Star Trek: Terra Alpha

Ethan was leaning inside the round corral, and tin cup of coffee in his hands steam wafting off his cup. There was at least a foot of snow on the ground and ominous clouds coming in over Mt. Archer threatening even more snow.

Jake, Ethan's lineback dun quarter horse approached sniffing around Ethan and snorting in response to the coffee. Ethan chuckled and patted the horse on the shoulder. And Jake repaid the pat by pushing Ethan's hat off his head and played with his hair leaving it slimed with horse slime.

"Jake!" Ethan exclaimed with a chuckle in his voice. "Go on get out of here you counterfeit crowbait before I send you to the glue factory."

The horse side stepped away and snorted. Ethan retrieved his hat from the mud and knocked off most of the nasties from the brim. He placed the now black and mud enhanced Stetson back on his head and returned to his coffee.

Trinity walked over to Ethan and crossed her arms. "That horse has such an attitude. Does love you though." she raised an eyebrow. "So Kalia and I are in agreement about something. I know, I think Hell froze over and renamed itself Riley City. Anyway... since I'm carrying our twin beans here..." she pointed to her belly. "I think it would be a good idea if I focused on my Jase'dasis training and handled business here on the ranch, so you and Kalia can handle the Corps. Once the beans start growing... I am not going to be fun for the Marines to be around. I go between loving everyone to wanting to use the Iljuna to slam them against the nearest wall."

"Yeah," Ethan said after a moment's of consideration. "Yeah, he does. Never seen a horse get so attached to someone like that before. There's coffee in the tack room if you want some."

He placed a muddy boot on the bottom rail of the coral and scraped off huge chunks of the wet clay. He glanced up at the graying sky and sighed. "We don't need any early spring calves this year that's for sure. Kalia is a fine officer," he said finally.

He'd been avoiding the discussion for weeks. He wasn't a fan of his wife joining the ranks of the Jase'dasis, any more than she had been when he'd returned to the Corps. Though, making corps commander more or less generally took him out of harms way. Though unfortunate things did happen in a theater of operations, but he was mostly a pencil pusher now.

"Kalia has been running the 82nd very well. Almost as if she was born to that role. Hell, Dougal even stepped up. I expected some tension between them, but there hasn't. Dougal's a good man if not a little hot headed, which makes Kalia a better commander of the Division."

He finished his coffee and tossed the grounds into the snow and sighed, "With this... well, I guess it is war going on I'm not sure I can get your discharge papers cleared, but I think I can get you reassigned as detached service to the Jase'dasis. I'll see what I can do."

"Dear... you keep forgetting, it's not discharge, it's maternity leave. Not that my old role would be terribly hard but like I said, my training requires a bit more of my time and... let's face it, Kalia was born to be your XO." she kissed his cheek. "Just like I was meant to be your wife and mother to your future children. BUT... if you need me, even if I'm 8 months pregnant... I'll be there with phasers on my hip and a kilden in my hand."

Ethan removed his hat and ran his hand though his hair and replaced the hat. "I guess I just assumed you wanted out. I know you're on maternity leave at the moment. And the last thing I want is you anywhere you have phasers on your hip. Not, that you couldn't take care of yourself, but we do have the twins to think about. As much as they need a father they need their mother more."

"Oh I entirely agree... but you know us Ryder women, we don't run from a fight." Trinity said and kissed him on the cheek. "Maybe waddle into it, but not run from it."

"Yeah, I know you Ryder women. I'd say you're all suicidal, but I reckon mom isn't any better. Probably worse. I don't know how many times she's almost really died."

"Well, you wonder where we all get it from." Trinity chuckled. "My mom, your mom, my grandmother... I really think Seraphina needs to hang with Alice more, she seems to be one mother figure in the family that doesn't just dive head first into the fray. I think it's cute how she picked out her own nickname. Well, depending on how screwed up things get, I wouldn't mind having more of the kids around. Of course I also wouldn't mind just watching them at mom's house." she bundled her coat up more. "This island girl is freezing her coconuts off."

He shrugged off his heavy sheepskin coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. He still had a hoodie sweatshirt on under that. "We are very different you and me mo chridhe," he said borrowing the Gaelic term of affection that he'd learned from Dougal. "I am no fan of the tropics, and I rather despise the heat. Nothing better than coming in from a long day's labor in the freezing cold to a roaring fire in the hearth, a bowl of something warm like chili, and a women's embrace."

"Well that IS rather enjoyable." Trinity said with a smile. "So... how long are you going to be out here?" she looked up at him. "I do have to admit, I kind of like being a General's wife, you're home more. Told you being a desk jockey wasn't so bad. And you can't lie and tell me it wasn't kind of fun what we did on your desk... won't be able to do that in a little while."