Marathon: The Complete Series (Books 1-9) (Complete Series Box Sets), page 114
part #1 of Marathon Series
He’d still have this core around him, even in the new world waiting for him. Whatever else happened, he would always have this.
A moment later, Dallas and Bing showed up with Odais. “Rixby has contacted my people for me,” Odais told Eckhart. “I’ve informed them that I’m staying with you on Tictus.”
Eckhart beamed at him. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
Odais shrugged. “It’s the least we can do.”
Dallas cocked his head to one side. “Rixby is sending you a message through my helmet, Eckhart. We’re coming up on the Vrali position.”
“Are you going over to the Urlae to say goodbye to your people?” Eckhart asked Ingai.
Ingai smiled at him. “I don’t need to.”
“I’d better get back up to the bridge, then.”
Eckhart, Dallas, Bing, and Squids returned to the elevator, and when Eckhart reached the podium, he witnessed an incredible sight unlike anything he could have imagined.
The Ihi from the Urlae floated through the destroyer’s hull, but they didn’t sweep straight over to the other destroyers and fly away. They surrounded the Urlae, and a moment later, all the rest of the Ihi emerged from their own ships. They twirled and rotated around the destroyers, and then they all swooped over to the Atera.
They rotated around the battlecruiser in a swirling cloud of blue. Eckhart couldn’t see individual Ihi inside each gleaming speck of stardust.
Eckhart’s throat constricted as they formed a continuous web of light and pulsing energy around the Atera. Ingai didn’t need to say goodbye to his people. He would remain connected to them for all time through their mysterious link.
The Ihi had to say goodbye to Eckhart. They were going home to a brand-new planet and a brand-new world of peace and harmony with the Vrali. Eckhart would give anything to see the new society these two powerful peoples built together.
Gruna would become unrecognizable, but he would probably never see it. He’d be too busy ruling the galaxy and telling everyone else what to do.
He didn’t mind losing Clifton and DeWalt. They belonged on Earth, and nothing would ever bridge the gap between them and the fringes. Saying goodbye to the Ihi hit him in a different place. These were the only other people he had to say goodbye to, and he hated to see them go. He was really starting to enjoy having them around. They’d turned out to be a thousand times tougher than he’d first realized on Gruna.
They weren’t leaving him. They would always be there, inside his thoughts. What Ingai knew, they all knew.
A chill fell over his heart when that blue glow shrank away and became again millions of tiny dots in the blackness of space. Space felt cold and empty without them.
He didn’t begrudge them their victory, but he couldn’t help feeling a pang of regret when they reentered the destroyers and the Vrali fleet sailed away. That one goodbye encompassed all the others, and now it was over.
He came back to his senses to find Rixby, Squids, Dallas, and Bing by his side. Rixby did something on the controls and brought up the route to Tictus. The alien delegations that wanted to see him were already entering orbit. They were waiting for him.
He found himself studying the planet. Aistenz had built hangars, bunkers, warehouses, barracks for his ground troops, and a thousand other things to house and strengthen his vast army.
Now Eckhart was going there to take it over and make it his own. He would put his own stamp on it and make it something completely different from what Aistenz had made it.
Maybe somewhere down there, Eckhart would find quarters for himself. In time, Tictus would become familiar and worn with routine. It would become a storehouse of memories, successes and failures, and battles won and lost.
In time, it would become as unrecognizable from Aistenz’s world as Gruna was about to become. Eckhart would build a new society here, a society where people could trade and work together without constantly fighting and tearing each other apart.
Maybe, one of these days, Eckhart would find the home he sought for so many years, the home he’d left Parilia to find. He’d thought for years that he found it on the Marathon. Then he thought he’d found it on the Atera, but both of those had been wrong.
He’d never had a home before, because he’d never belonged anywhere. Now he would, and now, for the first time in his life, he could put his roots down and finally start growing.
The End
AFTERWORD
I hope you enjoyed the Marathon series. If you found it worthwhile, please consider leaving a review wherever you got the box set. Reviews are the lifeblood of an independent author like myself, and they make a real different to others who are considering a purchase. Thanks for reading!
— Daniel Young
ALSO BY DANIEL YOUNG
(COMPLETE SERIES BOX SETS)
Outcast Starship (Books 1-9)
Blackout (Books 1-9)
Marathon (Books 1-9)
Stars Dark (Books 1-8)
Lost Galaxy (Books 1-6)
Oblivion (Books 1-9)
War Fleet (Books 1-5)
Legacy of War (Books 1-3)
Copyright © 2023 by Daniel Young
Edited by: Scarlett R. Algee
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
DANIEL YOUNG
COMPLETE SERIES
BOX SETS
Young, Daniel, Marathon: The Complete Series (Books 1-9) (Complete Series Box Sets)
