There probably will not be many spoilers for plot points in this stories except passing references to the books when I feel they are necessary. This story contains massive amounts of OCs and I will try to stay away from cannon characters unless referenced in passing.


"Maximilian if you weren't a Grayson I would probably kiss you right now!"

Max looked up from his tactical station with a grin as Marshal wiped sweat from his forehead and sat back and looked his way. The exercise that had been eating up the last few hours had been brutal on all of them, especially once the 'aggressor' had turned out to be a fellow superdreadnought rather then the battlecruiser they had believed it had been at long range. The damage from the exercise had nearly halved his fire control's effectiveness, but he had managed, somehow through blind luck and maybe a touch of skill, to recover enough of it with the help of Damage Control to finish of their opponent.

"That really was brilliant Max, how did you know it was only a short-circuited cross section instead of the arrays itself?"

All the lieutenants twisted around to find Captain Frazer standing in the open hatch.

"Well Captain... I didn't, guess I was just hoping that DCC would be able to find what went wrong and repair it." He replied. "Guess the Tester really was watching over me that time around."

Frazer nodded as he stepped over to the tactical station. "You've definitely improved since you've come aboard Lieutenant, but while I'm sure your Tester is watching over you, I don't think He deserves all the credit." The captain gave him a small pat on the shoulder. max had come to like the man, he really was a great captain, and it was rare to see him angry, but when he was... well it was usually for a very good reason.

"Alright you guys, we're going to be pulling into dock soon Lieutenants. We're undergoing some upgrades and we can't do it sitting in orbit. Why don't you guys and gals get down to see Commander Cox and arrange your leave schedules. You all definitely deserve it." The captain said and Max was more then happy to oblige


The People's Republic was definitely looking for war this time around. No smoke and mirrors this time, the incidents were escalating all around the frontier, but nothing formal had yet to come of it.

Max had been on the Tillingham for over two years now, and during these two years he, of course, had seen little action. Given that SDs weren't exactly patrol ships he was okay with this. After all, he wouldn't really want to leave Manticore's orbit.

Jacob Morgan had steadily become a very close friend and over the past two years, the two had toured around the planet, sparred with each other, and generally hung out drinking when they couldn't get planetside.


As Max walked down the passage towards one of Hephaestus's gyms he grinned, swinging the towel over his shoulder and gleefully rubbing his hands together as he thought of his next sparring session with Jacob.

The pair were surprising well matched, even though Jacob had less of a reach, he was stronger, but Jacob was liked greased lightning, moving so fast he could barely keep track of him. It was late by Manticoran time, but Jacob had managed to bribe and talk his way into getting his leave at the same time as his friend. They were due to go down to the planet anyways and he wondered if they could go back to the beachside candy store which always had those hand made candy canes.

As he stepped into the gym, the population of people here was sparse, and Jacob waved from where he was sitting on the sparring mat.

Max threw down his towel down and immediately dropped into a guard position, 'glaring' at his friend. Jacob hopped up to his feet with an evil grin. "So we meet again?" He said, the way he said it making him sound like some sort of evil mastermind.

"Oh yes we do. You can't fool me twice." He returned, a hand flashing out to block a punch and his other grabbing him and trying to pull him closer, ready to deliver a hard kick to him.

Suddenly he found himself face-first in the mat with no clue as to how he got there. He felt a foot rest upon his back. "Shame, and I thought you were better then this."

Max rolled to the side, his legs taking out Jacob's left while his hands pulled on right, sending Jacob to the floor, trying to windmill for balance that wouldn't come. He grinned and got to his knees, pinning the Manticoran to the mat and resting a hand on his throat.

Jacob lay there stunned for a moment before he recovered and tapped the mat. "Alright Max, that's a neat move, though I guess our sparring matches aren't exactly orthodox."

"Nah, who needs a formal sparring match, these are more fun." Max replied as he stood and pulled the Manticoran up with him. "So, how have you been doing?"

"Pretty good." Jacob said, rolling his left shoulder with a wince. "workload is getting heavier, but as always its the job for me. How about you? I haven't actually talked to you in... What? A week?"

"9 days, but you're close enough." Max said, walking over to the bars, jumping up and doing a chin up. "The skipper has been keeping me busy, says that he's sent in a recommendation to promote me to Lieutenant Commander, says he might move me into engineering so he can keep me rather then moving me out to another ship."

"That's great!" Jacob said, sitting down to stretch out his muscles. This sort of banter was common no matter where they met. "I hope they approve it, we'll be the same rank."

