Beginnings

Hannah McCormick was driven; she grew up a ward of the state after her parents were killed in an accident when she was seven and had entered her compulsory military service at the age of eighteen as a seaman recruit in the Royal Navy in 2148. Her first year of service was a time of radical change, following the discovery of the Charon relay and the formation of the Systems Alliance, with governments and militaries of the eighteen largest nations on Earth merging together to develop new policies and larger space fleets for the new age of exploration. It was an exciting time, and with everything that was happening, Hannah quickly decided to make it a career. She worked hard over the next four years, completing her college degree while on active service, and got accepted into the Alliance Officer Commissioning Program in 2152, only in its second year of existence.

Having just graduated from the first class and awaiting news on his first assignment, Systems Alliance Ensign David Shepard was doing what they called 'casual status' at the schoolhouse in Rio de Janeiro and worked in the new student orientation program. He was working in reception when a firebrand walked purposefully in the door and lit his soul on fire. David thought the new arrival was very attractive; she had a slim athletic build and he guessed she was 1.7 meters at best, with her boots on, and her auburn hair and piercing deep green eyes made her seem larger than life. The woman positively exuded confidence. By God, she's perfect. They always say good things come in tiny packages. His fingers paused on the keyboard, frozen in time as the woman glanced around the room and her eyes locked on his. He inhaled sharply as she turned and headed straight at him.

The woman strode up to the counter, stood at attention and snapped a perfect salute. "Sir! Cadet McCormick reporting for duty!"

David slowly let out the breath he was holding as he typed her name into the records search. When he spoke, his voice came out much smoother than he thought possible with the tightness he felt in his chest. "Welcome, Cadet. Relax. I am nowhere in your chain of command and you don't report in to me." His eyes drifted back up from the keyboard and met hers with a reassuring smile. "You're early. Don't need to be here until tomorrow. Most folks go to downtown Rio and report in the morning, but if you want to stay here, I'm sure we can get you settled in somewhere for the night. Don't unpack though, because you'll be moving into the dorms tomorrow with the rest of the new class."

Hannah relaxed and returned his smile. The man before her had a friendly face, with absolutely gorgeous silver eyes, and his voice was a relaxing, smooth and rich low tenor. Her stomach fluttered as wayward thoughts floated unbidden across her consciousness; I'll bet he has a beautiful singing voice...I'd love to hear him sing. She caught herself glancing at his hand and feeling an unexplained surge of excitement when she saw no ring; she scowled and shook her head, drawing her focus back to the task at hand.

David saw the smile vanish and turn to a frown. Curious as to the cause, words flowed from his mouth before he could stop himself. "Something wrong, McCormick? I liked you better with the stunning smile." David's eyes got big and he groaned out an apology as his own smile turned to a grimace. "Sorry, that was extremely unprofessional of me."

Hannah's confident air took a temporary hiatus as she comprehended what he said, but her lips got back some of their upward curl. Stunning smile? "Uhm...no, nothing's wrong. I just...Oh hell." He did say he's not in my chain of command...Nothing ventured, nothing gained, McCormick. Hannah grabbed back hold of her self-assurance and set her shoulders, then continued, stronger, with a tone of gentle amusement as she spoke. "You like my smile and I like your voice. So where's that put us?"

David's smile returned as he chuckled to himself. Oh. My. God. Did she just really say that? I think I love this woman. David's eyes twinkled with mischievousness and he responded with a glint of humor creeping into his voice, bowing slightly as he spoke. "That puts me at an introduction, Ensign David Shepard, at your service." He paused his speech only momentarily as he stood back up straight, mustered his courage and continued, "It also puts me at your door tonight at 6 PM, in civilian attire, to take you to dinner and introduce you to Rio?"

Hannah's eyes popped wide in surprise for just a second before she managed to school her features, then she shook her head and let out an honest laugh that lit up her whole face. "Well, a girl's gotta eat, and downtown Rio sounds better than the Mess, so that sounds like a date, Mr Shepard."

The prior-enlisted commissioning course was designed to increase in difficulty as time went by, so early on, most of Hannah's evenings were free. With the time they had, David showed her the sights and sounds of Rio, and having just graduated, gave her lots of tips about the various upcoming courses and helped her pinpoint where she needed to focus her efforts. At the end of their third week, David finally got orders for his new assignment and showed up very sad at Hannah's door, telling her he had to leave the very next week. He had very much enjoyed his period of casual status in Rio, where he met and fell in love with the woman of his dreams, but they both knew he had to move on (reluctantly) to his new job.

