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Fates Mates & Pirates - 10. Chapter 10
“Good morning, Captain Alexander. Captain Armstrong sends her compliments and breakfast. She requests you on the Bridge in 30 minutes for Docking at Joshua ‘77 Station.” I shot up in bed fast, looking for my Link.
“What time is it, Brian?”
“10:00 hours Captain. Sa Armstrong saw you were working very late last night and instructed your Link not to wake you at 06:00.”
“Pass along my thanks please and I’ll be up presently.”
“Aye Sa.” I arrived in 25 minutes walking across the Bridge to Grandma’s seat.
“Thank you.” She looked over at me.
“You were obviously busy last night according to the Link’s I have received throughout the night and this morning. You’ll have a few of your own that will need to be dealt with as soon as we can get you alone with Adam.” She gave me a knowing smile before continuing.
“Your Marines are on Station and you have a rather large gaggle awaiting our arrival. The plan is to get you up to the Family Quarters as fast as we can. I also thought you needed a good night’s sleep for the, how shall we say, after the reception party?” Now her leer made me laugh.
“Grandma. Please get your mind out of the gutter. It’s scaring me.” Her cackle was heard throughout the Bridge.
“We’ve clearance and are Docking at the far end of the Dock all the other ships are on.” I had started to move and froze. Sadness clouded my face, then melted away in a hopeful look.
“Is Agamemnon here?” She sat up and leaned forward.
“Yes Marc. Your sister is a Captain and will do her duty regardless of personal pain. Just like you will. Besides, she wanted to meet the person who has your heart.” Her look was a cross between encouragement and amusement. She motioned to the spot between the Helm stations as she turned to look out the forward view port, and I moved to stand in my place. We were approaching the hangar doors, almost ready for entry. Robert had the Helm today as Mike looked on.
“Did you have time to look over the new courses, Mike?”
“Yes Sa.”
“Try your best to get through as many as possible before we head out mining.” He looked over his shoulder at me with a smile.
“Aye Captain. Thank you.” I nodded as I watched our approach and tapped a few keys enlarging the Hanger Viewing Gallery and tapped a few more keys, causing a side window to open, showing several squads of what must be my Battle Armored Marines standing at attention in salute. I scanned back to the Viewing Gallery again and enlarged my Adam so I could see his face clearly. That smile, those eyes sparkling. Giving myself a mental shake, I zoomed out to catch who was around him. I stood to attention and slammed my right fist into my chest over my heart in salute. His smile disappeared. He went ramrod straight as he called everyone to attention and saluted. I nodded and dropped my salute. Returning to parade rest. I brought my Link up again to tap out a code. As we slid closer to the Dock and the Docking clamps engage.
“Good morning Marc.”
“Good morning Adam. I’m home, love.” He looked at me with a half smile.
“Are we going to live here?” I shrugged.
“I don’t know, Adam, but home for me is wherever you are.” The smile that grew on his face held a promise of things to come later. 10 minutes later we were Docked and secured. My gravtrunk and gear were all ready to go as I left the ship to my Marines and Adam. The Marines formed a perimeter around us as we hugged. No words were said between us, none were needed. Our touches said it all as we kissed. The longing, the desire, the happiness, the relief, each other was safe. We separated and Adam raised a hand, spinning a finger in the air. I raised an eyebrow as we moved.
“Our Marines now. Did you see the shoulder flash?” He said. I looked at the nearest Marine. It read Alexander-Knight House Guards and a new design.
“Marines Halt.” I barked out, causing us to stop abruptly, and went to look at one closer as Adam looked on, amused. “Interesting. Looks good.” Pausing, I turned. “Who designed it?” I asked as I signaled for us to continue.
“Myself, Lt. Peters, an artist and a few of the Marines.” I squeezed his hand as I smiled.
“What else have you been up to?” He chuckled.
“I had help from our families getting our quarters ready. It is a nice location.”
“I thought you might like it. I am glad I was right. What else?”
“We’ll have to discuss that in the office. We are on our way there now after we detour to our quarters so we can change into something more comfortable. And our new Dress Uniforms are ready. My Dad will get here in a couple of hours. Mom and I will meet him. You’ll be too busy, but we’ll bring him to you. And everything else has to wait.” I nodded.
“You’ve been busy, I see.”
“I see you were busy last night, too. Did you get enough sleep?”
