They had been standing in line for nearly half an hour. Apparently there had been some delay with the arrival of the Ailian and Nuretan delegations, so they'd had to wait while it was prepared. He hoped it wouldn't be too much longer. He was starting to sweat despite the air conditioning in the room, and he didn't want it to soak through his shirt and suit jacket. That wouldn't look good for the television cameras that were present in the building. Visions of cold drinks were starting to dance through his head, and he hoped that the first part of the reception wouldn't take too long, so that he could visit the bar and relieve the cottony feeling in his mouth.
Finally, the doors near the front of the line opened and the UN Marines stationed there snapped to attention as the first wave of dignitaries came in. The first to come in were the Nuretans. In the front of the line were a bunch of people in civilian dress that he, of course, didn't recognize. He shook their hands politely. For some of the people in the receiving line, it was their first time meeting any of the aquatic aliens in person. Most of them were slightly taller than the humans, and their green skin glistened in the lights of the reception hall. When one of them came to Jack, however, he had a flash of recognition.
“You are Jack Squier,” a female voice, bubbly in accent, said as the person came before him. Jack looked up to see that he was face to face with a Nuretan in a dark blue military uniform. She was slightly taller than him, had long, feathery white hair, and brilliantly neon eyes.
Jack had to search his brain for several moments before he recognized her. “I remember you!” he said suddenly. “General...General Soumaren...right? We met on Arbaros, and again on Lirna after the battle.”
General Kalma Soumaren nodded. “Correct,” she said. She took his hand, her slick-looking skin feeling smooth and slightly chilled against his own. “I am pleased to see that you made it home safely. You have been well?”
“Uh, yeah,” Jack said. “Pretty well, I guess. Good to see you made it through the war alright.” He remembered that General Soumaren was the leader of the Nuretan Imperial Marines, the elite fighting force of the Nuretan Empire. She had been the commander of the mission to liberate Lirna from the rebel forces, and had been at the palace when Jack had made his escape during the battle.
“I did,” she confirmed. “Not without close calls, of course. How nice to see you again.” She nodded to him, and then continued down the line. Jack would have liked a few more minutes to talk with her, but of course it couldn't be helped. The line was long, and it had to keep moving.
He hadn't been expecting to see someone he knew in the receiving line. From what the ambassador had told him, the dignitaries arriving were supposed to have been relatively minor in prominence. To have seen someone of General Soumaren's stature made it seem just that much more formal. Jack felt even more out of place.
The rest of the Nuretan delegation came through the receiving line, and Jack was introduced to quite a few of them. He tried to pay attention to their names, but there were so many of them that he knew he'd never be able to remember them all. Once the Nuretan delegation was all inside the reception hall, there was a brief pause while they prepared to receive the Ailian representatives. When the doors opened again, there was somewhat of a surprised hush that fell over the humans in the line.
As the first person in line arrived at Jack, he saw why. “Jack, what a delightful surprise!”
The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood on end as he saw who was talking to him. “L-Li'ren...!” he blurted out.
Empress Li'ren Amani, the ruler of the Ailian Ascendancy, was standing before him, resplendent in rich robes of blue and gold. The Ailian leader beamed down at him, her ruby red eyes shining as she beheld him. Jack couldn't believe that she would be here. If General Soumaren had been a surprise to see, this was an absolute shock. The rest of the receiving line seemed just as surprised as he was. The blue-furred Ailian waved her tail, seeming to find some sort of amusement in the astonished expression on his face.
The sound of someone's throat clearing was heard next to Jack, and he felt a little nudge as Ambassador Fisher kicked his foot. “Uh, I mean...,” he stammered. Jack gave a polite bow. “It's...very nice to see you again, Empress Amani. I wasn't expecting that you'd be here.”
“Likewise,” Li'ren said. Her eyes were twinkling with something that Jack couldn't figure out. “I felt that I should attend. Humans contributed so much to aiding our people in retaking Lirna. I would have regretted not being present for this historic ceremony.” She looked to her left, where the next person in line was approaching. “I think you will remember my consort?”
