Chapter 29
First Sergeant Dirk Cabral was surprised by the system message. He’d been led to believe that the system was a barely sentient entity that didn’t pay much attention to anything on a less than cosmic scale. The latest notification seemed to indicate otherwise. Either that, or things he was directly involved in were vastly more important that they seemed on the surface. The survival of the human species might initially seem like a major concern, but apply a bit of logic and take the viewpoint of a non-human entity that spans the known universe and then some, and suddenly the outcome isn’t such a huge deal.
Dirk figured the coming and going of sentient species was something of a daily occurrence for such an entity. Which begged the question of why such a presence might take note of his actions, or more specifically, the actions of Savage Company as a whole. While Savage Company had significantly lower losses than other units on post, he didn’t think that played a factor. If it had, Jaws Company might have received a similar message, if one where the content conveyed the opposite feeling.
These thoughts occupied Dirk’s mind as he drove home. It felt surreal to drive his POV (Privately Owned Vehicle) from base HQ to the little two-story he’d moved into a month before the system. Another assault could, in theory, begin at any moment, and the pentagon had actively acknowledged that the US homeland was an active war zone. But he was still driving home from work as if nothing had happened. Soon the white picket fence surrounding the blue and yellow house came into visual range, and Dirk heaved a small sigh. Long ago, he’d developed the habit of stopping by whatever ice cream shop was available on post, after returning from a deployment, before he saw his wife, but somehow that habit didn’t feel right this time around.
As he turned the ignition off, he glanced up to note his wife, Gloria standing in the doorway. The look she gave him was two parts relief, one part excitement.
“So, the hero returns. Ready for round 2?” she asked.
“We lost a lot of good soldiers on this one, Love. I don’t feel like much of a hero today,” he replied.
She gave him a grief-stricken look that he only now realized she’d been hiding.
“I know…” she sighed. “The wives' club meeting ended not long ago. I was hoping we could forget about that part for a little while and pretend the world was ours again for a bit. I suppose I should have known you wouldn’t see it that way. I’m sorry for making you bring it up,” his wife admitted.
“We will have our time. I’ve been given two days of essentially R&R, then we’ll have a ceremony at 0800 on the 28th to honor the fallen. Full dress uniform. It wasn’t explicitly stated, but I’d like it if you could come. Some of the junior soldiers could probably use a stand-in mother figure. If you are up for it of course,” Dirk requested.
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll have to make sure your dress uniform is up to standard. It’s been quite some time since it’s seen so much use,” Gloria smiled sadly.
They both knew she would come, the same way they both knew his reference to junior soldiers was code for him admitting he needed her there. It was surprising how much a little time could smooth the rough edges of a relationship. Years ago, they would have had a fight over her not outright agreeing to come, or his inability to directly state his needs. Now they simply understood each other, enjoying the time they had to spend in each other’s company.
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“On a brighter note, it seems we might have a lot to discuss. Prior to last week, the existence of the system was considered something of an open secret. Now you are one of the first human civilians to experience it. They might even give you a medal.” Dirk teased.
“Well, we both knew your swimmers gave me something special, just now we’ve got irrefutable proof. I wonder what the kids would say,” his wife replied with a grin.
Dirk guffawed, caught slightly off guard by the blatant sex joke. Gloria had never been shy, but she was politic enough to avoid such subjects on their front porch, at least usually.
“Might not want to let the neighbors hear. We both know Ms. Fowler has had her eye on me since we moved in. She was so dejected when we didn’t accept the invitation to join the base swingers club,” Dirk replied.
The two continued conversing, eventually making their way inside to the dinner table, before retiring to the sitting room. Gloria had received the [Politico] class, which didn’t actually surprise him much when he thought about it. His wife had always been the sort to champion whatever cause needed her most rather than sticking with one or the other, and she was much more about organization and implementation than she was about actually doing whatever project she came up with to help. Dirk explained what he knew of the non-combat side of things before sharing his character sheet and explaining it section by section. Gloria shared her sheet as well, and the similarities in layout were remarkable. They even both had soul storage, skill and gear upgrade tokens, and stamina/mana stats.
They stayed up late into the night discussing all sorts of unimportant things, knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day. Dirk wasn’t surprised when they fell asleep together after another vigorous session of lovemaking.
For once, Dirk woke up with his wife still in bed. He’d also slept in much later than usual. The clock on the bed stand read 0645. Dirk got up and headed down stairs, relishing the opportunity to make his wife breakfast. When she hadn’t come down by 0800, Dirk left her a note and headed for the Savage Company office.
When he got there, he found Captain Williams passed out at his desk, personnel files spread across his desk, and stacks more left in boxes outside the office door. Dirk decided to let the captain sleep, and headed for the break room instead. He grabbed a box of files on his way, intent on fulfilling his promise to familiarize himself with the men and women they’d lost.
He read page after page of positive peer reviews, meritorious service medal reports, and promotion paperwork. After reading through 20 folders, he found himself emotionally drained. Any one of these soldiers could have been his sons or daughters. All of them had led lives, had lovers, performed their duty to their unit and their country, and ultimately died at the hands of an enemy who didn’t seem to acknowledge the human right to live.
He compiled notes on every file he read, and sent them to Matt’s pers-e-comm. After 50 files, he forced himself to take a break, stretch, get some coffee, and eat. By that point, the Captain had woken up, and Lyndis had joined him. Each member of the command team worked silently through their own box of folders, paying their respects to the lives each folder represented.
After practically forcing the Captain and XO to eat something as well, Matt ordered Lieutenant Soto and Dirk to check in with each member of the company, and make sure they were doing well. The notes about the 2 days rest, and the ceremony on the third morning had already been passed along by base command, so he and Lyndis took two platoons each, and started making video calls.
Dirk realized it would likely be a long, emotionally taxing day, but he decided he’d visit the system store node tomorrow, before making sure he was ready for the ceremony that Tuesday. He would have to find a way to share some of the credits he’d earned with his wife. Usually he gave her all the money he made, but he would be somewhat responsible for outfitting himself going forward, at least until the earth governments could sort out taxes and how to value given classes' contributions.