Silent Requiem, a fanfic by Nightmaresama, chapter 19

"He's really gone…" Hilde Schbeiker sat in a state of shock at a bar in Side Six's Libot colony. After the Fall of A Baoa Qu, many Federation ships had gone to Luna for the formal signing of the Armistice, but she, like many other soldiers, had been discharged and given passage to local colonies. A good many had been discharged but more had simply been reassigned.

So here she sat at the bar with the newly reassigned SR company; or rather, what remained of it. Sam and Commander Sanders were here, but Trowa had gone with the Lexington to Luna for medical treatment, and Amy, her replacement, had filed for transfer into the Blue Destiny Corps.

She still did not understand why he had sacrificed himself so. And to what end? The Mobile Armour hadn't been destroyed, and the battle had raged even in spite of his brave act. He hadn't even lived to see the final victory! It wasn't fair!

If anyone should have died that day, it should have been her. What a horrible person she was! To have mocked his affection for her everyday, to have been so cruel to him in life, she had rubbed his face in his imperfections every chance she had!

On that day she had seen how charming he really was. Seen him for the first time with eyes unclouded by scorn and disregard. Seen him as the courageous hero he had wanted to be for her all along.

She should have been the one to have died that day, not him! Where was the justice?

Hilde took a big gulp from her beer. She was already drunk, but she didn't care. What difference did it make now, anyway? The war was over, and with her handicap, it wasn't likely that she would ever see action again.

"Hilde, are you okay?" Sam asked her. He had been shaken by the yesterday's carnage also, but was acting much more responsibly about it than she was.

"Hell no, I'm not okay!" she returned sharply. "I'm a horrible person! I hate myself! I just want to get so drunk that I forget about everything, and everyone." As if to emphasize, she drained the beer entirely.

"Barkeep, another beer over here!" she called. "No, scratch that. Gimme something harder, whisky, straight up!"

"Take it easy, there!" her former commander cautioned. "Listen, Hilde, I know what it is to lose a companion in battle, but you are not going about it the right way."

"Fuck off!" she shouted at him. It had to be the alcohol talking through her; ordinarily shout would have shown more deference. "You don't know anything about this, sir. Gene was more than just a friend to me, but I didn't appreciate him when he was alive. And still, he sacrificed himself for me of all people! Now he's gone, and I never even got to apologise!"

The bartender put the shot of whisky down in front of her. She moved for it, but Sanders got to it first and slid it away from her.

"No, what you need is some sleep," he replied firmly. "Go back to the barracks or to the hotel and get some shuteye. You'll feel better afterwards."

"Sam, could you escort her to the barracks, please?" Sanders was shaking his head. "Just tell them that she's a recently discharged soldier who needs a place to stay for the night."

"Sir," Sam got to his feet and picked up Hilde's crutches. "Come on, Hilde. Like the Commander says, it'll all look better when you wake up."

Darkness had fallen since they had gone in, earlier that afternoon. Colonial days followed the clock so closely in terms of engineered sunrises and sunsets, that it could be, and generally was, unnerving to someone born on Earth. The cool night air hit Hilde like a slap in the face, rousing her slightly from her drunken antipathy. It still didn't make her feel better though.

After they had been walking for about a block, she asked him a question: "Hey, Sam, do you think I'm a good person?"

"What do you mean?" he was caught off guard by such a forward question. "Of course I do."

"Not at all," he said emphatically. 'Bitchy, yes; violent, obviously; but cruel and heartless? No, not by a long shot,' he thought to himself.

"I saw him once or twice in passing, but he and I were never formally introduced."

They walked in silence for a few moments, taking in the sights. In spite of the fact that the colony had been under attack by Zeek mobile suits a few days before and some of the buildings were still in ruins, the festivities that surrounded the end of the war had been grand. Federation flags hung from every window and confetti and refuse littered the streets. Though they were supposedly neutral, Side Six had certainly partied it up after news of the Zeon defeat had reached them. Now, the colony was still recovering from dual New Year's and Victory celebrations, and much of the downtown area was dominated by a large stage. Apparently there had been some type of talent search and it had been very well received.

But, if the rumours were true, the Federation had been surreptitiously contravening this "neutrality" for quite some time now. Word had it that the Fed had been secretly using the cover provided by the neutrality of Side Six to begin development of a new Gundam type MS. They had already built a base here, and disguised it as a warehouse (the very same barracks Hilde and Sam were walking to now). Things had gotten out of hand though, and a squad of Zeek commandos had destroyed the suit.

