Sevs had a choice. The perk came with two options. He would need to specialize in what kind of leadership he skill would have an easier time managing. The options were small groups or large groups.

It felt like the dividing line was about 25 people, even if it was a bit more gradual. It also wasn't a hard line. The skill would help in both scenarios, but its effectiveness would vary.

This made Sevs think about his decision. The standard path of progression would be to choose the large group perk, as then, in some distant future, he would be leading the armies of man against the enemy in a glorious crusade to claim the galaxy.

Pretty much every story he had read or heard and gone that way. But did that really interest Sevs? He considered his team. The relationship he had developed with them, they each had their own skills, but they didn't scale the same ways he would. Truthfully it didn't really interest him. It was hard enough for him to work with a small group of people that he knew very well. Sure, maybe he could work up to a large number of people, but it just wasn't his thing.

His instinct was telling him to go with the smaller group, but that would lock him in. Sevs considered for a bit longer before choosing. He didn't want to have to be left behind during the battles to come, and leading a small group just seemed more satisfying. Perhaps Dan's insights about learning more about himself were something he should run with.

***

Sevs and everyone around him watched the feeds as they came out of light speed. Normally this wasn't something they made visible to everyone, but with all the excitement, they had made an exception. The planet was an underwhelming sight. It was a gray rock with a small line of blue that ran around the equator. There were no huge green forests or yellow sand deserts.

It was just gray. Well, they hadn't been expecting a paradise. The system never made things easy. The planet had no moon and was the closest to a red dwarf star. This would cause so many issues compared to the cradle of the earth. The spectrum of light the star gave off was far from optimal for photosynthesis. Some plants could survive but none were that of the normal human diet.

Anything they wanted to grow would have to be kept under artificial lightning. The air was breathable for a day or two before toxins started to build up and would need to be purged. That would make tending livestock much more hands-on. There would be so many hurdles to overcome.

Sevs was mostly just happy that he wouldn't have to deal with any of those issues. If he was a civilian, he would have to worry about increasing food prices even if he wasn't involved in food production. But as a military member, everything was included.

The other good news was that a lot of the military would soon exit. Apparently, not everyone wanted to do more of what they had been. Some players wanted to try the new meta the system had introduced. This wasn't completely good news as that left the military light on troops when they might need the most. However, it was an opportunity cost. The military needed more troops but not as much more as the civilian side did.

The system provided, though. As they were on the trip over, new members had tripled and were still rising. Previously the new members roughly matched the replacement rate to keep a constant population. They were apparently in for a labor boom as the system was providing new players to fill up the new world.

Still, it would take a long time to train the new recruits. Sevs might be biased, but he doubted they would ever reach the same quality since they didn't go through the fires of the Wandering as many had taken to call it. There were already a lot of jokes going around about how they should name the fleet Eve. Someone was drafting an abbreviated history to carve into stone tablets when they landed to then hide all over the world.

Knowing the system, Sevs was sure that it would wait a long time and then make some sort of quest from uncovering the history of the world. It would be pretty fun for those future players but more fun for all of them as they did their best to make it as cryptic and annoying as possible.

Despite its sarcastic beginning, the Wandering had taken on the name of the previous era. A real chronicle was being recorded and prepared, at least what wasn't too sensitive and all they had in their memory banks. Apparently, not everything survived any conflicts, and data could only be transferred from one broken ship to the replacements before it started to degrade.

***

Sevs and his team were doing the first shift off-world. As everyone else landed, they were stuck in orbit on one of the larger ships that couldn't land for temporary housing. Their fleet wasn't truly enough to defend an entire system even at full strength. This was doubly true as more than half were grounded while shelters were hastily erected to shelter the growing population.

Once the planetary respawner was set up, the crews still in space would be cycled down to link up to it. This had actually sparked a lot of debate that Sevs only was privy to because of his junior officer status. Should combat troops be linked to the planet or their ships. No one really wanted to get lost just because their ship was destroyed. Of course, without its crew respawning on the ship, there was a much higher chance of losing a ship, and they couldn't afford that. A ship was more valuable than a player's life.

They reached a complicated compromise. Any non-combat personnel would be bound to the planet. That way, they wouldn't lose captains or engineers. However, when out of the system, marines and fighter pilots would be bound to the ship. It was riskier, but it was also their job to die so that starships didn't.

Sevs was reasonably stratified with the compromise. Not having the safety net was a double-edged sword. There was a risk, yes, but that was something he could live with. Everyone else would need to make their own choice. The upside was quite obvious, as the only reason they were here was because of his team respawning on the same ship.

One of the perks of being an officer was not having to stand in front of doors all day some days. Sevs was a bit surprised that he spent more time walking through the halls than he had even on patrols. He was checking over so many things constantly, and with his responsibilities scattered all over the ship, it meant a lot of travel time.

Part of his job was to be seen, though, so it wasn't too big of a deal. This was his first time responding to a call to the recruitment desk. All this time, training hadn't stopped. It seemed a recruit decided to stick around long enough to talk to an officer. Apparently, their sales pitch had gotten a lot better now that they had a planet up from about 50% to almost 80%. Once people started spawning on the planet, Sevs figured it would only get higher.

He had to admit settling a planet and protecting it from space invasions did sound a lot better than being constantly hunted through space.

The same man was on duty who had welcomed him here. He greeted the older man. "Afternoon."

Receiving a salute in response, Sevs turned to the newcomer that Alex had started to introduce. "Sir, This is Sevana."

The girl looked a little on the younger side, maybe 11, but that didn't really matter here. "Welcome, Sevana. I am sure that Sargent Alex has filled you in a bit. Follow me, and I can get you set up, and you can ask me questions as we go."

"Okay," Sevana said, and he led the way out of the room. Once the door closed after them, Sevana had her first question. "You are a lot younger than ALex but you are an officer. How long have you been here?"

"Three years so far. As to the sergeant. There are a lot of different paths you can take here. Not everyone needs to be an officer. Most of the other jobs are more valuable in a way." Sevs tried to explain on the way to the armory.

"Hmmm, Then why do -" Sevs's response was cut short by a ship-wide alarm. Sevs checked his comms. Some unknown ships had appeared in the system and were only 20 minutes out. He cursed. They weren't supposed to have company for years. They weren't completely flat-footed but still were under strength. Responding to the call for battle stations, he looked at the small, untrained, unarmored girl next to him. This was not something he was trained on. What should he do with her?