Corr walked along the rebuilt streets of Tallum, catching many a glance from passing Vortians. Sneers, glares, a PAK'd Irken was still hated in their eyes for their past actions, even if they may not have known who Corr was at first glance. He stopped near the rebuilt citadel, the very place long ago that held the phasic barrier that defended what was left of the Federation's hold and so drove Grimm to such madness. There was a statue that served as a memorial to the defenders all those years ago: an armed civilian, a VDF soldier, and the distinctive suited soldier of Ohnmatu, all types who stayed to the end of the viable defense of Vort, and then some.
Corr looked down at a terminal connected to a hologram, he typed in the name of one of those he knew long ago. A display popped up of one of the soldiers of Ohnmatu, wielding a distinctive single shot rifle and a pair of holstered pistols, one of them being a single action revolver. It was him all right.
Ruk'Ahko
Dekanas (Conscript), Vortian Defense Force
Hero of the Vortian Federation
Unit: Joint Special Operations Group Ohnmatu
Drafted in the midst of the Invasion of Vort, Ruk'Ahko hailed from the extreme rural reaches of Vort, living off the grid. When called upon, he grabbed his weapons and valiantly fought the invaders of the Irken Empire. During his service he earned the distinction of earning the Federation's highest honor…
Before Corr could continue, a crowd of angry Vortians started gathering around him, growing larger by the second. He couldn't retreat, and there wasn't much of a way out. If this was a lynch mob, he would be done for. Though luck just happened to be on his side.
"See, I told you he had a PAK!" Called one, feeling vilified at his claims.
"Murderer!" Another cast.
"You aren't welcome here, bug-man!" A third sneered.
"Your Empire committed genocide on us!"
The crescendo of anger grew as more and more Vortians, men and women, young and old alike, began to join in the heckling and vitriol being cast at an old Irken man held up by the aid of his cane.
Across the street, a pair of older, highly decorated Vortians walked down the street: Jur'Orpos in his naval service uniform and Rub'Ahko in his VDF equivalent. The Master Chief stopped to look at the growing crowd and saw who was in the middle of it. He recognized him instantly, that was Corr.
"Ahko, look," he gestured over to the crowd surrounding the lone Irken, "I think we need to go lend our friend a hand."
Rub, his dress uniform adorned with countless awards he never sought in the first place, the rank of Tarxiarchos, a VDF Colonel, adorned his collar and shoulders. Even in the sunset decades of a long, hard life as a career military man, he was tough-as-always and unyielding. His posture, gait, and physique even as he hadn't set foot in the field in years still remained against the years' attempts to wither him. Scars, small and numerous, long-since healed were visible. Others more grievous were hidden beneath the uniform.
Alerted to the rise of tensions across the street on the plaza where the Tallum War Memorial resided, he quickly followed after Jur. The two men forced their way through the crowd unkindly despite their age, making it to the center of the closing circle before it ensnared the familiar Irken in its fullest.
Rub went as far to give the closest young man a hard enough shove to put him on his behind, his piercing emerald glare boring holes through him, daring him to rise and challenge him. He remained there, in awe at the sight of a decorated veteran of the same conflict that nearly claimed Tallum and their people in its earnestness. Two of them stood before them! In the flesh!
"Back off!" He bellowed, silencing them. "Your outrage over the past solves nothing now! Killing him is not justice, nor does it bring peace! Get a hold of yourselves!"
"All of you, back away! Now!" Jur looked to the crowd who now had their attention on the two, "We know him! He was one of those that helped us take the fight to the Empire! Not all of them who have a PAK that are still around are the same people who killed us senselessly ages ago!" The crowd started to part, leaving a way out for Corr. The Irken stepped forward, shaking Jur's hand when offered to him. "Commander, good to see you again."
"Likewise, Master Chief," Corr then turned to Rub, nodding to the man, "You as well, Colonel," the Irken then offered his hand to Rub, seeing someone intensely more familiar coming up from behind the two Vortians, and with a much bulkier PAK, causing the older Irken to smile. "Ah, my dear, you remember our two friends."
Between two clearly decorated heroes of the war that brought them back from the brink of extinction and their demands, most of the civilians dispersed. None dared to disrespect or challenge the men who shouldered burdens greater than them when even they lacked the strength to do so.
Old habits dying hard, Rub did not immediately move to join Jur until he was certain safety had been ascertained for Corr. Finally, he moved to join the two men that once stood opposite. He nodded, returning the handshake, the sun high overhead , casting shadow from the polished brim of his cap.
"...I knew you and your team vere brave, not stupid." He half-joked about the scene he caused. "...coming alone during a day of remembrance is bold, even for you."
"He isn't alone," Calla wistfully announced as she rounded the Vortian men, coming to Corr's side to take up his arm not grasping his cane. "Though he has been out of my sight for longer than usual as of late due to more "pressing" matters. Glad I arrived when I did just now."
Corr planted a kiss on her head, still smiling as his attention returned to Rub, "Well, you know us, very brave, perhaps a little insane." He chuckled, returning a jab at his own expense, "It just happened to line up that way. My duties teaching the Republic's future officers demand much of my time. I have some off from classes with the entire academy participating in a field training exercise. I should be grading papers instead, but I'd rather fall behind on that and come pay my respects to my fallen Vortian friends."
"Nice to see you're in decent shape for your age anyhow, Corr." Jur paused to take a glance at his cane, "That still getting to you?"
"At my age? Yes. I don't blame you for it, you were only doing your duty. Besides, this hasn't slowed me down too much. I'm old, not a walking corpse."
