Several weeks passed, and life on the [SHIP NAME] was beginning to return to what was once normal. Nessa had been given her neural implant, and had since spent a worrying amount of time in the gym practicing her art.

Not that Jack was surprised to see her doing that. No, the real surprise here was that the woman had begun to carve out a small chunk of time every day to spend in some form of relaxation. In fact, she’d even begun to request the entire squad attend meals together like they had back when they were on Algol.

He wasn’t complaining, it was nice to see her break out of her shell for once. But, if he were being honest with himself, it was just a tad unnerving to see a person make such a violent shift in their daily patterns.

“Hey Thea,” he said one morning as he returned to their shared cabin. It cost more to maintain a couple’s room, but being able to live with his girlfriend was worth every penny, “Have you noticed something odd with Nessa lately?”

“You mean other than the fact that she spends every possible moment training and pushing herself to recover something she thinks she’s lost?” She asked with her usual level of sarcasm.

“Yeah, that one.” Jack answered with a laugh, “How’s she doing with everything? Does the leg hurt her?”

“Well,” She called from the bathroom as she got ready for the day, “She’s doing like crap. She thinks she needs to be so much more than a soldier, she thinks it is her personal job to be our front line every time we’re out. As for the leg, the truth is that it doesn’t hurt her at all, I’ve looked into her body several times and have found nothing that would cause this phantom pain.”

“Well, there is a syndrome named after it.” He replied as he pulled his uniform jacket on.

“True, but everything she’s experiencing is in her own mind. None of it is real, that’s why we are going out for dinner tonight with her and this new person she’s apparently been flirting around with.”

“And I’m being told now?”

“I’m sorry, did you have plans to sit in our room and replay our missions again and again in your mind?”

“I did. I have to be a better leader, she got hurt because of me.”

“Stars! Why won’t you just shut the hell up about that already? That’s the crap that makes this whole thing harder for both of you. You couldn’t save her; you were already fighting. She couldn’t save herself and you two, so she chose you two. End of story.” Thea said angrily, throwing her boot at him.

“But we only have another two weeks before being pulled back into the rotation.” He replied seriously, catching the article, and tossing it back.

“And we already have our assignment. Which honestly will be one of the most relaxed assignments we can have.”

“We still have to be on guard. A six months of guard duty still means that we need to be guards.”

“Jack, think about it.” She said, stepping close and wrapping her arms around him, “For the first time in a very long time, we will be planet side. Not to mention the fact that our squad is going to be stationed in a jungle observatory. We will take turns at the equipment, and if we see something then we worry. Until then, lets just enjoy the time we have to be the family we are.”

“You’re right.” He whispered as he pulled her in for a deep kiss, “We might even get to find a place to sleep under the stars for a night or two.”

“There you go.” She smiled, playfully biting her lip before pulling away, “But the two of us should really get down to that training room. The rest of the squad will be there. It’s been a while since we could spar against one another.”

“True, and I might even have a shot against Nessa in her condition.”

“Not a chance.”

“Again” Nessa growled as she picked herself back off the floor of the training room.

Around her, dressed in full armor and holding various weaponry, stood the members of Spier squad. While none of them were exactly in the best of shape, they were all better off than Nessa who stood in the center dripping blood and blackened with bruises.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jack bellowed as he and Thea walked in.

“She wanted to train against multiple opponents from multiple angles.” Alec said with a shrug, “It’s not as bad as it looks. She is totally kicking our collective asses.”

“Then why was she on the floor?” He said, anger still very present in his voice.

“Because Dave got lucky with a shield bash and was able to put me on the ground.” Nessa said as she spat blood on the floor. “Now, again.”

As soon as the word was out of her mouth, a shield of blue formed in front of Dave. The partial dome deflecting the glowing red knife that stuck it a split second later. From behind, two threads of monofilament wire snaked towards the Breaker with alarming speed, only to fall lifelessly to the deck after a glaive pulled from nothingness severed them.

Jack watched in fascination as his friend defied the odds by pushing back multiple trained soldiers with what appeared to be ease. The way she dodged, blocked, and retaliated was a thing of pure beauty. If he’d ever thought that the stories from her childhood were exaggerated, he was a believer now.

