Twenty minutes. Ash felt sick, the door to the captain’s ready room looming larger with each passing second. He sat at the secondary engineering console near the helm station, so he had perfect line of sight to the ready room door. 

“Hey!” Rennox, the ensign he’d met on the base on the way here, leaned against the console next to him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You okay?” 

“Yeah.” No. He felt sick. Utterly sick. 

“Really?” Rennox raised his eyebrow. “Pull the other one, mate, it’s got bells on.”

Ash frowned. “What on llanar does that mean?”

“Not a freaking clue,” Rennox grinned, a flash of white teeth. Even seated, Asher was almost as tall as the other ensign when he was standing.  

“It’s something my grandpa always said. It means I don’t believe you. Come on,” he ordered, jerking his head toward the turbolift. “You’ve got time before the captain wants you, and he’s on the comm to the Resolute’s captain anyway. Captain Reese-Riggs can talk the hind leg off a donkey.”

Ash shook his head, glancing at Lieutenant Kovash at helm. 

“Go. Yeoman right, Mason busy,” she said, lifting a hand and making it ‘talk’. “I cover. If bring back coffee with sparkles,” she ordered. 

“You got it, ma’am,” he said quickly, sliding from his seat before anyone could change their minds and followed Rennox to the turbolift. “Coffee with sparkles coming up.”

The door closed and he leaned his head back against the wall with a groan.

“So… what gives?” Rennox asked. “It’s just the captain.”

“Just the captain? Just the captain?” Ash’s voice, deep most of the time, reached a high pitched squeak he hadn’t managed since before puberty. “Are you kidding me? That’s not just a captain that’s General Mason! General Raan Mason! He’s like… a freaking legend back on my planet!”

“He was a general in the big war on your planet, wasn’t he?” Rennox asked, herding Ash out of the turbolift when it stopped. 

“Seriously. You’ll be fine,” he said when Ash just nodded. “I fought with him on one of our recent missions.”

“Yeah?” Ash’s head felt like it was on a swivel as they waited for their orders at the replicator. It didn’t seem to be working because his standard order was iced raktajino, but it gave him something hot with marshmallows, cream and sprinkles. 

“Uh-huh,” Rennox nodded, collecting two more drinks and nodding to the last one. “Grab that one,” he ordered. 

“Yeah… it was my first combat mission,” the other ensign explained as they headed back toward the turbolift. “He looked after me, stopped me making a big mistake. A real big mistake.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Ash inclined his head, amazed that the tiny human next to him had fought with Raan Mason. “My dad says he’s amazing in battle. Like seriously hardcore. According to my dad, Mason like won the war single-handed.”

Rennox chuckled. “That wouldn’t surprise me. We went up against Jem’Hadar… I thought we were goners, but the captain knew just what to do. But he’s not that scary—“ He stopped and grinned. “Okay, he is scary. But he’s just a person, you’ll be fine. And you’re llanarian! As soon as he knows you’re llanarian as well, you’ll be fine. You’re the same species!” he announced as they stepped into the turbolift. “That’s gotta get you some brownie points, surely!”

“Yeah… maybe not.” Ash looked at the drinks he held. His and one with sprinkles, marshmallows and, of all things, a sparkler. “The captain already knows I’m llanarian. And who I am.” 

“Oh?” Curiosity filled Rennox’s eyes. “He does? How? I thought you were straight from the academy, so you can’t have served together before.”

Asher felt sick again. “He’s my dad.”

“Holy shit! Did you say… your dad?” Rennox’s eyes widened, then he frowned. “I thought you said your dad said Mason was amazing in battle?”

“Yeah, he did. Mason is my other father,” Asher explained, remembering that Rennox was human. “Like, he’s my stepfather? He and my dad have been married since the war.”

The turbolift door opened before Rennox could ask the questions that were obviously on the tip of his tongue and they stepped out onto the bridge. At the same time the door to the Captain’s ready room swept open and Mason appeared. His gaze swept the bridge and locked onto Asher. 

“Ensign Thane,” his voice thundered across the expansive Manticore bridge. “Come right in, and bring that coffee.”