"Colonel Johnson do you know who I am?"
Bojay sat looking at the man opposite him, trying to get some kind of impression of the man.
"Yes I do. You are Lieutenant Jensen Nicks of the fleet security force."
"Good then we're on a level playing field. Do you know why you're here?"
Bojay scratched his aching head. The hangover he had been suffering from had gone into overdrive. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with this little man.
"No I have no idea." Bojay replied.
"Come on Colonel, you and your friends have caused havoc across this ship, Captain Jonas is one pissed off man."
"Yeah well Captain Jonas has issues." Bojay replied with a grin.
"Are you a funny man Colonel? Were you your squadrons joker before you made XO?"
"Can we just cut the crap and get to the point?"
"I want to know what happened last night? I want to know why there is a destroyed bar, a man in the infirmary with a toe missing, a botched robbery attempt and dozens of witnesses who say they can put you and your friends at every single event."
"What can I say, we were on a bachelor party, things must have gotten out of hand."
"And because you're the second highest ranking person in this fleet, it'll all get washed under the carpet."
"Listen to me I can't remember much of what happened last night, at all. I'm not sure how much help I can be? How much help any of us can be? However I demand Commander Garrett be called and brought here, immediately."
"You're in no position to demand Colonel, no position at all." Jensen replied.
"Then this is over Lieutenant, goodbye." Bojay stood up and walked over to the door.
"SIT DOWN!" Jensen yelled.
Bojay turned and laughed at Jensen who stood up and walked over to him. Bojay looked down at the much smaller man with devilish eyes and grinned at him.
"Make me." Bojay challenged.
"Colonel, the Commander is already on her way, I just wanted to talk to you before she got here to try and get some answers to some questions."
"Then you need to start being more civil. I'm not some criminal being questioned."
Jensen sighed to himself and finding his composure, asked "Would you please sit down Colonel."
Bojay sat back down and took a sip from his water, "Where do you want to begin?"
"The start." Jensen replied.
24 Hours ago
Wedge stood in front of the mirror in his new quarters aboard Orion. He didn't feel right wearing a suit, he never had. He was so used to wearing his dress uniform when he needed to look "smart". He turned as the door opened and his fiancée Carrie walked in with a smile.
"Well don't you look smart?!" she said walking over to him and giving him a kiss.
"I feel like a door to door sales man." he replied fidgeting with his tie.
"Well you look very handsome Captain."
Wedge smiled at the woman who in just under two days would be his wife.
"Honestly I'm just not sure about this bachelor party. I don't even need to have one."
"Yes you do," Carrie replied, "It's as much for the guys as it is for you, all of you deserve it. Plus Jawbreaker will keep his eye on you."
He rolled his eyes in irritated amusement."It's Jawbreaker I'm worried about."
"You're going to the Starburst and you'll have a great time. Then we meet up and get married followed by a week in the luxury quarters on the fleets leisure ship, sounds good to me."
"Are you still meeting up with Bria?"
"Yes I am, the President has scored us time at the luxury spa on Starburst, it'll be nice and relaxed."
"Well at least one of us will be." Wedge replied with a laugh.
As the two began to kiss there was a knock on the door. They turned to see Jawbreaker and Bojay standing there smiling.
"Awww look at them, isn't it so sweet?" Bojay said.
"My thoughts exactly Colonel." Jawbreaker replied with a snigger.
"Right you two chuckle heads I want a word." Carrie said.
"Yes ma'am." Bojay replied.
"I want you to have a great time. But if you get Anthony so paralytic he can't stand at our wedding, you won't be able to run fast enough to get away from me, do you understand?" Carrie said.
Both men saluted.
"And tell my brother and Skeeter that goes double for them." Carrie said.
"Yes Ma'am." Bojay replied.
"That being said have a lot of fun." Carrie said before throwing Wedge his bag, "Now get lost, I have plans too."
"See you tomorrow evening." Wedge replied kissing her.
Archangel and Skeeter stood by the raptor which sat ready to take them to the Starburst.
"I spoke to the President and he's made sure our suites will be ready." Skeeter said.
