Chapter Two: Happy Reunion

Besides the drop-ship itself, the hangar was devoid of anyone besides the two landing men who had been called to bring the craft in. The domed, earthen, red walls stretched up from the deep crevasse until they ended in a large hole in the ceiling that revealed the bright orange, Martian sky. But Joel didn't notice any of this. Security had been a bitch as usual about his security clearance, and he was two minutes past the scheduled arrival time.

Joel ran quickly across the catwalk above the main landing pad, the deafening roar of the drop-ship filling the entire vastness of the landing bay. His jacket was swept up behind him and he felt intense warmth on his face as the huge rear turbo-engines on the huge, black craft beneath him rotated upwards to counterbalance the inertia of the forward stabilizers. The white hot fire flared again, and Joel heard the loud hissing as the landing pads on the craft deployed. He quickly hurried to the main servo-lift at the end of the catwalk, and punched the "Down" key. The lift lurched under his feet, and then descended smoothly to the main landing floor just inches from the hull of the craft, the landing lights flashing brightly in the semidarkness of the landing bay.

When the servo-lift reached the bottom with a jolt, Joel stepped off of it easily and approached the nearest landing director on duty, waving his orange guide lights at the cockpit in repetitive sweeping movements. He didn't even turn as Joel approached, and Joel wasn't even sure the man could hear him over the roar of the craft.

"Excuse me!" Joel shouted over the roar. The man turned his head, his large helmet and jet black visor gleaming in the flashing lights. The man waved him away with one of the guide lights, and pointed back at the craft. Joel stepped back and looked at the craft that was now no further than five yards from him. He ran his eyes up and down the boxy vessel as its engines slowly began to quiet.

The landing pads made contact with the metal floor, and the white hot glow of the ship's eight engines began to fade. Now that the noise level had become tolerable, Joel again tried to communicate with the landing man. "Is this a personnel transfer?" he shouted again.

The landing man put down his guide lights, satisfied that the craft was now safe in the hangar. He turned to Joel, and took out his own Personal Data Assistant. After consulting the electronic notepad, he looked up at Joel. "Yes sir! We have a Marine as well as four civilians on special permit to come here!"

Then the main hatch on the craft began to extend, but Joel didn't even wait for the debarkation ramp to fully deploy. He started towards the craft. The blue-green lighted ramp lowered to the metal grating at his feet, and he looked into the brightly lit interior of the craft.

He heard loud snap from inside the craft as the passenger bay door slid up. He flexed his fingers, expecting to see his wife and daughter any moment now. But they were not the first people he saw the exit the craft. From the nearest door he could see inside the craft, two men appeared. One was a short, portly man with a balding head and sunglasses. He was wearing an expensive looking Armani, and his dark goatee-moustache was neatly trimmed. He was escorted by a taller, younger man with a shaved head. He was wearing the standard Marine armor, but his was yellow and had the rank of captain emblazoned on the shoulder. He was carrying a large suitcase in his left hand. Neither of them took notice of Joel as they descended the ramp.

"Dr. Betrugger has gone too far this time." The portly man said, pointing at his escort. "I have the council's permission to conduct a full investigation of the operations here. I'm going to need full access to everything, including Delta Labs."

"Do you expect him to cooperate?" the shaved man said a gruff voice. "I'm thinking somebody should have given us the sanction to do this a long time ago."

"I hope so. But if not, we'll need to notify the council immediately." the portly man replied as he walked past Joel, adjusting his sunglasses on his face. "I don't want to keep coming out here and running damage control whenever something goes wrong…"

The shaved man chuckled. "Heh. Damage control. You're the control, and if that doesn't work…I'm the damage."

The two continued, unaware of anyone but themselves. Joel watched them as he took a step forward, and ran into the next man coming off of the shuttle. His head immediately snapped around and he found himself staring at someone's armored chest. He looked up until he was looking into the face of a Marine with short, dark hair and a large, set jaw. The two studied each for a second, but finally Joel looked away. "Sorry."

The Marine grunted and shifted his duffle bag up onto his shoulder, continuing after the first two men. Joel immediately put his attention back onto the inside of the craft. But there was no one else that he could see. He started to get nervous. But of course his fears were irrational. They had to be. They wouldn't have just—

"Mommy! My seatbelt is stuck!"

"Honey, sit still. It's not stuck. You just need to press down on this. See?"

