Issac Hower sat in a small mess hall, a bowl of some kind of gruel before him. A larger portion than what he had been used to, though that was probably in some part thanks to the fact that over half the men in their section had been wiped out.

It had been a few days now since the last attack. 3 days in fact.

He remembered because every morning he would go to his new commanding officer to ask for leave so he could deliver the message Major Mayne had left with him. And everyday his request would be denied.

“The Swarm could return at any time.”, “You’ve just begun your PDF service, why are you trying to leave already?” and his favourite one just this morning. “Don’t bother asking again private.”

He stabbed his spoon down into his bowl of gruel with much more force than he should have, though he could hardly begin to care. It had been 3 days since he was given his orders, three days to remember the man that had saved his life, over and over again.

He had always learned from his teachers that war changed people. A lesson they all drilled into every student after the war began in hopes of diswading hopeful youth from running away in search of honour or glory. Not that he had listened. He understood at the very least that he would change somewhat. He just never expected it would happen so quickly.

Every waking, and non waking hour he was replaying images from that accursed battle. The sounds and sights constantly keeping him awake at night. He often wondered if it would not have been easier just to stay down in that ammunition bunker and wait for the inevitable. However he had orders to fulfil, the only thing that was keeping him going. It wasn’t like an orphaned kid like him had a home to go back to anyway. The war had already taken both his parents.

“So this is where you’ve been kid?” A familiar female voice said behind him before he felt the mess hall bench move as they sat down at his side. A trio of men sat down on the other side of the bench, placing down plates of food of far higher quality than his own. He almost drooled looking at the stack of bacon eggs and fresh bread. “Here.”

A similar plate was pushed in front of him, Issac not even caring who these strangers were as he dove down into the food, greedily scooping its contents into his mouth.

“I don’t know what you see in this kid Alarea.” One of the men across the table shook their head at Issac’s display. “Just some country bumpkin from a backwater planet.”

“Now now,” She smiled, tucking a lock of her long black hair behind one ear. “I said I see potential. May not be much now, but as I recall, you weren't much either before I picked you up off the street Mark.”

The man in question, Mark, scowled at her but did not respond, preferring instead to simply eat his breakfast and ignore her. It was at this time that Issac decided to glance over and take a look at her, a bad decision it turned out with his mouth half filled with food.

“Hrrkk!” He choked on a large chunk of bacon he had just shoved into his mouth, heaving and pounding at his chest. He couldn’t be blamed for his reaction, at least that's what he told himself. Adamin 2 was a harsh desert world, its people even more so. Though he was young, his tanned skin had been severely ravaged by the planet's harsh elements, which was much the same for everyone else in his life and school.

This was all to say, that the appearance of the fair and smooth skinned raven haired beauty at his side, was not a sight one saw on a daily basis. And not one that Issac had ever seen himself. Sure the net was filled with pictures and videos of beautiful exotic women from far off planets that Issac had sworn to his parents he never viewed while he locked himself in the bathroom for hours each day. But seeing one in the flesh was completely different.

And so he choked on his food, and made a right fool of himself as he hacked up large chunks of semi chewed food all over the mess hall table.

“I look that bad?” Alarea said, hiding her mischievous smile behind her soft, small… lithe hand… Issac shook his head, forcing the improper thoughts out of his mind. He was 16. Self control was still something completely alien to him.

“No, no.” He said between gasps of air, trying to puff out his chest and sit back up straighter. Though the bright blush on his face completely gave his facade away. “Just haven’t eaten food that isn’t a liquid slop in a while.”

“Sounds rough.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Yeah.” He sighed, looking back at his mostly finished plate of food before deciding he’d rather not finish it after it became mixed together with what he threw back up. “At least nowadays we have proper portion sizes. But it's just more of the same watery gruel.”

“That’s PDF life for you. Especially for such a remote planet like Adamin 2 that can hardly afford to field such a large force for as long as it has.”

“I wouldn’t really know anything about that.” Issac said despondently.

“I suppose you wouldn’t.” The woman's eyes traced down to the corner of the majors letter just poking out of his jacket pocket. “Haven’t mailed that yet?”

“Huh?” He followed her eyes down to the letter poking out of its pocket. “Oh right. Not yet. I wanted to do it in person, however I can’t get any time off.” He sulked, before realising the words she had used. “Wait. I never said it was a letter.”

“You didn’t?” She smirked again, the smile sending shivers down his spine. Though he couldn’t say whether they felt good or bad. “Must’ve just assumed.”

Issac narrowed his eyes, feeling suddenly put off by the whole situation he currently found himself in. The four people here were clearly high ranking officers of some kind, being able to enjoy such luxurious food all the way on the frontlines. However he didn’t see any mark of rank or insignia on their uniforms, and on that note, he hadn’t seen this kind of uniform ever before.

