Katja Pt. 09

Then she said, "I think we need to cleaned up again before we go out."

Erik grinned and said, "Okay, but isn't that what started this all in the first place?"

Katja grinned back, "What is the human term.... Oh yes, "Are your bragging? Or complaining?"

Erik caught her up and rolled on top of her and kissed her. "Bragging, defiantly bragging kitten."

He got off the bed and picked her up and put her over his shoulder and carried her into the bathroom as she giggled.

Once they got done, they headed out to the living room. Erik got them something to drink, while Katja raided the pantry to find something to hold her over until dinner. Katja had settled on a can of tuna and was eating it out of the can with a fork as they watched TV.

Ariel had come out and saw her, then laughed. "What's the matter, didn't want to dirty a bowl?"

Katja smiled and replied, "No, not really, Besides, I was hungry and this works just as good."

Ariel grinned and sat beside her. "Well, it does smell good." Katja was watching the TV, so she said, "You can have some." And she held out the can to her. Ariel daintily pick out a chunk and popped it in her mouth. "Umm, that is good."

Then Cleo jumped up and sat between Katja and Ariel. She sniffed and said to them, "What is that that smells so good?"

Katja said absently, "Tuna, want some?"

Cleo: "Yes, please."

Katja picked out a small piece and fed it to her.

Cleo: "Yes, that is very good."

Then Erik watched as the two girls and Cleo ate the tuna out of the can. Luckily it was a big one and not the normal small can. He grinned and said, "I think we'll have to go shopping again."

Katja nodded, "Some more of this," She held up the half empty can. "And maybe some more of the canned salmon."

She looked at him, "I know the doctor said I'd be more hungry than usual, but I need to stay away from the stuff that will make me fat."

Then Erik had an idea, "I tell you what, I know of an Asian market that's sort on the way back. They're real big on seafood type snacks and stuff, we'll stop on the way home and see if they have anything you'd like."

Katja pouted at him, "I see how it is, you just don't what to see me get fat and ugly."

Erik laughed, "You don't really believe that, do you? I'd love you no matter what."

Katja shook her head no, then grinned. "I just wanted to hear you say it." Then the three of them went back to watching TV while snacking on the tuna.

The rest of the night was fairly normal and when they went to bed, it was a repeat of the afternoon session. When they got to work the next morning, Erik walked Katja to her office and kissed her goodbye, saying that he'd see her at lunch. Then he headed to his office to get things started before he went to the classroom.

Katja turned on her computer and made herself some tea. She had copied what Erik did, and set a up an electric tea kettle like they had at home, so she could have it through the day if she wanted to. She also added a combination small fridge with a microwave like Erik had got for his office. As she was waiting for the water to boil, she looked through her messages and was happy to see one from her brother Azlan. She opened it up and smiled, her brother would be here next month. He was going to be at the town here to see how somethings were best done.

She thought to herself, he's going be there the same time Uncle Geoff was, that was probably why they had to go. This was wonderful, they could look at the property's and see her brother at the same time. She finished reading the message.

He was excited to see her and meet her mate, they had heard about things he had done there. He also congratulated her on her pregnancy and that he was glad to have a niece and nephew to spoil.

He also added, that he was also waiting to hear from their mother and father. There was a bit more chattier family things in the message and how things were going there.

Katja answered back telling him they'd see him at the town, that they were going there also. Then she added some more family things and sent it off.

Then she sighed and started on the first work message.

All in all, it was a typical day for both of them. Erik taught his classes, he had been doing it so much, he had it down pat and was getting a little bored. Katja was the same way, at least when she was in the garage, she got to do a little work now and then. Now she sat behind the desk, answered questions, reviewed reports, blah, blah, blah. The best time was when she got to go to lunch with Erik and see her old crew.

They headed out for the day and Erik drove over to the Asian market. They walked in and got a basket, then started to walk around. Then they met the delivery guy, Mr. Chao, that normally brought their Chinese order.

Mr. Chao smiled, genuinely glad to see them, they were nice people. "Miss, how are you, I didn't know you shopped here."

