Tyler Sarkin gazes down at the angelic beauty laid out before him... and suppresses a giggle.

Angelic.

He loved calling her that in any possible context. She was his angel after all, and with Cassie around he wasn't sure he could be afraid any more. Not of more temporal threats any way. A pissed off Seramali warrior might not be a Cannidor or an Apuk battle princess, but they make up for the raw force of the others in their own way, and their martial culture was second to none.

The presence of several Seramali huntresses in the ranks on the Tear was already having an effect on the crew.

Oaths for example were being taken much more seriously. A lot of the guys were also on significantly better behavior when a Seramali woman was in ear shot. Was it the angel thing? Or just that the Seramali tended to be a bit more "proper" than some of the literal pirates they'd picked up and no one felt like aggravating a woman with massive talons on her feet that could penetrate light armor?

It was an odd mix of emotions, sitting here with Cassie in the somewhat dark room. They'd been in plenty of dark rooms before after all. He'd slept with her pretty much nightly after they'd found themselves running the gunship squadron on the Tear. Her rhythmic breathing was familiar... and it was that steady rise and fall of her chest that kept him from a very dark place mentally.

It felt like she was lying in state.

They lacked the "proper" facilities for healing comas, which consisted of what were essentially shelves in high density environments like aboard a starship as opposed to anything as wasteful space wise as a bed. Instead Cassie had a hospital room and had been neatly placed in a bed. With the dark lighting it almost felt like she'd died on the table during an operation or something.

It was an emotion easily ignored, between Cassie's breathing and a host of readouts that displayed exactly how his wife was doing in excruciating detail, but the sensation still lingered. The fear of losing Cassie was very real while he sat here, "alone" in the dark.

Going out into the unknown, and finding something, someone, as incredible as his Cassie. Well. Tyler Sarkin considered himself the luckiest man in the galaxy. She might not be an actual princess, battle or otherwise, but Cassie was more than princess enough for him. Tyler doted on her endlessly, to the point of embarrassing her in front of the other Seramali warrior women in her eyrie.

Still, Tyler can't ignore the other change about his darling Cassie. She was looking much, much younger. He actually delighted in her mature form. The marks of age were carried well by his angel. Even the silver in her hair only made her more radiant and beautiful in his eyes, like a fine wine. Or perhaps a very well aged whiskey.

She certainly went down smooth enough on his tongue to be whiskey. Tyler convinces himself he can practically see years melting away as the strange device over her eyes plays out her life to her, flashing with memory recordings being placed back into Cassie's refreshed mind.

Further... there was an edge of anticipation. Cassie would be ready to have their first child together after this. She would have been safe earlier, but a younger body promised less complications, especially when they were going to be in remote areas for much of the time. That thought made his heart race like he was being hunted by the powerfully built winged woman.

Fatherhood.

Was he really ready to be a father? He wondered sometimes. It was part of his concerns he'd expressed to Cassie in the hangar bay on taking their first walk around of Valkyrie 101. Sometimes next to her he just felt so... young. It was a doubt he shouldn't have. Here he was the commander of an aerospace gunship squadron, a married man... but then, it was at this moment he really felt his own father's absence.

The old man dying was part of what led Tyler to volunteering for the Dauntless back on Earth. Running away from the pain perhaps... but also wanting to honor his father's memory. The old man had been thrilled by first contact, convinced mankind's destiny was out among the stars. His mother had been less understanding. She was a grounded creature, focused on material things in her own little world... and the children from her second marriage. She didn't have much time for her eldest son.

"If only you could see me now Dad." Tyler sighs. "At least I don't have to wonder if you're proud of me. I know you are. Or would be. Hell, Cassie could be one of those giant spider women or a hive of bee girls and you'd still do nothing but cheer me on and tease me about what the next wife would be. You're still my biggest fan, have been since little league... but damn I wish I could talk to you one more time. Not a lot of paternal guidance available out here... maybe I'll see if I can find First Sergeant Gurung. Talk to him about fatherhood. He's got a couple kids back on Earth. I think he said one of his boys is trying out for the Royal Regiment of Gurkhas this year..."

Tyler shakes his head, trying to steady his cascade of confused thoughts. "Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity you-"

BEEP.

A little jingle plays, and the machine on Cassie's face goes silent.

