The next week seemed to go by a lot quicker than the first. Our first week I'm convinced was less to get us fit and more to weed out those who were not. I'm convinced of this because the second week was a lot easier by comparison. We did mostly team building exercises and through them I got to learn more about the people within my Squad. The courses we ran through was field navigation, a team obstacle course, and some first aid training.

When it eventually came down to rec time my squad, and others within the platoon, largely talked and got to know others within their squad. Everyone had more or less stopped playing on their tablets or talking to their folks back at home. I was sitting in my bunk listening to the others within my squad talk to each other.

"What is living on a colony like?" Powell asked.

Powell was from this planet called Fortune. Fortune had earned that name largely from the fact that it was the center of commerce and commercial trade within the UCA. The planet had actually developed so rapidly as a result of this that it became the first "Ecumenopolis" or city world known to man. Powell himself talked with a decently thick Fortunian accent. Which sounds a lot like accents from "New York" that I've seen in really old media dating back to or set in Earth.

"It is nice and quiet" Andrej explained. "Everyone for the most part helps each other. When resources stretch thin or when some of the other settlers cant make ends meet we chip in and try to help them." Andrej said.

Powell let out a whistle. "Damn you probably wouldn't like Fortune then." Powell said. "Five minutes on that planet and anything in your pockets is gone." He said.

"There's like what? A couple hundred billion people that live on Fortune?" Andrej asked.

"Pretty much yea."

"How does that not become unbearable?"

"You get used to it, besides it's not all that loud even with all those people." He said. "But it does for sure get you crazy. why do you think I'm here? I just wanted to be off of Fortune as long as I could until I go back there." He explained.

"You should see what being raised on a Military station is like." Espiga said.

Espiga was of Hispanic descent. As a result of this and his upbringing on a Military Station, his skin was a strange mix of pale and tan at the same time. On those stations the bulbs do emit UV and even essential vitamins that you would get from sun exposure. But they weren't bright enough to actually do things like tan your skin so if you wanted that it either came naturally or you got a tan in a tanning bed.

"It's just this constant flow of people in and out pretty much all day all night long. Plus without knowing what time of day it is exactly it is also hard to tell when sun down is supposed to be." He said. "So I pretty much go to sleep anytime I hit a bed." he said shrugging.

"So that's why you're out like a baby anytime it's rest time." Valois said. Everyone including Espiga laughed.

Valois spoke with a French accent. According to her French was actually her first language. According to her though she actually did not come from French ancestry, but rather Quebecois ancestry. She as a result was bilingual and spoke both English and French pretty much interchangeably. According to her though she still spoke French with a noticeable accent.

"I swear I was so angry at this man when it was lights out time. Because I would be staring at the wall waiting to sleep and I would turn around and see this man with droll coming down his face." She said.

"Why the hard time sleeping?" Narangerel asked.

"Insomnia." She explained. "When I was growing up as a kid." She explained. "My parents were traders on those star vessels. So I was pretty much on a starship my whole life. When I got old enough though I got sick of it and joined up."

"There must have been some cool parts about that life though." I asked.

"It was nice seeing new places I guess." She said. "But outside of that it sucks because your pretty much cooped up in a ship all the time." She said.

"Good thing you didn't join the Astry, or the Espatiers." Poole said.

Most of the other people in the squad were about 18, myself included. Poole was the exception he was 25 from what he had told us. Poole was actually not new to soldiery as a whole and had actually served in different branches. Notably he served in the Espatiers which was the Space Based Infantry element of the UCA military. As a result of his military career he was the most fit out of all of us and probably the best soldier.

"When I was with the Espatiers we would be on long deployments on the Astry starships. Going from planet to planet, largely just doing anti-piracy stuff and raiding guerilla space station holdouts." He explained. "Eventually I got tired of that and decided I'd leave the military."

"So why did you come back." Andrej asked.

Poole shrugged. "I guess I'm just not cut out for civilian life anymore." he said.

"So why the Army?" Espiga asked.

"I wanted to try something new that was not sitting in space for hours on end hoping for something to happen." He explained. "It worked out too because of those Commonwealth bastards." He said with venom.

The rest of the grunts in the squad like me basically all looked at each other with the same thought. Valois spoke up first.

"You know what it's like out there." She said. "What's actually going on? Are we winning, losing, or what? Because the instructors will not tell us anything." she said.

Poole rubbed his chin for a bit. I could tell he was chewing over his words.

"I wasn't told not to say anything so I guess I can let you in on what I know." He said. He waved us in to huddle together so that he could speak in a whispering tone.

"I've still got friends in the Espatiers and the Astry. Now they aren't saying much because they aren't allow to, but from what I know of them it's not looking good." He said.

Our squad gave each other sideways glances.

"They're fighting tooth and nail for Bounty but from what I've heard and know they're on their last legs. There's apparently rumors to pull out." He explained. He pulled back after telling us this information. "That's all I've heard anywho."

"What do you think?" Ganesh said. "Are these really rumors or are they true in your opinion. I mean, you have served and know what it's like after all."

"Listen, if there's one thing I've learned from serving is that truth is the first casualty of war. So it's likely that we'll keep hearing a number of stories as to what is exactly going on out there." He explained. "As to if I personally believe in the rumors myself." he said rubbing his chin again.

"It's hard to say honestly." He said. "Although the people I served with wouldn't tell me anything false so it's more likely these rumors are true." He explained.

Everyone was silent for a bit. We were all processing the information that we heard.

"But hey" Poole said. "Here's hoping that it's not just another LZ Golf."