Our World, Our War, Our Destiny!

The day was perfect, blue and cloudless, too perfect for a funeral but that is what's happening…my best friends funeral. There aren't too many of us attending, just family and friends allowed, but I can't bring myself to shed even one tear because he wouldn't have wanted anyone to cry for him.

"would anyone like to say a few words about the dearly departed?" said Pope Michael the First who was presiding over the funeral of James Jackman, ace pilot, base commander of sand island and hero of the Cosmodrome. I stand and slowly walk to the podium, and look down at my pre-made speech…and set it down. I look over the gathered crowd, take a deep breath and begin the single hardest thing I've had to do in the last month.

"thank you your holiness for that beautiful service. I'm sure I speak for us all when I say that no one could have done a better job." The pope nods and gestures for me to continue "friends…no, not friends" I say with a shake of my head and look up in thought "Family…yeah, that sounds better" I say with a nod and look out once more at the crowd, my eyes catching the eyes of James' direct family. "gathered family both by blood and in all but, we are gathered here for one simple reason. Not because a great man, a son" I see the tears in James' mom's eyes, begging to be let free but barely held back, his dad standing beside her with an almost unreadable expression on his face…almost. "A brother" I see Nicole, James' sister, and her husband Anthony not too far from her parents. "A hero to many but most important of all, he is- was my best friend and often we would joke about how our funeral's would go." I turn to the empty casket and slowly slide two hundred dollar bills inside with a bitter sweet smile on my face and turn back to the podium.

"this isn't how I wanted to win our bet" I chuckle bitterly, getting a small chuckle from the crowd as well. "but I remember something he said to me a few months back and now…it's all too clear. He said to me 'Logan, how do you see your funeral going?' and I replied with the general funeral, you know, the ones you see in movies. And he said to me 'that's not what I want'" I take a deep, steadying breath and look out to the crowd with my bitter tears finally making their way down my face. "I'm going to do what James would have wanted. I'm going to go to the nearest bar, I'm going to get thoroughly plastered and I'm going to tell every story I have in celebration that I got to meet the man who brought this great big family together instead of mourn the fact that he's not here because I know for a fact that if he was here then he would slap me on the back, toss a beer in my hand and say 'lighten up Logan, your way too serious'." After that I leave the stage, pass a note to Brennan and make a bee line right for my car.


After some final tinkering I take a few steps back and wait for any signs of life and after a few seconds I see the eye shields on the new proto-type robotic platform open. The robot sits up, looks around and finally looks at me "good to finally put a proper face to you uncle" the robot says as the metal plates acting like a mouth curve into a small smile "good to see you too Rasputin" I say while smiling at my best friend's pseudo son and my pseudo nephew. It's been three years since James died protecting the Cosmodrome and, by proxy, his son Rasputin. Now I don't mean son as in by birth he was just the one running constant maintenance on Rasputin and one day, when Rasputin gained sentience for the first time, he referred to James as father. "I just wish father could be here to see his ideas bear fruit…" Rasputin looks down with a solemn look on his face "hey" I pat him on the shoulder, forcing him to look at me "I know he is up there flying at ridiculous speeds and watching us all with pride" I smile as I speak.

Suddenly Rasputin looks at me with alarm and horror all over his face "MAN THE PERIMETER!" I hear in my face and over the loud speaker "HEAVY ENEMY FORCE INBOUND! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. REPEAT, NOT A DRILL!" I access the perimeter camera's and long range scanners and see tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers bearing down on us without warning. "how…how is this possible?" I turn to Rasputin "how did they get so close to us without us noticing?! We have outposts, long range scanners, SATELLITES for crying out loud!"

I start to pace as I rant, trying to figure this out. "Uncle please, you need to see to the defense with uncle Brennan" I look over to Rasputin as Brennan rushes in "Logan! What are we going to do?! They are right on our door step!" he yells and as he gets to me I slap him across the face and grab his collar "shut up and get a hold of yourself! You are a commander and these people look up to you!" it gets quiet for a while and Brennan's eyes focus a little more "thanks dude, I needed that. What needs doing?" I let go of him and look at Rasputin's old terminal "I'll coordinate the evac while you go out and organise a solid defense" I look at Rasputin "you need to hide. No matter what you need to keep yourself hidden and away from the enemy. Do whatever it takes to protect yourself." Rasputin looks at me and sees the look of pure resolve in my eyes "as you say uncle" he sighs "shall I continue on with our RnD while hidden?" he asks while preparing to leave his new physical platform "as much as you can…regardless of what happens today" I turn and head out to help Brennan with the defense. Rasputin stops me as I open the door "farewell…uncle Logan". I slowly exit the reinforced command room as I hear Rasputin's vacated body hit the floor.

As I leave the room I'm staggered by the amount of comms traffic hitting me like a solid wall. Among them is confirmation that the final civilian shuttle is leaving now "Logan, where are you?!" I hear from Brennan as I sprint for the main entrance "just left the command room, got confirmation of the last civilian shuttle leaving" I relay back to him "that's all good but they are launching missiles at us…FUCKING MISSILES!" that stops me for a second as I realize how badly they want to destroy the Cosmodrome if the Red Army is resorting to long range missiles "focus on the troops and I'll help the anti air" I make my way outside just in time to see Brennan get skewered by a missile and look up just in time to see at least a dozen more arcing down toward us. I close my eyes and send a message to Rasputin "stay secret…stay safe" as darkness takes over me.

… … … …

Eyes up Guardian!


AN: for the disclaimer see chapter one. veiled secret of remnant will continue in a few weeks time so keep your eyes peeled for further updates. Thanks for reading.