Blood Money
By Lady Moonhawke
"What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you."
Wicked Game --Chris Issak
Krysten lay gazing morosely up at the ceiling, trying to count the dots in the acoustic tiles. She shifted as her abdomen twinged uncomfortably, then thumbed the button in the IV taped to her hand, which released a small dose of morphine into her bloodstream. She knew she should save it for when the normal painkiller began to wear off, but right now she welcomed the emotionless fog the morphine afforded her. Everything was just too painful to deal with.
The door slid open on its silent hinges, admitting Michael into the sunny room. Through the blurry lens of the narcotic, Krys saw him and mused somewhere inside of her that he had never looked as handsome as he did right at this moment. Black Stetson in hand, black, slim-fitting jeans, mallard-green poplin shirt with black corduroy collar and cuffs, black boots polished to a military shine--and above all, his lean face with a ruff of dishwater-blond hair turned red and gold by the sunlight. His dark brown eyes focused on her, the skin around them taut and darkened with worry and little sleep. Krys wanted to comfort him, to tell him how much she loved him no matter what happened--but the words couldn't find their way to her lips.
Mike laid his hat on the bedside table, then pulled a dozen yellow roses from behind his back, wrapped in green tissue paper and tied with a bright yellow ribbon. "Hi, sugar." He indicated the roses. "I saw them downstairs, and they just had your name written all over them." When her only answer was to shift her glance from his face to somewhere around his knees, he haltingly put the flowers on the table next to his hat. "I'll have the nurse put those in a vase for ya, or something..." His voice trailed off, wondering if there was anything he could ever say that would take away her pain.
He stood there for countless heartbeats, looking down at Krysten, arms hanging limply at his sides. Finally she licked her dry lips and waved her taped hand at him. "Sch--hhit down, honey," she slurred. "Y'look thyerd."
Jumping as if he had been shot, Mike looked around and found a chair directly behind him, then pulled it closer and seated himself on the edge of the cushion. He took Krys' hand in his, minding the various tubes and sensors taped to her skin. "I'm okay, honey, really," he countered, patting her hand gently. "I'm worried about you, though. Are you all right?"
Krys smiled languidly. "'M okay." She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and glanced at the morphine bolus. "Don' feel a thing."
Frowning, Mike continued to stroke her hand, rubbing his thumb against the bright gold of her wedding ring. It had been a little over three years since the day he had given her the small gold band. In sickness and in health, the words echoed in Mike's mind, and he touched his lips to her knuckles. "Yeah, I know, honey. They're takin' real good care of ya."
As Krysten drifted in and out of sleep, Michael continued to hold her hand. When he wasn't numb with shock and worry, he felt hatred for Jonathan--hatred that slowly poisoned what was left of the friendship they had shared while serving together. Granted, Mike now knew that Krysten had had a part in this, but Mike also knew how very naive she had been before they were married. She had begun the affair with the Lieutenant as a confident teenager, convinced that she was invincible and had an adult's powers of reasoning. Jonathan had needed to heal Aurora's vicious stabwounds to his ego, and Krysten was warm and willing--at first. Then came the shocking news that Krysten was pregnant, and she blurted out that Jonathan had threatened her, if she ever told anyone. The friendly, productive atmosphere of the station turned dark and distrustful in a matter of days.
Leaning his elbow on the bed, Mike studied his wife's face, noticing how much she had grown up, just in the past three years. They had waited until she was eighteen to marry, and thought they had weathered the storm of the miscarriage--the miscarriage of Jonathan's child, the product of their ill-fated affair. The doctors had said it was a common enough occurrence, especially in someone so young. They had assured the young couple that Krysten should have no trouble having children and to try as soon as they wished. Mike remembered with a slight smile the two of them, wild with relief, nearly going at it the moment they got into the house and closed the door.
To no one's surprise, it wasn't long before Krys found out she was once again pregnant--this time, with Michael's child. Mike smiled as he remembered the astonished look on Krys' face when she showed him the pregnancy test. They wanted everyone in the world to share in their happiness, and the days that followed had been almost giddy with excitement. Then Michael came home one afternoon to find Krysten huddled on the kitchen floor, her arms around her abdomen. The pain etched on her face had been enough to frighten Mike, but the sorrow reflected in her cerulean eyes was more than he could bear.
Mike sighed and sat back in his chair, finally releasing Krys' hand and putting it gently back on the bed beside her. Now it had happened again, though this time Krys hadn't even known she was pregnant. The doctors had no optimistic prognosis for them now; three miscarriages in as many years had taken a terrible toll on Krys' body. He put his head in his hands, running his long, callused fingers through his short hair. I'm used to problems I can fix with a wrench or evasive maneuvers, not this, he thought, his chest aching with curbed emotion.
Two years later...
Krysten heard the door to the office shut, and she squeezed Michael's hand as it lay in hers. Dr. Robinson came around the end of the desk and set down a thick file, then seated himself.
"Well, Doc?" Michael asked, running his free hand across his crew-cut hair. It was still a new feeling, hair. The turquoise alloy had been a part of his for so long that he wasn't sure if he was comfortable in his own skin yet.
Dr. Robinson chewed his lip, trying to decide how to break the news. Finally he sighed. "I'm going to level with you, Mr. and Mrs. Merino. You've suffered some very severe scarring, Krysten, and without some kind of assistance, I just don't see how you can become pregnant."
Krysten felt frozen in ice, as though she was alone on a glacier, or drifting in outer space, the outer space that had robbed her of her children. "Can you explain the damage?" she asked hollowly.
The doctor opened the folder. "Well, you have suffered a number of miscarriages," he began. "Every unsuccessful pregnancy requires medical intervention, as you are well aware, and that intervention is to assure that no remaining material could cause a life-threatening infection. However, that same intervention leaves scarring. Of course, the fewer miscarriages, the better chances of subsequent successful pregnancies. However, as the number of problems goes up, the number of happy outcomes obviously drops..." He paused to let that sink in, then continued. "You also reported suffering an ectopic pregnancy with spontaneous loss, and from what I can tell from the exams you've had, it exacerbated an underlying problem you may not have been aware of. As if all these other problems aren't enough, you are also suffering from endomitriosis."
Michael's expression was becoming darker and darker. "What exactly does that mean, Doc?"
Dr. Robinson looked truly sorrowful. "Material that develops over the course of the month in Krysten's uterus is also developing in other areas, as well, and sheds, or at least tries to, during her period. You reported very painful cramps, correct?" he asked Krys, confirming her earlier statements. She nodded, and he went on.
"I'm not surprised. It's a very common symptom of a well-known condition. It's also a correctable condition, so there is hope on that front."
Michael reviewed everything he'd heard, trying to put it all together. "So you're sayin' that Krys can't have kids because of the first miscarriage?" he asked intently.
The doctor tilted his head for a moment, then moved it back. "It certainly is a factor, but it's not the only one. The records you provided me from earlier in your life don't show some of the indications I'm seeing now. Frankly, I'm not sure what could account for it."
Krysten traded long looks with Michael. "What about my modification?" she asked softly.
Robinson nodded for a moment. "It certainly is a possibility. I haven't had enough experience with formerly modified soldiers, and the military isn't fond of sharing their information, either. So I couldn't say for sure, but I believe it is a distinct possibility."
"So I can't have children," Krysten said with finality.
The doctor shook his head. "Not without help. It's not absolutely certain that you couldn't conceive on your own, but it's extremely unlikely. There are several options for treatment, however, starting with surgery to correct the endomitriosis. After that, and surgery to reduce the scar tissue, you would probably be a good candidate for in-vitro fertilization. We'd have to take a closer look later if you elect to have the surgery."
"What kind of price tag are we talking about for this help?" Michael asked guardedly.
"It's a fair amount of money. IV treatments run about $10,000 per effort, and they aren't always successful the first time, and the surgeries could run up to $50,000 or more. A good figure for the whole thing could be as high as $100,000 or more. That's allowing for a few tries with the IV and prenatal care and delivery. These are always high-risk situations, and preemies are common."
Michael stood up and helped Krysten to her feet, then offered his hand to the doctor. "Thanks, Doc. We'll let you know what we decide."
Krysten offered her hand as well. "Thank you for your time," she said simply, still overwhelmed.
"I'm sorry I couldn't offer you more hope," Dr. Robinson replied. "I hope you'll contact me soon, so we can schedule the surgery for you." Krysten nodded silently, and they left.
Once in the truck, Krysten let the tears fall as she leaned against Michael. "Why did this have to happen to me?" she asked between sobs.
Michael refrained from asking, 'Don't you think it's happening to me, too?' and only replied, "I don't know, babe. I really don't know." He waited for her to settle a bit, then asked, "What do you want to do?"
She sighed. "If we had all the money in the world? Go for the surgery right away, then consider the IV sessions. It would be worth it, but we don't have that kind of money, Michael."
"Don't I know it?" he laughed dryly. They weren't hurting for money, but the sum the doctor had mentioned seemed astronomically high. "How could we raise that much money?" he thought aloud.
Krysten thought for a moment. "Aurora could give it to me," she finally ventured.
Michael grimaced in distaste. "You'd actually ask her?" he retorted. "I don't like the idea of askin' anyone for charity."
"Well, why shouldn't she?" Krysten snapped. "She has a handsome and wealthy fiancé, and a huge house, and beautiful, talented daughter. And I got the humiliation and pain that Jonathan meant for her." She was silent for a moment, then sighed. "That's not really fair. She was smart enough to leave, and I was foolish and unlucky. And if the modifications are part of the problem, I can hardly lay that on her doorstep." She chuckled softly. "I really ought to go after Jonathan. He created the problem. He should pay to fix it."
Michael looked at her. "Are you serious?" he asked.
Krysten paused for a moment. She looked deep into her feelings, searching for the ugly darkness she had tried to bury after the disastrous affair she'd had with Quicksilver. The anger and humiliation were still there, smoldering in the pit of her heart.
