A marine is not a singular thing. It is part of a whole. A marine does not fight alone unless he or she has to. A scout thinks and fights with the unit in his or her mind as well. For example, when a scout picks a target to eliminate, his or her first priority is picking something that will weaken the enemy so that her squad or platoon can take them out easier, instead of what will keep her alive longer. In that frame of mind, Freya sighed as she walked out of the holographic training building. She had just spent the last eight or so hours learning how to fight alone. It was a very different way of looking at combat than she had been trained previously.

The plan for landing on planet alone and working to get to the rest of the platoon mandated that they had to be trained to fight alone. There were two schools of thought for fighting alone. First was the simple hide and avoid all fighting. The second was go as fast as possible, taking possession of the area that the person was currently in. That meant scaring the enemy so badly that they would rather run away or give up than to face the marine in combat.

Freya and the rest of the platoon had just finished training on both for the time being. The plan was to go silent at first for as long as possible then go fast and deadly. The closest anyone should land was three, inner city miles. The farthest was four point eight miles. The way Freya had worked it was that only Toast and herself should be that far out from a rendezvous point. Granted, they would be on opposite sides of the city, but they were the farthest away from any of the rendezvous points.

The training had especially been hard for Freya as Sergeant Torres had used satellites designed to see through active camouflage. She had been fine while she hid inside buildings, but once she was on the streets they could pinpoint where she was within seconds. She hadn’t seen any improvement with her new armor. In fact, aside from the odd-looking helmet and the weird nodes on the armor, she had a problem telling the difference between the two. The armor hadn’t hidden her from the satellites. It also gave her headaches whenever she tried to interact with it with her Personal AI. She did get a message from the Monarch telling her that there was a patch that should be downloaded sometime tomorrow before the mission, but until then she was encouraged to keep on using her Personal AI with it so that the developers could get better readings.

“Stupid armor.” She grumbled to herself, as she changed the armor to her working uniform, minus her sleeves of course.

She walked into the conference room where Sergeant Torres was holding his after training debriefing. He was smiling as Freya and the rest of the platoon sat down. Sergeant Leni stood beside him quietly talking to him. Sergeant Torres nodded at whatever she told him before he took a step forward and addressed the platoon.

“I would like to say that you people did an amazing job, but we still have some bugs to address. With that in mind, training starts tomorrow at oh-six-hundred. The good news is that you guys are free to go to Chivia’s tonight. The caveat to that is you must be back in the barracks before midnight. That is not right at midnight, but before it rings in. We have a long day before us before the mission, which starts later in the evening. Sergeant Leni, do you have anything to add before we figure out what buildings we want to buy?” He asked his second in command.

“I want to see fifth squad and anyone who will be using active camouflage during the mission.” She said, looking right at Freya’s squad.

“Very well. Now, I have an idea on how we are going to use our rewards. Instead of getting two small buildings, I suggest upgrading our barracks. If we use both medium buildings, we can add a pool and workout/spa rooms to our barracks. Now, I know what you’re thinking - what's the point of a workout? But studies have shown that we don’t fully use our mods in the real world as effectively as we do in the digital world. We can correct this by working out in various different ways.”

“I don’t know about y’all, but I could use some time in a spa.” Sergeant Leni said, with a smile, from behind Torres’s back.

“Let’s put it to a vote. All in favor?” Sergeant Torres asked.

Freya raised her hand and looked around. Most of the platoon had voted for the pool and spa/workout rooms. She wondered what those who didn’t vote for it were hoping for. Once the vote passed, the rest of the platoon left the conference room while Freya followed Toast and her squad to meet with Sergeant Leni. To her surprise, Ostrich followed them.

“Look, this mission is going to suck for y’all. With that spy satellite, you’re not going to be able to use your normal tactics. With that in mind: Patterson, lose the stealth generator. Switch back to armor plates. Also lose the big guns. They’re going to slow you down. Tike, switch to your heavy armor. The rest of you are going to have to buy a stealth generator, if you don’t already have one.” Sergeant Leni said to Toast, Ostrich, and Freya.

“But Sergeant…” Patterson said, whining.

“Yes, Sergeant.” Sergeant Leni said, cutting him off.

“But, Sergeant…” Patterson tried again.

“Yes, Sergeant.” Sergeant Leni repeated, her tone a bit stronger.

