Ten years earlier

He woke with the light, a soft, diffused yellow glow that filtered down through his eyelids and slowly urged him from his sleep. He didn't want to wake up. He was certainly aware that he should, but the dream that he was having was far to good to simply leave. He was searching for a crystal for his new lightsaber, but was having trouble locating one. If he could just find one, then he'd finally be a Jedi. Or at least, that's what he thought, he seemed to lack the ability to use the force which hardly made sense. It was actually rather frustrating.

No lightsaber crystal and no force, so basically, he was set to searching around holding a glorified stick. The jedi masters had told him that the crystal was right here somewhere.

"Lieutenant!"

Adam jolted awake, and was immediately clobbered as his forehead plowed into the bulkhead. He mewled in pain and reach up to cover the tender spot, rubbing it with one hand as he blinked bleerily, resting on one elbow as he looked around himself. he was lying inside a small compartment, just long enough and tall enough to support a sleeping peon. The shape reminded him disconcertingly like a coffin. Two sides were the metal of the bulkhead and the third side was mattress. The final side, just to his right was a screen of off green glass which was slowly beginning to go transparent.

Outside the door, he could see a vaguely humanoid shadow, which knocked again on his pod.

"Stop jacking off to alien ass and get out here."

Adam grumbled and rolled onto his side to knock back, "I'm up, don't get your panties in a bunch."

The black shape faded away, and Adam sighed, shifting and rolling onto his stomach. It took him a few more moments to fully remember where he was. The realization didn't take long to dawn on him.

Because it was hard to forget that he had the BEST JOB EVER!

He was living on a literal space ship! Right now, he was in space, in another solar system, or was that centauri system? The only reason their system was called a solar system was because the sun was named Sol. Either way, what did it really matter, he was on a space ship in another star system, and he was so excited.

He had this reaction waking up every morning, and he was almost entirely sure that it would never get old. He lay there for another few moments collecting himself, looking at the small cache of things he had been allowed to bring with him onto the ship. The ship was basically a lot like a glorified submarine, expect a lot bigger and a lot more awesome, but there were a lot of similarities. In fact, the people who had built the ship had kept a lot of sub based protocols in mind while they were building. Somewhere back on earth another man was squished inside a similarly shaped bunk, just hundreds of feet under water.

Since Adam was so tall, his bunk was on the uppermost set of the four bunks, which meant he had to climb to get in. Though, that was better than being on the bottom bunk, where he would have to get on all fours to crawl in every night. Unlike living on a submarine, the ship had been built with each member of its had picked crew in mind, which meant Adam had his own bunk, and didn't have to share in any sort of rotation. That also meant he could keep some of his own things in his own space. The people who had designed the ship had determined that to be important.

There were plenty of studies conducted by people way smarter than him that proved that humans, while a social species, also needed their space. Stuck inside the cramped confines of a ship, no matter how big, for extended periods of time with people you may not even like, was grounds for trying to kill each other. A great way to mitigate that was to give people their won private space where they could feel in control and safe when sleeping.

Thus they had all been given their own bunks.

Adam had made his as pleasant as possible with pictures of his family, an individual picture for each one of his siblings and parents, and then a big family picture for all of them together, then of course there was his collection of nerdy stuff, like a small printed ship schematic of the star trek enterprise and other sundries. Last but not least was his travel companion, a stuffed marvin the martian which he had received no end of ribbing and ridicule for.

He didn't mind that so much.

Most of the time people making fun of him was good natured, and even if they thought he was a little weird, he at least did his best to be funny and personable, which generally tended to overrule any weirdness of being a grown man who still slept with stuffed animals. Adam sure didn't feel like a grown man. He was basically convinced he had stopped aging around sic years old. He still had the same interests, the only difference now was that he could read and reach the top shelf.

He was just shaking off the last stages of grogginess when another knock came at his wall. He grumbled at the shadow standing outside, "For the love of Earth! I'm coming ." he reached out to press the release on the little patrician, "calm your tit-" the wall slid open and he let off a surprised squeak as he came face to face with Captain Kelly.

He floundered scrambled, and fell bodily out of his bunk, the good six feet to the floor. He hit hard and mewled in pain. Captain Kelly had stepped deftly back to avoid his fall and was standing over him with a raised eyebrow, her hands clasped neatly behind her back From this angle he couldn't tell if she was amused or not, "I'm sorry lieutenant, what was that about my tits?"

