Two weeks had passed since the assault, and almost everyone was back on duty.
Well, almost everyone. There were the injured people in the infirmary still.
Returning from the funeral of two of her lieutenants, Mac walked with her other kids back to the training area that they had been training at regularly.
Manthey and Fayes had died defending their home.
Manthey died protecting another soldier by shooting an attacking enemy, but he had given up his hiding spot with that action.
Stephenson had been attacked by an enemy soldier and most likely would have been killed if it hadn't been for Manthey.
Stephenson and Manthey had been good friends and Manthey knew that Stephenson would marry soon, maybe in another two or three weeks from now on. On top of that, Mac had heard that Stephenson's fiancée was pregnant and about into the fifth month by now.
Manthey had been single and gladly gave his life to protect his best friend in order to make it possible that his kid would have a father growing up. Most of the kids here would grow up without a dad or a mom being there for them. Some of them had neither of them. It was a bit of a privilege to have parents at this time.
So it was not surprising when Kimball announced Manthey would be posthumously promoted to the next rank and given a medal for his bravery.
Stephenson took over the task to accept the medal and honor instead of Manthey.
It was a given thing here that the saved party or a close person to the deceased would take over the task to remember the dead person's honorable actions when they sacrificed themselves in the line of duty.
Fayes died because he hadn't been paying enough attention when walking down to the ammunition deposit, taken out by an enemy sniper.
He had left a girlfriend behind who was still standing at his grave alone, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She looked horrible.
Mac could understand that feeling and had also told her that, but that was something many people around here would tell her. She needed to go her own way.
Days later, she would learn that Fayes' girlfriend, Cathy, couldn't take the pain from losing him and had committed suicide. She was later buried next to him.
The black-haired woman could only hope that they would both be doing better in the place they were at now.
Entering the hall, she could see her other lieutenants standing there right next to a weapon armory, locked tight and with only her having the key to it.
With her usual commanding manner, she took up position in front of the guys.
"Lieutenants, attention." The kids stood straight, saluting at her command. There were many people standing around, although they weren't allowed to enter the channel that she was currently using to talk to the guys.
For once, she wouldn't walk up and down in front of the kids. She would stand straight, just the way she was used to from military training back on Earth when standing easy.
"I had been training you for the last months in sniping and I know it wasn't always easy with me as CO." She started, almost being able to see the insecure glances being exchanged between the lieutenants,
"I was going extra hard on you by far, filtering out only the best of you to train. Even after that, I wasn't going easy on you because I wanted you to be prepared for the fight you faced a week ago."
Looking at each of the guys, she could feel the nervous tension radiating off of the kids.
"Stand at ease." She then released her poor kids, every one of them relaxing but still standing straight.
"I taught you what I knew. I showed you tactics, maneuvers, and tricks for shooting, although," she lifted her voice and could see with a small smile that the kids stood up even straighter, "There's one last thing I haven't told you." She once again looked each and every one of the kids in the eyes, or in the visor in this case, "The most important thing is to always use your head and don't forget what you learned." She tapped at her helmet with a smile, "If you're not following every order blindly and think the plans through with your CO and never forget what you learned, you'll be safe."
With that, she walked over to the armory and unlocked it, revealing for each of the kids a sniper rifle—their very own ones.
"Congratulations. You all successfully passed the education process and will get your own sniper rifle." She motioned to the rifles, brand new and shining freshly polished in the artificial light, "Treat it well. Because this one here is your life insurance in a battle situation."
She started calling up each of the kids' names, each of them stepping forward and accepting the sniper rifle handed to them by Mac and returning to their original position afterwards.
Miles, Giovanni, Baker, Culling, Ando, Jackson, Raleigh, and Lynch.
All fine soldiers and well-trained snipers now.
When all of them were back in line, she turned back one more time, "In any case, if you ever need advice or help with preparing for a mission, never hesitate to ask for any of the snipers' advice. I can only speak for myself, but I will always help you, even when you're not my pupils anymore."
