Admiral Anthony Hawke’s heels clipped in rhythm against the sterile steel corridors of Galaxy Garrison, the sharp sound bouncing off the walls and echoing in the empty hall leading to Space Marshal Graham’s office.

As the newly appointed head of Galaxy Garrison Intelligence, Hawke had been assigned to compile a dossier on three young soldiers whose names were being floated as potential mission leader of a team to be deployed somewhere in the Far Universe. Details of the mission were as yet unclear to Hawke, but he didn’t doubt its importance if the young men being considered were a gauge.

His knuckles rapped loudly on Marshal Graham’s door before he stepped into the sensor’s range to activate the automatic doors. They swished open, and he stepped inside, saluting to the man who had summoned him here.

Evan Graham was an old friend of Hawke’s, and he waved Hawke into his office with an admonishing shake of his head.

“Come now, Hawke, none of that,” he said with a frown. Like Hawke, he had only come by his position as Space Marshal fairly recently and had little tolerance for the formalities that came with it. He gestured to the vacant chair in front of his desk with an air of impatience. “Have a seat.”

“It’s nice to see you again, Evan,” the Admiral said. “I have the dossiers you asked for right here.” He sat down and slid the three folders he had carried towards Graham with a speculative grin. “Whatever it is you want these boys for, it must be something big.  No matter whom you choose among them, you can do no wrong. These kids are among the best of their class.”

“Hmmm,” Graham agreed absently, flipping each of the folders open one by one. “Commander Jeffrey Delaney. Commander Cliff Hogan. Captain Keith Montgomery,” he murmured aloud. He lingered on the last folder, thumbing through its contents with a reflective look on his face before looking back at Hawke’s curiosity-filled face.

“You’re probably wondering why I called for you personally instead of merely asking for these files from a lower officer in your department.”

“The thought did cross my mind,” Hawke replied with a wry grin. “However, now that I can see you appear to be partial to one of the candidates in particular, I’m assuming you called me to talk about facets of his personality that you may possibly not find in even in those well-prepared dossiers.”

Graham grinned back. “Yes, Hawke, you do belong in intelligence, alright,” he said with a laugh. “As a matter of fact, you’re right. These three young men are all slated to be leaders of various teams of the newly formed Voltron Force. Two are to be assigned on the same larger team under Hawkins of the ship Explorer, while one of them is to be the leader of a team of four others to be sent to Planet Arus in the Far Universe as a defense force.”  He sobered, placing the Keith’s file on the table between him and the Admiral. “I’m seriously considering Keith for Planet Arus.” Graham handed Hawke a copy of the mission debriefing and waited for his reaction.

After Hawke finished reading the debriefing, he put it down on the table and drew Keith’s dossier folder towards him and opened it, eyeing the picture of the serious dark-haired young man looking out at him with an affectionate smile.

“What else do you want to know about the boy? His record says it all, Evan. You know of him first hand – he was a student at the Academy while you were still its Dean. And I’m sure that word of his exploits in the elite Space Explorers Corps reaches even the highest echelons of your office… The boy is brilliant.” Hawke grimaced and shook his head fondly, a touch of sadness and pride in his eyes.

“I have no doubts that at all that Keith is qualified for the post,” Graham said a tad testily. “He’s shown his leadership and his mettle too many times for me to have any misgivings on that score.”

“So why the hesitation?” Hawke asked, his eyebrow quirking. “You’ve measured his skills as both a leader and a soldier.  In fact, if I read you right, you’ve practically decided.”
 
“You’ve read the file. It’s a position with very little upward rank mobility because of its distance from the supervision of the GG system. The only advantage he’ll have will be minimal interference from any senior Galaxy Garrison officer – his team will be virtually autonomous from GG. It’s hell of a challenge, Hawke, and I know he could be up to it… if he wants to be. But will he want to be?”

 “Are you kidding, Evan? Fighting on the side of honor and justice against the Far Universe’s big bullies? Virtually full authority over the team?” Hawke said, grinning at the Space Marshall. “Keith would love that.”

Graham frowned, his disbelief at Hawke’s assessment apparent. “Do you think so? Keith strikes me as someone who’s driven and ambitious. Look at the way he fiercely fought his way to the top of his class. He might not be happy in a position where he stands little chance of being given any commendations or promotions.”

