Unfortunately, he’d had no choice. He couldn’t have let Gwynn die the way Nava had died. Faced with the same choice again, he would have done the same thing.
Surely Velan’ll see that.
When they got to the commander’s office, Velan’s adjutant said, “Go ahead in.”
Cade opened the door, but Velan wasn’t in evidence. “Sir?” he said, wondering if the commander might be under the desk looking for something he’d dropped.
“It’s all right,” said the adjutant. “He’ll be right back.”
Cade took up a position in front of Velan’s desk. How much trouble could he possibly be in? He had killed the Ursa, for God’s sake. He had saved Gwynn’s life. He hadn’t followed orders precisely, but—
Finally, Velan came in. “Ranger.”
Cade turned to his superior. “Commander.”
Velan walked past him and sat down behind his desk. He didn’t look happy. But as far as Cade could tell, the guy never looked happy. “At ease, Ranger.”
Cade assumed the more relaxed position.
“There’s something I should have shared with you a long time ago,” Velan said, “when I first offered you a place with the Rangers. If I had, we might have avoided some difficulties.”
Cade just stood there and listened.
“Ghosts are critical to our efforts to eliminate the Ursa, no question. But so is every Ranger. Everyone has a contribution to make. Some people are capable of learning that lesson. Others are not.”
Cade didn’t quite get where the commander was going with this. Is he talking about what happened at the training facility?
Velan looked at him a moment longer. Then he said, “I made a mistake. You weren’t meant to be part of a Ranger squad.”
What? Cade thought.
The words didn’t seem real. They couldn’t be. After everything he had been through? After everything he had accomplished?
No, he thought. Just that: No.
“Permission to speak freely, sir?” he snapped.
“Granted,” Velan said.
Cade pointed to the commander. “That’s the biggest load of horseshit I’ve ever heard. And if that’s your final word, you’re not half the Ranger I thought you were.”
Velan’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a judge of Rangers now?”
“Damned right I am.”
“And that’s the way you speak to a superior?”
“You gave me permission, remember?”
The commander frowned. “So I did.”
“And as long as I’ve got that permission, I’m going to tell you what—”
Velan held up a hand. “Hold on, Bellamy.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’re going to miss the rest of what I was going to say.” He cleared his throat. “As I noted, you weren’t meant to be part of a Ranger squad. You were meant to lead one.”
Cade straightened up. Lead…?
“Well?” asked Velan. “No comment? No thank you, sir?”
Cade grinned. “Um… thank you, sir.”
The commander nodded. “It’s my pleasure, Ranger. And I mean that as sincerely as I’ve ever meant anything in my life.” He held out his hand and opened it to reveal an insignia, the kind squad leaders wore. “This is yours.”
Cade took it. “I didn’t expect this. I…”
Velan made a face. “Is this going to be a long speech, Bellamy? Because I’ve still got things to do today.”
Cade shook his head. “No, sir. Not long at all. Again, thank you, sir.” As he left Velan’s office, he could think of only one thing:
How proud Nava would have been of him. How very, very proud.
About the Author
Peter David’s novels include the fantasies Tigerheart, Sir Apropos of Nothing, The Woad to Wuin, Knight Life, and the quirky werewolf story Howling Mad. He is famous for writing some of the most popular original Star Trek: The Next Generation novels, including Imzadi and A Rock and a Hard Place, as well as the official novels of the movies Battleship, Transformers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk. He has written just about every famous comic book superhero, including Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and the futuristic Spider-Man 2099, and has scripted the bestselling Gunslinger Born graphic adaptation of the acclaimed Stephen King Dark Tower series. He collaborated with J. Michael Straczynski on the Babylon 5 novels and comic book series, and with Bill Mumy he created the Nickelodeon television series Space Cases. In his spare time, David writes movie screenplays, children’s books, and television scripts.
Copyright
After Earth is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A Del Rey eBook Edition
Copyright © 2013 by After Earth Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
After Earth: Ghost Stories: Redemption, After Earth: Ghost Stories: Savior, and After Earth: Ghost Stories: Atonement copyright © 2013 by After Earth Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
This book contains the following short stories, previously published individually by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., as eBooks in 2013: After Earth: Ghost Stories: Redemption, After Earth: Ghost Stories: Savior, After Earth: Ghost Stories: Atonement.
eISBN: 978-0-345-54677-7
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