“Hello Commander! I've heard a lot about you." The reporter said with a warm smile.

Calara, Sparks and Alyssa had finished cleaning up the officer's Lounge quickly, working well as a team to get it spotless in short order. They served themselves some coffee and sat on the comfortable sofa's in the lounge. It was a nice novelty for them to have a bit of girl time without John around, or one of them dashing off for an important errand, or training, or any of the things that had kept them constantly busy these last few weeks. They just sat and chatted comfortably, enjoying each other's company and being able to spend some time really getting to know one another.

Calara was still in an introspective mood after her conversation with John.

"I don't normally get on this well with girls." she admitted self consciously.

“Really? Why's that?" Sparks said.

“I was always considered to be a ‘pretty’ girl and some women get jealous I guess. I also grew up around three brothers, so I suppose I just got used to male company.” Calara admitted honestly.

“It's strange. I just went to see our passengers and I think I freaked them out a bit." Sparks said.

“Freaked them out? What do you mean?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"Well now I look like this." Sparks said, waving her hand at her face “It started making people uncomfortable." she said.

“When I was horribly scarred, people would ignore me because it made them uncomfortable to Look at me. Now I'm the other end of the spectrum and I have the same reaction." she said wistfully.

“I spent most of my life wishing I looked beautiful. Now I do, but people act practically the same way. It's kind of ironic I guess" the redhead said sadly.

"Well we have each other." Alyssa said, smiling at them both warmly.

“That's true!" Sparks said, smiling at her friends affectionately.

“Growing up with three brothers, I always wondered what it would be like to have some sisters." Calara confessed.

“Now I guess I know." she said, looking at the two of them fondly. Sparks and Alyssa’s eyes welled up with tears. For a couple of orphans, who had wished for family their entire lives, Calara couldn't have said anything kinder.

"You're the best!" Alyssa said, coming over to hug the brunette tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I Love you so much... sister!" Sparks said with a sob, as she moved over to hug Calara tightly too.

Calara sighed happily, loving the incredible, rock solid bond that had grown between the three of them. She knew that people developed strong friendships when fighting as comrades and the three of them had certainly done a Lot of that in the Last few weeks!

When the tears had dried up, the girls separated, Alyssa and Sparks blushing a bit at the strength of their reaction to Calara's heartfelt words.

"I wonder how we'll get on with Jade?" Sparks asked curiously.

“She seems really nice." Alyssa said, remembering the innocent warm smile the alien had given her back on the Kirrix dropship.

“I don't think it's in her nature to be deceptive, jealous, vindictive or anything Like that. She's just naturally friendly and open." The beautiful blonde explained.

"I wonder how old she actually is?" Calara asked curiously.

We could ask her I guess, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't know." Alyssa said, recalling her conversation with the green hued girl down on the bottom deck earlier on.

“How long do you think she'll be asleep for?" Calara wondered.