Chapter 2

It was 1600 hours when the fifteen Badb cruisers regrouped along with their supporting Star Fighters. Eight of the cruisers were commanded by 4 members of an Órarduine Command Staff, with Sarah's Clan filling that role on two of them. Even so, all cruisers had their normal crew compliment which included those normally in command. They had spent the last four clock cycles 3 lh (light hours) from Mars conducting mock battles. Although the opposing forces were clearly visible on their sensors, they were in fact imaginary ships. The exercises included not only the engagement, but also approach time, after engagement repairs, and other time constraining aspects of space engagements. The first engagement was ragged resulting in considerable losses. After each engagement, they conducted an after action review. During this they identified errors made as well as possible improvements.

From cruiser DBM01 Sarah said, "We gather that everyone is ready to head back toward Mars."

"Yes," replied the group.

From Dóchas Sally of Sarah's Clan added, "All of us back here are anxious for your return."

"Well, it will be a few hours before we get there," said Kelly of Keriann's Clan from cruiser IBM04.

"We know," replied Evangline of Molly's Clan on Marthanóir. "It is difficult to get a sense of distance in space. Fortunately there isn't any latency in sharing this way, which may contribute to our difficulty in perceiving that distance."

Rusty said, "Tomorrow, I think we should get together for a review of our exercises. Once we are underway and have caught up with activities on our ships, those of us on the cruisers will have time to go over the recordings. We should do this at An Clochán so all of us can attend."

Kathleen of Molly's Clan on cruiser MBM02 said, "Rusty, let's do that in two clock cycles. That will give us, and Jackie's Clan, more time to get caught up on activities on our ships."

"We think that is a great idea," said Elana of Kathryn's Clan on cruiser TBM02.

"We agree," replied the others.

Erin on DBM02 said, "Wouldn't it be beneficial to include the other ship commanders?"

"Why?"

"Well, I am not sure what Rusty's goal is as we've already done after action reviews and documented them. If we did a walk-through, of say two engagements, it could be considered as a teaching session with a little more reality than the simulators give."

"My thinking was that due to most of the Star Fighter pilots being in their ships when we did action reviews they weren't able to fully participate. If one of our Dóchas class ships were with us then they would have participated."

"As flight lead," said Mórag in DSFC01, "I think our level of interaction was just fine. We can share what we've learnt regarding tactics and coordination with the others when we get back."

"In that case, let's schedule the review for the third day back and include all cruiser command groups and flight leads."

"Good," replied Mórag. "I think that doing it that way will make it easier to share, as they will have seen the results."

"Any other thoughts?" asked Sarah.

After a few moments of hearing none Joyce said, "For the trip back, let's split up into groups of 2 cruisers along with their supporting Star Fighters. Unless someone needs more time we can begin departing in 10 minutes at 10 second intervals. We can start with those from Fiontar, followed by Marthanóir, Taiséalai, Iarracht, Eagle, Phoenix and Dóchas groups."

"Aye," replied everyone.

"In ten minutes on my mark, 5... 4... 3... 2 ... Mark."

Those on the cruisers from Dóchas watched as the other groups drifted away as they prepared to depart. Several minutes later Tara said, "Dóchas group, set coordinates."

A few moments later each of them confirmed her command.

"Sync clocks."

Tara saw each ship acknowledge the command followed by the commander's reply of "Aye."

When Phoenix group departed she said, "On my mark, 10... 3... 2... 1 ... Mark!" With that the group from Dóchas began their six hour return trip.

Erin said, "Did you notice that the groups are taking different return paths?"

"Yes," replied those on DBM01 and DBM02.

Six hours later Tara said, "Dóchas FOC, DBM01 requesting approach clearance."

"DBM01, request acknowledged. Instructions are being transmitted. Welcome home," said Edith of Sabrina's Clan.

Erin said, "Dóchas FOC, DBM02 requesting approach clearance."

"DBM02, request acknowledged. Instructions being transmitted. Welcome home," responded Edith.

Some 15 minutes later DBM01 followed DBM02 in their approach to Dóchas. Those on DBM01 watched as Erin guided DBM02 toward the depression on Dóchas' exterior until it was nearly touching the docking collar. In this position only the top half of the cruiser was visible. When the cruiser touched the collar, the sides of the depression appeared to close up against it.

"An interesting sight," said Joyce.

"Yes," replied Tara. "If you didn't know better you would think it is just another bump on the ships surface, although it does have some odd features."

"It does."

