I do not own Star Trek.

Sorry for the delay everyone, I had a few things come up in my real life, and as much as I love all my readers and reviewers etc, my mum comes first. I'm not sure how inspired I'll be to write over the next few weeks, but if I can write then I will.

It was a little disturbing... the women were clearly discussing something, but they stopped whenever she approached them. She noticed the same thing happening when any of the men did. Should she press them to find out what or let them come to her if and when they wanted to? They could be planning to destroy her, or at least to destroy her status. Kati would nip such discussion in the bud, but Mahalia would rather convince them not to want to remove her, if she could.

She hadn't laid eyes on Aldur since she sedated him... which was also worrying. Who knew what he might be planning. It wasn't just her at risk. She'd told all the women about the security programs she'd put in place but what if they forgot, or he had them by the throat and they couldn't speak?

She would worry that he'd already done something, that it was that they were discussing without her, but they didn't seem upset. If anything the feeling appeared hopeful. Mahalia would have put it down to the excitement of their new planet except they talked about the planet, but not this, not whatever it was.

It hurt a little to feel cut off, left out again, especially without Jahl, and without Khan. Gryn was nearly as supportive as Jahl though, and he did make the best chocolate souffle. She wouldn't force them to tell her. She respected their right to privacy and if they didn't feel comfortable talking to her then ordering them to really wouldn't help.

She was making her way through the ship, looking for a good place for a hydroponics area, when she heard the sniffling. It took a little effort to find Wyk in one of the jeffries tubes below the corridor Mahalia was in at the time. She wasn't quite sure if she should stay or go... augments could be pretty private about their emotions. Eventually she cleared her throat gently.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I should be working..." Wyk scrambled to grab her tools.

"No! I just... I wanted to ask if you wanted to talk about it? It's fine if you don't." Wyk froze, staring at Mahalia as if she'd grown a second head. "You know what, I shouldn't have intruded. You clearly wanted to be alone... I'll go. But if you do want to talk, or if there's anything else I can do to help, just let me know."

Wyk had never really wanted to be her friend before they were frozen, there was no reason for her to change now. Not that she'd been unpleasant at all, she'd never been nasty or called her names, she'd just been a little... distant. Polite. She had sometimes thought that it might have been because Wyk was so aware of there being so little difference in their statuses that she needed to maintain her narrow superiority. She couldn't be happy to be the new bottom of the heap. She probably didn't want anything to do with Mahalia, who would only remind her of the situation.

"Why are you being so nice?" Wyk's voice seemed suspicious. Mahalia shrugged.

"Why not? I know our people tend to put down those below them in the social hierarchy, believe me I know, but that would just add to your misery without helping anyone. I wouldn't be any happier or more confident just because I tried to make you less. In fact I think I'd be less. If I help you instead then you are happier, more confident... Even if I didn't enjoy helping people, and I do, it would make the average happiness higher right?" She knew she was babbling but Wyk just kept staring at her. "We're always told compassion's a weakness, but it's basic evolutionary biology, humans wouldn't have evolved compassion if it didn't help in some way. If I help you it means you're more likely and better able to help me. And even if you don't you might help someone else in the crew at some point, and you'd be better able to do your work and..." Mahalia sighed. "Look it's not really any of those things... I just know what it's like and I know that I'd have wanted someone to care. I don't know how long I'll stay in charge but while I am I want to do what I can." Falling silent she waited for Wyk to respond. After a long pause Wyk still hadn't spoken so Mahalia started backing up to the junction to leave.

"Wait." The voice was small but Mahalia heard it, she stopped, shuffling to sit with her back against the wall of the tube. Wyk seemed uncomfortable, so Mahalia waited quietly, letting her gaze rest on her hands rather than the other woman. If Wyk just needed quiet company then Mahalia could provide that for the time being. Eventually Wyk spoke again. "Viggo is dead." The short sentence dropped into the air, not really breaking the silence so much as settling into it. All these possible responses came to mind. That she was sorry for Wyk's loss, that she understood... but she didn't really understand. They had all lost some of their brothers and sisters, but the ones Mahalia had cared about most had all survived. Aside from Khan they hadn't been important enough to be in the line of fire often. She hoped saying nothing was the right response... it seemed to be because Wyk continued. "We were going to make it official... but we kept waiting for the right time, and now..." She didn't finish her sentences but Mahalia could tell what she meant. They had been a couple.

"None of us knew everything would fall apart quite that fast. You can't blame yourself for not seeing it coming." Mahalia commented softly. "But it's okay to miss him." She didn't want Wyk to feel like she didn't have a right to be upset.

"I miss him... but that's not all." Mahalia shuffled closer, reaching out to pat Wyk's hand encouragingly. "There's so few of us, and we'll need to rebuild." Now that was something she could understand. It was something she'd worried about often enough during the year among the humans. Before Khan had shown an interest she'd thought it likely she'd have to pair with someone else, someone she didn't want, for the sake of duty.

Even "the runt's" DNA would be important to maintain genetic diversity. That being said, with the effort which had gone into perfecting their genome inbreeding wouldn't actually be a practical problem no matter how few of them actually bred. Cheetahs as a species were practically identical genetically, suggesting a bottleneck at some point in their history of very few animals, perhaps as few as two related individuals. With no harmful recessive genes to double up, the main concern in inbreeding, they might be fine. But diversity strongly affects the robustness of a species to adapt to change. Also the whole idea was more than a little disgusting, it would work but that didn't mean anyone would want to rely on that. It was best that they had as many people contributing to the next generation as possible. Then again some things just weren't worth sacrificing in the name of practicality.

"I can't guarantee you'll never be asked to breed with someone you don't want. I wish I could promise it but I can't. All I can say is that I will never ask that of you. I'd never ask that of anyone. It's your choice. The rule I made about saying no if you don't want to, it's not just for the ship, or until we get things set up on the planet. That will stand for as long as I can make it stand." Mahalia was more than a little shocked when Wyk pulled her into a hug, sobbing on her shoulder. She hugged the other augment back carefully. She knew it was a stressful situation, but even though she probably would have felt like it on the inside this much crying was... unusual. On impulse Mahalia sneaked a tricorder from one of her pockets, without breaking the hug. The sobbing noises helped to hide the sound of the scan. It wasn't as accurate as a medical tricorder but it was more than powerful enough to confirm that there was a reason for Wyk's increased emotionalism. "Uh... Wyk."

"Yes?" She pulled back, enough to realise Mahalia had something in her hand and stare at it in surprise.

"I don't think you'll need to worry about being asked to breed with someone, for a while at least." Mahalia tried to keep her voice entirely happy and positive, it was good news, but a pit of terror and concern was gnawing at her stomach as well. The cryopods hadn't been calibrated for this, what if something had happened... "We should get you to sickbay to confirm and check everything out but..." She smiled widely to try and disperse the concern that had crossed Wyk's face at the word 'sickbay'. "I think you're pregnant. Still early, about three weeks." She was surprised the other woman hadn't lost it due to the stress of the freezing and thawing processes, but if it was still there days later it had a chance. It was an augment, a chance would be all it needed... right?

"Viggo's baby..." Mahalia could only imagine what Wyk would be feeling. Happiness at having something of Viggo left, sadness that he'd never see his child... She just held her as she dissolved back into tears. They'd go and check everything out when Wyk was ready. Though something in one of her pockets was uncomfortably pressing into her thigh. In the scheme of things though that was a tiny worry, not even on the radar. They'd have to throw a baby shower, it'd be good for everyone to celebrate something new for their new world and their new life.