorry, I suppose that needs explaining. I forgot that Turians don’t cry. Humans cry when we feel strong, overwhelming emotion. For most people, negative emotion, like sadness or sometimes anger, tends to make us cry more easily than positive emotion. But we cry when we’re very happy, too. Many humans cry at weddings just as often as they cry at funerals.” She laughed again and wiped her eyes with her free hand. “Or, if they’re like me, they cry at seeing other people happy because they’re giant softies.”
Vetra stared at the datapad as the video ended with the humans hugging their cats, faces wet and smiling. “So they’re...so happy they’re crying? Over an animal that doesn’t do anything?”
Suvi nodded, powering down the datapad and straightening up. “That about sums it up. Humans are weird.”
“Tell me about it,” said Vetra, rubbing the back of her neck. “Thanks, Suvi. And...thank you, Sam.”
Sam’s synthesized voice came over the ship’s speakers. “I hope I have helped.”
After Suvi left, Vetra placed a call to the Nexus. “Kesh? It’s Vetra. I need a favor, and, well, it’s going to sound a little weird…”
“Okay, so first I need to check in with Kandros about the APEX teams, then I have an interview with Keri, then Tann wants to see me about some outreach thing, but I might skip that, and then--”
The Tempest wasn’t even docked yet and Sara was standing in front of the ship’s exit, bouncing on the balls of her feet, scrolling through her omnitool with a frown. It was an impromptu stop and already her schedule was full.
“Hey, make sure you have some time to breathe,” said Vetra, moving to stand beside her.
Sara started typing into her omnitool automatically before the words registered. She closed it down in a frustrated huff. “There’s so much to do, Vetra.”
“I know.” Vetra stroked Ryder’s hair gently, and she leaned into the touch with a sigh. “But you’re going to be okay.”
“I know.” She shot Vetra one of those pained little smiles, meant to be reassuring, but just twisting Vetra’s heart further. Hopefully, by day’s end she would be smiling for real.
“Not to add another thing to your schedule, but when you’re done could you stop by the tech labs? I have something I want to show you.”
Ryder nodded, tapping a note into her omnitool.
Vetra felt the Tempest land, feather light thanks to inertial dampeners and Kallo’s expert touch, and the ramp began to descend to allow the crew exit.
Sara bounced up and planted a kiss on Vetra’s mandible before rushing out of the ship, even though the ramp wasn't yet fully extended.
A minute later, Suvi and Lexi caught up to Vetra, having somehow become co-conspirators along the way.
Lexi handed a datapad to Vetra. “This should be all we need. I’ve sorted them into essential and nonessential categories. Gil’s agreed to stay behind to upgrade the filters.”
“Are they really ready?” Suvi asked, her hands clasped together and her voice pitched slightly higher than normal.
Vetra nodded to Suvi as she took the datapad. “We have until Ryder’s done with her errands. Let’s get to work.”
It wasn’t quite as easy as Vetra expected, and it took a bit of arm twisting, but in a few hours, she, Lexi, and Suvi had gathered all the items on the list, dropped most of them back at the Tempest, and met Professor Herik and Sid at the tech labs.
“She’s not here yet?” asked Suvi anxiously as Vetra set the load she had been carrying on one of the tables.
“Not yet,” said Sid. “But that’s only because I asked Kesh to stall her.”
“Let’s work quickly, then,” said Vetra, spreading out the supplies she’d brought: a small, open-topped aluminum crate, a roll of bright yellow paper, and a green ribbon.
“I’ll get the creature!” said Professor Herik, rushing into one of the adjoining labs. Dr. Aridana must have heard the commotion, poking her head out of the astronomy lab and looking on curiously.
“Maybe I can help with this--” said Lexi, starting to pick up the paper before Suvi batted her hand anyway.
“I’m the human here, I’ll do that. You can help by finding me some scissors.”
“Scissors, of course...excuse me, Dr. Aridana, I don’t suppose you could help me locate some scissors?”
Vetra stepped back, letting the others work, knowing she would only get in the way at this point. She shifted from foot to foot. She really hoped this would work.
Sid sidled up to her. “So, you decided to bring a useless animal out of storage to impress a girl?”
Vetra laughed to hear her own words thrown back at her. “Guess I am.” She knocked her shoulder against Sid’s affectionately. “‘Spose that means we’re related after all.”
Sid giggled, watching Professor Herik bring out the furry thing and Suvi squeal at the sight, almost dropping the surgical scissors she was using to try to cut the paper. “You know, this whole thing was my idea,” Sid said. “I should really have gotten to give one to my human first.”
“She’s ‘your human’ now, huh?”
Sid’s neck was tinged slightly blue, but she had a defiant tilt to her head. “Maybe. What if she is?”
“Then I’m happy for you, Sid.” Though Sid was nearly as tall as her now, Vetra scratched the top of her fringe like she had when her sister was small. Sid rolled her eyes but her subvocals betrayed her, thrumming happily. “Fair warning, though. Humans are weird.”
