They were met at the end of the hatch ramp by Athen, a good chunk of Etlonian warriors, all trying to look nonchalant while waiting for a possible trap to spring, and Clover who was being shoved to the back by large warriors intent on protecting a female.
Athen gave the pair a once over. “You’re alive. Good.”
Zenik stepped up to him. “I have reclaimed my honor.”
“Your honor was never lost in my eyes.”
“Where is my cat?” Clover demanded as she shoved past the wall of green bodies.
“Sornam is a fierce warrior in his own right. He-” Zenik began before getting cut off.
“His name is Data,” Clover interjected.
“I do not understand the female propensity to give undignified names.”
“Where. Is. My. Cat?”
"He is resting within."
Clover didn't wait a second more before charging around Zenik and up the hatch ramp only to come up short when Bright mysteriously appeared in the entrance. Clover took a step back.
"Who the hell are you?"
"You smell of Orth." Bright inhaled deeply and then embraced a stunned Clover, pinning her arms to her side.
"Oh, by the way," Jane called. "We found your mother-in-law."
"Wha- What?" Clover stammered. Bright had yet to let go.
"Sweetie. We will be the best of friends," Bright assured her.
Clover looked skeptical. News traveled like lightning because before Bright had even let go, there was a green flash sprinting toward the pair. Scrubs pulled up just short of them and performed a little bow. Bright extended one arm and Scrubs wrapped his arms around both women.
"Mother. I am very glad you are not dead."
"She has killed many Suhlik devils!" Zenik announced loudly.
"Then she is more than welcome, full daughter of Etlon," Athen announced. A cheer went up among the warriors and their wives joined in. Despite his efforts to the contrary, Athen was becoming quite the statesman.
Kave on the other hand, was not.
"Look, Jane, look!" He shoved Humility in her direction. "She's getting fat with my son!"
"Mazel Tov," Jane said flatly as she exchanged a wink and an eye roll with Humility.
"That is an inappropriate salutation unless Humility believes in a Hebrew god," Scrubs said from behind Jane. They must have actually exited the hug.
"She was being sarcastic," Clover explained.
"She is not happy that Humility has been impregnated?" Kave asked.
All three human women sighed at the same time. Then, they all started to laugh, which completely baffled the warriors.
Jane punched Kave on the shoulder and he broke into a grand smile. She knew well enough that a slug on the shoulder was a universal male sign of acceptance.
"I should hope that she is happy," Scrubs said. He had whipped out that damned scanner and was giving Jane a once over with it. "She is also impregnated."
Jane's breath caught in her throat. She knew that was the plan, to have a baby, but such an abrupt confirmation left her completely off her center axis. It didn't matter, because Zenik sensed it and stepped up behind her, wrapping her in his arms. He hugged her tightly and leaned down for a kiss which Jane promptly returned. She was glowing.
"Mazel Tov!" Humility shouted.
"Mazel Tov!" Clover added.
Suddenly warriors and wives alike were all shouting the traditional Jewish greeting as if it was what they always did. She had started a trend.
The group that had formed dissolved away as the daily routine of the camp was resumed. Odette appeared with a baby in arm, apparently left behind due to the risk of craft landing near the camp. Jane caught a flash of Meadow with another green baby, most likely Clover's, since Clover didn't have a little one in her arms when she came to reclaim her cat.
"You are just in time," Odette said. "We're having the naming ceremony the day after next. Etlon is supposed to be here. It's apparently a big deal."
"A moment," Zenik said to Athen who was only too eager to get a full briefing on the mission.
"You are good?" Zenik asked Jane hesitantly. He was anxious to brief Athen but only after he was assured of Jane's well-being.
Jane smiled at his tone. "Yeah. I'm good. Go."
The warriors disappeared off to the command center.
"You haven't named him yet?" Jane asked Odette. "What have you been calling the little tyke?"
"He will be given two names. A mother name, and a Mahdfel name," Bright said, stepping in. "One will prevail, or he may choose when he is older."
"What was Scrubs's other name?" Jane asked.
"He needed no other name. I am of Etlon." A hint of a smile flashed on her face and Jane knew she was thinking of her stint as an Etlonian princess.
Obviously Scrubs had felt the need to choose a new name, but Jane was not in the mood to insult Bright.
"I've been calling him James. As far as a Mahdfel name goes, well, we haven't quite settled on that one yet."
"I have some suggestions," Bright offered.
Jane bit her lip to keep from smiling. "Well, Bright, don't you want to go see your grand baby? I think I spotted him over there. He's getting named too, I suppose?"
Bright's face lit up as Clover's darkened. Jane mouthed the word ‘sorry’ just before Clover turned to run after Bright.
After a bit more chitchat, Jane was free to return to her quarters. They were just as sparse and clean as she had left them. The only sign that she had been gone was the vase of dead plants in the center of the table. Maybe it was the apparent emptiness of the place or her nesting behavior already at work but Jane's head began to fill with changes to make.
