It had been a relief to leave the hospital at last. Gabriel had argued bitterly with the doctors about the chair they'd insisted upon, and compromised far enough to allow himself to be wheeled as far as the door. There-- in full view of the media's uncompromising eye, the reporters watched even more carefully in turn by a grimly determined ( Read more... )

The room is fairly nice, all things considered. There are several chairs, a porta-cot set up discreetly against one wall for visitors that for one reason or another are reluctant to leave, and it's clear that whoever designed this particular private room in the first place intended to make it seem as warm and welcoming as possible ( Read more... )

Everything about the opening ceremonies for the new Family and Life Support Center is tastefully coordinated in order to appeal to a wide variety of supporters and clientele both ( Read more... )

The new session opens at nine in the morning with the usual procedures, but the near-electric tension in the air is anything but normal. Every single member of the House and Senate knows what's on the agenda for this particular day ( Read more... )

Before he departs Milliways for the night, Gabriel leaves a package with the bar.

It's a small sheaf of digital paper, neatly clipped together, and a more traditional ( note. )

His conversation with Malcolm Reynolds had both confirmed his expectations and cemented his resolve. Gabriel had sat down with Regan later that same evening to finally explain what he'd been focusing on all this time-- and what he intends to do. The two of them had discussed the plan long into the night, working together to refine the final ( Read more... )

It's early afternoon when he opens the door from Milliways into the Tams' New Mayfair home. The tastefully-furnished space of Gabriel's home office lies before them.

"Go on, River," he says, gently. "Go ahead in."

Parliament may not be in session at the moment, nor the Council of Seven in deliberation, but that doesn't mean that there's not work to be done. In fact, it's often the weeks between sessions that make for busier days, Gabriel's found, as it's during those weeks that everyone with a particular issue to press tries for appointments, meetings, or ( Read more... )

This evening, for once, Gabriel Tam is not in his home office. He's sitting on the sofa in the comfortable upstairs den of the New Mayfair house, with a box of books on the low table before him and another on the floor nearby.

Currently he's paging through a copy of Carl Stephen's The Stars in their Courses: Constellations of Earth-that-Was and ( Read more... )

It's late; it's very late, in fact ( Read more... )