I spent a month isoted. Kenny’s death rattled me to the point where I could do nothing. It hurt so much. Everytime I went to bed, I was reminded I would never hold her again, smell her in my waking moments, or feel the warmth of her skin on my skin. I felt hollow. There was nothing left for me in this world. Everywhere I went I was reminded of her.

  Sergeant Tanen visited frequently. He dragged me kicking and screaming to unit functions, hospital visits, or even to just go get food.

  It always reminded me of her. I needed to leave, to get out of this world. There was only one way to honor her memory and to be released from this pce.

  I joined the ground forces of the joint liberation council’s armed forces command. I wanted to help end this war and had plenty of experience since the beginning. I was assigned the rank of leutnant and was told to wait for the transport ships to arrive.

  My anger grew day by day. I ran and performed every exercise I could look up or think of. In my hatred, my body became a toned and lean machine of war fighting fury. I met with sergeant Tanen one more time before I left the world.

  “Sergeant, are you joining the ground forces to help win the war against the korveinians?” I was hopeful to have my brother and friend by my side.

  His expression soured. “I will not. I was willing to help liberate Gondwana but I’m not going out there and continuing to do something I hate, killing a person. As long as they were here though, I needed to defend my family. I hold no ill will to the korveinians as long as they are not attacking here.”

  I nodded sadly. “You are my friend. I will miss you, thank you for everything you have done for me, Sergeant.”

  “You are going then?” I gave him a solemn nod. He touched my face. “Good luck, friend. When you get back look me up. I’m starting a transgender awareness and advocacy center. There will be a pce for you if you want it too.” I hugged him.

  “I will miss you.”

  He patted my back. “Bye Persy. I’ll see you soon. Also, I just showed you what was possible, you walked the path yourself.”

  The ships came about another month ter. One was reserved for soldiers joining the ground forces command and repcements for the space forces command. The rest were being used to transfer the rest of the captured Korveinians to a prison colony.

  I transported onto the ship. It was cold, I started to shiver after only a couple minutes. The intensity of the lights made my eyes hurt. I slipped on my issued acclimation shade gsses to protect my eyes. I went to my assigned quarters, since I had earned my commission, I had the room to myself.

  I put my things away and left to survey the ship. There was a rge gym, a pool, and sports courts, including basketball and slikrodazurps among others. I found the mess hall, bar, and store. Curious, I entered the store.

  “Welcome in,” the clerk said with a smile. “Is there anything I can help you with…” she paused and looked me up and down, cocked her head and shrugged while shaking her head, “friend. Is there anything I can help you with, friend.”

  I chuckled to myself. “Just looking around. I just embarked and am having a look around the ship.”

  “Well welcome, sweety, thank you for your willingness to defend people. We sell everything from snacks to pets. Please let me know if you have any questions!”

  “I will, thank you.” I went to see the pets. They had cats, dogs, tikos, radushi, turpins and even lizards. I passed on all of that for now and thanked the clerk. I decided to go for a swim then ate. I went to my room after. There was a piece of mail in my inbox. I read it.

  Report tomorrow in assembly hall two, 0900 ship time. 3rd Human Army, 1st Division, 598th Rifle Brigade, 47th Mechanized Rifle Battalion, A Company. It was still early so I decided to head to one of the bars I had seen as I walked the ship.

  I sat in the no vaping section and ordered a midori sour. There was a group of youngish men being boisterous at a table next to me. I sat and enjoyed my drink. The music was loud and the crash of ball on ball from the pool table was strangely calming. I felt rexed.

  One of the men bumped me and I came back to reality. “Oh shit, dude, my bad.”

  I scowled at him. “I don’t like that, please don’t call me dude.”

  He scoffed. “Chill out girl, dude is gender neutral. It's fine, don’t get your panties in a twist, dude.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Did I ask if it was gender neutral? No, I said I didn’t like being called that. So please do not refer to me with that word.”

  “Damn bitch, calm down. Why are you being so sensitive?” He sneered.

  I rolled my eyes to his face. “You need to calm down. Just listen to what people are telling you. I don’t like being referred to as dude, just don’t call me that. It's pretty easy, dude.” I spat the st word.

  “You better be careful. I was on the Worgl Track. Have you ever heard of that? It was the most violent part of the korveinian invasion.” He pushed my shoulder a little. “You were probably just on some garrison that didn’t fight at all.” The men at the table ughed.

  My eye brow shot up. I looked at his face and didn’t recognize him but that didn’t mean anything in particur. I decided to pretend I was impressed to learn more. “You were at Worgl? Oh wow what unit? I was at the mopping up campaign of the korveinians after Worgl.”

  “Pfft, I was in the unit on top of the mountain. I defended from there to the siege. It was my company the whole way down.” He looked down and his voice dropped as if he were sad. “I lost many good friends on that track.”

  “What was the unit designation?” I asked again. I sat back in my chair.

  He spread his arms wide. “Who cares? I was there and I can prove it.”

  I folded my arms. “I care because I was there on the mountain. I lost friends there and you all know what?” I said to the people he was sitting with. “I don’t remember him being there. I’ve never seen him before at all.”

  “You said you were at the mopping campaign up after Worgl, you lied.”

  “I didn’t lie. I was there and did that, but before I cut my teeth on the track.”

  “Ok, bitch.” One of his friends called out. “I have the order of battle open and can see who fought where on the track. Both of you write it down and we will see who is lying.”

  I grabbed a napkin and crawled 7th ID, 19th Defense Brigade, A Batallion, Bravo Company. I handed the page man the napkin. “Commander Graft lead us on top, my company commander was Captain Ordus and Leutnant Neider commanded my ptoon. Will he tell you who his officers were?”

