Advice? Shit, um. I guess the most important thing is to never underestimate the amount of work that goes into developing your powers. Any mage can accomplish awesome shit, but that takes effort and time.

-First Lieutenant Michelle Kramer, D Company, 7th Regiment, 2nd Magical Division, First Army Group of the Mekong

Dinner is usually a rare private moment for me. A lot of my day is spent managing a fleet, after all, so I'm always accompanied by someone or going to speak to someone. It gets stressful, quickly, but a nice dinner alone in my quarters, possibly with a glass of wine, is helpful for this.

-Rear Admiral Karen Liu, 2nd Carrier Squadron, 1st Fleet of the Nile

An hour and a half later, Emma had come up with something resembling a plan.

It only resembled a plan largely because Emma wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do in the end. At some level, she wanted to make a huge storm. Most of this was because she thought it would be fantastically cool. The more down-to-earth reason was because she figured it would provide good fundamental skills for… something.

The point was, a huge, complicated phenomenon like a storm needed a lot of individual steps to accomplish. These steps could be mashed together later in interesting ways. The schematic she had looked up earlier was useful for this. It clearly showed that she needed to make, at minimum, very large wind currents.

The other reason it only resembled a plan was because planning was tedious and boring. Emma had gotten enough of that in school. But she'd managed a tornado the last time she'd forced herself to sit through the process, so she grudgingly planned something anyway. It also helped to convince the others that, yes, this was actually potentially useful, and no, she wasn't going to do something incredibly stupid.

...In hindsight it would probably have been a good idea to do some planning before even making an attempt at clouds.

In any case, Emma was currently working on her own. This didn't mean that she was unsupervised. The others were definitely keeping an eye on her, despite having their own things to do. It would be a waste of time to stare at her all day, but it was just irresponsible not to make sure Emma didn't kill herself accidentally.

Emma took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The first thing she needed to do was get a strong, but efficient, jet of air going. The way her powers worked, Emma should be able to create an isolated stream of air moving faster than everything around it. The way she figured, this was easiest done looping the air around her body, then progressively increasing the scale.

Emma started small, making a pocket of magic directly in front of her and letting it form the anchor for a low pressure zone. Air rushed in from all sides, colliding chaotically and beginning to compress into a rudimentary vortex sphere. Emma pulled at the zone's side, forcing the low pressure to extend outwards.

Air rushed towards this elongated region as well, but Emma stayed one step ahead. As she pulled on one end, she let the other side flare, then tighten into a sort of buffer-tube-thing. Air could still move towards the low pressure zone, but its movement was constrained by the opening at the end of the tube. By turning as she pulled, Emma created a hoop of mildly gusty wind, moving quickly enough but hardly damaging.

Carefully, very carefully, Emma moved the low pressure zone around her with increasing speed. The buffer wasn't completely sealed and allowed some air in. As the speed increased, more and more air was inevitably sucked into the tube. Emma grit her teeth as the pressure inside of the tube increased, closing swiftly on the limits of Emma's ability to control it.

The air inside the tube was now moving very quickly, reaching speeds that would make traditional, non-magical physics begin to get very complicated. Fortunately, magic took care of many problems. The magical shell bubbled and stretched, but managed to keep the increasingly dense stream of air contained, for now.

Emma decided that the safest way to bleed off all this fast moving air would be to eject it as a circular air blade, keeping the air moving nicely away from her body. She paused to glance around, making sure that none of the others were too close. The entire group had cautiously moved off to the left, staying well clear but ready to move if needed.

Emma took a deep breath. Making an air blade was not complicated. She made two high pressure wedges above and below the—

—popping tube, the shift in concentration letting a bubble of air escape. The small fault in the pressure vessel caused a catastrophic collapse, magic flailing wildly in all directions. The majority of the air dissipated harmlessly, but the residual magic snagged some of the air before Emma could kill the spell.

Emma instinctively shielded her face as her magic turned against her, lashing at her body with lines of super-compressed air. Fortunately, the armor she was still wearing protected her from the worst of this damage. One particularly powerful stream of air cut a long wedge from an arm guard.

"Shit," Emma muttered to herself, after the wind had died down. "That's not gone well."

