Anywhere
Tamar March
Federated Commonwealth
4 March, 3050


     Fiona pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail, her hair still damp with moisture from the cockpit. She took a breath, readied herself, and walked through the door of what had once been some kind of office or meeting room at the abandoned quarry that was serving as an ad hoc rally point for whatever resistance forces remained on the surface of Anywhere.

     A host of people sat and stood around the elongated table. A few of the faces she vaguely remembered from her regiment. Most were unfamiliar, clad in a motley assortment of uniforms, but bearing the insignia of the Anywhere Militia. A few glanced in her direction, but most spoke among themselves.

     At the head of the table sat two men, both wearing militia uniforms and the rank insignia marking them as Hauptmanns, presumably the highest ranking officers left on the planet. One leaned back in his chair. He could best be described as non-descript. Probably in his late thirties, he was of average height and build, had hair halfway between brown and blonde, and could probably disappear into any crowd, anywhere. The other man looked like something out of a holovid. He was probably in his fifties, his dark hair thoroughly mixed through with grey.  He sat leaning on the arm of his chair, chewing on a smoldering stub of a cigar, and wore a cowboy hat.

     On noticing her, Cigar Man took the nub of the cigar from his mouth and gestured in her direction. "Everyone, this here is Leftenant Kendrick. Near as we can tell, she's the ranking officer left on the planet from the Second New Ivaarsen that didn't turn tail and run."

     Her eyes darted around the room, taking in a mixture of sneers and looks of disinterest. "Strictly speaking, sir, that's not true. There's a combat surgeon in the MASH unit I escorted in, he carries the rank of Kommandant."

     Cigar chuckled. "Yeah, well I ain't takin' my order from a doctor, so for all intents and purposes, what I said stands. I'm Hauptmann Clay, this here is Hauptmann Hallick. We're glad to have your people on board. It's going to be a long slog trying to get these Falcons off our planet, we'll take any help we can get. We've just been taking store here, it will be a few days before we can start getting off any real raids. We're pretty short on supplies, so we'll have to hit one of the bigger supply dumps before these clanners can get their paws on them."

     She paused a moment before speaking up. "Begging the Hauptmann's pardon, but we should get moving as fast as we can. Grab supplies before the Jade Falcons can get settled in. These guys are big on single combat, that gives us a chance to hit them in multiple places."

     Clay raised an eyebrow. "No offense missy, but are you crazy? These guys, whoever the hell they are, they're tough as nails. We have to gang up, hit 'em fast and hard where it counts. You want to split up?"

     "They're over the top on these duels, even more so than the snakes. They'll fight prize fights, 'trials of possesion' they seemed to call it. You fight them one-on-one over a prize and beat them, they'll just let you walk away with the prize. We can use that. Hit multiple supply dumps in multiple trials. We launch six attacks, even if we only win half of them, we've won three whole supply dumps."

     The Hauptmann stood up. "Girl, I've seen people fighting honor duels before. I've been fighting the dracs since you were in nappies. I'm telling you, fighting on their terms isn't the way to go. They like duels, you use that to your advantage by making it a junkyard fight."

     Fiona shook her head. "With all due respect sir, if I'd fought that way, we wouldn't be here right now. I only got my people out because I won the right to escape in a duel."

     Clay stabbed a finger in her direction. "That's all well and good. Just because you got lucky, doesn't mean you're the next incarnation of General Kerensky."

     "I didn't get lucky, sir. I was just better than them. We all can be."

     Clay shook his head, "Enough, Leftenant. This is our world, and our fight. You're welcome to help out, but you'll follow orders and do it our way. Understood?"

     She gritted her teeth. "Yes Hauptmann, understood."

     He smiled and put the cigar back in his mouth. "Good. Now, take a few days to get your people repaired and rested. We'll all meet up for a strategy session in a few days."