A high-pitched beeping sound brought his focus back to Candice as a training grenade slammed into, and magnetized with, her chest. She panicked for a moment until, with a resigned sigh, she walked over to the edge of the room to drink water.

Back on the field, the knife that was laying on the ground suddenly shot back toward Nessa. Throwing his sight into hers, Jack saw that she’d attached her grappling line to the hilt of the weapon and was now using it as a sort of improvised shoge.

Strangely, Cecile was not in her normal role of sniper. Instead she was holding a short sword and a pistol – a combination that was similar enough to Nessa’s that Jack began to think they were on the same team. That thought was shattered a moment later when the shoge whipped through the air and wrapped itself firmly around the woman.

As Cecile wrestled with the grappling line that was holding her, she noticed the small flashing disc that was attached to the hilt of the weapon. After a brief flash of crimson, she began to walk slowly to the corner of the room where Candice waited.

“Why in the hell does she think she’s off her game” Thea asked as she watched the mock carnage unfold.

“Because she is.” Jack replied, “If you watch her movements, she is favoring one side heavily. Not once in the entire fight has she put all of her weight on her prosthetic.”

Turning to look at Jack, it didn’t take much for the young Phantom to see the violent glow of his violet eyes. The strange cracks in those familiar irises telling her that he was viewing the battle from at least four angles.

Spinning around, Nessa flicked out her arms and another pair of daggers flew for Alec. It was a smart move for her, if Jack was being honest. Until now, she’d used the bodies of her enemies to block the Dragoon’s line of sight. Now that half of her attackers were gone, so to was the convenient protection they brought with them.

Knowing that Dave had his back, Alec didn’t even flinch as the weapons slammed into a translucent barrier that had come to life a mere heartbeat before they landed. Stowing the familiar gatling cannon, twin modules rose from the back of his hand as small plated of armor rearranged themselves to protect the new weapon.

Nessa sprinted in, oblivious to the new weapon she was facing.

As she pulled her arm back for a strike, Alec jumped backward, raised his arms, and let loose a torrent of condensed light that would’ve melted and true enemy. Luckily, Nessa was wearing standard issue training gear and would not be needing emergency healing.

It was then that Jack, and the others, saw it.

Blinded by the outpouring of Light, Nessa mis stepped, placing more weight on the new leg than she was comfortable with and buckling under the pressure. Jack watched as the leg appeared to give out on the young woman and she fell to the ground. In a heartbeat, Dave had formed a dome around her that she couldn’t get through no matter how hard she tried.

It took nearly an hour, but eventually she calmed gown and stopped asking for yet another round of training. By the time she accepted her defeat and joined the rest of the squad, Jack had moved on from talking about the fight and was explaining their new assignment.

“So yeah, it looks like we will have anywhere between six month’s and a year stationed on this planet. It’s been a long time since we were planet side for any length of time, but I think it will be good for us.”

“Their just sending Spier squad?” Nessa asked after taking a long pull from here water.

“No. All of Charlie company is going to be at the garrison. We will basically be guards, but we will be able to spend time in the colony when we are off duty.”

“Sounds like we’re being shoved into the corner.” Dave remarked with a raised eyebrow.

“Sounds like it, but it’s not. It will give us all time to get a little better and closer as a company, not just a squad.” Jack said, meeting their eyes one by one, “The official assignment is only six months, but you and I both know what that means. Plan for the long haul, and honestly… lets try to have some fun while we’re there.”

“When do we leave for this mysterious and forgotten planet?” Warren asked.

“Two weeks. If you have things that need to be done here, I suggest getting them completed sooner rather than later. Don’t worry about your cabins or any cloths that are not uniforms. We will be required to be in some version of the uniform at all times.”

“Guys, there is one thing we need to make sure we start before leaving.” Dave began sheepishly, “You know that special program I told you about? Well, it looks like we will have more than enough time to learn how to use it properly.”

Not knowing what Dave was talking about, Jack filed the information away for a later date. “Looks like we all have things to do then. Before we start all this crap though, whose hungry?”