"Do you know what? I think I am."
"What about the UESC?" Michael asked.
Krysten thought for a moment, trying to remember anything she had been told about the effects of modification. "I think we should talk with a lawyer," she said slowly, a thoughtful look on her face.
Aurora jumped when her intercom buzzed. She'd been buried in details for her upcoming wedding; making a guest list, choosing flowers, and intermittently arguing with the company responsible for creating her wedding gown. Since it was her own company, she was having more success than some others would. However, it was clear that, no matter how much she pushed, the ceremony would still have to be put off several months.
She thumbed the switch. "Yes, Serena?" she asked wearily. Serena was a competent assistant, but Aurora had never been as close to her as she had to Krysten. _Of course, Serena and I haven't raided the mess hall at midnight together. Don't know why I keep putting that off. Maybe because she'd want to put me on report?_
"General DeBoer is asking for you in his office right away, ma'am," her assistant replied coolly.
Aurora grimaced in distaste. How any person could be both dull and stubborn was a mystery to her, but General DeBoer lived up to his name in all possible ways. "Tell him I'm on my way," she instructed Serena, rising from her chair and grabbing her uniform jacket, then shrugging it on over her white blouse. _Why we wear these recruitment poster costumes and only have window units for cooling I'll never know._ Although the cotton was at least better than the wool and silk dress uniform, its midnight blue color was completely unsuitable for the desert climate.
Two floors up, she knocked on the door, then entered when called.
"Good to see you, Commander Stargazer," the general greeted her, gesturing to a chair. "Or is it Landon now? I can never keep track of these things."
Aurora forced herself to smile. "Still Stargazer, sir. If you don't remember the wedding after Steven and I finish putting all our plans together, then we will have failed miserably."
"Good, good. I like a good party, myself. When are you two tying the knot, anyway?" the general asked for the fifth time that week.
"As soon as time permits and all of our friends are available. It depends a great deal on when he can be detached from service." Aurora hated this kind of chit-chat, especially when she had other things she could be doing. "What was it you wanted to see me about, General?" she asked.
He passed over a thick folder from the top of a pile on his desk. "This is your new assignment. A former recruit as filed a civil suit, naming the UESC as co-defendant with an officer. We'd like you to handle it."
Aurora set the folder back on the desk. "I think you must have the wrong person, sir, with all due respect. I'm not a member of the advocacy office."
"I'm very aware of that, Commander. You are the daughter of the creator of the SilverHawks project, and a damned fine officer in your own right. We aren't expecting you to come up with any spectacular leaps of legal thinking. We just need you to be present in the courtroom and ask the questions prepared for you." He was silent for a time. "Michael and Krysten Merino are the plaintiffs," he finally added.
Aurora rose immediately. "I can't do this, sir. I'm sorry. The Merinos are my friends, and I couldn't possibly stand up in a courtroom and say and do the things necessary to assure winning this case." She saluted and prepared to be dismissed.
"Commander, I don't think you realize that you have no choice in the matter. You are being ordered to report to the JAG office and begin work on this case." He watched impassively as her jaw tightened and her chin lifted. "I know what you're thinking. You're about to resign your commission to avoid this. Well, it won't help. Either side could call you to testify, so you'll have to be there, like it or not. And you may not be aware of this, either, but there is some ugly sentiment going around the Council about your father. Now, it generally gets crushed by your fiancé and myself. However, if you are unwilling to keep faith with the UESC, the UESC may become unwilling to keep faith with you... and your family."
"You would stoop to using threats, sir?" she quipped sharply.
"This isn't a threat. It's a dirty truth of our work. Now I suggest you go get to your work." He studied her silently for a moment. "Commander, you may find that being on the opposite side of the battle does not always put you on the opposite side of the war. That will be all," he said dismissively. "And Commander? Don't forget your folder."
Steven stopped at Aurora's office on his way out, only to find Serena packing up for the night, and the inner office already dark.
"Where is the commander?"
Serena looked up from her arranging. "The commander was reassigned to JAG the afternoon. Is there anything else you require?"
_A little warmth would be nice,_ Steven thought, _but I'm pretty sure it's unlikely._ "Has she left for the evening?" he queried on the off-chance that she knew.
"I'm not certain, General. Do you want me to call the JAG and inquire there?"
Steven shook his head. "No, thank you, Lieutenant. I'll catch up with her at home."
"Yes, sir," she replied neutrally. Steven shook his head again and left.
As Steven entered the condo they were renting while stationed in Mojave, he could hear glass shattering on the small patio in the rear. He went outside and found Aurora, already changed out of her uniform, taking glasses from a box one by one and smashing them on the concrete, and swearing profusely. He stayed well back out of the way, listening critically to her epithets. Only when a particularly large shard nicked her ankle and drew blood did he step in. Pulling the half-empty box out of her reach, he lifted her from the sea of broken glass and, leaving his glass-embedded shoes by the door, took her inside. It wasn't until after he had bandaged her ankle that he looked her in the eyes, expecting an explanation.
"I hate the UESC," she declared flatly.
"There's a lot about it to hate," he agreed mildly. "There's also a lot about it to like. What tilted the scales out of their favor?"
"Krys and Mike are suing them, and The Bore assigned me to the defense today." She was still a moment, trying to get a rein on her racing emotions. That Krys and Mike would sue wasn't that much of a surprise. She knew they had suffered tragedy after tragedy, and they believed the modifications to be a part of it. But now that she would have to stand up against them, to have to ask Krys about the affair with Jonathan, and try to put her in the wrong, a foolish child now seeking revenge. "Everything I know, all the secrets we shared, it all goes on display for a jury. Jonathan will be there, too, and I'm expected to work to defend him, as well. He's a God-damned bastard and I have to make the hell he caused right."
Steven sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Are you going to do it?" he asked.
"That's the worst part of it. DeBoer said my father's reputation is on the line, and he'll cut his support if I don't do it." She sighed, then continued. "I was ordered to do it, and I have always taken pride in following orders. But this is so unfair. The top brass is banking on the things I know to win their case."
"I was afraid something like this would happen," Steven murmured, and caught Aurora's incredulous look. "No. I didn't know this situation was coming, but you knew that working at HQ could put you up against field officers."
"But my goal was to make things smoother between field and HQ, not fight the chair-jockeys' battles for them," she protested.
"Hey, I'm one of those chair jockeys," Steven laughed. Then he grew serious. "This is something you are going to have to deal with. Do you remember that conversation we had, about facing your demons and getting past them?" She nodded, unwilling to speak about it. "This may be your last demon. Jonathan has always been a thorn in your side, from the first day I saw you. A wrong was done to you, as much as it was done to Skye, and you need to be there to see it judged and cleared, as badly as they do." He held her close as the tears began to run from her eyes, and wished again he'd killed Jonathan Greyer when he'd had the chance.
Once she had drifted, Steven eased her back against a pillow and went out into the living room to make some calls. The first was to the Merinos to fill them in. He dialed, and the answering machine picked up.
"Merinos," it said briefly. "Please leave a message after the beep."
Steven grimaced. He hated talking to inanimate machines. "Hi. It's Steven. Listen, I didn't want you to hear this from anyone else." He heard a click, then a live voice.
"Hey, Steven," Michael said guarded. "What's up with you?"
"I know about the suit. It's part of why I called. Aurora's been assigned to represent UESC." He said it straight out.
"Do you mind if I put you on speaker?" Michael asked.
"Who will I be talking to?" he countered.
"Just Krys and me. I just don't want to play go-between," Michael assured him.
"By all means, then," Steven replied. He heard the machine click again, and the connection took on a hollow sound.
"So what's going on?" he heard Krysten ask.
"Aurora will be representing UESC." He paused to let it sink in. "Don't think we're upset or put off by your decision. We probably would have done the same thing. But she won't be able to see you in any kind of social context until this is over, and I didn't want you to misunderstand."
"Is she there?" Krys asked. "Can I talk to her?"
"She was extremely upset this afternoon, and she's sleeping now. I found her shattering glass on the patio after work," Steven related.
"That's Aurora," Michael quipped. "When in doubt, break something."
Steven laughed harshly. "True, though I had hoped that I gave her better coping skills than that."
"You did," Krys chipped in. "She not breaking people."
"Cute. So anyway, that's how it stands now. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to talk directly again until it's over, so if Something happens and you need to know, I'll get word to you. Either my brother or my daughter. You'll know when you see them, okay?"
"How is the baby?" Krys asked. "I haven't seen her in so long..."
"She's... distinctive," Steven replied, watching the front door open. "Good luck to you," he said, then hung up the phone after they signed off.
Adryanna waltzed in and dropped her bag on the table. "Hi, Dad," she said, pecking him on the cheek. "Where's Mom?" she asked.
"Napping," he replied. "She had a really bad day."
"Oh. Are we still playing family, then, or should I go back to Colorado?" His glare was sufficient to cow her. "Sorry," she demurred. "What happened?"
"Your Aunt Krysten and Uncle Mike filed a claim against the UESC for her infertility, and Commander Greyer as well. Your mother is on the defensive team."
"She has to represent that scum?" Adryanna demanded.
"Not exactly. She's representing the UESC, but the are named in the suit with Greyer. So she'll have to work with him, to a certain extent. And since you have never met the man, I hardly see how you are qualified to judge him as scum."
"Which he is," she insisted. "I saw him at Grandfather's services, with his eyes and hands on her. How could you let him do that? Why didn't you just kill him?"
"You spend entirely too much time with your uncle," Steven grumbled. "And I never had a good reason. What I need from you now is to keep in touch with them and if there's something they need to know, I'd like you to tell them."
"You're going to set the UESC up to lose, and you want me to help," Adryanna stated flatly. "What about your career? What about Mom's?"
