They sat together in the ripplegrass on a hill overlooking the sea, arms around one another. Starbright Bay and Kinkaid were at their backs. The Strathan Cluster glowed, soft and orange-gold, high in the sky toward the zenith.
"So as near as we can tell," Donal was telling Alexie, "the Malach have left Muir's system entirely. Their fleet packed up and high-tailed it as soon as their last transports and APCs loaded up. Somehow I doubt they'll be back this way any time soon."
"What about you?" she asked, leaning close. She reached up with one hand and gently touched the bandage encircling his head.
"Hmm? Me? I'm fine. Thanks to your field first aid efforts."
"Actually, I was thinking about Phalbin and the Strathan Army. You were closeted with him and his staff for a long time this afternoon, and they wouldn't let me in to talk to them, and they wouldn't even tell me what was going on. Are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to learn it all from Freddy?"
"I don't know, love. Freddy can be pretty closed-mouthed when he needs to be. Need to know, and all of that."
"Damn it, Don—"
"Okay, okay." He laughed. "I guess the good news is that I'm not going to be court martialed."
"Good. They'd have had another invasion on their hands if they did. An invasion composed of one Wide Sky ex-Deputy Director."
"I believe you. Well, there were some rumblings, of course. Colonel Wood came to my defense, though, and pointed out in, um, not too flattering terms that Freddy, Ferdy, and I managed to stop the invasion and kick the bad guys out all but single-handedly. His argument was . . . hey, if it works, don't screw with it."
"Sensible."
"Phalbin still wanted some sort of a trial. I kind of think he was looking forward to it, that it was warm and comforting for him to think he could shoot me at sunrise to make up for all the aggravation I'd caused him."
"And?"
"And I pointed out that he could simply claim credit for the victory as it stood. We did stop the Malach from taking Kinkaid, after all, and so far as the politicians or the civilians are concerned, they have no idea, and could care less, who figured it out or made it happen. If I'm court martialed, some of his, well, questionable decisions would probably have come out. Like trying to turn Bolos into bunkers. This makes him look awfully good, and I think he has his eye on being governor someday, after Chard.
"Anyway, they made me a captain. Field promotion. And you can't very well court martial someone you've just promoted, can you?"
She laughed. "That's wonderful! And here you thought your career was going nowhere!"
"Well, I'm still not sure how much future I have with the Strathan forces. I'd hate to leave the Dinochrome Brigade, but, well, there still may not be a lot of future for me here."
They snuggled quietly for a time. "Don? Which one is Wide Sky?"
He looked up at the stars. A few scattered, isolated silver or golden points glowed apart from the body of the cluster proper, tiny, far-off lamps at the edge of the Great Void. He pointed. "That one."
She clung to him for a long time. "Do you think the Malach will pull out of human space?"
"Not voluntarily. I don't think they're made that way."
"Um. Yes. Females don't submit. Unless they're made to." She thought a moment. "There are millions of people back there, Don. Under the Malach claw. We've got to go back and help them."
"I doubt that Chard is going to be interested in an offensive any time soon," Donal said. "But we might be able to convince him that the best defense is to give the bad guy a good swift kick in the tail."
"Could we do it? Could we take back Wide Sky from the Malach? With Freddy to help?"
"It has been my experience," Donal told her, "that there are very few problems in this universe that can't be solved with the deft application of a Bolo Mark XXIV. I'd say we're going to have to take that question up with Freddy."
They embraced then, clinging tightly in the rosy light of the cluster.
I have been studying the stars. I note the sun of Wide Sky, and wonder.
The Malach threat has abated for now, but there is no question in my mind that I will face them again, and soon. Their attempt at subjugating Muir failed, but their forces still hold Wide Sky, Endatheline, and probably Starhold as well. With those worlds as logistical advance bases, the Enemy will almost certainly try again. Humans would, given similar circumstances, and the Malach have demonstrated that if their motivations and reasoning are alien to those of humans, their determination, adaptibility, and cunning are not. They will be back, whatever the news reporters might have to say about it in the wake of, as one put it, "Man's greatest victory over alien invaders since the Deng War."
Obviously, the best way to circumvent further Malach expansion is to carry the war to worlds he now controls, ultimately to find his homeworld, wherever it might be. I do not know how long it will take human authorities to come to the same conclusion, but I feel confident that they will.
And I will be ready. My duty to my Commander, to my regiment, to the Dinochrome Brigade demands it.
As do my memories of Ferdy.