Sigil of the Wolf - 2. Chapter 2

Imperial Palace - Karin

Darien Taine, RN, FS, Highlord VonGrippen, Aga-Khan of the Nizari Isma'ili sect, hero of Eisenhower, Arcanis, and Haligonian Station, liberator of Taïr, Captain of the HMS Excalibur... the titles ran on and on.

Darien tried not to think of the cost each of those titles had borne. It was too high in his opinion, too high by far. But that wasn't his choice; it was up to the men and women who had served under him on the long road to liberating Humanity from the Amsus occupation.

Men and women who even now sat anxious to rejoin the struggle.

He brushed down the Imperial dress uniform, VonGrippen's greatcoat draped over his shoulders. The large black coat with its blood-red lapels signified his allegiance, his prominence and everything he had become. It still didn't feel right to wear it, but in the mire of Karin politics it was a clear-cut symbol that he wouldn't be drawn into their power games.

Yet another state function, another night of being paraded around like the triumphant hero, in front of the politicos of Karin high society. Archduke Walker was garnering support for his troubled war effort by using every last ounce of political collateral he had, and borrowing heavily for every ounce he didn't.

It was the price Walker paid for the democratic reforms he was trying to institute. This was a culture that had been held in the grip of terror for three hundred years, ruled by pirate barons who had exploited the world and enforced their own kind of law. The fledgling Senate and its elected officials were loath to give up their hard won freedom; Karin's support of the war effort presented a staggering bill that not even the newly forged trade alliance with the Orion Directorates would cover. Money, they felt, would be better spent on rebuilding the Apilon Rift and Karin's infrastructure.

He paced the small waiting room he had been shown into, trying to ignore the rich carpets and high leaded windows that bespoke of a grandeur long past. Archduke Walker von Karin, the leader of the Empire, was late - but Darien was becoming accustomed to it. Walker had adapted from being a playboy noble in constitutional stewardship of Karin to being the head of the newly elected Imperial Senate. Like all of them, he had adapted to the role thrust upon him.

Taine himself had adapted as well, going from a TER-SEC Inspector to Starship Captain literally overnight. For the last two years Darien had fought to stabilize the Apilon Rift, wresting worlds back from the Pirate Barons. Those who hadn't pledged to the Empire, Taine had hunted down; some were brought to justice, whereas others like Zixor had died. But finally that task was completed, and Darien was hoping to be allowed to return to the front, where he belonged.

For the past six months the Excalibur had been undergoing repairs, after being beaten into something nearly unrecognisable by the trials at Arcanis and Taïr, and battling pirates in the far reaches of the former Commonwealth, chasing them up and down the Gorean border. It was better than the task of administering the newly formed Royal Navy. He was technically its most senior Captain, his commission being signed first by Walker before there was even a thought about reforming the Imperial Empire, but the fact that he was a Highlord meant that he wasn't tied to a desk pushing papers.

He hated the bureaucracy, the endless meetings, and the strategic planning. After the Empire had secured the Haligonian Jump Nexus and forged its beachhead, the Amsus forces had fallen back to their entrenched secondary defensive positions, throwing the bulk of their fleet into halting the Imperial advance. The grand invasion had stalled, and two years of bitter fighting had produced nothing more than a few captured systems.

Darien stopped by the window, looking down at the snow-covered rooftops of Karin City, a sprawling metropolis in the heart of what had been a backwater region, back before the Empire fell. It was a bustling city, filled with life, but held firmly in a war mentality. They had become used to the endless casualty reports, the new Imperial academies churning out fresh-eyed recruits to send to the front to serve in the Navy or under the intrepid General Iver, the Supreme Allied Commander overseeing the Imperial Armies. More meat for the grinder; it always seemed that the bodies returning from the front outnumbered those being sent to it.

Darien knew that he desperately craved being out there as well, craved feeling the ship under his feet as he actually did what he was asking so many people to do for him. He wanted to walk the decks of his ship, to make a real difference.

Excalibur was his ship; she wore VonGrippen's Striking Falcons on her hull. While the other ships recovered from the lost Imperial fleet were pressed into service under the von Karin banner, his ship remained independent, the Empire's only Command Carrier. She could provide the much needed fighter support to the embattled forces entrenched on the front.