"We're both retiring soon. I don't care about my career, and I know she doesn't care about hers. What we want to do is get through this as gracefully as possible. And there is a problem with the modification process, and it needs to be brought out and dealt with, and Jonathan lied to that poor child, and hurt and threatened her, and he needs to be punished as well. So will you do it?"
She measured him with a look. "To bring the scum down? I'll do anything you need, Dad."
Aurora stared for a moment at the glass doors in front of her, summoning up enough courage to walk through them and face the most difficult challenge of her life. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and entered the JAG office.
She stopped at the desk in the outer room and removed her hat.
"Commander Stargazer to see General Barnes," she announced to the young officer behind the desk.
"Is the General expecting you?" the woman inquired.
"I believe so," Aurora replied. "I'm here regarding the Merino case," she added.
The officer nodded. "Just a moment, Commander. I'll inform the General." She disappeared down the hall, the reappeared a moment later. "The General will see you," she said.
Aurora replaced her hat and followed the young woman down the hall. At the end of the hall, she knocked on a door, then opened it when instructed. "Commander Stargazer, sir."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Than will be all for now."
The lieutenant stepped back with a "yes, sir," and stood aside for Aurora to enter.
Aurora stepped into the hat and saluted. "Commander Stargazer, reporting as ordered, sir."
Barnes waved her off. "Stand easy, Commander." He looked at her a moment, as if trying to find something hidden. "General DeBoer tells me you were not pleased with the assignment. Why is that?"
Aurora removed her hat and set her attaché down. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" she requested.
"Certainly, and please, have a seat." The general settled back in his chair and picked up his coffee. "Coffee?" he offered.
"Not at this time, sir, thank you." Aurora took a deep breath. "Sir, I'm probably the least qualified officer on this base to handle any kind of legal encounter. I have no experience, no proper education for this, nothing that makes me a good candidate at adequately defend the service. I'm afraid I'd be more of a liability than an asset to the defense."
"Commander, you have the one thing the defense team needs the most. You have unique knowledge and perspective of the actual field situation in question. What you know can be of invaluable aid to the defense team. You're also a well-known figure to most of the parties involved." The general regarded her thoughtfully. "You're afraid of facing your former teammates, am I right?"
"Sir, I don't want to betray your friends. Anything I may know was told to me as a friend, and not as a superior officer."
"There's no 'friend privilege,' Commander. If you have knowledge relevant to the proceedings, you are honor-bound to disclose it, either through testifying or the arrangement we have concluded. Do you really want to take the stand and face their attorney, asking you what happened?"
Aurora saw a brief image; herself on the stand, lawyers circling for blood, Jonathan sneering from the table. And if she testified, she'd never hear the whole story. She would be in and out and know nothing that she hadn't said herself. "Can't the UESC settle and remove itself from the situation?" she asked desperately.
"And admit we were wrong? Were we? Was your father wrong when he created this program? He found the best people he could and arranged more studies on the effects than anyone thought necessary. Are you willing to go in there and say he was wrong?" the general asked her.
"But what about Sergeant Hart? She nearly died..." Aurora was grasping at straws.
"The modification process highlighted a congenital defect no one was aware of. Without our intervention, she could have died and no one would have been able to help her. In a way, we did her a favor. She might have been dead by now without our help. Do you think she's unhappy with what we did?"
"Sir, Emily was always meant for the military, like Commander Greyer and myself. Krysten was still just a kid, even when I met her. She wasn't prepared for the realities involved," Aurora protested.
"Then she shouldn't have volunteered. But that is neither here nor there. I'll make you a deal, Commander. If you find that the UESC was, indeed, in the wrong, I will authorize you to offer a settlement. But until you have that proof, and you are willing to present it, you will pursue this case with all vigor and enthusiasm you can. Are we understood?"
Aurora sighed. She was trapped, and she knew it. "Understood, sir."
A knock at the door startled Aurora from the lawsuit she was wading through. "Enter." she called, not looking up.
The door opened and closed, and she heard the one of the last voices she expected to hear in the office.
"Hi, Mom."
Aurora's head jerked up, and she saw her daughter standing in front of her desk. She blinked a few times, trying to be sure she wasn't seeing things. "Why are you here, dear?" she asked, setting the folder down.
"Dad wanted me to help. He got me a job as a 'civilian aid.' I'm supposed to get you coffee and look things up for you." She helped herself to a seat nonchalantly.
"You're no more of a lawyer than I am," Aurora replied. "How are you going to help me with this mess?"
Adryanna gave her a long-suffering look, almost identical to Steven's. "I'm not three and a half anymore. I have done things, including law school. I just never bothered with the Bar exam." She paused for a moment, idly polishing her nails on what Aurora noticed was one of her own skirts.
"That's my suit," she commented, slightly confused.
"Well, a singer in a band doesn't generally go in for the cut and polished look, so I raided a little." She chuckled slightly. "You wear the same clothes everyday, anyway." Aurora couldn't help smiling when Adryanna said that.
"Besides," her daughter continued, "I can be a connection to the other side." She watched as Aurora's expression darkened. "Don't fool yourself. You're going to dig, and if you turn up something they can use, you'll want Auntie Krys to have it. I can get it to them."
"Not if you have to be sitting in the courtroom with me. You'll be watched almost as carefully as I will," Aurora countered.
"Probably, but Uncle won't. No one even knows Dad has family, and they won't see me talking to him, or giving him anything you find. He can get it to Krys and Michael, and then, the whole thing should be academic."
Aurora gazed at her daughter, taking in her bright smile, and the slightly vicious look in her eyes. "You really think it'll be that easy, don't you?"
"Of course," she replied. "Why wouldn't it be?"
Krys stood at the sink brushing her teeth in the pre-dawn hours before the trial, trying to rinse the memory of the hospital's antiseptic taste out of her mouth. Her enforced visits had haunted her dreams, and she felt as if the cloying smell of the place had seeped into her skin, stifling the life out of her.
Hospitals are supposed to preserve life, she thought sourly, spitting the toothpaste foam into the sink. Although I have yet to see an instance where they preserved it.
It seemed that every experience she had ever had with hospitals ended the same way--she left behind someone she cared about. Hadn't it been just yesterday that she walked away from DeKayne's bedside? She shook her head, disbelieving that it was six years ago that she kissed his cold cheek for the last time. And then there was the Commander--still a raw wound that sent out ripples of pain when she nudged against it. Finally, the most painful of all, her babies--Diana, an ectopic pregnancy; Robert, stillborn at 26 weeks; and now Marie, still a honeycomb of mismatched cells. She had been robbed of all of them, it seemed, and the clinical glare of the hospital loomed ugly in her memory.
How much pain can one person endure, Lord? Krysten demanded of the bathroom ceiling, her eyes blurred with tears. I don't know if I can endure much more; please, don't ask me to try!
Krysten went back to the bedroom she shared with Michael, then climbed back into the bed she had made just a few minutes before. The doctors had told her that the mood swings associated with a miscarriage could be hellish as well as long lasting, and she found they hadn't been exaggerating. Just a few minutes ago, she had made the bed, telling herself that life was to be lived, and to charge ahead fearlessly. Now she wanted to die, to go to sleep and never, ever wake up again. With a bitter smile, Krysten remembered the resident grief counselor, who wanted to put her on a suicide watch for the first 24 hours after being released from the hospital. She had laughed then, but it didn't seem funny now.
Krysten descended jerkily into sleep, her usual mental abilities hampered by the sleeping pill still in her system. Somewhere, a gravelly voice was talking, demanding an answer of her. She tried to bury it, but the words only became more distinct, a strong undertow pulling her into the tides of memory.
"So, you want to be a SilverHawk, eh?"
Still fighting the memory, Krysten screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. "No. I wanna go home. Please, take me home."
"What?!" The voice was incredulous, edging into annoyance. "Look, missy, you're in a lot of hot water as it is. Don't make it worse by being a coward!"
Her eyes flew open, her fists clenched in anger. "Me, a coward? No one calls me a coward and gets away with it! Not even you, you old rustbucket!" She was on her feet, her body bent like a prizefighter toward the man facing her over the desk. "I'm not afraid of anything!"
To her shock, her opponent--an older man, with one hawk-sharp eye as bright as an onyx jewel, the other encased in a prosthetic telescoping lens, merely grinned. The harsh lights of the room gleamed from the brass half-dome covering his head, as well as from the exposed brass finish of his left arm and hand. Through the open collar and loosened tie of his white shirt, she could see more brass armor. He leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands together behind his head.
"Well, well," he mused, still grinning. "Maybe I spoke too soon."
"You're damned right, you did."
His eye narrowed, while the prosthetic adjusted itself to match with a small click. "I don't tolerate that kind of language here, young lady. This is serious business, not some Saturday morning cartoon where the heroes save the day and the bad guys go to the chain gang." He leaned forward again, opening a folder that lay in front of him. In it was a black and white photograph of Krysten, various charts and graphs detailing her height, weight, reach, endurance, aptitude, and a myriad of other data that the UESC had collected before sending her up. On the application, stamped in red, was the word MINOR. It was at this word that the peppery cyborg frowned the hardest.
"Sixteen years old." He looked at Krysten, who had settled back into her chair while he perused the folder. "Miss Barter, do you know what I was thinking about at sixteen? It sure wasn't the military." He closed the folder and leaned his elbows on the desk, his voice low and earnest. "Do yourself a favor, girl. Tell the Colonel to fire up the Maraj and to take you right back through that spatial anomaly. Get yourself back home, while you have the chance." He sighed. "God knows I wish I could go back."
Krysten wasn't about to let him talk her out of this, so she tried some psychology of her own. "Would you, sir? Would you really trade all you've done for letting Mon*Star and others like him roam free, causing havoc?" She shook her head. "What kind of peace would that be?"
"Don't patronize me, Miss Barter!" The cyborg across the desk growled, half-rising to his feet. "I've paid my dues. I'm just trying to keep you from making a big mistake!"
