One Good Soldier

you did that day.'

'Sergeant.' Clay nodded solemnly as Warboys shook his hand. 'That was a bad day for certain.'

'One day on Mars that I wouldn't want to relive, Colonel,' the bodyguard replied.

'Amen to that,' Fish said. 'I think everybody but Jawbone here was there that day.'

'Ms. Moore and I had our fun elsewhere, didn't we, ma'am?' Jawbone added.

'I don't recall thinking of any of it as fun,' Dee replied.

'Me, neither,' Jawbone agreed. 'Lost a couple good friends that day.'

'I read about that on the Web,' Lieutenant Colonel Leeland added. 'We've all somehow or other been in it together. The Saviors, including Skinny and myself, were crawling around on that enemy hauler that was trying to crash on top of you during the Seppy Exodus. We tore that rust bucket to shreds but couldn't stop it.'

'Right.' DeathRay stepped in to change the subject. 'Who wants to go for a ride in some mecha?'

'Can we?' Dee tried her best not to grin from ear to ear like the little girl the soldiers remembered from that day on Mars or from watching her grow up on television.

'Well, I'll have to ask the CAG first,' DeathRay said almost a bit too smugly not to notice.

'Oh, Jesus! You're a corny ham, sir.' His wingman laughed at him, not with him.

'For those not in on the joke,' Commander Hill said with a smirk, 'Captain Boland here is the commander of the Air Group and has been for more than a decade. Of course, what he probably wouldn't tell you is that he was the CAG before that once, but he managed to get himself busted out of it for blowing up a civilian terraformer dome in the southern Martian desert.'

'All right, all right, you don't have to go bringing up that, Poser.' Boland smiled his best action-hero smile. There must've been some funny and embarrassing story behind the marine's call sign. Dee was afraid to ask.

Bree, any idea how Poser got her call sign? she thought to her AIC.

I'll see what I can dig up. Hold on. The AIC paused briefly. I did find that Wendy Hill appeared in a men's magazine in a article titled 'Women of the Military.' Perhaps that is the reason?

Dee laughed to herself. She got the joke. She wondered how Captain Boland had gotten his call sign, and kept her attention on his smile. She really liked it. A lot.

'Just so happens I have three trainers set up,' DeathRay said. 'Two Ares-Ts and one FM-12. I thought we might play a little three-on-three dogfight if you're up for it?'

'Up for it?' Dee almost shouted. 'Jay and I are more than up for it. Right, Jay?'

'You bet!' Stavros replied eagerly.

'Well, we're gonna play this game a little differently than you two might be used to. One of you will be my wingman in the Ares-T, with Fish riding backseat for you, and the other will be Deuce's wingman, with Jawbone riding backseat. Skinny will fly with the Marine team. Poser can fly Colonel Fink with her if the colonel is up for a ride.'

'You bet, Captain,' Fink responded.

'So, who wants to be the navy aviator and who wants to be a jarhead?' Boland looked at Jay first. Then he rested his gaze on Dee. Dee almost volunteered to ride with him.

'Should we flip for it?' Dee asked, although she really wanted to be in the FM-12. She was almost torn, because she wouldn't mind being DeathRay's wingman—among other things—but flying a Marine FM-12 would be the shit. So, she was only almost torn about the decision. She was certain Jay felt the same way about flying with Major Strong, but he'd have a win-win situation there being in an FM-12 with the hot marine that seemed to be getting his hackles up.

'Flip for it, Dee,' Jay replied and was clearly as excited as she was.

'Ms. Moore, I'm not so sure that would be a good idea, ma'am,' Clay stepped forward and warned her. 'There would be no protective services there.'

'Oh, Clay, you're just a nervous old lady. You can't always be with me. I can take care of myself, and the fine mecha jocks will be right there with me the whole way. I'll have America's finest to protect me in your absence. That is, unless you want to ride in one of the fighters.' Dee gave him a look that she borrowed from her father that he used with them to say without words that the discussion was over.

'Like father, like daughter,' Clay mumbled to himself. Dee ignored it, mostly. She also loved it when people said that.

'What's that?' She smiled at the giant bodyguard.

'Since I can't talk you out of it, ma'am, please be careful.'

'Bah. These great pilots will be right there with me, Clay. And so will Colonel Fink. You really need to consider trying to relax.' Dee knew that careful was for old