The voices were unmistakable. Joel crept up the ramp, feeling happiness rise in his chest. He continued until he was inside the craft, a smile breaking on his face. He leaned over to fit inside the interior of the craft. He heard them talking near the back of the craft. "Did you get your things?"

"Yes, mommy."

"Everything? I don't want to get off this shuttle to hear you tell me that you left something important behind."

Joel paused outside of the door where he heard the voices come from. He then pressed the release button on the door, and it slid up silently. He looked around the corner and peered in.

He was staring at Emily's back, who was currently bent over the seat helping his currently invisible daughter with her seat. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans and rocking back and forth as she assisted her daughter. Joel slipped in, still unnoticed. Slowly, he snuck up behind his wife. He crept until he could look right down the back of her jeans before he wrapped an arm around her suddenly, and said, "What do you think you're doing here, miss?"

Megan squealed in excitement as Joel picked his wife right off the floor and swept her up into his arms. The surprised look was still frozen on her beautiful face as he kissed her, which elicited a whole new round of excited squeals from Megan. As soon as they broke, Emily said the first words he'd heard from her in person in along while: "You and I have a lot of catching up to do, buster."

"I agree." Joel said, pecking her again on the lips. God, he'd almost forgotten how she felt in his arms. Gently, he set her down, and looked over her shoulder at Megan, who was bouncing up and down in her seat uncontrollably. "Where's my favorite little girl, Meg?"

She squealed again, and jumped out of her seat. She slid between her mommy's legs and then wrapped herself around his legs. "Daddy!" she yelled exuberantly. "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" He reached down and picked her up. She released hold of his legs, and opted instead to wrap her arms around his neck as he held her close. "Daddy, I missed you!"

"Daddy missed you too, honey." he said softly into her ear. Her big, Then he held her out in front of him, appraising her. She giggles as he bounced her in his arms. "Well, it looks likes somebody's grown some…and gaining a little weight, I see. What are you trying to do, Meg? Get fat like mommy?" He looked at his wife, who was very much the contrary of that statement. She laughed too. "Now…" Joel said, bring his daughter back to his chest. "Let me help you with your things."

-

"Now I'm going to be straight with you, Dr. Betrugger." Elliot Swann said, placing his hands on the long conference table that separated him from the man. Campbell was standing behind him, hands placed behind his back. "I want to know what's going in this facility."

Betrugger, although old, was an intimidating figure. His skin was a pale, milky color to match the shade of his left eye. Some members of the council even called him "condor-eye" in whispers. As the man's wrinkled face stretched into a frown, he leaned forward. His small nose wrinkled as he stared in deep thought at Swann, undoubtedly thinking nasty thoughts about him.

But Swann expected no less. Personally, he wished he could get Betrugger removed from the council. The man was just too shady…too mysterious to be in the position that he was as commander of all Mars City. But Swann had to admit that Betrugger's work here had been invaluable. In the brief and often vague reports he sent back to Earth, he outlined what he called "Project Gateway". Higher echelons in UAC pored over this little material that was supposed to substantiate the council's curiosity for months at a time. But only recently had he revealed that it involved teleportation. But that's when complaints had started coming in from Mars City, and that's when the council had "advised" that Swann go and investigate. And so here he was, and somehow he felt no closer to reaching his goal.

"Progress is what's going on, Mr. Swann." Betrugger said easily, his face suddenly relaxing into a sly grin. "We've made great strides in overcoming the previous failures with gateway experimentation. I would like to say that, in a couple of months, we will be starting to learn how to put short-range teleportation grids to practical use—"

"Thank you, Doctor, that answer is sufficient." Swann said, taking out his PDA and making a note in it. "Now please tell me why all of these complaints have been lodged with the UAC board."

"Complaints?" Betrugger asked. "You mean the gripes of those pitiful, spineless idiots that constitute the vast majority of my staff?"

"Yes, I do." Swann said. "Now I'm going to right the most pressing matter we're facing back on Earth…" he flipped quickly through the files on his PDA. "Why are so many of your workers spooked, stressed, even going so far as to request transfers off of Mars?"

"Because they fear what they don't understand, Mr. Swann." Betrugger said, turning away.