The program had finished.

Almost immediately the angelic beauty begins to stir, returning to the waking world from her long, rejuvenating sleep.

Tyler's mind locks onto just the right thing to do in this unique situation. He leans in, and kisses Cassie deeply on the lips.

She comes to life around him, her arms wrapping around his back, and her wings curling around the both of them, their own little world made of their embrace and her feathers. She smiles up at him, eyes still obscured by the memory retention band.

"While I appreciate the kiss, my husband is going to be very cross with you, you know."

Tyler laughs. "Well you're certainly still my Cassie, that's for damn sure."

"The very same. Forever and a day my dear. Restoring my youth won't make me any less me. Make me love you any less. If anything it's making me love you more... a week incapacitated away from you is a horror not borne by my conscious mind, but ah, my heart aches for you ever so dearly."

"Are all Seramali as dramatic as you are? Or is that just you?"

"It's just me, lover mine, I'm one in a billion, and don't you forget it."

She teases as she pulls the memory retention band off her head, blindly setting it aside as she strokes Tyler's cheek lovingly.

"Cassie dearest, I can safely say there's no risk of that at all. Still... you're a bit more... impish. In your 20s."

"The light and energy of youth is rather invigorating I will say."

She bites her lower lip, all four eyes looking deep into Tyler's and a blush spreads across her cheeks. It didn't take a genius to guess what was on her mind.

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"Invigorating in all sorts of ways. You know... we have a bed right here. We could get started on our first clutch right no-"

The door slides open and light floods the room before Cassie can finish her sentence, all four of her eyes dilating violently at the influx of bright light as Tyler scrambles back to his chair.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

Tyler suppresses a wince as the recently promoted Captain McCoy, known as ‘Bones’ in every circumstance but to her face strides into the room. The blonde human woman had a severe hair cut, what Tyler would call a ‘I'd like to speak to the manager.’ special, and it seemed to only make her blue eyes sharper. Meaner.

Clipboard in hand she immediately begins to examine Cassie, taking her vitals both off the machines and the manual way, then asking her a series of cognitive checks in both galactic trade and Seramal, the ‘high’ language of the Seramali peoples, which visibly shocked Cassie.

"How do you speak Seramal? Our language is not known to many outside of our eyries. We are… a private people."

"I don't speak Seramal. Your language has been studied like most others, so I looked it up and did some basic research so I could do cognitive function tests and try to calm you down if this damn thing scrambled your brain."

Bones hooks a thumb at the memory retention band.

"Speaking of which. You seem like you're fine... and have full memory retention. With your permission, I'm going to slag this thing."

Cassie nods her assent, confused, and Bones snaps her fingers, turning the memory retention headband to dust.

"New security protocol, we're having another Jasper Blue incident over my dead body."

And just like that, she's back to examining Cassie, who's now actively trying to puzzle out the strange human doctor examining her.

"So do you speak any other languages besides English, Galactic Trade and Seramal?"

"I told you I don't speak Seramal. I just have a good tongue for language. I've also studied Volpiri considering the sheer number of fox women running around here like some damn Japanese anime and I'm actually taking the time to learn some Horchakasha, it's a bit of a guttural language, reminds me of Russian."

"What's a Russian?"

"A human equivalent to a Horchka."

Tyler offers, finally getting a chance to get a word in edgewise between the two women and immediately earning himself a glare from Bones.

"I hate that you're not wrong, Sarkin. Now shut up, I'm treating a patient."

"You can't speak to my-"

"You shut up too. I'm treating you damn it. This is a hospital, not a daytime chat show for housebound women."

Cassie's mouth clicks shut as if she'd just been slapped, clearly not used to the utterly brusque manner of the doctor. She's poked, prodded, and then gets what the Doctor describes as a quick vitamin shot before being given a final once over.

"Well, you're the picture of perfect health from what I understand from my review of Seramali medical care."

The cranky look on the old battle axe's face is just too much now that they have an official nod on Cassie's health, he can't help but make a move to needle her a bit.

"Is something the matter Doctor? You almost look... upset."

The withering glare he gets in return is legendary in its own right.

"I am upset. I'm stuck handling the pointy end of medicine that doesn't require my skills as a doctor as much as magic. I exist in a universe where the majority of my skills and talents are redundant completely because everything can seemingly be healed by raw faith. I'm a doctor not a priest!"

