Hopestar was back in subspace and Nikolai was hiding from people as usual. He wasn’t really required to run anything between the stops, so he always made sure to give the rest of the crew enough space to do their work. He needed his own space too, to work on code and just… not interact with anyone.

Today, he chose the library as his hiding spot. No one ever stayed here for longer than it was necessary, and there was this one adjustable armchair behind a bookshelf that kept him out of the line of sight of anyone coming in. Andrew was the only person who knew he was there. This was the second reason for choosing this spot: Nick hoped to get a feel on how Andrew felt after the last meeting. If there was a grudge forming against the decision to reroute to Antio, he had to resolve it fast.

Andrew didn’t seem to mind his presence. He was in the process of sorting through two suitcases of new purchases he had made on Colossus. Most were plastic books, as far as Nikolai could tell from the soft sounds of the pages being flipped. But there was a vacuum sealed parcel behind his station with a distinct logo which meant it contained actual paper. Seriously, Andrew probably spent no money on anything but books. Or he was having some kind of side hussle Nick was not aware of. A single paper book could cost more than some of Hopestar’s consumables. And such books were extremely fragile too.

There was a sound of footsteps from the corridor and someone walked into the library and stopped near the entrance. “Hello, Mr Haasan.”

The soft rustle meant Andrew closed the book he was looking through. “Mr. Richard, a pleasure. Don’t tell me you’ve finished what I’ve given you from Mu?”

Nikolai moved quietly in his chair in hopes of seeing something in between the books on the shelf he was next to but no such luck. Rin Richard chuckled softly: “I wish I could say I did, but I have to admit the last volume was simply impenetrable. That’s why I hoped to pick something lighter this time.”

There was a hint of irony in Andrew’s voice. “Ah, so you do have a limit. I wondered when it would come. My plan was to recommend lectures by Yannopoulos next. Five hundred thousand words in each of the five volumes. Hardly anyone understands what these words are, of course.”

This made Nick smile. Andrew sounded so casual it was a pleasant surprise. He had tense relationships with most of the other crew. Then again, none showed much interest in literature before. Apparently, the new Third Pilot did. This was a relief, on behalf of both of them.

“Were you really testing me?” Richard sounded pouty. 

“No, it was simply curiosity. I promise to recommend something more well-written.”

“I wasn’t trying to show off by asking for classic works… I just know I have a gap in my knowledge when it comes to… books outside of the mainstream.” Now the Third Pilot acted defensive.

“I have not presumed that, Mr Richard.”

Andrew got up and walked over to the database terminal, closely followed by Richard. Nikolai sighed and put down his interface; he could now see both of them which meant he would be noticed swiftly. The height difference between the two men was quite impressive and it made him smile, watching them discuss authors he never heard of. The people on the ship were all so different but despite that they could still find things to bond over. 

“What is the ‘Starless Sky’ series?”

“Fiction. Wish fulfilment fiction.”

“Sounds like you disapprove, Mr Haasan. Is this elitism I sense?”

“I do not disapprove of wish fulfilment fiction. I disapprove of ‘Starless Sky’ because it involves certain plot points that should not be presented as positive and desirable. If you’d like something in the same vein but much more thoughtful, I’d offer ‘My First Journey’.”

Richard looked up from the screen with an amused smile and caught something from the corner of his eye and turned to see the captain. This startled him, which in turn made Andrew look over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, sir, I’m sorry I didn’t know you were there.” The Third Pilot mumbled.

Nick smiled and raised his hands. “Ah, my hiding spot has been discovered. Please, do not share this information with anyone else on the ship.”

“I would not.” Richard frowned as he clearly took this a bit too seriously.

“I’ll go make the downloads.” Andrew commented in a neutral tone and walked out into one of the side doors.

They stayed in awkward silence and after a moment Nikolai gestured towards one of the empty armchairs. “Well, perhaps it’s as good an opportunity as any to have a conversation about your experiences so far? I was meaning to invite you over but I’m really bad when it comes to planning meetings.”

Richard sat down on the edge of the chair and looked nervous. “Oh… Right, of course. I… was meaning to send a message too so it makes two of us.”

