Jack took my hand and said, “We need to show Ms. Watson you’re back. We don’t want her going to the military to ask them to look for you.”

I said, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help getting lost.”

As he led me down the street towards the shelter, he asked, “Do you remember anything of the past couple days?”

I shook my head and answered, “No. Nothing.” I was lying, of course.

We entered the shelter and walked past several kids playing. An adult woman was sitting at a desk.

“Ms. Watson!” exclaimed Jack as we approached the woman. “Look who I found out wandering around!”

The woman, who I guessed was Ms. Watson, stood up and smiled. “Rose! Thank the stars! I was so worried you were hurt! Please don’t wander off again like that! There’s a war on you know.” She gave me a big hug.

I hugged her back and said, “I’ll try not to.”

“I wish we could have kept the trackers on you children,” confessed Ms. Watson. “But those terrible Delcrons would put target locks on them.” I hadn’t heard of that, but it sounded like something the Delcrons would do.

She then turned to Jack and said, “Jack, please take Rose to the UCP infirmary to confirm she’s uninjured.”

Jack took my hand again and said, “Yes ma’am. I’ll take her right now.” He turned to me and said, “Come with me, Rose.”

I smiled at Jack and lifted my hand that he held in his. “Lead the way, Jack. I won’t let go.”

With a tug on my hand, Jack led me towards the main building complex where the UCP main forces were garrisoned. It was about a ten minute walk from the shelter. I was surprised by the number of people out and about. Private and business vehicles moving through the city streets. Occasionally there would be a pair of UCP soldiers. That’s how you knew an area was under control. The UCP brought in merc forces if fighting was needed.

The hospital buildings were adjacent to the capitol building. Jack let me into one and we walked up to the receptionist.

Jack said as he pointed to me, “She needs a quick med scan.”

The receptionist smiled at us and pointed down the hall. “Down the hall to the first intersection, turn right. There should be five units. Just take whichever one is unoccupied.” We both thanked her and then hurried on our way.

Jack grunted. “You know, the shelter really needs a med scanner of their own.”

That did sound reasonable to me. I innocently asked, “Why don’t they?”

Jack shrugged. “Ms. Watson always cites budget reasons. These are close, but if you can’t walk, they might as well be on the other side of the planet.”

We turned the corner and walked down to the med units. Two were occupied so I just picked one and stepped inside. I’ve used one before. Most member planets have several units sprinkled around in major cities. I pressed the scan button and nothing happened. It seems the unit was broken. I sighed and moved to the next unit. This unit worked and I was suddenly bathed in a powder blue light,

A row of lights lit up green on the control panel. I could have the report sent to various places, so I had one sent to the shelter. I took a moment to scan the report. Wild Bill was correct. I was indeed still a virgin. And I intend to keep it that way.

As I stepped out of the unit, Jack asked, “Did you send the report to the shelter?”

I nodded. “I did. Hey, I saw a place on the way over here that sells ice cream. Want to head over there?” Hey, why not? I’m a kid.

Jack laughed. “You’re funny. Do you have any credits? I sure don’t.”

“Oh.” I actually was disappointed. I hadn’t been able to indulge in some ice cream since my academy days. “So much for that plan.”

Taking my hand again, Jack led me out of the hospital and walking back to the shelter. I looked around as we walked and was satisfied that the city seemed well fortified. There just wasn’t enough man power. All the troops were concentrated here in the capitol. Outside the capitol, the Delcrons can set up pretty much anywhere they like. They just can’t set up anything permanent. Or so we hope.

As we neared the shelter, Jack let go of my hand. “Go let Ms. Watson know you’re back. I have some other things to do. Catch ya later.” He then ran off around some other buildings.

I wondered what those things could be. Well, it’s going to be tough enough to blend back into the shelter since I don’t know anyone there. But they all know me. If I can just get a glance at the shelter records, I’ll have everyone’s name memorized.

I entered the shelter and walked up to Ms. Watson’s desk. She smiled in greeting. “Rose, thank you for taking care of my request so quickly. You’re a good girl.”

I smiled back at her and nodded. She turned back to the screen she was looking at. I took a look around the shelter. There was a large day room with tables and chairs. A lot of kids were either sitting and talking or sharing some other activity, or sat in chair around a large screen watching a movie.