The word coming from her mouth, and the realization that he had said that to a superior officer, a female superior officer had him spluttering and apologizing within seconds, "Captain I, captain sir, uh ma'am." He scrambled to his feet and saluted stupidly, "I I didn't mean I wasn't.... talking about your, I mean, not personally.... It was..... metaphorical?'

Her eyebrow raised higher, "So you were talking about generalized metaphorical tits/'

His face was beat root red, and somewhere out of the open doorway he thought he heard some of the other officers giggling at his expense.

He slumped where he stood, "Honestly, ma'am I thought you were Lieutenant Yost."

"Mmm, yes easy to mistake the two of us. He is nearly six feet tall, and built like a MAC truck."

Her face remained deadpan, and Adam shuffled nervously under her gaze. Adam may have been taller than Kelly by a little over half a foot, but she was definitely way more intimidating than him. Even though he had to look down to meet her eyes, it felt more like he was training his neck up to look at her.

She just had that sort of presence.

"I, Captain I am so sorry I didn't mean...."

he paused when he thought he saw her crack a smile, "You can stop groveling lieutenant, I know what you mean, also watching you fall out of your bunk was well worth the price of admission." He felt his blush raise horribly into the rest of his face, and looked down at the ground shuffling his socked feet against the metal, "What are you.... Even doing here." Adam looked around at the crew quarters.

Everyone knew that Captain Kelly had her own rooms in the captain's suite. He had never seen them, but he heard they included a queen size sleeping pod, an entire room and an on suite bathroom. Why she would bother to come down here was a mystery.

"I wanted to come speak with you."

"With me." He said. His voice was barely lower than the squeaking of a mouse, and he could hear the snickering continuing from the hallway. How stupid he must have looked standing there in his grippy ship socks and a rumpled T shirt, in font of the captain, who as he watched, swept her eyes over his bunk to fall on his Marvin the Martian.

Her eyebrow raised even higher.

He leaned out and slapped the close button on his bunk, "Er, why.... Me?"

He saw the corner of her mouth twitch and hoped that that was her trying to hide a smile and not an expression of disgust, "Meet me outside the crew dorms in ten minutes. We will speak more then."

She turned and left, and Adam was left to scramble to his locker, and pull on his uniform. Outside the door Lt. Yost grinned at him, "that was graceful."

"Shut up." Adam grumbled,

"Your morning probably couldn't get any more stupid. I mean you have already gotten up late, said tit in front of the captain, fallen on your head, and let everyone in their dog see your stuffed animal. What next?"

"don't give me that shit Yost, I know you sleep with that stuffed Duck."

"My daughter insisted I keep it with me, and because I do it, that gives me ample right to make fun of you."

Adam belted his uniform belt around his hips and took a deep breath, "Its like the universe hates me."

"Maybe a little."

Adam stuffed his cap on his head and hurried out into the hall. Captain Kelly was waiting where she told him speaking to one of the other officers. He stood pressed against the wall as the two spoke doing his best to be quiet and unobtrusive. As unobtrusive as a person over six feet in height can be.

Kelly turned to look at him after the other officer walked away, "Why don't you come with me lieutenant."

He fell into step beside her. They walked in silence for a long few minutes before, "So uh.... What is this all about."

"Colonel Palmer has good things to say about your flying abilities, and your insertion onto Proxima b was stellar."

There was a pause, and Adam felt the corner of his mouth twitch, "Captain.... Was that a pun."

She turned her head to look at him and though her mouth was deadpan , her eyes glittered just a bit too much, "What is your assessment of your flying abilities."

Adam paused mouth opening and then closing.

"Don't be modest. I don't have time for it."

"Er.... I'm pretty good."

"You're going to have to be more specific." Despite being significantly shorter than he was, she walked fast and he had to speed up to keep pace.

"Uh, I can fly anything and not kill anyone, but space faring ships are my specialty. The F-90 is my favorite. I could thread a needle with that jet, and on the ship simulators.... I am very good, but I know what s not the same thing." He trailed off

"That's good to hear."

She led him up to the top deck and forward to the bridge. The room was already bustling with morning activity as she walked him into the room. Adam's eyes went wide . He had been on the bridge during warp, but still it was almost as exciting the second time around. He looked longingly over at the captain's chair and was practically drooling.

She paused to stand next to him.

"Sit down."

Adam looked around trying to find the nearest open chair, "I uh, w-"

She nodded to the captain's chair, and he froze eyes going wide, "You mean."

"Just sit down, Lieutenant."

He did as told, and would probably have peed himself with excitement, but the last thing he wanted to do was wet himself on another person's captain's chair. That would be very not cool. He felt a thrill run through his body and closed his eyes taking a deep breath.