"You okay there?" Alanis asked.

"Yeah," said Emma, brushing herself off. "Armor's kinda nicked up, but I'm good."

"What happened?" asked Alanis.

"Got it going too fast," said Emma. "Just need to try again and ramp it up slower."

"Try twisting it," interjected Emily.

Emma blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You were making a tube-thing, right?" said Emily. She held up a streamer of water and slowly moved it around her head, demonstrating the twisting motion she was talking about. Emma zoomed in to watch. "It's a trick I figured out trying to control my streamers. When you make your air streamer, pull the magic out into a corkscrew."

"Oh," said Emma, blinking and re-watching the recording at 1/4 speed. "Um, thanks, Emily."

"Sure, whatever." Emily went back to staring at her puddle and ignoring Alanis and Qing Duo. The latter two were giving her very odd looks.

"Er, right," said Emma, turning away again and licking her lips. She pulled at her magic again, starting with a low pressure zone and elongating it like before. As she pulled at the one end, Emma twisted it, making the flaring end spiral outwards and—

—dissipate into the air, it's chaotic motion difficult for Emma to hold onto. At first she would have a decent grip on the shell. After all, this was no different from twisting a pipe. But as the shell flared, it got wider. Since it was spinning, this meant that it got faster. As the shell sped up, it got… Emma could only call it "slippery". The moment she tried to make it form the barrier she'd used before, the magic would slip from her grasp and dissipate. Bits of air were sucked along with it and crackled as they half-formed vortex spheres.

"No, you have to constrict the flaring too," said Emily. She sent a mental video over, showing what she was doing. "See, if you hold it here—," a pointed appeared on the video "—you end up keeping the tube tight and narrow, which helps control."

"But I want it to be a large, wide jet of air," said Emma.

"Start small, Emma," said Emily. "Get a narrow jet figured, and then move up in scale."

"But—?"

"It's sensible advice," added Qing Duo. "Most powers take a lot more time than you expect. You have to be patient."

"Mrgl," grunted Emma, before returning to her task.

Alanis glanced at Emily. "You're awful chatty with the new girl today."

Emily rolled her eyes. "I'm not so much of an asshole that I'm going to not give her advice."

"But you didn't even insult her this time," added Qing Duo, summoning a mirror. She seemed to flicker, before frowning unhappily.

"Hey, I'm allowed to be in a good mood," said Emily.

"I wasn't aware that was possible," said Qing Duo bluntly.

"It is if my experiments are going well," said Emily, staring at a spot on the ground. Seconds later, a puddle appeared.

"What are you doing anyway?" asked Alanis. "Is it condensation or what?"

"No, there's not enough humidity to condense water out of the air," said Emily, waving off the idea. "Or at least, I don't have the juice to pull that off. I'm pulling water up from the water table. Since we're so close to a river, the water table isn't that far down. I'm hoping it'll let me be more flexible."

"In any case, the new girl."

"Yeah? I'm in a good mood, so I helped her out nicely," said Emily, glancing between Alanis and Qing Duo with a questioning expression. "There's nothing weird about that."

"No, no there isn't," said Alanis, turning away quickly to hide a grin. "It's just… interesting."

Emily wrinkled her nose. "What do you mean inter- oh hell no!"

"I didn't say anything~!"

"You are not shipping me with her!"

"Aww, you'd make a cute couple though!"

"No, no, no, shut up no!"

"I thought that was a joke?" asked Qing Duo.

"Well it was, but then this happened," said Alanis. "Don't tell me you can't see it. They even have the same hair!"

"That'd make them more sisters than anything else," said Qing Duo blandly.

"That's it, I'm growing this out more," said Emily, glaring at her bangs.

"Don't do that, Ems," said Alanis. "I'm just teasing you, it's not really a thing."

Emily gave Alanis a distrustful glare.

"Seriously," said Alanis. "To quote you earlier, I'm not that much of an asshole."

"Hmph. Anyway—."

The group flinched as another bang was heard from Emma's direction.

"Agh, ow ow ow!" gasped Emma, clutching at her arm. It was a deep cut, down to the bone, but healing quickly.

"Heh, well, that's clearly not gone well," remarked Emily.