The barracks were looking at least as dilapidated as the downtown buildings. In fact, slightly more so, for the debris of the final battle between the Zeek and the prototype lay everywhere on the northern face.

The two young people walked in, gave clearance and headed towards the quad. They stopped in the foyer of the dormitory section, and Hilde turned to face Sam.

"Thanks for taking me this far, Sam, but I'll be okay from here. You can head on back out to join the Commander. I want to sit in the foyer for a little."

"That's all well and good, but my head is hurting really bad, and I do not want to go up those stairs right now."

"Nein, get your ass back out there to the party, dammit. You earned a little time to relax."

"But what if you fall asleep on the couch, there? I think the officers here would be sort of pissed about that."

"Fuck 'em," she said with a shrug. "Now go! I'd order you to, but since I'm not officially with the military anymore…"

"I outrank you!" he laughed. "Well, whatever works for you. I'll be back in an hour to check on you."

"Okay," he drew the word out, made uncomfortable by her vulnerable state. "I'm going now."

She had started to fall asleep in spite of what she had told Sam, when she heard the voices of another group of soldiers walking into the foyer.

That sounded a lot like the commander of the 107th, Karen Joshua. But…what would she be doing here?

"I was tryin', but this is like the biggest fuggin party eva! Hell, how could anyone not get shmashed?" laughter followed the slurred speech.

"'Sides, I don' undastan why I couldna stay and talk wit dat gennelman who came up ta paya call on me. He was fuggin hot! An' dammit, ya let Alex-kun go off an chat wit his lady-friend! What ta hell kinda jussis is dat?"

"Ha! I know that LaVans bastard, and odds are, he was even more drunk than you are. That's the only reason I can think of as to why he'd try and come on to you."

"Hey!" she sounded almost sober in the offence she took to that. "I'll've you know dat when I was at da acadam-, akadaem-, aw hell, when I was at school guys would always try and pick me up whenever I went inna town. I'm sexy, dammit!"

"Damn right, I am." Her pride had taken a hit. Hilde could tell even from this far away. "Matter 'a fact, soon's I get ova dis hangova, I'm gonna find that hot bastard and we're gonna dogfight a lil' 'f ya know whaddaye mean! I bet he packs a real high caliber gun!"

A third voice changed the subject after a few moments: "I can't believe Kincaid wanted to go off by himself on a night like this either. I mean, we won the fucking war! This is time to hang out with other Vets, not to chase skirts!"

"Hilde?" Kiyone asked as they came into sight around the bend. "What're youse doin' hea?"

"Oh God, Duo!" she staggered up onto her crutches and hobbled over to meet them. She stopped short, though. "What happened to you?"

He looked almost to be blindfolded, but she could see that the wrappings covering his eyes were gauze bandages, not a cloth strip. He walked with a long white cane in front of him, tapping it to the ground after every few steps.

"Bye-ies, Hilde-chan and Duo-kun!" Kiyone was still a terrible drunk. "Doan stay out too late!" she laughed.

"I'm okay, Hilde, calm down," he tried to laugh off her concern. "Here, help me find a place to sit down, would you?"

"Of course!" She guided him to the couch were she had just been dozing. After helping him find a seat, she sat down in front of him.

Hilde didn't know if it was the alcohol still circulating through her system, or just the overwhelming relief brought on by the end of the war, but she lunged forward and embraced him. Duo was taken by surprise, but played along very well. He returned her embrace with one hand and ran his fingers through her short dark hair with the other.

"Take it easy," he whispered to her. "I'm fine. These are just the bandages left over from my surgery. I'll be fine in a few days; 'bright-eyed and bushy-tailed' as it were."

"You jerk!" she laughed, still more than a little distraught. "I…I missed you," she said looking up at his face.

"Yeah, I think I kinda like you too." Even she could see how big an understatement that was.

But…"How can you love me though?" she pushed away from him. "I'm not worthy of being loved, and certainly not by you"

"What do you mean?" he asked in shock. "You are a wonderful person! Why would you think otherwise?"

"Is that why? He knows your only kidding, Hilde. Just messing around like that doesn't make you a bad person."

She couldn't hold it back any longer. "But he's dead! Dammit, Duo, he's dead! And it's all my fault!"

"At A Baoa Qu," she sniffed, "we were fighting this monster mobile armour, and I was caught up. It was using me to bait them! And Gene…Gene…" she had to fight to gain enough control over her voice to speak again, "He killed himself in a kamikazi run at the Zeek!"

