Jess chuckled. “C'mon.” She turned and retreated back towards the service hatch. “Doc's about to leave. Let's go say goodbye.”
“Too bad he's leaving. Good people.”
“The best. But I bet he'll be back.”
**
It was cold, and raining outside. Dan Kurok stood quietly watching through the blast proof glass portal as the shuttle very slowly settled itself into position on the pad ramp. The rockets fluttered closed, and the locks fastened, off-gassing filling the space around the shuttle as a team of bio alt mechs started forward with ground umbilicals.
He sighed. It was hard to quantify really how he felt. In one sense, it was good to know that things had stabilized and he felt satisfied to go back to station and get one with things.
In another sense, though, he had grown, again, unexpected roots in this place and there was a part of him that really didn't want to go.
Dev was part of that, of course. But the truth was, he now admitted privately, that as long as he'd spent on station, and how rewarding that career was, it had never developed any sense of family in him anywhere near what the feeling was he'd experienced in the last few weeks here.
Maybe you never could really get the corps out of you. Doctor Dan exhaled, and put his fingertips against the glass, leaning forward slightly. He was going to miss the sets here, and the techs and agents who had accepted him, and the easy familiarity he'd encountered in the past seven days.
He would miss that, and the camaraderie of those who understood what sacrifice was and who had seen the things he'd seen and done things he remembered doing that he shared with no one at all on station.
They couldn't even fathom it, up there. He couldn't talk to anyone up there like he'd talked to Elk, even attempting it would cause nervous breakdowns and screaming in the halls. He sighed again, watching his breath fog the glass, a little.
Ah well.
A sound behind him made him turn, seeing the inner security hatch open and a crowd of bodies appear. Jess was in the lead, her arm draped over Dev's shoulders, but around and behind her were all the techs and all the agents, and behind them, the sets and mechs he'd led in his small part in the battle.
His heart ached, in truth, seeing them. He'd rather been hoping they'd be too occupied to notice his leaving. “Ah.”
Dev slipped free of Jess's grip and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and giving him a ferocious hug. “Oh Doctor Dan! I wish you weren't leaving. I'll miss you.”
He returned the hug, his eyes meeting Jess's over Dev's shoulder. “I'll miss you too, Dev.” He released her, but kept an arm around her as she turned and the rest arrived. “And I'll miss the rest of you too. It's been quite an experience we shared.”
“It has been for sure.” Clint responded. “Too bad you're going to miss the party tonight.”
“Mm.” Doctor Dan's eyes twinkled. “I am sorry about that, but my head probably isn't if I remember those parties as well as I think I do.”
“Hehehe.” Elaine let out a low laugh. “You do.”
Jess had her hands in her pockets, her black duty suit outlining her tall frame. “You should come visit again soon.” She said, a smile shaping her lips. “Or maybe we'll come visit you.”
Doctor Dan pictured in his head the hysterical reaction to that invasion and smiled his gentle smile back. “I think that would be an excellent idea.” He responded mildly. “Especially when we start developing the advanced programming for Dev's successors.” He glanced fondly at her. “Though we're going to have to really work at matching you.”
Dev smiled in obvious delight. “Please say hello to everyone at the creche for me.” She said. “Especially Gigi.”
“I will.” He promised.
The outer hatch unsealed and opened, and a blast of cold, wet, salty air tinged with rocket fuel gusted against them. A man in the bright blue oversuit of the interspace crew entered, looking around. “Kurok, Daniel J?”
“That's me.” Doctor Dan waved at him.
“Please board.” The man said. “We are off schedule.”
“Ah. I see the customer service is as spectacular as always.” Doctor Dan released Dev and started forward, only to be intercepted by the gang of Interforce personnel, each of whom offered a hand shake, or a pat on the arm, or from the anxiously waiting sets, a timid embrace.
It was almost overwhelming, and it ended with a swirl of motion and then Jess was closing her arms around him in a rush of energy new, and strange, and yet echoing with remembered familiarity. “Both of you take care.” He uttered softly. “You hear me, Jesslyn?”
“You too.” Jess answered, as she released him and stepped back. “C'mon. We'll walk you onboard.”
The interspace loader scrambled out of the way as the gang of them filed through the hatch, out into the icy rain falling around the shuttle, escorting his passenger until they reached the ramp, and he went up alone, pausing the top to turn and wave goodbye before he disappeared inside.
Dev sighed, her eyelashes blinking to shed the raindrops. “Bye, Doctor Dan.”
Jess gave her a one armed hug, then turned and motioned the crowd to go back inside. “We'll see him again.” She predicted confidently. “Maybe sooner than you think.”
The hatch closed behind them, and the rest of the crowd dispersed, but Dev and Jess went to the window and stood there, watching until the shuttle's engines fired, and it rumbled back off the ground into the sky.
**
It was still raining, though the darkness kept it to just a sound on the edges of the dome overhead as the assembly space filled with bodies.
The ramp doors were open, and everyone was wandering in, a mixture of ranks and specialties in a swarm of colored uniforms.
The mess had been restored to the point where it could offer crocks and basins of the basics, and just to one side of the food line was a cluster of black and dark green clad bodies, sprawled on the multi level stone platforms that led up eventually to the dais.
The newcomers sent from HQ mixed with what was left of Base 10's ops teams, personalities already emerging and polite conversation devolving into mild trash talk that even so, barely had a sting.
So Jess and Dev, along with April and Doug and Mike and Chester, Elaine and Tucker, and a carefully wrapped up and still pale Jason and Brent were in a crowd of newcomers, Jeff and his partner Able, and Donna and her tech Caroline, both veterans along with eight other pairs who were waiting to hear if the assignment was going to be permanent.
“S'better here than back west.” Jeff was saying. “Room to make a mark, y'know?”
“True.” Donna agreed. “It's like starting new. Just need to find out if we'll stay here, or be part of the North team.”
“Other side makes a move, we'll be the front lines.” Elaine reminded them. “It's not a picnic.”
“Can we have another picnic?” Dev softly asked Jess, whose head was resting on her leg.
“Sure.” Jess opened one eye and regarded the crowd of ops teams. “No it's no picnic but where in the corps is?”
“Exactly.” Jeff nodded. “Least we'll see action here.”
A stir got their attention, and across the room Bensen Alters was walking up to the podium as the lights brightened a little to focus the attention on it.
Jess sat up and swung her legs off the platform, bracing her hands on the edge of it as Dev scooted over a little. “So now let's see what we're in for.”
Alters had been acting commander for the week, and proved himself to be a calm and laid back presence who focused on returning the citadel to functionality and handle the logistics of the repair teams and materials that had been flown in.
Jess had found herself hoping they made his a permanent assignment. She didn't know who the other candidates might be though. HQ and Alters had left her pretty much alone the whole week as though hoping it would all fade into the past and let normality take over again.
It was almost a bit of a let down kind of feeling. She'd at least expected to get a request to submit a report, or something.