“Yes love. Grandma Armstrong let me sleeping until 30 minutes before we arrived.” He looked down, and those eyes sparkled again as he smiled.
“Good. We have a long day ahead of us. The next few, actually.” We walked through the Station and headed up the lifts to our deck. As soon as the doors closed, I grabbed Adam to me and kissed him. Sliding my tongue into his mouth, exploring until I heard the lift chime, and stepped away. The blush that climbed up his cheeks was so cute. I wanted to kiss him again, but the doors had opened. The LT took us down the passageway and stopped in front of a hatch. Adam took the arm with my Link on the wrist and programmed in the code, then waved me to the hatch with a flourish.
“After you, my Marc.” I gave him a dip of my head as I palmed the switch and the hatch opened. I walked in and looked around. We had some furniture and a few personal items, but it wasn’t finished. “We picked a few things that everyone thought you would like just to be able to live here tonight, but I was waiting for you to pick the rest with me to make it our home.” I turned and this time we were alone. He pulled me into a hug and a kiss. This was slower, more sensual, as he let me know just how much he missed me. I returned the feelings and caresses before we separated. “Come on, we can help each other out of our armor.” He led me to the bedroom and a small room off to the side. He had a Secure Stand-Up Armory installed, as well as two armor lockers. A small changing bench and Armorers worktable.
“Nice set up, love.”
“Thank you.” We started working together to remove and check our Armors. I pointed out some things he should check that I didn’t see him checking. He cleaned both sets as we set them away to purge and recharge in the Armor lockers. I opened the Armory to store our weapons and whistled at the collection already there.
“I brought all of mine. If we need another Armory, we could put a small one in the bedroom for Dress and everyday wear weapons.”
“We’ll have to see. I might leave mine down in Low Point Station and we could just share everything between the two locations. If that’s all right with you?” Adam wrapped his arms around me from behind.
“Yes baby. That would be fine. I may add to it if you don’t have something I want and you can add to this set too. No reason we can’t have multiple sets of weapons and armors, for that matter.” I leaned back into him as he kissed my neck.
“I could stay like this all day, Adam.” He chuckled.
“My monster.”
“Yes Adam. Your monster.” Kissing me again before releasing me.
“Unfortunately, we have a lot of work to do.” I sighed as we broke apart and Adam led me out of our quarters and to the office that was set up down the passageway from my family’s quarters on the next deck up. I found we had expanded the original office area to three times its original size, and it was full of people I didn’t know. Adam started explaining the layout and introducing me to people as we walked through to one of the conference rooms where I found Captain Wynn, Lt. Peters, and both of our sets of grandparents going over different systems and sectors. Our arrival interrupted them as everyone came over to welcome me with hugs and handshakes. Grandpa Alexander had a twinkle in his eye as he waved a hand at all the information set out on the table.
“We are going over your Grand Tour for after our mining operation tomorrow. We’re not going to get as much time as we thought, but it should still be profitable. Check over these destinations and see if they are good enough for your first tour.” My grandpa Alexander said. I looked at Adam.
“They took the list we talked about and worked out a few from each of us and a few they suggested. We’ll be gone about two weeks with 8 or 9 stops.”
“Are you happy with the list?” He nodded as I walked over and looked at the proffered list. Then the other tour lists and nodded to myself as Adam came up behind me, causing me to step back into him. He wrapped his arm around me as he looked over my shoulder. “I am assuming this is subject to change, and I see we are making rounds of our new areas first.” I said. Adam nodded on my shoulder.
“I’m assuming we are staying in High Sec for the foreseeable future?” Asked Adam.
Grandpa Alexander answered that one. “You’ll probably need to home base from here while we are setting things up. It doesn’t have to be permanent.”
“And what about the Guild and the ratting sweeps? How will that fit in?” Captain Wynn looked around, and Grandpa Alexander nodded to him.
“I will be your transport for the foreseeable future. The Alexander-Knight House Guards are already transferred on board to conduct ship boarding and repel boarders training. Your quarters are almost ready and the associated office area, as well as the berthing spaces for the staff coming with us. We are in the industrial hangar to have some upgrades completed and should be ready in three days. We will also act as your flagship for the ratting party. At this point, we look like we will have two fleets plus auxiliaries, but we don’t know when we are heading out yet and we are going to use your idea about sending in the scouts as soon as possible.”
