The sun was setting, and the pace had been grueling. Not because of the walk, but because of the energy expenditure. Keeping two people aging one second or so an hour was actually difficult, and I didn't dare take my jewelry off; any of it.

Come to think of it, jewelry was a big no-no in the military for obvious reasons, so why hadn't I been asked to take it off? Had it been discounted as a simple foible or something? I really should have thought about that before now.

The sun was a mere sliver on the horizon. We were at least twenty minutes past due. I'd sent Thorn and Lewd ahead to make sure we weren't shot, but the gate was silent. When we broke from the tree line, there was no one in sight.

Then, all at once, when we were halfway through no man's land, soldiers popped literally into sight with an effect not unlike a desert's heat haze, with medics right behind them. They made no move to go beyond the gate, or even open it until we were mere feet away and our rearguard was beginning to crowd us.

They were definitely close enough to hear the passcode. "Indigo, Orange, Victor."

"Joe, Purple, White." The left soldier replied, the same Sargeant I'd seen at this post yesterday.

Right, they were looking at Grex. "Grex, go home."

He bowed and burst into harmless flames; this time he actually allowed some ash to fall. Weird.

Still he waited precious seconds before finally unlocking the gate. The medics at least, wasted no time, charging out so fast they almost ran the guards over in order to get to my charges.

"What's the story here?"

"Sniper, I'm helping to keep them stable. When I let go, this one," I nodded in the direction of the summoner - "is likely going to flatline."

"How?"

A good question. "Slowing time for them, drastically."

"Alright, then wait before you let it go, let's get these two to the hospital."

The other medic turned to the guard. "Are they clear?"

Put on the spot, the man noded. "Code checked out, and it wasn't the duress code."

"Then let's go. No transfers yet, keep carrying them. Will they suddenly speed up, and get all the shocks and movements they would have experienced on the trip?"

That was... a very good question. "No? They shouldn't at least. They are insulated from most effects actually."

The medics both wasted a moment staring at me. I heard one mutter the words thanks to my improved ears: "Broken as fuck."

"Alright, come on. You four are still on stretcher duty. Not that I don't believe you, Ma'am, but I'd rather not chance things going to hell trying to transfer the patients."

I was gratified when my soldiers looked to me. "You heard the man. Let's go; I'm getting a bit tired."

I was really beyond tired, and a little confused as to how no one could see it. Or maybe they could, and just hadn't said anything.

We started off, silently. The escort came trickling in, and I couldn't tell if it was just concerned fellow soldiers or something more sinister based on our abbreviated gate protocols.

The medics wanted to double time it, but I just couldn't. the risk of losing contact with either of my patients was high. It took them ten steps to slow down.

We made it there in plenty of time anyway.

The doctors were waiting. I was oddly happy to see them all standing around and waiting, since it meant my casualties are likely the only ones.

As soon as they doctors moved away we went in. "Nearest beds? We should probably only transfer once."

My teeth felt like they were cracking, and I had to force the words out. My knees were also more than a little wobbly, and my vision was beginning to gray.

"This way." The doctors were like the medics, always just rushing off at top speed. Thankfully it wasn't infectious, and the soldiers I'd walked with for hours stuck to my pace.

We finally made it to an ER with more than a dozen beds. I sidled up to the first two. "Alright, I'm going to have to let go of one to make sure the other gets settled in right, so I'm choosing the good private here; his injuries seem the least life threatening."

The nurses got ready; as I kept contact with the summoner, they swooped in and grabbed the guy as he came out of it mid-groan. I stumbled, the release of pressure was so great, but I didn't lose contact until the summoner was settled on the bed.

Then I all but dove out of the way, the sweat on my face drying instantly.

Golem caught me. "Sargeant remind me never to do that again."

"Yes Ma'am, but I don't think you'll listen." His smirk was insufferable.

"You might be right about that. You think anyone would mind if I just snagged a bed?"

"I think that Captain Sawyer might, ma'am. He's probably waiting for a debrief."

Well it was a fresh face for me to embarrass myself in front of, so I was game, why wouldn't I be?

"Alright Sargeant, lead the way."

He did, leading me to what I was rapidly beginning to think of as the bureaucracy building. Of course all the brass were in the same place. Wonder why I wasn't? I was technically brass. Why did I get shoved into the campy happy place dorm?

Nevermind all that, focus. My own troops were following; it made sense that we would all debrief together I supposed, but the other squad wasn't here, or even nearby; had they gone on ahead?

The Captain was on the same level as the Colonel, even down the same hall, but his door came first. I'd passed it without taking any special note of it yesterday. Gracefully, my Sargeant let me lead the way through the door.

