Reparations
A few days passed as the guild prepared to have a celebration of life for all of those who had passed. Tom had wanted to do it sooner, but his friends insisted that waiting was the right call to properly honor their fallen. He spent much of his time in his room, lying in bed, regretting some of the decisions he had made that led them to take such heavy losses.
Almost two hundred people had died during the invasion. He kept reminding himself that it could have been all of them if they hadn't acted. It was his efforts to position everyone where they needed to be and his willingness to stand on the front lines to fight for them that helped win the battle, but it did nothing to relieve his sorrow.
A soft knock sounded at his door, and he called out for them to come in. Kiera and Derek walked in together.
"Hey, Tom. We need to get you up and out so people can see you. I know you're grieving, but getting out will help. Go talk to some people and check in with people," Derek said.
"We're all hurting, but a sense of community will help with that. No one knows that better than I do now," Kiera added.
Sitting up in bed, Tom rubbed at his eyes. He'd cried until there were no more tears left. Jerky was holding a children's book he had been attempting to read, having been trying to educate himself, and he looked up at Derek and Kiera as well.
"I told him that, but he wouldn't listen," Jerky said.
"I know, I know. I'm up. Let me get a shower, and I'll come down. I'll meet you in the lobby."
An hour later, Tom walked out of the elevators and into the lobby. He froze dead in his tracks as he took in the scene around him.
"Present, arms!" A man shouted at the end of the room.
A line of men and women dressed in gleaming armor were standing in rows, lining the path from the elevator doors to the front doors of the building. Each one of them drew a sword and held it above their head before extending it to touch the one across from them, creating a tunnel.
Derek and Kiera waited at the doors, smiling at his discomfort. Tom walked under the swords, slowly at first, but then more quickly to reach his friends.
"What the hell is this?" Tom asked.
"The guild wanted to show their appreciation, and we figured this would make you the most uncomfortable," Derek chuckled.
"Well, mission accomplished," Tom said.
"Shut up. You deserve this, whether you think you do or not," Kiera added.
The men and women lowered their swords and walked outside while the three stood watching.
"Come on. Let's go outside. The fresh air will be good for you," Derek said, gesturing to the door.
Tom pushed the door open and walked outside. He could never have been prepared for what he saw when he stepped out. The entirety of Vanguard was outside waiting for him. They began to cheer at his arrival, and the sound of applause mixed with shouts and the occasional whistle became a deafening roar as he stepped forward.
Tears came unbidden to his eyes as he took in the sea of faces. Joy was the only emotion that seemed to be present. Tom smiled as he looked out at them before turning to his friends.
"Thank you," Was all he could say as he looked out again at the people and waved to them, unsure what else to do in this situation.
Tom walked down to meet the crowd where he was swarmed by people wanting to thank him and congratulate him on the victory. This time, he didn't shirk away. He didn't try to stop them and simply embraced the gratitude of his people. He thanked many of them in return as he saw many familiar faces in the crowd who had fought alongside him during the battle.
After a time, Derek's voice cut through the noise, amplified by the speaker system that had been set up outside again, as it had been for previous celebrations.
"Alright, everyone. I know we all want to thank Tom for the work he's been doing, but we have other things to attend to. Tom, if you would join us back up here, please," Derek said.
Tom moved back to the doors and stood beside Derek and Keira.
"Thank you all for coming out today. While I know this is a sad day, it is also a day of great celebration. We want to make this equal measure celebration of life for those who died so we could remain safe and celebrate life for those who are still with us. In honor of this day, we have decided to mark today as the Festival of Life. Each year on this day going forward we wish to celebrate all those, living and dead, who fought to ensure we could continue on. A feast has been prepared by Charlene and her crew to..." Derek spoke but was interrupted by the sight of a spaceship appearing in the sky.
Tom stared up at the ship in horror as he froze, unsure exactly what to do in this instant.
"Herbert! The shield!" Derek shouted into the mic.
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Herbert grabbed his communication orb and spoke a few words into it. A few moments later, the sound of the generator activating could be heard as the rainbow beam of light shot into the sky again and began to rain down over the whole area. TJ and Chris began shouting out orders as men and women began to equip their armor and weapons directly from their inventory.
A moment later, Tom was fully equipped as well and moving to the walls to get a better look at what was happening. More and more ships appeared in the sky, looking like the sci-fi movies where ships came out of hyperdrive inside the planet's atmosphere.
Ten ships in total, when they stopped appearing, were hovering in the sky. They continued to fly closer as the fighters of the guild prepared.