"So it's a big mistake to defend my home planet?"
"That's not what I mean and you know it." He rose from the old-fashioned office chair to pace the floor, stopping in front of the window. Pulling on the string that raised the crooked blinds, he looked out at the stars past the thick transparisteel. "You're doing this for the wrong reasons, Krysten. This isn't about defending Earth, it's about the Colonel."
Though shaken, Krysten raised her chin to his suspender-crisscrossed back. "What about him?"
Not turning from the window, the old man spoke, his voice softly gruff. "You're in love with him."
"Sir?"
Chuckling, the cyborg let the blinds fall back crooked and turned away from the window. "Did I stutter? I said you're in love with him." He smiled and walked around the desk to Krysten. "I can see it in your eyes. I could run your voice through the stress pattern reader in that console over there, and tell you the same thing, but I don't have to."
All her fire gone, Krysten dropped into her chair as the old cyborg sat on the edge of his desk, his brass-coated left arm in full view. "What else am I going to do?" she asked him. "My life hasn't made sense for the past year and a half. Now I meet Bluegrass, and things start to make sense again. Only now things are really even more screwed up than they were before!"
"Well, let me tell you that modification is only going to put you from the frying pan into the fire. If the UESC did give me the go ahead--which I seriously doubt they will--you will be the youngest volunteer to undergo the process. They've already done quite a bit of preliminary testing on you, I see." He sighed, shuffling through the folder again. "Miss Barter, I'm trying everything I can to dissuade you from this. You're still a minor--"
"Emancipated minor."
He shrugged indulgently. "All right, have it your way. An emancipated minor, who's recently had a traumatic life experience. You have yet to complete high school. You don't even have a surface license, for crying out loud."
Krysten frowned at the unfamiliar jargon. "Surface license?"
"Driver's license. You know, to drive a car? Where you come from, I suppose they still use gasoline engines."
She sighed, crossing her arms in front of her. This wasn't turning out how she planned at all. "Look, I'll finish high school, take a correspondence course or something. Doesn't the UESC have an equivalency program?"
He nodded. "It does, but the idea is to get you through high school BEFORE you apply to the Youey. Besides that, there is the physical modification process, which is still in the experimental stage. Being a volunteer, you would agree to hold harmless the UESC and any person or persons representing them."
Suddenly, Krysten realized just what it was she was trying to do. She glanced at the metal covering the old cyborg's left hand. "So you're saying I could die from the process." It was a statement.
"Yes. We've been lucky so far, although we almost lost our twin sergeants, SteelHart and SteelWill."
"What else?"
He sighed again, enumerating points on a long contract. "Long hours, no vacations, limited amounts of personal time--it's all pretty grim for someone who's used to teenage freedom." He looked into her eyes, and shook his head. "You're not going to take my advice, are you? You're not going to walk out of here and beg the Cowboy to take you back home to your folks. You're not going to let my sturm und drang frighten you."
Krysten straightened her shoulders, remembering the first time she looked into Bluegrass' chocolate brown eyes. It was the first time she had felt whole since DeKayne's coffin was lowered into the earth, and she was determined to hold onto that wholeness with all her strength. The old cyborg was wrong; she was scared, but the fear would pass. She could almost hear DeKayne cheering her on, Go, little sis, go!
"No, sir. I'm not going home."
"Well, God knows I tried." The Commander stood and tapped a button on his desk. "Colonel, round up Quicksilver and both of you come to my office, pronto."
A slightly canned drawl emerged from the speaker. "Aye aye, sir."
"Now, I suppose I ought to find my Bible." The old cyborg went to the bookcase that ran the length of the room, picking out a black leather-bound volume, the pages edged with gold. A rumpled scarlet ribbon hung from between the pages, and he straightened it between the thumb and forefinger of his flesh-covered hand just as the two younger men knocked at the door. "Enter."
Bluegrass let Quicksilver enter ahead of him, then removed his ten-gallon hat. He and the Lieutenant stood side by side in front of the desk, saluting. "You wanted to see us, sir?" Quicksilver asked.
"Mmm. Yes, I did." He turned his attention to Krysten. "I can't seem to convince Miss Barter that she's too good for us, so it looks like I'm going to have to swear her in. I've drafted you two as our witnesses. Anyone have any questions?" He looked around the room, getting nothing but silence in return. "all right then. Miss Barter, please stand, place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right. Now, repeat after me. I, state your name."
Excitement was arcing like captive lightning from each of Krysten's nerves as she calmly said, "I, Krysten Marie Barter."
"...Do solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Geneva Contract, and the Interplanetary Agreement of 2283 to the best of my ability..."
"...and swear to defend the Earth, its people and its colonies throughout the universe, and such as those the Earth deems under its protection..."
"...and uphold the written and verbal laws of the United Earth Space Command, until such time as I should be relieved of duty by the termination of my service, my resignation, or my death, so help me God."
"So help me God," Krysten finished.
For a few moments, there was silence in the small office. Then the old cyborg nodded. "That's it, then. Corporal Barter, sign your name at the bottom of that contract. Bluegrass, you and the Lieutenant sign where it tells you to. Then it gets my john henry, and we just put the whole mess back in the folder, which goes back with you on your trip to HQ." He turned to the Colonel, who was passing the pen to Quicksilver. "Is the Maraj ready for launch?"
"Just like a bronco waitin' for the gate, sir."
"Good. Get her back to HQ before those temporary light-year countermeasures wear off. Lieutenant, I'd like you to tag along too, if you don't mind."
Quicksilver finished his handsome script and gave the contract back. "Not at all, sir. It'll be a pleasure." He smiled at Krysten, his ice-blue eyes warming just a little.
The cyborg stuck out his real right hand. "Welcome aboard, Corporal. You'll get your callsign at HQ."
Krysten smiled, feeling invincible with his strong, sure hand in hers. "Thank you, Commander Stargazer."
"Silverhawks, dismissed!" Stargazer barked, and all three young people before him saluted.
"Aye aye, sir!" Krysten blurted, bolting upright in bed.
Michael opened the courthouse door for Krysten, keeping a sharp eye out for any paparazzi who might be lying in wait for them. Just let one of them try, he thought viciously, his hand protectively on Krys' back as they walked up the hallway. The news of the suit was not widespread, but Michael still didn't trust the UESC press officer--who of course had assured the Merinos that this suit was still a private one.
Their heels clicking hollowly on the highly polished floor as they went, the Merinos approached the double doors of the courtroom. On the wall next to the door was a small marquee, with Merino vs. UESC/Greyer in discreet white letters against black felt. Mike put his hand on the door handle, but Krysten stopped him with a hand on his.
"Mike, are you sure we're doing the right thing?" she asked, a slight tremor in her voice. Her blue eyes were dulled with gray, a sign that the stress of the case had taken its toll.
He let go of the door handle and put his hands on her shoulders. "Look, Krys, if you don't want to do this, just say so. We'll go home right now and just try and go on with what we've got." He slid his hands down to her upper arms, feeling the scratchy navy wool of her dress uniform against his palms. "Remember what the lady at the adoption agency said. We're young, we have a stable income, and we're ready to give a child the kind of love it needs." Smiling, he stroked a tear from her cheek. "I told 'em you would be the best mother in the world, that any kid would be lucky to have you for a mom."
Despite her nervousness, Krysten had to smile back. "Oh yeah? And when did you tell them that?"
Mike caught his wife to his chest in a brief, tender hug. "Right now, I just called them up and told them." He pulled away, holding her securely at arm's length. "It don't matter, honey. They know that we're rarin' to be a momma and daddy. All you have to do is say the word, and we'll go straight over there."
Krys sighed, shaking her head. "No. As tempting as that offer sounds, I can't. It'd be almost like saying it was okay for Jonathan to string me along. It'd be like saying the UESC wasn't responsible for turning us inside out and not knowing exactly what would happen." She raised her face to his, determination edging out the gray clouds of stress in her cerulean eyes. "Someone's going to pay for this. I don't care what I have to do, they're going to pay." She put her hand on the door and flung it open, walking into the courtroom with long, purposeful strides.
The courtroom doors loomed large before Aurora, and she paused to study them, trying to center herself. Through the doors waited her best friends whom she had neither heard from nor spoken to in a month, as well as the person she despised most in the world, and it was in part her job to defend his actions. She glanced across at her daughter, who waited with her. Adryanna had been of enormous help, pulling cases and service records, pouring over files until dawn some days. But the critical bit of information had not appeared, and it appeared that the case would come down to luck, it seemed. Whose story would touch the jury the most, whose tale would be the most plausible. Aurora was grateful only for the fact that her part would consist only of exonerating the UESC and its modification process. It would have killed her to question Krysten about her relationship, brief and tragic as it was, with Jonathan.
Aurora looked over at her daughter. Adryanna had been her strength through the past month. "Did I ever tell you how much I appreciate your help?" she asked softly.
Adryanna shook her head. "You've been pretty busy. We both have."
Aurora reached out and laid the back of her hand gently to her daughter's face. "I'm so glad it's not me in there, fighting to avenge the loss of my baby." She smiled warmly at her sometimes skittish daughter. "I love you, angel baby."
Adryanna rested her hand against her mother's. "I love you too, Maman. I'm sorry I was so difficult before..."
It was Aurora's turn to shake her head. "We aren't going to bring that up anymore, remember? Now, if you're aunt is going to have any justice, we have to find a way to make it happen." She reached out and pulled open the courtroom door.
Krysten resisted turning to look as the doors behind her opened. She had made the mistake of looking when Jonathan and his formidable team of illustrious lawyers entered, and she had seen the smirk he had thrown her. She'd be damned if she watched her best friend walk in and prepare to mow her down. She knew Aurora was tenacious when she wanted something, and privately, Krys was starting to question the wisdom of her efforts. When it had all been in theory, sitting in the quiet, book-lined office with her lawyer, everything had been fine. Now, in the brightly lit courtroom, she could hear Aurora's approaching footsteps, and wondered if they weren't nails being driven into her coffin.
