Published: 3 Jan 2019

Dante’s idea about contacting the planetary militia had been a good one. The district commander in and around the largest city, Amber Grain, had been only too happy to pass on the names of a baker’s dozen of thirteen to sixteen-year-olds who had gone through frame training, gotten basic certs, and subsequently been relegated to standby pilots. He also told Robin he could find others who would be willing to talk to a merc unit, any merc unit, if it meant getting a slot with a combat ready frame assigned to them, even if it was as in a backup slot. There just wasn’t much frame time allotted to PDF framers until they were assigned a frame which meant they were put to work doing other things, meaning chore-like duties.

The final pieces came together when Caleb had come through, getting Major O’Connell to hand over the Blade frames with no strings attached.

Beyond all this, Brave Humanities made an offer he and Major O’Connell couldn’t refuse. If the major gave up salvage aboard the ferry Caleb shot down, including any data on the computers, Brave Humanities would hand over eight Lawman Recruit frames and four Lawman Deputies to Robin, and twelve Lawman Sheriff frames to the Grenadiers all with basic weapon configurations. They also offered to give the Blades basic load-outs as well. Robin guessed there was some intel Brave Humanities really wanted, plus part of the deal allowed them to make sure every frame they had ended up with a stunner. Since it gave him better combat frames than Blades to put out into the field, and he wouldn’t have to risk frames captured by his fellow Grenadiers, he was only too happy with the overall offer. Besides, he figured the Brave Humanities guys would demand he put stunners on all the frames anyway, so he accepted without asking what the frames would be armed with.

Within hours Robin had basic files on the young backup pilots waiting for frame placement in the Amber Grain Sector. The problem was there was not much in them. All thirteen had Basic Frame Piloting certs along with Laser and Standard Ballistic. From there they each had one other. The vast majority had elected to get certified in Missile, three settled on Sonic, and the last one took Advanced Beam. None of them had done great. All but two had been in the bottom quarter of their piloting classes and only three had been in the top half in any of their weapon classes. However, all had passed the tests and only three of them needed to test a second time to get their certs, two in piloting and one in sonic weapons. Even better, it wasn’t just some Planetary Defense Force certification. All the basic testing for the New Brunswick PDF was handled by AIM.

For Robin, this meant all those he was looking at bringing into the unit had AIM cards and in the eyes of AIM they were ready to see combat. It wouldn’t reflect too badly on him if they didn’t do well since he could point out he hired AIM certified pilots. On the other hand, Robin realized they were only Basic certs. These were tests every Grenadier double digit passed on his or her first attempt as far back as when Major O’Connell was just a Double D himself, and probably even further back. While there were tons of stories to be heard within the Grenadiers, not one ever involved a Double D not passing Basic Frame, Laser and Ballistic. In the Grenadiers, this was a rite of passage from child to official Double D and there was always a party when it happened. No matter the money situation, Major O’Connell had the new Double D at an AIM station with six hundred credits in hand, two hundred for each basic test, and a fully loaded small frame so the child could test the first moment he could get the new ten-year-old to AIM. The vast majority of the time it was on the tenth birthday. The only reason some waited longer was because they were in space or the unit was in combat at the time and couldn’t get the new Double D to an AIM testing center on his or her tenth birthday.

The other concern beyond the fact those he was hiring only had basic certs was having a basic cert only told Robin so much. For instance, he knew all thirteen had run a frame obstacle course and had completed it without major damage to the pilot or the frame and had done so in under one hour. He knew they could all fire a laser and standard ballistic weapons and hit a stationary target at long weapon’s range three out of four times and a moving target at moderate weapon’s range with one out of two shots. Those were well known AIM standards for AIM basic level testing. AIM Basic certs were simply pass or fail. The only way to know a real grade was to be one of the observers to the test, which is why he had Peter and Sam’s grades, since Zane’s father and Captain Tanner had witnessed them. For the vast majority, a basic cert was knowing the pilot had gotten what amounted to a 65% or better on Piloting, Standard Ballistic, and Laser on a safe closed course. Two people on the same obstacle course with one completing in thirty minutes in a frame with no dirt on it and the other falling across the line at fifty-nine minutes with a couple of minor armor dings from falling both got the same certificate. Only Advanced tests got real grades along with possible awards. This left Robin with the PDF records telling graduation ranking, but those could be skewed by bias either good or bad from instructors who may have detested a good framer or liked a bad one.

The final problem, at least in Robin’s mind was the Amber Grain’s commanding officer. Commander Korstock, hadn’t come out and said he wanted to get rid of the thirteen he transmitted files over for, but he strongly hinted at it. In the man’s own words, ‘These kids have a long wait to get a frame slot’. Korstock then went on to explain to Robin, drumming out or dismissing young certified frame pilots looked bad on his record, since they took more time and money to train than other recruits. However, if they dropped out on their own to take spots where they could still be frame pilots there wouldn’t be much, if any, pushback. This was especially true if the kids took a spot where they were assigned to security somewhere within the system, even if it was with a merc unit. The reason for this was there were always more pilots than operational frames, and new pilots waited sometimes for months for a former framer to retire or new frames to come down from supply. At the same time raids were common, so getting pilots into frames within the star system to fight back was seen as more important to the upper echelons than who they were working for. While it was never said, Robin was smart enough to read between the lines. The thirteen names he was given were not anywhere near the top of the priority list to get a PDF frame assigned to them. Robin also bet the backlog of having so many framers available prevented Commander Korstock from putting in requisitions to get others trained who may be more to the man’s liking.

Since Robin was forming a merc unit that would be in system at least six months, it was almost a dream come true for the frustrated commander and those who knew they were a long ways off from getting a frame slot. Commander Korstock even offered to cover the wages of whoever Robin selected for the first three months out of his discretionary funds, clearly hoping the young merc would take them all. This way Robin would not have to cover the three months of guaranteed wages with AIM since the PDF was willing to guarantee the kids’ pay. Once word went out to the would-be pilots awaiting a frame to become available, five kids signed on sight unseen. The problem was it would take a week or more to muster the kids out and get approval for kids the PDF was responsible for to take on a much more dangerous spot in a merc unit.

However, while the time requirement was a setback, having five sign on gave Robin a full roster, so the AIM new unit representative signed off on the paperwork under the condition the fledgling merc unit didn’t take a contract until at least three of the pilots were in place. In other words, Robin had his unit, but had to wait until all the slots were physically filled before he could chase down any contracts.

If anything, this stipulation worked well, since it gave Robin time to take over the buildings, chase out a score of homeless, repair fences, patch up buildings, repair solar power arrays, buy batteries for them, and a whole host of other things the kids never considered until they started having to fork out money or figure out how to do it themselves. As the kids started to see how fast unit coffers seemed to vanish, many of the Grenadier double digits started figuring out things they could do for themselves or found others who could. This included digging post holes in the rocky ground and putting up sections of fencing rather than pay an outside company to do it. It was hard exhausting work, but saved several thousand credits.

Between the drills Master Sergeant Ryder and Senior Sergeant Nire forced on them to create good unit cohesion, the myriad of repair tasks, the cleaning of the buildings, the maintenance on the frames and Inner Planetary Superiority Craft, and the basics needed to set up barracks and supply areas, the kids were happy they didn’t have to worry about much else and were pretty much thrilled when they got to grab a sonic shower and retire for the night. Robin worked with the three adults to set up good guard rotations, but otherwise his entire time was spent in drill with the others, figuring out who could do what when needed, or finding a contractor to make or repair something no one in the unit could.

If there was any saving grace to the establishment of his unit and operations base, it was the cost of food was extremely low. A thousand credits got him lots of high quality food those in the unit not only liked, but also was simple enough to cook. To make things easy on himself, he tasked each squad leader with figuring out who would cook and clean, but with a couple of open air grills, cleaning was simple enough and within a couple of days meals became a bit of a break where several squads sat down and had conversations about things other than fixing the camp and drill. Seeing how well the grills were working, Robin ended up spending more on a few extra big grills than he did on the first week of food.

However, by the fourth day Robin was really wishing he could find some kind of contract, any kind, just to get some more money in the unit account. He let a long exhale as he rubbed his hand down his face while he watched the drilling rig cut through the rock at the abandoned test site. Just realizing it was costing him six grand to put in a new well and have it hooked up so he could have water in the buildings sent a shiver up his spine. He already guessed as he watched the drill rig boring down into soil, the long-abandoned plumbing within the buildings would need lots of work. In this, he was seriously hoping Caleb and Dante would be able to jump in, since both had helped Caleb’s father with plumbing repairs on the Grey Stallion countless times over the past few years. Even then, he figured it would cost a couple of thousand for parts. It was enough to make him wonder why he ever thought running his own unit would be so much fun.

The worst part in Robin’s mind was, the money he was spending on projects like the water that would soon be running into the buildings wasn’t even his. He had to figure out a way to pay Major O’Connell back, with minimal interest, and still make enough to keep things going. He couldn’t help but want to apologize to the major for every time he complained about something getting patched instead of fixed, or not repaired at all. Suddenly it all started to make a great deal more sense. Every time Major O’Connell fixed the military hardware and let something else slide until money came available was not being cheap or stingy, it was a hard choice with no easy answer.

As he knelt and tossed a couple of rocks, Luna came over, “Robin… Captain, Commander Korstock is on the radio, wanting to talk to you.”

Robin cringed, “Oh, crap, I hope he isn’t backing out on getting us those pilots!”

“I don’t think so. Sounds like we may be able to go grab them early, but he really wants to talk to you.”

Robin stood and forced a smile, “Well, talking to him has got to be better than watching six grand go down the drain.”

“Hey, if it gets me a water shower, it’ll pretty much be worth all six, but you’re right, after all this is said and done, everything you are spending on this project is going to go down drains. Kind of sad when you think about it.”

“Scary is what it is. But having facilities that don’t reek to take a dump is what I am going to be happy about. Those outhouses are starting to stink and the contract I signed doesn’t get them cleaned but once a week.”

Luna sighed, “This has got the be the most humid world we have ever been on, which isn’t helping and the bugs are drawn to the smell.”

“Yeah, and I don’t know what they call them, but those brown ones with the long wings hurt when they bite.”

“Those mandible things pinch hard.” Luna agreed. “The worst part is I don’t even know why they bite, since they don’t seem to draw blood very often and they don’t drink when they do. They just seem to like to hop on and take a bite for no reason.”

“I hope they go away or at least not be so many once we have indoor facilities. What really sucks is I seem to be paying to attract the stupid things!”

At this Luna snickered, “And just think, in three days you get to pay to clean them or pay to get them picked up.”

“Oh, they are going away. I don’t care what we have to do, the bathrooms are the very first thing Dante and Kay get on line or I pay to get someone out here. I’m done with those port-a-dumps. I got bit on the nuts last night!”

“Ohhhh…” Luna’s eyes gleamed, “Is there vid?”

Robin tossed up his arms, “You are impossible… and I sure hope not!” Seeing Luna giggling, he added, “I had no idea how bad the smells and bugs would get here!” He then shot Luna a smirk as he made his way across the partially buckled airfield and toward the radio building. “The unit will pay for bathrooms, but you’ll have to take down an extra frame or two on our first full salvage contract to pay for water showers though.”

“Consider my chain gun primed, you just get us a contract and remember to get a concession on ammo. Heavy ammo is expensive on this rock. A full load of chain gun ammo for my frame runs over 2600 credits!”

“Dante’s auto cannon is close to the same for a single reload,” Robin sighed. “Master Sergeant Ryder had me go through the costs of ammo per frame last night. If we can get a decent payout on a mission or two, I can a contract out to Brave Humanities for large ammo shipments, which will save tons, but minimum order is a hundred and fifty thousand credits.”

Luna shook her head while shouting, “Oh, bite me!”

“It will if we have to pay New Brunswick pricing. A single reload for all our frames and aerospace units is just under two hundred thousand. For a hundred and sixty-two grand I can get two full reloads for every frame and superiority craft from Brave Humanities.”

“So back on the moon when the major didn’t want anything to do with the flash contract…”

“Yeah, if we took it and went on a shooting spree we could have lost money before we even paid for transport and frame repair. Neil went in with only three others, got salvage, and still didn’t come out with as big a payout as I would have thought. If we had gone out we would have lost serious credits. We are going to have to be careful about contract negotiations.”

“Like including ammo, huh?”

“Yeah, and some medical as well. Just like we’ve seen when the major or Captain Tanner do a flash contract, they go after a couple of key items. For us, while we are here, we’ll have to target ammo and medical as part of the terms since both are extremely expensive in this system.”

Robin stopped talking as he entered the radio room, since all three adults over him were in it. Caleb’s mom said nothing, but did point to the radio.

At the same time Senior Sergeant Nire spoke up, “All you Captain. We’re just here to listen.”

Robin took a deep breath and moved up to the radio, while noting Brave Humanities had been nice enough to drop off a few things to make the radio room into a real command center, including a holographic relay unit, a three-dimensional topographical display table, and a status board to electronically track individual frames and aero units. With a frown, he looked over to Master Sergeant Ryder, “Sir, how much is all this costing me?”

Ryder snickered, “Nothing. I managed to get Commander Bennett to authorize since you and her son are battle tested buddies. She put it down as trade for salvage. She collected all the parts of the micro fighters Vlad and Kay took out, and you get all this.”