"But three hundred requests?" Swann questioned, holding up his PDA. "Three hundred individual requests to work for the UAC in other lines of work are on file right now, Dr. Betrugger. Not to mention countless accident reports, seven of which were fatal. Under your management this operation has doubled its efficiency, I'll give you that, but the UAC refuses to keep covering up your mistakes. Now I want to know why those mistakes occurred."

"Perhaps if I had a larger, more competent staff and the money for safer equipment, perhaps even the fatal accidents could have been avoided." Betrugger countered.

"The council has given you more than enough resources to—"

"The council?" he cut in, looking back over his shoulder at Swann. His pale left eye glared at him menacingly in the harsh overhead lighting. He turned around, and put his hands on the table as well. "The council cares nothing for scientific progress! They don't believe in progress. All they want is some product," he snarled when he said that word, "some product that they can sell to make a profit. But don't worry…" he looked at his reflection in the table. "I'll give them their product. They'll get their product."

Swann's eyes narrowed as he studied the old man. "I have a letter from the council that gives me sanction to investigate every aspect of this operation…including the Delta Labs."

"And you have that right. Just stay out of my way, Swann, you and your flunky." Betrugger hissed. "And don't get lost."

Swann clenched his jaw. He watched as Betrugger turned and looked at a propaganda poster behind him on the wall that read: "Union Aerospace Corporation: Bringing Us All One Step Closer to Heaven on Earth."

"Amazing things will happen here soon." he said quietly, crossing his arms behind his back complacently. "You just wait and see…" And then he was quiet.

After a long moment, Swann turned and patted Campbell on the shoulder. "Let's go. We've got to get a sit-rep to the council immediately."

-

They were back at Marine HQ in the private divisions, standing in the long, long corridor that made up the homes of every single marine in Mars City, including Master Sergeant Kelly himself. The sloping metal walls were painted a soft green, and every door had an LCD panel on it that declared the name of its resident. The lights in the hallway were dimmed slightly so the natural, orangey glow of Mar's natural light could shine in through the overhead skylights. Megan was staring up in awe, totally transfixed by a dust storm that was occurring in the upper atmosphere in a chaotic swirl of silky dust and toxic gases. Joel noticed that Emily had to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention again as they continued towards his quarters.

Security had let them through pretty easily after Emily flashed her special permit forms to the men on duty. Joel noticed that the men had also sent stares that said they wished that she'd flashed them something else as well. Joel had known that these men hadn't seen any women in months, but he'd still been unable to keep himself from getting hot under that collar. Megan had even said "hi" to them, and they waved back awkwardly, sending Joel a confused look. After the way that they'd looked at his wife, he hadn't given them the satisfaction of an answer.

And then he'd lead them through the maze that was Mars city, through tunnels and lobbies and countless doors and even a couple of elevators to reach the marine bunkers. Surprisingly, Megan uttered not a single word about her feet hurting. She seemed too enthralled with the new environment to notice, whereas everyone else seemed enthralled with Joel and his family. Everyone they'd passed stared and some even stopping what they were doing to watch the highly unusual group walk by casually. But Joel hadn't minded the stares. He just felt like the luckiest guy in the galaxy.

He hefted the two suitcases on his shoulders again, and couldn't help but think that they'd packed pretty light for two weeks. He looked at his wife again, and she looked at him, and smiled. "We're going to have a great time." he said. "You'd be surprised at the amount of things you can do here."

"Can we really go out on a Jeep and see Mars, daddy? Can we, can we?" Megan begged, tugging on her mother's hand. "I wanna see a Martian! Like on the TV!"

"We will, honey." Joel said. "We have a whole two weeks here. Today, I think mommy and I are going to rest. We're getting very old, you know."

"No you're not!" she insisted, sending her mother an indignant look. "Are you old, mommy?"

"Older than you." Emily replied playfully. "And I do need my beauty sleep or get really ugly."

"It's true." Joel added.

"Like, you turn into an ugly monster?" Megan asked amazedly. "Wow! I wanna see!"

"I don't think so, sweetheart." Emily said. "You really wouldn't want to have nightmares, would you?"

"And here we are." Joel said, stopping at one of the many identical doors. He touched the LCD screen with his name on it, and it instantly vanished and was replaced with a password line. He looked at Emily. "Want to guess at it?"

Instead of answering, his wife simply pushed his hand away from the screen, and quickly typed something into the command line. She pressed "CONFIRM", and the door snapped as it unlocked and slid open. She looked at him satisfactorily. "You're too easy, Joel."

