"Take us away, Aram," he said quietly, and strapped himself in.
"I will," Aram replied. The main burners fired and the dropship picked up speed. Ethan was pulled back into his seat, while peering out of the porthole. More explosions appeared, but none came close anymore. Soon there were none left. They passed through a layer of storms, that, after a few seconds of violent turbulence, quieted down. The cloud cover was impossibly thick and Ethan wondered if they´d ever see the stars again.
Then they exited the clouds, and Ethan looked up. Only the stars, Saturn´s light, and the darkness of space remained.
55.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Optio Wang," the bearded Centurion said and leaned over to shake his hand. "The info you´ve provided is invaluable." Ethan stood up.
Another officer, an adjunct, waited for her turn and once the Centurion got up to leave, she came around the table and shook Ethan´s hand as well. The dark skinned woman held it for a moment, before she released him.
"I´m sorry about your friend Will. In fact, I´m sorry we sent you all there at all without better intel. The Legion lost a lot of good men and women on Titan. I happened to know your decurion. Lionel Trudeau and I go way back. He was a good man." Ethan nodded.
"Yes ma'am, he was," he said. She walked out of the room. That left Ethan alone with the third officer, one who hadn´t said much during the debrief, the one Ethan was the most curious about. The man stood up. He wasn´t a physically impressive man, but his presence left no doubt that this was a man who´d seen a lot. The single triangle on his shoulder, signifying the rank of tribune, and the specialty marker just below, the outline of a single human eye, told Ethan that he had to reconsider his preconceptions of him.
"So, Ethan Wang, you survived the first one, and you did so in a manner that leaves me with no doubt that I was right about you the first time we met," Jeremy Tanner, the recruiter he´d met so long ago, said. Back at the recruitment facility, Ethan had first thought he was just a civilian hired to assess his abilities. Then he´d figured he had some connection to the Legion, once he arranged for Ethan, Ariel and Julian to meet with the Legion´s recruiter, but he´d never have taken him for a senior intelligence officer. In fact, the man had seemed more than half-crazy at the time.
"It was an act," Ethan blurted. Tribune Tanner laughed heartily.
"Well, most of it. I find it helps. But I do tend to find abilities in people that others overlook. As with you, Ethan. None of the regular services wanted you, but I saw something in you, and I dare say you have proven me right. When the Titan operation went to hell, you took charge. You saved four other legionnaires, in a way that most others wouldn´t have thought possible, and you brought intel that might mean the difference between another massacre and a fighting chance the next time we bump into the Lumins. That´s no small feat."
"Are we going back to Titan then, to take it back?" Tanner shook his head.
"No, at least not right now. The Legion needs to lick its wounds — losing two entire cohorts hurts. We´ll have to have a closer look at what´s going on down there, of course, but we won´t be attacking in force again, for the time being."
Ethan wondered if Tanner had had anything to do with planning the botched mission, but no, he didn´t think so. Tanner was too smart to be part of this. He wouldn´t have supported going in without proper scouting first, and without heavy weapons. In either case, there was no way he would ever learn who was responsible and what had happened among the brass. He was a foot soldier, and foot soldiers did what they were told to do.
The tribune made as if to leave the room, but turned toward him at the door.
"By the way, I´m recommending you for promotion. You showed real leadership skills down there. You have a lot of potential."
"I´m just glad we made it back in one piece, sir," Ethan replied. "No disrespect, of course, but a lot of people didn´t." Tanner nodded somberly.
"Of course, of course. Just know that you did a heck of a job. I´m proud of you. I have plans for you, son." Tanner winked, before he turned and left the room. Ethan stood alone and shook his head, smiling. Then he left the room as well and the door slid closed behind him.
56.
The lounge on the starship "Stormbringer" was spacious and several groups of legionnaires from the ship´s self defense force sat in smaller groups along the long wall that showed a widescreen view of space. It wasn´t a true image of the view outside, of course — they were still in the warp bubble with the other ships of the EF, which now only carried a fraction of the people they had carried on the way out. The screen showed an artificial view of what would appear outside the warp bubble, had they been able to see it properly.
Ariel, Julian, Irina and Aram, the sole survivors of Titan, like Ethan, sat in lounge chairs around a small table when Ethan joined them and took a seat.
"What took you so long?" Ariel asked. Ethan decided to hold off on telling them about Jeremy Tanner.
"Just a lot of details they needed to get straight, I guess," he said. Julian stood up and went and got him a beer.
"Here," he said, pushing the mug over. "It´s weak as hell. I guess they don´t want a bunch of drunk legionnaires running around the ship, but it does taste like proper beer."
"Thanks," Ethan said and took a long swig. "Could have fooled me."
"Told you so." Julian smiled.
"So, back to Earth then?" Ethan said. Ariel nodded. He thought how good it would be to see Elsie again. He promised himself he´d hug her tightly. She was the best mother he could have hoped for. He´d never known his biological parents, but it didn´t matter anymore. All he wanted now was to see his adopted mother, who had cared for him his entire life and who probably missed him desperately.
He wondered if he´d get to see Malika as well. The last time he´d seen her, she´d been bound for Mars, but legionnaires were sent wherever they were needed, so he had a slight hope he might get to see her once he returned to Earth. He´d just have to wait and see.
"Aram, how are you feeling?" he said, to divert his thoughts. The signifer smiled and took a swig of his own beer.
"Better, now that the legion medics got to fix me up properly. I´ll be fine."
"That´s good to hear. You know, none of us would be alive, if not for you."
"We all did our part," Aram replied. "I fixed the dropship, Irina kept me safe and alive to do it, Ariel is a fierce fighter and Julian made sure you got in so you could immobilize the mech droid and then he stole the gyroscope. You, Ethan, pulled it all together. You became a leader down there and I´m guessing I´ll have to salute you soon."
"Hrmff, if you do I´ll punch you," Ethan said.
"Pole made sure the door to the mech droid control center stayed open. The Lumins would have put up a decent fight if he hadn´t," Julian added.
"And let´s not forget about Will," Ariel said. "He held them all back so we could get away."
"Here´s to Will, and to Pole," Ethan said and held out his mug.
"To friends," Ariel said, holding out hers.
"To all the good men and women who died on Titan," Irina added. They all held out their mugs. Then they clinked them together.
"To legionnaires," Aram said, louder now.
"To the Ghost legion," Julian concluded. Then they all drank, emptying their mugs.
One day we´ll return, with a vengeance. Ethan was sure of it, and once they did, he´d be there, blasting away at those murderous aliens.
No one knew what their next assignment would be though. In the Legion, you went where the brass sent you. But first he longed to see Earth again. Earth was what it was all about. Earth was home.
Then he remembered the Legion motto: Legio Patria Nostra, The Legion is our Fatherland. And it felt right. He looked around at his friends and smiled. He was a legionnaire now and the Legion was his family.
~
End of Ghost Legion, Legionnaire Series, Book 1
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