History in the Flesh Epilogue

[General]

Epilogue

Colonel Jack Lang sat in a small dark room with his head in his hands. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. He let the breath out slowly and raised his head up to look a blank faced woman on his desk’s vidscreen. “Let’s try this again. My name is Colonel Jack Lang, SN 78394-29495-2948293. I need you to re-instate me in the personnel database.”

“I am sorry sir,” the woman replied, “but that name and serial number are listed as deceased. I cannot process your request.”

“Yea that’s the problem, because I am Jack Lang, and as you can see I am far from deceased,” Jack grumbled.

“I am not capable of making a medical diagnosis of you from my location,” the woman calmly replied. “If you would like to see I doctor I can provide a reference for one in your area.”

“I don’t need a doctor,” Jack growled, “I need my benefits reinstated; salary, health plan, retirement, etc. And you are the only one who can do that.”

“If you would like to access your account, please state your name, rank and serial number,” the woman said with a friendly grin.

“Ahhh,” Jack shouted, “that is it! I want speak with your supervisor.”

“One moment,” the woman paused, “all our supervisors are busy assisting other customers. Would you like to use an automated service?”

“NO! No more automated services,” Jack growled. “I will wait for the supervisor.”

***

Several hours later Jack sat in a large lounge, enjoying an equally large beer. He took a satisfying swig from his drink as he watched the passing space traffic through the lounge’s large windows. He could see several Terran destroyers in a loose escort patrol around the orbital complex, along with a few cruisers, one battleship, and hundreds of various commercial vessels. The space traffic was always busy around Gia this time of year, with a combination of passengers on vacation coming in and ships full of the latest harvest going out. He considered himself lucky that the Navy managed to find him quarters on their Gia station, as many service members used the giant orbital complex as a recreation stopover point on their way down to the plant and the guest quarters were normally always full.

Jack had spent the last three days in almost constant debriefings with Naval Intelligence. They wanted to know exactly what happened during his time on MacDougal and any information he could provide about the rebel AI’s. He told them everything he knew, including some of the more embarrassing parts of his captivity. They seem satisfied with his actions and concluded the possibility he compromised sensitive information is minimal.

Jack also found out what really happened after the 2nd Battle of MacDougal. Unlike what Erica told him, the Saladin and Audie Murphy did manage to escape as a direct result of his actions. Once they made it back to friendly lines, Captain Mencia put Jack in for the Metal of Honor and sadly listed him as KIA. Unfortunately only a few other small ships besides Murphy and Saladin escaped the battle. It was a tactical loss for the Terran Navy, which included two fleet carriers, over a hundred fighters, dozens of support ships, and over 8000 people. As horrible as those losses were, the battle was actually a huge strategic victory.

The Clanks started the with a full 17 battle groups, and when it was all said and done, only 4 were left in one piece, and 2 of those were heavily damaged. In that one battle, the Clanks had lost nearly 35% of their active fleet. Unlike the Terran ships, the Clank groups were pulled off the front lines for that fight. They had hoped to overwhelm any attacking Terran force and then quickly redeploy to the front before anyone saw they were gone.

Fortunately for the Terrans, those Clank ships never returned to their posts. The initial reaction to the MacDougal loss at Fleet Command was to pull back and fortify for the expected follow on strikes. Fortunately Navy Intelligence figured out what really happened, and with the help of Admiral Ali, they managed to get a counterattack plan authorized.

Adm. Ali took the whole 7th fleet and punched though the Clank lines at the Eros system. Once through the line, the fleet proceeded on a ‘Recon in Force’ mission in the Clank’s home sectors, which was a diplomatic way of saying they ran around and destroyed any military, industrial or infrastructure target they could find.

The actions behind the line caused the Clanks to pull their fleet back homewards, but it was too late. At that point, Ali had taken out almost half of the empire’s industrial capacity including 90% of their large shipyards. The Terran fleet then moved in on all fronts and began to retake lost territory and actually claim Clank plants for their own. Jack did the math, and the start of the major advance was the day before Erica was pressured to step up her interrogation. He figured by the time Sara got a hold of him, the Classion Empire was nearing collapse.

Two days after the 3rd Battle of MacDougal, the Clanks made diplomatic contact with the Terran Alliance and sued for peace. They claimed they were deceived by the rebel AI’s, who misrepresented the Terrans and their government. Hostilities stopped immediately, and work began on a formal treaty. It still wasn’t done yet, but early drafts included the restoration of all pre-war territory and significant reparations from the Clanks. It wasn’t quite a final peace, but it was a good start.

