Chapter 68: Taste Test

"You first," Chef Savannah declared, motioning the single Kremel forward.

He carried a steaming bowl of some kind of soup up to the podium where the Chef waited and set it before her.

"State your name and explain the dish," the chef commanded.

"Mwrt. Ender Soup," he answered simply.

Chef Savannah picked up the accompanying spoon and stirred around in the soup.

"The smell alone is enough to make me nauseous," she said tersely. The Human took a small sip of the broth. "This is disgraceful. I can't believe you would even call this food."

The Kremel frowned, his large ears lowering as well as he and his bowl went back to his station.

"Now you," Chef Savannah pointed at the Nemarian man who had attempted to bully Lusac out of line. He approached her with his dish in both hands, almost like an offering to a god.

"Biquf-Hast. I created Steak Hash for you today, Chef," he said with a charming smile.

Chef Savannah didn't bother grinning back as she scooped up a bite of the food before her. She chewed it thoughtfully, her head nodding just slightly. Once she swallowed, she looked back to the creator of the dish.

"This is garbage. You call this food? I wouldn't feed this to my dog, much less the Senator." Her face remained even as she spoke the insults, not showing even a hint of anger.

"S-sorry, Chef. I promise this isn't representative of my abilities," Biquf-Hast stammered. "I-I-"

"Get back to your station, and take this trash with you," Chef Savannah cut him off before he could apologize further.

The Nemarian's fins drooped as he took his plate back and returned to his cooktop. The Chef then called up his Human friend.

"Verx Smithson," she said with a dip of her head as she put her plate before the judge. "I created Grilled Prak with a hint of paral. Fit for a king."

Chef Savannah did not seem to share the sentiment as she almost immediately spit her bite back out. "Fit for a king of crap maybe. This is an abomination.

Verx reached to take her plate back with anger in her eyes, but Chef Savannah grabbed it before she could and tossed everything on the floor.

"That's all this dish is good for anyway," the Chef said, watching the woman with careful eyes.

The Human backed up with curled fists, but she said nothing more to the Chef.

"You," Chef Savannah pointed to Fresa-Ersht.

Lus watched his new friend gulp heavily as she took her bowl in her hands and walked up to the judging podium. Her maroon fins were stiff, signaling her intense discomfort.

"Fresa-Ersht. I also created Steak Hash, like Biquf-Hast," she said quietly.

Chef Savannah's face remained as hard as before, even with Fresa cowering before her. The woman took a slow, thoughtful bite and swallowed it, which was a step up from the last one.

"Horrible. Flavorless, chewy, and almost inedible," Chef Savannah said. "Get this out of my sight."

"Yes, Chef. Sorry, Chef," Fres replied as she took the bowl back in her hands and retreated to the cooking station.

And then there was only one who hadn't presented their dish: Lusac. His heart thumped in his ears as Chef Savannah pointed at him and gestured him forwards. Holding his plate of food, Lus approached her and set the dish on the podium.

"Lus Andrews," he said, giving the fake identity the Runners had drummed up for him. "I made a Stirfry."

Chef Savannah stared at the mixture of vegetables and meat, and from what Lus could tell, she was not impressed. She took a bite without commenting on the presentation, much to Lus's relief. She even swallowed it, which was a sign it wasn't quite as horrible as he expected.

"The meat is cut and cooked unevenly, the sprouts are underdone. How dare you put something this awful before me and call it food. You are an insult to the art of cooking." Chef Savannah's brown eyes bore into his soul as she spoke, challenging him to say something in return.

"I know, Chef. I recognize that this is a low quality dish, and I apologize that I am unable to do better," Lusac answered stiffly.

"You hesitated to raise your hand when I asked who could cook," she noted, keeping him up longer than anyone else.

"Yes, Chef. I believe that cooking is a skill that takes a lot of practice to develop, and I'm still working on mastering it. I would never go so far as to call myself a chef, especially not to someone of your level," Lusac said.

"Flattery won't get you a job," Chef Savannah warned.

"It's called honesty," Lus replied as he once again met her stone cold eyes.

There was a hint of amusement there, but he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

"Get this abomination away from me," she said coolly.

Lusac was more than happy to comply as he took his bowl and returned to his station as Chef Savannah started to pace in front of the five applicants.