“Yes, Sergeant.” Patterson said, defeatedly.

“That’s going to cut into what we can carry. Plus, Freya and Ostrich are going to lose their cloudforges.” Toast said, standing up to the Sergeant.

“I understand, Toast, but cloudforges are useless if both our drone operators are dead.”

Toast sighed. “Yes, Sergeant.” He replied, sounding almost as defeated as Patterson had.

“Look, I know this sucks. Change always sucks, and deliberately gimping yourself sucks even more. If you have a better idea, if any of you have a better idea, I’m all ears.” Sergeant Leni asked, looking at all of them.

When no one spoke up, Sergeant Leni nodded. “If you need to borrow some cash for the generator, Magic ‘n Ostrich, Sergeant Torres has agreed to lend you the money. Get it done before you leave for the day.”

“Yes, Sergeant.” Freya said, with the rest of them.

Patterson exploded once Sergeant Leni left the room. “This is guano, Toast, and she knows it!” He explained.

“Guano?” Toast said, with a slight smile.

“It’s bat …” Patterson started to say, but Toast interrupted him.

“I know what it is.” Toast said, waving his hand.

“We don’t even know if that spy satellite will be there. They’re just guessing.” Patterson said angrily.

“It’s better to over-plan than to under-plan. They’re right though. We’ve been lucky so far with these missions, but we can’t make a plan and hope that the enemy is stupid. We’re dropping in on a major city without a respawn ship, and attacking a spaceport. Do you really think they won't have a spy satellite in orbit?” Toast asked him.

Patterson looked down and sighed. “No.” He said softly.

“Then the only logical thing to do is what they are asking us.” Toast told him.

“But dammit, Toast.” Patterson said, looking up at him.

“I know bud. I know.” Toast said, putting his hand on Patterson’s shoulder.

“You guys have the money to get what you need?” Toast asked, looking at Ostrich and Freya.

“It’ll burn the last bit of my savings, but yeah I got it.” Ostrich said, looking down.

“If you can afford it, go top of the line. It will set you back a bunch, but this won’t be the only time in your career that you’ll need it. We’ve been on a tear, so while you guys are flush with cash, buy the best.” Toast told them.

“How much is it going to cost?” Freya asked, checking her status screen.

“A good generator will cost you about 2K. A top of the line will go for about 2 and a half K.” Ostrich told her quietly.

“I have it.” Freya said, sadly.

“Okay, lets get it done. Let’s meet up at Chivia's afterward and we can drown our sorrows there.” Toast said, with a sad smile.

“I’ll meet you guys there. I want to check out the new changes to the barracks.” Ostrich said, giving them a wave as he ran out of the room.

“He does know that they haven’t changed it yet? Everyone needs to be out of the barracks before the changes can be made.” Tike said as they all watched Ostrich run out of the room.

“He’ll figure it out.” Toast said, sounding amused.

They split up. Freya headed out of the camp to see about getting the generator. She went to her favorite shop, Fresco’s Armor Emporium. She met the android at the counter. “Hello again, Private. What can I do for you today?” The android asked.

“I’m looking for a generator to increase active camouflage for my armor.” Freya told it.

The android brought up her stats and frowned. “I see that you have the Wrath EC. The EC seems to stand for Extended Capabilities. Not a very original name. I am sorry though, I am not familiar with that armor.” It told her. “There seem to be a few components that are classified and I’m not able to bring up what they do. No matter. Are you aware that the batteries that you have are not enough to meet the minimum energy requirements?”

“What?” Freya asked, surprised.

“Yes. If I am reading this right then you should have, at a bare minimum, two more Colax purified batteries. I would suggest a total of five more to use the armor suit to its maximum ability.” It told her, looking up at her.

Freya sighed. “This armor is really getting on my nerves.” She thought to herself.

“How much is it going to cost me?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“Well, you have a choice. You’re coming to the end of what the Veddarius batteries can do. The next time you upgrade your weapons or armor, you will need to get an Ove standard battery. You have a choice. You can get two Ove standard batteries or five more Veddariuses. The two Ove standard batteries come out to be four credits more than if you go with all five Veddarius batteries.”

