The ship was looking rather good, 3 years from when the crew were revived. The babies were now 2 years old or there abouts in most cases. Babies alone from the original crew had raised the ship's population from about 80 to just over 100. Then there was the test connection from the Milky Way, that had brought in another 100+ crew on. The two-way connection was first made about 6 months after that; the crew eventually grew to 600+ human and Hi'Ak as well as other races too.

What though was funny was that over the coming 2+ years, the crew had only grown. A full complement of over 800 were now aboard, this included families, a new daycare for the 50+ infants and toddlers.

"TJ, over here." Scott called out.

Matt and Chloe were sitting at a table, looking out the viewing port at the passing planet, seeing the blue-green ocean below and the continents and islands that dotted the surface.

"Thanks Matt, hi Chloe, hey Ron, hi Lisa. Joel, good to see you up and Varro, how are you and the leg?" TJ replied, sitting down.

The group of friends started to all chat at once.

"TJ, sorry; the leg is healing okay, Dr. Nam took care of it; but it is frustrating not being able to go off ship, with this leg brace." Varro said.

"Better to heal right, then not have the use of your leg, if you push it." TJ replied.

"S'ra might disagree with you." He responded, speaking of his partner, Dr. S'ra T'lek, the Hi'Ak lead exobotanist on the ship.

"She's more then capable of holding you up and still having two hands free, for whatever you two get up to in private." Ron chimed in, before Lisa gave him a good hearted head cuffing.

"What, it's true. She's strong enough to move equipment that takes 2-3 of us to move, with ease." He replied, though seeing the look Lisa, Varro and TJ were giving him, he smiled and ended the comments there. Varro and TJ both knew what Ron was referring too. The Hi'Ak were far stronger then humans, though looked about as big; then gravity and density of Hi'Ak Prime was enough that they were generally 4-5 times stronger the a human. This had come to be know well, during military training, when the humans had been seriously hurt in hand-to-hand combat exercises. That had though spurred better training and also, some augmenting of the human used power armour.

Getting away from the main part of the ship, though the trip in Destiny's transit pods, was "long", it was a nice separation from work, to come out here. The café was in the front portion of the ship, actually where Chloe and Eli had found themselves, those years ago, when the Lucien Alliance had tried to take over the ship. Now, it was the hub of the ship's social life and a place to relax and enjoy the view, away from the work parts of the ship. Down here, there were crew quarters, labs and such, as well as the forward sensor array, as well as the café, daycare and even, a small garden.

"R'os, over here." The voice could be heard over the din in the café.

Looking over to the corner a three hands were seen waving at him. He smiled as he carried his and his wife's lattes over. The chairs were comfy and low, so it was a long way down to sit; but a great place to sit, read and just chill.

"Hi love, how was your day?" R'os asked Far'na.

"Like you don't know most of it." She replied.

"Hey, I'm the 'old' one here, I can't be expected to remember everything that went one. Nor do I know what you and General Young talk about all the time." R'os replied.

"True, but you're not so old as to not know how to or give this sexy lady, a work-out..." Far'na replied, smiling with intent and a look in her eye, as she lifted the latte to her lips and had a drink.

Becker was now not the only person on food duty. There was a whole team of 16 now. He was the head and that was fine. When times were good and quiet, he liked to head to the café and open it up for the day. It was actually his regular shift, then once up and running, he'd hand it off to one of the other team members and head into the main kitchen to work on food for the day's meals. It was great, having the small garden up this end of the ship to supply the daycare and the café with produce and then the agri-dome, for the kitchen. The supplies brought back from trips were used as more could be often brought back then the dome could supply. But it was nice having that fresh zing of lemon, or that scent of basil for a dish, to take it up that notch.

"Steve, your triple shot latte is ready." Becker called into the crowd.

Dr. Steve Walker walked up and thanking Becker, walked back and leaned against the railing, looked out into the black of space, speckled with stars, dotted throughout.

Becker was covering though working the café in the early evening shift, his wife being on shift. Capt. James was 7 months pregnant; but still keeping herself as engaged as possible. She'd told Darren to take the evening and have sometime to himself, knowing that what it was often for him was to run the café. So here he was, overseeing the hubbub and life there, as he often would. When he had a moment, he would pick up the sketch pad and pencil and continue with a piece he was making of Vanessa, to present to her on their 2nd anniversary.

On the other side of the ship, in the left-hand viewing port, a short walk from the café, was the "library". Herein, crew would sit and read, enjoying the view outside and their drinks and snacks.

Herein, Corporal Nissa Chang-hi as sitting, looking deep into the eyes of her boy-friend, Mike Long, a linguistics wunderkin from Germany. Whispers could be heard between them, as Camile Wray sat, looking out the window, a seat away, reading some recent work from Earth, she was working on. She smiled to herself, thinking back to similar, far away whispers she'd had when that age.

Camile was enjoying the quiet time, having dropped off Ming, her daugther with a sitter. She had brought her so much joy in her life, long after when she'd thought to have a child and when she'd though she never would. But a chance one-night tryst with a military man back 2+ years ago had led to Camile becoming pregnant and now, having Ming.

In the garden room, Cpl Barnes was nursing her and Eli's twins, Leanne and Mark. The twins were just over 6 months old and a handful for any parents. But in this case, with everything new to the ship, foods, etc., the twins were unique. Eli was over cutting two roses for his wife, blushing terribly, as he did so.

Barnes watched him, smiling to herself. He was a geek, extremely shy and yet, since the mult-year stasis, a more confident man and such fun too.

It was a slice of life that many wouldn't think explorers way out in the depths of the universe, unable to easily access or return home, that the Café Destiny offered all.