The Cost of Life pt. 2:

SACRIFICE

By Victor Dachs

Jake finished buttoning his dress uniform and walked swiftly out of his room to see Chris pacing in the living room. The panther looked almost stressed out, today being Sasha's graduation from basic. It was funny to Jake, somewhat. She was Jake's daughter, but he wasn't that stressed at all. Chris, her uncle through marriage, looked as if he was seeing his daughter graduate today. It was still a few minutes early to be leaving, but Chris was obviously ready to go. In the twelve years since Jeremy's death, Chris grew much closer to Jake and Sasha - to Sasha especially. She was actually the one that convinced him to remarry six years ago. Jake laughed in his head when he thought about all that happened with Chris. At first, the panther went through a long time of mourning for Jeremy. After he had begun to be able to live with it, he and Jake's old friend Jerry started to hit it off pretty well. Once Jerry broached the subject of dating seriously, Chris shied away, thinking that somehow that would mean he didn't care for Jeremy anymore. Despite Jake and Jerry talking to him about it, it ended up taking Sasha - a twelve year old at the time - to convince him that he could love them both. Once he caved in, though, he fell hard for Jerry. They were just about as in love as Chris and Jeremy were before. As much as the events weren't funny at the time of occurrence, it ended up being a kind of inside joke between the four to irritate Chris. The panther was quite easy to embarrass after all.

"Is Jerry ready yet?" Jake asked.

"He's taking goddamn forever." Chris mumbled, irritated, before raising his voice so the bull in the other room could hear him. "Hon? You ready yet?"

"Damn it, Chris, we're still early!" the low-pitched voice of the bull answered from the bedroom. "The ceremony won't start any sooner if we get there early. You can get dressed faster now without having to wear a uniform anymore."

"Hah! Don't try that one on me, Jake's already ready and waiting. He's got a uniform, too."

Jake chuckled and shook his head at the bantering between the two. After Chris retired two years ago, he seemed to take on a more jovial demeanor. He laughed more, told more jokes, smiled more, and most of the time, bantered playfully with his new mate.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Jerry emerged from the hallway in his dress uniform, and walked to the panther, putting his arms around him. Jerry was actually of a size with Chris, unlike Jeremy, who was very noticeably smaller. "You're way too excited about this." Jerry seized the panther's lips with a kiss before Chris could retort.

"Pfft. I'm just the right amount of excited. You two are too nonchalant." Chris said after the kiss, shifting his gaze between Jake and the bull.

"So are you two ready? Or am I going to have to watch you make out for an hour?" Jake chuckled at the two.

"Hmm," Jerry replied, "I could stand to make out for a bit."

"We're ready." Chris interjected, smiling at the bull. "Making out can wait until after Sasha graduates."

Jake laughed, "Alright well who's driving?"

"I'll drive." Chris broke his embrace with the bull to go grab his keys hanging on the post next to the door. "My car is parked behind yours anyway."

Jake picked the back seat when they got to the car, letting Chris and Jerry sit together. During the drive to the base, Jake saw that they were holding hands the whole time. He was glad that Chris found another mate. He was the kind of guy that seemed to need support from people he loved, and with Jeremy gone, Jake could only do so much. Jerry was a great guy too, and had already been a close friend to Jake. After the incident, Chris had moved in the guest room at Jake's house, and when the two got together, Jerry joined his new mate. Jake had expected Chris to move out and live with Jerry alone, like he did with Jeremy, but the panther wanted to stay close to Jake and Sasha. The fact that Jake already knew Jerry very well helped with them all living together. Jake sometimes wished he had found love again, but raising Sasha was a full time job, even with Chris and Jerry around to help. Now he always thought he was too old to start dating again, against the protests of Chris and Jerry. They had gotten together when Chris was the same age as Jake was now. When they pulled into the parking lot next to the parade deck, they were greeted by a young corporal acting as an usher. The fox saluted Jake and Jerry, who returned the salute.

"Good morning gentlemen. Are you friends or family?" the young fox asked.

"Family." Jake responded, "We should have some seats reserved, actually. Names are Jake Kearny, Chris Brightman, and Jerry Haldman."

The fox flipped through the papers on his clipboard to try to find the names. "Ah, here you are, gentlemen. I will show you to your seats."

The three followed the fox to their seats, in the center of the review stand. They took their seats, Chris looking even more nervous and excited to see Sasha again than he did at the house. Jake would have been lying if he said he wasn't excited as well, but it seemed that Chris was taking it a little bit far. Jerry looked like he would have agreed with Jake.

"Honey, calm down." Jerry chuckled. "At this rate, you're going to have a heart attack when they march out." Jake laughed when the bull said that.

Jake watched with pride when they marched the new soldiers out, looking in the sea of faces for his daughter. Once he saw her, he smiled. She had already found them and was looking right in their direction. Jake heard Chris gasp slightly and grab on to Jerry's hand. He must have just found her as well. Jake was overwhelmed with pride. His daughter had grown and chose to follow in her parents' footsteps. As much as Jake wanted her to go through to be an officer, he was proud nonetheless. She went in with an open contract, and he couldn't wait to hear what occupation she was assigned. He was starting to get nervous wondering what she got. Jake thought that maybe that's what was making Chris so nervous. He must have looked like Chris as he anxiously awaited the end of the ceremony. When the platoons were dismissed, Jake and Chris both jumped up and raced to Sasha, leaving Jerry behind laughing to himself and following a bit more slowly. Jerry cared for Sasha a lot, but was the least excitable of the bunch. When they got close to her, she stopped dead in her tracks. She raised her hand in a salute, smiling.

"Good morning gentlemen." She recited the proper greeting. Jake had almost wished he hadn't worn his uniform so he could bypass these formalities. He saluted back quickly, and before her arm went completely down, he grabbed her in a tight hug.

"I missed you, Sasha." He said as she returned the hug.

"We all did." Chris corrected, as Jake released his daughter only to have her pulled into another hug by the panther.

"I missed you too. Where's Uncle Jerry?"

"Behind you." Jerry said, making Sasha whirl to give him a hug as well. "How'd you like basic?"

"It sucked, of course." She laughed. "But I made it through just fine."

"Well we knew you would." Jake said smiling. "How about we get out of here and get some lunch?"

"Can we go visit Mom first?"

Jake smiled, "Of course, hon. I know she's just as proud of you as we are." They had always gone to the grave site about once a month since Callie and Jeremy died. Sasha had been in basic for over three months, and Jake was actually very glad that she wanted to go visit the graves. Even with losing her mother at six, she never stopped thinking about her.

They grabbed her gear from the room it was staged in and packed it in the car. They all got in, Jake and Sasha sitting in the back seat. She seemed filled with self pride. She had wanted to join the military since she was young, and she finally achieved her dream.

"So," Jake said as they drove to the grave site a few miles up the road, "what occupation did they give you?"

Sasha's smile faded and she bit her lip. "Well, I kinda wanted to tell you later. Um, I got assigned infantry."

Jake's face darkened. Jerry turned around, facing Sasha, eyes wide. Chris grabbed Jerry's leg. The mood in the car changed drastically. Jake's fears of the open contract came true.

"Infantry?"

"You knew it could happen, Dad. It's what they need me to do. Uncle Jerry's infantry and he's fine."

"And you see how much your Uncle Chris worries about him when he's gone."

"He worries when you're gone, too, Dad. I'll be able to handle myself. I can do it."

Jake gave up. As much as he wanted to, there was nothing he could do to change what she was assigned. They were hoping for her to get into intelligence, like her mother, but there were a large number of possibilities for them to assign her to.

"We're here." Chris said as they pulled over on the road nearest the two graves, effectively ending the conversation. They got out of the car, Jake and Sasha starting to walk toward the graves.

"You going to see Jeremy?" Jerry asked Chris when they were out.

"Yeah." Chris said with a somber face. The pain of losing his first lover was still there, even after so long.

"I'll wait here for you; let you have some time alone." Jerry walked to Chris and gave him a light kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, Jerry. Thanks."

Jake and Sasha walked up to Callie's marker. There was no body buried under it. His wife's body was left at the rebel base during the rescue twelve years earlier. He wished Jerry hadn't pulled him off of her so soon. He wished he could have buried his wife. It wasn't Jerry's fault, though; he didn't know that she was his wife. He couldn't have known. He kneeled closer to the marker and brushed away the dead leaves that covered it.

"Hey hon. Sasha finally made it. She graduated basic. I wish you could have seen this, you'd have been so proud. Our daughter's all grown up now." Sasha put a hand on her father's shoulder. They both felt the loss, even if she didn't remember her mother much. Such things kept fresh in the mind.

"She is proud, Dad. I know she's watching us. I can feel it sometimes, like a guardian angel." She looked at the marker, seemingly studying the words she'd seen so many times before. "I wanted to thank you, Mom. I know you've been watching over me since you died. I know it was you that helped me through basic when I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it sometimes. I know you're proud of me, and I know you love me. I feel all the words that you can't say to me. Pretty soon I won't be able to visit you more often, but I'll keep you in my heart, and ask that you continue to watch over me. I may need it soon."

Sasha reached up to take her cover off. She pulled an extra Federation insignia out of her pocket. She took the one off her cover, the one that had been given to her by the Drill Sergeants signifying her graduation. She replaced it with the new one, and put the bestowed insignia on top of the marker.

"Thank you." She said again before they both headed back to the car.

Chris lingered at Jeremy's grave next to them, watching Sasha place her insignia on the stone. He waited until they left before shifting his attentions to his lover's gravestone.

"I miss you, Jeremy. After twelve years, I still miss you. You'll be happy to know that Jake's been doing a good job watching me. Jerry's done his fair share as well, heh. I've slowly been getting better since you died. It still hurts a lot, but Jerry helps with that pain as well. I wanted to thank you for sending him again. I know that was you - no one else knew what a mate did for me. I've said it a thousand times here, and I'll say it a thousand more. I still love you, Jeremy. Like I said, I always will. I can't join you right now, but I will. One day, I will see you again."

Chris leaned down and kissed Jeremy's headstone, his eyes watering some. He had thanked Jeremy for bringing Jerry into his live ever since he met the bull. He knew that was Jeremy's work. Jeremy had been the rock to hold him up, and once he was gone, he sent in another rock for him. To Chris, Jerry wasn't better or worse than Jeremy, just different. He loved them both equally. Jerry's love helped him out of the depression that Jeremy's death caused. He was a perfect choice for Jeremy to send, and he was happy with the bull. Chris stared at the headstone a minute more before heading to the car.

* * * *

Sasha was escorted through the base at Cyrenia by a young Corporal. After the tearful goodbyes to her family, everything had gone by so fast it seemed a blur in her mind. She had been escorted throughout the base to go through the various check-in procedures. She had just checked into the armory to get issued a blaster and combat gear. She was headed to her last stop - checking into her new platoon. She was nervous. She had no clue what to expect when she got there. The wolf leading her took her to an open door and told her to wait outside while he went in and talked to the Lieutenant. After a moment he motioned for her to report in. Sasha marched in and stood at attention.

"Good morning, sir. Private Kearny reporting as ordered."

"Very well. Relax." The cougar in front of her held his hand out as she handed him the check-in paperwork. "Have a seat." He motioned to the one chair in the office and she sat in it as the wolf left the room, closing the door. "Welcome to 85th Brigade, Charlie Company, 1st Platoon."

"Thank you, sir." She replied, trying to hide her nervousness.

"You come from a very respectable family, Private Kearny. Brigadier General Kearny is your father, Retired General Brightman your uncle. You have quite the shoes to fill."

"Yes sir, I do." She said, half proud that her family is so esteemed here, and half nervous knowing that those were big shoes to fill.

"With that, this platoon has quite the reputation. I'm actually being replaced as Platoon Commander today, so I won't give you my personal expectations. I'll leave that to the oncoming Lieutenant. I will, however, let you know what the unit will expect of you. You'll be expected to be in peak combat readiness at all times. You'll be expected to follow orders instantly. If hesitation happens, someone could die. We kill for a living here in 1st Platoon, and you'll be expected to kill the enemy without a thought. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright. I will tell you that you'll be the only one in this platoon that hasn't seen combat yet, so the other soldiers might dog you about that. Just be prepared. We have some of the finest soldiers in the infantry, and they know it. I'll take you in there, just pick an open bunk and start stowing your gear. Make yourself comfortable and get familiar with the other soldiers in there. They're going to be your family while you're here, best get used to them."

"Yes, sir." Sasha followed the Lieutenant to the next door down the hallway. He opened it to a long room with bunks on each side. All but one were doubles. Male and female soldiers sat on the bunks, doing their own things. Some were even sleeping. Once the Lieutenant entered, the soldiers woke the sleeping ones and stood to hear what he had to say.

"Listen, up! This here is Private Kearny. She just got out of basic and was attached to us. Show her around and teach her the ropes around here. Give her any one of the empty bunks. I haven't assigned her to a squad, yet. I'm going to leave that up to the oncoming Platoon Commander. Carry on."

* * * *

Jeff watched as the Lieutenant left, leaving the female tiger behind. She looked nervous and unsure of what to do, so Jeff decided to introduce himself to her first. He walked up to her and held out his hand. She shifted her gear to her other arm and shook his hand.