Walker never stood on ceremony. He was wearing his customary roguish grin as he entered the small waiting room, leaning forward to shake Darien's hand firmly. "Darien," the Leader of the Empire said, greeting him with a simple nod.

"Walker," Darien replied, smiling and feeling awkward in the full dress uniform. On a world dominated by Yellow-trimmed Karin uniforms or the royal Blue of House Kardiac, the red was rare enough to catch the eye. It marked him and his crew and made them stand out. Heroes to the people who knew what wearing red entailed.

Walker smiled warmly looking about the room, "I thought you were bringing that young man of yours, after all this time I was looking forward to meeting him."

"He's around," Darien said, frowning as he looked towards the door, wondering where Elias was. The engineer had complained about needing to find a washroom, and - typically - had disappeared without a trace.

Walker smiled, looking up at a couple of members of his entourage standing uncertainly in the doorway, hoping to catch five seconds of his attention and draw him back to matters of state. "They seem adamant that I have to meet with the Gorean ambassador at this dinner, and I'm hoping to convince the Senate finance committee..." He smiled again catching Darien's arm and guiding him over to the large windows. "For the love of god, what did you get me into?"

Darien chuckled as he leaned against the masonry framing the window, shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder that myself," he murmured, pausing to look back at his friend, sighing as he realized how much they both hated the roles they had found themselves in. "You need me on the front," he said firmly, "Not running around the back water systems playing police officer."

"I agree," Walker said, folding his arms and keeping his back turned to the entourage so that they wouldn't hear the conversation, "However, General Iver wants you as far away from 'his fight' as possible."

"General Iver's just worried I'm going to show him up." Darien retorted, "I'm not in this for personal glory, Walker..."

"I know that, Darien," Walker murmured softly, "However, you do have a tendency to manage the impossible... stealing a Jump Nexus out from under the Amsus noses to name but one." He shook his head. "General Iver commands a lot of Senatorial support, he's popular with the men, and I can't risk losing him over a perceived slight. If I send you to the front, I'd have to place you under his command, which means you'd be supporting ground operations and guarding troop transports. You're no good to the Empire there."

"And keeping me here is?" Darien pressed, shaking his head.

"No," Walker admitted truthfully, "I can't justify that either. What we should do is send you back behind enemy lines where you can do as much damage as you can, weaken their lines, supply routes and morale... anything to allow our forces to punch through their defences."

"Then I am going to go," Darien said nodding as he folded his arms, "I have an independent command, Excalibur belongs to my House, to hell with what Iver thinks." He shook his head, "It's better than simply sitting here with a perfectly good ship and an experienced crew..." He shook his head.

"I know," Walker said reluctantly as he rested his hands on the window sill and peered into the gloomy skies over Karin, "There's only one way that's going to happen. If I release you from Naval service, then neither the Senate nor Iver can stop you from doing what you need to do."

Darien folded his arms, looking out as well; they both knew that the rank was meaningless. He was a Highlord; he could be a lieutenant and still wield more power than an Admiral. It was just a way for Iver and the Senate to keep a reign on Darien. "All right." He said after a long pause.

Walker inclined his head. "You do better on your own, free of this bureaucracy anyway, you aren't a Karin officer, you shouldn't be expected to follow rank and file. Just, for god's sake, don't rub Iver's nose in it."

They both smiled, knowing that the eccentric General would have a fit if the Excalibur were to return to the front under the command of a Highlord. But both men realized that a protracted war accomplished nothing but to grind down the Senatorial resolve.

Walker shook his head with a tight smile. "You're on independent duty, the Excalibur is your ship..." he nodded, "clear the road to Earth."

* * *

Darien stood off to one side standing holding a glass of wine as he watched the night sky out of the tall windows overlooking the city of Karin. The state dinner had moved on to an evening reception, the Gorean ambassador being well received by the dignitaries of the Karin Elite.

He kept himself slightly apart from the main crowds, engaging in polite conversation with military officers that joined him to offer their congratulations on dealing with Zixor, or aspiring politicos hoping to introduce the dashing young Highlord to their daughters.