Hawke thumbed through the dossier, stopping at an official file photo of his best friend Zachary and his wife, Katherine, who had disappeared on a mission more than eight years ago and had left Keith an orphan. He shook his head at Graham, still grinning wryly.

“You’re reading him all wrong, Evan. He doesn’t really care about being promoted – promotions and commendations may come with the turf, but it’s never been what he cared about,” Hawke explained. He left the folder open at a picture of the small family together taken at Zachary’s last promotion as he handed it back to Graham.

“Having this again was the only ambition that drove Keith to the top. But now that he’s too old to keep on hoping he’ll ever find them, he’s restless, reckless – almost indifferent – and he’s looking for a new challenge.” Hawke paused and allowed Graham to take in the sight of the ten-year-old boy in the picture looking adoringly up at his parents.

A grimace of pain passed fleetingly over the other man’s features; the couple had also been his friends.

“That growing indifference worries me, Evan. It’s not like him. What he needs is a cause to fight for,” Hawke went on.

“Zach… Kat… they were fine people,” Graham said with a sad sigh, looking at the dark-haired, laughing admiral and his beautiful wife. He looked back at Hawke with a speculative grin of his own. “Is Keith the soldier his father was?”

Hawke laughed at that. “He has Zachary’s leadership skills, quick wit in battle, and natural rapport with people and Katherine’s talents in flight and her discipline,” Hawke said smugly. He pinned Graham with his gaze. “A lot of the older officers who worked with Zach are even saying that Keith’s well on his way to being better than Zachary.

“He’s perfect for the Arus job, Evan, and you know it.”

 Hawke gestured towards the other two folders on the table. “Cliff and Jeff are both just as qualified, and they are both good leaders – you choose any of them, and you won’t do wrong, don’t doubt it. But Keith… He’ll thrive in this position, and he’ll even be a better fighter than he already is.”

“Better than he is now?” Graham asked with an incredulous laugh. “How can that be possible?”

“Because he’ll have his heart back in his work,” Hawke said, nodding wisely. “And with Keith, that is everything.”
 
 

“I think it’s supposed to be macaroni and cheese,” Cliff said, poking despondently at his food. “But this stuff looks more like – “

“Don’t say it!” Jeff ordered on a groan. “We’re still going to have to eat this stuff, you know. Saying it aloud won’t make it any easier for us to force this down.”

Keith eyed his food with a sigh. “Lance had the right idea when he went out for dinner tonight,” he admitted, taking a forkful of macaroni and cheese and raising it to his mouth. He grimaced and put the fork down before he could put the food in his mouth, eyeing his staring friends suspiciously. “Why haven’t you guys started?”

 Sven shrugged. “You’re ze brave one, Keith. We’ll see what you think before we have any of ours.”

Jeff laughed. “Yeah, if you fall over dead, we sure as hell won’t touch ours, Montgomery!”

“Captain Keith Montgomery, Captain Keith Montgomery, you are wanted in Space Marshall Graham’s office as soon as possible.” A disembodied voice from the PA system called out.

“Well, duty calls – and food can wait.” Keith grinned around the table as the others let out a collective groan. “Looks like you guys have to find another patsy to taste test this gunk for you,” he said unrepentantly, standing up and pushing his plate away. With a “Good luck!” and a jaunty wave, he made his way out of the mess hall, and set a brisk pace towards the Marshal Graham’s office.

As protocol dictated, Keith rapped on the Marshal’s door thrice before stepping into the sensor’s to open the automatic doors. He saluted to the Marshal, who beckoned him to sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. Keith complied, nodding his thanks to his superior officer.

“Captain Montgomery,” Graham greeted, pulling out a folder from one of his drawers and placing it on top of his desk before regarding Keith with searching eyes. “You do realize that you and your fellow officers are due to be assigned to different missions scattered throughout the galaxy after you’ve completed this phase of your post-graduate training. Your training program will then be specialized according to your mission before you are finally deployed.”

“Yes, sir, I am aware of that.”

“Do you have any preferred missions in mind?”

Keith shook his head, shrugging indifferently. “I trust that Galaxy Garrison will assign me to a position where I will be most useful, sir.”

“From what I hear of you, you’d be invaluable to any mission you join,” Graham chuckled wryly. “How would you feel about being assigned to a position that affords very little upward rank mobility? You could be nailed on Captain for a very long time.”