"You look like one," Rub insulted him as comrades would.
"Be nice." Calla lightly scolded him, glancing to Corr. "...I think he looks handsome for a walking corpse."
"You would be the only one," Colonel 'Ahko added, briefly smirking as he looked at Jur. "Maybe break the other one, even him out. Might fix it."
Corr couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, go dig up that old suit of yours so you can shatter my other leg. Add my arms to it too. I could use a vacation!"
Jur couldn't help but join in the laughter himself. "Used to be more serious. You finally pull that massive stick out of your ass?"
"I can still be extremely serious. Though, when it comes to that stick, there is someone who helped with it's removal." He nudged his head toward Calla and chuckled. "She's helped lighten me up."
"Yes, well...if I hadn't, you'd have went by cardiac arrest by now from stress alone," She mused a half-truth.
"Of course he did, he's slouching." Rub threw salt on the open wound, patting the old Irken's shoulder. "...is there a reason you came alone?"
Calla cleared her throat loudly, smirking.
"Okay, came vith her alone? Surely some of the others can make the trip or is it beneath them now?"
"The others are tied up. I've reached out to see if anyone could come on short notice. No luck. We haven't forgotten you, far from it." Corr paused, thinking back to what he said to Vard some time ago. "Actually, I might have a suggestion."
"Do tell," Jur responded.
"I spoke with Vard some time ago, the rest of us are planning a get together, enjoy some of the time we have left before we eventually croak. I think this time we should spice things up a bit, have our friends from Ohnmatu join us. What do you say?"
"Depends on vhen and vhere. Unlike the disgusting civilian puke you are, ve're still active duty." Rub ribbed him again.
"I wouldn't call piloting a desk and shuffling paperwork active duty." Calla came to her man's defense with a smirk. "You two can't fool me. You aren't young bucks anymore out there in the field. You tell people what to do now. I speak from experience."
"Says the freedom fighter turned Internal Affairs."
"Yes, I am very much aware of the irony." Calla huffed with a wistful smile. "...and it's Republic Internal Affairs. There is a difference."
Corr chuckled, "Who better to look for Imperial loyalists in the system than someone who spent her time in the resistance against the Empire's occupation of Devos?" He looked to Calla, "I hear Tak was considering rebranding it further, that the name Internal Affairs still carries too many...bad memories from the Empire still." He also looked back to the two Vortians, "I need to figure a time and place with Vard. I can contact you once I have that."
"I don't mind, if you don't mind that some of us might end up bringing our wives and the like." Jur shrugged, he seemed fine with the idea. It's been a long while since he's stood alongside his enemy turned ally. That needed to change.
"Or children." Rub added. "My sons don't believe half the stories I tell them about us. I vant to see their faces vhen you tell them even vilder ones."
"Not at all, especially if you consider that some within our team have that distinction if you remember." Corr chuckled, followed by Jur.
"Yes, yes I do. Vult and Hesa come to mind from way back when…" He paused, there was one such couple he knew of from then too. "You know...looking back…" the Master Chief turned to the fusion power plant in the distance, currently inactive, still undergoing an overhaul for a recent upgrade and inspection. "What happened with your team and Athka…"
Calla's disposition soured ever-so-slightly. Even if she lacked a body of flesh and blood to call her own at the time, it still wrought a great number of painful memories. Instinctively, her arm around Corr's tightened for consolement. Protection against the darkest of days and the demons that dwelled in their shadows for everyone that fateful day.
"Ma-Jur," Corr put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't shoulder the blame for it. We knew the risks. Most of you didn't know we were friendly. Even if your teams did… there were too many eyes from the outside on us."
"Still, seeing what happened to Haxx when you guys came back…"
Rub, remaining attentive to the conversation as they stood at one of several holographic emitters and connected terminals where the curious and lamenting could search the fallen now the guns were silent.
His twin sibling's projected from it, youthful, full of vigor, and filling out his armored suit well was uncanny at the resemblance between the two of them. Young and old, side-by-side. A window to the past...and the cruel hand fate dealt the 'Akho family once more before it was all over with. The withered marksman was not known for being expressive when it came to emotions. A very quiet, reserved man whose calm waters ran impossibly deep.
"A much-needed, albeit painful lesson to be learned." The Colonel summarized, turning back to Corr. "...the first time your people experienced loss unrestrained. The same as we had. The same as she once did a lifetime ago." He gestured to Calla.
"An inconvenient truth…" Calla sighed, somewhat somber with a forced smile as she looked at Corr. He was being quiet. Internalizing possibly. "...are you alright?"
He thought back to it, everything that transpired, Haxx falling apart in a mix of sadness and rage… himself only seeing the aftermath of it all. Their first real loss. Tuu had to go, granted, but that...that was someone who was never coming back. The older Irken's head shook to snap himself out of it and bring himself back to the present. "Yes. I'm fine. Sorry. I was just thinking back to what happened when we were deployed back here the last time. When we had to stop SIS from blowing that plant."
"None of us would be standing here today if you hadn't done what you did," Rub summarized, looking to Jur. "Athka included. A price I am certain even they would have agreed to had they known what was going on in the fullest."
Jur nodded, "I remember hearing from Tha and the others later on what SIS was really planning. I know it hurt, but losing 'Mharo in the grander scheme of things was worth it." He sighed, "Better we lost two than all of us from the resulting explosion...and that would've left the three of us in your ship with that robot."
"I know…" Corr closed his eyes, "I know...still, the first does sting the most."