Ames was feeling a bit lost. He no longer was Engeneer Ames, but simply, Ames Storm, The Commander's husband. He did not know what do with himself or where he fitted in her life or on this ship. He took out his personal toolkit and started fixing anything he could find in the Commander's compartment. There was not much to do, but enough to keep him busy for a few days while he mulled it over.
When Ames told Ktak about his problem of uselessness she took it very seriously. The Tamare were designed to fill a purpose and to lose that purpose was a terrifying punishment. She understood that it was not quite as acute in humans, but it was an issue she could understand. She also looked again into what the rulebook had to say about traveling spouses. Apparrenly they could be hired to perform housekeeping duties, like cooking and cleaning...
Ktak remembered a recent complaint on her desk about lacking staff for cleaning something... She rummaged through the report log on her communicator. There it was! The deflector shield debrie collectors. Since Ames was off the rooster there was nobody on the maintenance crew able to clean them. You needed to be space walk certified to do it and at the same time small enough to fit out of the small manual airlock hatch leading to them. Walking half the hull from the main airlocks would be quite unsafe and both guys also certified for space walks did not fit. Ames's workmate, who they had shared the duty with was a woman and she had gotten pregnant recently, eliminating her from space walk rooster for next 9 months they had to go to Earth stopover.
Well... It was cleaning. So hiring Ames to do this part of his former duty as a contractor would be fine. The pay rates in the book were ridiculous, because they were for compartment cleaning and such, but there were the perks... Sorting the trash for reclaimable material to sell was also explcitly allowed. She was looking at her magnificent engagement ring. There was something missing and quite unexpectedly, she had an idea what Ames could do.
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In the evening she presented it to Ames. Ames could take the contract for cleaning the shield collectors, sort the trash for usable material and make jewelry out of it. To Ames this sounded like a deam job, but he wondered who would buy his creations. Ktak responded by putting in an order for a pair of wedding rings for themselves. Ames was content. This would keep him busy easily, as creating things took time and the space walks were exactly the part he missed most from his former job.
Ktak found the adjustment terrifyingly easy and herself quite enjoying the married life. It was nice to retire after a hard day work and find Ames quietly tinkering at his workbench. All felt right in the world if he was there. With Mtak off the ship, trip to Earth promised to be quite uneventfult.
The new second in command that had arrived at stopover to replace Mtak was competent and efficient. The human hybrid had recently retired at planetside near the station, but now needed to travel to Tamare homeworld for brood matters that were not urgent, but quite important. A temporary posting with Ktak's crew was very welcome oportunity to do that. Ktak found the assignment a welcome relief. Just how much his arrival had lessened her workload also highlighted how unsuitable Mtak had been for the role.
Only thing slightly nagging Ktak was the matter of meeting Ames's family. Ames was quite tight lipped about them and she wondered what the problem was. She resigned to finding out when time came.
Stella was a bit conflicted on a different matter. She was pondering if she should discuss birth control with Ktak. It was quite improbable from compatibility perspective in the first place and Ames was doing regular space walks again, so that would more or less make it impossible for now... A few months planetside could change that however. She opted to waiting with that talk until they were due to stay planetside for a longer period. No rush.