A/N: Oh, will you look here, I finally updated this. Sorry if there are any weird errors, my cat kept rolling around on the keyboard when I was trying to write this. Any other writing errors are mine, but I'll blame her. XD
Two years later.
The four stars pinned to his formal uniform would take some getting used to. Often the men who wore them were twice his age and with better family names, but now Loan Van Buren was Admiral of the Fleet. Something he well deserved.
They suited him though, just like the other medals adorning his chest. It would not be long before he became accustomed to the insignia, Loan was certain of that. He could not say the same for his subordinates or his peers however.
Plastic smiles and strained pleasantries accompanied the congratulations heaped up on him, and Loan accepted them cordially. They could snarl and complain as much as they wanted behind his back but, he did not care. Loan had proven he was better than the opulent rabble that surrounded him. He alone had saved the Earth Federation from the brink of ruination, brought order to the galaxies, restored vital trade routes, and expanded Federation control into the wilderness that was the outer territories. Above all, he had rid the Federation of its greatest enemy, Captain Harlock.
He smiled as he meandered his way through the elite of the galaxy. Their greatest concerns now were cementing political alliances, performing financial takeovers of rival companies, marrying their children into other aristocratic families, and learning the latest gossip that was the lifeline to any social active.
Loan despised them all, almost as much as they did him. They gladly parted before him, giving him a wide berth as he walked through the crowded halls of his palace-like home. He was not born into this world of finery, but rather climbed the social ladder with each promotion. Men like him were often seen as outsiders trying to establish connections with the blue-blooded families that formed the core of the Earth Federation.
Loan however, was glad that he had earned everything; from his promotion, his wealth, and his notoriety on his own and not from some dynastic name. If they respected him Loan would be content.
"Ah! Here is our gracious host!"
Turning, Loan saw the thickset Odovacar Siegar, The Federation's Secretary of the Treasury, red-faced and drunk. Following him was his daughter Elora, a brunette beauty in a champagne colored evening gown. Loan raised a brow when his full attention focused on her right eye, nearly swollen shut and caked in makeup.
She noticed his stare but put on an indifferent front. She raised her chin and placed one hand on her slender hip, knowing that she was still one of the most beautiful women in the room.
"I tell you Van Buren people will be talking about this party years from now," Odovacar slurred and nearly stumbled, having to lean on the Admiral to keep himself upright.
Loan sneered and very nearly shoved him. The secretary teetered, his champagne sloshed onto Loan's coat and the marble floor as he regained his feet.
"If they remember it," Elora said with a smile as she placed a steadying hand on her father's shoulder.
"Thank you, Secretary Siegar," Loan stiffly replied as he swiped at the damp spots on his dress jacket.
In his drunken state, the man did not comprehend that Loan's clipped tone and jerking movements were a sign of his mounting irritation. He placed a hand on the Admiral's shoulder, gesturing wildly with his glass.
"You certainly spared no expense that's for sure," Odovacar continued. "You have put many of these people to shame, poor Madam Bourchardt is practically seething over there." He pointed to a woman standing in a crimson gown some feet away with scrunched brows and forced smile. "Her soiree last week is downright pitiful compared to this."
"But Madam Bouchardt's parties are always much more intimate," Elora said sweetly. "She never holds something of this scale, she has no reason to."
"Feh," the Secretary consented and took a sip of his drink. Loan himself narrowed his gaze at the young woman.
"It is grand though Admiral, only a man such as yourself would dare put on something this extravagant," she smiled. "After all, you have accomplished so much, I don't think that a single person in this room would have ever guessed that a common soldier would finally save us from those outlaws."
"Common soldiers understand war," Loan shot back. "Not like the bureaucratic high command who could not stop a single pirate from nearly toppling the Federation. They had no idea how to put an end to Harlock."
"Ah yes," she raised her eyebrows and tapped a finger against her full lips. "I think I do remember some talk of your methods, though I daresay they were quite brutal. But capturing the children of outlaws and wiping out entire cities is quite cruel don't you think? Only a monster is capable of such barbarity."
Loan's back stiffened and his jaw clenched as she laughed, a light tinkling sound meant to make it sound like she was joking.
He didn't find anything humorous. What he did to ensure the Federation's safety was not secret, and his reputation as a remorseless commander often served as fodder for the gossiping elite. Loan wanted to grab her and shake her, to scream in her face that because of him she could stand there in her finery and insult him. She didn't understand that they were merely pirates and wanted outlaws, that they had done worse than he ever could.