“Thank you Captain. After our first tour, I am sure we will have some ideas for the future ones, but I think our second will be down to Low Sec?” I paused, looking at Adam, who nodded. “So I can take Adam on a tour of our facilities there. Possibly we’ll do that right after the ratting sweeps for best effect.” He nodded, as did my grandfathers.
“If you have no further need of Captain Wynn, Marc?”
“Not at this time, Grandpa. I figured I’d just ride on this trip and ask questions once on board as I get the feel of how they operate.” Grandpa Alexander smiled at me.
“I think we will get out of your hair for today, Captain. We’ll see you tonight at the reception.”
“Aye Sa’s” I waited for the Captain to leave before asking.
“What of those Corporations I flagged last night to be looked into?” Grandpa Knight tapped a few keys and pulled up the files.
“We looked at them this morning and they are all on their way here for discussions in two days. We feel they are good for a quick and easy addition, with little in the way of concessions. Probably should wrap them up in two days. You can meet them when you get back from the Wormhole. What about the others?” He looked at me with a knowing look.
“I will look at them again for the next round, but everyone was specialized. I prefer diversification. In the end, I will most likely pick four with good standing in their areas of expertise we need to bring in.” Grandpa Alexander just looked at the elder Knight.
“See what I mean.”
“Indeed I do. Good choices Marc.”
“Thanks Grandpa.” He smiled at me before looking back at Grandpa Alexander.
“I have nothing else. We should probably pry them apart and send them over to Amelia and Edna.” He chuckled.
“Yeah. Good luck with that.” I smiled as I snuggled back, and Adam wrapped his other arm around me.
“OK, you two. Off to the ladies for your briefing on tonight. And your Dad is on final Adam.” Adam separated and took my hand.
“OK. Thanks. We’ll see you two at lunch,” Adam said. I chuckled as he pulled me out of the room and headed to the next stop for today with Lt Peters behind us. We entered the room and besides our family members, we had four newsies sitting with us. We were introduced to them all. Adam already knew the one person from the trip out. He was going with us on our tour and had an assistant coming in a few days. Amelia had to excuse herself with Adam after 15 minutes to go meet Brendan’s ship. The evening’s festivities were outlined and the Sector Governor would arrive in 2 hours with the other 3 just before the function. My Marines were being spread thin, but Lt Peters informed me that the Honor Guard details would be handled by the Black Haven’s Platoon. I nodded, and we continued. One of the newsies had given me advice on how to handle questions. Grandma Alexander had released the newsies and Lt. Peters before going over my speech as we waited for Amelia and Adam to return. She also gave me a list of the ships and their locations, as well as what route we would be taking. Order was set by the ship’s docking berth.
* * *
“Have you seen my Dress Stars?” I heard a chuckle.
“Are they in your left pocket?” I reached my hand into it and smiled. “Yes love. Thank you.” We spent 30 minutes fussing over each other’s uniforms. They were new and a little stiff, but the family had settled on the uniform changes for us under the Alexander-Knight Interstellar Industries Flag and colors.
“It’s time. Are you ready for this Marc.” Tiredness of the political maneuvering already today with all the Politicians and Corporate CEOs had drained me. Adam could see the change in my attitude earlier. I really didn’t feel like it tonight.
“About as ready as I was the first time. But I will do what needs to be done.” He took my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles as we walked out to our Marines. We formed up with the rest of our platoon and made our way to the Docks. It was good to see Tristan again, and the others we collected on our way through. I had talked to Adam about Caitlin so he would understand why I would be upset when we picked her up and she was the last. I’m sure Grandma had a hand in making sure her stop was last. We stopped at the Lock and Adam stepped towards it. Waving me to stay. He entered and a few minutes later, he appeared with Caitlin on his arm. She stopped near me and I said the only thing I could say.
“Good evening Captain Alexander. If he didn’t already introduce himself, I would like you to meet my boyfriend and one of the people you helped me save, Adam Knight. Adam, this is my sister Caitlin.” She smiled at me.
“Yes Captain. Grandma told me who he was, and he introduced himself while offering to escort me to you.” She was, well. Formal. Speaking from one Officer to another. It hit me hard, and I had to use every ounce of self-control to contain my own emotions. Adam had ushered her into position next to her escort’s Captain. Then stood next to me and grasped my hand in a tight grip to get my attention. He smiled at me and I took a moment to look into those eyes to absorb the love I saw. To gain strength from him. I gave him a weak smile back and nodded my thanks as I signaled for us to move. I took several deep breaths as we began marching and worked our way to the reception hall. They knew we were coming because the new house flag flew while our bagpipes and drums had sounded up. It looked like a parade, and it felt like it was with people lining the passageways to watch us pass.
