Jack’s return to consciousness the next morning was unlike any morning he’d had in the past two years. For the first time in a very long time, he awoke slowly and happily. The previous night hadn’t ended after the shower, but instead went on for hours before he and Thea collapsed into a pile of exhausted arms and legs.

Not wanting this moment of bliss to end, he kept his eyes closed. He stayed like that for several minutes, simply savoring the feeling of holding the woman he loved as he listened to her breath. He knew that if he opened his eyes and got out of the bed, that was it. The real world would come crashing back in with a vengeance and the two of them would have to deal with whatever fallout came from their senate trial.

“You know we need to get going soon.” Thea mumbled into his chest.

“I do. You know that idea of running away sounds great right about now.” He replied, finally admitting to himself that he really was awake.

“I do. I also know that neither of us would break our oath, much less the trust of our friends.”

He groaned in mock annoyance as he pulled away from her and every so slowly got to his feet. In an almost zombie like state, he stumbled into the shower. A few second later, Thea joined him. Unlike the previous night, this shower was focused on getting clean and waking up.

“Do you think we have time for breakfast?” He asked, checking his HUD as he pulled his freshly laundered uniform from the auto-cleaner.

“Yes, but only if we get it on the way out. No more room service. I’m absolutely certain that your wallet couldn’t handle another round of that.”

“Touché, I think I saw a small restaurant when we were checking in.”

“Ooo, look at you pulling out the French on a girl.” she replied as she finished zipping up her uniform, “Well then my charming beau, allons-y.”

Downstairs, the restaurant was more than a simple dining nook with a buffet open for anyone and everyone to grab what they wanted. No, this hotel had gone several steps farther and constructed an area where each table was able to experience real privacy. Each nook was sectioned off so that the many patrons of the café could not see or hear one another.

As for the food itself, Jack had a hard time remembering if he had ever experienced another breakfast like it. What came to the table was a spread of quiche, croque madame, omelette, and a variety of pastries. Not to be outdone, the cappuccino that the waiter place in front of him was nearly divine in its perfection.

“Have you ever noticed,” Jack began, sitting back in his chair with his third “divine” drink, “That nearly all the food we’ve had away from Earth has been insanely good?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I was on Algol.”

“Obviously I don’t mean there. Hell, I’m pretty sure part of the training was learning to gag down the crap they fed us. What I mean is that everywhere that civilians may have made their mark, the food is absolutely outstanding.”

“Ah, I see what you mean. I’m guessing you’ve never looked it up then?”

“Looked what up?”

Thea sat back into her own chair with only her second cup of coffee and a pastry, “Most of the food we had back home was manufactured in one way or another. The level of genetic modification needed for the plants to produce enough food was so great that eventually, the taste itself faded. When we began to colonize new worlds, it was decided that genetic modification of food was possibly the worst thing done and was quickly banned.”

“How do you ban something the so drastically increases output? Hell, how do you keep up with demand?”

“We have entire colony planets that are nothing but farmland. Every inch of serviceable land is planted, grown, harvested, and rotated. Even the cities of these planets are only allowed to be built on the poles where they cannot mess with production.”

“What you’re saying it that it is better because it simply is?” Jack said with a raised eyebrow.

“Basically, yes.”

“I wonder how much defense these planets have. If they are simple farmers, there is a chance that they are not so well protected.”

“Probably, but why would you be concerned with a farm planet? You’re not hiding a love of agriculture, are you?”

“No, no,” he laughed, “But I am thinking about this creature we faced. If I were looking to wage war against mankind, I would attack the food sources first.”

“Good thing there is no war.”

“Who says there isn’t?” he asked.

“Well, for one we haven’t been deployed or moved over to wartime status. Secondly, if a true war that threatened the livelihood of humans, we would’ve heard about it by now.”

“Unless we were the one that discovered the threat. Think about it Thea, before that mission, nobody had ever seen one of these things before. Better yet, we don’t even have the equipment necessary to kill these things effectively. What happens if this really is part of a coming war? What happens if we only killed something like a scout?”

“Then we are truly and irrevocably, fucked.”

“That, my love, is the truest thing either of us has said during this meal. If it takes an Optic pushing themselves to the absolute limit just to kill one of these things, imagine what it would be like against an army.”

“Wouldn’t that make Albert essentially an army of one against these things?”

“Sure, but what happens when the attacks are coming from multiple locations at the same time? The seven are nearly gods, this is true, but they can still only be in one location at a time.”

“Looks like we need to focus on your training then.” She said, “I expect you to be able to hold multiple strands of that intensity at all times.”

“And if I reach my personal limit before that?”

“Then you may as well sign the death certificate of every member of our squad. Because if you are the only one who can create that weakness, then we have an even larger dependance on you and your powers than we did before. And that’s saying a lot.”

“Let’s hope that I don’t reach that limit any time soon then.”

“Good morning, Captain.” Senator Eliza Peters said from her place in the chamber once everyone was in attendance, “As you are aware, there was quite a bit of deliberation yesterday as to the efficacy of your soldiers’ claims.”