"I'm Corporal Greenley. I'm the first squad leader. I'll show you to an open bunk."

"Thank you, Corporal." The tiger said as she followed the hyena to the double bunk next to his single.

"You'll be bunkmates with Jester here. By the way, we're not much on the 'yes, corporal; no corporal' shit here. We save that for the officers. We usually go by nicknames and call signs here. Most here call me Chuckles. Very original play on my species, huh?" he laughed, making the tiger smile some. "You'll get a nickname soon enough. Jester's called Jester cause, well, he jokes around a lot. He tends to bring up the spirits. You're next to me and Scotty here." He pointed at the single bunk next to hers.

"You have a single bunk?" She asked, looking somewhat confused.

"Well Scotty and I are fiancés actually. Even though he split us in different squads, the Lieutenant at least lets us sleep together. His nickname is from some old sci-fi movie I'd never heard of. Don't really know how he got it. He stepped out for a cigarette a few minutes ago, but you'll get a chance to meet him. He's the handsome lion you'll see running around here causing trouble." He smiled. He noticed the tiger's eyes were drifting off behind him.

"Trouble, huh?" Jeff spun around to see his mate was right behind him. The tiger let out a chuckle, covering her mouth quickly with her hand.

"How long have you been there?" Jeff asked as the lion gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Long enough." Scotty laughed. "Who's the new chick?"

"This is Private Kearny. We don't have a nickname for her yet."

Scotty reached over to shake the tiger's hand, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Lance Corporal Bolden, A.K.A. Scotty. Are you, by any chance related to General Kearny?"

The tiger nodded shyly, "He's my father."

Jeff's eyes widened. "Wow, so you know all the soldiers that pulled off the Sindraga rescue? That operation is pretty well-known around here."

"Not all of them. Just my father, mother, and uncles."

"Your uncles?" Scotty asked curiously.

Sasha nodded. "My uncle by blood was Jeremy Kearny. He was second in command of the troops at the time. He was married to General Chris Brightman, who was Commander of Troops then. My uncle Jeremy was killed during the rescue and after a while my Uncle Chris married the now Lieutenant Haldman, who was the Black Ops inside the base at Sindraga that helped break my father out."

"Wow, talk about a military family. We were never told that Lieutenant Haldman or General Brightman were related to you." Jeff said, "Your mother died during the rescue, too, didn't she?"

Sasha nodded.

"That sucks." Scotty said, simply.

"It was years ago. We still think about it a lot, but we make do." The tiger smiled. "The Lieutenant told me I was going to be teased about not being to combat yet." She chuckled, "You two have been pretty nice so far."

Jeff laughed, "Well we're probably the friendliest ones here. As much of a stereotype as it is, we gay folks tend to be friendly. Though, I doubt you'll get much teasing due to your family history. You got some big family reputation to live up to."

Sasha smiled. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot recently."

"Hey, I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone. I'll make sure they don't start no shit." Scotty smiled, waving at her to follow.

"Great just leave me here." Jeff scoffed. Scotty walked back up to his mate and planted a firm kiss on his lips.

"You'll be alright. I'll be back to keep you company." Scotty replied in imitation of a mother talking to a baby. Jeff growled at him, but Scotty just laughed and walked off with the tigress.

* * * *

Sasha finished her rounds meeting everyone with Scotty. Everyone seemed to be pretty nice to her when Scotty told them about her family. They seemed to have a deep respect for what her father and uncles did, and sympathy to the deaths of her mother and Uncle Jeremy. She was one of three females in the platoon as well. It was mostly male-driven in the infantry, she knew. She also noticed the lack of sergeants and above in the enlisted ranks.

"Why are there so few sergeants and above here?" She asked, mulling the possibilities around in her head.

"We used to have a lot, actually. Squad leaders used to be sergeants, and the platoon sergeant used to be a gunnery sergeant. About a year ago, we had a mission that ended in a lot of casualties. We lost the gunnery sergeant and three sergeants. The fourth sergeant was separated with PTSD. The one sergeant we have now got promoted a couple months ago. I guess we worked so well without them, that they never gave us anymore. It's either that, or a direct representation of the effects of the dwindling recruitment of infantry by the recruiting offices. You said yourself that you were an open contract. That's pretty much all we get nowadays." Scotty explained. Sasha could tell that the mentioning of the mission caused him a little grief. He looked at the ground the whole time while explaining it. Sasha reached over and touched his arm.

"I'm sorry, Scotty. They were good soldiers, weren't they?"

Scotty chuckled, "No, they were assholes. That's not the reason it hurts to talk about if that's what you're asking."

Sasha was confused. She didn't know what else could hurt someone like that more than the deaths. "Then what happened?"

"Well you'll find out soon enough anyway, so I might as well tell you now. The bastards almost took my hyena away from me. We were in pretty heavy, and Jeff took some shrapnel in the leg. It was severed clean off."

Sasha cringed at the thought. "He's got a prosthesis?"

Scotty nodded. "Yeah, he almost bled out. Somehow the docs got to him in time. I thought he was gone for sure. They fitted him with some really advanced robotics for the leg, but told him that he would probably be kicked out of the military for it. That would have separated us, and he wouldn't have it. Jeff being Jeff, he trained with the new leg and eventually outperformed his old physical fitness scores. After showing them he could still stay combat efficient with the prosthesis, they decided not to kick him out. All that to stay here with me. I asked him to marry me shortly after that. Still, I hate thinking about the incident."

"I can see why." Sasha looked at the floor, not knowing what to say. "Why do you call him Jeff? I thought everyone here used nicknames."

"Ah, well. He uses mine a lot. Hell, I answer to it more than Karl, which is my real name. I never liked his nickname. It's quite cheesy if you haven't noticed." He smirked at her.

Sasha chuckled, "Yeah, it is."

"Let's get you unpacked. There's one more guy to meet, and he hasn't come back in yet. I'll help you with your gear."

Sasha followed Scotty back to her bunk. Jeff was lying on his back on the bunk that he and Scotty shared. He had his shirt off and a pair of gym shorts on, revealing the prosthesis. It was very advanced as Scotty had said, though it was glaringly out of place on his body. It made her feel a bit sad for him, even though he seemed perfectly happy with his life, and his mate.

"That took you long enough." Jeff smiled at the two.

"Well you know how things go. Everyone wants to ask questions about her family. I see you got comfy, there."

"You know me. Comfort first and foremost."

Scotty crawled on the bunk, straddling Jeff. "You know I like it when you're comfy. Clothes look horrible on you." They both laughed and Scotty seized Jeff's mouth in a deep, passionate kiss that Sasha thought would never end.

"Am I gonna have to turn around now?" She mused.

"Nah, you can watch if you want." Scotty said, his voice muffled, barely breaking off the kiss to talk.

Jeff broke off the kiss, leaving Scotty kissing down his neck and chest. "Nah, we save that for the tents when we're out in the field. Or the showers when no one's around." He smiled, pushing a disappointed lion off of him.

"He never lets me have fun." Scotty pouted.

"You'll get your fun, sexy." Jeff laughed as he kissed the lion on the cheek. "Anyway, look who just walked in."

Sasha looked toward the door to see a very handsome fox walking toward them. "Is that Jester?"

"Yep." Scotty nodded as he stood up, "That's your bunkmate."

"Heyo Scotty, Chuckles!" Jester smiled as he approached them, "I almost thought I'd have to get a water hose on you two."

"Only if Scotty had his wish." Jeff smiled. "I'd like you to meet your new bunkmate, Sasha Kearny."

Jester reached out a paw and shook Sasha's. "Nice to meet you, there. Would this be the daughter of General Kearny?"

"None other." Scotty chuckled, "Though you're the first one to know their actual relation."

"Ah, you know me; I always look into the stuff they tell us here."

"I've heard a lot about you, Jester." Sasha grinned at the fox.

Jester scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well knowing these two, it ain't too flattering."

"Only that you joke around a lot, really. I just couldn't find anything else to say." Sasha laughed. The other three joined her.

"Phwew. These two are notorious for getting embarrassing things on a fellow. I think it's so they can have some collateral so the pathetic noises they make during sex doesn't get out in the open."

"Hey hey hey. At least we're getting laid." Scotty pointed out, grabbing the hyena close to him.

"Hey man, you can't make me jealous of you two. You should go show off to Hulk if you want to make someone jealous." Jester laughed.

Sasha remembered meeting Hulk. He was a massively built wolf, and was the only other gay male in the platoon. Despite his looks, he seemed a really endearing guy, and even though he never said anything about it, Sasha could tell that he really was jealous of Jeff and Scotty.

"Oh, before I forget," Jester said, "I heard a nice little rumor about our oncoming lieutenant."

"Oh, really?" Scotty said, keeping Jeff held close and running his hands through the fur on his mate's chest.

"Yeah, I heard he was prior enlisted - and get this - was Black Ops."

"Damn. That'd be nice." Jeff replied. "It'd be great to have a competent lieutenant among us." He turned and saw Sasha's slightly confused face. "Most of the lieutenants we get are fresh out of officer's training. They don't know squat about battle. Getting a prior enlisted is a huge breath of fresh air for us. Especially one as trained as a Black Ops."

Almost on cue, Sasha heard a familiar voice come from the front of the squad bay.

"1st Platoon! Gather 'round!"

* * * *

Jeff gathered with the rest of the platoon around the large bull at the head of the squad bay. He was wearing his dress uniform; his numerous medals forming a large stack on his chest. He glanced quickly over at Sasha, who was staring wide-eyed at the bull. He wondered...

"My name is Lieutenant Haldman." The bull continued. Jaws dropped. This wasn't just any Black Ops soldier. This was the one that was involved in the famous Sindraga rescue. "I can see from your faces that you've heard of me. It seems the Sindraga story is a popular one in the infantry battalions." He smiled. "I'm going to be your new lieutenant for a while. Since you already know who I am, I'll skip my long introduction. Now, as far as the squads go, I'm going to change a few things. I've been briefed about all of you, even your nicknames, and feel that some slight tweaking would be beneficial to us all. As the ancient Greeks once believed, I also believe that the best person to cover your ass in combat is the one who thinks your ass is worth something. Therefore, I'm switching Hulk from first squad and replacing him with Scotty. That alright with you two?"

"Yes, sir." Jeff replied, shocked. "Very alright, sir."

The bull chuckled. "I thought so. I noticed you, Scotty, and Jester talking to my niece over there. Seeing how she's bunked around first squad soldiers, I'm going to put her with first squad. That brings me to another point. Yes, I am related to Private Kearny, but don't get any ideas of special treatment. We're all family in a platoon. If you see me doing her a favor, it'll probably only be because she knows she can approach me. If the rest of you do the same, I'll take care of all of you. I also know you mostly go by nicknames and call signs here. I used to be an enlisted man myself, and the 'Sir' shit grinds me sometimes. So when we're in the field, you may refer to me as my old call sign, Ghost. You can call me Ghost if I'm around in here as well. Believe it or not, officers get bored sitting in an office by themselves. Also, I like to try and get to know my soldiers, so you'll probably be seeing me in here a lot. As for my policies on training and whatnot, I'm going to stress training as much as my predecessor. You have a reputation of being one of the best infantry platoons there is. I'm going to strive to get rid of the 'one of' in front of that. A few things will have to happen to make that so. You'll have to become a family here. My predecessor said you were a pretty tight-knit group, but I want to continue that here. Without camaraderie, this platoon will fall apart. A lot of lieutenants say that we're not here to be your friends, only to lead. My take on that is if I'm not a friend of yours, you're going to be less likely to trust my decisions. I'm not going to take up any more time from you, so I'll leave you with some of my policies during a battle. Everyone fights, no one gives up. And, most importantly, no one is left behind. You should already know my thoughts on rescues. If there is a body left, it's coming home. I'm not going to make the same mistake I did with Private Kearny's mother. Take that to heart. No one is left behind."

With that, the bull left the squad bay. Ghost was a different kind of lieutenant. He basically cast aside everything about officers that enlisted hate. It was almost like having an enlisted soldier leading them. He looked over at his mate, who came toward him and embraced him.

"We're finally in the same squad, babe." Scotty said, smiling at him.

"I know. Lieutenant Haldman seems like a great lieutenant already." Jeff smiled back, shifting from the embrace to take the lion's hand and walk back to their bunk. Once they got to the bunk, they both laid down on it, Jeff holding his mate close as the lion's hands rubbed his bare chest. Sasha walked up with Jester a second later.

"So, Kearny, what are the chances of your uncle getting attached to us the same day you get here?" Jeff asked.

"Well... I'd say they're pretty good. My father probably had a lot to do with it. He wasn't too thrilled that I was going into infantry."

"Ah, just tell 'im not to worry." Jester said, "We'll take good care of ya here." He fuzzled Sasha's hair, causing her to shrink back and laugh.

Scotty lifted his head up from its place on Jeff's chest and looked at Sasha. "Actually, your uncle might be the one thing this platoon needs. Our last lieutenant didn't know too much about combat, and that's the reason people got killed. And this." Scotty reached his arm over Jeff and touched his robotic leg. Jeff put his hand on Scotty's shoulder. Even though it was a horrible event for Jeff, his mate seemed to take it a lot harder. The memory always caused him pain. "All I'm saying is your uncle has the knowledge to lead us, and I don't think he'll make a mistake like that. It could be the better for all of us, not just you."

