Chapter 66: A Job Interview

A bitter wind blew right through Lusac's jacket, chilling him straight to his core. He didn't understand why he had to wear a blasted linen coat to this, but apparently it made him seem more "professional," at least by Human standards.

It'd been only two weeks since the Shaquine had taken over the Argo, but already he was back out in the field on another mission with healed hands and no Shaquine-spawning infection.

A dim, yellow sun shone just above the horizon, highlighting the frost covered leaves and grass as Lusac walked down the sidewalk through the quaint town of Quiven, a ritzy neighborhood on the planet of Drashiw in the Gemini sector.

It was mid-autumn, and with it still being the morning, the air was freezing even with Lus's scarf and gloves he wore on top of the nice linen jacket. Underneath was a newly purchased button-up and–gag–a tie. Despite having only worn the ensemble for only an hour, he was already counting down the minutes until he was back in his Runner's uniform or even just a standard alunitanium mission suit.

Lus passed a few other people as he walked, most citizens sane enough to be indoors with heaters during these early hours. Colorful trees lined the streets, dropping plenty of crunchy leaves for him to enjoy stepping on. The houses he passed were huge and growing in size as he strode deeper into the neighborhood. Each had an acre or more of land attached to it, and some even had tall fences and gates to limit any kind of access. That seemed rather extreme given the entire community was already behind a wall with armed security guards.

Of course, it made sense given that many of the residents were rich, powerful people who someone, somewhere in the galaxy probably wanted dead. After all, who liked politicians? Especially when they'd driven the galaxy into a never-ending civil war and conscripted anyone who came of age from the planets outside the wealthy Core.

The idea of working for one of those scum buckets disgusted Lusac, but a mission was a mission, and after his past few and the disasters they became, he wasn't in any position to complain about assignments. He was looking forward to something that was a little less deadly, even if it meant doing mundane chores while he gathered intel.

Then again, if things worked out the way he hoped, he would just naturally fail the interview he was on his way to, and it would be someone else's problem entirely. Captain Tave had sent six of the crew to interview for positions at Senator Grwtln's new home in Quivewn. Cewi-Bano and Zer-Dasht were interviewing to be security personnel, Vlqtrn applied for a technician, and Prwls–the ship's botanist who ran the Argo's garden–was trying for a position as a grounds worker.

Lus was up for a maintenance worker where he'd do menial tasks that were even less exciting than what he did in the fsylan tubes, but it would be easy enough work. He'd spent the night in a drab hotel room by himself after he and the others got dropped off. They were on strict no-contact to keep suspicions low.

He walked through the crisp morning for another half an hour before arriving at the largest mansion in the entire community. It was three stories tall with black pillars out front and large, oval windows in typical Kremel fashion. Several other people were arriving at the same time, and a guard out front directed all of them to a path around the back to where the servants' entrance waited.

Inside was a large room stuffed with Kremel, Nemarians, and Humans alike, all dressed in what qualified as professional garb for their respective species. All the Nemarians wore floor length togas with metallic bands decorating their arms. The Kremel wore straight black, ranging from dresses to suits. Most of the Humans were similar to Lusac in a shirt and tie or skirt and blouse.

Captain Tave wanted this mission done as under the radar as possible so while Lus knew his fellow crew members were all somewhere in the mess, he didn't look too closely to locate any of them and risk giving away their friendship.

Lus was handed yet another form to fill out along with a nondisclosure agreement to sign. He mumbled to himself as he worked through each screen on the holo tablet, and the Nemarian he handed it back to barely seemed to register anything he said.

"Where do I go now?" Lusac asked once again to the worker.

Two glazed over black eyes looked back at him, still trying to process the words.

"For the interview part?" Lus said with a hint of impatience.

The Nemarian lazily pointed one finger over to a lengthy line against the far wall full of a variety of species.

