“Certainly. It seems we both have trusted consorts, at different levels. With him being your shadow of sorts, I think it would be best he be part of any meetings we have Lindsy in as well, just in case there’s something he needs to cover down on. Even if unofficially. And I’ll make it a point to have more conversations going forward. Now as far as command coverage and watch, at least during the night, the ship's computer has proven to be more than capable. Otherwise as I am sure you have noticed, I am usually covering in the morning into the afternoon. Would you be opposed to covering into the evening, and we both have overlap time in the afternoon just in case? And of course when necessary, it’ll be all hands at station when needed anyways.”

He figured he would set the stage to give them an opportunity for time to work together, and alone. “I’m not always expecting one of us to be on the bridge, but readily available. You are of course welcome to use the Ready room when you need to also. It’ll be a shared workspace.”

The idea that Lindsy was a “trusted consort” anywhere near the level of Rallid was laughable to Tiraa. Zedd had known the woman for just over two weeks, Tiraa had been with Rallid for over twenty years. Outside a mild touch of amusement that briefly lifted her lips, she said nothing. “I do not want to lose my evenings any more than you would like to use yours, so I would find an alternating schedule to be more amicable - perhaps weekly?”

Zedd was aware of how Orions maintained those closest to them, so there was doubt in his mind as to Rallid being freely committed to the woman he really was. That would be something he kept in mind as things went along. “I think a weekly rotation would work out just fine, I can agree on that entirely. That’s fair both ways and it’s not like we have far to go in any case.” He took a sip from his fresh scotch glass and motioned to Tiraa’s wine. “Fortunaltey with them just through the wormhole, New Fernginar is stocked up on that stuff. I made sure we brought quite a bit on board, should be able to have all you want of it.Surprisingly cheap at the end of the day.”

It was a fleeting feeling, but undeniably negative. Suspicion? Skepticism? She couldn’t quite grab it before it had already gone; it didn’t matter in the end. She glanced at the wine in her glass then finished it off, putting it now empty down to the table beside her. “Good. Is there anything else you feel we should discuss?”

He didn’t trust her and seemed to prefer to only be social with his new “consort”, so she felt little need to try and pursue anything but a professional relationship. He wasn’t interested and she was not someone who chased others without notable benefit.

He took note of her setting down the glass after finishing off what was left. It signaled a finality to him more than anything else. An intent to finish the conversation. He saw no reason to draw it out further at the moment. She had taken her time to seemingly measure him up in what his responses would be. Part of him wondered if this was how she approached everyone, and if she had done the same with the rest of the senior staff, as well as Lindsy. At any rate, he wasn’t going to try and push her towards another conclusion as opposed to whatever she had decided. He spun the glass in his hand for a moment watching the light catch the glass as if considering saying something else, but stopped short of it.

“Nothing else for now that can’t wait until our meeting, I think we are up to date on everything else. The next decision we’ll cover it seems is the work rotation schedule, so I’ll make sure I have one drafted up for you to go over with me and we’ll make everyone’s shifts permanent for the time being. We of course won’t hold onto these people for long unless we can get them paid, since nothing is upfront. I’ll leave you to enjoy the rest of your evening, Tiraa.” He looked back over at Rallid and gave the man a nod as well. Zedd knew at the end of the day, no matter their opinions of him, he could work with it. There wasn’t much new in this for him.

Rallid returned the nod and shifted his huge frame out of one of the near comically small chairs for him to stand. Tiraa stood as well with grace and dignity despite her dressed down appearance. “Have a pleasant evening, Zedd.”

She moved toward the door. Instead of what might have been expected in their arrangement, Rallid didn’t simply wait for Tiraa to pass by and then fall in line with her. He went to her, closing the distance between them himself and looked down at her as if to check in. Tiraa simply gave a gentle touch to his broad chest, and the two left the room together.

Zedd had returned to looking back out the window at the stars, contemplating what all was out there waiting for them, and where they would end up…