"Go ahead and fuck yourself!" hissed Emma. "Ah, dammit, ow…."

Emily rolled her eyes and turned back to her puddles. She paused, then looked up when she felt two pairs of eyes on her. "What?"

"You should go help her," said Qing Duo.

"What? Why?"

"You're the only one here with experience in fluids."

"But—."

"We do have a duty, Emily," said Alanis. "Don't you remember when you first contracted?"

Emily pressed her lips together unhappily. "…Fine." She sighed, and walked over to where Emma was experimentally flexing her fingers.

"You feeling alright there?" asked Emily.

"M'fine, just surprised," said Emma, prodding carefully at the wound. "Wasn't that bad."

"Fair 'nuff," said Emily, shrugging. "Lemme see what you're doing."

"I'm healing myself."

"No, stupid, the magic," said Emily. "You need help. I'm offering it."

"You're offering to help me?" asked Emma, surprised.

"I'm in a good mood," said Emily, rolling her eyes again. "Hurry up, or you're going to ruin it."

"Oh, uh, right," said Emma, forming a fist to test her grip before starting again. Her magic glittered briefly before forming into a ball. With one hand, she grabbed at the area and began pulling, stretching out to the left—

—before Emily stopped her. "Start by getting it twisting," said Emily. She pulled a ball of water out in front of her to demonstrate. "See, get a good flow going first."

"Alright, hold on," said Emma, pulling the magic back into its ball. The air began spinning as she focused on the sphere, rolling away from her. With the ball now spinning rapidly, Emma began to pull the tube out again—

—before Emily stopped her again. "No, no, hold on, is it spinning or twisting?"

"What's the difference?" asked Emma, slightly annoyed.

"What do you mean? Of course there's a difference."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Look, it's not that complicated," said Emily, demonstrating with her ball of water. "If it's spinning, everything is moving at the same speed at the same time. If it's twisting, then it's moving at the same speed but at different times."

"…I don't really get it, but whatever. Show me again?"

Carefully, Emma followed along as Emily demonstrated again. The left side of the sphere of air began spinning first, followed by the rest of it in layers. It was a tricky business at first, but Emma was able to pick it up quickly.

"Alright, now make it go a little faster," said Emily. "Keep it tight— right, good."

"And now you're complimenting me," said Emma, snorting in surprise. "Will the wonders never cease?"

"That doesn't count as a compliment," said Emily. "Keep going… alright, now you're going fast enough. Keep everything tight now…"

Emma bit her lip and pulled outwards again. The twisting magic wobbled as it stretched outwards, the air inside wanting to scatter into the atmosphere. Emma resisted this notion, holding the tube together as she swung it around herself, then linked the ends.

"Now reinforce it," said Emily. "Don't get speed going, make sure everything holds together."

"Right." Emma slowly fed more magic into the technique. The spiraling tube slowly stabilized until it was flowing in an even hoop and glowed a crisp, light blue.

"Now hold it," said Emily, stepping back. "When you're ready, give it more speed."

Emma nodded and widened her stance. The air stream hummed slightly as Emma moved it more quickly. It was surprisingly quiet.

"I… I don't think I can get it any faster," said Emma, carefully blinking away a droplet of sweat.

"Hold it steady…" said Emily, backing away still more. "…Okay, you're looking good. Now try moving it."

"Huh?"

"Like, uh,wobble it from side to side," said Emily. She pulled out a ring of water and rocked it back and forth. "Like this, see? Can you pull it off?"

"Uh, maybe," said Emma. She slowly gestured to her right, tilting the ring of air with some difficulty. "It— ah!— it doesn't want to move."

Emily blinked and thought about this. "…Oh, I think I get it. My magic touches water molecules directly. Yours must not do that."

"No, it's basically a pressure thing," said Emma, still slowly, carefully tilting the air stream.

"Right, uh, what happens if you infuse the air with your magic?"

"It turns into that cutting whirlwind I keep using," said Emma, beginning to tilt the loop the other direction. It was a little easier this time, until she went past center.

"Maybe—?"

Emma shook her head. "If I lose control of this, I'll be shredded."

"Right, right, uh… well I've got nothing."