  He looked at both the napkins. He shook his head. “Yo dude.” He looked at the liar. “What the fuck is this? She got the right answer, she even knew the names of the commanders. You weren’t there were you?”

  His face was beat red. “I um. I was at the…”

  “Why did you lie?” Another man asked, the look on his face was one of disgust. “You would have been cool. If you weren’t a liar.”

  “I only did garrison. I was worried everyone would think my experience was me.” He sounded very self conscious. “I just wanted everyone to think that I’m cool. I’m sorry, everyone.” He turned to me. “I’m sorry ma’am.”

  “Is there anything else you’ve been lying to us about?” The page man asked. His device was on the table and his arms were folded. There was a long silence, he smmed the table. “What else have you lied to us about, dude?”

  He poked at his own fingers. “I am not dating one of the Empresses of Japan.”

  “Anything else?” He shook his head. “Good thing you already apologized to her.” He pointed at me. “Don’t be a fucking jackass anymore, dude. Quit fucking lying. That is your only warning. We won’t quit you as a friend for now but if you continue to be an asshole we are done.” Everyone was nodding their agreement.

  His head hung low. He sat down, his head was more red than a cherry.

  The page man looked at me. “Sorry to disturb you, ma’am.”

  I swiped at the air dismissively. “Is Worgl really such an attractive pce to have served? I remember it being a long sweaty sticky icky mess. I don’t know if I slept more than three hours a day as we were falling back.”

  They were all leaning in. “Worgl, wow, everyone she doesn’t know. Yes of course, we were all getting updates every day about the track. From when the first koreveians were blown out of the sky to the siege, we were all hanging on the news from there. Worgl is famous.”

  I sat back and put the drink to my mouth again. Ice hit my lips, the gss was empty otherwise. I looked at it, disappointed.

  “Bar friend!” the guy called out. “Another of the same for her!” He pointed at me, the bartender nodded.

  “Oh, thank you.” I said.

  “Tell us more about Worgl!” They all looked like excited children, waiting for their bedtime story. I had every one of their ears, their attention undivided.

  “We were trapped in the kessel for what felt like a month. Really it was like a week or so. My girlfriend y in the hospital there. I fought back with all my might until the relief brigades fell upon the fnks of the Korveinians and they fell back in the most disorganized fashion. Like one hour we were defending and the next there was no one opposing us.”

  “So you went right away and followed them up the track?” Another asked.

  I ughed. “I was too tired, most of us in the town were. We let the relief troops chase them away for the most part. We had a month of rest and refit before I helped dig the trenches on the peninsu.” My voice broke. “On that peninsu.” My head started to swim and tears began flowing unbidden from my eyes.

  “Oh shit, d–ma’am. Sorry. I didn’t realize that was sensitive for you. We can stop talking about it.”

  “No, it's just that peninsu is where my girlfriend died. I’m still upset over it.” I threw the rest of the drink back. “I think I’ll head to bed, good luck to all of you.” A mix of good byes and good nights followed me as I stepped out of the bar. I headed to my room and fell into bed.

  My heart still ached for her and I would never see her smile or feel the warmth of her touch ever again. I cried.

  We had about two hundred soldiers. I was assigned to first ptoon with seventy-five basically green soldiers. I was to be on the front lines. Exactly where I wanted to be. I decided it would be good to get to know my soldiers.

  I took them to one of the sitting rooms. They were all in civilian clothing. I stood in front of them, my assigned sergeant first css next to me.

  “Hello everyone!” I said brightly. “My name is Persephone Rorke and I am your new Leutnant. A short time ago I was a sergeant in the Gondwana pnetary defense forces. I am a veteran of the recent invasion, which I’m sure many of you are aware of. I am from the Montmare Isnds. I want everyone to say their name, rank, and where they are from on Gondwana. We will start with our resident sergeant.”

  “I am Sergeant first css Bsta de Gaulle. I am from the north end of Hoth on the Ojibwe Peninsu.” He said.

  After several people a familiar face stood, the liar from st night. “Hello, Ma’am. I am Sergei Sabina. I am from Rebel Outpost on Hoth.” So the liar is my soldier, if he wants to have combat, I will show him combat.

  The introductions went on. Many people were from the continents of Hoth and Grendalia, only about ten from Ashanti and three from Mooria. Several were from Katalonia like me.

  “Good, good, now that we have met each other, break into teams of seven to eight, we are going to py basketball.”

  We pyed for a few hours and broke for a shower then lunch. My sergeant and I sat with the captain and first sergeant as well as the other leutnants.

  “How are all of you?” First sergeant asked. We all responded with some form of ok. “What war fighting experience do we have at this table?” He looked toward me and de Gaulle.

  “I defended Ojibwe from the korveinian siege. I was a private.” de Gaulle said. First sergeant locked eyes with me.

  “I fought on the Worgl track, the siege of Worgl, and the mopping up operations afterward.” I told the man. “I was a sergeant”

  His eyes moved to the other team. A man with sergeant first css rank spoke up. “I fought at Paris and the Teuterwald. I was a korpral.”

  “I fought at Zulu and the Teuterwald. I remember seeing him there.” She bumped her sergeant. “I was a sergeant.”

  The others didn’t take active part in fighting and said so. Top stood and looked at me. “You have the most experience then, Worgl. I heard that was a tough fight by basically green troops.”

  I nodded. “I went up that track a boy, and came down a woman.” I teared up a little. “The fight was traumatic and relentless. The weather didn’t help either.”

  “Went up a boy and came down a woman? What does that mean?” Captain Zimraba asked.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it, sir.”

