Marie came back to Thunderbolt an hour after Aziz offered some suggestions, but it was more than enough time for the most talented soldiers the Republic had to offer to not look like headless flies anymore. Her return had drawn the eyes of everyone present, but to their credit, none of them had broken discipline or ranks.

Aziz nodded to himself, flying forward to greet Marie.

“Ma’am, welcome home.”

“I’m back…although why are you the one saying these words to me?” Marie asked, a smile on her face. “I expected the company commanders to be rolling out a welcome carpet, but I see they’ve learnt to control themselves well.”

“No, they just don’t want to look bad in front of you,” Aziz replied. “Anyway, you’ve taken a good look at Stardust. What do you think of them?”

“They’re quite good now, a great improvement from that ragtag mess we saw last time.” Marie tapped her nose. “They could have substituted us, back in the Republic’s war against the Southern Assembly, and the outcome would have been the same.”

“The same conclusion as the captains, then.” Aziz cracked a huge grin. “I love competition. And I know that Titania and Oberon will drink with us while we watch both sides try to one-up each other. Maybe bring some snacks too. It’s just that these captains aren’t aware of their personalities.”

Marie grinned back. “Let us keep this a secret. You’ll be pleased to hear that these two colonels also hold the same post as you now.”

“Felix remains as the battalion commander, then.” Aziz licked his lips. “A good thing, I guess. There’s a restraining bolt on those old coots…if he has the guts to stand up to them.”

“He does, fortunately. When I visited, he was arguing with the two of them. Apparently, your previous trainers were going to have a fifteen-hour high speed flight and then an impromptu ambush by Septim’s Vultures above a lake.” Marie grimaced.

“Fifteen hours?” Aziz shook his head. “And that’s a rather familiar name, isn’t it?”

“Right. It’s the best infantry unit the Republic has, the one you got the fledging Thunderbolt to spar with,” Marie added on.

“I’m beginning to see a pattern here,” Aziz said.

“And an increase in my workload, unfortunately,” Marie added. “The State Council intends to expand the number of aerial forces. I am about to live up to my actual post; a new battalion is in the making. And most annoyingly, I am to decide its name for some absurd reason.”

“Let’s call it…” Aziz looked around the place, where hundreds of men and women were now flying somewhat straight, while outputting fire that would have torn apart any other army.

“Avalanche.”

“Rockfall.”

The two looked at each other, and then laughed together. For Aziz, ‘Rockfall’ was a representation of the volume of fire Thunderbolt was showing off right now, but Marie’s suggestion was that, and even more refined.

“We’ll go with your suggestion,” he said. “Avalanche…it’s a good name. And I think everyone’s going to curse me to death if I continue talking to you, so can you please address Thunderbolt in the next break?”

Marie raised a fist. “I’m going to beat you up if you keep doing this.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be alone.” He gestured at the steadily-increasing rate of fire. “Can’t you see that that everyone’s trying to end this exercise by overusing their equipment? They’re also exhausting themselves by using multiple artefacts at once, while maintaining high-speed erratic movements. They’re trying to show the company commanders that it’s a good time to end the exercise around—”

A shrill whistle rent the air, and Thunderbolt ground to a halt. Unlike the previous times, however, none of the soldiers even thought to land on the ground and plop over in sheer fatigue. Like troops in a parade, all of them posed majestically, their equipment glinting in the setting sun.

Aziz gestured silently, instead of rubbing his correct prediction on Marie’s face. Either way, it still had the desired effect, and within moments, Marie had fluttered over to the training ground proper.

“Good job, everyone.” Marie’s voice, though normal, spread through the silent training grounds with absurd ease. “I think this is a good place to end this exercise at, but I’ll leave it to the company commanders to decide.”

Three long whistles later, the soldiers of Thunderbolt began to descend. Aziz grinned as he caught up to Marie, watching silently as the tired men and women fought to maintain a steady descent from the skies. The lengths that these people would go to, in order to maintain their image…the colonel shook his head. Marie wouldn’t have minded if they fell from the skies in a dead faint, but none of them was going to give in to their fatigue at this stage.

“Such lovable fools,” Aziz muttered.

“Thunderbolt,” Marie spoke as the last of the troops landed, “I commend you on a job well done. Not just in the training exercise just now, but in your conduct in aiding the Eastern Territories. I’ve never had my chance to give you my praise, so please forgive me for these late thanks.”

She cleared her throat. “I’ve spoken to the State Council. As a reward for those well done, Thunderbolt will be given two months of paid leave, and—”

An uproar drowned out her words.

“Two months of paid leave is going to kill us!”

“We don’t need that; we need better equipment!”

“Yeah! Stardust is cheating!”

Aziz glanced at Hans, who had shouted that last sentence, and then drew a line across his throat. The company commander blanched, and then withdrew into the crowd, but that didn’t stop the protests going on.

“Normally,” Aziz whispered to Marie, “people would whoop at the prospect of days off, especially paid ones. But you better think quickly, because your soldiers are weird.”

“Our soldiers,” Marie corrected in a whisper. Shaking her head, she looked at the protesting bunch. “I see you have some issues with this. Silence. Hans, Cecilia, Augustus and Schnee — hear my orders. Gather up the reasons for their discontent, and I expect to hear logical reasons. Am I clear?”

But you already know them! Aziz complained in his head. At any rate, however, her words had the desired effect, and Thunderbolt fell silent. She stalked off a moment later, leaving a stunned battalion behind.