Exhausted, drained and depleted, Lieutenant Commander Craigen Flemen entered his quarters and stifled a yawn. He had just completed his morning workout in one of the ship’s gyms and was keen to head into his sonic shower before making his way to the Auditorium for breakfast. Today was his first day back to duty, after having several days to himself to recover from the entire experience with the blood dilithium and the baby telepathic pitcher plant. During his recovery, he found that going to the gym at least three times a day and keeping up with his fitness regimen helped him get his mind off any stray thoughts about the entire situation. Though he felt guilt over what he had done, he had come to terms with the fact that it wasn’t him in control of his body. Nevertheless, it hurt, and it hurt hard. 

Counsellor Horin had started some small support groups to deal with their trauma, and he found his group particularly helpful. It mainly consisted of the senior staff who had led a mutiny against the captain. Horin led the group session, using The Lion Gate to host their group, and she always put out sweet treats and plenty of hot drinks at every session. In every session, the group would share something they either remembered or felt from their collective experience. Last night Flemen recalled how he, Samris and T’Rani had attacked Hunsen in the turbolift. It had made him sick to his stomach how violent he could have been. As a result of last night’s revelation, he had spent an extra hour taking out his frustration on the punch bag in the gymnasium. 

Walking towards the curved staircase that would take him up to his bedroom, he paused as he saw someone sitting in his living room area. Wandering over, he smirked as he saw that his small dining room table was laid out with food and one familiar figure sat at one of the chairs.

“S’Tem, what are you doing here?” Flemen asked, curious to find the young Romulan boy there.

“We’re here to join you for breakfast,” Tomaz answered for his son as he revealed himself from behind Flemen and out of the tiny galley that sat to one side of the main living area. 

Turning to see his friend come out with a plate full of toast, Flemen was taken aback by this surprise. “Tomaz, what…how…what…” He stumbled to get out, confused by his friend’s appearance in his quarters.

Placing the plate down, Tomaz turned to his friend. “We know it was your first day back on duty, and I -” He paused to correct himself as he looked at S’Tem “we wanted to give you a good start.”

Flemen smiled at the gesture. “You really shouldn’t have.”

“Why not Uncle Craigen?” S’Tem asked as he poured orange juice into three empty glasses.

“I-I-I,” Flemen stuttered. “I really appreciate it.”

“Think nothing of it,” Tomaz said with a smile. 

Flemen turned to his friend, “Tomaz, you need to know I’m sorr-” He was about to say sorry, but Tomaz placed his right hand over his friend’s mouth, muffling the last sound.

“I’ve told you before; I don’t want to hear it,” Tomaz assured his friend. “You know none of us hates you for what happened to you while the blood dilithium affected you and the others, along with everything Princess got you to do too.” He then removed his hand, “Do you get it?”

Flemen nodded. “I know, but I don’t deserve this.” He gestured to the breakfast spread.

“Can’t I spoil one of my best friends once in a while?” Tomaz asked. “I know your recovery has been difficult, but we’re here for you. Aren’t we, S’Tem?”

“Sure thing, dad!” The young lad said. “Now hurry up, Uncle Craigen, we’ve got double chocolate chip muffins for later!”

Flemen chuckled. “Sounds amazing,” He turned to Tomaz and hugged him. “Thanks, mate.”

“Anytime,” Tomaz replied, returning the gesture. “Now, I love you like a brother, so what I’m about to say, I say it from a place of love, but seriously man, go take a shower.” Tomaz broke from their embrace. “You are sticky and smelly from the amount you have sweated from your morning workout; plus, I can smell the chlorine from the swimming pool on you.”

Flemen chuckled before agreeing to head upstairs and shower before joining them for breakfast. 

“The time is oh-seven hundred hours.”

