I feel myself float up, up, breaking the surface of the bath in my cockpit pod, taking a deep breath of air through my nose before I start coughing up the pod goo.

  “Buenos dias,” Luiz says in a bright sing-song. “Had me worried there for a second, but you clinched it.”

  I start to rise, wince in pain, and Luiz gently presses his fingers to my forehead and pushes me very slightly back in.

  “Don’t get up on my behalf,” he says, a shade of seriousness in his voice. “The burn you got from going mano-a-hoofo with the other terror deer isn’t that serious, but it looks pretty gross; I’m cooling down your A2F bath to help you recover.”

  I pat my belly and wince as I touch a mild burn. Then I just let myself bob to the surface as Luiz adjusts the temperature, and just let my muscles rex. Battles can make you tense, even in dreams. Adrenaline has nowhere to go. So I let it bleed out of me with the same sort of guided images that I used at the beginning; exhale dark smoke, breathe in bright light.

  “Reggie’s target?” I ask, after a bit of rest.

  “You pinned it in pce with a new weapon, some kind of extendable spike, and that let Reggie lock on and blow it to bits,” Luiz says. “Weird readings of the thing. Wanna tell me who you Drew?”

  “Colonel Hardass,” I mutter, eyelids heavy, tempted to just go back to sleep if I needed to heal in the pleasantly cooling pod goo.

  “Christ, the Genki Valk’s pilebunker is Old Man Fitzroy? I wouldn’t lean on that thing too heavily,” Luiz says.

  “I won’t. But I was gd to have it for this mission,” I say.

  “Fair enough,” Luiz says, before sighing. “Just – keep in mind your ONI’s weapons are only as trustworthy as the folks you draw them from.”

  “That tells me I should just try to be a good friend to everyone I know,” I say.

  “You’re not wrong,” Luiz replies with a grin. “Speaking of! Look alive – we got visitors!”

  “Visitors?” I try to sit up, look out of the pod.A stranger is entering the citadel, fnked closely by Meredith – the sweetheart that keeps track of our supplies and guides Major Lam in battle, with her turbocurly hair and her colorful clothes and her dark skin.

  The new boy is around my age – maybe a year older, gangly and under tension like coiled wire; he has a green camo jacket draped over his shoulders that’s much, much too big for him, reaching almost to his ankles. His intense eyes framed by wavy dark hair are scanning the whole pce as if he half-expects a monster or a guy with a knife is hiding behind one of the consoles.

  "What is this pce?" he asks, in the kind of hushed tone I use to pray.

  "A hangar deck, of sorts,” Meredith says. “We call it the Citadel, and the piloting pods are collectively the Round Table.”

  “It’s like a real carrier deck,” the stranger says in awe. “By way of Star Wars.”

  Meredith shrugs, palms up. “I don't pretend to understand why the technology works, just how it does. But you've seen the results firsthand."

  He ughs at that, once, nervous, like the fizz just leaving a newly opened bottle of Coke. "No shit?” he says. “SOMETHING saved my life out there, Meredith."

  "Someone, you mean.” Meredith cranes her head – then meets my eyes, smiles, and waves. “Who’s apparently still recovering from her sortie here; that's a stroke of luck. I can introduce you."

  I wave back. "Hi, Merry. Who is this?" I ask. Luiz makes himself busy checking my vitals at his console.

  "I'm here to introduce him,” Meredith says, opening her arms wide, forming a circuit between the new kid and me. “Major Lam wanted me to tell you that you did an exceptional job today, by the way."

  Luiz perks up, eyes shining. "Izzat so?" he says.

  "It is so,” Meredith says, a smile on her face. “Wear your uniform to dinner, Sara – it’ll be easier to present you with your brass bar that way."

  I’m making full lieutenant? I’m out of probation. The Major is making me a real Padin!

  I can’t help it, I whoop “YES!” in victory. Luiz takes the opportunity to thrust his fist at me, and I give him the fistbump; then he turns it into an ace’s high five, and an ace’s low five. I don’t leave him hanging.

