June 2298

"Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 11083.3. The Repulse is just one week away from completing her upgrades and most of her crew is in place. I'm on my way to Admiral Malone's office to discuss the last two members of my command crew. Time is short and I'd hoped to have them both in place a few weeks ago; I'm fairly certain I know the reason for one of those delays but I think the counter arguments I have will convince him. Log ends."

I put my IRRD back in the pocket of my tunic as I approach the Admiral's office. Go in and the Caitian sitting at the desk there looks up at me, "I'll let the Admiral know you're here, Captain."

I nod, I'm a regular as my meetings with the Chief of Personnel have become more frequent the closer my ship gets to it's launch date. A short wait then I'm motioned in, wondering if finally I can get my crew settled.

I've barely sat down in the Admiral's office when he begins. "Unfortunately, Captain, I can't give you Sinclair for engineering." I tip my head and he grins, "His promotion came through and we're giving him an Oberth and assigning him to the SCE."

I chuckle at that. "Well, I don't think Sandy would be pleased if I pulled him back to being just a chief engineer again. He's a good man, and I know the Corps is lucky to have him."

He nods and continues, "That's part of the reason I've delayed this so long. I do have a very experienced man available though. Thirty-five years in the merchant service before coming to Starfleet fifteen years ago."

My eyebrows raise. "That's a lot of time…sure he's up to a trip?"

"He's Vulcan."

I roll my eyes as he grins. "Well, he's just a wee lad then," I say. The admiral touches a control and the service record comes up. He'd also just gotten promoted and slated for a CE slot someplace. I look over the reviews of his former superiors, of course with him being a Vulcan they were all glowing about his work performance, though a bit reserved over his interpersonal skills. I notice something else and tap a file to read it, then say, "Aye, he'll do fine. Don't need to have a personality to work on the engines."

"True enough, but he will be supervising the entire department."

"If the last few Vulcan chiefs I've served with are any indicator, then he'll probably hand part of those duties to his number two down there and I have no objection to that."

The admiral nods. "Alright then, the one I've held off the decision on was your choice for Med Officer." He gives me a look and says, "Despite April having his wife as CMO forty years ago, which does set precedent, it's still not the norm. Now I know you've served together before, but can you give me good reasons for including your wife as your CMO?"

'Round one', I think to myself. "Sir, I know you've read the reports from McCoy. He's specifically trained her in deep-space medicine, the very thing that our mission needs. If I could get him instead, I would, but a Rear Admiral is a bit too high to serve as CMO. So I requested her as the person most recently trained by the man who wrote The Book."

He almost glares at me. "I know all that, she IS due a CMO slot and my review of McCoy's reports show that she's more than qualified. Dammit O'Connor, you've already got one wife on board, why do you need the second one? This isn't a family outing, after all."

I knew that was the main reason she hadn't been approved, but I have my counter argument ready. "Sir, has there been any time that I and either of my wives have let personal feelings interfere with our duties when serving together?"

He relents slightly at that, "No, the reports over the years tell me that no matter what pair of you are together, on duty you're just two more officers doing your jobs well with no special diffidence."

"Exactly, sir. On duty is just that. Adding my first wife will not change that. "

"I know your other wife can stay objective, but you're not worried that even as CMO, she may defer to you at times, maybe let you get away with more because she is your wife?"

I chuckle at the thought. "Not at all, sir. She's Irish and handling her man is something that's instinctive. The CMO is one of the two officers allowed to relieve a captain if, in their opinion, that captain is acting…erratically. Who better to be a judge of that than someone who already knows all that captain's quirks and idiosyncrasies. They'll be the best ones to judge if the captain's actions are just a quirk or something serious. Trust me, sir, with her watching over me, you can be assured that I'll not go rogue."

He's still glaring slightly, but I can tell that the arguments I've given hit him right in the logic center. "So you're saying that because she is your wife, she'll be able to tell if you're just being a little strange or completely off your rocker and take steps to curb it?"

"I wouldn't put it quite that way, sir, but that's essentially it."

He groans and half-mutters, "I have to be off my rocker." Then he looks at me, "Just don't make me regret this, O'Connor."

"I wouldn't dream of it, sir," I say with a completely straight face

Another glare then, "Alright, Captain, your choice of CMO is approved. Just don't get distracted."

I smile, "Not while on duty anyway, sir," and I give a half-wink.

He shakes his head at that, "Then I won't keep you any longer. The officers in question will receive their orders within the hour."