"Gene is dead?" it was as if the magnitude of that were just sinking in for him. "Did he take out the MA?"

"No!" Hilde was bawling now. She pulled herself tight against Duo's chest in a vain attempt to shut out the world. She was with him, but she felt so dead inside, she could not even enjoy it.

"Oh my God!" she wailed. "How could I have been so foolish! Why was I so horrible to him? Why didn't I appreciate what a good friend he was? Now he's gone, sacrificed his life for nothing!"

"But, Hilde, he died trying to save you. The fact that you are here right now means that he could not have made that sacrifice for nothing!"

"I am nothing!" she sobbed, "I'm nothing for being heartless and insensitive! I'm nothing for failing to realize something good when it was right in front of me! Duo, you cannot tell me that I'm not telling the truth! I hate myself! I should have died in that battle, not Gene! He did nothing to deserve what happened to him!"

Duo let her cry for a few moments holding her tightly. When it seemed as though her shudders were finally subsiding, he spoke very softly to her, "You said to me a few minutes ago that you…you loved me, right?"

"I was just thinking, that if someone really hates themself, how can they love someone else? Do you see what I'm getting at? You can't really hate yourself if you feel about me the way that you do."

"Everybody makes mistakes, Hilde. Shit, I've made an ass-load myself. But, no matter what, I'm sure both Gene and God have forgiven you already. You're not a bad person, not by a long shot."

"Sure! But that's not to trivialize the tragedy; it's just to put it in perspective."

Hilde had to think about that for a moment. He was so good at being rational all the time, especially when she would have major fits of emotion (that nervous undertone remained in his voice, however; what did that mean?). "I really do love you, Duo Maxwell," she said, and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"If you really mean that," he started, visibly shaken by her forwardness, and carefully getting down from the couch and onto one knee. He dug around in his pocket for a moment until he found and withdrew a small box. Opening it, he asked, "will you marry me?"

Hilde thought that she was going to pass out. Hell, pass out, she thought she was going to go into cardiac arrest! "M-me? Marry you?" she stammered.

"That's the question," he smiled, looking in her general direction through the bandages. "Will you?"

He feigned wiping sweat from his brow. "Whew! Third time's the charm, like they always say. If I'd known all I had to do was go blind to get up the balls to ask you, I would've put my eyes out a long time ago."

"Hell yeah! Right after Solomon, was the first time, and then again when I left and you called up to chew me out."

"So that's why you were acting so weird," she'd finally put it all together. "Okay, you dumb fucker, help me up so we can go upstairs and celebrate."

"Hell yeah!" he repeated in an altogether different tone, "I'm all for that." He laughed again as he stood and helped her to her crutches.

'Gene,' Hilde thought, as they made their way towards the stairs, 'I'm sorry for the way that I mistreated you, and I hope you can find it within you to forgive me. And I will take care of Duo, and as soon as travel opens up again, I'll find your sister, and raise her to make you proud! I won't ever forget you though, my sorry little two year old!'

Michelle Bannock stood on a small podium before a tribunal of high ranking Federation officials. These would be the three men who ultimately decided her fate. She had to brace herself with one hand on the podium and another on her aluminum cane. The wound on her calf was bandaged, but the dressing still had a small red circle over the impact site.

Alice Miller sat in the shadows of one of the room's corners. A cigarette was in her lips, the occasional red glow of the tip was the only evidence that she was even there. Michelle could feel her presence though; feel it and be repulsed by it. She knew that Alice had a large grin on her face, one that held about as much in the way of mirth as a tiger baring its fangs.

"Do you understand the charges that have been brought before you?" one of the three judges asked her.

"Espionage in wartimes is a capital offence," another judge stated, "If you cannot convince this tribunal of your innocence, you will be facing a firing squad. You are surely aware of this as well?"

She looked like hell. Her eyes were red from too many tears shed over the past few days. Her hair was an unkempt mess as were her clothes for she had barely had time to shower and put on her uniform before coming before the tribunal. She craved alcohol for the dulling effects it produced, but knew she would have to face this sober; she would need her wits about her to defend herself from this Alice Miller woman.

"Ms. Miller, will you bring the dossier forward?" the first judge beckoned her forth from the shadows.

