“I know your type, Emerson,” Major Keen set down a folder and looked me up and down, assessing my appearance as Rooker and I stood at parade rest before her.

“You get through the Q Course at Fort Liberty, get that nice little tab for your uniform. Then you think that you’re better than everyone else,” she said dismissively.

I stayed silent.

People have a lot of strange notions about special operations. One is that its personnel are all Army Special Forces. Another is that Army SF soldiers run on arrogance and physicality. Neither are completely true.

SF Soldiers have to learn to cooperate to survive. Sure, they are confident in their own abilities, but you can’t get through selection if you’re too headstrong to be part of a team. A team that often has other specialties depending on the operational needs of the mission.

Major Keen either didn’t know this or didn’t care. I was guessing it was the latter.

Keen turned around and paced to the window. And as she did, Rooker nudged me, “pay attention, machine gun Molly,” he mouthed.

I almost rolled my eyes at his attempt at humor, but caught myself just as Keen looked back our way. “So, you show up here, and on the first day, you decide the rules don’t apply to you. I guess I know what to expect from you. You think you’re hot shit, you think you’re indispensable. Well, you’re not!”

“Ma`am, I have known Beretta Barbi…eh Lt. Emerson a long time, while she can be a handful, it’s a good handful. There’s a lot to grab on, but worth it!” Rooker interjected, but the Major wasn’t having it.

“Staff Sergeant Rooker, you might think that veiled chauvinism was cute, but I don’t,” she said sternly.

“Right now, the citizens of Ur depend on us for food and order, but apart from that they hate us. We represent Vision Dynamics in their eyes, and they blame Vision Dynamics for what it did to them,” she turned and looked back outside.

“We have The Scavengers on one side. The Corruption on the other, and our own people with pitchforks at our backs! NOw I have you two floating the rules thinking you're all cute and getting people hurt,” Keen bellowed, but my eyes were already wandering around the Major’s Office while wondering what The Corruption was?

“No Ma`am. I’m not cute at all. Though I hope you don’t mind me saying that your face barely shows a mark from the incident. It’s healing very well, Ma’am,” Rooker said straightfaced.

Major Keen glared at him. The shredded synthetic tissue that covered the right side of her face had been re-knit, but the angry pink tissue would stand out for days to come.

“Our job here is to protect the interests of Vision dynamics. That means the Fog Farm, the Hydroponics and, more importantly the Vermillion mines, and miners. Like it or not, we have a caste system here and it is up to us to keep the have nots from bothering the essential workers. I can’t do that if I cannot depend on my security to follow the basic rules,” she retorted with something snarky. But my attention had already moved partially on.

I’d watched enough detective movies in my life to have learned that with simple observation you can learn a lot about someone. Like Eunjoo, who she was as a person and soldier, could be found around her in how she decorated, or didn’t decorate. Major Keen was no different.

Her wall was filled with reminders of her accomplishments and affiliations. She was a lot like Marv from back at the training center in Boise. Instead of stickers on his truck window, she had unit coins, and commemorative flags and swords on the wall from old units where she served.

One I recognized immediately.

“The Electric Strawberry,” I muttered just loud enough for her to hear me.

“What the hell did you just say, soldier?” She hissed, and her eyes narrowed like a cat who just spotted prey.

”Ma`am, my apologies. I just noticed you have the insignia for the 25th infantry division on the wall, specifically 1/5 light infantry battalion.”

“So, what about it, Lt. Emerson? Are you going to tell me you were in the unit?” Keen was turning her body more fully toward me, and I couldn’t tell if it was to face me, or if she was ready to pounce.

I didn’t dare claim to have been a part of that unit. That would have been a lie, and we both knew it. She had my military records in front of her on the desk.

“No Ma`am. At the Vet Center, Coronal St. George wore that Unit T-shirt all the time. It just caught my attention to see it here. Again, my apologies,”

For a few long moments she just stared at me, with her nostrils flared, and I swear if she were a cat, her tail would have been swishing.

A light knock came from the doorway, and the Major’s soft brown eyes slid left. Then a hint of a smile formed at the corners.

“Mr. Nyeson, it’s nice to see you. Is there something I can help you with?” She breathed a little too warmly.

