Scout's Duty: A Planetary Romance (Scout's Honor Book 3)
Page 22
After three long weeks of preparations, the navy assembled the ships necessary to clear the Aashlan end of the wormhole. I’m told the clearing operation was quite a sight when witnessed from Aashla. It also served notice we were coming home.
A huge crowd gathered to watch the Aashla’s Hope, escorted by half a dozen Federation Navy fighters, land outside Morda. Callan and I were the first to descend the ramp from the ship. Before us stood Callan’s parents. Next to them stood Kim, smiling and craning her neck to see around us. The moment we both dreaded was at hand.
Kim focused on us as we approached. Our somber expressions told her we brought bad news. Tears ran down her cheeks even before we reached her. The queen put her arm around Kim as I told her of Milo’s sacrifice and gave her a heartfelt hug. Leaving Callan comforting Kim, the marine commander and I undertook the daunting task of speaking with the families of each marine who gave his life on the mission. I will never forget the haunting look of the parents who lost their child, of the wives who lost husbands, and of the children who lost fathers.
At a reception that evening, Callan announced her pregnancy to the court. It lifted the mood around the palace, where Milo had been well-known and well-liked, and even drew a smile and congratulatory hug from Kim. Callan’s parents rejoiced at the prospect of a grandchild and heir. The next day, the rest of the kingdom rejoiced with them when the news was proclaimed throughout the land.
In the following months, Federation delegations took up negotiations with many Aashlander countries and the first agricultural assistance missions arrived. Nist and Kim were married in a small, intimate ceremony. Martin and Megan were married in a huge, raucous ceremony. It made news across the Federation. Callan convinced her parents to fund a medical school in Morda and put Tristan in charge of it. And, in the largest wedding Tarteg had ever seen, Rupor made good on his promise to Heidi. For the record, Heidi does look beautiful in Tartegian black and gold.
Nine months after we left on the Aashla’s Hope, Callan went into labor. I sat by her side as Tristan guided her through the delivery and placed our newborn son in her arms.
“Welcome to the world, Robbill Milo Martin Edwar Rice Villas,” she said to him.
“That’s an awfully big name for such a little guy. Do you think he can live up to it?”
“Of course he can, David. After all, you’re his father!”
Callan laid her head on my shoulder and our son caught my finger in his tiny fist. Then time went away and all was right in my world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Henry Vogel had the usual range of menial jobs in his youth before ending up in software QA. Between the menial jobs and the IT jobs, Henry achieved some small fame as a comic book writer and co-creator of the small press titles Southern Knights and X-Thieves. For the past ten years, Henry has performed all around North Carolina as a professional storyteller. His love of planetary romances can be traced to Mrs. Lashley, a high school math teacher who loaned him her copy of A Princess of Mars, fostering a love of the genre which has never died.
Henry currently lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, son, two cats, and a host of imaginary friends all clamoring to tell him of their adventures.