" StellarRide Flight, A113 , has arrived and docked from Reach "
" All passengers for ColonyGondola Flight J117, all passengers for ColonyGondola Flight J117, boarding has begun "
Announcements boomed out from the loudspeakers mounted ( though well concealed, of course ) high and all around the vaulted, arched ceiling of Concourse A, of the expansive and showpiece of an orbital facility that was Nova Austin Station.
The entire complex was thriving and busting, brimming with at least a thousand individuals, (military members or not ), in any one of its waiting areas for the departure gates alone, let alone the full size Concourses themselves. Each of which, of course, was fully able to hold them; what with their abundance of lounges and overnight hostels, along with restaurants and cafes ( many of which offered variants of Cascades' Southwestern United Republic of North America cuisine ), shops and stores ( selling everything from actual paperback books to genuine leather shoes ), and even recreational facilities, such as bowling alleys and arcades.
Such expense put into an orbital was a rarity, overall when it came to orbitals.
It was fitting that it was so, however.
Nova Austin was the Orbital responsible for being the conduit between the Inner Colony world of Cascade, and the rest of the Human interstellar empire. As an inner colony, Cascade was home to a sizable civilian population, largely residing in the planet glittering, generously sized cities that were dotted and sprawled over its surface. Metropolises , that often sat in the shade of soaring, white-capped mountains ( which most of Cascade's denizens were more than comfortable visiting, but most sensibly preferred to live in the cities ), and could easily be seen from the horizon from any point on land, with how strongly their vast amounts of lights ( especially neon ) stood out in the dark.
There were few Inner Colonies that were a the same level of prosperity and development as Cascade; and that was saying something, considering that the Inner Colonies were, by default, known for their wealth and, and how fully they'd been settled and built up. They'd been that way for centuries, from the era of expansion-the Domus Diaspora, to be more technical- to the present day, but even among them, there were a handful that stood out from the rest.
Such as, Cascade.
The mountainous, desert world, though, had one particularity unique claim to fame, or at least a rare one:
It had escaped the wrath of the Covenant.
Out of the hundreds of colonies that Humanity had established over the centuries of the Domus Diaspora, dozens and dozens of them had been reduced to little more than crumbled ruins for cities and empty wastelands for countrysides, after months, or even years, of battle across their surfaces. Dozens more had simply been glassed; oceans worth of white hot plasma poured onto them, boiling and crisping them into nothing but glass and slag.
At least half of all settled Human worlds had met that fate.
The bulk of them had been the Outer Colonies, the ones furthest away from Earth, and the least settled, and the most scattered populations. Still, tens of millions of innocents had died when the Covenant juggernaut struck those planets, burning or ravaging them all with their usual pitiless obsession of removing the Human race from existence.
As unbearable tragic as that was, the Inner Worlds thought that, at the very least, they might be spared from the plasma.
They were wrong.
The aliens carved a bloody path straight to them. They bypassed dozens of them to envelop and scorch the fortress world of Reach, first, then fanned out and hunted for the rest of them. If the chaos of their assaults on the mostly rural worlds of the frontier had been catastrophic enough, though, then what they did to the Inner Worlds was even more so.
Cities, massive cities that were the size of multiple New Yorks, were transformed into miles and miles of slagged and collapsing ruins- graveyards to millions, each. Mountain ranges and savannas, dotted with resorts and summer villas, more closely resembled ground zeroes of nuclear blast zones, with nothing but yet more glass and slag, stretching out as far as one could see.
Cascade had escaped that.
Beneath Nova Austin right now, the city of Mindoro shone like one gargantuan diamond, its lights radiating out like spokes and lines, covering an area the size of Rhode Island. It was the capital of Cascade, and also its crown jewel, deservedly so.
It was still there, because the Covenant hadn't found Cascade.
So many cities around the Inner worlds weren't so fortunate. Reach, Jericho, Laika, Cincirius 4- all of them had been touched by the Covenant. And, what the Covenant touched, burned like a sheet of paper in a candle.
Nobody on Cascade-not the millions and millions of its denizens living their lives on the planet itself, or even the tens of thousands on Nova Austin, could or would forget that. They remembered the unbearable tension of wondering when it would be their turn. Wondering then the civic warning sirens would sound, signalling that the seemingly inexorable Xeno forces had arrived, that now was when they would have to flee. Everyone on Cascade lived with those memories, of having total annihilation lingering and waiting for them, just around the corner.
