by Lance Berry
More likely, we’d be tagged as property of the Calvorian Alliance and all shipped off to penal colonies. I believe Rand deserves some recognition for all he’s done today.”
“But sir,” Carstairs finally piped up, “We’re already giving him a special medal later on today—”
The look from Ralston shut her up immediately.
“Sometimes a medal just isn’t enough,” the President said evenly. He then looked at Mara once more. “This isn’t about what you want anymore, or what we want. It’s about what Travis Rand wants. You can ask him if he wants the position, and he will be given a reasonable time frame in which to respond. However, if he turns down the posting, then we’ll have to find another officer to take the center seat…even if it isn’t you, Commander. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for this chance, sir.” Ralston nodded graciously, then looked at McKay. “And the apology—?”
Chapter 42
The ceremony for bestowing Travis Rand’s medal upon him later that day was brief but carried out nicely. Travis comported himself well in President Ralston’s presence, and Mara felt some of her concerns regarding her decision to turn center seat over to him begin to slip away. Once the ceremony was done, the Horizon reported to the Hephaestus Shipyards for full repairs. Being the flagship of the fleet, it was pushed ahead past some other ships on the repair list.
While Hephaestus tech crews began their work, the time finally came for a different type of ceremony, one which Mara secretly dreaded facing: David’s funeral. David had no living family, and Mara knew that in spite of their heated argument a few days prior, Mark would have allowed her to bury her husband in the Elliot family plot in Mississippi…yet her husband had always expressed a desire to be buried at home in Blackpool, and so Mara chose to honor his final wish.
Layton Cemetery was famous for being the final resting place of two members of the legendary Light Brigade, as well as other more recent UEF heroes. It was a beautiful, sunny day as Mara, wearing full dress uniform, approached the podium that had been set out on the makeshift stage. She stood there a moment, looking out upon an ocean of black-clad mourners.
Every single captain that had served at the fateful battle that had come to be known as the Jupiter Skirmish was present, as were others from different assignations that day. Travis, Ben,
Jamie and Tanner (in a wheelchair, due to injuries sustained in that battle) were present, as was Missy King. James Stubbs and his wife Nikki Tamamura were also there—the Hawking’s first officer now on leave from the service due to her pregnancy, which was eight months along. That had been one of the final indignities for Mara: although she and David had made love the night before the Jupiter Skirmish, she had chosen to use a pre-emp pill. Her husband had passed no permanent seed into her because of it, and so the line of Christenson had truly died with him. Mara was both relieved to some degree, as well as annoyed, that her father and sister did not attend. To her understanding, Peter was not allowed to come, as per Mark’s orders. Fine, she thought to herself, that’s the end of the two of them for me.
She took a piece of paper from her uniform jacket’s breast pocket and carefully unfolded it. She laid it flat on the podium and drew herself up, attempting to dispatch her emotions to a lesser corner of her mind in order to get through this, then began to read:
“I have kissed other men, but they were not you. I have been touched by other men, but they were not you. Their lips were not your lips, their eyes were not your eyes, their hearts were not yours. When you kiss me, it is as if life has been breathed into me for the first time. When you look at me, I can see myself as beautiful. When you open your heart to me, I finally understand what love is meant to be. There will never be anyone else for me—there could never be anyone else for me.
You were made for me, as I was for you, by God’s divine will.
Nothing will come between us, for our meeting goes beyond fate, beyond providence, beyond any abstract concepts which human minds can fathom. As long as we both shall live, I am yours…now and forevermore. I love you, David…”
She trailed off, amazed that she had gotten through the reading of the poem she had recited to him on their wedding day, and which now served as a farewell. Tears slowly ran down her face, and she turned away from the podium to allow the next speaker to come up. She had only gotten a few feet, her eyes cast downward, when two strong hands abruptly gripped her shoulders. She looked up, and realized that the cobalt blue eyes that stared at her could only belong to Malcolm ‘Panther’ Edwards. They had never met before, even though she and David had taken their honeymoon in Blackpool; the couple had become so obsessed with one another that they simply never made time to visit him. Mara reached up, grasping his own arms in return, and Panther pulled her toward him, taking her into a reassuring embrace which she eagerly returned. He leaned his mouth close to her ear and whispered, “He loved you more than you will ever know.”
For some reason, Mara got the odd impression that there was a type of hidden meaning in Edwards’ statement. Yet she dismissed it as owing to the bond the two men had shared, and that David must have simply remarked to his old friend how much he cared for her. She gently extricated herself from the embrace and descended the stage as Panther took the podium.