"Using my wife's name was too easy? I can request to have it changed if you want…" he replied.

"E-m-i-l-y!" Megan cheered. "I learned how to spell mommy's name! And I can spell my own, too! See? It's M-e-g-a-n!"

They stepped into Joel's room, and the first thing Emily said was: "Joel, without a woman around…" She shook her head. Joel shrugged, knowing that was undoubtedly going to be her reaction. His generously sized bed was made, but his standard-issue firearm was lying precariously on the edge of his nightstand next to his digital alarm clock, which was turned over on its side. The overhead compartments that served as his dressers were half open, and boxers, shirts, and even his security armor were hanging half out in space above his bed. Even though his quarters were large enough to stretch your arms all the way out and walk the eighteen steps it took to get to the other side, the floor space was cluttered with his toiletries, his laptop, and even a rubber ducky that one of his friends had won from one of the claw machines in the bar and lounge area. There were no lights anywhere in his room. There was only a large, hermetically sealed plate glass window that gave an excellent view of the Martian landscape and cast a soft light on the entire room.

"Welcome to my domain." Joel said evilly, making Megan giggle. He looked over his shoulder at her, and sent a mock evil stare at her. "This is the shape of things come when your mommy stops caring about daddy picking up his room!"

"You can keep dreaming, buster." Emily reprimanded him gently as she walked in and kicked all of the stuff on the floor aside and putting her hands on her hips. "This place is an absolute mess…well, at least you made your bed."

"They make us do that for inspection." Joel said. "And I usually just stuff everything into the overhead compartments where they never look."

"Bad boy." Emily said, wagging a finger at him as she reset his alarm clock and placed it right side up on the stand. Then she picked up the pistol and shook her head. "You knew where this has to go while Megan's here, Joel. Don't you?"

"Yeah." he said, feeling warmth rise to his neck. He really should have put it away to begin with. She pulled the safety back into place and released the clip, letting the ammo drop into her hand. "Wait," he said, "it has to stay loaded, in case of an emergency."

"If they don't check your compartments, then they won't check this." she said, reaching up and putting the gun into the overhead storage area. "You know I don't want Megan getting any ideas."

"Guns are bad, daddy." Megan said, wagging a disdaining finger at her father. "Mommy said so, and mommy's always right."

"Yes she is." Joel said. "You're absolutely right, sweetheart." He put up his hands in surrender. "I am now officially relinquishing all possessions in this room to you, dear."

"Good." Emily said. "You can start by—"

"Corporal Gail, front and CENTER!" a loud voice barked right behind Joel all of a sudden, making him jump. Emily's head also snapped around, and she flinched also. Megan screamed, and held onto her daddy's leg at the sudden surprise. "Turn around, Corporal! You know better than that! This is the corps!"

Joel complied with the command, and found himself staring into the face of a man at least seven years his senior with peroxide blonde hair that shaved almost to the point of invisibility. He had a tight complexion, and crossed his muscular arms across his olive green UAC marine armor. The man's jaw was tensed in a look of deep concentration as his beady, silver eyes pierced Joel. "Well?" the man interrogated. "What have you got to say for yourself, son?"

But Joel was no longer worried. His shoulders suddenly slumped in relaxation. It was Staff Sergeant Steve Nicholson Hammer. Then he suddenly relaxed, and started laughing. He put his arms out to hug the man. "You son of a—"

"No sir!" Sergeant Hammer interrupted in his thick, Texan accent. His serious look broke into a wide, friendly grin. He looked past Joel at Emily. "And you told me no cussin' while the family was here, son! Lord knows you swore to integrity when you joined the corps, now what's gotten into you? And I thought you were going to tell me when the folks got here so I could meet 'em!"

"Um, Joel…?" Emily asked.

Joel turned around. "Oh, I'm sorry, Emily!" he turned back to Steve. "Steve, this is my wife, Emily. Emily, this is my squad captain—"

"—and friend." Steve added.

"Yes, and friend, Steve Hammer." Joel said.

Steve walked right in, and stuck his hand out. "It's a real pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Joel here just wouldn't stop talkin' about you on the job. Every day, he's been talking this, and Lord knows he been excited. He keeps saying what a real sweetie you are. He didn't disappoint, ma'am."

