I surged up out of my bed, finally free of memory's clutches. Halfway to upright, my breasts ran into a steel post someone had set across my bed. Quick blushed and yanked his arm away so fast I thought I imagined it. The ache of a rapidly forming bruise told me I hadn't. I took a moment to check my specifications; an unaugmented Cadet shouldn't be bruising me.

Cadet Quick is partially augmented, and your augments are down to save power.

I shook my head to clear it of post-sleep mugginess, adjusted my sweats as much to ground myself in me as to make sure nothing had shifted while I slept, and then swung out of bed.

"Is there a reason you woke me, First?"

"Yes, sir. We jumped at five hours, as per your orders. Echidna spotted what she thinks was an incoming 'Sect jump footprint moments before we jumped out, and she just completed the post-jump scan of the system a few moments ago."

"The 'Sect followed us?"

"No, sir. They were here. Waiting."

***

I strode through the hallway, my First by my side, Echidna listing our current conditions as I did.

"We're facing one Materner, although it's got some odd maneuvering characteristics. It's got three Madrecita variants with it, and six Soros. I've got one of the Madrecitas pegged as a mature Mutterchen-Ter by the bulky antipersonnel nodes on her belly. The other two are either immature Madrecitas or Marapis. They don't have the overdeveloped drive clusters aft, and they don't have the bulk of a mature Madrecita, so... I can't be sure."

I got the strong sense of sheepishly shrugged shoulders at that last comment. "Who's on watch?"

"JC Captain Huff, sir. With you sleeping and Delnot arranging classes, it seemed like a good application of our manpower." I felt pinprick tension radiating from Quick. I smiled, and his tension ratcheted upward, although changed somehow. I banished the fine details of his emotional state to the back of my mind; if I could count on anyone here, I could rely on Quick. Besides, psych issues lay firmly in Guy's lap. A Captain had to delegate something, or she'd die of exhaustion, augmented or not.

"Excellent. He's in Core Command?"

"Yes, sir. He wanted to run things from the middle command, but I overruled him. There was some... heated discussion regarding our relative rank."

I turned to look at him without breaking stride, my eyebrows climbing. "This is Junior Cadet Captain Huff we're talking about?"

"Yes, sir."

"And he got into it with you over which of you should be in command?"

"Not exactly, sir." Quick shrugged shoulders that seemed now more than ever like they belonged on a set of Armor, matching my stride without breathing heavy. "He got into it with me because he wanted to be in middle command. Uh, there's another reason, I think..."

"Go on"

"I think he needs a nap, sir."

I took another few steps before I realized my mouth was still hanging open. I closed it with a snap, kept walking as I chewed over the latest bit of bad news. I'd forgotten entirely one of the basic facts about immature humans; we could reach emotional maturity long before we reached physical maturity, especially Reincarnates, but physical immaturity came with emotional side effects. In short, little kids needed more sleep.

"Right. At some point when we get half a dozen minutes to think, you and I need to have another VR session and rework the schedules for the juniors. Twelve hours of down time daily minimum, with a nap for the kids four and under." I made a note to that effect on the to do list in my perfect, augmented memory. Someday I'd get used to having my augmentation. Really.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Quick nodded, frowning. "Sounds good, sir, but the Reincarnates are going to squawk about it."

"Use that as another reason they need a nap. Any of them who won't take at least half an hour of down time during the day go have a chat with Doctor Delnot." Another thought occurred to me. "Have the Middies on babysitting duty looking for Juniors who aren't sleeping well. If they're having nightmares, they need to talk to Delnot as well."

"You know he's not a real doctor, right?"

I shrugged; my shoulders tight. "He's the best we've got until we get back in contact with fleet. We're Imperial Service, Quick. We adapt. We overcome. We get the job done, whether the job is killing aliens or rocking kids to sleep. Got it?"

"Got it, sir. Semper Tenax, sir."

We'd arrived at the reinforced iris door of the middle command bridge. I closed my eyes, one hand raised to forestall any questions from Quick. Ideas and concerns flashed in front of my mind's eye, the most important sticking out. Once they settled, I nodded, opened my eyes, and addressed my First. "How many do we have in Armor?"

"Roughly one third of the Middies, sir. Hard to be sure how many have kept pace with their fittings."

"Get all of them, yourself and Delnot excepted, armored up and ready to fight." I rolled right over his half-formed protest before he could do more than half open his mouth. "Get yourself to middle engineering on the double. Start working on plans to get every Cadet on the ship armored. I'll want them for review before the next jump."

His half-opened mouth dropped all the way open at that. "Even the Juniors, sir?"

"You think the 'Sects are going to treat them nice because they're babies? These aren't Vulg', who might adopt them. They aren't Mech', who might, just maybe, use them as negotiating leverage. These are 'Sects, Quick. What will they do if the 'Sects catch them?"

"Eat them, sir."

"Slowly and painfully, from the inside out. Every last one. If they can't pilot it, make it self-piloting." I turned to face him, and he did the same without thinking about it. "Every single one, First. Do you understand me?"

"Sir, yes, sir! Honor of the Dragon, I'll have plans ready for you by next jump, sir!"

"Find me enough power for at least three jumps, as well."

I turned, stepped through the door, and willed it shut through my augments. Before it snapped shut, I tossed a 'dismissed' over my shoulder to hide my smile.

***

"Card, I thought we weren't going to have a problem."

"Sir, part of my duty as bridge medic is to see to the health and well-being of whichever officer is on my assigned bridge. Your essie reported you've been starving yourself. Doctor Delnot concurred; we can't have you going into combat unfed." Biting off whatever else she wanted to say, Cadet Card held the cylindrical, opaque carafe up between us. It had to be at least two liters, enough to be difficult for her to hold out like that. I took it as much to ease her arms as to give in to the doctor's orders.

"I'm not sure I like you looking out for my well-being any more than I like you disagreeing with me, Card."

She shot me a lopsided grin. "Yeah. I mean, I agree completely, sir. It seems completely unnatural."

I stepped around her to my station at the center of the bridge. A glance at the vents along the floor showed them still closed. With a suppressed sigh I popped the top of the carafe open, tilted it back and started chugging. After the first mouthful I stopped, trying not to gag as it slithered down my throat. The vile stuff had the consistency of thin, lumpy gelatin, compounded by a flavor that mixed the sickly sweet of pure sugar syrup, the slightly off salt of stale sweat, and the smelly savor of steak almost gone bad. Underlying everything else, a thin, chalky powder coated the inside of my mouth, left a grey smear on my uniform when I wiped my lips.

Before I did anything else, I opened a mental link to Guy.

What the hell is in this clutter you've got Card feeding me?

His reply came quickly enough I knew he'd waited for me to ask.

Old family recipe. Perfect for rapid augmentation. Mom says dad loved it.

I tried to ignore the ongoing protest from my taste buds, tipped the carafe back and chugged another two mouthfuls before my throat tried to close off in protest.

This tastes like this is the same batch your mom fed your dad, and it hasn't kept well.

I slugged the taste of the stuff along with the thought, and his confusion laden response took a while to get back to me.

Maybe Echidna isn't making it right?

I shook my head, remembering the oatmeal, then gulped down another two mouthfuls before recapping the carafe. A quick check with my essie showed my reaction mass at three percent, energy reserves at six percent, and a new bar, 'fuel stores' at two percent. I handed the container back to Card, who secured it to her workstation. A ping to my essie told me I had tens of thousands of heartbeats before fusion shutdown, assuming I didn't activate my shielding. If I needed shielding buried this deep in the heart of my ship, I had bigger problems.

I had no more time to worry about my diet. I had 'Sects to fight.