I slowly grew aware of a pressing need and looked around hoping to see a head somewhere. Across the day room were doors labeled with either a drawing of a girl or of a boy. I quickly made my way over to the door for girls. Thankfully I was alone when I entered.

At first I was confused when there were no urinals hanging on the wall. I mentally slapped myself when I remembered girls can’t use urinals. Not that I really forgot, but it’s not something I ever had to deal with before. I entered a stall and closed the door.

I’m glad I was alone. This was my first real opportunity to get familiar with who I now was. Since no one else was in the head with me, I opened the stall’s door, pulled my top off and my pants down and took a quick peek at my naked girl body in the mirror across from the stall. At first I felt like a voyeur along with some shame at looking at a naked teen girl. I had to force myself to realize that it was me I was looking at. And it’s going to be me for the rest of my life. I stared in disbelief as I slid my hand down to my vagina. My vagina! Seeing it really made it hit home that I was no longer a man. The loss of my cock was really hard to take. I couldn’t bring myself to touch the slit.

I didn’t have any trouble feeling my breasts though. I kind of enjoyed touching and squeezing them until I started to feel like some kind of pervert playing with a young girl. This is going to take more getting used to than I initially thought. I heard someone start to open the restroom door, so I quickly closed the stall door and sat back down. I finished my business and stepped out of the stall.

I walked up to the mirror and examined my face. What’s now my face. Again, my face forever. I’d seen the pictures, but this was the first time I’d actually looked directly at the new me. I smiled and tilted my head back and forth. I was definitely pretty. I’m sure I was going to have a problem with boys. I sighed. How do I handle boys? Maybe Jack will keep the other boys away.

I ran my fingers through my long, almost black, hair. I was glad they didn’t have to shave my head to insert my brain. I never had a buzz cut until basic training. I have to say I didn’t like it much. It would look really bad on a girl. I had a cute nose and my skin was mostly blemish free.

I studied myself for almost a minute. Why, I asked myself, would a cute young girl, with a boyfriend, or could probably have as many boys as she wanted, would undertake what was essentially a suicide mission? She was certainly at high risk of being caught, which she was. And it ended her life. I had to admit that growing up on this dirtball, especially as a female isn’t exactly appealing. Is that all it was? A feeling of nothing to lose? And why murder a bunch of guys in their sleep? Guys who were sent to this same dirtball to protect her. I feel safe in speaking for them that they had no desire to be on this planet any more than she did. They certainly didn’t want to die here. In their sleep. So why did she do it? From all accounts, Rose was a happy, friendly girl.

“Yes, we all know you’re beautiful,” said a sarcastic sounding female voice next to me. “How long do you plan to admire yourself?”

I turned to see a shelter girl, obviously, about my new age with long dirty blonde hair in bad need of washing. I thought she had come in and left already and it scared the crap out of me. Embarrassed, I said, “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

The girl laughed. “You? Thinking? Now that’s funny. The only thing you do is follow Jack all over the place. Oh Jack, can you help me? Oh, Jack kiss me. Oh, Jack fuck me. Oh Jack, am I pretty?” She rolled her eyes at me.

I had no idea who this little twat was, but I had a feeling she was going to be a problem. I grunted a laugh and asked, “Jealous?” With a twist of my head, I tossed my hair over my shoulder and then walked out of the restroom.

When I got out of the restroom, I walked over to where a group of kids were watching a movie. A boy, probably a little older than me turned to look at me. He said, “Rose, would you like to watch the movie with us?” He patted the empty chair next to him.

I didn’t have anything else to do, so I said, “Sure.” I started to sit down.

Another boy said, “Well, that’s it for me. I need to go.” He turned to scowl at me.

I asked, “What did I do?”

The boy stood up and jabbed a finger at me. “What did you do? Seriously? You got Robby killed. You and that boyfriend of yours, Jack.”

The boy who had invited me to sit said, “Knock it off, Jerry. There’s no proof of that! Nobody knows what motivated Robby to kill those soldiers. I mean, we’re all tired of both occupying armies. He just snapped, like Todd did.” Wow. This is worse than we thought with the Delcrons using children as suicide soldiers. How? How do you get a teen who won’t eat his vegetables to go commit suicide with a bomb?

Rose did that. She wasn’t supposed to live.