"If I could ask just one little favor, sir?" He stares at me, I've pushed the line as it is. "If you could delay informing Repulse about her new CMO till Monday morning," I smile wickedly, "I want to surprise my other wife."

He considers that for a moment, then actually chuckles. "0700 Monday the transfer orders will be sent to Repulse, Captain."

I grin, "Thank you, sir."

"Is there anything else?" I shake my head, "Dismissed."

I nod, stand and walk out, once the doors close behind me, my grin gets truly wicked, 'Oh is this cruise going to be so much fun.' I think to myself as the Lieutenant at the desk looks at me. I give her a wink, still wondering if that works on Caitians or not, then I'm out in the main corridor and heading for the exit from Headquarters. One hour, better be home when the com-signal comes in. I get outside and exercise a personal prerogative as the official Commanding Officer of a Starship and take out my hand-com, "O'Connor to Repulse."

It's only a second later. "Repulse here, Captain," sounds like they're standing at attention.

"Relax, B'shal, I'm not calling to berate you over something, just asking for you to connect me to a transporter."

The ensign sounds relieved, "Aye, sir."

"Transporter Room, sir, what I can do for you," Lieutenant Steren asks.

"Just a little favor, Lieutenant. Pick me up at my com signal and put me down at 227.48, 186.77, 275.12." I rattle the coordinates off from memory, natural since I've been using the same ones almost daily for three months. Ever since I got handed Repulse, I'd been splitting my time between my ship, headquarters and my home just north of Dingle.

"That's outside a population center, Captain," even for a Vulcan he's sounding confused. Right, he just came aboard last week and Krannick's been handling my transports.

"That's right, Mr Steren, it is. Just put me down there."

"Coordinates set, sir."

"Energize." A momentary discontinuity; a split second when I don't even really exist anymore; then my sight comes back and I'm looking up a stone walkway at a small house with a swing on the porch. "Transport complete, and I'm right where I should be. Thank you."

"You are welcome, Captain."

I pocket my com, walk up the steps and go in the door. I'm smelling stew, while it was just 0930 at Headquarters; I'm far enough east now that it's near dinner time. Over at the stove, my lovely first wife is barefoot in a simple house-dress, stirring a pot. Ya, we got synthesizers and insta-meals, but there's something about home cooking that I miss every time I've got shipboard duty. Though this time I'll be bringing some fixings in stasis; not enough for a full year, but we'll have home cooking often enough to remember what it's like.

I can tell she knows I'm home as the corner of her mouth is up in a quirky grin. I walk over behind her, put my arms around her waist and start nuzzling her neck. Twenty-five years of marriage and she's just as lovely and cuddly as ever.

"So how did it go?" she asks, tilting her head a little to give me access.

I stop my kissing briefly, "Well enough, finally got everyone I asked for except Sinclair. They gave him an Oberth and sent him off to go and fix things." Then I'm nibbling my way up her neck again.

"Mmmmm," she's liking what I'm doing. "Too bad, you told me he was a good man, even though he is a Scot."

I lean over a bit and start kissing down her jaw-line, "Aye, but I think I got a good fill-in for him."

She turns her head and just before we lip-lock, "Should I turn the stew down."

We stay that way for a bit then break, "Na, but perhaps a special dessert."

"Oooo, that sounds like fun." She stirs a bit more, "I know ya wanted Aine and Sinclair," referring to our mutual wife and an engineer I'd served with on Ticonderoga, "and you managed to keep several others from when you were Exec. You never told me who your other choices were though, but at least having her there will help to keep you in line," she's smirking.

Just then the com panel in the Main Room goes off with a stanza from 'Home Again'; message from Headquarters for her. The Admiral's quick, I only left his office fifteen minutes ago. "I think you should get that."

She gives me a look. "It's just a message, not even a priority one. It can wait."

"Maybe it's your next assignment. Could be you got a ship, and we can rendezvous occasionally."

Her purse-lipped grin tells me that she really couldn't care less, separated is separated. But we knew that going into the marriage, so we don't complain about something we can't change. Though in the twenty-three years we'd been a trio, only two of those had there not been two of us serving together. "While they're letting you and Aine be together this time around, what makes you think that Command is daft enough to put all three of us that close to each other."

"Maybe they got a case of temporary insanity. Can't hurt to find out." I'm grinning and she's looking at me like I'm header.