"For the defense, Commander Aurora Stargazer," Krysten heard over the squeaking of the gate. The clerk nodded, then looked up as the gate creaked again.
"And?" she asked.
Krysten felt her heart skip a beat at the response. "Adryanna Landon, assisting the UESC." Her head whirled. This couldn't be happening. It was enough of a disaster that Aurora was being forced to work against her, but to find that Adryanna was dragged into the mess made Krys nauseous. She took several deep breaths, fighting to keep her stomach under control.
Michael saw his wife's face turn green as new-sprouted wheat, and rested a hand on her back. "Are you okay?" he whispered.
Stomach under control, barely, she whispered back, "Adry. Aurora brought her daughter..." She sniffled, then dashed the tears from her eyes quickly. "We're going to lose. Once Aurora puts her up there, it'll be all over."
"No. She wouldn't. She can't," Michael replied softly, staring at the two women ten feet away. "Maybe she found some way to help us..."
"All rise, the Honorable Admiral Hugh MacAllister presiding."
As one, the courtroom rose as Admiral MacAllister entered and seated himself behind the bench. MacAllister was a tall, lean man in his mid-fifties, his head shaved to a shiny pink baldness. Krysten mused that he was a handsome man, but quailed at the piercing quality of his dark brown eyes. She wondered if others who had stood before this court had felt the same way.
"You may be seated." MacAllister glanced up as the courtroom resettled itself with a shuffling of feet and a stifled cough from the back row. "This is Merino vs. United Earth Space Command, with a simultaneous claim against one Commander Jonathan Q. Greyer." He opened the thick file, skimmed the first few pages of the docket, then looked to the team of lawyers crowded like packs of ravenous wolves around the tables. "Mr. Chandler, who are you representing?"
A tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in a finely tailored suit rose without hurry from his place at the defendant's table. "I am representing Commander Greyer, Your Honor."
MacAllister nodded as Chandler sat back down. "And Commander Stargazer?"
Krysten's stomach dropped to her knees as she watched Aurora, poised and perfect in her dark upswept coif and the smart dress blacks of a Youey officer, rise from her chair. "I represent United Earth Space Command, as part of a special defense team."
"Special defense team?" MacAllister chuckled. "In other words, you're not a professionally trained lawyer, am I right?"
Even from her seat, Krysten could feel Aurora's despair and anger. "No, Your Honor," was all Aurora said, her voice cool and calm. "However, General Barnes felt that I would be an asset to the team, since I have firsthand experience with some of the situations that will come to light in this case."
MacAllister cocked an eyebrow at Aurora. "I see. And this is the rest of the team that I have listed in my file here?" he asked, listening intently as Aurora introduced the other six men sitting at the table, and her daughter, presented as "Adryanna Landon" again.
"Landon? Isn't that the name of your fiancé, Commander?"
Aurora grimaced. "It is, your honor, but I hardly see the point-"
"No point, Commander. Just an observation. Family that plays together, and all," MacAllister noted.
"I assure Your Honor, I am not here to play, nor is my fiancé's daughter. She is functioning in the capacity of paralegal for the special defense."
When she was done, he nodded, the lights glinting on his bald pate. "Very well, Commander, be seated." When they had, he looked up, his silver-plated pen in hand. "Mr. Trewsdale?"
The Merinos watched blankly as their legal team stood, headed up by a blond thirty-something in a suit only slightly less expensive than Chandler's. "We are representing Colonel Michael Merino and Corporal Krysten Barter-Merino, husband and wife and the plaintiffs in this case, Your Honor."
MacAllister made a note on his page, then looked up again. "All right, let's get started." He banged his gavel on the pad with a sharp crack. "Court is now in session; Commander Stargazer, please call your first witness."
Aurora stood, steeling herself. "The UESC calls Corporal Krysten Barter-Merino to the stand, Your Honor."
"Very well. Corporal?"
Mike squeezed Krys' hand as she rose to her feet, marveling in how fragile she seemed, a little girl among the huge, forbidding furnishings. Her spotless dark blue uniform only served to underline her obvious youth, the stiff collar and the slim skirt too formal for someone her age. Krys retrieved her cap from the tabletop and tucked it under her arm, walking to the dark-skinned bailiff, who seemed to tower over her.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
Krys' chin dipped once. "I do."
The bailiff lowered the Bible from under Krys' hand and motioned to the lone chair to the left of MacAllister. "Please be seated, Corporal."
Krysten did so, settling herself into the stiff chair. She laid her cap on the bench in front of her, then crossed her legs primly, looking up at MacAllister to show him she was ready. MacAllister jotted something in the margin of his docket, then addressed the defense.
"Commander?"
Rising gracefully, Aurora nodded and came forward, her own gold-plated pen in one slender hand. She walked toward Krysten, both women's eyes meeting from halfway across the room. Aurora was stunned by how icy Krysten's blue eyes seemed, and she almost shivered involuntarily. This was not her best friend, this was a woman who had been robbed of what she wanted most in this world. Without hesitating, Aurora nodded toward Krysten. "Good morning, Corporal."
With a slight incline of her head, Krysten returned the greeting. "Commander."
"Corporal Merino, when did you enlist in the UESC?"
"In March of 1987, or in March of 2840, depending upon which dimension you're referring to."
Aurora shrugged slightly. "For all intents and purposes, these dates are one and the same, since they occurred simultaneously." She looked toward MacAllister. "I acknowledge that we are not here today to dispute the theories of the time-space continuum." At his nod, she continued, walking slowly across the courtroom and back. "Was this enlistment the result of a draft, or did you volunteer for this service?"
"I joined of my own volition." Krysten smiled inwardly. "No one forced me to join."
"Corporal, how old were you when you enlisted?"
"I was 16 years old," Krysten answered smoothly.
"Sixteen years old. Still a minor." Aurora went on, hating Barnes for putting her in this position. "Did your parents or legal guardians know of your decision?"
"No."
"No?" Aurora spread her arms apart, palms up. "Why not? They were your legal guardians at the time, weren't they?"
“Yes."
"So why didn't you tell them?"
Krys looked Aurora straight in the eye. "Because I didn't want them to worry."
Aurora nodded, in something Krysten assumed was supposed to represent sympathy. "I see. And do you think there was cause for them to worry?"
Trewsdale stood. "Objection, counsel is speculating on the relationship between the plaintiff and her parents."
MacAllister shot a hawk-sharp glance toward the blond lawyer. "We're not talking about their relationship, Mr. Trewsdale, we're discussing the Corporal's decision to enlist underage without her parent's permission. I don't know of a parent alive who wouldn't worry about that. Overruled."
"There might have been cause for them to worry, yes."
"And why do you think they might have worried, Corporal? Were there risks involved in this enlistment, especially for someone so young?"
"Yes, there were risks." Krysten's eyes grew even bluer and colder. "But there were risks for everyone who enlisted, not just me. And they were all older than I was."
"That they were." Aurora walked back to the table and picked up a piece of paper, then handed it to the bailiff. "Let the record show the introduction of Exhibit A, an official UESC roster list for HawkHaven Station, Limbo Galaxy, one month prior to Corporal Merino's enlistment. Everyone listed is over the age of 18, with the exception of one Jax Dynan, also known as the Copper Kidd, who was of legal age on his home planet." As the bailiff handed the paper to MacAllister, she continued. "And these risks, did you discuss them before you enlisted? Did someone delineate exactly what they were with you, in order to help you make an informed decision?"
"Yes."
"Who discussed them with you?"
Krysten raised her chin. "Commander Edward Jahaziel Stargazer."
Aurora sorted through a stack of folders on the table and selected one. She held it up, walking toward Krysten with measured steps. "Corporal Merino, this is your permanent personnel file, kept by Commander Stargazer at HawkHaven Station." Opening the folder, she removed a sheaf of papers bound together at the top, with pieces of carbon paper between each page. "Do you recognize this?"
Leaning forward, Krysten looked at the document Aurora brandished. "Yes, I recognize it."
"Would you tell the court what it is?"
As Aurora handed it to her, Krys pulled out a pair of glasses, the stylish wire frames giving her an air of maturity. "It's a contract for enlistment in the SilverHawk project."
"Is this your signature at the bottom, Corporal?" Aurora pointed it out with the tip of her gold pen.
"Yes." Krys removed the glasses and handed it back to Aurora. "That's my signature."
"Enter as Exhibit B, please, Your Honor," Aurora requested. He nodded, and she turned back to Krysten. "So, you signed this contract, Corporal, which reads, and I quote, 'By affixing this signature, Applicant understands and is aware of their status as a volunteer, and is undertaking this process at their own risk. Also by affixing this signature, Applicant makes known that they are fully aware of the risks involved, and have been duly informed of such risks by a capable UESC officer." Aurora paused meaningfully before continuing. "By signing, Applicant acknowledges the absence of holding the UESC, and all its agents, officers, and staff accountable for any damages that result from the experimental processes listed herein."
Putting the contract back into the folder, Aurora felt her chest tighten. Here was the killing blow, the one that would deny Krysten and Mike the chance for any satisfaction, any sense that justice had been served. She could almost feel Chandler's eyes boring into the back of her head, willing her to murder Krysten's spirit with one fell stroke. "Corporal Merino, by signing this contract, you did acknowledge that this was a voluntary process, with considerable risks--especially for a minor such as you were at the time of signing. By signing, you also agreed that the UESC would not be at fault if the process had certain unpleasant side effects, if they came about at the time of your modification, or after." She clasped her hands together to disguise the fact that they were shaking. "If that is so, Corporal, then why are we here today, if you agreed to such things?"