Jack drank again from his glass and closed his eyes to fully embrace the rich smell and taste of his lager. There were times during the last few weeks that he thought he would never again relax as a free man, never mind enjoy a fine beer and a wonderful view. He felt the cool liquid slide down his throat and grunted slightly in satisfaction. When he opened his eyes he smiled widely as he saw Morgan enter the lounge and walk towards his table.

Morgan strode across the room, wearing a big smile, along with a new copy of her old body. “Anything looks different?” she asked when she reached Jack’s table.

“Hrmm,” Jack grunted as he carefully inspected Morgan. He was glad that she was back in her original body; it fit her uniform so much better. Just then his eye focused on her collar, and saw her normal chevrons were replaced with a silver bar with one black dot. “Ahh I see the powers that be saw fit to promote you to Warrant Officer,” he grinned widely as he stood up and shook her hand. “Congratulations Chief.”

“Thanks Colonel,” Morgan beamed. “I think I could get used to being called Chief.” She squeezed Jack’s hand and they sat down at the table. He waved a waiter over to them, “Can I have a large Appletini?” she asked. The waiter nodded and quickly left to grab her drink.

“So did you get everything worked out,” Morgan asked.

“Yea I did,” Jack groaned. “It took nearly three hours to convince them that I was actually alive and that I might appreciate it if I could get paid again. They replaced most of the operators with non-sentient constructs who didn’t have a freaking clue what to do with ‘a dead guy’.”

The waiter returned with Morgan’s drink. She took the tall glass and sipped the bright green liquor. “So, how is Erica doing?” she asked with a slight change of tone when she spoke the other droid’s name. Jack knew she didn’t care for Erica at all, and she was actually little upset that he had saved her. But he convinced Morgan, that without Erica, he would have been killed in his escape, and for that he owed her a new start.

“Well, she said to tell you thanks for the spare body,” Jack said. He saw Morgan smile as she remembered when he asked if Erica could “borrow” her old nurse body once she got her old one replaced. She hated that body, and took a little joy in knowing Erica now had to deal with it.

“She is still being debriefed, and doesn’t expect to get finished anytime soon,” Jack said. “She has a lot of data on the AI command structure and operations which will be invaluable to intel. I think we managed to work out a deal that will provide her amnesty and a job once they are done with her.”

“Well I am glad that they aren’t going to just decompile her,” Morgan admitted, “I won’t hide the fact that I am not fond of her, but I am glad to see her treated like a person and not just an information resource.”

“Do you have any more debriefings today?” Jack asked as he took another swig of beer.

“Nope, I had my last one this morning right before my promotion,” Morgan replied. “Although they did ask that we report to Intel for a new assignment once we are ready.”

“Ok, although I wonder what they want us for; we have already told them everything we know,” Jack paused, “Anyway, we can deal with that when we get back. I booked us a shuttle to Persiad 3, and got us a week in one of their private beach cabins. We can depart tomorrow around 1100 hours.” He then gave Morgan a devilish smile. “In the mean time, what do you say we finish up these drinks and ‘get out of our uniforms’?”

“Yes sir,” Morgan cooed. In one shot, she downed her drink as Jack rushed to keep up with his beer. As they left the lounge, she leaned over to whisper into his ear, “I just installed a new sexual module called ‘drunken prom date,’ does that sound like something you would like to try?”

“Oh yea,” Jack groaned as a fierce smile crept across his feet. He gently put his hand on Morgan’s back to apply a little pressure, “Walk faster,” he whispered. The two happy lovers strode down the hall as fast as they could move without running and it only took them a few minutes to return to Jack’s quarters. She quickly jumped inside and immediately started stripping off her uniform. Jack chuckled and quickly looked down either way of the hallway to see if anyone saw them. Morgan grabbed him by the collar and pulled him forcefully in into the room. The door slid shut behind them and a small display in the outside hallway switched from “NOT PRESENT” to “DO NOT DISTURB”.

The end.

Perhaps Jack and Morgan will return for further adventures in the future…

[DollSpace]

Awwu! Such a sweet ending to a very awesome story! ^+^

Catie

[BA2]

Absolutely brilliant!

Loved it.

BA

[valtech1218]

can i just say holy cow that was awesome

like Robotman said hope there is more in the future

[tc]

Great story

[Lfrmus]

Awesome story.