Not knowing if this was something she should reply to, or if it was simply for the benefit of those who may not have been in attendance yesterday, Captain Griffin simply stood quietly. If a question was asked, she would respond. Until then, it was simply her job to stand sentinel.

“While some of our number choose to downplay the claims of our fighting men and women, the truth is that none of us were in attendance. Claiming that we know what happened on that mission even in the face of video evidence is frankly foolish, and I hope that my opponents realize the error of their ways before it is too late.”

Jack looked around the room for the familiar, snarling face of Senator McDaniel to find that the man was conspicuously missing from the crowd. He’d read once that politicians would often find ways to disappear when things got tough, and frankly he wasn’t surprised that McDaniel was one of them.

“Senator, while I appreciate your willingness to recap all of yesterday for our audience, I do not see how this is a good use of our time?” Captain Griffin asked, interrupting the near constant stream of regurgitated information, “If, by some miracle, one of the senators that is here today does not know what is going on, they may ask me or my men personally. Otherwise, lets do away with the pomp and get to the actual discussion.”

It was clear by the nearly every senator’s reaction that they were not used to being talked to in such a fashion. Even the nearly unflappable Senator Peters just stood there, mouth agape at the perceived insult. Sure, it wasn’t quite necessary to recap every part of the previous discussion, but it was tradition. In this room, tradition tended to matter more than productivity.

“Captain, if you would like to wait outside for a bit, I will continue to update my colleagues.” The senator said, trying to reclaim a portion of her dignity.

“No need.” Unranked Officer Albert Mayer said, “The Captain is right in requesting that we do not need to recap. If it eases your tension senator, I have already verified that everyone in attendance today was here yesterday.”

“Well then… I guess we will move on.” Peters said, backing down once it was clear that she was fighting a pointless battle. “Do you have anything to add to yesterday’s deliberation, Captain?”

“Yes Ma’am. Senators of the UHR, heed this warning. We do not know who these people are, nor do we know why they are here. What we do know is that if they come against us in any real capacity, we will lose. Without more Optics in the field, there is no way for our teams to fight these creatures. Simply look at what happened to Spier Squad, they lost a soldier because this creature was immune to their weapons. Frankly, it took an act of true heroism to take it down and we cannot expect that act to be replicated each and every time we cross paths with one.”

“But you just said it yourself,” Senator Greene said, “You don’t know when you might cross paths with one of these creatures again. Why should I vote to have more resources devoted to something that it basically useless?”

“Miss Greene, if you would kindly shut up, I would greatly appreciate it.” A voice said from the Unranked Officers terrace, “The fact that this soldier felt the need to bring this interaction to the attention of not only the senate, but to the Unranked Corps should be evidence enough for what really happened.”

Stepping out of the shadows, the Steel Cast form of Benjamin Hargrave made his presence known. His reputation for ‘dealing with’ problem politicians was well known and as such quickly stopped any more outbursts.

It was the first time that Jack had seen the man in person. Sure, there were videos from his training that clearly showed what each of the seven were capable of, but the sheer air of power emanating from this man simply did not carry over. Being in the room with him though, that was something entirely different.

“Private Jack Monroe.” He said, coming to a stop beside his fellow Unranked Officer, “Yours is not the first interaction that I’ve had with one of these creatures. However, due to the enhanced frequency range that the seven of us enjoy, we were unaware of the immunity that you described to us yesterday. If it makes you feel any better, I can assure you that I am personally working on the development of a weapon core that will pull in a wider range of Light for people without the gift of the Optics.”

While the attention of someone that was arguably the most dangerous human alive should have terrified him, Jack wasn’t afraid. True, if the reports were true, the man could call a blade to his hand without the help of the tools needed by others of his Corps. However, Jack understood that if Hargrave wanted him dead, he would be dead.

“Officer Hargrave, you will not speak to me or any senator in such a manner!” Senator Greene screamed from her perch. “If you don’t sit down this instant I’ll…”

“You’ll what, Mary? Get irritated at me for ignoring the silly decorum that my comrades and I most assuredly did NOT imbue?” He said, turning to face her, “Or maybe you will try to have me thrown out? Even if we do not take into consideration the fact that no security guard in the senate’s employ could comply with such a request, I have done nothing wrong.”

“You’ve betrayed secret information!”

“I’ve simply acknowledged that he was not the first to cross paths with The People. It is your continuous childlike outbursts that further cement the knowledge that there is a larger issue that they were as of yet unaware.”

“We still don’t know if this soldier is telling the truth. As I’ve mentioned to the Captain here, there is no way for us to truly know what happened that day. Until I see one of these creatures with my own eyes, they are nothing but another lie from an untrustworthy soldier.” She spat, managing to turn the word soldier into a slur in the process.

“Well then, if that is all it would take for you to sit down and acknowledge your foolishness, we can have that rectified.” He said turning back to the your private, “Jack, would you mind opening your memories to Albert? It makes it much easier if the host is willingly thinking about the information he is seizing.”

Feeling as though this was a fight that he had no right being privy too, Jack nodded his head in acceptance. If the Unranked Officers and the Senators wanted to have it out over an experience like his own, then he did not want to be stuck in the middle. Unfortunately for him, fate didn’t much care what he wanted as much as it cared what was needed.

