Snow crunched underfoot as someone approached their camp through the trees. Still outside the circle of firelight, Seven could not recognize the silhouette, but on the other side of the fire she saw Niner suddenly tense. "Incoming," he muttered, touching a fist to his chest to signal an officer.

"Shit, what's he doing back?" hissed Four-Five and Seven felt her stomach tighten, that could only mean one person.

They scrambled to their feet, saluting as the light illuminated the visor of their XO. Seven schooled her face into blankness, suddenly wishing she hadn't removed her helmet. She had only been with them a few months, but it hadn't taken long to figure out that their XO was the sort of officer you went out of your way to salute when his arms were full. Seven preferred to avoid his notice altogether.

"What's going on here?"

Seven hated those sorts of questions - the answer was obvious, which invariably meant it wasn't the one they were looking for.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Twenty-Six replied, her voice so flat and even it could have come from a comm projector.

"You were ordered to pull back, sergeant," he snapped, "There was nothing in those orders about setting fires."

Before Twenty-Six could reply there was a shuffle of snow behind them and their lieutenant's voice said, "The fires were on my instruction, sir. Since the extraction was delayed, I thought we might at least use the opportunity for some basic SERE."

Seven got the distinct impression that the XO was scowling behind his helmet. There was a long, grudging pause. "I see," he said at length. "Carry on then."

He stalked off through the snow and an uncertain silence settled in his wake. No one seemed to know quite what to say, not even the lieutenant. To react, to show gratitude would be to acknowledge that he had lied to his superior. The safest thing - for all of them - was not to acknowledge it at all.

So after a moment he said simply, "Just… don't get carried away. We don't want a repeat of what happened on Juno."

Seven noticed smirks tugging at the mouths of several of the others.

"We'll keep it under control, sir," Twenty-Six assured him.

"I'll leave you to it, then."

Seated around the fire once more, Dubs was the first to speak once he had left. "Well, that'll be Twenty-Six in a few weeks."

"The XO or the LT?" Niner snorted a laugh to which Twenty-Six responded with an explicit gesture.

"Making squad leader just wasn't good enough."

"Should we start calling you 'sir' now, or…"

Twenty-Six gave an exasperated curse. "It's just training. Doesn't mean shit."

"It means," Thirteen ignored the prohibitive glare Twenty-Six directed at him, his mouth quirking in a smile which was not so much forced as determined, "We've got the best damn squad leader in the battalion."

"I'll drink to that," agreed Tree-Four, "Or I will if we ever get back to base."

"Hell of a lot to live up to, Tree," Dubs never missed a chance to needle her team leader about the looming promotion, even if it was only to be a temporary measure, "Think you can handle it?"

"To hell with that. I plan on becoming a vindictive son of a bitch, so plan accordingly."

They settled into an easy silence after that, weariness getting the better of each in turn. The fire burned lower and lower, and every so often one of them would remark that they should get more wood and there would be a mumbled agreement, but no one moved. The occasional snatches of conversation grew harder and harder to follow. Seven kept finding herself unable to recall what had been said just moments ago. She could scarcely keep her eyes open.

She did not recall falling asleep, but she must have, for the next moment she was starting awake. Thirteen nudged her arm, tapping the back of his head.

He must have seen the sleep-startled confusion in her face as she fumbled for her helmet because he added quickly, "You're alright. But these temperatures - you fall asleep without that, you might wake up missing something important."

"Yeah, could end up looking like Dubs," Zero teased, "Or Thirteen."

Dubs rolled her good eye and jammed an elbow into the soft spot below Zero's ribs, eliciting a wheezing yelp. "Shrapnel," was her laconic response to Seven's questioning stare and Seven felt her face go hot.

"Sniper," added Thirteen, "First time in combat." The scar tissue stretched from his cheekbone back beyond where his left ear ought to have been. His gauntleted hand knocked against her helmet and she put it on. Eight-One did the same, settling back against the frozen mass of roots and drawing her knees up to her chest, and a few moments later she was slumping sideways against Seven, fast asleep. Eight-One had always been able to sleep at the drop of a hat. Seven had envied her that, especially in training when sleep was precious. She let her own head droop until it rested against Eight-One's and closed her eyes.

Twenty-Six flicked her wrist display to life, checked the time and then double checked the roster. "Thirteen, Zero - you're up."

There was a groaning curse from Zero. "We're not even supposed to still be here. And it's an FTX, the hell do we even need watch rotations for? There's nothing out there!"

"Think you're missing the point of it being 'training'?" Dubs, half asleep and propped back to back with Niner, drawled.

"Right. Just in case I suddenly forget how to stand around and wait for nothing to happen. We're talking about the Order here."

Twenty-Six gave him a look, slashing a line across her throat with her hand, the universal signal to shut the hell up. "More moving, less talking. You're reporting to Six-Four over in Second."

She watched them disappear into the dark, then pulled on her own helmet and settled back against the tree behind her. Four hours and they'd be back.