Title: Death of a Star
Characters: Stan Burley
Genre: Character Study, Angst, Drama.
Rating: FR13.
Warning: Death of main character.
Plot: Someone from Gibbs' past is informed of his death. How does he react to the news? Companion to Fallen Mighty.
Stan's mourning
The news came on a telegram.
Only a courtesy sent to me by an old acquaintance who wished to share his pain, but had no words to comfort as emotions had never been his forte.
Mike Franks's telegram was short and straight to the point, just like the man I've had the displeasure of meeting in very short occasions which were long enough to give me an intense dislike of the man himself.
Yet I'm grateful to him for this very small gesture.
Gibbs is dead. Accidental shot. Thought you should know.
If he hadn't sent me the telegram, I would never have found out. His agents didn't think on sending a message to the agent afloat so far away in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
What for? He was their Boss.
He's not my boss anymore. He hasn't been for a long time.
Finding a place where you can be alone in a Navy ship with 5000 people is difficult, so after walking around like a zombie I found myself in the deck, where the flight engineers were doing the some pre-checking on the engines of a F-15.
We've been travelling in a steady speed towards an exercise zone, so the azure waters of the Pacific stretched as far as the eye can see as the majestic ship sailed in that fine sunset. I walked between the people working on the planes, some of them I even saluted by name, walking towards the edge of the ramp.
Finally I reached the very edge, seeing the sun slowly gliding on the darkening sky towards the ocean's edge. That huge fireball brought life to the Earth. It could kill. It could heal. Yet, every night, it hid behind the line of the horizon, taking its light with it to illuminate other places, other people.
I wonder whose lives Gibbs is illuminating right now.
He was such a strong presence in my life for a very short period of time and yet his teachings lead me to where I am now.
The sun touched the line of water, turning the sky a bright orange color. It silently disappeared behind the line of the horizon, going somewhere I could not follow, regardless of how much I wished I could keep it with me.
The breeze of the ocean whispered against my skin, as I thought about my previous boss who, just like the sun setting before me, had the gift to illuminate everyone who had ever crossed his path. Either their good or bad parts, nothing stayed in darkness, brought to light by just a glare of his sharp blue eyes.
The big fire sphere was fading, its path almost finished. The orange hues became darker, until the first stars started shining here and there.
The sun must set for the stars to shine, so as I looked up to the darkening skies I smiled, aware that everywhere Gibbs walked by, he would have left a bright star behind, shining a light that might not be as bright as his, but equally beautiful.
The last bit of the sun disappeared and the wind changed, making me shiver and fold my arms over my chest to keep some warmth.
Yet I smiled as the light of the sun faded and the skies presented me an amazing blanked dotted from East to the West with stars.
Millions of them.
"Good job, Boss."
- the end -