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Chapter 7
Captain's quarters; U.S.S. Liberty Omega
Rorik cuddled with his wife under the blankets, his hands holding where his child is. Then unexpectedly, he shifted onto his back and Yolis felt that this was not normal and turned to face him and heard shallow breaths. 'Damnit. This hasn't happened for a long time,' she thought. She scooted closer to him and put a hand on his hairy chest and did small light circular motions to bring him back. The longer she did it, the longer his breaths became and he eventually opened his eyes. Yolis knew what it was, so she asked, "What caused it this time?"
Rorik looked at the ceiling of their quarters. "It's the fact that I'm gonna be a father. That brought back the memories." He grabs the small yet strong hand that's on his chest and looks at her. "But the fact that they will have both parents helps." He smiles as he lets go of her hand and put his hand on the side of her face. She grabs the hand as she smiles back. "I love you."
"I love you too," she replies as they start kissing. Then the intercom started to beep. As they drew their heads back, Yolis says to him, "You better answer it. You should know how stubborn your crew is." They both smile.
Rorik scoots out of the bed and, in his underwear, walks over to the intercom. He activates it and says, "This is Dunsworth. Go ahead."
E'Mzon replies, "Captain, you are needed on the bridge."
"Understood. I will be there in a bit. Dunsworth out." He ends the call and walks over to his wardrobe. He puts his pants and undershirt on grabs his vice admiral jacket and starts to head to the door. When he got to the door, he turned around and walked to his wife, who looked at him seductively. He sat on the bed next to her and smiled as he put a hand on her stomach. "I'm sorry, hun." He leans over and kisses her. "Duty calls." As he heads out the door, he swings the jacket over his shoulders and puts it on.
Bridge
As Rorik walks out of the elevator and onto the bridge, he hears E'Mzon, out of all the people, say, "Captain on deck." As the Reman salutes in his way, the Starfleet personnel salutes in the traditional way as well.
Rorik snaps his heels together and threw his hand to his head as he says, "At ease. Commander E'Zmon, what's going on?"
E'Mzon walked up to him and whispered, "Captain, I didn't mean to, but I overheard what you said when Yolis was brought up."
"Did you tell anyone?"
"No, sir. I figured that if anyone talked it would be you."
"Thank you." Rorik walked past the Reman and sat in his chair. He activated the intercom. "Attention. This is the captain speaking. Attention. Will all personnel please report to the holodecks? Six of Nine, link all holodecks to Holodeck C. I have an announcement to make. That is all." He turns it off and looks at the bridge crew. "Put everything on autopilot and report to the holodecks."
Sometime later; Holodeck C
Rorik walked into the holodeck and almost into Six of Nine. "Sorry, Commander. Did you get it all ready?"
The liberated Borg looks at him. As she brings up her holographic arm tool, which looks a bit like the omni-tools that Shepard's crew uses, she says, in her creepy almost mechanical voice, "Yes, sir. I assume you will tell us what's going on."
"Yeah. Just be patient a little longer, Six."
Six salutes, which Rorik returns, as she says, "Yes, sir."
As she leaves, Rorik walks over to the controls and Yolis walks up to him. "Clifton, what's going on?"
Without looking at her, Rorik says as a virtual box appears on the other side of the room, "It's time to tell them." He looks at her. "Come on." They walk over to the box and stand on it as some of the crew piles in. After a few minutes, Rorik looks at the crowd that has gathered. "Welcome. Most of you are wondering what this is about and most of you are from the Liberty Bravo, but all of you are my family. For you new transfers, next to me is First Officer Commander Yolis Dunsworth, my wife. I proposed to her back when I was a vice admiral in command of the Bravo. Well, back on Kobali Prime, I learned about some very important and very happy news. I will be recommending Commander E'Zmon and Commander Six of Nine as Acting Captain and Acting First Officer, respectively, as I take leave to help with Yolis while she is on maternity leave," he says as he grabs Yolis' shoulder and brings her close.
Then Ensign Irani asked, "C-Captain, what did you say?"
Rorik smiled. "Back on Kobali Prime, I heard one single bit of news that will forever change our lives."
Yolis picked up right where he left off. "Crewmembers, I have been pregnant for a few weeks."
Rorik continues. "As soon as we get to the ESD, we will go see Admiral Quinn and tell him the news. Then I will tell him that I am taking a leave of absence for the next few years, maybe longer, so I can help her as she carries our child then I will help raise our child together." There was a moment of silence, then all six holodecks cheer. He let it go for a few minutes, before he raised a hand and said, "Thank you. Thank you. But I'm not finished. Only a few of you know about my past. Yolis is the only one who knows all the details. When I was young, a Klingon raiding party attacked my home. I was the only survivor, but I had enough time to hold my father as he died in my arms. Hen-Kel, that is why I didn't trust you. But my wife, the then Lieutenant Yolis Jaras, helped me see the errors of my way. But my past is the reason why I'm not going to let Yolis raise our child alone. Thank you. You're dismissed." As he took a step off the virtual box, the six holodecks cheered for them. With one foot on the box and the other on the floor, he swept Yolis off her feet and carried her.
