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any marine in the company, but she carried herself tall and proud. Her brunette hair was tied back perfectly and out of sight, her uniform immaculate and with no sign of the arm brace she’d been wearing until the day before. Her blue-grey eyes were piercing, and it was quite clear what she wanted. She quickly saluted and jumped into her request.
    “Sir, requesting permission to rejoin the unit for operational duty!”
    “Sergeant, you are not cleared from medical leave for another seven days.”
    “Sir, that’s Doctor’s recommendations, not orders. I am ready to get back to it. If you have a mission to do you’ll need me back.”
    Taylor looked around the lines of marines. He knew that Parker wasn’t fully recovered yet, neither did he want to see any harm come to her. Despite this, he hated the idea of leaving a fellow marine behind. He also knew that she was a useful asset to her platoon.
    “Sergeant, no bullshit, can you do your job?”
    “Yes, Sir!”
    “Alright, fall in, your platoon leader will fill you in on the mission details.”
    She could not help herself from grinning. She was so happy she could have leapt up and kissed him. For a moment Taylor thought she might even do so.
    “That’ll be all, Sergeant!”
    Parker saluted the Major and immediately heaved her equipment onto her shoulder and joined the rest of the unit. Taylor looked again across the platoons under his command, they were visibly uneasy. No one was being straight about what was expected of them. There was little he could do to remedy that, he knew nothing more himself. Before he could think of any words to calm his troops their buses pulled into view.
    “Load up! Let’s go!” Taylor shouted.
    He watched as his men poured into the vehicles in an efficient and an enthusiastic manner. He commanded five platoons. Four of them were infantry units compromising of forty-one men, and his own sixteen-man command platoon. A Lieutenant led each platoon, with additional officers in his HQ unit. They’d seen more action than any other serving unit in the U.S. military, but that was still nothing compared to the wartime experience of veterans of bygone wars.
    The buses coasted on through the base until they could see the assembly area in view. He knew that it would soon be needed for major operational duties, and yet the area was almost empty. A few copters and transports lay unattended and work crews went on leisurely about their jobs. An Achilles transport craft was being loaded and was the only sign of serious work in sight. Taylor could already make out the unmistakeable figure of Eddie Rains guiding in his fellow copter pilots as they loaded up the Falcon shuttles in the cargo bay. The Achilles class transports were the military’s main means of transport into space. They could carry up to two hundred and fifty men, and five shuttles.
    Thirty minutes later their kit was stowed and they were lifting off. UEN forces did regular training exercises on the Moon, but only a hundred regular troops were stationed there at any time. A further six hundred civilians were part of a colony defence force, citizen soldiers. Taylor knew that his force would effectively double the strength of their numbers, but it was still a fraction of what would be needed against a sizeable enemy force.
    Taylor stood on the bridge with his command platoon as they made their break into orbit. The ship was crewed by twenty-four Navy personnel. He grinned as he watched Eddie look in astonishment at their operating procedures. He had no love of their disciplined and machine-like way of working. Captain Reyes commanded the vessel, the Deveron.
    “It’s an eight hour run, Major, you’re welcome to make full use of all the facilities we have to offer.”
    “Thank you, Captain. I only ask one thing of you. It’s important that we discuss our operation en route to the colony. The details of our mission remain top secret. Anything that your crew hear or see must not be