You can now proceed to flee in terror
Nywho, I do not own HALO – If I didn't I wouldn't need to worry about getting a job.
On with the fic…
Brigid rose that morning and had trouble walking. After so much time on the Revenge she was still getting used to normal gravity. She had a pretty bad space jaunt and sighed, her parents would just see it as another thing wrong with her. Brigid looked in the mirror and hit her head on the wall.
"Stupid," she said to herself, "Why did you let Ja'naço talk you into this?" She sighed and opened her cabinet, cursing. "Ja'naço, where is my makeup bag." She walked into the taller room and found her brother still asleep.
"I ate it," Ja'naço said, "You're not putting that stuff on your face again to hide those scars."
"Do you want me to be miserable?"
"No," Ja'naço said, standing. "I want you to understand that you are a beautiful person, scars and all. You're parents will see that once they talk to you."
'You do not understand Ja'naço," Brigid said, "They do not…"
"We're going to be late Brigid," Ja'naço interrupted. "You'd better go get ready." Brigid hung her head as her brother nudged her back through the door. Brigid looked in the mirror and let her knees give way, she didn't want to be there and she wasn't sure about what would happen. She didn't have long to think though, Ja'naço had her out the door in her Dress Uniform before 0700 hours had struck. Despite the early hour the roads were already crowded. A UNSC escort came to drive Brigid around, though it was probably more to keep an eye on Ja'naço than to keep her safe. She wished that there was a window that she could look out of, but the armored vehicle had none. She sighed and sat on the inside of Ja'naço's shield. He hid her from the stares of the marieens, and that was a blessing in itself.
Her dress uniform looked very similar to the UNSC one, and she did not blame them for being curious. The black fabric held her form tightly in pants, boots, and a shirt. She also wore a black, high collared tunic that reached the top of her thighs. The insignia of General Admiral was embroidered on shoulder boards and her insignia on her collar. Her insignia as part of the Resistance was a simple gold ring on each side of the madarin collar. Then there was her unit patch, which had recently been designed and distributed to all those in her unit. A phoenix flew with outspread wings on the black background, swords embellished in silver crossed behind the bird and a blue Valkieire symbol laid over the pheonix's chest. Brigid also tended to clank when she walked. She had several Crimson Slashes on her belt, signifying how many times she had been wounded in battle. On her arm were countless gold and blue slashes, which told an onlooker how many battles she had been engaged in. Their Medal of Honor hung around her neck, the gold ring resting over her heart. She wore countless campain ribbons on the left side of her chest, and many medals. She bore the Medal of Valor three times over, and she had stopped counting her other awards long ago. Anyone who looked at her knew that she was decorated. Brigid smiled at the thought of the marines faces the moment she had walked up; she was more decorated than the Admiral that had greeted her upon returning to Earth.
"You know," Ja'naço said, "They don't care about your scars, they just want to know who you are."
"I know," Brigid said, "Is there someone whose standing there?"
"He looks like he's twelve," Ja'naço said, "Why don't you talk to him?"
"Let me out," Brigid said, unclurling. She stood on her boots and tied her cape on, which she wore out for the sake of comfot, for the cape muffled the medals and hid them from view. She smiled at the young marine, who didn't seem to recognize her insignia. Brigid mentally switched back to English, "Hello."
"Ma'am!" He said, noticing that he was being addressed and snapping at salute.
"At ease Private," Brigid said, "I'm not one of you commanding officers."
"You're wearing the rank that looks higher than mine," he said, dropping his arm, "But I don't recognize your unit patch." Brigid looked at his and noticed that it was a wolf devouring a snake with strange markings over its eyes.
"It stands for the Valkiries," Brigid explained, Ja'naço turned and showed his own decal to the jarhead. "No, you won't have heard of us, and no I can't tell you, its classified."
"We're here ma'am," the driver said over the intercom. A screen popped down to show her mother, father, and sister with family in tow standing outside in their best clothing. Brigid shivered against unwanted memories of country clubs and yaughts that she was dragged to. The door hissed and slid open, her eyes adjusted quickly to the bright morning, it had taken them over an hour to get through traffic. Brigid stood at the doorway, still hidden by the shadows, and felt her brother's presence behind her.
