"Commander Hamato, have you reconsidered my plea bargain offer?" asks Lieutenant Commander Michael Sarakian.

Commander Arihiso Hamato looks at the judge advocate who is his prosecutor. Sarakian wears the Class Alphas, with a white coat that has two one-inch stripes and one half-inch stripe on the sleeves, and a brass oak leaf insignia on the shirt's mandarin collar which is visible. Hamato himself has three one-inch stripes on his sleeves and a silver oak leaf insignia on his collar. Hamato then glances at his lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Sari Priyatosh, whose tank stripes and insignia are identical to Commander Sarakian's.

"Commander, I must decline your offer," says Commander Hamato.

"We will see you in court, sir," replies the trial counsel.

They all walk through a set of double doors, leading to a large room in Admin Building 50. The place has some wooden benches that look a little like church pews. In front are two wooden tables with chairs. In the rear is a podium, with a chair to its right. Behind the podium is the flag of the United Nations and the flag of the United Earth Forces.

Hamato and Priyatosh sit on the table to the left, while Sarakian sits on the table to the right.

A man appearing to be in his mid-twenties walks to the space between the tables and the stand in the back. He wears a blue crackerjack outfit. A red neckerchief is around his collar,. Three stripes on his blue sleeve tell everyone that he is a sergeant.

"All rise," he says. "General court-martial in session. The Honorable Jaquan Thompson, Captain, United Nations Spacy, presiding."

The two judges advocate look as the judge approaches the bench. They recognize him, having met with him before. He is a man with dark black skin and tightly curled black hair. He wears eyeglasses on his face, eyeglasses that he briefly removes and wipes before placing them over his eyes again. His white sleeves have four one-inch stripes.

Captain Thompson reads the charges. "How does the defendant plead?" he asks in a deep, baritone voice.

"Not guilty on all charges, your Honor," replies Commander Hamato.

"Your Honor," says Commander Priyatosh, "I would like a continuance for three months- around late June."

"I object, sir," says Commander Sarakian. "If it pleases this court, could we begin the trial the second Monday for today. It should be enough time for both me and my colleague here to prepare."

"I prefer quick trials," says the judge. "But my preference for quick trials must yield to other considerations sometimes. I am sure you both aware that the son of the Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces was involved. Commander Hamato is alleged- and I repeat, alleged- to have caused his serious injuries due to his alleged disobedience of orders and alleged dereliction of duty. And while I personally feel that I can judge this case impartially despite this relationship, this court-martial will play it safe. Admiral Rick Hunter is due to retire in two months, after which time, there will not be even the illusion of a conflict of interest. Therefore, preliminary depositions shall begin on Monday, June 16th. Witness lists are due to this court by 0900 June 2nd. If you have pretrial motions, the sooner they are filed, the better. The closer they are filed to June 2nd, the more likely I am to hit the delete button.

And I will remind counsel that if either of you want further continuances, you had better have a good fucking reason. Got that?"

"Sir, yes, sir," snap Commanders Sarakian and Priyatosh.

"Court is adjourned." The judge bangs a wooden gavel.

Oooooo

Cadet Roy Hunter was breathing extremely heavily, feeling a wind go in and out of his lungs. He could feel a burn building up in his leg muscles. He, along with three dozen other plebe cadets, were running around the track at the United Earth Forces Academy, with upperclassmen cadet NCO's barking orders and yelling at them to run faster. He and the other cadets all wear shorts and T-shirts, with the T-shirts reading "UEF ACADEMY" on the front. This was once again a PT session to get the prospective future officers of the United Earth Forces in shape.

Hunter kept running and running. Sweat went down his forehead and some of it got into his blue eyes. He had to keep going, despite his legs telling him no. he felt as if he ran a long enough distance to run all the way to Earth, where construction of new campus was almost complete.

Roy heard a whistle...

ooooo

..and he holds on to the stainless steel handlebars as he moves his left leg before setting his left foot on the ground.

"Very good," says the corpsman serving as a physical therapist's assistant.

The patient tries to take another step. He almost falls, keeping himself from falling by holding the handlebars tight.

"That's as much as I can take," says Roy.

"It is going to be a long journey, sir. It's much less a hundred meter dash than it is a long march through the wilderness."