Keith frowned thoughtfully at the question before replying. “If it’s for the best interest of Galaxy Garrison, sir, promotion doesn’t matter much to me. The important thing is that I know I’m doing my job and doing it well,” he said.

“I see.”

Graham searched Keith eyes for a few more moments before pushing the folder towards him. Keith took it with questioning eyes, and Graham motioned for Keith to open it.

“Tell me, Captain Montgomery – have you ever heard of the Planet Arus?”
 

“I can’t believe that the three of us were assigned to the same mission,” Lance grumbled good-naturedly, his voice echoing in the empty closet. His body was angled forward inside as he checked if there were any things left for packing. “After being stuck with you and Sven for the past ten years… it appears that I’m going to be stuck with you on some godforsaken planet for another undetermined period of time!” He emerged from the closet with the last armful of his clothes and dumped them inside his suitcase. He glared at Keith. “And with you as my mission leader and the only one I’m accountable to? You’re going to cramp on my style!”

Keith watched Lance from his bed with an amused grin, head pillowed on his arms and ankles crossed. It had been a month since final assignments were announced. They were going to be sent to their different training camps the morning – and Lance was still complaining.

“Hey, I have as much choice in the matter as you do,” Keith countered, noting Lance’s scowl. “But you have to admit that there are going to be advantages to being assigned to this mission.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lance asked, pushing his clothes inside the suitcase and forcing it shut. “Name one.”

“Fewer fistfights for you. Sven and I are the only ones who can tolerate you for long periods of time – and that’s only because we’ve had years of practice.”

“Hey, I happen to enjoy my fistfights.”

“And the sanctions?”

Lance raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Something tells me I’m better off with the Academy sanctions than being subjected to yours.” He hauled his suitcase off the bed and dropped it on the floor beside him. “Sven is due back from his two-week family visit at midnight tonight. What are you going to be up to?”

Keith shrugged. “Nothing much,” he said, idly tapping the medallion on his chest. “All my things are ready for training camp tomorrow. I’ll probably… go up to the old house and see to some last minute details before coming back here early tomorrow morning.”

“The offer for dinner still stands, you know,” Lance said, sitting on the edge of his bed and eyeing Keith uncertainly. “Dad said that he wants –“

“… You to get your ass off that bed and your things ready because you are going to be given the send off you deserve along with this worthless son of mine.”

Keith and Lance’s gazes turned towards the doorway to find Admiral Hawke leaning against the doorjamb and glaring at Keith.

“You didn’t lock the door,” Lance accused Keith. He turned to his father. “Dad, I told you I was going to meet you and the girls downstairs – what are you doing up here?”

“Using my authority to get your stubborn friend to come with us,” the older man replied, not taking his gaze off Keith.

Keith sat up and shifted uncomfortably on the bed. He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “Uncle Hawke, I don’t think I should –“

“… Argue with your wise uncle, who is older than you and knows better,” Admiral Hawke finished for him. He gestured towards the suitcase at the foot of Keith’s bed. “I take it you have all your things ready. Get your butt off that bed and let’s go. We’ll be late for our reservation.” With that, the Admiral pushed himself off the doorjamb and strode out of the room.

“I told you the invitation was still open,” Lance said, picking up his suitcase as he grinned at his disgruntled friend wickedly.

“If it’s just an invitation, why does it feel like a command performance?” Keith complained, meeting Lance’s grin with a scorching glare. He stood from the bed, smoothed his uniform, and looked towards the empty doorway with a hopeful smile. “What do you think Uncle Hawke will do if I –“

“Montgomery, if you don’t get yourself out of there in ten seconds, I’ll have the Powers That Be reassign you to the mess deck of the Space Explorer permanently.”  Admiral Hawke’s booming voice drifted into the open doorway.

“Does that answer your question?” Lance asked with a chuckle. He strode out of the room, suitcase in tow.

Keith groaned, picked up his suitcase, and reluctantly followed him.
 
 

“I can’t believe it, Lance is actually going to be shipped off to a place where there are no nightclubs! It’s so classic.”

“Hey, it’s not that funny,” Lance glared at his laughing youngest sister, Abigail, who sat across from him at the table.

Abby was three years younger than Lance and was a freshman in a prestigious drama school near the Academy. She was stunningly beautiful – the image of her mother – and charming and witty to boot. All of them had been surprised when she blossomed into a heartbreaker last the previous year – Abby herself most of all.

“But, it is!”