“Nice! I’ll be sure to thank her!” Robin grinned as he rubbed his hand down the side of the topographical overlay table. It was way nicer than anything the Grenadiers had and he knew there was no way the minimal salvage from the micro fighters could have covered it, let alone the addition of the status board and holographic relay.

Robin moved over to the radio, noting it had also been upgraded to full vid-link. He looked over to Yemelyan, who was manning the radio. “Sergeant, can you get me Commander Korstock?”

“Yes sir. He has been waiting.”

At this Robin raised an eyebrow, but still nodded that he was ready. After only a couple of seconds the face of a man Robin had thus far only talked to on radio appeared. Robin snapped to attention, “Sir, Captain Lerrik of the Ruffian Rebels. What can I do for you?”

“Captain, good to finally see you.” The man stated without showing any surprise at the young teen with long hair looking back at him. This told Robin, the man already had his picture and probably his full AIM file as well. “I’m wondering if you could come take five framers off my hands tomorrow morning and talk to nine others who really would like to have a frame they could pilot?”

“You got them released early?”

“No, they got paid today and were given the option of buying out their military requirement by signing their checks back to the PDF. So I got myself thirteen broke basic frame certified teens, all looking for a home and a command staff that will not be terribly happy with me if they don’t all find some frames to jump into. The last one has some combat and certs to go with it, but she was pulled from her frame since one of our adults lost his to a training accident, and she is second line. According to you, your unit has eighteen open frames, so I’d be very happy if you could fly up here and convince them all to sign with you.”

“If I am going to take fourteen pilots, I want to see what they have, sir.”

“Understandable. How about I send you a Black Comet military shuttle tomorrow morning with twenty-two frame slots? You can load up several of your spare frames and bring along some of your people to test the pilots I have for you. I’ll even give you a half of an ammo load for each frame you fill with one of my former standby pilots so you can test them on the range. This will allow you to see them in some simulated action and also let me verify you have fully operational frames to stick them in. I’m not doubting you, but I’d just like to make high command happy with some vids. I’ll need a list, so I can have ammo waiting, though.”

While he was happy to hear he was getting his pilots early, the way this was going down told Robin he was having undesirables pushed onto him. He was willing to bet just about everything he owned, most of the kids were not just bad pilots, sub-par gunners, and near rejects, they were also lazy, disrespectful, loners, troublemakers, whiners, or a combination thereof. No one would be this eager to get rid of certified frame pilots if they weren’t. However, Caleb’s mom was off to the side nodding and both Ryder and Nire looked interested. In addition, having at least one of the pilots with combat experience would be nice, since the others would probably look up to her. “Sir, I’ll get you a ammo list before nightfall.”

“Good, I’ll have the Comet there by 0530, and expect you here before noon. Commander Korstock out.”

Shortly after the PLC hooked up with the SFC and the crews double-checked all gear for the fold, Neil floated over to Kylem and Coryn. Both kids were clutching their hips and trying very hard not to cry. Neither were succeeding, but they were at least putting a brave face on it. “Guys, I know it hurts, but if you don’t move around, it will only make it last longer.”

Coryn looked up while forcing herself to stretch her leg, “I should have stayed on the moon…”

“Little late to turn back now,” Kylem managed to get out without totally sobbing. “But I don’t understand, Finn.”

“What?”

“The bone shots…”

“Ky, I warned you all…”

“I know, I know…” Kylem stopped and gritted his teeth as Neil reached out, put his hand on the boy’s hip, and started rotating the boy’s leg for him. It took over a minute for him to be able to finish what he had been trying to say, and even then it took everything he had not to beg Neil to stop. “But the trip to the moon took seven days by ore ship, and we never had to get one of these…”

“Seven days is not enough to lose bone density, Ky. But even then, I bet they gave you a Bispho pill.”

“Before I even left and it made me kind of sick, but I’d take being sick getting one of those ever three days over this! I screamed like a two-year-old when he stuck me!”

Warrant Officer Stewart, the former AIM medic, glanced over after giving Zane his bone shot, “Kid, you did pretty good. Many of the adults will be the same when I get to them. As for taking pills, Bisphos are great for short trips like going to the moon or going up to a SFC, taking a single fold, and dropping back down to another planet, but if you take them for too long, there are lots of other problems, especially until you stop growing. If you had been my kid, I would have gotten you a bone shot rather than take a single Bispho. As best as we can tell there are no side-effects from a bone shot.”

Coryn eyed the man, “Yeah, there is!”

“Really? Nothing I have ever heard of.”

“Pain!” Coryn all but shouted as Zane moved over as started rotating her leg around the same as Neil was doing for Kylem.

Zane snickered while spinning his own leg around, “By the time we get planet-side again, it will feel more like a Lebanon Sand Lizard bite than a Jakarta Dagger Wasp sting. A year from now, you’ll be able to remember this day, hide the wince, and smile as someone you don’t like gets one for the first time. But if you don’t move your leg around, it will tighten up something nasty.”

Kylem could tell the way Neil was moving his leg was already helping, but it was a long way from being OK. “I’d prefer a belting from my dad over this…” However, his interest was piqued, and he simply couldn’t let it slide, “Um, is there really such a thing as a Dagger Wasp?”

Neil nodded, “Jakarta II… ranks right up there with Red Star as a list of places you don’t want to have to go, Ky. It has lots of nasties, but the Dagger Wasp is the worst. It’s a twelve-legged flying bug… All of Jakarta’s native bugs have twelve legs, but this one has little hooks on the end of its feet so it can latch on. It then slams its tail into the skin which comes with a two to four centimeter long retractable blade.”

Zane noticeably twitched, “Yeah, they call it a stinger, but it’s not. It’s a triangle with each point having a hard very sharp ridge that all goes down to the point. If you manage to kill one and pull out the blade, the ridges are sharp enough to cut thin leather like a razor. The point is hollow though, so once in, it sucks up blood by squishing in its back section, then pulling in blood like a syringe does. Once the back tail is red, it detaches and flies off.”

Neil could tell the kids were skeptical, so he nodded, “Zyden’s telling the truth. The worst part is, it’s too tough to just slap, so you have to like punch it, which only drives the blade in deeper, and even if you kill it, once it’s latched on you have to pull out each of the twelve hooked feet. If you don’t, it will tear skin off and you end up with not only a bloody puncture from the tail but twelve more spots where you tore the skin off. If you deal with it and let it fill up, the hooks detach and there is way less pain, cause the hooks let go, but while it is on you… Yeah, pretty much like a bone shot.”

Zane then added, “When you get to Jakarta they give you a vest with thick plastic inserts so you don’t get stung in the chest, where a big one could do damage to something internal. If you ever go, save fifty credits and as soon as you hit the streets outside the spaceport, buy yourself a nicer one with breathable armored pads. Most clothing shops offer deals if you buy more than one, so if you bring a hundred credits you can get three or maybe even four. This way you can wash one and still have a clean one plus the one you are wearing.”

Neil quickly agreed, “The bought ones are way worth the price, since the vests they give all arrivals are stiff, rub wrong, and you really need to have more than one so you can wash them regularly. Jakarta II is a dusty, hot, pretty dry world. Dagger Wasps are pretty much worldwide too.” He then grinned, “Plus the free spaceports vests look stupid and you stand out as a visitor. As with most places, especially the rough ones, it’s better to look native. There are street packs that look for new arrivals to harass, rob, beat, and even worse, roaming many worlds just outside the spaceports. And trust me when I tell you Jakarta II is one of those.”

Seeing the kids’ eyes get bigger even as Sekrena let out a howl of pain as she got her first bone shot, then started begging to get it out before the serum could be fully injected, Zane added, “One thing Finn is forgetting, Dagger Wasps are attracted to the smell of blood, so… once you get nailed, you tend to get hit a couple more times. Fortunately they are pretty territorial, so there aren’t many in any one area and once they feed, they go away. Still, my unit started putting flame throwers on some of our frames and burned the ground around our campsites before setting up, since they live in shallow holes in the ground. But when we fought, lots showed up… attracted to the scent of the wounded.”

“Being bloodied on Jakarta II is extremely bad…” Neil glanced over as the injector was finally removed from her hip and watched for a few seconds as she gripped her hip with both hands and cried, “Rena, the faster you move your leg around the quicker the sharp stabs you are feeling will fade.”

Sekrena shot Neil a withering glare, “I thought you were just trying to make us stay behind when you told us about these!”

Zane gave little snort, “From what I’ve seen, Finn doesn’t really lie; it’s just not his nature. Sometimes it would be better if he did, but hey, to each their own.”

Seeing Wiles start to edge away, the medic reached out and grabbed him by his collar and pulled him over to the table, “Come on, kid, you’re older than your buddies. Now pull down your pants and expose your upper hip just like the rest of ’em before I yank ’em all the way down on you!”

Getting a look telling him the man was dead serious, Wiles’ shoulders dropped and he moved over and pushed the waistline of his pants down. But seeing the injector getting close he jerked away. Before he could get free, the medic grabbed him, secured him in a headlock and slammed the shot into the protruding hip bone. Warrant Officer Stewart then held on tight as the kid screamed in agony.

At this both Zane and Neil glared and moved on the medic while Jasha spoke for all three of them, “He was scared! You didn’t have to smash it into him!”

With no real remorse in his voice he looked down and barked, “He gave me no choice!” The force of the man’s voice made both Zane and Neil pause. The medic, however, didn’t let up. “Now instead of getting mad at me, hold him still before he twists and the infuser does damage to his hip!”

At this both Neil and Zane floated over and helped hold the pleading teen as still as possible.

As soon as Warrant Officer Stewart was certain they had him, he released Wiles from the headlock which allowed the boy to breathe easier. With an annoyed shake of his head the medic continued to keep the injector in place even as he explained. “Look, guys, I get it. You don’t want your new buddy beaten up any worse than the training you are giving him has already done. What I did seems crappy, but right now, he’s just lucky I got it into the hip.

“If he had moved and I missed or only gotten it part of the way in, it would feel like wherever I hit him was on fire, and there’d be nothing I could do about it. It’s meant to go into the bone, and only bone. The other thing is, I’d still have to give him a proper one… Even worse, once the infuser is in, moving it can cause short term damage, and may already have. If he had broken it off, I’d have to go in and extract it from the bone… Still, even if it didn’t cause a few micro cracks of the injection site, this one is going to hurt for a while and I’m certain I just added another deep bruise to the ones you all have been giving each other. The other problem is, it didn’t go in straight, so this is going to take a bit longer.”

Kylem let out a breath, “Sorry, Wiles…”

“Not as sorry as he is going to be.” Warrant Officer Stewart sighed. “You may want to leave him out of the training tonight. He’s not going to be able to do much to any of you and he’ll be an easy target.”

“We all already are,” Sekrena growled. “Neither Zyden or Finn have a single mark. We’re like toys to them, even when they let us try to team up on them.”

Lucya overheard as she floated in with the other two Q VII conscripted cadets and cringed as she saw Wiles shaking like a leaf in a hurricane with the injector pushed up against the middle of his hip bone, “None of us can do much to them, not really. Jasha has come closest to really getting in a good shot on them and he is way better than the rest of us, but as much as I hate it, the training really is working. At least we can move through the passageways without looking totally stupid any more. Q VII should have given us more than a day to have fun in zero-G each year.”

“Or used those days to teach you something other than just having fun,” Zane snickered, “I bet everything had pads on it too!”

The girl shot Zane a spiteful glare, “Unlike you, they actually cared if we got hurt.”

“No they didn’t,” Neil fired back. “If they really cared, they would have prepared you for spaceflight.”

“They gave everyone a two-day stint before the off-world field trips before the war started, Comrade.” Jasha stated, clearly sticking up for his academy at least a little, “But lots never took them.”

“Too expensive?” Kylem asked.

“Neyt,” Antone shook his head, “um no, I mean… Most who went were already from off world. Until we had to run, most of us never thought of leaving our home.”

“But the military was not liked,” Zane stated, “so why go into the academy and have a job where you weren’t liked?”

Vadim responded and moved up to take his bone shot as Warrant Officer Stewart finally pulled the injector out of Wiles and checked it to make sure nothing had broken off, “Security companies paid big money to frame pilots to withstand initial assaults. Raiders like to hit facilities and grab things before the military could respond. But Quaker VII PDF was fast, so if a security team could hold out for even an hour, it was normally enough. Looking back, I bet it was mostly Q VI testing defenses and grabbing supplies when and where they could. We should have assaulted Quaker VI the first time they tried to send in a large team instead of just beating them back over and over…”

He stopped talking and let out tormented howl as the bone shot went in, then as he got his breath back and fought hard to blink out tears rather than cry, he managed to stammer out in a quaking voice, “I have to get one of these every three days?”

“Until you get five in you, then you can back down to one every five days,” Warrant Officer Stewart responded while keeping a firm hold on the thirteen-year-old so he didn’t jerk or move his hip too much. “If we were going to be in space a very long time, or were taking a job guarding an asteroid mining camp in extreme low-G for months, it drops down to one ever fifteen days after five more shots because the proteins start to synthesize enough to where the body puts some natural effort into keeping proper bone mass, but once the shots stop, the body slows production and after only three to four weeks, bits of bone mass can be lost again.”