Hearing the computer announce the time woke Louwanna Horin up from her deep sleep. Ever since she became pregnant, she had found her sleep patterns all over the place, and when she was asleep, she would enter deep nights of sleep with vivid dreams. Blinking a few times, she pushed the bedsheets off her and looked around the bedroom she shared with Hunsen. Their king-size bed was colder than usual, and she soon realised he wasn’t there. 

Imzadi?

She called out through her mind and soon felt his presence nearby. Getting up, she walked across their room and towards the bathroom. Pressing the button, she was immediately presented with Tremt Hunsen standing in front of a mirror, checking himself out in his uniform.

“Hey, handsome,” She called out to him, walked up behind him, and placed her arms around his waist. 

“Morning,” He said, smiling at her touch. “You okay?”

She nodded. “You?”

He nodded and took a deep breath in. “I think so.”

“One day at a time,” She reminded him. 

“One day at a time,” He echoed before turning around to her. “I don’t deserve you, Imzadi.”

“The feeling is mutual,” She went onto her tiptoes and kissed him briefly. Her hand stroked the side of his left cheek; his smooth skin felt good against her fingers. The lack of stubble was a first, but she enjoyed it as much as he did.

 “Do you want some breakfast?” He offered, still holding her close. 

“That sounds lovely,” She muttered to him before they kissed again, but she quickly pushed him back and placed her hand in front of her mouth.

“Morning sickness?” He asked before she suddenly pushed by him and went towards the sink, emptying her stomach.

“Sorry,” She answered back. 

“Let me get you a glass of water,” He offered.

She shook her head before she puked further. “No,” She said in between her hurling, “it’s your first day; I want to make it special-” She was sick again.

“Louwanna, it’s okay!” He replied as he left their bathroom and headed to get her a drink of water.

Walking up to the replicator, he ordered a glass of cold water, and as the beverage materialised, he soon saw his reflection against the display. For a moment, he could feel those Brenari he met during their connection with Princess. Then she was there—the baby telepathic pitcher plant’s appearance in the neurogenic field. She smiled at him, and for the first time, he didn’t feel anxious, he didn’t feel sick, he felt calm. Picking up the glass, he closed his eyes and found the strength to carry on. He knew he had to, and he turned around to head back to the bathroom; a sense of warmth fell over him before he soon heard Horin puke up her guts one more time.

He shuddered, wondering how bad it would smell and how much longer she would endure during her pregnancy. Nevertheless, this was it; he was starting fresh today and knew he had to take on the challenges he faced, and Horin was always by his side.

Imzadi, he called out to her with the same warmth he finally felt within.

Horin turned around at the sink and smiled at him. She felt his calmness and some peace around him.

That was before she had to turn back around and throw up another time quickly.

Hunsen sighed; maybe life was getting back to normal, he considered.

Though it was starting to become busy with people, there were barely any Brenari among the crowds queuing up for breakfast for the first time in days. The gentle hum of an atmosphere was apparent in The Auditorium. Those who were there were those who would be reporting for the alpha duty shift in less than an hour and a half. After queuing up to grab a plate of food and a hot drink, Cline Lenjir walked across the vast lower floor of the Auditorium and joined the group he had planned to meet this morning.

“Morning, everyone,” He said softly as he took an empty chair.

Jisaraa looked up and smiled at her superior, “Good Morning, sir,” She was gripping a mug of hot tea between her green fingertips. “How are you?”

He wobbled his head, “So, so, it was weird putting the uniform on this morning.”

“I know the feeling,” Keli said beside him. “Though on some level, it felt good.”

“I’d prefer another hour or so in bed, to be perfectly honest,” Jisaraa replied to her Coridianite superior.

“Amen to that,” Keli said as she lifted her mug of coffee and tapped it against Jisaraa’s.

Lenjir smirked at his two assistants as he pulled the serviette from his tray and placed it over his lap. “Have either of you spoken to anyone from the department who is returning to duty today?”

Keli nodded, “A few; the anxiety level is a bit high, but I think focussing on building those shelters for the Brenari will help reduce that and keep everyone focussed.”

