Year: 3827

Hadean Aether woke, he listened to the soft hum of the ship beneath him. Something was wrong. The priority alarm sounded and he allowed himself a small smirk as he dressed. A step out of his cabin put him on the control deck, his younger twin, Hades Aethon, passed him their new coordinates. Aether frowned at the missive, they were being detoured towards one of their Mid-World Medical Stations. The journey would put them behind schedule by a week at least. His frown deepened as he noted the order authorization number. Handing the missive back to his brother, Aether returned to his cabin and changed for bed once again. 

When he woke, his brother was sitting at their cabins table, two gently steaming plates before him. Once dressed in his uniform, Aether sat facing the door, opposite of his brother. Aethon nodded to him as he sat down to breakfast. Aether reached for the night cycle summary and report, he noted with satisfaction that his brother had expedited their journey such that they were just over two days out from the station. He put down the reports and stared at his brother who returned his gaze steadily. In silence they went over the facts independently.

Their father had summoned them, from a medical station.

Which meant it was related to their mother.

But their if their mother was dead, they would have received a notice, not a summons.

Therefore it was personal. Janus had approved the detour. 

Their father had a job for them.

Conundrum solved, Aether retrieved the dishes and left the room while Aethon undressed and crawled into bed.

Two days later the brothers arrived at Medical Station Twelve, which orbited world Twelve, a garden world. Their father stood waiting by airlocks 45 in the deserted meeting area, he had his right arm at an angle below his cloak and a dossier in his left hand. Stepping forward they came to a halt, keeping a meter between themselves and their father. Their father closed the distance and handed his eldest son a small cloth-wrapped bundle and his youngest son the dossier. Turning on his heel he left without a word. 

Aethon opened the dossier while his brother checked the bundle, it whimpered. 

“Girl” Aethon said factually, “Five hours old, needs to be named and registered.”

Closing the dossier, Aethon continued more quietly, “Mother is in critical condition.”

The little bundle whimpered again, and Aether brought it instinctively closer to his chest. The brothers stood in silence contemplating their next move. “Take the ship and make the rounds, I will take the girl, and rendezvous with you…”

“Where we refuel and stock for our return.” Finished Aethon, handing his brother the dossier and moving towards their ship. 

Aether tucked his sister under his arm and moved towards the pharmacy, handing the dossier to the attendant behind the counter. The young man formally scanned the only leaflet within, and retrieved a basic maternity kit. Aether signed the paperwork and slid the dossier into the kit, retrieving the list from within. He committed the list to memory as he made his way through the deserted station towards the stockrooms. He purchased three months of necessities for the infant, before moving onwards to the departure wings. Here he obtained transport for himself and his sister towards Inner-World Station Nine, the journey would take two weeks exactly. Once their paperwork was confirmed he passed his supply pickup slips to the attendant and boarded the vessel. Only in their cabin did he take the time to unwrap his sister’s head, the blue eyes of his species greeted him, along with a mass of downy white hair. Turning her slightly to face the view screens, he whispered “You know you are lucky, many of us see the stars only when we are a week old. You get to see them now, barely half a day old. You shall travel alone among them one day, Hadea Diana.” The baby fussed, and he smiled. “Hungry, no doubt.” Setting her down on the cot, he warmed the formula before feeding her. 

3 Months Later

“Brother” greeted Aethon, as Aether boarded his ship briskly. Their sister, nestled in her sling over his chest, cooed at Aethon, who smiled gently back at her.

“Officer change!” Aethon barked as he and his brother switched places, he had only ever seen her by vid-screen and waited three months to hold his joint charge, not even formality would stand in his way. Once she was snugly braced against him did he resume his position by the helm.

Aether breathed a deep breath as he stood behind the helm. The humans thought it weird that they still retained manual controls to pilot the ship. But then again they thought a lot of things were weird, if not wrong, with the Wolves.

2: Chapter 2

Year: 3827

Sarl eyed his friend contemplatively over his ice-cream shake. Ajax was moodily eating fries, dragging them through ketchup first.

"A'right what's eatin' ya?" Sarl asked around his straw.

"My aunt is pestering me to marry, again."

"So what? You've never given two shits about what she wants."

"Yeah, but this time my mother gave me the look."

