“Lieutenant Singh, report.” Captain Griffin commanded from her podium in the center of the briefing room.

“Yes Ma’am.” The leader for first platoon replied as she stood, casting several images to the holographic projectors in the room. “Overall, First platoon’s mission was a success. Unfortunately, the estimate that the enemy had a ‘higher than normal’ number of soldiers was an incredible understatement. Striker squad was able to silence nearly forty Raak’Shee before they turned tail and ran. However, as is evident from the obvious lack of soldiers from my platoon, there were three that were injured badly enough to need emergency surgery. Those soldiers are currently with the Phantoms and should be back in action within a few months.”

As she spoke the images changed. Each began with a soldiers photo, and ended with a complete visual of the injuries sustained on this mission. The first two were hurt, but nothing more than a few broken bones. Unfortunately, the last had nearly been ground to dust and as such was undergoing full reconstruction surgery overseen by the brigades highest ranked Phantom.

“Loss of equipment was higher than necessary, which we all know is a brigade sticking point, but I personally call it an overall success.” The officer returned to her chair as she finished, simultaneously wiping the gruesome images from the projector as she did.

“Agreed. Would anyone from First like to provide a statement on what could’ve gone better?” The Captain asked, her personal tradition was to allow members of each platoon to give feedback after a mission. While the platoon lieutenant was good for an overview, only someone who had physically been on this mission could answer a question like that.

“Hey Cap,” Staff Sergeant Sanchez stood, “What could’ve gone better is if three people didn’t get hurt, but that goes without saying. In fact, I spent precious seconds while fighting back their attackers sending them mail explaining that I need soldiers that are on their feet. That said, you and I both know the Raak are tough bastards and don’t really go down from rifle rounds. Sure, if our squad had like nine breakers we could’ve knocked them flat, but we have three? I think? I don’t know, Smith don’t really talk much about himself.”

“Man, I’ve been with you for ten years and you don’t know I’m a Breaker?” A voice shouted.

“I mean, Cap, sometimes it’s like he just doesn’t even try to help us.” He continued, his amused smile reflected in the face of the Captain as well. “Anyway, long story short we need heavy armor for fights like that, not to mention more blades. The things take too many shots to take down the slow way.”

The captain acknowledged his argument with a nod before turning to second platoon as a sign to begin their report.

“Capitan,” Lieutenant Amor said, his heavy Spaniard accent all the more obvious in the quiet room, “Second platoon, more specifically Nebula squad, was successful today. While I tend to agree with Singh that the number of targets was higher than expected, my men pulled through. Nothing follows.”

“Any injuries?”

“None that require your intervention ma’am. Our disabled men should be back in action by the end of the work day.”

“Alright. Rose, do you have anything to add?”

The Sergeant sitting directly behind Amor stood and took his place in front of his platoon, “Yes ma’am, I want to congratulate Spier squad, and I want to do it in a public manner. They were able to pull off their mission with little to no issues. Compared to my own squad way back when, that is a hell of a feat.”

“As for what could’ve gone better, we are a pretty heavily defensive squad as is. With three Aegis’s providing overlapping protection, our Breakers and Dragoons were able to clear our mission pretty easily.”

Finished with his speech, Sergeant First Class Rose gave Jack a quick nod of appreciation before returning to his chair.

“Valentine, you’re up.” Captain Griffin addressed the third platoon leader.

“Yes Ma’am.” She said, rising to her feet and addressing the room in her hurried, quick speech. “Blackrock Squad was successful in our mission, but we have four casualties. One of those will unfortunately not be recovering to quickly as he is being fitted with a Automaton body right now.”

“He is joining the Steel Cast?”

“No Ma’am, he retained enough of his body for the Automaton to provide Life support. As you know, it generally takes a month or so for those bodies to be fully operational, so we will be working without a Possessor in the event of a mission.”

The officer stopped speaking but did not sit down.

“Come on Mamiko, are you done or is there more to report?”

“Ma’am, the thing that did so much damage was one of the black creatures that were mentioned in the last briefing. The only reason they survived at all was because one of the men attacked it with a broken rod instead of Light. They got away, but the damage was extreme. For the sake of everyone, I am sending the photo’s only to you.”

“Stars…” The captain said softly after looking over the damage.

“Yes Ma’am. That’s exactly what I thought. We need a way to fight these things, especially since fourth has the only Optic in our company… provided we don’t talk about the First Sergeant.”

“Overall, we were able to regain control of the automated security systems on the planet. Even though we can’t hurt some of them, Light weaponry will do perfectly fine against the Raak’Shee.” Not waiting for a reply, the representative of Third platoon took her seat.

“Scott, anything to add?”

“No Ma’am, as always the LT gave you about as much report as I would be able to.”

“Understood. Hawkins,” She said, turning her attention to the final platoon, “Report.”

“Yes Ma’am. Overall, Turaspeir squad did well. They were able to break into the building, kill any enemy soldiers they found with relative stealth, and complete the mission. However, I will say that they found a prisoner along the way that seems a bit, off kilter. Other than that, they recovered four cases of Serum that can be transported back to the secondary location until it can be moved to Algol.”

“Anything else?” She asked after Hawkins sat.

“Ma’am,” Jack said, “We ran into more than just one of those creatures. In fact, I’m pretty sure that all together we met two of them. One on the slope that started chasing Neilson and Alexander, and the one we killed down in the control room.”

“How did you kill it?”

“The same way as last time.” He replied , trying desperately not to sound like a smartass.

“I get that, but please describe it.” She said patiently.

“Well Ma’am, I kinda… force my Light into it, I guess. It’s hard to explain, but completing a circuit appears to be the answer.”

“Which we cant do without more Optics.” She said with a sigh, “Anything else?”