Freya sighed and then nodded. The android entered the amount into the console and Freya sighed again. It was expensive, but with what she was making on regular missions it wasn’t all that bad. She waited as the system updated and then she equipped her new batteries. She wasn’t sure but, after the batteries were equipped and started running, she felt like the armor got lighter. She crouched down and jumped to test it out. She didn’t think she jumped any higher than normal but she couldn’t help the nagging feeling that the armor was lighter now.

“We have an assortment of generators to boost your suit’s active camouflage. We have the inexpensive P1-1-80. It will consume all of the space in your backpack and boost your active camouflage by twenty percent. The standard, unmodded unit will cost you five hundred credits. In the mid range, we have a Deluxe APR. It will also consume all of your backpack but it will boost your armor suit by forty percent. The unmodded unit costs one-thousand five hundred credits.” It told her.

“What kind of mods can I get on the generators?” Freya asked, looking at the backpack looking things.

“Two types of mods that are very popular with these units are to increase the energy efficiency and to reduce the size. We also have mods to increase the percentage boost to active camouflage, but they’re more expensive. People generally just buy a better generator if they want something like that.” The android explained.

“What do you have that boosts the active camouflage the best?” Freya asked.

“We have the AIT 57. It can boost your active camouflage one hundred and ten percent. It is slightly bigger than your backpack and will need a seperate Ove standard battery. It starts at two thousand credits unmodded. It is recommended that you get the size and weight reduction mod if you have less than 100 strength mods. That would bring it up to two thousand five hundred credits.” It told her.

“This will give you five minutes at maximum boost of one hundred ten percent before you need to recharge your batteries. Depending on the battery you use, that could take twenty minutes to an hour. I would also recommend, if you get this unit, that you spend an additional two to five hundred credits to get one of the efficiency increase mods. This can increase your boost from an additional ten minutes to an hour depending on the mod and battery that you use.”

Freya winced at the price. “If I get the best efficiency mod and the best battery, what am I looking at for a recharge time?” Freya asked the android.

“Ten minute recharge rate for one hour at one hundred and ten percent.” It replied.

Freya rubbed her forehead and thought about it. “What is the damage for all of that?” She asked it.

“Three thousand five hundred credits for the generator, mods and battery. Plus one hundred and fifty credits for the batteries for your armor suit for three thousand six hundred and fifty credits total. With the size and weight reduction, the generator will consume fifty percent of your backpack and only weigh two-hundred pounds. You can also unequip it and re-equip your cloudforge at any locker.” The android told her.

“I have another armor suit. Can this transfer to the other armor suit if I don’t use this armor anymore?” Freya asked it, hopefully.

“Of course, but it will require an additional mod which will only cost you between ten and fifty credits. The good news is that, if you get the fifty credit mod, then you can equip the generator with any suit you buy in the future.” It told her, with a smile.

Freya rubbed her forehead again then sighed. “Fine, I’ll get that one.” She told it.

“Since you’re losing your cloudforge, can I interest you in some alternatives?” It asked her.

Freya scowled at the android. “What kind and how much?” Freya asked, really starting to get annoyed at how much she was spending.

“We have several sensor grenades that will act just like your drones. We have the inexpensive, sticky grenade that will attach itself to a solid surface and give you a thirty feet radius, constant scan. It is very similar to your drone as it will interact with your mini map on your HUD. We also have the mobile version of the grenade. Also, have you considered modifying your HUD? We have several scout mods that you may purchase.” The Android sales person explained, as it brought up new things for Freya to look at. Freya groaned loudly but looked at what it had to offer.

Freya left the store after spending four thousand one hundred and seventy-eight credits. She was grumpy, but she had several drone replacement grenades inside a new storage belt that ran around her waist. She also had bought a mod for her HUD that would automatically mark each of her targets with their rank if they had any. It also had facial recognition software downloaded to it so that she could see if any of her targets were high rated in the Federation Threat Database. It would update anytime she came close to a Federation Military com outlet. She had only just qualified for the mod for her HUD as it was only for Second Scouts and above. That meant that Toast didn’t have the mod.

She went to the camp and stopped when she saw the new barracks. It was four stories tall and nearly twice as long as it had been. She walked in and saw that Sergeant Torres had a new office to the right of the entrance. She peaked in and saw that he had what looked like a living room before his office door. Shaking her head, she walked past the door only to stop and see that Sergeant Leni also had an office now. Her office looked just like Sergeant Torres’s office but smaller and there was no living room before her office.