Loan felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, stopping him from acting out against her. A look of pure dread fell over Elora's face as a tall man dressed in black appeared beside Loan. The Admiral felt some of his anger slip away when he saw Adalric Vielle at his side.
Stern faced and aged by war, he was feared as much as Loan was hated. The fact he was once an assassin for the Federation and rumored to have killed his wife had much to do with his reputation.
"Miss Siegar, your father could use some water and a quiet place to sit for a while," Adalric said in a firm tone that was not to be disobeyed.
Elora nodded, her eyes wide and hands trembling as she took Odovacar by the arm and retreated into the crowd without another word.
"I suppose I should thank you," Loan said, shaking off Adalric's hand once the Secretary and his daughter were out of sight.
Adalric huffed and took a sip from the champagne glass he was holding. "You set yourself up for things like that," he said. "You shouldn't try so hard to impress them, they'll only resent you more."
"I don't care if they do," Loan replied with a sneer. "I'd rather like for them to wallow in their hatred and jealousy."
The older man looked unconvinced but said nothing more. Loan however, had already turned his attention elsewhere. He scanned the crowd around them for several seconds, only turning back to Adalric when he could not find what he sought.
"Where is Adalyn?" he asked.
"I don't know," the older man stated harshly. "But if I had to guess, I'd say she is outside."
Loan knew that Adalric didn't like him associating with his daughter, but he never actively tried to keep him away from her. He neither moved nor said anything when Loan walked away, heading towards the garden in the back of his house.
The corridors beyond the ballroom and front parlors were deserted, and he wasn't surprised to find the terrace in a likewise manner when he emerged into the cool night air. The sprawling garden lay before him, structured and manicured with marble fountains and stone walking paths. Beyond though, was a flowering woodland with miles of unpaved trails. She could be anywhere.
Loan started towards one of the wide stairways when he spotted her further down the terrace. Adalyn was sitting on one of the top stairs, a champagne flute in her hand and staring off into the distance. She looked beautiful too, dressed in a silvery blue gown with a lace top and tulle skirt, and her black hair pulled in a loose ponytail.
"Did you get tired of mingling already?" she asked him when he approached her.
Loan cracked a half smile and felt his heart begin to pound when she looked up at him. He could face down an army of pirates without fear, but in her presence, he always felt anxious.
"You could say that," he replied, shaking his head when she offered him the bottle of champagne next to her.
"I don't blame you," Adalyn said as she poured herself another glass. "But you have only yourself to blame, you are the one who decided to throw this huge party."
Loan huffed, knowing there was no way he could deny it. He placed his hands on the banister and peered out over the garden, but his eyes kept drifting back to Adalyn.
"Do you know anything about Elora Siegar's eye?" he suddenly asked, making Adalyn snort as she sipped her drink.
"She's got a mouth she doesn't know how to keep shut," she said, to which Loan wholeheartedly concurred. "Did you talk to her?"
"Briefly, she was with her father and… "
"And?"
Loan didn't immediately reply, he felt his jaw involuntarily clench and his fingers curl into fists. Adalyn looked back up at him and softly sighed when she saw his blatant frustration. Of course, he couldn't understand why no one could look past his common background, or his methodology when it came to warfare. It bothered him constantly, Adalyn knew.
"You don't have to say anything," she said.
"I don't understand why," Loan complained. "Why do they continue to belittle and insult me when I am the one who singlehandedly defeated the pirate menace that very nearly destroyed them?"
"Because they don't want you to think that you could ever rival them," Adalyn stated. "It's bad enough that your wealth and power outstrip many in the old aristocracy. I'd be careful if I were you, some of them may find ways to take it all away."
Loan didn't doubt it for a moment.
"I have an idea! Why don't you just resign your position, pack your bags, and just take off? With the amount of money you have you could just start somewhere new, or even vacation on every planet in the galaxy!"
"That's what you want to do," he replied with a straight face.
"And I obviously have better sense than you," she laughed as she stood up and began walking down the stairwell.
She left her shoes and the champagne bottle behind, which Loan picked up when he followed her. Adalyn started down the path that led towards the lower grounds, occasionally stopping to pull jasmine or honeysuckle from the flowerbeds.
"Where would you go If you could leave?" Loan asked out of genuine curiosity as he strolled behind her.
