Starbound

Usually, Sammie pushed the shuttles whenever they were returning to Sola from a planet’s surface. It was a habit, her love of fast flight combined with the urge to get home - after spending almost her entire life in space, the starship had become home for her far quicker than for any of the other crew. On this particular morning, however, the engines softly hummed as they rose into the sky, the pilot applying the bare minimum amount of power needed for a smooth ascent.

In the rear of the craft, Dustin hovered nervously beside the row of cots, practically vibrating with worry. “Sit down, Dustin. The monitors will let me know if there is anything that needs looking at while we’re in transit, and if there is, you’ll just get in the way pacing there.” Bleu’s voice was tired but caring as she frowned across at him. Beside the medic, Emely patted the free seat; with a sigh he turned and sank into it.

Travel was slow, the shuttle crawling it’s way through the atmosphere until at last the sky outside faded to black and the form of Sola came into view. Their tiny vessel ghosted alongside, the bulk of the larger craft shielding them from the wider galaxy until at last Sammie brought them to a complete stop, rotated the shuttle on it’s axis, and then slid smoothly into the shuttlebay.

Three days had passed between the arrival of Dustin’s offspring and Bleu clearing the newborns and their mothers for spaceflight. Technically, Trea’k and her daughter had been able to travel far sooner - but the Vex’ess woman had been unwilling to leave Meli and the twins behind, and even if she had wanted to leave, the rest of their family had already made plans to stay on the planet until they could all go home together. Now, the shuttle doors slid open, and the Queri medic was everywhere all at once, fussing around the gravsleds that held the cots, manoeuvring Meli onto her own hovering conveyance and then glaring at Trea’k until at last the insect woman sighed and also moved to sit on one of the anti-grav seats.

With the mothers and offspring safely ensconced on floating platforms, the group headed through the ship to the nursery. Settling everyone in, Bleu stood back and finally allowed herself to smile. “And that, unless any alarms go, is my job done for now. We’ll have a few more checkups over the next couple of weeks - but hopefully neither of you will be causing me any problems as long as you rest.” She paused, then glared at Trea’k. “That means no laying eggs for at least a week, like we already discussed. A month or two wouldn’t make any difference to your plans, but I know I’m not going to get you to wait that long so at least a week please.”

Arriving back in his ready-room somewhat reluctantly after his wife and mate had more or less ordered him to get back to work, Dustin sagged into his seat. Almost immediately, Naera appeared at his elbow with a drink and plate of snacks. “Eat,” she said, the Caenii’s tone far stricter than he was accustomed to.

Sitting up and doing as instructed, he did his best to grin. “Guess I kinda should expect this kind of treatment for a bit after how daft I was being, huh?” he replied, his thoughts drifting back to the talk he’d had with his lovers a few days prior.

The discussion had taken place on the afternoon of the day after the births. After Rye’s confession, he’d not wanted to bring the mood down with his own issues - and indeed, had meant what he said about waiting until they could all be together. When Bleu had moved the two new mothers into one room for longer-term monitoring until they were ready to return to Sola (and to allow the full harem to gather), he’d taken the chance while Jaisyl was busy on a call back to her homeworld in the shuttle.

“I know I’ve been… distant lately,” he began, the assembled women turning to focus on him from their own conversations, Meli and Trea’k making the effort to sit up as attentively as they could. Yril’k stood, moving towards the door before Dustin reached out and caught her arm. “I’d like you to stay too, please. I’m aware that me being distracted has an impact on you as head of security, and besides that - you’re my friend, Yril’k.”

The Vex’ess warrior paused, then nodded once and returned to where she’d been sitting next to Trea’k. Dustin waited until she’d settled, then took a deep breath. “First of all - this isn’t because of anything you’ve done, or that I’ve done, or that… I’m not making much sense am I?” He paused, then began again. “Okay. So, I am very happy at the moment. Ecstatically so. But… I’ve told you all about my parents, so you all know they died when I was very young, right?”

The assembled women nodded, Emely reaching out and squeezing his hand as he continued, “well, since we got close to Earth - no, more or less about the time we left that research station - I’ve been struggling with my emotions around that. Ugh, I’m still not being very clear am I?” At another reassuring squeeze from Emely, he tried again. “I’m worried that… Well, that I won’t be a good father to our kids. Like, my parents… they weren’t around a lot, even before they passed. And I’m the ambassador, and we’ve got the war, and with all that - will I be able to give them the time they deserve and need?”

Meli spoke first, breaking the silence that had settled as they took on board what he’d said. “Husband,” she began, Dustin’s eyes snapping to his first love. “You are a complete idiot sometimes, I swear.” Her ears flickered into weary amusement as the Velca gestured around the circle of their friends and family - then winced, the movement badly thought out given her recent birthing. “Firstly, you should have spoken with us sooner about this, so that we could have called you an idiot sooner. I, personally, and I’m sure Trea’k, would have loved to let out some of our late-term stress by berating you about worrying over something so obviously untrue.”

She paused, her eyes softening as she smiled at him. “To put your worries to rest, however - we all live together. We all work together. Our offspring will be close, and to be honest are likely to see more of you than my studies indicate is usual for human offspring. Yes, there will be times when your work will get in the way. But that is the nature of parenthood - every job will have times and days where you have things that must be done, so that you can continue to support your children.”

Emely wormed her way under Dustin’s arm at that point, shifting until his fingers were tracing the swell of her stomach. “Meli’s right, Dusty. You don’t need to worry about it, you just need to make sure you take care of yourself. Between all of us, we’ll make sure you have the time to give the kids the paternal attention they need. Besides, there’s going be a pretty large chunk of time when they’ll be around while we’re working, unless you’re planning on making Meli take the next three years off.” Grinning, the redhead pulled back far enough that he could see her wink as she added “and I think she’d bite you if you tried that.”

The aftermath of the discussion had been threefold. Firstly, Dustin had promised that he would share his worries with them in future. Secondly, the entire group had committed to making sure that everyone had the time they needed to support their growing family (barring any major disasters that required all hands on deck), especially given Rye’s decision to join Emely in approaching motherhood. And thirdly… he sighed and took another bite of the food Naera had provided. Thirdly, he was being bossed around by his lovers until such time as they felt he was fully over his concerns. Hence the reason the green shortstack had forced a meal on him the instant they’d gotten to the ready-room.

Taking a sip of the mocha that had accompanied the snack, he closed his eyes briefly to clear his thoughts, then glanced across the table at Emely. “If I have to be getting back to work, then I should get back to work. I know you’ve been talking to EarthGov - do we have a list of potential new destinations?”

The redhead nodded, tapping her tablet. “Several, actually - but before we discuss all that, we’ve a stop to make. You promised Izzy that she could be an Auntie, and given the latest message I got from Terri indicated they weren’t in a place they could travel away from Lemth space, we should probably go pay them a visit. Unless you don’t want to go see your friend?” Emely stuck out her tongue as she finished, and Dustin sighed. It was going to be one of those conversations, clearly.