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  “A snowman?” Andy repeated, barking a laugh. “I doubt you ever built snowmen on the Arkana home world.”

  “We don’t have snow on the Arkana home world,” he said with a wry, sidelong smile.

  She shook her head. “That sounds depressing,” she said. Pushing off the wall, she started walking back toward the guest quarters on Eclipse. “Earth’s weather is regulated by atmospheric systems, of course, but it still snows in the winter. Some of my best memories from the foster home were when it snowed.”

  Anath smiled and walked with her. “Did you build snowmen?”

  “I did!” she laughed, feeling one of the first genuine smiles she’d had in…a long time. She thought back to those winters, and the other kids in the group foster home where she’d spent the most time in her life before the Marines. “There was this one girl there. She was a year younger than I was, but a little spitfire of a creature—”

  “A what?” Anath interrupted. “I don’t recognize that phrase. Spitfire?”

  Andy paused and thought about how to explain it. “She was really feisty, took no crap from anyone, tough little thing, like that?”

  He nodded.

  She continued, “Her name was Marta. She ended up going to the group home at an older age, so she remembered growing up in one of the hot places. She loved the snow. We made snowmen armies. Like, dwarf snowmen armies.” She saw her brother’s uncertain look. “How do you not know what a dwarf is? The snowmen were short and burly-looking. No beards, though.”

  They both laughed for a moment before Anath asked, “What happened to Marta?”

  “She was adopted the year before I left for the Marines,” Andy replied ruefully. “I hope she’s doing well.”

  He put his hand on his shoulder. “And I hope I get to build snowmen with you someday.”

  8

  Lieutenant Colonel Dolan and her squad were the last to board the Planet Breaker.

  She oversaw the departure of every platoon in her company to make sure that they all reached the massive warship before, finally, she and the five members of her squad made their way to the small transport and shipped over.

  Her squad was uncharacteristically silent on the transport over. Maybe it was because they weren’t alone, since other squads were with them, or maybe it was just the gravity of the situation. It was something that seemed to wrap around them all like a cloak made out of every heavy metal known to man, and a few that weren’t known to man…

  The transport ship gave a single shudder as it locked on with the docking port of the Planet Breaker.

  Once they had all disembarked onto the massive warship, Andy nodded to all of the Marines with her. “Find your quarters and settle in for as long as you can. I’ve got to talk with the platoon commanders.”

  “Have fun, sir,” Dan said with a wry smile, though she couldn’t help but notice the lack of his usual humor-glint in his eyes.

  The others nodded respectfully and went on their ways. Despite the size of the ship, she knew that quarters would still be somewhat cramped, because they had crammed as many people and as much stuff as they could onto this ship. As a company commander, she didn’t have orders to double up, but had offered to share a room with her brother to help save on some space.

  Without a word, Anath took her duffel bag from her shoulder and carried it off to their room, while she turned and headed toward the briefing room.

  An uncharacteristic bout of nerves slammed head-first into Andy’s stomach. She paused in the hall for a moment, making sure no one else was around, and breathed deep and slow against a sudden rise of nausea.

  Was she ready for this? Was she good enough for this? She was a Marine without a ship…at least, until now. She had spent more days than she cared to count in a liquor haze, trying to forget about it all, but now she was expected to lead a full company of ESS Marines into a battle to end a war?

  She let herself have her moment, and then she shook it off. She didn’t have time for this. The ESS—hell, humanity—didn’t have time for this. These were her orders.

  This was her mission.

  This was her fight.

  “This can’t feel good for you,” Roxanna said as the members of the squad that weren’t Andy walked down the corridors toward their new temporary quarters. When Anath looked at her curiously, she smiled knowingly. “You know what I mean.”

  With a sigh, he shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t known that something like this was coming, Roxanna,” he said. “It’s harder to know this is what it’s come to because of my father, and I wonder if I could have done something to stop him sooner.”

  She shook her head. “You’re one man against one man with an army, a planet, behind him.”

  “That doesn’t stop me from wondering.”

  “What are you doing on this ship?!”

  Anath stopped and closed his eyes. There really was only one person that the angry voice could be speaking to. It had, in fact, been a while since he’d had to deal with this… Everyone else had gotten used to him.

  “Shut up!”

  This didn’t come from Anath. He turned to see Dan squaring off against the other man—infantry if Anath had to guess.

  “Dan,” the Arkana dissenter said, stepping forward. “Don’t get in trouble over me.” His voice was low but serious.

  “Why are you walking around with one of the enemy?” the unknown soldier demanded, gesturing at Anath. “What is he even doing running loose on this ship?”

  “He’s not part of them anymore. He’s been helping us,” Jade said, stepping up beside Dan. “We’re only on this ship at all, going where we’re going, because of him!”

  Anath opened his mouth to tell her what he’d told Dan, but he felt an oddly cold hand on his arm. Turning his head, he saw Anallin. The blue-skinned Hanaran just shook its head, once. The meaning was clear.

  “One of us,” Anallin said. “We don’t leave a man behind.”

  Meanwhile… “This Arkana put his life on the line for us dozens of times now,” Dan insisted. “Step off before you say anything else ignorant, soldier.”