Shaking her head again, Freya walked to her room, which was on the third floor now. She walked into her room and noticed it was a lot bigger now. She looked around and saw that she had almost twice the space she had before. She also noticed that she had a tub to take a bath in her bathroom. Smiling, she sat down at her desk and went through everything she had inside her backpack.

She had picked up a lot of stuff over the last few months. She had to toss out her trenching tool as it wouldn’t fit inside her backpack with the generator. She did create a second tab for her equipment locker so that she could go back to her original backpack when she was not using her generator. She had bought a replacement, short trenching tool that was hand size. It would take her forever to dig a foxhole, but without it she would have to dig one with her bare hands.

She could only fit her medium rope inside the backpack. She had to toss out the two other sized ropes that she had. She did have room for her sabotage kit so that went in. She also put her ammo rods and extra batteries in the backpack. She only had a half backpack now. Where she would normally have the top part of her backpack, the space was taken up with a metal box extension to her suit. It was fused to her suit so that she couldn’t take it off unless she unequipped the generator.

She finished off filling up her backpack with some odds and ends, as well as some nutrient drinks so that she wouldn’t starve. She removed the other grenades she still had in her backpack and placed them in her pouches with the rest of the new grenades. She still had some room in the pouches, but didn’t know what else to put in them so she left them empty.

She looked at the time. She had spent two hours at the shop and in her room fixing her backpack. She had missed dinner at the barracks, but she still had a lot of time if she wanted to go to Chivia’s. She knew she could get dinner at Chivia’s, so decided to take her first bath since she had joined the Marines. She spent nearly twenty minutes in the bath relaxing as she played some of the music she had bought months ago. It was really the first opportunity she had had the time to just listen to her playlist and relax.

After twenty minutes, she pulled herself out of the cooling water and equipped her working uniform, minus the stupid-looking helmet and backpack. When she was done, she found herself looking at her reflection in the mirror. Deciding to make herself pretty, she put on some makeup. She was about halfway done when she got a message from Toast asking if she was ready to go to Chivia’s. Smiling, she replied she needed a few more minutes and rushed to finish. She met Toast and Patterson at the bottom of the stairs. She looked around, but didn’t see Tike. She greeted the two and walked beside Toast as they left the barracks.

“So, does anyone else think that we’ve been had, with the whole new barracks thing?” Freya asked the two.

“Kinda.” Toast replied. “We did get bigger rooms and the spa room is awesome.”

“Yeah, the weight room is really cool. You can adjust the gravity to maximise your workout.” Patterson said, sounding excited.

“I’m still not sold that the weight room does anything beneficial.” Freya replied, frowning.

“I looked it up and Torres wasn’t lying.” Toast replied. “It does help with the initial change over from digital to real world, but all it really does is make the change over faster. It doesn’t really increase how strong a person is long term.”

“It feels good though.” Patterson told them, shrugging. “Plus it makes my muscles look good.” He said as he flexed his arm. Freya chuckled at the display while Toast shook his head in mock disappointment.

“So, I spent over four thousand credits on the new generator.” Freya said as the other two fell silent.

“What!” Toast said, as he stopped walking and looked at her. “I know I said to get the best option you could, but four thosand?”

“It has an hour boost time at a hundred and ten percent and a ten minute recharge cooldown. It also only weighs two-hundred pounds and it really only cost about thirty-seven hundred. I forgot I bought an upgrade to my Hud.” She told him.

“Whoa, an hour long, hundred and ten percent boost. That’s insane. What kind of HUD upgrade did you get?” He asked her curiously. She explained about the rank and facial recognition software she’d added.

“That will come in handy. A bit expensive, but very nice.” Toast replied when she was done explaining what she got.

They were still talking about upgrades to their HUDs when they finally reached Chivia’s. They had to wait outside to get in as it was packed. Ferya looked around and noticed that there were a lot of marines that were not in a named platoon standing in line. She couldn’t remember if she had ever seen a non-named platoon member at Chivia’s before. Not wanting to sound elitist she kept her mouth shut and just looked on.

Inside, Freya found that Chivia’s had put up some monitors on the walls showing some clips of the tournament. She looked at the monitors on the wall, but she didn’t see any of their platoon. Toast led them to the second floor. They were looking for a table when Mon call out to them. He had taken over one of the huge tables in the corner. He waved them over. Mon was sitting beside Dusty and a few others from the platoon.