It'd come around that corner for many other Inner Worlds, but not them. They would live on, with the relief, and the sense that those other worlds should've gotten off as well. Nobody blamed themselves- if anything, they blamed the contemptible Covenant-, but they all somewhat deferential around someone from, say, Reach.
As if to say " We want you to heal. Come here, and we'll look after you ".
One of those " survival world " natives, had all these thoughts and memories crashing around in his head, all at once.
He was a UNSC Marine, a Major, dressed in military fatigues, of sand-shades digital patterns, with the Corps's insignia fixed to his chest pocket, and his Major's golden Leaf pinned in a place of undeniable pride, to his collar. He was a tall man, strongly built with well muscled shoulders, weathered palms on his hands, and with his dark hair shaved down to a 1.
His face was a curious cross, of relative youth ( despite his lofty rank, the UNSC promoted its members based on merit and need; during the battles against the Covenant, merit of those has become quite obvious as to who had it, and need has risen as well ), and the weather worn, experienced gaze of a ma who had traveled and seen so much. He had a measured gaze with how he looked at everything, as if sizing it- or who- up , and determining who they were and where they'd come from.
It wasn't staring, or examining. Just, a quick, but thoughtful, way of viewing the world.
He wasn't alone in this beehive, though.
Bounding alongside him, was a young, adolescent boy, dressed in black jeans, with a matching denim jacket. His hair, shaved low like that of the man's, was the same color, as was the dusting of a goatee that as just coming in. His features, too, bore a resemblance to the man.
Accompanying them were two women.
One of them was the man's age. A few inches shorter, she was athletic and striking, with long, brunette hair that hung down past her shoulders, and swished gently as she walked. Clad in a loose skirt that went to her shins, and a burgundy blouse, she held the man's hand as they walked along.
The second woman, wearing a turtleneck blouse and a longer dress, was the oldest person there. Her own hair, darker at one point than the others, was now streaked with grey, and lines had begun to crease themselves around her eyes. Yet, despite the obvious effects of age, she still had an aura of dignity and vigor about her, not falling at all behind as the little group went along.
She was Juliara Hadren, with her son, Adam, his wife, Anna, and their son, Alexander.
" You're doing it again ", she gently reminded her son.
Adam paused in his head movement, glancing over at her.
He caught on at once.
" Hmm ? Oh "
Blinking, Adam shook his head.
" Right, right. Ok. "
" You know ", Sarah reminded him, patting the spot between his shoulder blades soothingly.
" You know that is ok. We all do ".
Anna.
A professional teacher, Anna had an inherent, calming trait to her personality. It must've come from all her years of speaking to, and steering the lives of, rising acadmemic stars who looked up to her for inspiration and assistance. Anna knew when to press someone to get them to open up about problems and issues they had that they struggled with, but she could just as easily tell when to let them come to that on their own.
She was Adam's better half, beautiful as she was smart. The years of Adam serving the UNSC, away from her for over a year at a stretch, hadn't been easy for her, not by any measure. But, she'd stayed by him, keeping Alexander on the straight and narrow with commendable skill, until Adam returned.
And he always returned.
Alexander glanced up, previously engrossed in a novel, having mastered the dicey art of walking while reading, and not getting lost, or running into anything or anyone : " Jungle Heat: A history of the Rainforest Wars " .
" Doing what again ? ", he asked, mildly confused.
He was a perceptive one, this boy, his family had long come to realize. Unlike most his age, who were obsessed with things such as terrible soundtracks, dressing badly, and showing off for the girls, Alexander was different.
How many boys his age were studying history, after all ? Jungle Heat: A history of the Rainforest Wars was just one of several texts he had, covering conflicts and battles stretching back all the way to the days of the Alexander for which he was named. He devoured such books, especially the ones that were of actual paper and hardcover, such as the one he held now.
He'd learned a lot from them, and each one fueled his desire to read another. If that was any kind of signal of who he'd be, Adam was proud of him already.
It also, somehow though, had him easily able to notice little things in other's behavior. Ones like the one Juliara had just noticed.
One that Adam had taken great pains to hide over the years.
Pirth City.
The sea of beautiful white buildings, and soaring palm trees. Even where it was worn down, and shabby, it was still a welcoming and lovely city.
It was my home.
It was my world.
And, I watched it burn. It was all I could see:
Fires. Crumbling. I couldn't turn away, as it was all erased right in front of me.
It was so pretty, Pirth City.
Like here, Nova Austin- .
