14 Months Later. February 16th, 2267. 14:15 Epsilon Eridani Prime

John was in good spirits despite being made to wear a suit on the weekend. He and Alice had traveled from Manchester to attend a wedding. Another one of their friends was getting hitched. It was good to mingle with and catch up with old friends. These kinds of events were scarce and the ability to see his friends was seemingly scarcer.

His attention span towards the service was questionable at best. Jessica and her fiancé, who he hadn’t had a chance to meet yet, were standing at the altar looking intently at one another. Kristin, Theresa, and Alice were bridesmaids sitting beneath and to the right of the bride. In the pews, John was sitting between Andern and Kevin. In truth, the combined attention span of the trio would not come close to approaching the attention span of any other adult in the church.

John then whispered to anyone that was paying attention, “Man, Alice looks awful in that shade of green.”

Andern snorted loudly right as the pastor paused for dramatic effect in their sermon. Kevin reacted as well but did make any noise, though his holding his hands over his mouth was a telling enough reaction. Both looked like children that had been caught doing something. Meanwhile, Thomas was sitting behind them, due to his arriving late, and grinned at the smart-ass comment while John stared ahead emotionlessly.

The benefit of a Lutheran wedding was that they were minutes away from wrapping up the church stuff. The downside was they were still literally in church. The terrible trio’s wives all looked at them. Kristin gave Andern a murderous glance. Theresa did as well. Alice saw John’s non-reaction and knew instantly he had been the cause of Andern’s outburst.

Less than ten minutes later the wedding was over. The bridal party was arranged to greet all the guests on their way out of the church. The ushers were directing each pew to leave. The trio waited impatiently for their turn to leave.

“You know, you got us into trouble,” Andern said.

“Yeah, our wives looked pissed,” Kevin added.

“I stated a fact. Those bridesmaids’ dresses looked hideous,” John remained unconvinced of his guilt, “A darker shade would work, but that pale green is just…”

“He’s not wrong. That color and to a lesser extent style were kind of affronts to fashion,” Thomas said from behind them.

“I mean, they did make Jessica look absolutely fabulous in her dress. Mission accomplished on that front. But damn, that green,” John grinned, “I’m gonna burn that dress if Alice doesn’t do so before I do.”

“Hey, when are you making Lieutenant-Commander?” Kevin asked, “You should be up for that soon.”

“After the next deployment, I have my early promotion review with Admiral Dufresne. I’ve already been tipped that it’s a green light provided I don’t fuck up properly in the next deployment.”

“We’ve still got what, another two years before we get up for early promotions?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, they want commanders to be twenty-nine to thirty-one. Then spend another six to nine years and be a captain no later than forty,” Andern said, “Y’all going to make it a career or going to exit when our term is up?”

“Career,” Thomas said, “If we only had to commit for four years, I think I may have tried my hand in the civilian world by now. But keeping us in until we're thirty makes sticking in for the long haul more sensible.”

“Same,” Andern said to the surprise of the other guys, “The pension is damn nice once we hit twenty-five years of service.”

“And we get credit for the four years of academy too,” John stood up as the usher selected their pew, “Holy hell, now that is the most surprising thing I’ve heard all damn day.”

“Right? The laziest one amongst us wants to make it a career in the Navy,” Kevin grinned at Andern as they walked towards the exit.

Andern was about to speak but shut up. The crowd was making their way through the bridal party at an unexpectedly efficient rate. Kristin was the first one to greet them. And her greeting to Andern consisted of a look and a gut punch followed by a quick hug.

“I swear, when you guys get together you behave like children,” Kristin said to Andern before turning and reaching up to hug John, “So nice to see you again. What did you say to make my idiot husband make an ass out of himself?”

“The color of your dresses is a terrible shade of green,” John said plainly.

“Oh, my god. That’s it?” Theresa couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It sure was my dear,” Kevin said as he hugged Kristin.

“We married twelve-year-olds,” Alice said as she shook her head at John.

“Come on, we have the emotional maturity of at least fourteen-year-olds,” John said as he leaned down to kiss Alice on the cheek, “Collectively. Maybe…”

“Ok space pirate, enough of that. Go greet the bride and groom,” Alice was smiling as she gently shoved John off of her and pointed at the important pair.