  The man looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but seeing five against one… Well, he turned and walked away.

  “Thanks, guys,” Anath said with a weak smile. “Let’s just hope none of them mistakenly shoot me while we’re on my home world…” Or not so mistakenly.

  Twenty-four captains and majors streamed into the briefing room, which looked something like a miniature stadium or a lecture hall. Andy leaned against the wall with her arms folded across her chest, no signs now of her doubts as she watched them walk in with her dark eyes. She met their glances, trying to read the expressions. Some were easy, and she knew they were newer to command. Some were guarded, while others…

  They looked dead inside. She knew those were the war veterans.

  Once everyone was seated, she pushed off the wall and came to stand in front of them. No one said anything, of course, but there was the instinctive sense that she would have to prove herself to them. She was young for her rank and position, and she knew it. She also knew that most of the ESS had heard about her parentage by now, and that many of them doubted her.

  “My name is Andrea Dolan. You can call me Colonel Dolan, colonel, sir, or your lord and master for the length of this engagement, and possibly beyond,” she deadpanned.

  She wasn’t going to try to placate them. That wasn’t how this game worked. It wasn’t how you earned the respect of a group of Marines. You didn’t explain or apologize or try to convince.

  You didn’t show weakness.

  “We have until this ship reaches the Arkana home world to make sure that we work as a finely-honed unit,” she continued. “You are all coming off different posts, working with different Marines and different commanders. In almost any other situation, you might have more time to adapt to this. You don’t. So, this is going to be quick and dirty, but I expect every platoon to be in top form by the time our boots hit the ground.
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br />   “You’ve all seen the rolls and know what this war is doing to us. Well, people, we are part of the force that is going to put an end to this crap. OORAH!”

  “Oorah!” the room echoed.

  She pursed her lips and arched one dark brow, surveying them all with a severe look. “What kind of pansy call was that? Are you Marines or ground-pounders? I said OORAH.”

  “OORAH!”

  “Better,” she said with the faintest of nods. In truth, her ears hurt after that second one, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to tell them that. She had no idea if they would manage to win this fight, and she knew they didn’t either, but her confidence was important for their sakes.

  So no matter how not confident she was, she would make them feel it.

  She took in a slow breath and let it out, taking in a long survey of all the faces before her, trying not to wonder how many of them she wouldn’t see again after they reached the home of the Arkana…

  “Alright, let’s get down to business.” She cracked her knuckles.

  9

  This was the biggest ship Roxanna had ever been on.

  She had been on planets, of course, and in cities and on stations, but there was something different about the psychic energy on a spaceship. That energy shifted depending on the size of the ship, how many people were on it, and how cramped those people were.

  The more people in closer space, the harder it was to handle.

  Her quarters weren’t much of a respite either, since she had a roommate—although as roommates went, Jade was fairly unobtrusive—but also because almost everyone else was in their quarters, concentrating the psychic energy in that area.

  While she gave her senses time to adapt, she sought out the ‘quietest’ area that she could, which turned out to be the massive flight deck.

  To accommodate all of the fighter jets—and the equipment required to service, arm, and launch them—it was big and had high ceilings and a wide-open space. Further, most of the pilots were in their quarters, so it was quiet. Once she walked a little further inside, the door swishing shut quietly behind her, she felt able to take a proper deep breath.

  Roxanna then sought out a spot where she could sit and relax without being spotted if someone came in. She saw what seemed like the ideal cover at the far corner of the bay and headed that way.

  She was so focused on shutting out empathic noise that she entirely missed the fact that someone was already there.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise when she saw another purple body sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall.

  The Selerid’s face turned up to look at her with a tired smile. “You had to get away too.” He said this by way of a statement rather than a question, since he could certainly already tell that was why she was there.

  She smiled. “Can I sit with you?”

  “Of course,” he said easily, sliding a little further down the wall to make room for her, which she took up.

  They introduced themselves in their native tongue first, reveling in the feeling of meeting someone else who could pronounce it.

  “Professionally, I’m Roxanna. Sergeant in the ESS Marines.”

  “I’m Lieutenant Garrett. I’m an aerospace pilot, squadron commander.”

  Roxanna smiled again, enjoying the feeling of just being next to someone that was like herself. There weren’t many of their people in the ESS, since it was military and the empathic race was usually not the best at fighting. Well, they did it fine, but it was very trying for them and their senses, so they tended to avoid it. But there were some, like Roxanna and Garrett, who chose to fight because they believed they could serve. Some would enter and go into the non-combat departments, like medical.

  Like Dr. Martin…who had died on the Star Chaser.

  Garrett tilted his head and frowned slightly. He opened his mouth, clearly about to ask about her sudden shift in mood, but then he closed it again and his curiosity cleared into sympathy. “Sergeant Roxanna of the Thirty-Third,” he said knowingly. “I’m sorry about the Star Chaser.”

  “Thank you,” she said. She didn’t bother forcing a smile, like she would have if she was talking to a human or another race. He would see right through it, and she found comfort in that. “So, I haven’t met many pilots face-to-face. They usually don’t let us with our boots in the dirt meet those of you with your noses in the air.” Her purple eyes flashed with humor.