* * * *

Sasha relaxed on the small bench outside the area where their tents were at. In the two weeks that she and her uncle were here, the bull kept his word about mingling with the rest of them. A lot of the platoon came to like him. It was kind of awkward at first, taking orders from her uncle like that, but she already started to get used to it. They were out on a field exercise, practicing squad drills and some combat marksmanship; the latter of which spawning her new nickname, Sniper. The rest of the platoon started trickling toward the bench. It was where they all just hung out after the day was done. She saw Jester walking toward her.

"Yo, Sniper!" Jester called out. "Good shootin' today."

"Thanks, Jester." She smiled back. "Not too bad yourself."

"Heh, not quite as good as you. No wonder they assigned you to infantry, you had to have been the best shot in your platoon in basic."

"Yeah, I was alright I guess." She laughed.

"So modest." He chuckled back.

"Where's Scotty and Chuckles?" She asked as Jester sat next to her on the bench.

"I think they decided to retire early. Chuckles seems to be getting pretty old after all," he laughed, "and Scotty just follows him wherever. You'd think the two were attached at the hip."

Sasha laughed. "How old is Chuckles?"

"He's twenty-seven."

Sasha's eyes widened. "Twenty-seven? He looks at most twenty-two!"

"Yeah. Most people don't guess that old, since Scotty's only twenty himself. Seven years difference between the two."

"Damn, that's a pretty big gap. I wonder how Chuckles keeps up with someone so much younger than him." Sasha laughed.

"Ugh, believe me, their sex life is not something I want to think about. Even in joking." They both laughed.

"I need to see all the squad leaders as soon as possible!" Her uncle's commanding voice shouted from behind her. She looked over at Jester.

"Should I go get Chuckles?" She asked.

"Probably should." He nodded. "He can sleep pretty hard. I doubt he heard that."

Sasha stood up and walked toward the tents. She wondered what her uncle had to say to the squad leaders. She hoped it was about getting out of the field. As much as the barracks were boring, she really didn't like having to go without showers for a few days. She came up to the tent that Chuckles shared with Scotty. There were no lights on inside, but the outside lights in the camp tended to be enough to see most everything when they were on.

"Chuckles?" She called out. No answer. He must have been a heavy sleeper, like Jester said. The lights alone would have kept her awake. She grabbed the zipper to the tent and pulled down so she could try to shake him awake. Just when she did, the outside lights flooded the inside. She was not prepared to see what was inside. Chuckles was on his back, naked, his legs held up by Scotty on top of him. Like deer in headlights, all three of them froze. Quickly, Scotty came to, quickly leaning in closer to his mate, obviously trying to cover up what they were doing. Chuckles groaned in pain as his legs were pushed too close to his body. Sasha quickly covered her eyes.

"Ack, Christ, Scotty, I'm not that flexible." Chuckles groaned.

"Oh my God. I'm sorry!" Sasha yelled, more embarrassed than she thought she could ever be.

Sasha heard Scotty chuckle, "It's okay, Sniper. We were hoping you'd think we were asleep and leave."

"Umm... Well..." Sasha kept her paw over her eyes, trying not to have to see that again. "Uh... Ghost wants to talk to the squad leaders as soon as possible. Um... Do you want me to tell him that you'll be there... Uh... After..."

"Haha, no." Chuckles replied. "The moment's gone. Now if Scotty would kindly pull out of me..."

"Oh God, don't say that!" Sasha yelled, "You're gonna make me sick!"

She heard both of them laugh. "I'll get dressed and see him, just tell him that."

"Okay... Um... Yeah, I'm gonna go now." Sasha said, feeling her face heat up from the embarrassment. She fumbled around for the zipper on the tent door. Once she found it, she pulled it up quickly, and turned to walk back toward the bench, shuddering.

"What's the matter, Sniper?" Jester yelled to her as she neared the bench. "You look like you just walked in on them fucking or something."

"I did." She stated simply. Jester laughed uncontrollably. Apparently some of the other soldiers heard, since she heard laughter sprouting up from around them.

"Oh God, that must have been horrible!" Jester said, still laughing. He was getting a big kick out of this, much to the further embarrassment of Sasha.

"Who was the top?" She heard her uncle chuckle from behind her.

"Oh, God!" She whined, burying her face in her paws. Everyone around her laughed harder.

"Come on! Who?" Her uncle laughed. All she wanted was to drown the mental image out of her head, but no one here would let her.

"Uh..." She started, still embarrassed and disturbed by the sight. "It was Scotty."

"I knew it!" Her uncle shouted. They were all getting a kick out of her misery.

Just then, Scotty and Chuckles walked up to the bench, all smiles. They were holding hands and dressed in gym shorts, undershirts, and shower shoes. They seemed to be getting a kick out of the whole thing as well.

"I hope you're happy, Sniper." Chuckles laughed. "Not only did you ruin some perfectly good sex, but I think Scotty might have done some permanent damage to my hips by trying to cover me up." Everyone around her laughed. She would never live this down.

"Locking doors are a big convenience." Her uncle said. "I couldn't count the times she's knocked on my door while me and her uncle were having a bit of fun." He laughed.

"Oh, God! I don't want to hear this!" Sasha buried her face in her paws again, feeling her cheeks get hot. They were enjoying this way too much.

"I could hear some more about it." Hulk chuckled a bit. Her uncle looked over toward the huge wolf, who still was smaller than the bull.

"Hulk, you couldn't handle what I got. My mate's even bigger than me, and he can barely take it." Sasha buried her face deeper in her paws as the unwanted mental image of her uncles together invaded her thoughts. Though now, it seemed, they weren't laughing at her as much as Hulk. She looked up to see the wolf with a look on his face that spoke of both embarrassment and intrigue. As much as this conversation was disturbing her, she had to join in the laughs just for the look on Hulk's face.

"Anyway, all jokes aside, I need to talk to the squad leaders. I got some word for us." Her uncle said, walking a distance away from the group of soldiers; the squad leaders following behind.

After a moment, the laughter died down and the side conversations started again. Scotty lit up a cigarette and sat by Sasha and Jester.

"Wonder what Ghost is passing to them." He mused, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"We'll probably find out soon." Jester said, "Chuckles doesn't usually keep us in the dark about anything."

"I wouldn't know. I've never been in the same squad as him until now."

"Believe it or not, your mate leads well. Though, I hear you're the one leading things in the bedroom. Or tent as it were." Jester chuckled.

Scotty chuckled a bit as well, "Yeah, well, I think he gets off on being dominated by a lesser rank. Not that I wouldn't switch for him, it's just never come to that."

"Woah, woah. No need to go that detailed, Scotty." Jester laughed. "I think you've disturbed Sniper enough already tonight."

"That he has." Sasha nodded, provoking a laugh from Scotty. A couple minutes passed in silence as the three relaxed after a hard day of training. Shortly after, Sasha noticed the squad leaders heading back. Before she could ask what was passed, she saw her uncle motioning for her to come to him. She quickly headed over to the bull.

"Your father wants to hear from you. I know we've been pretty busy this week, but we'll be back in the barracks tomorrow. Here's a vid capture." Her uncle handed her the device. "Make a message for him, and I'll see that it gets to him quickly. Now, I'm pretty sure your squad leader has some word to pass on to you." He fuzzled her hair some as he turned away to head back to the tent area. Sasha walked back over to the bench where Jeff was talking to the other members of the squad.

"What's going on Chuckles?" She asked.

"Pack your stuff." He replied, "We're heading back to the barracks tonight. We got a day to get ready. We've got a mission."

* * * *

Jake walked through the door to his house after a long day at work. He just got word that his daughter was going on her first mission today. No one could really tell him much about it, except that it was a very routine sweep. The only things he had heard about her since she left were the things Jerry had said to Chris about her in the captures that he sent to them. He was glad he was able to get Jerry in their platoon, otherwise he might not have heard anything about Sasha.

"Jake, that you?" Chris' voice called out from the hallway.

"Yeah. What's up?" He replied as the panther rounded the corner, holding a small viewer in his hand.

"This just got here. It's from Sasha."

Jake rushed to grab the viewer. "Did you watch it yet?"

"No, I was going to wait to watch it with you. Jerry sent me one as well. Though, you wouldn't want to see that." Chris chuckled.

Jake shook his head, "You're right, I don't. Let's sit down and watch it."

The two sat down close so they could both get a good view of the small screen. Jake was so anxious to see how Sasha was doing, the split-second that the viewer took to read the disc inside seemed like forever. Soon enough, though, his daughter's face appeared on the screen. She looked a little unkempt, but healthy.

"Hey dad! Also, hey Uncle Chris, I know you're probably watching as well. Uncle Jerry told me that you wanted to hear from me. I'm sorry I never sent you a vid before. I was so busy getting settled in my new platoon that I never thought about going out and buying a capture. Uncle Jerry's letting me use his for the time being. Well, anyway. Everything's been going alright here. We just got out of the field and I haven't gotten a chance to shower yet, which is why I'm all dirty. Everyone's pretty much been nice to me since I got here; it seems my last name tends to carry a lot of clout in the infantry." Jake chuckled a bit to himself. He had also heard that the stories of the Sindraga rescue carried far. "I've made a few friends along the way, as well. I got my new nickname now. Everyone's calling me 'Sniper'. They gave it to me while we were doing some combat marksmanship. I'm one of the best shots here." She smiled, proud of her nickname and the accomplishment it represented. "That's really all we've been up to recently. So since I don't have too much else to say, I'll show you some of my fellow soldiers here."

The video shook as she picked up the capture, turning it to her left to focus in on a young male fox. Sasha's voice spoke in the background. "This is Jester, my bunkmate." The fox turned to face the capture and waved frantically with a goofy smile on his face. "You can see where he gets his nickname from." Sasha laughed in the background. Jake couldn't help but smile as well. The capture turned back to her face for a moment before turning to her right to show a single bunk with a male lion and male hyena cuddled up on it. "These guys sleep next to me. The hyena is called Chuckles. He's my squad leader. The lion there is his fiancé, Scotty. They're really cool guys, but it's kinda hard to look at them now." The camera moved back to show her face. "Let's just say that it's a bad idea to open a tent with an intimate couple in it." Laughter surrounded the capture, coming from all sides, making his daughter blush. Jake heard Chris roar with laughter, and found himself joining in. Sasha angrily turned to her right, "Shh! It's not funny! I'm scarred for life now!" Jake could tell she almost forgot about the capture when she continued, "Not only did I walk in on you two, but Ghost just had to put that mental image of him and my uncle together in my head!" Jake could hear Jerry's unmistakable bellowing laughter somewhere farther off from the capture.

Chris put his paw on his forehead. "Oh, that bull. He's going to ruin her."

Sasha turned back to the capture and obviously only then realized that she had just said all that in the recording. "Sorry." She said with a shocked and embarrassed look on her face. "Anyway, Uncle Chris, I thought you might want to know; there's a guy here that's trying to be your competition. He doesn't know that he doesn't stand a chance, though. Here, lemme see if I can get a shot of him." The camera turned around to show a largely built wolf on the other side of the squad bay. The wolf was shirtless, showing off his musculature, and also completely unaware he was on video. The capture turned back to Sasha's face. "His name's Hulk, for obvious reasons, and he's always eyeing Uncle Jerry." Sasha chuckled. "Though Uncle Jerry usually catches him and embarrasses the hell out of him. It's pretty funny actually. Anyway, I guess that's really all I have that's new around here. I'm doing well, so don't worry; even though I know you will. Oh, yeah. One more thing. At first I was kinda angry about you sending Uncle Jerry over here. I knew that you had something to do with that. But, now, it seems like he's a ton better than the last Lieutenant that we had here, and everyone here likes him. Not only because he's nice and everything, but he has a better knowledge of combat and a better leadership style. So I guess I should say thanks." She smiled. "So, now that's all I have for ya. Send me a vid back! If you don't, I won't know what you want to hear about next. Anyway, love you both! Bye!"

With that the vid ended. Jake was happy for her. She seemed to be in a pretty good platoon. She didn't say anything about the mission that they were having, but either she didn't know at the time, or she was doing the right thing and not talking about it on an unsecure medium. As much as he knew the protocol for discussing future movements, he wanted to know how she felt about going on her first mission. He hoped that she would talk about it some in her next vid. Chris put an arm around him and hugged him, probably knowing what he was thinking about.

"She's doing well, Jake. She'll continue to do well. I can tell by their faces that the friends around her won't let her do anything stupid on her first mission. Infantry always looks after their own."

Jake nodded and hugged the panther back. "I know. I'm still worried about her, though."

"Of course you are." Chris chuckled slightly. "You're her father; it's your job to worry."

* * * *

Jeff could tell that Sniper was nervous. She had a right to be, honestly; it was her first real mission. Lucky for her, it was a short and seemingly easy one. Satellites had noticed a small rebel communications outpost on Lintra, a small planet well outside the known rebel fleet positions. Their job was to clean up what the bombers left behind. The closer they got to their destination, the more the tension inside the drop ship grew. Most of the soldiers, Jeff included, were just getting anxious to get out there. Sniper, however, seemed to be getting a little scared and worried. He chuckled to himself, remembering how he reacted on his first mission. He was so scared he pissed himself. It was funny how after being in this job for so long can make you a little numb sometimes. Jeff leaned closer to Sniper.