People were seated, waiting for us to arrive. The Marines had been lined on each side of the entryway. They looked immaculate in the Dress Black uniforms with sidearms and swords. Not as good as our Marines, but good enough. As we approached, people quieted down. As quiet as 500 people could be in an enclosed space. We had one more wide swing to make before we entered directly down the center of the Guard at the entrance. I heard the call. Like a drill instructor from my Officers’ Candidate Schooling with CONFED Navy.
“Draw Swords. Arch Salute.” Followed by the distinct sound of metal drawing across metal as swords were pulled from scabbards as we approached. Then, from inside the hall, I heard.
“Attention On Deck.” As chairs scraped the deck with people jumping to attention. Our colors passed through, aligned dead center to not touch any of the swords with the Bagpipes and drums following silently except for the drum cadence. The column continued as we marched under the Swords behind two squads of our Marines who had drawn swords in salute promptly went to attention behind their seats off to one side. Adam and I saluted as we crossed through under the swords, as did the rest of the Captains. They followed me up onto the raised stage and stood behind their seats as we waited for the last squad to follow the steps of the first two. Once the last man stopped moving and stood at attention, the drumbeat stopped.
“Be Seated.” Came the command from my mouth. “To explain why you are here this evening and not getting a Link message, which would have saved me a great deal of credits in food, liquor and beer for my Marines.” I let the laughing stop.
“Let’s walk through the history of the events in question from my point of view. I was awoken at 04:00 hours with the invitation to get my ass onto a ship within thirty minutes. Yes, Captains get those calls too.” Another pause as the laughter died down. “I arrived at the Solar Flare and we departed Low Point Station for High Sec. A series of jumps that would take us through 5 Sectors before hitting High Sec. As has been known of late, the pirate factions are building up again. Even with cloaking technology, it was a fun ride. Wasn’t it Tristan?” I asked as I looked over to my left.
“Yeah, real fun, not,” he said from my left. We paused for the laughter.
“We ended up sitting in an asteroid field for 40 minutes to let the Jump Capacitors recharge. It was after we had made it to High Sec to our first stop that our escort ship Commanded by Tristan had gone on their way as we went on ours the next day. That was when we received a very faint mayday signal while I was in Command of the vessel. I directed the ship on an approximate course as I had an idea which asteroid belt it had originated from. I had also called Captain Armstrong to the Bridge, as I needed to be able to do what I do best once we arrived. Run the roids from the Helm position. I was able to work out three possible areas in the belt that the signal had come from my experience and I chose which one I wanted to run, asking for the other ships that had answered our call for help to search the other routes. It took us longer than expected to find our wayward friends, as we were finding a large amount of other wrecks. Once we found them, we encounter many other problems associated with working a crashed vessel in an asteroid field. One of those caused me to use the ship as a shield from the river of dust that was flowing past where we needed to be. Another was the away team had to cut their way into the ship as the hatch was buckled. We had an increase in rogue asteroids come at us, which meant I had to turn the ship yet again so we were bow on, into the flow. That meant our Flitter couldn’t return to us. After having them skip across the surface to get to the, shall we say, downstream side of the asteroid, we maneuvered in as close as we could to pick them up. It was in the middle of this operation that, due to all the issues previously mentioned, we were spotted and the area became crowded. We had two hostiles inbound. Not being able to cloak due to all the rogue asteroids, we had to call in fire support while we ran. I sent out an urgent message before we departed the rock, because I knew we had a survey team in the area. I just didn’t know where. It was getting rather crowded down there towards the end. Luckily, Antagonist was able to send down some drones and destroy one hostile at the loss of several of their drones. That meant we had to continue running as they sent down more drones to stop the second hostile. It was during this time that the hostile was able to close and get a good lock on us. We had already out foxed a few shots and one missile, but this time we had a problem. It was too close. If it wasn’t for the target lock activating on my Jump Drive systems plot, we wouldn’t be here now. This story is not to pat myself on the back. I don’t work that way. I train my personal crews hard and I give them the recognition they deserve for that hard work. A Captain is only as good as their least trained crew member, because at the end of the day. It’s the team that is well trained and works together seamlessly, that survives in the Low Secs of our Region of space. I was one of many people that worked hard that day on many different ships to bring Adam and Brendan Knight home from that rock. And that was what I said the night they gave me the award and I will say it again tonight. I am not a Captain that would take this award and walk away. I will accept the award on behalf of the crews of the various ships that worked with us that day because at the end of the day if one of those vessels didn’t answer the call for help from a vessel in need, as should every ship sailing in the deep dark, neither the crew of the Solar Flare or the Knight Family would be sitting here tonight. Sector Governor Alistar understood my position and graciously provided additional Medals engraved with the name of each ship to be awarded here tonight, because he recognizer’s our service to our fellow shipmates in the Sector. He also believes that the Protector of the Sector medal belongs to everyone that was there that day. That answered the call to render assistance to another spacer in need. That being said. Sector Governor Alistar would you join me please? Adam and Brendan also, please.” I waited as they walked over and stood in their places as discussed and marked on the floor. I shook everyone’s hand, except Adam, who hugged me. Our Marines had lined up behind them and stood to one side. I walked the Marine Line as I double checked the order.