Alice slapped John in the butt to get him moving. They were slowing things down. Most people that had attended the ceremony were heading to the reception and frankly were more interested in that than the wedding itself. John was certainly among that group, as were his friends.

John smiled as he extended him to shake the groom’s hand, “Congratulations! John Lief, I went to school with your lovely wife.”

Dallas grabbed John’s hand and shook it joyfully, “I’ve heard plenty of stories. I thought they were untrue until the bridesmaids all told similar stories.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure they embellished a few things here and there,” John grinned.

Jessica then turned and looked at John, “If anything we made it sound more human.”

“Congratulations are due to you young lady!” John smiled as he hugged Jessica.

“Thank you so much. I was surprised you could come.”

“I am too. But the timing of it was basically perfect. My last deployment ended just at the right time.”

Andern then joked, “And he didn’t blow up a planet, pirates, or was in a life and death scenario for the first time in his career.”

“That was like the third or fourth deployment that was like that,” John squinted at Andern in response.

“Well, we have plenty of food, snacks, and drink at the reception. I presume you know how to get there?”

John shook his head, “Nope, but my ride service ought to be able to take us there. We’ll probably beat y’all there.”

“The open bar doesn’t open for another couple of hours. Hotel rules,” Dallas looked a bit sad.

“Don’t worry, the big guy can open a tab for us to keep us entertained,” Thomas said slapping John’s shoulders.

“And on that note, we’ll be seein’ ya at the reception hall,” Kevin said as he was gesturing to the group to go forward.

The quartet of trouble then walked out of the church. It was a quaint little place for the town they were getting married in. Nothing too ostentatious or luxurious. Small-town life was a rather beautiful thing to John. The speed that life would pass here was definitely preferable to the hustle and bustle that station and military life seemed to be.

He stopped and looked at the courtyard. Children were playing on the grass, being closely watched by their parents to ensure they didn’t get too dirty or ruin their nice church clothes. Groups of people milling about and talking to one another. The warm sunlight added to the jovial mood.

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“John, hurry up, we’ll be late,” Andern said.

“Late for what?” John laughed, “The car ain’t even…”

John saw a football coming from his head out of the corner of his eye. His right hand reached up and caught the ball one-handed. He smiled when he saw a couple of kids look incredibly embarrassed about the bad throw. Then felt bad when one of their dads began to chew them out.

“It’s all good,” John smiled as he tossed the ball to the closest kid, “No harm done.”

“Ooh look at me,” Andern said mockingly, “All athletic and shit.”

Thomas chuckled, “Your jealous because you couldn’t do that.”

“Could too…”

Kevin shook his head, “Take the ball to the face? Yes, yes you would and could do that.”

The young men laughed at Andern. Kevin wasn’t wrong. While Andern was known to surprise the group with his question athleticism, he didn’t hold a candle to John. John, Kevin, and Thomas all knew that Andern’s reflexes weren’t sufficient to dodge or catch the ball.

Andern’s pleas to the contrary fell on deaf ears. Almost on cue, their ride to the reception arrived. John quickly stepped over to the car and opened the door. Kevin and Thomas also slid into the backseat with him. Andern trudged over to the front seat and jumped into the co-pilot’s seat. The first part of their fun day was now over, they were onto the next part, which was going to be way more fun.

15:45 Hilton Resort and Conference Suites

John handed the driver a credit chit and told him to keep the change before exiting the car. The driver hadn’t done anything to earn a tip, but John was thankful he was still alive and in one piece. A sentiment shared by the others. But survive they did, now they had had some time to kill before the reception officially started.

“They have two bars here,” Kevin said.

“Are you staying here?” Thomas asked.

John nodded, “Wedding party and all. Alice took care of all the booking stuff. Technically we didn’t know if I was even going to make this trip until like two weeks ago.”

“Which one do you guys want to go to?” Andern asked.

“How about the one near the reception halls? Less walking that way,” Kevin said plainly.

“Ahh laziness,” John said, “I can subscribe to that newsletter.”

