The Assault of Orion I

Epilogue

"This is your shuttle pilot , welcome to the General Catherine Parker Spaceport. Please wait until the shuttle has stopped motion before unfastening your restraint straps." The sound of restraint clasps being unsnapped echoed through the shuttles passenger compartment. The door of the shuttle opened on a beautiful Orion One day.

He hesitated before stepping off the last stair onto the spaceports surface. An Antaran advanced towards him and bowed. "I have a vehicle waiting Great One." Your luggage will be brought to the hotel once it is unloaded." He looked towards the Antaran baggage handlers working hard to empty the shuttles belly.

"Send the luggage in the vehicle , I will walk to the hotel later." The Antaran bowed again. "Yes Great One." He glanced to the south to a barely seen ridge in the distance before walking towards a object outside the spaceports main building.

The Monument sat on a piece of untended grass. It was larger it looked in the pictures. The 3 foot tall letters capped the Monument , XV shone in the sun as their gold plating remained untarnished. He read the plaque at the top .

Dedicated to all the soldiers of the XV Armored Corps who held the line.
......................................XV Corps will be here always.......................................

All the names were here. As his finger touched a name their holo image appeared in front of him. He touched the topmost name. General Parker was smaller than he remembered but the holo caught the determined look in her eye perfectly."Wonder if she ever smiled." He started searching for the names. He circled the Monument until he found 17th Armored. "God , so many names." His height worked against him as he found the section he was looking for almost obscured by the overgrown grass. His large hands ripped the offending vegetation away and revealed the names.
A Troop
3rd Platoon
PSgt Jake Rhame
Sgt Bill Jenkins
Sgt.Jane Golden
Cpl Tim Dunphy
Cpl Rick Russo
Cpl David Lazenby
Tpr Jeff Cahill
Tpr Pierre LaPare
Tpr David Clipp
Tpr Paul McKay

He touched each name starting with McKay. When he got to Rhame's name he hesitated a moment before touching it. Thirty years melted away from his memories as he saw Rhame appear. He knew the image would remain as long as he continued looking at it. "Hey Sarge , been a long time. I am sorry I never came to visit you before today but I swore I would never set foot on this damned planet again. Well they go and decide to have a session of the Terran Congress of Worlds here to celebrate the 30th anniversary of us beating the Antarans and attendance was mandatory. I guess the powers that be are still telling us what to do whether we care or not." He paused a moment before continuing." Burke is living on Schiff now and has his own software company , no surprise there. He has grandkids for cripes sake. After I got out I became part of the recolonization of the outer arm worlds." He glanced at his chrono a moment." Gotta run Sarge , I have a committee meeting in 15 minutes. I don't think I will be back but I just needed to tell you we made it and .......it mattered." The image of Platoon Sergeant Rhame remained for a few more moments as if watching a distant figure walking away before vanishing.

Congressman Gregory Kindred ( PSgt. Terran Ground Forces retired and Representative for the planet Suji IV ) walked away leaving his Sergeant and the last of his demons behind.

This story is dedicated to the memory of my father a First Sergeant in A Troop 102nd Armored Cavalry Regiment 50th Armored Division who taught me to play wargames but never let me forget that the pieces represented real people.

DWS Orlando Florida