The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 7: Broken Hearts and Missing Boobs.

Baseplate Sierra, surface of Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

Salem unbuckled his restraints and stood slowly, stretching his sore muscles. He groaned and grabbed his bag, throwing it onto his shoulder. He took up his rifle in one hand and strode down the ramp to the loose gravel. He looked around, examining the landing pad.

At a glance it appeared to be half of a kilometer square with loose gravel covering the ground. Between the various aircraft he could see a small road leading off the pad, and a runway that ran the length of the very center of the pad. The runway was made of what looked like fresh supercrete; a variant of concrete that isn't quite as strong, but dries in under an hour. The runway was a single six-inch slab of the super concrete with lines of luminescent paint. Soldiers and pilots and mechanics scurried around, hurrying from ship to shuttle to check them over and repair any flaws.

As he watched, a Rabbit truck rolled along the road up onto the pad. It drew closer by the second, and eventually came to a halt in front of him. Before he could get a close look at its occupants, one of them leaped from the passenger's seat and tackled him to the ground.

"Salem! Good gods, you're alive!" the figure squealed rather girlishly, which was very unlike her. Salem grinned and rubbed her back, looking up at his wife.

"Hello beautiful," he smirked, "What brings you here? Do you come here often?"

"Only when my husband crashes his ship," she chuckled and grinned. He loved her smile.

"You're married?" Salem raised his eyebrows, "He's a lucky man, I hope he won't mind if I steal you from him."

"Oh, don't worry about him," Korana smirked impishly, "I'd have no problem leaving him, he's an idiot, and his penis is tiny."

Salem laughed loudly, looking her in the eyes, "That sounds more like the woman I fell in love with. I almost didn't believe it was you."

"And what made you think it wasn't me?" she sat up, sitting on his stomach and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You weren't a bitch," Salem suddenly sat up as well, cutting Korana off before she could comment. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her so hard she had trouble breathing. He whispered in her ear, his voice shaky. "Thank the gods you're all right, I was so afraid. I've already lost Schwarz, and Alice is wounded, I can't stand the idea of someone hurting you."

She buried her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. She felt tears of relief slip from the corners of her eyes, but couldn't have cared less; he was alive.

They held their embrace for what seemed like hours. In reality it was only a moment, but Salem could have stayed there for centuries and been perfectly content. He heard someone cough, but ignored them. He held on for another moment before starting to pull away, looking around at the small circle of people. He smiled as he recognized several faces from his command crew; General Harper, Seth, Nathaniel Alles, Nikolai Austrikin, and a Stonehaaryn man and woman he had never seen before.

Salem grinned and held his hand out. Nikolai took it, and tried to heave him to his feet. He would have, but Korana wrapped her arms and legs around her husband like they were newly-weds and refused to let go. Salem chuckled and held out his other hand, which Nathaniel took. Together, the navigation officer and the sensory technician hefted their captain to his feet. Salem stood shakily for a moment, off balance because of the full sized adult clinging to his chest, but he quickly adapted and stood fast.

Salem grinned and looked around the small circle, beaming at each of the people standing around him.

"Gentlemen," he nodded to the Stonehaaryns he didn't recognize, "And gentle-lady. Would someone please introduce my new blue friends?"