"Sir." The Intel officer stood and flicked some of the cinders from the end of her cigarette. She walked forth with the manila folder clasped in her hand. "That's got the transcripts of the telephone conversation of 30 December 0079 UC. I've yet to take a look at it myself; you see, I was escorting the prisoner from A Baoa Qu space all day and had called ahead to have this drawn up so that it would be ready for this honourable tribunal. Here." She handed it to the closest judge.

"That's rather sloppy of you, Ms. Miller," the judge said as he began perusing the documents within the folder.

"I know, sir, and I do apologise," Alice said with almost a superfluity of sincerity. "Yet we were very fortunate in that someone was able to trace that call. The last thing we need is for another Zeek spy running loose in the Federation." She paused to laugh; Michelle cringed. "A very inept spy at that. What were you thinking, using a standard electronic telephone to communicate with the enemy? You could have at least shown a little more subtlety."

"These procedings are closed!" growled one of the judges who was not reading the documents. "No one is allowed entry!"

A guard at the door opened it a crack and stuck his head out to relay the judge's message to the surprise visitor.

There was some back and forth between the two individuals at the doorway, and the courtroom fell into disorder. The higher officers who were required to be at the procedings as witnesses to the conduct of the judges began to whisper and chat among themselves. This was highly irregular, and care should have been taken to ensure that it had not happened.

The guard returned to his post, and spoke stridantly, "Sir, she claims to have some connection to the accused. She also states that tshe has evidence that may prove her innocence."

"Tell her we have all the evidence we need," the judge rumbled in response. "Testimonies are not necessary in Court Martials."

"Sir," he saluted, "but, ah, sir, she makes several valid points. Begging your pardon sir, but they may have been points that this tribunal had not thought of yet."

There was a click and the door swung open. A young woman in full Zeon military grab and a non-standard-issue barett, stepped across the threshold. She wore and a patch over her left eye and there was severe scarring around her right; clearly she was rcovering from an ocular surgery.

"Warrant Officer Naomi Anne Sterling, former Duchy of Zeon test pilot, sir!" she clicked her polished heels together.

"How dare you approach this tribunal in such a manner!" Alice Miller cried amidst the shocked gasps of the other officers. "You defile these procedings with that uniform. Guards!"

"Before you move, take note." Naomi said quickly "I have renounced my allegiance to the Duchy and am under the protective immunity of a refugee."

"I stand here in defense of my friend, Michelle, whom has been unfairly charged and stands to be executed for nothing more than a crime of passion."

"A crime of passion that involved the sanctity of the Federation?" Alice challenged, her tone hot. "I hardly think anyone this side of a terrorist has that much ardor, Warrant Officer."

"Nothing in the Federation was at risk, or rather, at any greater risk than is SOP on a battlefield, than the lives of four particular soldiers." Naomi said confidently.

"Let it be noted that I am the Zeon officer contacted by Dr. Bannock on that day, 30 December 0079." Naomi spoke, maintaining the poise of a veteran soldier. 'She must know what she was doing,' Michelle thought. "I trust the telephone transcripts will attest to that. They will also attest to the fact that most of what the doctor and I discussed was frivolous nonsense. We were catching up on old times, so to speak."

"But what of the mobile suits Dr. Bannock directed you to attack?" the judge who had been reading the dossier asked as he set the folder down.

"Lies. The accused had been going through some very trying emotional interpersonal situations at that time, and thought the best way to end it would be by contacting my strike force and having us take out the offending Federation unit of which the gentleman she was involved served. It was a petition made in the heat of the moment, and was based on a false pretense anyway."

"That doesn't justify attempted manslaughter!" Alice Miller raged. "The individuals in that unit were people too! You can't discount their lives because they were only infantrymen."

"Yet do you not think that sending them out to face Zeon resistance in order to take an Asteroid Fortress is not also a form of manslaughter?"

"Shut the hell up, you dirty Zeon bitch!" Almost without thinking, Alice's hand went for her sidearm.

"Ms. Miller, that will be quite enough!" the judge's sharp reprimand stopped her instantly. "One more outburst like that and I'll hold you in contempt! This woman speaks the truth and your first response is to pull a gun on her?"

"Had you read the dossier, you would have known that," the judge sounded irate. "According to the transcripts, the accused was asking the Zeon officer to do her a favour by executing the four members of the 107th Space GM, and nothing more. I was unaware of any such mentioning of NBC weapons in the breifings of Operation Red Tide; unless they were stolen, which seems laughable given the security and impregnibility of the location where they are held. I believe we should discuss the matter further with Commander Joshua. Do you fellows concur?"