Sarl put his shake down. "Look? What kind of look?"

"You know, the "I don't mean to pry, but she's right" look."

"I didn't know your mom could do that look."

"Neither did I." Ajax muttered at his empty plate before looking at Sarl's half filled plate. Sarl rolled his eyes and pushed the plate over. Ajax muttered a thanks and the two lapsed back into silence.

"So?" Sarl asked after a while.

"So what?" Ajax returned cautiously.

"So what are you going to do about it? I mean, you've ignored your aunt before, that's fine. You know I don't like your aunt, and I know you don’t like your aunt; but I like your mom and I’m pretty sure you like your mom. If she's giving you the "I want grandchildren look" you gotta fix that."

Ajax gave a humorless laugh. "Easier said than done my friend."

"What's so hard about it? You just need to find a girl you can stand that your family doesn't object to."

"My parents don't really care about the girl, y'know beyond the basics; clean line, honorable standing."

"Even easier then. I dunno why you're moping about."

"My aunt dropped a stack of "suitable girls" on my lap just before I walked out the front door."

"That may not be so bad. Gives you a place to start."

"Ha! Knowing my aunt all those girls are just ways for her to move up the social ladder. She doesn't give two hoots about what I want, never mind caring about what any girl wants." Ajax wiped his fingers on a napkin, crumpled it and tossed it onto the tray defeatedly.

"What about that engineer you've been seeing?" Sarl asked after a pause.

Ajax looked at his friend in surprise.

"Oh, come on! You haven't really been hiding the fact that you're interested in her. What's her name?"

"Lettie, she’s nineteen and she's too young." Ajax grumbled.

Sarl slammed his drink down and started laughing. Ajax scowled at his friend.

"Too young, that's what you're worried about? What about that girl you promised to wait for, and give her a 'fighting chance'? She's what, seventeen years younger than you."

Ajax remained silent.

Sarl raised an eyebrow at him. "You know you gotta get her to break the bond before you can go after anyone else."

Ajax groaned. "She probably doesn't even remember."

"Yeah, and maybe shes found someone else. You could get lucky, but you still need to break the bond."

Ajax watched the bubbles in his soda. Sarl nudged him, and jerked his head, pointing to someone entering the room. He looked up and saw the engineer they were talking about. She must have just got off her shift, a streak of grease extended from her left eyebrow down to her cheek. As usual she had eyes only for the food. Marching straight to the gleaming counters, she beamed at one of the cooks when the man handed her a tray of her usual. Ajax forgot his irritation at the man when she turned and spotted him, he waved her over and she made her way over. Ajax ignored Sarl's smug look, and made room for her on the bench.

"Sarl, right? I'm Lettie." Sarl shook her proffered hand and shifted the trays already on the table.

"Alright, what's he looking so pleased about?" She jerked her head towards Sarl as she sat next to him, opposite Ajax.

"We were just talking about you." Ajax shot Sarl a warning look.

"All good and above board I hope." She remarked before taking a huge bite of her grilled chicken burger.

"He's thinking of getting married." Sarl promptly declared.

Ajax gaped at his friend, and swore to strangle Sarl as soon as they were alone. Sarl saw something flash across her face, and resisted the urge to knock their two heads together. Lettie swallowed her mouthful and quickly recovered.

"Congrats! Anyone I know?" she asked brightly.

"No!" Ajax said a bit quickly. He sighed, rubbing his head tiredly. "I'm only thinking about it."

"Ahh, your aunt?" she said with an understanding nod as she took another bite of her burger.  Sarl looked at her with interest, she knew about the aunt.

Ajax gave a grunt of annoyance. She laughed, and his face cleared.  He was so far gone, thought Sarl. Lettie turned her tray, silently offering them her fries, and pushing a few of the ketchup packets towards Ajax. She offered Sarl a few, which he refused with a muttered thanks.

"You just got off work?" asked Sarl, from what he heard she seemed to always be working.

"Mmm, yeah, took triple shift today, one of the guys needed some serious sleep." she told them, she was busy finding the crunchy fries, and setting aside the soft ones, pushing those to Ajax. So she knew how he liked his fries, and liked the opposite kind.