When they exited DBM01 the rest of their spouses were waiting for them. Alena said, "It is good to be able to hug you all," as she hugged her spouses. Those on DBM02 joined them to share their greetings. On reaching Briana's Clan she said, "Thanks for taking such good care of them." Alena's comment caused Briana's and Cathan's Clans to chuckle. Briana said, "Well we had a good time. Although they were fairly new at the controls, I think we learned a lot from them."

"We would like to review the exercises with you in detail," said Sally. "There were a number of distractions while you were gone so we weren't able to focus on what you were doing all the time."

"We noticed," responded Sarah. "Let's do it in the morning. Is everything okay?"

"We think so. Security is dealing with it. Several crew candidates were induced to rush home based on news of a family member having a critical medical crisis and asking for them. The claims were valid in that there was a family member with medical crisis due to an accident. While a few appear to be legitimate, some appear to be rather suspicious."

"Where are the children?"

"Waiting in our compartment," replied Claudette. "They wanted to come up here but we convinced them to wait there as this area is much smaller than the hangar area."

"Good thinking," responded Joyce as they prepared to leave.

Tara said to Briana's and Cathan's Clans, "Why don't you join us? I suspect the children want to see you as well."

After nodding to their spouses Briana said, "Thanks, but we aren't going to stay long as our beds feel very attractive."

"You're right about that," said Erin. "The accommodations on the cruisers are great but not as good as here."

"Yep," responded Adam, "they are a good deal more spacious than some I've read about. Although many of those were fiction stories whose author's perceptions must have come from seeing warships on Earth."

"I've read some of those," added Abaigeal of Briana's Clan. "To me there are two key differences. One is the difference in our stature, which is significantly larger than most humans. The other is our interpersonal relationships."

"Good points," responded Claudette. "The early Connemare cruiser designs that we found in the library were very basic. If we interpreted them correctly a clan shared a compartment, but no more than three could be in it at a time. To us this implied that they rested in shifts."

Star said, "If I may, a clan had to work in shifts as they needed a presence in their department at all times."

"While I can understand their reasons," said Rusty, "I think that now it is only necessary during certain circumstances."

"Agreed," responded Star and his spouses.

"Out of curiosity," said Alena, "Star, when do the AIs rest?"

"It depends," responded Star. "I just take care of minor maintenance tasks when activity is slow and all departmental AIs are active. At times of major issues, it is when you are either on the bridge or very near it. Preferably all the departmental AIs are on line. It is possible that you may not have actively noticed me doing it."

"Would you tell us the next time you do that?" asked Aoife, "as I would like to see its effect."

"Okay." Star's response was almost drowned out by the children's cheers, for as she replied Sarah's Clan entered their compartment along with Briana's and Cathan's Clans. Sensing the activity Star smiled as she shifted her focus back to the ship.

It was late morning when Sarah's Clan reviewed what was known about their contract staff who were suddenly summoned home due to an emergency. Currently they loosely monitored them when they left after completing their contract. Several had vanished shortly after leaving them which reminded them of the disappearing college students. This had prompted them to check the appropriate databases and found that the people were still listed.

"So what do we want to do?" asked Sally.

"For now just closely monitor them for a few weeks after returning," responded Tara. "In spite of our best intentions, it would not look good if it was discovered."

Alison said, "As a part of their departure preparation, we could tell them we will contact them four weeks after they've left. The purpose would be to see how they were doing."

"I like that better than what we are currently doing," responded Jill. "As a part of departure, they are told that we are available to assist them with reestablishing their life on Earth."

Terry added, "They probably never remember the offer or don't realize its benefit. The only time I've seen companies on Earth do something similar is when there is a reduction in staff. Some do it well and others do it for appearance."

"Why don't we present them with a bracelet as a thank you for their contributions?" asked Joyce.

"Good idea," responded Alena, "however a watch or ring are more likely to be worn at all times."

"I like the idea of a watch, if we can do it," added Terry. "Especially if it could be worn when going through security check points."

Claudette said, "If the other Command Staffs agree, I'll discuss this with our Engineering group. Do we want to include those who've already returned?"

"I think so," said Sarah. "If I remember the data correctly, there really haven't been that many."

"There haven't," responded Aoife. "If everyone is agreeable, I'll check with the other Command Staffs."

"We are," replied her spouses.

Rusty said, "I think we all realize that this only aids us in finding them or them to summon assistance. It is a good idea and better than what we are doing now."

"Are we done?" asked Tara.

"I think so," replied Sarah. "Why?"

"Cause it is lunch time and I am hungry."

"Then let's put our consoles on auto and go eat."

"Good morning," said Sarah's Clan to those assembled for the debriefing at An Clochán.

"Good morning," replied everyone.