"Alright, but you watch the pot, don't want it burning." I kiss her, take over the cooking duty and she goes to retrieve the message. I'm looking at her curvy back-side as she reads the screen, then turns to look at me in annoyance. I just grin wider at her and she walks back over, muttering in Gaeilge, "Fuilteacha mbarra, go bhfuil an méid atá sé" (Bloody insane, that's what he is). She steps right up to me, "I think I need to relieve my new CO right now, before he does something incredibly stupid."

"If you did that, then you might end up tending to a Tellarite and only have your wife to cuddle up to." I hand her back the spoon, kiss her thoroughly then, "Besides, didn't you tell me that during yer last ship duty, you couldn't get warm when sleeping?" I give her my 'want some candy, little girl' smile.

There's the purse-lipped grin again, "You are impossible, but you're right." She snuggles in, "It'll be much warmer sleeping this time." She chuckles, "especially if I get the middle."

We have dinner then back to our bedroom for 'dessert', then fall asleep in our own overly large bed for one of the last times for the next year or so.

The next several days are busy, her packing for the three of us, me beaming up to the ship every day to wade through the paperwork that seems to multiply like Tribbles. With the last of my officers chosen I don't need to go to headquarters anymore, which had taken up a good chunk of my time, but my Exec has been managing things well so far, one reason I chose her.

Monday just after lunch, Kia and I are in uniform and standing on our porch. I'm going to miss sleeping in our bed, but I've been through this before, at least I have both my wives with me this time. I dig my com out, "O'Connor to Repulse transporter," I wait a second for the com-system to auto-route my signal to the transporter, no going through the bridge. It connects and Lt. Steren responds. I order, "Two to beam up from this location, energize when ready."

"Aye, sir, energizing now." A split second of non-being again, and we appear on the pads, "welcome aboard, Captain, Commander."

"Thank you, Mr Steren," I say and he nods. "Oh, and Lieutenant…" he looks at me, "neither myself nor the Doctor are here yet." He looks a little puzzled at that, but nods. A Captain's orders, so long as they don't needlessly endanger the ship, have the force of law.

We head out to the corridor and I say to my wife, "I'm guessing you want to check out medical and see what they've bolloxed up. I'm calling a meeting of the command crew for 0900, time for everyone to get acquainted." Yes, it'd been early afternoon at home, but Starships ran on Headquarters time, so it was a bit shy of 0700 here.

"I might be able to give you a list to send downstairs by then."

"We've a few days for that yet, and you might want to wait for the briefing to start your list."

She tilts her head at that, but then realizing that I'm not going to give her more right now, shrugs and gives me a quick kiss before heading to Sick-Bay. I head for the nearest turbo-lift under the watchful eyes of an Ensign who just saw the Captain kiss a very pretty woman wearing the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

A few minutes later I'm walking onto the bridge; oh good, Steren didn't tell anyone. They're all engaged at their stations, programming, updating or something else totally incomprehensible. Zan is the first to notice me and her normally dour expression gets a little more worried, "Captain on the bridge," she calls out. Everyone else turns towards me almost in shock; oh happy day, I did surprise them.

My Andorian First Officer is holding down the center seat. She gets up, her antenna pointed straight at me, a sure sign that she was annoyed, but her voice is calm, "Welcome aboard, Captain."

"Thank you Number One, glad you kept the seat warm for me," I wink at her and she gets a slight look of long suffering. We've known each other for going on thirty years, so she's well acquainted with my sense of humor. She moves aside and I sit then look at my Comm officer. "Zan, inform Commander Stron that there's a final briefing for the Command Crew at 0900."

She nods and I notice the rest of my department heads nodding as well then I say to them, "Launch is in a little over four days, people, let's not be late, hmmmm?" They get appropriately busy and I pitch my voice for my Exec's ears only, "Did you get the notice for our last crew members?"

Her antenna go low and almost meet in front of her nose, she's peeved at me, "Most of the crew is aboard, but even the latest update didn't tell me who our CMO is."

I give her a smile, "That was on my request. They're aboard now and probably tearing apart sick-bay as we speak."

Her antenna separate some, she's getting more annoyed; but it's so fun teasing her. "You're sure we've the right person?"

I'm grinning, "Their bedside manner has been praised by several superiors and they've worked for McCoy in the past, so they've probably learned quite a bit from him as well."

She's almost glaring now and the tips of her antenna are almost shoulder wide, knowing from personal experience how strong she is, if she hits me I'll need Kia's professional attention. Her left hand goes to my wrist and squeezes slightly, her Claddagh clearly visible, "Keiran…" she growls low.

