Chapter 17

Back in my flat, we hung up one of the posters in my bedroom. I had wanted to do it since I saw it, hoping it would disperse the unwanted thoughts creeping up on me when the world became too still.

After that, I sat down on the sofa with my laptop, and the girl huddled up against me. It was nice having her so close, but it also brought back all the questions from the evening with Mai’Ri. I tried not to think about it and instead began researching the different unity initiatives we could apply for, but I couldn’t focus on my work with her soft body, half-asleep next to me. What was I supposed to do with her? I could probably check it online, but she kept glancing at the screen from time to time, so it would be weird if she saw it.

“Do you like Mai’Ri?”, she murmured sleepily.

I didn’t want to walk into that minefield, so I only said,

“I like both of you”

She closed her eyes.

“I like you too...”

She snuggled up against me. Maybe this evening wouldn’t be as bad.

“Are you tired?”, I asked.

She yawned and shook her head.

“No… We can research making the city beautiful with flowers!”

“It’s late, we can do it tomorrow.”

“Okay... ”

I picked her up and carried her to my bedroom. I remember sleeping back-to-back with some of my squadmates when it was cold, and I guess this wouldn’t be any different.

“I will get up early, but you can stay in bed”

“I will get up with you!”

I smiled and laid her in bed. I couldn’t imagine she would, but I liked her effort, and her presence filled the emptiness and the silence that normally made up my sleepless nights. I lay down on the other side, giving her as much space as I could, but she instantly invaded my side and snuggled up against me. I glanced at the poster on the wall before turning off the light.

When the alarm rang, I quickly got out of bed to not wake her up. Of course, she was still sleeping.

With a cup of coffee in my hand, I stood on the balcony and watched the sunrise, still tired after my morning workout. It had become my morning routine, at least since they’d moved in. A lot had changed since then, even I noticed that, and to be honest, I kinda liked it if I didn’t think too much about where it might lead.

Yeah, where did I want it to lead? So far in my life, I had avoided thinking too much, always having someone else telling me what to do. One of the many benefits of the armed forces. But now… Now my future rested in my hands. It was both scary and exciting. What did I want my future to look like?

I went inside, washed my cup, and left. It was still early, but driving there should give me some extra time, too, and I hoped I could talk to Major Takahashi before work.

I parked my car on the premises and went inside. Major Takahashi waited for me with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“How did it go yesterday?”

“Good”

I smiled.

“I got you answers for the other questions”, he said.

He gestured for me, and I grabbed another coffee from the machine and followed him to his office. He pushed a stack of printed paper towards me.

“This should do. They are not urgent, so you don’t need to rush with it”

“Thank you”

I took a sip of coffee.

“Sir, I have another question”

He gave me a curious look, and I told him about An’Ri’s wish. He listened carefully, taking notes on a small notepad he pulled from his pocket. I was surprised he took the idea seriously.

“Let’s see what we can do.”

He checked his watch and got up. It would be embarrassing to be late again for the briefing, especially for him.

I felt strangely relaxed and at peace when Fenrir’s systems slowly came online, and not the adrenaline-fuelled rush that always came when Tau flooded my body. Had I finally got used to it? I shrugged. There was no point in dwelling on it, but I somehow enjoyed the newfound peace as I started to work.

I needed to be careful, you never knew what you would find in a new sector. I was fine in Fenrir, but the team could get hurt if something suddenly went off in the ruins. I walked slowly, keeping my eyes on my instruments.

I glanced at the half-crumbling block to my left, its melted walls shining, reflecting the morning sun. It must have been one of their power armours that had done it, probably a later model. Only those carried the “cannons” that could cause such damage. At least it should be relatively safe, most of their energy weapons didn’t leave any duds. The building to the right, though, was another matter. I guess it had been a school once.

I zoomed in on it. Its walls were cracked and blackened from the fire that had raged inside, and it had large gashes where an Artemis rocket had hit. Someone had had the guts to try to take that ugly Bastard down. I only hoped they had evacuated in time.

My scanners picked up something, and I turned towards it. Butterfly drones, or rather what remained of them. In the war, we had packed them with a self-destruction mechanism to prevent the stinkers from getting their hands on our tech. I signalled to my team, and they backed off.

I checked the database, but there was no record of this engagement. It happened more often than not, and by the end, no one had kept track of what we had used to blast them to pieces. It sucked now, though, making our work even slower and more dangerous.

We could get aerial, just in case. I deployed Fenrir’s V7 drones and started sending the feed from their cameras to the command. The initial recon that we had done earlier was shaky at best. Our AIs weren’t really designed for that job, and no one had time to watch hours of footage.

The butterflies on the ground seemed totally fried, but it seemed they had done their job well. One of my V7s alerted me to the target at two o'clock. These drones were way smarter than the crap we normally used for recon. I looked at the ugly Bastard appearing on my screen. It was covered in a pile of rubble. So they’d got it. I smiled and reported my findings to the command. Some weirdo who liked picking apart their toys would be happy analysing it.

I zoomed in. If you didn’t know where to look, it didn’t seem damaged, but I was sure the cabin had been busted by the tungsten core propelled by the secondary charge. They had never really figured out how to deal with it. Giving the power armour more power so that the pilot could put up more barriers didn’t really work, and most of them weren’t quick enough to deploy them in time anyway. A simple composite armour would have solved it. They could have done it, they had the tech, so why hadn’t they?

I shrugged. It didn’t really matter. The stinkers had got what they deserved.