"Men," Barnabas addressed the room. "You heard the Captain. We're to set sail soon. While I know several of you have voyaged across the stars, I invite you topside to witness this event." Barnabas made a point to nod to the young blood in the corner. A doctor named Quinton Holmes.

The two men had met at a social gathering at the Academy - the sponsors of this voyage. Barnabas knew his men may need a doctor on this voyage, and at the time he had yet to know the details of the ship's crew. The young man had just finished a degree at the Academy, and was a genius in his field - he was the youngest of his class, by at least a decade. Holmes was grinning eagerly - this was to be his first voyage away from Beta and the Twin-Suns System.

Barnabas turned on his heel and pushed Paddy and Lukas in front of him. "Make a good example. This is my last chance to prove myself boys."

"Yer still tryin' to prove to yer Pap that yer good enough, eh?" Paddy said as the trio walked - following Barnabas' memory - to the deck.

"Barney... Why don't you just leave the system? Settle down somewhere on the other side of the Universe, get a wife and have a few babies? Forget about everything your father has done." Lukas chimed in. While Paddy's wit always managed to cheer Barnabas up, it was Lukas's cool demeanor that made him actually think.

"You know I can't. The company has its fingers in every system in the galaxy... and trans-galactic travel is highly costly. You know I don't live off much. Besides... I can't abandon the service." With that, the two men stopped. They knew exactly why the Major couldn't leave the service. It was not a topic to be talked about, and certainly not on a ship. The walls on a ship talk.

Three heads emerged from below decks to witness the stars. Barnabas was certain a few more would appear, if they had managed to keep up. Andrew, still missing below decks, always chose to not witness take off. It gave him a bit of motion sickness that he'd prefer not suffer.

"Oy, look at that!" Paddy nudged Lukas and Barnabas. The redhead was pointing up into the rigging. Barnabas' eyes followed the direction and landed on the figure of the Captain, far above. She looked like a warrior goddess marching into battle, with her hair and coat billowing around her. A wild child, free spirit... and totally at home.

Lukas sighed heavily and began counting down from five under his breath. No sooner had he said "One," than Paddy was running across the deck. He grabbed a loose rope near the mast and hauled himself up, hand over hand to the netting. He was like a spider in the rigging, moving with ease across the twisted ropes. He had thought about sneaking up on the Captain, but knew with the way the rigging swayed that he'd have no such luck.

He came up right beside her, his breath a little ragged. He pointed to a planet in the distance. "That there's Pata, me 'ome. I've not seen much o' it since I left all them years ago. That one," he pointed in a different direction "is BetaDec. That be where Barney is from. Lukas is from a diff'ernt solar system. We all come from diff'ernt places, missy. But we be the best o' mates. Ye cross one o' us, ye cross us all. That bein' said, I hope we be counin' ye in our tiny group... at least fer this trip. I've come to make me amends fer me earlier words, is wot I'm gettin' at. We got a deal 'ere, Cappy?"