Empyrean Iris

Epilogue

 Captain Vir stood on the ramp to his ship staring out at an alien sunrise. Bright bands of colorful orange burst out across a rainbow landscape. He took a deep breath of the cool morning air and blew out, his breath sending little moss spores into a spiral dance across the lightening sky.

Shadows stretched up towards his feet from a nearby Coil tree.

Early morning cold nipped lightly at his skin, but he didn't mind it so much. In the distance, little black trails of smoke filtered into the sky from the line of dark volcanoes.

It was a beautiful planet all told, and not something he had been able to appreciate during the war or after. Now, however, he wanted nothing more than to run out there with his camera and have a photoshoot with some alien trees, maybe even nab some of that strange Drev bulb fruit, but he didn't.

There would be time for that later.

"Captain Vir."

He turned his head just in time to see the UNSC and GA representative walking up the tarmac.

"Morning senators."

The Rundi bowed, and the human inclined her head. Behind them, general Kanzna and the Gibb scientist were being stuffed into the back of a shuttle, guarded by at least ten marines as they were placed into custody.

"What will happen to them?" he wondered.

"They will be sentenced and then probably shipped to the Andromeda corrections station depending on what time they are given. Conspiracy to commit mass genocide and overthrow the galaxy has some pretty heavy penalties on it, as does murder, attempted murder, and false imprisonment."

Captain Vir nodded, "And the Drev?"

"It seems that the factions of Drev who were interested in this war were few and far between. Thanks to your friend Kanan, many of those forces were waiting on the outside of the valley to declare war on General Kazna's forces."

He had heard about Kanan's banishment and eventual return to Anin with plans to incite a rebellion against his mother. She wasn't so popular as one might have first thought, and most other Drev seemed to hold the same opinions as Sunny: an eagerness to learn from the humans rather than to fight them.

Revenge was, surprisingly, not in their nature.

"They have chosen a representative from among their ranks who is willing to negotiate peace talks with us."

The human rep nodded, "The talks may take a while as they don't exactly seem keen on the mining operations pushed on them after the war, but I think it is something that the GA can work out."

He smiled with pleasure, "So the Drev might join the GA?"

"It seems likely."

"That's good news." He inclined his head to the senators and let them be off, ready to speak to another figure who was waiting patiently in the wings. He greeted Kanan as he moved up the ramp to stand next to him.

"How is she?" he wondered.

The big Drev lifted his head, "Thanks to your doctor, she will survive her injuries.... but there is something else I wish to discuss with you."

"Anything for an old friend."

The Drev hummed in amusement deep in his chest before continuing, "I.... and other members of my clan have broken off from our original group. We no longer want to be associated with the corruption that befell them. However, this means that we no longer have ancestral lands and nowhere to go once this is all over." He paused to look out at the rising sun, "I had half hoped that you might consider allowing us to join your crew."