“Nothing you do is ever fucking lazy,” Andern said, “Onward, this way!”

“Hey, is it true you really fought the Icarus?” Thomas asked, “My CO seems to think it was all smoke and mirrors.”

John looked back at Thomas and Kevin and grinned.

“Hold the fuck on,” Kevin said, “That wasn’t propaganda. You actually fought her?”

“Fought with her a couple of years ago when we were doing that pirate hunt. Last year I was on an operation to deliver some very important people, who were a fucking thorn in my side. Well, shit went down, and we threw fists.”

“When I read what ship was involved, I knew it was real,” Andern said, “Come on, really. It’s John we’re talking about.”

“Fair point. Guess I didn’t put two and two together there.”

“I didn’t pay any heed to what was said. How’d you pull that off?” Kevin’s curiosity had taken over his focus.

John held up a finger to pause the retelling of the saga. They had reached their destination. The quartet found an empty table. Just as John was about to restart his story their waiter arrived.

“Good afternoon gentlemen. I’m Karen, what would you like to drink?”

“Beer, whatever’s on tap,” Andern said.

“Make that two,” Kevin said.

“I’ll have an old-fashioned,” Thomas said.

“I’ll have a triple of that…” John was staring at the countertop behind the bar, “McKenna, ten-year-old. Neat, please. Also, is there a place to smoke some cigars?”

“I will get those drink orders in for you. There is, just out that door,” Karen was pointing at the exit that was a stone’s throw away, “We have our patio setup.”

“I see cornhole. We will take the drinks outside,” Andern stood up before he was done speaking.

The trio just stared for a moment at Andern as he got up and immediately left the table. John smiled knowing that the social graces that Andern was not known for remained consistent. Then again, who was he really to say anything about that? He was about as socially with it as Andern was.

“I mean he lacks grace and understanding of the conversation,” Thomas said as he stood up.

“But we’ll be out there. I’ll take the tab too, don’t listen to these troublemakers about paying this bill,” John winked at Karen.

“I will get that order in for you and bring it out to y’all.”

The trio then stepped aside and out of the bar area. They could see Andern had already taken off his suit coat. He was flipping some bags around in his hands. He was ready to throw down.

“So, how’d you pull that off?” Thomas asked, “I’m genuinely interested now that it’s not propaganda and bluster.”

“Yeah, those Waukesha-class assault cruisers,” Kevin paused, “Holy hell, you got the namesake. Anyways, your cruiser doesn’t have a heavy-hitting armament unless you count torpedoes.”

“They have a buttload of rail turrets though. Quantity is a quality upon itself,” John smiled as he tossed the first bag, “But we beat the hell out of the Icarus by luring it into a kill zone surrounded by our missiles and torpedoes that we launched into the planet’s inner ring.”

“Sure, it may be a modified Kelvin class, but that old ship should have had better close-in-combat weapons and systems,” Andern said as he was tossing a bag, “You shouldn’t have been able to…”

“You used the multi-missiles to overwhelm their tracking systems,” Thomas smiled, “Holy hell that is a brilliantly simple plan.”

“Got lucky that they hadn’t updated their systems. I didn’t think they had since the code and systems that control the new tracking systems are under tight wraps,” John said as he looked back and waved down their waitress.

“The wave of mini-missiles and rockets floods their scanners. The bigger missiles and torpedoes come in and hammer the ever-living fuck out of their armor and shields,” Kevin nodded, “Why couldn’t you get the killing blow?”

“The missiles were set up in two waves, I didn’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. That quality of quantity in our rail guns didn’t have the ability to pierce her armor easily. Certainly not any virgin armor plates. They weren’t going to be stupid and give us her damaged broadside to shoot at,” John said as he took a drink and changed the topic, “How’d the pirate hunting go for all of y’all?”

“Fucking paperwork,” Andern shook his head.

Thomas grinned then looked at Andern, “Actually, what was that operation like on a station?”

Andern looked like he had seen a ghost for a moment, “I’m not joking, the amount of paperwork you guys generated was stunning. I was working two to three hours of overtime every bloody shift and we weren’t even making a dent in the backlog.”