"I'm so looking forward to this," Archangel said, "I can't believe my sister is getting married though."
"I still can't believe you're letting one of your pilots marry her." Skeeter replied.
"She could do much worse than Wedge." Archangel replied.
"That is very true." Skeeter replied.
"Heads up, they're here." Archangel said.
As Wedge, Jawbreaker and Bojay walked onto the deck, all the pilots and deck gang alike started to cheer and clap. Wedge, never one for being the centre of attention, began to go bright red from embarrassment. He wanted to tell them to cut it out, but he knew that would only make them worse.
He looked back at them and gave them a rather awkward wave, before uttering to Archangel,"Can we get out of here."
"What's the rush?" Archangel replied with a chuckle.
Wedge opened the side hatch, it seemed as though it was taking hours to open. When finally it did, he darted inside followed by his friends. Bojay sat in the pilots chair and began to power up the craft.
"You ready to celebrate your last day as a single man?" Archangel said.
"You know we could just get some drinks and play some cards in one of our suites." Wedge replied.
"You're kidding right?" Bojay asked, "This is a time to celebrate something good, we have so few chances to do that. We are going to the Starburst and we are going to get fraking hammered before you get married."
"I have to admit in all the years I've known you this is the first time I've heard you complain about a drinking session." Jawbreaker replied.
"Let's just get going." Wedge knew why he was nervous, firstly getting married, but mainly he didn't want anything to happen that could frak things up for the big day and he was with a group of men who, yes were his friends, but also attracted all sorts of trouble.
As the raptor found it's way onto the flight pod the wireless crackled into life.
"LSO this is Orion raptor 43, this is Bojay requesting permission for take off for flight to the Starburst." Bojay said over the COM.
"Bojay this is the LSO, you are clear for take off, have a great time." Captain Vincent Tanner replied.
"Will do." Bojay said as he gently launched the raptor and flew out of Orion's port flightpod. As he corrected the small crafts course for the Starburst, they were joined by the CAP's vipers.
"Raptor 43 this is Orion Viper 70, we thought you may like an escort to the Starburst." Streaker said over the COM.
"Streaker this is Bojay good to see you out there," Bojay replied, "Wedge, the guys have come to see the condemned man off." the XO said with a smile, "Want to say hi?"
Wedge picked up the headset from the ECO station and put them on.
"Hey guys this is Wedge, thanks for coming to see me off."
"Wedge, Streaker, just have a great time, we'll see you when you get back."
"Thanks." Wedge replied.
Twenty minutes later Orion Raptor 43 had touched down.
"Here's where the fun begins." Archangel said as the back hatch opened.
"So Mr Kent what do you have to tell me?" Jensen Nicks asked.
"I need to pee." Skeeter replied.
Nicks eyeballed Skeeter.
"No seriously, that's what I have to tell you I really need to pee." Skeeter replied.
"Talk to me and I'll let you go." Nicks replied.
"What the frak do you want to know?"
"What I want to know Mr Kent, is how you were involved in all the events that happened yesterday?"
Skeeter let out a laugh, "I got drunk celebrating a friends upcoming marriage, one or two things got out of hand and we lost the groom, there, that's what happened, can I go piss now?"
"Answer me this Mr Kent, how does someone of your, background come to be the personal bodyguard of the President?"
Skeeter looked a little pissed off by this, "My background? What the frak does that mean? A grease monkey? Oh no I think I know what you mean, a Sagittaron?"
"I was meaning a grease monkey, no need to bring race into this. But then again I do know of your personal relationship with Major Hunter."
Skeeter eyeballed Jensen and suddenly the Fleet security officer realised he needed to back down.
"Mr Kent can you please take me through what happened when you and your friends arrived on the Starburst?"
22 Hours ago
Wedge stood alone in his suite. He looked at himself in the mirror, this was going to be a messy night he could feel it already. He reached into his bag and took out a bottle of painkillers and put them on the cabinet next to the bed. He had a feeling that he was going to need them in the morning. The silence ended by the door to the suite opening as Archangel, Bojay, Jawbreaker and Skeeter all poured in. Bojay carried two bottles of Ambrosia, Skeeter a crate of beer and Jawbreaker two bottles of whiskey.