"Thanks," he replied to her as he walked over to step into the back of it. Maybe he should have gotten here sooner. He didn't know how they were doing the hiring process exactly, but there was a chance they would just fill the positions as fast as they could and if he didn't interview before then, he'd be left out completely. He didn't mind the thought of not getting in, but if the reason he didn't get a job was because he showed up too late, he didn't think Captain would take well to that. Not to mention Yrqw would never let him hear the end of it, and Lus already endured enough lectures about his tardiness as it was.

"A packed house. Makes sense with the kind of benefits the Senator is offering," the Kremel in line before him said to seemingly no one.

"The pay's also better than what any of the other places can offer. Word on the street is that the Senator stole Representative Jorge's top butler away even," the Nemarian ahead of both responded.

"There are labor shortages on almost every other planet in this sector outside of the Core, but it seems to me there's a surplus of workers here. Someone figure that out," a Human added in from somewhere. There were several mumbles of agreement from others in the line, but Lus remained silent to avoid drawing any kind of attention to himself.

"Well you can't blame people for wanting something stable and safe. I heard that half of Current York's factories got bombed only last week. Blasted Corporates," the first Kremel said as he shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

"Blast the politicians while you're at. Do you know how much money they take from us in taxes? And somehow they still can't even defend the Gemini sector, let alone the rest of the galaxy. If you ask me, we need a clean sweep of both sides and a hard reset on the government," the Human replied.

The Nemarian turned to them with bristling fins. "Blast you for speaking of treason in the house of a Kremel who has worked tirelessly for years to bring an end to this war. You Corporate-loving dichen."

"She's a Human. They're always complaining about the government since they can't stand the fact they'll never hold a majority in the legislature," the Kremel sneered.

Before the argument could deteriorate into a full-blown physical fight–which it looked headed for based on the look in the Human woman's eyes–a door opened at the front of the line and a well-dressed Kremel woman walked out.

"We filled the last maintenance position. Thank you all for your time. If you have the skills, feel free to interview for one of the jobs we have available. I understand the cleaning crew is still in need of help, as is the kitchen." She gestured to two other lines. One was exceptionally long, and Lus took it to be the line for cleaners. The other was much shorter, and the appearance of those waiting hinted that it led to the kitchen.

Everyone ahead of him and those who'd joined after him all began grumbling and dispersing, a good many walking over to the cleaning line. Lus hesitated just long enough that the queue nearly doubled as he stood there. Cleaning sounded awful, no matter how important the mission was. Lusac didn't even clean his own room, no way he was going to try to get a position doing that for someone else.

But his only other options were to quit and face his failure or take a chance in the kitchen and hope that being a [Chef] would be enough to get him some kind of job there. Ugh, but that would mean even more cooking, and as much as he did enjoy time in the kitchen, doing it all day was still a tall order to fill. And he probably wouldn't even get to make what he wanted.

He would get [XP] from all that cooking, and thanks to the rush of cooking he'd been doing since the Shaquine take over, he was one meal away from leveling up. Sighing in resignation, Lusac made his way over to the short line and took his place there.

"Verx, look. Some maintenance boy thinks he has a shot in the kitchens under Chef Savannah," a male Nemarian right in front of Lus said.

"I'm sure he's just here to see if he can lick some table scraps. Didn't anyone tell him that Senator Grwtln already has a hound?" his Human, female friend answered.

Lusac shoved his hands deep into his coat pocket and pretended not to notice. The last thing he needed right now was to get in an argument with a bunch of stuck up sucklings. They'd probably lived their entire lives in the cushy Core, and they knew nothing about real life. If bullying him somehow made them feel better about their pathetic lives, he wasn't going to stand in their way.

"Ah. That makes more sense. He must not be able to hear correctly. I'll explain it to him," the first Nemarian said. He then turned to face Lus all the way and grabbed his shoulders. "Look, Human. You're in the wrong line. The disability checks are handed out at the office down the street," he said slowly.

"Shut up." Lusac brushed his webbed hands away. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Oh, I see. You're just stupid." The Nemarian shoved Lus back. "Another blasted yokel who thinks he can steal jobs away from the people they belong to."

