Sasi bubbled with increasing excitement as we traveled closer and closer to her home. This culminated with a squeak of excitement when lazy, white smoke plumes began wafting over the hill-top in front of us. "We're nearly there," she squealed. It was nice to see some childish enthusiasm creasing her face.

"Then we'll see how my uncle feels about you tying me up," Bodi growled.

Kuwta's voice dripped with sarcasm, "you really think I'd be scared of your uncle?"

The kid wasn’t backing down, bravery and stupidity often go together. "You should be. He's the head-man at the village."

Kuwta shrugged. "If he sends his kin out to scavenge on a battlefield, then he either doesn't care for you as much as you think he does, or the resources at his command are fairly limited. Either way, you can at least shut up for the rest of the walk." The Orc followed up her words with action, shoving a dirty cloth gag into the boy's mouth and tying it tightly in place.

"You're still making friends and influencing people, I see." That earnt me a dirty look. So I hid my grin by marching over the hill-top, from its crest I could finally see the village. Although calling the motley collection of buildings a village might be exaggerating a little. Most had been created from renovated cargo containers and even those few which hadn’t appeared to have been repurposed, as they resembled barns rather than traditional houses.

The strangest thing was that the entire village was surrounded with a faint shimmering haze, like gazing down an interstate on a hot summer's day.

"A force shield," Kuwta explained as she joined me. "Impressive for such a small village; perhaps they do have a power core."

"Of course we do," Sasi said proudly and then rushed down the hill in a loping run, everything even her injured friend forgotten in her excitement.

Buzz grunted and set off at a gallop to follow the girl. The insectoid was laden down with the still unconscious body of the injured boy and had to pick his steps carefully as he headed down the steep hillside. His six legs helped keep him steady as he skittered along, easily catching up with the girl and moving alongside her.

Kuwta looked at me with a raised eyebrow and shook her head, acknowledging the lack of order in our procession. Then she prodded her captive forward to follow the others down the hill.

I sighed heavily. The Orc obviously felt I'd failed dismally in instilling order in the squad. Worse still. Kuwta was probably right; at some point, my compassion was going to get everyone killed. I just hoped that it was after a long life of debauchery rather than while still a young virgin.

As we approached the shimmering force field, the crackle of energy became louder, and sparks were visible, meandering across the surface of the dome. I'd never seen such a display of energy before, and it was impressive and terrifying.

As usual, my helpful nanobots displayed various schematics and diagrams explaining its design, and the science behind it popped up helpfully before I dismissed them all with a thought. If I ever got the time or found myself unable to sleep at night, then I'd read through them. Until then, I skimmed the brief summary.

Force Shield

This field of energy acts as a wall preventing objects from passing to the other side.

A section of the shield shimmered, turning wispy. As it flickered and vanished, a solid-looking concrete bunker became visible where it had been. Rifle barrels jutted out from it, aimed menacingly towards us.

I put my hands in the air instinctively, showing that I wasn't holding a weapon. As I faced those barrels and waited for a reaction, Time froze, and the second stretched out, giving me ample time to think. It was then that I realized I had no idea if the gestures on Skraeling would be the same as Earth. I had heard that American's thumbing a lift in Spain get into a lot of fights because it's a rude gesture there. Fuck, I hope I haven't just flipped them the bird.

Then the moment passed, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Sasi rushed forwards. Her words rushed out at a machine-gun pace as she spoke to unseen people hidden behind the guns. "We're back. Bodi is hurt. These people helped us. They've managed to shut Kareem up. You said no one could do that."

A booming baritone voice echoed out of the bunker, "Welcome back home, Sasi." A large bear of a man quickly followed the voice. He wore military-style fatigues, and his short-cropped grey hair reinforced the likelihood that he'd served at some point. He ruffled the girl's hair as he marched past her, stopping in front of us.

"My name is Zahn. I'm the mayor of this hamlet." He paused to look keenly at each of us in turn, "Who's in charge of this unit?"

In a convincing display of authority, I glanced at Kuwta first, then replied. "That'd be me. Peters, Private Peters." It took effort not to finish with 'Sir,' the man's demeanor demanded respect. I pointed at the others, "The scowling lady is Kuwta, and the quiet armored guy is Buzz."

Zahn took it all in his stride, nodding calmly. "Would you mind untying my nephew?" He asked with a surprising lack of vehemence.

Damn, I should have had Kuwta untie him already. Blushing, I stammered, "K .. Kuwta, if you wouldn't mind."

As soon as Bodi's gag was removed, he started mouthing off again, "I told you that you'd be in trouble." The kid had a shit-eating grin smeared across his face. Kuwta, on the other hand, had tensed up and was probably around five seconds from decking the brat.

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Zahn grimaced slightly, "Bodi, would you mind going to the village."

The boy looked surprised and started to speak in a whining tone, "But, Uncle," he began before the man interrupted him.

"Now," Zahn stated in a tone that brooked no debate.

Bodi's shoulders slumped, and he left without another word. That was impressive; this man was a leader in the same manner that Sarge had been. He'd defused the situation brilliantly before the kid had even realized he was in danger.

Turning back to me, Zahn continued smoothly, "Don't worry, I fully understand the need to keep that one under control. Although as his uncle, I prefer to use less rope. You understand?" I understood, alright. An undercurrent to his tone indicated that this once he'd let it go, but to mess with his people wasn't advisable.