"As you can see, we've included nearly all of those who command ships. Those who are not here are linked to here from their cruisers. Our purpose today is to go over our recent combat exercises. Based on access to those recordings, we believe all of you have seen them. Those recordings document each engagement and it's after action review.

"What we are going to do today is go over two engagements in some detail. These will be the first and the last. If you want to see an engagement from a particular position, then have a look at the recordings from one of those ships. We see this as a learning experience for all of us.

"If you haven't heard it yet, nearly all of our formations have been modified. Your ship's AI has the details and they are now in the flight simulators.

"So let us begin."

Late that afternoon during the last question and answer period Kelly said, "We should practice shifting between formations with the Dóchas class ships."

"I like that idea," replied Tara. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, it would be nice for all of us to do it together, but that has significant impact on other activities. How about doing it in threes? For the first outing it could be Dóchas, Phoenix and Iarracht. Then we could go with Eagle and Taiséalai. Once Marthanóir and Fiontar are operational, one of us could go with them."

"That is a good idea," said Sabrina. "We need more experience operating alongside the Dóchas class ships while they are doing something besides station keeping."

"Is there a reason you chose three?" asked Kathryn.

"It adds to the complexity of the movements but doesn't go overboard in effecting other activities. A four or five day jaunt should be enough, but we need to see how it goes. The other item that needs drilling is recovery and re-launch of the Star Fighters. That could be a part of these exercises, but could also be done by going out in pairs."

"Let's look at scheduling this at the next Command Staff conference," said Sarah, "as we gather that everyone thinks this is a good idea."

"Are there any more questions or suggestions to consider regarding the exercises?" asked Sally. After a few moments she added, "Seeing or hearing none let's get ready for dinner."

It was early morning when Alena woke up with her head on Rusty's shoulder. Opening her eyes she could see Sarah's head lying on his other shoulder. She closed her eyes and then projected her vision so that she could see the bed from the entryway. The sight of her sleeping spouses gave her a feeling of warmth and security. As she looked at them, she thought back to when she met them nearly a year ago.

As Alena sifted back through her memories of just prior to meeting Sarah's Clan, she marveled at the chain of events that led to their being at the museum then, and her family's subsequent visit to Dóchas.

Scott and she had been fascinated by the Órarduine, but found some aspects of their culture difficult to understand and accept. Their children were fascinated by their space ships.

After Scott's death, she and the children had moved so that she was closer to work, which gave her more time to be with them. This turned out to be an area covered by the Grand View news media. Reading the daily newspaper and watching the evening news was something that she had always done. She quickly found that at least once a week there was a story featuring Órarduine activities, both on the evening TV news and in the paper. It surprised her when her children began joining her for the evening news, but they only stayed if there was a story about the Órarduine. After this happened several times, Alena told them that the newspaper usually had a similar story but with more detail. With that the children began checking the daily paper for Órarduine stories. From the nature of the comments and questions, Alena soon figured out that it was the adventure of space drawing the children's interest.

Seeing her children's fascination with space travel, Alena made plans to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Several times they were set to go only to have their plans upset by her presence being required for a meeting at work. Requests that she felt compelled to accept as she hadn't worked for the firm very long; even so, she was the lead programmer on key projects in her section. After several aborted attempts to make the trip she figured out a way to have her time off and not cause a problem at work or for her boss. She did this by working ahead on her projects and then sending her boss the updated data just prior to finally getting away. Although she had accumulated a lot of vacation time, her employer was always reluctant to let her use it. She thought part of this was that her boss knew that two in her group couldn't carry the load, and were often like loose cannons on the quarter deck. She had often wondered why they hadn't been let go.

She found the museum much more interesting than she expected. Her children thought it was great. While visiting the exhibits early on their second day there they had seen some of Sarah's Clan several times before lunch and the children had exchanged comments. It wasn't until they were in the dining area that she realized that it was a single group, and a very large one. They were standing behind Sarah's Clan when she heard their children asking how to get their food. The questions sounded as if the children had never been to a fast food restaurant. The parent's responses to the questions just added to the puzzle. Later, when she had their order, she followed her children to an open table which was in the midst of Sarah's Clan. It wasn't long before her children began talking to the other children about the exhibits.

Alena wasn't sure what prompted her to ask Erin who they were, but she did. Even today Alena was awed by how that one question had led to others. Erin, Tara and her chatted some after she got over the shock of Erin's answer to her first question. When everyone was finished eating all the children returned to visiting the exhibits, only they were now accompanied by their new friends. All in all, that first question had triggered a chain of events that had greatly changed their lives.