"Don't worry Sniper, we got your back. Just shoot like I know you can, and you'll be fine." He smiled.

She chuckled nervously, "Is it that obvious?"

"A little. But everyone here knows what it's like on your first mission. We all feel that way at first." Jeff leaned back in his seat. He looked over to his mate sitting next to him, who just smiled at him. Jeff himself wasn't too afraid of dying. The only thing he was ever afraid of was his lion dying. He knew that Scotty felt the same way about him. They had been through this more times than he wanted to remember, but it still never lessened the chance of one of them getting killed. He grabbed on to the lion's paw and looked into his eyes.

"If anything happens..."

"I love you." Scotty smiled back.

"I love you too." Jeff leaned in to kiss the lion. This was somewhat of a ritual for them before every mission.

"Alright," Ghost yelled from his seat in the drop ship. "The bombers made their rounds. Let's go over it again. There is an underground bunker that probably won't be affected by the bombs. Our job is to go in and mop up any remaining rebel soldiers. The bunker is small, so we're going to toss in a small payload of C-4 and clean it out. The concussion alone should kill whoever is left inside by the time we get there. Hulk, that's you." The huge wolf nodded, with a grim expression on his face that seemed to only show up before and during a mission. "The rest of us will make sure he gets there. Keep your dispersion. Remember what you learned in basic and you'll be fine." The bull looked at Sniper during his last words, obviously trying to give some kind of calming speech to her.

The drop ship shook, landing on the desert ground; one hundred yards from the outpost if all went according to plan. Everyone stood up at once and exited the drop ship quickly and spreading out. About a hundred yards in front of them, the charred remains of the outpost could be seen clearly. The few buildings were in shambles. One tall one seemed about ready to fall at any minute. Ghost motioned them to head on, and they did, slowly, until they reached the rubble of the outpost. It seemed quiet. Almost too quiet for Jeff. Just then, a flash of light flew past him, and he quickly turned to see Scotty falling to the ground. A hail of blaster fire went off from their ranks, shooting at where each of them thought the shot came from as they ducked behind the shambled buildings to either side of them. Jeff just froze. He saw Jester pick Scotty up and run him behind the building on the left as something hit Jeff hard in the chest, knocking him back behind the one on the right. He snapped to quickly and saw that Ghost had tackled him behind the building.

"Sniper! There's a real sniper in that tall building. He's covered up with rubble, but his head is visible on the right side of the hole, there. You're our best shot, get him!"

Sniper was staring over to the other building at Scotty when Ghost shook her.

"Focus! You can get him!"

Sniper shook her head quickly as if to snap back into reality and shifted over to the side of the building. She peeked out quickly to try to see the sniper in the tower. The rebel must not have seen her since there was no more fire coming from the tower. She peeked back out with her rifle this time and fired.

"I got him! Saw the gun falling!"

"Good job, Sasha." Ghost said before motioning to the rest of the platoon to keep going. "Chuckles, take Jester's place. You've got more first aid know-how. The rest of you, move fast!"

Jeff ran to where Jester was hovering over his mate, pressing his hands down on his abdomen. He slid to a stop, falling to the ground in front of the lion.

"Ghost said for me to replace you. Go to the others."

"Shot through the belly. He's losing a lot of blood, but I think it'll be alright." Jester replied quickly before running off. Jeff quickly pressed both his hands down on the wound to keep pressure on it. He looked behind quickly and saw a small speeder closing in. They had made the call already. The medics were on their way.

"Hon? Can you hear me?" Jeff looked into the lions face. Scotty winced and groaned at the pain, but nodded. "You're gonna be alright, the medics are coming."

"Jeff," the lion groaned. "I love you, Jeff." He roared and arched back at the pain.

"I love you to, but you're not dying. You hear me? You'll be alright." Jeff felt tears well up in his eyes as he tried to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

"I love you." The lion whispered, trying to gasp in the air.

"Hey, don't talk like that, you hear me? Karl David Bolden, you're not going to die!" Jeff yelled as the speeder pulled up to them. A young fox and a wolf rushed to them with a stretcher.

"We got him from here!" The wolf said as the two pulled Scotty on the stretcher.

"No, I'm going with him! He's my fiancé!" Jeff yelled after them as they loaded him onto the speeder.

"No room! Join up with your platoon. Let us do our job." The wolf replied. Jeff just watched as they speeded off toward the drop ship, which had a small medical supply.

"Chuckles, Chuckles, this is Ghost, over." Ghost's voice came through the radio. Jeff picked it up and pressed the talk button.

"This is Chuckles. Go ahead, over."

"We're all done here, what's Scotty's condition, over." Jeff never heard the blast that would have taken out the bunker. He was so focused on his mate that he wasn't paying attention to anything else. He had never had that problem before. He wondered if it happened to Scotty when Jeff lost his leg.

"Medics took him back to the drop ship. Condition critical, over."

"Stay there. We're coming back. Over and out."

Jeff sat against the building. It was a routine sweep. The simplest of missions, really. They had done these hundreds of times. But this time, there had to be a rebel sniper, and he had to shoot his mate. It was the dumb luck of it that hit him the hardest. After so many times of heavy resistance, he gets shot when there was only one guy. Jeff buried his face in his arms and cried as he waited for the rest of them to reach him.

* * * *

"Jake." Chris said as Jake entered the house after work. "This came in today." He lifted up a vid-disc. It was sent from Jerry, but Chris hadn't watched it yet, since Jerry had written 'for both of you' on a slip of paper that accompanied the disc. "It's from Jerry, but he said that we both should watch it."

The tiger sat down next to Chris as he put the disc in the player. His husband's face showed up on the screen, as handsome as it always was, yet grim. "Hey guys, I thought it was about time to tell you about our first mission. As you probably have heard, Jake, we had one soldier injured. All-in-all it was a very successful mission, but it's been pretty hard on Sasha, and even me for some reason. The guy that got injured got hit by sniper fire, and is in a coma right now. Sasha probably showed you him on her last vid. It was the lion who's mates with the hyena." Chris shook his head grimly. Ever since Jeremy died, he hated the idea of mates being torn apart like that, and he knew Jake felt the same. "He was a really good friend of Sasha's, and it's been a bit rough for her, that happening to a friend on her first mission. Also, she's been dealing with the normal issues with taking another's life. It happens to everyone here, which I'm sure you both know. She was the one that took down the sniper." The bull smiled a bit. "You both would have been proud of how she handled it then. She performed wonderfully. It was only when we got back and the adrenaline settled that she started taking it hard. She's been getting a lot of support from her rack mate, Jester, though. He's a great kid. He's with her all of the time trying to comfort her. I wouldn't be surprised if something developed there. To appeal a little bit more to Chris - I know you're wondering what made me take it badly - you know I don't like having soldiers injured, or killed, and this one doesn't look too great. Also, for me, they just remind me of us a little bit. They were pretty much inseparable, and very obviously in love. It hurts me personally to see that happen to a couple. I know through you and Jake how hard that is. It started me thinking about how I would feel if I lost you, and Christ that hurt like hell just thinking about it." Chris felt tears well up in his eyes as he remembered the incident twelve years ago. He truly felt sympathy for the young hyena. They were too young to be going through that, he thought. Jerry looked down from the capture and sniffled. Thinking about it really did hurt the bull. "Well, I guess that's really all to say right now. I'll have Sasha send you a capture after things settle down some. It's just been really dreary around here. Everyone's worried about how Scotty will do, and how Chuckles is taking it. I love you very much, Chris. And you, too, Jake. Take care." With that the vid ended. It was an emotional subject for them all. Deaths happen in combat, and that's mostly unavoidable, but a couple being torn apart by it, that was all too much of a reminder to them about the Sindraga incident. They had all been through the same thing, and knew the pain involved. Chris wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Chris looked over at Jake, who also seemed to be tearing up remembering his wife. Chris set the capture down on the coffee table in front of the couch they were sitting on, and put a hand on the tiger's shoulder.

"She'll be alright. She's going to have to learn to deal with scars like these."

Jake nodded. "I know. I just don't want her to have to go through what we did."

"I don't, either, Jake, but it's a fact of war. People die, and she's going to be right there witnessing it. She's strong. She'll make it through." Chris sighed. "Sometimes, as much as I know he loves me, I forget how much Jerry hurts being without me. He's always so strong on the outside."

"You two have that in common. He'll be alright, too. Don't worry."

* * * *

Sasha opened the door to Scotty's room in the medical wing of the base to see Jeff with his head on the lion's shoulder crying. Scotty had been in a coma for a couple days, but the docs said he was starting to stabilize. None of that really mattered to the hyena, Sasha knew; he just wanted his lover to be awake and with him again. Jeff lifted his head to see who entered, the fur on his face matted from the tears. After recognizing Sasha, he turned back to look at the unconscious lion. Sasha silently walked to the chair next to the hyena and put her arm around him. Sasha had taken Scotty's injury hard - this being the first time she's ever really seen someone injured like that - and also the realization of killing someone for the first time was causing her some grief and, honestly, some nightmares. However, those things together amounted to nothing compared to how she saw Jeff take Scotty's injury. He hadn't left the lion's side since they returned. Sasha and Jester brought him food at the meal times, worried that Jeff would forget - or just not care - to eat if they didn't.

"He's been under too long." Jeff said weakly, still staring at the lion's face. Sasha gave the hyena's back a light rub to try to comfort him.

"He could still pull through."

"He can't die." Jeff's voice started to choke, "He's all I have left."

"I know. All we can do now is wait." Sasha didn't really know what she could say to the hyena anymore. She was starting to repeat herself each visit. Jeff just continued to look at his mate. Sasha watched him for a minute, and spoke up again. "Ghost ordered me to get you out of here for a few minutes." She lied, but she knew that if he stayed here he would drive himself nuts. "Let's go get some food with Jester."

"I don't want to leave him. What if he wakes up?" He finally looked at her.

"Then you can talk to him when we get back. It won't take long." She smiled comfortingly toward him.

"What if..." His eyes trailed down, making the unsaid words obvious. Sasha thought for a second as to how to respond.

"Well if something bad starts happening, then the docs are going to push you out of the way to try to save him. Maybe that split second would be the deciding factor in it. Anyway, realistically, you staying here can't change whether he's going to wake up or not." She decided to say it bluntly. She knew that when someone is depressed, they sometimes need to hear the harsher truth. It seemed to work. She could almost see Jeff's mind working around it, and he nodded slightly in acquiescence.

"I guess you're right. I suppose it might do some good to get out of this room. It depresses me." He stood up with her. They both walked toward the door, but when Sasha opened it for him, he turned around and looked at the lion longingly. After a moment of staring at Scotty again, Jeff turned back around and walked through the door, fresh tears still forming in his eyes.

* * * *

Jester walked through the hallways with Sniper and Jeff after eating lunch with them. He was glad that they were able to get the hyena out of the room with Scotty. He had been taking it really rough. Sniper seemed to take it badly as well. Jester had spent the last few nights comforting Sniper, and although he couldn't really muster the courage to tell her, he had started some feelings of his own for her. He didn't think they were returned, so he never spoke up about them to her. He had never been that good in the female department, as much as he let on. He was content right now helping her out, and helping Jeff. He had been in the hyena's squad since his first day. He remembered when Scotty came in as well, soon after Jester. He remembered how they had fallen in love, and it saddened the fox to see his closest friends hurting like this. As much as he liked to joke around, he hadn't been in the mood to recently. At least the lunch went well. He wasn't sure if Sniper would be able to get him out, but she pulled through, and it seemed to help the hyena. The wet spots around his eyes dried up some, and he started to look his old self again.

As they rounded the corner and could see the window to Scotty's room, Jeff stopped dead in his tracks. Jester looked up through the window and saw what startled the hyena. Four doctors were standing around the lion's bed, one of them looking at his watch and talking to one with a clipboard. Jester knew exactly what was happening, and he knew Jeff did too.

"No!" Jeff whispered under his breath before taking off in a sprint and bursting through the doors leaving Jester and Sniper trying to catch up to him.

When they got to the room, Jeff was going insane. He had barreled through the room, knocking three of the unsuspecting doctors to the floor. He was in hysterics, yelling at the still lion's body.

"You're not dead! No!" He trailed of incoherently, trying to find a way to save his mate. One of the doctors tried to pull him away, but the hyena spun around and punched the wolf, knocking him on the ground. "He's not dead! Don't tell me that! He can't die!"

Jester decided to do what he could to restrain Jeff. He tackled the hyena to the ground and pinned his arms down. Jeff was snarling viciously at him. "He's dead, Jeff! He's dead! There's nothing we can do!" Sasha joined Jester and squatted next to the hyena, her eyes full of tears. She put a hand on his shoulder, and he broke down, starting to sob uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, Jeff." She said tearfully, "He's gone."

Jester turned to the wolf that Jeff hit, "Sorry about this, Doc."

The wolf looked back at him, "Was he the fiancé?"

Jeff nodded at the wolf, "Yes he was."