“John, how much paperwork did you do as a captain?”

“Uhm, I mean, it’s excessive but primarily because of after-action reports. Those can get silly involved,” John tossed another bag, “But the paperwork to order new ordinance for the ship was surprisingly easy.”

“Please tell me it was a simple popup in the screens that had you enter in x number of items,” Kevin looked over at John.

“Basically, yes.”

Thomas took a drink and then shook his head, “You cannot be serious. It’s that easy to order more ammo?”

“There was a box for justification,” John then flashed a wicked grin, “I used the same excuse each time. ‘We used most of it up and need more.’”

“That isn’t at all surprising that was the justification you used,” Andern said, “And I wanted to reject such a bullshit justification.”

John started to laugh, “How is that bullshit? That literally is the reason why we needed more. We used the ordinance we had onboard.”

“I’m going to agree with John on this one,” Kevin said.

John turned and waved at the newly arrived bridesmaids. Alice, Kristin, and Theresa walked over in their ugly green dresses. Alice was the first to hug her man.

“What are you boys talking about?” Alice was all smiles as she looked at the other halves of her friends.

“The kind of bullshit your husband used on requisition requests,” Andern sounded entirely too defensive, “You didn’t put that in did you?”

John nodded, “You want proof.”

“I think we just got it,” Theresa said, “Good to see you again John. How are things?”

“Ah hell, can’t complain too much about stuff. But man, it’s good to see the old crew again. Well, most of it anyways.”

Kristin then looked over at Thomas, “When are you getting married? I hear you have been in a relationship for a while.”

“Oh, the relationship is still pretty fresh. I’ve known him for a bit over a year now,” Thomas said, “Probably two years away if all goes well.”

“Slow and steady wins the race,” John said.

“Says the guy that has never been slow nor steady,” Andern snapped back sarcastically.

“I disagree on the steady part. He’s been pretty forthright and focused on the mission at hand,” Thomas said, “Totally agree on the slow part.”

“I will drink to that,” Kevin laughed after he took a swig of beer.

Alice grinned as she looked at John, “You know, he’s going to dig you a hole one day that you can’t jump or talk your way out of it.”

“That’s true, but it wasn’t today,” John raised his glass in the air after taking a drink, “Where’s the bride?”

“Technically he was the one with the shovel this time,” Andern said.

The girls rolled their eyes almost in unison. Andern’s attempt to defer responsibility for his outburst was clearly rejected. Alice’s statement wasn’t entirely inaccurate, John’s mouth likely would do the digging for Andern and him. Andern’s inability to play the part of a straight man would always get them into trouble.

“Speaking of, we need to get back to the suite. There’s her car now. It’s time for her to get changed into the reception dress,” Kristin said as she pointed at the white limo rolling into the parking lot.

“We’ll be here, playing cornhole and drinking,” Andern said.

“And smoking these bloody good cigars,” Thomas said taking a long drag on his.

“It’s not what you know, but who you know,” Kevin grinned.

The girls shook their heads. All were thinking roughly the same thing. How did we get married to them? Despite having the combined emotional maturity of a twelve-year-old, the three married men of the group were reasonably good partners. They were trustworthy and loyal to a fault. Their personalities were a bit odd, some more than others, and their sense of humor could best be described as disturbingly pornographic.

But one more member of the group got married, though this time to an outsider. Jessica’s love life had been a bit of a rollercoaster. But every last one of them was happy that she had found what they had. And they wished for nothing but years of happiness for her in the future.

None among them could tell the future. But these were times to enjoy and live life to the fullest. Friends were moving forward in their lives, and another had reached a momentous life moment. It was a great time to be alive and to share that moment with them.

For John, the moments away from the military were precious and few. Each one he cherished in his own way. He was happy, even content, at the moment. There was no telling what the future would hold.

Though he was certain that in the coming months, his threat would be made manifest. The clock was ticking down toward that eventual confrontation with the Icarus. While he was confident in himself, his crew, and his ship; there was no way to tell if he could pull off his threat. But those were thoughts to dwell on later, for now, it was party time. And it was time to kill some brain cells at the open bar.