The man removed the injector while staring with some annoyance at Wiles, “Less than a third of the time and probably half the pain.” He then reached over and patted Vadim on the back, “For a first-timer, real well done.”

Vadim gripped his hip tightly with one hand while wiping a stream of tears and a trace of snot streaming down his face with the other as he floated away since the pat on his back slightly pushed him toward the others who had already gotten shots, “I’d say thanks, sir, but I really wouldn’t mean it.”

Zane and Neil both busted up with laughter while Warrant Officer Stewart, snickered. At the same time Jasha angled over and started rotating Vadim’s leg. While he wasn’t laughing, he did smile.

Once the other kids got their shots, Neil and Zane helped them back to rooms to rest. A couple hours later, they came and got them all so the two could get the rest of the kids safely to the ship’s observation station. As the group floated in, they noted all eleven of the Death Warriors were there, as were over two dozen of the Q Sabers, but oddly enough, there was no sign of the Q Sabers officers.

Lieutenant Horri scanned each kid as they floated in before saying anything, “Ah, the rest of the younger Sabers, and all doing quite well in zero-G. How many are doing his or her first fold?”

Vadim looked over, “Does the miss-fold that got us here count, sir?”

Captain Lomo looked over, “Only for familiarity and resilience one receives from surviving such an occurrence, Recruit.”

As soon as the man spoke, Zane’s eyes narrowed.

Before anything could be said, Lieutenant Horri spoke up, “Young Specialist, is there a problem?”

Zane stayed focused on Lomo even as he realized he had given himself away. The problem was he couldn’t help it, the man’s voice gave him an instant cold sweat. “I know him…”

Lomo raised his right eyebrow, while cocking his head to his left, “Young warrior I find your supposition to be remarkable, for while I have cognitive abilities to rapidly identify most I have dealt with, I hold no reminiscence of an interaction with you.”

Even as Neil turned and kept his back to everyone in the observation lounge and glared at Zane, Jasha looked over and spoke, “Zyden, you sure?”

“Positive,” Zane stated while giving Neil a tiny yet momentary wince. “I just don’t remember from where… but it is giving me the heebie-jeebies…” Zane then floated past both Neil and Jasha and closed to within a few meters of the man, “Captain, who are you?”

“Captain Lomo, commandant of the Death Warriors, previously acknowledged as Baker’s Bandits,” Lomo responded while taking time to carefully examine the boy who was fighting inner demons, but still managed to bury enough fear to move forward and float in front of him. While he was confused by the boy’s visceral reaction, he was impressed with the youngster’s bravery and internal drive. As he studied the boy, his mind drew a blank, but he guessed he had somehow encountered the child as a ‘recruiter’ for the games. The problem was, he would have certainly marked the boy in front of him as a strong candidate, meaning he would have unquestionably remembered the child. The other thing was, very few escaped once he had marked them, so he focused on the places where some had slipped the grasp of those he had turned prospective candidates over to. “Did you, by happenstance, partake in any action during Talborne’s Andar assault?”

“No, wasn’t there, but some of my friends were…”

Lomo continued to study the boy intently while responding with some befuddlement, “While your appearance says you are excessively youthful to have seen such conflict, my detachment initiated copious engagements and skirmishes on Dark Earth before an influx of Blood’s Honor forces pacified the system.”

“Never been there,” Zane stated while shaking his head. The truth was he was as frustrated at the way the man talked as to his inability to pinpoint where he had encountered him. Not only was the speech odd, it contained words he had little to no familiarity with. However, the more the guy spoke, the more certain he was he had both seen and heard the man somewhere else. “Am I allowed to ask where you lost part of your hand? Maybe…”

“Obsidian IV,” Lomo responded while holding out his partial robotic hand and flexing the fingers, giving Zane a good look while making it clear it was alright if Zane wanted to touch them. “Should I have encountered you in the Obsidian system, we would both clearly remember. It was less than one Earth Standard month since my detachment was forcibly discharged, under extreme duress, from there. Furthermore, my station within Obsidian amounted to less than twenty Earth Standard weeks.”

Zane sighed as he fought an internal battle of fearing the man, while really wanting to feel the robotic hand. As usual his curiosity took over. He reached out and ran his fingers down the metal appendages, stopping just before the bandages. “Thanks… But I guess not. I’ve only been to Quaker and here over the last year.”

“A star system I have yet to behold,” Lomo stated with a shrug while lightly stroking Zane’s cheek with his metallic fingers. Seeing the boy wince, but not turn away, impressed the man greatly. “Should further epiphanies befall you over your insistence of having indulged my acquaintance before, this discussion should certainly continue. Furthermore, you should in no way perceive this as a dismissal of your concerns. Your demeanor informs me someone with a veneer of resemblance to me has impressed within you extreme and near irreconcilable harm, as your abhorrence still totally encompasses your very being. This horrific encounter has left a deep disfigurement within your soul. Yet, you are able to push this aside enough to subdue your demons with a maturity most four times your age would find astonishing and admirable. Should there be a method for me to aid in your inner wound’s closure in any way, I will endeavor to be of such assistance.

“Until such time, putting aside hostilities within and focusing your attention on those under your position of authority should be your focus. For you are, by rank and familiarity with this situation, looked up to by those you entered this recreational cabin with.”

Zane let out a long breath, “I know… But I am still certain we have met and it wasn’t a good time or place…”

“I am open to further dialogue, young warrior. However, you currently have an obligation to execute to your subordinates. For it has been more folds than I can reminisce over; however, I still recollect my first fold with an abundance of clarity, both the excitement and the objectionable side-effects inflicting many within my academy level. It is your contractual obligation, your requirement, as their superior to guide, mentor, and assist those under you; just as those given authority over me at the time rendered appropriate assistance to my colleagues who found their first few jaunts across folded space sickeningly objectionable.”

Zane gave Lomo a nod, “Yes, sir.” Even as he maneuvered back over to the kids Lieutenant Polzin had conscripted, he glanced back over his shoulder. He stayed clear of Neil, since there was no question Lieutenant Horri was watching his interactions with the others. Instead he moved over to Antone and Lucya, “Since you have never seen a fold, move to the far aft viewing portal. The colors of the rip are best looking forward, but we can’t see the front of the fold ship, so looking back will let you see the rip before it snaps shut.”

Neil quickly agreed, “Ky, get a good spot so you can see it. The rest of you, there are two other back portals, but do me a favor and find something secure to grab hold of. Don’t float in zero-G through a fold. Depending on the experience of the SFC pilot, moving through the fold, followed by the closing of the fold rip can create a nasty shockwave. Nothing like what a miss-fold is like, but it can still be bad.”

Wiles latched onto a table with both hands, but frowned. “How come you are floating, then?”

Lieutenant Horri spoke up with a chuckle, “Young one, the way your corporal moves tells me he has done this more times than he can easily count. No matter what happens he will be ready for it. The same applies to your still nervous specialist. However, Specialist, I would strongly recommend you refocus. I can assure you, my commander will do nothing to harm you and being distracted during a fold, no matter the familiarity, can be dangerous.”

Neil finally spoke to Zane, but did so in a way he knew Zane would see as them needing to be seen as not being nearly as good of friends as they were. “Zyden, the lieutenant is correct. You are my best bet to get the others combat ready. I don’t need you with a concussion. So either hold onto something or forget about Captain Lomo, who happens to be who hired us and is paying our contract.”

“But I am certain…”

“He just covered his last stations and you’ve been on Quaker getting your butt kicked by a low-tech world backed by EC pricks. Besides, he’s a merc and so are we. Even if you did exchange shots with him at some point, he was doing his job and you were doing yours.”

“I normally don’t see who I am shooting at, and even if I do… no, this is different.”

“Well, you’re working for him so get over it!” Neil barked. “Go back to being your stuck-up self.”

“You’re the one with an attitude!”

“I’m in charge of you, so deal with it. But I am getting sick of your crap. All you want to do is try to show me up since you also happen to have a Blood’s Honor number. But, face it, you’ve done nothing but tell me about being on Quaker over the last year. Oh, and bitching about having to retake Advanced Frame Repair so you can get your certs.”

Since Zane picked up on what Neil was doing instantly, he put a deep frown on his face and clenched his fists, “Yeah, I have. I’ve seen more combat than you ever did and I passed my stupid test!”

“Not until AIM says you did.” Neil fired back. “And while your Advanced Combat test was good, I did better, I have a AIM mission under my belt, and I actually do have my repair certs. As soon as we get this fold done, you want to move into the middle of this room and go a few rounds, fine. It’ll show the others I’ve been holding back on them.”

“Sure, I’d love to give you another fat lip…”

At this, Lieutenant Horri slid in between the two boys, “Knock it off, both of you. I can tell both of you are quite skilled and we want you in one piece and training those under you. Besides, this does nothing for morale.”

“Yeah it does,” Wiles spoke up while making sure he was still gripping the edge of the table tightly. “I’d love to see them both looking more like the rest of us.”

At this Master Sergeant Shoda chuckled, “Looking at you and your fellow conscripts, young one, the very last thing you want is for these two boys to have darker moods when they next work with you.”

At this Jasha looked over, “Wiles, the master sergeant is right! Do you really want a mad Zyden or Finn having a go at us in the next zero-G sparing session?”

Kylem shook his head wildly, “No! I am already more purple than tan skinned as it is!”

Neil glanced over and snickered, “Come on, Ky, you look good with purple, red, black and blue skin!”

“At least he has darker skin to hide it some,” Sekrena stated. “It’ll take weeks for me to look like I’m not some abused orphaned street kid.”

Zane took a deep breath and did his utmost to make it look like he was having a hard time calming down, “I only gave you half of those. You gave yourself the other half.”

Antone growled, “Only because the two of you keep setting us up to bump into things when we try to duck and dodge you! And while I’d love to see the two of you beat the snot out of each other, I sure don’t want either one of you taking it out on us after you’re done. So, please, just stop.”

Sergeant Zakharovich also spoke up, “Besides, you two promised me you would work on my Artillery Frame once we detach and burn toward the next fold ship. I need both of you in top shape cause it needs all the help and love you can give it!”

Lieutenant Horri smiled as he saw both boys relax a little. “Why not set all of this aside, and Master Sergeant Shoda and I will help on the frame. Both of us have extensive technical skills. Master Sergeant Shoda is not only our senior non-officer, he is also our lead ship technician. At the same time, I am not only the operations officer, I am also in command of all field technicians, both platform and frame. I can also bring in a couple of our other technicians to look over any other Q Saber equipment in need of repair.

“Another upside, it would allow me to make sure the next time you take your test, Zyden, you not only pass, but get an expert rating, which according to your corporal’s file he didn’t achieve.”

Neil sighed, “Nope, but I got a Frame Tech Repair Ribbon for scoring proficient or above on every area of the test.”

“An outstanding achievement for a juvenile warrior who performed masterfully during his Advanced Combat Certification and subsequent AIM contracted operation,” Captain Lomo interjected. “It is exceedingly rare and valuable to have combat prowess and technical aptitude within anyone, let alone one so youthful. Yet, I deduce Zyden is cut from the same intergalactic mold. You two need to collaborate, mesh yourselves to one another, for to hold resentment and jealousy will undoubtedly cause a degradation of both of you and your subordinates. Collaboration, however, will construct you into a nearly impervious combat entity.”

Before more could be said, the speaker announced the folding coils were set to discharge. Four minutes later the ship lurched slightly as the fold rip snapped closed behind them.

Before the intercom had a chance to say everything was OK and they had moved 22.73 light years through space, the effects of the fold set in on many.

Wiles was the first to speak, “Oh, I could do these all the time! That was great and the colors, how awesome! … I feel… I don’t even know… What a rush!”

“Great? Rush?” Sekrena stated as she blinked her eyes, “I… feel real… woozy…”

Kylem moved over to Neil’s side and held on, “Am I really in one piece?”

Wiles look continued to look around with excited eyes, “Oh, come on guys, that was fantastic! I can’t wait to do it again!”

Next to him, Coryn curled into a ball and started making heaving sounds. Before puke exploded out of her mouth, Zane glided over and put a vomit bag over her mouth and held it for her. At the same time, he looked over and smiled at Wiles for the first time, “You may not be good at combat, but man, you need to get good at zero-G, cause you sure can space fold!”

Captain Tanner cracked his knuckles as the report came down from the White Tiger as to the departure of the SFC the Q Sabers had hitched a ride with. It was almost like another set Grenadier Double Ds had been permanently dropped from the unit roster. “If they don’t bring Zane and Neil back in one piece…”

Off to the side Specialist Kollan glanced over, “What about Jasha?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, he’s important too, but I don’t know him like I do Zane and Neil. Keep in mind I changed both of their diapers on occasion, watched them the first time they were allowed to float down the passageways of the Stallion, picked both of them up countless times when they first jumped into Micro frames, squeezed Zefflin VIII eel eggs out of their backs when they went for a swim they weren’t supposed to take… You name it. Hell, I even got grazed by a bullet Neil accidently fired from a rifle because he didn’t clear it before he broke it down and started cleaning it. The bullet ding is, or at least was, in the staff lounge right next to the atmospheric monitor. I kind of hope Brave Humanities folks miss it during the overhaul.”

