The Sunfire

by Mike Smith

  “Your father?” Jon finally managed to get out, his throat suddenly dry. “How is he?”

  “He’s going to be fine. The Doctor has already given him a clean bill of health. He’s recovering in his quarters at the moment. He wanted to be here to thank you, but the Doctor insisted that he rest. So he sent me instead, to thank you, in person.”

  Jon meanwhile was having trouble paying attention to her words, mesmerised by her soft skin, wondering if her lips were still just as soft. Unable to help himself he slowly leaned closer. “You’re welcome,” he breathed. Noticing how her eyes darkened in desire, as his warm breath caressed her. How she instinctively seemed to lean forward, her lips coming closer to his. In the final moments just before their lips touched Jon decided he did not care about the past. Did not care if Sofia had found somebody else, somebody better than him, younger than him. For here, now, she was his alone, and Jon knew with absolute certainty nobody would ever love her more than he.

  “Sofia,” Jon breathed softly. Their mouths coming together, slowly at first. Sofia’s mouth softened against his, her arms moved to fit around his neck, her hands moving up and down the nape of his neck. Jon’s arms moved to pull her close; her body soft, pliant and very feminine against his. He felt the softness of her lips and the silky caress of her sweet-smelling hair against his skin.

  After so many years, it felt like coming home.

  Jon’s lips, mouth and tongue moved against hers. He knew her taste, her scent, remembering it vividly. Sofia explored too, melting into his arms until they seemed to be one person. They fit together seamlessly, their skin warm. They felt one another through that kiss. With rising intensity, both felt the warm aching hollowness of longing and want. The kiss was timeless; it seemed to go on forever yet it took no time at all. There was a world of possibilities in that kiss. Jon’s arms tightened, pulling her against him so fiercely the breath was almost crushed out of her.

  However, the cheering continued all around them and brought them both back to reality, reminding them where they were.

  “I’ve missed you,” Sofia uttered. “I don’t care about the past any more. I finally realised what is most important to me. Family, and you’re part of that family, Jon. I don’t want to be alone any more.”

  Jon smiled softly at her gentle words, tracing the edge of her lips with his thumb. “And I promise that you won’t be alone any more. But,” casting his eyes around at their audience he added. “This is not the time or the place. Also there is something else that I have to do first.”

  Sofia recognised the pain in Jon’s eyes and could guess at the cause. “My father,” she sighed.

  Jon nodded his head in agreement. “Sofia I have to talk to him first. Please understand that I want nothing more than to be with you, but I cannot do that with his actions hanging over our heads. He is still my Lord, Master and Emperor. Nothing can ever change that. Not until he releases me from my duty, not while he and I both still live.”

  “Then talk to him,” Sofia insisted firmly. “I am fed up with all the lies that have kept us apart for so long. I don’t even care why any more. I just want to have the future together that has been denied to us for so long.”

  Jon just nodded his head in agreement. “Let me talk to him, then I will come and find you. I promise.”

  “Don't leave it too long,” Sofia replied. “Otherwise I might not wait.” She left the threat hanging in the air for a moment before adding with a heated gaze. “Then I’ll have to come looking for you.”

  Jon laughed, kissing her once again on the cheek, a promise of things to come. Then bowing slightly he slipped back into the crowd.

  Sofia sighed deeply, wondering how much longer events would conspire to keep them apart. However, this time Sofia promised herself she would not give up. She would fight for Jon if necessary. Even if the price was her recently returned father.

  *****

  From the shadows of one of the shuttles, one person observed the reunion without any joy. Miranda angrily wiped away the tears from her eyes. She had long known in her heart Jon belonged to another, but that did not mean she had to approve of it.

  Thinking back to the last night Jon had kissed her, had held her in his arms. She had felt safe, comfortable, protected, but even then she knew he loved another. When she had noticed Jon’s eyes finally close in sleep and felt his heart beating next to hers, she had closed her eyes, just for a minute, and pretended to be that other woman. To be loved by him and to be able to return that love unreservedly. Well nobody was going to blame her for that one moment of weakness.

  “Are you going to be alright?” An understanding voice enquired from behind her.

  Miranda turned her head in surprise, not thinking anybody had noticed her. Then she recognised Paul’s reassuring presence. When he enfolded her in an embrace, Miranda leaned back against him and the two of them watched the couple embrace—and kiss.

  “You know that it was never about you, right?” Paul inquired quietly.

  “I know that I could never compete against her for his heart,” Miranda replied. “How was I ever meant to compete against a Princess?”

  Paul’s gentle chuckle surprised her. “What’s so funny?” She demanded crossly.

  “This has nothing to do with Sofia being a Princess. I often think Jon would have much preferred she wasn’t.” At Miranda’s surprised glance he added. “Too much baggage. His duty and her duty. Responsibility. Honour. Huh. I think somewhere amongst all of that they almost lost sight of what was important. Each other. So what are you going to do now?” Paul asked after a moment’s silence.

  “Go home,” Miranda replied. Quickly sensing Paul’s sudden unease, in the way he tensed behind her, she added. “I mean back to Terra Nova.” Miranda could sense his relief when he gently kissed her on the crown of her head. The way a brother might do for a younger sister in pain.