He blinked again, inhaling slightly, then breathed out.
He hadn't thought about those memories for so long.
You didn't forget something like that: when an alien enemy came to your homeworld, and burned it. You didn't forget, being in the teeth of genocide, by those who weren't fighting to defeat you, or conquer you, but erase you. There was no other word, or term, for that that had been. None, except for those:
Genocide, and erase. They'd generated searing memories.
All the worst ones stayed with you, always but they could, if you wanted them to, slide into the background for long whiles at a stretch.
Until they clawed their way back up. But, Adam would not allow them to, not now at least.
Putting on a smile, he turned to his son.
" My head was in the clouds ", he told him, by way of explanation. " Your grandmother thinks that's not a good thing. "
Clicking her tongue, Juliara shook her head.
" You both would do well to listen to me ", she advised, balancing between scolding them, and offering sound advice.
That's what she did best, and they all knew it. Juliara had been a component of their lives now for years upon years. She'd approved of Anna when she and Adam had first fallen for each other, and had matronly taken Anna into the family,accepting her as her son's love.
That alone was something Adam loved to death about her. But,there was something else. One of many:
She was still his mother, and she'd been at Pirth City that day as well.
From the moment she'd held him as their transport carried them away from Arcadia so, so long ago, up till today, Juliara had been a stabilizing pillar for Adam. She'd let him scream out when the rage of that day overtook him, during the years when they'd first established themselves on Cascade, after escaping from the leading edge of the Covenant's tide.
She'd not balked with utter shock when Adam had informed her he planned to enter the the military. Yes, it'd been hard to take in for her, but ultimately, she had supported Adam in his choice, with that remarkable inner strength Adam had not known she'd had. Perhaps, she understood that everyone was at mortal risk from the Covenant, and if that was so, then it was noble of Adam to have the bravery to stand up for everyone.
That he would be at heightened risk was something they both knew had torn her to pieces inside anyway. But, she'd let him do it.
She had somehow found it in her, to let him face the Covenant.
They would not run from them anymore.
Yet again, Adam found himself brimming with love for her.
You'll outlive us all, mother.
You're strong and wise enough to have a real shot at it.
" UNSC officers only beyond this point ! "
A duo of armored Colonial station security officers,called out the advisement, cradling M7 SMGs, stood flanking each other at the mouth of a arch that led into a long, high ceiling-ed conduit that led to what was obviously a separate concourse, one solely for ranking armed forces members.
A line of turntables was between them, and past them, scanners, searching booths, and the rest of the myriad of security protocols that even they had to go through on their ways in or out.
Including Adam.
At the head of his little band, Adam stopped, as they did.
They-them- had reached the end of the line, so to speak. They'd have to leave him now.
As they had so often before. Adam had left from New Austin during the latter quarters of the battles against the Covenant, sallying out with his unit, the 9th Expeditionary Force, whenever his rather short spans of leave were over. Every one of those, his Anna, Alexander, and mother had stayed at his side.
Right up until this moment.
Well, at least they'd done it before.
" We're at the crossroads, again " , Anna sighed.
" Wish I could keep going along it. "
As they'd come to call it, this particular place. A crossroads, both literal and metaphorical. There was the tiniest, most minute doubt that Adam's every departure was his last, but none of those he loved dared speak it.
He'd risked too much, and lost too much, for them to dishonor it that way. As much as it hurt, they wouldn't do that.
They were strong that way.
" Yes, but you know: All roads lead home, where you choose home is ", Adam reminded her.
With utter sincerity, he turned to her, and pulled her into an embrace+ a kiss to the mouth.
That alone, said as much as a speech. Anna understood everything about it. It was between them.
She hugged him back, let the moment linger, before Adam felt his mother's arms close on him as well.
" You're going to be all right; I believe it ", she professed, holding him. Looking up at him ( Adam had always been on the tall side, but he towered over her now ).
" Forge. He was right. You are that man. "
Adam smiled, with as much fondness for her, as stirred up emotion for the moment in history she had referenced.
" Your boy's fixing to be a good man one day. Keep doing what you're doing "
" I am here, to get you out , kid. "
A good man, another one, had said those words to him.
Adam hadn't stopped thinking of Forge. Not from that moment way back when,on the platform of blazing Pirth City as the Covenant erased it, till now. Not ever. He couldn't have, even if he had wanted to.
And that's the last thing he would've wanted.
He wouldn't insult the memory of the man who had both saved his life, and been a source of still-lingering inspiration for it, that way.
