"Ivy, can we talk?" Erislia asked as she glanced up at the ceiling and I activated the screen in their VIP quarters.
"Of course. What's up?" I asked with a smile. She, Salia and Ajan were all in their temporary VIP quarters.
"We need to talk to you, but in person. Can you come over?"
I blinked at her and then nodded, "Okay, sure. I'll have my avatar by in five minutes or so."
"Thanks Ivy."
I closed the screen back down and mentally frowned. Wonder what that was about?
Getting up from where I had been reading my book in my quarters, I put on my robes and left, stretching with a small yawn as I headed down a couple of decks and to their quarters. It was kinda late in ship night so there was no one else around.
Even in space, keeping a regular night and day cycle was healthy for most biological beings. Even if my 'night shift' was not that much less active than my day one, there tended to be less people in the corridors.
Stopping outside their quarters I ran my fingers through my hair before announcing myself with a small beep of the door and waiting for the 'enter'.
When Ajan yelled out, I walked inside with a smile and a flick of my ears, "Hey guys. What's up?"
Erislia glanced at Ajan and he sighed before he nodded to her and got up, "Ivy... how are your quarters?"
I titled my head in question, "Huh?"
"What I mean is, do you have any free, family-sized quarters?"
"Uhm... sure. Four of them. Why do you ask?" I said with a shrug, looking between them.
Ajan shrugged, "There is no easy way to say this, but we are resigning from Starfleet."
I just gaped at him, "What? Why!?"
He smiled slightly, "It's just time for something new. It was great while it lasted, but let's face it. My career has stalled completely. I just barely made Lieutenant. Shran is a full on Commander and well on his way to his own ship. T'Ro is about to be promoted to Commander and Rachel is a Lieutenant-Commander. Star would be a Captain if she didn't want to keep being a ship. I'm not as driven as Shran, nor as smart as T'Ro or even as good at handling people as Rachel. I'm not likely to rise any higher."
"Ajan... you are plenty smart," I protested.
The Trill nodded, "Yeah... just not good enough. Let's face it, Ivy. I have stalled. It's time for a change and... well, I suppose I'm asking for a job."
I frowned at him and looked over at Erislia who shrugged. "I'm an enlisted crewman. My career is about as good as it's going to get unless I go back to the academy," she said and smiled at me. "And I'll follow my husband. But he is right, it's time for a change."
Salia put her hand up, "I'm not actually Starfleet at all. I'll miss our friends, but..."
I sighed and nodded, "Are you sure?"
Ajan nodded, "We are, we have talked about it for months. We just didn't know what to do instead."
Erislia put her arm around his waist and leaned against his side, "We still want to travel and see new things. So a planet or station wouldn't be right."
"I actually suggested a frontier planet," Salia said and got up from the couch. "We could explore the wilderness and it would be better for the kits to grow up beneath a sky, but... well, none of us really have the experience for anything like that."
Ajan nodded, "Also, hardly safe for young ones."
I blinked at them, "...Kits?"
"We want children," Ajan confirmed. "Which is a bit of a problem."
Yeah, no kidding. Trills and Caitians were not exactly cross-fertile. While it was possible for some species, especially with medical science... no. That was simply not happening.
"Yeah," I agreed with a nod. "There are options...."
Salia nodded and flicked her ears, "Mmm. Yeah, everything from genetic modification of Ajan's cells to donors to adoption."
"We picked the last option," Erislia explained and sighed. "...After the Berserker war, there are a lot of children that need a family."
...Shit.
Yeah. It was sadly quite true. A lot of people died in the war... but even more people were left behind.
I sighed, "...Are you sure? Not about the adoption, but about moving onto me? Even if you quit Starfleet, there has to be better options. I'm not a large ship, Erislia. I'm an exploration ship. I'm going to go far into the unknown. Can be dangerous."
"We know," Ajan confirmed with a nod. "We want that," he said before he smiled. "Well? Is there room for us on board?"
I slowly shook my head with a smile. "Of course there is. I'm sure Jhita needs more people for xenosociology. I know there are places for you two as well," I continued to Erislia and Salia. "Engineering could use more people as so can aeroponics or... a lot of the other ship services if you'd rather do something else."
"Thanks Ivy," Erislia said with a smile and walked up to hug me and I hugged back before I flicked my ears and looked over at Ajan. "...Have you talked to Star and Captain Mason about this yet?"
He shook his head, "Wanted to talk to you first."
I nodded.
Ajan would stay. One of my original friends and two of my almost as old friends were going to stay!
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.