"I just need to get the strength back on my leg muscles."

the corpsman helps the lieutenant into his wheelchair. Hunter looks down and sees the metal braces strapped to his legs. He then looks up and sees his mother, Lisa Hayes-Hunter.

"Hi, Mom," he says.

"Roy," she says. She wears a sleeveless green blouse and khaki trousers.

"We can go to the dining area." Roy grabs a circular handle around the wheels. "At least this wheelchair allows me to maintain my upper body strength."

The Spacy lieutenant rolls down the hallway as his mother walks behind him. They both enter the visiting room. It looks the same to both of them as before, with several tables and chairs. A bookcase is in the corner.

"The food here is actually decent," says Lisa. "comparable in price to a diner.."

"It's free for me," says her son. "At least until I'm finally discharged from the hospital. I'm just glad I'm able to start my physical therapy. I mean, I do want more variety ion my time aside from staring at a book or a screen"

"When I was an admiral over ten years ago, I spent half of the day staring at the screen at my desk, reading reports and typing up messages."

"I understand. Commander Hamato was hands on, and he must have spent a third of the workday at his desk."

"I have heard about the court-martial."

"I don't know what to think, Mom," says Roy. "I mean, he cut corners, sure, but so many have done that"

"I can tell you stories about how your father cut corners way back during the SDF-1 Campaign." Memories from four and a half decades ago arise in Lisa's mind. She recalls the first time she ever spoke to Rick Hunter, when he was flying a small private planer to the island where a refurbished alien starship- the same starship that had brought robotechnology to Earth- was about to start its maiden voyage. "Speaking of him, he couldn't make it. He's working on setting up his departure from the military. Hard to believe it takes up so much of his time."

"I'm still wondering what I'll do. Will I still even be allowed to stay on active duty?"

"You could be a civilian space pilot," suggest Lisa. "I mean, you look like you can move a stick, rudder, and throttle. And you have a degree from one of the most prestigious universities in human history. Now, I'll be here on Tirol for a few days before I head back to Galaxy City to help your dad prepare for his retirement. I could rent a van with a wheelchair lift. Maybe we can go out to downtown Tiresia, pay a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Katsulas. I have not been there."

"I once went on a field trip with the class there." Roy smiles. "I look forward to it."

oooooo

Located at the L4 point of the Earth-Sol system, Galaxy City is a large, ten mile wide, irregularly space habitat that serves as the capital of the United Earth Government. The interior chambers are of course pressurized to an air pressure of seven hundred sixty millimeters of mercury. Hundreds of spacecraft dock and dedock every day, some of them coming from or going to the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy. The primary source of power for this city in space is a reflex furnace the size of a skyscraper.

Aside from apartment buildings, condominiums, retail outlets, factories, and workshops, there are government buildings for the most important ministries of the United Earth Government. And inside Galaxy City is the Citadel, the Headquarters of the United Earth Forces Supreme Command, which, on the behalf of the United Nations Secretary General and General Assembly, exercises command over the entirety of the United Earth Forces. The tall, 112-story main building, is, of course, where the Supreme Commander, the Joint Chiefs, and the officers and enlistees that assist them in their command functions have their offices. And another building on Citadel grounds is a clubhouse. The clubhouse has an open bar and multi-purpose rooms, similar to what many of the mid-tier and up hotels in the city have.

And the multi-purpose rooms had been combined into one for they have been reserved for the retirement supper for Admiral of the Space and Sea Fleets, and General of the Armies, Air Forces, and Marine Forces Richard S. Hunter, the Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces. The room has several circular tables and one long table, all covered in white tablecloths. The room already has guests, most of them in the respective dinner dress uniforms of their respective services of the United Earth Forces, others are civilians in fine clothing their culture would wear for these type of events.

Waiters in waistcoats, white collared shirts, and bow ties walk around, offering hors d'ouerves such as cubed cheeses, mushrooms stuffed with bacon and cheese, water crackers, and cured meats such as salami and bologna. An open bar offers a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. A cloth-covered table inside the room has containers for coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and ice water; the guests can use the attached faucets to pour themselves a drink. Many of the guests are clumped in circles, chatting with each other about recent events in their lives, memories of past battles, or current events.

