That's why I wound up requesting my next deployment be at Martenwol Base on Baldwin's Fall. I'm not an intel guy, but as best as I could figure out it was the place that they most suspected had some kind of covert human settlement secretly operating in parallel with theirs. That's why I picked this modestly sized base instead of the capital, I might have taken out more people there but I also would have been way more likely to get caught and there's no way I would have been able to escape that one. Also there would be a lot of civilians, whereas at least with Martenwol I knew everyone there literally signed up for what was coming.

After quarantine, there were a lot of people trying not to get deployed again so I basically had my pick of locations. It worked out super well!

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

I had a few weeks to do all the outside research I needed. This was also when I pirated the Jerboa simulator: it was milspec for actual service training so it was super good and useful. Shout out to the folks in Adult Education for that one.

I have a commercial vehicle license, but because of how big I am I usually have a hard time fitting behind the wheel. I do OK with trucks, I used to help with transport because it was an excuse to get outside the lab every now and then. Also the trucks have really beefy sound systems so it was always fun to not have to wear earbuds and feel the bass when I listened to music. I was really into Neo-Soca at the time, and getting to holler along with it in the soundproofed airtight cabin kicked so much ass. It was like I was back in college.

I'm pretty lucky. If I hadn't lost some weight from kicking the alcohol and being occupied with The Plan I might not have even been able to fit inside the Jerboa cockpit.