"Yay."

Emily thought for a moment. "Oi, Qing Duo, can you magic up a target for Emma?"

"Will a reflection do?"

"Should be fine," said Emily. "Right, Emma, since we've got nothing better to do—."

"You want me punch Qing Duo's reflection in the face with my air jet, right?" asked Emma, bracing herself as a mirror shimmered into place ten yards distant. Qing Duo's reflection stepped out and waved.

"Yeah, just let me get back a bit," said Emily. She hopped back a few more yards and readied a magic shield. "Whenever you're ready."

Emma took a deep breath. The air jet flared as she reverted to type, pouring magic into it before she punched forward and sent the pressure zone forward. Sound ripped out of the jet, screaming in anger and ripping into the reflection, then the mirror beyond.

The immediate impact area was immediately obscured by a cloud of dust, completely opaque. It was as if the ground was hanging in the air, before slowly dissipating from a breeze.

Emily whistled. "Damn, that is one hell of an attack, Emma."

The reflection had faded into light motes on impact, leaving most of the force to blast itself against the mirror. Magically constructed, Qing Duo's mirror was completely unfazed by the attack. What was more interesting was the half-bowl cleanly scooped out of the football pitch, like the hole left in the ice cream tub from a skillfully done scoop.

"Ehehe," said Emma. "I guess I accidentally did the whirlwind thing."

"While risky, it does have its rewards," said Alanis from afar. She and Qing Duo jogged over to inspect the cut. "Oh damn, look at that. Smooth as glass."

"Do you think there was any heat residue?"

"Can't tell, we could go over the video…"

Emma took a deep breath and sat down. Guh, she was so tired. Just the one attack had taken so much out of here, and there was still so much more to do. Would she ever manage to make the storm she wanted? Maybe it would be easier to just give up. She had a good thing going, after all, so if she concentrated on this…

Emily sat down beside her and tossed a handful of grief cubes into Emma's lap. "Here, you gem needs purifying."

Emma blinked and checked. With a start, she realized her soul gem was well below fifty percent. "Shit."

"Keep a closer eye on it," said Emily, leaning back on her elbows as Emma scrambled to drain the grief out of her gem. "You're no good if you fade."

"Y-yeah."

Emily pulled a blob of water into the air and slowly broke it into droplets. "You feeling hot?"

"Yeah."

"Here." Emily slid the water over to hover in front of Emma. "Feel free to splash your face, if you want."

Emma blinked at the water droplets, then dunked her face into them. "Hahh… thanks. That's refreshing."

"S'cool."

The two were silent for a while, watching Alanis and Qing Duo poke at the crater Emma'd left behind.

"We're not fighting," said Emma eventually.

"Mmhm."

"Why haven't you teased me in the last thirty seconds?"

"Why should I?"

"I'm the new girl, aren't I?"

"Yeah."

"Aren't I supposed to be stupid and idiotic?"

"Sure," said Emily. "But you pulled off something interesting." She nodded at the crater. "And 'sides, you made it through the first engagement almost without a scratch. You kept your shit together and you're doing your best to improve yourself. If I didn't respect that, I'd be the bitch here, and I'd rather not be."

"You already are a bitch."

"Asshole, Emma," corrected Emily. "I'm an asshole, not a bitch. There's a distinction."

"Whatever," said Emma, looking away. She couldn't resist a small smile. "…You're alright, Emily."

"Heh. You too, new girl."

The rest of the afternoon was spent refining the technique. There were a variety of other magical hurdles that still needed to be leaped, but Emma was now sure she could overcome them.

The air jet needed to be larger, in any case. Emma made it wider and faster, progressing slowly but steadily until the jet was as thick as her waist. On the one hand, she thought her waist was rather a pleasing thinness without getting mildly disturbing about it. On the other hand, this was still at least two orders of magnitude smaller than what she was aiming for.

Ah well. Best make it through the coming engagement and work on it later, right?

"Exactly," said Alanis, purring happily as Emma gave her cat form a post-training ear scratching. All four magical girls were sitting on the bleachers, having a snack before heading back to their units. "You need to— ooh, a little further left— to make sure you keep at it, instead of hoping for some miracle from the Goddess."

