Freya looked up when a blue box appeared in front of her telling her the cookout was about to start. The box told her that her access to the beach was being revoked in two minutes. With a lazy swipe of her hand, she turned off her holographic projector that she had been using to do her modules for her classes. She got up and went back to the pavilion where the command squad had set up some grills. Sergeant Gawain was the only one missing from the command squad. She found a seat by herself and sat down waiting on the food to be served. There was a keg of beer already set up and people were already getting drinks from it.

“Hey, Magic.” Toast said smiling and sat next to her. He handed her a plate of food while he placed his plate down on the table. “You want a beer?” He asked her, getting up again.

“No thanks,” Freya said picking up a hamburger. It smelled different from the ones she ate back home. Taking a bite her mouth was filled with an unfamiliar but very tasty flavor. Smiling happily she devoured the sandwich. She was licking the ketchup off her fingers when Toast came back with a beer in his hand.

“Whoa, you must have been really hungry.” He said pointing to her empty plate with his beer.

“It was really good. What type of meat was that?” She asked him.

“Ahh beef, I think.” He said taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Oh, I never had beef before,” Freya said looking back at the people at the grill. She wondered if she could get a second one.

“You’re from Earth and you never had beef before?” Toast asked shocked.

“Yea, mostly we eat elk, moose, fish, and the occasional bear meet,” Freya told him deciding to wait to get a second sandwich until after everyone else got one. She was interrupted as another blue box appeared in front of her. It notified her that Sergeant Gawain asked to see her in his office.

“I gotta go,” Freya said picking up her plate and tossing it into the trash. “I just got a blue box asking me to see Sergeant Gawain.”

Toast laughed and waved at her. He was watching two Private First classes get into a wrestling match. Everyone was cheering them on. Freya looked at the two men and shook her head.

“Boys.” She thought with a chuckle.

She entered the building where the platoon leader had his office. The secretary was not at his desk and the lobby was empty. She knocked on the door and when she heard the Sergeant tell her to enter she opened the door and stepped inside.

Standing at attention, she said, “Reporting as requested Sergeant.”

“At ease Private.” He replied not looking up from his tablet. “Have a seat. I was just going over your record of your missions so far. They are impressive. You are in the top eight percent of all scouts in accuracy. You currently stand at an average ninety six percent accuracy. You also have a one shot to kill ratio of Eighty-four percent which if you adjust that for the weak ass guns you have you end up with ninety-one percent shot to kill ratio. On top of that, you already have your Golden E medal. That is impressive considering you acquired most of this without any mods whatsoever.”

“In fact, I am deeply suspicious of your record, Private.” The Sergeant said looking up at her finally. “I know scouts who have mods in the three hundreds who don’t have a Golden E. It makes me suspicious that you do. I took a chance on you because you have your own dropship but after today's mission, I’m going to have to cut you. I don’t have a place in my platoon for cheaters.”

“Sergeant?” Freya said losing her smile. She was not sure if he was joking or not.

“Do I have to spell it out to you, Private?” He asked her in an angry voice. “How the hell is a no nothing girl from Earth, where guns are illegal, learned to shoot the way you do? I might believe your story if you were a prep school baby whose parents spent tons of credits on tutors to teach you but your just an Earthling.”

“But Sergeant….” Freya began to say but the Sergeant stood up from his desk.

“My people believed in your peoples lies once. I’m sure as hell not going to fall for that like my forefathers. You’re a cheater like everyone else from Earth. Your just a little better than average to fool the Monarch. But mark my words Earth scum, it will eventually catch you.” He yelled at her.

“I was going to let you into my platoon for your ship but more importantly so I can prove to everyone that you’re a cheater. Because once we get sent on a real-world mission all your cheating in this world won’t help you there in the real world. You’ll be exposed just as your good for nothing ancestors were. I would have been happy to have a front row seat in your court-martial. I would have even paid to be the one to push the button and erase your digital existence as they sent you to prison back on earth or some other hellish penal colony.” The Sergeant said in a calmer voice.

“Do you know why I’m kicking you out of my platoon now?” He asked her but he didn’t wait for her to respond. “Because you used your cheat method in my platoon. There is no other way for a private who is not in a leadership position to get a second standard positive deviation on the mission points. You overshot this time. You got thirteen mission points. The first standard deviation was ten. The second was twelve. See, I am looking at all this and I’m seeing a trend. This, this is impossible for some like you. You people…. Earthlings always have to lie and cheat to get ahead. You people don’t seem to get it. The rest of the universe is not like you. You…. You know what? I am done with you. I don’t need this. Get out of my Camp.”

You have been ejected from Camp Brededdle by Sergeant Gawain. You have one minute to exit the Compound before you will be in violation and fined. All the accesses you had are now canceled. Please leave by the nearest exit.

Shocked Freya stood up from the chair. She stared at the Sergeant for a second in shock and anger. She absently noted that he was sweating weirdly only on his nose. She gave him a salute and turned about-face and marched out of the office. She exited the office as she noted a countdown on the left side of her HUD. The numbers were glowing red.

