Ladies’s Man????

<snip>
(From here on, speech with * instead of speech marks is in Ssalan)
*Hello my friends!* Jamie called. The language was pretty simple, not having a huge number of different words for the same kind of thing.
*Jamie, is that you?* came the reply.
*Yes. We crashed... again. And we need your help.*
Eve looked on, not a clue what was being said. But Jamie's facial expression was that of friendship and safety, so she had no reason to fear anything.
Several of the creatures that they had met before came out of the jungle to greet them, Jamie hugged them all and introduced Eve, and explained that she didn't understand them. It was all very polite.
*We need to get the strongest of the tribe to bring our crashed ship to safety.*

--------Several hours later-------
Eve was left in safety at the Ssala camp - a well looked after arrangement of mostly mud & wooden huts, while Jamie and the Ssala warriors - stronger than the hunters, but usually not as cunning or stealthy headed to the pod to try and drag it towards camp.
<snip>

After Jamie left Evelina sat on a weaved mat as she looked around the village. She felt a little uneasy as she saw the Ssala were not too thrilled about her presence. Evelina sighed as she saw the Ssala families working hard together to provide for their families by making food, pots, weapons and other life essential items. Evelina felt a bit awkward as she saw how hard it was for the Ssala to survive while she and the other crew members lived a more pampered life with modern technology. Evelina thought to herself, “Wow I should be ashamed to get upset when the vending machines are out of my favorite snacks. But I won’t lie seeing them work as a family makes me really miss my Jaxx. I bet he would make a great daddy one day especially since he is a big kid sometimes. I’m afraid to say anything to Jamie since I don’t want to pile my baggage on him but I am really worried about Jaxx. He just got his body back and now he stuck with Jay and Ms. Jones. To be the third wheel with those two must be agonizing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jaxx went looking for trouble just to keep them from bickering again. And on top of that Jaxx really had his heart set on seeing Franky again. That freaky squid is super scary and I have no idea what Jaxx sees in him. Well maybe once we meet up again we can head back to our old location to let him pay his respects. Although I must admit Jaxx has been training hard so I imagine Franky should be impressed by that alone. Gee Jamie has been gone for a while now. Arrrrrrgh what is taking them so long.” Suddenly a few female Ssala gestured to Evelina to enter their hut. Feeling a bit out of place and hoping not to offend them Evelina followed them only to see food displayed for her. The food was not very appetizing but since Evelina had an enhanced GELF stomach she would have little trouble eating the Ssalan dishes. Out of curtesy Evelina ate with the female Ssala. The food was not bad but Evelina ranked it among the pot noodles on the Blue Dwarf. Evelina did her best to smile as she slowly ate her food hoping not to insult her hosts. After a while the female Ssala began to talk to each other in their native tongue which made Evelina feel a bit out of place. However the one word that the Ssala said that did make sense was ‘Jamie’. Evelina watched the hand gestures of the female Ssala as he heard Jamie’s name pop up a few times along with a head nod in Evelina’s direction. Suddenly Evelina had a bad feeling that the female Ssala thought she was ‘With’ Jamie. Evelina began to feel very uncomfortable since she both missed her Jaxx and didn’t know how to explain to the Ssala that she was not with Jamie. Evelina was now worried that anything she did to fix this would be considered a possible insult. For now all she could do was hope for Jamie to return and explain the situation if there was one at all.

<snip>
*Haruk. They found it.* Said one of the warriors, who returned from a small scouting mission.
*Did they open it?*
*No. There were no visible openings.*
A short scuffle, arrows flying through the air, striking home in the weak points of the huge and powerful lizard-like creatures. It was a very short fight, the weaker Ssala used their speed and intelligence to their advantage, swarming the larger beasts like a pack of wolves swarming a bison.
Ropes were tied around it, and the more open coastal path was used to drag the large chunk of metal back towards the Ssala camp - to safety.
*Why do you need this?* one of them asked.
*I don't know what might be useful for my friends, and for you. It is better you have it than the Haruk.*
They returned to the village, and Jamie opened the pod, letting the Ssala scavenge what they could.
"You got it, then?" Eve said as she left one of the huts, to see the pod nearby. It was night now.
<snip>

Evelina was glad to see Jamie and the male Ssala had returned and with storage section of the ship as well. At first Evelina wanted to get Jamie to make sure the female Ssala didn’t have a misunderstanding about the two of them but she got distracted when Jamie began talking about salvaging some supplies from the ship module. As Jamie was talking to Evelina about how they retrieved the module they failed to notice that Jade was removed and tied up by the Ssala.