“You owe me a drink!” he yelled drunkenly at Freya. “I won the ‘who can last the longest’ game.”

“So you did.” Freya replied, smiling. She ordered her squad and Mon a beer each after she sat down next to Netty. She also ordered a bunch of finger food for herself and the rest of the table.

Time seemed to pass quickly as Toast bought a round of drinks for platoon members at the table and then Mon did the same. They devoured the finger food and Netty bought the next round along with more food. Freya was feeling good when Tike walked up to the table.

“Magic, I need you.” She said, standing next to Freya’s chair.

“Why do you need me?” Freya asked, not really feeling like she wanted to go anywhere.

“I need someone else to play on my team. Come play tanks with me.” She begged.

“Fine, but you have to teach me how to play.” Freya said, standing up.

“Right on, and I will.” Tike said excitedly. She grabbed Freya’s arm and pulled her to the top floor where there was a red and blue door. Tike turned and smiled at her before opening the blue door.

Freya blinked as she found herself sitting on a large green field in a mini tank. She was sitting next to a bunch of other tanks that were all lined up in a row. Her head and part of her chest were sticking out of the mini, blue tank. She was sitting on a hard chair with a stick with a large red button on it. She moved the stick but she didn’t go anywhere.

“Hey Magic, you ready to kill some people?” Tike asked over a funky-sounding radio.

“Sure?” Freya said, uncertainty.

“The pedals by your feet turn the tank and make it go. If you push the right pedal it will turn left and the left one will turn right. If you push them both down at the same time you’ll go forward. The stick moves the tank’s cannon and the button shoots it. Go ahead and practice. We still have two minutes until the game starts.” Tike explained.

She looked down and saw that the tank had two foot pedals. She pushed the right one down and the tank started slowly turning to the left. She let up and tried the other one and found herself turning right. She then pushed both pedals down and her tank started to move forward. She smiled as she got the hang of driving the tank.

She moved the stick around and the tank’s cannon slowly moved in the direction she pointed it. It was really slow and, if she changed the direction of the cannon, it took a second or so to overcome its momentum before it started turning in the new direction. She pressed the red button and the tank’s cannon belched out a cloud of whitish-grey smoke and a green hill exploded.

“No aiming sights. I’ll just fire from the hip and hope for the best.” Freya thought, as she drove back to the line. She got into position and waited.

“Let’s keep this simple. We got a few noobs here so we’ll line up behind each other by the numbers.” Her team captain said over the radio.

Freya looked around for her number but didn’t see it until she leaned over on the outside and found the blue number 8 painted on the side of her tank. She scanned the other tanks and found that there were ten tanks on her side. She moved her tank into the correct place in line, then waited. The engine of the tank was really loud and she had a quick flashback to getting run over in the first tournament mission.

She listened in as her team started talking to each other. She was not the only one who didn’t know what they were doing. A couple of people were asking questions over the radio. The team captain answered some of the questions but ignored some of the more stupid questions that were asked. Freya learned that there would be at least three rounds but a maximum of five rounds. The game was the best out of five. First team to three wins won the game.

Ferya smiled when the game started and the other team appeared across the green field. She gunned her engine and followed the line of tanks on her team as they raced forward. Seconds later the trash-talking started. Freya laughed as the people on both sides started insulting each other. Someone got offended and complained that they would report the people who were making fun of him to the Monarch.

“Buddy, the Monarch doesn’t listen in while we play these games.” Came the reply. “Trash-talking is part of the game. Just don’t be toxic, like deliberately trying to aid the other team.”

Freya’s team captain called for them to break right at an forty-five degree angle at about twenty five yards in. “Fire if you have a shot.” He called out, as he broke from the formation.

Freya did as she was told and turned roughly forty-five degrees to the right. She waited until she was past the tanks in front of her before she pushed down the red button on the stick. Her cannon fired but the round landed about ten feet away from her. Feeling embarrassed she raised the barrel and fired again. This time she watched her round fly through the air and fly over the tank that she had aimed at. The red tank returned fire, but missed as it exploded about two feet to the side of her tank.

“Break. Break.” The Freya’s team captain called out on the staticky radio.

