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Revealed: Epilogue

-Four and a half years later-

"Mmm." I sipped some scotch. It burned the back of my throat as it went down. "This is really good stuff." I complimented to Crane. I was in his new condo which he had bought using the money we got from Mr. Hawthorne. It was very nice and I was actually jealous, it was a lot better than the quarters I had back on my command ship, the CES Nautilus which was in dry dock for scheduled maintenance.

The Conglomeration of Earth, a government that took the place of NATO as the major spacefaring police. It was pretty much the same except for the name and that it worked independent from other nations. It had its own seat on the United Nations even though the only land it owned was the ships and space facilities. All NATO personnel, including me were transferred over to its command and I was surprised when I was made a Rear Admiral. Got my own ship and a small task force under my command, all very exciting if something actually ever happened. Most of the time I just did paper work, but I still enjoyed going out onto the bridge to watch the ship fly by a planet.

I felt the seat under my hand. It was a white leather couch, just one of the many luxuries Crane had "invested" his money into. This condo was another, which I had voice my disapproval over the fact that one of the windows looked over an alley that had a dumpster in it. He didn't care, just saying it added character and left it at that. It was the only bad thing I could think of, he had a large monitor he used to stream movies, news etcetera and even a miniature nuclear reactor that was stored in a back room. He was definitely doing the most with his life as he could while being retired.

Crane smiled and took a drink from his own shot glass and squeezed his eyes as he swallowed. "Yeah." He coughed out. He had learned that I was going to be back on Earth and immediately invited me for a good old fashion barbeque. The thing was, he had a gas burner, not a barbeque. It didn't matter, the steaks he made were some of the best I had ever tasted. Medium rare beef, not the tofu shit that was served on the ship. The tradition of officers eating better meals had died a long time ago, we ate the exact same stuff as any of the sailors.

I had stayed in contact with Crane over the years, but this was the first time I had seen him face to face ever since we parted ways. He was still short and had even gone a bit soft. The muscles didn't just awkwardly bulge under his shirt anymore, there shirt sat on his frame comfortably, only tight around the arms. When I pointed this out, he denied everything like usual. All I needed to do was give him a few days and he'll have a membership to the closest gym.

"What have you been up to recently?" Crane asked between bites of steak.

"Not much actually. Finished the whole integration thing as you know a while back and nothing has really happened since." Integration for those who were affected by Louis Josten's final bid to "evolve" humanity into a new kind of people went smoothly. Governments and civilian programs were set up and in no time the military wasn't needed when nothing violent occurred.

"How about Krauss. I haven't heard from him in over two years." He asked.

"Last I heard. He still worked for Mr. Hawthorne." He had gone off the radar and I had gotten worried, but I had been in close contact with Mr. Hawthorne and he assured me that everything was going all right. I had General Mathews, who headed intelligence, do some snooping just in case. There was no issue, Krauss had simply gotten so involved with his work that he never took vacation. What work that was remained a mystery that even the CE couldn't find out. I'll let them keep their little secrets, but I would keep an eye on them for safety reasons.

"I still can't believe that Krauss got away like he did back at Jupiter." It was shocking that was for sure. He was holding the man in his hands, with a gun pointed at him, ready to just murder him. Then, that opportunity was taken from him, by Natalie Josten of all people. She shot her own father with a hold out pistol that she had hidden in her sleeve. Bang, just like that, Krauss managed to avoid murder charges. He did end up getting court martialed for his dangerous behavior, but he had the Hawthorne offer which he fell back on. His brothers followed him out as well.

"It happens." I shrugged and began to cut a cube off of my steak. I picked it up with my fork and put it in my mouth. It was juicy and savory, each bite felt perfect. "You should open a restaurant."

"Nah." Crane waved it off with his fork. "People would just complain about the dog fur in their food." He picked up a white piece of fur from his steak and dangled it in front of me for effect. "I can't wear a hair net over my entire body." He wiped it onto a napkin and went back to ravaging his own steak.

I glanced down at my steak and sure enough, there was a single black strand from me sitting happily on my own steak. No matter how much I tried to brush my fur, I would just keep on shedding. The engineers on the Nautilus had even started collecting my sheddings once and made a second me out of it. They had laid it out on my command chair up on the bridge, using buttons for the eyes. Most would call it the most disgusting thing they ever saw, but sadly I had seen worse.

My communicator which I carried everywhere I went while off of the ship began to vibrate. I sighed and took it out of my pocket. There was only one reason why they would call me when I was on leave. There was something going on that needed my attention. I could only hope that it was small. I had a game of golf with Crane and a few officers planned. I needed to show Crane that he wasn't the best shot at everything.

I turned on the palm size device and a message appeared. I read it and just felt like turning it off and pretending that it never got to me. I couldn't do that, I was an Admiral and needed to uphold the expectations that came with rank and plus, when I turned on my communicator, signal would have been sent saying it was received.

"What is it?" Crane's steak was already gone and now he was digging into a baked potato. I would never understand his appetite. It seemed as if there was a black hole in his stomach that forced him to continuously eat or risk starvation.

"Problems at Pluto. Some kind of S.O.S signal was sent, but it was incomplete and their comms seem to be down." Why did it have to be Pluto of all places? Why not down the street or at the moon? That was my luck. Command wanted me to get back to my ship and get my taskforce together to investigate. I would have to leave now to get everything together by morning. Messages to send to drunk sailors who were also on shore leave and people to boss around, that kind of boring Admiral stuff.

"Pluto." He said half amused, he understood my plight. "That's an eight month round trip in your slow ass ships." It was times like this that I really whished for Francis' ship. It would be able to go there and back in two weeks. That wasn't an option, his ship could only travel fast because it was small and had an engine designed for ships three times its size. I would be sitting on a slow heavy cruiser for eight months. That was a long time for the poor saps at Pluto to wait. Hopefully I wouldn't be arriving to collect bodies; that happened too often. Space travel was pretty safe, but accidents happen.

"Sorry." I apologized and stood up. "But, I need to get going to avoid getting yelled at." He stood up as well, leaving behind a mostly eaten potato in his wake.

"No its fine." He was disappointed. After living as a dog for so long, I caught onto a few things that Dog didn't need to tell me. His tail sagged and his ears were no longer perky, not a very precise observation, but it was good enough.

I left Crane in his condo and hailed a cab. New York was busy like always and I marveled at its scale. I rarely got to go to any cities anymore and experience them. I only saw the specks of light they left on Earth's surface during the night. It was beautiful and it was the reason why I stayed in the military. If there was ever anything that would threaten it, I would die fighting to make sure it remained. Too much had threatened it.

An iconic cab pulled up. It had the checkered black dots on a yellow body and floated two feet off of the ground due to magnetic rails that were just below the surface of the road. I opened the door and went in. I remembered seeing the .50 Cal that Crane got from Francis. I wondered if he ever got the chance to fire it, probably not, that kind of weaponry was mostly illegal. Crane would have had to get a lot of permits to simply have it. Maybe I could pull a few strings and we could take it out when I got back. He would need something to cheer him up after the game of golf I was planning on beating him.

I chuckled and closed the door behind me and a middle aged man turned around. He didn't even flinch when he saw what I was. The product of lots of hard work and good people.

"Where can I take you bud?"

"I need to get to JFK spaceport."

"Right away." He said with a grin and turned around. The cab pulled away from the curb and into traffic.