“Listen up, Headhunters. Do your job and remember your training. Don’t hesitate. Follow orders and trust the men next to you. Stick with me and you will make it through this alive,” Master Sergeant Treu told his team of Hoplites.

They were locked into their launch harnesses, ready to be fired out from the hoplite attack ship towards another burning and crumbing space station on the edge of the galaxy. How many times had Leon given that speech? How many times had the last sentence been a lie? He told it anyway. The young kids, they needed to hear it. They needed to believe that if they just did what they were supposed to they’d make it out alive.

Yes, it was a lie, but it was necessary, so he told it all the same.

“Launch in three… two… “

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