The Captain was waiting for me. He was a tall, thin man, the first glance suggesting he could be blown over by a stiff breeze. The second glance however, showed the thin, corded muscle running the length of him. He was dark in that very tan way some people get, with just a hint of darker than nordic skin color. He was also as bald as Golem, but his head was smooth in a way that suggested it was deliberate.

He was also wearing a veritable mine's worth of metal on his chest, and was in his forties if he was a day; a career soldier and one worthy of respect. I saluted as crisply as my noodle arms would allow.

"Sir."

He waited for everyone else to file in and follow suit before acknowledging us. "At ease, all of you. Is anyone unclear on why you're here?"

He was staring straight at me. Of course he was. Choosing not to answer seemed the wisest course.

“Right.” The Captain reached over and started a recorder. Then he started another one, this one an actual tap recorder; did they even still make those?

He spoke clearly and precisely, his next words not aimed at any of us. “This is the debrief of the 14th, first army, on the events of the 16th of August.”

The next words were just as clearly addressed to me. “Alright Lieutenant, in your own words, tell me what happened.”

I guess I was on. “We set out for a patrol of quadrant F, a day only patrol. We reached the marker at the end of the route without incident, and I decided to do a sweep about a hundred yards beyond it.”

Captain Sawyer interrupted. “Why?”

“Because we were early, Sir, and we’d seen nothing. No movement other than animal, and no sign of hostiles in the area.”

He sat back, waving a hand my way. “Continue.”

“As I was saying, we’d taken five while I sent scouts forward; we had flankers watching the cardinal directions. We all heard gunfire coming from the West. I had everyone stay put behind cover while I conferred on proper procedure while Grex, my demon, covered us.”

Captain Sawyer interrupted again. “Conferred with who, exactly?”

“The Sergeant mainly, sir.” And why couldn’t I remember his actual name?

Captain Sawyer’s look said he knew. “And your demon? When did you summon it, exactly?”

Crap. “I summoned Grex as soon as we were outside the fence, sir.”

I could feel disapproval radiate from the man; I felt like I was back in high school, staring down Mr. Hind after I’d made fun of his name that one time.

“I can summon my demon with no time limit, sir. My capabilities are listed in exhaustive detail in my file.”

He shrugged the mild rebuke off. “Not all of us have time to read, Lieutenant. You say your capabilities have in this regard have been tested? Never mind, continue.”

“Yes sir. The scouts I’d sent rejoined us, and I sent a new set out to the west of our position, keeping Grex near the squad as we moved in case the attack was by a demon. To this point the only gunfire we had heard seemed to be from our own forces.”

I gave the Captain a pause in case he wanted to interrupt again, and this time he didn’t.

“Anyway, we advanced under cover in standard formation; Once I saw the casualties I realized the situation was a sniper attack. I sent Grex ahead to neutralize the sniper.”

“Why?”

I was getting used to it already, which was a little sad.

“I thought it best to uncover the position of the sniper and deal with the threat as quickly as possible. Since the sniper wasn’t actively shooting, it was difficult to tell more than a basic direction and I wasn’t about to send my squad forward.”

“And if the sniper was a feint, and a demon attacked you while yours was tracking the sniper?”

“I am hardly helpless, sir. I judged the situation merited the risk.”

“Did your demon find the sniper?”

“No, the sniper had left some minutes before it seemed.”

“I see. Continue.”

“I then revealed myself, and when asked gave the appropriate code; the other squad was able to verify.”

“And how did you reveal yourself?”

“Shouting, sir.”

“And was it possible that the squad had been compromised in such a way as to have the code of the day?” A second interrupted question, and a loaded one.

“I did not judge that to be the case.”

“It has happened before lieutenant,” he informed me. His face and voice never so much as wavered. “Demons have some interesting tricks out here. Continue.”

“Our medics saw to the wounded, and I was advised both would be unlikely to survive the trip back; one would almost surely die, and the other was bleeding out.”

“I see. And did you check those wounded for a demonic plant?”

What? Could demons even do that, with our own men watching? “No, however Grex would have known and taken steps if they proved to be; our contract is defensive in nature.”

“I see. Continue.”

“We discussed the problem, and I decided I could solve it.”

“With demonic power,” The Captain interrupted.

“With demonic power, yes. Specifically, my pact given affinity for slowing time on a target.”

I got him there, his eyes widened a fraction. He hadn’t known what I’d done before, or how broken I could be when I got going.

“I see. Continue.”

