Celebrations within the barracks were in full swing, and despite a ban on alcoholic beverages, Jason's team were doing all they could to maximise enjoyment.

Just a few hours ago Jason managed to detonate the explosives to complete the almost impossible mission and confirm that his team were now officially members of the USM. He had lost his entire squad in the process and sacrificed himself, but he had achieved what very few had done before. Being 'killed' was not on the back of everyone's mind as they returned to celebrate.

There was laughter all around, especially when Pavylenko stood on his bed stark naked and started bouncing roughly in time with the music that was echoing throughout the room.

It was not a pretty sight.

Jason couldn't help but chuckle as Pavylenko had now become the centre of attention. It seemed like a distraction was wanted. They had been slaughtered on the test and now they were likely to be sent out onto the front lines against a ruthlessly efficient enemy in which neither side was gaining much headway.

A distraction was not just wanted, it was needed.

He looked over at the far corner. Westwood lay on his bed keeping well away from the celebrations. His team got brutally slaughtered in a full-frontal assault, but while tactically they were poor, as a fighting unit they were very efficient against far greater odds

While they celebrated and laughed at Pavylenko in all his glory, Westwood remained glum and irritated.

As Jason sat, watching the team revel in their success, he spotted Aurora carefully making her way toward him. As she pushed a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear she carefully positioned herself next to him.

"In all the years I've known you, you still never celebrate a successful outcome." Aurora observed.

"I wouldn't call watching a naked Pavylenko, celebrating." Laughed Jason.

Aurora shared his laughter. "Fair point, not exactly something I wanted to see." She paused "especially sober!"

There was an awkward silence, one that wasn't normally there between the two of them. "Is something on your mind Aurora?" Jason asked knowing her well enough that something was clearly bothering her.

Aurora looked down at her feet briefly before uncomfortably turning towards Jason, once again pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "We work well together don't you think?"

Jason smiled at the embarrassed shyness radiating from her. Aurora had always followed Jason's lead through the years they had known each other but around other people, she was a very strong-willed character. To see her like this was unusual, to say the least. "Yes very well."

She bit the bottom of her lip nervously and looked around the room trying to avoid eye contact with him. "Well we have known each other a long time and we work great as a team, have you ever thought..." she paused nervously trying to find the words to say. The party was getting louder around them but to her, it felt like they were the only two in the room, and that made the situation feel worse.

"Thought what?" Jason prompted. He wasn't exactly helping the situation, but then he knew that.

"Have you ever thought, well, like, uh, well, um, how to say this?" She stuttered.

Aurora took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Once again she opened them and looked directly at Jason. Just as she was to open her mouth, she was interrupted by a soldier running into the barracks and shouting. "Put on the news! Something major has happened!"

The soldier walked to a large transparent screen at the end of the room and as everyone started to congregate around him he started to play the news report that was so important to distract them from their party.

"The main headlines today, General Yulrian Scharn has been arrested and under investigation by the military tribunal for serious misconduct in the line of duty. While no information has been provided by the United Solar Military at this time, it is believed to be related to a number of failed operations over the past few months. At this time no one from the military wishes to comment."

Aurora looked towards Jason who was staring intensely at the screen. His jaw was clenched and she could see the veins tense on his head and neck. While the Scharn's had not communicated with each other since Jason had joined the military, Aurora knew that Jason had a massive amount of respect for his father and he would be devastated by the news. Placing her hand on his shoulder, Aurora could feel the tensed up muscle underneath his uniform, the turmoil in his mind was there to see.

Others looked towards him awaiting his reaction. It appeared that he had successfully subdued his rage until the inevitable happened.

"Looks like daddy won't be able to help you anymore." Westwood commented flippantly

Aurora frowned. "Leave it out Westwood, now is not the time."

"Corporal Westwood to you, and now is the perfect time. Everyone can now see he's a fraud like his father!"

Something erupted in Jason, a red mist descended on him with great ferocity. With unbelievable speed, he'd twisted around grabbed Westwood by the throat and pulled him off the floor before slamming him to the ground.

Completely stunned by the attack, Westwood was unable to defend himself from the pummelling he was getting from Jason. Despite his face getting quickly bloodied by the attack, Jason did not stop inflicting more damage.

It wasn't until a number of the soldiers in the barracks prized Jason from on top of Westwood that the brutal attack ended. As they dragged him back Jason roared at Westwood, his anger like an erupting volcano.

Aurora was taken aback by the response. Never before had she seen Jason react like this. He was always calm, considerate and thoughtful, and now he'd simply gone berserk. Westwood was annoying at the best of times, but never before had it caused Jason to completely lose his composure.

She had known Jason for so many years, yet while he and his father's relationship was strained, they both had immense respect for each other, and while neither would admit it, they both loved each other, as well as any father and son, could do so.

Looking down at Westwood who was struggling to gain focus in the room and with his nose and mouth covered in blood, she simply didn't know how to react. The news of his father's tattered reputation had gravely hurt Jason.

Jason had walked out of the barracks by this time still enraged. He stopped and looked down at his shaking hands, blood dripping down his knuckles.

"Jason."

He turned almost preparing for another fight until he saw the blonde hair of Aurora and the disappointed look in her eyes. "What was that!?"

He turned away and tried to rationalise his breathing. He was still very angry, but he couldn't react badly to his long term friend. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted."

