“Well, I’m glad you could come, all of you,” Esther told them.
“We’re all still family, Ess,” Miriam said.
“Well, I’ve got a captain about ready to pee in her pants if I don’t get down to the stage. We all have to be seated in place before the great man comes.”
Miriam leaned in to give Esther a peck on the cheek, then quietly said, “Come over some time. Shiloh keeps talking about you, but she hardly knows you.”
“Oh, mom!” the young girl said, clearly embarrassed.
“I’d love to. I’ll give you a call.”
She let the captain escort her down the side aisle to the front. A couple of people called out to her, but she kept her head straight ahead. There’d be time for mixing with friends later, which she looked forward to, and with the press, which she didn’t. Noah kept making fun of her for her continual attempts to duck the media while quiet, shy Noah, had become readily available for each and every request.
“Please take the fourth seat, ma’am,” the captain said, and Esther climbed onto the stage and sat down, taking the seat next to Major General Lace-Reimer, now the Chief of Weapons Development here at HQMC. Applause broke out as more people noticed her.
“Colonel,” he said as she sat. “Quite a big day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir, it is. Maybe after today, things will finally get back to normal,” she said, nodding at the still clapping crowd.
“You grew up with your father. Do you really think things are ever going to be normal? Will you ever be out of the public eye?”
“Probably not, General, probably not.”
Esther took a moment to look over the crowd, most of who were already seated. In the front, right in the middle, was Lieutenant Colonel James Aylsworth. He was looking up at her, and he gave her a wink which she returned.
I’m so lucky to have him.
He’d been a pillar of support over the last two years, giving her an anchor in reality. From the moment the battalion had returned to Last Stop, she’d needed it. For two weeks, the battalion had been the flavor of the month for not only the Federation media, but from all over human space, all pushed by an aggressive Marine Corps Public Affairs Division. And then after the attention moved onto the next big things, there were still dinners, symposiums, several documentaries, and of course, the award ceremonies.
First Battalion, Eight Marines, now held the record as the most decorated battalion for any single action since Third Battalion, Seventeenth Marines during the War of the Far Reaches. If you went by upper-level awards, 1/8 could be considered the most decorated battalion overall since the forming of the Corps.
The battalion landed on Navi Bharat with 783 Marines and sailors. A total of 186 battlefield commendations of all three classes were awarded, 32 Bronze Stars, 18 Silver Stars, 1 Legion of Merit with Combat V, and five Navy Crosses. The battalion itself was awarded the Chairman’s Unit Commendation. And of course, there was today’s ceremony as well. A week prior, Captain Wes McLamb’s Federation Nova was presented to his wife on his home planet of San Gabriel. Today was different. The public loved living Nova recipients, and the press was here to milk it for all it was worth.
Esther at first balked when General Lace-Reimer had personally told her upon their return that her first job was to determine awards. She didn’t believe in quotas for awards, and she thought the commandant might be pushing her in that direction. However, she had gone over each and every one of the BC3’s and above, and they were all deserving. Not just Hickson and Bird, or Lieutenant Eickbush, for that matter, for their Navy Crosses. Not just Major, now Lieutenant Colonel, Frazier’s Legion of Merit, not just the higher awards, but right on down the line to the last BC3 she recommended, given to PFC Islington, who’d rushed into fire to pull back a wounded Marine to safety.
She’d been proud to award the battlefield commendations, and she’d attended every other award ceremony. She’d cried for the 68 recipients who’d died earning their awards, but she was proud to have served with them.
More applause broke out, and Esther looked up to see Noah come out of the wings of the stage. He gave the crowd a little wave, then sat beside her.
“Glad to see you can make it, little bro,” she whispered about of the side of her mouth.
“Wouldn’t miss it if I could,” he whispered back. “And oh, you weren’t going to mention something to me? I just saw the selection list, Colonel (Select) Lysander.”
“You’ve been a real sergeant major for eight months now, so don’t you think you should have checked the list by now?” Esther countered.
“I don’t bother with officer stuff. Too political and all, you know.”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black, Sergeant Major.”
Noah merely let out a grunt.
“I talked to Miriam a few minutes ago. She invited me over to the house sometime,” she asked, waiting for Noah’s reaction.
“Do it. The kids need to get to know you, the real you, not just what they say on the holos.”
“So, they can see I’m not a stuffed-shirt prig?”
“You’ve kind of got it ‘bass-ackwards,’ Ess. I want them to see the warts, and you sure have a lot of them.”
Without turning her head, she flung out an arm and punched him in the left arm. Laughs rang out from the crowd.
“Grubbing hell, Ess. You should be sitting on my other side.”
“What, and punch D’Artagnan? Fat chance of that. I’d break my fist.”
Noah never did go through regen for his arm, choosing a prosthetic instead. Not only did he refuse a lifelike arm, but he chose one of a highly polished titanium alloy.
“Would serve you right.”
General Lace-Reimer gave an exaggerated cough, his way of telling them to quit playing around. Like chastised school children, they sat back in their chairs.
Not for long, though.
“Miriam said you were talking to Chance?”
“Fatherly duties. He needed some, well, guidance.”
“You like doing that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. You’ll love it too, being a parent, when the time comes.”
She took another look to Jim, who was speaking with Ryan Howard. The rest of Noah’s family, to include Chance, were now sitting next to Jim in the front row.
She was saved from a response when someone announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Chairman of the Council of the United Federation, Dexter Tse Won, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Peter Joseph Rzeminski.”
The entire auditorium rose to their feet applauding. The three Marines on stage rose as well, although they stood at attention.
The chairman waved at the crowd, then shook each of the three Marines’ hands. Esther knew the man was the ultimate politician, but still, she felt as if the man was talking to her like an old friend for the ten seconds he spent with her. He even took Noah’s titanium hand without pausing, pumping it vigorously. Finally, he and the commandant took their seats.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer started, “Welcome to the awards ceremony for the United Federation Nova.”
