Back in Victoria, a stone-faced B.S.O.D ushered us into a meeting room, where an even less happy Palace Athena was already waiting. Once everybody was seated, Palace summarized the events for everyone.

  “Today, a mixed force of MGs, a platoon of HANAF troops and Miss MacCallan attacked the Mack Base on San Juan Island. Half the platoon ended up as casualties, with nine fatalities among the soldiers and several wounded. But at least the primary objective was achieved, namely shutting down the Mack operation.”

  She looked at Longhorn and prompted “Please describe the events during the operation and why you did make the decisions you did.”

  Longhorn gave a pretty accurate description of events until the moment she was tasered and captured by the Macks. On the “why” she did things the way she did, Mantis was a lot more vague. An embarrassed silence followed, until Palace extended the question to the other team members and the time after Longhorn’s capture.

  Eventually Mantis admitted with a sheepish expression “At that moment, I felt out of my depth and doubted my ability to finish the mission. So I looked to Caitlin for guidance.”

  Palace turned to me and asked in an icy tone "Did you actually usurp command?”

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Even a leadership of dubious qualification is better than a disoriented unit that does not know what to do!”

  That might have come across wrong. Apparently Palace took it as an insult to her troops. “So, Miss Impromptu Commander, what do you think you could have done better?”

  Oops. My snark had gotten out of control again. But now I had no choice but to carry on.

  “I’m aware that hindsight is 20/20, but with the benefit of said hindsight, I would have landed a bit further away. The Macks would have had to cross a wider open field for their attack. We had the range advantage with our railguns, a larger distance would have been to our advantage. After that, I might have waited for the next wave of my drones to arrive before continuing our advance.”

  Palace’s glare intensified, but Mantis came to my aid. “Cait did wait for her next drone swarm after Melanie was abducted, and I think it was the right decision. The odds for storming the base didn’t look good before the drones showed up and pounded the remaining Macks!”

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  I resisted the temptation to pontificate about the superiority of drones. Displaying a little bit of humbleness seemed appropriate. As most people around the desk were still looking at me, I continued by reporting our actions inside the base.

  Eventually, Palace gave her verdict.

  “Hrmpf. You appear to have some talent for command, but you need to learn to support your leadership instead of undermining them. Perhaps you should do so in a more structured environment.”

  Now the glare became distinctly predatory.

  “I believe you should spend some time in the military and get familiar with how they work. I strongly suggest a six month crash course in basic soldiering and small unit tactics at the platoon to company level.

  ‘This will obviously not be sufficient to get you to the skill level of a real officer, but hopefully it will help you to fit into the command structure with a bit less friction.”

  Uh oh. On one hand, Palace had a point about chain of command and all that. On the other hand, I was not the one who had botched the tactics in that expedition! Surely Palace was violating half a dozen laws here, and I did not intend to roll over without resistance.

  If you want to contest this, there are half a dozen legal precedents where such an order was either found illegal or at least reduced in scope by the courts.

  Instead getting a lawyer though, I reminded Palace “You are aware that I could just fuck off to my mountain base and let you fight the Macks alone? I do not want to do that, but you should understand ordering me around will only get you so far.”

  Pushing back seemed to help. Palace reluctantly continued in a more conciliatory tone “We want to improve collaboration, not punish you. You will actually get to lead small units in exercises so you can gain experience with leading flesh and blood soldiers, not just your drones. To help you with orientation, we will also assign you a roommate who is already familiar with life in the military. One you already know and will hopefully get along with.”

  She gestured towards a Magical Girl I knew as one of Palace’s assistants. The MG opened the door and ushered in a face I did know well indeed. With visible apprehension, Arina surveyed the meeting room. Until she saw me. “Caitlin? What are you doing here?”

  “Getting chewed out by Palace. I also got a hard to decline invitation to join the Army for half a year.’

  “So are you the roommate I’m assigned all of a sudden?”

  The “invitation” to the army suddenly looked a lot more palatable. “I’m looking forward to it!”

  Across the desk, Arina's commanding officer who just happened to be there replied “Private Novikova gets an early promotion to corporal and will be your superior for the duration. Take this as your first opportunity to learn following orders.“

  The smirk from Arina promised some intense training. Hopefully of the entertaining variety.