"You're right."
He met my eyes.
"You can leave. Transfer papers go to Lieutenant Vera, and by Monday morning, you're in another platoon. Probably Halden Continental or Serran, or any of a dozen others who'd take a Level 38 D-Grade with your combat record without asking a question."
I paused for a few seconds, waiting for Miller to do something. He didn't and continued to match my gaze.
"And if you go, you'd probably do better. Better training resources, better pilots in your squad, better cultivation allocation, and better odds of coming home from deployment. I'm not going to stand here and pretend otherwise. If you're asking me whether a corporate platoon gives you a better career, the answer is yes. And if you're asking whether you'd live longer in another unit, statistics say yes."
I turned to the room, no longer directly addressing Miller.
"Everyone in this room decides for yourselves tonight. Nobody holds you here on obligation."
Silence.
"But, there's the thing corporate platoons can't give you."
I leaned forward on my forearms.
"Sato."
He looked up from the table.
"Your family hired three lawyers to try and keep you out of the service."
"They did."
"Your mother went to every liaison office in the sector."
"She did."
"And, you packed your bag before she finished crying."
"I did."
"Nobody in a Halden Continental platoon is going to know that. Nobody's going to know that your brothers are three shipping magnates who still send you the quarterly numbers, as if you're coming back to run a fourth branch. Nobody's going to know that past the soldier facade, the joke is the only thing holding you together."
Sato looked down at the table.
"Jin."
Her eyes came up.
"I know you hold back when you spar because you learned that letting a full burst out gets someone hurt. I know you're worried that people are going to be taken away from you again, and I know you don't actually hate anyone in this platoon — you just have an awkward way of showing affection."
Jin narrowed her eyes at me before shrugging.
"Tomás."
He tilted his head.
"You carry a notepad because your predictive model runs better on paper than in your head. You stay up after lights-out twice a week to track everyone's progress. I know that your brother and your father served, and I know that you're almost as scared of silence as Sato is."
His mouth went thin.
"Park. Your father's an instructor at this facility. Though most of us only found out yesterday." A few at the table chuckled.
"Hsu… Actually, I don't know much about you. We should change that."
Hsu flipped me the bird.
"Andrew. You asked me to come back before I went to the Tiernan meeting. Nobody's asked me that in my life the way you asked me that."
Andrew nodded.
"Ren, you're the quietest at the table but the loudest out in the field. I've spent six months trying to worm my way into that shell of yours, and I'll break it down eventually. "
Ren's eyebrows went up.
"I could keep going. I'd keep going for the rest of you, too, if I knew you the same way. I don't, yet. But I will."
I turned back to Miller.
"Miller, six months ago, I put you down in a fight, and it wasn't pretty. I'm sorry about that. But you came at me, again and again, and again until you beat me. And now I can barely hold a candle to you. I only know one thing about you, and it's that Miller doesn't give up. And that's stuck with me. You and everyone else in this room are the reason I am who I am today."
I looked around the room one more time.
"I am from them. My Grandfather handed me this assignment on a silver platter. Uncle David and Uncle Michael watched me fight in the exhibition and wrote reports back to the Trust. That's nepotism, and I'm not going to pretend it isn't. I was raised inside that world, and some of that world is in this chair with me right now."
I breathed.
"But I was forged with you. Six months in this barracks together, from the rabbit runs, to the gauntlet, the terrible paste that should constitute as a war crime, and the painful awakenings we all experienced together. Every one of those things hammered something that used to be a Tiernan kid into whoever's sitting in this chair. I don't know what my name is in other platoons. I know what it is in these barracks. The Rabbit, and you made it."
"I can't promise you a better career. I can't promise you better stats or a safer deployment. I can promise you this — that the commander in this chair was built by the people in this room, and he'll spend whatever command authority the Trust gives him on making sure the people who built him get home. That's the deal. It's the only deal I know how to offer. Take it or take the transfer paperwork. I'll sign either one tonight."
The silence that followed was different from the one before, only broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"He's not making it up," Sato said, his tone completely serious. "While we weren't friends off the trot, when I did end up joining him and the squad… Well, it was the start of my happiest time in this hellhole. He was a part of that. He made me feel welcome, helped me train and become better than I ever thought possible. And not once has he ever made anything about family, wealth, or legacy."