Ajax took the soft ones with a frown. "So do you." he said reprovingly. "Who are you covering for this time?"

"Terry, you don't know him, and his wife Grace just delivered their first baby, who has been keeping them both up at night." Sarl laughed at Ajax's slightly annoyed look, he couldn't find fault with this reason, they obviously had this conversation often.

Sarl looked her over, she wore a white shirt streaked with grime and grease under her blue coveralls. On her head was a matching blue cap, at a slight angle so a shadow was cast over part of her face. . Her hair was short and tucked into the cap, a few strands had escaped the back, curling against her neck. There was also a sliver chain around her neck, mostly hidden under the collar of her shirt. Her eyes were darker than common, but were bright and framed with silver lashes. He recalled her standing, her general posture was relaxed, even now while sitting. Her coveralls were perhaps a size too large, they were folded up at the ankles. He wondered what animal hung at the bottom of that chain, and why did she wear a silver chain, most women on the station wore the family ribbon.

Ajax cleared his throat, Sarl blinked and realized where he was staring at. She was looking at him, smiling around her fries. He noted with relief her eyes were laughing too, at least she wasn't mad at him, although Ajax looked ready to lean over the table and kill him.

She leaned over conspiratorially, "34-A." The two men blinked, she didn't just... "My overalls, they are a bit big, it was the smallest they had."

Sarl laughed,"You're good."

She grinned and went back to her fries. Her communicator went off, as she answered it, Ajax noted several others around the mess were receiving calls.

"Shit!" she scrambled up grabbing the tray and returning it, as others did the same.

"What?" asked Sarl sitting up.

"Wounded fleet incoming. It's a big one." she looked grim, "Med bays are gonna be full."

"Shit." Muttered Sarl, "Did they say which ships?" he called after her.

"No." she called back, disappearing down the hall. Sarl muttered a string of expletives, "I'm gonna check the lists and volunteer." Ajax nodded, Sarl's family was large and spread out among several ships, but he was born on this station and elected to stay when he came of age.  Looking out the mess windows he could just make out the gleaming hulls of the incoming fleet. Behind them the stars shone unwaveringly.

OooO

The station med-bays were indeed filled to capacity, the injured spilled out into the hallways, but thankfully there were enough beds for everyone. Although, coupled with the displaced crew of several destroyed cruisers meant resources were strained. What were battles if not taxing.

Ajax made himself useful by ferrying supplies from wing to wing and offering a general hand where needed. One of the deck commanders beckoned him over and handed him a trolley laden with heated rations. He and six others were moving through the area and handing out food to whoever wanted some. He wondered if either Lettie or Sarl had eaten. His trolly empty, he returned to the mess and handed it to one of the cooks who began filling it again. He grabbed two ration packs and two energy drinks, saluted the cooks and headed out. Sarl proved easier to find, he was outside the operating theaters taking a break from helping with the sterilization of instruments and removal of trash.

Ajax wordlessly handed his friend a ration pack and energy drink. Sarl took them with a exhausted nod and slowly peeled open the pack. After several mouthfuls he looked at Ajax and the other ration pack in his hand. Despite his exhaustion Sarl shot Ajax a knowing smirk, and received an eye roll in return.

"Go on, I'll be fine, go find her and see if you make her sleep. She'll be hitting five shifts in twenty minutes." Sarl told him between gulps of energy drink.

"Right, any word about your family?" Ajax asked gently.

Sarl closed his eyes and looked so tired, he shook his head but when his eyes opened they looked old and weary. Ajax squeezed his shoulder. Sarl straightened and nudged him in the ribs, "No, and if you don't start leaving, I'm going to assume that other ration is for me."

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving." Ajax laughed.

" I'll let you know if I need a shoulder to cry on." Sarl called after him, Ajax glared back at him as people gave them weird looks, but Sarl was grinning back in his usual manic fashion so Ajax forgave him.

Ajax decided to check the landing bays, if the fleet was wounded it meant plenty of repairs jobs. Hopefully Lettie would be taking a nap already and he could just leave the food for her or someone who needed it.

OooO

No such luck. Lettie was not only still up, she was quite literally up in the air. She was strapped in a harness and suspended above the wing of an A-Class Hornet, fiddling with the wiring.

