[center][sub]Meanwhile aboard the Meeting Place[/sub][/center]

Kelsie was too nervous to sit in her office and listen to the sparse messages they occasionally got from the Zetan system. She had no doubts they were going to win the battle, the Zetans could not have possibly put together a fleet that could match the joined forces of the ECU and the Undefeated. Mostly the Undefeated though; as far as Kelsie knew, the ECU fleet consisted of a ton of small spacecraft, which were hastily put together from old Earth designs and some alien materials found on New Hollywood. That was not the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the pilots. Dumb brutes whose biggest life achievement was smacking people with sticks. Hardly even trained. They would be great as targets for practice but in a real battle? The Zetans will have [i]some[/i] defenses at least, and a lot of those men will never return home. 

She walked around the station, knowing very well people were looking at her. Some tried to hide it, some just stared bluntly, most turned away when she looked them in the eyes. Conversations went silent as she walked by, only to begin again when she left, irritated whispers buzzing all around. She sure wasn’t popular. The entrance to the ECU embassy was right next to her and she briefly considered stopping there for a drink, their bar was stocked incredibly well. But that would mean a risk of running into Tanaka and having to withstand his theatrical laments. What an incompetent child. Kelsie wished that they made Abadi the main diplomat on the Meeting Place, but the ECU politics were mysteriously complicated. And probably very corrupt, like any politics.

Having nowhere else to go, she returned to the Undefeated section. When she was leaving, the large meeting room was filled with excited people, laughter, and cheering, as the news of successful takedowns was coming in. Now the atmosphere has changed rapidly, her team was sitting in solemn silence, passing a bottle around. “What happened?”

Janice handed her the bottle. “They took a Battleship down.”

Kelsie exhaled sharply. “Shit. The Thorsten?”

Parker shook his head. “No, the Grand General is safe. It was the Horizon.”

Yes, the Grand General, that’s why she was worried about the Thorsten. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that her treacherous mother was on board. Absolutely nothing. Still, an entire Battleship gone. So many people. Kelsie wondered how many of them she knew. They weren’t from her division, the parts of 9th chosen for the invasion were aboard the Eclipse, but still, they were her brothers and sisters in arms. And now, they are gone. “Well, shit,” she repeated, no idea what to say. She took a big gulp from the bottle, trying not to start coughing. It tasted like crude liquor. It always tasted like crude liquor. The horrible taste was a good reason to have some tears in your eyes. “How?” 

“They just kept coming right into them. Ramming their ships into our shields, their engines exploding. The shields held on for a while, but…” Parker shrugged. 

“We should get them.” Rodriguez, leader of the Reapers squad, gritted his teeth. The rest of his squad, along with the Hawks, second squad stationed on the Meeting Place as guards, chimed in, whistling and clapping their hands. “There aren’t that many of them, we can take them down easily.”

“No,” Kelsie said loudly so everyone in the room would hear her.

“But…” 

“I said NO! Calm down, Lieutenant. I understand you are angry, hell, I’m pissed off too. But we have direct orders from the Grand General himself. This is a neutral space, we can’t just start killing foreign diplomats, no matter how much they deserve it. We will have to leave it to our brothers and sisters in the invasion teams to get our revenge. We just have to sit and wait.” Men and women went silent, aside from an occasional quiet growl. “Yes, I know it sucks. But we are soldiers, and we have our orders. Does anyone have a problem with that?” She stared into their eyes to make sure they got the message.

Rodriguez sighed. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

“Forget it. In fact, why don’t you guys go visit the ECU embassy? Our [i]allies[/i] have a non-stop bar, so go get a few drinks,” Kelsie smiled, imagining the look on Tanaka’s face as a dozen angry soldiers invade his bar. “But I want one thing to be perfectly clear,” she leaned against the table, her tone deadly serious. “If any of you drunken assholes will have some ideas about taking justice into your own hands, I will deal with you personally and kick your ass out of an airlock. Now get lost.”

She sat down, resting her head in her hands. Looking up, she realized one of the men didn’t leave. David Parker was sitting across the room, watching her. “You should probably go too. I’m sorry, I’m not really in the mood for sex right now.” There weren’t many ways to have fun on this station and the ‘entertainment of the poor’ was a good way to kill time. They were really good at it together.

He raised one eyebrow, looking offended. “Wow. I’m glad to hear that is the only thing I’m good for around here.” He turned to leave.

“What? Wait, that is not what I…,” Kelsie started, but he was already gone. Fuck. She banged her forehead on the table. This day was just getting better and better. At least they left the bottle here.