Sam smiled and did his level best to keep himself from blushing. It worked, barely.<br/>The hatch to the officer's mess slid open. Being mid-afternoon the place was all but deserted save for the stewards cleaning up and setting tables for the end of the next watch's dinner rush in another hour.<br/>Half of the half-dozen in the room and the galley through the wide-open hatches on the far wall stiffened to attention out of reflexes honed by military service. The others looked up, shrugged and send back to work.<br/>"Captain, sir", the man wearing the largest number of chevrons on his sleeve dropped what he was doing and came to Sam's side, standing briskly at attention. "I was unaware--"<br/><br/>Sam held up a hand, "at ease, P.O., before you sprain something," he said, gesturing to Tahlia, "this is miss Fae, our castaway," that was the story he'd told the crew, since most were unaware of the realities of how she'd been picked up. "She needs a hot meal."<br/><br/>The P.O. smirked, looking briskly from Sam to Tahlia and trying to not let his eyes wander. "Y-yes, of course," he gestured to an already set table for four and one of his men pulled out a chair for her.<br/>Sam leaned in to Tahlia's right ear and whispered, "don't mind them, they don't get a lot of visitors."