_Krys, don't let them get you!_ Aurora thought fiercely, dropping her shields for a rare moment and letting Krysten's abilities pick up the words. _Keep fighting!_
Controlling her surprised gasp just in time, Krysten looked at Aurora, who was suddenly no longer the enemy. Suddenly the memories of late night gossip sessions and refrigerator raids came back, of how stubbornly Aurora had cared for her after the miscarriage, how hers had been the loudest voice protesting Jonathan's actions. The pain of not being able to share their friendship for the past few months melted, and Krysten raised her head confidently.
"My husband and I are here today, Commander, to contest that agreement. True, I was not forced or coerced into it, but I don't believe even the UESC, or Commander Stargazer, had any idea of the scope of the damage this could cause."
Aurora was jubilant inside, knowing Krys' spirit was still alive. "And you believe you are a special case, Corporal?"
"Yes, I do." She looked at Mike, whose slight nod belied the resounding cry of YES! radiating from him.
"Well." Aurora walked around behind the defense table once more, seating herself very deliberately. "We shall see if you are or not." She glanced at MacAllister. "No further questions, Your Honor."
A week into the case with no headway for the plaintiffs had led Aurora home, to Montana, where her father's belongings from the station had finally found their home. Now, Aurora and Adryanna plowed through the cartons, hoping for something significant. Something that would turn the tide in their fight.
Adryanna folded the top of another box closed. "I hate to say it, Mom, but we aren't any closer to something incriminating than we were two days ago."
Aurora looked up from the box she was inspecting, sitting back on her heels. "I know. I was just so sure that Dad would have kept some kind of record of the incident, even if it was just for his own use..." She resumed poring over the contents of the box in front of her, and heard Adryanna shift another into place and open it.
"Hey. You were a cute baby, Mom. Or is this Aunt Amy?" Adryanna asked playfully.
Aurora took the picture Adry offered, then smiled. "It's me. Your aunt had blonde hair like my mother's." She studied it a minute, happy memories flitting through her mind. "I never knew he had this. He must have sent it back sometime after I was assigned." She smiled at the photo again.
The reverie was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. "Any luck down there?" Carolyn asked.
"No," Aurora called. "Nothing yet. Why?"
"Something just came special delivery for you," Carolyn replied. "From your father's lawyer."
Aurora looked at her daughter. "This could be it." Adryanna nodded silently. "We'll be up in just a second." They hurriedly closed the boxes and left the basement.
Upstairs, in the living room of the home she had grown up in, Aurora quickly ripped open the envelope and removed the contents; a data disk, and a single folded sheet of paper. She flipped the paper open, then looked up. "Would you two mind if I read this..."
Carolyn caught her meaning immediately. "Come on, granddaughter. We'll get some lunch on, and when your mother's ready, we'll eat." She wrapped a comforting arm around her recently discovered granddaughter's waist. Aurora nodded to reassure her child, then settled down on the sofa to read her father's missive.
"My dearest daughter,
If you are reading this, then the debacle between Corporal Barter and Lieutenant Greyer has torn my team apart. The statements I make on the accompanying video should be presented to whoever is hearing the case. When Skyedansuer first miscarried, I was deathly afraid the modification process was involved, but I wanted so badly for things to return to normal that I ignored it.
The disk also contains interviews with both the corporal and the lieutenant. Neither knew that it was recorded, but they were making official statements, so it should hold up in court. I don't care how you get yourself in the court room with it, just do it.
I thank God every day I have left that you were left unscathed by the process. Skye said my granddaughter is beautiful. Don't worry, though. I never mentioned you or my granddaughter on the tape. Don't beat yourself up over not bringing her. She wouldn't remember, and I know she looks like you. Just like you are the image of your mother. I can see her beautiful smile even from 100 light-years away.
Don't be afraid to present this. Whatever is said of me won't hurt me now. Have courage, my child, and faith. The combination will see you through everything.
Your loving father,
Edward Stargazer"
Tears ran slowly down her cheeks as she finished the letter, and she paused to swipe at them before dealing with the disk. Finally, she was able to feed it into the multi-media player, and turned on the TV. Her father appeared on the screen, and Aurora hit the fast-forward, hoping to discover exactly what was on the disk, and how it could help Krys. Her father talked on silently, gestures jerky, and charts would pop up every so often, presumably relating to what he was saying. Then the picture changed, and she could see both her father and Krysten talking, then her father and Jonathan, then all three. No one seemed happy at the end of the final meeting, but some agreement must have been reached, because both the Lieutenant and the Corporal stood, saluted, then left. The Commander spoke into the camera for a moment, then the screen was black, and the disk stopped. Aurora retrieved the disk from the player, returned it and the letter to the envelope, and went into the kitchen.
"We've got to go," she said without preamble.
Adryanna nodded and set down her lunch. She pecked Carolyn on the cheek. "I'll be seeing you, Nanna."
Carolyn frowned. "Aurora, you can't just drag the child off without lunch. You've been working almost straight through for two and a half days."
Aurora took a deep breath. "Mom," she began, then stopped. "We're going to argue about this, and it's going to take as long to do that as it would to eat something, right."
Carolyn smiled. "Wisdom has finally found you, I see."
Aurora laughed. "All right. You two finish getting lunch together, and I'll make the arrangements to get home. Satisfied?"
Her mother smiled. "Smarter every day." She turned to Adryanna. "Let's get those vegetables washed and cut, and we'll just throw everything into a salad, okay?"
Adryanna retrieved her food. "Aye, aye, Captain."
Aurora laughed and headed for a phone.
"I like Nanna," Adryanna said suddenly, breaking the silence that had hovered since they landed at the airport.
Aurora glanced at her daughter, carefully guiding her Testarossa around the curves leading to the mansion. "I'm glad. I know she likes you, too."
"What was it like, growing up with your mother and sister around?" Adryanna asked, no hint of malice in her voice.
"Mom wasn't around, really. She worked long hours to provide for Amyrya and I. She didn't want any of the money your father sent to go to anything mundane. She wanted us to have things from him that she didn't think were necessities. Expensive cars, fancy clothes, and trust funds for later in life. And I think she was lonely, too. She pretended to be divorced so we wouldn't ask questions, but she couldn't go out and meet people."
"And what about Amy?" Adryanna pressed.
"Amy was a poster child for families. She was smart, gentle, kind, everything you could ask for in a child. I had no idea at the time, but I think now that she did it hoping for Dad to come back. If she was a good enough girl, then he would come home and love her again."
"And you?"
"Me? Original rebel without a clue. Tell me to do something, and I did the opposite. Your father is probably the only person I ever listened to, and that was only because I was so desperately in love with him."
"Are you still?" Adryanna asked. "Desperately in love with him, I mean?"
"I will be desperately in love with him until the day I... hmm. I don't suppose it make sense to say until I die, does it? How about for the rest of my life? I'd walk off the edge of the world for him."
"Why did you leave?" Adryanna asked hesitantly.
Aurora took a deep breath, trying to organize her racing thoughts.
"I said some awful things to your grandfather when I met him, and came to realize that I was wrong much later. But I never apologized for the things I'd said. I'd looked him in the eye and told him he had no daughter, and I never asked forgiveness. Taking over the program was a way to ask for that forgiveness, and to forgive myself, too. And I needed that forgiveness. Things I do wrong tend to pollute my life, and until I do something about them, I can't move on."
"Is that what this case is for you? Something you have to get over and beyond?"
Aurora considered as she parked the car in front of the stairs to the huge double doors. She slid out and folded her arms on the top, resting her chin on them. "I'm responsible for this, in part. Jonathan was taking out his anger with me on Krysten, and I have always felt like I should have prevented it. So if I can get some justice for her, my conscience will be clear."
"But it wasn't your fault. Dad told me you didn't love Quicksilver," Adryanna protested.
"When I thought your father was dead, I spent two years as a different person, almost. Jonathan loved that person, and I couldn't stay that way. He thinks I betrayed him by changing back into myself, and he's never forgiven me." She was silent again, imposing more order on her roiling thoughts.
"The UESC and Jonathan robbed Michael and Krysten of their children, and I am also responsible. I would have just given them the money, if I'd known earlier. One hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, a million, it wouldn't matter to me. But it wouldn't be justice for them, or for me." She shut her door. "Let's get inside. There's still a lot to do tonight."
It was late when Krysten heard the knock on the front door, and she considered ignoring it. But the second, more insistent rap, drove her to abandon her book and answer it. Peeking out the hole in the door, she saw a dark figure, and noticed that the porch light had gone out again. She checked the chain, then opened the door a crack, hoping to avoid a reporter's camera.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Are you Skyedansuer?" asked a male voice, slightly accented.
No one had used her SilverHawks callsign in years. How far back were the news people digging? "I was," she hedged.
"My sister sent me. I have a message, as well as a legacy from her father for her friend, who is Skyedansuer. Is that you?"
Krysten wracked her brain. Who did she know with a brother whose father would leave her something? "Just a moment," she said, then shut the door and removed the chain. Whoever it was, she could sense no evil, or even selfish purpose from him. She opened the door again, wider this time, letting light from inside spill out over her visitor. "I'm Skyedansuer," she announced.
He was tall and wiry, wearing tight gray pants and a maroon leather jacket, with blond hair and pale blue eyes. His eyes stared into hers, and she could sense the recognition of her abilities. "So you are," he agreed, head tilted slightly to one side. As I was saying. From my sister. The truth will set you all free, or some such drivel. Use it as you see fit." He handed over an envelope, and Krysten studied it, seeing her callsign scripted on the front, but not in any hand she knew. She looked back up.
"Who-" She began to ask, but he was gone. Krysten raced out to the street, but there was no sign of him. No one walked the dark streets, and no car was visible anywhere on the road. Krysten took one last look around, then went back indoors.
There was a letter in the envelope, and a data disk. She unfolded the letter with shaking hands.
