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assigned to that shipboard detachment. He wondered where she was now…en route home? She ought to be by now. He hoped so.
    What else? Outposts on Janus, on Hecate, and on Epona. There were no Marines stationed on those desolate worlds, but if there was trouble, Marines might be sent—assuming the need justified the colossal expense of an interstellar military expedition.
    â€œBetcha it’s Rhiannon,” Corporal Anna Garcia said. “I heard the Builder ruins there are even bigger and more extensive than on Chiron, and the EU would just love to snatch that little gem right out from under our noses.”
    â€œNah,” Lobowski said. “Gotta be Chiron. Makes sense, right? I mean, we have a base there, we’re diggin’ up all kinds of cool shit, and then we pull out when the money dries up. But now we’re sending out another expedition to the place. Either there’s some highly classified shit goin’ down outthere, stuff the big boys don’t want to talk about, or the EU is about to make a grab for the place. And the Feds want the Marines to handle it.”
    Womicki laughed. “Shee-it. Y’wanna know what I think?”
    â€œNot really.”
    â€œI think they’re sending us back to Ishtar. Wouldn’t that be just like the Corps? Send us out there to fight the Frogs, haul us back, and then as soon as we’re back, they ship us out to the same place again. SOP—standard operating procedure.”
    â€œYou’re full of it, Wo. Your eyes are brown.”
    Garroway wasn’t sure what to think. Alpha Centauri…Epsilon Eridani…Tau Ceti…Sirius. Which was it?
    Sergeant Houston’s comment about Famsits was a good one. Where possible, the Corps only sent Famsit one and two personnel to the stars…men and women who had no close family on Earth. That was for the simple fact that travel between the stars took years objective; between relativity and cybehibe, a starfaring Marine might age a few months while a wife or parents back home aged a decade or two. Military service had always placed a strain on families, but time-lagging brought a whole new level of complexity to the problem.
    How do you find Marines who have no family attachments at home?
    â€œI’d sign on for another cruise,” Womicki said.
    â€œFuck, not me,” Houston said. “I’ve put in six years subjective—and twenty-six objective. Done my time, and now this gyrine’s gonna be an ex -gyrine.”
    â€œThere’s no such thing as an ex-Marine, asshole,” Dunne said good-naturedly. “Once in the Corps, always in the Corps!”
    â€œYeah,” Kat put in. “They own you, body and soul, for all eternity. Didn’t you read the fine print on your enlistment contract?”
    â€œAnyway, Sarge,” Lobowski said. “Maybe they won’t giveyou a choice. Maybe they just say ‘Jump,’ and you say ‘Aye aye, and how high, sir !’”
    â€œAw, they ain’t gonna ship us out without us sayin’ they can,” Corporal Matt Cavaco said. “It’s against the law.”
    â€œThe law,” Dunne said slowly, “is what the brass says the law is. They want us to go fifteen light-years and tromp on some bug-faced locals, then that’s what we’ll do.”
    â€œSemper fi,” Kat said.
    â€œDo or die,” Garroway added.
    He wondered if they would at least be allowed leave before being shipped out-system again.
    He had an old debt to settle with his father, and if another twenty years passed on Earth before he returned again, it might well be too late.
    Virtual Conferencing Room 12
Star Marine Force Center
Twentynine Palms, California
1904 hours, PST
    â€œColonel Ramsey? Thank you for nouming in for this meeting. I know it’s late there…and you must be tired after your long journey.”
    The others in the noumenal space laughed. “My pleasure, General,”