Third Lieutenant Roy Hunter is among these guests. He wears black dress shoes, white trousers, a white collared shirt, a red waistcoat, red bowtie, and a white jacket over them. At the end of each long sleeves is one one-inch stripe. Metal braces hold up his legs, and he grips two canes with his hands, ands his wrists are surrounded by a stainless steel hoops, welded to the canes.

There are not too many people of his rank here. Most of the people of his father's peer group are in their forties to sixties, most of them wearing rank markings indicating they are of an officer grade of O-6 and above, or an enlisted grade of E-6 and above. The lieutenant recognized two of the Joint Chiefs- the entire Joint Chiefs are here; one of the vice service chiefs is sequestered away on a robotech vessel in an undisclosed trajectory, in the event something would happen that would do far worse than end this retirement party prematurely.

"Hard to believe this is the end," says Bela, having just eaten a small, one cubic centimeter piece of Swiss cheese.

"Yeah," replies Roy. He looks at the woman. She is six foot six, with auburn hair. She wears a fine black dress. She is a Praxian who had actually fought alongside his father during the Sentinels Campaign- a campaign Roy had read and watched about in real time while he had been growing up. Roy had met Bela twice or thrice before; the first time when he was about eight years old. "You think the way life is would go on forever. I thought the routine of the Academy would go ion until I graduated. Then I went to V-School, and I felt it would go on forever until that crash."

"I definitely want to catch up with him later," replies the Praxian. "Tomorrow, I fly to Planet Windermere IV to visit my baby nephew."

"Windermere IV?"

"It's in the Brisingr Globular Cluster. My little sister is married to Crown Prince Gramis Nerich Windermere and her new baby boy is Second Crown prince Heinz Nerich Windermere. Not only is he second in line for the Throne of the Wind, he is my nephew and Arla-Non's grandson. Who would have thought my mother would have a grandson. I never imagined it possible."

"Yeah," says Roy. "I mean, I know you Praxians were descended from a lost female Zentraedi space fleet, back when the Zentraedi had just been created . You reproduced by cloning."

"And now we do so by more...conventional means. Anyway, young Roy, there are other people I could chat with."

"Sure," replies Roy, watching as Bela talks to some uniformed senior officers whom she no doubt worked with in the past. And so the guests chat and have drinks for about twenty minutes or so, with many pictures being taken with smart telephones.

"Attention!" snaps a man.

Roy looks and sees a purple-haired man in a similar outfit to his, except his jacket is colored blue and has many more medals. The sleeves have four stars. The lieutenant recognizes the man as General Gunther Reinhardt, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Everyone have a seat," continues the general. "Phones off."

Roy uses his canes to walk to his seat at the cloth-covered table, while the other guests walk ton their seats more quickly. He sits down. Moving around in a wheelchair can be quicker at times; he knows he has to give his healing legs practice.

Reinhardt stands at the head of the table, standing up at looking at the guests.

"Everyone," he continues. "We are glad you could all spare time to come here to Galaxy City for this special occasion. For many of you here, you did not have a choice, you were ordered here by Supreme Command. As President of this Mess, it is my honor to introduce to you, the guest of honor, a man who dedicated over forty years of his life in service of and defense of humanity. I introduce unto you, a man I am proud to call friend, the Supreme Commander of the United Earth Forces, Admiral of the Space and Sea Fleets, and General of the Army, Air, and Space Marine Forces Richard S. Hunter!"

Admiral Rick Hunter enters the room, accompanied by his wife Lisa. The retiring admiral wears the same type of outfit that his son is wearing, aside the the many more medals pinned to his white jacket, the lack of leg braces over his legs, and a two-inch stripe and four one-inch stripes on each sleeve.

Retired Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter wears a skirt skirt, white blouse, red bowtie, and a white jacket Many medals are pinned to her jacket. There is a two-inch stripe and three one-inch stripes on each sleeve.

He and his wife take a seat at the cloth-covered table.

Waiters then serve the first course to the guests- a mixed green salad and some bread rolls. The salad has raspberry vinaigrette, shredded cheddar cheese, and croutons.

