---Oskar’s perspective---

---Thursday, 31st of July, 2684 Terran Calendar---

---Deep Space---

“So…?” I smile up at the woman lying on my chest.

“So…?” she smiles back down.

“How does it feel… Lieutenant?”

She giggles “Like a promotion I didn’t earn(!)… Honestly, I thought it was a joke I was making!… Burrows did the hard part!”

“Yes… and he made Captain for it, didn’t he? Scored himself a hot date with the Shipmaster too!”

“Puh-lease! The Shipmaster was about to ask him out when we got interdicted! Don’t make it sound like he was all ‘Wow, I’m so impressed by your acting skills that I must have you now!’”

I crease my brow “He was? How do you know?”

She rolls her eyes and says “Oh, come… on, dude!… Nobody’s that oblivious!… Always inviting him up to the Bridge to discuss things that the Army definitely don’t need to weigh in on… Acting flustered and shit…? You notice how it’s always Burrows? Never any of the other Officers?”

“I assumed that was just because he felt they had a rapport…”

“Oh yeah… they gonna ‘build that rapport’ aaaaall niiiiight looooong(!)” she smirks.

“Aaaaand… you’ve made it weird!”

She chuckles and lies her head on my chest, pressing her ear to my solar plexus.

I let her just listen to my heart and breaths for a while, as I stroke her hair.

“You didn’t… only come up with the idea… You brought him the tea when he gave you the signal…”

“Oh, yeah(!) Role of a lifetime, that(!) Tea lady(!)” she mocks.

“I mean… with almost no notice, you got cast in a crucial supporting role!… If he’d already had the tea or hadn’t had it at all… they might not have bought the deception…” I muse.

“Yeah but… anyone can put tea down!” she protests.

I shake my head “Not anyone can put tea down while keeping nerves out of their face, sweat from their skin, not lingering to long in the shot, not seeming like your in a hurry to get out of the shot, not looking in the camera… I don’t think I would have, certainly!”

She gives a chuckling sigh “Alright… you’ve convinced me… I’m amazing(!)… Definitely not a nobody from Stranraer who’s only notable characteristic is weird biochemistry, resulting in pregnancy, resulting in Officer Training(!)”

“You’re an everybody to me, Esme!”

She bursts into giggles making me realise just how much I’ve missed her joy and mirth while she’s had low mood.

“That was the sweetest and weirdest thing you could possibly have chosen to say right there, lad!” she says, grinning up at me.

I smile back and give her a squeeze.

Then she runs a hand up my trunk in a way that’s meaning is unmistakable.

It’s… been a while…

We didn’t really have the time when Victor was with us…

We have done it a few times since we came aboard but… she quickly realised that sex wasn’t filling the void…

She pulls herself up me, to press her lips to mine.

Loath as I am to risk killing the mood, I wait until the kiss stops and ask “Erm… Esme? Should we maybe… turn the suits around, first?… I sort of feel like we’re being watched!”

I gesture to our suits of armour on their stands, at the far side of the small room, visually indistinguishable from two Soldiers of our exact proportions standing at the foot of our bed staring at us.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

She turns to appraise them.

“Would it be alright if we… didn’t?” she poses “I kinda like it… makes me feel like we’ve got an audience!” a clear thrill in her voice.

“I’m… not exactly the exhibitionist you apparently are… but I can see that leaving them means more to you than turning them would mean to me… so, fine…”

She grins “Thanks babes… How about, to return the favour, I’ll let you… ‘set the agenda’, so to speak(!)”

---Esme’s perspective---

---Friday, 1st of August, 2684 Terran Calendar---

“You certainly have a spring in your step!” smirks Burrows.

“As do you!” I smirk back “I take it you’ve been enjoying the alone time you’ve been spending with Shipmaster Dunn(?) Haven’t been falling apart without us there to fetch your teas(?)”

“My cups of tea, Taylor(!)” he corrects with mock sternness “My ‘teas’ would imply different kinds of tea…”

“Oh, yes(!)… Sacrilege to get that wrong around you English(!)” I retort.

“Indeed(!)… And, to answer your question, yes… Henry and I have been enjoying ourselves… Though, we’re keeping it casual… both combat veterans, burned too many times… You know?” his voice turning mildly sombre.

There’s definitely a range of reactions to the trauma that nearly every Terran shares, living through this bloodbath of a War.

