It is a very silent, very tense flight lasting about two hours and finally culminating on a mountainous plain. There’s nothing there besides a bit of grass, and a goat which heads off at high speed as you come helichoptering in. The remoteness is tangible as you step out of the craft, putting your feet on land which may very well not have had human feet on it before. This is a wild place. You can feel it in your bones, and you can smell it in the air.

Once landed, you and the others grab your personal gear, and the rest of what’s in the hold. There’s not much. The helichopter takes off, and you’re left standing in a semi-circle around Terra.

Sarah’s attitude is palpable, as is Terra’s annoyance at her. You’re happy to be on solid ground, but you find yourself weirdly standing closer to Boris than you’d usually allow him to get. He’s familiar. Home territory.

“Part of the reason I chose two cadets from a far flung colony,” Terra says, picking up the conversation almost without missing a beat. “Is because people raised under difficult circumstances are tougher without knowing it. There are things I don’t have to teach them about living with less.”

You and Boris exchange looks of pride. Sarah snorts and rolls her eyes.

“It’s time to set up camp,” Terra says. “We’ll be using the shelter from that outcropping of rocks to shield our tents from the wind. Boris, you’ll have a single tent to yourself.” She looks at you. “Cadet, you and Sarah will share a double. My tent will serve a dual purpose as personal space and command post.”

“You can set up our tent,” Sarah says as you begin to follow Terra’s orders. “I’ll get some wood.” She points at a stand of dead, dry trees at the tree line nearby.

You shrug. Sure. Why not. Doesn’t really matter who does what as long as it all gets done. Terra has marked out a place for her tent in the center of the outcropping, the most sheltered spot.

“I want yours close to mine, cadet,” Terra says as you start to set yours up several feet away. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on you two.”

There’s a note of sternness in her voice which really doesn’t bode well for Sarah at all. You pull the tent over closer to Terra, watching Sarah as she approaches the trees. She doesn’t have an axe, maybe she’s planning to break the branches off….

“WHOA!” Boris exclaims in stunned tones as you watch Sarah harvest firewood, not by picking up twigs, or pulling at larger branches, but by kicking the tree into pieces with a series of well placed round kicks which make the wood shatter.

He turns to you and Terra with a massive grin on his face. “She’s a machine!”

“She’s very much human,” Terra says grimly. “Attend to your tent, cadet.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Boris says quickly.

You find yourself starting to feel a bit jealous, though that doesn’t necessarily make sense to you. Can you really be jealous of someone else being in trouble? Thus far, your relationship with Terra has been based on being the naughty one. But Sarah’s going to have you beat on that hands down. She’s a superhuman handful of trouble, and you can see Terra spending all her time on her.

You set your tent up in a bit of a sulk, unhappy at how small a double really is. You’re not going to have any breathing room away from the super soldier who is lugging back huge bits of wood already. Boris is done with his tent quickly and he rushes off to help her with all the energy of a puppy.

Thinking that you’re going to somehow end up being the third wheel in a group of four, you grab your bag and toss it into your tent. Just as you do, the little figurine pops out of the bottom. There must have been a tear in the lining of your bag. Items must have shifted during the flight. Fuck! You reach down and swipe the little cat up before anyone can see…

“What is that, cadet?”

You whirl around to face Terra, who is standing over you, her hands on her hips, a thoroughly pissed expression on her face.

“It’s, uh, just something special…”

“What part of ‘basic uniform ONLY’ did you not understand?!” She snaps the words at you so harshly they feel like verbal lashes landing across your soul.

“Sorry,” you wince. “I didn’t think it would…”

“Not good enough!” Terra growls at you. “I made my orders perfectly clear, cadet. Bend over and touch your toes.”

You hesitate for a second, opening your mouth to…

“NOW!”

You were wrong. Sarah’s not going to get all the negative attention. She’s a super soldier. Terra probably couldn’t punish her if she tried. But she can punish you. And unless you’re very much mistaken, you’re about to become the whipping girl for the unit.