"That would be advisible," the judge to his left said and the other nodded, "Do we know the location of her unit?"

"I do," Naomi spoke up. "They were on my shuttle heading towards Side One. They got off en route at one of the stops, some small Riah colony called Libot."

"How did you know that they were the unit in question?" Alice challenged. "They could have been any number of MS units off to enjoy the victory celebrations being held throughout the Earth Sphere." She took a malicious pleasure in rubbing a Zeek's face in their devastating defeat.

But Naomi shrugged casually. "They were just like any other military group, boistrously congratulating themselves on a job well done. I simply happened to catch the name of the unit in passing."

"Very well then," the head judge spoke up, "These proceedings will be closed until commander Joshua of the 107th can be contacted to verify Lieutenant Sterling's claims. Until then you are all dismissed. Dr. Bannock, you shall be escorted to the brig to await the resuming of the hearings."

Michelle nodded, and allowed herself to be led from the podium without saying a word.

Naomi watched her friend go, but tried to appeal to the judges. "Your Honours," she started, "if it so pleases you, I would like to have a few words with my friend, please."

"Warrant Officer Sterling, the fact that you were even allowed into these proceedings is favour enough." The judge futhest to the right said. "You will not be granted any such hospitality."

Michelle suddenly tripped over the threshold, and started to fall, but grabbed Naomi's sleeve to steady herself. As she corrected her balance, she whispered a series of numbers and a name into her ear, "195732, Trowa Barton." After doing so, she walked away.

Naomi paused for a splitsecond considering the meaning of the numbers, before realising they were a ship's telephone frequency and the name of another soldier. She would have to investigate further.

"I'm glad it's all over," Rachel Sawyer said, putting one of her hands on top of Alex Kincaid's. The two of them were seated on a bench in a park overlooking the amphitheatre where she had performed yesterday. Artificial afternoon sunlight gleamed down through the leaves of the tree beneath which the bench was located.

"You didn't seem that way yesterday." She had looked destroyed when the had called the name of that girl from Side Two as the winner instead of herself, but she had rallied surprisingly quick for all the effort she had put into it.

"Yeah, well, I suppose it'll be back to Neo Manhattan for me now. The fame will really help me on the jazz circuit there. Besides, my family and friends there will be proud of me no matter what."

"I'm proud of you, too!" Alex interjected. "That took guts to get up there and do what you did! And with a story like yours? It's a real life rags to riches!"

She shoved him, playfully. "Are you saying you like poor girls better than rich ones? Sounds awfully socialistic to me!"

He laughed. "You might actually have a point. I'd like to go to Neo Manhattan one day and see the clubs where you sing."

"Then come with me! I'm leaving in a few days; you can come too! The war is over now, right? So go ahead and quit the army and we'll start over…together."

"It's not that I don't want to. Just that I have a few ghost from my past, and before you and I can be an 'us,' I want to come clean with you about them."

"Well, go ahead then," she urged, looking into his eyes. "Alex, there's nothing you can tell me that I won't forgive you for. Go ahead."

"Hey, Kincaid!" a familiar voice called out his name causing him to look up with a start. "Yeah, you, you two-timing bastard! I oughta kick your mother-fuckin British ass!"

"Trowa?" Alex asked as he saw his fellow soldier approaching him. He was confined to a wheelchair, but the look in his eyes was one of barely restrained rage that said that, if necessary, he would overcome the physical handicap to come through on his threats. 'What's wrong? What 'appened to you?"

"Nevermind me, do you know who's really hurting now? Michelle Bannock, that's who." He came to a stop right in front of the bench where Alex and Rachel sat.

"Shut up! I'm no friend of yours, not from anywhere! I shoulda figgured I'd find you here with another woman; you think you're fucking James Bond or some shit?"

"I just got off the phone with an acquaintance of hers who told me that Michelle is standing trial before a military tribunal on charges of espionage and high treason. She's scared as hell and needs all the support she can get while you're out here trying to score with some reporter! Do you know how she feels about you? Do you care?"

"Of course I care!" Alex raged at him, jumping to his feet. "You should ask her if she really cares about me! She thinks of me as an object, not as a human being; I am always supposed to drop everything in my life and come running at her beck and call! That's not the way you treat someone you purport to have feelings about."