“Good morning, all. I’m Malcolm Edwards, flight captain of the Royal Star Force. David and I were chums who grew up together. We attended the same grade schools and entered the academy together. Although he was a hell of a pilot and soldier, he was even more of a great man…one of the finest I ever knew…” Edwards paused, and a severe frown appeared on his face as he looked away from the audience a moment and swiped at his eyes with the heel of his palm. He finally turned to the audience once again. “My mates in the RSF will do a missing man formation in a moment. I just want to say that I wish with all my heart that I could switch places with David right now.
We were more than friends…he was a brother to me, more so than my own flesh-and-blood siblings. He was a better man than most of you lot will ever know.” He glanced up at the blue sky. “Here’s to you, mate.” With that, he rapped his knuckles five times in rapid succession upon the podium.
Once he left the stage and the missing man formation was carried out. Then a Diviner from the Nondenominational Church of the All said a few words. His speech was spiritually reaffirming for Mara, and she was surprised to find herself feeling somewhat comforted.
He was the last to speak, and Mara then led the command staff of the Horizon and her closest friends in dropping red roses into David’s grave. She received final consolations and hugs from James, Nikki and Missy, each of whom had to get back to their lives. Missy was now second in command of security aboard the Hawking, due in no small fact to some stumping from Mara on her behalf. Once her goodbyes were said to her friends, Ben and the other senior officers waited patiently as Mara sought out Malcolm Edwards. She found him standing a considerable distance from everyone else, with a group of six pilots, all of them dressed in DFC flight gear. To her surprise and disappointment, she saw they were passing a small alcohol flask around, each taking turns sipping from it.
“Mister Edwards…”
Malcolm turned, recognized her and immediately offered his hand. “For God’s sake, Mara…you’re my best friend’s widow!
You of all people, get to call me by my nickname.”
Mara considered it for a moment, then nodded as she shook his hand. “Panther. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“And you. You know, I’ve never liked the idea of going with the crowd and becoming just another statistic…but I must admit, once word leaked publicly that you and David were dating, I became one of the ones who helped contribute to making you the most researched name in the history of the Overnet. Isn’t that something? For one brief moment, you were more popular than Christ himself. Even David never achieved that one.” He turned to his fellows and raised the flask. “Sic itur ad astra!” He took a sip and looked back at Mara. “’T
hus one goes to the stars’. Such is the way to immortality, love. You and David, together.”
There were several approving nods from the pilots, but Panther noticed Mara’s indisputably unhappy expression as she stared at his flask. He held it out to her. “Care for a nip?”
“No, Captain. And I don’t think David would approve of you getting toasted at his funeral.”
Panther snickered, somewhat amused. He took one more sip, closed the flask and tossed it to a dark-haired woman in the group. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Mara evenly. “Pardon me, missus…but with all respects, you and I knew David each in our own way. And trust me, he wouldn’t mind as much as you like to think, as long as I’m not completely sloshed while here. In spite of your current view, I respected David more than any human walking this good Earth…and taking a nip is my tribute to him and our younger days. And if the roles were reversed and it were I leaning in the grave, damn sure David would be paying his respects in like fashion. Errare humanum est—”
“’To err is human’. I’m familiar with my Latin, Panther.”
Panther nodded slowly. “Well, at least you aren’t so pissed that you started calling me Mister Edwards again. I swear, every time I hear my surname, I feel like I’m back in middle school getting a talking-to from the headmaster for peeking into the girls’ locker room…yet again.” The group laughed, and Mara couldn’t help but smile. Panther reached out, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her along. “Here, these are my mates…”
After the introductions, Mara spent a little while more talking with Panther and the RSF pilots. She then said her goodbyes and, with her senior staff, took a shuttle back to Heathrow Starport. There, they met up with Diviner Devon
Bova—the one who had performed the ceremony for David’s funeral—and came to find he was now assigned to the Horizon, in place of the former Diviner who had also died during the Jupiter Skirmish. Travis piloted the shuttle that carried the group back to the Hephaestus Shipyards, and Mara remained in the rear cabin, praying with Diviner Bova during the trip. It was a cathartic experience for her, and Bova proved to be adept at psychological assessments as well as spiritual enlightenment.
Later that night, Mara and Ben visited Travis in his quarters and without giving away too much of their meeting with the President and General McKay, made him the offer of being promoted to captain. He seemed uncertain at first, but after some brief deliberation and a second private discussion with Mara, he accepted the posting. From that point onward, it was a matter of Travis and Mara learning to adapt to one anothers’ command styles. She found herself on several occasions disregarding Ben’s advice and insisting that “David would do it this way,” which only led to consternation on Travis’ part. Ben found himself intermittently thrust into the role of mediator, helping each to see when the other was right or wrong in their stance. Mara finally admitted to herself that many of Travis’ command decisions had been right on the money, and Travis, for his part, finally decided to listen to Mara’s counsel. They eventually settled into a comfortable command symbiosis, and Ben privately joked to the commander how disappointed he was that their dual dream of an adult dance palace would never come to fruition.