Jack turned his head to see who was stepping over, and he was nearly floored by what he saw. Another Ailian, taller than Li'ren and appearing to be several years younger, had just finished greeting the person to Jack's right and was turning her attention to him now. She had fur of pale orange, black-striped, and her robin's egg-blue eyes were beginning to widen as she perceived the human. Her pointy ears were pricked forward in amazement.
“Brother?” the young woman said, seeming to scarcely believe her eyes. Then her face broke into a smile and she grabbed his hands, clasping them warmly in her own. “Brother!”
“Sami?” Jack could feel emotion starting to well up inside of him. He smiled back at her, unhesitatingly stepping forward and hugging one of the Ailians he remembered most fondly of all. “Oh my god, it's so good to see you! It's been too long...” Words failed him further, as he was choked up by the happiness at seeing her.
Sami placed a hand on his head, which of course barely came up to her chest. Realizing that people were staring, Jack stepped back and looked her over. She looked different, and not just because she was five years older than when he'd seen her last. Though she was dressed in a midriff-length shirt and ankle-reaching wrap skirt, as typical of Ailian women, the garments were much richer than he recalled ever seeing her wear. They were of a deep blue color trimmed with gold, matching Li'ren's robes, and she also wore several thin strands of gold around her neck. What Jack found most intriguing of all was the adornment she bore on her navel: a simple but elegant piercing of gold and sapphire that he recognized as an Ailian bonding gem.
“Well,” Li'ren said, “I can see that you remember each other very well, indeed.” She sounded as though she was barely restraining laughter. Seeing that Ambassador Fisher was looking very confused, Li'ren nodded to him. “You are Earth's Ambassador, Jonas Fisher, correct? I am very pleased to meet you, Ambassador. I would also like to introduce my Royal Consort, Lady Sami Me'lia. As you can see, Jack and Sami are old friends.”
“In-Indeed...,” Ambassador Fisher stammered. He remembered a few seconds late who he was talking to, and he bowed to the both of them.
“So, you two?” Jack asked, looking between Li'ren and Sami. “I'm happy for both of you. You were such good friends back then. I knew that you would be good together.”
Li'ren's cheeks fluffed out a little, though she quickly smoothed them down again. “Quite,” she said. She gazed at Sami fondly, and her voice grew a bit quiet. “Sami has been there for me when I needed someone most. I do still grieve for Kri'a...almost every day...but I would not give up Sami for the whole universe.” Sami took her hand. “I think Kri'a would want me to be happy, and I am very happy.”
Jack had about a million questions that he wanted to ask, but for the moment it appeared he would have to wait to ask them. Just then, an Ailian male clad in the formal uniform of the Royal Guards bypassed the line, stepping up to Li'ren's side. “M'lady...,” he said, in heavily accented but recognizable English. “Forgive me...Commander say line must keep going...”
“Ah, of course,” Li'ren said. She looked down the line, seeing that it was starting to back up while she was standing in front of Jack and the ambassador. “I am forgetting myself, Sergeant. Please inform your commander that we shall be moving along shortly.” She turned back to Jack, while the Royal Guard sergeant looked nervously over his shoulder. “I am certain that we will have time to speak again later, Jack. I am sure there is much you would like to talk about. It has been marvelous to see you again.”
Before Jack could respond, another Royal Guard, female and walking with a purpose, came up the line. She was walking imperiously, with great authority, and she came to a halt next to the sergeant. “Is problem, m'lady?”
The voice was enough to make Jack freeze completely still in place. His heart began hammering the inside of his chest like a snare drum, and he stared at the woman who was now standing near to him. He was strangely almost afraid to look at her, but he forced himself to turn his eyes towards the Ailian. She was focused on the Empress, but for Jack everything else in the room seemed to go silent and vanish.
She was tall, taller than anyone else in the room, and her black uniform was immaculate, unadorned apart from the silver, circular insignia near her collar that denoted the rank of commander. The left side of her face was lined with a few thin, faint scars, visible underneath her black-dyed fur, and over her left eye was affixed some sort of patch made of a reflective, black metallic material. The right eye was piercingly yellow, flecked with gold, and glinting from the bright lights in the room. As Jack looked at her, he saw her glance at him, then at the ambassador, before her eye snapped back to him barely a second later.