Lenjir nodded. “I’m heading down later on with one of the survey teams.” He sighed.

Noticing his reaction, Keli looked at her boss. “Cline, it’s going to be okay.”

“Absolutely,” Jisaraa agreed. “As we said in the support group last night, we need to promote to everyone that the security and tactical department can turn things around.”

“But it’s our job to protect everyone,” Lenjir replied. “We didn’t do that.”

“And we’re back to square one,” Keli replied as she dropped her fork onto her plate and looked at Lenjir. “Sir, what has happened has happened, and as Counsellor Horin said, it’s time we move forward. We couldn’t help what had happened; none of us could.”

“Place the worry into building something good,” Jisaraa supported. “Place it in proving to everyone that we can do our job and recover from what has happened.”

Nodding in agreement, he knew that both women were right. “How did I get so lucky, and have you two wise women assigned to me?” 

“Wise women?” Keli remarked, pretending to be offended by that comment.

“Wise, beautiful, powerful women would be a better description, sir,” Jisaraa corrected him.

“Absolutely,” Lenjir said with a smirk, raising his coffee mug at them both. “Thank you.”

“Anytime!” Keli said, clinking her mug against Lenjir.

“We’ve got each other’s backs,” Jisaraa reaffirmed before returning to her breakfast.

Picking up his fork, Lenjir attacked the scrambled egg and took a bit. One step at a time, he thought. 

“All hail the chief!” Tierra remarked as she entered main engineering, hand in hand with her wife, Abbej.

Looking up from the centre table, Lieutenant Commander Lukiz Jen smiled at the arrival of Odyssey’s senior assistant chief engineer. “Tierra, Abbej, what are you two doing here so early in the morning?”

“The same thought crossed my mind,” Tierra replied warmly. The Deltan woman approached her superior. “I thought I would get started before Commander Hunsen arrived, but I can see our new chief engineer hasn’t left.”

Chuckling, Jen shook his head. “I’m more than happy to hand the reigns of engineering back to you and Tremt.” 

“See, I told you that Lukiz would be happy to have you both back,” Abbej said, jabbing her wife in the side. “We heard you pulled another double shift overnight?”

Jen nodded, “The work with the Brenari shelter operation has kept me busy, along with repairs to the ship’s life support systems.”

“Then let me take over, and my beautiful wife can take you to breakfast,” Tierra offered. 

“Decter, Remi and Marova are going to save us a table if you fancy joining us?” Abbej offered.

Jen sighed and glanced down at the chronometer on the display. “Getting something to eat and then heading home to sleep does sound appealing.” He looked at Tierra, “Are you sure, lieutenant?”

“Are you kidding me? She’s been itching to return to duty for days now; I had almost to stick her in a confinement field,” Abbej remarked. 

Tierra chuckled and nodded. “I’m ready to do my bit, sir.”

Jen handed a PADD over to her, “Then here’s what’s left to do on the to-do list. I’ll get Decter to check in before I get back on duty later this afternoon.”

 Taking the PADD, the Deltan deputy chief engineer nodded as she reviewed its contents. “All looks simple enough,” She replied. 

“Thanks, Tierra,” Jen said as he logged out of the console and started to walk out of engineering with Abbej, “And Tierra, it’s good to have you back!” He said after turning back to face the Deltan woman.

“It’s good to be back,” Tierra remarked with a proud grin before calling her engineer staff around for a catch-up to get on with the day’s work ahead of them.

In a private treatment room within sickbay, T’Rani sat on the edge of one of the biobeds with Samris standing beside her and holding her hand. Both were in their uniform and anxiously sat there waiting for Doctor Slyvexs to complete her work.

Closing her tricorder, the Denobulan doctor placed it beside T’Rani on the bed and looked at both of her visitors.

The doctor smiled. “Congratulations, you’re pregnant, commander.”