“We don’t know that for sure yet, do we?” Lance pointed out with a droll wistfulness that drew another laugh from everyone.

“Son, they’re at war – I think having an active nightlife is the least of their concerns,” Admiral Hawke commented wryly as he took a sip of his wine and leaned back to observe these people who meant the world to him.

“Well, Dad, you know what Lance’s motto is, ‘Hope springs ever eternal,’” Amanda quipped.

A year younger than Lance and the oldest daughter in the brood, Amanda had taken over mothering duties after their grandmother had died, and she also took Keith under her wing whenever he came to visit. Her gentle mothering instinct had led her to a course in child counseling, where she was a year away from earning her degree. Relative to her other siblings, she was more quiet, but not any less sharp-tongued when the occasion called for it. She sat beside Abby, across from Keith.

“And why is that, Mandy?” her father asked her.

“That’s the only way to explain why he persists on pestering girls who have already said no to him a dozen times to go out with him.”

Lance raised his eyebrow at that. “Hey, it’s worked for me more than once,” he bragged with a smirk. He put his fork down and blew at his fingers with a casual shrug. “What can I say? Women just can’t resist me.”

“Oh, please! Spare us!” his three sisters groaned in unison, earning a laugh from Admiral Hawke, and a reluctant grin from Keith.

Despite his misgivings about joining Lance’s family for dinner, Keith had always enjoyed their company. Given the quick wit and quirky sense of humor all the Hawkes shared, the evening had been nothing short of fun, barbed comments laced with affection flying back and forth between Lance, his three sisters, and Uncle Hawke. But although he was quietly relishing the freshness of the family’s banter, Keith couldn’t shake the feeling of being apart from all that was happening. He was still on the outside looking in despite the fact that he had reluctantly spent several occasions like this one with them over the years and that he was treated as one of the family.

It was when he spent time with the Hawkes like this that Keith missed his parents the most.

“Will someone please puncture his ego with a fork?” Tina, the middle sister who sat the far end of the table across her father, complained with a roll of her eyes.

Two years younger than Lance, Tina had been blessed with a genius IQ, and she was a year away from completing her flight training at the Academy. Of the brood, she was the only one other than Lance who had chosen to take to enter the service as their father had done. Already having earned a degree in medicine, she was seeking a position as medic officer in a future mission. She was also the closest to Keith among the Hawke sisters. As soon as she had been old enough to get her pilot’s license, she had hounded him to teach her the basics of flying instead of asking her less patient older brother to do the job.

Abby turned her earnest hazel gaze towards Keith. “You’re the nearest, Keith – say you’ll do it. I don’t want to make a scene by leaping over the centerpiece.”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh at the hopeful expression on Abby’s face. “I’m sorry, Abby, but I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he apologized earnestly.

Lance let out a whoop of victory as his sisters turned their incredulous eyes towards Keith.

“Why not?” Abby asked, disgruntled. “Don’t tell me you’re siding with him!”

“Of course he’s siding with me, he’s my best friend!”

Amanda raised her eyebrows at that. “You’re our brother, and we think you need an ego reduction,” she pointed out matter-of-factly. “So why can’t you do it, Keith?”
 
Keith hadn’t spent the time he had with this family and with Lance for nothing. “Well, Mandy, I’m afraid it would take nothing short of a sonic drill to get through his thick skull,” he deadpanned, before biting into a forkful of his dessert.

The rest of the Hawkes burst into delighted laughter as Lance pinned Keith with an irritated look. “Hey! I resent that!”

Keith shrugged and grinned at him. “I was only telling the truth,” he reasoned out. “You know I’m a rotten liar.”

“Rotten-shmotten – I’m going to get you for that one the next time we spar!”

“Now, now, children, none of that,” Admiral Hawke admonished with a twinkle in his eye. “This is the last dinner we’ll be spending with Lance and Keith around, and we should take pains to make sure it’s a pleasant one.”

“I’m enjoying myself – especially since I didn’t have to cook,” Amanda commented innocently. “Aren’t you enjoying yourself, Abby?”

“Yep, very much so,” Abby replied. She turned to her older sister. “Tina?”

“Of course I am!” Tina grinned wickedly. “After all, it’s the last we’ll be seeing of Lance for a long time… how can I help but be happy?”

