Paige quickly made her way from Trisha over to Jim opening her arms. A few feet before reaching him she came to a screeching halt with a surprised look on her face, ‘what am I doing?! I can’t just run over and hug him. Jim probably thinks I’m a weirdo, nice going Paige!’ the young catgirl scolded herself mentally. She let her hands drop to her sides and she looked away, her shy demeanor returning, “Well… uh…. You’re free Jim. You don’t have to worry about the Commander ever again because you’re going to be with me!” Paige was smiling brilliantly once more; even though Jim’s presence usually made the meek girl act even shyer she was just too excited. Jim was hers and hers alone!

“Oh……. great.” Jim smiled weakly, Paige was too ecstatic to see the conflicting emotions in his face.

“Yeah, don’t worry Jim. I took the Commander down a few pegs. You’re Paige’s property now……. That is, if Aisha Clan Clan is a woman of her word.”

Aisha sneered but then let out a defeated sigh. She felt like collapsing, “Ugh……. You won… but you had an unfair advantage!”

Trisha’s smile disappeared, she raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, so? A ‘real’ Ctarl Ctarl isn’t afraid to use something to her advantage just because it might not be ‘fair’ to her opponent. It’s a do or die world commander, you should know that better than anyone. You didn’t make it too the top by playing nice. Besides, you set the terms! I didn’t ask to compete against you in the training room. Now, are you going to keep up your end of the agreement or aren’t you?”

Aisha was quite for a moment mulling over what she should do next, “………. Jim, come over here, I need to speak with you.”

“No!” Paige, casting her shyness aside, grabbed Jim by his arm and pulled him to her, “You’re going to eat him out of spite.” Paige whimpered.

“I won’t eat him, I promise. Just give me a minute alone with him.” Paige squinted at the commander suspiciously as if trying to detect the word ‘liar’ tattooed on her forehead. She continued to hold Jim’s arm protectively.

“Paige, it’s fine.” Jim gently slipped his arm out of the young Ctarl Ctarl’s grasp.

Much too Paige’s dismay Jim followed Aisha back into the training room. Trisha warily watched the two march off, suspicious of what the Commander might have in store.

When Aisha was sure they were alone she turned to her little terran brother, disheartened, “I’m so sorry Jimmy. This is all my fault.”

“You got that right. Aisha how the hell could you bet me?!”

Aisha’s ears bent down submissively, she twiddled her fingers trying to come up with a decent excuse but all she could do was mew pathetically, “S- sorry?” she finally choked out.

“… Well, what’s done is done. No point in biting your head off now.”

“Look Jim, you don’t have to go. I can just tell em no.” Aisha suggested.

“You made a bet though.” Jim said, not angry but surprised that Aisha would even consider not keeping her word. Ctarl Ctarl tended to be very straight forward and honest (one of the few things other species in the galaxy liked about them).

“True, but you’re more important.” She ruffled his hair, “I screwed you over Jimmy. I got a little competitive and, well……… It doesn’t matter. I’m the Commander and on the Orta Hone Hone my word is law. Paige is just going to have to find another chew toy.”

“Look, Aisha, I like Paige a lot. I also kind of consider Trisha a friend.” Aisha’s eyes widened in shock, “You actually like that cun-”

“Yeah, I do.” Jim cut her off, “Look, I don’t want to create any friction between you and your crew. Why don’t we just tell them the truth? Paige wouldn’t tell anyone about our relationship.”

“But Trisha sure as hell would. She’d want to hurt my reputation, and she’d succeed too. I’m not going to let some gutter trash insubordinate little harpy undermine me.”

Jim sighed, “I really think you’ve got the wrong idea about her.”

“Well telling them the truth is out of the question. It’d make me look bad in front of the crew.”

“And losing a bet, then failing to pay up, wouldn’t? Maybe I should just go with Paige.”

“What?!” Aisha stared down at him, shocked.

“I mean, we’re good friends. It’s not like it’s going to be permanent or anything. I’ll just wait for a good time to tell her the truth.”

Paige waited nervously outside. Once or twice she tried pressing her ear against the cold mechanic door. Paige knew they were so thick they’d muffle any sound coming from within. That didn’t stop her from trying though. A good five minutes after entering (and only seconds before Trisha started trying to tear the door open to retrieve Jim from the Commander’s gut) Aisha and Jim stepped out.

Paige let out a long held sigh of relief. She reached for Jim’s collar preparing to remove it.

“I hope you have a replacement.” Aisha interjected, quietly.

“No, I don’t own any s- slaves” Paige’s tongue stumbled on the uncomfortable word.

“Then you shouldn’t remove it. If he isn’t carrying or wearing anything to indicate he’s a slave he’s as good as food, understand?” Very reluctantly Aisha handed over Jim to Paige. Aisha left the hall with Trisha trailing not too far behind (going to receive her punishment).

Paige led Jim back to her room. It was nicer than most. The room contained a queen sized bed, a poster of the periodic table of elements, and a bookshelf filled to the brim, among other things.

Once inside she kicked off her shoes and sat down on her bed, “So, what do you think?”

“I like it……… a lot!” Jim was impressed with her collection of books; he recognized a lot of their titles. Many were hard reads he had wanted to get around to reading eventually.

“So……” Paige started.

“So I guess I’m your property now.” Jim smiled at her.

Paige grimaced, “Why don’t you just think of us as…….. roommates!”

"......... Thanks Paige." Jim told her seriously.

The young catgirl adjusted her glasses and giggled nervously, "Don't mention it...... roomie." The two snickered.

It was still early in the day but there was one thing Jim wanted to clear up, “So where will I sleep?”

“W-well”