  He looked bewildered. “Ok. Well Top here and I were both soldiers at the run on Trondalog. Which I’ve heard described as the baby Worgl track. We were both sergeants first css. It seems we have some good knowledge in leadership positions. I like that. Hell, we have a veteran of the Worgl track.” He gestured at me.

  “We need to teach the troops, sir.” I agreed. “Many are from units that did not get a chance to ‘win glory’. I've heard some of them say so, sir. Drilling and discipline are what will keep the soldiers alive on a battlefield. We need to train immediately!”

  “They’ve all had the basics, we just need to–”

  The basics? No, there is more to warfare than that. The basics only served me so much, what I learned on campaign, in the trenches was more vital than what this person seems to think. I interpreted the other leutnant. “I’m sorry but you have not been in a battle, you just said so. There is more to war, I know you have never been shot at or smelled the burning flesh of the soldier next to you dying of psma shots while their high pitch shrill screaming rings in your ear as the massed feathered assault breaks over and over as the waves on the beach. Each crash changes the texture of the beach just as it changes how you have to defend the position. Has your friend died? Sweep further to their direction in case an enemy happens to roll up that ally. That is just one tip I can offer.”

  The man was clearly upset, the scowl on his face and folded arms spoke volumes but he kept his voice even. “Ok, that is fair enough however I think we should–”

  “I like Leutnant Rorke’s suggestion.” Captain Zimraba said. “We should continue to train and drill battle tactics. I would rather over prepare for the battles and hardships ahead than be negligent in using our time in the best way possible. Leutnants Rorke and Hem, I want a preliminary training schedule by the end of the week. Leutnant Rodriguez, you will observe and you will learn how to do things properly.”

  We finished eating and left. I had my sergeant brush up on the basics as Hem, Rodriguez and I went to work on our training pns.

  We trained for hours a day. When the other companies were on standby by 1500 ship time, we were still going through battle drills or shooting in the simutor until 1800. The soldiers resented us at first. The results showed though, we were the best at the range, the fastest in the obstacle course, and the best in tactical exercises.

  One day Captain Zimraba came into our training session. “Company, attention. Parade, rest. Sir.”

  A man stepped into the room. He was older and graying, a sweet fatherly smile spread across his face. “Hello soldiers of the First Division, I am your commanding officer, General Asfaw. You are, by the metricks, the best company on this ship. Lead by your hard charging Captain Zimraba. I want you all to know your hard work has not gone unnoticed. I will be implementing your company’s training regime for the rest of the division. Well done Captain Zimraba.” A hand shot up. “Yes.” The general said while pointing at the soldier.

  “I appreciate your words of encouragement sir, but it is always Leutnant Rorke at the head of training. We rarely ever see Captain Zimraba, sir. Your praise should be for her, if anyone.” The room was silent.

  “Is that true, Captain?” He turned toward the man.

  He cleared his throat and visibly shrank under the general’s gaze. “I have been busy with paperwork and organization, logistics and such.”

  “We will talk ter, captain. Thank you for your comments. Keep up the good work and we will get the rest of the division to A company 47th standards. I want you and your leadership to help train them.”

  “Yes, sir!” I said. The rest of the room was dead silent. Someone coughed.

  General Asfaw turned to me. “That is the enthusiasm I like to see. Well done Leutnant Rorke. I’ll wait to hear your pn for training. I expect it by tomorrow.”

  The general left, Captain Zimraba followed him out. We were left there at parade rest. I went to attention. “Company, attention. Continue what you were doing before, fall out.” I motioned to the other officers to join me. “We should get the NCOs together to help direct the training for rest of the–”

  “Why is that our responsibility though? Shouldn’t we wait for the captain’s order on that?”

  I shook my head. “We know what the general’s intent is, we can start moving on this directive now. So, we should organize the troops–”

  He crossed his arms. “No. I don’t take orders from you, Rorke. You tranny faggot piece of shit. I know all about you. I know who you are, Percival.”

  “Watch yourself.” I said.

  “Or what,” he raised his voice. The room was silent. The troops were looking at us. “I’m not taking orders from you, we are the same rank.”

  “Not anymore.” Captain Zimraba joined us. “Leutnant first css Rorke, congratutions. General Asfaw has decided to reward you for your initiative.”

  “Well I don’t care, I’m not following this know it all freak. Is it even human anymore?” The leutnant second css spat.

  “It doesn’t matter how you feel about it. She is a superior officer, you will follow her orders. No more arguing about. Is that understood? Show proper respect, Rodriguez.”

  “Yeah, yeah I understand.” He said. His face was twisted up in anger. He unched at me, blow after blow fell on my head. Then he was pulled off at me. Sergeant de Gaulle pinned him on the ground as the other Leutnant’s arm moved like a piston falling on his face repeatedly.

  I sat up, felt lightheaded and I was looking up at the ceiling again.

  I was on leave after the attack. Leutnant Rodriguez was pced into the brig. I didn’t want to bother myself with that guy anymore. I copied my training regimen for A company and sent it to General Asfaw. He sent a message back extending my leave and telling me to rex.

  We joined the attack fleet that saved us on Gondwana the day I was punched. We continued to follow them to the prison colony where they had dropped off the first batch of prisoners of war.

  I decided to leave the Troop Transport Gondwana One to one of the other ships. I went to the transportation station and looked at the destinations. I saw the Castan Lukonia on the list and decided it might be nice to Captain Gezzini again. I transported there.

  I wondered the halls of the ship. The ship was very simir to the one I had just left in terms of the aesthetics. The people were all khaveni. I didn’t really know where I was going. After a couple tens of minutes I decided to stop someone.

  “Excuse me.” I stopped a passing person, a junior enlisted person.

  “Yes, Leutnant?” She asked respectfully.