“Don’t you start, mutant brain,” Lance ordered grumpily. Tina had always been his arch-nemesis, probably because they were the most alike in personality. “I can’t believe this, my own sisters aren’t even going to miss me!”

“Not miss you?” Abby gasped incredulously, putting her hand to her mouth for effect. “Why, big brother, how could you think such a thing! Of course we’ll miss you!” She turned to her sister beside her and whispered loudly, “Mandy, you do have the schedule we worked out regarding the turns we’ll get to keep Lance’s audio collection, right?”

“I get to keep it the first month,” Amanda whispered back. “Then Tina will, and then you will... but since we all live in the same house, we can always borrow the discs we want from each other.”

“My sisters have sold me to me to an existence on nightlife-less planet with the team leader from hell in exchange for my audio collection,” Lance groaned dramatically, slapping a hand to his forehead. “What did I do to deserve this?” He turned to Keith morosely, patting his friend’s back. “Be glad, my friend, that you don’t have any younger sisters.”

Keith smiled sympathetically at Lance – but he didn’t agree. Because, aside from wanting his parents back, there was nothing else he wanted more. He pushed the thought away from him resolutely, concentrating on the conversation at the table. He would have enough time for brooding when he got home, whether he wanted it or not.

It was decided over the course of the evening that Uncle Hawke would drive Keith home, while Lance would take the vehicle that Amanda had driven that afternoon and bring the girls home. Keith had been hesitant to accept the ride, offering to make the commute home instead, but the admiral had once more asserted his authority and insisted Keith allow himself to be driven home.

“I don’t consider it out of the way at all,” Uncle Hawke said firmly, cutting off Keith’s last protests.  “Besides, I want to give you a list of pointers you can use to keep Lance in line, and I can’t very well do that with him listening in,” he added solemnly. “Although between you and Sven, I think you’ll be able to keep him from getting into too much trouble.”

“I heard that!” Lance said, extricating himself from the heated argument he was having with his sisters about who would get to use his vehicle while he was gone. He rolled his eyes in exasperation and glared at his father. “Honestly, Dad, what was Marshal Graham thinking when he assigned me to serve under this slave driver friend of mine? I’m completely at his mercy!”

“I think that was the idea. You, my son, need more discipline in your life – and after years of Academy training, that’s saying a lot,” his father laughed, patting his shoulder in sympathy as he gave Keith a wink.

“Discipline is one thing – utter bondage is another,” Lance muttered.

“Hey, hey – don’t discuss your depraved sex-life at the table, there are minors present,” Tina put in cheekily, placing her hands over Abby’s ears. She tipped her head to one side and gazed gravely at Keith. “I’ve always known my brother was a pervert, but I didn’t know you were, too.”

The expression on her face was so funny that Keith just had to laugh.

Admiral Hawke swept his laughing eyes around the table affectionately, sobering as he realized how late it was when he noticed Amanda surreptitiously hide a yawn.

“I think it’s time we called it a night,” the admiral announced, raising his voice to be heard above the chorus of groans from his irrepressible brood. “It’s been a long day, and these two have an early start tomorrow.”

He picked up his glass of wine and swirled it thoughtfully. “But before we go… I would like to drink to the success of Lance and Keith’s mission to Arus. May the challenge of this mission bring out the best in them. And may they give enough of themselves to the people they will serve enough to make a difference. God keep you both safe and allow you to return to us better soldiers and better people than when you left.” He raised his glass. “To Arus and to your future.”

All the younger people followed suit. “To Arus and to the future.”

Because of the early departure time of Keith and Lance’s space shuttle to GG’s training camp on Ganymede, none of the Hawke women would be present to see them off, forcing them to say their goodbye to Keith in the restaurant parking lot under the streetlights.

Abby was the first to hug him and wish him good luck, clinging long enough to whisper, “And take care of my big brother, okay?” After a thoughtful pause, she added as her arms tightened around him, “No, take care of both my big brothers.”

Keith felt his throat thicken with emotion at her honest affection, but he managed to give her a grin. “Will do,” he replied, tweaking a lock of her hair affectionately. “Abby? Try not to steal too many hearts while we’re away, okay?  Without Sven, Lance, or me to protect you, you just might find yourself up and carried off by one of your avid fans.”

Amanda moved to embrace him next. “Try not to work yourself too hard,” she admonished, absently straightening his uniform for him as she moved away from his hug. “That’s what you have slaves like my older brother under your command for. Eat right… and please get some sleep.” She smiled up at him tremulously. “I’ll miss you, Keith. You’re the only one who actually offers to help wash the dishes.”