The latter always made him smile; after three hundred years under the pirate barons, a daughter was still the fastest way to gain political connections, and many of them believed that the de facto head of House VonGrippen would make the ideal husband.

Too bad he was taken.

He turned from the window, looking across the floor towards the marble stairs and the young man standing so uncertainly in his simple high-collared black suit. His hair was perfectly combed, hanging down across one eye while pulled back from the off-centre parting. His one visible eye sparkled in the light as he pulled down on the cuffs of the suit jacket to hide his hands, biting his lip as he bounced up on tiptoes trying to spot Darien.

James, a constant shadow since Eqyr-Ouso, kept back a few paces, keeping his eye on the Aga-Khan. Taine's personal bodyguards had taken up their role after a number of protests from the Highlord, but when he realized he couldn't really stop them, he had come to accept their presence.

The Highlord set his glass aside, moving around a large potted plant, smiling as he just watched Elias a moment. Awkward and unused to social events, yet still eager to try his best, he'd managed to avoid the other state functions up till this point, too shy to participate. But Walker had insisted Darien invite him, no doubt curious to the relationship whispered about in certain circles.

* * *

Walker laughed at the joke the Gorean ambassador, Xanatos, had made, the hulking lizard-like creature curling his tail around a specially constructed perch where he could sit, his arms crossing and uncrossing to emphasize his speech as his scaled jowls puffed and settled back again with each word.

Xanatos reached into a large bucket, selecting the juiciest rodent from it and watching it wriggle in his hands before he coiled his long tongue about it, and swept it into his gullet, still struggling for its life. He swallowed it whole, gulping as he tilted his head back, smacking his lips at the enjoyable flavour.

"...And I plan to travel on to the Orion Directorate via their next Tradeliner, beautiful ships..." The ambassador said between gulps.

Walker paled slightly; he'd never grown accustomed to the way a Gorean ate. Turning his head, he noticed the young man at the top of the broad flight of steps shyly looking around. He nearly dropped his glass.

"Excuse me, Ambassador," he said, bowing to the creature that huffed and hissed, spreading his fanned hood a little as he reached for another rodent.

Walker cut through the crowd, nodding politely to those that stopped him to say hello, trying to get a better look. He was a historian, one of the few men with an archive that had survived the fall of the Empire. Endless lessons under private tutors that had drilled into him day after day the days leading up to the end of the Empire. An Empire he was striving to rebuild.

He drew up short when a grey-clad Imperial Intelligence officer intercepted him. Lt. Colonel Evans was a tall, delicately thin man with keen eyes and long hawkish face. He glanced at his Archduke, and then over towards the stairs.

"That's..." Walker indicated, keeping his voice low.

"The resemblance is uncanny, your grace," Evans replied, his voice almost purring the words as he talked behind his hand, "I believe that is Highlord Taine's construct."

"That's him?" Walker turned so it wasn't obvious whom he was staring at. He looked up at the head of Military Intelligence - probably the most informed man in the Empire. "Well, for the most part, all records of the era were destroyed..."

He didn't like the ideas that were forming in his head, and if they occurred to him then others less scrupulous would have them as well. "We should remove the rest from our own archives, I would rather people not gain unhealthy ideas."

Evans nodded politely. "As you command," he said, as Walker moved on, pasting a tight smile on his face as he walked forward to greet the young man who had spotted Darien in the crowd and was smiling happily.

Colonel Evans stood a moment, chewing on his lip as he considered the implications. There was an opportunity there, one that Walker was simply willing to dismiss. Typical of the idealist, too eager to pass over something that could rally a great deal of support were it not for Walker's ethics. The Colonel turned to leave, intending to make a report to the one man that would find this new piece of information very useful. He would ensurethe removal all the relevant data from the Imperial archives, but instead of deleting it, he intended to put it to good use

* * *

Highlord Taine's fingers touched the Knight's cross clasped at his collar of his white shirt. Like so many of the other awards and recognitions he had earned, it made him feel as though he was someone else at times. He was still under thirty, and he had grown accustomed to the feel of the uniform, the reassuring presence of the pistols under his arms and the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders. Even so he still felt like that same guy, on the run from the Amsus authorities on a trumped up murder charge, wrapped in a blanket in a cold ship staring out at the stars wondering where his next meal would come from.