The man was unflappable. “I then sent scouts ahead, flankers, and picked a rearguard screen, and we set off for this base without further delay.”

“Why didn’t you send your demon after the sniper?”

“I prioritized lives, Sir. I had no way of knowing if that sniper was the only one at work, and while I was… occupied, an enemy demon could have mowed us down easily.”

He nodded this time, a faint one that seemed more involuntary than anything else. “Continue.”

“That’s basically it, Sir. The march back was peaceful, and we encountered no further trouble.”

He paused, giving me a heavy lidded look. “I see. Sergeant, anything to add?”

“Only that the Lieutenant was in fact visible to at least some of squad C when she called out, Sir, and that never once did she show the well known signs of DF.”

What was DF?

Captain Sawyer was not done. “Alright, anyone else? Any observations you’d like to share?”

After the chorus of ‘no, Sirs’ he couldn’t have sounded more exasperated. “Alright, dismissed. Get some chow into you and rest. You’ll be going back out tomorrow. This time it’ll be a long sweep.”

He returned our salutes but waited; it was easy to ambush me since I was the last out the door.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes sir?”

“You need to be a touch more cautious.”

“Yes Sir.”

I probably did, not that I’d do anything differently.

Golem made a move to catch me as I pulled the door shut. I waved him off, but I really wanted to pull off a bracelet or two. Just one would likely revive me, but it wasn’t worth the risk.

“I’ll be fine. Just a little winded.”

“Lieutenant, you’ve been winded for the last two hours.”

“It’s fine, I’m recovering. Just don’t let me drown in my soup if I fall asleep in the mess, okay?”

“Sure, I think I can do that,” Golem admitted with a grin. “But if you do you’re still wearing it.”

“Fair.” It wasn’t really, but I’d live with it.

I managed to make it to the mess, and maybe my legs were getting less wobbly, or maybe they weren’t. The buffet waited for no woman though, and it was best to get to it first before sitting down – mainly because if I sat down, I would likely have issues standing up.

I had to know. “So tell me Sergent, how did I do?”

Golem shrugged, still eyeing me. “I’ve heard worse. The last guy we had, Captain Sawyer threw him out of his office and made him stand outside while we debriefed. You weren’t up to mil spec, but you weren’t that bad. We could all understand you, at least.”

That was comforting. “Any words of advice?”

“Nah, not really. Use of more military terminology, but that ship might have sailed since you didn’t ship immediately; some of you summoners who start out state-side tend to get a little… odd.”

An image of a twerking imp flashed through my mind. “I hardly think it’s just us in the states, Sergeant. I remember some of those shipped home when I started.”

That was my story, and I’m sticking to it.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I mean you’re all crazy, no exceptions, but most of you get set in your ways, and you can tell the difference between those who’ve done tours first and those who didn’t.”

I just raised an eyebrow at him. I was perfectly sane, even if he didn’t know it.

“There is much I find wrong with that point Sergeant, and yet I’m too tired to argue it. Perhaps tomorrow, when I care more.”

“You’ll see,” Golem told me, unrepentant.

Well that was certainly ominous.

What I wanted to see was a nice steak, but unfortunately the best I could find was a nice pre-processed meat patty of questionable origin. At least the baked potatoes were real; I took two of those. The chocolate pudding was another must, but the milk was a hard pass in favor of just plain water.

I’d feel like a pig – but people who had burned far fewer calories today were eating more right in front of me. Lewd hadn’t even done anything but scout, and she had seconds piled up on her plate!

Maybe she was a growing girl. Then again, none of us had stopped for lunch; the sniper kind of stopped that for us, and after that event I couldn’t really stop. Going all day on the breakfast we had was probably enough by itself, goodness knew my own stomach felt like it was trying to jump up and eat my heart.

At least everyone else seemed to have energy to spare, telling jokes and laughing with everyone in range. My vision widened some, and I realized that was a surprising amount of people; either we weren’t the only late arrivals or we’d managed to be just in time for dinner.

Thankfully it hadn’t been standing room only. I’d likely be on the ground if it was, rank and reputation be damned.

“Hey, so you’re the newbie.”

I looked up from my second potato, (the first had been vanquished in a blitzkrieg) and into the face of a man.

The man was quite possibly the ugliest man I had seen in my life, and that was saying something. He had a large build, muscles on muscles, a wide sloping forehead that went well back, large jug ears, and beady brown eyes. He was also my rank, which meant I wasn't about to try and get up to salute him. I could also see his athame, which was sheathed right in front on his belt.

"Yes, I'm the newbie."

