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atmosphere and orbital space flight capable.  Gibson was standing with his number two, Lieutenant Sylvia Hoeks.  Valerie could spot his bald head a mile off and it made her smile to see the bay lights reflecting off it.  With his heavy dark beard and deep voice he always made Valerie think he would be more at home fighting ancient pirates on the high seas of humanity’s home world, rather than directing combat platoons sitting in a chair.
    His back was to her and he was studying a datapad so intently, he didn’t see Valerie approach.  The Lieutenant stood opposite him and did see her.  The young dark skinned Sylvia Hoeks had only been with the Company for three months, she jumped to attention and saluted smartly.
    Captain Gibson turned round and Valerie returned the salute with a smile.  “At ease, Lieutenant.  It’s only us in here, so you don’t need to salute me every time.”
    “Of course, Ma’am, sorry.”  The young officer replied.  A slight blush warming her face.
    “Heh, don’t worry about it”.  Valerie said with a light shrug and a grin.  “Joss, Hans says that Captain Tsoutsouvas and the Wishart are expecting us.  Are we all ready to go?”
    “Yes, Major, just about.  The FPBA’s are loaded along with the troops gear.  The Companies Tea Chests are going onto the shuttle now.”  Tea Chests were the name everyone in the Legion used for an officers personal arms crate.  Valerie didn’t know why.  Many years ago she tried to find out, but hadn’t been able to get a satisfactory answer.  There were many ideas and speculations, none with any basis in hard fact.
    “Excellent.  I’ll get the troops on the Helos then.”  With a nod to the two officers Valerie turned around and sought out Bickerstaff.  The Sergeant Major was half way down the line of Windsoars.  He stood off to one side, keeping an eye on the soldiers chatting amongst themselves in their platoons.
    “Sergeant Major.”  Valerie called clearly across the deck.  “Let’s do it.”  She emphasised the order by twirling her finger in a circle above her head.
    “Yes, Ma’am.”  Bickerstaff called back and raised his voice to a parade ground bellow.  “Shadow Company.  Load ‘em up!”  There were more efficient, electronic means of communicating Valerie’s orders.  None had the impact of a properly enunciated order given at the appropriate volume.
    Shadow Company stopped milling about immediately and moved with a single purpose.  Years of dedicated training and experience came into play, as they boarded the Windsoars and Scarab smoothly.  No jostling or getting in each other’s way was evident.  Within two minutes, Valerie was strapping herself into her acceleration chair set slightly behind the cockpit of Helo One.  As soon as she was secure, a green light would show to the co-pilot.  Almost instantly, Captain Benz’s voice came through her com.
    “You are the last one, Major.”  He reported.  As the senior officer she was always the last to board.  “Everyone is secure, all systems are green and we are cleared by Furioso Control for departure. ”
    “Thank you, Hans.  Launch on your order.”
    “Yes, Ma’am.”  Valerie could see on the board in front of her, the Captain switching channels from a one to one with her, to a channel connecting all the pilots of the six space craft and their platoon commanders, including her.  “We are cleared to go.  All craft to launch with Helo One and come to formation Alpha One.”
    The screen on Valerie’s command board showed the view from one of Bay Fourteen’s cameras.  She watched the five Helos and single shuttle lifted on their anti-gravs.  A faint hum could be felt through the Windsoars hull.  The two oversized engines spooled up and Shadow Company smoothly left the bay in unison.
    Switching the view over to tactical, she saw the icons move into a standard five pointed box formation, with the Scarab at the centre and Helo Three leading