Emily took his hand, and he shook it firmly. "Please to make your acquaintance, Mr. Ha—"

"Steve. Just Steve, ma'am. Lord knows that's what everyone calls me." he said, smiling disarmingly with his large, white smile. "Joel here has to call me Staff Sergeant on duty, but you're excused."

"Daddy…?" Megan asked cautiously, easing off of his lower leg slowly.

Steve turned around, and looked down. "Well, now. Who have we here, Joel?"

"This is my daughter, Megan." he looked down at her, and saw the uneasy look on her face. "It's okay, Megan. This is daddy's friend Mr. Steve."

"I'm sorry, ma'am." Steve said, turning and stooping down to her level. "Did I scare you coming in?" She put a tiny hand to her lower lip and nodded slowly. Steve chuckled easily. "Lord knows I'm sorry, ma'am. Didn't mean to that, no siree. Here. You want to shake?"

And she warily took a step forward and put her hand out. "Are you mad at daddy?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "No, ma'am. Your daddy's a fine man." He patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "He told me that he's gonna treat you to a good time here. That's not easy to do, I'll tell ya, but your daddy has his ways."

"Steve has kids of his own." Joel said to Emily, nodding.

"Oh, really?" Emily asked. Steve looked at her and nodded.

"Jake and Sally are the prides of my life." Steve said, looking at the floor for a second, his smile disappearing for a second. "The missus took off when they were real young, yep. Left a lot of trouble for me and them. That's why I'm here and not back at home with them. But Lord knows I miss 'em."

"Oh." Emily said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal now, ma'am. They're living with my mother back in Houston, and I keep in touch. But your daughter reminds me a lot of Sally." He turned back to Megan, and smiled. Then he looked at Joel for a long moment before slowly returning to his feet. "I'll be heading out now, Joel. Unlike you, I gotta work for the next two weeks. But I wish y'all a great time and it was nice to get to meet you." He shook Emily's hand again, and started to leave.

"Um, actually…" Joel said, holding up his hand. "Now that you've already met them, I'd like to ask you if—"

Emily gave Joel a puzzled look, as did Steve. "Yeah, man?" Steve asked, stopping, checking his watch.

Joel didn't exactly know how to say this, so he stooped down to Megan, who was still staring at Steve. "Megan, would you like to go with Mr. Steve and see some Martians while us old people take a nap?"

Emily's face kind of collapsed into a look of curiosity and confusion. Steve also looked at him, but he said, "I'd love to get to know your daughter."

"Joel—" Emily started, but she stopped herself.

Steve chuckled, and returned Megan's stare. Then he looked at Emily. "Um…" he scratched the back of his head. "I don't know what to say, ma'am."

Emily looked at Megan. "Sweetie? Do you want to go with Mr. Steve, or would you rather stay with mommy and daddy? Do you need a nap, or are you fine?"

Megan's stare made all three adults shift nervously. Joel thought for a second that maybe this had been a bad idea. Finally, she said, "Are we really going to see Martians?"

Steve then broke into another relaxing chuckle, and said, "I'll see what I can do…" then he looked at Emily, and said, "But only if it's okay with your mommy."

"Oh, um…yeah. It's—it's fine." Emily said, putting up her hands and smiling. "I don't want her getting lost, and it would probably be a good idea if she got a tour from the pro."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked. "You just met me, and you trust me with your daughter? Lord knows I'm flattered, ma'am, I truly am."

"You have kids of your own, Mr. Hammer. And my husband has always made good friends. It's fine with me." Emily said, finally managing an authentic smile.

Joel smiled too, and said, "She's yours, sir."

"Yay!" Megan shouted, clapping her hands and running towards the man she'd been afraid of minutes before. He smiled, and put his hand out.

"You have a good time with Mr. Steve." Joel said to his daughter. "And be careful. You pretend he's me and listen to everything he says. I don't want you getting hurt."

"She won't get hurt under my watch, Joel. I promise. I raised two kids out in the dust, and neither of 'em got anything worse than a sprained ankle…" he put out his large hand, and Megan clutched it. Steve chuckled once again, and led her out the door. On his way out, he said, "You have no idea how much this means to me, Joel." He shook his head. "No idea at all."

And then they were gone. Joel listened as Megan chattered excitedly to Steve before he closed the door and soundproofed the room. Then he turned to Emily, who was staring at him knowingly. The orange light coming through window silhouetted her figure. A thick silence set in. "You love Megan, honey, and you've already shipped her off?"

