The Slones and their command crew were not idle, they took the time to tour the other dreadnoughts and learn how to control the new ship given them. Without realizing it, they were slowly becoming Romani. Christopher and Alaya loved the evenings together and with their friends. The presidential palace was once home to the Balin CEO. At his wife’s request, she was given a small cottage to enjoy her grandchildren and learn to be a regular citizen. Diana Gardner was now in her 7th month of pregnancy and taking a lot of friendly ribbing about her ever-growing baby bump. On the day the Invicta left space dock, Diana gave birth to a boy. The Gardners named him Allen, in honor of their lost friend.
Christopher and Alaya visited their friend a few days after the birth. The baby was beautiful and Alaya felt sure Allen Farnsworth would have been proud. The Slones had news of their own.
“Diana, little Allen is going to have a friend to grow up with. Chris and I are going to have a baby.”
The friends hugged and congratulated each other. Then Diana reverted to her business like tone, “What about the ship? How is she doing?”
“She left space dock the day this little fellow made an appearance and she is ready to take the slipstream. There will still be a month in space dock at Nova Romae but she is good to go now. Only cosmetics needed back home.”
The idea of home sounded wonderful. They had now been away from Nova Romae for over 11 months and it was finally nearing time to leave. Diplomats had arrived from Nova Romae and some auxiliary ships were assigned to guard the system for another year, until they could sort out how many ships were needed to protect the system. Since Nova Romae space was now a buffer between the previous combatants, the senate assigned regular patrols to the area. They would know of any incursions long before they could reach New Wales.
Ten months post battle, the Romani fleet was at the outbound slipstream leaving New Wales bound for Nova Romae. Slone and his command crew were on the bridge, waiting their turn to enter the slipstream. Also on the bridge were Alaya and Tavia. They had filled out their crew for the Draco with eager, young Romani recruits, who arrived along with the legionary replacements. Tavia doted on little Allen, who was in the ship’s nursery, along with three other babies born on the Invicta. During the fleet’s time in the New Wales system, 132 babies were born to the crews and ground troops.
“Captain,” Tom Gardner interrupted Christopher’s thoughts. “We have permission to enter the slipstream.”
“Paul, take us in,” Christopher ordered.
“Yes captain.”
The Invicta moved into the slipstream. “Deploy the sails.”
The forward and center frill sails deployed, as did the aft sail. “Ready on your command, captain.” Paul said.
“Polarize the sails.”
Paul McMann pressed a button and the sails polarized. As they collected the star wind in the slipstream, the ship began to move forward and soon they were traveling faster than light with a wall of white in front of them and pitch black behind.
“Paul, what is our slipstream time?”
“We are at 1.85 light-years per hour, so transit time should be 15.4 hours to the next system.”
“Secure the ship from general quarters and post the slipstream watch. All other personnel are relieved.”
“Yes sir,” Tom Gardner responded.
The Slones went to their quarters and changed into something more comfortable. They had 13 hours before they had to return to the bridge. “Well dear, we are finally heading home,” Christopher said.
Alaya looked at her husband and knew she would love this man all her life. She responded, “Home, what a wonderful word. We really have found a home. And soon we will be welcoming a new Slone into the world.”
Alaya was starting to show a little and Christopher knew he had all he ever wanted out of life. Christopher Slone was a happy man.