No matter how many times she reminded herself that she had nine months, she just couldn't stop herself from making a list. She sat down at the table, marking a tablet with all the little things she could think of that she needed to sort, question, ask. Changing a diaper, for example. She'd seen it done. As for laying a kid down and actually performing the stinky act, she was a complete novice.
"What are you doing? You look, worried," she heard from behind her. Jane's head snapped up to see her husband standing in the doorway.
"I'm having a baby."
"No, we are having a baby." He grinned and took a place on the other side of the table.
"Yes," Jane corrected herself. "We are."
They both stared at each other for a long moment.
"The naming day," Zenik finally stated. It was as if he was working up to saying something.
"Yes. The day after next," Jane prompted.
"A time for a child to be claimed by the clan and receive their first tattoo. It is also customary for warriors who have distinguished themselves to participate."
Was her husband actually asking for permission to get a tattoo? The thought that he needed her permission was laughable, considering the rest of the Mahdfel were bedecked with tattoos out the yin yang. She knew he had originally been the same, until Dan and his evil henchmen had nearly filleted him alive.
"You've reclaimed your honor. Now you plan to reclaim your tattoos."
"And I ask you not to interfere."
"Why would I do that? You earned all that ink. You should have it back if that's what you want."
"I mean during the Naming Ceremony. But show me your list," Zenik said, clearly thinking that this conversation was over. Jane let it go and handed over the list.
"What is a spit rag?" he asked, perplexed.
***
Meadow’s hug was bone crushing. She must have been stalking Jane’s front door because she swooped in the minute Jane stepped out. “Oh, my God, you do not know how much I have missed you. I didn’t know how worried I was about having an alien baby without a bestie until you up and disappeared. I mean, seriously, how could you leave and not tell me?”
“I missed you too,” Jane gasped, still in Meadow's tight embrace. Meadow finally took a step back and eyed Jane from head to toe.
“I hear you’re pregnant too! Maybe I’ll have a boy and you’ll have a girl and then they’ll get married.”
“I hate to break it to you. We’re all having boys, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot for a minute. Kinda takes the air out of the gender reveal parties, huh?”
“Those things are silly.” Jane had not actually been to one but had heard stories. There weren't that many other female soldiers in her unit and none would let themselves get knocked up.
“It is kind of fun when they get the cake and you cut it, isn't it? Or the balloons that you pop with the pink or blue confetti. I suppose we could use green confetti. Do you think they’ll all be green?”
Jane was hardly adept at reading people but could clearly tell that all of this was a diversion by Meadow to distract her from other thoughts.
“Meadow. What’s wrong? You only ramble when you're trying to deliver bad news,” Jane said..
Meadow sighed. “You just got back. Get some rest. We'll talk later.”
“Let's talk now. I'll sleep when I'm dead.”
“And see, that’s why you’re my bestie. You are my bestie, right?” Meadow’s pleading eyes looked up at her. Jane really hadn’t considered what effect her decision to crash Zenik’s mission would have on Meadow. She was the sweetest, most hardworking member of their new colony, but somewhere in her past, she’d been neglected and degraded.
“Of course you are. Just don’t tell Kave. He’ll get jealous.”
Meadow stifled a giggle and then got serious. “It’s Charlette.”
“Of course, it’s Charlette. She’s been trouble since Day One.”
“With you gone…” Meadow started.
“I’m hungry,” Jane interrupted. She’d already eaten breakfast with Zenik, but after returning to their quarters, he’d eaten her, and that could really work up an appetite. Plus, she was now eating for two.
Jane walked across the quad with Meadow straggling behind her. She replicated some oatmeal and sat down at the table right across from Charlette.
“That spot is taken,” Charlette said, glaring at Jane.
Jane looked around, eyeing everyone nearby. No one seemed anxious to claim that spot. Meadow sat down beside her with a similar bowl of oatmeal.
Charlette let out a disgusted sound and scowled. “You are not in charge any more,” she snapped.
“What makes you think I was ever in charge to begin with?” Jane kept her tone neutral, unemotional. That just seemed to piss Charlette off more.
“You’ve been strutting around here like you make the rules since the day you arrived.”
“If that’s what you think.”
“Yes. That’s what I think.”
“Let me tell you what I know,” Jane said, putting a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth and taking her time before she continued.
“I have a friend in intelligence. He owed me a favor after I made him look good catching one of the universe’s most wanted.” The way Charlette’s face fell told Jane she was onto something. “I know,” Jane said quietly. “I know how and why you got here.”
“How?” Meadow asked.
Jane looked at Meadow and then back at Charlette. “For now, that’s just between the two of us. But if Charlie here can’t keep her claws in, I might think twice about spilling the beans.”
Charlette huffed and opened her mouth to comment, but thought better of it. Instead, she swiveled and left the table.
“Is it really that bad? I mean, most of us here have declared the past the past. This is a fresh start. It would have to be pretty nasty to keep her in line. What did she do?” Meadow asked inquisitively.
“I have no idea, but she’s just so much the narcissistic personality to think that I’d actually check her out that I figured that would work. But you bet your ass I’m going to check her out now.”
“You are one hell of a badass, Jane.”
“People keep telling me that.”