Her decision to offer her surgical skills to the war office is less for the good of the Sanctuary network than it is for her own personal convictions.
All the houses are stable and secure in their respective locations, so James felt their effort would be better put into food drives and volunteering at the local hospitals. But Helen argues that they, more than anyone, were obligated to put forth their full effort to work towards a favorable outcome to the war. If the Allied Powers fell, then it would be they, with their enhanced DNA, who would be enduring the future that inevitably would follow.
James points out her logic only holds true if they live to see whatever future they create.
In the end, they agree to disagree, because James can't bear the thought of parting while at odds, and she is unwilling to depart without bidding him farewell.
It is easier than she thought it would be, to get the War Office to send her to the front. They're in desperate need of for medical personnel, especially in the field, and the Prime Minister is aware of her skills.
She is on a convoy to the front by the end of the week.
Her orientation is two weeks spent in the triage tents on the Western Front, somewhere in the depths of France. She amputates two legs and one right arm in her first two days. The tents stink of rotting flesh and waste, and it's nearly more than she can bear.
She is glad for her rotation on the convoy sent to the trenches to collect the injured.
But once there, she takes one look at the chaos and the lines of abandoned dead and dying before she hops out of the back of the truck. Her fellow medical officers try to usher her back into the cab, but she is already rolling up her sleeves and shouting orders.
Within moments order begins to set in, as the injured are organized by the severity of their injuries and those with non-lethal injuries are ushered back into the shelter of the trenches.
The unit currently on trench duty is already on the tail end of their rotation. They are exhausted and haggard, and she meets the muddied field officer, a captain, for a brief moment before they are interrupted by a volley of artillery fire that left Helen's ears ringing.
She remains in the trenches until the next rotation comes in—she then escorts the rest of her injured back to the triage tents while the healthy return to base camp to rest until their next shift.
She doesn't see the captain again until after she has joined the company at the base camp. Though simple, it comes as a welcome reprieve from the blood, mud, and grime of the battlefront. She's bathed, finally, and dressed in a fresh set of fatigues when she literally runs into the young officer.
He is clean for the first time since their brief meeting in the trenches three days ago, and she notices he has a broad, jaunty smile and bright brown eyes. His hair is dark and damp from his own attempts to wash, and he is dashing despite his rumpled uniform.
Their exchange is brief, but she finds herself engaged in spite of herself.
Later that night, he offers to escort her to the mess area for evening rations.
She accepts.