As Rorik approached the crowd, they cleared a path as Six of Nine said, "Ten hut," and saluted and the rest followed.
Yolis leaned her head on his shoulder while saying, "I love you, but do you really have to carry me?"
Rorik smiles as he kisses her cheek. "Probably not, but I just feel like doing it."
Just then, a nearby intercom beeps. As Rorik walks past it, Yolis asks, "Aren't you gonna answer that?"
Rorik sighs as he stops and sets her feet down. He walks over to the intercom and answers it. "Dunsworth here."
Then an unknown voice comes back. "I assume this is Admiral Dunsworth?"
"This is he. Who is this?"
"Admiral, this is Captain V'bbal of the U.S.S. Bishop. Be advised that you are towing an unknown ship to the Sol System."
"Captain, be advised that I have permission from Admiral Quinn to do so."
"Ah. Here is the message. My apologies, Admiral. You are cleared to approach the ESD."
"Thank you, Captain." He ends the transmission and looks at the crew. "I hate to do this, but back to your stations." As the crew heads back to their stations, they leave Rorik alone with Yolis. "Us too. I was planning on carrying you to our quarters but we need to head to the bridge."
Bridge
Rorik walked out of the elevator with Yolis right at his side. He walked up to and sat in his chair, while Yolis went to her station. Then the comms officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Diane Allard, turned in her chair and looked at Rorik. "Captain."
Rorik tuned and looked at the young Frenchwoman. "Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Sir. First of all, congratulations on your child."
"Thank you, Diane."
She smiles. "Thank you, sir. Also, we have made contact with the ESD."
"On screen."
She turns back to her console. "Yes, sir."
The viewscreen went black and then one of the communication officer at the ESD. The almost elderly Andorian looked from his console to his screen. "U.S.S. Liberty Omega, this is the Earth Spacedock. I would like to connect to the ship you are towing."
Rorik nods. "Copy that." He turns to Comms Officer Allard. "Lieutenant, patch in the Normandy." As she does that, Rorik looked at the screen. "It will take a while, and they can only do audio."
The Andorian looked at him. "Copy that, Admiral."
"Admiral." Rorik turns his head to look at Allard. "Sir, I have them on the line."
"Patch them in."
A few seconds later. "This is Shepard."
"Shepard, you are patched into a three-way channel between us and the ESD."
"Attention, Earth Spacedock. This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy SR-2. I believe that you should be expecting us. We are requesting permission to dock and are needing repairs."
The Andorian looked at the console in front of him. "Stand by. Commander, you have clearance to dock. Approach exterior docking bay 23. Welcome to the Earth Spacedock."
Rorik looks at the screen. "Is Admiral Quinn in his office?"
The comms officer looks at his console. "Yes, sir. Would you like me to transfer you?"
"No, thank you. I would like to talk to him in person."
"Understood, Admiral. You have clearance to dock as well. ESD out." The screen closes and shows the ESD in the viewscreen.
Rorik turns to Allard. "Allard, sent the coordinates of the docking bay to Shepard." He looks at Yolis. "Commander, disengage the tractor beam." He turns his head to E'mzon. "Commander E'Zmon, you have the com. For the next few years." He stands up and salutes him. "Make me proud of leaving my ship in your hands."
The Reman shocked Rorik when E'Mzon saluted Rorik with the traditional human salute instead of the usual Reman salute. "Of course, Captain." It looks like he has something on his mind. "Cap… Rorik, now I guess, can you promise me something? Promise you'll bring your kid up one day."
Rorik smiles. "I can do that. It's been an honor to be your captain."
"It has been an honor to serve under you."
Yolis walks over and salutes E'Mzon also. "Acting Captain, take care of her."
"Of course, Commander." He looks at Rorik. "Sir, you take care of her."
Rorik smiles as he drops his arm. "I will." Looking at Yolis, he offers his arm, and says, "Shall we go, my dear?"
Yolis giggles a little as she loops her arm around his and says, "You're so funny at times. I love you."
Rorik smiles as he plants a kiss on her cheek. "I love you too," he says as they walk to the elevator.
Hey guys. So a few things. First, Rorik believes in the 'personal touch.' The way he inspires loyalty is similar to the way Shepard does. He inspires loyalty by being close to the crew, as shown by the 'you're my family' part. Plus the part where E'Mzon salutes the Starfleet way instead of the Reman way. It's from his background, sole survivor of a colony massacre. So he owes the crew the truth. One more chapter then we will see them back in five story years (Five fits better with what I have in mind). So will Starfleet see the Normandy as a block op group? We will find out next time. Just so everyone knows. It has been so long that I got my ships mixed up. The Bravo was the ship when Rorik proposed. The Delta was after that one, and was a Mirror Assault Cruiser. The Echo was next and was an T6 Exploration Cruiser. The Omega is an T6 Intel Assault Cruiser.
