Chapter 19

"So this is a Human custom?" asked Tiro, dipping a slice of lightly browned toast into the golden yolk of an egg. "To share breakfast the morning after-?"

"Shh!" Kostopoulos hushed him, but couldn't help smirking. She flitted her eyes around the diner, making sure no one had overheard Tiro's very casual question. Thankfully, Sal's was quite busy since reopening following the swift riot clean-up.

Tiro grinned broadly. "You're blushing!"

"I am not," Kostopoulos said, trying to regain her normally fierce demeanour, and failing due to her immovable smirk.

"I didn't realise Humans were so quiet and restrained about such things. I wonder what could have given me the opposite impression?" He confidently took a bite out his toast.

Kostopoulos felt that the temperature in the diner had rapidly increased, but she calmed herself again. "Listen… Thanks. I know what we did last night couldn't have been easy for you…"

Tiro took on a more serious expression and placed his hand on hers. "Ana, what we did was my choice, as much as yours. For the first time in my life I did it willingly, and that… that was a gift. It was beautiful. I should be thanking you."

They shared a warm, peaceful smile between each other.

"Well, you made this old woman pretty happy," said Kostopoulos. "So, I think we can just about call it even."

Tiro chuckled. "You didn't seem that old last night."

She put on a mock-angry look and flicked a bit of her yoghurt at him, leaving them both laughing. This earned a few turned heads, but she didn't care so much about that. When they had calmed down again, Kostopoulos turned them to more pressing matters.

"Have you decided what you'll do once you get to Vega?" she asked. Neither of them had been under the pretence that he would be staying with her - they both knew that their fling, while special for them both, was nothing more.

He sighed and looked off into the distance for a moment. "I told you I'd thought about getting a new ship and going off in search of other slaves to liberate. I still want to do that, but… maybe I'll enjoy a normal life for a little while first. Is that wrong of me?"

Kostopoulos again marvelled at how Tiro could seem so mature one minute then so innocent the next. "I've fought for people's freedom my whole adult life, Tiro. It's noble of you to take up the same cause, but if we don't indulge in that freedom now and again then it's pointless. You've earned yourself some time."

He smiled and gripped her hand again, wordlessly thanking her for everything. While Kostopoulos couldn't help worrying about his future, deep down she knew he'd be alright.

At the diner counter, Patel stared into her pitch-black coffee, steam rising around her face, as she contemplated the past few days' experience. She had been summarising it for Sal, who stood beside her.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to look at one of them without remembering what they did on the Cleopatra," Patel said, meaning the Orions. "But I know now that's on me, not them. Not all of them. There's no sense in me pretending I don't have these feelings, but that doesn't mean I have to give in to them.

"I'll never agree with their way of life either, but I appreciate that that doesn't make it wrong. So long as, when in Earth territory they follow Earth laws, we can't ask for anything more."

Sal leaned on the counter and shrugged. "I guess that's a start."

Patel looked up at her. "You think they'll get better over time?"

"No," said Sal. "I meant you'll get better over time." She grinned at the Human.

Patel returned the grin. "Fair enough. What about you? Any negative feelings for the people who nearly trashed your business?"

Sal took on a sombre countenance. "I have my own history with the Orions, and it's not exactly pretty. I'm to blame for it though, and like you said, there's no use in denying it. We can't erase the dark parts of ourselves, we can only learn from them."

Patel nodded. "Experience comes from bad decisions."

Sal grinned. "Well then, here's to lots of experience." She held up the coffee jug.

Patel chuckled and clinked her mug against the jug.

"What are you two ladies celebrating about?" said Thorpe, who sat himself next to Patel at the counter.

"Just a couple of friends sharing a coffee," said Sal, seeming a little uneasy. "You want some?"

"Yeah," said Thorpe after a pause. "Think I will. Good to have some company. Someone to talk to."

"It is," said Sal, more like her usual warm self.

Patel thought she saw a genuinely pleasant smile shared between the two of them, and there was none of their usual blatant flirtation about it. Maybe there was hope for the Captain yet…

In the Hangar, North and Mamao'lani were saying their farewells to Vyla as she and the other refugees piled into the Vulcan shuttles. Piras, escorted by security officers, glowered at Vyla as she passed.

"I hope she'll realise the gift she's been given," said Vyla. "And make a better life for herself."

"I'm sure she will," said North. "Freedom is addictive. Hard to give up."

"What will you do with your new life?" Mamao'lani asked Vyla.

"I never really thought about it," she replied. "I was too focused on keeping us safe to think about the future. I've been told what to do my whole life. So, I guess, to answer your question: I'm gonna do whatever I want now." She beamed at them.

Both men chuckled, then North spoke. "Actually, that reminds me of something I read recently while researching Orion in our culture. A Human named Richard Henry Horne wrote an epic poem about the hunter, in which he said, ''Tis always morning somewhere in the world'. I think it means that, no matter what you've been through, there's always time for a new beginning."

"I like that," said Vyla.

"Yes, very poetic for you, Commodore," Mamao'lani said with a grin.

"And speaking of such things," said Vyla. "You remember Bonner, the Orion writer I told you about? Who said that 'Let me help' was the most important phrase in the universe? You two have confirmed his words." She placed a hand on each of their arms. "Any kindness would have been a comfort to me, but I'm glad I found people as kind as you both."

"It's the Human way," said Mamao'lani.

"Then perhaps we should adopt some of your customs," Vyla said with a small grin.

"Let's not get into this debate again," North said light-heartedly. "You should go before the Vulcans get impatient."

"He means before he get too emotional," said Mamao'lani, playfully smirking.

Vyla pulled them both into a group hug. Mamao'lani embraced it but North remained awkwardly stiff.

"Thank you again for everything," said Vyla.

She made her way into the conical shuttlecraft, which closed its doors and started its swift climb skyward. The two Humans watched her disappear into the sky through the retractable roof.

As their eyes dropped again, North looked at the other man with some discomfort. "Ambassador, regarding my behaviour towards you these last few days. I may have seemed a little more… forward…"

Mamao'lani waved his hands dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Commodore, don't worry about it. Neither of us has been himself. Just the pheromones from Vyla, I expect. We've both done things we wouldn't normally do."

"Yes," said North, grateful for the quick and painless conclusion to the matter. As Mamao'lani made his way out of the Hangar though, North couldn't help feel a very small pang of disappointment that the ambassador had so readily brushed aside the experience. "Just the pheromones," he said quietly to himself.

He tried to remind himself how refreshing it was to have things return to normalcy, at least for a little while.