<snip>
She awoke again, when soft drizzle fell on her face. The cool liquid bringing her around. The Ssala swam into focus and she remembered what had happened, they looked curiously at her, having dragged her out of the ‘bug and secured her safely with ropes. As Jade looked around, it became clear she was back at their camp, it was familiar to her, but she was not quite sure why. Children darted between the legs of the adults and she was sure, that one of the youngsters had… She blinked, thinking she must be seeing double. The Ssala didn’t have four arms.
The group flowed and ebbed, as if each tribe member was coming to get a good look at their prize. Jade could only hope that Eve and Jamie were near by, and that rescue was close at hand.
</snip>
*Hey! Why have you tied her up?* Jamie asked, as he saw Jade tied to a post.
*You said we should salvage!*
*But she's a friend!* He said, cutting the ropes and helping her down. *She's with me.*
"You ok?" Jamie asked, as she seemed a bit wobbly.
<snip>

As Jamie was rescuing Dr. Jade Black from her ropes and talking to the Ssala in their native tongue, Evelina could see the female Ssala gossiping again as they looked at Jamie acting brave and manly with Jade now. Evelina was not a hundred percent sure but she could almost swear that the female Ssala were gesturing that Jamie was a Ladies’s man since he had two females now. Evelina was now worried that they had the wrong impression now but since she couldn’t speak Ssalan she could not confirm nor could she explain the situation. Of course now that Jamie was attending to a wounded Jade there was no way she could bring up this topic till they had a bit of privacy. As for now Evelina sighed as she knew this was a low priority and they needed to find the others and rescue Plisken so they could leave Fernandos before things get worse. Evelina pulled off her back pack and pulled out her first aid pack and began nursing the head wound on Dr. Black. Evelina felt relieved that she packed a simple first aid pack since she knew one of them was likely to get hurt during the mission especially if they got separated. As Evelina looked at Dr. Black’s head wound she said, “I have some pain killers when you’re ready to take them. I am sure you will be dealing with a monster headache from the looks the lump on your head. Luckily the bleeding is not too bad.” Dr. Black squinted as she nodded at Evelina gesturing for water. Evelina replied, “Sure thing Dr. Black” as she reached into her pack for a bottle of water and opened it before helping Dr. Black take some small sips to help her rehydrate. Evelina then handed the bottle to Dr. Black as she seemed to feel a bit better. After cleaning and putting on a bandage on Dr. Black’s forehead Evelina looked to see Jamie had the Ssala removed all the cargo from the ship module and began examining the contents.

As Evelina watched the Ssala work she sighed as she really missed Jaxx at this point. Evelina looked at the disheveled Dr. Black trying to get her bearings straight and then pulled out the pain meds for Dr. Black to choose from now that she had some water to wash them down. Evelina sat next to Dr. Black and watched the Ssala continue to work as she said to Dr. Black, “We got lucky Dr. Black. Jamie’s mad jungle man skills kept us safe so far, but I am worried about the others since we have no idea where they could have gone off to.” Dr. Black took a sip of water as she muttered, “yeah.” Evelina replied, “I’m not gonna lie Doc. I’m really worried about Jaxx. I mean he just came back from the dead into his real body only to be sent to who knows where. Even though I made him promise to change his violent ways I still worry he might do something stupid without me around to correct him.” Dr. Black nodded as she muttered, “yep.” Evelina looked at the disheveled Dr. Black and smiled as she replied, “I guess I just have to have some confidence in him as well as myself huh?” Dr. Black nodded and muttered, “yes.”

Evelina moved her dreads over her shoulder as she sighed and replied, “I’m sorry Dr. Black for not putting my foot down with Jaxx earlier. Jaxx is a violent, idiot who tends to make a lot of mistakes, but I love him.” Evelina sat in silence for a moment by Dr. Black who was sipping water slowly. Then Evelina smiled as she said, “I know I haven’t made much of an effort to befriend anyone else on the ship. Of course since Jaxx and I are together I can understand why we aren’t so popular.” Dr. Black just listened as she slowly sipped her water. Evelina said, “I know we all have our skeletons in our closets but it’s different when you’re a GELF doc. We aren’t seen as humans so we are often treated as second class citizens. For a long time my only purpose was to look pretty so over time I began to believe that it was my lot in life to be abused by people. Then when I escaped the agency I found the JMC and discovered a new world where I could be something new. Unfortunately even as a Navigation Officer I was just a hot “piece of arse” to the guys and the women hated me because they were often ignored by the guys when I was around. Eventually I made some friends with some trouble makers but they didn’t survive when I woke up. However Jaxx was the first guy who saw me as a person. He made me laugh, he made me angry, he made me happy and he made me sad, but he always put me first even when it meant putting his life on the line. He really is a great guy once you get to know him.” Evelina then went silent again as she watched the Ssala working and wondering if Dr. Black would reply with more than just one word.

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