Rather, he would uphold it.
" Alexander ", Adam pivoted to find his son.
The boy was standing just off to the side of the women, book held low in both hands. He was looking at them, both with the expression of joy, and " I will miss you more than I can say ", all over his well cheekboned ( that was from the lovely Anna ) face.
He was fixing to be a good man.
" Alexander, come here ".
The boy did so.
" You have to let me come along one of these days ", he insisted, looking Adam in the eye. " The Covenant is gone. Its not as dangerous out there anymore ".
He was right, to a degree.
The Covenant. The tide of genocidal death that they were had been turned back. The UNSC, after decades of blood and sweat and tears, had emerged triumphant. They'd seized the opportunity of the Covenant's crippling schism, and carved them apart. They'd driven the last of the Home Fleet to the edges of the galaxy, and killed the last of the enemy's leadership in a battle that everyone knew would be talked about for generations.
The Covenant were no more.
But, their remnants were still out there. The Insurrectionists, who Adam had faced down as well, were all still out there. They were still a threat; if nowhere near as large as the actual Covenant, then still one the UNSC had to address.
And one they would, with men like Adam leading the charge.
Defending those they'd left behind. Someday, the Hadrens would be able to spend a real stretch of their life out there without anything looming over them. That much, they all held onto.
But, until then, Adam could still leave something of himself for Alexander.
" Not today, boy. Not yet ", Adam stated. " But, I have an idea. Its not what you want, but I think its close to it. And, I should've done this before: "
Reaching into one of his pockets, he felt the coolness of surface of the object that was there.
He felt the surge of emotions and memories that it stirred up, and ran with them.
They were a component of him now.
From that pocket, he pulled out that challenge coin.
" Is that- ? Is that a UNSC Challenge coin "! "
Alexander's green eyes widened with unfiltered surprise.
He had heard about these coins, chiefly from talking with some of his fellow youths who also had military dads. According to all accounts, these coins had more value to those in uniform who had received them, than actual currency.
That was because, they were symbols of trust, brotherhood, and unity. Or, rather, a manifestation of those things. A psychical, representation of them, and one that could be held, viewed, and guarded, because they were important in that way.
They mattered.
And now his father was offering one to him ?
" Yes, it is ", Adam confirmed.
He held it out.
Someday, he'd tell the full story, of the day Pirth City died. Someday, he would tell Alexander the pieces of that story he'd left out, after it'd been told to him before. For now, though another version would suffice.
That could still be enough.
" This coin ", he intoned " was given to me when I was your age. It belonged to a UNSC Sergeant, who saved my life from the Covenant. "
" His name was John Forge. He was a good man. A brave one, with a strong character. He stood for something that mattered. "
Reaching out, Adam took Alexander's wrist, turned his hand over, and pressed the coin into his palm.
As he did, he felt like some kind of- well, not a burden, not at all, but a weight, had been conveyed. It was hard, impossible even, to explain. Like something of value had been given to his son, that hadn't been spoken.
He closed the other hand's fingers around it.
" Hold onto this for me. I wouldn't let anyone other than someone like you do this: someone who's fixing to be a good man one day "
Alexander stared at the coin, eyebrows raised, mouth slightly open.
Off to the side, Juliara and Anna both beamed with pride.
After another moment of silence, Alexander managed:
" I- Yes. Of course, you can count on me. But, are you sure ? If its this important to you- "
Adam stopped him, by pulling him into a firm hug.
" I haven't been this sure about many things, but this is one of them. ", he assured, holding on.
" You'll keep it safe. Because I trust you, and you should be the one to have it. "
Pulling back, he looked at his son.
" And who knows ? I might let you keep it when I get back. As long as you look after your mother and grandmother. That's what good men do; they care for their famlies. Understand ? "
It was a moot question, as Adam knew. Juliara and Anna, overhearing, knew this.
Alexander knew it.
But, none of them minded.
Because they were Hadrens, and they were a unit, through and through.
Alexander smiled and nodded.
" Loud and clear. "
Smiling back, Adam clapped him on both shoulders, shaking them a bit.
Then, finally, he turned and faced the whole group.
His own. His family. Something note even the Covenant had been able to take.
They were his, and vice versa.
" Keep the lights on. I love you ", he told them, by way of goodbye.
" You can count on it ", they all responded , within seconds of each other.
And with that, Adam Hadren marched off.
To do what Forge had done: Stand up for the Human race.