Time Will Tell

[Vixley CM-01]

[member=Horus]​

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| Greetings, old friend, I hope you are |​

| doing well. I hope we could meet at the |​

| old restaurant on Alexandria. Things |​

| have not gone well since I left, we should |​

| talk, before your campaign leaves me |​

| behind. - Sincerely, Michael Stanford |​

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After the victory for The Commonwealth, after the Battle of Uluru, Michael had decided to leave Horus' side as he felt his old age had made him feel he was no longer adequate to serve. Perhaps a combination of, or the initial feelings made him think it caused, of the small battle between Horus and Michael that erupted just as the civil war hit it off, was the reason of this. Michael felt that even though he might have won his friend back with the Battle of Uluru, the official status of the Commonwealth made it seem like it was off to bigger and better things, and Michael had no place in it. He had a debt to pay to Horus, and he felt he couldn't repay it for the kind of forgiveness Horus gave him was something you would never normally see in a galaxy like this; Horus was truly different.

Michael had sent a message to Horus, hoping he would receive it. Along with it, dates, and times possible, but maybe Horus would be too busy. Thankfully, at least, his old friend got back to him and they had time for lunch. Michael missed his friend, who was now the leader of a great and mighty faction that took their beliefs to the stars for the better of their people, and others. Michael had found that Horus was the right leader, the right man to be there and fight for those who couldn't. But even so, time was taking the both of them, and Michael wanted one more chat with his friend before it was over.

He sat patiently at the table. The restaurant wasn't the most fanciest of places, but something around middle-upper class. It was a place from their history, in the old days. Before the war, before the blood. He ordered nothing aside from some whiskey, waiting for his friend to show, if he would.

 

[Horus]

[ Ambiance ]

Horus had been coming here for years. The place was small but it had survived decades. When Horus was just about to enter academy, the fleeting days of summer. Spending countless times at the beach with friends in the surf and returning to the restaurants of Mandurah Harbour at night, causing havoc in the parks and streets as they drank their nights away with cheap wine. Times had changed, Horus reflected, taking a seat across from Michael. He wasn't here to laugh and joke, gorge himself on delicacies his body could no longer take for fear of his heart suffering, he was hear to talk about suffering and death and countless anguish beyond reckoning. He was here to ask a man to go to war for him.

"It's been a while," Horus said. He couldn't help but think of their first meeting. The man was a loyalist at heart, perhaps, Horus wondered, the man was still sentimental for the Monarchy. A cruel regime and establishment that made the poor poorer and the rich richer. The Commonwealth wasn't perfect, but the class system was gone. All men and women were equal. Michael and Horus had battled over Pontiac, Horus' fleet was small but determined for victory. He had won the day at a great cost of the loyalists. Michael had survived by the will of Horus. He did not face execution like many others. He would have a use for him one day and that day had come.

 

[Vixley CM-01]

[member="Horus"]

Michael squinted his aged eye and bionic eye as he smiled, seeing Horus had finally made it. He kept quiet, just taking it all in that Horus had arrived as planned. He was a very, very busy man, but Michael was thankful beyond imagination that they were still friends. Now it was tine for two old men to talk their gums off, lament over their old war, and reminisce about the good old days. "Ah, ah... Horus..." he continued, his smile creaked open into a smirk, Horus could tell he was quite happy. "Horus, I'm glad you came. I needed to talk to you, I didn't know if we were still good after all this time as it's... It's quite important. My family is all gone, I don't have any grandchildren, not after the war. I wanted to see you."

Suddenly the waiter came to their table, asking if they wanted anything, greeting the two geezers like a cute old person couple as they use to come here often. Of course, the closest they ever were, were best friends, though Michael felt their friendship was damaged after their fight... He never could quite forget it. Michael ordered some more water, nothing more, unless Horus wanted something. As the waiter went away, Michael sipped on the water he had left. Before Horus spoke, or if he did, Michael abruptly and intentionally interrupted him.