T’Rani took a deep breath before Samris pulled her in for a hug and thanked the doctor for the excellent news.

When the door chime went off, Max Duncan was about to go and answer it and instead was stopped by surprise due to the calling out of his youngest son.

“I’ll get it; I’ll get it!” William screamed as he rushed down the curved staircase and down to the living room area. 

“Slow down, William!” Duncan called after his son.

Rushing towards the door, William pressed the button and opened the door to show the arrival of the two of the McCallister-Reyas boys. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey Will, you ready for our trip?” Henri asked his friend.

“Absolutely,” William replied before turning back to his dads, “See you later, guys. Have a good day!”

“Hang on!” Duncan called out with a slight chuckle, “Where are you guys off to this early?”

William turned to his father, “I told you last night that Henri and I have that soccer match we’re going to go and watch on the holodeck this morning.”

“Oh, okay, I didn’t realise it was going to be that early!” Duncan replied before encouraging his son to get going. He turned and saw that Alfie was still hanging in the doorway. “Cadet, get in before you get dragged into something.”

“Thank you, sir,” Alfie replied as he entered. “Is Jordan up yet?”

Court then entered the living room from the office and answered that question to his godson. “Unfortunately, your best bud is still in the shower; he seems to be spending a lot of time getting himself ready in the morning. Any ideas?”

Smirking because he knew why Alfie just shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Uncle Tobie.”

Duncan looked at Alfie for a moment. “You know I’m a fully trained counsellor, cadet; I can tell when someone is lying.”

“I’m not lying, sir, just protecting a fellow cadet’s…integrity,” Alfie replied, still grinning.

Court gave out a big laugh and looked at his husband. “That’s enough to confirm our suspicions, Alf. We know about Cadet Grant and Jordan.”

“You heard nothing from me,” Alfie begged his godfather.

Tobias placed his hand over his heart, “We promise not to say anything,” He looked at his husband, “Do we, Max?”

Duncan shook his head. “Not at all, now Alfie, you look like you’ve not eaten. Care to join us for something while you wait for your bestie?”

Alfie nodded, “That sounds perfect, thank you, commander.”

“How comes you’ve not eaten today?” Court asked as he passed Alfie a croissant on a plate.

“I was up early, like Henri, to get here, and Theo is taking shifts to help out in the Auditorium, plus dad wasn’t around.” He answered.

Both Duncan and Court looked at each other after hearing that last bit.

“Where is your dad?” Court asked as he poured a mug of tea for Alfie.

Alfie took a bite of his croissant, “We assumed he was still on the planet below.”

“What was he doing down there?” Duncan wondered.

“Visiting Mayor Adale.”

Duncan and Court both smirked at each other before carrying on with their breakfast.

Banfield rarely got sat in her living room doing work, but today she had off, and she had decided before her husband woke up she would use the morning to catch up on a couple of reports from her department. She was now on the last one and was sipping on a mug of raktajino when she paused at the final part of the report she was reading. It was an analysis of the sensor sweeps she took of the planet that the Devore had destroyed to mine the blood dilithium crystal. She had one of her subordinates look deeper at the readings after returning to the ship several days ago. Pausing in what she was reading, she placed her mug on the coffee table before her, sat up straight, and read the sentence she was now glaring at.

Possible interlink frequency detected.

She sighed, “qu’vatlh” she cursed in Klingonese.

Brenari Colony

James felt a single hand, followed by a warm arm wrapping around his waist and pulling him closer to the body beside him.

Slowly he turned around in the tight bedsheets, catching a flash of his uniform sprawled across the floor beside him, and saw the smile that waited for him. “Morning,” He whispered.

“Hey,” Adale said. “So last night.”

“So last night,” He repeated with a smile. “I don’t usually do this.”

“Likewise,” She replied. 

“So, will this be awkward?” McCallister asked.

Adale shook her head. “Absolutely not,” She leaned in, kissed him on his lips, and pulled the sheets over them.