Epilogue
The mood in the corporate offices was somber. The first reports were very encouraging. The invasion of Balin Corp space went almost without a hitch. Only that sly fox, Arthur Balin, managed to escape. Consolidation of the conquest was going well when, without warning, an unknown player enters the game and disrupts all the plans. No word for a year and now the final dispatches arrived along with the CEO of Petrov Corp, Alexei Petrov. He was standing outside the main office waiting to be received. The office was opulent and filled with memories of old earth. Behind the desk, sat a man in his late 50s, robust and looking as if he commanded the universe itself. He did not carry himself in a fake, vain manner, but rather as the uncrowned leader of the galaxy. He was genuine enough to keep his hair gray and the folds of middle age in his face. Those folds were now accentuated with a combination of anger and worry. Above his desk was a very large, stylized ‘S’ that marked the insignia of the Sinclair Corporation. Horatio Sinclair could not believe that his well laid plans were taken apart by a bunch of pirates. He realized his mistake in trusting the Petrov Corp to do what was needed, but they were the closest to Balin space. After the Hayden debacle, he needed the resources that fool Balin didn’t even know were in his space. The trade deal involving the Hayden was supposed to get him the mining assets he needed to extract a rare crystal found only on methane planets and moons. His scientists discovered the crystal is able to concentrate energy in a way that prevented it from dissipating. This would make beam weapons possible. With weapons of unlimited power and ammunition, Sinclair could take over the galaxy. The problem is the crystal, which his scientists call Luciferum, is not found on all methane worlds, and the one that has the best vein discovered so far, is in Balin space. He had hoped the deal with Petrov would have given them more resources and Sinclair would have asked only for mining rights on the desired planet. Sinclair mining scouts had already located the crystal vein. Now it was all for nothing. Horatio buzzed his assistant and spoke into the intercom, “Send in Alexei Petrov and Admiral Wilson.”
Guards opened the double doors from the outside and two men entered. One dressed in a naval uniform signifying him as an admiral. The other was dressed in the business fashion of the times, though a little dated. Horatio gestured for both of them to take a seat. As soon as they sat down, he brought his fist down hard on his desk such that the men jumped a little. Horatio signaled the guards to close the door and tore right into Alexei Petrov. “What the hell happened to your military? You assured me you could handle this without help, and now you no longer have a fleet and some of your mining bases are owned by people you call the ‘Romani’.”
Alexei Petrov was squirming a bit. He had agreed to help Sinclair Corp settle some kind of vendetta against Balin Corp. In return, he would get control of their main planet and most of the mining bases. With the added systems, he could make Petrov Corp a first rate power. He even dreamed of rivaling Sinclair. Now the dream was shattered, thanks to some unknown corporation allied with Balin. Sinclair should have known about them and dealt with them. “We had no previous information about the Romani Corp. Your spies should have known about them.”
Admiral Wilson could see Horatio Sinclair’s face reddening as Petrov droned on. He decided it was best to remain quiet, especially when Alexei had the audacity to place the blame for the failure on Sinclair intelligence. Even if that was true, this was not the time to bring it up.
Sinclair could finally take no more. “Enough,” He shouted at the top of his lungs and Alexei Petrov ceased immediately. “What about your intelligence assets. They didn’t even know how to deal with the resistance that you assured me would never form. I gave you the perfect ploy for invasion with a fake plague you could blame on Balin. I also made sure the rest of the corporations would look the other way. That cost a lot of gold and resources to make happen.”
Alexei was now deflated, a bit sheepish and full of excuses. Finally, he said, “We did our best.”
Horatio seemed to calm down and his breathing became more regular. “You did your best. Tell me, Alexei, where is your fleet and your army?”
“Our
troops are back on our home world, Petrovia. Our fleet is destroyed or captured. We no longer have a home fleet.”
“And your troops, what is their condition?”
“They are recovered from their wounds but they have lost all of their equipment. They could attempt another invasion but would need a navy to transport and protect them.”
“Then you are formally requesting the help of Sinclair Corp.?”
“Yes, if you are willing to transport us to Balin space, we will do our duty.”
“As well as you did it before no doubt.” Sinclair leaned back in his chair and opened a top drawer of his desk. “Alexei, you and I have been friends for years; that is why I wanted your help, but it is time to cut Sinclair losses.” Without warning, Horatio Sinclair pulled a pistol from the drawer and in one, fluid movement, shot Alexei Petrov in the middle of the forehead and splatter his brains against the chair back. The Admiral was startled and the guards ran into the room, but Horatio put up his hand to halt them.
“Admiral, take the Sinclair mobile fleet and attack Petrovia. We are going to perform a hostile takeover of their corporation.”
“Yes sir,” Admiral Wilson said and left as quickly as possible.
Sinclair looked at the guards and his assistant and said, “Call housekeeping to clean up this mess.” He then dropped the pistol on his desk and walked out his back office door.