  “Good plan,” he murmured, watching the couple separate and go their different ways. “I think I will join you.”

  *****

  Anyone who did not understand human behaviour would have been surprised by Jon’s next actions. Far from marching straight to Marcus’ apartment and demanding an audience, he instead went to the temporary guest quarters assigned to him.

  Stripping off his bloody and worn uniform, Jon stepped under the shower. Staying under the hot spray far longer than was necessary, wishing he could wash away the mistakes of the past as easily he did the blood that had been clinging to him.

  After the shower he changed into a fresh white Imperial Navy uniform somebody had left out for him. Taking the time to check his appearance, to clean the blood off his sword and to stop and gather his thoughts.

  For he had no illusions about how difficult the upcoming meeting was going to be. Jon knew that by now somebody would have brought the Emperor up-to-speed on recent events. He winced, imagining the incandescent rage of his master. But then again he had faced the Emperor’s wrath many times before. Usually Jon took the brunt of his Master’s anger in order to protect Sofia, and he would do the same again this time. For thanks to his actions Sofia now had a father, and Jon had no intention of driving a wedge between the two of them.

  Drawing his blade, Jon inspected it as carefully as if he were facing a parade ground inspection. Gripping the hilt of the sword tightly, so tight his hands turned white, Jon took as firm a grip on his emotions. For unlike Sofia who had only recently discovered the truth of her father’s deceit, he had known it for many years. Over time his anger had grown and grown. It was now like a torrential wave that threatened to sweep him away. Therefore, sitting in the dark, empty apartment, Jon struggled to get his emotions firmly under control. Only when he was absolutely certain he had mastered them did he stand up and make his way towards the Emperor.

  *****

  Jon did not even wait for a response when he announced his arrival; he simply stepped over the threshold into the Emperor’s quarters. This meeting was many years coming and Jon had no intenti
on of postponing it any further.

  The lights were off and the only illumination in the room came from the stars shining brightly through the large viewport. Glancing around carefully, Jon was not surprised to see the Emperor standing at his usual place, next to the window, staring out intently, his back to him. Taking a couple of steps into the centre of the room, Jon fell to one knee, one hand grasping the hilt of his sword tightly. With his gaze fixed firmly on the floor, Jon broke the silence in the room. “My Emperor,” he proclaimed, announcing his presence. Everything was still for a moment, and Jon had a momentarily feeling of déjà vu, a similar scene, but a different ship, many, many years before.

  “Commander,” The Emperor’s voice had not changed significantly over the years, was still the rich baritone Jon remembered so clearly. “My Praetorian, my Last Praetorian.”

  Jon eyes filled with tears, sharing the pain in his master’s voice. “They died well, my Lord,” he explained, desperately wanting Marcus to know the truth, to understand why. “They died doing their duty. They sacrificed themselves to save your daughter and me. Without them none of us would be here today. They were the best, the strongest and the bravest. You would have been proud of them.” Looking up Jon could see the Emperor standing still, but his head was also bowed.

  “I am proud of them, my Praetorian. They gave their lives protecting something that is worth more to me than life itself. They died doing their duty and no lord can ever ask more of his vassals. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

  Both men fell silent for a moment in mutually shared grief.

  “However it is not their duty I call into question,” the Emperor continued on sharply.

  Jon took a deep breath, knowing what was about to come. He had been preparing for this argument for years, but even now his excuses sounded weak to him, pitiful.

  “Did you not swear the same oath? Did you not swear you would protect my daughter and I above all else? Did you not promise to always stand at our side? To protect us, even if it cost you your very life.”

  “I did, my Lord,” Jon replied truthfully.

  “Then why do I find that you, my best, my most loyal of subjects, has abandoned his oath? Has so easily discarded your duty, your most sacred of responsibilities,” the Emperors voice grew in volume, and anger. “I spent five years on that accursed planet, incarcerated, tortured, fighting to keep my sanity. Yet the only thing that kept me sane was the knowledge my daughter was safe. That you, my greatest warrior, would always be by her side. Defending her and protecting her. Keeping her safe. For I knew whatever they did to me, they could not truly hurt me, as what was most precious to me was safe.”

  “My Lord—” Jon tried to explain.

  “I have not finished,” the Emperor roared, interrupting him. “Then can you imagine my surprise, my shock, when my daughter, that which is most important to me, is cast down at my feet. In the grasp of my mortal enemy, the very person who imprisoned me, who tortured me. Imagine my disbelief, at hearing from my very own daughter how you deserted her. How you abandoned your duty for the arms of another woman.”

  “I never abandoned her,” Jon refuted, his voice also increasing in pitch. “I went looking for Harkov. I spent years crisscrossing the Imperium, following up every sighting, every rumour. I avenged you, my Lord. I repaid him for his treason, his ultimate betrayal. He finally paid for it with his life.”

  “But that was not your duty!” Marcus yelled, his finger pointed accusingly at him. “Your duty was clear and my orders were explicit. You were to stay with my daughter, to protect her and nothing more. You failed me, but worse than that you failed in your duty. You betrayed everything my Praetorians stood for. You did not honour their sacrifice but instead disgraced it. They died protecting you and my daughter so you could carry on their duty. So you could protect her in their absence, and what did you do? You betrayed their trust.”