I smile brilliantly at her and deliver the punch line, "I got Kia, Aine"

Her antenna go straight up and she gets a blank look on her face, "You got…how by all the Ice Demons were you able to manage that?"

Surprising my second wife was one of my favorite, silly little quirks. When the three of us got married, she'd taken an Irish second name and hyphenated my last name on the end of hers, and Kia and I had taken Andorian second names and added her family name to the end of O'Connor, so her full name was tre'Vaire Aine Shran-O'Connor.

"I gave the Admiral some very logical reasons and he saw the light."

She thinks for a moment then her antenna relax into an S-curve and start quivering slightly, "This will make my job of keeping you out of trouble much easier." She's laughing at me. Raising her voice slightly, "I believe I need to go and greet our new Medical Officer, if you'll excuse me, Captain."

Without waiting for permission, she heads towards the turbo-lift, then stops and comes back. I look at her quizzically and she leans in and gives me a very rare, public kiss, then goes back to the lift, the quiver in her antenna getting more pronounced as she re-crosses the bridge.

Most of the bridge-crew doesn't even bat an eye, they know we're married, but I notice my new Caitian navigator looking perplexed. Till Lt. Frazier, my Terran helmswoman, lets him in on the open-secret.

The briefing goes as I thought it would; everyone, even my Vulcan engineer seems almost excited to head out into the true unknown. Anyone's reticence at Kia's presence is put to rest by her qualifications and we head back to continue our preparations for launch in a little less than four days.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 11090.3. The final dock personnel have left the ship and we are prepared to leave. We're well stocked on supplies for our fourteen month mission to explore an entirely new sector and the crew is almost ecstatic over the couple little presents I managed to wrangle up for them. I am confident that we currently have the best crew in the fleet and that we're prepared for just about anything the universe cares to toss our way. Log ends."

Our scheduled launch time is coming up, the senior staff is all at their bridge stations. Keianna is standing at my left side and I'm watching the yard-dogs finish the preparations for our exit from dock on my private screen. I tilt the view a bit and look at Enterprise over in the next dock. John Harriman had actually commed me early this morning to bitch about how our preps had interfered with his need to 'Get Back Out There'. I'd chuckled and told him to take it up with Command, as they'd been the ones to set the priorities.

We'd engaged in a bit of good natured ribbing. There were still those who blamed him for the loss of Kirk five years ago, but I wasn't one of them. He'd finally relented and wished me good luck, even though I was 'Tooting around in a compact tin can rather than a real Starship'. I'd responded with 'Better a sports flyer than that lumbering hulk you got saddled with'. I was a little jealous that while he had an Excelsior-B, I was in a twenty year old Miranda; but all Captains are inordinately proud of their own ship, so I wasn't going to show him the jealousy.

My secondary screen is showing yellow dots changing to green as various sections of my ship show readiness to depart. Five minutes before our scheduled time, the entire schematic is green, no red or yellow anywhere and I look up at Shran and smile. Her antenna dip then do a little dance; 'made it with time to spare, thank the Gods'. Then she reports verbally so all know, "All stations show ready for departure, Captain."

"Thank you, Number One. Zan, request clearance to leave dock."

"Aye, sir," her wispy reply floats over. "Repulse to Dock Control, requesting clearance for departure."

She blinks then touches a control. The main screen wavers and Admiral Starn appears. Everyone sits up straighter as Commander-Starfleet gives us clearance personally, "U.S.S. Repulse from Command, you are cleared to depart. Good mission and safe return."

I smile at him, even though he's Vulcan he's been known to smile occasionally. "We'll be back before you even miss us, Sir." The left corner of his mouth twitches fractionally and he nods, then the screen clears to show free space before us. 'Ha, got a smile out of him,' I think merrily to myself, 'Good omens all around.' We may almost be in the 24th century, but us Irish have been a superstitious lot for over a couple millennia.

I glance at my helm-officer, who's turned her head. "Janitha…take us out."

"Aye, sir." She turns back to her controls and her hands move across her panel as she provides a running commentary; while some Captains have the need to tell their helm every step, I'm aware that Frazier knows every single little detail, so I keep my mouth firmly shut as her very capable hands take my ship out of the nest she's been resting in for the last three months. After a little bit she says, "Dock cleared, sir."

"You have our course, Mr T'Chral?"

