To say the Captain was surprised to discover his First Lieutenant was leaving with his betrothed was an understatement. He had got through the formal farewells and made his private goodbyes to Fiona and Ser Becker, when King appeared behind them and slipped quietly aboard the shuttle. For a split second he suspected a conspiracy, but then realised he was just being paranoid.

One glance at Fiona reassured him she knew nothing about King, in fact she seemed quite oblivious to him, turning to give Hayes a brief smile before she disappeared into the shuttle. He pulled Medical Officer Kumar to one side. "What's happening? Where is King going? I thought he had a week's medical leave."

He got a very dry look from Kumar. "He came to see me and I thought it would be for the best if he took it down on the Space Station."

Hayes stared at him. What had King told him? Kumar hadn't finished. "He's applied for a transfer under Rule 158 so that might be the last we see of him, unfortunately. I thought he was an excellent officer. It's a shame this had to happen, but it's his choice of course."

"What?" Hayes felt as if he had slipped into another universe, where everything was upside down.

The Medical Officer repeated his words. "He's applied for a transfer, under Rule 158."

"Danyel's leaving?"

If Kumar had had any doubts about the Captain's involvement, they were put to rest by that simple question.

"He can't just go! I won't let him, I won't approve the transfer."

"Actually, he can. If he applies under Rule 158, that overrules even you, sir." Kumar was still looking at him steadily. He was wondering whether he should take the Captain somewhere private to have this conversation. So far no one else was paying attention, but they couldn't rely on that for much longer.

"Why didn't he come and talk to me about it?" Hayes was still grappling with the news. How could Danyel just leave him? It felt like a hole was opening in his chest, getting wider and wider. "When is he coming back?"

Kumar took hold of his arm and drew him briskly into a nearby storage unit, empty now since its contents had just been loaded onto the shuttle. "Adam, listen to me." He let go of his arm but looked intently at him to make sure he had his attention. "He's got a week's leave and then he is getting a transfer to another ship. He isn't coming back." The Captain looked dazed. "I think he's made the right decision," Kumar continued. "There's nothing here for him if he stayed but an almighty mess!"

Someone knocked on the door, "Captain?"

"Just give us a minute," called Kumar.

"Sorry, sir, but the shuttle's waiting for the Captain's 'all clear' to depart."

Hayes pulled himself together, packing his emotions away under tight control, and stepped out of the room. "It's all right, I'm on my way." He gave the all clear and the shuttle drew away on its journey to Capella. He continued to operate on automatic pilot for the rest of the day, waiting until he was off duty to consider what he had done and what, if anything, he could do about it.

He had driven Danyel away. It was as simple as that. He had been totally selfish, thinking only of his own problems and paying no attention to what the other man was feeling. Danyel had given himself to him, given him the most intense sexual experience of his life and he had brushed him off, sent him away without a single word of how incredible he had made him feel, not a word of praise about what a warm generous person he was. And then he had had the unmitigated gall to ask him to keep having sex with him. He found himself physically wincing as he remembered how crude and clumsy he had been. No wonder Danyel had walked out on him. He couldn't have made a worse mess of their budding relationship if he had tried.

He still didn't know what to do about his marriage. Perhaps he should simply go ahead with it. A loveless marriage of convenience was probably about what he deserved.

On Capella, Colonel Dan Peters opened the door of his apartment and froze. He felt as though someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over him. Matthew was standing there with Danyel King locked in his arms, his head on his shoulder. Before he could say anything, Matthew lifted his head and smiled at him, "Ah, here he is now. Dan, come over here." He beckoned him over. "King's having a bit of trouble, he needs his friends."

Peters went over to the two men, his heart still thumping after the shock, thanking god he had kept his mouth shut. Matthew would have been deeply offended if he thought he didn't trust him. He did, of course. It had just been... he admitted he had jealousy issues, to put it politely. He put all that aside and gave both men a hug. "What's the problem? Do you want to talk about it? Or shall I pour everyone a nice stiff drink?"

King managed a shaky smile. "Hi, Dan. Could we do both?"

Peters poured them all a glass of Orion brandy and they sat on the couch, one on each side of King. "Man trouble?" asked Peters.

"What else?" replied King, starting to feel a little better now he could actually talk to someone who would understand. "I got involved with a guy who thought he was straight."

"Ahhh – didn't we all?" murmured Matthew, looking sideways at Peters.

"So straight that he's going to get married. But the really shitty thing is, that even after we... we went to bed, and he must know he's an om, he asked me if I would be willing to keep having sex with him."

"And that's a bad thing?" asked Matthew, not quite understanding.

"Yes it is, because he's still going to get married! I'd be his guilty secret. Although how on earth he thinks we could keep something like that secret for long on the Revel, I don't know!"

"What a total shit!" Matthew leapt to King's defence.

"Yes. So I've got a week's leave down here, before the ship's medic can get me a transfer somewhere else under Rule 158."

"Would you like to stay here, with us?" Peters offered, and was rewarded by a warm smile of appreciation from Matthew.

Matthew had moved in with him temporarily. He was still technically First Lieutenant on the Jerez but he had taken six months leave to try and find another job, or alternatively decide that he and Peters could manage a frequently long distance relationship.

"Is that okay?" asked King doubtfully. "I don't want to get in your way."

"It's no problem. I can make up a bed in the study for you." Peters paused for a minute. He knew King had once fancied Matthew, had indeed made a heavy pass and been turned down.

He came straight out with it. "It won't bother you? Us being together?"

"No," King shook his head. "It will be good to remind myself that things can work out well for oms. I intend to go for lots of walks and play lots of racquetball, but if I find I can't handle it, I promise I'll move out."

"Fair enough," agreed Peters. "I'm going to have a quick shower and get changed. If you two would like to order some dinner for us in a while?"

Matthew nodded and drew King close against his side. King put his head down on his shoulder again and relaxed into him. "This is nice." Then he added, "Peters doesn't need to feel jealous, you know. I'm still hung up on Simon and I like both of you way too much to ask either of you for revenge sex. You can tell him I said so."

Matthew laughed, as King had hoped he would.