After the museum visit, her children had really pushed her to contact Sarah's Clan and accept their invitation to visit Dóchas. She wanted to go, but again her employer wasn't willing to let her use her vacation, until she hinted that she might quit. When she did that they relented, telling her she could take a week. Even after she had the approval, her boss had asked her if they would still be able to finish coding one particular project by the deadline. She had assured him that they could.

When she met Sarah, Erin, Tara, Claudette and Joyce in the hangar at the airport, she felt like she was home again among close friends. The strength of her feeling startled her as she had only met these people once, at the museum, and talked to them on the phone to finalize the arrangements. Looking back she was amazed at how they became so very close in just a few days. This was due in part to her deciding to activate her telepathy, which she had done with their help.

It hadn't taken her long to understand why an Órarduine family unit of multiple adults worked so well. It was their openness, coupled with love and respect. Their degree of openness would be nearly impossible without their telepathic link to each other. Even though they shared everything through their mind-link, each had their own separate thoughts and activities. Their degree of openness, coupled with the sharing of their emotions and love for each other, was something very few on Earth would believe without experiencing.

Alena looked at her link to each spouse and marveled at how they could feel so close and intimate with each other. In many ways it went against what she had learned while growing up and before she became an Órarduine. She was taught that intimacy could only be found in one to one relationships, never between more than that, and certainly not 14.

Alena thought as she looked at her spouses, "I don't understand the forces that brought us together, but we are very fortunate to be here."

Her thoughts were interrupted when Sarah said, "We feel we are very fortunate in having you join us. I love you."

Alena replied, "I love you. I love you all. Such a simple word to carry such magnificent feelings."

"We love you too," said the rest of her spouses in unison.

"So what started your wool gathering?" asked Tara.

"I'm not sure. When I woke and felt Rusty's shoulder under my head, I thought about how fortunate I was and how fortunate my children are to be here in such a caring family. With that, I started sifting back through memories. I am not sure what fate is, but it had to have played a role in our paths crossing. We are very fortunate to be here. Our children are blessed with outstanding role models."

"I couldn't agree with you more," said Tara as she shivered when a very old memory flashed through her mind. "All of us are fortunate to be here."

"Oh, my God," moaned Alena, "I am so sorry that I caused that."

"You didn't. One occasionally leaks out, but with all the love I feel in this family they are very short."

The morning chime began, and Sarah said, "A new day of challenges."

"Yes. And they are easier to deal with because we do it together," added Rusty. With that Alena rolled onto Rusty and gave him a very emotional kiss. When they broke their kiss, Alena pulled Sarah closer and gave her a similar kiss. The emotions they shared had the three looking a little bleary eyed with happiness.

"Wow," said Aoife, "that was a scorcher."

"Yea," added Sarah, "any hotter and my hair would ignite." Everyone laughed as they began to get up.

"Well we need to think about getting ready for breakfast," said Joyce. "We have quite a few details to go over before we leave with Phoenix and Iarracht."

"Good point," responded Jill, "but this feels so comfortable."

"I thought we had sorted out all the details yesterday," said Alison.

"We did," responded Rusty, "but we still need to check on them. We also need to touch base with Intelligence and Security groups."

Tara said, "The fighter pilots are really looking forward to this."

Maeve laughing said, "They like anything that gives them more flight time."

"True."

In a conference room on An Clochán, while Molly watched the other Command Staffs arrive, she thought about all the details that needed to be completed before liftoff in 4 clock cycles.

Allan and Kathleen nudged her and both said, "Relax, if they did it, I am sure everything will come together for us."

Before she could respond she heard Sarah, Joyce and Siobhan say, "They are correct Molly." On hearing them she jerked around to look at them. She smiled when she saw them smile at her.

"Okay, I'll try to cool it ... but..."

"Just imagine how we felt," said Siobhan, "before Phoenix and Eagle lifted off. Then again maybe we didn't know enough to be concerned. We think Taiséalai's event brought home the risks we face."

"And they handled it well, because of all their practice and understanding of the systems," added Maureen.

"I guess my anxiety is due to our role and the significance it has for us."

"Well," responded Kathleen of Molly's Clan, "I think all of us have some anxiety, but yours seems to run unchecked at times. Sometimes it feels like we lose our connection with you."

"Sorry," replied Molly as her eyes filled with tears, "there are times when memories of verbal humiliation from my parents surface."

"I don't remember seeing those," said Mirial of Molly's Clan.

"I keep them pretty well buried," replied Molly sniffing.

"Can we look?" asked her spouses. She nodded affirmatively.

"Where are they?" angrily demanded Alissa of Molly's Clan after a few moments. Molly's other spouses looked only slightly less angry.