Even though they had known each other for less than a month, they both recognized they had met their soul mates in each other, and it was a surprisingly quick and easy decision to get married after Hannah graduated. So, over the course of the year, David hurried back to Rio whenever his job permitted, which unfortunately only equated to two weeks in January and one in early May. With Hannah's increasing course load, Cadet McCormick and Ensign Shepard didn't have all that much personal time together, but neither one had unrealistic expectations and they made the most of what they could get. When David couldn't be there, they still kept in regular contact, chatting on vid calls at every opportunity. Mid June of 2153 brought them both great happiness when Hannah graduated top of her class, received her commission as Ensign Hannah McCormick, Systems Alliance Navy, and got her assignment of choice out in the frontier, on the same cruiser as David.

2153 - SSV Hyderabad, Second Fleet, Eden Prime

"Hannah!" As he called out, David waved his arms excitedly to get his soon-to-be wife's attention. At six foot, he towered above most of the people waiting on the transport to arrive through the relay and it was easy for Ensign Hannah McCormick to pick him out of the crowd. She soaked up the view, admiring his athletic build; he looked perfect in his leather jacket and jeans. It was obvious he was doing well, with his sparkling silver gray eyes and a wonderful tan; he must have spent a lot of time groundside on Eden Prime during his shore rotation. She was sure no one confused him for a colonist though, with his black hair cropped short in the typical high and tight haircut there was no mistaking him for anything other than a military man. She dropped her duffle and hugged him tight as he scooped her up and spun them in a circle.

As he set her back on her feet, she pulled away and smiled. "Oh, Dave! I missed you! I'm so glad to be here. I still can't believe they gave me a joint spouse assignment right out of school!" Hannah beamed at the man she had been engaged to practically since they met the year before.

David just laughed and grinned as he answered. "Of course they did, Scottie! You were first in your class. They know a mover and shaker when they see one! You could have gotten just about any assignment you wanted." He smirked as he continued, "I'm just glad you picked me... uhm, I mean the Hyderabad..." He quickly ducked away from her as she went to punch him in the arm, then quickly reclosed the gap and scooped up her bag.

Hannah glowered at him on principle, "David Shepard! You know I'm Irish, not Scottish! What am I to do with you?" Her grimace quickly crumbled into a smile at the familiar nickname and the impish look David cast her way. She wrinkled her nose, "I may need to reconsider the statement about missing you..."

David laughed again and pulled her to his side. "Come on. We'll hop the shuttle to the ship and I'll show you our new digs. They had a vacant married billet available, so they were nice and gave it to me a few days early...so you can settle right in and we don't have to worry about moving after the wedding. You've got a whole new town to explore; it's not bad, but I have to warn you...it's definitely not Rio!"

While Hannah should have had two weeks of transition time to her first job, because of her choice of assignment, she ended up pinched between her commissioning and the ship's deployment departure date. Not knowing when another opportunity would present itself, they had decided to squeeze the wedding in when they could; even with the imminent deployment, David had managed to finagle the week of vacation time. The first few days were a whirlwind of activity making final preparations for the ceremony. The colony of Eden Prime wasn't much; it had only been established the year prior and it was still largely agricultural. That said, however, humans are enterprising souls and one of the earliest things they did once they got crops growing was to set up a distillery and brewery, and the first local spirits and beer were being introduced in rationed amounts at the local supply store and made for an unexpected but pleasant addition to the small reception provided by the ship's captain, in the Captain's Mess. Things being as they were, the ship slipped out to the relay only two days after the wedding and the crew headed toward their first destination; David went back to work in Engineering and Hannah started her in processing aboard ship as a new weapons control officer.