"You ready to get this show on the road?" Skeeter said.
"Just give me one of those beers." Wedge replied with a smile.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Skeeter replied as he put the crate down on the small coffee table next to the sofa's in the room. He took out a bottle, twisted off the cap and handed it to Wedge who took a long sip.
"How the frak did you manage to get that amount of beer this cold."
"Friends in the right places my man." Skeeter replied, "Honestly the President had this arranged, his little gift."
"Remind me to thank him tomorrow." Wedge replied.
"So you ready to hear the plan of action?" Jawbreaker asked.
"Shoot." Wedge replied.
"We're going to start the night off in this little bar on the entertainment deck. It's a classy place and they've agreed to give us a private booth," Jawbreaker replied with a smile, "Then when we're suitably drunk we're heading off to one of the many strip clubs this place has to offer."
"A strip club?" Wedge replied.
"That's not what he said," Bojay replied with a huge smile, "He said MANY strip clubs. This is your last night of freedom and we're taking you out with a bang!"
"So there's no way I can persuade you guys to stay in here, get suitably shit faced and play some triad?"
"The more you say things like that the more lapdances you're going to have, so shut the frak up, sit back and enjoy the ride." Bojay replied.
"Here here!" they all said before clinking their bottles together.
An hour later the five friends were all well on their way to being drunk. They had left Wedge's luxury suite behind and had found themselves on the entertainment deck. They all stood on one of the balconies looking down on the crowds below. People walking around as though the world was still going on as normal, in expensive suits and gowns, treating it as though it were another Saturday night in the high end district of Caprica City.
"Anyone else feel a little dirty?" Skeeter said.
"I know what you mean. People struggling to survive, working their fingers to the bone and then there are these guys just carrying on as if nothing happened." Archangel said
"Guys with all due respect, right here, right now, who gives a frak? We're here to get drunk and celebrate your sister's marriage to this slack jaw." Bojay said.
"Hey!" Wedge explained.
"You've been called worse." Jawbreaker replied with a chuckle.
"I know, but hey!" Wedge replied.
Everyone else laughed.
"Come on, the bar is just down here." Bojay said.
The bar simply known as "Athena" wasn't the type of place they would usually be found in or probably even be allowed into. As soon as they walked in they all felt out of place. People who no doubt viewed themselves as "high class" turned to look at them, what started as an innocent looks to see who they were, quickly turned into a looks of disgust. A stunningly elegant woman wearing a black evening dress she couldn't have been older that her late twenties, walked over to them.
"Good evening gentlemen is there anything I can help you with?" she asked with a smile.
"Erm yes actually, I'm Colonel Johnson and we have a reservation for one of your private booths." Bojay said trying to sound confident.
"Of course the bachelor party. Which one of you is Captain Manning?"
"I am." Wedge replied with an awkward smile.
"Well I'm Eva and tonight while you're with us, if there is anything I can do to help you enjoy your evening please let me know. Now if you'd all follow me, I'll take you to your booth." Eva said.
They followed Eva through the busy bar, Bojay gave a sarcastic wave to a few people as they passed but was only glared at in response.
Eva stopped and signalled them to a booth, with two bottles of champagne on ice and glasses.
"If you gentlemen need anything at all please let me know." she said with a smile.
"Your number would be good." Bojay replied with his trademark cheeky smile.
"Have a pleasant evening Colonel." She replied smiling at him in a way that said, I hear that every night.
"So that's all you did at the Athena bar?" Jensen asked.
Skeeter nodded, "We drank, we talked, we had a laugh, we had a good time."
"And nothing else?"
"Well Bojay got the hot hostesses number."
"That's not the type of thing that I'm interested in." Jensen replied.
"It would have been if you'd seen her, she was hot!"
"Fine. That will be all Mr Kent."
"Can I go pee now?" Skeeter asked.
"Knock yourself out." Jensen replied pointing at the door.
As Skeeter ran for the door, Jensen sighed and rubbed his head. As he got up and left the room he was met by one of his team.