The shuttle pulled low around the elliptical plane of Karin, coming up on the orbital shipyards. Squadron Leader Alvin Katz piloted it with expert care, sitting quiet, despite the eagerness in his eyes. The young Karin pilot knew what it meant to ferry Darien up to the Excalibur, there was only one reason. Excalibur was being re-commissioned.

Darien's eyes flicked to his pilot and he rolled them. "You can wipe that smug look off your face, Mister," he murmured, realizing he was doing his best to hide his own. They were bound to be excited; after months of refitting, re-supplying and reassignments, Excalibur would be departing again to make a difference.

Katz had been serving as a flight instructor at the Imperial academy, the Distinguished Flying Cross he'd earned fighting to secure Haligonian Station a good example of why he was so invaluable in the training of new recruits. But, like Darien, there was only one place he wanted to be.

"Paladin two, this is Falcon one," Katz said into his headset, returning his attention to his flying, "form up for escort."

Ahead of them, the brand new F-175 fighter swept up and back into perfect formation with the shuttle. The state-of-the-art fighter was part of the newly reformed VF-54 Paladin Squadron - Katz's squadron. There was a certain amount of pride in the young man's eyes at how well his new pilots were performing, House VonGrippen's striking falcons on their tail fins declaring their loyalty to Taine ahead of all others.

Darien smiled tightly watching the sleek fighter, painted like a penguin in whites and blacks, yellow picking out its details. The heavy booster packs on the back were the logical next evolution of the EV-II project that had proven so devastating during the Arcanis and Haligonian battles. The F-175 was an interceptor, plain and simple. Power and poise carefully balanced armament and speed - they definitely added to the Excalibur's strike capability.

The fighter led the way, closing on the orbital facility where his ship had spent the past six months taking shape. The damage she had taken had caused severe structural stresses, compounded by the ad-hoc mating of the two support carriers to her flanks in an effort to keep her mobile and able to fight. Temporary measures would only hold so long, and even Elias, brilliant engineer that he was, had admitted that the Excalibur had needed a refit.

It had been months since he had been able to come up to the ship, too busy chasing down Zixor. He still hadn't seen her finished, and the tightness of anticipation gripped him as he sat forward in his chair, looking over the well-lit shipyard where the mighty vessel, Excalibur, Pride of the Empire, sat at rest.

She was resplendent, her pale gull grey armour plates covering her entire length, shielding the ship's hull and the two support carriers, protecting them from harm.

She looked like a barbed arrowhead, the wing nacelles covering the support carriers, sweeping forward to provide her with the illusion of always being in motion. Her main armament, the zero-point bore, was constructed of alien focusing crystals that glowed a dull blue just beneath the surface, cutting an intricate pattern along a channel that ran the length of the vessel towards the bow's arrow point. Long gone were the gravitic drives, her engines being replaced with more conventional ion drives and an ingenious gravity steering system that allowed her to move with an ease that belied her size.

The ordinance vessel moving into position was getting ready to transfer the Excalibur's nuclear arsenal, rearming her for what was to come, a delicate operation that would require all inbound ships to hold position until the docking manoeuvre was completed, giving the newly minted Highlord a chance to review the crew roster.

He'd managed to retain many of his command staff, most turning down choice assignments of their own to remain with the Excalibur and await his return. The only one he would miss was Shale, now Captain of his own vessel, the Hope of the Dawn; he was out securing the Taïrian sectors against Amsus counter-attacks. Lieutenant Colonel Ramsey had been promoted; the Colonel was leading the Kardiac Territorial Army, currently under General Iver on a push to take an important colony away from the Amsus. However Darien noticed that Wing Commander Masconi had elected to stay on as the Excalibur's Commander Air Group (CAG).

He was pleased at that; Masconi had proven a resourceful commander of the Excalibur's Air group, bringing together the various different squadrons into one efficient unit. He'd had his doubts as Excalibur had slowly transformed from the Strike Cruiser into a Command Carrier, but the change had been necessary at the time, and on countless occasions, Darien had welcomed the addition of fighters to the ship's arsenal.

