Chapter Fifteen
Iron Klaw Spaceport
Black Earth
Outworlds Alliance (KRML space)
20 January, 3081
Dropships have boosted from the ferrocrete of the spaceport daily toward the jumppoint of the Black Earth system ferrying more and more peoples and depopulating the city and base of Iron Klaw. On all worlds of which the KRML has had a base, dropships have evacuated people and jumpships have left for parts unknown. Not all have gone the same direction and some have even disguised themselves to camouflage themselves among other ships that are evacuating the Outworlds Alliance. Fleeing the decline in industry and education as well as the destruction that the Jihad and SCOUR had cost them, the refugees of the defeated KRML have sought the bosom of the Periphery and Deep Periphery due to the exile that has been sentenced upon the Preserver faction of the Legion. The streets and marketplaces, plazas and places of residence become more vacant as the days ticked on. Eventually all that remains is silence and the sounds of nature.
But only one man remains….
Epilogue One
The Wizened Sage stood in the middle of Iron Klaw Square looking one last time at the Emerald Tower and at the holographic mural scrolling across its surface. His robes were flowing in the wind and sorrow etched on his face, hidden as always by his wide cone hat as he readied himself for what he had to do. His last duty. Like a ninja he rushed from place to place within the KRML capital, strategically placing explosives, placing a lot around the Emerald Tower as the years march on in the mural.
Looking even sadder, the Sage silently expressed his sorrow to what was his charge, that he hadn't done any better in changing what he knew was meant to be. Before activating the explosives all throughout the city, he threw off his robes and his hat to reveal a face that history never expected to see at all, a face preserved for a millennium by a stoic will and heavy burden that lasted generations. The Wizened Sage, no, Albert Keller pressed a button on the remote and the Emerald Tower as well as the entire city started to blow up with concussion charges as Albert rose in the air as a spirit, as heaven opened up and a crowd of people stood around to welcome him home.
This time crying with happiness, Al’s last words were, “Oh Tina, Nhu, I finally finished. I’m home….”