Trowa sat for a moment, just glaring at him. Then he reached up and yanked Alex towards him by his collar. "Listen you stupid limey fucker, `cause I'm only gonna say this once; Michelle has never had anyone to care about her the way she thought you did. She loved your sorry-ass self, and thought that you loved her in return. Can you fathom that? Twenty-two years of nothing but studies and books because of her parents' vicarious desire for her to grow up to be a doctor. Never a friend of the opposite sex, not even so much as a lunch out with a guy. All she wanted was for you to care; for you to show some semblance of kindness towards her. But could you even do that for her? No! Instead you led her on until you found Rachel-fuckin'-Sawyer again, and then you dropped her ass like a bad habit. What the fuck is up with that shit, man? Where the fuck do you get off?"

Alex knocked his hands from his collar and stood again. "None of her past issues were my problem," he said. "That may seem cold, and I'll admit that maybe I was in the wrong for not telling her about Rachel as soon as I met her, but still, I have my own life and for her to infringe upon that to try and force me to care about her by sending me on these guilt trips is possessive and absurd. And what does any of this have to do with the fact that she tried to have not only myself, but my other three teammates killed?"

"I really can't say," Trowa said, "but she is being held at Konpei Island and the tribunal is requesting a conversation with you and your commander, Karen. The summons will probably be arriving sometime within the next day or two."

He started to wheel away, but said over his shoulder, "I still don't think any more of you, you bastard, but maybe you do have a point or two."

Alex glared intently after him, staring daggers into his back. Rachel appearing by his side caught him slightly off guard. "I guess that is what you were going to tell me about, huh?" she asked.

Sanders sighed from behind the wheel. The two of them were cruising back towards the barracks after taking a ride around the city of the colony. "I said I'm resigning. I'm quitting the army."

"But…but…why?" Karen still couldn't believe what she was hearing. First Shiro, then Michel and Eledor, and now Sanders too? Was the entire 08th quitting on her?

"What, kill people? God, is it because of that Zeek bitch from Solomon? Cirrus O-whatever? Or is it because of what Shiro was talking about in those last few hours? You can't just punk out on me, dammit! I need some kind of reason!"

"You just gave both of them," he shrugged. He stopped the car at an intersection.

She refused to make eye-contact. "No! I don't think so…hey! Don't try and turn that shit back around on me, `cause it won't work this time. We're talking about you here. You've let what those two said brainwash you! You used to be the one other soldier I could count on to think with your head and not your emotions. Don't let me down now, Terry!"

"By my first name even." He smiled as the light changed green. "I do believe you are begging me not to leave you Karen Joshua."

"The hell I am!" She got very defensive. "Karen Joshua doesn't beg any man to do anything! I'm just asking you to reconsider your course of action."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You're not quitting today…are you?"

"Soon as we get back," he nodded. "I drew up my papers last night after we got back from the bar."

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'd thought about going back to Asia to look for Shiro, but I decided against that. Maybe I'll just move in here and live on this colony as a civilian. I like it here."

"'But' what, Karen? It's not like you care what I do, right? What does it matter to you if I stay here?"

"'Cause! I don't want to be the last member of the 08th still in the service. If everyone else's getting outta Dodge, then so am I!" she declared proudly.

"Oh yeah?" a subtle undertone that she could not quite place was in his words. "And what are you planning on doing when you're out?"

Karen bit her lip. She didn't really have any family she could stay with per say. She'd been an only child, and she since she was giving some of her back-salary to Kiyone like she'd promised, she didn't have the money to move back to Earth to be with her dad, or to move to Side 5 to be with her mom. Hell, she didn't even have the funds to leave Side Six.

"Now what?" Sanders asked. "You know, it is really unattractive for women to swear so much."

"I...I'm gonna stay here too," she said glumly. She could almost feel the remarks that were going to come next.

"If…if you and I are both going to be living here on this colony…maybe…aw hell…It'll be cheaper for us to room together, don't you think?" The last part came out all in one breath. "I mean…what'd be the sense in us each renting a separate flat, ya know? It'd just be money wasted…I mean 'cause we'd be like hanging out together so much anyway, right?"

"That's an interesting idea Karen. Maybe we should…" He was enjoying this, the bastard!

They arrived at the barracks and Sanders parked the car. "So I'll meet you once you've finished your paperwork, then?"

As soon as she was up in the solitude of her quarters, she had to smile. She'd never pegged Terry Sanders as the romantic type but he'd gotten her good. He'd gotten her damn good.

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Silent Requiem

Chapter 21: Aftermath