“Shakespeare,” said Tolei for her fellow Kronarins. “A magnificent Terran dramatist—I know him by heart.”
“And repeats him at length,” groused Lawrona.
“Until rudely drowned out by music.”
“The Shatina Beat?” smiled Detrelna. “Enough of us and our colorful ways. What of you?”
“Dauntless is jumping out tomorrow,” said John. “She’s taking us and Ambassador Zasha’s replacement to New York.”
“What are your plans?” asked Hanar.
“A life by the sea with some long-overdue kids,” said Zahava firmly, giving John a hard look.
“Soft breezes, gentle waves lulling us to sleep, no biofabs, no blaster fire, no plague.”
“Our mutual friend Yidan Kotran fled that good life after a few weeks,” said Detrelna. “Come back when you’ve had your fill. And please bring your children—they’d never forgive if you didn’t. You two have become legends and you hold our highest honors. You and your family will always have a home with us and your children the best opportunities Kronar can offer. I speak for our former engineer, as well.” He pointed to where a destroyer lifted into the night, wreathed in flashing red-and-green nav lights. “We’ll always have a starship going in harm’s way, if they long to follow their parents—maybe even Implacable. And last but very importantly, my family and I look forward to welcoming you to our home on Shatar.”
“And ours on Utria,” said Hanar. “Don’t let Jaquel’s grim talk put you off—we’ve work to do, but it’s still a beautiful world.”
“Thank you,” said the Terrans.
“Maybe in a few years,” said Zahava. “We’ll miss you all very much. Come stay with us—bring your families.”
“You are the closest supply of single malt scotch whiskey,” mused Tolei.
“We’ll lay in a vat of Scotland’s finest,” promised John.
“We’re giving you a Fleet tactical comm unit,” said Hanar. “In hopes you’ll stay in touch with friends.”
“Or if you’d care to escape paradise for a while,” added Tolei. “Now that Terra’s application for admission into the Confederacy’s been granted, not just warships will be visiting you.” In the aftermath of the Biofab War, Kronarin technology, overseen by a rejuvenated United Nations, had brought Earth into the start of a long golden age. Wars had ebbed, disease and starvation were vanishing and what had been suspicion of all aliens had turned mostly to acceptance.
“There’s at least one Shtarian merchant thinking of trading there, once he gets home and pulls his old life back together,” said Detrelna. “You’re welcome to take passage with me wherever you want.”
They sat looking out Detrelna’s dining room as the sun slipped behind the Shalik Mountains and Mitil, the evening star, grew bright.
“The Mitil toast, Jaquel?” prompted Hanar.
Detrelna thought for a moment, then rose, glass in hand. “That star,” he pointed, “is Mitil—‘Hope.’ We make wishes at its rising, that Hope may bless them.” Taking their cue from the Kronarins, the Terrans stood with glasses high as Detrelna spoke. “To absent comrades, sleeping safe. To the triumph of life over death and of love over hate. To mankind, may it grow in wisdom. And to my friends, happiness always. Farewell!”
“Farewell!”
The End
Endnote
Without tinkering too much with Final Assault’s plotline, I’ve tidied up, done some tweaking and replaced those hyphens used as Kronarin (K’Ronarin) vowel makers in the original version with real vowels. (They seemed a fun idea at the time.) Heeding cries for a tad more characterization, I added some.
After many adventures and besting many foes and horrors, Implacable, her crew and their Terran friends are home, enjoying a hard-won peace. For now.
About the Author
Stephen Ames Berry is the author of four science fiction novels first published by Ace and Tor, and of The Eldridge Conspiracy, a tale spun from his time at the Pentagon and the myth of the Navy’s World War II ship invisibility project, the Philadelphia Experiment. A graduate of Boston University, Berry has a master’s in information systems and was a systems analyst and data architect for the Navy Department and Harvard University. He lives in Florida, where he teaches wayward youth at a special school and is a slave to entitled cats. Berry’s currently writing a sequel to The Eldridge Conspiracy.
Berry’s Books
The Biofab Quartet
The Biofab War
The Battle for Terra Two
The AI War
Final Assault
The Eldridge Cycle
The Eldridge Conspiracy
The Eldridge Entanglement
(soon)
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