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Lieutenant Cooper Hawkes is standing at attention, in full dress uniform. Standing next to him is Captain West, also in the dress blues. Cooper glances at him through the corner of his eye. Strangely enough, he finds that Nathan is wearing the same face he wears before a combat drop. Nathan looks calm on the outside but Cooper can see his friend is very nervous and tense.

Cooper can not see the Colonel, who is standing behind him, on the raised landing. He wonders if McQueen is nervous. For that part, he wonders if he himself is nervous. He doesn't think so, but the voice he hears when he knows he's wrong speaks up. Yeah, you're nervous, and you know it. Have been since you went to see Nate, and he told you that Shane and Wang were alive, on their way home, in fact. As was the usually the case when he had strong feelings about something, he was inordinately confused. In the past six months, though, he has developed new tools to deal with confusion. He looks at it as if it were an Engineering problem and tries to solve it by reasoning through his thoughts.

His voice prompts, "What do you know for fact?"

"Two of my only real friends are alive, when I thought they were dead. They'll be here very soon."

"You should be happy, but you're not. You're afraid. Why?"

"I don't know...."

"Are you worried that they'll blame you for leaving them behind to be captured?"

"No, that's not it. They are both Marines. We all know the risks involved."

"That leaves only a few possibilities, then. Do you think that their time spent as prisoners might have changed them?"

"...."

His voice presses on, "That's it, isn't it? You're afraid that they might not be the people you knew seven months ago. Well, that is a very real possibility...."

With his inner debate concluded, Hawkes realizes that they will all know whether or not their fears are well founded. The ISSAPC has touched down and the doors are beginning to unlock.

They were going home.

It felt good to finally be able to say that. Sitting by one of the window ports on the ISSAPC, Paul Wang could see the distance between them and the Saratoga was closing. After having been away for seven long hellish months, the familiar silhouette of the John F. Kennedy -class carrier was a welcome sight. He feels a few of the knots of tension he has been carrying around begin to unwind.

Wang sees that the place he calls home hasn't changed very much at all. He has changed though, as his reflection in the window tells him. His hair is longer and he has grown a beard. The left side of his jaw is badly scared, the remnant of an accident that the Freedom's surgeon was not able to repair.

He looks about the main cabin, taking in the appearance of his companions.

There are the four Marines, formerly of the 21st squadron. They were captured when their ISSAPC was taken out over Ixion. Their names are Brown, Barcia, MacLean and Morel. Wang doesn't know them personally, but they are friendly enough. The four of them are currently engrossed in a conversation pertaining to life on board the Freedom and how it fares when compared to the Saratoga.

Seated opposite Wang is the deuce, whose name is Michael Peterson. The deuce was a lieutenant with the 59th squadron when they were assisting in the rescue of the Homeward Bound. After his Hammerhead had been critically damaged, he had crash landed on a moon of the planet that Vansen and Damphousse had crashed on. He had been with Vansen when Wang was captured months later. The lieutenant is reading a very battered copy of Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein and looks entirely oblivious to what is going on about him. However, Paul occasionally catches him glancing out of the corner of his eye, seeing how the others about the cabin are doing, especially Vansen. From what Wang had gathered through Shane, Peterson had helped her keep her sanity during their stay with the Chigs and vice versa. The two had become inseparable friends during that time and Paul can see the concern that Peterson has for Shane in the man's eyes.

Which brings him to Shane herself. She is sitting next to him, with her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her hair is tied back behind her head and she is staring at the wall opposite her as if her purpose is to dissect the molecules of the wall with the force of her gaze. She has not spoken or moved since they had departed the Freedom hours ago.

Paul is contemplating some way of getting Shane's mind off of their return to the Saratoga, when Peterson speaks up from his seat. "Hey, Wang have you seen the Hammerhead they've got flying now?", he queries.

Wang shifts his gaze over to Peterson, who is putting his book in a back pocket. "No, why do you ask?" He sends the other man a quizzical look.

Peterson walks over to where Wang is standing and looks out the window. "They look like a new model. There," he points to a group crossing their ISSAPC's flight path. "Seems they've made some modifications just forward of the engine intakes and along the centerline of the craft." He looks Wang in the eyes and then flicks his gaze towards Vansen.

Wang acknowledges Peterson with an imperceptible nod, and looks out to the flight of Hammerheads. "Yeah, I can see what you're talking about, Mike. It would be my guess that they modified the engines or the flight control system. Have you heard anything about it, Shane?"

She doesn't even move her eyes away from the bulkhead. "No," she says flatly.

Paul continues, "You were assistant to the Freedom's Air Wing Commander, you mean to tell me that he hadn't heard anything about it?"

Shane sighs, then says, "Firstly, you know as well as I do that the Freedom had no Hammerheads. Why would they be interested in modifications to a craft they don't fly? And second, despite everything everyone told me to the contrary, I realize exactly how supernumerary my position was. I wasn't particularly in the Air Wing Commander's favor, why should I be told anything of any importance?"

Peterson turns about to fully face Vansen. "Shane, you know that's not the truth. You got that position because of your flight experience..."

Vansen cuts him off, mid-sentence. She finally looks at them. Her eyes look as if she hasn't slept well in days. "Michael, Paul, as friends, I'm asking you to leave me alone until we dock." She looks up at them, asking them silently, if they'll do this for her. Peterson nods and returns to where he was sitting before. He takes out his book and continues reading. Wang takes a deep breath, and lets it out along with a bit of his exasperation. He goes back to looking out the port window.

Minutes later, the voice of the pilot announces that they'll be touching down momentarily. Everyone in the cabin, takes a seat and buckles in.

Landing goes smoothly. Then the deck begins to vibrate slightly, accompanied by the nearly sub-sonic sound of heavy hydraulics at work. The starfield is blocked out by the walls of the landing bay, as the ISSAPC is lowered into the Saratoga. The pilot comes out of the cockpit and warmly wishes them all a farewell and good luck, which they all return.

Finally, after they have come to a halt in the landing bay proper, they all unbuckle themselves. The four Marines of the 21st gather at the door, as a French sergeant unlocks it. Wang and Peterson walk over to where Vansen is still sitting. Paul is the first to say, "What do you want to do, Shane?" Vansen takes a moment before she speaks, during which she looks at the opening door and then to her friends. She straightens her back and offers her arms to them. "Can you, keep me up through the whole ceremony? I do not want to use that damned wheel chair until the ceremony is over and I absolutely have to."

The two men each take an arm and hoist her up out of the seat. They each then wrap an arm around her waist to support her weight. As they move to the door, Peterson says to Vansen, "You realize the someone has probably already made special preparations for you?"

Vansen shakes her head, as the door begins to slide open. "I explicitly asked the Freedom's communications officer not to tell them about my paralysis. I have no desire to suffer through their sympathy during my own homecoming." Peterson shoots her a look as if to say, Are you sure that was the intelligent thing to do? She ignores it and fixes her gaze on what is beyond the now open door.

continue with Reprisal, part 4

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