Anna bounced Jack lightly on her lap as they waited outside Doctor Clarkson's office. He giggled at her as she manipulated her face to match his surprise and squeals. They continued until someone took the seat next to her. She turned, a smiled spreading over her face.

"You didn't have to come."

"It's his three month scan. Today he's officially a citizen of the Empire and, as his father, I owe it to him to be one of the witnesses of that." John held out his hands and Jack practically threw himself at his father. "And I wanted to see you."

"How long's the refuel?"

"Not too long." John kissed Anna's cheek, "But long enough to see you and him."

"What's the news?" Anna jerked her head toward the wall, "From beyond our little rock here."

"Not horribly encouraging if I'm honest." John stopped Jack trying to take a flying leap toward the floor. "The ship I'm riding now is actually here to collect a group of Lithium Women who have their sights set on going to Karenina to help the refugees there."

"Are you going back there?"

John nodded, "They need someone to give hope to people. Knowing that someone cares for the dead, that there are people who serve them… that means more than hearing how there are rebels fighting anywhere."

"The hope that there's still good in the world is always a strong motivator." Anna leaned her head on John's shoulder, "Whatever happened with Arsenic's message?"

"Published and circulating. It'll make it's rounds on the stations who'll bring in their experts to say the whole thing is a forgery and we shouldn't take it seriously but that'll only excite the public to view it." John managed a little laugh, "You'd think the Government would've learned from their mistakes. The best way to bury something is to do nothing with it and let it die out."

"But they'll be too busy covering their collectively exposed ass they won't realize what they've done?" Anna paused, pulling out her reader and scrolling the information web for it. "What'd you call it?"

"Arsenic's Adventures in Wonderland."

"Wonderland?"

"It's the collective nickname given to the prison where subversive individuals go." John shuddered, "I used to think that they were just horrible rumors about the people taken there for reconditioning or reprogramming but after what Arsenic wrote…"

"It's all true?" John nodded and Anna sighed, "I guess we'll just have to pray you never go there and find out first hand."

"And leave you?" John kissed Anna's hand, holding it tightly in his, "I think you'll have to find a better way to get rid of me than that Mrs. Bates."

"Perhaps I will." Anna smiled.

The door opened and Doctor Clarkson welcomed them inside. John moved Jack to his shoulder, holding his carefully before placing him on the scanner. Anna stood to the side, John keeping his hand over Jack's stomach to hold him in place, and she watched the scanner take a DNA print of their son.

She turned to Doctor Clarkson, "Is there ever a worry they'll use his information to track him or clone him or anything?"

"I know those are common theories used to frighten some into not using these scans but I can assure you that they can't do anything with the information they'll have." Doctor Clarkson brought something up on a screen, slapping the monitor to clear the image. "His DNA is entered into a large database that scrambles the information for anyone but the acting physician. The information is left purposefully incomplete so the handler needs a key to access it."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Anna pressed, her fingers stroking over Jack's sparse but dark hair.

"That if they tried to make a clone it'd be defective. Perhaps not something obvious like a missing arm but internally corrupted. Incomplete DNA leaves incomplete clones. As for finding him or tracking him with the DNA, the vastness of our universe excludes that from probability and the buried nature of the data from possibility."

"Like how you buried his birth records?"

"Exactly." Doctor Clarkson ended the scan and Anna lifted Jack back to her arms. "Little Jack here is another blip in the system as far as anyone else is concerned and you don't need to worry yourself overmuch. He's healthy, looks happy, and has all the signs of being a safely growing boy."

"Thank you Doctor. For everything." John shook Doctor Clarkson's hand and went to leave when Doctor Clarkson called out to him.

"You're on the shuttle taking the Lithium Women to Karenina yes?"

"That's right."

Doctor Clarkson handed over a large container that John struggled a moment to heft. "Sorry about the weight but it's all I could get on short notice."

"Get?"

"Supplies." Doctor Clarkson lowered his voice, "Don't tell anyone but I occasionally order more than we actually need to run the clinic here so I can be of more use to the Lithium Women. They need all the help they can get and what's a few extra bandages and pain relievers to the Government causing all the pain?"

