Shion's brow furrowed as she flipped through different screens on her data-slate. Satellite imagery, planetary topography, enemy schematics, performance ratings from the last fifteen battles, casualty reports... With clenched teeth, she pushed the device away and rubbed her forehead. Looking around the near-empty mess hall, she sipped her coffee. Even then and there, in the wee hours on the ship, inspiration and insight were lacking. Paks don't have to worry about these things, she thought, they're too busy trying to rid the galaxy of organics- Suddenly, a tall and slender vixen passed through the entrance, heading in Shion's direction. "Lieutenant," she asked mildly, "shouldn't you be in bed?" Shion was about to stand at attention, but Captain Pamala Siegrist waved it off. "Please, Shion, as you were. Mind if I sit?" "No, Ma'am. Not at all." Siegrist nodded, and sat down across from her. "It's nigh on 0130 hours." "Sorry, Ma'am. Considering how much unnecessary ground we lost as of late, I was looking for some sort of advantage we may have missed in the briefing." Siegrist nodded. "Shion, I appreciate the overtime you're doing on this, but I need you at the ready well-rested and preferably not on a caffeine kick. We have the best plan possible at this time, and we just have to work with it. There will always be unknowns no matter what we do." Shion sighed, "I know that, Ma'am. We just seem to be on a downward spiral as of late, and the Paks are taking to it like jackals to a carcass-" Siegrist held up a hand. "That's enough, Lieutenant. You can't be the Shion Charzide that I think I know talk like this. Are you or are you not that same vixen who plowed a Vanguard into that horde of Paklets back on Hiraaj during the Stalemate?" Shion snorted. "I had 'too much fire, and not enough common sense' back then, to quote Major Jinn, who obviously was quoting my sister." Siegrist grinned. "Jinn says that about a lot of us. Regardless. The point is, Shion, you felt a need to act and you acted. Without hesitation or second-guessing. We all know how gung-ho you were, and honestly, still are; but it helped inspire people to work and fight harder. To win. "It takes different talents, different personalities to wage and win wars. Don't ever shortchange yours, Lieutenant." Shion nodded, remembering the motley crew that was once Terra Squad Two, made up of Melani Confederates and, over time, "attached" Terran civilians, both human and anthro. So far in her career in the military, those days were the best ones she had. And might not ever come again. She cleared her throat. "I'll try not to, Captain, but I don't want to shortchange victory, either." "You never have, Shion, and none of us in this Company, none of us in this Coalition, ever will." ***** Shion Charzide and Captain Pamala Siegrist © Wesley Brown The Paklets (BEO series: 2K10V2, Arch Angel, Reaper, Quad) © Christopher Haigood (Mestophales) & Jared Buchanan (Sequestrian) Vanguard ship © Kibarreto ***** NOTES: Because I haven't had time (and patience) to transfer my old runtimes to my new laptop, I've decided to go back to writing. This takes place some eight years or so in the future in Shion Charzide's timeline. She's a lieutenant in a space-faring military company fighting the Paklets far from Earth and Hiraaj, separated from many of her old friends. The "Coalition" Siegrist mentions is an alliance of the Melani Confederacy and Earth against the Paklet.