"Relax Brigid," He said in English, "I've got your back." He set a hand on her shoulder, he had removed his cannon for the meeting, but he left his shield on always when going into an unknown situation. She sighed and sent a wordless thanks to her brother. Another breath and a pat on the back from the marine she stepped out into the sunlight and took hold of the handhold. She could have jumped out of the car, but opted for a more graceful decent, she spun as she reached the ground and a small jingle came from her uniform. She stepped a few paces away and saw her parents gasp as Ja'naço stepped down from the vehicle, she turned to the driver.
"You are dismissed for the moment," she said, handing him a transponder pad, "I'll signal you when I'm ready for pickup and the pad will show you my location." The jarhead saluted and drove away, she turned back and saw that her family had recovered. She walked up and stood a half a meter away from her parents, unsure of how to greet them. "Mother, father, this is Ja'naço. Ja'naço, these are my parents, Mr. And Mrs. McClain, and my sister Rebecca McClain…" Brigid did not know her sister's married name, but it seemed that Rebecca had made somewhat of a turnaround in their years apart.
"Mendez," Rebecca said, a man exited the house and Brigid had to admit that he was damn hot. One of the children ran over to him and the man swung him up onto his shoulders. "This is my husband, Sam Mendez."
"Sam," Brigid said, shaking his hand. Ja'naço moved down the line, shaking each human hand his in great one and the children oogled at him with wide eyes. Ja'naço smiled and turned to Rebecca.
"Your young ones are beautiful Ms. Rebecca," he said. Rebecca smiled and her parents jumped at the sounds of the great creature talking.
"That thing can talk?" Her mother asked. Brigid thought she would die or mortification.
"Yes," Brigid said, her teeth grit, "He can talk and his Name is Ja'naço, he is my brother." Their jaws fell. "It's a long story." Sam recovered the quickest.
"Why don't we all go out back to the patio," he said, "It's a wonderful day out and I'm sure we all want to get to know one another again." Brigid turned to apologize to Ja'naço and, as a result, her family saw the left side of her face in good light. Her mother nearly fainted, not even Sam could hide his small gasp.
"Daddy," the child asked, "What happened to her face?" Sam turned red and sushed the child as he turned quickly, leading the way around the back. Brigid turned to Ja'naço.
"Are you sure you don't want to leave now?" She asked, "They're not looking." Ja'naço gave her a look and motioned towards the gate, Brigid sighed and turned. "Just offering." Once in the back they all stood near seats, except for Ja'naço, who offered to sit on the ground and assured Rebecca that he would be quite comfortable.
"Here," Rebecca said, offering to take Brigid's cape, "You must be roasting in that thing." Brigid hesitated for a moment and then removed the heavy cloak, feeling infinitely cooler as the breeze reached her skin. Sam gasped, as did her parents, even they could not deny that she had succeeded beyond their expectations.
"Woah," Rebecca said, turning after setting the children inside with a movie to keep them occupied. She set down the tray she was carrying and it revealed to have several glasses, one of which appeared to be a large pitcher for Ja'naço. "Iced Tea? Lemonade?"
"Lemonade please," Brigid said, then turned to Ja'naço, "It's like fresh Purp juice, only sweeter."
"Certainly," Ja'naço said. Rebecca took a pitcher of each from the window sill and carried them over. She poured each one a generous amount and then sat down herself.
"OK," Sam said, "I've only heard half the story, what happened after you left?"
"Well," Brigid said, "I'll tell you as much as I can. As you all know I shipped out for training, after I completed basic my squad was selected for advanced training on Ku-Lita. About ten days before the planet was glassed I was severally wounded in a live-fire drill and massively repaired. Most of my left arm is synthetic and my left eye. Right after that we crash-landed on an unknown planet and we've been fighting ever since."
"This is why we didn't want you to join the military," her mother said.
"Though I'm just glad we don't see any purple hearts," her father said, "Besides that one injury you've stayed safe." Brigid could not look her parents in the face.
"Your purple heart stands for a wound in battle?" Ja'naço asked. Sam nodded. "Our equivalent is called the Crimson Slash, Brigid has twelve." Her mother gasped.
"How scarred are you?" She asked, Brigid felt tears prick her eyes, but she ignored them.