Some, like Tommie with Rex (and… I guess, me and Oskar) choose to cling more tightly to those around them.

Some, like Burrows it seems, adopt this, sort of, casual aloofness.

‘Aloof’ isn’t a word that really fits him, given how friendly and jokey he is but… I realise now, there’s definitely pain there that he’s masking.

He clears his throat and says “Erm… Esme-Sorry, I don’t need to call you that anymore now that you’re not the same rank as your husband, do I! Lt Taylor?”

I smile “You can keep calling me Esme, Captain(!)… What do you need?”

“I was… just going to say that… I would be willing to talk to the Lieutenant Colonel about reinstating your and your husbands’ squadron commands… Afterall, you seem to be in a much better place, mentally, than you were when I had you assigned to me… and after your Empty Fort idea saved the Fleet the other week, I’d say you’ve definitely earned it!”

I chuckle “Why does literally no one listen to me telling them all I did was crack a joke(!)… Your performance saved the Fleet, Captain!”

“Regardless, the offer stands, Lieutenant.” he says, genuinely.

I look into his blue eyes and mull it over for a little.

“I… can’t speak for Oskar, Sir… but, personally, I kinda like us being your sidekicks(!)” I smile “Obviously, I’ll do it if ordered but you don’t need to go out of your way… I’m comfy with the current arrangement, Sir!”

He sighs in relief “I’m so glad!… I would have hated to lose such talented tea fetchers(!)”

I laugh and give him a hand gesture to let him know exactly what I think of that description of my role!

---Nathan’s perspective---

---Sunday, 7th of September, 2684---

I walk from the Chaplaincy, leaving the sound of the loud Norse Pantheonist prebattle ceremony behind me.

The Anglican Chaplain’s ministry I was attending was a far more subdued affair… Just men and women making their peace with the Almighty.

I join up with the Taylors who, not being a man or woman of faith, did not accompany me.

The tall Doggerlander let me know that, if he were to attend, it would be the Norse warchant that he would be joining.

Tomorrow, we shall make planetfall.

Based on the long range telemetry, it looks like the landing will be a contested one… Though, with the light lag at our current distance, that is based on how the site looked last year.

It wasn’t enough to alter the landing point though.

We’re still headed for the town on the coast with the cursed name, over my protests!

“Come on, you two…” I say, taking a fortifying inhale “…Wallace has asked us to do a final readiness check for tomorrow and you know how she gets… Hell hath no fury like Wallace confronted with a battle unready battalion(!)”

---Esme’s perspective---

---Monday, 8th of September, 2684 Terran Calendar---

The Naval battle began a few hours ago.

Every now and then a stray blast echoes as it strikes the ship but, in theory, we should be fairly safe here in the channel the Navy is creating for the landing forces.

There’s really not been anything for us to do since the battleships and starfighters engaged with the enemy except hurry up and wait(!)

Right now, that’s about to change…

My stomach feels like I’m riding a rollercoaster as I march onto the drop pod, behind Burrows and next to Oskar.

The rest of the company are already there, like us three, wearing full armour, their faces obscured by helmets, their assault rifles in their hands.

Oskar has a custom, Viking style plasmasword on his hip. Most others, including me and Burrows, just have the standard issue, long, broad, double edged, leafblade sword, not having had any preexisting training with (or affinity for) any specific sword type.

“Ladies and gentlemen…” comes Burrows’ voice over my helmet speakers “…in a few minutes, we will make planetfall… Intelligence indicates a high likelihood of this being a contested landing… I know that, for many of you, this will be the first time you have seen actual combat and to you I say, remember your training… and trust it… Trust yourselves and trust the brave men and women at your sides!… Remember that this is a Terran world, not a xeno one… That means that any nonTerran you see is a combatant!… That being said, I will not tolerate any violations of the Geneva Conventions on my watch!… Our enemy may not be Human… but that doesn’t permit us to treat them with inHuman cruelty!… Remember what we are fighting for! We are fighting for nothing more or less than our right to exist!… Creation is large enough for all of us and we do not need to commit genocide the way our enemy believes they must!… Finally, I ask that every. single. one. of you stand proud.. and know that, regardless of what happens now, the people of Terra owe you a great debt! You who stand here, ready to discharge your duty in their defence!”

At that, the bulkhead seals behind us and there is a deep *clang* as the drop pod detaches from the troop transport.