Disclaimer: All of the characters that appeared in the TV show Dark Angel (Max, Zack, Logan, etc.) belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

X6-405 sat in the library at Manticore, trying to concentrate on the book in front of her. Around her, her unit mates were doing the same. At least that's what she assumed they were doing until a pencil came flying past her, just missing her nose. She looked up and glared at the boy sitting next to her. "Was that you, 773?"

"Don't mind him, 405," the strawberry blond-haired girl, 691, on her left said. "He's just antsy because he has to report to mission prep tommorrow."

"His first long-term away mission," another girl, 392, teased. "And with a girl, no less! Our little 773 is all grown up."

"I'm older than you are," 773 pointed out. "And you haven't gone on your first yet either."

"And I'm older than all of you," 405 said. She smiled a little. "Give 773 a rest."

"Yes, ma'am," 392 said. She grinned.

405 shook her head. "You guys are all insane." She sighed and tried to concentrate again on her book. They might drive her up the wall sometimes, but they were the only thing keeping her from making a break for it like the '09ers did almost eleven years ago. She hated Manticore. She figured she was probably the only person, except maybe Lydecker, who didn't hate the '09ers. She'd almost hero-worshipped them when she was younger. They had been the best, the ones that other units were compared to, and there was something more, something that 405 couldn't quite put a finger on. When they had escaped, 405 had figured out why and couldn't blame them, no matter how hard Manticore tried to make all of them do that. She thought about making her own break, but knew deep down that her own unit mates didn't want to leave. So no matter how much it hurt her to stay, she knew it would hurt worse if she wasn't there to protect her unit.

"I heard that something's got the Colonel practically climbing the walls," 058, the youngest in the unit, said.

"More so than usual?" 405 said. "What do you mean?"

"I think that they got another '09er back," 058 said. He shrugged. "He was behaving like he did when they brought back 734, except he's even more excited."

"Which could only mean that they got either 452 or 599," 405 said softly. She shook her head. "Either that, or they brought back more than one of the other '09ers."

"Nah, I think it's gotta be either 599 or 452," 058 said. "They were the CO and 2IC in their unit. Of course he'd be more excited about them."

"I heard that the Colonel has been focusing especially on 452 lately," 691 said. "No idea why."

"Why are we gossiping like a bunch of norm teenaged girls?" 405 wondered.

"Remember what the instructor told us in our very first culture class, ma'am," 773 teased. "'Gossiping may seem like a waste of time, but it can be a perfect place to accumulate intel.'"

"I know," 405 said.

Just then, the door to the library opened and a regular soldier entered the room and walked up to 405. "X6-405?"

"Yes," 405 said. She stood up. "Is there a problem."

"Colonel Lydecker would like you to report to his office immediately," he said.

405 nodded and turned to her unit. "I'll see you later. 115, take lead in the training exercise we're going to run this afternoon if I'm not back in time."

"Yes, ma'am," 115 said, saluting.

"Good," 405 said. She followed the soldier to Lydecker's office, trying to figure out what he could possibly want.

TBC