He caught the attention of the bay supervisor and motioned up at Lettie with the food. The supervisor nodded tiredly and pointed at a wall lined with radios. Ajax picked up the roster and checked the channel Lettie was under. He picked up the radio and called up to her, mindful of the fact that ten other engineers were using the same channel.

****

Lettie positioned the blue wires carefully and soldered them back to the chip. Her stomach grumbled for the umpteenth time which she continued to ignored.

“Lettie, got some food for you, and orders from Sarl to make sure you get some sleep.” A deep voice called over her headset. She pulled herself out from the panel and looked at the radio station. Ajax waved slightly and she smiled at him.

“Is that silvery packet in your hand, food?” she asked hopefully, ignoring the stabbing sensation she felt in her back.

“If I say ‘yes’, will you come down?”

“I will. But if I find you’re lying, I’d be obliged to hurt you.”

He could hear the laughter in her voice.

“Then I absolutely promise, on my honor, it is food.” he said solemnly, before breaking into a grin.

“It’d better be, mister. I’ll have you know I have a real mean right hook.” she grinned back.

“For the love of Zeus, will you just go down and spare the rest of us your flirting?” came a male voice.

Lettie stuck her tongue out at a man, presumably the one who had just spoken. The man simply gave her the finger without looking out from his own panel. Lettie laughed and began her descent. Ajax moved towards her, increasing his speed when he saw her wince as she attempted to unhook her harness. He stood behind her and grabbed the carabiner, gently detaching it. She leaned back against him with a grateful sigh. Now in front of him, she looked so tired, the circles under her eyes were dark and sagging. He mentally kicked himself for not coming sooner.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, “back hurts.”

He decided to scold her later when she had the energy to take it. “Can you eat, or would you rather just sleep?” he asked. “And don’t tell me you’ll sleep later, you’re about to fall over.” he added when she looked like she would protest.

She gave him a wan smile, “I’ll eat.”

“Okay, eat as much as you want. Then I’m taking you somewhere to sleep.” he told her as he led her to a table.

She nodded and groaned when he opened the food pack. He watched as she stuffed her face, and got up to get her some water. The energy drink would be better utilized by someone who didn't need sleep this badly. He returned to the table and gave Lettie the water, which she drank thirstily. He told her to stay where she was, he was going to log her out of the system. She nodded, mouth still full. The supervisor accepted the energy drink gratefully and agreed to find someone to finish off the Hornet in Lettie's place. When he got back to the table, Lettie was asleep, the food pack was empty and the water gone. He cleared the rubbish, and gently shook her. She grumbled, and he wondered briefly if he should just carry her. He shook her again, this time she didn't respond at all. He sighed, and looked at her prone form. There was no helping it then.

“Lettie, I’m going to pick you up and find you in a bunk. Okay?” he told her. He lifted her head and torso away from the table, leaning her back onto his right arm before slipping his left arm under her knees. Carefully he extricated her from the table, and adjusted her in his arms. She felt light and boney.

“You need to eat more.” he told her sleeping form as he headed to the sleeping quarters.

OooO

“I’m sorry sir, there’s no free bunks at the moment.” The deck officer told him apologetically. Ajax cursed quietly, he’d been through three decks with the same result. No bunks. Every open buck was filled. He thanked the deck officer and took the elevator down to the officer’s quarters. There was no helping it then. He wasn't about to let her sleep in a corridor somewhere. She would just have to sleep in his bunk. He told himself he wasn't pleased about the whole thing.

He repeated that until he tucked her into his bunk, and decided he was lying to himself. He sighed and decided to look over the correspondence his mother had sent him. He still had responsibilities as eldest son, wounded fleet or no. Besides it was a good excuse for him to remain in his room.

3: Chapter 3

Lettie woke, blinking at the wall. She reached out and touched the wall, at once her swimming vision cleared and focused. She was tucked quite comfortably in a bunk. She turned over wondering where she was. The room was small but neat, well made wood furnishings filled the small space comfortably. The station's sterile white walls were painted a soft grey, the floor was covered in real wood. Officers Quarters, they really had the best. She smiled at the hunched figure at the desk. A slight frown marred his face as he read over multiple datapads, cross referencing whatever he was reading.