"Oh, I don't know," Adalyn said as she sipped her drink. "There's so many places out there, Anthos, Calderia, Tainai. Though I did try going there after you know who told me not to, but you know how that worked out. I'm now on the Fed's no travel list."
Loan didn't miss the indignant tone in her voice when bringing up past altercations with her father. Adalric may have overreacted when his only child ran off to spend a weekend on the tropical planet, but he made sure she couldn't disobey him again. Adalyn however, had never forgiven him.
"You've been plenty of places, where should I go?" she asked him when they approached a gleaming, cascading fountain surrounding by night blooming flowers.
"There's not many places I can recommend," Loan answered. He had been to countless planets in many star systems, yet his climb through the chain of command had left him little time to explore them. "I never had much free time to wander outside bases."
"Pity," Adalyn commented as she leapt onto the fountain rim and scattered the flowers she carried into the water.
"Although, nights on Antilles were beautiful," he said, catching her attention. "The Messier galaxy is close by, so the sky is filled with glowing, powdery stars."
"You know, for a stuck-up workaholic, you're a nice guy," Adalyn smiled as she skimmed her toes across the water.
He frowned. He wanted to be so much more than a nice guy to her.
"You're the only one who thinks so," Loan said, watching as she stared into the fountain, contemplating.
"That you're stuck-up? Everyone thinks that," she said, stepping into fountain.
"Can you be serious? Even for a moment?" Loan sighed.
"I am serious," Adalyn replied as she walked around in the shallow depth, kicking up water as she went. "The question is, can you not be? I bet you would feel much better if you loosened up and stopped caring about half the things that bother you."
"Like you? You don't ever seem to care about anything," Loan countered.
"Trust me, it's a much better alternative," Adalyn waded over to take the champagne from him and fill her glass again. "We're both stuck in a world that rejects us because you're a common man who accomplished what they could not, and I'm the child of a hitman who supposedly killed his aristocratic wife. They don't care about us, so why should we care about them and how they perceive us?"
Loan took the bottle when she handed it back to him. He understood where she was coming from, she had dealt with the sneers and rejection for far longer than he had.
"I don't think they dislike you because of your father Adalyn," Loan said as she raised a brow. "From what I hear, you've tormented every girl and teacher in every prep school you've been to. I also know that isn't the first time Elora has had an eye like that, thanks to you."
Adalyn laughed and offered no objection. She stepped back onto the fountain edge, her champagne glass dangling from her fingertips.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to your party? Someone may be wondering where you went," she said.
"They may," Loan replied. "I have no intention of going back for a while."
"They may think you're being rude," Adalyn said with a sly grin.
"I don't honestly care."
"See! Why can't you do that more often?" she exclaimed.
Loan softly sighed. She didn't realize that he didn't want to go back because he'd rather stay here with her. She turned with an exaggerated swirl of her skirts and looked up into the sky when a bright light exploded overhead.
"Are those fireworks?"
Loan looked up and knew immediately they were not. The sharp tang of ozone hit his nostrils when a sudden gust of wind nearly blew them over. Another light exploded, a great white burst that plummeted from the sky.
"Get down!" he shouted as he grabbed her arm and jerked her to the ground beneath him.
The earth lurched violently beneath them when it struck with a deafening boom. Water sloshed around them, and when the tremors finally ceased Loan looked over his shoulder to see the horizon lit with fire. Dread filled him when he realized the Federation Prime Base lay in that direction. There could be thousands of casualties.
"You okay?" Loan turned his attention to Adalyn who nodded in response. "Come on," he said pulling her up. "We've got to get out of here."
He needed to get Adalyn to safety, then to the base. Loan knew not all the ships docked there could have been destroyed. He would have to salvage what he could, see to damage control, then go after who did this.
Loan, so focused on what needed to be done, barely missed impaling himself on the saber pointed at him. His eyes widened, scarcely believing that the tall, scarred visage of Captain Harlock stood before him.
"Van Buren," he said. "You and I have unfinished business."
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed Loan's character here, it's much more consistent than in the last story and more in line with how I imagine him. Adalyn has changed a little too, but she's more like the Adalyn in my other stories. Also, her gown in this chapter is inspired by the Nightingale by Emily Riggs, it's so beautiful! But $5000 *dies a little inside*
Reviews are much appreciated, I love hearing what you guys think!