SITN 26

"You will not what?" Regina's voice was deceptively soft. Not only was she from a matriarchal society, but she was also her ship's first officer. No one LET her do anything. Except, perhaps, the captain.

"I said, I will not allo-" Tyr was cut off as Dylan was suddenly seized by a coughing fit, which sounded suspiciously like he was trying to say something. It reminded him of Harper's 'Bullshit' cough, except it sounded more like 'shut up.'

Anasazi pounded Hunt on the back, hoping to silently discourage further outbursts. He was trying to have an important discussion with his wife. Her safety was paramount, and Hunt's machinations had already cost him one relationship. Tyr did not intend to brook any more interference from that corner.

Dylan took the rough assistance with gritted teeth and decided to let Tyr dig his hole as deep as he wanted. Hunt had tried to warn him, as was his duty to a fellow male about to put his foot in it, but if Anasazi wanted to learn the hard way, that was fine with him.

"Are you done?" Regina raised a brow at Captain Hunt, her tone that of a disappointed and long-suffering parent. The bogus coughing fit had not fooled her a bit. She had heard him perfectly well, and wasn't about to let him slide. Regina knew she would be setting a bad precedent if she did.

"Yes, I do believe I am." Dylan shook his head ruefully, feeling like he was about five years old. A Jaguar may not have birthed her, but she had the manner of a Nietzschean matriarch born. Regina resented his interference, and was not going to be shy about letting him know it. He should have realized, especially after seeing how she handled herself in a firefight, that Tyr's new wife wasn't just another pretty face. He resisted the urge to laugh, knowing that Anasazi had likely bitten off more than he could chew.

It might be fun to watch Tyr try though, and Dylan could hardly ask for better seats to the show. All he needed now was one of Harper's beers and a flak helmet. Instead he settled for leaning back against one of the Eureka Maru's support beams, hoping to be forgotten in the ensuing battle.

With Captain Hunt dealt with, Regina turned her blazing green glare back to her husband. With a voice like poisoned honey, she began to speak, "Did I not know better, I should think the Helix is somehow cutting off the flow of blood to your brain. I am a mature adult, as well as second officer on a ship with a crew of eighty other females. I take orders from my captain, who is also my matriarch. Everyone else, including my dear Uncle Charlemagne, asks."

"When it was only your own safety you had to consider, that was as it should be. Now you are the future of Kodiak Pride. As your husband, I have the right to make certain decisions regarding your safety. I would be remiss in my duty to you, if I were to let you leave the Maru without good reason." Tyr replied in perfectly calm tones, realizing that marriage was bound to bring with it a difficult period of adjustment for them both, and doing his best to be reasonable. This was a fight that, if he won by conventional means, he would still lose.

"There's that word again. I am beginning to understand the origin of the phrase 'blood-letting', and it is not what I had previously assumed. We are obviously going to have to come to an understanding over what is acceptable. You may ask, you may advise, and you may caution. Telling me what you will let me do is clearly not on that list." Regina shifted slightly, moving into Tyr's personal space.

Normally it would have been a move meant as a challenge, but in this instance it was a reminder. Regina was his wife; she had the right to be this close to him. Their mingled scent was an added incentive, reminding him of what he had to lose if he angered her enough that she chose not to send for him. He could languish a very long time in his own bed if Regina was wroth with him.

Tyr inhaled, breathing in the lingering pheromones. He understood the silent message, as well as the subtle threat. He could even understand where she was coming from but "If Captain Varrus were to indicate that she intended to take a dangerous and unnecessary risk, would you not object strenuously?"

"Of course I would, but this is hardly the same thing." Regina had a sneaking suspicion she knew where this was going, and tried to head Tyr off.

"I think it is. You would act out of concern, duty, and an obligation to those lives you both command. Do you believe I hold you in any less regard? Do the lives of our unborn children not deserve as much consideration?" Tyr moved a step closer, until the thinnest measure of air separated them.

Anasazi was not above playing dirty, especially not when the outcome was so very important. He reached out and slid a hand through Regina's silken hair, his eyes dark and rich with emotion. "Or that I would be any less lost without you?"

Tyr watched her green eyes dilate, could hear her heart rate quicken with his nearness. He breathed against her ear; mindful both of her reaction to it earlier as well as the continued presence of Dylan Hunt, "If it would please you, stay on the Maru until we lift. You are the most important thing in my life, and I fear exposing you to unnecessary danger."

"What, and miss all the excitement?" Regina fired off a last salvo, but she was beaten and she knew it. Her normally sharp wit had been blunted by his soft words and heady presence.

How could she keep fighting him, especially when Regina hadn't really intended to go anywhere anyway? If he hadn't made that arrogant command, she would never have so much as considered leaving the Maru, even with a well-armed escort. There were too many unknown variables in this equation to plan around. It would be anti-survival.

Not that Tyr needed to know that. Let him think he had won a concession from her; she could use that to her advantage at a later date. It was, after all, the Nietzschean way. Surely her husband would expect no less of her. The thought made her eyes sparkle with restrained amusement.

"I do not believe that you will find our time together unexciting," Tyr purred, nuzzling Regina's pale throat. He had misinterpreted the gleam in her eye for one of passion, and was pursuing his perceived advantage.

"I'll, uh, just be going now," Dylan had been enjoying the show, but Tyr seemed to have smartened up pretty quickly. He was regaining lost ground with great enthusiasm, and Hunt was not sure he wanted to be exposed to any more of Anasazi's love life than he already had been.

Tyr tilted his head to the side, giving Dylan a look filled in equal parts with territoriality, masculine smugness, and amusement. It was almost enough to make Hunt come up with an excuse to stay, just to show Anasazi that he could, but he realized it for the knee-jerk reaction it was.

He remembered Rhade telling him that Nietzschean males could be insufferably smug just after being chosen, and Dylan could well believe it. There was something almost gloating about Tyr's demeanor. His whole aura was, 'A female chose me instead of you because I am more worthy, so there.' It seemed to bring out the more primitive aspects of a male's psyche. Even his, he was surprised to note. Hunt felt the urge to go back to the bar and pick out his own female, just so Tyr wouldn't think he'd gotten one over on him.