"Very," Brigid replied. Her mother stood and walked towards the end of the enclosure, her arms crossed across her stomach.
"Now you see why we tried to stomp that tomboyishness out of you," she said, her voice wavering. Mr. McClain sighed an stood, setting a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"Rose," he said.
"Don't Rose me!" Her mother said, knocking his hand from her shoulder, "We're all thinking it, how could such a girl from good breeding end up like that! Hanging around with strange aliens and getting herself killed on some distant planet for no good reason! I don't understand how this happened, why couldn't she end up like Rebecca…"
"Leave me out of this!" Rebecca said, "It's you guys who made her like this."
"Wonderfully married and producing children!" Rose continued despite her daughter's interlude, talking right over her.
"Rose now is not the time or the place!" Her father said, yelling over both of the women. Brigid turned to Ja'naço, who looked rather embarrassed for mentioning Brigid's honor.
"Just look at her!" Rose said, "No person is that decorated without almost dying half a dozen times, look at your father! Look at Sam's father!"
"Don't you dare!" Sam said, "We both know my father was the best training Chief ever."
"They were both decorated and both disappeared!" Rose said, "When your father returned he was a paraplegic and nearly insane from over 20 battles." Brigid looked at her sleeve, she had been sent on well more than 197 missions and was still perfectly sane.
"My father is a hero," Sam said, "And the only reason I didn't enlist is because of my goddam Medical Condition!"
"Sam," Rebecca said, "Shh, we both know that you're right and she's just going to rant."
"SarRoseah control yourself," Patrick said, "We lost our daughter and we're going to loose her again if you're not careful."
"You lost her a long time ago," Rebecca said, "When you drove her out of here and brainwashed me."
"Becca," Sam said, "Your turn to calm down."
"They're the ones that killed her," Rebecca said, "They always hated her because she was strong enough to stand up to them and I was stuck playing the lapdog." The noise finally just rose until no one could understand each other. Brigid stood and fled into the arms of her brother, he wrapped his shiled around her and hid her from sight.
"Time to end this," he said, "Cover your ears." He also turned to the children,w ho could see him through the window, "You too little ones, cover your ears." They all obeyed as Ja'naço took in a large breath. He let loose a loud bellow that froze Brigid's family in their spots. "Much beter," Ja'naço said, realizing that Brigid was crying. "Brigid, hit the transponder and go out to the front to wait." He grntly wraaped her cloak around her and ushered her through the gate. Then he rounded on the family with a rage no one had ever seen.
"How dare you?" He said, very quietly. "That girl has been through more torture than you know to make sure that pitiful creatures like you can survive. You harp on her because she is scarred and ignore the medals of valor on her chest, and those aren't even half her decorations. She came here to see you because I thought it would be good for her to see her family again, but now I see that I made a mistake. You have never done anything to help her…"
"How dare you?" Rose began to ask, "You know noth…"
"I know more than you think Rose," he said, "You tried to get her to wear a white dress on her 16th birthday when she had a coming out party, but you were mad when she chose the green strapless. Then you tore your twins apart when Brigid stood up to you and robbed her of the only comfort she had. I can assure you that you shall never see your daughter again. Ms. Rebecca, you have a chance of talking to your sister again because of your defense of her and it is obvious that you still care for her, but know that I will never trust any of you near her." Ja'naço turned and stormed out, sitting next to his sister, who was talking on a communication device.
"Yeah, sure we'll come," she said, her tears drying, "No problem, we're on our way." Brigid's tears had dried and she was smiling. "Want to go see the Carias family?"
"Your ex-lovers house?" Ja'naço asked, confused.
"Yes," Brigid said, "But they're more my family than these people ever could be."
"Sure," Ja'naço said.
"And we'll be eating dinner," Brigid said, "I hope your hungry."
"I doubt they would have enough to feed me," Ja'naço said, Brigid laughed. "What's so funny?"
"You'll see," Brigid said as the car pulled up and they got in. Brigid gave the address to the driver and they took off for the short drive. Brigid told Ja'naço of her time with Michael when the Carias family opened their arms to her and their hearts. They welcomed her into the family for who she was, and supported her decision to join, even though Michael had broken up with her over it his parents had still sent her cards on her birthday and at holidays. It seemed all to son before they were at the Carias house and Brigid invited the Marines in with them for dinner.