“Hey, Magic?” Toast called out to her but she waved her hand and kept going. The door to the Camp opened as she approached but she stopped and turned around. She found Sergeant standing by the pavilion.

“I am from a subsistence village you jackhole. We live off the land. The Federation ruled in our favor against the UN. I had a gun in my hand since I was a baby. I bagged my first elk when I was six and I went on my first solo hunt at eight. I am not now nor have I ever been a cheater!” Freya yelled back the Sergeant.

You have been fined fifty credits for disrespect to Sergeant Gawain and for inappropriate and offensive language to a superior-ranked member of the armed forces. If you continue with this behavior you will be fined again and placed on a punishment detail with a note of reprimand recorded in your record.

Freya could hear Toast calling out to her but she ignored it and turned around and entered the light.

Back inside Camp Brededdle. “What have you done Derick?” Toast asked standing up.

“Watch yourself, Corporal or I'll fine you too.” Sergeant Gawain said losing his smile. "She was a cheater and I have no place in my platoon for cheaters."

“Wait, you fined her too?” Toast asked surprised. Shaking his head he continued, “Did you even look up her history before you accused her of being a cheater?”

“The Earth’s governments took her people's land away from them centuries ago and put them on reservations. They put them in the coldest and most remote places they could. Her people took that land and thrived on it for centuries. After the war, they evacuated the whole damn continent but her people said no. They were tired of other people taking their land away from them. They would rather live in an old warzone where there are enough weapons and ordnance still active to scare even the Federation.” Toast said walking up to the Sergeant.

“In the end, the Federation had to step in and tell the rest of the Earthlings that her people could, in fact, stay where they were if they wanted to. To get even the Earthlings told her ancestors that they would only supply them with twenty-five percent of the required nutrition they needed to survive and the rest they had to get off the land. Then they outlawed any weapons they could use to hunt with and gave them stuff you won’t feed to your dog. Again the Federation had to step in and allowed her people the weapons and tools they needed to survive in that hellish place. That girl you just kicked out of your platoon probably hates Earthlings more than you do. She’s no cheater. She’s a survivor.”

“She’s an Earthling!” The Sergeant bellowed.

“Only by a very limited definition Derick.” Toast said sadly looking at the Sergeant. “You know what, if this is the way you're going to run your platoon then I’m out.” Toast said turning around and walking to the exit door.

Toast angrily wave away the notification that he had fined for disrespect to a superior-ranked member of the armed services. Without a backward glance, he stepped into the light.

In another part of the ship, two men and a woman looked away from the monitor. “Well Gunny, it's your company.” One of the men told the Gunnery Sergeant.

The Gunnery Sergeant sighed and ran his hands over his face. “He’s done. Isn’t he.”

“I’ll let him stay on as a platoon leader if you want but his career is over.” The man with First lieutenant bars on his uniform told the Gunnery Sergeant.

“Is there any way he could be right?” The Gunnery Sergeant asked the Lieutenant.

“The War College itself went over all of the missions that she has been on. It took them two years to go over all code before they promoted her. There is no way they would promote her if they had the slightest doubt that she could have cheated.” The Woman with a First class Chief Warrant bar on her shoulder replied.

The Gunnery Sergeant sighed again. “He was so close.” He said sadly to the group before he stood up and left the room.

“Suggestions?” The lieutenant asked his chief warrant officer.

“Put her into Third Company First Platoon. They desperately need good scouts. With Toast they get a hell of a good scout. And with Magic, they get an amazingly good trigger puller and a playmaker. Mike’s a good leader but he sucks at picking his people. If we can get Toast and her together on his platoon then that would be one hell of a platoon.”

“I agree.” The Lieutenant said nodding. He paused in what he was doing as a blue box appeared in front of him.

A second later a door opened up and a Second Lieutenant walked in. “What the hell man.” He said to the First Lieutenant. The warrant officer stood up and saluted him but the First lieutenant didn’t get up from his seat or look away from the blue box he was examining. The Second Lieutenant absently saluted the Warrant officer back before he sat down beside the First Lieutenant.

“We’re moving her to Third Company First Platoon.” The First Lieutenant said tiredly.

“Oh, Ok.” The Second Lieutenant said with a slight smile then he frowned. “I still want her and her new platoon if I call up reinforcements and not the other one. She's my lucky charm.

The other officer nodded. “Yea, I figured. Don’t worry the deal still stands but we will just change out the company.”

“Thanks. Hey, I got news. The Colonel wants me to wargame a worst-case scenario for this first one.” The Second Lieutenant said with a sad smile.

Both the First Lieutenant and the Chief warrant office sat up at his announcement. “How bad does she want you to go?” The First Lieutenant asked.

“All three divisions and maybe the recruits.” He told them spinning in his chair.

“Damn.” The Chief Warrant officer said looking away.

“Yeh.” The Second Lieutenant said and stopped spinning in his chair. Turning to the other officer he asked, “I need your help, bud. This one could be a long one. Wanna play a game?”