Bones snarls and shoves a pamphlet into Tyler's hand.

"If she has any of the side effects, bring her back on the double. Unless you have any questions for me you're free to go Lieutenant. Commander."

And with that, Bones stalks out of the room, leaving an amused Tyler and a confused Cassie in her wake.

"Husband, I thought Dr. McCoy had embraced axiom use."

"She has, with all the cold, autistic logic of someone who can dissect anyone and anything with nothing but her mind. She's like the mirror universe evil twin of the Nerd squad."

"I'm amazed she's managed to be a doctor so long with such a terrible bedside manner."

"She started her career as a Navy Corpsman, did a couple combat tours. That little badge on her left breast is the Fleet Marine Force badge, so she rolled with the jarheads like the skipper, and got deep into the weeds I have no doubt. Some of her other stuff in full dress uniform like jump wings suggests she might have even been a Raider or moved over to the SEALs before she went to med school. Her manner might not be great, but it's probably not how she started, just how she ended up after pulling shit like surgery while under fire to keep some young PFC from buying the farm."

"Really? From enlisted sailor to full naval captain? Extremely impressive. As is finding time to go to medical school in all of that."

"Not quite a full naval captain. She's not a line officer like we are."

Cassie cocks her head. "I've heard line officer used before, but I'm not sure what it means."

"Line officers are officers in the mainstay of the military. The combat arms branches to talk more like a ground pounder. Specialists like doctors deserve the compensation and respect accorded to officers, but they lack the same command authority. They're expected to do their jobs and be experts in their fields, not lead men into battle or command warships."

"Ah, I see, so a non line officer exists parallel to the proper chain of command."

"Correct, if something happened to the Skipper and XO, god forbid, and I was left as senior line officer present, it would be on me to take command, and I could issue binding, lawful orders to Captain McCoy, and it'd be her responsibility to execute. At the same time as Chief Medical Officer she has a significant amount of authority in her own right. Bones in particular's been doing an awful lot of research and has really pushed a lot of things forward... all while volunteering for the Tear so she can get out into the wider galaxy without skipping a beat. I have no doubt that's why she got promoted. Admiral Cistern is pretty consistent with the officers he advances and supports."

"People who get results."

"Precisely. Meritocracy all the way up. Look at Vernon Shay, he's been promoted significantly, not because of who his wife is, though admittedly, scoring an Apuk Battle Princess is impressive, but because he turned that opportunity into a literal river of gold for the Undaunted. Our alliance with Serbow is a diplomat's wet dream, and his research into axiom based combat is absolutely insane. Hellspawn, he got human colonists invited to Serbow herself! Another species' cradle world! That has to be fairly rare."

"Oh it is." Cassie stands slowly, flexing her wings. "I suspect humanity will have several such invitations and alliances before long. The Yauya and Dzedin in particular almost certainly wish to befriend humankind in a deeper way, even if they generally refuse to take credit for pushing the effort to "rescue" you. The Horchka hierarchy might go the way of the Apuk. And the Cannidor. Well. Honestly I think they're developing a cultural fetish for your species. Apparently that new sitcom with the human soldier in it is getting top ratings in Cannidor space."

"I wonder what an alliance with the Cannidor would look like?"

"They go where their grand clans go, so initially it would mean a very large body of Cannidor joining the Undaunted, then some sort of formal recognition of the Undaunted as a worthy warrior "clan" in its own right. Possibly even gain the senior Cannidor in the Undaunted a non-voting seat on their Council of Matriarchs. Gain enough Cannidor warriors in your ranks and you'll be surprised at just how much influence a non-voting seat can wield. If the Cannidor and humanity grow close enough, I could see the Undaunted Cannidor matriarch getting voting rights one day.”

"That'd be huge."

"You humans tend to do things big darling, and you inspire others to meet your own standards for insane overperformance."

"Speaking of performing..."

Cassie hums softly to herself, wings wrapping around Tyler.

"You know husband... technically, I'm a virgin again. Would you... how did Lieutenant Graves put it... pop my cherry again?"

"Yes. Hell yes."

"Then let's hurry back to our quarters, we have nothing to attend to but what matters most today, and I intend to enjoy my freshly recovered body."