“There was a firefight!” Someone called out as the battle suddenly got chaotic. Freya bounced in her seat as someone rammed her. Smoke started billowing out from under her tank. She spun the cannon around and fired. She missed her shot, but the red tank that she had aimed at didn’t. Freya found herself in her blue tank sitting behind the field on her teams’ side with two other tanks. As she was looking on, another tank appeared beside her.

She listened as people started talking. They weren’t really trash-talking anymore. It sounded like they were just talking about some random stuff. It was mostly about stuff like how this person thought his sergeant was an idiot. It was mostly gripes about what people hated about the people around them. She was amazed at what they said. If the Monarch heard anything that they were saying, people would be getting fined left and right.

She was getting uncomfortable as the talk got really mean. She was glad when the first round ended with a loss to her team. The team captain had them split into two groups and head to the sides of the field. Freya did as he asked and opened fire when she got close. She got off four rounds this time but she wasn’t even close to scoring a hit. She took a direct hit and she found herself on the sidelines once more. She watched as the others played, noting how they were maneuvering around on the field. She picked up some patterns they were using that she wanted to try. They won that round so it was tied at one to one.

She pulled forward into a diamond position at the start of the next round. She was in the middle of the left, front side. The team captain had the newer people in the front protecting the better players in the back as they raced forward. Freya was kind of annoyed with the tactic, but she had to agree that it might win them the round. She fired at the oncoming red tanks and for the first time got a lucky break and hit her target.

“Great job, Magic!” Tike yelled out, as Freya dodged a round and fired a second time. This time her shell soared over her intended target.

“Wait. Magic, as in the Earther hacker Magic?” Someone said over the radio.

“Who?” Someone else asked. Freya moved her tank back into position and fired another round but missed once more.

“You know, the one who got kicked out of a company in the second Division for hacking missions. She had her daddy pull some strings to keep her in the Marines.” The voice said over the radio. Freya moved slightly and fired again. The tank in front of her dodged the shot as the two sides met in the middle of the field. Freya desperately tried to turn her tank to get at the tank that had been firing at her but lost the race. She found herself on the sidelines once more.

“So, is it her?” The voice asked.

“I thought that hacking a mission was a court martial offence.” Someone asked.

“Yeah, but you know how corrupt Earthers are. I bet that she traded ....” The voice said as Freya looked around for a way to turn off her radio but she couldn’t find any way to do it.

“I think so. I think she’s in 8.” Someone said.

“Next round she’s mine.” The voice said. “Got to teach the Earthers they can’t take over my Marines.”

“Damn right.” Someone else said, as the round ended with blue winning for a second time.

The next round started and Freya found herself the target of almost every tank on the red side. She frantically dodged the shots coming her way. The only thing that kept her alive was the fact that they were firing from the opposite side of the field. They weren’t even trying to dodge her team’s attack as they focused in on her.

“Die Earther!” Someone yelled and Freya found herself on the sidelines once more. The red side slowly lost, but they never stopped talking about her and telling each other lies about who and what she did. She was fuming when she got the notification that her team had won. Seconds later she was asked if she wanted to leave the field. She mentally hit the yes button and found herself standing just outside the two doors.

She got a few dirty looks and then she heard the voice of the guy who started all the lies about her. He was a thin guy with highlighter-yellow hair. She nearly exploded as she recognized the guy from Sergeant Gawain’s platoon. She started walking towards him, but Tike got in front of her.

“We’re not in the game anymore. The Monarch is listening, now. Keep it cool. We won.” She whispered to Freya. Freya squeezed her fists and took a deep breath. The guy gave her an evil smile and bumped into her as he walked past. Tike pushed her away before Freya could retaliate.

Feeling angry, Freya made her way back to the table where her friends were sitting. She sat down next to Netty and grabbed her drink. She was on her second drink when she noticed the looks she was getting as people passed their table. Freya finally lost her cool and she stood up.

“You okay, Magic?” Mon asked Freya while she glared at a woman who gave her an ugly look as she passed their table.

“I’m not feeling the vibe tonight, guys. Sorry.” She told the table as she drank the rest of her drink and stormed out of Chivia’s. She made her way to Camp Iron Hand unmolested. She took another shower to relax before she went to bed. She stayed awake stewing on what the guy from Sergeant Gawain’s squad had said in the game for a few hours before she fell asleep.