"Unfortunately you lot represent the last five options to fill the remaining line cook positions. I think I might actually prefer to have a wranntil in the kitchen over one of you five, but that's not how fate would have it." She stopped abruptly. "Mrwt, Verx, Biquf-Hast."

Everyone held their breaths as they waited to see if they were the group being hired or sent away.

"Out of my kitchen. I have no place for talentless creaturees like you." Chef Savannah pointed to a different door than the one they used to enter, and all three slowly plodded away. Biquf-Hast shot one last murderous glare at Lus and Fresa as they stood behind their stations.

"As for you two," Chef Savannah turned to them once the door safely slammed behind the other three. "I can't say you're the talent I was hoping for, but I do see some potential in what you managed to create. You'll take turns being in the kitchen, studying under me and the real cooks, and the other times working as serving staff. Being able to present a dish is just as important of a skill as being able to make it. Are there any questions?"

"No, Chef," they said in unison. Lusac couldn't help feeling some reminders of his time in training with the Corporate military with the way this woman ordered them around.

"Good. Now I'd like to have a private conversation with each of you about your previous experience and goals going forward. Fresa-Ersht, you first. Lus, go back to the waiting room until I send for you," the Chef directed them.

Lus did exactly as he was instructed, still in shock about the fact he'd been selected. Maybe his cooking wasn't as bad as he thought.

Back in the waiting room, the only line that remained was that for the cleaning staff, though a few others stood near doors in a similar situation to Lus. One of them was Vlqtrn, though Lus did a doubletake to ensure that it was his friend since he'd never seen the Kremel dressed up so nicely.

Vlqtrn glanced around before coming to stand by Lus and speak softly in what would appear to be a casual conversation.

"Did you get in then?"

"Yeah. I'm working as a cook and waiter," Lusac answered. "You?"

"A technician overseeing the private quarters tech," Vlqtrn replied. "I can't say for sure until we get into the servant quarters, but I think we might be the only ones."

"They turned Cewi-Bano away?" Lus said in disbelief. She was a top sniper. Who wouldn't want her on their security team.

Vlqtrn shook his head. "I saw both her and Dasht get sent out. I haven't seen Prwls since this morning, so she might be joining us."

"I hope so. Having just two would make this difficult," Lus groaned.

A door opened, and Vlqtrn straightened. He slapped Lus's back. "Good luck to you, Human. I suppose I'll be seeing you around."

"Bye," Lusac waved back as Vlqtrn walked away to speak with some supervisor.

Only a minute later, the door to the kitchen area opened and Lus went back in to speak with Chef Savannah.

With some of the nerves of the interview and cooking competition gone, he could more fully appreciate the middle-aged woman who carried herself with a strong sense of purpose. She had light brown skin, dark brown hair pulled into a low bun, and a curvy figure.

"Lus Andrews," she greeted him. The holoscreen in front of her held his fake resume. "Not much cooking experience listed here."

"No," Lus agreed. "I've worked as a part-time cook for a few months now, but I haven't gotten many chances to cook outside of that."

"So what makes you a good fit for this role?" She glanced up to him, and he got the feeling that he still wouldn't have the job unless he pulled this interview off.

"Well I can cook, sort of," he said flatly. "I'm really good at cooking for a large number of people since, in my past job, I made dinner for a group of fifty by myself."

"We focus on quality, not quantity here," Chef Savannah replied.

"Oh, right. Well, uh, I want to learn how to cook better. I'm mostly self-taught, but I–"

"And where in your self teaching did you learn how the Smou Stirfry Technique correctly?" the chef interrupted him.

"Um, right. Yeah…" Lus's voice drifted off. He had no idea what she meant. Everything he did came from his [Chef's Intuition], but he wasn't sure he was supposed to admit to having a system since being a [Chef] was a pretty strong identifier that could tie back to his real identity.

"Well?"

Screw it. The crew knew he had a system, but it wasn't common knowledge, and if it meant he could get this job, that was probably important enough to warrant spilling that kind of detail. Vlqtrn would need help, and with Cewi and Dasht both for sure out, that left Lus and Prwls, the latter of which wasn't even officially part of the mission crew and likely wouldn't be of much help in this case.

"I have a [Chef] class and with it a [Skill] called [Chef's Intuition] which helps me when I cook," Lusac said after settling his own internal debate.

Chef Savannah smiled. "I thought as much."

