“Major General Evans, you have made us all proud. Your troop of soldiers defeated the Freysians with practiced ease and proved your invaluability to us. For your courageous efforts, we are making you a Lieutenant General. Congratulations.” General Lemark came forward and pinned another star to Max’s two, making him 3-star, Lt Gen. “Thank you sir,” Max said. “No problem son,” General Lemark winked. “Colonel Guerin, you also proved your worth to us as you bravely took on the Freysian leader. Your effort in over 300 battles has shown your dedication to the protection of our people and the preservation of our planet. We hope that you will accept this pin, which changes your rank to Brigadier General.” Again General Lemark came forward, taking off the Eagle pin and putting in its place a silver star for a Brig Gen. “Thank you sir.” “You’re very welcome General Guerin.” “Captain DeLuca, otherwise known as the elusive Captain Smith. You came forward and offered to fight for us, even though, you were not of our origin. You helped bring about an end to the war and your skills in the seven battles you fought in, shone through. Many of us are indebted to you for your help and we would like to extend our thanks.” General Lemark extended his hand and handed Maria a pin. It was a silver oak leaf, the insignia of a Lieutenant Colonel. He had skipped her up a rank passing up the rank of major and going up one more to Lt Col. Maria smiled and said thank you. Next, General Lemark made his way to Alex and Liz. “We can not thank you enough for your efforts in helping us. Alex, your skills with computers was priceless to us. Elizabeth, I know that you may feel like you didn’t do anything, but just being strong as a prisoner of war is enough. I also heard that you took out a few guards, good job. You both deserve to be congratulated, so that is why we are making you honorary soldiers.” He handed both of them four silver stars. “For today, you outrank everyone here, except for me, of course, as a four star General.” “And last, but not least, Miss Isabel Evans. Like Liz, you may not think that you did much, but we have learned here that being the military wife is the toughest job of all. You were brave to let Alex leave your side. It takes a lot of courage to do that. And for this, we would like to give you this,” he handed Isabel a pin with four stars and the words “I’m a military wife” inscribed on each of the stars. “In our eyes, all military wives are the highest in rank, so join Liz and Alex as a 4-star General.” He then gave his daughter a hug and called out his wife, Isabel’s mom. Max joined the family.   Alex, Liz, Michael, and Maria watched happily. Isabel then called over Alex and Liz to introduce them to her parents. Michael turned to Maria and grabbed her hand, he had noticed his family during the ceremony and wanted to introduce Maria to them. “Come on.” “Where are we going?” “I want you to meet my family.” Maria smiled when he said this. She knew that everything he wanted was now given to him. She was happy for him. “Mom! Dad! I want you to meet Maria.” His parents looked at her for a moment and then embraced her. “You are more beautiful than we imagined. We are happy that our Michael found his destiny.” Maria smiled and let them hug her. They accepted her into the family with no questions asked. “Maria, I want you to meet my two brothers, Nathaniel and Trevor, and my sister Laela.” Maria came over and said hello. They too were friendly and accepted her with no doubts. “So, Maria, when should we have the wedding?” Michael whispered into her ear, remembering the ring that he gave her when he left for the war. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* “Welcome everyone. We are gathered here today to bring together these three couples in holy matrimony.” The End

Part 10