"Commander Garrett has just departed Orion, you haven't got long left to talk to them." the woman said.
"Thank you officer, I think I'll talk to the big one next." Jensen replied.
"He's in there." she replied pointing to the next room.
As Jensen walked in Jawbreaker looked nervous. Jensen sat down and looked at the giant pilot.
"I'm guessing you've lost something Captain?"
Jawbreaker nodded.
"Tell me what happened and I'll help you find those rings."
"Okay, I'll tell you anything at all that you need to know. I just need to find those rings." Jawbreaker replied very nervously.
"So Captain, if you can tell me why instead of rings in that box you have a toe that would be fantastic."
17 HOURS AGO
"You have got to be fraking kidding me?!" Wedge said.
"Gentlemen this is the Phantasos strip club and this is where we go next." Skeeter replied.
"Really?" Archangel replied, feeling this was some kind of joke before they went to the real club, "This is the classy strip club you've been raving about? It looks like we could catch an STD from the carpet!"
"Before I became the President's body guard and I was out and about in the fleet, I came here a few times." Skeeter said.
"We're here now guys we may as well have a drink or two." Bojay replied.
As they walked into the bar they saw all manner of people. People they knew from military vessels, men dressed as if they'd come from a business meeting and lots of others. They all sat huddled around tables, watching through lecherous eyes as the women danced to the music coming from the club's thumping amplifiers. The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, tobacco and other things no one wanted to think about.
"So all you did was drink?" Jensen asked.
"At first yeah all we did was drink." Jawbreaker replied, "That started to go sideways after I started talking to one of the dancers."
Jawbreaker stood at the bar with a glass of ambrosia in one hand and a cigar in the other, his vision slightly impaired by the sheer amount of alcohol he had been drinking. It all seemed to come back into focus when he turned and smiled at the young brunette standing next to him.
"Hey." he said.
She smiled back, "Hey."
"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.
She nodded her head, "Sure."
"BARKEEP!" Jawbreaker yelled banging his huge fist on the bar.
"I asked you to stop calling me that!" the young man replied.
"Sorry, I'll have a beer and I want you to get this lady anything she wants."
"I'll have a beer too." She replied, "No one has ever called me a lady before." she said turning to Jawbreaker, her cheeky smirk on her face.
"Well then people are blind." he replied, "So what's your name?"
"Cassie." she replied, "You?"
"Jawbreaker." he replied.
"Wow now that I did not see coming! Did your parents hate you or something?"
"Sorry, said that out of habit, that's my callsign, I'm a pilot from Orion, I'm Andy." he said holding out his increasingly uncoordinated hand for her to shake.
"So you're one of the guardians of the fleet?"
"I've never been called that before!" he laughed.
"Looks like it's a night of firsts for us both." Cassie replied.
"So Cassie may I ask what are you doing in a dive like this?"
She took a swig from her beer, "What can I say I'm a victim of circumstance. I was working here to save money for school, the Cylons attacked and now I'm stuck here. Trust me if I could get out I would."
"So what were you wanting to study?"
"You'll laugh." she replied.
"Come on tell me. I promise I won't laugh."
She paused for a moment before replying, "Astrophysics."
"Ah so you're a smart one?"
"Just something that I always enjoyed. I'd considered messaging the Columbia to see if they had any study openings, but I don't think they'd take a stripper very seriously."
Jawbreaker could hear sadness in her voice.
"I could talk to some people for you." Jawbreaker replied.
"Yeah I've heard that kind of offer before." Cassie said.
"Hey I'm not like that, my mother raised herself a gentleman."
"Even if you do say so yourself?"
"Even if I do," he replied with a smile, "Seriously, there's nothing worse than unfulfilled potential."
"So should I just quit my job here run away with you?" she joked.
"Why not?"
Sat in a booth across the room Bojay noticed Jawbreaker had been talking to the girl for a while.
"Hey looks like Andy's in luck." he slurred. Pointing over to the bar.
"It's about time." Skeeter replied.
Archangel looked at Wedge who looked like he was about to pass out next to him.
"Looks like Wedge has had enough." He chuckled.