"Nothing they'll miss." John nodded and Anna opened the door for him. "Thank you Doctor. I'll make sure they know it's from you."

"Who it's from is of no consequence as long as it's going to those who need it." Doctor Clarkson helped them out of his office, "And I want these to go to those in need."

John and Anna managed to get the crate, and themselves, back to her bar in time to see a gathering inside. Anna pushed through, moving people out of her way to find the source of the confusion. With the parted crowd Anna saw a woman with gray hair directing those about her like a general preparing troops for battle.

"Excuse me," Anna adjusted Jack in her arms, the boy trying once again to escape and discover the world on flailing limbs. "What's going on here?"

"It's madness, that's what it is." Branson joined her, dropping a box at Anna's feet so quickly she had to step back to avoid it. "They're transports up and left them stranded here until someone feels kind enough to give them a lift to a war zone."

"What?" Anna looked at the gathered women, all debating loudly with one another. "Who are these people?"

"The Lithium Women," The gray-haired woman walked closer, taking Anna's free hand in a determined grip. "I'm Mrs. Isobel Crawley, leader of this division."

"I'm sure it's a pleasure to meet you but I'd rather I didn't outside my establishment less than a hour before opening time."

"But Mr. Branson said it'd be alright." Mrs. Crawley turned to Branson in confusion while Anna scowled at him.

Branson cowered a moment before pointing to a dark-haired woman with the kindest eyes anyone could hope to see. "Sybil pressed me and I didn't have the heart to tell her no."

"Wouldn't your father like you to not jump to the aid of every refugee crisis?" Anna turned to the woman. "Like I'd appreciate your fellow aid workers here not crowding the entrance to a bar where they're not drinking anything."

"That's just it. We need my father to agree to lend us a ship if he can."

"And you think standing here'll be a help to that?" Anna shrugged, "Why?"

"Pilots drink here and Papa promised us a ship with the strict instruction that we'd get it if we could get a pilot." Sybil's face fell and realization dawned on Anna.

"But he doesn't think you'll find someone to rope into your hare-brained scheme yes?" Sybil nodded and Anna sighed, "So you're soliciting without a license."

"Begging isn't soliciting."

"It is within twenty-five feet of my doorway." Anna nodded at Branson to open the door. "You'll have to come in and wait if you want to find anyone ad if I want any business, which I do."

The women gathered their things and hurried inside. Anna moved Jack to her other shoulder as John rejoined her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He looked to her for an answer but Anna just shook her head.

"Sybil's got her father to promise a ship they can't fly and your ride just left you here."

"I'm not surprised really." John came behind the bar with Anna, taking Jack in his grip while Anna prepared herself for work. "I actually thought it was a miracle they stopped long enough to do more than boot me onto the arrival platform."

"I'm glad you're stranded here for awhile." Anna pecked his cheek, "Gives you some time to play house with Jack and I."

"I'd like nothing more." John stole another kiss from Anna. "And in the spirit of playing house, I think Jack needs a change so I'll take care of that."

Anna watched him leave, speaking to their son as the boy cooed in his arms. Turning back to the door she tried to hold a straight face when Mary Crawley, accompanied by her husband and another man with graying hair, entered the bar. Mary marched to the bar, taking her customary stool while the men sat on either side of her.

Removing her gloves she pointed to a top shelf brew. "I do hope you have enough of that to send me to blackest oblivion."

"Why?" Anna operated the retrieval lever and caught the bottle while stepping on a button to end three glasses popping from under the bar. She nudged each with elbow to land them in front of their respective owners and dropped a liberal dose in each before capping the bottle. With a wink she placed the bottle on the counter. "I repeat the question, why?"

"Sybil." Mary groaned, sending a shoulder in the direction of the chattering women at the tables behind them before knocking back the contents of her glass in one go. When it hit the bar again Anna poured it full. "She's been propositioning our pilots all morning."

