A wife's touch.

Posted on Sat May 16th, 2026 @ 3:50pm by Elenor Lachlan

1,097 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Commodore's quarters.

Boxes upon boxes littered the room that Eleanor was attempting to turn into an organized home. It wasn't that she disliked the task, but moving was inelegant and disorganized. Most of the times that she had had to travel the galaxy, the move wasn't permanent, and she could simply pick up her life just as she had left it when she returned to it. Her quarters, when she was out on Research assignment had been held for her, rents paid for the duration automatically. That was part of the unique benefits of working for and living at the University funding her travels. Muttering under her breath about small favors she pulled the closest box towards her.

The ring on her finger glittered and drew her eye as it cast a rainbow from the diamond solitaire as it caught the light. She took a moment to admire the perfect Trio of diamonds that combined nicely with the wedding bands they had chosen. It was still startling to think of herself as someone's wife, for they've been a partnership for many years despite distance and assignment keeping them sometimes from physical contact. The reunions had been just as passionate as their first meeting had been.

A smile hovered on her full lips, she remembered that day as well. She'd have to give him an appropriate reunion when he returned to their quarters this evening. The thought of that pleased her, and got her to thinking of the possible outcomes of such a union. They'd been delaying children on purpose until they were more settled, but she couldn't imagine being more settled than a command posting on a ship the size of this one. While he might not be ready she certainly was. But first she had to turn the bland gunmetal grey, white and blue of a starship's execuitive quarters into a home. She would not be leaving it in the same state that she found it, except that it smelled like Lucien. THAT Start with better colors. These colors are boring for me...a child would be bored too.

Making a mental note to go visit the ships doctor before she got too invested in the idea without figuring out where biology was going to take her. Putting that thought out of her mind for a moment, she opened one of the containers and was and disgruntled to see her PhD on the top of the pile of research books. Looking down at the gilded letters, in a modern gothic hand she sighed gently. It had represented a lifetime of work, and her greatest achievement to date. Her fingers touched the warm dark wood she had the document framed in, her annoyance resurfacing. They'd mixed in her office cases with those designed to be in their home. Again, she found herself muttering an expletive under her breath as she rubbed her head. Why do people not follow the simple organization metric that she had put in place?

"It's not like it's hard, folks." she muttered out loud, before she closed the lid of the box.

Lifting the box she carried it out of the main chamber of their quarters where it had been stacked and crossed into the elaborate office that was where she would do most of her work.

Briefly, she wondered about the necessity of a separate office space so that work and personal life could be separate. That actually sounded like a better idea to her than having the office attached to their living space. She's always enjoyed her commute to work, especially when she was walking through the rolling mist to get to her classroom.

It would also be inconvenient to have a baby underfoot, when they come, if I am teaching from this room.

It was a measure of technologies improvement over the centuries that she could lecture about archeology to a room full of students from the largest starship in the fleet. Once, the very books she studied for her thesis had been the major form of communication between people, and took years to build and disseminate information.

The fact that she could take them (and her students) with her anywhere they went, by virtue of various holo- projectors and communication relays was both fascinating and terrifying. But aside from her distance from her students, nothing had changed. She was doing the exact same thing from here that she'd been doing in the office where she'd met Lucien. Just...this time she'd be at his side instead of being left behind again. The idea that she'd get to have adventures was so delicious she was nearly dancing with anticipation.

First though, she had to get her office set up, then she could tackle the rest of their quarters. He'd lived like a bachelor too long, and it was time to make the space theirs.

The office, is entirely yours without need for conversation. Do that first.

"Computer, designate this room Dr. Lachlan's office."

"Space so designated."

"Please beam the contents of University storage unit 4713 into the space designated Dr. Lachlan's office. " The great antique desk was first, tagged as priority in that storage unit. There was a faint hum from the other side of the door and when she entered the desk she'd been so proud of was the main feature, in the middle of the room.

The absolutely massive broad leaf ficus materialized next, and went into the space behind the desk, in an Alcove. This alcove was one of three in what would be a giant bookshelf. It would stretch along the entire back wall of the office, as it had on Earth. Some things were universal, and bookshelves in a historian's office were one such thing. Going back out to the main room, she came in with the box that had begun this whole effort in organization. The one with her PhD front and center on the top.

Opening it once more on top of the desk she pulled out first her PhD, then her master's certificate, then her bachelor's degree. The middle of the three alcoves held her credentials, and she hung them with several of the honors she'd gotten over the course of her career.

The third alcove would hold some of the treasures she'd accumulated in her career, as soon as she was able to unearth them from the boxes in question.

It would be hours yet, before she reached them as the work of setting her office to be on the federation's biggest starship had only just begun.

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