The Lieutenants were all standing at ease, each of them having their rifles beside their right leg.
"I'm proud of you all. You did well." Standing straight and saluting her kids, she added, "Lieutenants, dismissed!"
Her kids all saluted her in return with a loud "Yes, ma'am!"
When both parties, the lieutenants and Mac, relaxed out of the salute, the kids started cheering and congratulating each other on their passed education.
When leaving the hall about half an hour later as the lieutenants had spontaneously included her in their cheering, she could see Tucker leaning against the wall beside the door.
She didn't stop walking until she was a bit away, Tucker trailing along after her.
"Pretty moving speech over there." He stated with his usual cocky attitude.
Mac gave him the finger for his sarcastic comment.
Tucker had come over to her and apologized for the shitty behavior he had shown right after the assault and for her being angry with him.
In the end, she couldn't be too angry with him for long. He was a good guy, and everyone had flaws. Nobody was perfect.
Tucker trailed alongside her, trying to keep up with her speed.
"Seriously, Mac. You said exactly what I would want to say to my lieutenants when they got to this point. You brought them up pretty fast since you started training them." Tucker got serious after his initial sarcasm.
"I want them to be prepared when they head into the fight. They shouldn't go out unprepared and just become another target." She replied at that.
Tucker nodded along to that comment, both now slowly strolling over to the mess hall since it was about time for dinner.
"You really like them, huh? I felt like you were talking to a bunch of kids rather than soldiers."
Mac sighed at that, "They are more or less my kids. Or… They have been." She shrugged at that, "Because of… You know." She ended, shrugging again a bit helplessly.
"I get it, Mac. I get it." They bumped their shoulders together amicably, Mac sending Tucker an unseen smile.
"Now are you ready to hit on some hot guys? Bow-chicka-bow-wow!" Tucker brought in his favorite line, making Mac laugh and roll her eyes.
"You're such an imbecile asshole, you know that?" She shoved him while laughing.
Tucker chimed in soon after that with "I know… and I know you love me, sis."
"You better not say that too loudly unless you want Wash to become jealous."
Tucker snorted at that, before obviously making a contemplative face. It wasn't really visible because he still had his helmet on, but after years and years of reading each other's body language through armor, you could read them like an open book.
"Hey, you gave me an idea…" his voice indicated that he really was contemplating making Wash jealous.
"You better leave me out of that. I don't want to end up as a rag rug in front of Wash's bunk because he sees me as his enemy." She replied dryly, looking over the mess hall only to see a familiar figure wearing violet and green armor.
She stopped dead in her tracks, Tucker taking another two steps before stopping too.
"Mac? What's up?" He asked, looking confused and following the line of her sight only to end on North.
"You know what, I forgot to report to Kimball about the promotion earlier. See you tomorrow!" Turning on her heels, Mac started to walk off quickly without looking as though she was bolting from the scene.
"What—oh for fuck's sake! Mac, come back!" Tucker shouted, turning around and looking to the corner the woman just disappeared around.
Seriously, how could this woman be so complicated? Sure, he could understand her reasoning for not telling him yet but it was starting to become ridiculous! As if North didn't notice that she was acting off. That wasn't a behavior any normal human being would show.
Cursing under his breath, he walked over to the counter to get some food and afterwards over to the table they all usually were sitting at.
Putting the tray down, he sat down besides Wash. The Freelancer was obviously already on his third apple, given the remnants of the other two lying on the tray and the third in his hand.
"Yo, Wash. Do you seriously only live on apples?" he asked after having pulled off his helmet and put it down on the bench beside him. Shaking out his dreads, he pulled them up in a ponytail to not have them in his face while eating.
Wash, currently chewing on a bite, only lifted an eyebrow.
"Dude, we already asked the rookie that back in the Project." York stated, he and North obviously having decided to join them here for dinner.