  “Rex,” I smiled, she kept her hands behind her back. “I am looking for the NachtHexen unch bay, can you tell me where that is?”

  “I work in that bay. I was just on my way there, you can follow me there, Leutnant.”

  I smiled brightly. “That sounds fantastic, thank you. Lead on.” We started walking.

  “I do have to ask,” she took a look at me for a long moment. “...Ma’am?” She said finally. I nodded my head. “Ok, I just wanted to be respectful. Anyway, why do you want to visit the NachtHexen bay?”

  “Security, well done.” I said to her, “I am a friend of Captain Gezzini, I met her during her time on Gondwana and we fought the korveinians and others together there.”

  “Oh ok! Sounds good. You are visiting your friend. By the way ma’am, she is Commander Gezzini now.”

  “I will be sure to congratute her when I see her.” We walked on in silence. Shortly we came to the unch bay. I entered and went directly to the control room. I knocked on the frame and poked my head in. A surly looking Kornel narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Do you need something, Leutnant?” He asked. “What are you doing here?”

  “I am looking for Commander Gezzini. I am Leutnant Rorke.” I stuck my hand out to shake his. He looked at the gesture with a confused expression. “Sorry, that’s a human thing when greeting someone we tend to shake hands.”

  “How does that work?” He asked.

  “Grab each other’s hand and move it up and down.” I expined. He grabbed my hand and I led him in the motion. After a few shakes too many, after he took over the motion, I retracted my hand. He still held onto it but realized it was over and released my hand.

  “Commander Gezzini? She is in the briefing room over there. They are going over recent practice drills. You should wait until that has finished before seeing her though.” I looked toward where he was pointing. Women began filing out of the room.

  I turned to him again. “Looks like now is that time.” I smiled. “Thank you.” I walked over to stand next to the door. The women gave me odd looks as they came out. When the st had come out I popped into the room. There she was, looking down at some papers on the table. “Commander Gezzini?”

  She sighed. “Yeah? Did you forget something?” She looked up at me. Her eyes widened and a smiled spread across her face ear to ear. “Oh my… Sergeant, no Leutnant Rorke, oh wow. I didn’t expect to see you here.” She rushed over to me and embraced me for a solid minute. “What are you doing here? I’m so happy to see you.” She pushed me to arms length and stared into my eyes. “We are lightyears from Gondwana, how are you here?”

  “I joined the ground forces command of the liberation council. I was lost for a while there. I’m sorry I didn’t see you off. I was a bad friend there but I’m ready to make up for it now, promise.”

  She lightly spped my chest. “Don’t say sorry for that, I understand what happened there. You lost someone you were close to. You were devastated.” She hugged me again. “You are allowed to be upset by that. I’m sorry, I wish I could have done anything to help her. I was on the line with her at the time. I feel like there should have been something I could have done.” She shook her head.

  “You have nothing to apologize for–”

  “What happened to your eye?” She grabbed my face lightly and turned it. I allowed it to happen. The warmth of her hand felt nice to me.

  “I was punched for ordering a more junior soldier to do something.”

  She chuckled. “Did you order them to punch you?”

  I ughed. “No, silly. He just wasn’t happy with what I told him to do and started being transphobic. When I tried to force the issue he shed out in violence. I got leave for it though, ordered by my general. I even did some work and he extended my leave.”

  She kissed me on the lips. “Well I’m happy he let you have some time off.”

  I recoiled, shocked. I cleared my throat. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”

  Her smile fell away and put her hand over her face. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. That is sometimes something the khaveni do. I forgot to whom I was speaking. Sorry.” She grimaced.

  “No, it's fine. I’m ok, lets just be friends though ok?” I ughed nervously.

  “Oh totally, I just I’m…” She trailed off. The silence between us stretched out for a long time.

  I cleared my throat again. “Want to get some food?”

  “Yes please.” I moved so she could walk out of the door and waited. She lunged for the door after a moment. “I suppose I should lead the way, I live on this ship after all.” She ughed nervously. I followed her out.

  “So the Castan Lukonia.” I said as we walked toward the mess hall. “I know a little of khaveni history, that there were two main groups that split and came together again at some point. How does this Castan fit into it?”

  “She was a great general of the Heinas wars. She fought Frushka and the Empire to keep Avierna free of their influence but ultimately she fell in battle. She was a Prakh, like you. She was powerful in her tactics and clever in her pnning; this all made her feared by her foes. Frushka’s king offered ten thousand seteri and a county to the soldier that slew her.”

  “Did he fulfill his promise?” I asked.

  “No, it was one of the Empire’s mercs that did her in. Their commander was outraged at the refusal and they cut a swath across the border regions which led to a war against the Empire. It's thought that bought Avierna the time it needed to continue resistance during the follow up war.”

  “This is a wild story. All this really happened?”

  She smiled at me conspiratorially. “It was a wild time, Leutnant Rorke.”

  We entered the mess hall and gathered our meal. A baked chicken creature with some exotic fruits and veggies, domestic to Gezzini.

  “Oh I see one of my pilots. Let’s sit with her.” I followed her to the table where the lone woman sat. We sat with her.

  “Hello commander.” She sounded as if she were about to cry. She looked at me. “Hello new person.” She looked back at Gezzini and said something in their nguage.

  “No, this is Leutnant Rorke, I told you about her, she is the very good person from Gondwana.”

  She smiled but still looked very sad. “Nice to meet you Leutnant.”

  “Is there something wrong? Can we help? Would you prefer to be alone?” I asked, concerned.

  “My best friend Zluo died and my baby was born recently. I named her Zluo and I’m still so sad about it.”

  Gezzini gave her a side hug. “I’m sorry she fell in battle, that I wasn’t here to help keep her alive.”