"Mary!" The gray-haired man next to her stopped his second go at his first glass. "Please maintain some decorum."

"We're out on the rim of the discovered universe," Mary snorted into her glass to send the sound echoing slightly. "I don't think it matters what we say."

"It matters to me."

"Robert's right, Mary." Matthew pointed with his barely-touched glass. "We need to be our best selves despite our surroundings."

"Thank you very much." Anna ribbed him and held up a hand when Matthew went to explain. "I'm only taking a jab at you. Drink up and enjoy it. This has to be hard on the whole family."

"It's Papa who can't be made to see that Sybil, in addition to being married, is a grown woman and therefore can make her own decisions." Mary finished her second glass but put her hand over top it. "I need to maintain my faculties."

"That's good." Anna put the bottle down, "And you're right. Sybil's got a right to her life like the rest of us."

"But with them?" Robert waved a hand behind him. "I'd understand if she wanted to help Clarkson in his clinic here or work at the regional hospital to manage the outposts on the Run but to gallivant off into a war zone is ludicrous."

"If you start trying to blame Tom then I won't listen to you and I'll need another drink." Mary held up her glass but Matthew lowered her arm.

"That's not fair Mary."

"Why not?" Mary thrust a hand at her father, "He doesn't think Sybil makes her own decisions when she does."

"Sybil didn't start making these kinds of decisions until Branson entered her life." Robert's face reddened and Anna moved the glass out of his reach to prevent it breaking in his strangling grip. "She had her quirks but nothing like this."

"Then I'd say you don't know your daughter very well." Everyone turned to see Branson, holding a wide-eyed baby on his hip. "She's nothing if not a free spirit and I've done nothing but encourage her passions and dreams."

"Perhaps a little less encouragement and a little more restraint was in order." Robert muttered, "Maybe then she wouldn't be trying to find a fool to pilot her to where they're dropping bombs."

"Maybe if you'd actually listened to her instead of seeing the perfect child you thought you had you'd realize this has been her dream all along." Branson snapped back, "Sybil's a strong-willed woman and I'm proud to stand by her, as her husband, through whatever her conscience and heart tell her to do."

"Is that how you'll raise your daughter? To chase her dreams to the dangerous parts of the galaxy without thought or consideration for anyone else."

"If anyone here's being thoughtless it's you." Branson took a moment, slowing his fast breathing. "Whatever you may think of me, I love Sybil and I love Sybbie. They're the lights in my life and I'd die for them if that's what's required of me. But I won't chain them in the basement to keep them safe either."

"Of course you won't." Robert stalked off to a corner.

Anna whistled, putting a hand on Branson's arm. "Maybe you should go talk to Sybil. Just cool off a bit before one of you blows a gasket so large it'll take the roof off this place."

Branson nodded, adjusting Sybbie in his arms, and walked to the gathering on the other side of the room. Anna looked at Mary, who shared her wide-eyed sigh of relief. Taking Robert's glass Anna poured herself a drink and clinked it against Mary's empty glass before sipping it.

She cringed, the liquid burning her throat a bit. "It's been too long since I had that."

"And now Jack'll get it too." Mary smirked at Anna's scowl. "What? You're the one who wanted to continue breastfeeding him."

"It's healthier for mother and baby."

"So the government says."

"So Doctor Clarkson says and I trust him." Anna capped the bottle, returning it to the lever and taking the used glasses to the cleaner. "Besides, we can't fight the government on everything because they're not always wrong."

"Really? With your husband, the father of your child, in this same establishment you'd say the government's not always wrong?"

"I think I'll go check on Robert and Tom. Make sure it's not a permanent fracture." Matthew slipped off the stool.

Anna pointed at him with her thumb, "What's that about?"

"Matthew hates talking politics because he served in the trenches of our last Great Stand and thinks this is all too complicated to work out in a chat." Mary shrugged, "He's being himself."

"That's why you married him."

"Isn't it just though?" Mary mused a moment before slapping the bar, "But the point, Anna, is that you've fallen to their tricks."