Max pulled himself up into another chin up. "I hope they do too, but sometimes I wonder if I'm going to be called home, after all the GSN needs a lot of manpower." He dropped back to the floor and noticed Jacob didn't look terribly happy at the idea. "Oh come on there Jacob, you know very well I'd keep in touch no matter where I went."

Jacob jumped up, scooped up their towels and motioned towards the locker room. "Come on, lets go get cleaned up and get a drink down at Demsey's, I have this hilarious story to tell you about my PO's treecat."


A few days later Max was adjusting a suit and tie he had brought with him from Grayson and smiled.

It had come through, the promotion to Lieutenant Commander and he had nearly burst with pride as Commander Cox congratulated him and informed him of his new post within the ship. Best of all he not only got to stay within the RMN, he got to finish out his leave. He had of course written his family about everything, including his promotion and was grateful that Grayson was only a few days travel from Manticore

And tonight he was celebrating.

Jacob had been thrilled that word had come through so fast, so he had suggested they go out to a formal dinner. Max, at first, had protested, but Jacob had been adamant. The first Grayson to be serving in the RMN just got a promotion, that was big news, bigger then his own promotion had been, so why not go all out?

So he and Jacob were going down to a restaurant called The Mary Ann, a restaurant built on a boat that pulled into port for a month or so and then left for the next after that month was up. It was a fancy place, and required dressing up, so here Max was In Jacob's planetside apartment, adjusting his suit and tie and making sure everything else was in order before stepping out of the bathroom.

Jacob was sitting on his couch in the local equivalent of a suit, a bit more shape-hugging without the tie he noted, and he looked up from the tablet he was reading. A strange expression seem to cross his face before he spoke. "Are you ready Max?"

"I am." He replied and Jacob led the way to his aircar.


The ride didn't seem to take too long before they were at the dock for The Mary Ann.

Jacob led the way onto the boat where the maitre d' seated then a beautifully set table with silverware and crystal glass gleaming in the low light of the dining room.

Max ran his mind over all the various etiquette stuff he had learned back on Grayson and he looked around. All the parties seemed to be pretty small, none larger then four, and all sharply dressed. His eyes passed over the women dressed in the thin formal dresses as though he didn't see them, he really had gotten use to it over his time here.

The wine was soon poured and the salad brought out. It had a variety of leafy greens he wasn't sure he had ever seen before, but they tasted amazing and the dressing was light and refreshing. After he finished the last bit he wiped his mouth and placed the napkin back in his lap.

"Thank you for bringing me here Jacob, I appreciate it. I've eaten formally before, but never in such a small setting. Always at large formal family gatherings."

"I can imagine." Jacob said with a warm smile, taking a sip of his wine. "I'm an only child, but I can still imagine it must not be easy."

"You get use to it." Max replied. "I just couldn't imagine being an only child, having a house to only myself and my parents? Doesn't seem possible."

Jacob nodded and the two continued to chat amiably while the meal progressed.


"... So Charlotte and I decided that the enemy was trying to play us for a fool, and we nailed him when he thought we were dead." Max finished as the two walked down the quiet pier, a pleasant breeze blowing off the ocean while ships sailed about, the lights adorning them shining like jewels. "I still have a recording of that exercise in my locker, its amusing to watch from time-to-time."

Max leaned against a safety railing at the end, looking at the water below, smoothing his tie of wrinkle. As he looked back up at Jacob, the Manticoran seemed lost in thought and max was content to just let him.

"Your planet is amazing." Max said quietly, and Jacob turned to look at him.

"What was that?"

"Your planet, its amazing. So clean, so alive." He smiled and threw his arms out, taking a deep breath of the salty air. "I could stay here forever, I am so glad to have been assigned here, everything is just perfect. I have great friends, a great ship, I've been promoted." He sighed, still smiling as he looked up at the sky. "I feel at home here Jacob. It really is amazing."

Max stared up at the sky, his eyes glowing with happiness as he saw little glimmers of lights move around in orbit and through atmosphere to their destinations. It really was amazing it was...

His thoughts were broken as he felt someone grip his arm and pull him close. Suddenly he was kissing and for a moment, one pure moment of confusion he had no idea what was going on. Jacob pulled back as he looked down at him, and Max looked up at him.

And then everything just seemed to break apart. He had just been kissed by a guy. He had just been kissed by a guy. Nonono that wasn't right. That wasn't right!

Max began to back away, and Jacob's face suddenly was filled with a bit of panic and embarrassment as he realized what he had just done. "Wait Max, I'm sorry I di..."

Maximilian Carson turned and ran, feeling his confusion and panic tearing at his soul like an enraged treecat.