"Besides, it's not like whipping up a storm on the battlefield is always useful," said Emily, drawing a steady stream of water from the ground into her gourd. Her training was paying significant dividends. "It's one of those abilities, y'know? Like, uh, Homura's—."

Qing Duo flicked her upside the head. "Akemi-san."

"—Akemi-san's wings or whatever," continued Emily, rolling her eyes at Qing Duo. "It's a special application."

"It's good to have high goals," said Qing Duo.

"But it's better to know what your limits are," said Emily.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

"Fair enough," said Qing Duo airily. "Your point is valid. I disagree on principal, however."

"Meh."

Emma changed the topic. "So, I've been looking at our deployment plans, during breaks," she said. "I uh, it seems like C Company is doing the usual thing? Being a reactionary reserve, I mean."

Alanis nodded mentally. "That's the basic plan so far. The 12th's being placed on a reserve footing, since it's numbers are so depleted. We're relying on the militia and the light infantry to hold the line."

"If they don't hold the line though, I guess we're expected to plug the gap until reinforcements come up?"

"That would probably be the case, yes," said Alanis. "There's plenty of troops in reserve, seeing as the valley's pretty narrow for an entire field army."

"Yeah," said Emma. She continued scratching Alanis' ears, staring thoughtfully at the ground.

"What're you thinking about?" asked Emily.

"Just how we factor into the big picture," said Emma. "I guess, it's counter-intuitive to me, to deploy my forces forward."

Qing Duo nodded. "This isn't perfectly like football."

"Yeah. If I knew that my opponents were the sort to go charging in, I'd do a defensive posture."

"But here we've got allies."

"Uh huh, so we can afford to deploy forward, because we can always fall back."

"Well, be careful," warned Emily. "Don't leave gaps in your line when you do that."

"I know," said Emma. "I uh, I've done that before in the sims. It wasn't pretty."

"Well then good, you know not to."

"Make sure to keep your head in the game," added Qing Duo. "You handled yourself well last time. Keep it up."

"Stay in contact too," said Alanis, bunting aside Emma's hand momentarily to look seriously up at her. "The last thing we need is for your transmitter to drop out in the middle of the battle."

"I'll, ah, I'll do my best," said Emma. "What, uh, what now?"

"Well, we've still got a few hours before we need to move out," said Alanis. She hopped down from Emma's lap. "We should spend that time resting up, grab some dinner."

"Attack's at, what, 20:00?" asked Emily. "Bit of time, it seems."

"Yeah, we can't rely on that though."

"Whatever," said Emily, getting up and stretching. "Ngh. We'll just be waiting at our positions. Doesn't mean we can't talk over transmitter or telepathy."

"In that case, I'll talk to you guys later," said Emma, standing as well and bracing to jump.

"…What are you doing?" asked Qing Duo. Emily and Alanis edged behind her.

"I'm going to try and fly," said Emma. She flashed a grin at the others. "Wish me—gack!"

Emily had grabbed her by the ankle and tugged. "No," said Emily, whapping Emma upside the head. Gently, but it still stung. "Don't do something stupid that could get your neck snapped. If you're going to try that, try it in a sim where we can at least sorta simulate it."

Emma scowled but conceded the point. "Fine…."

Dinner was postponed until after their platoons had deployed to their starting positions. Ingrid had already laid out most of the positioning for 3rd Platoon, so it was really just a question of getting there and setting up.

3rd Platoon was deployed on a series of hills near the main infantry line. This series was dubbed Cluster 14. The cluster was arranged in two rows, one of three and one of two, with the highest peak in the center of the first row. It ran mostly in parallel to the main line, varying only slightly and breaking into volcanic stone after about fifty meters up any one hill. The cluster was three hundred meters tall at its highest and gave a commanding view over ten kilometers of the line. More if you bothered to zoom in.

Between the two lines of hills was a small dell, marshy and rather damp. The water had been drained during the fortification process, with a pipe installed to keep pumping out water. It was now acting as a supply of freshwater to the area's troops and alleviating some of the logistics.