  Jon meanwhile was trembling, still on his knees. Shaking like a leaf. White-faced as each one of the Emperor’s barbs lashed out at him, flaying him. What was even worse was that Jon believed him. For Jon had tormented himself with each one of his accusations a hundred times before. Yet at the same time, Jon could feel his own anger chipping away at the self-control inside him. The pain he had buried deep inside, so long ago, slowly started to bubble to the surface.

  He had betrayed his fellow Praetorians? What about Marcus? Marcus had betrayed them in a far, far worse way.

  As if in slow motion, Jon slowly drew the sword at his waist. After all these years it had finally come down to this. By following through with this action Jon knew he and Sofia would never be together, but there was no other way. Marcus would not accept any other price for his actions. Therefore looking up at Marcus, with the sword firmly in his hand, Jon prepared himself for what he was going to do next. Knowing that there was no return, no turning back...

  He reversed the sword, offering the hilt of the blade to his master. “If I have failed you, then I accept whatever punishment you determine is due.”

  Marcus looked at the sword. Surprised, he reached forward and grasping the hilt to draw the blade into his hands. Inspecting the faultless blade, he turned back to Jon, still kneeling at his feet, head bowed, accepting whatever punishment Marcus deemed suitable.

  Even death.

  “Why?” Marcus demanded angrily. “I need to know why before I can decide your fate. Why did you hurt my daughter so? Why did you betray her in the arms of another woman? Why did you abandon her? Look me in the eyes, my Praetorian, for I will have the truth from you.” Marcus insisted, lowering the blade of the sword underneath Jon’s jaw and using the flat side to force his head up and look him in the eyes.

  Jon looked up into the angry green eyes of a man he had come to think of as a father. The same colour eyes he dreamed about every night. The breath caught in his throat. How to explain his actions, when he did not even understand them himself? How to explain all the hurt and pain? How could he describe leaving Sofia had in many ways killed him. That for the past five years he had not really been alive, but just passing time. How to explain?

  “I love her,” Jon replied earnestly. “I love your daughter more than life itself. She is the first thing I think of when I wake and my last thought before I fall asleep. She is my world, my very existence.” For a moment Jon thought he heard a startled gasp, but when he looked closer it was only into the Emperor’s astonished gaze.

  Looking down upon this man, Marcus wondered what power he had over him to completely disarm him so. For he had ordered Kings and Queens, Senators, Warlords and Admirals with ease. Yet this man, unarmed and totally defenceless in front of him seemed to constantly surprise him. For looking into his eyes he could clearly see the truth of his words and his own expression reflected back at him whenever he thought of his departed wife. “Why?” He asked, no longer angry, only confused. “If you love her so, how could you have done those things? To betray her in such a manner and then to abandon her?”

  “I have never, ever betrayed your daughter,” Jon vowed earnestly. “I would take that sword and plunge it through my own heart before I could do such a thing. I swear it on my life,” Jon insisted. Catching the blade from under his chin, grasping it firmly until he could feel blood seeping from the palm of his hand. He pushed the sword lower, resting it over his chest, next to his heart. “If you doubt the truth of my words then take my life.”

  For the second time in the space of a few minutes Marcus was dumbfounded, for again he saw the truth in Jon’s eyes. Yet what his daughter had told him, she had seen with her own eyes. Marcus struggled to reconcile the two stories, to not look aside for confirmation.

  “My daughter saw you, she saw it with her own eyes. She told me. She would not lie in this regard.” Marcus had seen the desolation in his daughter’s face when she had told him, he knew she told the truth, but he could also see the truth in Jon’s eyes. What was going on here? How could they both be correct? He was determined to find out the truth onc
e and for all.

  “Your daughter saw exactly what I wanted her to see. She would never have turned her back on me, never. Not if she had even the slightest hint I still loved her. For your daughter is the most loyal, honest and trusting person I have ever known. Therefore I showed her the one thing I knew would erase any doubt, which would ensure she hated and despised me forever. I made her think that I betrayed her with another woman.”

  “But you didn’t?” Marcus pressed.

  “Never.”

  “But why? Why all the deceit and all of the lies?” Marcus asked, confused.

  “Because of you.” Jon finally looked up into the face of his Emperor and allowed some of the pain and anger inside to leak into his expression.

  The Emperor took a few steps back in shock at the seething anger that he felt directed at him.

  “Because you poisoned what we had, with all your plans and lies,” Jon laughed, but there was no humour in his voice, only hurt and pain. “All your schemes to force us together, and in the end they did the complete opposite. As while I loved Sofia more than life itself, I would not, could not, destroy her memory of you. It was all she had left to remind herself of you. Therefore I could never know her true feelings in this matter. Were they her own? Her love freely given or was it just your lies and deceit that had so ensnared her for so long she had come to believe it as the truth? The not knowing would have destroyed us. It would have poisoned our love and torn us apart. We could never be together with those lies hanging over us… and I couldn’t stay.”