"I think we need to take a nap." Joel said innocuously. She sat down on the bed, and he approached slowly. He took his jacket off, and threw it on the floor.

"What have I said about that?" she said. "Bad boy." But at the same time she reached down and began pulling her own shirt off.

"Not enough, apparently." Joel said. "I guess I just don't learn."

"Well, come here and let's see if I can convince you to do something about that." she said.

And within the next few minutes even her clothes were all over the floor along with his, adding to the mess. But neither of them cared. In those endless minutes that followed, Joel had not a doubt in his mind that Heaven was a real place, and it was tangible. And at that moment, Heaven was directly beneath him. Her name was Emily Gail. And Joel soon found out another interesting fact.

Heaven was indeed capable of expressing how much she missed him without using any intelligible words other than, "Yes!"

-

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Steve knew that Joel and Emily weren't resting, but of course he did not interrupt Megan's constant flow of questions by burdening her with knowledge of same. He just held her little hand like he'd done with Sally when she had been this age, and happily satisfied her every curiosity. Even though he was now decked on in his armor, the cold metal walls looming over his head, and Texas many billions of miles away right now, he could almost feel the dry heat of the midday sun on his face again as he listened to her voice.

They were a sweet couple, Joel and Emily, and there daughter was no different. She was quite adventurous, leaning over and touching the pipes on the walls and imitating the clanking noises of the interior workings of the base that surrounded them. "What's this for, Mr. Steve?" she asked, reaching for yet another pipe in the wall.

"That's an air pipe." he replied. "It makes sure all of us can do this." He took in a deep breath, and then let it out. "See? Without it, we'd be in big trouble."

She nodded solemnly, retracting her hand. "Where are the Martians?"

"Oh, somewhere out in the Martian desert. I suppose they're eating their Martian lunch and telling Martian stories right now." Steve replied. "Now I've seen a Martian."

"Wow!" Megan exclaimed, covering her mouth. "Was it scary?"

He shook his head. "No ma'am! Not to Mr. Steve he wasn't! He had big green eyes, and a long, skinny neck! You know what he said to me, miss?"

"What?" she asked.

"He said, 'Hi.'." And then Steve stopped to smile as Megan stared in wonder.

"He just said hi?" she asked. "Didn't he try to eat you?"

"Nope." Steve replied. "The Martians here are friendly. But you have to be real quiet to get them to come, 'cause Lord knows they're real shy. But he did show me a trick." He stopped, and stooped down. "Now watch carefully, miss, and make sure I'm doing it right." Slowly he retrieved a quarter from his pocket, and slid it under his watchband. Megan stared at him, waiting for the surprise. He put his hand next to her ear. "I gotta whisper it in your ear, you know? Those Martians don't like me spreading their stories around, and—oh!" he exclaimed, flipping the quarter out from her ear. She turned her head and stared in awe. Then she looked at him, and squealed in delight.

"Wow, Mr. Steve!" she said gleefully, big grin on her face. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know." Steve said in genuine shock, shrugging. "It must be some of that Martian magic." He flipped the coin upwards, the metallic ping ringing in the silence. She snatched the shining object from the air as it came down. "You can keep it." he said, smiling. "When a quarter just appears like that, ma'am, you know it's got to be good luck.

"Yes sir!" she said, shoving the coin into her shorts' pocket.

"Now don't tell anyone." said Steve, putting a finger to his lips. "Lord knows it's a secret between you and I. Got it?" She nodded excitedly. "Good." And then he stood up and grabbed her hand again. They turned a corner into a junction, and came to an elevator.

"I wanna push the button!" she said, releasing his hand and running to the elevator. He laughed.

"We're going up now, to the game room. You like games, Megan?" he asked. When she nodded, he said, "Then press up."

But right as she put her finger on the button, the elevator pinged, and the doors opened. Steve looked at the two men inside, and said, "Oh Lord."

It was Ricks and McDonough, also dressed in their Marine armor and wielding the light machine guns that Delta security were told to carry at all times. But even thought the two were Delta Sec, they weren't anywhere near as professional acting. They'd been transferred from Steve's unit, and Steve had been glad to see them go. They never showed up to their post on time, never were respectful with anyone, and never paid attention. In fact, they walked right out of the elevator and didn't even notice Megan. But they did notice Steve.