Aurora immediately wanted to place a hand of comfort on his shoulder yet he brushed it away quicker than she could respond.

He sighed, still looking down at his bloodied hands. Without giving his friend any eye contact he simply turned away and walked briskly from her presence. "I'm sorry Aurora, I need time to think."

"Why do I find myself in a position where I have to reprimand both of my Corporal's. Both of you should be setting an example to the rest of the squad, instead you're in here like a couple of school children!" The Sergeant of the squad had been shouting at Jason and Westwood for a good 10 minutes continuously.

Both stood upright, their uniforms in pristine condition, neither moving a muscle. Westwood's face was like a red cauliflower, bruised so substantially that he found it impossible to see out of his left eye. He had been in the infirmary in preparation to remove the swelling from his face, but the Sergeant was determined to teach them both a lesson by bringing them to the Lieutenant's office for a reprimand.

The Lieutenant had allowed the Sergeant to give them a dressing down, a severe verbal reprimand, as he studied their response. Westwood looked a little ashamed, probably because he had never expected Jason to beat him so severely and so quickly. Jason was just distant, looking straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"You'll both be on cleaning duty for the rest of the week and docked two weeks pay." Shouted the Sergeant "Dismissed!"

With that, they proceeded to turn and headed to the exit of the office.

"Corporal Scharn, stay please." The Lieutenant eventually responded "Sergeant, please wait outside"

"Yes sir" the Sergeant saluted and followed Westwood outside.

The Lieutenant looked down at the various pieces of information displayed on his desk in front of him while the Sergeant made his way out of the room. As the door slid closed behind the Sergeant the Lieutenant stood up and walked over to the window where he looked at soldiers undergoing training and exercises.

He looked up as two short-ranged fighters flew overhead in formation. The streams of their vapour trails dissipated leaving in its wake the view of Callisto, one of the many satellites orbiting Jupiter. Despite looking at the beautiful views that Europa had to offer, the Lieutenant paid no attention to the many satellites of different sizes littering the sky, he was making sure his carefully selected words would hit home.

"First of all, I would like to say that I'm sorry about the news of your father." The Lieutenant sighed, still staring out of the window.

Jason did not respond but continued to look directly forward, now looking at medals of soldiers who had passed through the academy.

The Lieutenant frowned as he was hoping to stir some response. He turned and looked directly at Jason. "This is the military Corporal, we don't have the luxury of letting base emotions dictate our actions."

He walked around behind Jason and then walked towards the medals. "If you were anyone else I'd consider demoting you but you are by far the best soldier that I have ever had under my command."

Jason smiled slightly at the compliment.

The Lieutenant frowned again as he caught the smile turning around. "However if you do anything like this again, forget demotion, I'll make sure that you'll leave as disgraced as your father could be!"

Jason's smile quickly disappeared.

"What do you have to say about that?" The Lieutenant asked.

"Thank you sir." Jason replied knowing it was a rhetorical question.

The Lieutenant sat down and pressed a few buttons on the table making Jason stand around waiting for a response.

"Do not think your success at the test is something to be proud of." The Lieutenant eventually responded.

Jason wasn't sure how to respond. It was a success, he completed an almost impossible mission. "We achieved the objective sir. An objective that wasn't expected to be achieved."

The Lieutenant slammed the table. "God dammit man, at the cost of your entire squad!" He shouted.

This was unexpected. Jason thought he would be getting congratulations for the successful mission, but instead, it was another reprimand for what would be considered an efficiently executed mission. "But we achieved the objective sir."

Shaking his head the Lieutenant responded "This was a test in which at the end of the mission everyone walks away with lessons learnt. Tomorrow we'll be receiving orders to the front line. When someone is killed, they are gone, there is no 'until the next test' or 'damn I got points deducted', no, they are gone!"

Jason didn't respond. For once the words were sinking in. Until now everything had been a game and to a certain degree it had been about him proving himself to those around him, tomorrow was different. As soon as he stepped foot on the battlefield, it was about survival. Especially Aurora; he had to make sure that no harm would come to her. They had been through thick and thin together and survived through many scraps but this was war, not taking on some ragtag group of unorganised criminals in Europa.

"The objective may have been achieved," The Lieutenant continued "but this would have been the objectives any of the Crazy Tigers could have completed if this was real, not just you. Value life Jason, sometimes they are far more important than gaining a piece of land or destroying bricks and mortar."

For once Jason responded calmly and quietly "Yes sir."

"Dismissed Corporal, get everyone ready for exercise at 12 hundred hours"

Jason saluted and turned briskly, but as he quickly exited the room and the door slid behind him his thoughts were someplace else.

His father had been disgraced unexpectedly and he hadn't coped with the news. Something about it reeked of uncertainty. His father was a tactical genius and the reports of his incompetence appeared extremely unlike him.

Jason felt disgraced as he remembered Aurora had been close to unburdening her soul to him but instead she had seen another side to his character, a rage that he had to keep in check for her safety as well as his.

And then there was the unit.

Until this point, he was trying to be the best and be more successful than anyone else around him, something he had achieved with relative ease. Tomorrow they would be heading to the front lines. Being the best didn't matter then, survival did. It was now his responsibility to help the people around him, his brothers and sisters in arms.

For the first time in his life, he realised he was now responsible for a lot more than just himself.