“Yes, Mom,” he said, bending down to plant an affectionate kiss on her forehead. “Take care of yourself as well as you’ve taken care of the rest of us.”

Amanda flashed him a sweet grateful smile and hugged him again, undoing all the straightening she had been doing.

Tina cleared her throat and quirked an eyebrow at her older sister. “Hey, sis, isn’t it supposed to be my turn?” she quipped. Amanda stepped away and allowed her younger sister to say her goodbye to him.

“We’re going to see each other again, so I won’t bawl at you,” Tina said with a grin, but even under the dim light, Keith could see her eyes were tearing. She stepped into his embrace and hugged him tightly. “You taught me how to fly so well that I’ll be done with my training in no time, and then I’ll get dad to pull some string to send me after you guys.”

Lance rolled his eyes and turned to his father groaning. “You’re not going to let them do that, are you? Keith and Sven with me on one mission is one thing, but having one of these pesky sisters of mine along is another.”

“Shut up, Lance,” Tina retorted, her voice muffled against Keith’s shoulder. “You know you don’t have a say in this, you just think you do.”

“I’ll be looking forward to flying with you, Christina,” Keith said warmly as he let her go. “Just remember what I always tell you… al –“

“Always look at my bearings monitor, I know, I know,” she said sheepishly. She moved out of Keith’s hug and saluted him jauntily. “See you out there, Captain.” She paused thoughtfully, and tipped her head to the side. “And, Keith?”

“Hmmm?”

“You better have a girlfriend when I see you next or I won’t be responsible for my actions,” she quipped, her eyes twinkling. “Dr. Hawke says work hard, but don’t forget to live happy, big brother.”

“I’ll do that,” Keith laughed saluting back at her. “I’ll miss you, spitfire.”

“Enough of that… time to go home,” Lance said, pulling her away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Captain.”

“Good night and have a safe drive, Lance. Don’t wait up – I’ll let myself in,” his father instructed. He and Keith watched Lance herd his younger sisters towards their vehicle.

As they walked away, Lance could be heard saying to Tina, “Keith’s too old for you, mutant brain, so you can stop making goo-goo eyes at him.”

“I’m just two years younger than you and happen to have a degree more than you do,” she retorted loudly in irritation. “As if I were interested in Keith … which I most definitely am not!”

“That’s not what your said in your diary two years ago when… ouch! That hurt!” Lance stopped and rubbed his arm where Tina had pinched him hard.

“Shut up, Lance! If you weren’t leaving tomorrow, I’d give you a thrashing you won’t forget and not patch you up afterwards.”

Before Tina stepped into the vehicle, she impulsively shouted out to a bemused Keith, “For the record, I did used to have a crush on you two years ago, and it was the reason why I asked you to teach me to fly. But I learned something about you that changed my mind about you entirely.” She ducked her head in the vehicle and was about to step in when her father’s laughing shout stopped her.

“Wait!” Admiral Hawke, aware of his daughter’s childish adulation of his ward, couldn’t help himself. “What was it that changed your mind?”

Tina’s face popped back up and her face was wreathed in a grimace. “I realized that taking up with Keith would be like taking up with… Lance!” She gave Keith a jaunty wave. “I’m so sorry to disappoint you, Keith, I know you were waiting for me to grow up. I guess you’ll just have to live your own life the best you can without me,” she drawled.

Keith laughed and put a hand to his heart, ducking his head morosely. “I’ll try my best to recover,” he deadpanned.

“You do that,” Tina said with a laugh of her own. “Maybe you might find someone on Arus. Remember what I said about finding yourself a girlfriend!”
 
 

“Nervous about your first command?”

Keith turned his attention from the lights speeding past him outside the window to his guardian at the wheel. “A little,” he admitted slowly. At his uncle’s skeptically raised eyebrow, Keith laughed. “All right, a lot. I’m a lot nervous.”

“That’s as it should be,” Admiral Hawke chuckled softly. “Once they set you on board your transport vessel to Arus from training camp, you’ll be completely on your own. The other four men will be under your command and your responsibility. You were chosen because you’ve shown that you have the capacity to handle the responsibility this command entails.”

Keith gave a small sigh. “I hope so.”