  “I know you would have been there if you could. I also feel so bad for you from everything you experienced down there. We are warriors. We live with death. Death is by our side at all times. We are already dead, so fight for every little bit of life you can live.” They both nodded to each other.

  “What is that? A saying? A thing written down by a khaveni philosopher?” I asked.

  “Our version of Sun Tzu, Jebel Barkhal, he also gave tips on how soldiers needed to function. No one wants to die but you also need to be able to protect the people you love. He also gave tips about how to set up a camp.” Gezzini continued to comfort her squadron member and friend.

  “Where is your baby now?” I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen the baby.

  “She is with her father. He is a mechanic on the ship and since I have the more mission critical job he was allowed more leave but I get more time off during the day to feed her and such.” She replied. “In fact, I should head over there, it's about time. I’ll see you ter, Commander.”

  “See you ter, Leutnant Treliop.” She waited until the woman was fully out of earshot then leaned to me and whispered. “I don’t regret everything that happened on Gondwana. I even think… well that.” She started to stammer and poke at her food.

  I furrowed my brow. “Is something the matter? What are you trying to say?”

  She cleared her throat. “I don’t regret everything that happened on that pnet. I met you.” Her face was a darker blue than I had ever seen before.

  I sat back. Was she really saying what I think she is saying? She kissed me earlier, perhaps she might? I sat my utensils down and looked her in the eye. “Are you saying you are interested in me?” There was a long stretch of silence. “I like you. Regardless if it's true or not.”

  She jumped on my statement quickly. “Yes, it is true. I do like you.”

  My heart felt like it flipped in my chest. I started breathing a little more heavily. In a moment I felt my heart being ripped away, it was horrifically painful. I closed my eyes. I still loved Kenny. I started slowly. “I am not over her. I do like you but at the moment I cannot give you what you want. I want to be your friend, I value you for that. And perhaps when I’ve finished mourning there could be something more?”

  She nodded. “That is so totally understandable.” She grabbed my hands and rubbed them. She chuckled. “I would revel in your friendship. It would make this whole war thing so much more bearable. I can’t rely on my coworkers for that.” I came around the table and embraced her.

  We both smiled wide and continued to eat our meal together. When we finished she saw me to the transporter and I returned to my own ship.

  I had gotten somewhat bored on leave. I had been caught doing more work and my leave was extended another day. I decided to be a little more covert and walk with Sergeant First Css de Gaulle and just talk with him.

  We walked the halls of the enlisted wing as we discussed the issues between soldiers that had come up. Even though we were at war, getting a load of humans together inevitably led to interpersonal problems.

  A cat meowed behind one of the doors, as if it were being attacked.

  “Apparently Private Rhodederon’s older brother harassed Sergeant Gr?ning. Now, Sergeant Gr?ning has seen fit to take his frustrations out on her.”

  I softly spped my face. “These fucking people need to have some goddamn chill. We are literally about to go to battle shoulder to shoulder and this is the bullshit we are dealing with?” I sighed deeply. “Why is this only coming up now?”

  “Sergeant Singh’s injury was enough that he was actually discharged, he became a cook instead. Gr?ning was promoted in his pce and that is when the problems started.”

  “We need a strong response.” I insisted. “I don’t want people to get it in their head that bullying is ok unless it's for someone who wants to extol the virtues of korveinian rule. Those people can totally be bullied. This, however, needs a hard response. Bust him down to private again, promote someone who will be responsible with the authority given and who has the chops to lead.”

  “From previous evals I think Private Rhdederon is actually the person for you.” de Gaulle replied. I spped myself on the cheek. “I’ll make sure she knows she is not to retaliate against him.”

  The cat screamed again. “Make it happen.” I shook my head. “What is happening to that cat?”

  “I was wondering the same thing.” He walked closer to the distressed sound. It was coming from a door. The bel read ‘Private Crapes’. “A fellow Frenchman?” de Gaulle banged on the door.

  “Fuck you, go away.” The voice from within said. De Gaulle scowled and shot a gnce at me.

  I sighed. “Bang on the door again. I don’t want to extend my forced leave again. I’ve done it too many times already.” He banged on the door again.

  “I don’t care what you have to say, losers!” The voice decred. The door across the hall opened up.

  “Oh, Sergeant, Leutnant, hello. Are you finally going to do something about that asshole?” It was Private Omori. “He has been torturing that animal for days, it keeps me up at night, ma’am. I just want to sleep!”

  “Oh, fuck.” I took out my credentials and scanned into the system on the wall console. “Back into your room.” Omori closed their door. “You caught me in the hall and I helped, got it?” De Gaulle nodded. “What's the door number?”

  “Twenty tack four four seven.” I punched it into the touchpad. The door lock released with a loud thunk and he was able to easily pry the door open. “What the fuck are you doing to that cat, you sicko?” He said when the door was opened.

  I scooted over de Gaulle’s shoulder and was shocked. The cat had rge bald spots, what fur it did have was matted with dried blood. The poor creature was beaten and battered. The fire in my heart burst into undying hatred.

  “What are you doing with that cat?” I asked lowly.

  The boy had a frustrated look on his face. “These are my personal quarters, you can’t be in here.”

  “If that were true why would a troop transport ship have the door unlock mechanism it has?” I asked, waving my credentials in front of me. I went back to the panel. I pressed the call MPs button.

  “Military Police Office, how may I help you Leutnant Rorke?” The person asked.

  “I need you to come arrest someone near my location. Come here now.”

  The person sighed. “Another drunk fight?”

  “Worse. Get here now.” I hung up.

  General Mbenke strode up now. “Leutnant Rorke, what is happening?”