Brigid entered the house and saw no one there. "Hello," she called. "Mrs. Carias?" She walked in and removed her cloak as the marines took off their helmets and set them on their respective beltclips. A voice sounded from the depths of the house, "In the kitchen Brigid." Brigid was surprised at the house, which seemed to have gotten bigger, and was happy to see that Ja'naço could fit easily. They entered the large kitchen and Brigid almost broke into tears of joy right there. Anna Carias turned from the sink and wiped her hands on a towel, the dimmuative woman had a great presence and a great smile, which she bore as she wrapped her arms around the clanking Brigid.
"Brigid," she said, "It is so good to see you again." She pushed back, smiling. "You've grown up, let me look at you." Brigid, to overwhelmed for words, stood at attention and let the loving eye roam over the decorations. "My goodness, how do you stand up straight when you're wearing that? It must be heavy. I know its regulation, but you'll probably want to take that tunic off for dinner. I'm afraid the kids and my husband are late coming back from their errands and I may need some help after the introductions are done." A timer rang near the oven. "Oh! Excuse me."
"I like this woman already," Ja'naço said. Brigid smiled, finding her voice. "Just wait."
"Are you sure we should be here ma'am?" One marine, his nameplate said French, asked.
"Sure," Brigid said, removing her tunic and draping in over her traditional chair next to Michael. "Trust me, she'll have half my platoon here before the night is out, and the foods better than mess anyway." Brigid still had her insignia on her high-collared shirt and her rank, but she looked much more comfortable as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her hair. Her hair was much longer now, nearing the sixteen centimeter regulation code. Anna returned and heavenly smells wafted over from the window sill.
"We'll stay," the other marine, a guy named Hayden, said.
"Looks like you have some new friends," she said as she rejoined her guests. "I assume this is the Hunter Daniel told me about?"
"My name is Ja'naço," he said, "I have heard nothing but good things about you Ms. Anna." Anna smiled.
"Pleasure to meet you Ja'naço," she said, "I just know I'll butcher your name before the night is over, so I ask forgiveness in advance."
"It is no problem," Ja'naço said, "My name is hard for the human tongue to form around, though you pronounced it correctly."
"Oh good," Anna replied, she turned to Hayden. "So what is your name?"
"Jon Hayden," he said, shaking her hand. She turned to French.
"Luke French," the other marine said, "Pleasure."
"It's nice to meet you boys," Anna said. Brigid felt so happy, she felt like she was really coming home. A knock came at the door. "Oh that's Chris," she turned on her way out of the door, "Sorry, it's a little hectic tonight, I feel so impolite, Chris is my husband and his hands are full." As Anna opened the door Brigid and her few escorts filed into the hall to help.
"Hello Anna," Chris said, kissing her despite the bags of food in his arms, "Brigid! I'd hug you but my hands are full." He turned to his wife, "Look what I found on the side of the road." Brigid's jaw dropped. In hovered Brian in his chair, Kyle, Jo and Sarge, all in civilian cloths. Along with them came Daniel with his girlfriend and the long list of Carias children. Jenna, still in college, entered with a very good looking guy on her arm and a child in her arms, she didn't have to clock her hand for a wedding band, it was there. Brigid smiled and hugged both the children as Maria and Joshua entered, the twins. Maira and Josh could hardly remember Brigid, they were getting ready to graduate highschool. There were other children in between, but they were far to many to name all at once. Brigid smiled as the last of the Carias children entered, though several others came. They all looked like they were in the military, and Brigid recognized a few faces. Than she saw a similar patch on their uniforms, they had all been in Charlie Company for basic training. She greeted them and they all remembered their days when her team had been known as the Charlie Company Clowns.
"All right everyone," Anna said, "Into the kitchen, I need help if I'm going to feed all of you tonight." Chris called Ja'naço out back to help with grilling food on the massive 30 foot grill and Brigid was called into the kitchen to help Jenna with making a salad. The two reconnected quickly as they chopped lettuce and vegetables. The chatted about different things and set the large groups of salad in one of the three refrigerators. When she went back to see Anna, the older woman sent her outside to the back compound.