Jawbreaker felt a hand tap him on the shoulder as he talked to Cassie. He turned around and saw a short balding man in his fifties dressed like some sort of Caprican pimp, flanked by two bouncers, who to anyone else would have looked big and intimidating, but compared to Jawbreaker they were tiny.
"What?" Jawbreaker asked.
"Time for you to leave." he replied.
Jawbreaker chuckled, "Do me a favour, piss off."
He turned back to Cassie.
"Cassie, why don't you tell this punk who I am?"
Cassie sighed, "This is the owner of this place, Harry Tanker and my boss."
"That's right, her boss. What's this I hear from the barman about you telling her to quit her job and go with you?"
"That's technically not what I said, Harry and like I said, piss off." Jawbreaker said.
"Boys teach this punk a lesson." Harry said.
The bouncer nearest to Jawbreaker took a swing and connected with the pilots face. He looked amazed and dumbfounded when Jawbreaker's face didn't move under the force of the punch.
Jawbreaker smiled and threw a punch back, dropping the bouncer to the ground. Before anyone else could react they were all distracted by Skeeter's war cry as he charged across the bar and dived on the back of the other bouncer.
"You want to take a swing?" Jawbreaker asked Harry.
Harry's eye caught a glimpse of the knife on the bar the barman used to cut the lemons and limes with. As he went for it Cassie had seen what he was planning and reached for it. They both knocked it at the same time and the knife fell off the bar. Everyone watched in what seemed like slow motion, as the knife tumbled downwards landing blade tip down onto Harry's foot, through his shoe and severing one of his toes.
He fell to the ground screaming and clutching his foot. With one bouncer out cold on the floor Skeeter was still on the other's back repeatedly punching him in the side.
"So that's what happened in the bar?" Jensen asked.
"Yeah that's what happened."
Jensen chuckled to himself.
"I take it Harry is a bit pissed off about the toe?"
"You could say that." As he finished speaking Jensen reached into his pocket and pulled out a small clear plastic bag with two wedding rings in the bottom, "Told you I'd help you find them."
Jawbreaker let out a large sigh of relief, "Where the hell were they?"
"No idea if you remember but you've puked your guts up quite a few times since we picked you all up. You'd swallowed them."
"Can I ask, have you any idea where Captain Manning is?"
"So Major Hunter, I want you to fill me in on what happened after the strip club?" Jensen asked.
Archangel didn't reply, he just looked at Jensen.
"Come on Major, talk to me. The rest of your friends have. What happened after the strip club? I have people saying you stopped a robbery."
Archangel still said nothing. Jensen looked at him for a few moments, trying to read something into the young man sitting opposite him.
"Do you think you're some kind of tough guy? Sitting here like this, as if this is some kind of wartime interrogation and you being quiet thinking you're a some kind of captured spy?" Jensen said.
Archangel still said nothing. Jensen was starting to get very frustrated.
"You're going to give me your name, rank and number next?"
Archangel smiled a little but still said nothing.
"Fine, frak you." He stood up walked to the door and left the room.
Archangel sighed to himself and rubbed his head. The hangover that raged in his skull was awful. He sighed again and rested his head on the table in front of him. His sister was going to kill him!
10 HOURS AGO
"Do you know what that is?" Archangel asked.
"Some ancient necklace or something." Skeeter slurred in response.
"That is the necklace that belonged to a Libron Princess over one thousand years ago. Before the attack these artefacts were put on here to show off to the rich and famous." Archangel replied.
"Wow it's an old necklace, so what?" Bojay asked.
"So what?" Archangel replied as he smiled and wobbled from one side to the other slightly, "I'm going to steal it for my sister as a wedding present."
"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed in unison.
"I'm going to steal it for my sister and give it to her as a wedding present." Archangel replied.
"You're way too drunk to pull something like that off without getting caught!" Skeeter said.
"I've done much harder in worse situations. You know I once took on twenty three guys at once, I was unarmed and I killed seventeen of them?" Archangel replied with a grin on his face, "I probably actually definitely shouldn't have told you guys that."