Katja smiled, he was always so nice when he brought their order, "I'm fine. This is our first time here."

Then Erik explained how she was pregnant, and her doctor had said she was going to be eating more. "So, we're looking for some things to keep around the house for when she gets hungry. I remembered that they had a lot of different seafood type snacks and things here. So, we thought we'd get some, but were not really sure what's better."

Mr. Chao smiled, "Oh, that's is wonderful, children are great, I have three of them, a boy and two beautiful little girls. My wife was the same way, always wanting a little bite to eat. Come, I'll show you. What do you like most?"

Katja and Ariel looked at each other, then Katja said, "All kinds of fish, but we really love the shrimp, lobster, salmon, tuna. That type of thing."

He smiled and handed them a couple of variety pack of different fish-based snacks, there was, Shrimp Crackers, Dried Squid, Shrimp snacks, Cuttlefish Chips, Dried Mini Fish, and Prawn Crackers. "My wife used to love these, they also have them singly in case you don't like some of them."

Then they walked and came up to the fish counter. The girls had never seen so many different types before. They didn't have all that many different types on the home world.

Erik smiled and said, "Go ahead and pick some out."

Mr. Chao told them some of the favorites of people he knew and how to prepare them.

The girls ended up choosing some ahi tuna, sea bass, and red snapper. Then also decide to add some prawns to make on the grill tonight.

They thanked Mr. Chao for his help and went to pay for everything.

Once they got home, they cleaned up and changed. Erik got them some iced teas and the girls opened up one of the snack bags. The decided on the Shrimp crackers first and ended up emptying out the small bag in no time flat, and decided to wait on trying one of the others until later. They watched some TV for a while and Erik worked on his computer. When Tony got home, Ariel told him were they went and what they got. Then she asked if he knew a good way to cook the prawns on the grill.

Tony smiled, "As a matter of fact I do. Just let me clean up and change, and I'll show you."

Once he was done changing, he showed Ariel a marinade for the prawns and Erik had started up the grill for him so it was ready when he was. Tony skewered the prawns up, then he and Ariel went outside and he showed her how to grill them.

While he was doing that, Erik and Katja made up a salad and some couscous to go with it, along with some nice crusty bread in a basket. The prawns only took a few minutes on the grill and when they were done, they brought them inside.

Then they all sat down and had dinner. However, it didn't take long, as they devoured the prawns quickly, another meal to go on the list was added. They lingered at the table and talked, Katja told Erik her brother had sent her a message back and they would see him next month at the town.

Erik smiled, "That's great kitten, I'm looking forward to meeting him."

Ariel grinned, then said, "I think you'll like him Erik, he's kind of like you." She giggled, "I had a huge crush on him when we were younger and training for the mission."

Tony frowned, "Maybe we should stay here then." Ariel looked at him seeing the frown, but he couldn't keep up and grinned at her.

Ariel shook her head and punched him on the arm. "You know better than that, you big ape."

Erik and Katja laughed at the two. The Katja said, "She might have had a crush on him, but he thought she was a little to flighty. He's always been very serious."

They finished talking and Erik said he'd clean up and the three of them went to find a movie or something to watch until bedtime."

When they got to work the next morning, Erik walked Katja to her office, then asked her if there was anything special she wanted him to cover during the training class for the crews this morning. He was done with these for the most part, between his classes and Katja running things, everything was pretty much under control. So, Erik had started teaching a "how-to class" for them. This morning's class was on trouble shooting a few different problems they were likely to come across.

Katja smiled and shook her head, "No, not really. I think you've got it covered. You going to be done in time to take me to lunch?"

Erik nodded, they had decided to go out and get lunch, instead of eating on the ship. They both wanted away from it, even if it was only for an hour or so. "I should be, but I'll call you if anything changes."

She smiled and kissed him, then he headed off to his office while she walked into hers.

He got everything set up and started his coffee. Then he checked messages and answered the important ones and filed the ones that could wait until later. He had just got his coffee when his com unit buzzed. He answered it seeing it was Uncle Geoff, they exchanged pleasantries and he asked how Katja was.

