FTL IS OTHER PEOPLE
"If the enemy has superior firepower, you duck. If the enemy has superior mobility, you hide. If the enemy has superior vision, you engage."
Duke nodded, barely concealing his surprise and pleasure at the answer. "That's what I like to hear. You're the kind of thinker we want here. And what do you do, soldier, if we have superior firepower, speed and vision?"
"We achieve our objective, sir."
"Right," not as bloodthirsty as Duke had hoped, but the certainty was hard to deny, that determination in those large blue eyes. "And right now, our objective is to stop all of that, from getting here. Do you think you can do that, Corporal?"
Lightyear looked out at the teeming mass for a moment, his brow knitted in thought. "I will succeed or die trying, sir." He replied resolutely. Definitely a soldier. But a very odd one. Unexpected, even. Duke often didn't like surprises that he hadn't played himself, but this might be an exception.
Duke shrugged then, an odd moment of humour. "Good enough, soldier. You're far away from home just like the rest of us. Let's see what you can do, and what those brainless layabouts were thinking when they sent you here."
"Well, sir, I can only tell you what I know. I was ejected from some kind of worm-hole, and your superiors picked me up from an abandoned rock. I've been fighting the zerg for you ever since, until my ship is repaired and I can attempt the journey home."
Duke carefully didn't change his expression.
They had a lot of tough bastards in his crew, veterans, sergeants with military experience almost as old as he was. But this guy seemed a cut above the rest. Duke knew a war hero when he was looking at one, and in this situation, staring into the hungry mouths of numberless alien zerg, they could use that. Had to be someone besides Duke to set men straight, set the example to his boys of what a real soldier ought to be doing. Not that his lads weren't the best, but even the best needed to see how to be better. Didn't want slack attitudes turning his crew into another Delta squadron. Not with the zerg.
"I'm sending you to the front line, then. I expect to see results."
(*)