Third Platoon's IFVs were arrayed behind the hills, to shield them from enemy fire. Each of the vehicles was hunkered tightly against their position. If things went as predicted, the squid would open up with a huge salvo of artillery, advancing their main battle tanks into the valley with infantry supporting. What infantry, exactly, would accompany the tanks was in flux, as it usually was with this sort of thing.

In any case, Emma found herself busy being bored. Everyone already knew the plan, after all, and there was very little to discuss when most of it was "wait for the enemy to show up". Ingrid was in the bunker at the base of Cluster 14's most easterly hill, monitoring the situation as it developed. Emma would have been with her, and would go there as the projected time of arrival neared, but she was too hyped up to sit still. A wander around the emplacements appeared to be in order

"Lieutenant Sinclair, good evening," said Sergeant Hobbs as Emma knocked on the side of his IFV. Sergeant Major Hobbs was in charge of Squad C, Team 1. He, like everyone in his team, specialized in defensive fighting positions. "How can we help you?"

"I'm just wandering, Sergeant," said Emma, leaning against the open hatchway. "You guys have some time to talk?"

"We're just waiting, sir," said Corporal Hayes. "Nothing much to do."

"Hurry up and wait, right?" asked Emma. The group chuckled. "How're you all feeling? Did you get dinner yet?"

"We've already eaten," said Hayes. "We're… dealing. It hasn't been a great start to the campaign."

"We could really use some more manpower," said another corporal. "But, it looks like it's not coming."

"Well, we'll be hooking up with the retreating units, so you should be able to get some help from them," said Emma. "The 24th Combined Arms is supposed to make their retreat towards this position."

"It's just not the same as getting more troops," said Hayes. "There's coordination issues, and logistics, and—."

"Bitching aside," interjected Hobbs. "There are a lot of things we'd like, sir, but the guys and I are dealing with the reality as best we can."

"That's good," said Emma. "You uh, you guys got any interesting stories?"

"Nothing that's appropriate for right now, I don't think," said Hobbs, glancing around the IFV.

"Well, there's the story about Gunn and the "massage parlour" back on—."

"As I said," said Hobbs, giving the offending soldier a jab with the butt of his rifle. "Nothing that's appropriate for the moment, sir. Maybe later, if we're still alive, we could talk."

Emma gave Hobbs a look. "I'm not a child, Sergeant."

"Well, with respect sir, you're not exactly old," said Hobbs.

Emma rolled her eyes. Adults will be adults. "Whatever, I guess I'll leave you guys to it then. Stay safe."

"The same to you, sir."

"Good luck sir."

"Stay safe."

Emma nodded at the troops and moved on. Cluster 14 was very wide, spanning more than a kilometer. Emma was glad for the exercise though, if only because moving helped her think. It was a little early, she supposed, to try and become friends with the troops under her command. Though performing well in the last battle had apparently won her a lot of points, she still had a long way to go.

Talking to the rest of the platoon took another hour. It wasn't until she reached B Squad, Team 4 that she found any interesting conversation.

"Lieutenant Sinclair, good to see you," said Magnusson. "Out for a walk?"

"That's right," said Emma. The anti-armor fireteam was sitting beside their IFV, not doing much. "How're you guys doing? Have you eaten yet?"

"We were just about to, Lieutenant," said Sergeant Reynolds, the leader of the fireteam. "What about you?"

"I haven't had anything," said Emma. "Do you, uh, mind if I join you?"

Reynolds paused, taken aback, before gesturing: "Sure, please, take a seat Lieutenant."

Emma sat down on one of the stumps that the fireteam and recovered from the drones. A quick check showed that the fireteam had already placed their orders and the delivery drones were one their way. Emma sent her order in as well and turned to the group of soldiers.

"So, uh, what's the word around the campfire, so to speak?" asked Emma.

"Well, we were just discussing knitting, Lieutenant," said Magnusson with a wave of one hand. "Reynolds there says that it's impossible to learn cable knitting before learning the basic stockinette, but Shun says that you can start anywhere, as long as you can pull out the right concepts."

"…how do you know so much about knitting?" asked Reynolds.

"I made it up," said Magnusson. "Truth is, Lieutenant, there's nothing to talk about."