“Oh, I bet he lived to regret it…”

“By the time his mom was done, Neil wished he had been the one shot. Me, after I got over the initial shock of taking a bullet, I was fighting trying not to laugh at the expression on his face. He instantly knew his backside was going to be raw!” Tanner openly laughed, “If we hadn’t been seven decks up pretty much in the middle of the ship, chances are good the then eight-year-old Neil would have run and we would have had a hell of a time finding him on Jakarta II since the spaceport was right next to the largest city.”

Kollan sighed and shook his head, “My kids would have loved this unit…”

“I’m sure you’re right. But I have to say, after losing all three of yours on New Bravaria, I was really surprised you were willing to take in one of the Quaker kids.”

“Stasik needed a home, and the old wounds of losing mine have healed to the point where having a boy again is something I really want… I guess I need in a way. But I’ll always miss Dorian, Annabel, and Xavier. The real problem is we never found Dorian… and while Annabel’s bloody jacket was found at the edge of the burn line in the woods, nothing else was.”

“We lost a few as well. It’s like they vanished while hunting… Best guess is they got caught in a nearby artillery exchange… but hunting was so poor and we were so low on food, they may have simply traveled too far and become lost… There is more blood on and in the soil of the New Bravaria system than I even care to think about… I don’t think I could ever go back there… Anyway, Stasik seems like a hell of a good kid and from what I’ve heard he was one of the few who went out of his way to help some of the Grenadier Double Ds at the Quaker Academy. I’m glad he is with us, and I look forward to getting to know him better.”

“He did help some at the academy. I have heard it from several of the Double Ds, but feels he should have done more now. The problem is his best buddy is with Neil and Zane. From what he has told me, which really isn’t as much as I’d like, Stasik and Jasha joined the academy together, and have been bunkmates the whole time they were there. He begged me to let him go with Jasha, but I nixed it.”

“Mind if I ask why?”

“Yeah, two things. Well, three, but since Stasik didn’t go it is not a direct concern for him, but makes me worry about the other three.”

“Did Brave Humanities really manage to get in fake files on them, right?”

“Yeah. While I know Brave Humanities said they got AIM to tweak the boys’ records, I am worried they may be discovered as belonging to the Grenadiers.”

“We checked, Brave Humanities got the adjusted files in and they were picked up by the Death Warriors. I’m not sure if they paid someone off or hacked them, but all three have solid IDs in AIM not tying them to us and the three of them know the cover stories, or should since we drilled Zane and Jasha on them extensively.” Captain Tanner let out a long breath, “I just hope they don’t accidently blow it… So, what other reasons did you keep Stasik back?”

“One, he is not even close to being over the miss-fold. He needs more time to deal with it and really wrap his brain around the fact he lost his family. Second, well, I am just starting to bond with him and the truth is, having a child back in my life only to lose him so quickly wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.”

“Healing each other, at least some, is a great thing. If it is any consolation, I think you made the right decision. I think it was a mistake to let Jasha go, but I tend to be on the over protective side. Hell, if it had been my call, none of them would have gone.”

Specialist Kollan started to respond but was interrupted as a combat report came across the Grenadier’s link-up to the New Brunswick PDF. The man scanned it quickly, “Sir, this one’s close!”

Tanner moved over and read the message while voice ordering the status board to update and give him a location on the global map. Seeing a dot appear only nineteen kilometers to the southeast of one of the smaller facilities the Grenadiers had been tasked to defend he pointed over to Kollan, “Put out a general alert and send our standby unit to cover the river valley between Gunderson Rock Works and the assault location!”

Specialist Kollan did as instructed, then blinked as the next message came across, “The PDF isn’t sending in any help, sir.”

“Right in line with what Kipper told us. Mining and petrochem facilities are pretty much on their own if they are raided. See if you can get someone from Rocking X Mine on the horn.”

Even as Kollan jumped on the radio, Major O’Connell entered the command center, “Status!”

Tanner didn’t even turn as he spoke, “Another mine, only nineteen point three kilometers from Gunderson is being hit and has put out a call for help. PDF command has passed it off as an open flash contract, but the terms are crap, sir. No one in their right mind is going to pick it up.”

The left side of O’Connell’s mouth twisted upwards, “Then it is a good thing our kids can’t take a mission yet!”

This got a snicker out of Tanner, “And there’s that, sir.”

Kollan looked back over his shoulder, “Sir, I have the Rocking X on the radio, but it’s broken. There must be some kind of ECM or something causing interference.”

O’Connell touched his throat mic. “Osop, your bird ready?”

Warrant Officer Osop responded instantly “Running preflight now, sir!”

“Good, get up and head southeast. I need you to help bypass some radio jamming between us and the Rocking X mine, but stay high. I am not risking more than fuel and a bit of wear and tear at this point.”

“Understood.”

O’Connell then tapped a different spot on his headset, “Ready unit, who is on call?”

“Lieutenant Kromwell, sir.”

“You moving yet?”

“Opening the bay now, sir.”

“Good, I like where Captain Tanner has you moving, but I want a saw tooth deployment with half of your frames on the north side of the gorge and the others blocking the stream and the far hill. If they come into range, keep your northern guns silent and have the rest stick to energy weapons only unless they decide to push you. If they do want to rumble, draw them in and pummel them from high ground, but do not break lines to go after them if they fracture and run. Your only goal is to dissuade them from getting any closer to the Gunderson facility and move back to wherever in the hell they came from. Do not go looking for salvage, but the PDF has opened up full salvage for any raider taken out in this sector, so if you take a few down, grab them.”

“Understood, ammo conserve protocols with offset fields of fire. Priority is to eject from our area of responsibility only, sir.”

“Yes, but if I can get the Rocking X folks on the horn and they can do so, I am going to send them up the edge of the stream. If you see them, protect and get them behind you. I am sending out a second unit to escort and or be a reserve for you all.”

“Understood, sir, but I’m going to need to know what is Rocking X and what is hostile.”

“Pretty sure it will be obvious, but I’ll keep you in the loop.”

Kollan couldn’t hold his tongue, “Sir, far be it for me to join in command decisions, but why not just send a full team in and wipe the hills with raider blood?”

Tanner answered, “Because this could be a diversion to see how we will respond. We are one of the biggest boys on the block along with being the newest, and they may want to see what we’ve got. By not moving in force, we keep them guessing.”

“Exactly,” O’Connell snorted. “Plus, if they do pursue and put frames or platforms into an exposed position, we take salvage while risking very little. However, look beyond the obvious; this will tell us more about some of the raiders we may soon face off with. Their counter reaction will tell me as much about their commanders as they are trying to find out about us.”

“So you are using the other mine as bait?”

“You could look at it that way, Specialist,” Major O’Connell countered, “but from the way I am looking at things, whoever is attacking is the ones using them as bait. All I am doing is trying to hook a different predator with them.”

“But there could be kids in danger!”

Tanner moved over and patted the man on the shoulder, “I am sure there are, but if we go off half-cocked and try to rescue everyone, we could expose our flanks and our own kids along with the kids in the facilities paying us to keep them safe. Are you willing to risk Stasik by sending out a large chunk of what we have when they very well could be waiting for us to weaken our perimeter?”

Kollan shook his head, “No, sir. I’m not.”

“Neither are we,” O’Connell stated. He tapped his comm again, “Osop, you up yet?”

“Yeah, fully loaded and going high now. Whatever they are jamming with is not a blanket. I am getting more chatter the higher I go.”

“Patch what you have through. Let’s see if we can get them moving our way.”

“Comm-link coming up now, sir.”

A voice of a man came over the radio, “We are getting slaughtered out here!”

A neutral sounding female voice responded, “Rocking X, the PDF has no forces in your sector. We have put a mercenary flash mission on the board, but no one has picked it up, I’m sorry. Please note, your comms are becoming less stable.”

O’Connell jumped in at the break, “Rocking X, this is the O’Connell Grenadiers. We are not in a spot to send aid, but if you can pull back to the river and move upstream to the northeast we can cover you once you get within the range of our established protection zone of Kipper and nearby facilities.”

“O’Connell Grenadiers, this is PDF Rustic Wheat sector, handing off all comms on this situation to you and are switching to monitor only. Good luck. PDF out.”

Even as O’Connell repeated his call to Rocking X, Kollan blinked, “Damn, how cold can you get!”

Tanner shrugged, “Actually makes sense Specialist. No need for them to stay on when comms are already spotty and they aren’t in a position or are just not willing to render aid.”

Suddenly the voice of the man from Rocking X came over the radio, “Grenadiers, we are down to two mining cars, four frames and three wheeled platforms… make that two. I don’t think we can pull out!”

“You have to try, Rocking X. Get your non-combatants to the cars. Put your armor and frames between the raiders and the mining cars and back out as fast as your slowest unit allows. Once clear, radio, we’ll give you a smidge of breathing room.”

There were some sounds of shouting into the background followed by the man’s voice, “Pulling out now, but I don’t think they are wanting any of us to leave!”

“Let me know when you are all to the stream and moving. We’ll do what we can.” O’Connell tapped his comm yet again, “Osop, you up for a close support bomb run?”

“Of Course! But, sir, keep in mind the last time you allowed me to do one of these in this tight of a situation, one of the friendly frames didn’t make it and a couple of other pilots had some frame breaches and burns.”

“And just like the last time, better to lose a few defenders than all of them. Do what you can, but don’t get shot down!”

“Not on my list of desires today, sir. I’ll have Danielson do a flare drop as I start my run to muddy the skies a bit.”

“Grenadiers, we are moving now! Oh, God, please help us!”

“Osop, let’s get this party started!”

Osop spotted the fleeing group being tightly chased by a squad of light frames, but had to take a second look, “Major, unless I was slipped some really wild psychotropics, and am seeing things, all but a few of the attacking frames are in bright green and white colors!”

O’Connell quickly responded, “You have enough vices already, Warrant Officer. Let’s not even talk about another. I also know you have eagle eyes. So if they are stupid enough to paint their frames to really stand out, let’s use it to our advantage.”

“Will, do, but this is really insane! I’m going to have my wingman foul the skies with a flare drop so I can get right down on them and take their lead squad on.”

“All on you now; give ’em a taste of Grenadier hell!” Tanner responded.

Osop turned his full attention to what he was seeing below him. “Danielson, this is going to be messy, give me heat coverage, then do full burn. I don’t care if you go to space, just don’t stop until you are sure you are safe!” He didn’t wait for a response, instead he dove out of the clouds, targeted the lead attacking frame and let loose with two dozen micro missiles. As the ground around the frame erupted and multiple strikes knocked the lead frame down, it had the desired effect of making the other frames look up and shoot at him just as flares rained down from above him. Seeing a gap between the fleeing miners and the raiders grow slightly, a dead calm settled over the man, “Scratch at least one brigand.” Moments later he triggered the release of four wing bombs, yanked back and twisted the stick hard to the left and spiraled back up into the safety of the clouds before any of the frames below could get a good track.

Moments later the first bomb landed only a couple of meters in front of the lead frame. A hundred kilos of high explosives ripped it into a thousand pieces and knocked over two of the other raiders. A split second later the second bomb exploded throwing more dirt, rock and debris high into the air. The second set of bombs came in slightly slower since they were designed to be slow fall tumblers. These two hit and rolled, spraying burning petrochem down a line over a hundred and fifty meters long and ten meters wide. Both of the knocked down raiders were caught in the inferno drop and were already starting to cook in their frames before their ammo detonated and their electronics melted. Two others retreated with flaming globs of gelled petrochem coating them. One fell after just a few seconds while the other angled to the stream and jumped in the water.

Osop used his back camera and smiled as he looked at the screen, “OK, Rocking X, move your asses! Their lead squad is done, but you aren’t out of the woods. Those behind their front squad don’t appear to be thrilled with the idea of having roasted framers for dinner and are moving to the stream to get past the petrol drop!” He then switched back to a secure frequency, “Major, there was at least a unit trying to chase them down, but I got at least four, gave Rocking X survivors breathing room, and I just used thirty-two grand of bombs.”

“Hopefully we’ll take a couple down so salvage can make it worthwhile. We’ll also hit the PDF up for the 75 K they offered for the flash mission, but chances are they will only pay part since we didn’t drive the bandits back from the mine. Overall, you did your normal spectacular job. However, don’t expect to be able to do a second low drop again anytime soon.”

“Nope, going to switch up wing packages as soon as I get back, but they get more expensive each time.”

“I know, but you saved a few non-combatants, sent a message to local raiders, and with any luck we’ll pick up some salvage. And while I am in no way condoning anything, I’m thinking Tanner and I can turn a blind eye to your proclivities should you wish to take such a chance and use their gratitude or shock to your advantage. But as normal, it stays out of the main base and billeting areas and we draw the line on any who make friends with our D. Ds. Also, as always, we will not back you in any way if things go way south on you, but you are a Grenadier, so you have a home with us.”

“Understood sir.”

With the first fold out of the way, and the next fold ship only sixteen hours away and thirty hours from having its coils fully charged, Neil gave the others under him time to adjust and rest. With nothing else to really do, Neil, Zane, and Jasha moved to the moon runners with five of the Death Warriors, including Lieutenant Horri. The three men and two women went over the Q Saber frames, pointed out when they saw problems, and helped the three boys to fix several small issues.