The familiar flash of violet that indicated the use of an Optic’s power was the only warning any of the Senators had before they were forcefully cast into Jack’s memory of the mission. They wouldn’t get the feeling, but that was ok. These were politicians, they wouldn’t understand the strange rush that came with battle.

The room remained linked for nearly ten minutes. Save for the other members or Spier squad, not one person was spared from witnessing the horror. At one point, Jack was sure that he could hear retching from more than a few of the dignified senators. Although he didn’t like it, the simple fact was that Hargrave was right: If they refused to believe his story, then why not force them to live it?

“As heavy handed as the approach was,” Albert said after dropping the link and ending the experience, “Unranked Officer Hargrave was right in forcing you to witness those things. Even though they are second hand, they are memories and as such are immune to any tampering that someone might be afraid of.”

“Those things… were real?” A senator was hears saying to her neighbor, who was coincidentally one of the ones still vomiting into a garbage can after watching the carnage.

“Yes, Senator, they were real. Hints the reason we have spent the past two days trying to convince you to get off your ass and mobilize every Optic. If they’ve been flying a desk, they need to be in the field. If they’ve been in the field, they need to expand their powers to be able to do what Monroe has done.” Albert said.

“But didn’t Officer Hargrave just state that he was working on a way to infuse the weapons with the needed frequency?” Senator Peters said, trying to regain control of the conversation, “Wouldn’t that be enough?”

“IF we can create it, and IF we manage to produce enough to outfit the entire Force, then yes, it would be enough. However, fate is not often that kind. We are actively working on it, but we may very well encounter an entire battalion of The People next week.” Hargrave replied, “You just watched a soldier being popped like a grape, Senator, if you don’t do what we are suggesting than many more will face the same fate. It wont stop us from doing what we can, but I speak for all of us when I say that we would all sleep better knowing that there were soldiers out there that can really make a difference.”

“You make a compelling case.” She replied. Addressing the other senators in the room, she turned, “My fellow Lawmakers, these people are asking us to give up our ability to quickly communicate with each other. At my count, the Senate currently holds over four hundred Optics that are used for personal errands. It is my belief that we can, easily, deal with the hardship of loosing what amounts to a secretary. Cast your votes.”

Conversation broke out across the chamber as more than four hundred senators from across the human worlds tried to decide if they were willing to make that sacrifice. Some answered quickly, not feeling the need to deliberate with their fellows on the decision. Others took their time, unable to decide something that seemed so simple. After nearly an hour of waiting, Senator Peters was finally able to give her answer.

“Though the margin was surprisingly close, the UHR Senate has chosen that all Optic’s, regardless of current station, will be moved into combat units effective immediately. We have also decided that in the event of full-scale war, we will purchase every weapon possible for destroying these creatures, even prototypes.”

“Good. There is another thing that needs to be discussed before ending this session.” Hargrave said, “Now that we have determined the status of this young man’s heroism, I feel the need to honor him personally. Private Monroe, please come forward.”

With the practiced motions of a trained soldier, Jack rose to his feet and stood at attention directly in front of the Unranked Officer. Outside, he was an absolute picture of military perfection. Inside however, he was nervous, excited, and if he were honest with himself just a touch fearful of what was to come.

“Private First Class Jack Monroe,” Hargrave said loud enough to grab the attention of everyone in the room, “The honor that I am choosing to bestow on you today is not one given lightly. In my thousand years of life, I’ve only seen fit to give this award to a thousand soldiers. While not the most prestigious honor a soldier can hold, it is one that I hope you will carry with pride.”

The Steel Cast man pulled a small jewelry box from inside his uniform and opened it to reveal a medal that Jack was unfamiliar with. A small hunk of bronze in the shape of an exploding star with a single blood red gem lay inside.

“I, Benjamin Hargrave of the Unranked Officers, hereby award you with the Bronze Nova. It is a poor replacement for a friend lost to battle, but when and if you see him again, you can look back at this day with pride.” Hargrave took the medal from the box and pressed it to Jacks uniform. Before the young man could thank him, the Officer grabbed his rank insignia and pulled it off.

“You are no longer fit to carry the rank of Private First Class.” He said, pausing long enough for dramatic effect, “Because of this award, you are being promoted straight to the rank of Sergeant with all the responsibility and duty that comes with it. Can you handle this duty?”

Surprised by the outcome but not willing to show it, Jack replied, “Yes Sir.”

“Good. As for your squad, they are each being promoted to the rank of specialist for their roles in the battle. We all witnessed what happened, and they deserve this honor just as much as you do.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Return to your post, Sergeant Monroe.”

With that, Jack walked back to his chair listening to the polite applause from the Senators in attendance. He was sure that some wouldn’t be happy with the turn of events, but he was thrilled. Not once would he have ever considered that this day would end in a promotion, in fact he believed that it had the very real chance to have him and his team thrown in prison.

It seemed that what the veteran soldiers said was true; you could never predict the actions of an Unranked Officer.