"It's okay, then." The wolf nodded, "I know how that feels." With that, the doctors filed out of the room to wait outside so they could calm the hyena.

Jester watched the wolf leave. These days, it seemed like everyone knew all too well how losing a loved one felt.

* * * *

Jerry waited as the chaplain finished his part of the memorial service. The whole time, Jerry watched Jeff to see how he was doing. He was a wreck. Every time the chaplain mentioned Scotty, he buried his face in his paws. It was too much for the kid. He was too young to go through something like this. Jerry wished he could go over to him and hug him, or give him some kind of comfort, but he knew that nothing he could do would comfort him. At least the hyena had his squad mates there. Sasha had her hand on his shoulder, giving what comfort she could. Jester was standing on the other side of him and would occasionally offer his hand for comfort as well. Every so often the fox would glance over at Sasha, giving Jerry a clear hint as to how he felt. He was just as worried for her as he was of the hyena. Jerry sighed as the chaplain finished speaking and it was his time to stand up and speak. He walked to the small podium they had set up in the graveyard, facing the head of the coffin.

"Today we have come not only to bury a great soldier. Today we bury a great friend. Today we bury a great lover. Scotty was all of these things. It is a great loss to all of us, some more than others." He looked at Jeff, who had already buried his face in his paws again. "He was always friendly to everyone, never started any trouble, and always showed his devotion to his mate. I personally think of myself lucky to have known him. He was a great guy, and I will remember him fondly. The death of a friend is painful, and even though we are in an occupation that puts our lives in danger every day, it still hurts to see someone you knew lose their life. I remember every soldier that has lost their life while in my charge, and I will remember Scotty. I ask that each of you also remember him. Now, I have something for you, Jeff." Jerry used his real name, since 'Chuckles' seemed ill fit for the occasion. The hyena looked up at him when he heard his name. "It's a letter from my husband to you. I have never lost a mate, so I don't pretend to know the pain you're going through. My husband, however, has. I told him about what happened, and he wrote this out for me to read to you. I know it hurts to hear all this today, but I ask that you pay attention to what he wrote, okay?" The hyena nodded, and Jerry began to read the letter.

"Jeff, I have never met you, but I've been told a lot about you from my niece, and in one of the vids she sent us, I saw you and Scotty. I could see the love you both had for each other, and I know just how much it hurts to lose a mate like that. I lost my last husband, Sasha's blood uncle, after five years of marriage. I thought it was the end of the world for me, and I can imagine that that is what you feel like right now. I wrote this to you to give you some advice that I've learned over the years. Mourn him, but don't dwell on his death. If you dwell, the pain will never lessen. Remember his life. Remember only the good times. Remember how he stayed by your side when you lost your leg. Remember how he smiled, how he laughed. Remember the times you both laughed, like the time my niece walked in on you two. Yes, even I heard about that one." Jerry saw a weak smile show up on the hyena's face. Chris had always been good with his words. "Always remember the things that made you smile, and the pain will lessen. It will never truly go away, but it becomes bearable. I believe that you will see him again in time, just like I believe I will see my late husband. In times like these, one of the greatest aids is your friends. Your platoon commander was one of the friends that helped me with Jeremy's death. You don't have to marry your friends like I did, but lean on them. I know my niece cares about you, being the first one to speak to her. Talk to your friends about how you feel, and they will help you. There's no point in keeping your emotions in. You won't seem weak to anyone for being emotional about this. If they truly are your friends, they'll understand how much it hurts. This is my advice, you can take it if you want. As one who also knows the pain of losing a mate, you have my sincere condolences. Signed: Chris Brightman, Retired General." As Jerry finished the letter, he felt a few tears forming in his own eyes. He could tell that Chris had poured his heart into writing this, and he knew that it was excellent advice for the hyena. "Jeff, I know it can be hard, but try to take my husband's advice. He learned all of this the hard way. Nobody told him how to deal with it, and it took him six years to finally be able to bear it. He wrote this for you to help you so you wouldn't have to bear it like he did. No one can replace Scotty, but I'm sure he'd want you to live your life to its fullest. If you need someone to talk to, I know my niece will be there for you, and I will too. You have friends here, and we'll help you get through this together." Jerry looked at the hyena who just nodded at him, fresh tears streaming liberally from his eyes. Jerry folded the note and placed it back into his pocket. At that time, the bugler started to play taps. Every soldier stood and saluted as the casket was lowered into the grave. Jerry watched the hyena try to keep his salute as he sobbed. It was the start of a long road of recovery for the hyena.

* * * *

Sasha stood as she saw Jeff enter from the front hatch. It had been over a month since Scotty's funeral, and within those first days, the hyena broke down completely. He was essentially catatonic. Jerry had ordered him to go through some kind of grief counseling, Sasha wasn't sure of the specifics. All she knew was that the hyena had been gone for a month. She was glad he was back. She watched, almost tearfully, as the others approached him and gave him their welcomes. Sasha and Jester stood still by their racks near the end of the squad bay and waited for the hyena to make his way toward them. It seemed that was exactly what he intended to do, as well. Every greeting he gave seemed somewhat rushed, and he was heading straight toward the two. Once he passed the initial crowding he almost ran toward Sasha and Jester. Sasha opened her arms and the hyena plowed into her and embraced her tightly.

"We missed you Jeff." She said, trying to be as comforting as possible, not knowing just how much the grief counseling worked.

"I missed you guys too." He replied, breaking the embrace and looking into her eyes. "It didn't feel right without you two. I'm-" the husky paused, and looked away, down to the floor. "I'm sorry I broke down like that. I mean, I know you two took it hard as well. I felt like I had abandoned you."

Sasha was shocked. "What? You didn't abandon us. Yes, it did hurt us as well, but I can't even imagine how you felt. I'm sure I would have reacted worse than you. You can't always be the strong squad leader. We know you too well." She smirked.

Jeff let out a slight chuckle. "Thanks. I did a lot of thinking over the month. I was kind of worried that you would think less of me for just shutting down."

Jester stepped in and put his paw on Jeff's shoulder. "Hey, no one's perfect. The fact that you're still standing here and not being discharged right now is a testament to your strength. We're here for you as well. It's not just you for us. Besides, we had each other here."

Jeff raised an eyebrow at that. "So, you two hook up yet or what?"

Sasha felt her face heat up instantly as Jester seemed to gag and choke on nothing but air as Jeff just watched their reactions and laughed. At least he was able to laugh again.

"Wh-What're you talkin' about?" Jester stammered, shock still fresh on his face.

"Oh my God, you two. Come on! I've known you had the hots for each other since you first met. A month without me must have sparked something."

"Get a hold of yourself, Jeff." Sasha smiled. "I'm pretty damn sure that Jester would rather have his pick of the more pretty girls from home. At least your sense of humor's still intact. Jeez."

"Oh, come on, Sasha." Jeff replied as Jester stood there, obviously flustered. "You ever see him be so gentle and kind to anyone besides us here? Karl and I knew him for a long time, that's why he's like that for me, but you? Right when he met you he's been a picture of a gentleman. Gentlemen aren't usually the kind of guys that sign up for infantry, if you haven't noticed."

Sasha turned to Jester. "Is he telling the truth?"

Jester turned to face her and stared at her for a moment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Opening them up slowly, he began to explain. "Well, yes. He is. I've liked you for a long time. I didn't really know what to say or do or anything. I'm not that used to dating anymore. Then, well, when Scotty died, we got a lot closer. I didn't want to say anything then, either, cause I didn't want you to think that I was taking advantage of you or anything. I guess I was just content with-"

Sasha stopped him mid-sentence and pulled him into a kiss. It was strange. She had never been that overcome with emotion before. Honestly, she never felt that way before. In a subconscious way, she was hoping that he liked her, and she must have been blind to not be able to tell that he did. She broke the kiss, and the shock on his face seemed to match what she felt on her face as well. In that instant, she knew that she did, in fact, love him.

"Hah," Jeff chuckled, "you two would never get anything done without me. Not even in your love lives."

"Wait a sec, Jeff." Sasha turned to the hyena. "Why, after a month of being gone, do you suddenly play matchmaker in the first five minutes you've been back?"

The hyena shrugged. "Like I said, I did a lot of thinking. I basically figured that since something had ended for me, I might as well help with a beginning for someone else. I told myself that if you two hadn't already gotten together, I would help. I knew it would be easy. You two deserve to be happy. Karl made my life here easier, better. You two deserve that better life too. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to take a piss."

Sasha watched as the hyena walked away. She was still dumb-struck at everything that happened so quickly. She looked into Jester's eyes again, and as the urge took her once more, kissed him. Jeff sure was a crafty hyena, but a good one even so. A very good one.

* * * *

Chris thumbed the small disc from Jerry. The disc came in earlier with the mail, and was addressed to both him and Jake, so per the usual, he waited on the couch for Jake to come home for work. It had been a few weeks since they had heard from Jerry or Sasha, and he was anxious to see them again, even if only on a small screen. He heard the door open and slam shut. Obviously another rough day at work for Jake.

"You alright Jake?" Chris yelled from the couch.

"God, sometimes I wish I hadn't moved to Intel." Jake replied, rounding the corner into the living room. He stopped as he saw the vid disc in Chris' hand.

"What happened?" Chris asked sitting up. It was rare to see Jake this flustered. It must have been something big.

"Later. Is that from Sasha?" Jake pointed at the disc.

"Maybe, haven't watched it yet. Seems like Jerry's handwriting on the letter, but it's addressed to both of us. Sit, let's have a look." The tiger sat down next to Chris as he put the disc in the small vid player.

Once he hit play, Jerry's face appeared on the screen. "Hey love. Hey Jake. Been a while since we've sent a disc, I know. Things have been a bit hectic though. Seems like something might be coming down soon." Chris heard Jake sigh heavily beside him, but continued to watch the vid. "Well, the hyena came back a few weeks ago. He's been a bit rough around the edges, but most of the time he's covering it up pretty well. He's really leaning on Sasha, it seems. She'll probably tell you more about that, though. I had her make a recording on the same disc as mine, since I'm not putting anything too private on here." The bull chuckled. "Anyway, Chris. I wanted to say that I really miss you. I've been doing a lot of thinking since Lance Corporal Bolden's death. Well, I saw what it did to Greenley. Honestly, it reminded me of you twelve years ago. I know I said that I wanted to stay in the fight and all, but all this got me to thinking. Next year, my current contract will be up. I want to be with you more. I know that me being gone is troublesome to you. Hell, it hurts me too. I don't want to be away anymore." Chris sat up and tried to fight back the tears that for some reason were welling up in his eyes. "I still don't know if I want to stay in the military and get a garrison job out there, or just leave it all and become a civilian. All I know is I want to fall asleep with you again. I want to wake up with you. Like when we first got married. Leave just isn't enough for me anymore. I guess it's about time I made some sacrifices to be together. In hindsight, it seems I was a bit selfish on that part, and I'm extremely sorry. I don't want to force you to go through losing a loved one again. I've been lucky so far, but, well... Luck can only last so long. I can only hope that it lasts me long enough to see you once more. Well, that's really all I wanted to say." Jerry sighed, "I love you very much, Chris. With all my heart."

Chris paused the video right after the bull's face blinked out. He wiped the tears from his eyes that persisted through all his efforts of holding them in. He was finally going to have his lover with him again. He would have given anything for this. He had always supported Jerry in going back in the infantry, but deep down, he had always rued the days he left. He knew Jerry saw that. Chris didn't want to impede the bull's career, or stand in the way of what he wanted to do. He was overjoyed to hear that Jerry finally felt the same. Chris looked back at Jake, patiently waiting for him to continue the vid.

"Oh, sorry. I just needed to collect myself, I guess." Chris apologized.

Jake put his arm around the panther. "No problem Chris. It's great news. You need him back, I can tell. You're never much without your better half. Especially with you in retirement doing nothing."

Chris chuckled. He was right. Without anything to do really, Chris had usually just been watching Jerry's vids over and over. It was pathetic, honestly. Chris turned back to the vid player, and resumed the recording.

After a couple seconds of blank screen, Sasha appeared. "Hey dad, Uncle Chris. There's been a few recent developments since my last vid to ya. For one, Jeff came back. I was so happy to see him again. He seemed to be quite happy to be back, and feeling much better. I guess the counseling or whatever he went to worked. He still sometimes cries at night, but at least he's able to function. I know it'll take a long time for him to get over it all, and even then, he'll never fully get over it. But it sucks having to watch a good friend hurt like that. I guess that's how it was with you and Uncle Chris back then. I don't really remember too much when it first happened. Anyway, on a much lighter note, I now officially have a boyfriend." Jake shot up in his seat in shock, and Chris just had to laugh at the reaction. Jake could never get used to the idea of Sasha with boys. "You actually met him before. Well, you didn't meet him per se, but I showed him to you on many a vid. It's Jester actually. I guess we started growing really close over the past while, and it actually took Jeff to get us to both realize that we had feelings for each other. Don't worry, dad, he really is a great guy. Jeff wouldn't let me date a jerk. Things seem to be getting busy around here, but you know, they won't tell us until we go. I don't even think a lot of the officers know, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I gotta sign off now. I promised Jeff and Jester that I'd go eat with them, and I think they already left. Love you both! Bye."