  “Sarcasm, Sergeant?” he returned with a similar light. “You have been around humans a long time.”

  Roxanna shrugged and smiled. “I have, but I like them. I enjoy that sarcasm.”

  They sat for a time, sometimes in silence, at other moments talking amiably.

  “Do you miss home?” Garrett asked suddenly. She knew he’d feel her reaction the moment she felt it, so she didn’t answer right away. He nodded. “I do too. I can’t tell if I miss it enough to go back.”

  “I’ve had the same thought,” she said. “I don’t really linger on it for long, though. I guess I’ll worry about it once I see if I live through all this, you know?” She smiled ruefully at him. “I mean, we might not survive to worry about whether we should go home or not.”

  “That’s pretty dark,” Garrett said dryly. “But can’t say I haven’t had similar thoughts myself. I’m sure everyone has. No one can get through a war without having such thoughts, and worse yet, a war that we’re losing.” He sensed her surprise. “I know the higher-ups haven’t wanted to tell the general masses, but it’s pretty obvious.”

  She sighed, leaning her purple-haired head back against the wall and staring at the high, vaulted ceiling of the flight deck. She enjoyed the sight and the feeling of that much empty space above her. “Yeah, I suppose it is.” It was hard for her to know what people on the “outside” saw, since she was an ear for Andy’s voice on almost all matters. Roxanna learned more than most because of that.

  Roxanna turned her attention back to him when Garrett nudged her side. “Even so,” he continued, “I still like to think positively. You know it’s a philosophy of the Selerid, and it’s good to hold onto those things. I like to think about what I’ll do when this war is over. I think about whether I will choose to remain enlisted in the aerospace corps, or maybe return home and take up a career as a transport or freighter pilot.”

  “My family is full of counselors,” she admitted with a fond smile. “I’m not sure how well I’ll do in the family business after all these years as a Marine. ‘Stop whining! Haul it together! You’ve got stuff to do!’” She emulated her Marine Psychologist Style, and then she shook her head and laughed. “No, I don’t see that happening… I know there’s other stuff I could do at home. Maybe join the security force. Or maybe buy a farm and be a—” Only Garrett would understand that word. “—farmer.”

  “That’s a picture,” he said, also laughing. “But hey, you gotta think optimistically.”

  “Yeah,” she said thoughtfully. “I guess you do.”

  10

  That evening, it was time for the ‘serious business’ planning meeting.

  Andy sat in the briefing room along with the battalion commander, the company commanders, captains of the ships and the fleet, air group and wing commanders, as well as the infantry commanders.

  And Anath.

  “Our forward fleet departed at fifteen hundred hours today,” Admiral N’dar announced from her seat at the head of the table. She was the commander of the Planet Breaker fleet, and Andy thought she looked as hard and stoic as any Marine leader. “This ship and its own fleet will depart at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow. That’s how long we have to review all of the information we have, before we review it a few more times while we’re on our way.”

  There was a muted almost-laugh from the assembled.

  “This is why we have asked Mr. Anath to join us,” she said, waving at the lone patch of snow white in the middle of the myriad colors that was the ESS. “There is a bit of Marine business before we launch into his talk, though.�
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  Andy frowned before she could stop herself and go back to her stoic expression, though her brother clearly didn’t bother to hide his own look of concern.

  The general, the battalion commander, spoke up now. “This man was born of the enemy, but he has been fighting on our side for almost the entirety of this war. He’s saved the lives of Marines and put his own life on the line repeatedly. Before now, he’s just been…well, Nr. Anath. Before we launch into this final offensive, we have chosen to honor him with a field promotion to master sergeant under the direction of Colonel Dolan.”

  Said colonel’s dark brows rose, but she allowed herself to smile at him.

  Anath looked shocked, but then laughed in an almost embarrassed way. “Guess this means I really do have to listen to her now,” he said, before bowing his head at the general with a quiet, “Thank you, sir.”

  There was no applause, but at least there were no angry faces. Andy checked, worried that some of the other commanders might doubt the granting of any proper rank to one born of the enemy.

  “Now, Master Sergeant, if you would begin the briefing…” Admiral N’dar said.

  Anath nodded once and then got to his feet, moving around to the front of the table.

  He looks nervous, Andy thought. She could hardly blame him. His voice didn’t show it as he began to speak, though.

  “The Arkana home world doesn’t even have a name. Its location is programmed into the computers of its vessels, but even the crew doesn’t know where it is. That’s the planet’s first line of defense. Until now, it’s been a good one. Now we have been able to pull the information from the captured vessel. It would be a fallacy, however, to believe that was the planet’s only line of defense.”

  He looked around somberly. “The goal of this offensive is to reach the leader of the Arkana people. Their king, if you will, although he does not call himself that.” Everyone knew that this “king” was father to Anath and Andy, but no one said it. He went on, “He has built an empire upon himself, including this war. If we remove him, the rest of the forces will be easy to stop. He remains secluded in the safety of his palace. It’s been fortified to keep him protected, at the expense of many of his people.”