They both watched as Suvi tied the ribbon in a decorative bow around the creature’s neck, cooing nonsense words. “No argument here.”
Once Suvi had finally gotten the cat in the crate and finished wrapping the whole thing in colorful paper, Vetra sent a message to Kesh, letting her know that they were ready. They all waited in tense silence, waiting for the Pathfinder to arrive. Even Dr. Aridana, who presumably had no idea what was going on, waited expectantly. The silence was only broken by a soft mewing sound coming from the box.
Finally, the door chimed open and Ryder entered. Her expression spun from surprise to confusion to suspicion as she took in all the expectant faces. “Vetra, what is this?”
“We got something for you,” said Vetra, unable to keep her excitement contained to her subvocals. She bounced slightly as she indicated that paper-wrapped crate.
Sara’s eyes darted from the box to Vetra as she slowly approached the table it was sitting on. Her expression said she seriously doubted that Vetra wasn’t the main perpetrator in all this. “You didn’t have to get me anything. It’s not even a holiday.”
“I wanted to,” said Vetra firmly. “Go on.”
Sara reluctantly turned her attention to the box and ripped a strip of paper from its side. An insistent mew came from inside and Sara froze, her eyes going impossibly wide. Biting her lip, as though she didn’t dare hope that she’d heard what she thought she heard, Sara ripped off the rest of the paper with more urgency.
When she saw the tiny, fluffy orange furball inside, Sara gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth before she reached inside and picked up the creature, cradling it to her gently. She was trying to hold back sobs but tears streamed down her face. “You said--you said you made Sid put the genome back in storage,” she accused, running a hand gently over the kitten’s fur, rocking it like one might a baby.
“I did,” confessed Vetra, thinking how this was just like the vid, but better, because it was Sara, and because she knew they were happy tears. “But a certain few people helped me change my mind.”
Ryder turned slowly, still clutching the kitten, looking at the others in the room. “All of you helped?”
“Yes--well, except for Aridana. She wandered in here by coincidence.” Vetra nodded to Dr. Aridana. “No offense, Doctor.”
“Oh, none taken.” Dr. Aridana beamed. “I’m just happy I happened to be here.”
Vetra nodded to the others in the room as she mentioned them. “Professor Herik was the one who did the actual cloning procedure. Kesh helped stall you long enough for us to find wrapping paper. Sid gave me the idea, and Lexi and Suvi convinced me it was a good one.” Lexi smiled and Suvi waved, hastily wiping away her own tears. “Sam as well, actually.”
“Really? Sam?” Sara’s eyes went up and to the side in the way they did when she talked to the AI. The rest of them couldn’t hear what he said, but Sara shook her head, smiling. She was smiling. Really smiling.
Vetra couldn’t help herself. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, tucking Sara against her side and resting her chin atop her head. And if her subvocals hummed with embarrassing intensity, Sid didn’t mention it. At least, not in that moment.
The little furball was starting to grow on Vetra. It was kind of cute, if she tilted her head and squinted a little, and its effect on the ship’s morale was undeniable. The humans all adored it, even Cora, who seemed incapable of speaking to the kitten in anything other than baby talk. To her surprise, Drack and Jaal also warmed quickly to the kitten. After a suggestion from Gil, Jaal took great joy in watching the creature chase after the light of a laser pointer, and Vetra had caught Drack scratching the kitten’s ears several times. The old krogan was still grieving the lost scouts, but he seemed far less angry than he had before, at least towards his allies, and he and Ryder seemed to be on good terms again. Peebee and Kallo, at least, shared Vetra’s bemusement over the rest of the crew’s adoration for the thing, though they didn’t seem to mind its presence.
Vetra still didn’t understand what it was about the kitten that made everyone love it so much, but she had learned to appreciate it, if nothing else.
Except when it hogged the bed.
It seemed impossible that such a tiny thing could take up so much space, but night after night it somehow worked its way in between Vetra and Sara on the bed, hissing if Vetra tried to move it.
One of these times, Vetra said to it, “You know, furball, I might be starting to regret pulling you out of cryo.”
The creature mewed at her disdainfully.
“Her name is Sol, Vet.” Sara giggled as she put her hands on either side of the kitten, which allowed itself to be lifted and deposited at the foot of the bed. “And she’s part of the family now.”
Vetra wrapped an arm around Sara and pulled her close enough that not even the kitten-- Sol --would be able to wriggle between them (Probably. The thing was surprisingly persistent. And flexible.). “As long as it makes you happy.”
Sara kissed the spot just behind Vetra’s mandible, long enough to make her shudder. “You make me happy, Vetra.”
Vetra bent her head to press her forehead to Sara’s. “I love you.”
Sara smiled, painless and radiant. “I love you, too.”
With a loud mewl, Sol bounded up the bed, leaping up onto Vetra’s shoulder before settling into her cowl.
If this was the price she had to pay to be in love with a human, Vetra thought as Sara laughed hard enough to snort, then she could learn to put up with the stupid furball.