He swallowed, a huge lump in his throat making him feel like he was suffocating. The Ailian woman's muzzle opened a fraction. He could feel tears starting in his eyes. He saw her remaining eye begin to glisten as well, and her tail dropped to hang loosely behind her long legs.
“Aria...”
In a flash she was down on her knees, and Jack felt those strong, familiar, comforting arms wrapping around him and tugging him into her embrace. He could hear murmurs from those in the receiving line, but he didn't have a care in the world for them. His arms went around her as well and he clutched at her like she was a precious jewel. Their lips met and he felt the rumble of a low growl as they kissed each other for the first time, once again. Their time apart seemed hardly to have made a difference in that instant. They both trembled as a combination of relief, sadness, joy, and passion washed over them all at once. Tears were flowing freely from both of them, and he could hear Aria purring through her quiet sobs. Her tail wrapped around his body, holding him possessively, blanketing him with its soft warmth. Jack lost track of how long they held each other before breaking the kiss, leaning back slightly from each other as they gazed into each others' eyes.
“I didn't know if I'd ever see you again...,” Jack said hoarsely. He was holding her hands in his, now, unable to reach up and wipe the moisture from his cheeks for fear of losing her if he let go. “I hadn't heard...I didn't know...I was afraid...” He became aware, out of the corners of his eyes, that some of the news cameras in the room were focused on them, but all he cared about right now was the face of the woman he had never stopped loving for five years.
Aria leaned forward to him, and her cheek brushed against his, her nose nuzzling at his neck as her purr grew louder. “Jack...,” she whispered. She kissed his cheek and then lifted her head. She was smiling wider than he had ever seen, her feline face split wide into an expression of utmost happiness. Then her smile faltered, and she hung her head, her shoulders shaking as she cried. “I so sorry...Want to send word so many times...but could not...I make you so worried...”
“Commander Me'lia has spoken of little else beyond wanting to visit Cerelis for the past week,” Li'ren said, breaking the veil of silence surrounding Jack and Aria. “I very nearly had to have Admiral Te'rou threaten her with the brig to keep her at her post.” The Empress chuckled.
“She would have broken out,” Jack said. He put a hand underneath Aria's chin and lifted her head back up. “I'll forgive the worry. As long as you promise I never have to leave you again.”
Sniffing, Aria began to beam again, her tail waving behind her. She pulled him in close against her. “Never,” she vowed, just before their lips met once more.
******
Nearly a week had passed since the ceremony on Earth when Jack and Aria walked down the ramp of the small Ailian vessel. The last seven days had been a lesson in patience for the both of them. Aria had wanted to take military leave immediately, but unfortunately she'd had some duties to attend to before that was possible. Luckily, those duties had involved accompanying Empress Amani to Cerelis, where talks were to be held to formalize a permanent alliance between the Ascendancy and the United Nations. Jack and Aria had spent as much time as possible together when she was not carrying out her assignments as the leader of the Royal Guards.
During their time together, Aria had a lot of stories to tell him about how the final days of the war had played out. He learned what had already been suspected for quite a while: that the rebellion had mostly been driven by the Pteryd, who had recognized the growing divisions between the Ascendancy and the Outer Colonies decades before they became apparent and had approached numerous prominent figures in the Outer Colonies, including Aria's mother. They had made promises of autonomous rule for the Ascendancy in exchange for letting them use their territory to stage attacks against the Nuretans and humanity, with the ultimate goal of expanding the Pteryd Combine to encompass the entire known universe.
The rebellion had been almost completely suppressed, though several key figures had yet to be captured. Admiral Selina Kris, who had taken over as the rebellion's leader after the death of Ara'lana Me'lia, had been captured in the last days of the war and was awaiting trial on treason charges on Lirna, along with a number of other senior officials from the Outer Colonies. Several human generals and numerous other officers and civilians who had supported the rebellion were missing, and they were presumed to have taken refuge somewhere in the remote areas of human space or even in the Pteryd Combine. The same was true of Tara Shi'ala, the Ailian advisor who had served Ara'lana. She was almost certainly among the Pteryd, beyond the reach of justice for now.