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there once, before he was called away to what the media were already calling the Khitomer mission—his and the Enterprise-A’s final mission. Carol had been almost fatally wounded in an apparent Klingon attack; she had been unconscious his entire stay, and he had left fearful that he would never see her again.

He had promised himself that, if and when he had another chance to speak to her, it would be to say that he was coming home to her, never again to leave. The pain of losing the Enterprise was eased by knowing that Carol was all right, that she would be waiting for him.

“Carol?” The words came out in a rush. “Carol, thank God, you have no idea how good it is to see you awake. When I left you, I was so afraid—”

She spoke at the same time. “Jim. Oh, God, Jim, they said the Klingons charged you with Gorkon’s murder and shipped you off to that terrible prison. I was so afraid—”

They both broke off at the same instant and laughed gently, delightedly. “It looks like you survived,” Carol said at last. It was hard to tell with the bad reception, but she seemed the same shade of pastel green as her normally golden hair, as the pillows propped behind her—which gave him the impression that she was terribly pale. Yet she seemed herself, and in her lap lay a padd; she had been sitting up working.

He grinned. “Always. How about you?”

“Doctor tells me I can be out of here in a day, at most two. So you’re really all right?”

“I’m all right. Just out of a job, starting tomorrow. I’m sitting in spacedock, Carol. They’re decommissioning us.” He tried to sound cavalier, but the heaviness came through despite his efforts.

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Her smile faded; she was silent a beat, then said, “I’m truly sorry, Jim.” “It’s not like I didn’t see it coming.” He shrugged and

ú ” O managed a hghter tone. S … what are you going to be doing in a day or two?”

She brightened and straightened in her seat; he fancied he detected a gleam of intensity in her eyes, the one she always got when speaking about work that was important to her. “I’m going to rebuild the Themis research station, Jim. Now that things with the Klingons are settling down—”

He cut her off. “Carol, you almost died. It’s time to take things easy, not to rush into a massive undertak-ing.”

Her lip quirked with fond exasperation. “You’re one to talk. How many times have you almost been killed? And still I couldn’t hold you back from that damned ship of yours with a tractor beam—”

“Well, you’ve got the opportunity now.” He tried to keep the irony he felt from his tone. “I’ve got time on my hands now. And I want to spend it with you.”

“Well, of course. You know I’m always glad to see you, Jim. But it won’t be much of a vacation on Themis. There’s nothing to see except a scorched research station …. “

“Dammit,” he said lightly, “could you help me out little here? I’m not talking about a weekend on while you workú I’m talking about a honeymoon.”

She released a startled little laugh, and despite fuzzy reception, seemed to color a bit. “Jim,” admonished, smiling, and with that one word to convey, You’re joking, right?

“I’m serious,” he said. “Don’t tell me you haven’t