“Captain Tristan, could you please join me?” He stood and walked over to where I was standing next to the Governor. A Marine stepped in behind us and held out the plaque with the medal attached. Which the Governor took and presented as the Marine saluted.
“For your ship and its crew, Captain, for your service to the Sector. We thank you for your service.” Said Governor Alistar. Cheers and applauding from his crew as Adam and Brendan also thanked him. And this continued through all the Captains. It was not as hard as I thought to get through Caitlin coming up, but we shook hands as I had with all Captains. I thanked the Governor and Brendan.
“Now let’s continue a little faster this time as I am getting hungry, too. Another personal issue I would like to clear up. It has been brought to my attention that there are rumors concerning my relationship with one Adam Knight.” I said, stepping back and held out my hand as I looked to where Adam sat. He rose and stood next to me, smiling.
“I would like to confirm the rumors once and for all. Yes. I took Adam Knight on our first date with Marines in Battle Armor. No, I did not kidnap him. Yes. He has a cute smile that melts my heart. Yes. I went to his house that evening with my Marines in Dress uniform, with wine, flowers and desert, along with my parents and two sets of my grandparents. Yes. We were received warmly by his parents and grandparents. Yes. I demanded the Rights of Courtship for his hand as my Consort. Yes. I demanded Knight Industries as the Dowry. Yes. Adam Knight stands next to me. Dressed like me in our new House colors. Holding my hand. Yes. Adam Knight is my Boyfriend. Yes. We will be Bonded at a future date. No. He is not pregnant. No, this will not lead to a scattergun Bonding. Yes. His smile gets bigger as I continue. And most importantly. Yes. We love each other. To that end. Let us do a little preemptive strike on the future rumors surrounding us.” My head snapped right. “If you could please, love.”
“Of course dear.” Adam smiled and turned to the crowd. “May I introduce the Marines that escorted us here?” He indicated them and moved his hand in an up motion. They rose and stood at attention as one. “These are our Marines. The newly formed Alexander-Knight House Guard. They will accompany us around the various Sectors on our tours as we merge Alexander-Knight Interstellar Industries together and continue to expand our various interests.” He made a motion, and they sat.
I raised a hand and lowered my head. “Yes. He is in charge of the Marines. I gave them too much beer and teased them.” I nodded back to him as the laughter died.
Adam continued with the charismatic tone of any CEO I had heard speak, knowing the art of the deal. Where my tone is commanding, straight from the Captain’s chair and woe be it for he who doesn’t get it done attitude.
“We will also join the Low Sec Spacers Guild for a series of anti pirate patrols as the pirate factions appear to be growing again in the Sectors of the Aphlinerta to Moira Pipe. We are also in the process of bringing new Corporations under our wing to help us complete the vision for the newly enlarged Corporation as we see it. Now we think that is enough about us and I know we have talked long enough. Marc and I want to thank you all for coming out this evening to join us in paying tribute to those who served. Dinner will be served and we will have music. Please. Don’t wait for us to step out on the dance floor. Enjoy the evening of camaraderie Sa’s,” Adam finished. The crowd gave us a standing ovation as we kissed before returning to our seats.