"Your face will get stuck like that one day, and you'll regret it." she told him.

"And you'll collapse from exhaustion one day, and possibly injure yourself." he said with a smile as he turned around.

"Touché." she snuggled back into the bed, with a happy sigh.

"How long was I out?"

"About twelve hours."

"Twelve?!" she squeaked, and began to scramble out of bed.

"You're staying right there." he got up and blocked her path, dimly aware of how much smaller she was.

"I can't, much as I like to, I've got to get to my shift. " she attempted to get aound him, "And apologize to Del." she muttered.

"Del?" he asked, still blocking her path.

"My supervisor, I'm on the graveyard shift this week. Would you please move?" she asked.

"I'd say the schedule is off." at her offended look he continued, "A wounded fleet is bound to throw everything upside down."

"Yes, but-"

"No buts you worked five shifts straight."

"Not really, I did clock out." she grumbled

"For lunch, and you went straight back as soon as word of the fleet came in." he reminded.

"What about my Hornet? It's been sitting there since I left." she said worriedly.

"Your supervisor said he'd get someone else to finish it."

"But that was twelve hours ago! Surely that somebody is tired by now." she attempted to get around him again. He grabbed hold of her shoulders.

"And I'm sure somebody else has replaced him. Look, you worked five shifts straight, regulation says that you now get three shifts off. Two for resting, and one for recreation. You've spent two of them sleeping, that goes under resting, you still have to eat."

Her stomach grumbled at the mention of eating, and the tips of her ears turned red at that. He couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face, she frowned at him in embarrassment.

"Look, just eat something, and then you can do some light work, like helping in the wards."

She frowned at his logic, but found nothing objectionable to it. "Fine. As long as I get to go back to work in the bays after that."

"Deal." he released her and stepped out of the way. He returned to the desk, marking the pages on the datapads and switching them off.

She got off the bunk, and looked around for her boots. Seeing them around the corner of the bunk she grabbed them and sat on the floor putting them on. She paused as a thought came to her.

"Were you awake the whole twelve hours?" she asked.

"No I slept on the floor." he said stacking the datapads.

She got up, and hugged him. "Thank you. For making me sleep, and letting me sleep in your bunk." she said quietly

"Uhm, you're welcome. You know your left laces are undone right." he said awkwardly patting her back.

She laughed and released him, "Yes, Dad." she chirped as she knelt down to tie them. She didn't notice him go still.

OooO

He watched as she hopped up and looked at herself in the mirror. She smoothed out her rumpled clothing. She frowned at herself, paused and spun around, "I'll get your sheets washed."

"It's okay." he said absently. What was he thinking, she was so much younger. Nineteen, still a child.

"Please?" she asked taking his arm. "It's the least I can do." those eyes, so bright, still innocent, and completely irresistible.

"Sure." he smiled at her. This was bad, he needed to distance himself from her. Maybe Janus could get him off station for a few weeks. She was looking at him expectantly.

"We going?"

"Yep."

"Okay." she stood there waiting. He almost smacked himself.

"Sorry." he muttered sheepishly, and swiped his ID over the door scanner. "After you."

"Thanks."

They walked down the hall in silence, and stepped into an elevator. She pushed the button for the third dorm level.

"You head to the Mess first. I'm going to grab some fresh clothes and hit the showers." she told him.

"Sure, want me to grab you some food?" he asked.

She chewed her bottom lip in indecision, before nodding. "Yeah, that'd be nice." the elevator pinged  and opened. She stepped out with a small smile and salute.

He sighed in relief as the doors closed.

OooO

Sarl stared at Ajax. “So...didn’t see you at dinner, and rumor has it there was a really pretty girl in your room for about two shifts. Anything you want to tell me?”

“No.” Ajax growled, staring resolutely at the covered ration packets sitting on the tray.

“Whoa buddy. If it’s not true, that kind of attitude will get people thinking it is.” Sarl held his hands up placatingly.

Ajax took a deep breath. “Sorry. I...She…We didn’t do anything. Just sleep.”

“Sleep? As in slept together sleep, or slept together sleep?” Sarl raised his eyebrows.

“Is there a difference?” muttered an exasperated Ajax.