He looked at Miller directly.
"He's telling you the truth about what he will accomplish, and I'm the proof it works even on kids who showed up late."
Osei pushed his datapad to one side and stood. I stayed my tongue and turned to face him, watching him carefully.
"For the record. Miller is correct. I did enlist his help for the platoon. I pitched the independent platoon to Marcus with Miller as a squad lead whose friction with Marcus would occupy both of their attention. That freed my coordination deviation to run the macro without oversight. It would have worked."
He looked at Miller.
"I hadn't told either of you what I was planning, and that's on me. But, the Trust sponsorship makes the old plan unworkable. So I was preparing to renegotiate quietly rather than openly, but Miller's challenge today makes that unnecessary."
He turned to me.
"Platoon Commander Tiernan. I'm offering my coordination to whatever command structure you lay out. I'll serve as 2IC if you'll have me. If you want someone else, I'll serve as a squad lead. If you want me out, I'll file transfer paperwork tonight."
I narrowed my eyes at Osei.
"Sit where you are, Osei. We're not done with the day."
He nodded.
Miller had been watching Osei through the concession, with each word, the vein at his temple eased a little..
"Alright, Tiernan. The speech was passable." Miller conceded.
He placed his hands flat on the table.
"But a speech doesn't run a platoon. And I've got questions before anyone signs anything. Let's talk structure. 2IC, 3IC, squads, and the command tree. I want it all on the table, and I want to know whether the person who just gave that speech can actually do the job."
I nodded and pulled the platoon datapad out and set it on the table.
"Alright. Three squads, vanguard, flanking, and support."
Miller's eyes sharpened.
"Osei as 2IC. He will be the primary tactical authority for the platoon. His coordinating deviation running comms and sensor work across all three squads. Support squad is his, one of his own, along with Tomás and Ren."
Osei turned to look back at me, his eyes passing over me.
"Miller as 3IC. Vanguard squad. Front-line combat and heavy engagement, the work you're already the best at in this platoon. Briggs is yours, and you can pick the rest of Vanguard from the platoon roster. I don't second-guess your squad composition."
Miller waited.
"I run Flanking. Maneuver elements, edge work, disruption. My squad will be comprised of Jin, Andrew, Sato, and whoever else fits the profile. The Flanking squad is where my framework plays best, and it's where I'll spend my combat time. I'm not going to sit in a command chair pretending I'm not fighting. If we go in, I go in with the platoon. But overall command stays with me, the sponsorship requires it."
"Any override privileges?" Jin asked.
"I hold sole override authority on Osei's calls. He runs the platoon's coordination for the whole engagement. If I think a call is going to get us killed, I cancel it. Every other call stands. But that doesn't mean I won't take input lightly, you have an idea you tell me it."
Miller leaned back slightly. "One more thing."
"Go."
"If any of this falls apart, the squads hold. Whatever happens at the top, Vanguard, Flanking, and Support stay intact at the squad level. We don't get scattered because the paperwork changes."
I held my tongue for a moment before turning to Vera. She shook her head lightly.
"That's one thing I can't promise, what I can promise is doing my absolute best to make sure that doesn't happen in the first place."
Miller paused. He looked at me, looked at Osei, and finally turned to Briggs. With a monumental sigh, he threw up his hands in the air.
"Ahhh— what the hell. You got yourself a deal, Rabbit." He said, offering a crooked smile.
He stood from his chair and walked over to me, extending a hand. I took it. His grip was firm, and he held it longer than I expected. Osei extended his hand next, and I shook it too.
"Lieutenant Vera."
She stepped forward from where she'd been standing against the wall.
"Command tree is as stated. Please log it, Lieutenant."
"Logged, Commander." She tapped her datapad.
Around the table, the twenty others were exhaling.
"Anyone still considering transfer papers, see Lieutenant Vera after this meeting. No penalties, no conversations. If you want to go, you go."
Nobody moved.
"Alright. We have a little over a week before the first engagement. Let's talk about what we're going to do with them."