He looked up again as a patrol of F-150 fighters swept down, entering their holding pattern, returning to the ship from a training exercise. Even in dry dock, Excalibur was still a bustling centre of activity as her crew trained and drilled.

* * *

"I can never get this tie to... tie," Elias said in frustration as he hurried to keep up with Lauren's long strides, fumbling with the frustrating length of material as he tried again.

Lauren flashed him a small smile, pausing while he got up on tiptoes to let her do it. Sometimes the mischievous little engineer was utterly useless, at others... She looked around at the ship about her. He'd been the one to plot the refit, oversee every repair job and work so that the Excalibur was back on fighting form.

She smiled fondly at the young man, taking a second to tussle his hair back into its usual disarray. He looked better when he wasn't trying so hard. But she didn't blame him; she was looking forward to seeing Darien as well. With the hectic refit schedule there had barely been time for any of them to rest.

"Morning, Commander," Sub-Lieutenant Galadriel intoned stepping up, the Excalibur's Tactical Navigation and Comm. (TNC) officer carrying her sheaf of papers in perfect order ready for the first officer's signature, walking alongside as Lauren scanned through the requisitions and repair orders, adding her signature where needed. She'd be happy when Darien was back on board; at least then they'd be able to leave all the paperwork to him.

"Anything else?" Lauren asked, knowing full well there were probably a hundred things waiting for her attention.

"Not today," Galadriel replied, a smile on her prettily exotic features, "Lieutenant Nazzien is overseeing the rearmament of our onboard silos, and Commander Durnham is standing watch up on the bridge." She saluted again, moving away, Elias watching her go.

"Do you think Darien's got another mission for us?" he asked, as they walked along the length of the mech bay, descending down the gangway to the machine shops and the hangar bay beyond.

The Imperial Dropship was just descending the starboard plane elevator as Lt. Colonel Mayfair's marine company sprinted into position and a Petty Officer dashed up to pipe the Captain aboard his ship.

Elias could barely contain his excitement, nudging Lauren eagerly as they fell into position facing the shuttle, its side hatches opening.

"Attention on Deck!" Mayfair bawled, his men coming to rigid attention.

Darien ducked under the gull wing hatch, stepping down the wing of the small shuttle, straightening out as he crossed the deck, offering a salute to Lauren. "Permission to come aboard Commander?" he asked.

"Permission granted," Lauren said with a relieved smile, returning the salute crisp and clean. "Welcome back Ca-" she paused noting that he wasn't in uniform, the black greatcoat worn comfortably his hands resting in its pockets, and her eyes flashed up to Darien's, "Highlord!"

"As you were," Darien nodded, looking about him, his eyes gliding past Elias, who he offered a warm wink to, before he whistled, "Someone did a good job."

"Couple of coats of paint, a bit of sticky tape and a whole lot of lovin'," Elias said, folding his arms proudly, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "I even put on a uniform..."

"I had to shoe horn him into the thing," Lauren replied as Darien laughed, glad that some things never changed.

"How are we set?" he asked, nodding again as Mayfair joined them, walking back the length of the ship, heading for the bridge tower.

"My men are all aboard and their gear is stowed, your lordship." The Lieutenant Colonel looked firm. He hadn't been expecting Darien's arrival so was still in his combat fatigues. "We have replaced our outdated Mechs with the new ITEs so we should have increased ground capability as well as rapid deployment."

"Excalibur is ready to go when you are," Elias added, "I have a few things to do, but nothing that can't wait till we are underway." He bounced again eagerly, hoping that Darien was going to order them out. At least then he'd get to spend some real time with him.

Darien nodded as the elevator swept them up to the bridge, his hands knotted behind his back as he walked out into the connecting corridor. He was back on the bridge of his ship; there was no better feeling than that. It didn't matter that he was about to head back behind enemy lines - the Excalibur was his ship again.