Within a couple of hours, both Zane and Neil knew all five were very skilled techs, and while Lieutenant Horri claimed two of them were predominately ship repair, they knew frames exceedingly well. In fact, both kids were certain any or all of them could be among the top frame techs, if not the master frame tech in any merc unit, including the Grenadiers. While this caused both Neil and Zane to wonder what was really going on, all five adults were happy to work with the three boys, and one of the ‘ship techs’ noted Jasha was not nearly as skilled and took the boy under his guidance. At the same time the others spent a great deal of time with Zane, making him do difficult repairs and critiquing his work in every conceivable way. Before the Husky Class PLC was even half way to the SFC it was headed for, Zane was starting to second guess if he had indeed passed the Advanced Frame Repair test. One thing he was certain of, was the next time he took it, he would do way better.

Neil was by no means left out. In particular Lieutenant Horri and Master Sergeant Shoda worked with him closely, mostly focusing on the badly mauled and abused Artillery frame. While both men made it clear what Neil had planned and was doing would fix several of the problems, they also showed him a multitude of small things he could do better. Sometimes it was a faster, other times a great deal more labor intensive, but regardless of time and effort, what they taught him was invaluable. There was also no question in Neil’s mind, the Artillery frame would perform far better than if he and Zane had done the needed repairs alone.

Still, it was quite disconcerting to see the amazing repair skills of the five adults and knowing just about every Q Saber frame was being handled by them. During a quick break, Neil and Zane decided to go back over every frame when the Death Warriors were not around, just to make sure nothing had been tampered with. However, they were in agreement from all appearances the five adults were extremely vested in making sure ever Q Saber frame was at peak combat performance.

One of the women even went so far as to double-check the lasing chambers of all the lasers and tweaked the calibrations of several for optimal damage output. For Neil and Zane, this was something they had never seen done, and took time to really understand the benefits and subsequent negative aspects behind such adjustments.

When the woman noted their extreme interest, she showed both of them the opposite could be done, downgrading the effectiveness of the lasing chamber calibrations. When quizzed, she pointed out how a fully optimized laser would have a slower recycle rate, while a downgraded one would have a faster one. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t much, no more than a second and a half either direction, however, a second in combat could be the difference between life and death, as could a harder hitting and more accurate laser.

As the woman took them through exactly how to do both a damage downgrade and a damage optimization, one of the other techs noted that in one long drawn out combat, when his unit was out of ammo, they had downgraded almost all the lasers so the unit could shoot just that little bit faster with what they had left to fight with, while a few of the best marksman had lasers optimized so they could hit key targets harder. Knowing how to adjust the lasing chambers had snagged victory when defeat had been the greater possibility.

Two hours before the PLC was scheduled to dock with the SFC, Neil floated out of the back of the Artillery frame and voice ordered the back panel to close and lock. He went over the new seals, and ran a full diagnostic. For the first time in what Neil bet was a long while, every system, subsystem, seal, and weapon and even the armor was totally in the green. With an exhausted grin, he exchanged a fist bump with Master Sergeant Shoda, yawned, and voice ordered the frame to fully secure. This took the frame out of maintenance mode and turned the frame’s activation code back over to Sergeant Zac.

Shoda gave Neil a hard squeeze on his shoulder, “Excellent work, Corporal. Now take some downtime. We can look at some of the other frames after the next fold.”

“Shower and sleep sounds real good, Master Sergeant… And thanks for all the help and tips.”

“You are most welcome. I look forward to working with you a bit more. Have a good rest cycle.”

Off to the side, Zane and Jasha were also being congratulated on their efforts and told to get some rest. A single glance down the Moon Runner’s frame storage area showed immense progress, but there was still more work to do. But all three boys knew, as they floated toward the billeting area, the Q Sabers were way better off already. Within an hour, all three kids had taken a sonic shower, eaten and were sound asleep.

Several rooms down from where Neil, Jasha and Zane were tucked securely into hammocks, Lieutenant Horri and Master Sergeant Shoda ate a meal with Captain Lomo, Ensign Miwa, and Lieutenant Boudicea. Lomo did an electronic check for listening devices, then moved to the door, locked it, and anchored a white nose generator on the door itself. The vibrations would eliminate any eavesdropping, from electronics or even someone trying to put an ear to the door.

Satisfied, he grabbed a food packet and focused in on Horri, “Lieutenant, your insights into the adolescent framer who is convinced he has befallen my acquaintance in a most undesirable occurrence?”

“Commandant, there is little I can add to this mystery. Specialist O’Sullivan, first name Zyden is not quite a teen yet, but has been brought up in a very rugged for hire military unit. While I spent several hours with the boy, and built some trust, he remained very tight lipped when I tried to enquire about why he appeared so frightened by you.

“I think this fear prevented him from opening up to me more, so I wasn’t able to get a whole lot of information beyond what we know from his very limited AIM file. However, he is eager to learn, and I have no doubt he passed his frame repair certification. I can also tell by the way he moves, he has been highly trained from a very young age to fight. The blade he has on his side and the one on his boot have certainly both killed and someone has taken considerable time to hone his fight/flight response to be geared heavily toward fight.

“He is also all but undaunted by failure. When I was in the leg of one of their Riot frames, I stripped the bolt to connect the foot hydraulics. It is one of the hardest things to fix and not something one should see very often. He had not, but he refused my assistance. Instead he had me talk him through the repair start to finish. It took him over two and a half hours head first in a frame; when all was said and done, he completed the repair flawlessly. He will not give up and I firmly believe he and the corporal like one another more than they let on, but there is also some real jealousy or at least annoyance within Zyden over the fact he is lower ranked than the corporal. One thing is certain, he wants to get the expert rating on his repair certification so he can say he did something better than Finn.

“When he talked about anything personal, it was about his time in the Quaker VII academy, a long stint on Jakarta II, and a particularly unpleasant few months in the Red Star system. I tried to find out more about his Blood’s Honor number, but he remained exceedingly tight-lipped about it, which is astonishing, since it should be something he would want to brag about. Most youngsters certainly would. Unfortunately, all he would say is he got it fighting in the New Bravaria system. So if there is a link between you and the boy, it must have been there.”

“Following Zyden’s response to me, I subsequently surmised this,” Lomo admitted. “I personally recruited in excess of a four score and my team close to a half a mille between the two worlds, but the vast preponderance were exterminated with the devastating failure of the Fluvius Camillus crew. Those who were conscripted prior to the Legion Primus utter annihilation, were transferred to Pegasus V for procurement. However, without question, I can verify none of those I personally obtained included Zyden. Therefore I must deduce I was in attendance at the occurrence of his detainment.”

Lieutenant Boudicea frowned deeply, “This means he somehow escaped.”

“Such supposition, as astonishing as it may appear, remains the only feasible possibility,” Lomo admitted. “This may be the underlying conditions of his accolade of a Blood’s Honor combat number.”

Master Sergeant Shoda cringed, “Which means he probably killed a guard or two to regain his freedom. If he does place you, sir, there will be no predicting his reaction. I must recommend you back out of your promise to join him on the mission to take the station’s drive facilities.”

“While such an alteration of process may be judicious, I am and will always be the offspring of Legatus Legionis Lomo, and former Primus Pilus of the Eleventh Legion. My pledge to accompany the assault assemblage will not be retracted nor will I entertain further discussion of such. However, I require those who fabricate relations with the child to stimulate further conversations. It remains imperative to discover supplementary information behind the facade of his cherubic face. Master Sergeant Shoda, I yield this undertaking to you. From this moment forward, you are to mentor him in every conceivable methodology.”

“Such actions will make him a much greater opponent to our empire,” Ensign Miwa warned.

“We were badly betrayed and disgraced by legionnaires within the Obsidian system when the failure was in no way ours, Ensign,” Lieutenant Horri snarled. “It is no more our empire than it is any other dishonored and declared Ronin member of the empire. It is our duty to try to reclaim a position of honor, but we cannot go back until there is a purge of those weak enough to allow an entire star system’s defenses to be leaked in the way it had to have been. Should forging young Zyden into a creature out of Earth’s legendary nightmares help to rid the galaxy of the weakness within the Earth Core Empire, then we will have fulfilled at least part of our duty and oath to it.

“Such is my conviction after vigilant deliberation,” Lomo stated firmly, “Zyden is not our adversary; the cowardice and self-indulgence mounting within the empire is.” He then changed his focus, “Lieutenant Horri, your assessment of the youth, Corporal Finn Lockley?”

“As you alluded to during the fold, sir; he is cut from the same mold as Zyden. I do not believe him to be quite as deadly in unarmed or close-in combat, but my firm belief is he has killed with his hands and his combat knife, and we know he is combat effective in a frame as evidenced by his videoed AIM mission. He is far more practical than Zyden, but Zyden is certainly craftier. Finn strives for excellence and is in the process of developing a deep bond with the smaller child with dark tan skin, Kylem. He mentioned his concern for the younger child a few times while I was tutoring him. Actually, his apprehension for well-being goes beyond the boy who from all appearances idolizes Finn. For I heard a side conversation between the conscripts of Finn offering to pay to get the kids from the mining station released with enough to go through AIM Basic Infantry courses.”

Lieutenant Horri let this sink in before he continued. “The boy has a maturity beyond his age and a strong sense of honor. He even blames himself for not extracting the four from the mine before they were conscripted. However, his caring side is tempered by having dealt with hard combat and my guess the deaths of several very close to him. He lost many friends and I can only assume family on New Bravaria, and said one of his good friends vanished while hunting with three others he was fairly close to. He also lost friends from other mercenary units there.”

Ensign Miwa cringed, “Is there even the slightest of chances we relocated someone he knows to New Brunswick?”

“While there is a preponderance of a probability, it would be a momentous interweaving of providence, one we need not nuisance ourselves with,” Captain Lomo interceded. “Let us not wander on a divergent tangent, since even if such a happenstance came to be, we are light years beyond the occurrence, and moons from recourse should it have come to pass. Let us remain focused on those we contracted in an endeavor to procure equipment and provisions to structure a for employ warrior force. We have gone over the main command staff, now I wish to conclude with those I see as encompassing the furthermost potential. Now continue.”

At this, Master Sergeant Shoda took over, “Sir, Finn’s repair skills are as good if not better than his certification suggests, and he spent quite a bit of time trying to pump me for more information, and not being even slightly bashful about it. In some ways, it took me off guard and made it difficult to be ambiguous, since when I was, he had no problem saying my attempt was a good effort at deflection, but it wasn’t what he was asking about. I had little choice but to tell him I was on a few planets he knows, Including Jakarta II, Lebanon VIII, and both worlds in the Red Star system.

“Unlike Zyden, who is much more subtle in nearly every aspect, Finn is a forceful presence. This makes him a natural leader and every conscripted youngster looks to him far more than Zyden. There is no question he is the driving force behind the very rough handling of all the conscripts. His justification is he wants them to all to live. Should he continue to progress, he may well be a phenomenal drill instructor. While I first disagreed with him being a low-level NCO, I now believe my initial assessment of him has been proven wrong. As perplexing as I find it, some of the Q Saber older teens are even starting to look up to him as he drills them on zero-G ops and basic unarmed.

“One interesting side note, Finn is not at all afraid to admit to shortcomings. He told me his former unit fell on hard times and thus he is not nearly as skilled at missile and advanced beam weaponry as he would like. He also seems to know a great deal about Earth Core, including Brood Warriors.”

“What? How?” Lieutenant Boudicea demanded to know.

“New Bravaria.” Master Sergeant Shoda responded. “He fought some and had a chance to talk to one Blood’s Honor captured. He was telling all of us about it, but it started as a question from Jasha. Like it or not, Finn is well versed in Broods, how they are brought up, and even trained. It sounded like Finn developed some kind of bond with the Brood.”

“How is this possible?” Ensign Miwa enquired, “Even a lone, captured Brood would not open up quickly, if at all.”

“You are correct,” Lieutenant Horri stated. “From what Finn says, and I have no reason to doubt him, he spent several weeks with Blood’s Honor as they tried to find survivors of his mercenary unit. In the end, Blood’s Honor, particularly General Scott and the bastard Colonel Price found enough and helped replace members killed in the fighting in the New Bravaria system to reconstitute some semblance of a unit, but Finn talked with a heavy heart of how many friends he lost. It was a bond he may well have shared with the Brood, a common link between boys needing to figure out their places in a universe that had fallen out from under them. Also, as has been noted, Finn is a leader at his core, something very few Brood develop. A lone Brood close to Finn’s age could have easily latched on to this.”

“Any idea what unit he was with?” Ensign Miwa asked.

“AIM lists his last unit as eliminated, so while he kept his AIM registration current, or maybe Blood’s Honor did, he never formally joined another unit, but his father joined up with a poor D rated unit calling themselves Galactic Gorgons, a predominantly female mercenary unit. Same basic thing applies to Zyden, who ended up in the Quaker VII academy with his AIM membership paid and records from the academy added to his AIM file, which further leads me to believe Blood’s Honor kept both kids current. One thing is certain, both had their combat certifications at AIM paid for by Blood’s Honor.”

