Captain Murdock waved to the seat one side of his desk while he sat on the other. It was a small but functional room with a couple of creature comforts that the captain had added to give a personal touch. The holo-photo of his family sat on a shelf next to his desk and the small potted chili plant under a growing lamp in the corner. Elias sat and downloaded his feed from the neural link to verify the kill count of his group and get their bonuses.

"There was an odd group of recruits sat together in a bunch chatting about Central as they came in. Not anything you would know about, is it?" Captain Murdock casually asked.

"The one's that didn't just look stunned and surprised to have survived the day?" Elias said sarcastically.

"Yeah, not often Macon leads a command where a group keeps its morale like that. Makes me think you made the most of the leadership opportunity. One in three isn't bad for the first run above a squad."

"Pffft." Said Elias. "Watch the feed, Macon only passed over direct command after the first wave. The sixteen in there are all that were left when we left the Crust."

"And they all made it out? Bet she won't like that. You know the old brass prefer baptism by fire."

Elias glared a little at this statement, causing Murdock to throw his hands up in defence.

"Hey, you know I just want competent people in my base. I heard the group talking through their skills as I walked past. So you have no issue from me."

Inside Elias was annoyed. Even a good captain like Murdock only believed that a few of the recruits could amount to something. It was bad enough that the companies were paid to take the volunteers by the overpopulated planets and stations so that they were someone elses problem to deal with. Then if they survived their so called baptism they would be so laden with debt that most of them wouldn't be able to pay their way free. The few that survived long enough would then end up renewing the contract so they didn't end up kicked out with only a debt to show for their time in the colonies. A comment from Murdock pulled him out of his musing.

"That's all sorted now, everything as you reported. Pity I won't see you again after this one."

"Huh?" Said Elias, who had not really been listening to all that had been said.

"Oh. Makes sense. I suppose you haven't spoken to Burke yet. Probably shouldn't have said anything." Murdock finished and sat tapping on his console rather than look back up at Elias.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Really, you're going to leave me hanging like that?" Elias said.

"Ha. Why not? He's just next door, go find out yourself. Tell you what, meet you at Central later and I'll buy you a beer for being a prick?"

Knowing he wouldn't get the answer from Murdock now Elias stood, gave off a sarcastic salute and let himself out. Intrigued what Murdock meant he headed straight down the corridor to Burke's office. Maybe Murdock was shipping out? There was word that the dropship which left off the recruits was still in port, due to leave in the morning. There was only one ship up in Orbital though that was going on to the new colony planets and Elias thought it unlikely the man would move further away from his family. He reached for the door panel by Burke's office and swiped for entry.

Unlike most of the doors in the corridor, this one was keyed to only open once Burke had approved entry so Elias was left stood in the corridor as a blonde haired recruit walked past.

"Hey. I've got first patrol, will you still be at the bar after?" She asked with a flutter of her eyelashes at him. It took a moment for Elias to recognise Fourteen out of armour and dressed in basic clothing instead.

"Yeah, probably." He replied.

"See you later then." She smiled and continued with an intentional sway to her hips as Elias waited for the door.

After another minute or so the light on the panel went green and the door panel opened to an office bigger than Murdocks but much plainer and utilitarian. The central desk was empty except the console and the room lacked a second chair to allow Elias to sit. It had the authoritarian design that the company managers favoured; making any visitors uncomfortable rather than at ease. Used to the showmanship and tired after a long day Elias stepped forward and tapped the console to download Captain Murdock's approval before leaning back against one of the walls.

Burke tsked as he saw Elias move away rather than wait in front of the desk.

"You know behaviour like that will do you no good if you want to move into command positions Mr Thompson." He said, waving with disdain at Elias.

Elias shrugged and waited while Burke looked through the information on his internal display.

"What's up with Murdock? Is he leaving or something?" Elias asked, still curious about the comment made earlier.

"No, he is not leaving." Came the blunt reply. Burke looked over the initial report. "I know you only took this mission to get the leadership skill to activate. I hope you were successful." he sneered as he looked over the details. "A group of twenty-one, you must have been so pleased."

"It was enough." Elias said, not rising to the taunt. To be honest he was still to look through his skill upgrades since the mission completed but would have plenty of time to do so over the next few days.

"I have approval to release your funds. Would you like me to distribute to the rest of your squad automatically?" Elias nodded at Burke.

That's a profit of 543 credits to you for the day, spend it well." Burke said after a few more moments and then waited for Elias to start walk out of the room.

"A moment, Mr Thompson, there is one more thing." Said Burke who then waited.

"What?" Asked Elias, realising Burke had waited until he was standing in front of the desk where he had wanted him in the first place. Resisting an urge to lean back on the wall or on the desk itself Elias stood where he was.

"We were surprised to receive an offer for your contract." Burke started. "A generous one. Obviously, given your proclivities towards helping the recruits in a manner that does not always seem to gel with company policy, we were quick to accept it. Unfortunately the offer did not cover any additional equipment or purchases you have made directly from Xanon Corps. So we are now in a position that you owe us 1,678 credits." He waited as Elias' jaw dropped before continuing. "Having checked your personal account and the assessed damage to your loaned equipment we have made appropriate deductions before closing the account." Burke reached into his pocket. "Here is the closing balance of your account."

He passed a minor Shard to Elias. He seethed internally, it was not a coincidence that the number was so exact that a minor Shard would close his account. Powerless to do anything else, he took the item, put it in his pocket and stormed out of the room; ignoring the update on his neural link that detailed his new employer. That information could wait until tomorrow. Tonight he was going to a bar and getting drunk.