"Okay so tell us your plan?" Jawbreaker replied taking a swig out of a champagne bottle.
"You guys are going to cause a distraction. Skeeter you're going to go up to those people over there," he said pointing at them, "And you're going to run interference. Bojay you're going to talk to that curator who is looking at us like we just slapped her grandmother and turn on that idiot charm you have."
"Hey!" Bojay exclaimed.
"Jawbreaker you are going to take that ridiculously massive frame you have and stand in front of that camera over there so it can't see the room. Wedge," Archangel looked around and was the first to notice that Wedge wasn't with them, "Erm guys, where's Wedge?"
They all looked around.
"Oh frak where the hell is he?" Archangel said.
"How long hasn't he been with us?" Bojay slurred.
They all thought in silence for a few moments, racking their brains to think when they last saw him.
"My sister is going to skin me alive." Archangel said.
"Erm Archangel, before we go look for Wedge, I hate to rain on your parade and all but erm, look over there?" Jawbreaker said pointing to someone covered in body armour and a mask walk into the room with a hand gun and fire into the air.
Everyone in the room, including Bojay screamed and ducked for cover.
"Everyone get face down onto the ground or I'll kill you all." a distorted unrecognisable voice said.
Archangel stayed on his feet but swayed from side to side slightly. The figure stopped and looked at him.
"Are you going to be a hero?" the voice asked as the person began to walk over, "Well are you... Archangel?"
This took Archangel by surprise and he didn't get out of the way in time before receiving a kick to the side of the head. He crashed to the ground. He looked up as he gained some of his composure back to see the person pointing their gun down at him.
"I've been waiting a very long time for this." Whoever the person was pulled the hammer back on the gun. Everyone startled as another gun shot went off. One of the security guards had used the distraction to unholster his weapon. The masked gun-person turned quickly and got off a round which hit the guard in the leg, making him to fall to the ground. As the person turned back to Archangel he was already back to his feet and tackled the thief to the ground. As Archangel reached for the gun which had been dropped to the ground, the masked person kicked Archangel hard to the face before swatting the gun out of the way and getting to their feet.
"This is not over Major. I shall look forward to seeing you for a third time, soon."
"Holy frak are you okay?" Bojay asked.
Archangel looked over at his friends, "You scream like a little girl." he said with a laugh.
"Erm guys has anyone seen Wedge?" Jawbreaker asked.
Jensen let out a sigh as he left the room. He looked up as one of his other officers came scampering towards him.
"LT." he said looking very nervous.
"What?" Jensen replied.
"She's here."
"Whose here?"
"Commander Garrett and she looks really REALLY pissed off."
As the officer scampered out of sight Commander Garrett and two marines appeared in the corridor in front of him.
"Commander my name is Lieutenant Nicks. Thank you for coming over so quickly." Jensen said.
"Are you charging my men with anything?" She asked, straight to the point.
"Erm no ma'am I'm not. I just needed to get to the bottom of some issues that have happened since they arrived here."
"And did you?" she asked.
"One or two."
"I'd like my men out here now please."
"Of course I'll get them for you."
As all four men came out of the rooms and stood in front of her, they reminded her of naughty schoolboys about to be told off by the head of the school.
"What the frak have you guys been playing at?" Vanessa asked.
"In our defence, of all the bachelor parties I've ever been too, this was probably the most subdued." Bojay replied.
"Oh that makes me feel much better," Garrett replied sarcastically, "You guys are lucky, starting a massive bar fight, cutting off someone's toe. Mike Campbell on the Columbia is freaking out because you threatened him into taking on someone new last night," she said pointing at Jawbreaker, "If it wasn't for the fact that you foiled a robbery I'd kick each of your asses."
"We're really really sorry Commander. For what it's worth, those guys in the bar really did start it all." Skeeter replied.
Garrett turned and looked at him with a look in her eyes that made Skeeter shut up immediately and look at the floor.
"And where the frak is Wedge?"
"We may have lost him at some point last night!" Jawbreaker replied.
"For frak's sake. And do you have anything to say for yourself?" she said looking at Archangel.
"Do you have any painkillers?" Archangel replied quietly.