Is Jack drugging these kids? Hypnotizing? And is the garrison commander involved?

As I sat down, a girl stood up and scowled at me. “What do you see in that trash? Jack wasn’t even born on this ball of dirt.” She stormed off.

The boy sitting next to me who I still didn’t know the name of said, “Just ignore them Rose.” He put his arm behind my shoulders.

I got an hour into the movie, which I was enjoying. It was taking the UCP side, which was fine with me. Someone poked my shoulder. I turned to see Jack leaning close to me.

Jack hissed into my ear, “Stop watching this propaganda. I need you to come with me now.”

I frowned and said, “I want to watch this.”

Jack suddenly grabbed my arm. His grip was a little tight. “Now!” I looked over at him and his face was a mask of anger.

I sighed. “Okay.” I stood up. The boy I was sitting next to frowned at me. Holding my arm, Jack led me out of the shelter and down an alley.

We walked up to door that opened onto the alley. He took a device out of his pocket and waved it in front of the door. Two lights on the device blinked green. He then held a lock pod against the door and I heard a click. Jack opened the door and held it open for me. There was a single chair in the middle of the darkened room.

Jack pointed at the chair and said, “Sit.” As soon as I was seated, Jack pointed a device at my face and a green light flashed. I was suddenly immobile! What the hell?

The door opened and another person entered. I recognized him as the garrison commander, General Nielson. He walked up and scowled at me. “Why is this bitch here, colonel?”

Jack stepped next to me. “That’s what I want to know, general. Stupid girl!” He then backhanded me across the face. “General, I’m tired of being a child on this dirt ball. I want my body back and off this world.” Wait… is Jack suggesting he’s a brain transfer like me? The Delcrons don’t have that technology, do they?

General Nielson shook his head and growled. “Your mission has failed, colonel. Using children as suicide bombers only caused the UCP to just dig in harder instead of leaving. They suspect me, so I’m being replaced by an officer in the mercenary forces until the UCP can send a new commander. I’ll be off world tomorrow.”

Jack looked horrified. “You can’t just leave me here!”

General Nielson shook his head. “Sorry colonel. I can’t take you with me. The UCP already suspects me of disloyalty. Apparently that merc that infiltrated us managed to transmit those documents despite us blowing him up. The UCP is sending a portion of the fleet here to secure this planet and its resources.”

Jack yelled, “I can’t remain a child! I must return to Delcron and be restored! And we’re just going to walk away from this planet and all its minerals?”

Sneering, General Nielson said, “Wise up, boy! As I said, the mission is a failure. You, me and this shit ball are all a loss for Delcron. Now, I have one more mission for this stupid girlfriend of yours.”

Jack folded his arms and frowned. “This bitch isn’t my girlfriend.”

The general looked down at me and chuckled. “When she’s in that state, I love doing this.” He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back. He then bent over and gave me a sloppy kiss, sliding his tongue deep into my mouth. He sighed. “I’m going to miss that mouth of hers, And other parts. So anyway. Here’s her final mission. Have her spend a week or so earning the new commander’s trust. Get chummy with him. Hell, fuck him for all I care. When the time is right…” He pulled a small device from his pocket and then continued, “… put this explosive up her cunt. They won’t search her there and it’s undetectable otherwise. The device packs quite a punch.” Holy shit!

Jack chuckled. “Good. Get rid of the girl and the new commander at the same time and cause confusion. Still doesn’t help me any.”

General Nielson appeared to relax a bit. “Don’t worry. The UCP wants to relocate these children at some point anyway. We’ll try to grab you then.” He took a deep breath. “Okay colonel, I’m ready. Wipe all knowledge of this operation from my memory and then program the girl.”

Jack took a few minutes to make adjustments to the device he’d flashed at me. He then aimed it at General Nielson. “One hour from now, you won’t be able to remember anything about this mission, no matter what they use.” He flashed an alternating red and orange light into the general’s eyes.

General Nielson nodded to Jack. “Watch your back, kid.” He turned and hurried off.

Jack turned towards me. “Okay beautiful. Let’s erase your memory of all knowledge of this operation. Then program you to get chummy with the merc commander.” He bent down and kissed me. “I’m going to miss you, sweet cheeks.” He then flashed the orange and red lights into my eyes.