  During all of this, though, I can feel the new kid staring at me – his eyes travelling up my body, studying me like – I don’t know what, and that’s unnerving, sending a chill up my body.

  Meredith nudges him in the back with her elbow.

  "Well, go on then, Zeus.”

  Zeus?

  “Rather than staring at her, you should introduce yourself, start a conversation."

  He averts his eyes, and I can see him blush, hopefully mortified at the creepy staring from earlier. And I can see the effort it takes him to speak.

  "I'm -” he has a false start, takes a deep breath, tries again. “I'm Jesus. Uh. Castelno. ...Jesus Castelno, you can call me Soos, everyone calls me Soos when they... bother to learn my name."

  Jesus scratches the back of his head, and I look at him, and I can’t help but feel sorry for this poor lonely kid from the ruins across the bridge.

  "Sorry if I'm having trouble with this,” he says. “I've, well, it's been a while since I've actually had anyone to talk to except for one friend."

  “Of course,” I murmur, unable to contain a huge smile.

  He looks me in the eye and sort of returns the smile, and sighs. “You saved my life. Thank you. ...Person who’s name I forgot to ask for."

  And at that, I giggle.

  "Thank you. I’m Becca, by the way,” I tell him. “Or just Bec if you want, Soos."

  "Bec,” he repeats slowly, like he’s tasting it, swirling it in his mouth. “Thank you. I just hope I can pull off that kind of save for someone once I’m trained up."

  "Hopefully not saving me,” I say, voice ft. “I don't do the whole damsel thing."

  Luiz puts a hand over his mouth before he can ugh at my expense. "She really doesn't,” he says. “She tried it once but ended up stabbing the dragon before we could get there, he was pretty mad."

  "Looks like you got beat up out there," Soos says, trying to be matter of fact.

  I put a hand over my burn and frown. "This? This is nothing."

  "You got that trying to save my life - and your brother's life,” Soos insists. “That's definitely not nothing."

  "I meant that it doesn't hurt that bad. You don't need to worry about me," I say, voice fttening.

  "Yeah, you want to worry about her, then you need to take it up with the Worrying About Bec Local 108; me and Isaac," Luiz deadpans. "Seriously, though, Soos, good to meet you. We need all the help we can get against the Nightmares. I'm Sara's partner, Luiz."

  "Sara's partner?" Soos asks, but at least he's mostly confused.

  "Yeah, her partner." Luiz smirks. "Real hard to pilot without an Oracle watching your ass."

  "Oh! You mean, like, the co-pilot of her mech!" Soos says, smacking his fist into his palm.

  "More like my navigator," I say.

  "And therapist," Luiz adds.

  I turn to him with my eyebrow bsting off into space. "Since when have I done therapy with you, Luiz?"

  "Every time he's made light of something and your heart actually grew lighter, I'd imagine," Meredith says.

  And she’s not wrong. Luiz sense of humor and great timing about using it has saved me a lot of pain, even before he agreed to navigate for me.

  Meredith turns to Soos. "The term is 'Oracle.' I act as the CAG’s Oracle, myself," Meredith says.

  Commander, Armor Group, she means – Major Victoria Lam. And Soos, to his credit, picks that up immediately.

  “Who I’ll be meeting…?”

  “At dinner, along with… the Colonel,” she says, hesitating just a second. “She’s busy tending to her son, who’s just learned to crawl.”

  He winces at that, then nods.

  “We should be getting out of your way – letting you shower and dress and prepare for dinner,” Meredith says to us. “Thank you for indulging our new recruit with his questions.”

  “Sure thing,” I say.

  Soos nods – but then clenches both fists, exhales a deep breath, and turns to me.

  "You were amazing out there,” he says, looking me straight in the eye. “Pulled loops and rolls and totally outfoxed that horrible deer thing. Fucking hell, you made one of the invaders stalking my nightmares into a joke.”

  “It’s what Padins do,” I say, blinking. I need to take a deep breath.

  “I will never forget what you did for me,” Soos says. “Thank you, Bec.

  The thought that I’m this kid’s hero pops into my mind, and I like it.