Reinhardt bites his bread and swallows. He then sticks a fork into his salad, places some greens listening with vinaigrette into his mouth, chews a few times, and swallows.

"The salad and bread are fit for consumption," says the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Roy and the other guests start eating the salad and bread. The salad has a slightly sweet taste. Many of the guests drink water or beer. Many of the guests chat with each other.

And then the main course is served. The entree is either herb crusted prime rib and lobster served with drawn butter and horseradish sauce, grilled chicken breast and lobster with drawn butter and horseradish sauce. Also included is a mashed vegetable medley. For vegetarians, there is a double serving of the mashed vegetable medley.

General Reinhardt slices a piece of prime rib, dips it into the creamy horseradish, puts it in his mouth, chews it, and swallows it. "the meat is fit for consumption," he says.

Immediately after, Roy and the guests start their main course. Ir is perhaps half an hour before almost all of the guests finish the main course.

"And now our guest of honor wants to start his speech for you all," says Reinhardt.

Admiral Hunter stands up. "Hello, everyone, I hope you enjoyed your dinner," says the Supreme Commander. "It has been a busy few days working to make sure I have a smooth departure. Just this morning, I returned from Space Station Vigilance. The latest update is that the Haydonites are still behaving themselves.."

Roy listens as the speech continues. He and the others then clap when the retiring admiral concludes his speech. The guests start talking to each other, with some going to the now-cash bar to order more alcoholic beverages.

Roy speaks with Max and Miriya Sterling, two longtime family friends. Max wears eyeglasses on his face and has blue hair; hears an outfit similar to the one Roy is wearing, with more medals on his jacket and oner two-inch stripe and one one-inch stripe on each sleeve. Miriya has green hair tied in a ponytail; she wears an outfit similar to the one being worn by Lisa, except that she has four one-inch stripes on each sleeve.

Miriya projects a hologram from her phone. The image of two baby girls is projected; they all wear soft, light-colored clothing. "Amber Nicole Sterling and Ashley Nadine Sterling," she says. "Our newest grandchildren. Tomorrow, we take a flight to Earth to spend a week with them."

"Yeah, these days I want to catch up with family," says Max.

"It is the end of an era," says Roy. "I mean, not just for my dad. The medical review board said I won't be fit for duty. My discharge becomes effective midnight Greenwich Time, tonight. After that, no one in the Hunter family will be on active duty in the United Earth Forces."

"Hard to imagine it was forty-four years," says Rick Hunter, sipping some vodka.

"I spent so many weeks undergoing these exams, like the ones I had during my last year at the Academy, before V-School would admit me," says Roy. "I had my entire skeleton scanned, close-ups of my legs, neuro tests, even this test where I pressed a clicker if I saw a squiggly line in some viewscope, peripheral vision or something. I guess I'll have to look for a civilian career. I actually applied for some jobs as a pilot or mechanic- TransGalactic, of course, and some up and coming company called Xaos."

"Well, if you';re a pilot, all you nee4d is to be able to move the stick, throttle, and rudder," says Max.

"And what will you do now?" Miriya asks Rick and Lisa.

"We are looking for a place to live on Earth," answers Lisa. "Somewhere where you can drive to Main Street in less than ten minutes, and drive the other way to the open countryside in less than ten minutes."

"Our boy lives on Earth," says Max. "He might have a few ideas on where on Earth you and Rick could live."

"Or that fighter pilot who crash landed on Earth," suggests Miriya. "Gathered a ragtag band of freedom fighters to resist alien occupation. Bernardo, I think his name was."

"I might look him up," says Rick.

"Could we head to the balcony?" asks Roy.

"Sure," replies Lisa.

They all walk out through some doors into the balcony. Roy Hunter can see the equivalent of the Galaxy City skyline, with its tall towers, many of the windows lit. This city does not sleep. Having been here on more than one occasion, he knows there are places where you can get a burger or a pizza or chow fun at 0400.

He places on his peaked cap. He looks to his father, who had also put on his peaked cap.

He bends his right arm so that the side of his palm is against the peak of his cap. "Admiral Hunter, congratulations on your retirement, sir," he says.

Rick returns the salute. "Thank you, Lieutenant Hunter," the admiral replies. "I wish you well in your civilian life."