"We have enough help darling," Anna said, "Why don't you go out back to the garden and relax before dinner?" Brigid nodded and slipped her way through the crowded room and patio before entering the garden through a moongate. She sighed and let the peace come over her as the sun set over the garden wall. Brigid walked over the bridge and paused to look over the small pond, bracing against the railing. She though back to several events in her life and tried to judge them as good or ill, she smiled, the blessings in her life far outweighed those that she counted as degrading. Still, even more often the bad events yielded a better outcome than normal. Brigid felt a cool breeze play across her face and blew her short hair around, she crossed her arms over themselves and held her elbows against the chill. She heard a sound behind her. Brigid spun to see Michael standing there on the bridge, a single white rose in his hand.
"Michael," Brigid said, her voice barely a whisper as the familiar name rolled off her tongue. He walked up to her, had was framed by the setting sun that gave her an ethereal glow. He handed her the rose and their hands met.
"Brigid," he said, their hands remaining close. He raised his other hand and ran it through her hair, cradling her neck. He moved closer and their lips brushed gently. Their hands parted as Michael placed his hand on the other side of her face, drawing her into a more intimate kiss.
"I will always…..and only…." Brigid heard Kulase say in her head. She stopped and stood still.
"I can't," she said as Michael stopped kissing her and drew back a few centimeters, "Not yet." Michael looked deep into her eyes and saw tears welling there.
"I understand," he said, dropping his hands. "There is someone else?"
"There was," Brigid said, she sighed. "Well, I'm not sure, it was complicated."
"Complicated?" Michael asked, when Brigid was silent he prompted, "Brigid, we were friends as well as a couple."
"He was a Sanghelli," Brigid said, "He wasn't human and I think that is the reason our relationship never went anywhere beyond friendship. But we were so close, almost as close to me as you were given how long we knew each other. It just seems that I would be doing his memory an injustice."
"What happened?" Michael asked, "Did he marry one of his own kind?"
"He sacrificed himself to the Covenant so that I wouldn't be captured," Brigid said. Michael stood up straighter.
"Excuse me, I have to go get my foot out of my mouth," Michael said, "And I can't really compete with that."
"I wouldn't want you to," Brigid said, "He signed up for the risk and knew it was a part of his job as a soldier."
"That doesn't make it any easier," Michael said, "I know how he must have felt not being able to have you." He sat on the bench and looked up at her. "I know that no amount of apologizing will make up for the way I acted six years ago…" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "God, it's hard to say this." He was quiet another moment and then looked directly into Brigid's eyes. "I didn't miss you right away, there was a while when I hated you for going away. Then I realized how miserable life was without you and I hated myself, I couldn't even bring myself to sign the cards my mom sent you. I convinced myself that you had moved on and that you deserved better than me." Brigid had to lean on the rail behind her, she wasn't used to be close to people anymore and it was a daunting fact to know that he was pouring his heart out. "That whole process took about three days, I always told myself that I'd come see you or I'd send you a letter, but it was always going to be the next day, the next week. Then you were transferred and we heard you were KIA. I lost myself after that. I quit my job, dropped out of school, and moved back home for two years. Mom and Dad were wrecks, then Danny signed up and I started hating him. Then I realized that I never hated myself and I never hated you, I was afraid Brige." He stood and walked next to her. "I was afraid of loosing you on some distant battlefield, and I thought that I'd loose my chance to be with you." He was close enough that she could feel his bodyheat, and she could feel his words deep in her soul and felt the tear Kulase's death had left start to come together again. "We were so young, and we'd only had two years together. I'm going to ask you what I had planned to long ago." Michael took a delicate chain from about his neck and removed something from it. It was a ring, and a big one at that, the diamond would have cost him a fortune six years ago. "Brigid, I would like you to marry me. I know that you aren't ready, but I'd like you to think about it, there has never been anyone but you. A girl would come and tell me she was interested, but she'd leave just as quickly, you're it for me. I'm ready to accept you now, I love you enough to let you go. However long it takes, however much time you need, I don't care, I'll be waiting."
"Michael," Brigid said, overwhelmed, "I have a family now on Ithil."
"I'll come to you," Michael said, "We'll live there and visit Earth every once in a while."
"You'd do that for me?" Brigid asked.
"I'll be packed in ten minutes," Michael, the sun had set and light ebbed from the sky entirely.