With that the vid ended. Chris looked over to Jake, who still seemed a little shocked.

"Hey, you knew this was bound to happen. Unless they're lesbians, they always hook up with a guy they work with." Chris chuckled. "Anyway, as much as we've heard about this Jester, he seems like a nice enough guy. I for one trust Sasha's judgment of character."

Jake shook his head, but eventually nodded. "Yeah, it was bound to happen, alright. Just blindsided me is all. I know she wouldn't make a stupid decision like dating the wrong guy."

Chris nodded. "So, what happened today to get you all flustered?"

Jake sighed. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, but..." Jake put his face in his paws, slightly muffling his voice. "It's not official quite yet, but there is heavy talk about going back to Kaldraga."

Chris shot up from his seat on the couch, eyes wide. "What!? Going back? What the fuck! It'll be another massacre!"

"Don't tell me something I don't know. I argued the same point to just about everyone, but they're saying it'll be different this time. I don't know how, exactly, but they believe it. I swear, you'd think they'd learn from past mistakes."

"Kaldraga was the number one regret I ever had in my time as Commander of Troops. Hell, probably in my whole life. I've said this publicly many times. It's fucking crazy to just send them back there twelve years later. If anything has changed, they're more fortified over there, not less."

"I know, I know. There's nothing I can do about this one. General Krynoth is unshakeable on this. It may not be official, but I know it will be, and soon. Maybe... Maybe they won't send Sasha and Jerry."

Chris felt tears of rage forming as his mind processed it all. "No. They'll send them. They'll send them for the same reason I sent you. They're one of the best ground units in the military. Krynoth... The fucking idiot. He'll send them to their deaths." Chris dropped to his knees. "I can't lose Jerry. I won't make it through another husband." He started to cry. Over his own sobs he heard Jake sniff back tears as well. Jake was always stronger than he, but this seemed to be too much even for the tiger. "Why? Why is this happening? Right after he said he wanted to leave it all and be with me. Why?" It was the only thing Chris could think about. Losing another loved one. Something dropped deep in his gut, as if he had just heard that Jerry had already died. It was a mistake. He wished they would see that, but he knew that the decision was already made. He knew the lives of countless soldiers, including his husband and niece, had already been written off.

* * * *

"Shit." Jerry growled under his breath as he read the documents sent to him from Command. He had wondered why Chris seemed so upset in his last vid. He must have known. It seemed his luck had run out. He carefully scanned through the details of the mission ahead. It seemed suicidal, they didn't even send Black Ops soldiers to Kaldraga, and now they weren't just going to augment the coming fight, they were going to be among the first to get there. Jerry picked up the small vid capture sitting on his desk and thought about what he could say, if anything. Chris knew just as well as he did how likely it was that he was coming home from this one. There was nothing he could think of that could calm the panther's nerves this time. He wished he would have made the decision to be with Chris earlier. He wanted to see his panther one more time. To hold him, kiss him. Jerry choked back the tears that formed in his eyes as he pressed the record button on the capture. Looking directly into the lens, he paused for a moment to gather what to say.

"Whatever happens, I love you Chris." A few rogue tears found themselves running down his face as he thought about his older lover and what was to come of him. His life would be over, as far as he would see. Jerry knew there was no way he would be able to get over losing another lover. He hated that he waited so long to see this, and hated what he forced himself to do to his mate. He stared into the lens, and imagined that the lens was his lover's eye; imagined the panther sitting there in front of him. "I love you."

He stopped the recording and removed the small disc from the capture. He slipped it into a small envelope and wrote Chris' name and address on the front. This was likely to be the last thing that Chris ever heard from him. After sealing the envelope, he wiped his eyes and tried to center himself. There was no way that he could face the platoon like this, they'd all give up hope, and then it really would be a suicide mission. All he could do now is try his hardest and get them to try their hardest. No matter what, though, he knew the death toll would be astronomical. He took a couple deep breaths and stood up from his desk to walk toward the door to the squad bay, pausing only to drop the envelope in the mail bin by his door. Pausing at the squad bay, he took another deep breath and walked in.

"Gather 'round!" He yelled, ensuring everyone in the bay had heard him. He guessed the soldiers sensed the urgency in his voice; it took them less time to gather than it normally did. Conversations stopped, card games were abandoned. Maybe they sensed that something was about to happen, and were curious as to what it was. "Is anyone missing? No? Alright."

"We've been given a mission. It's a big one this time." Jerry chuckled under his breath, "actually that's an understatement. It's Kaldraga." Jerry watched the soldiers' faces as they paled, eyes widened. Everyone knew how dangerous it would be. It almost seemed to Jerry as if he had told each one of them that they were going to die, and soon. "I'm going to give you a short overview of what's going to happen. None of this is to be spoken of outside this squad bay. We will be going with the first wave. They have some new kind of weapon that will knock out the orbital defenses in a small area of the planet. We'll be landing about three clicks from a small base there. The mission is to wipe out any enemy resistance, and secure a perimeter so that the Federation can have a foothold on the planet. Now, we will be going in among the first, but we will be receiving reinforcements and a heavy number of medevac ships the day after we land. So there you have it. We have one day and one night to clear out as much resistance as possible before the reinforcements arrive. Command wants at least a ninety percent secure status before those ships get there. We'll be arriving on some new drop ships that they claim have better stealth capability than we've ever had before, so the element of surprise should still be ours. Now, even though this is a small base, they are expecting extremely heavy resistance. I know we can succeed at this, we're the best they've got, but I'm not going to lie to you. Many of you will not be coming back from this. It would be foolish of me to think that we'd luck out and all come home. That being said, if you have anything that you want to say to your families, do it now. I will make sure that any mail gets to your families as quick as possible. We leave tomorrow, so prepare full combat gear. Don't skirt on anything, you'll need it all." With that he walked away, leaving the platoon still in shock. Some stood there, unsure what just happened, or still processing. Others started to run to their captures or letters to hurry and say what they needed to say to their loved ones. He felt his emotions turn to anger as he silently cursed the command for what they were doing to these kids. Most of them were in their early twenties, some still in their late teens. Command was sending most of them to their deaths, perhaps including his niece, and now he hated them for it.

* * * *

Sasha sat between Jeff and Jester on the drop ship heading toward Kaldraga. Everyone was nervous this time, even the seasoned ones. Her uncle didn't sugar coat anything, and everyone knew that there was a good chance they weren't coming home, but the bull made sure that even though they were staring at death in the eye, they would go out charging. Sasha was terrified herself. She had never had to face her mortality this way. She wondered if she would get to see her mother again, and her uncle Jeremy. Jester seemed to have similar thoughts going through his head, but when she looked at Jeff, he didn't seem scared at all. It was almost like he wanted to die, to see Scotty again. She knew that was foolish, he was sad, yes, but not suicidal. She glanced over to her uncle in the front of the cabin. He had been sitting there staring at a picture of her uncle Chris the whole ride. She had never seen him so sad. She could tell right then how much he really did love that panther. Most days, she just took it as a fact of life, like how most young children "know" that their parents love each other, but she could see it on his face now. She saw how much love was really there. All of his outward toughness seemed as if it had melted away, and all that was left was the tenderness that she knew as a child. She wondered if anyone else on the ship saw that, and if they did, what they were thinking about it. It had been two hours in hyperdrive already. They should be arriving soon. She hoped the weapon to knock out the orbital defenses and this new stealth technology worked. She didn't want to die. Not yet. Not after she found someone to love. She looked up to Jester and took his hand. He took hers as well. Holding her hand tight, he looked into his eyes. She could see what he felt through her eyes. He was scared. She never thought someone like Jester could get scared, but in his eyes it was as plain as day.

"Sniper, Jester." Jeff called from the other side of her. "I want to give you two something." Sasha turned to face the hyena, and Jester leaned forward so he could see him as well. "Remember that one picture we took a while back? Before Karl died?" Sasha tried to remember, they had taken a lot of pictures of each other over the time she had been there. Quick friends indeed. "Well, doesn't matter if you remember it, but I found it the other day and made copies for both of you." Jeff reached into his front pocket and pulled out three small wallet-sized photos. Keeping one for himself, he handed the other two to Sasha. She looked at them, and almost cried. It was the four of them: Sasha, Jester, Jeff, and Scotty, arms around each other. She didn't remember exactly when it was taken, but it was very soon after she arrived. Sasha handed the other to Jester, and when he looked at it, he let out a short chuckle in remembrance. "I thought," Jeff continued, "that it would be a good keepsake to have. You know, in case we don't all make it back. Something to remember each other by."

Sasha smiled at Jeff. "Thank you. It's great. I'll keep it with me always." She was telling the truth. There was something about the picture that was calming, seeing the four of them together like that. Just by looking at it she could have sworn she felt Scotty somewhere, looking at them. Watching over them. It was a good feeling, and it helped to calm her down.

"Thanks, Jeff." Jester replied, staring at the picture. "We'll see him again one day. One day we'll all be reunited." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Maybe today."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Sasha didn't quite know how long it was until she felt the ship come out of hyperdrive. She spent the whole time staring at the picture that Jeff had given them. The distinct shaking of the ship seemed to signal everyone that they were close. Everyone seemed to look up from whatever they were doing, and the tension in the cabin was almost palpable. They started to feel the ship shake as it started to breach the Kaldraga atmosphere. The weapon for the orbital defenses must have worked, or they would already be dead. She gripped onto Jester's hand tight, and he responded in like, holding hers even tighter, it seemed.

"Sasha, I love you." Jester said. She looked at him, shocked. They had only been a couple for a couple weeks, it seemed so soon. However, when she looked in his eyes, she knew he meant it.

"I love you too." She replied, shocked at how natural and right it felt saying it to him. She cleared her throat and looked at her uncle. He had put the picture back in his pocket and was looking at her. He nodded slightly toward her. She knew it was his way of silently telling her he loved her as well, and saw in his eyes that he was going to try to get her back home. It felt good to have someone like him watching over her. She knew that if anyone could succeed in keeping her safe, it would be him. She put her own picture into her front pocket, and adjusted her gear in preparation for the landing. She saw her uncle stand up after they passed through the atmosphere.

"Alright, listen up! When we get off this boat, we'll be three clicks from the base. We need to cover that distance quickly. I've been told that this new stealth technology can hide the ship's entry in the atmosphere, but let's go ahead and assume that they know we're here. Once we get to the base, kill everything that moves. I don't give a damn if they look like a civilian. I'm not taking that risk. Keep your dispersion once we exit, and stay with your squads. Once the shit hits, I want everyone to work together and push through. SpecOps has a team that will be cutting the power to the area. Once night hits, we'll make a perimeter and take shifts in the fight. The rebels aren't known for fighting at night, so we should be able to pull that one off and get some rest for the second day. Remember - the reinforcements won't be here until midday tomorrow. So until then, we're on our own. No medevacs. Therefore, if you see one of your brothers or sisters take a hit out there, render first aid. If there's nothing you can do, give them some painkillers and push on. Alright, let's do this shit, and go out with a bang!"

Almost on cue, the drop ship landed and the bay doors opened, letting in the sun that seemed blinding after hours on the ship. Everyone hurried to undo their harnesses and stand up. They filed out of the ship quickly and found themselves on an open field with the base barely visible in front of them. Sasha glanced back at the drop ship and was shocked to notice that she couldn't see it. This new stealth technology was amazing. She found herself wondering if the rebels saw them at all.

The field was probably the only conceivable place to land, but it seemed to Sasha like a death trap. The only warning they would have of the enemy would to have one of them killed. The other platoons filed out of the drop ship until the last of the soldiers were out. They then started their advance to the base. The pace was quite grueling to Sasha, it was more of a light jog than a walk, and with all the combat gear it felt like they were all-out sprinting. Nobody said a word as the base slowly came into better view. At that pace, three clicks went by quickly. Before she knew it, they were all crouched down in the tall grass that seemed to have grown forgotten by the maintainers. Lucky for them, it seemed. As they crept toward the back gate, she could hear laughing coming from the guardhouse. It was time to start.

Sasha watched her uncle as he motioned one of the soldiers to start the radio scramble. It would surely alert the rebels in the base, but they wouldn't be able to communicate outside, which was crucial. Only a few seconds passed after the soldier flipped the switch on the device until sirens began to go off around the base.

"Go, go, go!" Her uncle yelled as they rushed through the gate and took positions of cover. Once she got past the gate Sasha noticed that this "base" was more like a small town. A hail of blaster fire commenced as she slammed herself against one of the low buildings. The guards started pouring out and they picked them off one by one. Flashes of light whizzed by her. She took one deep breath and popped her rifle out from behind the wall. There were so many of them! She opened fire. She watched as her and others' blaster fire thinned the numbers, but it wasn't enough. The rebels started taking cover behind the buildings as well. She reached on her vest and grabbed a grenade.

"Frag out!" She yelled, pulling the pin and tossing it into one of the buildings holding the rebel troops. Returning back to her cover behind the building, she heard the explosion and noticed Jester standing right next to her.

"Nice toss, Sniper. Had to be four or five guys there." He smiled.

