Chapter 1

"No, Father, I will not stay here and marry Morni; he is not loved by me and does not love me. He is only after the status of being married to an assembly leader and cares nothing for my wellbeing. I am going on the ship with my brother Torkut and when I return I will find someone to take to husband; someone I love and who loves me and that is my final word on the subject.

And thus began my journey.

I am Solara Lee late of Orlana and formerly Solara: 13th daughter of Torlan; as it would be listed on Earth. This is my story up to the point that I meet and bond with my now husband Jason Lee of the planet Earth.

"Solara, you are my only unmarried daughter and I would see you wed to a decent man. Morni is a decent man and would make a fine husband to you."

"Father, Morni is a doddering old fool that would like nothing more than to have a young bride; especially Torlan's daughter and all that that name would give him in increasing his position in the Government."

"You are right to a certain point but, who else would have you. You are head strong, demanding, opinionated, and I must put this on myself; more than a little spoiled."

"Yes, Father, and I love you too, but I want someone who will love me for ME. So I will go with Torkut and pray I meet 'a decent man' when I return."

As I left my father's house I began to wonder what would become of me. I had always been a bit of a rogue; always too independent for my own good. My mother died giving birth to me in a rare 'single egg' birth. On our world births are always multiples; two or four; and females 10 to 1 over males. So my father was right; I was a bit spoiled and headstrong and opinionated, but I knew that what I wanted was not here and I wanted to try to find it before I settled down to second best. Besides I am only 21 years old and too young to marry Morni who is 107 years old. As I step out the door and glide toward the ground I decide to work off the frustration and anger from the 'talk' with my father. I love my father but sometimes he can be so aggggggggggg ... I know he misses my mother and tries to hide from me the pain he feels but he can't protect me forever. I need to be what I was meant to be. So I go soaring and as I feel the wind I my face the tension slowly fades from my body and soon I am one with the air. Soon enough I was feeling good again and headed to the city and my date with a starship.

As I neared the base at Nirtone I saw my brother Torkut and approached him to let him know that I had completed my training and would be on this mission with him. Torkut's twin Dorkut was killed in an accident more than 10 years ago; leaving Father with only one son but unable to get him to change his mind about serving on a space cruiser as his right-of-passage to man-hood.

My brother greets me and asks; "How did Father take it?'

"Not well." I reply.

"He will get over it in time."

"I hope he will not be upset for long. After all I am his youngest and do remind him of Mother."

I have taken a position as Assistant Atmospheric Engineer on the 8751 and will be gone almost six years before returning to Orlana.

We get down to the tasks at hand and get the ship ready to depart on schedule in two months.

I spend the next few days familiarizing myself with the ship and its various systems. I get my gear stowed in my locker and meet my superior officer Lt. Tudor and get assigned to the duty roster for watch rotation.

Morni comes to the ship to try and persuade me one last time to stay and marry him. I tell Lt. Tudor what is going on and he and another shipmate run him off telling him not to come back under penalty of pain.

The time flies by and soon it is the day of departure and friends and family of the crew come out to the port to see us off. As I look over the crowd hoping to see Father; I see my brother talking to a young woman and being very friendly about it. Suddenly behind him I see our Father approach and place a hand on his shoulder. As they talk the woman turns slightly and I see that it is indeed Tiqerna a woman he has seen often and will most likely take to wife when we return.

I walk over and speak to Tiqerna and my brother and lastly to Father, "As I said Father; when I return I will find a good man to love and take to husband. Please allow me this time as I feel in my heart that this is very important to my future and I get the strangest feeling to our people as a well."

"I will hold you to your promise upon your return. Have a safe and productive journey, both of you." We say our good-byes and enter the ship. The last I see before the ports close is my father waving as he steps away from the engine blast area.