  I knew this would be a thing that happened and now here it is. I grimaced. “Sir–”

  “Sir, it was my fault.” De Gaulle interjected. “I saw Leutnant Rorke walking by and I grabbed her to open this door.”

  “What is happening in there?” He looked in, his eyes bulged out of his head. “Leutnant get the MPs over here now.”

  “I already called them, sir.”

  His mouth curled into a rueful smile. “I should have known you would be on it properly and correctly.”

  The MPs arrived just then. “Sir and ma’am, we were called, how can we help?” They asked Mbenke.

  “Take,” he looked at the namepte. “Private Crapes to the brig.”

  “Righto, sir.” As they dragged him away he kicked de Gaulle in the dick, he doubled over in pain.

  “That's another charge,” the general said as they left.

  I went into the room and grabbed at the cat, they nipped at me. I looked around and found a clean towel and wrapped the poor kitty up. “I am going to take this little friend to the vet clinic.” General Mbanke nodded to me. “Sorry for working again, sir.”

  “I’ll excuse you this time. Sergeant, I want to know exactly what happened here.” I left as he started to recount a slightly altered version of events.

  I came to the pet hospital and handed the cat to the on-call vet. She was horrified and took the poor thing to get fixed up. Hours ter she came to see me.

  “What happened to this baby girl?” I expined the condition we found her in. “I hope that man gets tortured. What he did to this cat was sadistic and awful. I would not trust him to watch a korveinian.” After venting her frustrations for a while longer, she shook her head. “Anyway, she will live, but oh boy is she traumatized. You will have to be very patient with her. She may even see humans as a threat, I’m just guessing. Every animal is an individual.”

  “She will be ok. I’m happy about that at least.” I sighed with relief.

  “I’m going to get her for you.” It was then that I suddenly realized I needed to get things to take care of a cat.

  I walked home with her in my arms. She was stitched up with a cone securely around her head. I pced her on my bed and went to buy basic cat needs.

  My forced leave finally ended. Leutnant Rodriguez had been moved out and Leutnant Ping was transferred in. After morning formation each squad left and went to aid the other companies in their training regime that I had written and sent in when I was first on leave.

  Sergeant de Gaulle and I rotated between our four squads. There was little to correct from my soldiers. I was impressed by their professionalism and attention to detail. I smiled with pride. Their hard work and my pushing and insistence have made them a strong team and competent warriors.

  There was little input for me to put in. We continued to tour the training sessions over the next few days.

  After a couple more weeks and after we were joined by several other transport ships, all the officers were called to a big meeting. Something big was about to happen. There was no other reason for everyone to be gathered like this.

  “I am the Supreme Commanding General of the invasion forces.” A man at the head of the table. “I am Joa Algarv. It's nice to see you all. We will be invading the Korveinian pnet called Ungdarfeg. It is on some important trade lines, we will be cutting off the entire Zifen-Kornandel axis. There are two shipwrights there, capturing them will give us a huge advantage. The Zifen and Tidara wrights will churn out more ships and with naval superiority we will be able to close the construction and repair gap. On another note, we have designed this special watch device that if you tap this button it becomes a tracker for anti-teleportation tech. The minute hand shows where it is, the hour shows if it is above or below. The second hand will swing wildly if you are within a kilometer. They will be handed out to all officers.”

  The conference went on and each army then each division was assigned an area of responsibilities. Key areas to be captured. The anti transporter nodes need to be seized and turned off to be able to send down more weapons and food.

  Us junior officers were released to continue to drill the enlisted soldiers. We also got our watches.

  After work every day I id in my bed. Knowing soon I would be in that world of hot psma and explosions once more. I wasn’t excited to be there again. The fuel of Kenny’s death had dissipated into my training pn. I’m scared.

  I had no time to be scared though. I needed to live for Mouser, I gave her a hug. She was becoming more used to me and was even happy to snuggle with me. Her trauma occasionally reared its head and she caused chaos, but I tried to be patient and understanding with her.

  My thoughts also rested rgely with Commander Gezzini. I thought about her most of the time when I was not engaged in other important things. Her visage dogged my thoughts and filled my dreams. She visited me that night. We ate together in the mess hall then came back to my room after. She petted and cooed at Mouser.

  I thought of Kenny and was saddened by her loss, as always. I looked at Gezzini and smiled widely. My heart still ached for Kenny but Gezzini was here. I felt close to her and desired her companionship. The three of us curled in bed and slept for the night.

  She woke me up in the morning while rubbing my face. I smiled at her.

  “You are so pretty,” She said to me and smiled back.

  “I could say the same about you, ma’am.” I kissed her. She giggled.

  “I think I am ready.” I announced.

  She looked at me, a questioning look pstered on her face. “Ready for what hun?”

  I kissed her. “I’m ready for you, for us. I’m ready for this.” I kissed her again, she leaned in too, but pulled back slightly and I pulled away.

  “I’m excited but we should focus on what we are about to do, don’t you think?” She caressed my face.

  “I agree, but when its finished we are gonna power couple this fleet.” I smiled wide.

  The day came. Soon the battle would be joined. We loaded into the nding craft. The soldiers stood, packed in the nders like sardines. I sat at the monitor station. I watched as we got into our unch zone and the other transporters got into their unch points.

  We were there for about half an hour. The doors opened and the general came over the speaker. “You can sit in the hall. Don’t go far, we will unch in about an hour.”

  “Anyone who needs to use the toilet do it now!” I called as the soldiers filed out of the nder. I turned to Captain Zimraba and said. “It looks like one of the human ships is being harried and isn’t in pce yet.” I pointed it out on the screen. “Our forces are fighting them off now.” I hoped Commander Gezzini would be ok in the fight against the korveinians. I looked at the captain again. “Sir, your watch.”