Hannah didn't realize just how much crap in processing consisted of, and quickly understood why they allowed thirty days to get everything done. She was expected to report to work for normal duty hours, and had to squeeze all her appointments into the gaps in her schedule, leaving her little free time to do anything other than sleep. She plowed her way through all her work-center registrations, got her identification cards and uniforms issued and finished all the miscellaneous paperwork and training that was required. Sooner than she thought possible, her final transition day arrived and all she had left to complete was her biometric scanning and physical exams. After her biometrics profile was completed, Dr Low came in to finalize the exam and to discuss the scan results. Dr Low happily explained all the mandatory items and then ran the list of optional implants that were available for all active duty military members. Just when she seemed finished, she paused slightly before asking one last question. "Ensign Shepard. I know this has been a lot of information to process very quickly, so I want to be sure you noticed an optional implant that I did not include in our discussion, and explain why I didn't offer it. I know it's been less than a month since your wedding...but I did not offer the birth control implant because your pregnancy scan came back positive."

Hannah bolted upright on the exam table and practically yelled, "What?"

Dr Low cocked an eyebrow and questioned, "So, I assume this was not a planned pregnancy?"

Hannah stared at the doctor for a few seconds, holding her breath, before exhaling slowly and responding, "I... We just... Oh my. No, it most certainly was not. I need to speak to David."

Dr Low nodded her head in understanding. "Do you wish to hear all your options now, or would you like your husband to be present when we discuss them?"

Hannah actually laughed and shook her head. "No, I don't need to hear the options. David and I both want a child, we just weren't quite prepared to do it right now...but that won't matter. We're keeping... it?" Hannah paused briefly before continuing. "I don't know if David wants to know the gender or not. We weren't planning to do this quite yet, so we hadn't discussed it."

Hannah gave an anxious look to Dr Low, who responded with a chuckle. "Well, I have to tell you anyway. Alliance regulations." She laughed at the expression on Hannah's face, realized what the Ensign was thinking and quickly corrected the misconception. "I don't have to tell you the gender... I have to give you your options, whether you already know for sure what you want to do or not." She continued after she saw the relieved smile spread across Hannah's face, running the checklist of options and having Hannah provide a biometric signature saying she received the briefing. She deferred imprinting on a final decision, because she did want to confirm with David, first. Dr Low shooed her out the door with a final statement and a warm smile. "I need to see you back here in less than seven days with your final decision, if possible with your husband in tow. Then we'll do whatever needs to be done, which I assume will be to enroll you in the Prenatal Care and New Parent Education programs."

Hannah paced back and forth in the couple's quarters, waiting rather impatiently for David to get off shift. Standard crew rooms consisted of twelve bunks with drawers underneath and individual generously sized weapons lockers; the very back of the room had a centralized sitting area and two network terminals, one in each back corner. Her and David's accompanied quarters fit in a room roughly half the size. Immediately inside the door, a small private bath was on the left, while to the right were the weapons and armor lockers for quick access on the way out the door, accompanied by a small dining table. As she walked further back into the room, a desk was against the wall to the right, immediately followed by a small seating area, with a couch and a lounge chair. Back to the left-hand side was a queen bed with drawers underneath and a large dresser. She turned around yet again and was walking back toward the front door when it finally opened and David came in. As he rolled in, he saw his wife, smiled, and was starting to ask if she was ready to go to dinner when he saw the expression on her face, stopping him cold. "Hannah! What's the matter?"

She quickly closed the distance between them and blurted out the great announcement of the day. "David. We're pregnant!"

"Wha..." David's expression quickly moved from shock to surprise to joy and a huge smile split his face as he lunged forward, crushed Hannah in a hug and gave her a passionate kiss before lifting her off the floor and laughing with delight.

Hannah's face was still creased with worry, not quite believing her husband's reaction. "So you're not mad? I mean... I know we hadn't planned on this so early in our careers."

David couldn't stop smiling. "Are you kidding? This is great! We've got three years together at this assignment. I get to see my baby..." He gently dropped Hannah back to her feet and looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Boy or girl?"

Hannah laughed with relief. "I did the exact same thing when I was talking to the doctor, except I hesitated because you and I haven't talked about it yet. Do we want to know the gender or do we want it to be a surprise?"

David rolled his eyes. "Oh please. With our meager salaries? We need to know so we can start buying stuff now and spread out the cost. Oh! And we get to pick a name!" David was beside himself with happiness as he grabbed his wife's hand. "Come on! Let's go get chow... and I can't wait to tell all the guys!" As they stepped out into the hall, he threw his head back and yelled at the top of his lungs, "I'M GONNA BE A DAD!"