"Well, at least we're all inside the barrier this time," Tom commented as they drew closer.
Whirring sounded from the Deshieldinator as Chris powered it up to charge its beam in case it was needed.
"Let's see what happens before we do anything rash. The Federation said they were sending ships too; this could be them," Derek said, standing with Tom but also now wearing his power armor.
The wreckage of the pirate ships lay broken on the ground outside the guild's walls. Harold and Herbert had been practically drooling at the prospect of getting their hands on the ships. Tom and his entire council had agreed that they should try to repair them so that they had a means for intergalactic transport but that they should strive to change the ships enough that they wouldn't be seen as pirates.
Flying in close, the ships stopped in front of the furthest pirate ship. As they hovered in place, a beam of green light shot out from the ship and onto the pirate ship. It expanded into a flat cone and began what appeared to be scanning the ships. A short time later, the beam retracted, and a projection shot into the sky.
"People of Earth, I am Commander Dim of the Intergalactic Federation of Planets. We came as quickly as we could to aid you, but it appears that may not have been necessary. We wish to speak with you about what took place here. Please allow us to treaty with you so that we can add the details to our reports. We mean you absolutely no harm and only wish to ensure that there are no other signs of the pirates on your planet," A strange-looking creature with blue skin said in the image.
It wore a uniform made of pure white fabric that fit its body like a second skin. Its head was shaped a bit like an eggplant, and wrinkles on its forehead denoted that it was not a young creature. A set of black stripes adorned its chest on the right side, showing seven bars.
The projection disappeared from the sky, and the ship began to lower as it sent out a smaller ship toward the shield. The transport ship stopped about a hundred yards from the shield and came to rest on three legs that appeared from the underside of the ship. The creature they had seen on the projection exited the ship and walked to stand just in front of the ramp leading down from inside. Two others accompanied him, unarmed, and stood behind him. They made no move to come closer.
"I guess we should go talk to them," Derek said, shrugging.
Tom and Derek walked down from the walls, where they were met by Jay, Brian, TJ, Bron, and Kiera.
"We're going to talk with them," Tom said. "Bron, I want you and Jay with me and Derek. Kiera, get on the wall to watch for any aggression. If they try to attack, kill them."
Tom, Derek, Bron, and Jay walked to the gates, which a pair of security guards opened for them. They approached the barrier, Tom's heart pounding like a drum given to a hyperactive two-year-old. Walking through the rainbow lights, they strode toward the waiting Federation envoy.
As they walked toward the aliens standing in front of their ship, Tom saw the commander arch an eyebrow at their approach—or what would have been an eyebrow if he had any hair on his body. It was more like half of his brow wrinkled up in surprise, likely at seeing Bron with them.
Coming to a stop about ten yards away, the four of them stared at the commander, not speaking, and waiting for them to make the first move.
"Greetings. We come in peace," the commander said after a long pause. We came to help with the invasion of your planet, as you are still in the fledgling stages of the integration. It would appear we were not needed after all."
"We managed," Tom said, still not trusting this visitor after their last encounter. "The help would have been welcome, though."
"I can imagine. These pirates have been a thorn in the Federation's side for almost a decade. Every time we thought we had them cornered, they managed to slip through our fingers. You have done us a great service by eliminating them."
"We were happy to see them die," Tom said, not expanding.
"I'm sure. We wanted to extend our deepest apologies for being late. If there is anything we could do to help you, we would like to try to make amends."
"Unless you can bring back the dead, I'm not so sure there is much you can do for us," Tom began before being elbowed in the side by Derek.
"Don't say that. They might have something we could really use," Derek whispered harshly to him.
"We do have healers that can raise the dead, but they can't have been dead more than twenty-four hours," The commander explained.
"Then they won't be any use to us. What were you thinking of offering to make these amends?" Tom asked.
"Being that we serve the System, we will let it decide what is a suitable reparation for our inability to act. We could also help clean up these wreckages for you."
"Those are our ships now," Tom said firmly.
"Of course," the commander bowed his head slightly. "I would not take them from you as you rightly won those by the right of conquest. I could have some engineers sent to help you with repairs if you would like."
"That would be helpful, thank you. Can we spend some time asking some questions about the System as well?" Tom asked.
"Unfortunately, that is not within my power to do. As you probably know, there are rules in place about what we can say, even more so for us as we work directly for the System," The commander said, looking as though he truly was unhappy to be unable to assist them.
"Yeah, we've heard that before. Alright, we will accept your assistance and await the reparations from the System."