"Yeah, that's what everyone else is saying," said Emma, propping her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands. "I wish it wasn't this boring all the time."

A round of affirming grunts.

"Although, now that I think of it," said Magnusson. "Technically, we could take you drinking."

Shun blinked, then shook his head in exasperation. "That is a bad idea on so many levels."

"It's a fantastic plan, what are you talking about?"

"I agree with Shun, we're not taking the Lieutenant drinking," said Reynolds. "Unless you're trying to get court-martialed and out of the war."

There was a collective pause while everyone considered this.

"That's actually not a bad idea," said Magnusson. "What do you say, Lieutenant? We'll go drinking and make a huge scandal and—."

Shun reached over and whacked him upside the head.

"No."

"Ow!"

The two began arguing about whether getting court martialed was a valid way of retiring.

"So I heard you had lunch with these two," said Reynolds, nodding at Magnusson and Shun. "I apologize for the mental trauma."

"No, no, it's fine," said Emma. "Hehe, it's good that they can relax around me, actually."

"What do you mean?" asked Reynolds. A delivery drone zipped up and held out a boxed dinner for him.

"I mean, I'm an officer," said Emma. "It's the formality thing. I'm not a fan of it."

"You have a background in football, correct?" asked Shun, his argument with Magnusson broken up by the delivery drones.

"That's right," said Emma. "It's a much closer knit community, and I'm used to leading that sort of team. This is…" Emma waved at the air "…I'm just not accustomed to the way the military does it."

"Understandable," said Reynolds. "If you don't mind, sir, we'll get started on our food. Did you order something?"

"Oh, go ahead," said Emma. "My food's on its way."

"Right."

Emma watched the three soldiers eat in silence for awhile. Charlie must not have gotten fixed up in time for the battle. It was a little depressing, seeing the empty space.

"So, Lieutenant, you mentioned it was really different, leading a platoon," said Magnusson. "What's the big thing for you?"

"The formality," said Emma. "I'd rather we called each other by name, honestly. And the separation of enlisted and commissioned is irritating as well."

"There's good reason for that though," said Shun.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I like it," said Emma. The adults shrugged. That was fair. "I'm also not used to not really known what I'm doing," continued Emma. "I want to take a bigger role in the leadership of the platoon, but that's just not realistic right now."

"Well there's always an acclimation period," said Reynolds.

"Yeah, but it's still annoying," said Emma. Her food arrived, and she continued speaking as she prepared to eat. "Also how I can't actually lead directly, most of the time, since we're split off for combat so often. If I'm given a responsibility, I'd like to be able to do my job."

"Leadership is difficult," said Reynolds. "Don't be in such a hurry. There are many ways and many times to lead."

Emma prodded at her dinner with a fork. "I guess I'm just being a teenager, but whatever. I'm complaining a lot."

"We all have grandkids," said Shun. He shrugged "We're used to it. It's good for you to work out your problems out loud."

"And besides, you're young," said Magnusson. "You have plenty of time. Though I guess that's not as meaningful as it could be, seeing as everyone's basically immortal these days."

"Yeah, you could have chosen a better phrase," said Reynolds. "But you get the drift, Lieutenant."

"Meh," said Emma. "Let's talk about something else. Do you guys follow football at all?"

"Of course," said Reynolds. "We all got our favorites, and the Earth Cup's always a big deal. You cheer for Great Britain, yeah?"

"During the Earth Cup, yeah, but London Metropolitan any other time," said Emma. "You're uh, you're from Australia, right Reynolds? Do you have a city you cheer for?"

"Melbourne Greens, yeah" said Reynolds. "You can guess who Shun and Magnusson cheer for."

"Oh yeah, it's not a difficult guess…."

Emma ended up spending the rest of the evening talking with Team B-4. Football was the main topic, along with the chances their various home teams in the next Earth Cup. Emma was sure that Team Britain would manage to win, they'd just had some bad luck with injuries early. She was equally certain that Team Brazil would be utterly smashed if it and Team Britain met up. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.

It wasn't until it started raining that Emma remembered that the squid attack was nearing, and that she was needed elsewhere. Hurriedly, she bid farewell to Team B-4 and returned to the command bunker at a quick jog.

It was nearly time.