Dren suddenly woke to the sound of the door chime. He stared up at a darkened ceiling, not knowing what happened. He remembered seeing Angela in the brig, then nothing till now. He sat up and looked around, realizing he was in his own bed in his quarters.<br/><br/>"Lights." he said, and the room lit up. Swinging his feet over the side, he realized he was still wearing his armor, whomever dragged him here probably had no idea how to take it off. He stood, feeling better but a quick glance at the time on his glove told him he was only out for a few hours. He still felt the fatigue, but he was at least awake.<br/><br/>Lumbering to the door he removed the upper part of his armor and hung it on the back of a chair in the living room part of his quarters.<br/><br/>"Yes?" he asked, the door opening with a hiss. A young woman wearing the Ensign rank went wide eyed and took a step back, which went unnoticed to Dren as he was still waking up.<br/><br/>"Sorry to b-bother you sir. You've been invited to Holodeck three for a party by the Captain." she said. Dren nodded, looking down at what this girl was staring at. He didn't see anything on his bare chest, except the white fur, blue stripes and the translator he wore around his neck. Other than that he smelled like oil and exhaust.<br/><br/>"Yeah, I'll be there. I need to get ready." he said. The girl nodded and left, heading off to deliver his RSVP.<br/><br/>Ten minutes later, he was showered, dried, and dressed, then headed to the Holodeck with help from the computer, all the while feeling like he was missing something. He got half way there and realized he hadn't heard from Yuri in a while. He saw an engineer pass by and caught his arm to stop him.<br/><br/>"Hey, what's the status on my AI? Was she working on that enemy unit?" he asked.<br/><br/>"Yes, sir. Still at it, actually. Seems to be devoting alot of her resources to it." he said, "Look, let us handle the tech stuff, you go relax and get to your party."<br/><br/>"Thank you." he said, letting the engineer go, then headed off to the Holodeck.<br/><br/>When he entered, he was met with something else he had never seen before. Walls of stone, torches on the walls, leading to a large banquet hall with high ceilings and rows of tables, with one slightly raised and facing the rest. Alot of people was already here, and the Captains were already sitting at the front table. Dren spotted an empty seat, then the Captain stood to talk.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">â€œToday was probably one of the hardest days of our lives and for our missionâ€¦â€ pausing a bit as there were many nods of agreement â€œYet still despite that we are still here. No matter what the enemy throws at us or tries to do to us we will fight. Life is a precious gift and no God or spirit would ever want to see it wasted. So tonight we celebrate life, our future and the true beginning of our missionâ€ she held her glass up â€œTo life!â€ she says and they all repeated something similar before taking a drink of the mildly alcoholic beverages, well Veronica had something with no alcohol given her condition. </span><br/><br/>Angela arrived to sit beside him and he smiled as she gathered fruits and vegetables on a plate, placing it before him. Before he could start eating, she waved a piece of meat in his face on skewered on the end of her fork.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">â€œLook if you can eat Ham and be alright you should be able to eat steak and be alright. Just give it a try I promise you will love itâ€ she coaxed as she offered a piece of meat from her own fork.</span><br/><br/>"The sandwich? Ham is meat?" he asked. That he didn't know. Still, he felt fine after eating it and he was sure it would have been digested by now. No primal urges or blood lust. No feelings of wanting violence or lust. Well....<br/><br/>He smiled, looking at the end of her fork, yet his focus changed to her as the fork went out of focus. She wasn't a Nekan but still he felt something when he looked at her. It wasn't full blown lust, but he was attracted to her. Still, he wasn't sure if it was alright to get involved like that. It was a little frustrating for him to not have Yuri there for advice.<br/><br/>The fork was held in the air for much longer than needed. Meat was considered a delicacy on his planet and there was so much of it here. The problem was that to Nekans, meat was a sort of drug.<br/><br/>Well then again, he was at a party...<br/><br/>He leaned forward and smelled it at first, then pulled it off her fork with his teeth, letting the flavor dance across his tongue. It was better than he would have imagined. The texture and toughness of the meat almost made him drool. It wasn't dry, yet felt warm and inviting. When it was gone, the flavor remained for a while after.<br/><br/>He hadn't realized he had closed his eyes and even started to purr. Embarrassed, he jabbed a fork into a steak on a nearby platter and pulled it across to his own plate, then began sawing off pieces with his knife.<br/><br/>"This is great!" he said, shoveling it into his mouth. Perhaps what he was told about his race were just hearsay. Alot of the cases he has heard about where Nekans ate alot of meat and got into trouble also had other drugs involved. He should be fine. They had so much meat here. It wasn't rare anymore.