"Thanks, but that won't cut it." Sasha noticed her uncle waving at them to advance. "Let's go!" She ducked out from the wall and ran at the building up and across the street. Firing the whole time, she heard Jester keeping close behind her. He slammed against the wall next to her and panted.

"Alright, we need to get rid of these guys." He said, looking around. "Hulk!" he yelled looking at the position they were just at, where the huge wolf was crouching. "Get that rocket in there, man!"

"I don't got a good shot from here!" The wolf yelled back.

"Well get your ass over here! Perfect line of sight here!" Jester yelled back. Hulk stood up and ran toward them as Jester provided cover fire. Hulk was only a few feet away from them when Sasha heard the distinct THUNK! of a grenade launcher. The explosion was deafening. Sasha didn't see where it hit, and she was dazed. The ringing in her ears was deafening. She saw Jester run out in the cloud of dust from the grenade. As her hearing slowly came back to her, she once again heard the heavy blaster fire around them. She saw Jester emerge from the cloud of dust, dragging Hulk behind him. Once he got behind the wall, he looked at the wolf.

"Hulk! Oh fucking Christ!" He said as he looked over the wolf. The shrapnel from the blast made minced meat out of his left leg, and his neck was gushing. As Sasha's hearing continued to clear up, she started to be able to make out the sickening gurgling the wolf was making as he choked on his own blood. His head was moving wildly, eyes wide and full of pain. It was like a train wreck in front of her. She couldn't look away no matter how much she wanted to. She watched for the few short seconds it took for the wolf's breathing to stop and his eyes to glaze over. She watched as the gushing in his neck slowed as the blood flow in his body stopped.

"Sniper! Sniper!" Jester reached over to shake Sasha, "Sasha!" She snapped away from the wolf's body and looked at the fox shaking her. "He's dead. There's nothing we can do. Come on, we have to push forward."

"Hey guys!" Another voice said, "We're advancing on the sides. Shit, Hulk!"

Sasha turned to see Jeff standing there, looking at the fallen wolf, then back at her.

"Come on, we're making progress on the side alleys. We should be able to flank the majority of them."

Jester stood up and helped Sasha to her feet. She couldn't stop looking back at Hulk's body. She thought she would be able to deal with the death more after Scotty, but Hulk's death was horrifying. She tried to calm herself, and get back to the task at hand as she followed Jester and Jeff. She noticed that during the incident with Hulk, they managed to make quite a bit of headway advancing on the alleys. She followed them as they emerged behind the initial rebel lines and opened fire, catching them off guard and killing them one by one.

The rest of the short time before nightfall was a blur to Sasha. It was like her body was doing everything without anything going to the brain to register. They had been on the ground for three hours before it started to get dark, but to Sasha, it felt more like twenty minutes. They had cleared out a good number of the rebel troops before they retreated into the buildings on the north side of the base. They were making progress, at least. Ghost ordered 1st platoon to take up positions in the buildings halfway between the front line of Federation troops and the back gate that they entered through. They would be the first ones to rest the night, assuming the rebels really didn't fight during the night. First squad was put in a small room with windows facing the north side. Once the three of them got in, Sasha collapsed against the wall. As the adrenaline lowered, she realized how sore and tired she was, but she couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Hulk dying.

"Hey, Sasha, you alright?" Jeff asked, setting his gear down in the opposite corner.

"Yeah... No, I don't think I am. Every time I close my eyes, I see Hulk." Jester sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I know, Sasha, it's hard." The fox said in almost a whisper. "It gets pretty gruesome out there. I remember when I first saw hard battle. There was this one chick, Raven, I think her name was. I watched her get hit by a mortar. Half of her body went one way, the other half went another. Took months for me to stop having the nightmares, but I can still see it now, like it was yesterday." He held her close to his body, and she could hear his heart beat. For some reason, she loved the sound. She was hearing life itself, amidst all the death of the day. There was still life. She reached her hand up and put it against her own breast, feeling her own heart beat. It was comforting.

"Michael-" She cut herself off. No one ever used Jester's real name, not even her. She had no idea what came over her to use it.

"Yes?" He asked, looking down at her. He didn't seem surprised at all by the use of his real name.

Sasha looked up at him, into his eyes. Then something rushed over her, and she pulled him into a deep kiss. She didn't know what was coming over her, but she felt that he was getting the same feeling. They stayed locked in the kiss as Sasha's body took over for her mind once more, and began undoing his clothes. Their breaths picked up through their noses as they undressed each other, each breath more labored and deep than the last.

Jeff looked away. He knew exactly what was happening. The first time he and Scotty went to combat as a couple, they made love as well. In combat, sex was life-affirming, therapeutic. It reminded you that you were, in fact, alive. He didn't mind that the fox and tiger were doing it right in front of him. He knew it would ultimately help Sasha, and he knew that she needed that. He stared out the windows on the far side of the room, looking to the black sky devoid of artificial light, and waited for the next day to come.

* * * *

Sasha woke to someone shaking her. Eyes adjusting to being awake again, she looked over and saw that it was Jeff hovering over her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, time to wake up. Sun's coming up soon."

She sat up, only then realizing that she was only half dressed - if that. Startled she pulled uniform on quickly. She looked over at the fox next to her, who was also slowly coming back to consciousness. She remembered now what had happened the night before. She remembered how good it felt. It felt like much more than just sex, there was something else, but she couldn't place it. She felt her face heat up as she looked back to Jeff, who had resumed sitting on the opposite side. He just smiled and nodded toward her.

"It's alright. It happens much more than you think. Happened to me and Scotty our first mission together." He chuckled.

Jester sat up next to her and started to rush through putting his uniform on as well. Sasha looked at him and smiled. She was glad it happened, she no longer felt the fear and dread that she did earlier that night. She leaned toward the fox, and stopped his progress in getting dressed by claiming his mouth with a deep, passionate kiss. At first he seemed startled, but he eventually pressed his muzzle into hers, intensifying the kiss.

"Morning." Sasha smiled after they broke the kiss. Jester smiled back at her, full of warmth.

"Morning." He replied, his voice cracking like it always did before he was fully awake. The sound brought a chuckle to Sasha, she could definitely get used to waking up with him.

Sasha heard Jeff chuckling behind her, "Get dressed, you two. Save the pillow talk for when you actually have a pillow."

Jester must not have noticed that Jeff was in the room. His eyes went wide and a look of sheer embarrassment covered his face when he heard the hyena's voice. Sasha laughed while she finished getting all of her gear on.

"Alright, sun will be coming up in a few minutes. We're going to stay in here until Ghost gives the command to head back out. 2nd Platoon has a couple of scouts out observing the rebels, so just hang tight and keep alert." Jeff said once the two were done with their gear.

Sasha waited impatiently in the quiet room. She wasn't impatient for the action to begin, that could be delayed indefinitely for all she cared. She was impatient for the reinforcements to come, and to be able to get out of there. As much as the previous night's events served to calm her down quite a bit, once she was fully awake, the awareness of her surroundings sank in and with it, the sense of dread.

It seemed that the moment light began to creep over the horizon, the shots started. At first, it was somewhat distant, concentrated mostly in the buildings north of them, but more and more joined, adding to the sounds. They waited. Ghost had not yet given the command to leave the building, so the three posted near the windows, looking through the scopes on their blasters. The fighting seemed to be picking up rapidly, but none of them saw any rebel soldiers.

"Shit. MOVE!" Jester called, pulling at Sasha's arm, dragging her away from the window. Jeff looked up and got up to follow when the rocket hit. The rocket hit slightly above the window, shattering the glass, and sent a tremor through the building that knocked Sasha to the floor. She grabbed a hold of Jester's arm again, who was still standing, and looked around for Jeff. Once the dust cleared, she saw the hyena. He was pinned under a giant slab of concrete from the ceiling, groaning. They rushed to him. The slab covered all the way from his feet to his ribs, and seemed more than two feet thick. Sasha could tell he was seriously injured by his labored breaths and groans.

"Sniper, help me get this off him!" Jester yelled, moving to the hyena's right side. Sasha gripped the bottom of the slab opposite Jester. "One, two, three!" They both strained to lift the slab, but it didn't budge.

"Stop, stop." Jeff groaned. Sasha looked to see that he was coughing blood. She ran to him and wiped his mouth.

"We'll get you out of here, Jeff. We're going to get some help." She said, hovering over his head.

The hyena's head shook. "No, no. It's-It's useless. I'm fucked, get the hell out of here." His voice was raspy through the blood filling his throat as he coughed up more and more. Sasha's eyes began to tear up as she tried to think of any way to help him. "It's ok, Sasha. I'll... I'll get to see Scotty again."

"No! We'll get you out of here! You're not going to die!" Sasha was sobbing. Jeff had been there with her this whole time, and now he was dying. It wasn't fair. Why was it always the ones she cared about?

"Go." Jeff repeated, barely in a whisper, "Get the fuck out of-" His voice stopped as Sasha heard his breath leave his body for the last time. She could barely see through her tears. She started to think once again that she wouldn't make it out of here, or maybe that she didn't want to any more.

"Come on, he's dead, Sasha. This building's a death trap, we need to get out now!"

Sasha looked up at the fox, and saw that he too had been crying. Of course. Jeff had been his best friend for years. But the tears never blurred his judgment, and he was right. They needed to get out of the building. Sasha wiped the tears away and stood up, grabbing her blaster, and ran through the hall, down the stairs, and out of the building.

"Sniper! Jester!" Sasha turned to see her uncle running toward them. "Thank God, I didn't see that one coming." He panted catching his breath. "Where's Chuckles?"

Sasha froze. She couldn't muster the words. Jeff looked straight at the bull and shook his head.

"Goddamnit." The bull looked up at the building they came out of and sighed. "Anyway, the reinforcements will be coming earlier than expected. They may even have some air support coming with them, but we'll see. We need to hold the lines we have now, and the heat is starting to pick up quick. I need you two to get there and send that heat back. Let's go!"

Her uncle took off, she and Jester followed close behind. They ran up behind the wall of what seemed like an unfinished building. The four sides were uneven in height, and at the highest parts, only came up to Sasha's waist. They ducked behind it, popping up to take their shots at the enemy ahead. They slowly made their way across the south side of the building toward the main street. Once at the corner, her uncle turned to them.

"We'll cross here, one by one. We'll meet up with 2nd Platoon behind that building." He pointed at the building across the street, where she could see three solders taking cover behind the wall. "They need more soldiers on the alley there. I'll go first. Jester, cover fire."

With that, the bull stood up to run across as Jester stepped to the side of the corner, laying down a steady stream of fire. Sasha watched as her uncle ran across. She watched as the blaster fire flew past him, until he suddenly collapsed. His left leg buckled as a stream of light went through it, and while he fell she saw the light of blaster fire hit him in the chest. She froze as she watched a soldier come out from behind the building across the street and drag him back.

"Sniper, cover for me!" Jester yelled as she was snapped back from her frozen state. She grabbed her rifle and took Jester's place as he stood up. As soon as he did, she heard the whizz of a close shot in her ear and heard the sound of ripping flesh as it bit into Jester's calf. The fox fell to the ground. Sasha ran over to him and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, get up, I can't lift you!" She yelled. He lifted his good leg up and set his foot on the ground to try to push up. He kept his face forward, Sasha could tell that he was looking at something. All of the sudden, his eyes went wide. He looked at Sasha, and in that short instant, she saw a deep sadness. She looked toward the enemy lines as he shoved her, sending her careening over the unfinished wall, and she caught a glance of the rocket launcher pointed right at him. Falling over the wall, her right sleeve snagged at the shoulder, twisting her body as it hit the ground, and her right arm stuck over the unfinished wall. Time seemed to slow down as she heard the soft sound of the rocket in flight. It seemed like minutes before it was followed by a loud explosion. Minutes during which she couldn't move. She felt a sharp pain spread across her right arm, a pain more intense than she had ever felt. She screamed as the pain grew and grew. Her sight began to darken. Her head swam in pain and disorientation as the darkness spread, and her consciousness slipped.

* * * *

Chris shook with anxiety as the small shuttle began its landing at the forward base on Cyrenia. The day before, he and Jake received notice that Jerry and Sasha had been injured, and were admitted into the base hospital. They had to wait a full day before a shuttle was able to take them. Chris couldn't help but worry that something could have gone wrong, and one - or both - of them could have already passed. The shuttle ride was a grueling wait that seemed to last for days. Chris couldn't sit still. Jake, however, was a stone in his seat, and had been that way the entire trip. He knew he was just as worried, but the fear of the worst froze him. He did nothing but stare straight ahead. When the shuttle's doors opened, however, everything changed. Chris could hardly keep up with him as they quickly made their way through to the medical wing. Jake didn't slow until they reached the nurses' station.

"We're looking for two patients of yours." Jake said to the nurse at the desk. "Lieutenant Jerry Haldman is one. I'm his brother-in-law, this is his husband. The other is my daughter, Private Sasha Kearny." The nurse grabbed a clipboard and flipped through the pages, scanning for the names.

"Please sign in here." She nodded at the clipboard on the top of the desk as she flipped through the pages. He and Jake quickly signed and wait. "Ah, here they are. Lieutenant Haldman is in room 122. It's right down this hallway toward the end. Private Kearny is in room 140, which is just around the corner from there."

