I've read your comments and a few comments of other readers. I'm happy you are as involved in the story as I am! This kinda feedback makes people happy they take the time to sit down and write stuff. ^^ This is not the end of Children of Earth, but it possibly is the shortest chapter in it.

Children of Earth

Resolutions

Davis was on station above the Enterprise and Nimitz strike fleets as they steamed at full nuclear power towards the continent of Eldosa. The eastern continent that acted as a staging area for elven strike forces. This would be the last battle. Land forces were gathering on the beaches to stop their landings. Already the carriers were launching attack fighters. The Hornets streaking off the deck. Even with the wind at their backs, the catapults were upgrading with railgun technology, so they were able to achieve lift even if the ship was in calm winds not moving. There were two squadrons of F-14E Tomcats next to his own, in formation with them, ready to launch if any incoming were seen.

The elves, on the other hand, had seen the futility of resistance. They had almost won the battle on the southern continent of Elden. Now their fighters and bombers head up into the atmosphere followed by transports. They were going to run the blockade or die trying. The admiral on the USS George Washington grins as they come into scanner range. "Launch fighters, array the fleet." He orders. They were expecting this. "Our goal is taking those transports." He says. "The frigate escorts and fighters are to be destroyed, but disable those transports." He says. The reasoning is simple. The transports would have any prisoners taken on them.

Davis blinks as his radio starts squawking in his ear on the command frequency, then grins. He patches it in to the whole squadron, something being done by all squadron commanders. "This is Faolin, the acting governor of this colony. We surrender! I repeat, we surrender the colony to your hands." Wedge is the first one in the squadron to cheer, and soon the radio net is filled with cheering voices. Humanity had just taken it's first colony in a wartime scenario.

The fleet running from the planet's surface comes into view of the human strike fleet very quickly, running full steam, the transports not slowing a bit. The few escorting frigates and fighters break formation and close more quickly on the humans, firing off their plasma weapons, blue fire filling the sky. The human return shots of railguns and phasers come back as orange and red shots. An elven frigate is the first to die, taking a hit from a battlecruiser's phasers, the beam piercing the ship and cutting thru it, actually coming out the other side before the frigate explodes in a ball of flames that consumes two bombers flying too close to it. Then the human interceptors arrive. They outnumber the elven fighters and it soon shows as a squadron breaks thru and descends upon the frigates and bombers, missiles flying into the formation. The fighters don't close in on the bombers, wary of being hit by their own ship's shots. The bombers are forced to break off and manuever, which is exactly what the humans were after. In a few short minutes the frigates and bombers are gone, and human frigates close on the transports, destroying their engines with single shots before closing and boarding. Only one elven transport actually breaks the blockade and escapes to warp.

Saphyra stares at the messages on her screen. Senate surprised her. The democrats want to make them into endentured servants and worry about paying for them later. The republicans want them freed immediately. Both sides were trying to sway the independents to their side, and the whole while, the public seemed to be having its own argument over it. She couldn't figure it out, so she calls over Aryna. "You know, I can't figure them out even tho I've been with them for years." She says. Aryna looks at the polls and the stances. "I've seen humans fight with a ferocity and talent to match orcs and demons, yet here they are now arguing over slavery. What kind of warrior race is this?" She asks.

"We're not a warrior race." Davis says, coming in as she asks the question. "At least not entirely. I'm not sure what we're classed as." He says. Red comes over and reads the article. "I was wondering why an elf was in here. Now I understand." He looks at Aryna. "You are a slave." He states, Aryna nodding and giving a 'yes sir.' Davis looks at Saphyra. "I guess you haven't read deep into human history. We had the slave trade a long time ago. A war broke out in the US over it, a war called the Civil War. It was fought over state rights but it was sparked off by President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. It's a document still in effect that states that all people held as slaves in the United States were to be freed." Saphyra ohs. "It was one of our most bloody and bitterly fought wars." Davis concludes.

Aryna just stares at the man. Most races in the galaxy allowed slavery. Exceptions were Dwarves, Pheonix, and Gnomes. Dwarves mainly because it would have their clans take slaves from other clans during infighting, for the other two because they had no use for them. Now these warriors, who usually are in favor of slavery and slave trading, don't have it and don't want it? She wants to learn more.

Aryna shifts her focus back to Saphyra, who is on Wikipedia looking up the Civil War. "I see." Saphyra says. "Well, I can't just repeal it and save face, but I'll think of a way to get around it. Slavery is allowed in elven territories. There are several slaves from their assault on Earth in their core systems."

Davis shakes his head. "It doesn't matter if it hurts your ego, honey. You've damaged your reputation in the eyes of humans everywhere. Now that you know what they want, it would help you to swallow your pride and take back what you said."

Saphyra looks at him and thinks, looking into his eyes, then nods. "Very well. For you, bonded, I'll do this." She says, standing up, and going to make arrangements.

Aryna gasps a little and then raises her hand up, not really thinking. "I'd like to stay on." She says. "I want to learn more about your race, and I'm a lot better off here than I was in my life back in the capital." This gets a raised eyebrow from Davis and Saphyra flicks her tail about thoughtfully. Davis' thought was on the maids his parents hired on to clean the house as a child. Saphyra's thoughts go to the butlers she had in her castle back on Europa.

"Very well. You'll be our...uh..." Saphyra stumbles to a stop. "Beloved, what's a female butler called?"

"A maid?" Davis answers with a grin. This is interesting. He also imagines this elf in a french maid outfit and the image is a little bit like something in one of those old dirty Japanese mangas.

"No, a maid only cleans. Either way, you'll do pretty much what you do now, live on our property with us, and help us make our lives less hectic." Aryna nods. That's fine with her.