“Private Walker lost a leg to the creature, I’m not sure how long it will be until she is back in fighting shape.” He replied before eventually returning to his chair.

“Alright then. Well overall it looks like Charlie Company…”

“Excuse me,” A voice sounded, cutting the Captain off, “I’m sorry Ma’am, but this will only take a second.”

The captain turned and looked at the interruption with part irritation, and part curiosity. “Go ahead.”

“Yes Ma’am. While we were in the vault, we ran across some interesting toys.” Dave said from near the back of the Fourth platoon formation, “One of those was an experiment that was cancelled when nobody would let the researcher use them as a lab rat.”

“And?” She said, loosing interest in the man fast.

“And, I would like to volunteer for these experiments. Ma’am, the object in question was a module that could give me a boost of power for a short time. As the squad’s only Aegis, I feel it would be incredibly prudent to be given a shot at getting stronger.”

“Absolutely not. Not even if the researcher was Hargrave himself.”

“The initials were FB.” He replied, “The noted even implied that he knew how to adjust this module without harming the host. Please Ma’am, it’s my fault I lost a guy on our last mission. I need to be able to protect my team next time we’re in the field.”

“Which you can do with practice.” She said, not giving ground.

“I think, if the young man would like to be a test subject, we should let him.” Said a tall man that stood out of the formation.

“O-officer Barc.” She backpaddled, mimicking every person that has ever been caught by their boss with their hand in the jar. “What a surprise. Usually, it is announced when one of you is on board.”

“I’m aware, but I had Toby remove that protocol for me centuries ago.” He said, stepping forward with a laugh. “Now, back to the matter at hand. If the young man wants to experiment with amplification, then let him. The worst draw back here is that he is out for a few days. Hell, with Theresa on board, you may not even need that.”

“West, do you understand what you’re asking?” She asked slowly, partly hoping the soldier wouldn’t take the offer, and partly that he did.

“No, but I know that I need to do my job better.” He said, nodding his head like he was wearing a cowboy had.

“Very well.” She said, “All platoons have answered the after action report, you are free to go.”

“How’s the leg?” Warren asked lightly as soon as he stepped into the hospital room.

“Down some bastards gullet, but the new one isn’t so bad.” Nessa answered. She would never let her guard down this much around other soldiers, not even the members of Turaspeir, but Warren was a special case.

“Yeah, it’s a real bitch when that happens. You know, it’s almost as bad as getting your dick stuck in a toaster.”

“You would know.” She laughed, propping herself up to get a proper look at the newly attached limb. “I asked them to give it my skin tone… I didn’t want to look like Roberts.”

“I get it. Just because you are not all human doesn’t mean you want others to see. Is it fully integrated?”

Warren walked up to the side of the bed and began to poke the replacement body part. The life-like limb was made of a special metal polymer that moved and flexed like a real leg but would only be connected to the body via a Li-Tech interface.

“Only to my HUD at the moment. The Doctor said that they will implant the actual interface some time this week. Until then, I can’t take my HUD off or the leg wont function.”

Lifting her leg to get a closer look, Nessa gingerly touched the place where flesh met technology. “They also say that I will get sensation back once the integration is complete, but I’m not so sure. Will it be the same as my real body? Will I ever be able to just unplug if I am part machine?” She stretched out the limb and pointed her foot. “Will I be able to fight like I used too?”

“I don’t know Ness. Sure, they say that the implant will grant everything you lost, but who knows how true that is. The only person that could answer that truthfully is Hargrave, and he probably doesn’t even remember his old body.” Warren spoke quietly as he laid down next to his friend, “What I can tell you is that no matter what, I’m going to be right there with you until you are back to your old self. Even if that means being your practice dummy for days on end.”

“Thank you.” She said, taking comfort in his presence for that moment, “Right now though, I need a beer and something dead. I don’t care what kind of beer, and I don’t much care what kind of something dead as long as it is prepared right.”

“Well then, I guess I will just have to help you get to dinner tonight. You sure the Phantoms wont beat me with a stick?”

“That would make you happy though, so why would they do that?”

“I didn’t say beat me off. Though, a few of the guys around here look like they could fill the job rather nicely, I said beat me.”

“And you’re telling me that both wouldn’t make you quite happy?” Nessa laughed as she levered her way into a sitting position. “Now, let’s get going. The Phantom that did the procedure said there is no real recovery time since he sealed everything off, though I may need to use you as a crutch.”

“Now who’s threatening a good time?” He said, hopping off the bed and grabbing her boots.

“That makes literally no sense you dolt.”

After she’d put on her boots, a process that was not easy with no sensation in one leg, she wrapped an arm around Warren’s shoulder and hobbled her way out of the room. They would have been home free, but a single orderly caught them mere feet from the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The orderly shouted, stepping in front of the pair, “Private, I know you are not trying to leave my sick bay? You just had a leg re-attached and are a long way from recovery.”

“Really?” She laughed derisively, “Because I see two things wrong with your statement. First, the leg was not ‘re-attached,’ a new one was put on, nothing ‘re’ about that. Second, the person who did the ‘re-attaching’ told me himself that there was no real recovery time. So unless you want me to call Captain Griffin and tell her that some hospital jockey wont let me go eat a celebratory meal when every other member of my company has been released, I suggest you get out of my way.”

“What about the integration chip? You still haven’t had that done.” He tried, swinging desperately to keep her in the ward.

“What about it? They can’t install it without me, and since this HUD is the only way to work the leg, I’m certain I won’t miss the message. I’m going eat.” She and Warren pushed their way to the door as the orderly made one final push.

“What happens if you can’t work the thing?” He asked.

“That’s why I have a squad. They are by my side both on the field, and off.” She smiled, “I’ll be back in time for the procedure, don’t fret over me too much.”