Erik smiled, "She's doing good sir, eating us out of house and home, but otherwise fine."

Uncle Geoff laughed replying, "That's normal Erik, luckily it only lasts about four or six weeks." Then he asked, "You free to talk this afternoon like you wanted to?"

"That would be fine sir, 1300 good for you?" Erik asked. "I'll be free by then."

They agreed on the time and he said he'd see him then. Then Erik called up a list of things he noted down to talk about and added a couple others.

He went to the classroom a little before nine and hooked up his computer. He usually had them come for here for a quick presentation before they went back to the garage for the hands-on part of the class. Then a few minutes before nine, Ariel led the crew in and smiled as she walked up to Erik. She hugged his arm and asked, "How my favorite instructor?"

Erik smiled and gave her a one-armed hug, "I'm fine, getting a little bored though."

Ariel grinned and hugged his arm again. "Well if you're that bored, I sure I can find something for you to do."

Erik frowned," I don't think Katja would like that. Remember, dress yes, mate no."

Ariel looked at him, then realizing what he meant, she laughed and Erik grinned at her. She punched his arm, "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

Erik grinned, "I know, but I told you I was bored. When I get bored, I play."

The crew watched them joking with each other and grinned. Then one of the older females grinned saying to him, "Hey Lieutenant, if Ariel won't agree, you might be able to convince me."

Erik looked up and shook his head, "No, that's all right, my mate wouldn't like it. The next thing I'd know, I'd wake up and find some parts missing I'm kind of fond of."

The class roared with laughter and Erik said, "Okay, let's get this started."

The class went well, and so did the hands-on part. They were good, he normally only had to show them once to learn what he was teaching. He cleaned up and then headed to Katja's office to take her to lunch.

While Erik was teaching, Katja was doing some more boring paperwork. Then her com unit buzzed and without looking at it, she picked it up.

"Lieutenant Katja, can I help you."

It was the security officer Boris, "I got that info you wanted Katja, I found Erik's sister and some info. You want me just to send it to you?"

"Thanks Boris, yes please do."

Then Boris said, "I just sent it to you."

Her computer made the tone that let her know she had a knew message. "Just let me sure it all came through, hold on." She opened up the message and saw she had everything.

"Okay, I got it. Thanks for the help Boris. I'll talk to you later."

She hung up, then opened the file he sent her and started to read it. It had her current address and contact info, then it listed that she had gotten married. Then there was a writeup that said the human she married, had started to abuse her. She had apparently put up with this for a while, until she couldn't take it anymore, and came to her senses. She had filed charges and got him arrested, and they put him in jail for this, and some other things it turned out he was involved in. She had been put into something called a witness protection program because of it.

The report also noted, her ex-husband had been killed recently while he was in prison, due to some problem with some of the other prisoners. Luckily, there wasn't any children, and she had been on her own since then.

Katja minimized the screen, then thought about what Erik had told her. That he had stopped hearing from her all of a sudden, Katja thought that if she were to check the dates, this was probably why she stopped writing to him. This was something that was totally baffling to her, she had never heard of this type of thing happening to any of her people. So, the question was, how to tell Erik about this, family should always be together, no matter what.

She knew this wasn't always the case with humans, Erik himself had told her this. But if nothing else, his sister should know what was going on in her brother's life. She'd have to think more about this. Maybe ask Tony? She thought to herself. She nodded yes, that's the thing to do first. He should be able to give her some advice. She copied and converted the file, then transferred it to her computer that Erik had given her.

She finished some other things, then looked at the clock. Erik should be here soon she thought to herself. So, she went in to the bathroom and cleaned up a little. She went back to her office, and a few minutes later, the door slid open and Erik walked in. He came over, hugged her and gave her a kiss. "How are you kitten?"

Katja smiled, "I'm okay, I've been doing paperwork all morning." She sighed, "I keep wondering if I mess something up, if they'll let me go me go back to the garage."

Erik grinned, "Probably not, even if you mess something up, you'd still be better than the one that use to sit here."

He kissed her, "We need to get going, I have to be back before 1300, uncle Geoff's coming to talk." She nodded, kissing him back.