Mara contacted her father only once, and had to get past Sara on the vid-com to talk to him. Her younger sister rose quickly through the ranks to become second in command of security for Mars’ Omega Base, which became a further source of contention between Mara and her father, who made no secret of his disappointment in his eldest daughter’s decision to relinquish her shot at captaincy, no matter how well Travis Rand performed in the post. Without saying as much, Sara seemed to side with her father on the matter, which only served to create a tension between the two sisters as well. Only Peter, who tried to stay out of the matter entirely, ever contacted his sister from that point onward to see how she was doing. When he graduated from the Citadel, Mara attended the ceremony, but didn’t speak to either her father or Sara, who were also there.
Mara secretly regretted the rift between her and the majority of her family, but refused to be the first to step forward to make amends. In her worldview, Mark was decidedly in the wrong, and Sara was being nothing short of sycophantic in her choice to side with her father in matters which she knew little about. Mara had chosen her path long ago, and she was tired of looking back with regrets. If her destiny was to serve out her days as nothing more than first officer aboard the flagship of the UEF fleet, then so be it. Travis Rand was as solid a captain to serve under as any which Command could have appointed, and Mara took pride in the fact that to some degree, through having both her and Rand on the bridge, David’s legacy would continue.
Chapter 43
(Epilogue: The Present)
“Knock, knock.”
Ben Williams was seated in his office toward the rear of sickbay, going over some medical data on his vid-com, when the voice caused him to look up. He had long ago had the door itself removed, in order to keep visitors from thinking they would be disturbing him if they had cause to knock on a closed door. Mara stood in the door frame, a somewhat contrite look on her face.
“Oh. Hey, c’mon in. Have a seat,” the doctor casually offered.
Mara stepped into the office but didn’t sit. “I’ll stand,” she said quietly. There was an awkward moment of silence, yet she finally spoke up. “Look, I wanted to apologize for snapping at you earlier—”
“Don’t worry about it. I sometimes forget that there’s never really a good time to mention your father.”
Mara nodded slightly. “I know, but it’s…that doesn’t excuse my treatment of you. It’s just that, you know, ever since David died…” She trailed off, more unable than unwilling to say more.
It had been four years since David passed away, and she still couldn’t fully get used to it.
“Are you still planning on going down to Luna?” she finally managed to ask him.
Ben shrugged. “I gave my seat on the next transport to one of my residents. She needed the break more than I do. Besides, someone’s gotta watch the store.”
The remark was said without irony, and certainly not in anger, which was what caused Mara to remain calm when she heard it. It had been that last sentence which she had thrown at Ben earlier when she had begged off on going planetside. The stopover at Luna was only temporary, and shore leave was being given out on a rotational basis amongst the crew. Once it was used up, no one knew when the next time might be that the Horizon and its personnel would see any down time, even though the war was now over. “Cute,” Mara replied. “Well, look—since I’m not going to call my dad and have a Hallmark moment anytime this decade, how about we compromise? The two of us take a break and have lunch together. We can just sit back and talk like we used to, back when…you know.”
Ben nodded in agreement. “Sounds good. So, what are you cooking us for lunch?”
Mara laughed at the joke. “Don’t even go there! You of all people, know I can’t cook! Down Time, one hour. No uniforms.
Okay?”
“You got it,” Ben acknowledged. The two shared a warm smile, and Mara exited the office as the doctor went back to checking the file on his vid-com.
As Mara stepped out into the corridor on deck nine, she couldn’t help but smile again, pleased that she and Ben had apparently patched things up. After all they’d been through together, she would have felt horrible if a few harsh words had irreparably damaged their friendship. This got her thinking about her father planetside, who might very well be expecting a call from her, regardless of the state of their own relationship.
She sighed lightly as she entered the lift and ordered the smartware to take her to deck twelve. In spite of everything that had been said, she still loved her father…somewhere in her heart.
The lift arrived at her floor, and soon enough she was in her quarters once more. She searched through her closet, choosing a lovely floral print sundress. She had always felt a bit ridiculous having a sundress a
board ship; no matter the daytime setting or warmth of the arboretum, she never fully fell into the belief that she was in a park on Earth. Yet David had liked it on her, and so she kept it. It was modest enough that she would look respectable in it, and so chose to wear it.
After changing, she sat down at the vid-com to choose a menu for the picnic from the selections available in Down Time.