"Dear Skye,
If this letter gets around, them my career will be over. I leave it to you to do what you think best. Right now, my military career is the thing I am least proud of.
My father entrusted the contents of this disk to his lawyer with certain instructions, the details of which are relatively unimportant. What matters now is that this is your salvation, and the downfall of Jonathan and the UESC. I have a copy, which I will privately present to my superiors in the morning. I have a feeling that a settlement will be offered very soon after, but don't feel obliged to take their first offer. I think some needling is called for.
I hope you'll dance at my wedding this coming summer. I'm looking forward to it.
In hope,
Aurora"
Krysten slid the disk free on the envelope, and stared at her reflection in the silvered surface. "Michael," she called, heading into the living room, "call Joe. I think we have a smoking gun." She looked from the disk to the archaic, beautiful handwriting on the heavy cream vellum, trying to make sure they wouldn't just disappear. "What do you suppose--?"
Mike took the paper from her, sniffed it, felt of its fine craft, and shrugged. "I dunno." He grinned. "There some secret admirer I don't know about?"
She laughed. "If there is, then I don't know about him either." She went to the player and plugged in the disk, then found the remote and pointed it at the player. When the Commander's face came on, Krys put a hand out and guided herself shakily to the couch, her mouth in a silent O of surprise, the remote falling from her fingers.
"Mike..."
"What, sugar?" Mike began, turning from perusing the rest of the mail. "Something wrong....?" His words died in his throat as he, too, saw the Commander on the screen, and dropped the envelopes on the entry table.
"My God...." he murmured, sitting beside Krys, his arm around her shoulders. Then he stooped to pick up the remote, hitting the stop button. "Let's see this from the beginning." Once the disk had scanned back to the start, Michael turned up the volume and pushed play. The Commander's familiar brass-domed visage appeared on the screen, and Krysten uttered a single sob. Mike squeezed her shoulder in reassurance as the Commander began to speak.
"This is Edward Jahaziel Stargazer, Commander of the United Earth Space Corps SilverHawk Project, here at HawkHaven in Limbo Galaxy. This space station is over one hundred light-years away from Earth, so it is now the year two-thousand, eight hundred and forty-one, while on Earth it is nineteen-hundred and eighty-eight. This disk isn't long enough for me to explain the quantum physics that make that possible, so you'll just have to trust me on that one." The Merinos chuckled as he continued.
"When the team of UESC scientists--myself included--began work on this project more than twenty years ago, we were presented with the problem of sending a human over one hundred light years into space. Existing technology proved to us that a robot would be the best choice, but we needed a robot that could reason with a human's finesse, make decisions as well as follow orders." He smiled a little, obviously still proud of his accomplishment.
"The team that volunteered for this project are about as diverse as they come. They range in ages from eighteen to thirty, and are from every background imaginable; affluent, suburban, rural, and alien worlds. Each of these volunteers is extraordinary in his or her own way, and brings something different to the cache of abilities needed to maintain an effective law enforcement presence in this Galaxy." The Commander shrugged. "Of course, there are those who argue that we are androids--robots with human faces, programmable and nothing more." He leaned into the camera slightly to accentuate his next words. "That could be no farther from the truth."
"Our job runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, give or take a few, due to the fact that this Galaxy has no natural star. This station is a permanent duty enlistment, so we all must work and live together as a team, trying to get along as best we can. We're more than friends or co-workers; we're a family. And as everyone knows, families are bound to have their disputes. Ours is no exception."
The Commander cleared his throat before continuing. "As those who know of this situation have probably guessed, this videodisk is a record of one of those disputes, and how I feel we reached a resolution, at least on the level to where the team can work together for a while. I know that in the future, this will no doubt come to light again, a fact that I regret with all my heart. So, here we go."
He proceeded to pull up a picture of Skye, and Krysten steepled her fingers together over her nose. "OhmiGod, that's me," she murmured, the sound muffled by her hands.
"This is Corporal Krysten Marie Barter, callsign Skyedansuer, or Skye for short." He pulled up a picture of Jonathan, and Mike's gut tightened at the sight of Jon's icy blue eyes and stern military expression. "The other player in this short comedy of errors is one Lieutenant Jonathan 'Quick' Greyer, callsign Quicksilver. Skye was only seventeen at the time of this incident, the Lieutenant was twenty-eight. Both had excellent service records and have continued to be exemplary in their service after this incident was concluded. I couldn't ask for two more devoted teammates--but, as I said before, we are also a family, with our own problems to deal with."
The pictures faded, and the Commander continued to outline the events of Skye's thwarted relationship with the Lieutenant, and the backlash, both physical and emotional. When the interview section came on, Krys sat stunned for a moment. “He told me he was recording this session, but I forgot all about it.”
Mike kissed her temple, smoothing her hair back. “That was probably by design, sugar. Everything was so crazy back then, he figured it was a good time to get the stories straight, before they got all tangled up.” He sighed. “Dangit, I sure miss the old man.”
Sniffling, Krys nodded. “Me too, Cowboy. Me too.” She picked up the paper that had come with the disk, and she turned to Mike in surprise. “Jareth!”
“Who?” Mike took the paper from her, scratching his head in bewilderment. “I thought you said you didn't know who this secret admirer fella was.”
“No, silly!” Krys whacked him with a sofa pillow. “Jareth, you know. Belongs to Steven, Aurora's Steven. His brother, I think.” She took the paper back from him, reading it over again. “Yeah, now it makes sense. But I wonder how HE ended up with it?”
Mike took the paper back one more time, then creased it and put it back into the envelope. He ejected the disk and slipped it back into the cover, then put it with the letter and resealed the envelope. “I don't think that matters right now. What does matter is that we've got to get this to Mr. Trewsdale, and I mean right quick.” He nodded towards the door. “You get your purse, I'll go fire up the truck. They close at five, and we've got exactly twenty minutes.”
Aurora sat calmly at the back of the conference room as the video disk finished its playback and quietly reset. She smiled slightly to herself as the lights came back up.
“I think you’ll agree, General, that this information is damning to the defense in general. Everyone tarred with the same brush.” Aurora closed the folder in front of her. “I’ll be more than happy to take the settlement offer to Mr. Trewsdale.”
“It’s much too early to discuss settlement. The case has only been on trial for a week.” Barnes grumbled.
Aurora’s eyes narrowed. “We agreed, General, that if I found evidence of wrong-doing, we would offer a settlement.”
“What wrong-doing, Commander? So the decompression for the optional demodification is inconsistent with pregnancy? What difference does it make? I’m certain your father never intended to have pregnant personnel on a front-line station. If we keep this information to ourselves, I don’t see any problem.” Jonathan and his lawyer, Chandler, invited for the purpose of expediency, nodded.
“There’s no problem here, Aurora,” Jonathan put in, moving closer to her. “I know you feel some foolish loyalty to her, but there was nothing improper in the relationship. The evidence bears that out.” He put a reassuring hand on her arm.
Faster than the eye could follow, she shook his arm off and shoved him back. “Don’t you ever put a hand on me again. You have no right to touch me.” She stepped away, out of his reach. He would have to pursue her, in front of witnesses, to touch her again.
Jonathan’s temper flared. “Damn it, Aurora. There you go again. I have no right. I loved you, damn it! How can I have no right when I loved you? If you had stayed, none of this would have happened!”
Now her temper flared as well. “Don’t you dare cast your filth on me! You did all of this. You came to my room drunk in the dead of night, and I had to knock you out to get your damn hands off me. Why the hell wouldn’t I leave? Was I supposed to stay and be subject to more of that kind of crap? And so you did it to Krys! She was me in your mind. It was me you pictured when you were fucking her. God damn it to hell! I never wanted you, and neither did she. And you threatened to have her sent home, away from the person she did love, then said nothing when your child almost killed her. That’s the kind of love you offer. It warps and kills until there’s nothing left of the other person. I hope you rot in hell, you miserable bastard! I want nothing more to do with you.”
“Commander Stargazer!” General Barnes finally made himself heard. “I see it was a bad idea to assign you to the defense. If I’d known there was this much animosity in the situation, I would have sent you to Point Barrow to keep you away from this.”
“If that’s your choice now, sir, I will respectfully and without malice tender my resignation,” Aurora responded, walking over to the media player, “but this is my property, and I must do with it as I see fit.”
Jonathan and his lawyer had their heads together, murmuring frantically during the stand-off. Finally, Chandler stuck his head up. “We are willing to discuss settlement at this time, General.”
Barnes shot him a look, then returned his glare to Aurora. “You can’t walk out of here with that disc, Commander. I am declaring it classified information, and available only to personnel with appropriate security clearance. Now hand it over.”
Aurora’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll let you think about that, sir, while I remind you of something. This information was sent to me as a bequest of my father’s will. I am quite certain that he would not leave out copies for anyone who would be helped by this material.” She smiled ferally. “Even if you bury this, you’ll have to face it in court very soon, I think.” She waited as realization crossed his face. “Well, General? What is it going to be?”
Barnes sighed, then frowned. “I’ll begin making the arrangements for the settlement today. Perhaps you’ll be so good as to wait in my office, Mr. Chandler, Commander Greyer. We’ll need to get started right away.” They left the room, and Aurora smiled broadly.
“You think you’ve won, Commander?” Barnes snapped. “You’re father won’t come out of this well, you know.”
“It won’t matter, General. This is the truth, and it deserves the light of day. My father will be proud of that.” Aurora saluted, then returned to her office wrapped in a cloud of serenity.
Aurora sailed into court a few minutes late, but brimming with confidence. MacAllister, however, was displeased.
“Commander, I would assume punctuality to have been part of your training. Am I incorrect for some reason?” he growled.
“I’m very sorry, Your Honor. May I request a sidebar?” She set her attaché on the table and opened it, removing a file.
“Why not? It’s not like we’re in the middle of a case or anything.”
