Out of long habit, I pulled the laces of my boots open, and set them facing away from me next to the door. In an emergency, I could jam my feet in and lace them up real quick, no wasted time. Army training again. "We agree, then, we're going to back to Earth, right?" There were humans, and human supplies on Paradise, and Paradise was closer. There was also likely a substantial contingent of Ruhar ships in orbit, Ruhar soldiers on the ground, and a Jeraptha battlegroup lurking at the edges of the system. Paradise was not a place I wanted to go back to.

"We agree, darn it. Ahh, I've been waiting a million years to contact the Collective, a short delay isn't a big deal, I guess." His voice sounded anything but convinced of that. "Ugh. This means we're going to visit that monkey-infested mudball you call home."

"Home sweet home, Skippy. Let's get this out of the way, so we're not arguing about it later. How can we make it so you can trust that we won't stay, once we get to Earth? By 'we', I don't mean me, I'm keeping my promise to you." It wasn't an academic question, I was worried about it myself. Having a Thuranin star carrier and a Kristang frigate in orbit was going to be very tempting to governments on Earth, tempting them to keep us there. And they would make very valid arguments for keeping our two starships in orbit; to examine their technology, to protect Earth in case any Kristang straggler ships were hanging around, and because sending our ships back out to roam the galaxy, until Skippy found a Collective that may or may not, exist was pure idiocy. It wasn't that I wanted to go back out wandering the stars with Skippy, I very much did not. What I wanted was for life to go back to normal, for me to take off the silly silver eagles, to go back to being a grunt, to finish my term of enlistment, go home, and live a normal human life. And little girls want Santa to bring them a pony for Christmas. We both needed to accept reality. There was no 'normal' life any more for humanity, certainly not for me. If Skippy, or I, couldn't think of a way to force Earth governments to authorize sending the Flying Dutchman back out, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I could keep my promise.

"Oh, that. No problemo, Joe. After we go through that last wormhole that leads to Earth, I'll temporarily disrupt its connection to the network. That will disable the wormhole until it resets, which will take long enough for us to get to Earth, load up on volunteers and supplies, and get back to the wormhole."