VC Chapter 42-Road to Recovery

Sector 2100

Planet 2101

January 29, 2052

“He's in a stable condition, but still unconscious.” the doctor reported to Stella who was beside her husband alongside Dimitris in the medical facility.

“When will he wake up?” Stella gently shook Tassos.

“We don't know exactly. There are still more tests to be done ma'am.” the doctor grabbed a clipboard on the wall.

“Please come back Tassos. I am waiting for you.” Stella begged.

“That will be enough for now. We need to give him the rest.” the doctor patted Stella on the back.

Stella wiped her tears and then nodded at the doctor. She wrapped her arms around Dimitris and hugged tightly.

“It's ok. He'll pull through.” Dimitris comforted as he looked at the doctor pull the curtains around Tassos.

* * *

Charlie walked into the command bridge in his base and greeted his staff. He approached the window and looked out to see new cargo ships bringing in supplies. Some bases were being repaired while some were being rebuilt from scratch.

“So this is home now.” Owens walked up from behind and looked at the brown small planet below them.

“It sure is.” Charlie looked at his ship bay to see ships being repaired.

The ship bay was busy as it was crowded with lots of damaged fleets. Engineers and technicians were already working hard to repair the basic defensive ships. Wicker was busy directing ships to land the supplies whilst Du Preez was busy painting the new name on a Revelation cruiser.

“It's beautiful isn't she?” Owens looked at NB Pride.

“Yes she is.” Charlie agreed with a nod.

Charlie turned his head to look at the storage module to see that Parks' cruiser dropped off some resources. The cruiser then docked at a nearby hatch and she went inside the base.

“Excuse me Owens. I have some things to take care of.” Charlie spoke his mind.

“A missed date?” Owens chuckled.

“Sure, you can say that.” Charlie replied as he left the command bridge.

Charlie walked past the mess hall and saw Paul, Moxness, and Jaimes having a couple beers and waved at them as he passed by. He walked past Franklin who was knocking on Tarbuck's quarters and smiled politely at her.

“Hey Charlie.” Franklin greeted as Charlie walked past her.

After a turn around a corner, Charlie walked past the ship factory where Chase and Badyr were busy adding some customization to the stolen Apocrypha.

“How's the refit?” Charlie shouted.

“Going well.” Chase gave the thumbs up.

“Good!” Charlie replied with a smile and walked off.

“Charlie, NB Remali's rancors have proven to work in the battlefield.” Stein rushed beside Charlie with a folder.

“That's good to hear Stein.” Charlie patted his shoulder.

“We need to standardize our fleets with the specifications. Please sign this paperwork.” Stein presented the folder.

Charlie opened the folder and quickly skimmed the contents. He grabbed his pen from his chest pocket and swiftly wrote his name.

“Thanks Charlie.” Stein took the folder back and ran off.

“No problem. Haha.” Charlie laughed to himself as he continued to walk past the factory and into the storage modules where Parks was busy unloading resource crates with her crew.

“You missed me?” Parks teased and crossed her arms as she saw Charlie walk over.

“Of course I did.” Charlie went up to her and gave her a hug.

“So what now?” Parks let go of the embrace and asked him.

“We rebuild what was lost. Start it all over again.” Charlie replied with a double meaning.

“We'll see how it goes.” Parks winked in her reply as she caught onto Charlie's cues.

 “Good. The future seems bright. This...this is the calm after the storm.” Charlie placed his arm around Parks' shoulder as they looked at the distant cool blue sun as the light rays struck the facility.