“Well sure, one means you really just conked out, y’know pushed some Z’s, counted sheep, visited the land of nod. Or maybe the two of you got cozy and did some b…” Sarl trailed off suggestively.

“We didn’t….bump.” Ajax was proud his voice stayed calm.

“Really?” Sarl rolled his head back in exaggeration, ‘Bump’ is the one you’re going to use. What are we thirteen?”

“She’s nineteen!” hissed Ajax.

“Which makes “bumping”  perfectly legal if both parties are consenting.” reminded Sarl.

“We’re not talking about this.” Ajax said succinctly.

“I’d say we are.”

“Shut up.” Ajax growled.

“Okay, okay.” Sarl held his hands up placatingly once again.

Silence fell between the men. Sarl quietly slurped his milkshake and watched his friend.

“What happened?” he finally asked when his glass was empty.

“She called me dad.”

“Holy fuck! The world’s come to an end!” Sarl declared loudly enough that several people looked at them.

“Fuck off.” Snarled Ajax.

Sarl immediately looked contrite, “It really means that much to you huh? She probably doesn’t mean it the way you think it does.”

Ajax remained silent.

Sarl sighed, “Ok, look, you like her, right?”

Ajax nodded dejectedly.

“Ok, and we’re pretty sure she likes you.”

Ajax shot Sarl a dubious look.

“Ok fine, I’m pretty sure she likes you. Why don’t you give it a shot. Worse thing that could happen is that we find out she doesn’t like you as much as I think she does. And if she does like you, then hey, you two can get together, you both win.”

Ajax looked undecided.

“Come on, you’ve got nothing to lose, just give it a try.”

"Give what a try?" Asked Lettie as she walked over.

"Ajax is thinking of trying out some Nevonian food." Sarl smoothly lied.

"Mmm, don't invite me. I can't take spicy food." Lettie groused.

Ajax watched as Sarl and Lettie talked over their meal. He watched her laugh and how she would sneak glances at him, always smiling. He decided he would ask her out, if only for dinner.

OooO

Several nights later Ajax smiled at his ceiling, dinner with Lettie had been wonderful. It had also resulted in him asking her out to dinner again, which she had agreed to. He couldn’t wait, there was a nice place on deck eight that served some nice traditional Japanese. She would like that. He turned over in his bunk and stared at his desk. In the dark he couldn’t see the pile of datapads waiting for his review, but he knew they were there. He sighed, his good mood left his body like the air. As if triggered by the sudden change in his mood, one of them lit up. He got up and reached for the desk lamp. Settling down in his chair, he keyed into the pad. It was a priority message, one of the four Hades flagships had been destroyed. He sighed heavily, clan Hades was probably in an uproar. The majority of the crew had escaped including the commanding officers. Good news considering the current death toll, but Hades didn’t tend to view things that way. He groaned as he saw where the crew was being relocated. There would be no sleep for him, the misplaced crew was arriving in twenty minutes. Bloody Janus and his secrecy, and his bloody lousy timing.

Ajax shook his head, Lettie’s language was rubbing off on him. Aunt Irridine would be appalled. He threw on his uniform and rushed out. Judging by everybody scrambling around the hall, it was bad. He recognized the Hades officers clearing out their quarters.

“Oh hell.” Ajax muttered. This could only mean one thing.

OooO

Dock nine was silent as the ship bearing the survivors of flagship Akheron arrived. Every Hades officer and clansmen had turned out dressed in their clan colors. They were eerily calm, their usual energy subdued, the light in their eyes gone. The other ship had docked ten minutes ago, everyone was simply waiting for the decontamination protocol to finish.

“Hades officers boarding Hades station twelve, deck nine.” Informed the calm voice Calypso, the station AI.

Ajax took a deep fortifying breath as the inner chamber depressurized and the doors opened.

A plaintive wail startled everyone.

“A baby?” Was the startled response from a nearby woman.

Several men began to enter the station, the first out of the ship were the Left Hands. They gave the all clear and were followed by the Right Hands. Both sets of Hands looked exhausted, their faces gaunt and dark. Ajax’s attention was drawn to the next two men. Tall and reasonably broad, the three headed wolf with red eyes emblazoned on their chests struck a blade of fear in him. Berserkers Aether and Aethon, twin commanders of the flagship Akheron. Both carried a small bundle each. One was obviously the baby, still screaming at the top of it’s lungs. The other squirmed most violently, and the man hastily unwrapped the creature. A tortoiseshell cat yowled most unhappily and leapt down from his arms.

