Flight of the Bluebird

Two Houses, Alike in Dignity

In a few days, the Corumon slowly glided to a stop in a landing bay near Starfleet Headquarters. The family opened the hatch and got out, Brantus going first. He inhaled deeply. "Earth smells good," he proclaimed.

The rest of the family came out. Jonathan Archer was waiting to meet them. He came over quickly. "Seppa!" he called out happily.

She cautiously stepped out and he took one look at her. He had not realized that she was pregnant. "A, a surprise," she said to him, and then hastily added. "This is my husband, Brantus."

Jonathan shook his hand enthusiastically. "I'm glad to know you. And congratulations!" He came closer and Seppa kissed him lightly on the cheek, the tiniest of licks, like a puppy. He smiled at her warmly and took her furry hands in his. "You're glowing."

"What is that? What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that pregnancy agrees with you," said the human.

"Ah, I understand now," said Seppa. "I am to have a girl child. We are going to name her something special but we have not decided on the specifics yet."

"I'm sure it'll be wonderful," Jonathan said, getting their bags to his car as Brantus's two other wives followed and he took them to their hotel.

=/\=

Trinning came home that evening to a rousing reception, as always. He first embraced his very pregnant Prime Wife, Kathalia, and said, "You are the best cook." The house smelled wonderful as a meal of meat and vegetables was finishing cooking.

Then he held his secondary wife, Jamae. "My first love," he said to her. She had a pouchling and so he held her from the side so that the pouchling could get enough air. He knelt down and kissed her pouch and the pouchling moved a little.

And finally he went to hug and kiss his third caste wife, Tamira. "My sweet," he said. Their little daughter was nearby and held her arms up. He picked up the baby, who was only clad in swaddling. "Erda," he said, "are you talking yet?" The baby just giggled at him.

"Not yet," Tamira said, "but it is early. I think we are thinking about talking, though."

"My littlest out of the pouch, you will find that talking is a wonderful thing to do," Trinning said to Erda as he straightened up, holding her. "And our other daughters?"

"Curra and Samitha are helping with the meal and are setting the table," said Tamira.

"What was your day like, Husband?" asked Kathalia. Jamae got the last of the meal together as Kathalia sat down, resting her swollen ankles.

"We had a bit of a breakthrough," he said, "we may be close to a cure, but we need to test our findings in a living Daranaean."

Jamae came out. "Almost ready." She saw that the others looked a bit serious. "Here, Erda, you will help me with the last part of getting dinner ready, and then you will help to collect Curra and Samitha." She took the baby from Trinning so that the other three could speak in privacy.

"A living Daranaean," Kathalia said, "That means a third caste woman like Tamira."

"Yes," Trinning admitted, "I do not like it but we need to test the medicine and determine its effectiveness."

"Who is in your lab these days?" asked Tamira.

"We have three with us," Trinning said. "There is Fyra. There is Darri. And there is Cama."

"Cama," Tamira said, "she is from Councilman Elemus's house, yes?"

"Yes," Trinning confirmed, "she lived there before."

=/\=

In another part of Daranaea, another domestic scene was playing out. "Boestus," said an elder Prime Wife named Nitha, "the days grow late and Shura has not ovulated and she has not conceived. It may be close to her time."

"Not, not yet," said Boestus.

His secondary wife, Carya, came into the room. "Husband, you know the laws as we all do. It is a painful law yet it remains the law. And you have said that it is your position for it to remain the law. And what that means is that Shura will, soon, face a horrible choice."

Boestus rose. "This is my house, and I will decide on our conversations. We will speak of this no more."

"As you wish, Husband," Carya said carefully as she and Nitha left the room.

=/\=

On the Bluebird, they were in orbit around Daranaea. The date slid by on the chronometer – August twenty-fourth of 2180. Malcolm was on the Bridge, and they were patched in to Sick Bay so that Blair could join in the conversation. "We shall have them all up in a day or so," he said, "there are nineteen candidates and we will also invite wives. So that shall be," he did a quick calculation in his head, "seventy-six people."

"Good God," Blair said, "isn't that almost as many people as originally manned the NX-01?"

"Chef will flip out," Travis said.

"Perhaps you're right. Maybe we'll confine the spouses to Prime Wives only," mused the captain, "I don't wish to play favorites but the sheer volume makes it impractical to do so otherwise."

"Thirty-eight will be a lot more reasonable," Hoshi stated.

"Very well," said Captain Reed, "Prime Wives only."