Michael was in a blank stare as his eyes didn't move, staying fixated on the table, "the Doctor said I had at most a few years, if I'm healthy. He said I should go into a retirement home. Haha... But you're still fighting. We've been so different Horus, but our paths never cease to collide."

 

[Horus]

Horus heeded his words. Still fighting, it was true enough. It was his way of life and while he would have wished to say he didn't enjoy it, there was a part of him that would never give it up. Fighting was survival, it was primal, it was instinct. He was only human, and humans are animals. "Still fighting indeed," Horus remarked, "It's a big galaxy, and we're so small. There are empires whose sheer size could dwarf even the collective might of the Commonwealth like a human against an ant." Horus wanted to put fear into Standford, fear drove men.

 

[Vixley CM-01]

[member="Horus"]

Unfortunately, Michael was an intelligent man, and fear wasn't his first thought. "Really, Horus?" Stanford asked, raising an eyebrow and squinting. "Here I thought you would have found something better to say." He leaned back, taking a breath and smiling. "Just like an ant, you say? That ant that took the entire government of Alexandria on? Sure, you had bombardment on your side, but in the end you had to take what was left. Less combat experience than naval those men, you had fewer soldiers than crew members. The strength of an ant... Compared to a mere man? We could never stand up to an ant. An ant our size? Like trying to divide by zero, Horus. That ant would devastate us. No armor, no weapon, no ship. She's big, she's nasty, and no one better fuck with her; that Commonwealth."

Stanford took a slow, long breath, a sigh... If you will. "You took me on, Horus. One of the royalties most trusted. And you won. Not out of strength, though..." he continued leaning forward and pointing at Horus, "I saw what was right, you showed me the light. You won power, you won a Nation, your friend, everything, and you seem to feel like you, the Commonwealth, is still insignificant. I don't know... Maybe after you're gone it won't be as strong. But... With you, alone, even with all your work... Seem to be holding it up. I mean... You do have others to help you lead... Right?"

 

[Horus]

"I conquered a system of seven-hundred million," Horus said, his voice suddenly growing quite stern, "Even with another two colonies, our total population is still seven-hundred million." The Outer Colonies were small, farming worlds. They produced and kept to themselves, they were not apart of the military might of the Commonwealth. While Horus knew this, it was not common knowledge. Many Alexandrians did not pay attention to the colonies. "Our enemies are numerous, their numbers incalculable. We're dwarfed. Of the battles I've fought, I did not lose a single one to take down the Kingdom."

"Of the battles I've fought with this new enemy, I have lost all but one," the casualty rate of the Commonwealth was astonishing, unprecedented, but kept from public knowledge. It would demoralize the entire nation were they to know the crippling defeats the Commonwealth had already suffered, most of all Gannaria. An entire colony culled, exterminated from existence. "But you're right, I am alone... after the Netherworld events it left a vacuum in power." Horus paused and sized him up, "I need all the men I can get for the years to come, Standford."

 

[Vixley CM-01]

[member="Horus"]

"Horus," Michael smiled, "look, you've made a grouchy old man smile, dear god. All of that and you still meet back up? Look, our people have had issues with each other for as long as they've existed, long before the galaxy gave us that peck on the cheek. We've always fought each other. And that's what is wrong. You know our people, how we think, what motivates us, what moves we will take next, what trenches we would fall into, what weapons we would use... You know us inside and out, and that's why you were so victorious. But we shouldn't be fighting each other anymore." Michael took another drink but steadied his hand in the table, looking down at it. "It's why I stopped fighting you, that day. It's why I retired. The Commonwealth had no place for me on the galactic front, nor for what I did. Oh, yes, I did surrender, but not before our people suffered, Horus."

He paused turning his head and squinting an eye at Horus, "but what are you implying? ... Why would you come today if you're struggling with a war, admitting you're alone, and confess you need more men and you're losing? I won't be insulted if you speak to me as a friend, Horus."