Tombstone Estate

[arvg]

He felt under dressed, standing there in the living room, a glass of scotch in his hand waiting for his friend to return. A simple high necked cardigan instead of his customary suit, somehow it seemed appropriate to the situation.

There had been the rush after the news, the CPW-Radek sprinting the Premier away from the Coalition to be where his long time friend needed him. The Coalition Warship now prowling around watching for trouble as Alvin did the same for the Hollidays.

It was something they did for each other, when he had needed John, the old Doctor had dropped everything and had come to the rescue, Alvin had done the same for John... friends did that for each other, it wasn't about keeping score, it was more about... being human.

The days ahead were going to be rough ones, no one had really slept, no one really wanted to. There were candles out in the halls, flickering like a silent vigil, just alone it made the rooms seem haunted, like the ghosts that once were there were never really parted.

He wanted to do something, the great and powerful premier, Leader of the People, Voice of a Nation... and yet he was utterly helpless in that situation, so small and insignificant in the great schemes of the universe. Another man amidst so many, a leaf caught in the winds of change.

He was reminded of Alexi Karchov, the wisened old Admiral that had guided Katz so many years before, when it had been an especially cold night in the Klash. There were the usual arguments of the men, kept in whispers... those who thought McIntosh had been a tyrant, and those that idolized him... neither side willing to back down.

It had been Karchov's palm slapping the table that had caused them all to turn to face him.

'No man lives forever, and there will never be another like him...'

It was true, Katz was a different from his predecessor as he could be, striving for reform and change in the Coalition. Building bridges that McIntosh had sought fit to burn... but... McIntosh, Tyrant of Idol, had been good for the Coalition, he'd made them strong.

Mal had been good for the TAZ, he had given them vision.

Yet, things came to an end, and the future would see so many better days.

Still, for the time being, there was a hollow place where once there was a person, and like all wounds, it would take time to heal.

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