"Texas!" Ricks called in his thick Boston accent, his unshaven face curling into a half smile, half snarl. "Where have you been all day? Usually you're the one climbing up people's asses to be punctual to places!"

"I was on my way to the lounge." Steve said, twitching at the fact that they'd sworn in the presence of a young lady already. But they'd only get rowdier if they noticed her, so he let it slide this time. "I have the other half of the day off. I spent all morning in Alpha."

"See, this dude gets days off." McDonough said. McDonough was one of the few African Americans on staff, but for some reason he thought that gave him special privileges. "We don't get nothing. We work in the high security areas, and we don't get no special privileges."

"You must earn the privileges. The fact that you both are still first class privates and you got transferred into Delta is a miracle in and of itself." Steve said as calmly as he could.

"It's better than working our asses off in your unit!" Ricks shot back. "We were the only guys in your unit who never got a day off!"

"Lords knows you never did any work, plain and simple." Steve said, looking over their shoulders at Megan, who was watching the two new men unsurely. "Now if you'll excuse me—"

"Well, why did Joel and Hendricks get days off?" Ricks cut him off. "All Joel ever did was stand around with a gun in his hands, and Hendricks just listened to Sergeant Kelly bitch at everyone all day!"

"They did what I asked them to." Steve said. "Now will you stop swearing? Show a little integrity for once in your lives!"

"Hey, hey." McDonough said. "Don't be tellin' us what to do. We got switched to Delta. You didn't. We get paid more. You get paid to go back to the Wild West in six months and play rodeo again, cowboy."

"I'll let you boys in on a secret." Steve said, keeping his rage suppressed within himself. He leaned over until he was right in their faces. "Only the most expendable soldiers get transferred to Delta. Keep that in mind while you're flashing your badges around."

Watching their expressions was amusing, because it was true. More Marines had suffered severe injury working Delta than in any other position in Mars City. But finally, they spoke. "Yes sir, Mr. Texas sir." Ricks said snidely. "We'll be careful. Come on, Mac."

And with that, the two men brushed past him and kept walking. Steve just kept staring straight ahead letting his anger boil down a little. No respect for anyone. Those jackasses were going to get their just desserts sooner or later. After they rounded the corner and their footsteps disappeared, Steven walked over to Megan. "Are you okay, ma'am?"

"Are they bad guys, Mr. Steve?" Megan asked. "You're a good guy, and they were being mean to you."

"They were acting bad right then, weren't they?" Steve said. "Yes, Lord knows that there are some mean people here, just like there's mean people everywhere. But they aren't going to have fun, are they?"

"Nope!" Megan smiled, giggling.

"That's right." Steve said, stepping into the utilitarian elevator with Megan. The doors slid shut, and Steve pressed the button on the wall that said: "MARS CITY: FL. 1". The elevator jerked, making Megan grip Steve's hand tighter, and then it began moving upwards. "We're gonna have fun, and they aren't."

-

"You want unpack now that we're…?" Joel asked her, his heart starting to return to its normal rate.

"Not right now…" Emily whispered, her breath returning. She nuzzled her head against his chest. "I really do want to take a nap."

"Alright." he said, kissing on her on the top of head. "I love you."

"Mm-hm." she said. Her naked body slid away from his as she rolled over, pulling the covers over her shoulders.

Joel placed his hands behind his head, and lied back against his pillow. He stared at the metal ceiling, and then looked out the window at the waning daylight. Days were shorter on Mars, and dusk was already setting in. "When Megan and Steve get back, you want to have dinner in the main hall with the rest of the guys, or go to the convenience bar and have something there?" No response. "Emily?" he asked again, looking over.

His response was her soft breath. He watched as her shoulder rose and fell gently in sync with her breathing, and he sighed. She was asleep already. She must have really been tired, especially after making love for the first time in forever. Come to think of it, he was pretty tired as well. So he put an arm around her shoulder, and closed his eyes as well. He thought about putting something on in case someone came to the door, but he'd do that later. If anyone came to the door, he'd just let them knock. He'd done enough work over the past few weeks, pulling double shifts and whatnot. It didn't help with all the Marines already on edge because of the latest accidents. But he didn't need to worry about that for a while now. He was technically on administrative leave, and nothing in Heaven or Hell was going to ruin this time he spent with his family.