"I don't know. They disappeared shortly after I started college. I think Nancy and Bob made sure that my sisters and brothers were placed in good homes." Seeing the expressions of the others she added, "We were all either adopted or foster children. Nothing we did ever suited them, but if we failed to do our best then they were even worse."

Evangline said, "I am sorry that we caused you to remember them. It's too bad you can't delete memories like those."

"But they are character building," responded Molly with a weak smile.

"What?" exclaimed her spouses.

"Yea, on the positive side, I might not be here if it wasn't for their verbal abuse and what I think they intended for my future. Their plans certainly weren't for me to be where I am."

Kathleen said, "I was aware of a lot of what you experienced, but I never connected your anxiety with it. How can we help?"

"Maybe you already have. Now that I've shared the memories, they don't seem to have quite the same meaning."

"Well we want to know," responded Mirial, "if they bother you again. You are a key part of our clan and we need to keep you in a stable dependable frame of mind."

"Thanks." Looking around Molly saw that all the Command Staffs were now there. "I hope our discussion hasn't delayed the meeting."

"Not at all," responded Judy. "Just a reminder though. While I wasn't a part of the sharing Molly's Clan just did, we should remember that any of us are available to assist someone in dealing with bad memories. Sharing them often helps. If that is not enough then we have other techniques that we can use."

"We'll keep that in mind," said Evangline of Molly's Clan.

Kriss of Molly's Clan said, "Would unshared memories impact our role on the bridge?"

"Perhaps," responded Kathryn before anyone else, drawing everybody's attention. "Shortly after the Taiséalai event, we reevaluated our mind-link and found a few things to change to improve it. Since then we've done that several times, but those resulted in only a few minor adjustments."

"We've noticed you doing that," said Jackie, "and our clan has done that as well. Like Molly, a few of us had memories that we chose not to share because of the associated pain. However, for us, those memories were linked to others, so that knowing the pain improved the understanding of the other memories. I hope that makes sense, without going into details."

"It makes perfect sense to me," said Calvin and Rusty at the same time, they then laughed when they realized what they had done.

"We'll do that tonight," said Molly. "Now we have other things to discuss."

Mirial said, "So did the new formations you experimented with work better?"

"Well," said Keriann, "we think so. I take it you read the after action report."

"We did," said Allan, "but I for one, had difficulty in picturing it."

Keriann smiled, "Well they are now in the simulator program, but let's run through them as it shouldn't take very long. Some of you have been reading about naval battles on Earth. When you do that, you have to remember that those took place in essentially one plane, which is the ocean's surface. In space you don't have that limitation." As she was speaking a holographic image formed showing Dóchas, Phoenix and Iarracht along with their cruisers and fighters. "This image shows what we are calling formation A1, and is one you've all seen before." She then showed the other formations. "The biggest change is in how we move from one to the other. Now, let me show you a couple."

After the last shift was shown Brandan of Maureen's Clan said, "Changing from one to the other seemed to be completed much quicker than we experienced in the past."

"That is one advantage. The other is that it easier to shift to the new position as there are virtually no conflicting paths."

"Good, we had several near misses on our early exercises, although with each one we've gotten better."

"How do these change when all of us are included?" asked Calvin of Kathryn's Clan.

"They really don't, which is a significant advantage over what we were doing previously."

"Okay. Are we still planning on us going with you and Taiséalai in two weeks?"

"Suits us."

"When are we fitting this into our training?" asked Jackie.

"When do you want it to fit?" responded Sarah.

Chanel of Jackie's Clan said, "Actual practice could be done as we finish up our shakedown cruise."

"We agree," added Chanel of Molly's Clan. "The flight simulator aspect will be used long before that."

"As long as it is done in the 3-axis chambers," said Maureen with a smile.

"Those are fantastic," responded Calvin. Everyone nodded in agreement with him.

Violetta of Kathryn's Clan said, "Engineering is close to completing a simulator for the security teams that will include motion. It will be interesting to see how realistic it is."

"It will help," added Brittany of Kathryn's Clan, "but they have two different environments they work in, which are with and without gravity."

Terry said, "Several think the simulators will be good for maintaining their skills, but not in replacing the initial hands on training. So it will help keep their skills sharp during voyages."

"That is similar to the issue we had when we were on board a ship for an extended time," said Calvin.

"Have we covered this well enough?" asked Sarah. Seeing the group nodding agreement she said, "Molly's and Jackie's Clans, how are preparations for liftoff?"

"We could do it tomorrow," said Jackie causing some surprised looks from both clans, "if you need us to. However, we will continue according to plan."

"Why do you think we can do it tomorrow?" asked Molly.