Ensign Miwa let out a long breath, “I find it a remarkable coincidence two boys, both having received Blood’s Honor numbers on New Bravaria, and having knowledge of the same planetary systems, were in the New Brunswick system at the same time…”

“Zyden being there makes total sense. He was part of the miss-fold and damned near lost his life from the sounds of it.” Master Sergeant Shoda interjected. “His last year plus is well documented as being in the Quaker VII academy. His test scores in most frame and combat were outstanding, but many academics were low, and he had a propensity to annoy the cadre according to one of the instructors who happened to sign on with the Q Sabers as a tech and basic studies teacher. The man clearly knows Zyden and Jasha, but has shown no real familiarity with Finn.

“Finn, on the other hand, took an apprenticeship spot at a mine on the habitable moon in the New Brunswick system so he could finalize his progression into being combat certified while the Gorgon unit took an off-world raid. His records show he was at the mine for three moons prior to the miss-fold which brought Zyden and Jasha to New Brunswick.”

“There is no rationale to embrace either child in suspicion. I am confident over time, other youth with Blood’s Honor Combat numbers will emerge since the forces of Blood’s Honor were behind the liberation of the system and annihilated a divine holder of an Eye of Mars.” Lomo lamented before adding, “The genuine query is, how well Finn is acquainted with the scourge of our empire, Colonel Price?”

“It sounded to me like he spent more time with General Scott than the bastard Colonel Price,” Lieutenant Horri stated.

“I concur.” Master Sergeant Shoda jumped in. “He even talked about getting to know General Scott’s offspring. From the way Finn talked, discussions were taking place about him being taken in by General Scott just prior to them locating his father. Finn even said Blood’s Honor regened his father, since the man was close to death. It sounded like Finn was only days away from being transferred to Forest Garden, and there is implication within his AIM file of a scholarship for him being available for his attendance at BHJMA.”

“Then Finn made a deep impression on a formidable general and thus his Blood’s Honor number may have more meaning than simple appreciation or a proverbial pat on the back.” Lieutenant Boudicea stated.

“Therefore it is imperative we nurture Finn to the utmost of his potential,” Captain Lomo stated firmly. “We can ill-afford to incur the wrath of Blood’s Honor. Our obligation is to the empire, to eviscerate the weakness within and reclaim our birthrights. We cannot do this with an entity of the magnitude of Blood’s Honor suspended over us. Besides, Blood’s Honor, regardless of our abhorrence of it, has done more to keep the empire robust than the emperor himself.”

Seeing the others reluctantly nod, Lomo took a deep breath, “What of the other child, Jasha?”

“Way more typical of a freeman child than either Finn or Zyden, sir,” Master Sergeant Shoda responded without hesitation. “He has neither the internal strength nor drive as those with him, but he is intelligent and does look up to Zyden, even though Jasha is a few months older. It is my guess he has seen little to no real combat, and spent the vast part of his childhood sheltered. Yet he craves what he sees within Zyden and Finn, and therefore has great potential. If there is a wedge or bridge to be found between Finn and Zyden, Jasha is it. However, there is the wild card, for any harm done to the young tan-skinned boy, Kylem, would certainly acquire the fury of Finn.”

“A unique intertwining of relationships…” Lomo scratched his chin in thought, “the other three trainees of Quaker VII, are they valuable to us?”

“Much less so than Jasha, or even Kylem, sir.” Master Sergeant Shoda replied. “Concern for them is secondary, however, as noted, Finn is pressing them hard in hopes they survive and told me he would like time on the ground to work with them in frames. Should the opportunity present itself, I believe it would be beneficial to the three conscripts and our mission to allow it. The other three… they are of little consequence with no combat knowledge, although, I get some impression of Zyden being attracted to the female with sand colored hair, Coryn.”

“Agreed,” Lieutenant Horri stated with a smirk. “He is at the transition age where females are becoming interesting to him and he looks at Coryn whenever she enters within eyeshot.”

“Ah, the blight on all humanity, adolescent hormones,” Lomo snickered then returned to his normal stony demeanor. “Over the next few moons we necessitate both Finn and Zyden to be at optimal performance, so exploit this Jasha to fabricate the bridge and forge the three of them into an indestructible plague to unleash and expunge the weakness within our empire. As you construct this, incorporate the younger one, Kylem, mentor him, exploit him and continue to hold Finn up as someone to be admired. This will keep Finn loyal to us, even if Zyden does discern me from New Bravaria and manages to unlock obscured memories.

“Lieutenant Boudicea, I require your feminine side. Nurture the female Zyden has physical attractions to and impress within her an aspiration to necessitate a deeper relationship to Zyden. Do so even if it requires veiled nuances as to her future being beholden to Zyden’s achievements either superior or horrific.”

Lieutenant Boudicea raised an eyebrow, “So you wish me to make sure her she knows her fate is tied to Zyden’s success or failure?”

“Exactly.” Lomo nodded. “Having her within our sphere of influence and keeping Zyden content is imperative should the youngster become volatile. A female companion with vested interest in Zyden’s future should be able to intercede without our direct intervention. However, I also require all of you to keep an attentive perception on Zyden lest he recollects me vividly at some instance and his rage goes unnoticed in duration extensive enough to where he does irrevocable impairment to this unit or himself. Furthermore, should the epiphany befall him as to his encounter with me, it will become imperative to make him fully relive the experience or interactions of the occurrence. For while many recruiters were sadistic, I always maintained a measured level of compassion for those I procured. This must somehow be brought out, for while I did acquire hundreds over the past decade, many physically, none needlessly suffered while within my field of perception.

“Additionally, having Zyden and Finn continue to be Death Warriors at the conclusion of this multi-pronged operation would be the ideal. However, if we cannot ascertain a way to mold a desire for them become extended tenure Death Warriors, then we must instill a desire within to cleanse the empire of the corruption it is being besieged by. The empire will either solidify and repel them or they will eliminate hordes within the empire who necessitate being purged. Regardless, they will help to reforge a more honorable and resilient Earth Core.”

Because Commander Korstock agreed to give Robin the chance to test the possible recruits, he had all eight Blades, four Lawman Recruits, and two Lawman Deputies moved aboard the shuttle along with his, Luna’s and Dante’s Escorts and Glen’s and Jessie’s Patrols. For the combat certified girl, who he was dead set on having sign on, he gave up his Aggressor salvage, since he figured offering her a better frame would give added incentive to joining. Finally, in the final slots aboard the transport, Master Sergeant Ryder put his massive Thunderbolt so he could join in and get a better feel for some of the kids the adults would soon be working with.

Wearing mercenary uniforms provided by Brave Humanities, the five kids looked pretty impressive. All four had a combat knife in a boot sheath, a medium pistol on their hip, a headset communicator, flak vest with spare ammo pouches, canteen, and a small survival first-aid kit combo. In addition, Robin, Luna, and Glen all carried a longer blade which poked over their shoulders from a back-mounted sheath. This had been one other thing Robin had put a considerable amount of time and money into. After looking over uniform options, Robin decided on tan and grey camouflage tiger stripe pattern fatigue style combat uniforms and tan berets, instead of the standard forest cammo fatigues and dark green combat caps of the O’Connell Grenadiers.

Also, with the help of Dante, Jared and Luna, they came up with a name loosely based on the Rugrat Renegade theme, mostly to get on the nerves of the adults. As soon as Caleb’s mom and the Brave Humanities men heard the name, there was no question the name had the desired barbed effect. For better or worse, they were now the Ruffian Rebels.

Osop was only too happy to come up with a really cool patch for them as well. The man had reversed the first R, stuck them together and made the backwards and forwards Rs into a wicked looking blade and put the whole thing on a kite shield patch with the name Ruffian Rebels in a scroll at the top. For the first time in his life, Robin had physical contact with Osop as he thanked the man and shook his hand, but only under the watchful eye of Captain Tanner.

From the moment he made his way off the transport at Amber Grain, Robin could feel eyes staring at him. As he made his way across the landing field, he noted the looks he was getting from men and women working on the flight line, which he met with eye contact and a smirking smile. Most were too stunned to do more than stare, but a few managed to salute, since he was wearing captain rank. He highly doubted any would have, but the fact he had a Blood’s Honor Combat Patch on his left shoulder caused those who saw both rank and patch to blink a few times before snapping out a crisp salute.

He returned them without saying anything to those who didn’t salute. Next to Robin, Glen snickered as a group of teen recruits very close to their own age first glared, then straightened up as one of them said something to the others. “Me thinks the cute blond saw our combat patches.”

“Yeah, no doubt, but she really isn’t very good looking, not with those guerrilla length arms.” Luna spoke softly as Robin returned the salutes and made his way past a corrugated tin hangar with a quartet of Zip Tech Locust atmospheric attack aircraft in it. Luna couldn’t help but nod at the aircraft, “Bet Kay could fly those.”

“It’s Zip Tech,” Dante responded. “I bet he wouldn’t want to even if they offered.”

Glen snorted, “If they let him, I bet he’d take one up, but I’m sure he could dust all four in his Timberwolf.”

Before more could be said, a man in a commander’s uniform angled over to them, flanked by a pair of senior sergeants, a young private and an ensign. The man was talking into a headset and seemed anxious, but told whoever he was talking with to get him an updated report, then focused on the small group, noting the only adult was hanging back, letting the kids deal with the meeting.

Robin stopped, snapped to attention, and saluted the man as soon as he was done talking on the headset. He then stayed at ridged attention and held his stance.

The commander returned the salute, “Captain Lerrik, good to meet you in person.”

“Thank you, sir,” Robin responded as he dropped his hand. “Commander Korstock, I’m really grateful to you for arranging all of this.”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t have, but I heard you have some strong Blood’s Honor ties, so…” He stopped as Glen turned just enough to show off his Blood’s Honor Combat Patch on his shoulder. With a shake of his head Korstock took a deep breath, “So, anyway, Captain, welcome to Amber Grain Military Air Station.”

Robin extended his hand to the man with hair just starting to grey, and a weathered face showing much of his time was spent outside. “Happy to be here, and thrilled you have some prospects for my unit.”

Korstock gave Robin a hard handshake and held it for an extra second to test the grip of the lad standing before him. As he released the smaller hand, he seemed more at ease and satisfied. He then motioned with his left hand to the female ensign. “Ensign Schröder and Private Huber will take it from here. I have to get back into the ops center.”

Hearing the man’s voice take on an edge, Luna spoke up, “Anything we can help with, sir?”

Spotting the Blood’s Honor patch on the girl’s uniform, he debated with himself for a couple of seconds before nodding, “Unfortunately, yes. We got a report of raiders hitting a mining station and a water purification plant about thirty minutes ago not far from Gypsum Creek, a remote settlement up on the Tanberry Bluffs. The settlement is also in jeopardy. We dispatched a Black Comet with light armor to bolster the frame unit we have up there. From what I’m hearing they are facing a bit more than they expected. I need to go to ops and get a SitRep.”

Robin’s right eyebrow shot up, “If you need extra forces, we’d be up for a flash mission. It’d give us a chance to really see what your pilots, um our new pilots, have. Since you said we could use your range, we have frames fully loaded and ready for all of them.”

The man rubbed his chin for a second, then looked over at Master Sergeant Ryder, “Is the boy up for it?”

“Sir, this is his command. I am only an advisor and at the moment he has not asked for advice. But, if you want me to say something, I can tell you I have only heard the best about Captain Lerrik and those with him. I can also verify he, along with two of those with him, have a bravery commendation directly from General Scott of Blood’s Honor and they fought well at a moon mining station in the Gray Sands district a few days ago. With that said, this is his unit and his call. In a case like this, I see no reason to interfere. What happens from here is between the two of you, sir.”

Korstock glanced down at Robin, “You sure?”

“If Luna… Lieutenant Sala, can get to those we are trying to recruit and give them a rundown and I can get some kind of idea about the area being hit, yeah… yes sir. But we’ll need contract terms.”

Korstock moved his chin back and forth for a few moments before turning to his people, “Ensign Schröder, get Captain Lerrik’s people to the meeting room so they can talk to the framers I pulled out of the barracks. Private, run down to flight ops and tell them per my orders to get the transport the Rebels came in refueled and get pilots to the Locusts so they have armed escort while I take Captain Lerrik to ops and work out a flash contract.”

Ensign Schröder glanced over, “Commander?”

“Ensign, we have a light frame unit with armor support taking heavy fire and my hands are pretty much tied by command orders to not pull too many forces away from major population centers. We have a merc, not a kid, but an honest to God, Blood’s Honor Merc, standing right here with frames loaded and ready to move. Are you willing to tell those men and women we had a way to help them and didn’t?”

Ensign Schröder quickly saluted then looked over at Luna, “Follow me!”

“Glen, Dante, with Luna,” Robin commanded. “Jessie, you’re with me!”

Master Sergeant Ryder glanced back and forth at the two groups as they separated and moved out at next to a run. After only a second of debate he moved to catch up with Robin, while putting a call out to Senior Sergeant Nire of the sudden change of plans.

Nire quickly responded, “I’ll get us a BH shuttle and meet you there with the rest of the unit. But even with a space capable ship, we’ll be an hour behind you all.”

“Better late than never, but I want you to hang back and be support. I need to see what this kid can do with a group of young unknown framers and a core group of his trusted buddies. And make sure you use their command structure. Let’s see how well they all react to this.”

