CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

Callaghan‟s hand moved to the side of her face feeling her warm, soft cheeks again
as she gently lifted her head to look her in the eye. “I promise,” he said. “I will come back.”
Hayes‟s smile was forced, the sadness in her eyes betraying her scepticism. “I‟m
holding you to that.”
“Come with me,” he urged her again.
Hayes let go a long, deep breath as she pulled back, her frown deepening with a pout
for good measure. “I can‟t follow you,” she said. “I might not agree with that‟s happening, but
I can‟t give up. Banick needs me, and he needs to know he‟s not alone.”
Callaghan‟s jaw twisted half-way in to a smile of his own. “Just keep him out of
trouble,” he said.
“He will come around, Ryan,” she smiled back. “He just needs time.”
Callaghan leaned in again, kissing her a second time and brushing a loose lock of
deep, brown hair from her eyes. “Don‟t keep me waiting long,” he whispered, his eyes closed
as he inhaled the scent of her perfume.
“I promise, I won‟t.”
“And don‟t keep me waiting, will you, Commander?” asked a new voice as a shadow
fell past them, the long, broken footsteps that so clearly clanked up the grated hall having
never been heard by either of them, so deep had been their distraction.
Callaghan watched the tall, staggering form of Commander Ed Richards slump past
them in to the airlock juncture, the flicker of a smile forming at the corner of the pilot‟s mouth.
Hayes rolled her eyes as she steadily broke away from her husband, her hands slipping
down his arm as she let out one final sigh.
Callaghan, Hayes, Ainsley and Banick all turned to find Richards in full flight gear as
he dropped his duffel bag on the deck and saluted the Admiral sharply. With uncertainty,
Ainsley returned the salute before looking him over slowly. Richards‟ prosthetic left leg
remained hidden behind the fabric of the flight suit and the boot that occupied its end. Banick
saw the flicker of pain in his eyes as the man struggled to remain at attention, but unwilling
to show his weakness. „Minstrel‟ had a ill-earned reputation for too-vocally lamenting
problems, both personal and those that affected his work – but for Banick, there were few
sights as devastating as that of a broken soldier who had lost everything except their pride.
Emotionally, he knew Richards felt a hollowness that could have only been created through
the most traumatic of losses. Material and personal losses could at times be painful, and the
death of a colleague or loved one was a fact of life that everyone who ever lived would have
to face soon enough. Even these „losses‟, however, didn‟t hold a candle to the sort which
Richards had endured – the sort which changed life on a fundamental and core level,
stripping a man bare of his strength, support and will to lay him naked before the world to be
judged.
Ed Richards was a creature whose entire life amounted to fiery independence and
strength of resolve: the ability to stand tall in spite of the beliefs and principles of all others to
back and hold what he believed for himself. He was a warrior of a very rare kind, and all of
that had been turned on its head. Independence became reliance, resolve became doubt,
and pride was left to stand alone on a dusty shelf devoid of and ill-placed with nothing left to
be proud of. This move, Banick knew, was something that could have only come if he had
resigned himself to the truth of his situation: that he could no longer be alone.
“Permission to disembark, Captain?” Richards asked sternly.
“Aren‟t you grounded, Wing Commander?” Banick asked in reply, measuring every
inch of Richards‟ reaction. The pilot betrayed little of the discomfort he felt, trying
unsuccessfully to deter the captain‟s inquisition by straightening to his not-inconsiderable full
height.
“Can‟t say much for my ability to fly stick,” Richards dodged the question. “But I think
I can handle a shuttle.”
His eyes shifted a second time to find Ainsley at the side. “…Assuming you‟ll have
me, sir. There isn‟t much left for me here.”
There was a flicker of a coy smile at the corner of the Admiral‟s mouth as he looked
at Banick. There wasn‟t much to argue – the Rapiers and Dark Angels had gone, taking with
- 202 -