Rise of the Federation: Live by the Code by Christopher L. Bennett

offspring, spouses, and more distant relations.”
    “Don’t mince words, Dad,” interrupted a mature, balding Denobulan man standing nearby. Hoshi recognized him as Phlox’s eldest son, Vleb, an artist specializing in pottery. Although at the moment his sensitive fingers cradled a moreutilitarian vessel, a tall glass containing a rapidly dwindling supply of Denobulan wine. “You mean that Mom is a controlling tyrant who wants everything done her way.”
    “She simply wants to see to the well-being of every member of the family,” Phlox replied in more diplomatic tones.
    “Which is why she’s not speaking to Groznik— again . And why he had to move clear to another planet to get away from her— again .”
    Phlox refused to be baited. “Well, Feezal and I were both busy with matters of our own offworld, so we were happy to let Vesena take charge of planning the wedding.”
    “ ‘Busy,’ he says,” Doctor Lucas put in with a Santa Claus chuckle. “Called in to consult with the Klingon High Council, no less. Not many doctors can say they’ve done that and lived to tell about it.”
    “It wasn’t that bad, Jeremy,” Phlox replied. “Indeed, a ­Klingon succession dispute can be downright relaxing compared to planning a Denobulan wedding. At the very least, there are fewer factions whose agendas need to be balanced.”
    “I can believe it,” said Dani Erickson in her warm alto voice. She was a tall, brown-complexioned woman with intense dark eyes and a large, ready smile. “I had a hard enough time just dealing with my father while he was alive. I can’t even keep track of how many relatives you have.”
    Archer furrowed his brow. “Didn’t you once tell me, Phlox, that your family had something like five hundred . . . no, seven hundred and twenty relationships, forty-two of them romantic? I admit I could never work out the math there.”
    “Hmm, let’s see,” Phlox answered. “Ah, yes, that was when I performed the pituitary gland transplant on Porthos. Let’s see, that was several months before Feezal visited Enterprise  . . .yes, at the time, there were thirty-one children in the family—limiting it to second-tier relationships for simplicity, of course, so only counting myself, my spouses, their spouses, and our respective children.” He cleared his throat uneasily. “Although I would’ve been excluding my younger two sons, Tullis and Mettus, who weren’t speaking with the rest of the family at the time. Well, Tullis has come around now, at least; he and his wives are right—um, over there somewhere, I think.”
    “Oh, I remember Tullis,” Lucas said. “One of those Denobulans who thought that leaving the planet meant betraying their connection to nature.” He turned to the Starfleet officers. “I’m afraid not all Denobulans are as well-traveled as Phlox and most of his relatives. It’s why you don’t see that many of them offworld, compared to their population size.”
    “I know,” Archer said. “It’s also part of why the Federation is having so much trouble persuading them to join.”
    “Well, there’s always hope, Admiral,” said Phlox. “I’m happy to say that Tullis, for one, changed his mind years ago. Vaneel deserves the lion’s share of the credit for that, reaching out to him when she married Sun-woo and encouraging him to get to know his new brother-in-law.”
    “She’s amazing, that girl,” Vleb interrupted. “Tullis turns his back on the whole family when Rabb moves offworld and marries a Tiburon and a Tellarite.”
    “Rabb is their half-brother, Feezal and Bybix’s son,” Phlox interposed for the group.
    Vleb went on regardless. “Didn’t speak to us for two decades. I still don’t know how Vaneel talked him around.” The potter took another hefty sip of his drink, then shook his balding head. “Too bad she couldn’t do the same for Mettus.”
    An awkward silence fell over the group, and Sato wincedto see the pain on Phlox’s face at the