"I doubt that very much." Anna pointed to the ceiling, "As you said, my husband is in the same building and he'd tell you what I am."

"He writes articles to incite rebellion against the government."

"No, he writes to free people."

"The two aren't mutually exclusive Anna."

Anna put her hands on the bar, "But I do know that he'd tell you the RA isn't much better. They're just as corrupt, conniving, and depraved. Put them in power and it'll be the same as always just with a different name and more extremists."

"So we what, subject ourselves to the status quo?"

"We need to change the equation." Anna smiled to herself, "That's what John does. He changes the equation so people see the world a little differently. Sometimes all we need is a broader view or a new horizon."

"Or another drink."

"No," Anna shook her head, "I'm cutting you off to save us both."

"Spoilsport."

"Lush." Anna turned to see John returning and motioned him over. "Come tell Mary what you really think of the government and the RA.."

"Well-"

"Bates?" They all turned as Robert came back to the bar. "Dear stars in the heavens is it really you man?"

"Major Crawley." John extended a hand, holding Jack with the other, and shook Robert's with as much firmness as he could muster. "I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

"I've come to many places like this but I'm proud to say the owner and I are very good friends." Robert stopped, taking his hand back slowly before looking between Anna and John. "Do you two know one another?"

"They're married." Mary pushed back from the bar and tapped Robert's fallen jaw back up toward his mouth. "I'd say they know one another rather intimately."

"Mary!"

"That brought him out of it." Mary winked at Anna, "If you need anything darling just let me know."

"I will." Anna looked between John, bouncing Jack in his arms, to Robert and back. "Should I leave you two to catch up?"

"No you can stay." John shifted Jack to Anna's grip. "Major Crawley and I served together… a lifetime ago it seems now."

"I'll say." Robert laughed, pointing at John. "This man was the best damn pilot I ever saw. The way he could weave through an asteroid field put any number of endeavoring hot shots to shame."

"I just did my best sir."

"And it was the best." Robert paused, "Do you still fly?"

"Occasionally as a way to get around the galaxy I guess."

"That's right, you're a war satirist now."

"More like an underground reporter." John cringed and shot a worried look at Anna. "I was supposed to be on a flight with those lovely women over there but it seems our ride abandoned us here."

"Then you're going with them? To the war zone?"

"It's the only way to get ahead of it."

Robert chewed the inside of his cheek a moment before snapping his fingers. "Would you be open to a proposition Bates?"

"I might be." John leaned on the bar, "What kind of proposition?"

"If you'll pilot the craft I promised Sybil I'd lend to her fool's errand, then I'd feel safer knowing she was in good hands."

John turned to Anna. She shifted Jack to another shoulder, tipping him away from her hair to prevent him pulling it. "It's a hell of a risk."

"Obviously but it was that before when I was depending on the grace of others' cargo holds and spare rooms." John shrugged, "If I have command of the ship then I control when I come and go. No more pinging off a dozen different worlds to get where I'm going the roundabout way."

"You'd be responsible for them." Anna pointed to the women. "Before you could hide in a sack because it was only you. Now you'll be worrying over them."

"Others are worried over them. Shouldn't I be as well?"

Anna pursed her lips, thousands of scenarios and images flashing over her brain at a lightyear a moment before she nodded. "If you think you can do good like this then who am I to stop you?"

"I wish it were different." John put a hand on her cheek and the other stroked Jack's fingers tangled in the material of her shirt. "I wish I could stay here, be a family with you all the time, and everything that comes with domestic life at its finiest."

"As do I but I also know that if we did that we wouldn't be free. Not really." Anna turned to kiss John's palm. "And I want us to be free."

"We will be."

"Then get your ass moving Mr. Bates of you'll miss your chance." She pecked his cheek, tossing her head sideways. "Get going."

She watched over the bar as John and Robert gathered the women, ushering them outside. John stopped at the door, giving Anna one last look before heading out the door. Anna closed her eyes, breathing out a moment before rolling her shoulders back and gathering her breath.