We finished dinner and then mingled with our guests. There were people out on the dance floor. The music was a combination of slow and fast songs. Both digitized reproductions and live performances. We had thanked each Captain for their attendance, including my sister. She said she would call me at some point and we avoided each other the rest of the night as we mingled with friends, family and strangers alike. Adam was the diplomat and was setting the stage for our political future together while I set the stage for future alliances and acquisitions. Tristan was going to talk with his CEO about joining us and I told him to let me know when they apply and I would look into it. We had not had the chance to dance together yet, and I was getting talked out. I wandered over to the performers and looked over their selection of instruments and spotted something. I was interrupted by one of the performers.
“Could I help you, Captain Alexander?” I turned to see the wizened old lady looking at me questioningly.
“Is it possible that you are familiar with some of the classics? Specifically an old Greek tune. Zorba.” She looked at me appraisingly.
“As an Alexander, I should expect an interesting request like that, from someone so young it is unusual, but yes. We could play that. Would you like the extended version?” My smile spread across my face.
“Yes please. I think it will take me a minute or so to get others to the dance floor.” She nodded.
“Indeed it might for the younger crowd, anyway. We’ll play it after the next two digisongs. That should give you time to position yourself.”
“Thank you, Sa.” I located Adam and kept him in my sight as I worked my way around the room so that I may be in the position I wanted when the music started.
I had hoped that my grandparents and family would join me on the dance floor. They had taught all of us grandkids how to dance it. The second song was ending and people had left the dance floor as the slow, low sounding strumming of a string instrument began. I stepped out onto the dance floor, my arms outstretched, my thumb and middle finger snapping a slow beat with the music. I stepped carefully with each move as my eyes locked on Adam. Moving with the slow elegance as I performed the dance. He hadn’t seen me yet, as he was busy talking, but that would soon change. As we came to the first of the drum beats.
My hands clapped together loudly, and I yelled out. Oh-Pah. with a few other people who had joined me on the dance floor. I continued to watch around me as I moved to the beats of the music. Now he saw me and his smile was growing as he watched. Our eyes locked together. Older people came to join me and some of my family. We were repeating the beginning again as I looked at Adam. Moving slowly to the beat and willing him to join me. His smile increased even more as he made his way to the dance floor and stepped in next to me, his hand brushing mine, watching my moves while trying to copy them. A few of our Marines had joined us, too. The floor wasn’t full, but we had a respectable group, some people dancing as masters, some learning as it looked fun. The hand clap and Oh-Pah that followed were a thunderous mix of voices. People seated were clapping in time with the beat encouraging us on. I spotted the gravvid camera above tracking us as we danced faster and then formed circles with arms on shoulders of the person on either side of us. It felt so good to have Adam next to me like this. The song ended and everyone on the dance floor clapped as I pulled Adam into my arms for a kiss. It was fast. Just a brush of the lips as another song I knew started. Adam’s eyes smiled as I bowed to him and held out my hand.
“May I have this dance, Adam?” He laughed as he took my hand in his.
“Yes, my monster. Always.” I gave him another peck on the lips.
“Yes Adam. Your monster for eternity.” He pulled me close as the dance started and we glided across the floor with several dozen other couples as the old Earth Waltz sounded through the audio system. The simple moves and turns, causing our tails to fly out as we moved. The simple elegance of it all drew more couples to the dance floor as we went, including our parents. We were perfectly in tune with each other with this dance, as if we had been doing it for years. The sounds came to an end, with everyone clapping as Adam and I bowed to each other, turning to leave the dance floor. The evening carried on as people started to leave. I turned to Adam.
“Do you think we could sneak out at this point, or should we wait longer?”
“We could just bid everyone farewell, as our duties require us elsewhere.” I don’t know if it was the feral grin or the bouncing eyebrows above those sparkling eyes that made me laugh.
“I will make it up as we go.” I turned to walk up to the podium. I picked up a silver knife and tapped a glass once, that sounded over the entire hall’s audio system.
“My dear friends and family.” I ensured I had everyone’s attention. “I invite you to stay as long as you wish, unfortunately Adam and myself must bid you goodbye. We have business that requires our attention. We both thank all of you for making it here this evening to share this moment with us and look forward to doing it again. Safe travels to everyone and on behalf of myself and Adam. Until we meet again, my friends.” You could hear the entire room return the gesture as I dipped my head towards them before heading to our Marines that Adam already formed up, ready to move. Everyone else had the same idea as us and started to leave. We formed up and moved out of the reception hall, heading for our quarters.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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