1. Chapter 1

Iscowl at my team. "Come on! Lunch is over and all of you look like you haven't eaten."

The three males working for me are such slackers. I'm the female here, but it feels like I can do things better than them by a ton.

I hiss. "You have four arms, come on!"

"I'm sorry, boss." Kruhol gets quicker at mixing and hammering the mixture we need for the fishballs.

It is still early, but there are already beings lining up out there at the stall.

I turn up the stove and stir the curry sauce. The fishballs are important, but the sauce is the soul of the food. After training my guys for a while, I'm confident in letting them make the fishballs, but when it comes to the sauce, not yet. I'm still going to do that for now.

I glance at the clock, making sure there is enough time to prepare everything and make sure we fulfill orders that will be piling in.

The other guy is over there, making the mixture of fish and tubon powder into balls. Tubon is a starchy plant, not used in the traditional recipe originating from Earth, but for the beings on the space station, no one cares. At least these don't taste too far away from potatoes. Most of these beings have never tried the traditional ones, anyway.

The last one is taking the tray with the completed fishballs and tossing them into the frying pot. The crackling noise of boiling oil is music in my ears. I like it when the stall is humming into life.

I separate the curry sauce and start cooking the completed fishballs. It will take time before these are ready and...

There is a group of coal-gray beings coming to the stall. My heart skips a beat. It isn't rare for beings to travel as a group, and not rare for them to walk around like that, but somehow...

My stomach sinks despite the fact that I don't even understand what's wrong with those beings. But they catch my eye and...

I look away before it becomes rude. They probably aren't looking my way. But I've been on the space station long enough to know better than to keep staring.

No one ever knows who is who, and who knows what the other beings are about? They could be bandits, merchants, straight-up criminals on the run, and everything in between.

It is always smarter to stay under the radar and hope nothing bad will happen.

Given this is a space station, most of those behave just so they will be allowed into this place. There's no rule here, or say, the owner of the space station makes the rule. I've never met that being. I pay my rent to his bank account, and that's almost all the communication we have. As long as I keep paying and stay out of trouble, they don't care.

There are guards around here to make sure every visitor is safe, but I know better than to rely on anyone for my own safety, or my employees.

They come over and stop at my stall. There are a few who were already lining up, but these ignore the line. One of them, probably the leader, says, "What do you have here that smells great?"

Now, I want my guys to answer that, but... I head over, wiping my hand with a wet towel. "We sell fishballs."

They look at each other and the leader says, "Okay, give my team some."

Give?

I'm not a charity. And the food isn't ready, anyway. "You can join the line. We'll start fulfilling orders once the fishballs are ready."

The leader scowls. "What? Are you saying that I have to stand in the line?"

I nod. "Yes, look at the line. Everyone's already waiting." My heart races as the leader glares at me and shows off his horns. It is tempting to just let him do whatever, but then...

Someone in the line, a strong-looking guy with golden scales and horns sneers. "Line up."

The leader of the coal-gray ones hisses back. "Who are you to tell me what to do?"

Before I can blink, the golden scale jabs his laser gun at the leader's chest. "Questions?"

The leader sneers and takes a deep breath with me staring at both of them, not daring to breathe. I suppose it isn't my problem if they fight, but I don't want to cause any trouble for the space station as a whole, either.

Worse, all the guards seem to be gone, and no one else will want to help. Not that I even know how they can help.

The leader says, "You are just a single male."

The golden scale lifts his brows. "You, one life."

They remain glaring at each other while I have no idea what to do. Do I tell them to get to the line? Call the guards? Pretend it isn't my business and go check the curry instead?

Eventually, the leader huffs. "Fine, you better be careful, otherwise..."

The golden scale sneers when a big rock-bodied guy comes over to join the golden scale's side and says, "Oh, what's happening? This doesn't look like we're just getting fishballs."

"Line up." The golden scale repeats to the coal-gray one. The leader of that group finally grunts and heads to the end of the line. The rock guy watches and scratches his head, but he shrugs and follows the golden scale back to the line, where they had been the first in the line.

I let out a breath. Sometimes, arguments and fights happen, but my team and my stall have been good at staying away from those. As a small food stall, we are as far away from conflict as we can be, yet...

I shrug and return to the back end of the stall. Kruhol is stirring the pot of curry with a hand, rolling the fishballs with another two hands, and putting the fried fishballs into the pot of curry with the other. Sometimes, I wish I had four arms too. That sure looks handy.

When the fishballs are ready, I get them into bowls and start serving the queue. I think I've seen the golden scale before, but when they aren't human, my ability to identify them at a glance is bad. "Here you go."

"Thanks." The golden scale pays in coins and takes his food with the rock following him. They get plenty and I'm glad they enjoy the food.

There are a few others buying, then it is the coal-gray guy's turn. The leader huffs. "Give me ten servings."

Somehow, it feels like they aren't going to pay. "Are you paying in coins or card?" I point at the menu with the prices written on it.

The leader sneers at me. "So, are you saying—"

One of his guys pokes his side and nods to the corner of the alley. I follow their gazes. The golden scale male is there, and he is watching. Maybe he has the same concern as me. I can't thank him enough for what he did for me and the stall.

The leader clears his throat. "I'll pay with card." He fishes out his as I put the fishballs into the bowls for them. Maybe he doesn't want to look like he is intimidated by the golden scale. He huffs and adds. "If you have good food, we'll return."

Maybe I don't want them to return. I have more than enough good customers who won't cause me any trouble.

The leader walks off and his fellow hurries to take the food. One of them remains staring at me for longer than the other. My heart skips a beat at that. What does this want?

I turn around and work on preparing for the next order. I don't want anything to do with these anymore. Hopefully, they will leave the space station quickly enough.