"Thank you." Jake said before the two took off again, rushing toward the rooms. "Let's see Jerry first, he's the closest." Chris just nodded in acquiescence as they approached the room. They slowed, looking at each number until they saw number 122.

"Here." Chris said as he opened the door. The room was empty. He looked around. "Where-" The bathroom door was open, showing that it was empty, but the bed sheets looked used and rumpled.

"Sasha's room." Jake said. It would be just like Jerry to leave a hospital room, he was quite the stubborn bull. They hurried to the corner, and when they turned it, Chris saw him, sitting in a wheelchair, facing the glass wall to one of the ICU rooms.

"Jerry!" Chris shouted and started to sprint toward the bull. Jerry turned his chair to face them, a wide grin on his face, and upon nearing him, Chris saw tears in his eyes. Chris rushed in and hugged him.

"Woah! Woah! Not too tight, now, hon." Jerry said as he returned the hug with one arm. His right arm was in a sling, and his left leg was in a full cast.

"What the hell happened to you?" Chris asked, looking the bull over.

"Babe, it's nothing." He chuckled in response. "Took two blaster hits. One went straight through my knee, the other in near the shoulder. It looks worse than it is. They just don't want me to move them much. It did hurt like hell, however. These painkillers they give us are delicious."

Chris felt tears starting to sting his eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again. He said, putting his hand on the bull's shoulder."

Jerry's smile faded. "Yeah. Honestly, I thought that too. I guess my luck hasn't run out quite yet, and I don't intend to push it anymore. They said that even with the reconstructive surgery on my knee, I'll never walk the same. The only way to be combat effective again is to amputate above the knee and get one of those robotic prosthetics. Luckily that's still an optional operation, and I opted against it. So you're stuck with me. Actually, speaking of which, Jake, I'm sure you'd like to know how Sasha's doing." He looked to Jake, who had been standing behind Chris.

"Yeah, how is she?" He said, a little calmer now.

"She's... Heavily sedated. We can't go in there now, hence why the blinds are closed. They're running some tests." Jerry sighed and adjusted himself in the wheelchair before continuing. "She took shrapnel and debris from a rocket explosion. It all hit her left arm. It had to be amputated." Chris saw Jakes face tighten and his eyes close as tears fought their way through. "She'll be alright, though. She's even luckier than me to be alive. All because of Jester."

"The fox in the vids?" Jake asked, his face showing curiosity now.

Jerry nodded, "Yeah. I'm sure you heard, but they were an item. Right after I got hit both times, I got drug behind a wall. They were across the street, and trying to get to where I was. He got hit in the leg. She was trying to help him up and get him to safety when I guess he saw the launcher or something, and he shoved her over an unfinished building wall. The rocket went right for where they were. He took an almost direct hit from it. Barely anything left." Jerry was shaking his head and looking at the ground. Chris could tell that it was tough for the bull. He wished he could take that trouble away.

Chris swallowed the knot that had formed in his throat. "Did anyone else make it out?"

Jerry sighed once more. "From the other platoons, they had a few come out. I'm not sure the numbers. But Sasha and I are the only 1st platoon soldiers that made it out. We lost a lot of good ones. A lot."

Chris jerked his head up when he heard the door to Sasha's room open. A petite female mouse stepped out, and looked instantly at Jerry.

"Lieutenant Haldman! You're not supposed to leave your room!"

Jerry wheeled around to face her. "Look, nurse. I've told you. That tiger you got in there is my niece. She's kinda missing an arm if you haven't noticed. I'm already patched up, and I've been shot before, I think I can handle it. That girl in there has never known injury that great. I'm not going to be leaving her."

Chris put a hand on Jerry's solder. "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. I would, however, suggest giving up on this argument. He's stubborn as hell."

The mouse considered Chris for a moment. "Are you the husband, then?"

"Yes"

"Alright, just make sure he doesn't move his arm or leg around too much."

"Move my leg? How the hell do you think I could manage that? I got a hundred pounds of plaster on the bitch, it ain't goin' anywhere." Chris shook his head. Jerry could be a real pain sometimes.

The mouse looked up at Jake, "Are you the father?"

Jake nodded, "Yes, I am."

I'm sure Lieutenant Haldman has filled you in on the extent of the injury. She's heavily sedated right now. She really freaked out when she realized she was missing an arm, which is quite understandable. You can go in now; she should be waking up soon. There is one thing I think you should know, and maybe you could tell her."

"What's that?" Jake asked, looking somewhat confused.

"Well, there are a certain number of tests we do on females before we administer the heavy drugs. One of these tests displayed slightly elevated hormonal balances. Upon further testing, we found that she is pregnant."

Chris' eyes went wide, mirroring Jake's and Jerry's.

"What?" Jake asked, bewildered. "When could it have happened?"

"Anywhere between two and four days."

"That night." Jerry whispered. He must have felt Chris and Jake's eyes, because he turned around to face them again. "The first night after we got to Kaldraga. It had to be then. I was checking on everyone, they were sleeping together. In the low light, I couldn't be sure, but their clothes seemed quite disheveled." Jerry glanced between the two. "It's actually not that uncommon. They say that around all that death, sex it quite therapeutic and makes you feel alive." Jerry wheeled his chair around and entered the room. Chris and Jake followed. Chris wondered what they were in for as they walked in the room.

The first thing Chris really noticed when he entered the room was all the medical equipment. I.V.s, heart monitors, countless other things tubed and wired to Sasha. It was a harrowing sight. Chris glanced over at Jake and saw the tiger's eyes tear up instantly at the sight. No parent should ever have to see their child like this. He saw how just the sight of her pained Jake, even though he was happy she was alive.

Chris stood next to Jerry on the left side of the bed. Jake moved to the right, on the side of her missing arm. Chris watched as his brother-in-law looked at Sasha, and saw sadness and pain in the tiger's eyes. Jake reached his hand up and put it on Sasha's head. The young tiger shifted and started to open her eyes. She looked around the room, finally focusing on Jake.

"Daddy?" Her voice seemed tired and strained.

"I'm here, baby." He replied, almost choking on his tears.

"I'm sorry."

"No. No, honey. You're okay. It's not your fault. You're alive, that's all that matters." He strained a smile at her. The sight made Chris start to tear up as well. He reached out and took the bull's hand in his. Jerry looked over at him and squeezed his hand.

Sasha turned over to look at Chris, "Uncle Chris." She smiled. She was starting to wake up more. "Uncle Jerry did good." All Chris could do to keep himself from crying was smile back.

"You did more than good yourself, Sasha." Jerry responded, taking over for Chris. "You were extremely brave. I couldn't have asked for more."

Sasha looked over at Jerry and smiled wider. Behind the sadness and pain, Chris could tell that she was proud of herself, and the compliment that his mate just paid her. "Thank you. Um... I think I know the answer already, but... Jester?"

Jerry looked into Sasha's eyes, his face giving away his sadness. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, Sasha. He's gone."

Sasha just nodded her head, having already known. "He saved me."

"Yes." Jerry said, "He was the hero of the day."

"Actually," Jake interrupted, "that brings me to another thing." Sasha looked at her father again. "The nurse, she talked to us outside, and, well... It seems that you're pregnant."

Sasha's eyes went wide, and her intact arm went straight to her belly. "Pregnant?" She whispered. Tears started to show in her eyes as she rubbed her stomach.

"We think it happened that night with Jester." Jerry said. Sasha nodded.

"It's his, yes." She looked into Jakes eyes. "Are you mad?"

Jake was shocked at the question, "No, no. It's your choice, after all. Like I said, I'm just happy you're alive." He smiled at her.

"I want to keep it." She said, without even being asked. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, Sasha." Jake replied, "We'll even help you. I'd be proud to help raise the child of the man who saved my daughter's life."

Sasha smiled. "I love you, daddy."

Jake sniffed back the tears, leaned in and kissed Sasha on the forehead. "I love you too."

* * * *

Jerry settled in the hotel room bed next to Chris. The doctors had discharged him until they were able to give him the reconstructive surgery on his knee. The three got hotel rooms at a small hotel on the base while they waited for Sasha to get fitted for a military-grade prosthetic arm. She opted to get the prosthesis and continue with her military career, although she would probably be assigned an admin job or something of the sort now. The military had a strict policy on not sending single parents into combat.

Jerry lay on his back, not able to lie on either side. The cast was too uncomfortable to lie on and his shoulder still hurt like hell, but he wasn't about to show that to Chris. The panther worried enough as it was. It was already a bit embarrassing for Jerry to have to get the panther's help to undress himself, even though he knew Chris would do anything for him. Ever since they first met, Jerry had tried to be the strong one for the panther. He became the crutch for Chris to lean on as he dealt with Jeremy, and stayed in that role through Chris' retirement. It felt strangely odd to be the one that needed help now, but he was glad that the panther was there to give it.

Chris leaned over and rested his head on the bull's chest. Jerry put his good arm around him, holding him close. It felt good to be with Chris again. It was the one thing he always missed when he was away. He missed the feel of being with the one he loved.

"So, what's going to happen after the surgery?" Chris asked, running his hand up and down his torso. Jerry could feel that the panther had missed being together as well.

"Well, I already put in for a medical separation. I know some people in our admin section, so it should get approved. After that, I guess I only have two choices, really. I can either get a job back home, or just sponge off your pension." Jerry chuckled.

"Heh, well, I think I make enough to care for both of us. I am on a General's pension." Chris laughed. "Anyway, that way I won't have to be away from you when you go to work. It gets pretty lonely when Jake's out and I have nothing to do."

"Well, then, if you're offering, I guess I'll have to accept." Jerry leaned down and kissed the top of the panther's head. As much as he didn't want to take advantage of the panther, it would be nice to be able to spend that much time with him. Also, he knew that if he did try to get a job, Chris would probably spend countless hours trying to convince him otherwise. It would be a battle that Jerry wouldn't have the strength or really the desire to fight. He would miss the camaraderie of being in the infantry, but he had seen way too many of his friends die already. He knew deep down that this would be the best choice for him, and the best choice for Chris.

Jerry thought back to the ride to Kaldraga. He had always loved Chris with all his heart, but something changed on that ship. He realized that he needed Chris' love as well. He couldn't even tear his eyes away from his husband's picture for hours after he realized it. He knew now that he needed Chris just as much as Chris needed him. There was no "strong" one anymore. Not after all this.

"Chris?" Jerry looked down at the panther on his chest, who lifted his head to look Jerry straight in the eyes. "I love you."

The panther smiled weakly, "I love you too, Jerry."

Jerry pulled the panther's head in and kissed him. Chris pressed his muzzle into the bull's, intensified by Jerry's hand pressing on the back of Chris' head. The panther rolled over on top of Jerry, never breaking the kiss. Chris wrapped his hands around Jerry's horns and pulled him in even tighter. The bull wondered if this was somewhat like what Sasha and Jester had as he and the panther gave into complete abandon.

* * * *

Sasha stood facing the marker for Jester's grave. Most of the soldiers were buried in graveyards designated by their families, but Jeff and Michael both rested in the military gravesite on Cyrenia next to Scotty. She knew that they would have probably chosen that spot anyway. The funerals took place while Sasha was in the hospital, but no matter what she or anyone argued, they wouldn't let her go. In hindsight, it was probably best for her. Even after two weeks in the hospital, it was still hard to take. If she went to the funerals, she would have probably gone hysterical. She had been released earlier in the day and she, her uncles, and her father decided to come pay their respects before they left for home. She was given convalescent leave to get used to the prosthetic arm, which even now she couldn't help but touch. It felt so strange and foreign to her.

Looking at Jester's grave, she put her good hand over her belly. Somehow, it seemed that she could feel him there. It was like a big part of her was with the yet unborn child. It was a good feeling, the same feeling she got when she looked at the small picture of the four together. She knew that, wherever they were now, they were watching over her, along with her mother and late uncle. So many people had died in this war. So many people she knew. Though there seemed a glimmer of hope now. Thanks to all the soldiers with her in Kaldraga, the Federation gained a foothold on the planet. It was good to know that their tragic deaths were not in vain. She would cherish the memories she had of each one of them. They sacrificed themselves for something they believed worthy, and one sacrificed himself directly for her. Even though their relationship was short, she knew that she would always love Michael. She knew that his sacrifice was the single greatest act of love that anyone would ever show her, and she was happy to return that love by raising his child. His son, actually, according to the genetic tests done at the hospital. Their son.

Sasha turned to face her father and uncles, who were standing behind her. "I think I know what I'm going to name him now." Their faces perked up, looking at her expectantly.

"Michael, after his father. Michael Jeremy Kearny." They looked shocked at the mention of her late uncle's name, but then her father's and Uncle Chris' faces turned to pride.

"It's a great name, Sasha." Her uncle Jerry said, still in his wheelchair. "A great name."

She nodded and they started their walk back to the car. She thought she heard her father and uncle sniffle on the way there. She knew they would like the name. They all owed a lot to her Uncle Jeremy, just as she owed a lot to Jester. Now it was time to start again. She would be given a new job, a new child, a new life. They all would have a new life now. After such tragedy, one can never live the same again. She only hoped that the old saying was right, that out of every tragedy comes something good. She wanted to have a good life again.

So let it begin now.

~Fin~