  “Shit, you’re right.” He took it out and spped it on his wrist and tightened it.

  After an hour and half we loaded back into the nder and we started our descent. It was smooth. I tracked our progress toward the -3 gravity well, locally called Ungdarfeg.

  “Hold on! We are about to hit the atmosphere!” The soldiers grabbed the overhead hand holds, others took hold of side rails. We crashed into the outer atmos and the nder shuddered and shook, I thought it would rip apart at one point. She held together, we came closer to the ground. 500km. 300km. 200km. 100km. “Ten seconds!” I called out to the soldier. “Get ready, scans are clear for now, but the enemy could swarm at any time.”

  We touched down as softly as a feather. I smashed the button to open the hatch. It exploded out and felled a tree a little way off. It was raining and humid.

  “Come on soldiers, secure the local area, we need to wait for the rest of the division to link up with us. Move out now!” I led the way out of the nder. “I grabbed one of my sergeants, get your machine gun team on that ridge. Sergeant Grimes get your teams on either end of this valley and defend in case of attempted entry. Sergeant Ladisu, get your drones in the air, we need to know the y of the nd and when the other units are going link up with us for the drive on the city.”

  Captain Zimraba came up to me. “I would order you to do something but you’ve already gotten the soldiers where they need to be. Well done, Leutnant.”

  I moved between the teams. As I was with one of them covering the entrance to the valley, one of the advance teams walked into our line of fire.

  “Welcome!” I waved at them to come closer. “We are holding the division’s advance position, what is the status back there?” I questioned.

  “The main column is organizing to push forward, they should be here within the hour.” The sergeant responded. “We were told to help hold the area. A vanguard for the vanguard.”

  “Good,” I pointed to the machine gun on the other side of the valley. “I need you to reinforce the position over there. Hop to it, sergeant.” The eight of them marched up the valley. I turned to the rest of the team. “Don’t fire on friends when they come up the road.” I made my way across the ridge to the machine gun positions. One started to crack out psma into the forested area below. I threw myself onto the ground and crawled my way to them.

  “Ma’am! I saw something moving in the trees.” One of the soldiers panickedly said.

  “Ok, ok. Tell me, what did you see? Was it a korveinian?” She was shaking but managed to nod. “So they are attempting to scout our position then.” I held down the talk button on my communicator. “Sergeant Grimes, sweep the north eastern woods. We have a sighting from the machine gunners. I need to know the strength of their unit.”

  “Moving to sweep.” He responded. After some minutes and a few more shots and even one return fire against us, Grimes got on the horn again. “It looks like a battalion sized unit, more are trickling in, it could be a brigade within an hour.”

  “How far are our reinforcements?” I released the button.

  “Sending the drones south now, Ma’am.” After a few minutes. “About thirty minutes for the first company, the next is about fifteen to twenty minutes after.”

  “Point Ingress, I need you to direct the troops coming in to head up to the machine gun ridge right away, understood?”

  “Akno, Ma’am.”

  “Ma’am, the south edge, they are moving up the cliff. Contact in five minutes.” Grimes called out.

  My blood ran cold. “We are in trouble.” I moved a little way away and changed to the private channel with the captain, I smmed the button. “Sir, we need to rethink the defense, we are going to be overrun quickly if we aren’t careful. They are coming at us from the south and east.”

  “We have our orders, we will not deviate from the pn.” He sounded nervous.

  I pressed my hand to my face. “Sir, the calculus has changed. We need to be flexible in our thoughts and estic in our defense.”

  “We will not deviate from the pn.” He said more forcefully. “Hold the line where we are now.”

  I ran to the nder. I burst into the ship. “Sir, we seriously need to talk.”

  “I am in command here Leutnant. Stand down. Go do your patrols.” Fire started from the south.

  “Its started. We need to–”

  “Defend this valley.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Fine, sir. You want us to die in the miserable valley so bad, we will.” I left, shaking my head. Attacking started at the north end and machine gunners on the ridge were also engaging the enemy. “Absolute disaster.” I said then made my way south. Two of the eight broke and ran into the valley. One was shot and fell. The other surrendered, he was shot too. I stopped and peered around. The position was falling all around me. The north and south were already overrun. I made for the drone scouts.

  “Ma’am, we are in grave danger the enemy is–”

  “Ditch your scouts, we’re going up the west slope. We can’t hold here, this is death. Follow me.”

  “Of course. Should we take the attack drones?”

  “We need to travel light. Only a few.” I responded.

  We marched up the west side slope of the valley. I looked back down. The nder was surrounded as we crested the ridge. I let out a huge sigh. That could have gone better.

  “I don’t know that this could have been saved.” I said. “I think we needed the rest of the division to move faster. I think that was the only remedy here.”

  “Can you stop analyzing command failures so we can survive.” Sergeant de Gaulle said, he had been with the drone operators when we retreated.

  “Yeah, yeah. Let's head south. That's where the rest of our friendlies in the area are.”

  The two sergeants looked at each other. “Sounds like the best pn to me.” de Gaulle said after a moment.

  We made our way along the ridge below the level where we could be seen but high enough that we could still have a commanding view of the pin to the west of us. It was empty of enemy troops. Zuildza, our target, stood at the north end. I saw many vehicles and bustle occurring in the area.

  We began to descend into the southern woods. We came into a clearing and a korveinian scout saw us and fired.

  “Ignore him, run, fast!” I said as I tossed one of my grenades to dissuade them from coming after us.

  One of the soldiers up front fell. His chest mealted. We returned fire for a while. A grenade exploded next to me, a thousand tiny fragments of pain ripped across my leg. I fell to the ground. “Run!” I yelled at de Gaulle. They scattered as best they could. I fired at the korveinians when they tried to chase. “Get your sick plumed hands away from them, korvy. I’ll surrender if you come here now and leave them be.”

