Page 22 of Purring, Presents, and Parties

“You’ve got me curious, go on.” She lowered her head back down against his chest.

“I’ve been neglecting you,” he started, and she interrupted him.

“You’ve been busy keeping us safe and trying to rescue more humans,” she said. “It’s important work. More important than keeping me entertained like a child.”

Her words sounded so bitter, Bazium would’ve sounded a startled rattle if his backplates weren’t pressed against the wall.

“You’re not a child. You’re a strong, intelligent, beautiful adult,” he countered.

“You forgot useless,” she added.

“No, you’re far from useless, Brave,” he responded, deliberately using the old nickname. “I’m the one who’s been stupid. To explain, I’m going to tell you a story about my first assignment in the Talin military.”

“Uh, sure,” she agreed. “But you’re not stupid.”

“Let me finish and then you can decide,” he said. “Before I was leading an Advance Squad, I served on a Standing Squad. They are the ones who occupy an area that’s been captured but is under threat of attack by opposing forces. We’d been deployed twice, and both assignments had been quiet, allowing our Standing Squad Leader to refine our training. It was obvious from those two missions that one of our members was slow to learn. There were rumors his family bribed his instructors into allowing him to pass and join the military. Most of our fellow squad members resented him, and one said his incompetence would get us killed.”

“Do you think that was true?” she asked. “That his family paid money to get him through school?”

“Highly unlikely,” Bazium answered. “Our military academies pride themselves on providing only the most fit Talins to serve in our empire’s military. If anyone was caught taking a bribe, they risked their reputation, their family, and even their clan. It would need to be a massive bribe, and his family wasn’t known for their wealth.”

“Do you think he traded other things to pass?” Ari asked. “Like trading sex or favors for good grades?”

“Also unlikely for the same reason,” Bazium said. “Far more likely was that he worked harder than anyone else to pass with the lowest scores acceptable.”

“I’ve known people like that,” Ari murmured. “They’re so determined, they make it through with caffeine and grit.”

“I’m not sure what either of those are, but yes, I think you understand. Even though he tried very hard, I was also worried his lack of innate skill would compromise our squad, so I spoke to our leader. What she said to me changed my view of both being a soldier and leading them.”

“I’m so invested now,” Ari said, shifting her body so she could look up at him. “What did she say?”

“The Talin Empire doesn’t have incompetent soldiers, only commanders who don’t know how to utilize them,” he said, quoting her directly. “Then she gave me a task. I was to figure out what Galinnie was good at and report back with how best to employ him.”

“That sounds shady as hell,” Ari responded with disgruntled huff. “You go to the person in charge and point out that someone isn’t good at their job and the answer is to tell you to figure out what they're good at and make it useful? What if his special skill was macramé? How’s that going to help you in a combat situation?”

“What’s macramé?”

Ari laughed. “It's an Old Earth thing. You’d knot twine in specific patterns as decoration or to hold stuff, like pots. It can be fun to do and has some practical uses, but nothing that makes someone say ‘this will save humanity!’”

It was so good to hear a real laugh come out of Ari that Bazium sounded a rumble of amusement. “I can promise you the only knots Galinnie made were by accident.”

She made an impatient sound. “I’m dying to know what you figured out about Galinnie.”

“That he shouldn’t be in a Standing Squad.”

Furrowing her brows, Ari frowned at him. “That’s not really a revelation.”

“But it was,” Bazium argued. “I discovered he should be in a Drone Squad. His hand eye coordination was horrible until you put him in front of a display. Something about being allowed to be perfectly still with his body and only make small hand movements and voice commands allowed him to center his skills to exemplary levels. When I looked back at his performance reviews in training, I noticed the same thing.”

“Then why wasn’t he assigned to a Drone Squad to begin with?” Ari asked, sounding outraged on behalf of a soldier she’d never met.

Bazium sounded a puzzled rumble. “I can only guess, but I believe it was because his overall scores were always low or mediocre and everyone assumed his high scores were a fluke. No one bothered to systematically test him, and he never advocated for himself, so he was placed with the first opening. Then he bounced around until he was assigned to our group.”

“What did your leader do when you told her this?” Ari asked.

“She advocated for him until he was assigned a provisional spot on a Drone Squad.”

She gave a little cheer. “And everyone lived happily ever after! Right?”

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