But he still recognised this woman’s voice. Though even after raking his brain he could not figure out where from.

“Who did you say you were again?”

“Oh my apologies.” She smirked again, the glint in her eyes making Issac feel that it was no accident she had yet to introduce herself. “Names Alarea.”

Issac had already gathered that, based on the man before talking about how he didn’t understand what he saw in him. What he was really asking was who she was. He began to feel nervous. The idle chatter shared between the three men across the table had ceased, and he could feel all their eyes staring at him.

He wasn’t a smart kid. That was easy to tell based off how he was flunking highschool, or at least would have if he didn’t run off to join the PDF. However he always felt like he could get a good read on people. Like the time when he figured out one of his teachers and his school's principal were having an affair, based solely off the glances the two often shared, and how their hands seemed to linger on each other's shoulders for just a little too long.

He had slipped a note into the teacher's husband's classroom, also a fellow teacher at his school, and the mayhem that followed was still something he remembered to this day. It had seemed that his suspicions were very much correct, considering the brutal three way fight that followed after the teacher decided to confront the two during a full school assembly.

From then on he always paid close attention to his feelings on people, being able to gleam many things from even the most mundane movements and habits. Although it didn’t seem to help him any when those habits were aimed at him. He still remembered the first time he was so sure a girl had a crush on him off the way she constantly looked over at him during lessons and decided to ask her out. Turns out she was only looking to see what he had written down during tests. A habit she quickly ended after realising he could never get anything right.

“That's not what I meant.” He simply said, body tensing up as the pressure of four sets of eyes bore down on him.

“Hmm?” Alarea smirked again, though this time now that he was looking closer he could tell it was fake. The smile did shimmer in her eyes, something that had him completely fooled the first few times, however it felt cold and distant. It wasn’t a feeling he could quantify, however he had learned to listen to his gut, and this time it was telling him this woman was dangerous. “Then what did you mean?”

“I'm not so sure.” He said defensively. “But I’ve never seen your uniforms around the base before. What unit are you with?”

“What unit were we with this time Jeffery?” She asked one of the men across the table.

“What?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, clearly confused as to why she would be asking such a question. “Uhh.. maintenance?”

“Maintenance, that's right.” Alarea pressed a fist into her palm, a look of realisation on her face, and one of confusion on the faces of the three men across the table. “Does that answer your question?”

No. No it did not. Issac was even more sure that these people were strange. A maintenance crew with such clean uniforms? Yeah right. But what else could they be? It wasn’t like he could just come out and call them liars. He was just a private after all, and these people were clearly officers at the very least.

His eyes widened as a daunting thought made its way into his mind. He didn't fit in with his newly assigned unit, his commanding officers and fellow soldiers always giving him a cold side eye whenever they thought he wasn't looking. He was a lone survivor from the frontlines after all, a coward as many had called him.

The badge of Major Mayne had let him get away without being pulled into a court martial, though he could tell many people were still suspicious of him. A lone private being the only one to escape the brutal massacre of the first trench line, with only a badge and a letter he refused to open and let anyone read. He wasn't smart, but he wasn't dumb enough to miss the implications that his escape might have brought. It wouldn’t be the first time someone killed their commanding officer in order to flee from the battlefield.

Were they military police? Or rather PDF police? He broke out in a cold sweat, once the thought was in his head it was all he could think of. Every line of thought he might try kept bringing him back to the same conclusion, even if he knew deep down inside that it wasn’t rational, fear was clouding his mind.

“Are you alright Issac?” Alarea asked with a light smile. Something that would have ordinarily made him feel giddy, being asked that by an attractive woman only compounded his suspicions even more. He had never given them his name.

“You…” He stammered, nerves overtaking him as his voice cracked. “You’re not the police are you?”

“Hmm?” Alarea raised her eyebrows and the three men across the table began to snicker, only stopping when she levelled them with a harsh stair. She turned back to him, interest clearly visible in her eyes. And this time, they didn’t feel as cold and distant as before. “What makes you say that?”

“Well your uniforms for one. They are awfully clean for a maintenance crew.” He began, not really sure why he thought it was a good idea to speak so openly. Maybe it was just his nerves, and his tongue not being able to stop once it started. “Also it doesn’t really fit with the meals you all got. Those are only of officers and above at least. And lastly. I never told you my name.”

Alarea simply stared at him, her smile only growing as he continued through his rant. The men across the table as well had grins, the one called Mark letting out a small chuckle.

“Well I stand corrected. The kid might be worth it after all.”

“I have an eye for these things.” Alarea boasted, the easy banter between the group, making Issac even more confused. Shouldn’t they be mad, or on edge if he figured out who they are? Why were they so care free?

“So…” He began nervously. “Was I right?”