The battle had come and gone, and Nico was at the debriefing.
"Private Nicodemus Merriweather Emry." Lieutenant Wallace said.
Nico briefly wondered which was worse; the emphasis he put on her rank, or that he was using her full name.
"Explain your actions during the battle."
Lieutenant Wallace was staring through her. So were Raz and Kai. Riley had suddenly become very interested in some of the documents they had.
"Well, I heard somebody say on the wireless that Millenia had been hit. I took off down the creekbed, but I wasn't looking where I was going and I ended up… er, getting lost." Nico said. She deflated, hanging her head. "It was my fault I wasn't there in time."
Lieutenant Wallace hesitated. "Private Hudson was hit, yes."
"And, is she-"
"She took an anti-tank rocket in the thigh."
Nico crossed herself.
"The explosive charge didn't go off. Her leg still got damaged pretty badly, but she'll survive."
"Hard to believe she got hit." Raz said. "Those lances can barely hit a tank when it's sitting still."
"And you 'got lost'?" Kai asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"That's the only reason you weren't able to meet up with them?" Kai went further.
"Y-yes, ma'am. That's correct." Nico said.
Raz stretched out his hand. "Gimme your gun."
Nico reluctantly drew her sidearm and handed it to him.
Raz pulled the magazine out. Raz looked into in, then glanced at Nico. "Did you remember to load this thing?"
"I- it may have slipped my mind." She said.
Raz checked the chamber, finding it empty as well. A moment later, Raz had the gun disassembled and was looking down the barrel. "Well, I gotta give her credit. She keeps this thing really clean."
"Nicooooooo." Claude said, exasperated.
Kai sighed. "I guess that settles it."
"Wow, her name really is 'Nicodemus'?" Riley said.
"It is." Nico said.
"Isn't that a boy's name?" Riley asked.
"Yes." said Nico, a note of annoyance in her voice.
"Why did your parents name you that?"
A look passed between Lieutenant Wallace, Raz, and Kai.
"I don't know, Ma'am." Nico said.
"Oh. Um… are you an orphan?" Riley said.
"...I might be?" Nico said, confused.
"That's enough." Lieutenant Wallace said. "Nico, you're dismissed. We'll discuss your re-assignment tomorrow. It's getting late. And you two-" Claude said, speaking louder yet seemingly addressing no one, "Should have already turned in."
There was choked sound along the lines of "BAGAGAKH" from outside the command tent, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Odin's.
"I told you he heard us." Came another voice from outside that resembled Lily's.
Nico saluted and promptly left. They could hear three sets of footsteps on the ground as Odin and Lily followed her.
Claude Wallace turned serious. "Raz, show me where they were again."
"Which 'they'?"
"The imperial fire team."
Raz pointed to a spot on the map. "It was here. We didn't see 'em going out, and we definitely didn't have to fight them all there."
"And they were all dead while you were coming back…"
"And we didn't fight 'em then, either." Raz said. "We found them laying in the mud."
"So nobody remembers how that all happened, nobody saw them on the way out… Is it possible they were trying to flank us?" Claude asked.
"Maybe?" Kai said. "That's not impossible, but if they were trying to sneak up on you when they died, then who could have killed them?"
"Imps ain't too bright." Raz said. "Maybe they shot each other."
"You're going to get yourself killed if you don't take the enemy seriously." Kai said.
Claude stared at the map.
"What are you thinking?" Riley asked.
"If Nico was trying to get to us, she would've had to go through where we found the fire team…"
"So what? She came running up, ran into the fire team, and killed four guys by herself with an empty gun?" Raz asked.
"She probably deserves a medal if she could pull that off." Riley said.
"The Imperials shooting each other seems more likely." Kai added.
Claude sighed. "Yeah, you guys are right. It's probably just somebody misidentifying the exact location where they got into a fight."
"Well, since that's out of the way, there's something else I'd like to ask you about." Kai said, in a tone that told Claude he probably wasn't going to like what was coming next.
"What is it?"
"It's about Nico, and her little 'reassignment'."
Claude didn't actually gulp, though his face indicated that he would like to.
"It really shouldn't have been that easy to have somebody switch from being a soldier to a medic, especially when they don't have much in the way of medical training."
Claude sighed. "Her current position doesn't have any official standing, no."
"The brass isn't going to get mad about this, are they?" Riley asked.
"Probably not." Raz said. "As long as we're winning the war, we can get away with basically anything. Some guys from Squad B captured some imp tanks the other day, and took them drag racing."
"And they were alright with that?" Kai asked.
"Well, I saw a colonel there who was placing bets. Won a big stack of ducats from him."
"Getting back on topic: What's you plan here, Claude?"
"Honestly? My first plan was to tell Nico to take a truck to get supplies and make sure we'd already moved on before she got back."
"Why? Because you don't think she should be a soldier?" Kai asked.
"She probably shouldn't." Raz said. "But you could say the same thing about most of the people in this unit."
"That's not it." Claude said. "Nico will follow orders and isn't actively excited about killing people, which is more than I could say for a few of our subordinates. But there's something about her that… just doesn't add up."
"Well, we're now down a trained Scout, so I don't think we have much choice but to put her back on active duty." Kai said.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Claude said.
"Soooooo… you say the brass won't care much as long as we keep winning, right?" Riley said, smiling like a child who just found out they had the house to themselves."
Raz leaned over to Claude and whispered, "Should we be worried about this?"
Claude whispered back, "I'll see if I can find any spare blast suits."
"'Nicodemus Merriweather'? That's quite the… interesting name" Lily said as they walked back to camp.
"Sister Nora always said that she thought 'Nico' sounded cuter." Nico said.
"It does. But why not shorten 'Merriweather' to 'Mary'? That's a girl's name, at least." Lily said.
"I… hadn't really thought about that…"
"Do you want us to start calling you 'Mary'?" Odin asked.
Nico shook her head. "I'm too used to 'Nico'."
"Do you ever think about changing your name?" Odin asked.
"...I've thought about it." Nico said. "But it's the only thing from my parents I have."
The three walked the rest of the way to their tend in silence.