Admiral Hawke looked him over, his eyes thoughtful before he turned them back on the road. “Tell me honestly, are you happy about being assigned to the Arus mission?”

Keith was silent for a telling while before he answered. “Yes,” he admitted. “I am.” There was enthusiasm in his voice as he continued. “I was given the chance to work with teammates with great credentials. That I’m glad to be working with Lance and Sven goes without saying. I once got to work with Hunk Telmar on a training mission, and he is an incredible engineer. I haven’t had the chance to work with Pidge, but his skills as a techno-whiz will definitely come in handy.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.”

They went in companionable silence for the rest of the short trip. Soon enough they turned into a road that went into the Montgomery property. Admiral Hawke was surprised to find the fences mended and the grounds well maintained. As the vehicle approached the lit house, he was surprised to find it newly painted and just as well maintained as the rest of the house.

It was not the look of a house that had been empty for most of the past eight years.

Hawke parked the vehicle off the side of the house, and he followed Keith down, still staring up at the house. He had spent many days in this house with his two lost friends, and he could feel the strength of those memories as he took in the sight of the house that didn’t seem to have changed through the years.

“It looks… it seems as if it hasn’t changed,” Admiral Hawke finally commented. “You’ve kept the place up well.”

Keith nodded absently. “Part of my trust has always gone into maintaining the house and the property,” he explained quietly. “I’ve arranged for part of my monthly stipend to go into its maintenance after I leave for Arus.”

With the welcoming light shining through the tall windows spilling out unto the front lawn, it was hard for Hawke to shake the feeling that Kat and Zachary were waiting for their son inside sharing a cup of hot chocolate in the kitchen. Hawke had sought refuge in the company of his friends countless times through the years, drinking hot chocolate with them and weaving himself into the fabric of their lives.

If it were only for the memory of Kat and Zach’s friendship, Hawke would have still taken their only son into his life after they had gone. But Keith had turned out to be a special young man on his own merit, and Hawke took as much pride in his ward as his friends would have had they been here to see him. It was beyond him to allow him to spend this last important night before his first mission all alone, so he had bulldozed the reluctant young man into coming.

Hawke turned towards Keith. “If they both were here, you know they’d be incredibly proud of you. Even prouder than I am of you – and that’s saying a lot.”

Keith slowly nodded, and Hawke was surprised to see his young ward’s normally impassive expression give way to quiet longing. “At first I maintained the house in the hope that perhaps they’d come back here to live someday,” he confessed with a sad smile. “Now, I want to maintain it for myself. It would be good to start my own family in a place filled with good memories.”

Admiral Hawke patted his shoulder. “I miss them, too, son.”

“I know.” Keith turned to his uncle. “Will you be there to see us off tomorrow morning?”

Admiral Hawke nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it,” he said quietly, squeezing Keith’s shoulders. “I have to be there to say goodbye to both my sons.”

For a time they stood there, simply staring at the house. Finally Keith gave his uncle a warm grin. “Uncle Hawke, I know we have an early start tomorrow morning, but… would you like to share a cup of hot chocolate with me for a few minutes?”

Hawke thought of his own son spending precious time with his sisters at home, and this lonely young man who would be retiring in a lit but empty house who was asking for just a few minutes. Lance would still be awake when he got home. It was no contest.

“I would love to, son.”
 
 

After Uncle Hawke had gone home, and Keith had finished busying himself putting away everything he had used in the kitchen, he made his way to through the silent house to the family room. He did not turn on the light, preferring instead to go by the dim light streaming in from the kitchen to light his way.

He headed to the hearth and silently gazed at the photographs on top of the mantle. Although it had been some time since he last spent the night in this house, he still knew them all by heart. There was a picture of him as a little boy on a horse holding up a blue ribbon that he had just won, of a his mother and his father during their wedding. One where his mother in her hospital bed after having him, holding him towards the camera with love shining in her eyes. There was one of him sitting astride his father’s shoulders and shouting with laughter.

And then there was his last picture with them, Keith at around ten, smiling proudly up at his father, who was dressed in full dress uniform. His mother’s hands were on his shoulders; she was beaming at both his dad and him just as proudly. He remembered when it was taken – on the day his father was promoted to Rear Admiral – and that Uncle Hawke had been the one holding the camera.