"Hi, I'm pretty boy, or just pretty. I'm one of the seniors on duty here. I just wanted to say, good work earlier, Jimbob is a friend of mine, and you saved his life."

He held out a hand, and we shook. He was very gentle.

"You just see Captain Sawyer?" He grabbed a chair and turned it around, sitting in it. I didn't think anyone did that anymore.

"Yes." Ah, coffee; too bad it was trash. I really missed my coffee house. Or even my Kuerig.

"Yeah everyone hates their first time with him. He gets better."

I didn't think he was that bad. "I didn't think he was that bad. He didn't yell at me or anything. Some faint disapproval, perhaps."

His face smeared itself into a thoughtful look, which somehow made him look worse. "Really? Let me guess, one of those was in not catching the sniper?"

Now I was interested. "How did you know that?"

He grinned. "I asked around."

Of course he did, and there were at least two squads of people who knew. I wonder who it was that talked. "That was one moment, yes. To be fair I could have sent my demon after the sniper, they probably weren't that far away. But if that sniper had a demon of their own, waiting for a chance...."

We waved a hand. "Unlikely; any demon would have likely taken advantage of the chaos before you arrived. But I get it; you're in the field, you have to use your best judgement. No one here is going to fault the choice you made. but tell me, is it true you can keep your demon summoned for hours?"

It would be pointless to deny it, he clearly already knew, and there really wasn't a way to hide that here. "Yes, I can. It's part of my pact."

"Nice, I wasn't aware that was even possible. Quite the game changer."

"Well, I'd hesitate to say I bargained well, but I might have broke even. Somehow."

A little bit of a touchy subject; most summoners didn't like talking about their rituals, myself included. Unless of course you counted the reason why I was here....

Thankfully he picked up on it. "Right, sorry. Just thinking, you have no idea how big that sort of thing is. Most of us have to make decisions on when we have our demons out to do the heavy lifting, which is probably why Jimbob got popped in the first place."

I had a pretty good idea on how big it was, thanks. "How is he, by the way?"

The face morphed into concern, which made it look.. better? It was fascinating. "Well, if he lives, he probably won't be all there. But summoners have a tendency to live through injuries that kill normal people, and Jimbob wasn't all there anyway."

Jimbob probably was going home to a nice padded cell, if he lived. Or maybe his demon wouldn't let him do one or the other; they could be particular like that.

That wasn't my problem; I could only do so much after all, and I couldn't interfere with a contract. I could maybe do something if the demon was in front of me, but I couldn't summon another summoner's demon.

"Hey, don't worry about it. He's alive, so he's ahead of the game." Pretty Boy said; great, I really was that obvious, even to people untrained in reading other people.

"Right. And the other guy, the private?"

"Right, private Long, who went out like an idiot trying to drag Jimbob to safety. He's going to make a full recovery, and be back out with the rest of us. No free ticket home for him."

That was... well, mixed to be honest. "At least he didn't lose the leg. I thought for a minute it might happen."

"Nope!", Pretty boy replied, suddenly chipper. "He's going to be fine. Anyway, I'll let you eat. I just wanted to say, welcome to the team and don't worry about Sawyer."

He got up, turned the chair back, waved and wandered off to take his place in line.

I got back to my potato.

"Well that's good news. Apparently you'll be able to forego the hazing most new bloods get." Golem whispered at me.

I stopped eating, my appetite lost. "That happens here too?"

Golem nodded. "I'm not sure what goes on, but I have been told that it wasn't pretty."

I wasn't going to tempt fate. "And you got that I'm not going to from that?"

Golem nodded again. "Pretty boy usually sets those things up."

Well, that's nice I suppose. "That's good. I don't want to go through that crap again."

Golem raised an eyebrow, and stopped whispering. "Come on, they're cops. How bad could they be?"

Ha. "Ex-military... as in, after they all pulled their tours."

Golem made a show of thinking about it. "You might have a point. Can you share?"

A thought, narrowly avoided. "No, sharing will lead to bad things. Going to head out then, get some sleep while I can."

No one called me on my rubber legs, but everyone was watching, even as they pointedly ignored me while chatting about inane things. I didn't even know the people past our few tables, but apparently they knew me.

At least the people outside the mess didn't stare.

The barracks slash dorm was quiet, and like last night, no one was in it. I supposed I was early, since it was barely past eight. I could hear Karen in my head now: 'get out there and talk to people! live a little! Don't be such a nerd!' When I could barely hold my head up.

Time enough to stop being a nerd tomorrow. I still checked my bed for unpleasant surprised before getting in it. Trust no one, especially on matters of hazing.