******
The sky was heavily overcast around Roma, the capital of Nova Romae. It had been raining for the last 15 hours and that fit the solemnity of the moment. It was now 12 months since the battle and it was time to say goodbye. The legionaries of the 10th legion were lined up in a double file, half on either side of the road to the Mountain of Remembrance. The ship crews and auxiliary crews of the legion were also forming a continuation of the cordon made by the legionaries. The Slones were waiting in the procession along with the family members of those who died in the battles against the Petrov Corp. Alaya held the urn containing Allen Farnsworth’s ashes. Standing next to them was Tavia, holding the urn containing Marcus’ ashes. The rain covered the tears streaming down her face, but the look in her eyes could not be hidden. As Marcus’ sole heir, it fell to her to present him. The trumpets began a sad refrain and the drummers began to beat a slow cadence. The procession started to move. First were the trumpets playing a dirge and then the drummers maintaining the slow cadence. Next was a wagon draped in legionary red, drawn by horses, an animal from old earth resurrected by cloning. The wagon contained a large number of unmarked urns. These represented those missing-in-action and the ashes of the body parts that were too small to identify. They would be placed in a cenotaph. The procession wound its way up the path in the rain.
The road ended at the opening of a massive cavern, in front of which stood a large, black cube with its doors opened in the direction of the crowd. This was the cenotaph, and it would receive the MIA first. The procession stopped at the foot of a flight of stairs leading to a large, flat area, in front of the cave. The horses pulled the wagon to the side and were lead up a path that brought them to the front of the cenotaph. When the horses were there, 24 Lictors came out of the cave followed by Consuls Strabo and Juan Lorenzo. Since the war was over, the Lictors’ fasces no longer held axes. There was an audible snapping to attention by the thousands of troops and crews as the Consuls came out. Consul Strabo walked up to the podium in front of the Cenotaph. On either side of the podium were layered benches on which sat the senators from each system in the Republic.
“Romani,” Strabo began, “we are here to honor our sacred dead. They died valiantly defending our honor and liberating a new area of space from the corporations. We are the castoffs of those very corporations and it is now time for us to come into our own.” Despite the somber nature of the ceremony, there was a cheer to this last part. “Let us begin.” Strabo looked to an official standing in front of the cenotaph. The official then mounted the podium on the opposite side of the cenotaph and began to read the names of those who are MIA. As each name was read, an assistant took an empty urn or one with ashes of small body parts and placed it into the cenotaph. When all of the MIA names were read and the last symbolic urn was placed into the cenotaph, the doors were closed and sealed.
The next to be presented were the ashes of the recovered dead. As each name was read, the family member or assigned friend brought up the urn of the fallen. This was then given to one of the assistants, who took it into the cave and placed it in the area assigned to the 10th legion. When Marcus’ name was called, Tavia looked at Alaya, who gave her a slight nod and she carried the ashes of her friend and mentor up the stairs. She then went over to the nearest assistant. The assistant said the formula, “Who brings the ashes of this brave legionary to their destiny?”
“Tavia MacDougal.”
“Tavia MacDougal, you have honored the courage and memory of Marcus.”
The assistant then received the urn, gave Tavia a smile and took Marcus’ ashes into the cavern. Tavia knew she could come and visit with Marcus whenever she was near the Mountain of Remembrance.
After the ashes of the legionaries were placed in the cavern, it was the turn of the naval personnel. When the time came, Allan Farnsworth’s name was called and the Slone’s took up the urn. Alaya’s pregnancy was visible and all there gave her a smile despite the sadness of the day.
“Who brings the ashes of this brave pilot to his destiny?”
“Alaya,” and the rest was replaced with big sobs as she buried her head into her husband’s arm.
Christopher continued for both of them, “Alaya and Christopher Slone.”
“Alaya and Christopher Slone, you have honored the courage and memory of Allen Farnsworth.” Yet another urn entered the cavern and Christopher had the uneasy feeling there would be a lot more to come. Strabo told his daughter and son-in-law that the Sinclair Corp had staged a hostile takeover of the Petrov Corp and the senate took the precaution of sending the 28th legion into the new section of Romani space that penetrated the corporate areas. Now as Christopher and Alaya returned down the stairway, he wondered if Sinclair was behind all of the events of the last year. Time would tell, but for now, he and his wife would return to their lakeside home and enjoy the arrival of their first child. He would leave the rest to destiny. . .
Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2) Page 27