"I like this plan," Lena said with a grin a few days later. "Miles and I can go scout the other solar system and make sure there is a place to settle, while you start to gather a new group of people to make that settlement." Nessa and Pepper had taken the time to move their little space station back to Uranus, while Lena and Miles had interrupted their old ship and slowed it down before bringing it back too. Right now, both stations were floating between the bulks of the two giant alien craft that were still in orbit within the inner ring of the blue planet.

               Miles nodded, with a smile on his face. "I'll keep her safe, and we'll keep in communication. We'll either turn right around and run if the system is occupied, or we'll scan the two planets that were previously occupied and see what we find."

               "Lena, nothing crazy, okay? You'll be out there on your own, and we need to have you both back." Vanessa looked sternly at her friend, but Lena was just grinning back at her.

               "We won't be. The thrill will be enough. We'll be the first ones to come in a new solar system!"

               "Go to a new solar system," snorted Pepper.

               "Oh. No, we'll be coming there too," Lena retorted with a smirk. "Multiple times if I have my way. Make sure you have OB/GYN's on your list, we're gonna try to make a baby while we're there." Miles blushed lightly at his wife's comments, but both Pepper and Vanessa burst into laughter at Lena's outrageousness. It was something that they'd both grown to love about their best friend, and they'd never want her to change.

               "Fine. We'll make sure that your accomplishment is noted in the history books, too." Pepper snickered but was pretty sure that Lena would make sure they did just that.

               "Do me a favor and keep in touch a lot too," Vanessa told the pair. "We want to see the range of this communication system. It would be nice if we can ensure that we could hear each other from so far away."

               "We will," assured Miles. "That makes a lot of sense actually. We can let you know what we find before we even head back if that is the case."

               "And we can go over putting together a list of people we might want to bring with us," Vanessa pointed out.

               "Yeah, but let's not talk nonstop," Lena said. "We're going to be on our honeymoon there, so we might be busy."

               "She has a point," Pepper told her wife. "I might want to keep you a little busy too. All work and no play will keep your wife a horny mess."

               Nessa looked over at Pepper, her eyebrow raised. "Lena taught you that, didn't she?"

               Pepper just shrugged. "It isn't like she's wrong. If we're serious about our plans to go to another solar system, then we're going to have a lot on our plate when we get there. These are the days when we should be enjoying ourselves in our free time, because soon enough we could be surrounded by new people with almost no space at all."

               "See!" Lena chortled. "See? Pepper knows. We'll head out there now, and you hold the fort down."

               "Do you have everything you need for the trip?" Pepper wondered.

               "We have everything," Miles assured them. "We have plenty of food, and even some extra in case we stay there a bit."

               "Perfect. Before you go, do you have any suggestions for types of people to bring?" Pepper asked. "What skills do you think should be included?

               "We need at least three or four more pilots for the new ships, though I think I have a line on one of those. Several doctors, people in construction, electricians..." Lena was ticking off on her fingers as she talked. "People that can make things with their hands like blacksmiths and furniture makers. Some farmers and fishermen. Then the science folks."

               Miles opened his mouth, as though he was going to say something, then stopped, then finally said what he was thinking. "Bring mostly women."

               The three women broke into laughter as he broke into a groan and blushed. "Yeah, you really want that orgy, eh baby?" Lena leaned over and kissed him.

               "No, no. But you want to start society fast. If you bring say, 75% women, and then we buy up either an IVF clinic, or a sperm donation clinic, then we can have a lot of kids with a diverse DNA background without bringing men," Miles explained. "Obviously, not all will want kids, and some will have partners, but it still gives you the best shot of casting a wide genetic net."

               The laughter of the other three died away as they realized he had a point. Moreover, the proof was right there. Pepper and Vanessa had both talked about having kids, and they would be the kind of people that would be able to use exactly what Miles had suggested. Not that they were trying to make an Amazonian women dominated society, but from a population growth standpoint, it might be a good idea. Besides, the Earth had been run by men for most of history, so maybe this time the ladies would be in charge. Not that they couldn't mess up too, but it was an interesting idea.

               "Won't people be upset by that?" Vanessa was frowning now, though she could see that what he said made some sense.

               Miles shrugged, his massive shoulders moving under Lena's hands. "Maybe. I think a few couples, of any determination, will help too because we need some stability. But we're the ones deciding who we invite, right? Much like the crew for our initial mission was selected, and we tried to get good chemistry, which is what we need."

               "As long as we skip anyone like Brody!" Lena growled. "We don't need another asshole like that."

               "We have Jason collecting a lot of information for us too. We have all the schematics from the fox ship, plus the ones from the bridge of the Atlantis, and Jason is getting us a bunch from Earth." Pepper was looking over her notes of the things they had started gathering. "We're hoping to have a bunch of solar panels and wind turbine parts if either planet looks like they would be good power sources. We can't use the ships as generators forever, we'll need them for exploration.

               Miles was nodding at that. "I think we should also keep weapons to a minimum in general. Maybe a few for hunting at first, but we shouldn't need many. We've learned a lot about sustainable living, and hopefully we can start a new society while keeping those habits."

               "Do you think we humans can do it right?" Vanessa asked.

               "We haven't done a great job of it yet," Lena commented. "But we can certainly do a better job than we have on Earth, and maybe mess things up a little less. We certainly can't do worse."

               "Don't say that!" Pepper yelled. "We can't get overconfident. We know a lot of the mistakes made in the past, but we have to make sure we don't make new ones. We have no idea what the situation will be. For all we know there is still a war, or maybe there are two empty planets, or maybe they're uninhabitable after fighting. We will have to be on our guard the entire time and try to make our society work for as many people as possible."

               "It won't be perfect, honey." Vanessa said sadly.

               Pepper gave a little shrug. "I know that. It doesn't have to be. It just has to be the best we can think of. I don't think any system is ever going to be perfect, but we'll still try. Honestly, it might not even be up to us, depending on if we find an inhabited world when you get there."

               "Would we still want to go if that was what we found?" Miles wondered.

               The four of them shared looks among them, then Pepper gave up with a shrug. "I guess it depends on what you find. The way the Earth is going, it would be like going back to a toxic girlfriend. I figure you'll either find a place for us to start over, you'll find a civilization that we could take refuge with, or you'll find two ruined planets that can't support life. If that is the case, we can either keep looking for another planet, or perhaps have Emily work her navigation magic to find out where that third fox ship was headed and follow them."

               "That works for me," Vanessa snorted as she chuckled. "I just want to go to a new planet and explore. As much fun as it was out here, I'd much rather go to a place where we can actually get off the ship!"

               "I guess we better get going then, since we can't do a lot until we know what's out there at their old home," Lena put her hands together with a little clap, and then rubbed them rapidly while smiling. "I'm still more excited about seeing a new star, this is going to be so cool!"

               "Just don't get lost!" Pepper said with a grin.

               "We won't. We talked to Emily, she made sure we knew where we were headed. Besides, the navigation systems on these ships are pretty foolproof."

               Minutes later, Lena and Miles had undocked their ships, and were on their way off to the star known as 55 Cancri A, where they hoped to find a destination for a new home for humanity.

               In the meantime, Pepper and Nessa decided to make sure that they really weren't all work and no play and sent their clothes flying.