“Understood.”

On a subcarrier frequency only Ryder and Nire could hear, Commander Bennett’s voice came over their headsets, “Men, if Robin gets seriously hurt on this I am going to sic my stepson, Cory, on you when he gets back from Brile.”

Master Sergeant Ryder snickered, “Then, for my sake, I better not let it happen, ma’am.”

Major O’Connell got the update on what Robin was about to do even as he studied the southern security perimeter with Senior Lieutenant Meschev. To say he was impressed with the way the man had set up the armor was an understatement. The man knew how to use what he had, even though Senior Lieutenant Meschev didn’t like the extremely green and young mercs he had been handed.

The heaviest armor was set up high behind hard cover with overlapping fields of fire and the best gunners. Medium armor was down low and positioned to be able to move if needed, but still well camouflaged under netting and behind natural cover. This group also had interlocking fields of fire which were offset from the heavier armor that would be shooting down from above. Finally the light armor was scattered in what seemed to be a haphazard way, but after Senior Lieutenant Meschev explained it, Major O’Connell understood what the reasoning was behind its staging. It was meant to look disorganized and inexperienced, but behind the controls were the best drivers. The light armor deployment was also designed to cover the most likely scouting paths from deeper into the bluffs. At the same time the rest could maneuver around and be seen, but would be very hard to target because they were fast, maneuverable, small, and knew where the best sheltered positions were.

Major O’Connell held up his hand to stop Meschev’s explanation of pulling heavier hostile units into the kill zones of the other armor as he got the update on the attack up at Gypsum Creek. He quickly pulled up his battle computer and ordered it to give him a planetary overlay. Once he had his location pinpointed along with Gypsum Creek, he frowned and spoke into his radio, “Tanner, you hearing this?”

“I am. You want me to pull a reserve unit to cover them?”

“No. We can’t risk it. We took out four patched up frames with former Comet Assassin markings painted over with green and white, and damaged nine others, including two EC Munifexims. All four pilots in the frames we captured were killed or fled, though, so we don’t know who we are facing. Since they had some EC frames in pretty good condition though, chances are it is some ronin EC unit. But the Comet Assassins were a unit sized merc group and were wiped out and the PLC they were tasked with guarding is missing from Tengar XI according to AIM records, so we are not dealing with some rookie bandit group.

“Also keep in mind, what Osop took out… Even after a serious pounding from us, another mine was hit last night with frames painted in green and white. While it may be a raider group, it sure looks like a large one and they must have extra frames or plenty of parts. Right now, our contract is to defend Kipper, not support kids who are quite capable of dealing with crap way worse than this. Besides, the surrounding mines are getting jumpy and we’ve already engaged some raiders even though we haven’t even fully secured a perimeter around the other installations Kipper joined with to hire us. Like it or not, and I don’t… This is on Robin and his Rebels. But I want to know what is with this PDF! There are raiders, apparently in force and brazen enough to have most of their frames brightly painted, on the bluffs here and a decent sized contingent fourteen hundred kilometers to the northeast. This place’s space defense has more holes than a sandbag on a machinegun range!”

“One of two things come to mind, Major, either they don’t have full planetary radar coverage or someone is sending in cloaked ships. Me, I am hoping it is the former.”

“Me too, but find someone in the Planetary Defense Force and get us a rundown on their aerospace security and coverage. Even if it is cloaked ships, they should be able to see them as they enter the atmosphere! Also, the Comet Assassins were guarding some old Morgan Cargo Class PLC, so if one of those managed to get through unnoticed, then this place has no real usable planetary radar. While you’re poking around, check with other military sectors and see what kind of raider and pirate activity is logged across the whole of this shithole world we just landed on!”

Cody’s father looked over with concern, “Problems with the kids’ unit?”

“Yeah, Robin is in the process of negotiating a flash contract with the Amber Grain Sector of the PDF with kids he doesn’t even know going out with him. They have raiders hitting a mine, small settlement, and water purification plant about a hundred kilometers east of Amber Grain. Details are still sketchy, but it is a large enough attack to push a full unit of light frames and a support unit of light armor to their limits.”

“He is not organized enough to take any mission, let alone one with so many unknowns.”

“Agreed, but he will learn. I know I sure as hell did on my first few turns at command. At least Brave Humanities is scrambling the rest of the Rebels for back-up, so even if they end up in a bad spot there should be enough firepower heading their way to relieve them. If it isn’t, then we are in way more trouble than it seems, and it already feels pretty grim. This is going to be a long few months.”

Senior Lieutenant Meschev sighed, “It’s too bad we weren’t able to take any captives out of those four frames. We need better intel.”

Major O’Connell took a deep breath, “Yeah, but the three survivors abandoning downed frames and those in frames covering them, tells us they really don’t want us knowing who they are. The fact all three dropped grenades in the head units to destroy computers also tells us they are doing everything they can to cover their tracks. This means they aren’t likely to be some lowlife bandit group. If those Robin is about to engage are tied with what is down here, then this is far more than pirates hitting in force, though, so I’m hoping it is just this piss poor system is just too tempting a target for multiple raider groups. Hopefully we’ll get something out of the dead pilot’s Aggressor.”

Major O’Connell scanned the area again before nodding, “You have your line set, so start rotating out your people and get those you want to have some gunnery practice out on the range Kipper set up for us.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to settle in for a few days and firm up defenses?”

“Normally, yes, but one thing I can tell you about being a merc coming to a new location with hostiles having already been stung by us and watching…” He paused and shot Cody’s father a smirk, “Lots of big booms and bullets flying in mass quantities is a sure-fire way to make those who want to test us take a pause, which will have the desired effect of giving us another day or two to really nail down a solid defensive perimeter and figure out the lay of the land.”

The second Robin entered the ops center, everything stopped while heads turned to look at him. This didn’t last long, as Commander Korstock snarled, “This is the commander of the Rebels and we are giving him and his Rebels full access, people! Now get back to work. We have people dying out there!”

Seeing everyone turn to get back to work, Robin pointed to the status board. “Jessie, get me the best picture you can.” He then moved over to a map being marked with updates and looked it over.

Jessie’s eyes moved down the board listing active units, “So you have sixteen Garrison frames and sent a dozen Javelins with infantry and four Slashers?”

Commander Korstock nodded for a major to answer. The man let out a long breath, “We did, but we are down three Garrisons and lost three Javelins before they even got infantry out.”

“What are we facing?” Robin asked.

A sergeant answered, “Frames, sir, but our people don’t know what kind, and every report says they are painted in maroon and yellow; who the hell paints frames to stand out?”

“Either a very confident or extremely stupid commander… possibly both.” Robin responded. “But what do you mean you don’t know what types of frames?”

“Reports say they are not standard and none of our framers have seen them before. They are saying they appear to be pretty light, though.”

“Numbers?” Jessie asked.

“At least a couple of units. Lieutenant Voser is onsite commander and says they have taken down seven, but are still badly outnumbered…” The sergeant looked over to the major and the commander, “Voser wants to know what should take priority, the water plant or Gypsum Creek…”

“Water station!” Both senior officers stated without hesitation.

Seeing both Robin and Jessie turn with confusion in their eyes, Commander Korstock responded, “Boys, that water station provides safe drinking water to nine communities, Gypsum Creek being only one of them. Without it…”

“Understood,” Robin stated with a hard nod. “What about the mine?”

“Not our problem and shouldn’t even be on your radar, son.” Korstock all but growled.

“Fine, just wanted to make sure. So let’s talk contract terms, and let me put this out there, we want full salvage, some ammo, and free transport. Beyond that, what are you offering?”

Korstock rubbed his chin, “OK, I can tell you’ve been around these kinds of discussion. Nice to give me a starting point, too… OK, I’ll give you full use of the transport, and handle all damage to it at no cost to you. You get 150,000 AIM credits for the attempt and full salvage regardless of success. I’ll toss in an extra 350,000, two ammo loads for all your frames and up to 100,000 in frame repair parts and use of our techs for two days if the water station stays functional.”

“Medical?” Robin asked with a voice making it clear he wanted a major concession on it.

“New Brunswick will handle all base medical needs if the water station stays operational, but no regens or rejuvs. If the water station goes down, no medical.”

Robin cringed, “I need some medical guarantees. We are going to take some hits out there since we are using framers we have never worked with.”

Korstock eyed the board and noticed one of his Slashers had been taken off the board. Things were getting worse, not better, and everyone in the room knew it. “Fine, 150,000 AIM credits for taking the mission along with full salvage. Keep the water station operational get an extra 350,000 AIM credits, replacement ammo, and one extra ammo load for each of your frames along with 100,000 of repair and techs to help. In addition, you get six full care hospital beds for a week if the station goes down. Full medical with no rejuv or regen if it stays up. Final offer.”

Robin looked over to Jessie, got a nod, and stuck out his hand, “Done.”

Luna entered what looked to be more of a breakroom than a meeting room, since it had a dozen vending machines, coffee and juice stations, and a bank of infrared quick heat ovens. Around the room were thirteen teens ranging in age from thirteen to sixteen and one fifteen-year-old girl in a military vest with private rank on. All eyed Luna with skepticism, but snapped to attention as the ensign entered.

Luna didn’t even seem to notice the slight. Instead she spoke up, “Ebersbatcher, Hueber, Beyer, Maxwell, Luft! You already signed with us. Grab your gear follow Master Sergeant Flanagan!” She pointed to Glen while speaking to him, “Glen, get them to the shuttle and in frames now!”

Seeing only one of the younger boys grab a small pack and move in Glen’s direction while the others all stared at Luna, the ensign cleared her throat, “Those of you who signed with the Rebels, this is one of your officers! You heard her, get you asses moving!”

This got the other four motivated and grabbing gear while also causing the remaining nine teens to come to attention while eyeing Luna with a degree of confusion.

Luna’s eyes narrowed as the last of the five moved past her. Her hand shot out, grabbed the older girl’s collar and spun her around. “Last one to move,” Luna snarled as she looked at the name tag. “Luft, you are already on my shit list. You best show me something out in the field.” She then shouted out to Glen, “Master Sergeant, older or not, bigger or not, Luft gets one of the Blades to go into combat with today! Give the kid who moved first his choice of what frame he wants!”

Hearing a, “Got it!” out of Glen, she spun the bigger girl around and gave her a hard kick in the butt, sending the fifteen-year-old stumbling out of the meeting room.

Luna turned back to the remaining certified pilots, “I don’t have time to jack around. We have a flash mission coming down and need to be in the air heading to it. I have frames for each and every one of you with full ammo and a 400 AIM credit a month slot for you if you want it.” She glanced up at a clock on the wall, “You have two minutes to decide. Those who want the slot, this is Senior Sergeant Saulsky. Stand next to him so I know who has the guts to jump right into the flames of hell with us: and yeah, if you sign with me he is going to be in charge of you along with just about everyone else. You come in as recruits… except you, Private Heed. We’ll keep your rank since you have combat certs, but only if you get your ass over here and sign with us. As added incentive, I have a fully prepped Aggressor for you.”

She glanced back up at the clock, “Minute thirty seconds and I don’t see anyone grabbing their ready bags or moving to stand next to my sergeant…”

Three of the older kids, along with Private Heed, picked up their bags and moved to stand next to Dante.

Luna tapped her foot and glanced back up to the clock, “One minute.”

At this one of the teens who moved to stand next to Dante spoke up, “What is wrong with you all? This is what we all talked about wanting to do!” She shook her head in frustration, “We have a chance for combat in a frame and maybe a life off this rock!”

Three of the others grabbed bags, leaving only two boys looking at each other. With an uneasy breath, they both nodded and moved in Dante’s direction just as Luna called out, “Time!”

With a frown, Luna looked at the final two, “Blades for you two as well. We’ll figure out who else gets what when we get to the Comet.” She then pushed down her comm unit, “Robin, I got all of them.”

Robin responded even as he glanced over at a two-dimensional overlay of the town and the nearby water purification plant, “Great! Get them framed up Luna. From reports I am seeing they are getting hammered on up there. We leave as soon as the back hatch on the Comet closes!”

Senior Sergeant Nire entered the old hangar the kids were just starting to work on and let out a loud whistle, “Rebels, flash contract! Get to your equipment! I have a star shuttle coming in to get you to the rest of your unit. We leave five minutes after it lands, with or without you!”

He then turned to those in the aerospace side, “Rockland, you and your people are going to handle the ship under the watchful eye of its crew. Jandav get your IPSCs prepped and up, you are providing air cover!”

Jared was the first to react. He jumped up from where he had been working on hooking up batteries to the outside solar units. He grabbed Lukian, “Get to the barracks and round everyone up!” He then shouted out, “Cody get to the other hangar with every pilot you can find! We need all the frames up, now!”

Nire watched with as neutral a face as he could muster even as Jared did the bulk of the leading with some decent help from Cody and a couple of the other Grenadier kids. The others, however, looked more than a little lost. It took everything he had not to jump in and move key pieces of the frame side of the unit into place.

On the other hand, the aerospace side did far better. Vladimir and Gavin got their people moving and organized pretty well. Even as the VTOL shuttle came in, several of the framer kids were running around, clearly disorganized. Finally Nire moved up to Jared and Cody, “Boys, come here!”

