We arrive in the middle of corridor A into organized chaos. Medical personnel working on a whole host of beings in different physical conditions. Our sudden appearance with seventeen body bags seems to incite panic in the eyes of many of the patients.

"We need to get these out of here," Remus leans over and whispers to me and Belenus.

Belenus turns to me and whispers, "do you have exact coordinates for the morgue?"

"We don't really have a morgue, but I can take us to lab 39, if it didn't get damaged in my last escape?" I look at Remus as I finish my sentence. I hope I didn't do too much damage.

"It's still there and clear," Remus affirms.

I give the coordinates to the lab and we teleport to lab 39. It was always meant to be mine, but I hadn't picked a direction for it yet, so it stands empty except a couple tables and a few laptops. Belenus drops us there and returns to corridor A before his flames can die from lack of oxygen. Phoenixes can't die, but they can't hatch in zero oxygen environments, and having him down for the count is not a good idea right now.

When Remus and I are alone in the lab, I turn to look at the stack of body bags. The task feels overwhelming. I need to find a way to get the bodies identified and have them returned to their families in accordance with each person's funerary customs. For sixteen people.

And then I need to sift through all this data, quickly. If we are going to make this first contact thing work, we need to erase any knowledge of any race other than human from all government data. Then there is the possibility there are others going through the same hell we just walked out of. Potentially many more body bags to collect.

"I need to go check on Alyssa," Remus whispers. There is no real reason to whisper, but talking feels disrespectful.

I nod and he leaves. I'm going to need help. I go to the thermostat and turn it to minus five. Then I unties the body bags, and lay them out next to each other. I pull the bag full of data onto one of the tables and empty it out into roughly sorted piles: electronics, papers, and samples.

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When that is done and there is no more I can do without diving into research and analysis, I stand in front of the door and survey the morbid task I have in front of me. My back falls against the door, and I lean my whole weight on it. Before I tackle this task, I need to face one far more dangerous.

Heista's quarters are less than a minute from this door. I need to grovel. Beg for forgiveness, and apologise for breaking every promise I made to her before we started trying for children. I have very few regrets in life, but leaving her here, even though it was necessary, is one of them.

I take a deep breath. Amazing how calming that can be even when you don't need it and aren't getting any oxygen from it. Just as I decide to get up and confront my lady love, the door opens behind me.

Looking up from the floor, I see the one person I was about to seek out. Heista, despite coming here for me, is not looking at me at all. She is staring at the body bags on the floor. She steps over me into the room, and just stares down at those who were not lucky enough to escape the ship.

"I could have lost you," Her voice breaks and she places a hand over her still flat stomach. Then she turns to me, "how could you leave me like that? How could you leave knowing you really could have died? Not seeing a path home. How could you do that to us?"

I peel myself off the floor, and catch her just as she collapses in front of the body bags. I turn her toward my chest and shield her from the upsetting sights in the rest of the room, "I'm sorry. I have no excuse and you have every right to be furious with me. I will never live this down, and I will never stop trying to make this up to both of you."

"And you did it anyway."

"I did. I saw it as the only path to avoid war and keep our family safe."

She slaps my chest, much like someone sobbing might, "You don't get to decide that without talking to me!"

I pull her with me so we are leaning comfortably against the wall, "I know. I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

We sit there against the wall until her panic and grief subsides. I feel guilty for putting my urgent research tasks on the back burner, but Hestia is more important. She will always be more important.

When she is ready, we get up and survey the room again.

"Okay, so, I'll take all the data, you sift through the papers and samples." I love it when she takes charge. She grabs the computers, memory sticks, and backup drives and starts working through them.

I grab the papers to start sorting and reading, "Anything for you, dearest." We don't have to talk more than that to know we are going to be here until we are done and have confirmed if this ship was the only one of its kind.