"You did?" Lus didn't even try to keep the surprise from his tone.

"Why else would I have taken you on? Your dish was not very good, and you lack any kind of confidence. But the way you cooked hinted that there was something else going on," she explained. "My mother is a [Chef], so I'm familiar with how the system works for that [Class]."

Lusac nodded, though inside his own head he was screaming at himself. He wasn't a regular [Chef], not since his system came from Leviathan. If he wasn't careful, she might discover that fact and then this whole thing would blow up in his face in an even worse way than he originally imagined. "Fresa, is she also a [Chef]?"

"No. She just has genuine talent." Chef Savannah rolled her eyes while making notes on the holotablet before her. "What level are you?"

"Only a level 7," he answered. "I got the system when I first became a cook on the ship."

"The merchant ship you were a part of before coming here," the Chef filled in the rest from the fake resume and backstory he'd provided.

"Yeah. I only cooked dinner so I could only get so much [XP]."

"That's great for only a few months," she confirmed. "Now about your experience with serving food? Any waiting in your past?"

"No," Lusac confessed. "Besides going to restaurants and being waited on." He smiled, but Chef Savannah's lips didn't turn upwards one bit.

She wrote down a few more things. "Alright. I think that's everything I wanted to ask. Any other questions for me?"

He shook his head.

"Great." Chef Savannah held her hand out. "Welcome to the kitchen staff of Senator Grwltn." She gestured to a third door that was different from the one he entered in and the one those who failed to qualify used to exit. "Go through there and someone will get you set up in the servant quarters. There will be a general training this afternoon and then tomorrow we'll start the kitchen training. See you then."

"Thank you, Chef," Lusac said as he stood up, relief flooding his body. The hardest part was over. All he had to do was survive a couple of weeks while finding time to gather intel, and then he'd be back on the Argo with Avil in no time.

Lus stepped through the door into another busy room where all the new hires were waiting to get their room assignments. It was a long line, but Fresa was already in it and waved for him to join her, much to the displeasure of those waiting behind her. Lusac ignored their complaints as he went to stand by her.

The floors were the same wood as before, but the walls bore a simple wallpaper that livened things up considerably. Lusac once again questioned what this space would be used for once the interviews were all complete.

"How did it go?" Fresa asked him.

"I seem to have passed," he laughed. "How was it for you? Was there a lot she wanted to grill you on?"

"Grill, ha, that's funny," Fresa said. "And no, not really. It was just going over my resume."

They both stepped forward several feet as the line jumped ahead suddenly.

"There are a ton of staff being hired. Do they really need all these people for the Senator?" Lusac wondered aloud.

"It's not like it's just the Senator staying here," Fresa said. "It'll be his whole family, including his parents and siblings and their families, plus all the inner personnel for his campaign and office. Honestly, this is probably a small number of servants for that kind of group."

"You seem to know a lot about this stuff. Have you worked this kind of job before?"

Fresa glanced ahead. "Sort of. Something like that."

Before Lus could ask her further about her vague answer, a notification popped up.

[New Quest Unlocked!]

[Manor of Secrets]

[Description: discover all the secrets surrounding you]

[Time limit: None]

[Reward: 500 XP, New Recipe]

Secrets, huh? Fresa-Ersht clearly had something she was hiding, and as much as he wanted that sweet, sweet [XP] now, he recognized that it wouldn't be that easy.

"Hopefully that general training today isn't too boring. I feel like all I've done today is stand around," Lusac said to change the subject.

"Ugh, I know what you mean. I could really go for a chance to swim. They'll have pools for the Nemarians, right? Like that's just a given if you're going to hire Nemarian staff." Fresa shuffled on her feet as if the idea of not having access to a body of water made her nervous. Lus supposed that if she'd grown up on Quosh, she probably had never gone long without the chance to submerge herself and lean into her aquatic features.

"Maybe. But I wouldn't worry about it. There were plenty of Nemarians on my last ship, and they survived without swimming," Lus assured her.

"Right. Of course," Fresa said.

The line moved again and Fresa ended up getting to go before Lusac. They agreed to meet up again after getting settled, and she left him behind. As she walked with the others to the door to the quarters, Lus's smile faded as a familiar and unwanted sensation returned.

His [Sixth Sense] was going off. There was something in the room with him that he couldn't see.