“I assure You Honor it will be a good use of the court’s time.” She approached the bench with four blue-backed briefs. She shared them out among the two attorneys and the judge. “The UECS is willing to offer a settlement jointly with Commander Greyer to the Merinos.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Trewsdale, flipping quickly through the brief.
“A standard ND. The amount is pretty significant, and while both parties accept the validity of the Merinos’ claim, they are also concerned about publicity,” Chandler put in.
Trewsdale looked at MacAllister. “I’ll need some time to review this with my clients.”
MacAllister nodded. “I have no problem with that.” He motioned them back from the bench. “Recess until after lunch.” The gavel banged down, and Aurora smiled as Joe Trewsdale hustled his clients out the door.
Trewsdale looked up from the brief’s front-page outline. “It’s pretty good,” he stated. “One million dollars, between damage and punitive awards, and all court-related fees. No problem for the UESC. They have to pay their people whether they work or not. I don’t know about Greyer’s situation.”
“He has money from his family,” Krys said softly. Trewsdale looked quizzically at her. “The commander wasn’t kidding in that video. We were living in each other’s laps up there. Everyone knew everyone else’s business. Aurora gave up a huge trust fund to join the SilverHawks, Jonathan has quite a nest egg in family money. There was just nothing to talk about but our work and ourselves. And the work was classified more often than not.”
“Well, however that may be, I think this is a good offer. It’s financially more than you asked for, which is odd enough, but if they sign this, there’s no appealing it. As soon as it’s entered, the money will be due to you. No ten-year wait for an appellate court to reduce it.” Trewsdale looked at them expectantly.
“What about this ND business?” Michael asked. “I don’t cotton to keepin’ everythin’ secret.”
“That point is non-negotiable, and, I’m afraid to say, standard. It also protects you, and your wife. Without it, Greyer could go to all the tabloids the day the case closes, screaming that she was the aggressor in the relationship, that she pursued him, then threatened to ruin him when he wouldn’t dance to her tune, and this is her revenge.”
A scene flashed in Krysten’s mind; huddled in a corner of the holo-room, alternately shouting and crying, accusing Jonathan, screaming exactly what Trewsdale was now rattling off so blithely. She had threatened him, and maybe they had pursued each other. Now, though, it was time for all of it to be over.
“Let’s take it,” she said, surprised because it sounded so loud in the quiet room.
Michael looked stunned. “What about the ND? Do you want to keep all of this a secret?”
“I want it to be over. I’ve given too many years and heartbreaks to a spur-of-the-moment decision I made while I was pissed-off. I’m not giving it another day of my life. What do we have to do to accept?”
“I’ll call the clerk and the judge will call everyone back,” Trewsdale said. “It will just take a few minutes after that to sign the papers, and we’ll be done.”
“I still don’t like this,” Jonathan muttered. He and Chandler were still in the courtroom, along with Aurora and the UESC defense team.
“Doesn’t matter what you like, Jon. You’re stuck with it, I’m glad to say,” Aurora commented, not looking up from her paperwork.
“You still don’t get it, do you? I would never have given Krysten a second glance if you had been on the station. You could have prevented everything,” he hissed.
Slowly, deliberately, Aurora set her pen down and turned to face him. “Do you really want to get into this very old and tired conversation here?” she asked icily.
“Why not?” he snapped back. “Surely you did nothing to be ashamed of, nothing you wouldn’t want to share with the whole world.”
Aurora glanced at Adryanna, who tilted her head a fraction of an inch. _Sure. Do it._ Then she fixed Jonathan with a riveting stare.
“Yes, I left HawkHaven. Yes, I left with a man I had known a whole 24 hours. Yes, I had sex with him in that same 24 hour period. Is everyone keeping up so far?” she asked scathingly, looking around. The others simply stared, astonished. “What any of these facts have to do with you personally, Jonathan, I haven’t the slightest idea. The only factor you played in my decision was your disgusting appearance in my room, a place you had no business, drunk, making a very poor excuse for a pass at me. And I had the audacity to call you on it when you made two people’s lives miserable as revenge on me. So no, I’m not ashamed of what I did. It was probably the best decision I ever made, and I made it without the permission of Lieutenant Jonathan Greyer. That’s what burns you the most, isn’t it? That I didn’t ask for so much as a by-your-leave to live my life. Because you are the most egotistical, vain, selfish man I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I only hope you will find some way to correct that before the right woman comes along, because if she has any brains, and to be the right one she must, she will run faster than I did.” Her temper having run its course, she returned to her paperwork, largely ignoring everyone but her daughter, with whom she occasionally had a soft exchange.
When her cell phone rang, she answered it absently. “Stargazer... Oh..? Well, I’m still in the room, so now is great... They’re still here, too. I’ll tell them... Thanks.” She closed the phone and set it back on the table. “They’re coming back in to discuss the deal,” she said without preamble.
“Probably want more money,” Jonathan grumbled, still stinging from Aurora’s diatribe.
“If they accept any deal, I’d be grateful if I were you,” Adryanna stated hotly, overriding her mother. “You took out your revenge on a poor, helpless girl. You should be drawn and quartered, but it’s gone out of fashion, I’m sad to say.”
“Adryanna!” Aurora was exasperated. “Manage your tongue or excuse yourself.”
“Sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to get carried away,” Adryanna said contritely.
Jonathan gaped at her in horror. “You!” he gasped. “You’re Aurora’s daughter! I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
Chandler looked over at them, annoyed. “Don’t be stupid, Greyer. Anyone with eyes can see that the Commander is no where near old enough to have a daughter the age of Miss Landon.”
“They’re virtually identical, you fool,” Jonathan insisted. “Look at them!”
Aurora gazed blandly at him, glad for once that military regs required her hair to be up. Adryanna had schooled her expression into a startling replica of Jareth’s, and the resemblance, at least to Aurora, was unearthly. However, Jareth bore no resemblance to her, and the arrogant, condescending expression immediately worked.
“Jonathan, you’re an idiot.” Chandler heard the doors at the back open. “Now sit down and shut up.”
As Michael, Krysten and Trewsdale seated themselves quietly, Adryanna turned to look at Jonathan, and once she had his full attention, she let the expression fall away, revealing her near mirror image resemblance to Aurora. She winked at him, slowly and deliberately, then looked away.
"All rise!" called the bailiff, and court was in session.
"So," MacAllister said when everyone was seated. "I understand the plaintiffs are ready to discuss the settlement offer?"
Trewsdale rose from his seat. "Yes, You Honor. On behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Merino, I accept the settlement proposal as it now stands."
MacAllister nodded a moment. "I see. Col. Merino, do you understand that in accepting this document you are limiting yourself to the provision contained therein?"
"Yes, Sir. I do," Michael replied.
"Very well. And you, Corporal? Do you thoroughly understand that you are limited to the details of this document? There's no changing your mind this time; no special cases."
"I understand, Your Honor. I am willing to accept the provisions of this document." Krysten's voice was full and firm.
"Very well, then. Since this offer was made by the defense, I will assume that it is acceptable to them. So, if everyone will please sign the documents, we will put this issue to rest." He picked up his pen and signed his copy with a flourish.
Aurora quickly put her name on the four copies as they came to her, trying not to look across the room. She could hear Michael and Krysten whispering in animated tones, already planning her surgery. She smiled softly to herself. It was worth the anger she had felt to be here now, seeing the past buried.
Once all the documents were signed, MacAllister collected them together. "Everyone will receive their copy once this is properly recorded. However, we are finished here." He banged the gavel firmly. "Court is adjourned."
Aurora waited quietly as the other filed out, some jubilant, others melancholy. Adryanna put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and Aurora patted it and nodded silently to her, then watched as she slipped out as well. Finally, she was alone, and she packed her attaché to leave.
"Why didn't you just give them the money and spare us all this, Mrs. Soon-to-be-Landon? Save everyone a lot of trouble?"
Aurora saw Jonathan leaning against the door frame, the double doors shut behind him. He'd loosened his tie and unbuttoned his jacket, and his hair was rumpled from running a nervous hand through it.
"They didn't ask me," she replied simply. She rested against the table, arms across her chest. "What do you want, Jonathan?"
"How can I love you so much when you hate me so much? What is it that makes me so abhorrent to you?" he asked plaintively.
She considered for a moment. "'Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds,'" she said finally. "What you fell in love with isn't what I am. I can't put it any plainer than that."
"So can we be friends? Believe it or not, that first year we were all on the station together was probably the happiest time in my life. I just want it back," he explained.
Aurora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the urge to put it all away, to live and let live, to forgive and forget pressing on her, and she pushed them down. "Not right now," she said at last. "Everyone still hurts too much from this, including me. Maybe in a few years, I'll feel differently, but now I'm too angry to be friends."
"I still love you, you know," he stated simply.
"I know. There's nothing I can do about it." She picked up her case and pushed quickly through the doors.
The hall was empty, and Aurora moved slowly to the doors, where she could see Krysten and Michael speaking animatedly with Mr. Trewsdale, and Adryanna standing off to the side. She walked through the doors and into the bright sunlight to stand near her daughter.
"Not bad, eh Mom?"
Aurora smiled at her only child. "Not too bad at all," she agreed. They hugged briefly, then Aurora watched as Adryanna trotted down the stairs and headed for the parking lot. Aurora started down after her at a more sedate pace.
"Hey, Rorie!"
Aurora turned on instinct, and saw Mike and Krys waving to her. She smiled broadly, and started back up to join her friends.
*THE END*
SilverHawks, Narnia characters, Labyrinth characters, Beauty and the Beast characters and Gargoyles characters are the properties of their respective owners, and are used without permission. These stories are not for sale, and no money is being made from them. Original stories are the property of Lady Moonhawke, as are any original characters. Krysten Barter (AKA Krysten Merino / Skyedansuer) is the property of Lady Razorsharp, and is used with permission.
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