Epilogue

Dawn had a terrible habit of waking up screaming exactly two minutes before the alarm clock was to go off. It happened every single morning, no matter how Talia and Ryker adjusted their schedules.

If she'd been waking up at 7:28 a.m., they'd adjust to 7:15 a.m. and go to bed a little earlier the night before. Without fail, the next morning, that beautiful baby girl would be up and wailing at 7:13am.

"It's your turn," Talia mumbled with her face buried in her pillow.

Ryker rolled over and stretched. He hummed a song as he crossed their small bedroom to Dawn's cradle and snuggled her into his arms. "Good morning, merry sunshine, how did you wake so soon? You've scared the little stars away and shone away the moon."

Talia watched and smiled, then rose to open the curtains in each room of their home. Letting in the sunlight was her favorite part of every morning, apart from waking next to Ryker and Dawn of course.

The summer days were long on New Haven, the name they'd voted on for the planet, which meant extra hours of warm sunlight to hold them over whenever the long harsh winter was to come. Ryker and the men from his exploratory fleet had already worked out seasonal schedules, which was an immense help to the people of New Horizon as they settled into their routines and began expanding on the first farms built by the men.

Talia couldn't believe the fields of crops that surrounded her and Ryker's home. They were his crops, the ones he'd planted to keep himself alive. She hugged her sweater around herself and descended the creaky porch steps.

"Where are you going?" Ryker asked, lingering in the open doorway with Dawn secured to his chest in a sling.

"I was thinking about a squash for supper, what do you think?"

"Sounds delicious. Can you pick that later, though? I want to show you something but we'd have to leave soon. I don't want to be late for the survivors' circle." That was the fleet's weekly group therapy, led by Doc. It wasn't just Ryker who'd had trouble bridging the gap between years of survival and everything they'd missed.

"Okay, but leave the door open. I like the fresh air inside."

He led her to the ground cruiser, which had been modified from an exploration vessel, and passed Dawn to Talia.

"Go slow," she instructed.

"I know, I know."

"We've got to figure out how to modify the baby harnesses for the cruisers."

"Draven's working on it. Said he'll have it figured out soon." They rode in comfortable silence for a while before he spoke again. "Have you heard anymore from Jules?"

"No." She brushed a kiss over Dawn's soft hair, then drew in a deep breath. "I still can't believe how she acted but it's hard to blame her. If I knew my mom was dying, I would've done anything to save her, too."

Ryker placed a soothing hand on Talia's knee. "She'll be fine. You made the right choice."

When Talia bailed Ryker out of the Heaven's Pearl's brig, she also had them arrest Jules for treason with instructions to release her into Ambassador Lovelett's custody. New Horizon paid for her mom to join her on New Earth-9, where she could receive the treatment that she needed. After her mom's degeneration was fully reversed, Jules asked for them to rejoin Talia and Ryker's people, but Talia never responded to her repeated requests. Eventually, Jules stopped.

After a while, the cruiser came across an old, rusted metal archway leading into what looked like a cave. The archway lit up with blue lights in the shapes of unknown signets as they passed under it and Ryker parked the cruiser inside the alcove. It was the largest outpost she'd been to so far.

He stepped out, but Talia stayed put with Dawn. She didn't trust any of the wires or tiles hanging from that ceiling not to drop on them.

"I've traced the communication trails from all the other outposts to this one right here." He motioned to a large harshly angled and blocky workspace that must've been an old comm center. "If we focus our research here, I think we can unlock all the secrets of New Haven. Who was here before us, what they knew, and why they disappeared."

Their predecessors hadn't only disappeared from the planet, but from every record across the galaxy. Talia reached out to Ambassador Lovelett and used New Earth-9's network to pass on the planet's information to their colleagues. In none of their databases was there any record of sentient life at New Haven's coordinates.

If their colony's descendants were going to survive here forever, then they needed answers. Answers would take time.

"So, I'm guessing this is our new picnic spot?"

"Yeah." Ryker smiled sheepishly then moseyed over to where Talia sat with their daughter in the cruiser. He leaned against the door, and she met him with a kiss. "Unless you get tired of it, then I can drag Draven out here with me."

She shook her head. "No. I want to do this with you."

"It's probably going to suck some days. Hot, gross, and lots of bugs. Maybe even rodents."

She raised the back of her hand to her forehead and feigned despair, "Oh no! Not rodents!"

They laughed, causing Dawn to stir. She rocked her baby gently.

Talia didn't care how long or how gross the project would be. She only cared about two things. Spending the rest of her life by Ryker's side and doing everything she could to ensure Dawn's future on the new planet.

She would do whatever it took.