The rest of the crew began to disembark, friends quietly greeted them and the dock was filled with hushed whispers and the continued wail of the infant. None of the crew seemed remotely affected by the infant’s crying.

“Apparently, she’s been crying since they fled the ship. Poor thing.”

Ajax looked down at Lettie whose attention was focused on the babe.

“It’s been a week.” Ajax exclaimed.

“Apparently she’s very stubborn, and misses the AI.” Lettie said dryly.

“I don’t.” Ajax muttered, he remembered his last encounter with that AI. The bloody thing liked to blast Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ for his alarm every morning. Ajax had never been so happy to get away from an AI.

“How did you hear about that?” Ajax asked.

“Oh, I asked one of the crew. Poor devils, apparently nobody’s gotten much sleep.”

“Whose baby is it anyway? Why was she on the ship?” Ajax suddenly blurted.

“Good question.” Muttered Lettie. “Excuse me.” She tapped the arm of a crewman, “Whose baby is that? Why was she on the ship?”

“Not my place to say Ma’am.” The crewman said politely.

“Ah, figures. Thanks.” Lettie smiled understandingly.

The crewman smiled gratefully and turned back to his friends.

“I guess we’ll find out eventually.” She paused thoughtfully, “Or, we won’t. I hear Berserkers can be quite secretive.”

“They can be.” Agreed Ajax thoughtfully.

 

4: Chapter 4

Ajax loathed being an officer, he'd never realised it until this moment. Of course until three days ago, he was not required to share the Officers commons with an infuriated infant. All Lettie had found out about the baby was her gender, and her approximate age of three months.

Ajax winced as she hit a particularity high note. For a thing so small and young, she had impressive vocal range and power.

The tiny thing had kept up her ear-splitting cacophony for three days, pausing only when she fell into exhausted sleep. The Twins did their best to stay in their rooms, but men could only stay that long in a room with a wailing infant. Abruptly the screaming changed. The once angry cries devolved with a hiccup, into a pitiful wail. One of the twins shot out of his seat and fled. The other attempted to bore holes into his retreating brother's back. After several moments he turned his attention to the baby, gently rocking and crooning to her. The baby ignored him and continued her sorrowful wailing.

Ten minutes later the lights went out.

"Main generators offline." The system computer announced cheerfully. A deep and profound silence filled the entire station. No one said a word, all keenly aware that silence meant the cessation of the fans. "Auxiliary generators online." She continued just as cheerfully, as the fans came back on. The station breathed a sigh of relief, but several frowned, the hum of the fans was distinctively different. Quieter, gentler.

"Main generators online." Intoned a male voice as the lights came back on. "Normality restored."

"Who the hell are you?" Cried an officer indignantly.

"Secondary Superior Artificial Intelligence Unit Akheron, of the Akheron." The AI's voice filled the station. "I would prefer if you kept your voice lowered, Officer Fletchman, you will wake the baby."

It was true, the baby was asleep. The other twin returned, and quietly knelt in front of his brother, his attention on the infant. His brother lightly smacked him in the head, and handed the baby over. The other man just gave a deep relieved sigh and took the baby, cradling her carefully in his arms. The two men huddled over the now sleeping infant. It was quite obvious the three were family, only no one was exactly sure of the exact nature of their relationship. Either man was certainly old enough to have brought a new life into the universe. But no one wanted to assume.

“What has happened to Calypso?” Asked another officer hesitantly.

“The inferior unit has been shut down to accommodate my presence.” Was the AI’s short reply.

“What does that mean?” Sarl asked over the table in a low tone.

“It means every new shift will be woken with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.” Ajax groaned.

Sarl blinked before asking an incredulous “Why?”

“Because it’s sadistic.” Ajax growled.

“Statistics showed a ninety-five percent increase in activity before required rousing period.” The AI said with a hint of self-satisfaction over the intercoms.

“Bloody sadistic thing.” Ajax muttered.