Jared shouted over to Stasik to help Nikki get her squad ready to go even as he ran over to Senior Sergeant Nire, “Sir?”

Nire waited until Cody was also there. “Boys, take a breath and tell me what you are forgetting.”

Both kids looked around, then back to each other with blank looks. After several uncomfortable seconds of silence, Cody finally spoke up, “I have no idea what you are getting at, sir.”

Nire cocked his head to the side, “Jared?”

“Ahhh,” Jared paused to scan the area, “we’re a bit slow and don’t look great… but ummm… I guess we really need to do some alert drills and junk, but I really don’t see us missing anything.”

Nire frowned in the most disapproving way he could manage while really wanting to smile, “OK… really?”

Cody nervously scratched at his chin for a few seconds before shrugging.

At the same time, Jared looked totally bewildered, but shouted out, “Val! Kerri! We need a quick huddle!”

Valerie and Kerri quickly passed off what they were doing and ran over. Valerie was the first to speak, “What’s up, Ensign?”

Jared glanced over to Nire, only to get a deeper frown, so he gulped, “OK, just tell us what we are missing.”

Kerri looked around with a cringe, “Well, we look pretty panicked and junk, but… Are we forgetting something?”

Cody cringed at the look on Nire’s face, “Judging on the look of Senior Sergeant Nire, yeah. Something real obvious… But I sure don’t know what it is…”

Valerie’s browns crinkled, “Robin is headed into a fight and we need to get there. We don’t have time for this!”

“OH, REALLY?” Nire asked with a strong hint of annoyance.

This caused Valerie to wince as if she had been slapped, almost like she was expecting to get hit. “Um… gee… sorry?”

“You very well might all be sorry if you don’t figure this out, kids.” Nire warned.

Jared scratched at his hairline for a couple of seconds before looking up at Nire, “Can we get a hint, sir?”

“Nope.”

“Ahhh…” Jared’s voice came to slow stop as he looked over at the others. “Guys, I got nothing.”

Cody looked around and noted most of the frames were moving into the back of the shuttle. Finally he tapped his comm unit, “Rockland, I’m thinking we need our XO over here with Sergeant Nire for a few seconds.”

Gavin jumped down from the Timberwolf IPSC he was helping get one of the pilots into and hustled over to the group. “Guys we are falling further behind. We should already have fighters in the air waiting to escort the larger craft! What’s going on?”

Cody pointed over to Nire, “He says we are forgetting something and we can’t figure out what.”

Gavin Rockland noted the look on Senior Sergeant Nire’s face, bit on his lower lip and walked away from the small command group while eying the old base. After only a few seconds he smacked his forehead and moved back over to the group. “Who are we leaving behind to protect our base?”

Even as Cody’s eyes went wide and Nire smiled, Jared kicked at the concrete. “Crap! We can’t have homeless coming in and stealing our gear and ammo right after we just chased them out of here!”

“Or leave our whole camp open to raiders when we know some were pretty close and had to be chased off and another mine further out was hit last night,” Gavin added. “We need a squad of frames here, on guard duty.”

“So how do we pick who stays behind?”

Cody let out a long breath, “Well we only have two full squads since Robin was picking up pilots to fill out the slots in three squads and he took Dante and Glenn with him. So it’s either my squad or Nikki’s.”

“Nikki’s,” Jared responded with zero hesitation. “Yours has WAY more combat experience than Nikki’s. Robin needs our best…” He paused and looked up at Senior Sergeant Nire, “Sir?”

“I like your reasoning, Jared. I also think you all just discovered why Gavin is a good XO for you all.”

Seeing all the others nod, Nire reached out and patted Gavin on the shoulder. “You are the XO, and there are going to be some disappointed framers. It would be best if the order comes from you.”

Gavin nodded, while letting out a sigh, “Yeah, I know you’re right, but now I know what Brave Humanities instructors mean when they say command sucks sometimes.”

Robin grabbed onto his frame’s securing bar as the Black Comet left the airfield. A glance out the port side window told him at least one of the Locust ASCs was flying escort. He waited for the flight to level out before he spoke, shouted really, since the noise of the engines caused a loud roar throughout the cargo compartment. “First off, welcome to the Ruffian Rebels and thanks for signing on! I know this is not at all what any of you expected, but this is the way we move in this unit.

“For those who have not figured it out, I am Robin Lerrik, Captain Lerrik to you all. I am the commander. You don’t like it, I’ll let you leave as soon as this mission is over, but for now you’re under me and we are about to kick some raider ass.

“You have all met three of my key people, Lieutenant Luna Sala is my Ops Officer. She’s also tougher than I am and the blade you see on the back of her flak jacket isn’t there for looks, none of ours are, but her in particular… let me put it this way: Mess with her at your own peril. Next to her is Master Sergeant Glen Flanagan. He happens to be my best friend and has saved my life more times than I care to think about. He is our senior NCO and will be the next officer in this unit as soon as we grow it enough.”

Robin pointed over to Jessie “Next to me is Senior Sergeant Jessie Kiev. He ranks right up there as a close friend, and many of those in this unit can tell you, he is important enough for me to spend hours in a mostly vacced ship stuck out in deep space to find him… and I would do so again without regret.

“Next to Glen is Senior Sergeant Dante Saulsky. He is one of the youngest in our unit, but I’ll tell all of you right now, I trust him with my life and without him chances are good I wouldn’t be here right now. Also, if you need something electronic fixed, go to him.” He paused and grinned, “It’ll help if you happen to hand over something chocolate when you do though…”

This got some snickers out of most while Dante simply nodded and gave a thumb up.

Robin then motioned over to Master Sergeant Ryder. “The man standing next to the big ass death machine back there is Master Sergeant Ryder of Brave Humanities. He’s a former combat instructor for Blood’s Honor Junior Military Academy and a former member of Blood’s Honor and Brave Humanities Spec Ops. He is one of our three advisors as we work to make this unit into one of the best. He has also agreed to help finish schooling of anyone who has not graduated to a level of pre-college. While in the field, he will get us through classes. While we are at base we will be going to school until you graduate pre-college.”

Seeing some faces look at him with a mixture of awe and resignation, Ryder spoke up, “Kids, if you stay with this unit, you will graduate with a pre-college certificate even if it means I have to twist you into interesting shapes to make you do your assigned school work. It is simply not up for debate. Also, for those of you with jaws hanging open over hearing my background, all you have to do is look at the patches on Captain Lerrik, Lieutenant Sala, and Master Sergeant Flanagan’s shoulders to see I am not alone in seeing combat with Blood’s Honor. Senior Sergeant Saulsky did as well, but was just a smidge too young to get record of it in his AIM file. But don’t ever doubt all of Blood’s Honor sees him as one of their combatants. Just in case you have any doubts, Dante took down two frames in a counter raid just a few days ago… by himself and one with physical frame on frame combat only.”

The looks most of the kids were giving Dante caused Ryder to smirk, “I have a vid if any of you want to see it, but we’ll wait since I don’t want any of you all puking in a ship where we all have to smell it. Moving on: During combat ops I am an advisor. I will, for the most part, stay out of decision making and even fighting. This does not mean I am going to stand back and let any of you die, but you best not look for me to come to your rescue. Quite simply, it is not my job and I am not in any way, shape, or form a babysitter. You are certified framers and have, or are about to sign merc contracts putting you directly under Captain Lerrik. I expect you to follow your chain of command. It starts with Captain Lerrik, not me. However, if I do jump in and you don’t do what I say, your following few weeks will be… unpleasant.”

He then handed over a hand computer. “For those who have not joined yet, read and sign. It’s a straight forward year-long AIM contract, one you should have read already, so glance it over and give it your approval. As soon as you put your eye to the retinal scanner, you are a Ruffian Rebel and your names will be added to the AIM roster.”

With fourteen sets of wide-eyes looking at him he gestured back to Robin while speaking, “Now, while some of you finalize your next year as a Rebel, I strongly advise you listen to your commander, cause we are less than fifteen minutes from seeing hard combat and your lives are now intertwined with your command structure.”

One of the last two boys to move to stand next to Dante spoke up with a shocked voice, “So this is not a drill?”

“No.” Robin stated. “We are now under thirteen minutes out from Gypsum Creek and it is being hit with an unknown number and type of frames. Our objective is to secure and protect the water purification station southwest of the settlement.” He paused and stared at the boy who was very close to his own age, “Are you in or not?”

The kid looked over, got a nod from the other boy who was next to him and clearly a good friend. As soon as the other boy nodded, he did as well, “Yes, sir. I’m in.”

“Good. Anyone, even those who already signed, if you want out, this is your last chance. Move to the passenger section and I’ll drop you from the roster before we land, but you are stuck with us until the mission is over.”

When no one moved, Robin took a deep breath. “So look around. There are nineteen of us. I want all nineteen to get back on board this shuttle in a few hours, but to do so we have to work as a unit and fight like hell-spawn. We are going to break into three squads; two of six and one of seven. I will lead the larger, and we’ll be squad one, Luna will lead two, and Glen will lead three. Luna, I want you to take Dante. Glen, Jessie is with you. Luna, you have serious firepower, so I need you to take lead and punch a hole through their lines so we can get to the water station. If you are still in OK shape, make for the settlement and pull whatever is left defending it over to the station to help us. If you have too much damage, fall back and repair with the repair kit Dante has in his frame’s backpack, then come and reinforce. Glen, you hold the gap open so I can take my squad in and fortify whatever is left of the Planetary Defense Forces, then fall in and help.

“Our only job is to push these bastards back from the water station and keep it secure. Once we are sure we have obtained the primary objective, we’ll call in the rest of our unit and reduce the remainder of the raiders to shredder meat, but they are fourteen hundred kilometers away, so even when we send this Black Comet to get them, we will be holding the facility for several hours with no support.”

“How do we decide who each squad gets, Robin?” Jessie asked.

Robin frowned for a second, “Well, since we know nothing about them and they are pretty much in the same boat about us, we make it totally fair. We do it by random selection. Jessie, pull out your pocket notebook, and tear off fourteen pages. On six write the number 1, on the other eight write four 2s and four 3s and fold them so no one can see the number. We’ll use those presets for squad frequencies as well, just to keep things easy for now. Keep on ear on overall command freq as well. For command, we’ll use preset four.”

Even as Jessie quickly jotted down the numbers and folded the paper, Robin looked over, “Master Sergeant Ryder would you mind shuffling them somehow and handing them out for me?”

Ryder stood and shot Robin a bit of a dirty eye, “Sure… Captain…”

Robin snickered. “Hey, come on, Sergeant, how often can you tell someone of a higher rank to pound sand if you want to?”

Ryder pulled up his shirt so Jessie could dump the papers into it, then walked down the line so each kid could pull out who they would be assigned to, “Not often enough. But hey, this is an interesting way to assign members, and even reasonable since you don’t know much about any of them.”

“Not much in the files other than Nataly Heed, who happens to have combat certs for her action at a raid outside some place called Pepper Mill. And no, I didn’t have any photos, so I don’t even know who Nataly is.”

“Me,” the fifteen-year-old girl with private rank on her collar spoke up. She flattened out her short sandy hair while her brown eyes looked down at the paper in her hand. She stood and held up a paper with a 1 on it. “I’m with you, Captain.”

“Ok, you’re my number two then. So how’d you do in your first action?”

“Not much to tell really. Took out a Gauntlet armored platform, then got an armor breach. It locked up my shoulder so they pulled me back.”

“A kill is still a kill; glad to have you,” Robin spoke seriously. “Who else is a number one?”

Five hands went up from two older girls, a boy slightly older than Robin, and the two youngest boys in the group. Robin noted the youngest was standing next to a Deputy frame, while the other was next to a Blade. He raised an eyebrow, “Luna, how did you assign frames?”

Luna instantly figured out why Robin was asking, “Maximilian was the first to grab his stuff and join us, so he got his pick. You told me about Nataly having a combat cert and she was easy to pick out so she got the Aggressor, just like you wanted. The others… well some got Blades because of attitude and others I just didn’t like as much… a few just stood out so they got Recruits instead of Blades… and, well Aaden is awfully big so I stuck him in a Deputy and…” Luna grinned evilly, “I love Maik’s grey eyes, longer black hair, and he has a real cute butt, so he got the last Deputy.”

Seeing a boy turn beat red, Glen moved over and punched the fourteen-year-old in the shoulder, “So you must be Maik! What number do you have cutie-pie?”

Robin moved up and took the small piece of paper out of the mortified fourteen-year-old’s hand and held it up, “Two! Luna you win! But no kissing until combat is over you two.”

“I guess we know who her number three is going to be!” Dante joked. “Or is that now me since you get lover-boy in your squad, Luna?”

Ryder moved back to his frame while covering his face with his hand and shaking his head, “Guys, the least you could do is break them into merc life slowly!”

“Nope,” Glen smiled widely, “jump in with both feet and get used to the temp of the water before you have second thoughts. That’s what my dad always told me!”

Robin snickered even as he patted Maik on the shoulder, “Everyone frame up. We’re under ten minutes before we land!”

Kyle is a bit different than most of our other Authors. He wants feedback on his stories, but what he really wants is a critique of the story and chapter. What did he do right but more importantly, what did he do wrong? You may email him at: LeeColo at Gmail dot Com

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