Yokel? Lus's accent wasn't that rural sounding… was it?

"Whatever, suckling. I have as much right to be here as you." Lusac stepped back up to where he stood originally, keeping his eyes even with the Nemarian's. The woman stepped up behind her friend, her hands already curled into fists. Watcher, were these two really willing to get into a fight over this? Talk about petty.

"Knock this off. Anyone is allowed to interview with Chef Savannah." another Nemarian stepped in between them. "You guys are going to get us all kicked out with this kind of behavior."

The first Nemarian and his Human friend glared at the newcomer, but they listened to her advice, turning back around in line and muttering complaints to themselves.

"Sorry about that. Those two have been trying to bully everyone out of line they can in hopes of increasing their own chances of getting the jobs. You're the first one to stick up to them," the Nemarian said. Her scales were a light shade of purple, reminding Lus of the flowers his mom used to grow back on Treft when he was a small child, back when green things still grew there.

"Thanks for stepping in," Lusac replied, a little embarrassed he had to get saved by a stranger. "I'm Lus by the way."

"I'm Fresa-Erhst, but you can call me Fresa." Her maroon fins shuddered suddenly. "Blast this weather. I don't know how anyone survives this kind of cold."

Lus chuckled. "Just wait until winter. This is bearable in comparison. I take it you're not from Drashiw originally?"

"No. I grew up on Quosh," Fresa admitted shyly. "A standard suckling trying to make her way in the galaxy."

"Well I've only been to the Capital once so you're one up on a yokel like me," Lusac said, smiling to ease the tension. It was nice to distract his growing nerves with some friendly conversation, and it helped the wait seem a little less tedious.

"I happen to like it, but it is nice to get out and see more of the galaxy."

Lus held back any comments he wanted to make about how little she was really seeing of the Cinder Rock Galaxy by remaining in the Gemini sector at all. Some old stat Zer-Dasht cited to him claimed that over eighty-percent of those born in the Gemini sector never even visit any other sector during their lifetimes, and based on the few interactions he'd had during just this mission, he was inclined to believe it.

They continued to chat, but Fresa asked a surprising amount of personal questions to the point Lus found it increasingly difficult to come up with convincing lies. He couldn't just go around admitting he was a Runner after all.

It was a relief when the door opened and the last of the line was ushered inside. Wherever those who failed went after their interviews, Lus had yet to see. Fresa, Lusac, his two new enemies, and the Kremel who made up the line were all taken into a cramped room which held five small cooking stations that looked rather frail and ill-put together.

"This is the kitchen?" Lusac whispered to Fresa as they entered.

She turned back to him with a confused look. "It's just a temporary testing station. Haven't you ever done one of these before?"

"Not like this. Normally we cooked in the main kitchen," he lied.

"Holy Core, what kinds of jobs were you interviewing for?" Fresa said with a shake of her head.

A Human woman stepped forward, dressed in high-quality chef garb that reminded him of the few Levi Athan (the real professional chef, not the stingy demon trapped in Lus's fridge) videos he'd watched when he first started as chef on the Argo. Her tall, white hat sat perfectly pinned on her brown hair as her sharp eyes scanned them. Even with only 1 [Common Sense], Lusac knew that this must be Chef Savannah.

"Who here thinks they can cook?" she asked expectantly without bothering to introduce herself, though it seemed everyone in the room was aware who she was without it.

Everyone's hand except Lus's went up immediately. He realized his mistake and slowly raised his as well, hoping the chef hadn't noticed his hesitation.

"And who here thinks they can serve food?"

Lus was smart enough to raise his hand with everyone else when this one was asked.

"Well, let's find out who's lying, and who's telling the truth. Everyone to a station. There's a basket of ingredients waiting. Let's see what you make during the next thirty minutes."

Shuffled alongside the others, Lusac took his spot at one of the shabby cooking stations where a box of food waited. He was absolutely not qualified for this. At Chef Savannah's signal, they all opened their boxes and the timer started.