OooO

As Ajax feared, no deck was spared. Every room was blasted with the infernal tones at precisely the same moment every shift change. Within three weeks, the whole station was running at peak efficiency. An extremely irate Lord Janus had called to berated the two Berserkers; nothing was more dangerous than replacing an AI core while the station was still occupied. Not that the two men had cared very much. But he was forced to concede that the station’s productivity had risen by a good twelve percent, and nothing made Janus happier than an increase in productivity.

After a month Ajax sighed, this morning’s rendition had been particularly grating. He was this close to taking a shuttle over to Styx station and begging for a transfer. A gentle tapping on his door caught his attention. A very tired Sarl greeted him.

"I told you." Ajax said without preamble.

Sarl nodded jerkily. "When do they leave?"

"Whenever the ship gets out of dry dock.”

“And when is that?”

“I wish to all the gods I knew.”

The two men made their way to the commons for breakfast and were startled to see men and women rushing about. The Twins were scowling at everything and everybody, but particularly at Janus.

“What’s he doing here?” Asked Sarl to a young man who looked mildly irritated about being stopped.

“The Boss is needed elsewhere, but they refuse to leave without the infant.” The young man checked his chrono and sped away.

“That wasn’t much of an answer.” Muttered Sarl.

“Probably because it’s classified.” Ajax replied watching the three men interact. He wondered where the baby was, the two never allowed her out of their collective sight. “He did answer the question everyone hasn’t asked though.”

“What question is that?”

“Why are they still here?” Ajax’s gaze fell upon the baby, currently in the arms of a Right Hand. “There’s something about that kid they’re keeping secret.”

Sarl gave a snort. “Obviously, half the station thinks she’s a secret lovechild of a noble, and the other half thinks she’s one of theirs.”

“She’s their sister.” A deep grave voice said from behind.

The two men spun around and everyone else went quiet, all stared at the newcomer. Sarl’s eyes widened at the man’s heraldry emblazoned on his chest. A three headed wolf, with it’s right paw resting on a ancient greek style helmet.

The baby gave a sudden happy squeak. The man smiled and approached the Right Hand, who gave her up readily. “My granddaughter.” He said with pride. “Knows my voice.” The baby smiled at him.

“Lord Hades.” Janus greeted with a bow. Prompting all other to do the same.

Lord Hades acknowledged them with a slight nod. Before turning back to Ajax. “Andranicus.” he said with another nod.

“Lord Hades.” Ajax returned the nod.

Lord Hades turned his gaze to his grandsons. “You have been requested to return to duty, a ship waits on dock seven. You have ten minutes. If you have a caretaker in mind state so now.”

“Ajax!” Lettie’s voice came faintly through the doorway. “Ajax!” She appeared at the doorway, breathing heavily, and glowing with excitement.

“Ajax, you’ll never believe who that baby is!” She gasped excitedly. Her gaze fell on the Patriarch of clan Hades. “Oh, I guess you will.” She said with an embarrassed laugh.

“Her.” Declared one of the Twins.

Ajax shot them a disbelieving look before looking back at Lettie whose eyes had gone huge.

“Me?” She squeaked in surprise. “Me what? What are you going to do to me?”

“You will care for our sister in our absence.” Said the other twin.

“Why me?” Asked a now very panicked Lettie.

“I trust you.” Was the simple reply of both men.

The non-Hades gaped, the Twins always referred to themselves as a collective. Always ‘we’ and ‘us,’ one always speaking for the other. To have both of them to utter the pronoun ‘I’ was stunning to say the least. The Hades seemed unfazed by everything, and the baby uttered another happy gurgle at her grandfather.

“Why can’t he take her?” Lettie pointed at Lord Hades.

“She was born in space. Tradition demands she remain in space for the first year.” Lord Hades said quietly. The baby hummed in agreement, and proceeded to eat her fist.

“Bloody stupid tradition. I can’t take care of a baby!”

“She likes you.” Said one Twin.

“That’s not a good reason!”

“You have no reason to exploit her.” Said the other.

“Exploit her?”

“Just take the damn kid.” Janus said sharply. “You’re wasting precious time with your inane questioning. You will be recompensed for any troubles you encounter while she is in your care.”