"How's it feel."

"I can die happy now."

Kelly actually laughed, "Well how about we refrain from premature mortality. One of my original flight officers has come down with a mild bronchial infection. Its nothing serious but she will have to be quarantined for the foreseeable future, which means I need a new pilot. As you know I can't pilot my ship all the time, and there always has to be someone in command for things to go well. So with Palmer's endorsement, I'd like to offer you that position."

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"I I.... yes I captain, I would- um."

"Use your words lieutenant."

"Uh, yes ma'am it would be an honor."

She patted his shoulder , "Good, now take her into orbit, I want to see how you handle her." She kept er hand resting on the back of the chair, brushing his shoulder with her knuckles every so often when he shifted positions. He was worried at first that the simulator and the real thing would be night and day, but that wasn't the case. It was surprisingly easy, and he inserted them into a stable orbit cleanly and with no issues. Kelly looked to one of her officers who nodded to her.

She patted his shoulder, "that was clean. I didn't expect it to be that clean."

Adam motioned to the readings on the holo in front of him, "It does all the math for me, pretty easy."

She paused, "You've done this math by hand."

Adam nodded, "yeah back at the academy they made us do all the orbital insertion math by hand." He grinned at her, "Its not really all that impressive, I'm not exactly gifted at all that math and science stuff." He frowned, "I wish I was."

Kelly kept her raised eyebrow on the projection ahead of her, "Well, you seem to have a gift for light lieutenant. I will b penning you into the rotation." He inched towards the door at the clear dismissal, trying to contain his excitement for a more appropriate time.

"thank you ma'am, thank you so much."

"And lieutenant."

He paused, "yes?"

"I like your Martian." He went red

She smiled, "mine is better though."

He frowned, "Your?"

"My husband is a marine biologist, and he gave me a five foot long killer whale to bring with me."

Adam laughed in surprise and delight, and she gave him another subtle smile as she shooed him out of the room. There were probably no words to describe how much he wanted to be like Kelly when he grew up.

***

Adam sat in silence, staring from the other couch at what was left of his idol.

Admiral Kelly, void Kelly, lay curled on his couch on Arcadia, star glittering arms wrapped around herself giving the impression that he had a portal to space sitting on his couch. She was quiet, Lord Celex reported that she didn't talk, and when she wasn't moving she tended to curl up into a ball. It was night and day from the woman he had known, strong, charismatic, badass, but also unbelievably kind.

Looking at her just made his blood boil.

Kazna would pay, and he planned to be the one to stick a spear through her eye socket.

The sound of small footsteps reached his ears, and he turned to watch as little Kay padded into the room. He wasn't t the stage where he knew how to quiet his footsteps, so he was pretty easy to keep track of. He was holding a sippy cup in one hand and a stuffed animal in the other. He paused between the two couches and looked at Aam, then over at Kelly then back to Adam as if asking a question.

He smiled at his son, but didn't bother to offer an answer.

Kay was only just starting to talk. Adam had worried that he was delayed somehow, but Krill and Riss had reassured him that bilingual children were often just a tad behind as they had more sounds and rules to learn than their counterparts. His first words had been in Drev to no one's surprise, but he could say NO in both, which was becoming a real hassle.

Kay took a soft step forward walking to where Kelly was sitting.

Adam was about to reach out to pick him up, but as Kay approached, Kelly lifted her head.

Kay didn't seem scared, more fascinated by the strange whirring stars, gren eyes big and bright as he approached the strange creature.

Adam paused waiting to see what would happen.

Kelly wasn't aggressive, so he wasn't worried about Kay. He was more worried about kay doing soemthing Kelly might not like.

Kay stopped in front of Kelly chewing on the mouthpiece of his sippy cup.

She stared at him, and he stared back.

It was to his surprise that Kay offered out his arms to Kelly asking to be picked up. Whyany child would ask a random void to pick him up was beyond Adam. Kelly seemed surprised to, but that was almost encouraging, it was more than she had given them over the past few days. Kay bounced a little in impatience and stretched his arms higher.

Kelly looked at Adam.

Adam paused, then nodded.

Kelly reach down and gently picked Kay up. Owing to her ethereal space form, she certainly didn't look like she should have been able to pick him up, but she did, and kay was delighted, sitting happily in her lap and poking at the stars that whirled over her skin.

Kelly tilted her head holding up her palm for kay to look at.

Kay seemed very pleased, grabbing her hand with his, giggling excitedly.

Adam sat up in his seat and smiled.

This was encouraging

Maybe there was some hope after all