"Aye, sir. 147 mark 5 till we leave the system, then 132 mark 6 all the way into unknown territory." He purrs that last; his first real mission and it's so far away you'd need a galactic map, transwarp and an Organian to get home in time for dinner.

"One half impulse to warp boundary, Lieutenant, then we'll go to warp one till we pass the Oort Cloud."

My helmswoman acknowledges and Repulse leaps to twenty percent of light. Five seconds later, we pass the orbit of Luna, but it's still three hours to when we can engage our warp engines. Kia squeezes my shoulder and I look up at her. She leans in, gives me a short kiss then heads back to sick-bay, probably to go over paperwork, which is what I need to do right now. I pull my IRRD out, handy things these new Info-Retrieval and Recording Devices, and start going through the lists and reports that piled up since last night. I also record my first under-way log entry.

Vaire heads out a little later for her final baseline medical evaluation. She'd gotten her request in early while I'm scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It's about a half hour later when she returns, looking annoyed. 'Wonder what that's about?' I think, but refrain from asking.

Three hours later, the last of the reports are approved, manifests perused and a couple replies to topics on the ships' internal forum. Then Janitha speaks up, "Five minutes to warp, Captain." Time flies when you're buried in paperwork. I put my IRRD away and look at Shran. She's all business again, entering warp is the real test of a refit – would we go normally or generate a wormhole.

I thumb a control, "Captain to Engineer, are we ready, Mr Stron?"

"Two minutes, Captain." It's precisely two minutes later, I watched the chrono, when he comes back. "All systems nominal, sir. Warp speed at your discretion."

"Thank you, Chief," I reply and thumb the control again. I look at Frazier who's been watching my conversation with Stron, "You have the conn, Helm."

She smiles, nods and turns back to her panel. Taps a control, "All sections, engaging Warp Drive in one minute thirty." After providing an un-needed countdown, she moves the slider up slowly, reciting off our relative speed. "Point 6…point 7…point 8…point 9…point 95…" Then the screen bursts into a million colors and rainbow streaks appear, then another color burst and the stars appear to move. "Warp one, sir."

I glance around, everyone looks normal, no blurring. "Looks like the yard got it right, Vaire," I say to my Exec. She nods and I look at Lt Frazier. "Once we exit the system, go to warp two till engineering clears us to punch it."

"Aye, sir."

I decide that I'm hungry, it's almost 1130. Stand and look at my Ganorian Tactical and Second Officer, "You have the conn, Mr Sord, Shran, let's grab a bite." We're settling into our cruise mode. I'll man the center seat during first shift, she has second and Sord will have third. Vaire will go and get a couple hours rest after lunch before she relieves me at 1500, I'll let Sord go and do the same when I get back to the bridge.

"I have the conn, sir," he rumbles and we head off to see if the new synthesizers are better than the old ones. Almost anything would be an improvement

When Vaire relieves me at 1500, I head to Sick-Bay to see if Kia will squeeze my mandatory final medical evaluation a little early. I arrive to see her finish up with Ensign Vract then after she shoos him off, looks at me with a twinkle in her eye. "Here to try and convince me to squeeze you in, Keiran?"

She knows me too well, "Well, if you have some spare moments."

"End of my day, love." She looks over at a diagnostic bed currently occupied with a Baneshian, Ensign B'Shal actually, with a Tellarite hovering over him. "Sick-bay is yours, Dr. Grolsh."

The doctor in question wrinkles her snout in response then looks directly at me, "I'll see you tomorrow at 1600, Captain." Then she turns back to her current science experiment as I look at Kia with wide-eyed shock.

She takes my arm in hers and herds me out of sick-bay before responding to my question. "I can't even give the appearance of playing favorites with my husband and wife, so you'll be examined by my second."

"Is that who performed Vaire's tests?"

"Oh no, Grolsh didn't come on duty till 1400, I had our intern, B'Trol, do her examination," she's actually grinning. I blink, now I know why Shran came back looking like she'd been sucking on limes. B'Trol was the other Baneshian in the crew, and since their people had rock-hard skin, being poked and prodded by one was …uncomfortable to say the least. "Of course, if you want to get in earlier, I think B'Trol is free from 0630 to 0715."

I stare down at my wife, she's almost twenty centimeters shorter than I am. her grin is threatening to split her skull apart. "You're a very bad woman, do you know that?"

She giggles, "Of course I know, I also know it's one of the reasons you keep me around."

I soften; she knows right where to hit. "Well, that and antics and snuggling and you're a very good cook."