"I'm flattered Michael," Brigid said, "But you don't know anything about how I live. My current address is my starship and I'm jaunting all over the universe. You cannot come on my ship and it could be a few years between times you'd see me. Most of my missions are the kinds that survival chances are low, and the fights are just getting worse." Brigid looked foreword as she heard the lights being powered up. "And, there's something else…" Michael had not seen what happened to her body, and chances were that no man would find it desirable.
"What is it Brigid?" He set his hands on her shoulders just as the lights came up, illuminating the left side of her face. Brgid turned away and covered the scar with her hand. Michael's shoulders tensed once and he turned her shoulders back to her. The tenderness in his eyes and movements almost broke Brigid's heart. He gently removed her hand form her face and looked at her. He wasn't looking at her scar, or her mangled left arm that he was holding, he was looking into her mismatched eyes. "You're beautiful," he said. Brigid knew that she wasn't healed yet, but those two words went father than anything else. She reached up and offered her lips to Michael, he took them gently and never pushed a boundary. They separated, still sharing each others breath and Michael wrapped the tender girl in his arms. "I know you're not ready, and I'll wait until you are." Michael stepped back a little and looked at her. "Do you need to think?" Brigid nodded and Michael smiled, "I'll call you when dinner is ready." He kissed Brigid on the forehead and left her in the garden. Brigid sighed as the breeze played across her face again, she removed her boots and dangled her feet in the pond, the cool liquid felt good against her warm feet.
Kulase had loved her, that much was certain, and she had loved him back. She knew that Michael was a good man, and he would make her happy beyond her wildest dreams if she asked him to. Brigid lowered her head. Her heart still belonged to a Sanghelli laying cold in his grave on Ithil. She looked out, it would not be hard to love Michael. She tried the ring on her artifcal hand, it was a perfect fit. She removed the ring after a moment, she could not promise him anything until she had a heart to give him. Brigid put the ring back on the chain and fastened it around her neck. She sat out there a few more minutes before Chris came out to join her, barefoot as well and dageled her feet in the water.
"Brigid," he said.
"Mr. Carias," she replied.
"How are you?"
Brigid chuckled, "Complicated."
"Michael gave you his necklace?" Chris asked
"Yes," Brigid said, "But I'm not sure if I'll give it back at some point."
"He loves you Brigid," he said, "He knows that you need time and he's willing to wait." Chris stood and helped her up. "Don't beat yourself up Brigid, when you're ready you'll know it, there's no rushing grief. Now come on, put this behind you for now and have a good time, dinner's ready and we have the buffet ready. Your brother is a very good cook and he used several spices to make some good food."
"He is a good cook," Brigid agrees. Chris hugged her and Brigid hugged him back, she had long felt part of this family and Chris had been like her father for many years. She walked back through the moongate and was surprised to see that there were about twelve long tables with chairs placed end to end, save for half a table for Ja'naço, and then another four tables laden with food. Brigid took her seat between Ja'naço and Michael, Luke and Jon sitting across from her, chatting pleasantly with two girls from Basic who had been in first platoon. They were both Sergents and looked like two pretty tough broads. Michael held her hand as they said grace and helped Ja'naço though the buffet line without stepping on any of the children. They were all having a good time and Brigid had no trouble remembering to laugh. She laughed very hard when Ja'naço stopped eating and looked at the amount of leftovers and was surprised when Anna offered him more food. The night was over far to soon, and she had no reservations in giving Michael a way to contact her while on Ithil that couldn't be traced because all the messages would go through Firefly.
It wasn't long before she returned back to the apartment and the Marines volunteered to drive her anywhere she needed to go over her last few hours on Earth. She waved her hand over the ID scanner and logged in her voice/retina patterns. Ja'naço did the same and the pad informed her that there had been an entry and exit in the past few hours, she took no notice, it was probably an ONI spook looking for information.
"That was a pleasant evening," Ja'naço said as Brigid once again removed her dress jacket.
"Yes," Brigid said.
"Did that boy Michael ask you to be his mate?" Ja'naço asked.
Brigid sighed, "Yes."
"And…."
"I haven't given him an answer yet," Brigid said, entering the kitchen and living area, "I'm not ready yet."
