Once they finished their shower, Eirian retreated to another secluded bay of the locker room to dress while Zayd took a few extra minutes under a colder spray of water to calm himself down. This was hardly the first time Zayd had been close to a beautiful woman but Eirian outclassed his high school sweethearts by several orders of magnitude. He briefly entertained the fantasy of showing up with Eirian at a reunion, just to see the look on the face of the women who’d broken up with him when they discovered the ‘defective’ designation in his file and the monstrous pile of debt the company had dumped on his shoulders.
Shaking his head, Zayd banished the petty fantasy from his mind and changed into a fresh uniform before reuniting with Eirian in the shuttle’s medical bay. The assault shuttle could hardly pass as a medical transport, but the facilities were sufficient to treat a small number of wounded, at least enough for most soldiers to survive to reach a better facility aboard the substantially more capable Spear of Destiny.
Eirian, for her part, was back to business as she examined not only the mild injuries he’d suffered but also the level of Dark Energy he’d expended and the rate at which he was recovering his limited reserves. “Drink this,” she said, handing him a pouch of something cold with the consistency of applesauce and a strong citrus flavor. “That will help with your recovery but you’ve still drawn deeply on your Dark Energy reserves. You’ll need between twelve and fifteen hours to be ready to deploy again,” she explained. “This,” she added, spraying a fine mist over the bruised areas of his flesh. “Is a micro-mender spray. It will take an hour or so to permeate through your damaged flesh and aid in the repair of ruptured blood vessels, cracked bones, and strained ligaments. The combat armor issued by the Imperial Legion includes a higher-end version of this and applies it automatically but your Saighdear isn’t intended for long, multi-day deployments. If you have to deploy like this again, you’ll need to carry an external kit for emergency medical treatment that your armor can’t provide.”
Zayd could only shake his head at the luxurious treatment. No one who worked for Braxis-Quan Holding Company would expect such lavish treatment for what amounted to well-armored private infantry. For the mech pilots and elite guards of executives, perhaps, but in the days he’d spent as an aspiring pilot, his instructors had been firm believers in the mantra that bruises were reminders not to make mistakes again. The difference was striking.
Once they had finished ensuring that Zayd was in the best shape possible to recover quickly for the upcoming assault, Eirian guided him to a small briefing room at the opposite end of the shuttle. The room had an elegant if simple wooden table that was long enough to accommodate ten people. The far wall of the room was dominated by a holographic screen running through footage of the exercise from the perspective of not only its participants but several hidden observation drones scattered throughout the mining camp.
“Priestess, Champion, welcome,” Wing Leader Tael said when the two entered together. “We were just discussing Zayd’s early actions in raiding the camp for explosives and the importance of scouting when the enemy has the home-field advantage. Now that everyone is here, please, take a moment for proper introductions,” he said, gesturing to the Fae woman immediately to his right.
“Champion Zayd, I’m glad to finally meet you in person,” the woman started. The combination of her deep sapphire eyes and the long flowing ocean blue hair that spilled over her shoulders combined with narrow features to give her an almost aquatic appearance. Given the Fae’s predilection for genetic tampering, Zayd wouldn’t have been surprised if the woman had sported webbed hands or feet. “I’m Fist Leader Sioban,” the woman continued, gesturing to the remaining four Fae gathered around the table. “You did quite a number on my team, you know.”
“They did quite a number on me too,” Zayd said, looking at the figure of the only Fae present with iridescent butterfly-like wings. “Lady Haelith I presume? You’re a hell of a fighter.”
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“So are you Champion,” the fierce-looking woman said with a predatory grin. “I want a rematch when it’s just the two of us. I didn’t like ganging up on you like that but a certain someone offered me a romantic dinner the next time we get leave somewhere civilized if we could stop you from getting past us,” she said with an affectionate glance at Fist Leader Sioban. “No hard feelings, right?”
“None,” Zayd said with a smile. From the way she was so open about her relationship with her own Fist Leader, it seemed like Priestess Eirian wasn’t the only one fraternizing with shipmates. It was yet another stark but frankly welcome departure from the world he’d grown up in. Deployments in space could last for months to years and keeping your hands to yourself could be challenging for the most stoic of men. At least, if things did take off between him and Eirian, he wouldn’t be the only one indulging in the company of an attractive crewmate. “Does your accomplice want a rematch too?” Zayd asked, turning his attention to the next person at the table.
“I wouldn’t dare,” the youngest Fae at the table said, raising his hands in panic. “Champion, I’m sorry for ganging up on you, but like Lady Haelith said, orders…”
“It’s fine,” Zayd said, raising a hand. Clearly, he’d underestimated the social standing he had as Lady Nimue’s Champion, the poor kid looked like he was afraid of being disciplined for doing his job! “I didn’t catch your name though.”
“Saeyd,” the young Fae said in relief. “This is my first tour as part of Lady Nimue’s guard.”
“Mine too,” Zayd said with a grin. “So who do I have to apologize to for dropping a cliff on them?” he asked, panning his gaze between the two remaining men at the table.
“You don’t have to apologize, Champion,” a solidly built Fae with inky black hair and faintly glowing pearlescent eyes said. “My name is Broll, I’m the long gun in our team. Wing Leader Tael was just showing me the footage of your approach when you set those charges. You got me good Champion,” he said with a rich, belly-shaking laugh.
“You did a number on me too, Champion,” the final Fae at the table said. “My name is Caedril,” the slightly built Fae introduced himself. “I don’t think people like me are supposed to fight people like you. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was your first training mission, I don’t think I would have managed to stall you that long.”
“I don’t know,” Zayd said, offering an olive branch. “You’re slippery, it makes it hard to land a solid enough hit to do any real damage. Maybe it only takes one hit to shut you down but getting that one hit takes a lot of work!”
“Speaking of work,” Tael said, relieved to see that Sioban’s team was welcoming of their new human member, “We have a bit of work to get through before we get back to the Spear of Destiny for some decent rest. Sioban, for the assault on the human orbital station, I intend to place Champion Zayd under your command as a part of your team. Do you have any objections?”
“None, Wing Leader,” Sioban said crisply and without the slightest hesitation. “Champion Zayd, I’m looking forward to having your strength on our side in the fight to come.”
“Good,” Tael said before Zayd could reply. “Now, Zayd, my general evaluation is that you meet the standard for a member of Lady Nimue’s guard if only barely, but your performance is considerably short of what we expect from a Champion. We’re going to review each of your actions here to discuss your shortcomings but the most important thing to understand is that your armor is more capable than you’ve been giving it credit for. You put a lot of emphasis on not getting hit and evading when you could have accepted a few blows to close the distance between yourself and your opponents. Based on our understanding of the equipment issued by your former employer, the discrepancy between offensive firepower and your own defensive capability will be even greater. Take a hit to deliver several of your own, you understand?”
Seeing comprehension in Zayd’s eyes, Tael continued in the debriefing, replaying each encounter from multiple angles and pointing out the missed opportunities, the invalid assumptions, and the places where Zayd’s caution had ultimately cost him the mission.
If Zayd had to distill the feedback down to one thing it was that he wasn’t aggressive enough. Looking at the predatory gleam in Lady Haelith’s eyes, he quickly added her to his list of mentors to learn from. He might not have much time to prepare for the assault on the station, but after that, he wasn’t about to stop training!