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| {{infobox Novel Chapter
| | #REDIRECT [[:Category:Wing Commander: Pilgrim Stars]] |
| |faction = terran
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| |title = Epilogue
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| |image = image:Movienovel.jpg
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| |book = [[Wing Commander (novelization)|Wing Commander]]
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| |parts = 1
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| |previous = [[Wing Commander (novelization) Chapter 31|Chapter 31]]
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| |next = [[Wing Commander (novelization) Back Matter|Back Matter]]
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| |pages = 241-244
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| }}
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| == Dramatis Personae ==
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| |-
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| !
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| ! Epilogue
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| |-
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| ! POV
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| |valign=top|
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| [[William Santyana]]
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| |-
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| ! Speaking
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| |valign=top|
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| [[Amity Aristee]]<br>
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| [[George Okoee]]<br>
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| [[Rick]]<br>
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| [[Lacey Santyana]]<br>
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| [[Pris Santyana]]<br>
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| [[William Santyana]]<br>
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| Unnamed Pilgrim Officer
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| |-
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| ! Non-Speaking
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| |valign=top|
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| Unnamed Pilgrim Soldiers (6)
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| |-
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| |}
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| == Text ==
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| {{infobox wcm
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| |line1 = PLANET MYLON III<BR>DOWNING QUADRANT
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| |line2 = VEGA SECTOR
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| |line3 = NORTH HILLS COUNTY
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| |line4 = SANTYANA FARM
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| |line5 = MARCH 18, 2654<BR>1900 HOURS<BR>LOCAL TIME
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| }}
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| At thirty-three, few things delighted William Santyana more
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| than spending a Sunday afternoon with his wife and
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| three-year-old daughter. He stood on the back patio of his
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| farmhouse, breathing in the wonderful aroma from the hot dogs
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| and burgers cooking on his grill. He wondered just how many
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| fathers out there were doing the same thing on a thousand
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| other worlds, in a billion other backyards. Santyana let his gaze
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| wander past the patio to a green carpet of corn that unfurled to
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| the twilit horizon. Tiny flashes of light appeared in the violet
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| haze that banded the sky, and he stared curiously at them a
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| moment, then lifted the cover on his grill.
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| "Will!" his wife cried from inside the house. "Just another
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| minute, Pris. We don't want to eat 'em raw."
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| "Get in here. Now!" Her horrified tone sent him racing
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| toward the open patio door.
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| Inside, he found her seated on the sofa, balancing little Lacey
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| on her knee. The holoplayer was tuned to the news channel, and
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| a life-sized holographic anchorman stood on their rug, pointing
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| back to a computer-animated globe that showed dozens of red
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| dots encircling it.
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| "We're under attack," Pris said, visibly trembling. "Listen."
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| "... And the planetary defense net has been shut down. MyGov
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| officials have yet to respond. We do know that the ship is a
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| Confederation-class carrier, now in low orbit, but any other
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| insignia have been removed from her hull. She's already
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| dispatched hundreds of fighters, bombers, and troopships. We
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| go now to George Okoee, who's standing by at Blue Mountain
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| Spaceport. Can you hear me, George?"
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| The holovid switched to a wavering image of the young,
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| teary-eyed reporter, hunkered down near a row of seats in a
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| vast terminal. "Got you, Rick. Ladies and gentlemen, just
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| outside this terminal, a wing of Confederation Broadswords is
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| descending upon this, Mylon's largest spaceport. The people
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| here are in a state of shock. We'd expect this from the Kilrathi.
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| But from our own forces? Still, there's no confirmation yet on
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| who's piloting those ships. A major evacuation is in progress,
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| but estimates put the bombers at just a few minutes away.
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| We've received word that two dozen more Broadswords are
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| headed toward the Confed Strike Base in North Hills County.
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| Wait. I think I can hear them ..."
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| "George, get out of there!" The anchorman's image returned.