Nick laughed out at this and put his chin on one hand. “Isn’t it lovely then? So? What has it been like? Did you settle into the work schedule? No troubles sharing the cabin?”

“No troubles at all, sir. Me and Mikey-” He looked towards the corridor Andrew left through as if checking if he could hear or not. “-we seem to have found a comfortable way to communicate. He has been very helpful with showing me around.”

“And your shiftmates? And Paolo?”

Richard was choosing the words carefully. “They are all nice. And Mr Andrade is-” Another glance towards the corridor. “-quite demanding. But one would expect nothing less from him. I have a lot to learn yet.”

Was Paolo making trouble again? Nikolai knew his tendency to ignore gossip without realising it until such gossip reached Rob and he would confront him about it. Bad rumours were simply… too upsetting. He didn’t want to hear them and ended up ignoring them. Which was probably not a thing a good captain was meant to do.

“Do tell me if he crosses the line. We are not a military company on Hopestar. Being in charge doesn’t give anyone the right to overstep the boundaries.”

The Third Pilot shook his head. “It’s nothing like that, I promise. I am still learning the interpersonal dynamics of the crew, and all of it feels overwhelming at the moment.”

Nikolai sighed. “If either Paolo or Andrew give you trouble because of each other,” he started just as Andrew returned into the room. “I will have a stern talk with them.”

“No, you won’t.” Andrew answered with a tone of irony as he returned the library interface to Richard. “No way our superstar Chief Pilot faces any repercussions for his treatment of others.”

“You don’t really believe that, Andrew.” Nick replied and was surprised to hear pleading in his own voice. Has he really been ignoring Paolo’s bad behaviour? Yaya promised she didn’t leave because of him. Paolo genuinely hoped she didn’t too. Was there more?

“Sometimes I do. But I believe this is not a conversation we should burden Mr Richard with.” He gave the pilot a small smile and returned to his station.

Richard was uncertain of how to react or what to say. He looked at the captain with a silent question. Nikolai sighed again and leaned forward. “Well. Have you given the longer contract a thought then? After Kashi-Sulak? I’ve posted our planned route for the rest of the year, I hope you have seen it.”

Richard nodded. “Yes, sir. I… would like to stay for now. At least, until we are back in the human SOI. I’d like to keep it open like this, for now.”

“I understand. I also appreciate that. Perhaps, tomorrow you can drop by my office at this time? So we can sign another short term contract.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll be there. I should be going now, so I can have a meal before my shift.” He got up with a smile and left the sitting area, said goodbye to Andrew and exited the library.

Nikolai sat there quietly for another minute then got up and walked over to Andrew’s station. He was once again flipping through the pages of a new book, this one not in the Earth Standard but in Far-Galactic, which was more popular in the mixed colonies. This meant this book was much rarer and more expensive than it would seem. Far-Galactic was also Andrew’s native language. Nikolai didn’t speak it fluently, because the planet he and Rob grew up on had a variation on Earth Standard as the most used language. 

Nick’s native tongue had to be ES, he understood everyone when he was found on board the ship and then when he was introduced to Rob’s mother, Rob, and his brothers. He didn’t remember his life before that. But it didn’t involve learning F-G, that’s for sure. Since they moved to Gemi space, he picked some bits of Far-Galactic (Rob was almost fluent now and used it more often, so there was no incentive to try and learn more) but his most used languages were three kinds of programming scripts. Speaking to computers was always much easier.

“What’s this one called?” He asked with a smile.

Andrew looked up with a raised eyebrow and decided to humour him. “Ten Years of Running Away by J. Tam. An autobiography so probably not something you’ll ever want to read.”

Nick sighed with a smile. “That’s fair. So, Mr Richard has been visiting regularly? That’s lovely.”

“We are not having this conversation.” Andrew replied in a fake cheerful voice and put the book to the side to look through the next one. Nikolai had no idea what caused this reaction. He was just happy there seemed to now be a regular visitor to the library and someone Andrew could talk about books with.

Did he think he meant something else? He wasn’t sure what that could be.