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Senator Tam Renwick looked up to the starry sky of a tropical evening on the Raelen home world of Raellos, savoring a local alcoholic drink that tasted very much like brandy. The day had been a successful one, what with the signing ceremony of the treaty between the Terran Unity and the Raelen Empire finally concluded.
They had been forced to rewrite the treaty, the original diplomatic pouch having gone missing somewhere amongst all the adventures he and Ambassador Makera had been on. He thought perhaps that was a good thing. The original treaty had been almost one hundred pages; the new one, less than ten. But the new treaty covered all the significant points; free access to Thousand Suns Space, joint colonies, trade, relief efforts, relocation, forward bases and the like, and that’s what really mattered.
He took another drink as the door chime in his quarters tolled gently, signifying an arrival. He knew who his impending guest was, and although he wasn’t as excited about it as he once might have been, his heart still jumped, just a bit, at the sound.
He opened the door and welcomed Ambassador Makera to his quarters. After a few moments of niceties he got her a matching drink and she joined him on his balcony, her brightly colored dress flowing in the evening breeze.
“You have a beautiful view of the city from here,” she said as she sat down at his table and contemplated her drink. He looked out over the distant skyline, lit now with beautiful amber lights and accented by the dual orange moons of Raellos.
“You’re right, I do,” he said before sitting down across from her.
“But you’ve hardly noticed,” she said. He nodded.
“My mind is on the stars,” he admitted.
“Your mind is on Captain Tanitha Yan,” she said. He nodded again.
“You may be right.” Then he raised his glass. “May I suggest a toast? To the successful signing of the treaty of Pentauri.” She raised her glass, but didn’t join him in the drink.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. She shook her head.
“No, everything is perfect.” Then she leaned forward, putting her hand on his arm. “You miss her already don’t you? Barely more than a month away from her and you’re already heartsick for your android lover. Aren’t my attentions enough to soothe you?”
Renwick smiled. “Such as they are,” he said.
“And they’ve taken your Gataan wife from you to,” she said. He laughed.
“She’s in diplomatic training,” he said.
“Still, you must be lonely.”
He looked up to the stars, wondering where in the Known Cosmos the Kali might be right now.
“A bit,” he admitted.
“We’ll be back up there, soon enough. You’ll be back aboard the Kali on your diplomatic mission to the Soloth and I will be with you, if they let me go,” she said. He looked puzzled.
“Why wouldn’t they let you go?” he said.
She tipped her head at him, avoiding the question. “And did your government approve the mission yet?” she said, changing the subject.
“I’m sure they will. It’s merely a formality. Now, tell me, why wouldn’t they let you join the mission to the Soloth with me?” he asked again. She brushed him off with a pleasant smile, then stood and went to the balcony railing, looking out over the capital city of her home world. He joined her.
She pointed to the dark spot blotting out a third of the heavens over Raellos.
“Someday I will tell my daughter about the days of the Void, when we were all threatened with doom, and she will not believe me,” Makera said.
Renwick looked at her, puzzled. Makera continued.
“With the emitter station operational again, breaking up the Void instead of filling it, with the fleet of Void Ships cutting trade routes back and forth between neighboring stars, you and I will live to see a Golden Age reborn, and our daughter, she will get to live in it,” said Makera.
Renwick looked at her, not sure if he had heard her correctly.
“Did you say... our daughter?” he said.
Makera turned to him and smiled impishly.
“Our daughter, Renwick. Our child,” she said. “The firstborn of Humanity and Raelen, conceived within the Void itself.”
He smiled, pleased. “So, my... donation took?”
“Human doctors said it wasn’t possible, Renwick, but Raelen doctors aren’t bound by human limitations.” Then she took his hand and guided it to her belly. It was soft and warm to his touch.
“Are you happy?” she asked, looking for the moment as vulnerable as he had ever seen her. He answered by kissing her sweetly.
“Very happy,” he said. Then, “So that’s why you think they won’t let you travel?”
She laughed. “They cannot stop me, Renwick. You cannot stop me. If the Soloth agree to receive us, I’m going,” she said. Renwick shook his head and drained his drink.
“I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to Yan,” he said. Makera shrugged.
“Probably the same way you explained to her that you had a wife,” she replied.
“And we all know how well that went,” he said.
Then she laughed again, and Renwick laughed with her.
After the moment passed he kissed her on the cheek, the future mother of his child, something he never thought he would experience. He looked down at his empty glass. “I think I’m going to need something stronger than this,” he said, and started for the bar.
And she laughed with him once more, the sound of their joy echoing into the warm, dark night.