“Things sure are going to get interesting around here with them around,”Mason chuckled as the door slid shut behind the departing klingons.

Zach nodded, a frown creasing his brow as he looked at the door. “I will admit, it wasn’t what I was expecting from command, but our’s is not to reason why and all that.”

“Indeed. And it’s good to see you back, sir.” Mason grinned and clapped Zach on the shoulder. It took everything he had to stand his ground and not end up with his face pile-driven into the deck plating. “Feeling more like yourself now?”

“I am, thank you. A short intensive course of therapy with a specialist counsellor put me right back on track,” Zach confirmed, deliberately not looking at Enna now.

Mason nodded, but thankfully didn’t push it any further. “Wonderful people, those counselors. Been there a time or two myself.”

“You have?” That did surprise Zach. He’d put Mason down as the strong, stoic type who dealt with everything life threw at him silently. Probably with some alcohol and by beating the daylights of a punch bag in the gym or something.

“Absolutely.” Mason’s expression was clear and honest as he met Zach’s eyes. “Ended up in a three month combination rehab and counselling course a few years ago back home.”

Zach tilted his head, curiosity washing through him. “Three months?”

With modern medicine, with healing rates massively improved from previous years, Mason must have been seriously injured. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Some maniac threw a bomb into a victory parade just after the end of the war on our home planet.” Enna had some up beside Zach and answered for her brother. “This idiot got between it and me and our sister. Pushed us out of the way. It about killed him.”

“Yeah, well.” Mason just shrugged. “You were a kid, and Ilis had just been confirmed as planetary premier, what’s an old grunt compared to that?”

“You’re still an idiot,” Enna grumbled. “I need to get out of here. Hazard team training.”

“Of course,” Zach nodded as she turned away. “I’ll catch up with you later—“

She turned to eye him and he quickly added, “To see how our hazard team is shaping up.”

“Yes sir.” She touched two fingers to her temple and then was gone. Zach turned to find the other Mason watching him, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“She’s proving to be a valuable asset to the Canterbury,” he commented.

“I would hope that’s what it is,” Mason turned to Bennett. “Ready for the off, prime?”

There it was again, an odd phrase just dropped in there that wasn’t protocol. He really would have to get the universal translator looked at. With so many llanarians in the fleet, it shouldn’t be dropping so many words like that. Perhaps he could get Enna to work on it with him…

“Kellan, a minute of your time, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said as his xo made to follow the Resolute officers out of the room.

“Of course.” Kellan hung back, letting the door slide shut behind Mason and Bennett and turning back toward Zach. His odd-eyed gaze was level as he met Zach’s gaze.

Zach came right to the point. “What was that about with the klingons?”

Kellan’s expression didn’t alter, the expression in his eyes shuttered and polite. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”

Zach resisted the urge to raise his eyebrow. They were on ‘sir’ now, were they? He knew llanarians were stubborn from dealing with Mason, so Kellan wasn’t about to get the better of him.

“Okay, you may well be older than I am, and have many years of starship command experience under your belt, but don’t try and pull the wool over my eyes. You recognised the Miras insignia, and it’s obvious you have a history with them, but neither Raaith nor his second officer recognised you. I don’t like unknowns, they get people killed. Fast. So out with it, what aren’t you telling me?”

Kellan studied him for a moment, then his expression twisted into a roguish grin. “Nothing gets past you, does it, my boy?”

”Not much, no.” Zach folded his arms over his chest and waited.

Kellan gave a small huff of amusement, gaze dropping down to clock the movement. “Okay, I knew Raaith’s grandmother, Iskai.”

“Oh?”

Kellan raised an eyebrow.

“Ohh. Like that…”

“Indeed,” Kellan drawled. “Like that. Which means that young Raaith there could well be my grandson.”

“Shit.”