The boy lay there on the bed in the same position, deciding if he was good enough to get away without waking up Hawkes. Experimentally, he moved silently to lie flat on his back. Coop looked up groggily, and seeing that the boy was still there, promptly dropped back into slumber. He's good, far better trained than I imagined. Looks like I'm gonna stick around to see where this goes.

For a few hours the infirmary was pretty quiet, only the occasional accidental injury came in, but then around 5am things changed. All of the sudden the medical staff got all in a rush and they looked terribly frightened. Five minutes later, the boy found out why they were so upset. The doors of the infirmary opened and then the room was filled with the sounds of shouted orders, the groans of injured soldiers, and the stench of blood and antiseptic. Cooper woke, and a mournful look came on his face before he promptly stood up and picked the boy up.

"Let's get out of here for a while, nobody wants to see that."

Writing a quick note to the doctor, Coop took the boy and left the horrors of the infirmary behind them. Not sure where he could take the little one, Cooper finally decided on taking him back to the 58th's barracks. Still, the boy hadn't said anything, but in the unfamiliar territory of the Saratoga he just hung on to Coop. When they reached the barracks, Cooper paused a minute to look the boy in the eyes. The fear was gone from his eyes, but it was obvious that he wasn't going to let Cooper out of his sight. Inside, the 58th were still asleep, enjoying the last day of their leave. Silently slipping into the room, Coop settled down on his own bunk with the boy sitting in his lap. Looking about curiously, the boy looked back up at Hawkes with a questioning look.

"The Wildcard's, 58th squadron," Coop explained softly, with the hint of a smile on his lips. At Coop's expression, the boy became even more confused. "In a way, they're my family, with them, I belong." Though he was trying to speak quietly, Cooper's deep voice wakened a few of his sleeping comrades.

"Who are you talking to Coop?" Shane asked from the other side of the room, as she was dismounting her upper bunk. "Ah, I take it this is the new arrival."

"Yeah," answered Coop as watched the boy shrink closer to him when Shane drew near.

"Hmm, if he's scared of me, what's he gonna do when Paul wakes up?"

"I heard that Vansen!" Paul announced from his bunk.

"Well, now that we're all awake," Nathan said sitting up on the upper bunk across from Coop.

It was plain that this was definitely freaking the boy out. The openness of the Infirmary was easy to deal with people, he could always flee, if need be. The small barracks was a different matter. "Settle down, they're not gonna hurt ya," Coop said soothingly. His answer was a glare from the boy.

"Ha ha, you've got a real way with kids Coop," Paul snickered. Paul's answer was a glare from every one, and a pillow thrown at his head, courtesy of Vanessa.

"You got a name, short-stuff?" Shane asked.

The boy considered Shane for a moment, the looked back up at Cooper.

"I don't think so, he can't be more than a few days old, " Hawkes answered for him.

"Then we're gonna have to fix that, aren't we guys," Vanessa, who was now sitting up on her bunk across from Coops, smiled.

"Any ideas guys?" Cooper smirked, very amused at the boy's discomfort.

"How about Jake?"

"No, something more exciting"

"Sam?"

"Are you kidding me? That sounds like the name of some educational vid star!" Vanessa scoffed.

"That happens to be my little nephew's name, thank you," Wang shot back indignantly, causing a round of laughter.

After a few minutes of debating over names Coop looked down at the boy and decided. "Ender," Cooper said softly.

"Where'd you hear that name Coop?" Shane asked, looking puzzled.

"I read it in a book," he mumbled.

Looking down at the boy to gauge his reaction, Hawkes was pleased to see that the boy was almost actually smiling. "Cool," Cooper grinned.

"Well, little Ender, welcome to the 58th," Shane said.

After a few minutes everyone started yawning again and Shane went back to her bunk and Ender soon curled up in Cooper's lap, leaving the barracks silent.

End Part 3

The book mentioned in the story is my all time favorite novel, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card I highly recommend it to everyone!