Sorahaught, Allileiya

The news of the colony's surrender reaches the Elven King shortly after it was made. He had been expecting this, the initial shock of the human attack and successes having already faded away. His temper isn't roused too much. There was nothing they could do. Their fleet was tied up by a combined Dwarf and Raptor attack group. They destroyed their shipyards in the area and had been keeping up an effective interdiction. If the Elven fleet moved, they moved to cut it off. Both sides were now standing just outside weapons range, staring each other down. The Dwarves and Raptor had two ships to his one, but his one could match those two ships in firepower and shielding. Stalemate. He shakes his head and informs his ambassador to act as the situation in the GU building dictates. He orders other diplomats to start meeting with representatives from that coalition to make peace before the core worlds are threatened.

Galactic Union

It's about a day after Schanxi's surrender, and Saphyra herself has gone back to the GU to make the announcements. The Elves had already reached peace with them all, but in their shame, they had elected not to make the announcement. Not even their ambassador was present. Arrogant bastards. Still, better to have peace than to slaughter their way to the elven royal family.

"Members of the Galactic Union. Schanxi has fallen to American forces. The Governor surrendered the planet and region to us yesterday at 1829 galactic standard time." She announces, a smile on her lips at the murmurs this gets. "We seek official sovereignty over the region." She says, looking back at the arbitrator bot that was brought in for this session.

It nods. "Given no Elven military presence, and no objection from the Elven Royalty, sovereignty is granted by Galactic Law. No debate necessary."

Saphyra nods. "Thank you." She looks back to the crowd. "Now, since the planet and it's neighboring stars are now under US jurisdiction, they are bound by our laws. Therefore, any person held as a slave in these systems, whether Elven or otherwise, is hereby freed." This gets an almost instant silence. "I will not make excuses for the ignorance of my peoples' history that allowed me to make such an outrageous declaration before. Any of my people who keep others as slaves will be a criminal. Any alien who stays on these planets will be expected to follow our laws after a one week's grace period has gone by. During that week, anyone may leave these planets."

One Week Later, Schanxi

Saphyra was standing on the roof of the capital building of the Schanxi colony. In a minute, maybe two, the American flag would be raised here and the colony would officially belong to the United States. It was a great day. Humans and Dragons had stood together to defend their homeworld against an aggressor and had moved on to take one of their regional capitals for their own. What's more, a large portion of the population had stayed, having decided they liked the idea of democracy better than the monarchy they were under. As the American flag starts to rise up the flag pole before the building and the Star Spangled Banner starts playing, she feels a lump form in her throat. As the flag reaches the top, several people, mostly soldiers who were part of the fighting, start cheering and clapping. It spreads to the rest of the humans present, and some elves, tho most remain quiet. There was more than one reason these people were cheering. She had decided, with support from the Senate, to rename this capital. Now that the flag was raised and waving in the wind, it was official. She was standing in New El Paso, capital of Schanxi. The first dragons to move there were already lifting off into the sky, roaring out to all who would hear them.

Back on the ship, Davis was catching up on things. "Your drink sir." Alyna says. She was in good clothes now and her injuries had completely healed. Davis thanks her and takes the Pepsi from her hand. He hadn't realized just how much he missed a simple soda during his captivity until he had one last night. He looks over stats and figures. Rescue efforts in Europe were almost complete. While their people had been busy in the major cities, civilians who survived in the burbs or out away from the cities had formed communities and thrived. Most got into contact with America thru radio and were amazed to find the nation had survived and earned peace. The most surprising turn of events was in Siberia. A large town had gone off the air to avoid the dragons and had stayed down for years. One of its youngsters had turned on a radio to spite his parents and gotten music broadcasts. The total found was in the millions. The human population was exploding like it hadn't before, religous leaders urging for large families, and already news stations were wondering what marvels would wait for them in space.

In the medical bay, Spyro looks down on the planet. He had heard the news and was happy. He had been a captive of the elves for two days. In that time they had tortured him and, worst of all, collected DNA and semen samples from him. They were obviously planning something. A little research told him that shortly after the war started, dragons left elven space en masse. The transport that escaped had those samples, as well as an even half dozen elven brigades. He smiles as a Miranda class frigate moves past the window on its patrol. Part of the government giving way to civilian lobbyists, the ship from Star Trek had done exceptionally well. It's missiles had been more than elven fighter squadrons and corvettes could handle in the battle above Earth and its phasers had let it stand toe to toe with their elven counterparts. Two new ship classes based off Star Trek designs were under prototype now. Earth's people were about to enter a new age of exploration and growth.

"How are you Spyro?" Cynder asks as she comes in. McLintock is with her, along with Gharna.

"I'm good." He says. "They say I just need a little time to heal and that I can leave at five." He stretches out and gets up, wincing just a little. He was shifted down to anthro form just like the other dragons, so they could fit in the ship more easily.

Gharna nods. "It's no fun being that hurt, is it?" She asks, looking him over. He wouldn't let them come around behind where the hospital gown was opened at, but from the looks of things he was in good shape. They hadn't told Cynder yet that they were seeing each other. Given how Cynder reacted to Spyro's injury and captivity they decided it would be a good idea to keep it secret for a bit longer. She'd insisted on coming here as soon as they found out he was in here. They give each other looks just the same.

Cynder roundly ignores the looks they give to each other. She goes to the window and looks out over the planet below. "I hope this planet proves worth all the trouble." She says. "It's still got a mostly elven population." She wonders what it means. Friends killed, ships destroyed, villages burning from the fighting, the deaths she'd caused. She sees a spark in the distance and a ship drops out of warp, heading down to the planet's surface. The first humans from Earth arriving to make a life here. What it all meant, she decides, is that it's over. She turns around and says, in a happy tone, "Who's hungry?"