They headed out, and he took her to a deli not that far from the ship. They had lunch and talked for a while, then headed back and he walked her to her office. He kissed her and said, "Cheer up, it's only few hours more. Then we can go home kitten."

Katja smiled, but then sighed, "I know, but I'm just so bored sitting here."

Erik stroked her face, "I know kitten, so am I most of the time. But we will have some time off soon. We'll see about a place for our home and see your brother. Just keep that in mind when it gets too bad."

Katja looked at him, "Why do you have to be so reasonable? Can't you see I'm to looking to sulk?"

Erik grinned and hugged her. He patted her back and said, "My poor kitten, you go ahead and sulk all you want. And when we get home, I'll try to cheer you up."

Katja grinned, "I'm going to hold you to that. Now go see uncle Geoff so we can leave."

Erik kissed her and headed to his office. He checked to see if the tea was still warm and finding it was, he grabbed himself a mug of leftover coffee and heated it up in the microwave. He waited by going over some reports he needed to send out, then about five minutes or so later, his door buzzer went off and he opened the door. Uncle Geoff smiled at him and at the thermos and mug setting on his desk.

Erik smiled, "Would you like some tea? Or coffee?"

Uncle Geoff grinned and said, "Tea is fine Erik. How was lunch?"

Erik shrugged, "Not bad, the food was good, but I have a sulking mate to deal with right now. She's bored with all the paperwork."

Uncle Geoff grinned as he replied while stirring his tea, "Tell her welcome to the club." Then he took a sip of the tea. "So, what did you want to talk about? No problems I hope."

Erik shook his head no, "No problems, just the opposite really. Everything is going good, so good that we're pretty much close to done I think." He took a drink of coffee, "That's what I want to talk about. They classes are almost done, the town seems to be on track from what I hear, and everything else is pretty much on track."

Erik took another drink and asked, "So, where do we go from here? Anything else we need or want to do?"

Then he laughed, "Or can I plan my retirement for when the kids get here?"

Uncle Geoff took a drink of tea, then smiled, "Well, before we discuss it any farther, why don't you call Katja and have her come here and join us."

Erik looked at him, then called Katja. He asked her to join them, then said, "No idea, but he's smiling." "Yes hon, I know, it scares me to. I'll see you in a bit."

He turned back to uncle Geoff after he hung up. "She'll be right here."

Uncle Geoff grinned back at him and sipped at his tea. Erik was just about to say something, when his door slid open and Katja walked in. Erik smiled as she sat down by him, "You want some more tea Katja?"

She smiled and held up the to-go cup he had brought her, "Just topped it off, so it's full."

She looked at her uncle and then back at Erik, "Has he said why he's smiling? I don't like it when he smiles like that, it kind of scares me."

Erik shook his head no, "Nothing yet, he said he wanted to wait until you got here. And I know about the smile, he looked at me like that and I ended up in a uniform again."

They both looked at him as he serenely sipped at his tea. "Well, now that you're here Katja, let me tell you both what's been on our minds."

"The Captain, myself and various others were discussing just how we were going to convert the old base. The majority of the work will be done by a couple of local contractors to tear down the buildings we won't be needing and to convert various others to how we require them. The housing that is already there will be updated to how we need them."

"However, to save some time and funding, we plan to use some of our people to do some of the final work. So, most of the equipment here, will be moved there and we will also need a repair and maintenance crew to take care of them. That's where you and about two-thirds of the repair crews come."

"Erik, we will also need someone who is familiar with the type of work that will be done, I realize that wasn't your forte, you were repair, but you do have enough knowledge to be our liaison with the human crews, which is more important. And to aid Katja and the crews of course if they need any advice. Both of you, will of course, be promoted for this tasking. Erik, you will be promoted to Commander and Katja, to Senior lieutenant."

He took another drink of tea and continued, "Of course any of the crews that volunteer for this will be promote also."

"I know you are looking to build a house there, so you can live in one of the housing units we would have our people staying in while the rest was being done. You'd be able to monitor the work there and, on your house, as they build it. This transfer would be about a year from now.