That image lurked, projected onto my optic nerve by my essie, as I hung in the middle of the bay surrounded by my Cadets. When I’d entered, they’d been chattering like any large group of young people would do, but as I rose into the bay a wave of silence swept over them. Now they all stood, sat, or lay silently, their attention centered on me.

“Cadets.” In the back of my mind, each and every one of them focused on my voice. “We know where we are.”

A moment’s silence, and the bay echoed with the sound of six thousand indrawn breaths.

Projection now please, Echidna.

A projection of the ‘Sect – Unity border came up in the middle of the bay, centered on Deep Stand Base. I waited until recognition filtered through enough of my links. Before the chattering could start, I took control of the projection and pulled it out until Deep Stand hung at one end. Our current position flared to life at the other.

“Here is where we are. The nearest base is at Deep Stand. Our least time route is ten jumps long.”

Again, I waited until my crew recognized the space between, and again I cut off the incipient riot. A single star near us glowed a bright turquoise.

“We’re not taking the least time route. Not only will it take us directly through ‘Sect space, but in our current condition we’re in no shape to run fast. Instead, we’ll be stopping here,” the turquoise gem near us flared. “We’re stopping here. The planet has liquid water, oxygen, and possibly some carbon-based biologics for us to scavenge. We’ll take four days to restock and resupply, then we’re headed down this path.”

This time a series of stars glowed, tracing out a pair of paths that zigzagged through space. Eventually, after nearly two dozen hops, another light lit up bright green. “That will take us to Coreward Base. The path is longer, and we’ll be zigzagging through ‘Sect and Mech’ space for the second leg of the journey, but that actually works in our favor. Whenever we cannot avoid contact, we will flee into the opposing territory.”

I floated in the middle of the bay, letting the quiet conversations begin. I’d never called the cadets to attention; now the reincarnates took advantage of that to discuss the plan I’d set forth. For once I wasn’t flying in the face of standard Imperial tactics. Of course, this was mainly because we were so far behind enemy lines that there weren’t too many details on what tactics I should use. Eventually the neoincarnates started asking questions, trying to understand the implications. At that point I interrupted.

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“We’ll be jumping in just under two hours, and once we do, we’ll be headed in system as quickly as possible. That means each and every one of you needs to be buttoned up by then. I expect you to report to your assigned armor bay in one hour. All unassigned Cadets have free time from now until then.”

With that, I powered up and dropped toward the hatch to the inner bay. I didn’t want to get in the way of the dodgeball games I could tell would be forming the moment I got out of the way. Despite the continued quiet conversation, the bay remained oddly silent.

“Captain? Could I have a moment of your time?”

Quick’s quiet question stopped the conversations nearest him, and the silence spread outward from there. I turned, my suspicion hardening into certainty when I saw the grin on his face.

“What is it, First?”

“With all the crises coming up, this took me longer than it ought to have, but between your orders and some volunteer work by the Armoring Juniors, we managed to finish it in time.”

I just waited, looking at him expectantly.

“You did order everyone into armor, sir.”

“So I did. So what?”

“There’s still one person who hasn’t been, sir.”

I frowned at that. Even my ‘runners’ and my steward had buttoned up before I stumbled to my quarters to sleep. Bringing up my rosters, I scrolled through the list of Juniors, then the list of Middies, but no names popped out with the red of ‘unarmored’, or even the amber of ‘unfitted’.

“Who are you talking about, First?”

“You, sir.”

I stopped, mouth half open to release an abortive denial. With my augmentation, I didn’t need armor for life support or even particle shielding, but the fact remained that I’d disobeyed my own order. Before I could pursue that line of thought any further, Quick fired off his infamous Smirk and, with a theatrical flourish, opened the bay right next to the inner bay doors.

When I’d seen Guy’s armor in the shuttle bay so long ago, I’d been impressed with how sleek and deadly it appeared. Looking at the armor rising from the bay before me, I finally recognized Guy’s armor for what it was, desperate overcompensation.

Shoulder mounted gun pods flowed seamlessly into sleek killing claws, the joints only distinguishable by the way the armor flexed slightly as it rose from its bay. Between and behind the gun pods, a trio of configurable weapon mounts currently held a pair of heavy shield generators and a missile pod loaded with ship killers. The body of the armor, where the pilot would spend most of her waking combat hours, eschewed the normal crablike appearance of Imperial Combat Armor. Instead, it reminded me of nothing so much as a humanoid mantis, poised and ready to strike. The single heavy drive pod centered near the rear only reinforced that image, and the way the armor’s heavy feet swiveled open to grasp at the edge of the bay sealed things.

“Well, sir? What do you think?”

I couldn’t keep the awestruck reverence from my voice in the presence of such an incredible example of the Armorer’s art. “It’s beautiful, First. Just beautiful.”

“Fitting then, sir. I’m happy to report that all crew members have now been Armored and Fitted, sir.”

I looked over at him in time to see the Smirk disappearing behind his mask once more.

“Well then, First, let’s go get ourselves some supplies.”