There was cheers and applause.
“On February 20, 343, First Battalion, Eighth Marines, Third Marine Division marched into history. Before we begin, we’d like to honor the entire battalion, so would all members of the battalion on that date who are here with us today, please stand?”
Over 200 Marines and sailors rose to their feet to the thunderous applause of the rest of the audience.
“That’s you, too, Ess,” Noah said standing up.
She hurriedly joined him. She caught a few faces: Bill Keating, Jack Hilborn, Dewaine McCurry. Jean Gill. She saw Steven Anderson and motioned for him to stand up as well. They could not have won without the Mount Fuji.
But there were faces she didn’t see: Chief Higgins, Lee Spain, Jeff Peaslee, Wes McLamb, and many, many more. She’d come to grips with those who were gone; she was done with second guessing herself
on what she could have done differently. She’d commanded the best she could, and she was comfortable with that.
The unseen announcer went over the battalion’s actions for those two fateful days, a story everyone in the auditorium undoubtedly knew, but they all listened. Not many Federation Novas were ever awarded, and those lucky enough to attend wanted to remember every single moment. Esther knew what had happened, though, and her mind wandered.
She’d always been driven to succeed, in school and in the Corps. When she enlisted, she knew she’d achieve two things: she’d become half of the first father-daughter recipients of the Federation Nova, and she’d become half of the first father-daughter Commandants of the Marine Corps. At times, she’d been a real asshole about it, putting career before humanity. And she’d done well, the first of her NOTC class to be selected for colonel. On her chest were three Navy Crosses, something no living Marine or sailor had achieved.
She stole a glance at Noah. She’d been surprised when he’d enlisted, and she’d been even more surprised that he’d climbed the ranks. He didn’t have the same drive she had, at least not obviously. His main motivation had been to gain the respect of their father, even after his death. Working for that had cost him his marriage. She gave him a little nudge with her shoulder, and he pressed back.
Looking back down to the front row, her eyes locked onto Jim as he listened to the announcer. For the thousandth time, she wondered how she, the driven one, had been so lucky in love while Noah, the personable one of the two, had a broken marriage.
The announcer finished his narrative, and the chairman looked around. In the wings, a young suit motioned for him to approach the lectern. For a moment, he looked like an old man, somewhat confused, but the minute he reached the lectern and looked out at the holocorders and the crowd, he transformed. He immediately went into a history lesson, mentioning their father and what he’d done for the Federation. When he remarked that blood ran true, Esther’s thoughts wandered again.
Does it really run true? What would she have accomplished if she was Esther Smith or Esther Hernandez? Would she be sitting up here on the stage without Ryck Lysander as her father? She’d like to think she would, but she decided that for a “what if” question like that, it was probably better just to believe.
Suddenly, she realized that the chairman had stopped speaking. She managed to stand up with the other three Marines as the chairman walked back to stand facing them.
“Would the audience please rise?” the announcer’s voice filled the auditorium.
“The Chairman of the United Federation of States takes great pride in presenting the United Federation of States Nova to Sergeant Major Noah Lysander, United States Marine Corps, for service as set forth in the following citation . . .”
Esther heart filled with joy, true joy. She didn’t care that she wasn’t receiving the award herself, and she was proud to bursting that her little brother was. She’d received the Navy Cross for leading the battalion, and her military career was more than on track. Noah, after losing an arm, had insisted on a life-threatening BOOST injection in order to protect her, and he done so until he’d been cut down.
He stood tall and proud as the chairman put the medal around his neck, and tears streamed down his eyes. Esther knew that the tears were for those lost in the battle, but also for their father.
Esther was sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, then somewhere up there, General Ryck Lysander was looking down on them and was absolutely proud of his son.
Thank you for reading Blood United, the final novel in the Lysander Twins series. The series will conclude with Coda, a novelette which will be released in late August. I hope you enjoyed this book, and I welcome a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or any other outlet.
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Other Books by Jonathan Brazee
The United Federation Marine Corps
Recruit
Sergeant
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Commandant
Rebel
(Set in the UFMC universe)
Behind Enemy Lines
(A UFMC Prequel)
The United Federation Marine Corps’ Lysander Twins
Legacy Marines
Esther’s Story: Recon Marine
Noah’s Story: Marine Tanker
Esther’s Story: Special Duty
Women of the United Federation Marine Corps
Gladiator
Sniper
Corpsman
High Value Target (A Gracie Medicine Crow Short Story)
BOLO Mission (A Gracie Medicine Crow Short Story)
The Return of the Marines Trilogy
The Few
The Proud
The Marines
The Al Anbar Chronicles: First Marine Expeditionary Force--Iraq
Prisoner of Fallujah
Combat Corpsman
Sniper
Werewolf of Marines
Werewolf of Marines: Semper Lycanus
Werewolf of Marines: Patria Lycanus
Werewolf of Marines: Pax Lycanus
To The Shores of Tripoli
Wererat
Darwin’s Quest: The Search for the Ultimate Survivor
Venus: A Paleolithic Short Story
Secession
Duty
Non-Fiction
Exercise for a Longer Life
Author Website
http://www.jonathanbrazee.com
* * *
[1] FPF: Final Protective Fire, the last flurry of intense fire designed to turn back an assault.
[2] LFC: Landing Force Commander
[3] AOR: Area of Responsibility
[4] STF: Shear Thickening Fluid. A gel-like substance that hardened into armor upon impact.
[5] UA: Unauthorized Absence
[6] CASREP: Casualty Report
[7] HGL: Heavy Grenade Launcher
Blood United (The United Federation Marine Corps' Lysander Twins Book 5) Page 25
