ItB 012: Familiar Territory

The pair of soldiers moved along the corridor, and Campbell's doll-sized familiar followed. The soldiers were armed and armored, their expressions invisible; they were too disciplined to talk as they moved. The familiars were mechanical, partially-autonomous constructs that rode the back of Campbell's armor until he needed them. Now, following Padma's orders, he had sent one of them to follow the two sentries from Hirakawa's Ninety-Fifty. At the same time, he was leading the others after his familiar.

Balancing his attention this way required concentration, but he enjoyed the challenge. One part of his mind was moving the tiny construct forward and monitoring what it saw, heard, scented; the rest was walking, leading the others along the trail, and keeping watch for danger to his own body. In training, his first potential commander had dismissed him for being distracted; but Caden had invited him into his own squad, with the observation that it wasn't a matter of distraction so much as being aware of what Campbell was actually observing. Campbell had folded himself into the group and found a place there. The others understood him, or at the very least appreciated his contributions, however abstracted.

So when he guided his familiar around a corner and found it facing an armored soldier with her weapon raised and the words, "I told you I heard something," on her lips, he immediately brought it to a stop and raised its hands. With the rest of his awareness, he made himself stop and raised a hand to halt the others behind him.

"Easy," he said through his familiar. "We aren't here to hurt you."

The other sentry frowned at him over the sight of his gun. "You aren't supposed to be here at all."

"No?" And then, because he'd been listening in on everyone else to keep from becoming distracted from his job, Campbell said: "We weren't supposed to encounter you until after the Majesty reached Tanivar and found you there ahead of us. You were going to enforce the Hirakwa paracorp's claim on the planet, and prevent Earthgov from establishing a colony."

The two soldiers exchanged glances, despite the masks that hid their expressions. Then the woman lowered her weapon slightly. "That may be," she said, "but we have other problems now."

Campbell made his familiar nod. "The station is compromised and the Ascendancy isn't going anywhere. Let us help."

The two soldiers stood staring at the tiny mechanical doll for a long moment. Then the woman lowered her rifle and raised a hand to the side of her head. "Captain?" she said. "Situation's gone fluid out here."