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| He placed a hand to the tiny receiver in his ear. "George?
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| George!" He looked off-camera. "What's that?"
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| Distant booming piped in through the farmhouse's open
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| windows. Santyana looked beyond the patio door and saw a
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| dozen pillars of black smoke fencing off the western sky. A
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| humming noise came from the south, and he frowned even as it
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| grew into a sudden, excruciating roar. Gale-force winds keened
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| through the house. Pris and Lacey screamed as with burning
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| eyes he fought his way to the door.
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| A long shadow bled across the patio. He looked up as the
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| menacing-looking troopship passed just three meters above his
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| house. Shaped like an arrowhead, the craft pivoted and ignited
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| retros, blasting up clumps of grass as it set down.
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| He bolted back into house, already picturing himself and his
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| family climbing into their beat-up hover and fleeing. "Pris!
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| C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! We gotta go!"
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| "Ohmygod," she said as he sprinted past her. "What's
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| happening?"
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| "Daddy?" Lacey called. "Daddy?"
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| In the kitchen, he scooped up his driving card and turned to
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| go--
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| When an amplified voice struck him motionless. "Mr.
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| William Santyana. Please come out."
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| "Will?" Pris cried. "They know you."
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| He returned to the living room, and out of the corner of his eye he saw dark-clad figures lurking outside the windows. He stroked his wife's cheek, kissed his daughter, and muttered, "Stay here." With buckling knees, he moved toward the patio.
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| Outside, two people dressed in fancy Confederation Space Force uniforms came forward, flanked by a half-dozen rifle-toting soldiers. Santyana figured the duo for officers. One of them, a trim woman about his age with moss-green eyes and a confident gait, raised a thick eyebrow and evaluated him with her glance. "Mr. Santyana?" she asked.
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| "What the hell is this?"
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| Her shoulder-length black hair whipped like smoke in the lingering thruster wash. "Are your wife and daughter still inside?"
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| "What do you want?"
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| The woman nodded to her troops, who jogged toward the house.
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| "Pris! Run! Run!"
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| "No, William," the woman said. "We're here to save you."
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| "Are you people from the strike base? Wait a minute, even if you were, you wouldn't know my name."
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| "Will!"
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| He glanced back. Pris carried Lacey as two soldiers led them outside.
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| "You're from that carrier, aren't you," Santyana said. "Why are you attacking us?"
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| "Not you, William. Or your family. We're only killing the humans who live here."
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| "Humans? Than what are you?"
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| She reached under her uniform and withdrew a Pilgrim cross. "Do you know what this is?"
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| He did. His parents had carried them, and they had died because of what those crosses represented. "You people ... you're fanatics. What have you done?"
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| "It's what we're <i>going to do</i>, William. We're taking back the
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| stars. And you're going to help."
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| "You mean I don't have a choice."
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| "You couldn't choose your blood, no. And you'll never change
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| who you are."
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| The other officer, an old man whose hazel eyes seemed
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| forever distant, spoke in the alluring lilt of some Border Worlds
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| tribesman. "William. You're a fine man, a wonderful father.
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| Amity here asked me to come out because I fought with your
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| parents. We're bringing everybody home now. You need to
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| come."
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| "Home?" he asked incredulously. "This is my home."
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| "Just leave us alone," Pris shouted. "We don't want any part
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| of you Pilgrims."
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| Amity tightened her lips and nodded. "I understand. But in a
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| few hours, every living thing on this planet will be dead. Maybe
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| you'd like to be a part of us—at least for now."
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| Santyana looked to his wife, searching for an answer, but she
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| seemed lost in a blur of fear. He faced Amity and sighed. "We'll
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| come. But you'll never take the stars."
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| She lifted a condescending grin. "We've been waiting nearly
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| twenty years for this moment, William. We lost that war. We
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| won't lose this one."
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| {{novelindex/wingcommander}}
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| [[Category:Wing Commander (novelization)]] | |