As the world began to come into vision Wedge realised he had no idea where the hell he was. He shot up and rubbed his eyes before taking a look around. He saw Brother Ramok standing in front of him with a glass of water and some painkillers in his hand.
"Good morning Captain, I trust you had a good night?" he said with a smile.
"I can't remember." Wedge replied.
Ramok handed him the glass and the pills.
"Thank you." Wedge said.
Brother Ramok's prayer sanctuary was a more than pleasant place to wake up.
"How did I get here?" Wedge asked.
"I found you passed out on the ground outside last night. There was no sign of anyone else so I brought you in here." Ramok replied.
"Oh gods what time is it?" Wedge panicked.
"Relax Captain, you have a couple of hours before you are to be married. Enough time to have something to eat and freshen yourself up... a lot. I took the liberty of going to your quarters and bringing some of your things here." he said pointing over to where Wedge's dress uniform hung from a hanger.
"Carrie, have you spoken to Carrie?"
"No I have not. I thought it would be best for everyone involved if she didn't know about the kind of state you were in last night. That can stay between us." he said with a chuckle.
"Thank you. Have you seen the guys? I have no idea where they ended up." Wedge said.
"I shall make some enquires for you. Just start getting yourself ready." Ramok replied.
As Archangel chugged a bottle of water to wash down some painkillers in his suite, Vanessa and Bojay walked in.
"There's no sign of him." Vanessa said.
"Frak, she's going to kill us all." Archangel replied.
"Commander," a marine said walking in, "There's a call routed through the bridge for Major Hunter."
"I'll take it, I'll try to tidy up whatever mess is about to land on us." She said picking up the phone on the side.
"This is Commander Garrett."
"Ah Commander, this is Brother Ramok, I think I've found someone that may have gotten a little lost." he replied.
"I think I can guess what that may be." Vanessa replied.
"Yes Commander, Captain Manning is here with me in my prayer sanctuary, he is getting ready for the upcoming nuptials."
"Thank you so much, we'll see you shortly."
"I'll look forward to it." Ramok replied.
As she put the phone down she turned to Archangel and Bojay who looked like they were about to explode, waiting to hear what she had to say.
"Well?" they both said together.
"That was Brother Ramok. Wedge is with him." Vanessa said.
Relief was apparent on both their faces.
"Thank gods." Archangel explained.
"Now freshen up, the last thing your sister wants is you two stinking of booze and sweat."
As Archangel and the others reached Ramok's prayer sanctuary, other people had already started to arrive. They saw Wedge standing at the front of the room.
"You gave us one hell of a fright." Jawbreaker said.
"Sorry guys, to be honest I have no idea how I got here or when I even left you guys." Wedge replied.
"Gentlemen I do not mean to interrupt, but Carrie and the others have arrived." Brother Ramok said.
"I'll see you guys in a minute." Archangel said as he left the others to go and see his sister. As he walked into another room he saw her standing talking to the President and some others.
"Wow you look amazing." Archangel said.
Carrie smiled at her brother, "Thank you. You got him here in one piece then?"
"We most certainly did." Archangel replied.
"Thank you." she replied giving him a hug.
"Well I am going to take my seat," Milo said before giving Carrie a hug and shaking Archangel's hand, "I'll see you both shortly."
"You know I just wanted to say thank you for letting me give you away. With all the crap that we go through all the time, fighting for our lives, with everyone who died, you gave me a reason to stay alive. I wish you could have met our brother, you would have liked him a lot, I see him every time I look at you."
"I wish I could have met him too." Carrie replied.
"I know he would have been as proud as I am if he was here."
Carrie smiled.
"And one more thing. I'm so glad this is Wedge you're marrying, there are so many other people I know on Orion I'd have to kill if it was them."
Carrie laughed, "Shall we do this?" she asked as the music started.
"Yeah let's get you married."
Two hours later Orion's main function room was alive with music and people having a great time. The President had pulled out all the stops to make sure this would be a night to remember.
Wedge walked up to the President.
"Mr President I just wanted to say thank you for all this." Wedge said.