The bridge had undergone changes, just like the rest of the ship; it had been redesigned to accommodate the needs of the ship's new configuration. Two holographic tactical displays flanked the upper tier alongside the helm and tactical consoles and the CIC boards. Below that was weapons control a tier unto itself, all tied in to flight operations for the fighter wings. And on the lowest tier, communications and the sensor scopes would collect information to display on the huge holographic system that would overlay the tall-sloped windows at the front.

Gone were the finicky holographic controls, replaced with a hybrid system that would be more functional, and Darien stopped, at the command chair, grateful that at least that remained the same. He smiled, reaching out to caress the chair that linked who ever sat in it to directly to the ship, feeling the rush of recognition flood through him. Excalibur was excited to have him back.

"Highlord," Commander Durnham materialized on the middle tier and looked up. Elias had thoughtfully programmed in the campaign ribbons and unit citations the commander was due after serving under Captain Taine. "A pleasure to have you back, sir."

Darien nodded at the computer-generated officer, Excalibur's liaison with the bridge crew. The bespectacled and bookish-looking man was smiling, despite an effort to remain professional.

"A pleasure to be back," he swept his coat off, setting it over the chair where it belonged, sitting down and watching the holographic displays spring to life, the flush from the chair indicated that the Excalibur was anxious to get going.

Darien looked across at Lauren as she slid into the conn chair, taking a moment to reconfigure the board to display the command functions she needed, pausing long enough to stare back over her shoulder at him.

"What?" Lauren asked, turning to look over at him, pushing her hair back behind her ear and setting her headset in place.

Darien shrugged. "You know," he said, "I've missed this..."

"Yeah," Lauren nodded, a momentary sadness passing over her face as she looked up at the ordinance vessel that, after completing its unloading, was now pulling away from the Excalibur.

"All hands, departure stations," Sub-Lieutenant Galadriel announced from down on the forward tier, walking along the rows of her sensor and communications consoles checking to ensure they were ready.

"Dry-dock, this is Excalibur," Taine announced into his headset, connecting through to the departure control, "requesting permission to get underway."

"Excalibur, this is dry-dock tower, you are cleared for departure. Good luck out there."

Lauren's hands moved across the controls, activating the main drives and settling in to guide the ship out.

Excalibur's powerful engines engaged, massive ion drives flaring to life as she slipped her moorings, pulling out of the dock amidst the cheers of the dockworkers that had spent the last six months working on her. The proud bow cleared the dock as it slid into space, curving towards the outer system, its triple jump drives cycling up to power.

In the chair, Darien felt the ship's elation: she was in space, she was under her own power, and she could run free. He obliged her, knowing how the ship loved running at full speed, the ship accelerating through the heavy freight and military traffic around Karin, pulling into its own clear vector and preparing to jump.

* * *

The stateroom had been redecorated, a few tasteful pieces tucked into corners giving the room a comfortable feel. Darien's boxes were collected neatly beside the desk, waiting for him to unpack them on the numerous shelves around the room. Darien smiled as he sat down in the chair under the great stern windows, looking down over the Amsus Raptor riding piggyback on the stern deck courier pad.

He'd fought long and hard to keep R-403 attached to the Excalibur, arguing that it was an integral part of what had gotten him through so many of his missions. But in reality it was that he couldn't bear to part with a machine that had carried him on the trek to find the lost fleet and recover the Excalibur in the first place. He was being sentimental, sure, but you didn't just throw something like that away.

He pulled his glasses from his pocket, slipping them on as he reached for a pen, pulling the Excalibur's logbook closer to him as he made his usual entries detailing the day's events. Pausing, he looked down at the boxes, reaching in to lift out the journal Lauren had brought back with her after escaping Rikard and the Amsus.

He got up, holding the book in his hand as he touched the stereo on a shelf. The holographic synthesizer would produce almost any selection of music he wanted, pulling it from the Excalibur's extensive library. VonGrippen had been a collector of culture, and had gone to great pains to accumulate a vast collection. Darien selected a piece from the Peligian Heresy, an ancient Orion opera, settling back behind his desk as he flipped open the journal and bent back to work.

It had taken him two years to begin to pull pieces together, from stone tablets acquired at some expense from Orion traders through to a forgotten religious text of an extinct race. He'd began to put together a basic understanding of the complexity behind the Peligian mystery.