"Well Jack, looks like your Dad's going off to save the world in his way and we need to save the world in our way. What'd you think?" Jack giggled his response and Anna kissed his forehead, "I agree. We're saving the galaxy just fine from right here. Everyone needs a drink and that's what we give them."


Anna sat straight up at the sound of banging on her door. Checking that Jack was sound asleep in his cot she pulled her gas-powered pistol from its drawer and cocked it. She padded over the floor and threw the door open to see a frightened William on the other side.

He jumped, screeching like a cat in a register higher than Anna thought possible for a man of his size, and fell back into the far wall. Anna sighed, clicking the hammer back in place before tucking it under her arm. "Yes William?"

"The Crawleys are downstairs and they need you immediately."

"For what? A drink?"

"I don't know but I don't think it's for a drink."

Anna ducked back into her room, donning a dressing gown and pulling Jack into a carrier she strapped over her chest. She rejoined William, the pistol still in her possession, and they took the lift down to the main floor. Exiting together Anna immediately saw the drawn expressions of those gathered.

"What's going on?"

"John's ship's coming home."

"They've only been gone two weeks." Anna shook her head, "It's not possible that they already ran into trouble."

Mary turned to her, tears staining her face, and fell into Anna's shoulder. She stumbled slightly but caught the taller woman. Rubbing over her back Anna turned to Branson, holding Sybbie at the bar.

"What's really going on?"

Branson turned to her, his eyes far away, and struggled to speak. "Sybil's dead."

"What?"

"We just got word, from John's ship, that she was killed in an attack there." Branson sniffed, pulling his sleeping child closer to his chest. "John was evacuating them, trying to escape the barrage, and Sybil didn't want to leave someone who was wounded. The blast… it caught her and…"

Branson succumbed to his tears and rocked his daughter in his arms. Anna turned back to Mary, now recovering her balance, and studied her. "What about Mrs. Crawley? The other Lithium Women? What about John?"

"As far as we can tell they'll be here in the morning." Robert's chill, monotone voice came from a table in the dark. "We'll just wait for them."

And they did. The solemn gathering not speaking as each wrestled alone with their thoughts and grief. Occasionally one would let out an unrestrained sob and someone would hand over a tissue or a rag but otherwise they kept to themselves. Each listening intently for the sound of engines landing on the field so close to their position that, if they tried hard enough, they might convince themselves still held the scent of their departed friends and family.

The landing pattern echoed above them and everyone broke from the Rock to meet the landing ship. Anna, holding a restlessly sleeping Jack in his carrier, ignored the sight them must make in their disordered pajamas and haphazard clothes. None cared enough about fashion to put it before what awaited them.

Some of the Lithium Women already crowded the platform, streaked with dust and ash and blood. They did not speak, shuffling along with their own concerns, and Anna stood on her tiptoes to see over them. Mrs. Crawley emerged from the ship with tear stains making tracks down her cheeks in the grime caked there and immediately met Matthew's whole-hearted embrace. A few others greeted those they knew but all hushed when John appeared.

Anna wanted nothing more than to run to him, throw her arms around him, hold him close and never let him go again. But his hands were full. He pushed a rectangular box, floating above the ground on repulsors, and stopped in front of Robert. Opening his mouth to speak failed him since he could say nothing for a moment. Everyone knew words were meaningless now.

Branson came forward, his hand stroking over the top of the box, and immediately collapsed on it to cry. Sybbie, held in the arms of an older woman at Robert's shoulder, wailed for something. Anna hoped she did not realize she wailed for her mother.

Between Robert, Matthew, Branson, and Mary they moved the coffin away from the platform. The Lithium Women slowly petered themselves away as well, vanishing into the town to find lodging or home or solace. In the quiet Anna could finally turn to John.

He aged a decade in the two weeks. His leg hissed and groaned more. His shoulder drooped. His face held no smiles for her.

Anna lifted a hand to his cheek and his covered hers, shaking. It only took a moment for him to wrap her in his arms. They stayed there until the planet rose.