Paternity check

Dustin sat nervously in the captain’s chair as the countdown to leave the weave ticked away. Returning to normal space had been increasingly nerve-wracking as they made their way towards the Lemth homeworld, reports coming in of new Fractal and Durathisian movements each time they finished a jump. The two hostile species were still nowhere near moving fleets towards the path he was taking, but even so Dustin had begun to expect to see enemy scout craft the instant the vidscreens flickered back to showing the black void beyond the ship’s hull.

On this jump like all the rest however there were no immediate alerts from the sensors, and he let out a sigh of relief. That was one set of nerves out of the way - the other… he glanced to the front of the bridge and smiled. “Take us towards the planet, Sammie. Let’s go meet your family.”

As the ship began to accelerate away from the jump point, the vidscreen chimed with an incoming call. At a gesture from Dustin, Emely connected - and a familiar face appeared on the screen. “Dusty! About time you came for a visit! Dock at the orbital, we’ll meet you there.” Izzy was as busy as he remembered, a few dozen Lemth working feverishly in the background as she called over her shoulder. “Terri? Dusty’s here - go grab the bags, I’ll book us a shuttle once I’m done saying hi!”

The orbital facility that slowly passed over the Lemth skies was a new addition to the system. Given the species-wide preference for leaving nature as untouched as possible, the idea of a traditional starport that would allow massive ships to land wasn’t really an option. Additionally, multiple areas on the planet had complained about any further centralizing of space travel on the area around the first contact site as giving too much power to those already living nearby.

Thus the orbital stardock, a place where visiting ships could offload their cargo for it to be ferried into the atmosphere by a constantly moving swarm of shuttles. It wasn’t the most efficient method of moving goods too and from the planet, but it certainly looked impressive on the flight in, with the swarms of smaller craft forming two giant rivers of silver where they caught the starlight.

Currently, there were three other vessels docked on the slowly spinning arms of the station. One was the sleek dart-like form of a human warscout, deployed here for investigative and defense purposes. Another, the stocky hull of a Rabyth hauler - no doubt delivering more machinery and shuttle parts to the station to fuel it’s growth. And the final one - a narrow spine with massive containers attached beneath, the unmistakable form of one of the new model of interstellar transport craft with which humanity had begun properly trading with the stars.

That last ship caught Dustin’s eye more than any other. Sure, the warscout was impressive and sleek - but the transport craft was eye-catching because of who he knew it held on board. Sammie too seemed to feel on edge looking at it, the pilot drumming her fingers on the controls as she skimmed Sola towards the dock they’d been allocated.

“Nervous?” Dustin asked her as she finished bringing the ship in to it’s berth. Reaching down at her mumbled reply, he helped her out of the pilot’s seat before glancing around the bridge. “You have command, lieutenant,” Dustin added, nodding to one of Yril’k’s team who saluted as the ambassador led his fiancé from her post. The others would be waiting for them in the ready-room, but he’d already agreed to meet his future mother and father-in-law at the airlock.

Sammie’s hand was clammy in his as the pair made their way into the turbolift; she was clearly as worried about her father not approving as he was. As the lift hummed it’s way down to where Sola was tethered to the station, he moved his arm up to squeeze her close to him. “It’ll be fine, regardless of what they think. I love you, you know that. We all do.” He murmured, leaning in to kiss her on the top of her braids.

The pilot melted into his hug for a moment before straightening up and nodding. “You’re right. It’s just… Nerves, you kno? What if he says no to… well, to us?”

Dustin frowned for a moment, then shrugged. “Then we go grab the captain of that warscout and I order them to do the wedding as ambassador. Pretty sure I have enough clout to do that even if I don’t technically have the rank to do so? Maybe? It’s still not entirely clear what military rank I do or don’t have y’kno? But either way, we are getting married before we leave this system.”

His words seemed to calm her, and stating his determination to wed the woman he was holding did a lot to settle his own nerves as the turbolift doors slid open and they continued towards the airlock. Reaching the entrance to his ship, Dustin gave Sammie’s hand one last squeeze before reaching out and opening the door.

His pilot’s smile and hesitant wave along with a comment of “hi mum, hi dad!” would have clued him in on who the people on the far side of the entrance were, even if he’d not been expecting them to be there. And that was without considering the obvious family resemblance; Sammie’s mother was the spitting image of her daughter - older, yes, and with gray streaking through her braids, but with the same warm smile and easy confidence he loved in the woman by his side. Her father, meanwhile had stepped a pace forward from his wife and offered Dustin his hand to shake.

Reaching out, Dustin did his best to make a good impression as his fingers grasped the hand of a man who had clearly worked long and hard to get to his position in life, often in difficult circumstances and conditions. Sammie’s father held the handshake a moment, eyes piercing into Dustin’s before he let go and nodded. “Sammie told us you grew up poor in Contact City. Hard living gets into the bones - you might not be a spacer, but you’re clearly not above hard graft. Shall we go meet the rest of the members of this den of vice that you’ve lured my daughter into?”

The words were harsh - but said with a joking tone and a sparkle in his eye. As Sammie’s outraged cry of “Dad!” echoed through the passage, Dustin nodded and stepped to one side. “They’re waiting in the ready room, sir. Welcome aboard.”

Striding down the passageway ahead of them, Sammie’s father winced. “Pleasure to be here son. But for god’s sake don’t call me sir, makes me sound like a damn bureaucrat. Call me Captain Coastwood if you must be official, Devin if you’re being normal about it, and you can call me dad like little Sammie here does if you like once we’ve gotten the two of you safely hitched.” Leaning in and lowering his voice so that his wife couldn’t hear, the captain added “although, on that note, be prepared for my wife. With Eve so busy with her career building starships, Leora’s more or less written her off as a source of grandkids, and given Sammie tells me you’ve already got three newborns with another on the way…”

Dustin felt his cheeks turning a deep red as he half-stumbled at the man’s words. Behind him, Sammie was talking far more animatedly and excitedly with her mother than he was used to, the opportunity to catch up clearly not being lost on either woman. Coughing to cover his embarrassment, he nodded to Devin and thumbed the controls for the turbolift. “Thanks for the warning, si… Devin. I’ll take it under advisement.”

A hand clapped him on the back as the Captain gave a chuckle. “Spoken like a damn politician. Well, I guess you have to in your line of work, but make sure you don’t forget your roots. I’ve seen too many people get a pay-check and forget everyone they…” the man’s words died in his throat as he saw Dustin’s expression. It seemed that Dustin hadn’t gotten over his worries about being there for his children as much as he’d thought he had; he found himself scowling at Sammie’s father at the mere suggestion he could forget where he came from. Devin took a breath and nodded, before changing tack. “Right. I apologize, Dustin. I had friends working construction when the attack that took your parents hit. I should have been more careful with my words.”

Dustin swallowed hard, his emotions a mess as stress, worry about not getting this jovial man’s approval to marry Sammie and his past all swirled around his head. Forcing the whirl to calm with a conscious effort, he shook himself and did his best to smile at his soon-to-be father-in-law as the lift dinged open. “Don’t worry about it, Devin. I’m sorry too - I shouldn’t have taken it so hard, but I’ve been a little sensitive of late, new parent jitters and all."