His mind still reeled at the two months spent at the University of Otermila Prime trying to follow the history lessons of a so-called expert. It had taken Taine two months to realize that the professor had no grasp on the Peligian subject at all.

It was a frustrating puzzle filled with dead ends.

He had been frustrated by the security clearances locking the Excalibur's files pertaining to Peligia. But he was the Highlord VonGrippen now; as such he had the authority to view them, and he contemplated opening them then and there, but stopped as Elias, small and bounding with energy, burst into the Stateroom with his usual over-exuberance.

"It's chilli night!" he declared firmly, raising his eyebrows and nodding to the doors.

"I'll pass," Darien replied, jotting notes as he compared a star chart to a photograph of a stone carving uncovered a century before, "I have to review Fleet Command's battle reports, read the various performance reviews and..." he paused at the pouty look Elias had put on, the big blue eyes suddenly getting bigger as he focused the full might of puppy-dog eyes on the man he loved.

"Oh that's just not fair!" Darien protested looking over the rims of his glasses.

"Please?" Elias repeated earnestly, "I've barely seen you over the past few months."

"You saw me last night, not to mention the time we spent on Eqry-Ouso," Darien reminded, shaking his head as he set the journal down on the desk and took off his glasses. "How have you been sleeping?" he inquired, following Elias out into the hall and to the elevators.

"Okay I guess," Elias shrugged, sighing, "I curl up with Doctor Kyr when you're not here... he snores..." Elias ducked forward to hit the button, stepping back to let Darien into the elevator first.

"Should I be jealous?" Darien asked, amused at the thought of the young engineer and the young doctor.

"No," Elias laughed shaking his head, "he's my best friend... besides, he's an alien and it'd be kind of weird..." he contemplated it for a moment and shook his head.

Darien blinked and chuckled, "Don't let Masconi or Nazzien over hear you."

The door slid shut and Elias stole a quick kiss, smiling at Darien, proud that he'd gotten away with it. "I like the dragons..." he murmured, playing with the embroidery on Darien's waistcoat.

"Gorean," Darien corrected, "Though close I suppose, I wouldn't mention the resemblance around one..." He warned as the elevator spat them out down near to the mess hall, the loud racket echoing through the halls as the crew enjoyed their meal. Darien smiled again, brushing down his shirt and walking into the celebration.

"Highlord on deck!" the call rang out, crew men and officers snapping to attention as silence settled on the room, all eyes turning to face the flag officer in their midst. Darien waved them back down, shaking his head.

"New standing order," he called out with a smile, "No announcing me in the mess hall. Go back to enjoying yourselves."

The din began again, but muted down as the crew returned to their conversations and their dinners. Darien joined the other senior officers up at the head table, Elias flopping down in the chair next to him, nudging Doctor Kyr who was picking at a large bowl of chilli, sniffing it occasionally to make sure it really was edible.

"Skipper," Nazzien greeted, the dark skinned Orion looking relieved that Darien was there, and even though he always remained so cynical of human practices he too was enjoying the chilli, despite mixing in as many condiments as he could find.

Masconi reached across the table to fish the sugar out of his grasp before he could apply it. "That's just wrong," she admonished, setting it aside, turning to glance down at Darien. "Good to have you back, sir."

Breaking though the Amsus lines would be difficult, but he had the right people behind him. He smiled as the conversation at the table switched to lighter topics, each of them laughing and telling stories of what had happened to them whilst on the trail of the Pirate Barons.

Darien shook his head and offered a choice one all about Elias, a log cabin and a set of skis.

"You promised you wouldn't tell that one," Elias pushed him.

Darien laughed. "It was funny," he reassured, taking a long drink, "You should have seen it when I tried to teach him to skate..."

Darien bobbed his head again, looking around the table at his family: Mayfair, Lauren, Elias, Kyr, Nazzien, Masconi, and Katz, even Kit up on the bridge. It was almost surreal to be back there, aboard his ship. The day-to-day joy that just a few people could bring - especially after so long apart, chasing various missions and other assignments - made him realize that at that moment he was home, and as he accepted the bowl of chilli that the steward set down for him, he was glad that his crew were still with him.