  One looked at them running through the woods but turned back to look at me. “Take her.” He said. I dropped my weapon. They brought a cart forward and pced me in it. We started back to their camp. I was handcuffed and pced next to my captain.

  “Leutnant, you were captured too?” I was afraid you had abandoned us.

  “De Gaulle and I led the drone scouts away. We were in the woods south of our nding valley. A grenade exploded next to me or I would have gotten away.” I moved the bnket from my body. The ruin that was my leg was a bloody mess, the pain was intense. I hoped it looked worse than it was.

  “I was scared. You were right, I think. We should have pulled back.”Captain Zimbra confessed. I sighed.

  “For all the good that will do us now. How many died?” I asked him, trying to keep my mind off my leg.

  “At least fifty percent.” He sounded as sad as I felt. Fifty percent, what a disaster. My heart plummeted. “I fucked up Persephone. I fucked up bad.” He paused for a long time. “Will you forgive me, Persephone?”

  I gnced at him. “Ask me when we return to Gondwana.” He scoffed and hung his head. I coughed, the pain ripped through me so intensely that it made me pass out.

  We were forced marched to a building in the city that was being used as a collection point for POWs. My leg, being half blown off, wouldn’t move. I was pushed forward by the cruelty of korveinian rifle butts and by the friendly help of captain Zimraba and Sergeant Grimes, letting me use him as a crutch. We ambled along together for several kilometers before we reached the building.

  I checked my leg when we were tossed into what was essentially our prison camp. “How does your leg look, leutnant?” Zimraba asked me when he noticed.

  I looked at him, keeping my expression as neutral as possible. “It doesn’t look good, sir.” I tore the bandage off to expose the edges of green to the light of day.

  He gasped. “Looks like gangrene.” He banged on the bars. “Hey guard, we have a medical emergency here! Hey!” He yelled.

  One of the birds sauntered slowly toward us. He gnced at my leg and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “Jeez, let me go get a superior, that looks really bad.”

  After a few minutes he and another bird shuffled up to us. The officer bird scrunched his face up. Without a word he left. An hour ter I was pced on a gurney and taken away. I was unencumbered, it was impossible for me to move on my own anyway.

  “Where are we going? Will you save my leg?” I asked the guider of the gurney.

  “We are taking you to the hospital to save your life. Stop asking questions, you will get the medical care you need.” My vitals were taken on the way and I was stabbed with a syringe too. I slowly became more sleepy.

  I didn’t try to resist. We were all taught about the dangers of diseases and types to look out for. I wasn’t excited about going under with the birds but this was a life threatening situation and I have what I have. So I accepted it as I drifted off. We entered the hospital as I finally drifted off.

  I awoke to find I was still in the hospital. I tried to sit up but my head started swimming immediately and I fell back into the bed.

  I found a note next to me. ‘Hit button for food.’ My stomach growled, without another thought I pressed the button. After a short time a military bird walked into the room with his crisp military movements.

  “Leutnant tranny.” He said as he set down a meal of veggies rice and bread with a water to drink.

  “Of course you people would have a problem with the most miniscule shit.” I tore into the bread. He stood and watched as I ate. “You just gonna watch me eat?” I asked between bites.

  “We need you to be as healthy as possible for our purposes.” He fpped at me. “You are a representation of two of our ideological enemies, the human and khaveni prakh. Probably a faggy gornazut as well.” He shifted his head from side to side as he spoke. It was disturbing. “We will show our foe the strength of our resolve to order the cosmos properly. Our final victory begins today with the representation we will surely show the fate of this degeneracy.”

  I stopped chewing and locked eyes with him. “I am the representation? You are gonna kill me to try and show that you are moral? Is that what is happening here?”

  “You have indeed come upon the proper meaning of my intentions. We must be seen to be proper and taking care of even the most degenerate and disgusting rat such as yourself despite my bile rising just sharing a common space with you. Freak faggot.” He spat.

  “Yeah, guess we’ll see what happens, dumbass.” I continued to shovel food into my face. No reason to die hungry. “Hey idiot! Get me a nice dessert, perhaps a choccy cake?” Artillery exploded not too far away.

  “Your compatriots inch ever closer. Their attempts have been thus far been parried, hope not that they shall reach you err the time I am allowed to move you, faggot!”

  “In the meantime, choccy cake, asshole!” I brandished my fork at him.

  “I will be brought to ecstasy as my ears are entreated to your wails as your body is licked and pped at by the purifying fmes and your degeneracy is at st burned and ultimately removed from a world that deserves not the impurity of your predilections.” He squawked loudly. “Kill the faggot!” He walked out of the room, I hoped he would return quickly with the cake.

  The artillery sounded like it was nding close. I looked at my wrist and was surprised to see my watch still there. I turned it over to search mode, the second hand was flipping like crazy. The source of the anti-transportation field must be nearby, perhaps in the hospital itself.

  The asshole reappeared with cake. He took a bite and then bent over me to pce the bitten cake in front of me. I shed out and stabbed at his equivalent of the corroded artery. He squawked loudly and fell to the ground in a rapidly growing pool of blood.

  I pulled the mobile power pack for the gurney I occupied and grabbed the asshole’s gun. I steered the thing out and moved toward the nearest elevator. Doctors and nurses attempted to stop me but thought twice when I started shoving my purloined gun in their faces.

  I went to the bottom most floor, the hour hand leveled to three. I went around until I found the device and I ripped the cable out of the wall and set up ready to defend until I was rescued or died in this bottom floor room.