Wash threw the locksmith a withering glare at being called a rookie.
"So far, we never got an answer though." North chimed in, taking a swig from his water bottle.
Tucker made an affirmative grunt, shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth. For once, it didn't smell so bad.
"What's so bad about me liking apples?" Wash asked after swallowing a bit of the fruit in question.
"Nothing." North replied, "But, you know, you mostly only eat apples. We're just worried about you not having enough energy for all the training and stuff." North informed him calmly, closing the water bottle and putting it on the table.
"I haven't had any problems so far." The steel and yellow-armored soldier replied.
"Not yet." York chimed in.
Tucker made an affirmative sound, earning another dirty look from his boyfriend.
North, having sensed the tension, obviously decided to change the subject. But not for the better, however.
"It looked like Mac forgot something?" he asked casually, though Tucker could feel his eyes on him —reading every piece information he could get out of Tucker.
The aqua-armored soldier started coughing, but he was able to cover it up by acting like he choked on a bit of pasta.
When he was able to talk again, Tucker then replied, "Yeah, it was something to do with the promotion of her lieutenants. They finished their education as snipers today. Guess there's nothing more to show them." He explained evenly, deciding not to give any more information about her than that.
"I see." North replied, still acting casually but obviously up to something, "I just have this feeling like she's avoiding me." He stated.
Tucker could feel Wash press his leg up against his own at that.
Playing the nonchalant asshole, Tucker grinned, "Nothing against you, buddy, but I am the chick magnet here. Guess she only decided to not get any of your hopes up. She's kinda hot."
At that, he received a kick from Wash and replied immediately to it with a kick back.
York lifted an eyebrow at that little quarrel, but didn't say a word since Carolina sat down at their table and began consuming the locksmith's full attention after that.
"You know, North." Carolina began after kissing York hello, "Mac's kind of special. She's reluctant to warm up to anyone in general. Just give her some time. She'll come around eventually."
Although not knowing what had happened in her past, Tucker was glad Carolina managed to dissolve North's suspicion at least a bit although not completely.
After the dinner, Tucker and Wash went up to their rooms to shower and switch into their civilian clothes before meeting up again at Wash's.
Upon entering the room, Tucker could see that Wash was just about to slip into the top of his civvies.
Closing the door with a mischievous grin, he walked over to the Freelancer and wrapped his arms around Wash's waist before placing a kiss between his shoulder blades which made the Freelancer shudder.
"Since when are you so sneaky?" the older male asked with an amused glint in his eyes when he looked over his shoulder down at Tucker still placing kisses on his back.
"Since forever. I just don't always see the urge to be." He replied, placing another kiss on this spot before letting go of the Freelancer and letting him slip into his shirt.
"You think North notices something?" the younger male asked after a while, still standing in the room and looking out of the window.
"He always had been the most empathic out of us in the Project." Wash's started, "If it hadn't been for Carolina today, I doubt he would have let it go so easily." Rubbing a spot on his right upper arm, the Freelancer also looked out of the window while pondering over the situation at hand, "Although I have to ask myself if she knows."
"I am sure she doesn't. Maybe she just picked up on Mac not being on really good terms with North for some reason and tried to make North not worry so much about it?" Tucker offered as a suggestion when he declined Wash's notion about Carolina knowing.
"Probably. Although that's unlikely of her." The blond replied, still looking contemplative.
"I think," Tucker said at length, "You have to get used to a new Carolina since she's with York."
Wash snorted at that, "You're right. She's changed quite a bit since they got their act together. I only hope Mac and North will soon too."
"Who are you telling that?" Tucker sighed at that.
"Given their past, I can understand her being reluctant towards North." Wash stated quietly.
"Uh-huh, pretty heavy load there." The younger male replied, leaning against Wash.
The Freelancer laid an arm around the dark-skinned man, "You can say that. I only hope she's eventually able to tell him the truth."
"Yeah, I hope so too…" Tucker muttered.