Surprised, I turned my head expecting to see Jason Nyeson, the man who recruited me, but instead a much younger man that could have been chiseled from marble stood there with an arm on the door frame leaning slightly in. He had bright brown eyes and a perfect white smile. He reminded me of Marv from the Veteran’s center, though his skin was a shade lighter.

He was dressed in a blue blazer over a white shirt and a pinstriped blue and gold tie. I could tell by the cut, it was made for him. I guessed it cost ten or twelve grand. In his hand was a model of what I took for a Christmas tree at first.

Despite being conical, however the branches didn’t end in sharp points but bulbous chambers. For a moment I guessed it was a collection of old Jacks, the kid’s toy from the 50s, but then realized it was supposed to be something else, though I couldn’t figure it out. Whatever it was, he was clearly proud of it.

“Rhea, sorry to bother you. Am I intruding?” He asked, but stepped inside regardless of whatever answer she was about to give.

“I was just discussing the importance of discipline to a new officer. Mr. Nyeson, this is Kate Emerson, a new squad leader,” she motioned to me with a knife hand.

“Oh, no need for the formalities, Rhea,” Nyeson smiled,

“Kate, just call me Jack,” he said as he looked between us, but I could see his eyes land on my body between glances, and apparently so could the Major.

It was something I’d grown accustom to over the years. I was built large and that was something men were not used to seeing. But Nyeson’s eye’s were looking at the size of my deltoids.

Jack extended a hand to me, and when I snapped to attention and formally took his hand, he chuckled, then leaned over and kissed my knuckles.

“I have heard of you Miss Emerson. My father was right, you are as beautiful as you are dangerous.”

“Well, that was creepy.”

Abby said in my head, and I agreed, but his words confirmed my suspicions. Jack Nyeson was the son of Jason Nyeson.

“I have read your report about that Tunneler attacking you. I have to admit I have my doubts about the idea it just went rogue. Maybe we can talk about it later?”

“Yeah, sure,” I responded flatly. I knew he could pull the needed strings to compel me to brief him, but I knew better than to tick off the executive types.

Jack leaned back and offered me an assessing smile, then dropped my hand and turned back to the Major. “I brought you a gift, Major. It’s the current model of our facility. Its Quiet amazing really. Who would have thought that with than AI programmed to imitate a simple worker ant, we could accomplish so much?”

Major Keen accepted the over sized paperweight and beamed at him in a manner that wasn’t totally professional.

“Oh yes and Major Keen, before our working dinner tonight, I understand you will lead the After Action Review, and I was hoping I could join you? The executive representatives are eager to know what transpired,” he said.

Major Keen’s countenance lifted again as she replied. “Of course you can be my guest, but it is more than an AAR. The Colonel has a Frago for this lot, something to do with their current mission,” she said

“Major, are you sure we should talk about these things in the open?” Rooker asked, but Nyeson waved him off.

“I personally find these things dull and tedious. The security specialists know what they are doing, and they will present a report. But, like my father says, ‘communication is the key success.’ and here all information flows up to me,” he said as his eyes fell like stone on Rooker’s passive countenance.

“And besides,” Jack interjected with a more amused tone, “it gives me the chance to enjoy the company of beautiful women,“ he stated by first addressing the Major, then ending his statement looking directly at me.

Beside me, Rooker coughed to cover his sarcastic guffaw.

“Is something funny Staff Sergeant Rooker?” Jack asked and level a hard gaze at Rooker. Rooker kept his eyes forward, even if the smirk stayed on his lips.

“No, Sir! I was just surprised that such a powerful and impressive man, such as yourself, could consider someone so much larger and stronger than you, as attractive. Then I realized you are just being kind, Sir,” he said with typical Rooker level professional discretion.

“I assure you I wasn’t being kind.” Jack replied heatedly. But it was just the response Rooker was looking for.

“You meant to taunt her, Sir? Not that I disagree with you, she deserves to have someone put her in her place, but we normally do that in the barracks, with a pillow filled with-”

“Rooker!” Major Keen nearly shouted. Then took a long breath before saying, “We don’t really have any more time for this behavior. The Colonel wants to be briefed on actions tonight, and I have to lead it. But I’m keeping my eye on you,” Major Keen said and pointed to her prosthetic eye, then at the two of us with her fingers extended in a V shape.

“Dismissed,” she ordered.

Rooker and I both did a sharp about face, then filed out of the office with both Keen and Jack glaring at our backs.