Keith stood there for a long time in the dark, looking at each of the pictures again one by one. The albums his mother had compiled he had kept away long ago, but these pictures were ones he couldn’t bear to take down. He had wanted to keep everything the way it had been the day he had known they were gone, wanted to keep things familiar for them when they came back.

He had realized years ago that they would not be coming back, but he continued to keep things the same as if he could somehow feel his parents in the familiarity of what he had known. But the funny thing was that he hadn’t – and the familiarity about him only made him want to stay away from this house all the more.

It was even funnier that it was on this night when he was about to say goodbye to this house that he felt their presence so strongly he was comforted by it.

He went back to the kitchen to turn off the light and quietly climbed the stairs to his old bedroom. He flipped the light switch by the door on, and it activated a study desk lamp that lit the small room with warm, cozy light.

It was a little boy's room, the walls papered with stars and planets, the desk cluttered with books on flight, spaceships, alien language dictionaries, and a small frame with his parents’ picture. A telescope stood by a large window with a window-seat cluttered by more books, and on the wall beside the window was posted a star chart illustrating many Earth constellations. On a far shelf, his mother had lovingly arranged his ribbons for riding and other awards from the Academy.

There was nothing of who he had become in here. Every time he had come to this house to spend the night, he had slept in the guest bedroom down the hall. Like the rest of the house, he had suspended time here as well. It hadn’t felt right for this room to change and grow with him when they weren’t here to see it.

Keith made his way across the room and sat on the window seat. From here, he could see the lights of Galaxy Garrison's main base and the Space Academy shining in the distance. It was one of the things he had always loved about this room. When he was younger he used to stare at those lights in the distance and imagine the day when he would finally be able to fly his own ship, lead his own mission. He would sit here many nights, climbing out of bed after his mother had tucked him in, looking toward those lights and dreaming, boldly making plans to conquer space some day.

And now he was.

The thought brought a surge of excitement that he had not felt for a long time. He felt it the first time he had read the file containing the details of the Arus mission. He looked forward to the challenge of it, the clarity of knowing that he would be fighting for good, protecting a defenseless people against plunderers who were insatiable in their desire for power. It was exhilarating to know that he would be using his skills and his strength for good, to know that he was being given the chance to do something that mattered.

His parents would have loved to go on a mission like this. Perhaps it was this kind of mission that they flew that last time, the one that they had agreed to fly on together.

For the first time in years, his feelings towards his parents about what had happened had come full circle – and he understood how they would have found it hard to say no to the same chance he was now agreeing to take. Although he had suspended time in this house, in this room, he had grown up, and he had changed.

He stood from the window seat, went over to his desk, and picked up the picture frame, smiling wistfully down at the snapshot. He had taken it one happy autumn day, the autumn before they had gone away on their last mission. His mom and dad were nestled against each other’s side, looking at one another with eyes shining with love. They were both leaning against a wooden fence, framed against a blazing red-gold backdrop of woods in the autumn. His mother was looking up at his father with a glint of challenge in her eyes, while she reached up to brush off a lock of hair from his forehead. His father, whose arm was draped around her shoulders, was smiling down at her. It had always been one of his favorite pictures of them. This was the way he always remembered them, laughing, loving, and alive.

After a thoughtful pause, he fiddled with the frame and caught the photo in his hand when it fell out. It was a small picture that fit in the palm of his hand. He was going to take this one with him.

He didn’t need a picture to remember every detail of what they looked like or how they were – he had been old enough to keep a picture of them etched indelibly in his mind. He carried them everywhere with him, they were with him in everything he did. But there was something fitting to him about taking this little memento of them with him to the place he would be calling home for an indefinite amount of time. He tucked the photo into his back pocket and lay back on the bed, his head pillowed on his arms as he stared up at his ceiling. He pulled out his medallion from under his shirt and touched it absently.

Arus. A planet galaxies away. Funny how his future had suddenly become inexorably tied up in a planet he had not heard mentioned except in passing until last month when he first saw his orders. This planet would have his skills, his sword, and his life for as long as it needed him. It was not an unwelcome thought; it was one that he embraced. It was something that he could live for.

"May they give enough of themselves to the people they will serve enough to make a difference."

I sure as hell am going to try,  he thought as he stood from the bed and patted his back pocket to feel the photograph's reassuring presence there. It’s my turn now, and I’m not going to let those people down.

After one last thoughtful glance at the Space Academy lights in the distance, he flipped off the light switch and quietly closed the door behind him.
 

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