"Still morning the loss of Kulase?" Ja'naço asked. Brigid nodded.
"I was just so close to him Ja'naço." She turned on a light and switched her boots for a pair of slippers. "Even if he was a Sanghelli, I loved him."
"I know," Ja'naço said, "And there's no doubt in my mind that he loved you back, I think he was waiting for a commission in the Resistance before pursuing you though. You're pretty intimidating in your uniform and I think he was daunted by your confidence in command."
"Yes," Brigid said, walking to sit down on the couch with a drink in her hand. "You know he never swore loyalty to the Resistance, he only swore loyalty to….AH!" Brigid dropped her drink to the floor as the light in front of her turned on, revealing Patrick sitting there with a bottle of Vodka in his hand. Brigid felt Ja'anço behind her in a moment and took a step back towards him. "Dad?"
"So you can't even spend a day with us?" Pat asked. Brigid could smell the alcohol on his breath from three feet away as 3/4 of the bottle was empty.
"Are you drunk?" She asked him.
"I've been drunk for seven years Brigid," Pat said, taking another swig, "It's the only way I could stay sane. You left us alone for another family, we were never good enough for you." He toppled the table in front of him and it flew across the room. Brigid knew that they were in a corner, it would be hard to stop a strong man like her father without killing him, and they were guests on the planet. Brigid backed into Ja'naço, who placed a protective arm around her. "Went off to play with your freak friends as always, couldn't stay with those who loved you."
"Daddy stop!" Brigid said as he approached her. Ja'naço began to growl. Patrick stumbled and caught himself on a chair.
"You were always running away from us," Pat growled. Then he began shouting incoherently at her, though what he said was somewhere along the lines of "good daughter, why can't you be like Rebecca, you loved an alien," and "I curse the day I screwed you mother." Brigid's father continued the rant as Ja'naço clutched Brigid close and called the MP's, trying to block her ears.
The MP's knocked on the door and Ja'naço turned to answer it, as he did Pat grabbed his daughter and there was a gun pointed at her head. "I'll kill you," Pat said, "You tore our family apart, and you are already dead, so I doubt that it would be a great loss." Brigid felt tears running down her cheeks and gripped her fathers wrist. Ja'naço roared and her father pulled the trigger involuntarily.
Brigid saw everything slower than she should have, she moved the gun away from her head and ducked at the same time. She felt the bullet pass through her longer hair and continued ducking. She felt her father's arm break beneath her fingers and bones snapped out of his arm. He screamed as everything came back to real time and Brigid removed the gun from his fingers. The MP's and Ja'naço stood in wonder.
"Woah," one of the MP's said.
"What was that?" Ja'naço asked. Brigid raised an eyebrow as her father cradled the arm that was broken in five places, crying. "I think you just reached your full potential when your adrenaline spiked."
"Oh," Brigid said. She calm again as her system calmed and realized what just happened. Tears pricked at her eyes.
"I'm getting her out of here," Ja'naço said, strapping on his cannon and setting Brigid in his shiled and draping her legs over the weapon. "Please arrange for our luggage to be brought to the base." Brigid was drained and Ja'naço got her to the safety of a military guard as soon as he could. He also contacted Jo to send down a shuttle to pick them up ASAP to get her off the planet. Ja'naço strapped the girl into a chair and brought up the autopilot and setting Killjoy in charge of the ship. Brigid would have to wait until she was back on Revenge before changing back into her armor.
Brigid looked back on the planet she was born on. She had fought for so long to keep people on that planet safe. Her eyes had dried, but her beautiful night was ruined. She stared out of the window as Killjoy manipulated the shuttle back to the Revenge. "I'm never going back" Brigid said.
"What?" Ja'naço asked.
"I'll never go back," Brigid said, "I'm denouncing my heritage, my home is on Ithil. I'll never come back here while my parents live."
"What about Michael? What about the Carias family?"
"I'll go to a different planet and the can visit me," Brigid said, "But unless our fight takes us here and I'm ordered to fight down there I'll never willingly step on Earth again." Brigid turned and looked out over the vast vacuum of space, she could not see her planet from her own solar system, and she couldn't wait to be back on the Revenge.
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Tenna' ento lye omenta
(Until we next meet)
Verya