David had a good thinking the night before as he lay in his bed awake. Hindsight's 20/20 they say. He could have been more charitable. Marry would have loved that. And when the army left, he felt the soldiers would have probably wanted to stay.

But what of afterward. Without those blueprints and licenses, the future was a lot more uncertain. Technology would then be forever lost. The backbone of human advancement will stall and recess. Power armor will then become glorified trophies. His weapons are mere status symbols. And when they are needed most, they will be all but gone.

He could have been more aggressive and direct as well. But he can see the end to that path. Death, destruction, and in the end an implosion of everything he and generations have built.

History does not suffer {Tyranny} or {Dictatorships} for long. And the core of the order David first pictured would be fractured. To degrade generation after generation.

The few other paths he could imagine, he also saw the splintering possibilities for them as well. Some of them are good and some of them are not. They each had their upsides and downsides.

Then David started reflecting on the choices he made. Some of them he understood. A part of him, a fanboy of space marines, of underequipped and underprepared men and women who were put in positions against the odds and prevailed. He had to admit he was nervous as hell, but he was loving every minute of it.

No, the Dreadnaught part of him was not the problem. Before the change, David would have maybe made plans with other races to start their own colony. He could even believe himself in trying to buy the blueprints and licensing from the NG.

But his trick with the {grunt starter kits} was meant to get gear to those that needed it. It boiled down to one act from one loudmouth. That one act caused the NG officers to buy the gear for the soldiers instead of the soldiers buying them themselves as he intended. And accelerated his designs for the blueprints and licensing.

Of course, he had to admit he had made many, MANY, mistakes afterward. But hers was the first domino. What came after is him reacting, so be it poorly, to his carefully made plans falling down. With a heart-crushing sigh. He knew what he had to do if they survived this mess.

No, David did not sleep the night before. It was well past midnight when he wandered into the workshop to find Lounoni writing notes down with one hand and typing with another. John was sleeping on the cot almost as if tucked in.

“ Care to suit me up?”

The dragonkin almost seemed to jump out of her skin hearing him but smiled as she gestured to an open spot.

The hour it took to get him into the exosuit and then the armor that goes over top of it went by David in silence. Only the power tools needed and the dragonkin whispering to herself were the only interruptions that he zoned out of.

As soon as he was suited he had her attach his minigun feed to his back. He considered removing it permanently, but he discovered he can not feed ammo from {Supply Depo} without it attached. And he had no doubt that it would be needed this day. Then he walked out of the shop and stood on the wall. Turned the suit on power save mode for the fight to come.

Then he once again began to think. He thought of the update in general. It was so... fantasy-like. And David had never been a big fan of JRPGs. Final Fantasy was something you played waiting on the next shooter or hack ‘n’ slash to come out, he believed. Skills, abilities, and all that other stuff he did not care for that much.

Oh, he got the point of them. But sometimes there is a pleasure of seeing a dozen red barrels blow up a room full of enemies that appealed to him over a min/max warlock winning a duel will never have. Sometimes you just want to have a guy and his gun against a whole bunch of bad guys.

And as he dreamed he dreamed of staring at the stars. Whatever, or whoever, started the update fucked up badly. Because all the games and movies he had watched had taught him anything. Fear the space marine. Fear the badass on a mission. And from the words of the guide, ‘ You make life out how you see it. Just watch out for the other guy who might disagree.’ Well, David could think of another quote. ‘Fuck ‘em.’

David awoke to his notice receiving a feed from a two-way conversation between his dragonkin guests and their Matriarch. He could do nothing else but sigh as he realized there was yet another conversation he would have to have if they managed to live through this. As his suit started going off of standby he then heard activity behind him.

“ Whatever it is, it’s not my problem. I am just a lone space marine about to get trigger happy.”