"Yeah, well, he was a bit of a handful," I said, flashing a weak smile.

"Kareem, he lives?"

"He is stable, but ..." I gulped and looked at Kuwta.

"We stopped the bleeding but as to whether he wakes or not." Kuwta shrugged noncommittally.

The man frowned at Kuwta's words, "Well, let's get him inside." After a second, he added, "You too, I hope you're not too proud to take a meal, as thanks for your help?"

We moved past the fizzing shield and discovered that every soul in the village had come out to watch the spectacle. Just beyond the bunker stood a crowd of people, shouting excitedly as we approached.

Zahn stopped before them and motioned for quiet. The shouting stuttered to a stop, like a class full of unruly students called to attention. Once he was sure he had their attention, Zahn projected his voice loudly so they could all hear him.

"My friends, we have visitors. It has been a long time since we have had guests in the village, there will be a meal later, and you will all get a chance to speak to them." He paused, his eyes connecting with several individuals meaningfully, "Now, let's give them a chance to settle in. I know everyone has a lot to do."

With that he hustled us through the now parting crowd and towards the largest of the cargo crate buildings in the center of the village.

As we moved, Zahn acted as a tour guide, "Four years ago, this village didn't exist. Back then, it was just a power depot for the local farmers. When the war came, Hagi rigged up a system to create a force shield, no one else understands how it works, but it's kept us alive amid the chaos." He paused, "So far at least. The power cells are failing, and when they do, I don't know what will happen."

"We did find something!" Sasi said hopefully from her place at the large man's side.

Zahn sighed, "It was foolish to let you go out and scavenge. Kareem still might die because of my decision, and that is something that I have to live with." The man opened the door to the large building and beckoned within.

"But we found something that might help!" Sasi repeated firmly.

"It's true," I stated, ignoring the daggers that Kuwta was glaring at me. "Kuwta, show the man the command processor."

Kuwta threw me a brief glare and then watched for Zahn's reaction to my statement. I prodded her again. "We need to use their power cell, remember? They're going to ask what it's for."

Kuwta's attention, and irritation, didn't go unnoticed by Zahn, who worked to smoothly defuse the situation, "Save your thunder for someone else, I'm just a retired grunt trying to look after his patch of dirt. If you found some tech wizardry, then you'll get a chance to speak to Hagi when we eat later. He'd be the person to talk to about using our power cell anyway," He chuckled ruefully. "Not that there's much power left in it these days."

With that and a reminder that he'd be back in a couple of hours to rouse us for the evening meal, he left us to our own devices. Sasi left with him, still chattering excitedly.

As soon as the door closed, Kuwta rounded on me angrily. Slobber flew from her mouth as she growled at me, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

My hands flew up in surrender before she started throwing punches. The powerful Orc had a good twenty pounds on me, and all of it was muscle. "What, peace?" I stuttered.

She stalked towards me, drawing herself to her full height, but with admirable restraint, didn't actually hit me. "It's not your fault that you're an idiot." She growled.

I didn't argue with her. Being a live idiot was better than a dead genius in my book. After a few seconds, I dared to ask the vital question that men everywhere ask the women in their lives, "What did I do wrong?"

Apparently, that had been the wrong question.

Kuwta reared up again, "The Command Processor is important. We are probably the only people outside of the Scrael who possess such a thing." She glared down at me and enunciated every word slowly and clearly as if that would help it penetrate my thick skull. "People will kill you for it."

"Oh ... Zahn seemed nice, though, and we do need access to the power core," I muttered defensively.

"I was just going to ask him to charge my battery pack. He never needed to know we had the command processor."

"Well, you could have explained your plan to me," I threw back. When Sarge had been in charge, he'd been officious and annoying, but he'd made leading a team look simple. Communication and forethought had never been something that came naturally to me. Without a trained leader, the squad coped fine when we knew our roles and purpose but give us anything unusual, and we bickered like we were in a teenage love triangle.

"You should have asked," Kuwta indicated, baring her teeth.

I took a deep breath and collected my thoughts. If this was going to avoid blows, then someone would have to pretend to be the adult in the room and take charge. Against all logic, that appeared to be me. Damn, I missed Sarge.

"Let's calm down and talk this through." I backed slowly away from the angry Orc and took a seat at the small table. Kuwta loomed over me for several seconds. Then deflated and sat down opposite me. Having completed the first step without being punched. It was time to see if I've got any leadership potential.

"I apologize for not clearly defining our plan before we arrived here. I will try and do better in the future." I looked Kuwta in the eye and, having offered the apology, I continued. "I need you to help me by explaining your thoughts and plans to me. I might be psychic, but I'm not infallible."

Kuwta raised an eyebrow and sat unblinking for a couple of seconds, then stated. "All right, it's out in the open now, and we'll let this play out. Next time, we'll plan things out before we engage the enemy." The Orc stuck a meaty hand out for me to fist bump, the more violent Orcish equivalent of a handshake. I knew from experience that Kuwta's fist bumps could leave bruises if she was excited.

Having dealt with the tension, we relaxed, downing our packs and putting our feet up in the manner that only off-duty soldiers can manage. We'd only a short time before the meal would be ready, and I aimed to rack out in a comfortable bed while I had the opportunity.