"Sayeeda makes all the decisions, I suppose that is true to type," Miranda observed smarmily picking at her food. Madge had subsided under the combined glare of most of the adults and didn't seem willing to press her luck any further. Junebug continued to eat, clearly making an effort to slow her pace to something that might be considered civilized. Her normal custom was to shovel food into her mouth as fast as possible, a practice learned via eating on the move and made worse by the demands of Terran bio-augments which sharply increased her metabolism. 

"We are co-owners of the Highlander," Sayeeda clarified, "but in battle there can only be one Captain... and her hot pilot boyfriend." Taya sprayed a mouthful of water out of her nose, shocked by the uncharacteristic outburst. Miranda flushed and Brahm and Farah both chuckled, somewhat reluctantly in the laters case. Conversation turned to more local matters, accounts of what this or that acquaintance had been up to since last she visited. Sayeeda reacted only when directly questioned, merely nodding along in a disingenuous counterfeit of interest. 

Finally dinner broke up and the robotic servant began to clear up. Madge was off like a shot, vanishing into the hedge ahead of the chiding calls of her parents. Sayeeda beckoned Neil over and headed out through a side door and down the hall to a spacious room. She pushed the door open and grinned.

"They still haven't changed it," she reported, her tone leaving her opinion of this uncertain. The inside of the room was plain, spared from being spartan by a variety of sporting trophies and a number of model starships against one wall. A writing desk with an integral console sat in dusty disuse and a comfortable and neatly made bed was against a wall looking out over a balcony that overlooked the neatly landscaped ground. Junebug crossed to the bed and bend down, rummaging beneath it. She came out with a battered military helmet with a polarized face plate and a silver flask. She unscrewed the cap and took a drink.

"What do you think of the old billet?" she asked, flopping back onto the bed, cradling the helmet under one arm.