She chuckles again, "Antics, is it. Is that what you call what we did Sunday eve?" We're coming up on a pair of Lieutenants and they look back at us, as if not believing what they're hearing the CO and CMO discuss.

"Well, I could call it something else, but not in public," I chuckle, "I might get arrested." Kia snickers and both junior officers stare at us. I look straight at them and say, "You just wait till you've been married for twenty-five years and see what your discussions sound like, hmmm?"

Both lads blush and head through one of the doors relegated to quarters. Even though one of my presents to the crew was to let even J.G.'s berth singly, there's still two nameplates next to the entry-buzzer. I give a mental shrug, 'If they don't want separate quarters, no one is forcing them.'

Keianna looks up at me with her purse-lipped grin, "You're absolutely terrible, do you know that?"

"Of course I know, it's one of the reasons you keep me around," I say with a wink.

She tips her head to my shoulder for a brief moment, "I'll never admit that in public though."

We walk down a side corridor to the outer ring then we're stepping through the door to our own room and we both stop and stare. A couple things have been moved and the smart-paint has been programmed. I'm looking from our 'front door' into our 'main room' back home in Dingle. The far wall has a fire burning cheerily on the hearth, the mantle with our knick-knacks above it. To our left is the kitchen nook with table and chairs, to the right are our three music seats with our instruments in their stands. In front of the fire is the triple seat and in the back-right corner is the 'hallway' to our bedroom.

Kia looks up at me, "Did you do this?"

I shake my head, "I was thinking that you did it." Then something hits me, "She must have done all this while she was supposed to be resting before relieving me."

Her head lies on my shoulder again, "Leaving Earth for over a year and yet we still get to 'come home' every eve." A happy sigh escapes her, "we really don't deserve her."

My arm snakes out and goes around her waist, "I don't deserve either of you, so I count my blessings every day."

A quick kiss then she finds out that the kitchen nook is actually real and not an illusion. "I think we'll not have slot-meal tonight, but a real dinner and not in uniform." She heads back to the bedroom as I move to the music nook and run my hand down the arm of my six-string in a mag-locked stand. From back there I hear her call out, "Keiran, get in here!."

Security training never goes away, I'm moving even before I realize it wasn't a 'there's trouble' sound. I turn the corner into the bedroom and almost run into Kia who's stopped right inside. I look at her, she's staring at something; I look there and think 'How the feck did she get that in here?' Sitting where that thrice-damned twin setup had been was our bed, the one from our home in Dingle. I walk over almost in a daze, Kia comes over and runs her hand over the glistening white furred cover then looks at me, "She brought it with…oh gods, we even get to sleep in our own bed."

"No more back-aches for any of us." The bed the three of us had been sleeping in to this point was a pair of standard-issue doubles that had been locked together. No matter how much we'd tried to adapt, one of us was waking up in pain every morning and one of the others would have to do a healing massage. Now we didn't have that issue, the bed from home had been made, adjusted, changed over the years – to all three of us it was almost like sleeping in a null-grav field.

We explore the other changes Vaire had gotten done in the couple hours she had and we're both amazed. After examining the shower, which is big enough for three with both sonics and real water jets, which made it absolutely sinful, she leans back against me and softly says, "She is getting SUCH a kiss when she comes in for dinner."

We get changed, head out and I give her some music while she gets a special dinner cooked up after retrieving some items from our personal cube in Cargo Three. True to her word, when Aine comes in around 1730, Kia gives her a hug and kiss that if they weren't both my wives, I'd get a little jealous over.

During dinner they start planning something new, another special gift for the crew that should help keep moral high; based on a side comment that I'd made. Later, after Vaire heads back to the bridge, Kia and I just cuddle up on the triple chair in front of the holo-fireplace for a while then head to bed; being joined later by our wife when her shift is over.

—

The first two weeks of our six week trip out to the new sector is a little rough, especially after Kia fires her second because of something Grolsh had tried to do to me. I'd tried to get her to not dismiss her as Grolsh was now very aware of why I had that scar on my face, but Kia was adamant. We swapped our Tellarite AMO for a Human-male who I wasn't too thrilled with, being as his record indicated a Humano-centric mind-set, but after finding out why, the three of us took steps to ease him into the multi-racial makeup of Repulse; less than half the crew was of Terran origin.

Kia and Vaire make their plan come to fruition, and the first Starship based pub comes into existence. Maybe other ships will get them, if Command didn't keel-haul all three of us.