"You're very welcome Anthony and call me Milo." he replied shaking Wedge's hand.
"Well Milo, thank you very much."
"I just wanted to let you know that the next time you phone Carrie steaming drunk, wait for her to reply before you tell her how much you love her and other things." Milo said with a chuckle.
"Oh gods what did I say?" Wedge replied in shock.
"I'm not surprised you don't remember, you were very drunk. You tried to phone Carrie and instead you phoned me."
"Oh my gods I am so embarrassed. Whatever I said I am so sorry."
Milo laughed, "Under the circumstances I'll let you off." he replied before walking off chuckling to himself.
Skeeter and Bria both danced together.
"It's been a really nice evening." Bria said, "I'm having a great time."
"Me too. We don't get enough nights like this." Skeeter replied.
"I can't remember the last time I had a night even remotely like this." she replied with a smile.
"We should have another one." Skeeter said.
"We should be so lucky." Bria replied.
"I'm serious." Skeeter said.
Bria looked at him, "What are you getting at?"
"What do you think?" he replied with a smile, "Will you marry me, Bria Thirren?"
"Seriously?" she said utterly surprised.
Skeeter nodded, "Yeah I'm serious? Seize the moment and all that."
Bria smiled up at him, "Okay." she replied.
"So do you want to dance?" Archangel asked, "It's been a while since we've had a chance."
Vanessa took a sip from her drink, "I think we can skip that this time, last time didn't end very well."
"Are you still pissed at me?" Archangel asked.
Vanessa smiled, "No I'm not. We're all cool."
"Good. I am sorry for the mess we caused last night."
"Don't be, it's about time you guys let off some steam."
"Still I can't help but wonder who the frak was under that mask? Whoever it was they knew me."
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."
Bria awoke in Skeeter's suite the next morning with a slight hangover. She turned to see Skeeter getting dressed.
"And where do you think you're going?" she asked with a smile.
"I promised Mark I'd go with him to hanger deck to see his sister off." Skeeter replied.
"Do you want me to come?" she asked.
"Stay and sleep, how often do you get to lay in?"
"Very true, I can't remember the last time."
"Anyway I won't be long, an hour at most. We're going to try and get to the hanger deck before they do. Archangel got this spray stuff to write something on the side of the raptor they're taking to the leisure ship." he said pointing over to the table.
"Okay, wake me up when you get back, I have some ideas of what we can get up too before we go get some food." Bria replied with a cheeky smile.
Skeeter leaned over to her and kissed her, "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
"It better be at least as much as I love you." she replied.
"I promise you that I do." He quickly put his shoes on and then headed out.
Bria lay back and smiled to herself, life was indeed very very good. She turned over and saw Skeeter had forgotten the can of paint he had meant to take.
"I swear sometimes I'm surprised he can tie his shoes!" she said to herself, as she got out of bed and reached for her clothes.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Archangel said as he met up with Skeeter in the corridor.
"Frak the paint! I'll go back and get it." Skeeter replied.
"Come on we haven't got enough time. We'll manage." Archangel replied with a chuckle.
"Did you have a good time last night?" Skeeter asked.
"I did, I had a wonderful time. You?"
"Oh I had the best night of my life," Skeeter replied smiling, "Keep this to yourself for now, but I asked Bria to marry me."
"That's fantastic, well it is if she said yes?!"
"She said yes." Skeeter replied.
Archangel patted his friend on the shoulder, "I couldn't be happier for you. If anyone deserves to be happy it's you."
As they looked ahead they stopped dead when they saw a young woman standing in front of them with a gun pointed at them.
"Remember me?" she said with a smile.
"Geminion." Archangel replied.
She nodded her head, "I told you I'd get you." she said with a smile.
As she pulled the trigger Skeeter grabbed Archangel in the nick of time and pulled him to the floor, the bullet missing him completely. The woman had turned and ran before they could get back up.
"Thank you." Archangel said.
"Bria?" Skeeter said.
Archangel turned to see Bria slump to her knees, blood pouring out of a gunshot wound on her neck. She dropped the can of paint Skeeter had forgotten and slumped to the ground.
